propter consuetudinem regni quod se habet in contrarium so that at a Parliament holden ** Coke 1 Inst f. 245. a. Anno 20 H. 3. for that to certifie upon the King 's Writ that the Son born before Marriage is a Bastard was contra communem formam Ecclesiae Rogaverunt omnes Episcopi magnates ut consentirent quod nati ante Matrimonium essent legitimi sicut illi qui nati sunt post Matrimonium quantum ad Successionem haereditaniam quia Ecclesia tales habet pro legitimis omnes Comites Barones una voce responderunt Quod nolunt leges Angliae mutare quae hucusque usitatae sunt approbatae but how it can reasonably be extended to Normandy I cannot understand for then William had been excluded But to go on William having conquer'd this Island which he pretended to upon the account of the Confessor's donation upon his Death-bed bequeathed the Kingdom of England to his Second Son William his Eldest Son Robert being then in actual Rebellion against him but Rufus being too wise to rely upon his Fathers Will which was contrary to all Right and Justice ††M. Par. vit W. 2. in prin P. Virg. lib. 10. Posts away out of Normandy immediately into England seises upon his Fathers Treasure and very ** In pecuniâ dispergendâ neque segnis neque parcus omnem Thesaurum patris Wintoniae accumulatum in lucem proferens Monasteriis Aurum Ecclesiis Parochianis Argenti Solidos quinque unicuique provinciae libras centum egenis dividendas misericorditer assignavit M. P. ubi supra liberally bestowes it amongst the people giving Gold to the Monasteries five shillings to every Parish Church and a hundred pound to to every Province to be destributed amongst those that were needy and in want promises over and above an emendation of the hard Laws his Father had imposed upon his Subjects and a speedy redress of the Grievances which then the People groan'd under by which specious pretences and by the assiduous endeavours and great interest of * M. Par. vir G. 2. in prin P. Virg. l. 10. Lanfranck Archbishop of Canterbery for the Clergy in those days had no small influence upon Affairs he so far prevailed with the generality of people that according to his Fathers will which was very much urged in his favour he was received with the Shouts and Acclamations of the Croud where he was immediately proclaimed and soon after Crowned King but in spight of all their endeavours they were not able to corrupt the Loyalty of some stout and generous †M. Paris ubi supra M. Westm f. 231. Normans who as in duty they were bound resolved to stand firm to Robert to whom by the Laws of God and Nature supposing the Conqueror had lawfully enjoy'd the Crown the Royalty was due but their brave undertaking was rendered uneffectual by the policy of William who found means to take some of them off and by the assistance of the ‖ Sim. Dunelm anno 1088. fol. 214. English to reduce the rest And here this Gentleman takes occasion to observe that the Conqueror by his absolute Victory did not so wholly break the English that all the Old Laws and Customs were destroy'd because they wanted not hands to use those Weapons which were put into 'em for the defence of Rufus and thence I suppose infers that the Conqueror came not to the Crown so much by Arms as Consent of the People but how senseless and rediculous a pretence this is I leave to himself to judge since a sure and faithful ** Ut commilitonibus Normannis qui in bello Hastingensi patriam secum subjugaverant terras Anglorum possessiones ipsis expulsis manu distribuat affiuenti modicum illud quod eis remaneret subjugo poneret perpetuae servitutis M. Par. in vit W. 1. in prin Historian will inform him that William having left the English Hostages in safe Custody in Normandy return'd into England to destribute the Lands of the English amongst his Norman Souldiers that had assisted him to subjugate that Country which he did very liberally having expell'd the owners out of their possessions and that little he was pleas'd to leave to some of 'em he put under the slavish Tenure of perpetual Villenage which certainly he never could have done had he not both obtained and governed the Kingdom Jure gladii But to return from whence I have digressed Rufus and his Brother Robert came to this Agreement at the length that the latter ††Propter manifestum jus quod habuit ad Regnum possidendum Roberto singulis annis tria millia Marcarum Argenti daret ab Anglia quis corum diutius viveret Haeres eslet alterius si absque filio moreretur Hoc autem per duodecem magnates juratum suit utrinque M. Westm f. 236. because of the manifest right he had to enjoy the Crown should have a yearly Pension of three thousand Marks out of the Revenue of England and he that surviv'd the other if he died without Children should be Heir to the deceased Brother and so far were they from thinking this Agreement stood in need of the Ratification of a Great Council that there was but Twelve of their Principal friends on each side Sworn to see it duly observed But Robert being absent in the Holy Land at Rufus's death the great men of the Kingdom were mightily afraid of being long without a King it seems they were of opinion that Robert had a right to govern which Henry his Younger Brother wisely perceiving resolved to take time by the Fore-top and improve this Opportunity to the Supplanting of his Brother and Advancement of himself therefore to win the Affections of the Great Men he was very liberal in making them ‖‖ P. Virg. lib. 11. partim dando partim grandia pollicendo munera c. Presents and promising larger Rewards the usual and most prevailing Rhetorick of Competitors representing to 'em his Brother's Cruel Disposition and that he himself was their own Country-man and born after his Fathers coming to the Crown which gave a reasonable pretence to expect to be prefer'd before Robert and having bound himself by Oath to make a full Restitution of all their Ancient Laws and confirm them by his Charter and abrogate such severe ones as his Father had made they did * In ipsum consentirent in regem unanimiter consecrarent M. Par. vit H. 1. in princi pio unanimously consent to consecrate him King and I cannot see how this that was managed with so much Bribery and Corruption can properly be call'd an Election however I think we need not wonder to find this King publickly owning the consent of the people to be the foundation of his Advancement to the Throne for he must either acknowledge that or openly profess himself an unjust Usurper since he had no other way to entitle himself to it but
of Stephen to receive Duke Henry as their Natural and Lawful Sovereign And accordingly upon Stephen's Death Henry being both lov'd and fear'd by every one came very calmly to the Throne and he having sufficiently experienc'd what an alluring Temptation a Diadem is and that Men of Pride and Ambition make no Conscience of breaking through all Obligations and Ties that may obstruct their Advances to so glittering a Bait thought the only way to secure the Crown without Dispute to his Eldest Son Henry was to set it upon his Head before his Death but before that time came he had sufficient cause to repent his Choice of this unfortunate Course However this my Antagonist would have thought an Election of the Young Prince to succeed his Father without which he could not pretend to it but if he do but look upon that very Author †Gervas H. 2. f. 1412. Ipsâ die Henricum filium suum qui eadem septimanâ de Normanniâ militem fecit statimque stupentibus cunctis mirantibus in Regem ungui Praecepit coronari coronatus itaque novus rex ex praecepto patris sui succepit fidelitates he has quoted he will find if he have any remains of Modesty in him what Reason he has to blush at his Disingenuity for he will there find that the great men were afraid they were call'd to give an account and suffer the King's Censure for several unjustifiable Neglects they had been guilty of surely either this Council was very far different from what we call a Parliament now or the Times are strangely alter'd with 'em but when they found 't was only to assist at the Coronation of Young Henry they were right glad they all the time being filled with Wonder and Amazement they being so far from pretending to any power of Election that they only look'd on and then sware Fealty Besides ‖ M. Paris vit H. 2. Anno. 1170. M. Paris tells us that the King having call'd his Bishops commanded them to set the Crown upon young Henry's head without taking any notice of any others as if there had been none present but they which he certainly would never have done if so solemn a Ceremony as an Election had been necessary Henry was succeeded by Richard his Eldest Son living at his Death without any provision made in his Fathers life time in order thereto from the consent of the people unless he will call an Article of Peace between King Henry and the King of France one and certainly he must mean that if any thing when he sayes his Father was glad to get the Succession confirm'd to him but by this it was only * Provisum est etiam quod Comes Richardus acciperet Homagia hominum de omnibus terris Patris sui citra mare ultra M. Paris f. 151. Provided That Richard should receive Homage from all his Fathers Subjects but for all this he tells us That he was again Elected after his Fathers Death which to mee seems very strange for one would have thought one Election would have serv'd his turn but 't is like the rest of his incoherent Discourse besides I cannot believe King Richard would afterwards have taken upon himself to declare his Nephew †Flor. Hist Anno 1190. M. Paris vit R. 1. An. 1190. 