In the eleuenth yeare hee had given him by parliament a notable relief the one halfe of the woolls throughout England and of the Cleargy all their wools after which in the end of the yeare hee had granted in his parliament at Westminster forty shillings vpon every sacke of wool and for every thirty wool fels forty shillings for every last of leatherne as much and for all other merchandizes after the same rate The king promising that this yeares gathering ended he would thenceforth content himselfe with the old custome he had ouer and aboue this great ayde the eight part of all goods of all citizens and Burgesses and of others as of forreigne Marchants such as liued not of the gaine of breeding of sheepe and cattell the fifteenth of their goods Nay my Lord this was not all though more then euer was granted to any king for the same parliament bestowed on the king the ninth sheafe of all the corne within the lande the ninth fleece and the ninth lambe for two yeares next following now what thinke your Lordship of this parliament COVNS I say they were honest men IVST And I say the people are as loving to their king now as euer they were if they bee honestly and wisely dealt withall and so his Majestie hath found them in his last two parliaments if his Majestie had not beene betrayed by those whom he most trusted COVNS But I pray you Sir who shall a king trust if he may not trust those whom he hath so greatly advanced IVST I will tell your Lordship whom the king may trust COVNS Who are they IVST His owne reason and his owne excellent judgement which haue not deceived him in any thing wherein his Majestie hath beene pleased to exercise them Take councell of thine heart saith the booke of Wisedome for there is none more faithfull vnto thee then it COVNS It is true but his Majestie found that those wanted no judgement whom hee trusted and how could his Majestie divine of their honesties IVST Will you pardon mee if I speake freely for if I speake out of loue which as Salomon saith covereth all trespasses The trueth is that his Majestie would never beleeue any man that spake against them and they knew it well enough which gaue them boldnesse to do what they did COVNS What was that IVST Even my good Lord to ruine the kings estate so farre as the state of so great a king may be ruin'd by men ambitious and greedy without proportion It had beene a braue increase of revenue my Lord to haue raysed 50000′ land of the kings to 20000′ revenue and to raise the revenue of wards to 20000′ more 40000′ added to the rest of his Majesties estate had so enabled his Majestie as hee could never haue wanted And my good Lord it had beene an honest service to the king to haue added 7000′ lands of the Lord Cobhams woods and goods being worth 30000′ more COVNS I know not the reason why it was not done IVST Neither doth your Lordship perchance knowe the reason why the 10000′ offer'd by Swinnerton for a fine of the French wines was by the then Lord Treasurer conferr'd on Devonshire and his Mistris COVNS What moued the Treasurer to reject crosse that raising of the kings lands IVST The reason my good Lord is manifest for had the land beene raised then had the king knowne when hee had given or exchanged land what hee had giuen or exchanged COVNS What hurt had that beene to the Treasurer whose office is truely to informe the King of the value of all that he giveth IVST So hee did when it did not concerne himselfe nor his particular for hee could neuer admit any one peece of a good Manour to passe in my Lord Aubignes booke of 1000′ land till hee himselfe had bought then all the remaining flowers of the Crowne were culled out Now had the Treasurer suffer'd the Kings lands to haue been raised how could his Lordshippe haue made choice of the old rents as well in that book of my Lord Aubigne as in exchange of Theobalds for which hee tooke Hatfield in it which the greatest subject or favorite Queene Elizabeth had never durst haue named vnto her by way of gift or exchange Nay my Lord so many other goodly Mannors haue passed from his Majestie as the very heart of the kingdome mourneth to remember it and the eyes of the kingdome shedde teares continually at the beholding it yea the soule of the kingdome is heavy vnto death with the consideration thereof that so magnanimous a Prince should suffer himselfe to be so abused COVNS But Sir you knowe that Cobhams lands were entayled vpon his Cosens IVST Yea my Lord but during the liues and races of George Brooke his children it had beene the kings that is to say for euer in effect but to wrest the king and to draw the inheritance vpon himselfe he perswaded his Majestie to relinquish his interest for a petty summe of money and that there might be no counterworking he sent Brooke 6000 l to make friends vvhereof himselfe had 2000 l backe againe Buckhurst and Barwicke had the other 4000 l and the Treasurer and his heires the masse of land for