they neuer so great as great as Gyants yet if they disswade the King from his ready and assured way of his subsistence they must devise how the K. may be else-where supplied for they otherwise runne into a dangerous fortune COVNS Hold you contented Sir the King needes no great disswasion IVST My Lord learne of me that there is none of you all that can pierce the King It is an essentiall property of a man truely wise not to open all the boxes of his bosome even to those that are neerest and deerest vnto him for when a man is discovered to the very bottome he is after the lesse esteemed I dare vndertake that when your Lordship hath served the King twice twelue yeares more you will finde that his Majestie hath reserved somewhat beyond all your capacities his Majestie hath great reason to put off the Parliament as his last refuge and in the meane time to make triall of all your loues to serue him for his Majestie hath had good experience how well you can serue your selues But when the King finds that the building of your owne fortunes and factions hath beene the diligent studies and the service of his Majestie but the exercises of your leisures Hee may then perchance cast himself vpon the general loue of his people of which I trust hee shall never bee deceiued and leaue as many of your Lordships as haue pilfered from the Crowne to their examination COVNS Well Sir I take no great pleasure in this dispute goe on I pray IVST In that Kinges 5 th yeare hee had also a subsedy which he got by holding the house together from Easter to Christmas and would not suffer them to depart He had also a subsedie in his ninth yeare In his eleventh yeare the Commons did againe presse the king to take all the temporalities of the Church-men into his hands which they proved sufficient to maintaine 150 Earles 1500 knights and 6400 Esquiers with a hundred hospitals but they not prevayling gaue the King a subsedy As for the notorious Prince Henry the fift I finde that he had given him in his second yeare 300000 markes and after that two other subsedies one in his fifth yeare another in his ninth without any disputes In the time of his successour Henry the sixt there where not many subsedies In his third yeare he had a subsedy of a Tunnage and Poundage And here saith Iohn Stom began those payments which wee call customes because the payment was continued whereas before that time it was granted but for a yeare two or three according to the Kings occasions Hee had also an ayde and gathering of money in his fourth yeare and the like in his tenth yeare and in his thirteenth yere a 15 th He had also a fifteenth for the conveying of the Queene out of France into England In the twenty eight yeare of that King was the acte of Resumption of all honours townes castles Signieuries villages Manors lands tenements rents reversions fees c. But because the wages of the Kings seruants were by the strictnes of the acte also restrained this acte of Resumption was expounded in the Parliament at Reading the 31 th yeare of the Kings reigne COVNS I perceiue that those acts of Resumption were ordinary in former times for King Stephen resumed the lands which in former times hee had giuen to make friends during the Ciuill warres And Henry the second resumed all without exception which King Stephen had not resumed for although King Stephen tooke backe a great deale yet hee suffered his trustiest seruants to enjoye his gift IVST Yes my Lord in after times also for this was not the last nor shall be the last I hope And judge you my Lord whether the Parliaments doe not only serue the King whatsoeuer is said to the contrary for as all King Henry the 6 gifts graunts were made voide by the Duke of Yorke when he was in possession of the kingdome by Parliament So in the time of K. H. when K. Edw was beaten out again the Parliament of Westminster made all his acts voyde made him all his followers traytors gaue the King many of their heads lands The Parliaments of England do alwaies serue the King in possession It seru'd Rich. the second to condemne the popular Lords It seru'd Bollingbrooke to depose Rich. When Edw. the 4. had the Scepter it made them all beggars that had followed H. the 6. And it did the like for H. when Edw. was driuen out The Parliaments are as the friendship of this world is which alwayes followeth prosperity For K. Edw. the 4 after that hee was possessed of the Crown he had in his 13 yeare a subsedy freely giuen him in the yeare following hee tooke a benevolence through England which arbitrary taking frō the people seru'd that ambitious traytor the Duke of Bucks After the Kings death was a plausible argument to perswade the multitude that they should not permit saith Sir Thomas Moore his line to raigne any longer vpon them COVNS Well Sir what say you to the Parliament of Richard the third his time IVST I finde but one and therein he made diuerse good Lawes For K. Henry the seuenth in the beginning of his third yeare hee had by Parliament an ayde granted vnto him towards the reliefe of the Duke of Brittaine then assailed by the French King And although the King did not enter into the warre but