〈◊〉 his Heir unless he had known that the Kingdom was Hereditary for in an Elective Monarchy there can be no such thing But notwithstanding King Richard being kill'd at Chalize he was most unnaturally put by his Right by his Uncle ‖ M. Paris An. 1199. in vit Johan John who immediately seized upon his Brothers Treasure and retaining all his Servants and Stipendiary Souldiers in their former Condition he comes into England after having very generously distributed his Money amongst those that he thought were capable of doing him any Service and having first sent several of his Principal Friends thither who made the people swear Allegiance to him tho' at first he met with some rubs in his way from some Loyal and Brave Persons who adhered to Arthur as their Natural Liege Lord as the ** M. Paris ubi supra Historian expresses it alledging that according to the received Custom Arthur the Son of the Elder Brother ought to succeed into that Hereditary Patrimony his Father Geofry should have enjoy'd had he outliv'd his Brother King Richard but having call'd a Council of all those ††M. Paris ubi supra Qui ejus Coronationi interesse debuerant Archbishop Hubert made such a Speech to 'em as he sayes truly would have startled the Convocation in 1640 but it sounded as strangely to those then present to hear him assert That no one could have any Title to the Crown Nisi ab universitate Regni unanimiter electus and to run on at so notoriously false and extravagant a Rate but he being a very Potent Man both the King and the rest were forced to hear him patiently but with no small concern that a man of his incomparable Wisdom and so considerable a Pillar of the Common-wealth should openly maintain so strange a Doctrine but none were so deeply touched as those good and honest men who being fully persuaded of the justness of Arthur's Title were extreamly surprized to find a Clergy-man and Archbishop the principal *** Aut fraudandi Arthurum optimum Adolescentem avito regno aut contra jus fasque Johannem regem creandi authorem esse Pol. Virg. lib. 15. in princ Actor in depriving the poor Prince of that Hereditary Kingdom which by Birth-right was his due contrary to all Law and Justice setting the Crown on John's Head But the business being over the Achbishop was asked why he would in the face of the Sun offer to deliver such false Principles upon which the Good Man not well knowing how to give an handsome Reply ventures upon defending or at least excusing one Lye by another telling them †††Respondet se praesagâ mente conjecturare a quibusdam oraculis edoctum certificatum fuisse quod ipse Johannes Regnum Coronam aliquando foret corrupturus in magnam Confusionem praecipitaturus ne habeat liberas habenas hoc faciendi ipse Electione non Successione Haereditariâ eligi debere affirmabat That his mind did not only forebode it but he was inform'd in a Dream from God that one day this John would prove a very ill Prince and therefore he delivered that Doctrine tho' false that John remembring by what Tenure he held his Crown might have a Check upon him to prevent his running out too far in his Extravagancies so that he having acknowledged what he then delivered to be false the contrary must needs be true for there is no medium betwixt them and all this consider'd you may see how much Reason you have to admire the Gentleman's Candor and Sincerity in relating this Transaction But King John had not enjoy'd the Crown long but he
speak not Reason For what Power hath the State to elect while any that is living hath Right to succeed But such a Successor is not the Duke of Lancaster as descended from * So call'd from a Cross he used to wear upon his Back Edmund Crouchback the Elder Son of King Henry the Third tho' put by the Crown for Deformity of his Body For who knows not the Falseness of this Allegation Seeing it is a thing notorious that this Edmund was neither the Elder Brother nor yet Crook-back'd but of a goodly Personage and without any Deformity And your selves cannot forget a thing so lately done who it vvas that in the Fourth year of King Richard vvas declared by Parliament to be Heir to the Crovvn in case King Richard should die without Issue But why then is not that Claim made because Silent Leges inter Arma what disputing of Titles against the stream of Power But however it is extreme injustice that King Richard should be condemned without being heard or once allowed to make his Defence And now my Lords I have spoken thus at this time that you may consider of it before it be too late for as yet it is in your Power to undo that justly which you have unjustly done Thus spoke that Loyal and Good Prelate but to little purpose though there was neither Protestation nor Exception made against this Speech which certainly there would have been had there not been as much Truth as Boldness in vvhat he said And tho' Henry the Fourth did afterwards get the Inheritance of the Crown and Realm of England setled upon himself for Life and the Remainder entailed upon his four Sons by Name and the Issue of their Bodies yet that cannot at all make for my Adversaries purpose since it amounted to no more than a Confirmation of him in the Throne or if it did vve may vvell suppose that a Prince that vvas conscious to himself hovv unjustly he had gain'd his Crown would not be very unwilling to take such a way tho' in derogation to his Prerogative to secure himself if possible tho' not out of an Opinion that they could give him a better Right than they had but because 't is natural to suppose they would upon any occasion be ready to defend what they so solemnly had enacted Come we next to Henry the Fifth who this Gentleman says was Elected But how notoriously false that Assertion of his is will appear from hence that first there was no Parliament called till after his Coronation and in the next place that if the Act of Parliament made in the Seventh Year of Henry the Fourth had so great a Force and Vertue as he says it had it was needless nor can he prove any such thing from that careless and negligent Historian Polydore For Concilium Principum with him does not always signifie a Parliament as any one that has read him which I dare say he never did will perceive nor does his Phrase creare Regem import any more than the King's Coronation besides 't is most untrue which he affirms that Allegiance was never sworn before his Time till after a King was Crowned For the contrary appears from King John and Edward the First Nay 't is undeniably true that the Kings of England have exercised all manner of Royal Jurisdiction precedent to all Ceremony or any Formality whatsoever and that the Death of one King has in that very Moment given Livery and Seisin of the Royalty to the next Heir and by vertue of that Richard the First as a Mark of his Sovereignty immediately on his Father's Death restor'd the Earl of Leicester to his whole Estate Henry the Fifth being dead he was without any Opposition admitted to the Throne although but an Infant but in the Thirty Ninth Year of this King in open Parliament Richard Duke of York the true and rightful Heir to the Crown of England and France made his Challenge and Demand of it as being next Heir to Lionell Duke of Clarence Elder Brother to John of Gaunt from whom descended the House of Lancaster but to this Claim of his it was answered by the King's Friends That the same Crowns were by Act of Parliament Entailed upon Henry the Fourth and the Heirs of his Body from whom King Henry the Sixth did lineally descend * Rot. Parl. 39 H. 6. n. 10. c. The which Act say they as it is in the Record is of Authority to defeat any manner of Title made to any Person To which the Duke of York answerably replies That if King Henry the Fourth might have obtained and enjoyed the said Crowns of England and France by title of Inheritance Descent or Succession he neither needed nor would have desired or made them to be granted to him in such wise as they be by the said Act the which taketh no place nor is of any Force or Effect mind that against him that is Right Inheritor of the said Crowns as it accordeth with God's Laws and all Natural Laws And this Claim and Answer of the Duke of York is expresly acknowledged and recognized by this Parliament to be Good True Just Lawful and Sufficient and 't is agreed that Henry shall hold the Crown during his Life and the Duke of York in the mean time to be reputed and proclaimed Heir Apparent So that we have here as much as can be desired a Parliament not only declaring that a Title to the Crown ought to derive it self only from the Laws of God and Nature and not from any Civil Sanction and acknowledging in at the Bargain that it is beyond the Reach of any Humane Legislative Power to debar and exclude any one that justly claims by such a Right But to â— proceed upon Edward the Fourth's coming to the Crown a Parliament conven'd in the first year of his Reign does acknowledge and recognize his Title in these words as the * Rot. Parl. 1 Ed. 4. n. 8. c. Record has it Knowing also certainly without doubt and ambiguity that by Gods Law and Law of Nature He h. e. Edward the Fourth and none other is and ought to be true right-wise and natural Liege and Sovereign Lord. And that he was in Right from the Death of the said Noble and Famous Prince his Father very just King of the same Realm of England So here again we have another Parliament of the same mind with the last and I doubt not but we shall meet with more of 'em e're we have done When King Edward the Fourth was droven out of his Kingdom by Henry the Sixth 't is true the Crown was again entail'd if it may be properly so call'd upon him and his Heirs c. but still the proceeding was grounded upon the same Bottom with the former Here our Pamphleteer is pleased to make this drowsie Observation that both the Families of York and Lancaster claim'd a Title by Act of Parliament 't is true the latter did because they