euer COVNS What then I pray you came to the king by this great confiscation IVST My Lord the kings Majestie by all those goodly possessiōs vvoods goods looseth 500 l by the yere which he giueth in pension to Cobham to maintaine him in prison COV Certainly even in conscience they should haue reserved so much of the land in the Crowne as to haue giuen Cobham meate and apparell not made themselues so great gainers and the King 500 l per annum looser by the bargaine but it 's past Consilium non est eorum quae fieri nequeunt IVST Take the rest of the sentence my Lord Sed consilium versatur in iis quae sunt in nostra potestate It is yet my good Lord in potestate Regis to right himselfe But this is not all my Lord And I feare mee knowing your Lordships loue to the King it would put you in a feaver to heare all I will therefore goe on vvith my parliaments COVNS I pray doe so and amongst the rest I pray you what say you to the Parliament holden at London in the fifteenth yeare of King Edward the third IVST I say there was nothing concluded therein to the prejudice of the King It is true that a litle before the sitting of the house the King displaced his Chancellour and his Treasurer and most of all his judges and officers of the exchequer and committed many of them to prison because they did not supplie him with mony being beyond the seas for the rest the states assembled besought the King that the lawes of the two Charters might bee obserued and that the great officers of the Crowne might bee chosen by parliament COVNS But what successe had these petitions IVST The Charters were observed as before
confirme the great Charter For by reason of the vvars in France the losse of Rochell hee vvas then enforced to coÌ„sent to the Lords in all they demanded In the 10â—â— of his reigne hee fined the citty of London at 50000 markes because they had receiued Lewes of France In the 11 th yeare in the Parliament at Oxford he revoked the great charter being granted vvhen he vvas vnder age gouerned by the Earle of Pembroke the Bishop of Winchester In this 11 th yeare the Earles of Cornevvall Chester Marshall Edward Earle of Pembroke Gilbert Earle of Gloucester Warren Hereford Ferrars Warwicke others rebelled against the King constrained him to yeeld vnto them in vvhat they demaunded for their particular interest vvhich rebellion being appeased he sayled into France in his 15 th yeare he had a 15 th of the temporality a disme a halfe of the Spirituality and vvithall escuage of euery Knights fee. COVNS But what say you to the Parliament of Westminster in the 16 th of the king where notwithstanding the wars of France and his great charge in repulsing the Welsh rebels he was flatly denyed the Subsedie demaunded IVST I confesse my Lord that the house excused themselues by reason of their pouerty and the Lords taking of Armes in the next yeare it was manifest that the house was practised against the king And was it not so my good Lord thinke you in our two last Parliaments for in the first euen those whom his Majestie trusted most betrayed him in the vnion in the secoÌ„d there were other of the great ones ran counter But your Lordship spake of dangers of Parliaments in this my Lord there was a deniall but there was no danger at all But to returne where I left what got the Lords by practizing the house at that time I say that those that brake this staffe vpon the K. were ouerturned with the counterbuffe for hee resumed all those lands which hee had given in his minority hee called all his exacting officers to accompt hee found them all faulty hee examined the corruption of other magistrates and from all these he drew sufficient mony to satisfie his present necessity whereby hee not onely spared his people but highly contented them with an act of so great Iustice Yea Hubert Earle of Kent the chiefe justice whom hee had most trusted and most advanced was found as false to the King as any one of the rest And for conclusion in the end of that yeare at the assemblie of the States at Lambeth the King had the fortith part of euery mans goods given him freely towards his debts for the people who the same yeare had refused to giue the King any thing when they sawe hee had squeased those spunges of the common wealth they willingly yeelded to giue him satisfaction COVNS But I pray you what became of this Hubert whoÌ„ the King had favoured aboue all men betraying his Majestie as he did IVST There were many that perswaded the King to put him to death but he could not be drawne to consent but the King seized vpon his estate which was great yet in the end hee left him a sufficient portion and gaue him his life because hee had done great service in former times For his Majestie though hee tooke advantage of his vice yet hee forgot not to haue consideration of his vertue And vpon this occasion it was that the King betrayed by those whom hee most trusted entertayned strangers and gaue