to be Hereditary But our Pamphleteer by a strange way of arguing would make us believe that during the Heptarchy because they were governed by divers Laws that therefore their Rule of Succession must be divers as if because France Spain Moscevia Denmark and Sweden are governed by different Laws that therefore they ought not to be Hereditary however it seems he is convinced that some of those Royalties in the Heptarchy were not Elective and if he would but please to read over the History of those times and not rely too much upon Indexes he would be convinced that the Crown in them all did constantly descend to the next Heir unless he were unjustly put by either by some potent Neighbour or powerful and popular Rebell At length seven Kingdoms were united under Egbert and his posterity who succeeded him successively by Hereditary Right and so far are the Historians from constantly mentioning as we are with a great deal of confidence told pag. 1. that we hear not one word of it in any Historian of Account till Edgar had put himself at the Head of his Brother King Edwy's Subjects and had forced him to divide the Kingdom with him and truly I cannot but admire the impudence or at least ignorance of our Author in telling us that Egbert came to the Kingdom of the West Saxons by Election and that he was no way related to Brithric the last King when I dare confidently affirm that there is not one * M. West f. 145. Rex Brithricus filiam Offae Regis Merciorum in conjugium accepit cujas affinitate fultus Egbertum solum regalis prosapiae superstitem quem regni sui utilitatibus futurum metuebat hostem in Franciam fugavit Idem f. 155. defuncto itaque Rege Brithrico successit ei Egbertus in regnum 36 annis qui ex regali illius gentis prosapiâ originem ducens multa potenter regna suo adjecit imperio H. Huntingd. lib. 5. Flor. Wigorn. f. 563. An. 802. R. de Hoveden Annal. p. priore f. 413. Historian but sayes he was next Heir and only remaining Branch of that Royal Stem and that upon Brithric's death he succeeded him in his Kingdom without the least mention of any Election and I am sure a man can scarce look into any of the Monkish Writers but he shall find a †M. Westm f. 166. cum multis aliis Genealogy of this Egbert one of whose direct Ancestors was Brother to the great Ina King of the West Saxons who was descended in a direct Line from Cerdie the first King of that people in England but these kind of shifts whether ignorant or malicious I determine not are very frequent To Egbert succeeded his Eldest Son ** M. West f. 155. cui sc Egberto succedens Aethelulphus filius ejus 20 annis 5 mensibus imperavit Ethelwolf not by Election but Birth-right who out of a mistaken Devotion went to Rome and carrying his youngest Son †M. West f. 158. Alfred whom he loved above any of his Children with him and designing if possible to make him his Successor he prevailed with the Pope to Anoint and Crown him King which certainly was a very preposterous way of going about it if it had been in the peoples power to chuse their King for then the most natural way had been to make his Address to them that had the power in their hands ‖ Ibidem exorta est contra Regem praedictum magnatum quorundam conspiratio ita quod factâ conjuratione ab Aethelbaldo filio regis primogenito quod à Româ repatrians nunquam reciperetur in Regnum causa erat quod filium juniorem Aelfredum quasi aliis a sorte regni exclusis in Regem Romae secerat Coronari but however this Action of the Fathers so much alarm'd the Eldest Son Ethelbald that rather than he would so unjustly be deprived of his undoubted Right he resolved to deprive his Father of his Kingdom and upon this specious pretence raised so strong a Faction against him that the Father to bring him again to his Duty was forced to share his Kingdom with him and this Prince wisely considering that if he did not contribute toward the avoiding of it his death might be the occasion of a great deal of Bloodshed amongst his four Children by ††M. Westm f. 159. Aethelulphus de suo transitu ad vitam Universitatis cogitans nè filii ejus post obitum suum inter se disceptarent haereditariam scribere imperavit Epistolam in quâ regni inter filios Aethelbaldum Aethelbertum divisionem procuravit c. paulò postea Aethelberto filiorum secundo Regnum Cantiae cum Sussexiâ concessit filius ejus primogenitus Aethelbaldus in West-Saxiâ pro patre regnavit his Will in his life-time he ordained That his Lands should be distributed amongst his two younger Sons and Daughter but his ** H. Huntingd. Hist l. 5. f. 348. Aethelbaldo filio suo reliquit praedictus Rex nobilissimus sc Aethelusphus Regnum Haereditatium Westsexe Adelbricto filio suo alii reliquit Regnum Cantiae Estsexe Sudsexe Hereditary Kingdom of the West Saxons he bequeathed to his Eldest Son Ethelbald and the Kingdoms of Kent Essex and Sussex to his Second Son Ethelbert to be held in Fee of his Elder Brother and upon his death his Eldest Son Ethelbald succeeded him according to his Fathers Will he dying issueless Ethelbert as next in Blood sate upon the Throne and so his two younger Brethren Ethelred and Alfred by right of Inheritance and according to proximity of Blood successively came to the Crown Upon the whole matter it may be I think reasonably concluded not insisting upon the silence of History from these two particulars that the Kingdom was nothing less than Elective first because it is irrational to think that Ethelmolf would have pretended to have appointed and nominated a Successor if the Crown had not gone then by Birth-right And in the next place I cannot conceive why Alfred who was a kind of * Flor. Wigorn. fol. 587. Quo sc Aethelred supra memoratus Aelfredus qui usque ad id tempus venientibus fratribus suis fuerat secondarius totius regni gubernacula divino concedente nutu cum summâ omnium illius regni accolarum voluntate confestim suscepit Vicegerent to all his other Brethren should wait their Death before he took upon him the Government for if the Choice of the people had been sufficient to entitle him to the Crown he had never wanted that since he was their †Asser Menevens in vit Alfred f. 7. Quod sc Regnum etiam vivente fratre suo si dignaretur accipere facillimè cum omnium illius gentis accolarum potuerat invenire Darling all along especially if the Unction and Coronation by the Pope be considered for that though of no force or efficacy in it self yet might have been easily improved into
a most excellent and fair pretence therefore I persuade my self it was only the consideration of his Elder Brothers Right according to the Laws of God and Nature that deterred this Excellent and Learned Prince from being allured by the inviting and almost irresistable temptations of a Crown in prejudice of those that had a greater Right than himself But if such a Rule of Succession as I am contending for were in use at that time how could Athelstan Grandchild to Alfred succeed his Father Edward the Elder to the dis-inherizon of his Brother Edmund if he as this Gentleman would have us believe were a Bastard but what if there be no such thing for I for my part cannot find that he was if our Historiographer have any Author besides Polydor by him that the World has not yet been blest with the sight of he would do well to produce him for the publick good but till then since I have got some ‖ Flo. Wigorn. f. 598. M. Westm f. 184 W. Malmesb l. 2. c. 6. f. 76. good Writers on my side I may without any disparagement to the Gentlemans remarksincerity and faithfulness hold Athelstan to be as legitimate as himself The next instance he gives us to shew that the Crown descended not according to proximity of Blood is ** Florent Wigornens f. 604. M. Westm f. 188. Defuncto itaque Edmundo Edredus frater ejus regni diadema suscepit reliquit quoque duos filios haeredes legitimos Edwinum Edgarum qui repugnante illegitimâ aetate patri succedere non valebant R. Hoveden par 1. f. 423. W. Malmesb l. 2. c. 7. f. 55. Edreds Succession to his Brother Edmond though the deceased Prince had left two Sons behind him but he forgets to tell us they were Minors and upon that account their Uncle the Office of Protector being not then in use was Crowned King tho' by this odd Custom it often happen'd that the lawfull Heirs were deprived of their Right for notwithstanding they were under an Obligation to resign as soon as their Kinsmen came to Age yet so strong were the Temptations and so sweet the Enjoyment of a Crown to an ambitious Soul that rather than they would submit to a just resignation of that which was but committed to them in Trust for another they would break through all Laws Humane and Divine to maintain that by Force which contrary to Reason and Justice they had usurped But however in this case it happen'd otherwise for Edred dying very opportunely was succeeded by his Nephew Edwy he after a short but troublesome Reign had his Brother Edgar for Successor who having governed his Subjects in peace and plenty and to his own Eternal Honour left the Crown to his Eldest Son * Brompton f. 872. M. Westm f. 193. Edward who on the account of his barbarous and cruel Death contrived by his inhumane Step-mother was afterwards called the Martyr But his Coronation was a little obstructed by a Faction of the Nobility who endeavour'd to advance Ethelred to the Throne being animated thereto by Alfdritha his Mother that she during his minority for he was but seven years of Age might satisfie her Ambition by domineering it over the Kingdom †M. Westm ubi supra Vt potius sub ejus nomine regnare videretur for they pretended that Edward was illegitimate and therefore ought not to be preferr'd before his Brother Ethelred who was the true Heir to his Father and to whom therefore the Crown was dire so that the dispute was not who should but who ought to be King nor was it carried by Interest in favour of Edward as our Pamphleteer would persuade us but by right for Dunstan Archbishop of Canterbury being fully satisfied of the justness of his Title without suffering a thing so clear any longer to be debated according as his Father had commanded * M. Westâ—â— ubi supra Fl. VVigorit f. 605. ut pater ejus moriens dictitaverat are the very words of the Historian consecrated Edward King which he surely durst never have done if he could have derived his Right from no other Original than the Choice of the People But tho' none of those Instances alledged by him yet are of force enough to prove what he produced them for yet we are not to suppose a man of his Infinite Reading cannot find out something that at a dead lift may serve his turn and truly I cannot but admire his excellence that way he has had the good luck to hit upon the most admirable passage and so pat for his purpose that 't is impossible to match it in any of those most incomparable and delectable Histories of Montelion Knight of the Oracle Amadis of Gaul Parismus and Parismenus there 's nothing in them either for pleasure or astonishment but comes a Mile behind what this Gentleman's Author the Canting Abbot of Rievalis can help us to and to the everlasting credit of his Wit and Invention be it spoken his Life of Edward the Confessor from one end to the other is as perfect Romance as any of 'em and truly amongst all his Romantick Tales and I assure you they amount to no sinall number this of Choosing of Edward by the Estates whil'st in his Mothers Womb is one of the most improbable For not to insist upon the universal silence of all our Historians in this matter which if any such thing had been it would have been a most unpardonable fault in them not to have mention'd not I say to insist upon this No man certainly in his right Wits can think so wise an Assembly as was composed of all the Noblemen of England could be guilty of so much folly and madness as to choose a Child and that unborn too for their King and reject several brave and worthy Princes since they could not be ignorant how many inconveniencies and Convulsions a People are subject to whose King is a Child and they could not rationally expect the Father would live till their future Monarch was past his Minority besides the Kingdom being actually invaded by the Danes stood then in need of a Prince that was Active Prudent and Valiant and as I think they could not be reasonably suppos'd guilty of so extreamly foolish an Action so neither in my mind ought we to be so uncharitable as to imagine them so prodigiously wicked as that contrary to all Equity and Justice they should afterwards as basely forsake and reject as they had rashly tho' solemnly chosen the poor Prince surely none can believe they can stand chargeable with two Crimes of so great a magnitude For my own part I cannot be persuaded that this Gentleman can be so senseless as to believe so evident a Forgery or that he would have had the confidence to have made use of it had lie not devoted himself to buoy up an Interest that is able to support it self upon no better grounds than a company of specious and plausible
were they being at that time in Hungary and having few or no Friends to assert their Right by the Power and Interest of Earl Godwin whose Daughter Edward had married the †F. nigorn f. 624. M. VVestm f. 212. VV. Gemiticens de Ducibus Norman in vit Guliel Conq. c. 9. Confessor as the lawful and next Heir was advanced to the Crown but he good Prince knowing the Right his Nephew had to the Crown sends for him home that after his death he might succeed in that Kingdom which Jure Haereditario ei debebatur sayes one of our most considerable ‖ M. VVestm f. 221. Fl. Wigorn. f. 633. W. Malms c. ult lib. 2. f. 93. ut aut ille aut filii sui succedant regno Haereditario Angliae Historians was due to him by Hereditary Right and if so how could the Government be Elective Nor was there any danger like to accrue to Edward by this since not only the memory of so great an Obligation as this was would keep him from attempting any thing in his Uncles prejudice but if he had any such Design he being so great a Stranger would want a sufficient Interest to bear him out But he dying presently after his Arrival his Eldest Son Edgar was look'd upon by every one to be Heir Apparent to the Crown which all our ** M. VVest f. 221. M. Paris f. 2. c. Historians with open cry tell us was his due by Birth-right nay so commonly was the opinion received that he was vulgarly called Atheling which what it signifies we shall best be informed by an Old English Poet speaking of the endeavours of some Honest and Great Men to have had this Edgar crowned according to Law Justice and Equity in this manner The gode tryewomen of the londe wolde aabbe ymade King Rob of Gloucester The kind cir the young child Edgar Atheling Who so were next King by kinde me cluped him Atheling Therefore me cluped him so vor by kind he was King And since this Edgar had no Title to the Crown upon the Account of any Election but by Right or Blood and Inheritance which are things altogether incompatable with an Elective Government I cannot for my Life understand how any man can find any thing to favour my Adversarie's Opinion And tho' his Party not being strong enough to assert his Right he was put by by ††M. Paris f. 2. Fl. wigorn 633. Harald Earl Godwin's Son yet every Body must acknowledge it was most unjustly done since Harald could neither pretend right of Blood nor Election For it was so far from that that he contrary to the Rights of Holy Church without any Ceremony and without expecting either the Votes of the Nobility or the Assistance of the Prelates he set the Crown upon his own Head nor durst any body gain-say it ‖‖ W. Gemiticens ubi supra For he had a great part of the Land of England in his own Possession but were *** Extortâ fide a majoribus sibi regnum ut iujurias suas acumularet ampliores diadema sine ecclesiasticâ authoritate imponendo asseruit M. P. ubi supra forc'd and compell'd for fear to swear Allegiance to him But at length he met with a just Reward for his Disloyalty losing both his Crown and Life at once to Duke William who had as little Right as he And thus I hope I have made it clearly evident that my Antagonist has been wretchedly mistaken in all his Instances during the Saxons Government and tho' he pretend he pick'd but a few out of the many he could have produced yet without disparagement to his exquisite Discernment I think I may truly say he must have had a great deal better Eyes than my self to have found them and a great deal more Dexterity than I can perceive he is Master of to have by wresting and Wire-drawing the meaning of his Authors made more But tho' he may have had ill luck hitherto in his Undertaking yet perhaps he may succeed better in his Endeavours after the Normans had made themselves Masters of this Island but I am afraid when we come to examine How and in what manner and upon what Grounds the Natural course of the Descent hath been changed We shall find very little reason not still to seem astonished at the boldness of the men who would persuade us that a Link of the sacred Chain of Succession may be broke so often as a Parliament thinks fit For if we look but with an impartial Eye upon the History of those times we shall find that such a course of Succession as I am contending for has been constantly conserved unless diverted out of its duc Channel by some powerful and ambitious Prince who by Cunning Subtilty Artifice and Address and by the Assistance of some Popular Friend has jugled himself into the Throne and tho' we find some of them debasing their Prerogative truckling to and courting the People for their Approbation thereby hoping to strengthen a crack'd Title and make up in Power and their Favour what it wanted as to its Legality I presume no man of even Common Sence can take that for an Election since it ought to be a Solemn Free Sedate and deliberate Act which I am sure none of my Adversaries Instances can pretend to be Besides it seems very strange to me that the Kings of those Times should Intitle themselves to the Crown only from the Consent of the People and that we should no where find mention of * Vicar Generals they are stiled in the Empire Administrators of the Government betwixt the Death of the preceding King and the Election of his Successor since without such a Provision and such a one I am sure there never was the Kingdom must necessarily have run into Anarchy and Confufion especially if the Crown were engaged in a War at the Death of any King which has above once happen'd therefore I think my Lord Coke †In the Preface to his fourth Book of Reports had reason for saying This Kingdom is a Monarchy successive by inherent Birth-right of all others the most absolute and perfect Form of Government excluding Interregnums and with it infinite Inconveniencies But proceed we now to examine his Proofs and first he tells us King William himself being illegitimate yet succeeded his Father in the Dutchy of Normandy and therefore had no great reason to set any great value upon that sort of Title which is derived from Right of Blood But if he had pleas'd to have examin'd the matter a little more narrowly he would have found that ‖ M. Westm f. 208. W. Malmsb lib. 3. f. 95. Arlotte the Conqueror's Mother was afterwards lawful Wife to Duke Robert which subsequent Marriage was according to the then almost univerfally received Canon Law not only sufficient to render him Legitimate quoad Sacerdotium but quoad Successionem too tho' the latter was not allowed of in England