them their offices and the charge of his castles and strong places in England COVNS But the drawing in of those strangers was the cause that Marshall Earle of Pembroke moued warre against the King IVST It is true my good Lord but hee was soone after slaine in Ireland and his whole masculine race ten yeres extinguished though there were fiue sonnes of them Marshall being dead who was the mouer and ring-leader of that warre the King pardoned the rest of the Lords that had assisted Marshall COVNS What reason had the King so to doe IVST Because he was perswaded that they loued his person only hated those corrupt Counselours that then bare the greatest sway vnder him as also because they were the best men of warre hee had whom if he destroyed hauing warre with the French he had wanted Commanders to haue served him COVNS But what reason had the Lords to take armes IVST Because the King entertayned the Poictouiâ—s were not they the Kings vassals also Should the Spaniards rebell because the Spanish King trusts to the Neopolitans Portagues Millanoies and other nations his vassals seeing those that are governed by the Vice-royes and deputies are in pollicy to be well entertayned and to be employed who would otherwise devise how to free themselues whereas beeing trusted and imployed by their Prince they entertaine themselues with the hopes that other the Kings vassals doe if the King had called in the Spaniards or other Nations not his Subjects the Nobility of England had had reason of griefe But what people did euer serue the King of England more faithfully then the Gascoynes did even to the last of the conquest of that Duchy IVST Your Lordship sayes wel I am of that opinion that if it had pleased the Queene of Eng. to haue drawne some of the chiefe of the Irish Nobility into Eng. by exchange to haue made them good freeholders in Eng. shee had saued aboue 2. millions of pounds which were consumed in times of those rebellions For what held the great Gascoigne firme to the Crowne of England of whom the Duke of Espernon married the inheritrix but his Earldome of Kendall in England whereof the Duke of Espernon in right of his wife beares the title to this day And to the same end I take it hath Iames our Soueraigne Lord given lands to divers of the Nobility of Scotland And if I were worthy to advise your Lordship I should thinke that your Lordship should do the King great service to put him in mind to prohibite all the Scottish nation to alienate and sell away their inheritance here for they selling they not only giue cause to the English to complaine that the treasure of England is transported into Scotland but his Majesty is thereby also frustrated of making both Nations one and of assuring the service and obedience of the Scots in future COVNS You say well for though those of Scotland that are advanced and enriched by the Kings Majesties will no doubt serue him faithfully yet how their heires successours hauing no inheritance to loose in England may be seduced is vncertaine But let vs goe on with our Parliament And what say you to the deniall in the 26 â— yeare of his reigne even when the King was invited to come into France by the Earle of March who had married his mother and who promised to assist the King in the conquest of many places lost IVST It is true my
hands much more ought the great heart of a King to disdaine it And surely my Lord it is a greater treason though it vndercreepe the law to teare from the Crowne the ornaments thereof And it is an infallible maxime that hee that loues not his Majesties estate loues not his person COVNS How came it then that the acte was not executed IVS. Because these against vvhom it was graunted perswaded the King to the contrary As the Duke of Ireland Suffolke the chief Iustice Trisilian others yea that which vvas lawfully done by the King and the great Councell of the kingdome was by the mastery which Ireland Suffolke and Tresilian had ouer the Kings affections broken and disavowed Those that devised to relieue the King not by any private invention but by generall Councell were by a private and partiall assemblie adjudged traytors and the most honest Iudges of the land enforced to subscribe to that judgment In so much that Iudge Belknap plainely told the Duke of Ireland and the Earle of Suffolke when hee was constrained to set to his hand plainely told these Lords that he wanted but a rope that he might therewith receiue a reward for his subscription And in this Councell of Nottingham vvas hatched the ruine of those which governed the King of the Iudges by them constrained of the Lords that loued the King and sought a reformation and of the King himselfe for though the King found by all the Shreeues of the shires that the people would not fight against the Lords whom they thought to bee most faithfull vnto the King when the Citizens of London made the same answere beeing at that time able to arme 50000◠men