that But what his thoughts were as to the justness of that Title M. Paris after he has told us that the Enterview between the King and his Brother Robert in order to compose their differences for the latter had laid claim to the Crown as his Birth-right and had no inconsiderable Party to back him in it had proved ineffectual and that the breach was thereby rather widened than lessened * Rex itaque Henricus sentiens Conscienciam suam in obtentu regni cauteriatam erat quippe eleganter literatus utpote a primaevâ aetate praecepto Patris addictus literis jam in jure quod audiverat secretò expeditus cepit iu semetipso impetus insurgentium formidare Dei justitiam in ipsum fulminare eo quod fratri suo primogenito cui Jus Regni manifestè competebat temerè usurpando Injustè nimis abstulerat sed plus timens homines quam Deum Regni Nobiles primò subdolis pollicitis inclinando conciliavit cogitans postea perfundationem Abbatiae quam construere proposuerat de tantâ injuriâ Deo satisfacere M. Par. vit H. 1 Anno 1104. informs us that Henry who wasb both lately instructed in the Law concerning this point and otherwise very learned feeling the stings of Conscience for his unjust obtaining of the Crown in prejudice of his elder Brother he began to be afraid of his Adversaries and to fear the just Judgement of God Almighty for depriving him of and wickedly usurping it seems the Election of the People could not render him guiltless of so foul a Crime that Kingdom which he had a manifest Right to so that the people were very far from having a power to deprive the one of his Birth right much less to confer it on another But he notwithstanding all this fearing man rather than God endeavoured to incline the Nobility to his party by crafty promises hoping to satisfie God for the Commission of so great an Injury by founding a Religious House A strange way you will say of attoning for so horrible Impiety And thus you see what a slender Opinion this wise Prince who had as much reason to set a Value upon it as any one had of a Title that was built upon no surer Bottom than the Choice of the People Henry fearing least some body might do as much for his Son William as he had done for his Brother having call'd a Council made all his great Men swear Faith and Allegiance to him 't is †M. P. s 66. Gervas Chron. 1138. fecit jurare in the Original tho' our Pamphleteer would fain insinuate the contrary But William being dead in the 27th year of his Reign as we are inform'd at large from ‖ W. Mâlmsb Hist Novel l. 1. f. 175. Malmsbury Henry calls a Council and having opened the justness of his Daughter the Empress Maud's Title to the Crown as being descended on one side from William the Conqueror and deriving her self on her Mother's Side from the Blood Royal of the Saxons who in a long continued and uninterrupted Series of Kings lineally Succeeding one another had enjoy'd the Crown till the Arrival of the Conqueror he commands all there present of any Moment to swear Fealty to his Daughter And ** W. Malmsb Hist Nov. f. 177. Anno 31 regni sui Rex Henricus rediit in Angliam Imperatrix quoque eodem anno natali solo adventum exhibuit habitoque non parvo procerum conventu apud Northamptonam priscam fidem apud eos qui dederant novavit ab iis qui non dederant accepit again in his 31. year he called another Council and made all those that had sworn before renew their Oath and took it of those that had neglected it before Which to me is clear Evidence that this was nothing less than Election of the Empress for their future Sovereign since 't is very unlikely they needed have perform'd that Ceremony more than once much less twice in four years besides here is no mention of chosing or any thing like it but only of swearing Faith and Allegiance to which add that this Council here and all along before spoken of was composed only of such persons as were Tenants in Capite to the King Yet notwithstanding all this care upon the death of the King her Father Maud was most unjustly deprived of her Right and by him too that always had been the first man that sware to the contrary For Stephen * P. Virg. l. 12. M. Par. vit Steph. An. 1135. being a man of great Resolution and a very good Souldier whereby he had acquired no small reputation and gain'd a very considerable Interest and being assisted by several of his Friends and more particularly Henry Bishop of Winchester he thought it would prove no hard matter to set the Crown upon his own Head but at the first discovery of his Design a great many of the Nobility were extremely startled at the Horrid Impiety of the Man which he perceiving began to soften 'em with fair words and large promises of future rewards but that which did him the best service was ready money a Golden Bait that seldom fails of being swallowed by all to whom 't is proffer'd He obliged himself moreover to consent to such good and gentle Laws as they should devise and so by these Arts and the restless endeavors of his Friends he made a shift to squeeze himself into the Throne contrary to his repeated and solemn Oaths to the contrary and all Laws Divine and Humane and yet this has the good luck to pass with this Gentleman for an Election but certainly he must take his Readers for either Fools or Mad-men to think they would be imposed on by such silly Cheats as this Stephen had come to the Government too unjustly to be like to continue in it long without Disturbance for presently the Empress endeavor'd to recover and regain that right she was so impiously deprived of and after various Fortune of War she having resigned her right to her Son Henry Stephen and he by the Intercession of several good and Holy Bishops came to a final Agreement God looking down upon the Justice of Henry's Cause Stephen in an Assembly of a great many of the Bishops and other Great Men * Rex Stephanus recognovit in conventu Episcoporum aliorum regni optimatum quod jus Haereditarium Dux Henricus in regnum habebat Dux benignè concessit ut Rex Stephanus totâ vitâ suâ si vellet Regnum pacificè possideret c. M. Par. vit Steph. 1153. f. 86. M. Westm f. 246. acknowledged that Henry had an Hereditary Right to the Kingdom and if so I would fain know with what Justice the people can pretend to any power of disposing of the Crown and he was graciously pleased to grant that Stephen as long as he liv'd if he were so minded might still enjoy the Government and then those present were sworn quietly upon the Death
time after left the Crown to this Young Prince another of our unfortunate Kings †P. Virg. lib. 19. 20. and so far is it from being true that his Title to the Crown was questioned by John of Gaunt the great Duke of Lancaster that he was at the latter end of his Father's Reign intrusted with the Lieutenancy of the Realm and after his Death was Protector to the Young King during his Minority which certainly had never been if John of Gaunt jure propinquitatis had claim'd the Crown it being dangerous to put so great a Trust and Power into the hands of a Competitor Nor was ever the Succession confirm'd to him by Parliament any otherwise than I have mentioned Neither can Polydore's Regem dicunt if you leave out this Gentleman 's disingenuous Addition of by their Common Suffrages for there is no such thing in the Original signifie any more than that he was proclaimed King But it would be well for this unhappy Prince if he might but as quietly quit as he enter'd into the Throne but alas it fell out quite otherwise For King Richard being made Prisoner by his Cousin Henry of Lancaster a Parliament was Summoned by him in the King's Name in the one and twentieth year of his Reign to meet at Westminster An action certainly illegal in it self for if the Kings Summons were necessary as it appears it was I would gladly know how it can be pretended in this Case that this Parliament did convene by his Authority for tho' the Writs were issued out in his Name yet was he so far from consenting to it that if it had lay'n in his power he would have prevented it But this Assembly or Parliament call it what you will being got together I would fain be inform'd upon what Law or Authority I mean Legal they grounded their following Proceedings for if the Breath of the Kings Nostrils was necessary to give them their Being it is a little irrational to suppose they could thence derive a Lawful Power to destroy the Author of their Life besides how can it be supposed they could proceed justly to pass a Final Sentence upon Him whose concurrance was absolutely required to give birth to any Law which might concern his meanest Subjects tho' they thought it ne're so convenient and why should we believe it in the Power of the Estates of the Realm to impose any thing upon the King when he could bind them to observe nothing without their consent first obtained and yet our Pamphleteer is not ashamed to avouch this as a President of Parliamentary Power in the Point of Succession But if we do but examine the matter a little more narrowly we shall find it makes very little for his purpose unless it be his Design and a man must have a great deal of Charity to believe it is not to instruct the people how to proceed in case their King will not do as they would have him for we shall find that tho' they usurped the exorbitant Power of Deposing Richard yet did they not pretend to the power of Electing who they pleas'd but thought themselves in duty bound to submit to him to whom by Right of Blood the Crown did belong And this evidently appears from Henry Duke of Lancaster's manner of laying Claim to the Crown for no sooner was the Throne void by the pretended voluntary Resignation of King Richard but Henry first having fortified himself with the sign of the Cross stood up and made his demand of the Crown in his Mother-Tongue in this form of Word as I have extracted them out of the * Rot. Parl. 1 H. 4. memb 20. Parliament Roll In the Name of the Fader Sonne and Holy Gost I Henry of Lancastre challenge this Rewme of Ynglonde and the Corone with all the Membres and the Appurtenances al 's I that am descendit by ryght line of the blode comyng fro the gude Lord King Henry therde By this you may see vvhat it vvas he laid the stress of his Claim on and thorghe that Right that God of his Grace hath sent me He it seems acknovvledges God and not the people for the Author of his Right with the help of my Ryn and of my Friendes to recover it the which Rewme was in point to be ondone for defaut of Governance and undoyng of the gude Lawes After which Chalenge and Claim says the Record as well the Lords Spiritual as Temporal all and all the States there present being severally and all interrogated what they thought of the aforesaid Challenge and Claim The above-named States with all the Commonalty without any difficulty or delay unanimously agreed that the aforesaid Duke should reign over them And this being the Naked Truth of the matter I cannot imagine with what propriety of Speech this can be called an Election or what reason this Gentleman had for to say that the above-mentioned Title was the least of all insisted on when it appears from the Roll as I have faithfully translated it that no other was so much as mentioned And thus we have heard how the poor and unfortunate Prince Richard the Second from whose Actions if they be but examined with an impartial Eye we cannot conclude him to have been either very insufficient or evil if we soberly weigh the Imputations that were objected against him we shall find nothing of any truth or at least any moment was in a tempestuous Rage deprived of his Right and upon what Grounds Henry 4. mounted his Throne But how justly even in the Opinion of some at that time you will best be inform'd from Thomas Merks Bishop of Carlisle a wise and Learned man and of no less Courage who when it was moved in Parliament what should be done with King Richard He boldly stood up and spoke to this Effect as it is set down by * Bak. Chron. f. 158. Sir Richard Baker and since it is so much to the purpose I hope the reader will not be displeased with the length of it My Lords The matter now propounded is of marvellous Weight and Consequence wherein there are two points chiefly to be considered The First Whether King Richard be sufficiently put out of his Throne The Second whether the Duke of Lancaster be lawfully taken in For the First How can that be sufficiently done when there is no Power sufficient to do it The Parliament cannot for of the Parliament the King is the Head and can the Body put down the Head You will say the Head may how it self down and may the King resign It is true but what force is in that which is done by Force And who knows not that King Richard's Resignation was no other But suppose he be sufficiently out yet how comes the Duke of Lancaster to be lawfully in If you say by Conquest you speak Treason For what Conquest without Arms And can a Subject take up Arms and not be Treason If you say by Election of the State you
praedicta contenta concedit ac ea pro vero indubio pronunciat decernit declarat So here we have as much as can be desired a Parliament that had assumed a very extravagant Power yet declaring that the Kings of England do derive their Titles from God and Nature only and that this was consonant to the known Custom and Ancient Practice of the Realm But the innocent Blood of this barbarous and cruel Tyrant's Nephews whom he had caus'd inhumanely to be murder'd crying to Heaven for Vengeance God raised up one to deprive him at once both of his Grown and Life I mean Henry Duke of Richmond of whom the judicious * 7 Book in fine Comines says Qu' il n' avoit Croix ne Pile ne nul Droit come Ico croy al a Corone d' Angleterre Come we now to the Consideration of the Methods he used to establish himself in his new-gotten Kingdom after the Death of †Bacon's Hist of H. 7. f. 4. Edit London 1622. Richard and we shall learn that from the best of our Historians in his Life of that wise Prince who tell us that the King after his Victory at Bosworth Field being come to London was very much distracted in his Choice of a Title to the Crown as whether he should claim it by Right of Conquest but that he judged a very dangerous and unsatisfactory way or in Right of the Lady Elizabeth Heiress to the House of York whom he had promised and intended to marry But as to this he considered that he should be a King only by Courtesie and Tho' he should obtain by Parliament says my Lord Bacon to be continued for otherwise he must upon his Queen's Death have resign'd yet he knew there was a very great difference between a King that holdeth his Crown by a Civil Act of the Estates and one mind that that holdeth it Originally by the Law of Nature and Descent of Blood So far he Therefore upon those Considerations he resolv'd to rest upon the Title and Right of the House of Lancaster as the Main as that which would prove his surest Card For tho' he could not be ignorant that upon several Accounts that Title could not stand the Test of a severe and legal Tryal yet he knew very well that it was not only very foolish to dispute such things with a man that had thirty Legions at his Beck but that there could be no occasion for it during the Life of his Queen who was true Heir to the Kingdom and after her Death he might hope the Sence of Filial Duty would deter her Children from any Attempt to disturb him yet however his opportune Death vvas look'd upon by many as his greatest Happiness vvhereby he vvas vvithdravvn from any future Blovv of Fortune which certainly in regard of the great hatred of his People and the Title of his Son being then come to Eighteen years of Age and being a bold Prince and liberal and that gain'd upon the People by his very Aspect and Presence had not been impossible to have come upon him as the Judicious Bacon * Hist of H. 7. f. 231. words it With this Resolution he was Crown'd and having call'd a Parliament you see he did think an Act of theirs necessary to make him King tho' he thought it convenient to confirm him where an Act was pass'd for settling the Crown upon him †Hist of H. 7. f. 11. which he did not press to have pen'd by way of Declaration or Recognition of Right as on the other side he avoid to have it by new Law or Ordinance but chose rather a kind of middle way by way of Establishment and that under covert and indifferent words That the Inheritance of the Crown should rest remain and abide in the King c. which words might equally be applied that the Crown should continue to him but whether as having former Right to it which was doubtful or having then in Fact or Possession which no man denied was left fair to Interpretation either way And this Statute he procured to be confirm'd by the Pope's Bull the year following which is a plain Proof he relied not so much upon the Power of a Parliament as this Gentleman would persuade us nor can there be drawn from this proceeding of King Henry's any thing that makes more for the Authority of a Parliament in these matters than for the Popes which I am sure no Sober man but must allow to be none at all Besides this Prudent King was so conscious of the Weakness of his own Title notwithstanding this Act of Parliament that in the Troubles that happen'd very often in his Reign to prevent the Peoples prying and enquiry into the Justness of it he got an an Act to pass ‖ Lord Bacon's History of H. 7. f. 144. in the Eleventh year of his Reign that no man that assisted him in Wars should afterwards be deem'd or taken for a Traytor nor should be impeach'd therefore or attainted either by the Course of the Law or by Act of Parliament and truly it was agreable to good Conscience that whatsoever the Fortune of the War were the Subject should not suffer for his Obedience His Argument drawn from the Oath of Allegiance and other Publick Test and Securities after what I have said already will appear so ill considered a pretence that I should but lose time in standing to confute it I shall then proceed to Henry the 8th his Son and Successor and see if any thing can be gathered from thence that may make for our Pamphleteer's purpose And I doubt not but it will appear that whatever was done in that Great Prince's Reign was rather the Effect of his extravagant Capricious Lust or Revenge than founded upon the true Maxims of Justice Equity or Lawful Authority For Sir W. R. in his Preface to the History of the World can tell us that his violent Hatred to the Elder House of Scotland was the cause of most of those Acts using says he his sharpest Weapons to cut off and hew down those Branches which sprang from the same Root that himself did but yet that Blood which the same King affirm'd that the Cold Air of Scotland had frozen up in the North God hath diffus'd by the Sun-shine of his Grace from whence His Majesty now living and whom God grant long to live is descended And as for the rest they were consented to or rather to speak Truth forced from the Parliament by the King for he used to make them do what he had a mind to to satisfie some wild Humor of his though to the prejudice of his Prerogative For the legality and unlawfulness of his second Marriage depending upon the validity or weakness of the Popes Dispensation which by the generality of the World was then thought unexceptionable it is no wonder if Henry the Eighth contrary to the natural greatness of his Soul call'd to his Assistance his Parliament with