told the Major that they would never fight against the Kings friends and defenders of the Realme when the Lord Ralph Basset who was neere the K. told the King boldly that hee would not adventure to haue his head broken for the Duke of Irelands pleasure vvhen the Lord of London told the Earle of Suffolke in the Kings presence that he was not worthy to liue c. yet vvould the King in the defence of the destroyers of his estate lay ambushes to entrap the Lords when they came vpon his faith yea when all was pacified and that the King by his Proclamation had clear'd the Lords and promised to produce Ireland Suffolke the Archbishop of Yorke Tresilian Bramber to answer at the next Parliament these men confest that they durst not appeare and when Suffolke fled to Callice and the Duke of Ireland to Chester the King caused an army to be leavied in Lancashire for the safe conduct of the Duke of Ireland to his presence when as the Duke being encountered by the Lords ranne like a coward from his company fled into Holland After this vvas holden a Parliament which vvas called that vvrought vvonders In the eleuenth yeare of this King wherein the forenamed Lords the Duke of Ireland the rest were condemned and confiscate the Chiefe Iustice hang'd with many others the rest of the Iudges condemned banisht a 10 th and a 15 th given to the King COVNS But good Sir the King was first besieged in the Tower of London and the Lords came to the Parliament no man durst contradict them IVST Certainly in raising an army they committed treason and though it did appeare that they all loued the King for they did him no harme hauing him in their power yet our law doth construe all leavying of war without the kings commission and all force raised to be intended for the death destruction of the K. not attending the sequell And it is so judged vpon good reason for every vnlawfull and ill action is suppos'd to be accompanied with an ill intēt And besides those Lords vsed too great cruelty in procuring the sentence of death against diuers of the Kings servaunts who were bound to follow and obey their Master and Soveraigne Lord in that hee commaunded COVNS It is true and they were also greatly to blame to cause then so many seconds to be put to death seeing the principalls Ireland Suffolke and Yorke had escaped them And what reason had they to seeke to enforme the State by strong hand was not the Kinges estate as deere to himselfe as to them He that maketh a King know his errour manerly and priuate and giues him the best aduice hee is discharged before God and his owne conscience The Lords might haue retired themselues when they saw they could not prevaile and haue left the King to his owne wayes who had more to loose then they had IVST My Lord the taking of Armes cannot be excused in respect of the law but this might be said for the Lords that the K. being vnder yeres being wholly governed by their enimies the enimies of the kingdome because by those evill mens perswasiōs it was aduised how the Lords should haue bin murthered at a feast in London they were excusable during the kings minority to stand vpō their guards against their particular enemies But we will passe it ouer and go on with our parliaments that followed whereof that of Cambridge in the K s 12 th yeare was the next therein the K. had giuen him a 10 th a 15 th after which being 20. yeares of age rechāged saith H. Kinghton his Treasurer his Chancellor the Iustices of either bench the Clerk of the priuy seale others tooke the gouernment into his own hands Hee also tooke the Admirals place frō the Earle of Arundell in his roome hee placed the Earle of Huntingdon in the yeare following which was the 13 th yeare of the K. in the Parliament at Westminster there was giuen to the King vpon every sacke of wooll 14 s and 6 d in the pound vpon other marchandize COVNS But by your leaue the King was restrained this parliament that he might not dispose of but a third part of the money gathered IVST No my Lord by your fauour But true it is that part of this mony was by the Kings consent assigned towards the wars but yet left in the Lord Treasurers hands And my Lo it would be a great ease a great sauing to his Maiestie our Lord and Master if it pleased him to make his assignations vpon some part of his revenewes by which he might haue 1000◠vpon every 10000◠and saue himselfe a great deale of clamour For seeing of necessity the Nauy must be maintained that those poore men aswell Carpenters as ship keepers must be paid it were better for his Maiesty to giue an assignation to the treasurer of his nauy for the receiuing of so much as is called ordinary then to discontent those poore men who being made desperate beggers may perchance be corrupted by them that lye in waite to destroy the K s estate And if his Maiesty did the like in all other payments especially where the necessity of such as are to receiue cannot possible giues daies