which his ipse dixi was a Law to cut that Gordian Knot asunder which he was not able to unty But it is time now to examine the palpable contradictions of those several mad and extravagant Acts that he made and first in the * Stat. 25. H. 8. c. 22. 25th year of his Reign after he was Divorced from Queen Katherine and had married Queen Anne The Parliament having in the Preamble to the following Act declared what great miseries and how many troubles had befallen this Realm by reason of the ambiguity of the several Titles to the Crown do think themselves bound in duty by a Declaration of the true Heir to avoid the causes of such Distractions for the future It is therefore Enacted and Ordained That the Kings Marriage with the late Queen Katherine is void as directly contrary to the Laws of God and therefore not dispensable with by the Pope or any Humane Power whatsoever They therefore bastardize Mary and declare the Marriage between his Majesty and Queen Anne to be just and lawful and that the Children of their two Bodies begotten shall be and are legitimate and then in default of Issue Male entail the Crown upon the Lady Elizabeth c. and every one by the Sanctimony of an Oath is bound to the observation and performance of this And the next Parliament does Enact a particular Oath for that purpose whereby every one is bound to bear Faith Truth and Obedience only to the King's Majesty and to his Heirs of his Body of his most Dear and entirely beloved lawful Wife Queen Anne begotten or to be begotten But mark what follows a few years after 't is Enacted St. 28. H. 8. c. 7. That the people shall forswear themselves the late Marriage is declared unlawful null and void the Lady Elizabeth is Bastardized as the Lady Mary was in the former Parliament and the King's Marriage with Queen Jane is acknowledged consonant to the Law of God the Crown entailed upon their Issue and for failure of them the King is impowred to dispose of the Crown to whom he please by his Letters Patents or his last Will and the whole Nation was obliged by the Sanctimony of an Oath to the observation of this Law So that you have at once not only Swearing backward and forward but the Crown made Elective if Act of Parliament can make it so which had always hitherto been Hereditary which so many unbiassed Parliaments had declared was due to the next Heir by Inherent Birth-right and by the Laws of God and Nature a Title sure unimpeachable by any Civil Power and all this in open defiance of all Equity Justice and Common Reason on purpose to dis-inherit the House of Scotland which as much as Humane Power could do it was by this Act done and to advance his Bastard Son Henry Fitz-Roy whom he most entirely loved to the Throne But not yet content to put a period to his extravagancy in the 35th year of his Reign he caus'd it to be Enacted That after his Death and the Death of Prince Edward without Issue the Crown should be to the Lady Mary and the Heirs of her Body but subject to such Conditions as the King should limit by his Letters Patents or by his last Will and if the Lady Mary performed not those Conditions that then the Crown should go to the Lady Elizabeth and if the Lady Elizabeth neglected to perform such Conditions then it should go to such other person as the King should appoint And he was again impowred by his Letters Patents or last Will to grant the Remainder or Reversion of the Crown to what person he should appoint and the whole Nation is again bound to the observation thereof By an Oath But surely no man will argue from these contradictory and wild Acts that the King and Parliament have any power to limit and alter the Succession since if we believe those Parliaments I have before mentioned 39 H. 6. 1 E. 4.1 R. 3. we shall find that to be removed beyond the reach of any mortal Arm and reserved to the only disposal of Him by whom Kings Reign and Princes Decree Justice And certainly we have as much reason to believe them as can be rationally expected since 't is very natural for those that assume so much power to themselves as they did to screw it up when their hands are in to the highest pin for 't is not likely that they if they could have found the least shadow of Evidence to the contrary would out of a Complement to God Almighty have thrown back that Power into his hands which he had once pleased to bestow upon and invest in them Nor need we at all wonder to find a Prince of King Henry's Spirit and Native greatness of mind fall so beneath his usual Majesty in such things since perhaps no Prince can be met withall in whom there concenter'd a greater number of odd and anomalous Circumstances which did incline him to crave in Aid of his Parliament for he being one that would sacrifice every thing to his Humour Lust or Revenge he was forced to take this course to remove all the Letts that stood in his way as far as Humane Power could carry them Therefore I am persuaded these Acts of Parliament ought no more to be urged as Precedents for us to guide our selves by than his Arbitrary and Illegal Methods of bringing those that had the misfortune to fall into his hatred to the Block without being once heard or suffer'd to make their defence And as these are not permitted to be drawn into practice tho' done by the Legislative Power as well as the other because of their manifest injustice and illegality I cannot for my Life see why the other should 't is a Riddle beyond my skill to unfold I shall pass by some of this Gentleman's Paragraphs as not worh insisting upon and come to his Proofs drawn from Queen Elizabeth's Reign and indeed 't is in an Act made the 13th of that Princess that the whole Party place their main strength but I hope I shall be able to make it appear if every Circumstance be duly considered that induced that Glorious Queen to do some things that tended highly to the manifest derogation of her Prerogative which at other times she was so tender of that nothing can be gather'd from thence which will really do any service to my Adversaries Opinion For if as all Casuists hold those Oaths and Promises which are extorted by fear or force are not Obligatory I cannot tell why those things which by meer necessity upon those very accounts she was compell'd to as well for the preservation of her Body Natural as Politick should be denied the priviledge of being dissolved upon that very score that other things of the same Nature are And that they were no other things than what I have before mentioned that caused this Great Queen to fall beneath her self and court her people
Consult God's Sacred Oracles it will be found that He sufficiently provided for the Safety and Happiness of those upon whom He hath Stamped his own Image by instituting a particular form of Government immediately upon the Creation of the First Man the great Fore-Father of Us all I know I shall here be told that 't is granted me God did institute Government in General but as to the distinct Species thereof He left it to the choice of Men as they should think most Convenient for themselves but Did not God know better than they what was most fit and requisite for them And Is it not then very likely that they should be accordingly Provided for And not to insist that it is hardly conceivable how Government could be instituted by God and yet none of the particular Forms be at that time existent not to insist I say how any thing can be in Genere and not in Specie I think 't is clear from ‖ 1.28 Genesis that God gave Adam the Dominion and Empire over all the World when he so solemnly blessed him Be Fruitful and Multiply and Replenish the Earth and Subdue and have Dominion over the Fish of the Sea and over the Fowl of the Air and over ever living thing that moveth upon the Earth A Text so express and clear that even the great †Mar. Claus l. 1. c. 4. Selden is forced to acknowledge there could not before the Flood be any such thing as Community Gen. c. 4. v. 2. but that Adam is made hereby sole Proprietor of the World and by his Donation or Cession no doubt it was that we find Abel possessed of Cattle and Pastures and Cain Master of his Corn-Fields and certainly Cain cannot be supposed so very Foolish as to have Built a City and call'd it by the Name of his Son Enoch Gen 4.17 unless he could have lest it to his Posterity which he could not pretend to do if there had not been such a thing as Property But if Adam thus expresly had not been made Soveraign Lord of the Universe yet could not the Government of Mankind be denied him without offering force to Reason and bidding open defiance to Nature for all the World being sprung from his Loins the Tye of Filial duty would bind all to Obedience for no doubt as Father he might claim a Dominion and Regal Power over his Children and from hence we may very well derive the Original of Government and that particular form of it call'd Monarchy nor will it appear at all irrational upon that account to assert Monarchy to have been founded and instituted by God and Nature For no Man could be Born free since all Mankind must owe both their being and subjection to their Natural Parents by the Law of God and Nature So that upon this account Adam being invested with a Patriarchal and uncontrolable Power not only over his Children but those that were Descended from them during his Life which being transmitted to his Eldest Son after his Death and so on there could never be any time when there was no Government since there were any to be Governed Perhaps it may be Objected that though Adam might have a Power over his Children whilst they continued in his Family yet when that grew too Narrow for them and they were removed and had formed distinct Ones of their own he could not pretend to any Jurisdiction there But I would fain know of these Men whether the Obligation to be Obedient to Parents does not continue still in full force notwithstanding their removal and if it does as I am sure no Man in his right Wits can deny why the Father's Power of Commanding and Governing them as he shall see most convenient for the Interest of himself and the rest of his Children should be retrenched I cannot conceive nor can it reasonably be pretended that he should not have the same Jurisdiction over his Grand-Children c. that he had over their Fathers for it is very irrational to suppose them exempt from Obedience to the Commands of that Man their Parents were Naturally and Originally subject to And if we enquire but into the nature of this Paternal Power we shall find it to have been purely Monarchical We are told how Abraham made Peace and War and we shall see Jacob exercising the Power of Life and Death over his Daughter-in-Law Thamar or at least pretending to it without any question made of his Power and if these great Prerogatives were in their Hands 't is not to be doubted but they were Kings in their Families which we are not to suppose to be independent from one another but subject and subordinate to either the Father of them all or him whoever he be that is Successour to him and Lord of the eldest Family And that this is no new Opinion as some People would have us believe but at least Older than Aristotle appears from hence that he dates the Original of all Society from hence The First Society sayes he made up of many Houses for the sake of a lasting and durable Benefit is a Village 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristot de Repub. l. 1. c. 2. which seems most agreeable to Nature as being a certain Colony of a House which some Men call Foster-Brethren or Children and Children's Children And therefore at first Cities were and now Nations are under Kings because such as came together were under Kingly Government for every House is under the Empire of him that is Eldest and so for Kindred sake it is in Colonies that is in more Families which Descended from the same House For which Reason Homer sayes Every Man gives Laws to his Wife and Children And this no doubt he had from his Master the Divine Plato in whose Judgment the True and Primary Reason of all Authority is That the Father ‖ A.H. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Mother and generally all those that Engender Beget do Command and Rule over their Off-spring And this I think is both sufficient to vindicate this Doctrine from the Imputation of Novelty and Recommend it too since those Great and Excellent Philosophers were Patrons of it And I am sure if that be true which the Roman Orator sayes Cicero 3. de Legib. In re consensio omnium gentium lex Naturae putanda est That the Consent and Agreement of all Nations is to be reputed the Law of Nature every one must allow Monarchy to have been Founded by vertue of that For without Vanity I dare confidently aver That there was no other Government seen unless perhaps at Sicyon for the First Three Thousand Years Nay the Learned Priest of Belus the true and genuine Berosus gives an Account of Ten Kings of Chaldea before the Flood of whom Xisuther in whose time they say the Deluge happen'd was the last And the Egyptian Records could surnish us with a Catalogue of Kings that would reach as high as the Creation
felt the effects of this popular Doctrine which the Archbishop had instilled into the peoples heads For they growing weary of his Government that was partly Arbitrary and Tyrannical withdrew their Obedience from him and elected Lewis Son to the French King which how they could do and not be guilty of Rebellion I am not able to understand but however it was not as my Pamphleteer would have it more easily consented to by Philip his Father because King John had been condemned and attained for Treason in his Brother Richards time because he was pardoned all his Crimes by that King as * Vit. R. 1. f. 176. M. Paris will inform him but because he stood attainted for the Murder of †M. Paris f. 281. M. Westm f. 275. Duke Arthur for which he had in France been try'd by his Peers and condemned But King John dying in the midst of these Troubles his Son Henry the Third being then under Age was advanced to the Throne by the Loyal endeavours of the Earl Marshall and the Legate Walo with several other Great Men who Westminster the usual place of Coronation being in the hands of Lewis and the Rebel Lords before the great Altar in the Conventual Church at Gloucester annointed and solemnly crowned him sayes the ‖ Est Henricus Johannis primogenitus in regem inunctus solenniter coronatus M. Westm f. 277. Historian And tho' from the Speech which was made to that party of the Nobility that was there then by the Earl Marshall 't is pretended that Henry was Elected yet I dare say if any one do but imparâ—â—â—ly consider the Tenor of it he will find that the Design of it was rather to persuade those present to return to their Duty and acknowledge him for their King whom God and Nature had designed for that great Charge for he begins his Discourse to 'em thus ** H. Knighton l. 2. c. 15. f. 2426. Ecce Rex Vester which he certainly then could not be if their Election were necessary to make him such and amongst the rest of his Arguments sayes to 'em thus hunc igitur libeat regem dicere cui ipsum regnum debetur You ought to choose him to whom the Kingdom is due which surely it can be to none if it be not Hereditary and what puts all out of doubt that the Kingdom was not then and if not then I am sure never since Elective is the Ansvver of Hubert de Burgh that great both Statesman and Souldier to Lewis vvhen he summon'd him to deliver up Dover to him since his Master for vvhose use and service he had so long and valiantly defended it vvas dead ††Si Dominus meus mortuus est habet filios filias qui ei succedere debent M Par. vit H. 3. in prin If my old Master sayes he be dead he has left behind him Sons and Daughters which ought to succeed him A thing he never vvould have asserted had he not thought there had been a Divine Right somevvhere else than in the people Henry the Third being gone the vvay of all Flesh his Eldest son Edward succeeded him a Prince of most extraordinary hopes and vvhose Life let the World see it vvas not deceived in him this Prince at his Fathers death vvas absent in the Holy Land in pursuit of Honour there yet notvvithstanding in a great Council held at London ‖‖ Edwardum absentem Dominum suum Ligeum recognoverunt paternique Successorem honoris ordinaverunt Tho. Walsingh vit E. 1. f. 43. he was recognized and acknowledged to be their Natural Liege Lord and Lawful Successor to his Fathers Throne We meet not here vvith any thing like Election vvhich no doubt vve should not fail to do if there vvere any such thing practised But because we are told page 6 that whether Edward were the Eldest Son of his Father or no remains a doubt in History I shall endeavor notwithstanding the pretences of the House of Lancaster to the contrary whose Interest it was as the Foundation upon which the Justness to their Claim to the Crown was founded to have it thought otherwise assure him from one that had as good an Opportunity and great Reason to know as any man that Edmund was six years younger than his Brother Edward For says M. Paris who lived in the Time of Henry the 3 d. and was very great at Court * M. Par. 488. Edward was born the 15th day of May An. 1239. at Westm and upon S. Marcellus's day An. 1245 †M. P. f. 654. Queen Elianor presented the King with another Son who by his Command was called Edmund and tho' it was sometimes said he was put by for his Deformity yet 't is well known how notoriously false that Scandal is For he had his Name Crouch back not because he was crooked but by reason of a Cross he used as did all those that took upon them the Croisado to wear upon it The next was that Unfortunate Prince Edward 2. who suffering himself to be too much guided by his Minions fell at length into some arbitrary and irregular Courses that brought the hatred and ill will of his Subjects to that degree upon him that by the disloyal and ambitious Practices of his lustful and lascivious Queen and undutiful and unnatural Son he was at last deprived both of his Crown and Life an Action so inhumane barbarous and detestable and every way so unjustifiable that I cannot but wonder with vvhat Brow and Conference any man can bring that as an Instance of the Power of Parliaments At this rate the blackest Villanies that Hell can invent may be defended if it be but as sucessful as 't is impious Besides should we but once allow it lawful for Subjects when they think fit to depose and murder or as then 't is call'd bring to Justice their Princes we shall not only undermine the very Foundations of all Government but give a fatal Blow even to Christianity it self And well might the poor Prince solace himself in the midst of all his almost insupportable Afflictions with the hopes of having his Son whose Wickedness he was ignorant of Reign after For it would be no doubt no small comfort to him to think that those Men who in Contempt and open Defiance to the Laws of God and Nature had proceeded to perpetrate so horrid a Crime that a Heathen of the true Roman Stamp would have blush'd at the thoughts of should not yet so far forget themselves as to reject every Branch of that Tree at whose Root they had struck so great a Blow Surely from Times so disturbed and unsettled as these Men of either Honesty or Common Sence will not offer to bring Presidents to direct themselves by After a long and Glorious Reign Edward the Third who after the Death of Edward the Black Prince had in Parliament created Richard of Burdeaux Earl of Chester and Prince of Wales in a short