by the advice of the three estates who did willingly contribute Yet those Northerne men which loued Richard the third raised rebellion vnder colour of the mony impos'd murthered the Earle of Northumberland whom the King employed in that Collection By which your Lordship sees that it hath not beene for taxes and impositions alone that the ill disposed haue taken Armes but euen for those payments which haue beene appoynted by Parliament COVNS And what became of those Rebels IVST They were fairely hang'd and the mony levied notwithstanding in the Kings first yeare he gathered a marvailous great masse of mony by a benevolence taking patterne by this kind of levie from Edw. 4 th But the King caused it first to be moued in Parliament where it was allowed because the poorer sort were therein spared Yet it is true that the king vsed some arte for in his Letters hee declared that hee would measure euery mans affections by his gifts In the thirteenth yeare hee had also a subsedy whereupon the Cornish men tooke Armes as the Northerne men of the Bishoppricke had done in the third yeare of the King COVNS It is without example that euer the people haue rebelled for any thing granted by Parliament saue in this kings dayes IVST Your Lordship must consider that he was not ouer much belou'd for hee tooke many advantages vpon the people and the Nobility both COVNS And I pray you what say they now of the new impositions lately laide by the Kings Maiesty doe they say that
maintaine so great an Armory or Stable it might cause me or any other Nobleman to be suspected as the preparing of some Innovation IVST Why so my Lord rather to bee commended as preparing against all danger of Innovation COVNS It should be so but call your observation to accompt you shall find it as I say for indeed such a jelousie hath been held euer since the time of the Ciuill wars ouer the Military greatnes of our Nobles as made them haue litle will to bend their studies that wayes wherefore let euery man prouide according as hee is rated in the Muster booke you vnderstand me IVST Very well my Lord as what might be replyed in the preceiuing so much I haue euer to deale plainly and freely with your Lordship more fear'd at home popular violence then all the forreine that can be made for it can neuer bee in the power of any forreine Prince without a Papisticall party either to disorder or endanger his Majesties Estate COVNS By this it seemes it is no lesse dangerous for a king to leaue the power in the people then in the Nobility IVST My good Lord the wisdome of our owne age is the foolishnes of another the time present ought not to bee prefer'd to the Policy that was but the policy that was to the time present So that the power of the Nobility being now withered and the power of the people in the flowre the care to content them would not be neglected the way to win them often practized or at least to defend them from oppression The motiue of all dangers that euer this Monarchy hath vndergone should bee carefully heeded for this Maxime hath no posterne Potestas humana radicatur in voluntatibus hominum And now my Lord for King Edward it is true though he were not subject to force yet was hee subiect to necessity which because it was violent hee gaue way vnto it Potestas saith Pythagoras iuxia necessitatem habitat And it is true that at the request of the house he discharged put from him those before named which done he had the greatest gift but one that euer he receiued in all his dayes to wit from euery person man woman aboue the age of fourteen yeares 4 ◠of old mony which made many Millions of Groats worth 6 ◠of our mony This he had in generall besides he had of euery beneficed Priest 12 d. And of the Nobility Gentry I know not how much for it is not set down Now my good Lord what lost the King by satisfying the desires of the Parliament house for assoone as hee had the money in purse hee recalled the Lords and restored them who durst call the King to accompt when the Assembly were dissolued Where the word of a King is there is power saith Ecclesiasticus who shall say vnto him what doest thou saith the same Author for euery purpose there is a time judgment the King gaue way to the time his judgmēt persweded him to yeeld to necessity Consularius nemo melior est quà m tempus COVNS But yet you see the king was forc'd to yeeld to their demaunds IVST Doth your Lordship remember the saying of Monsieur de Lange that he that hath the profit of the warre hath also the honour of the warre whether it be by battaile or retreate the King you see had the profit of the Parliament and therefore the honour also what other end had the king then to supply his wants A wise man hath euermore respect vnto his ends And the king also knew that it was the loue that the people bare him that they vrged the remouing of those Lords there was no man among them that sought himselfe in that desire but they all sought the King as by the successe it appeared My good Lord hath it not been ordinary in England and in France to yeeld to the demaunds of rebels did not King Richard the second graunt pardon to the outragious roagues murtherers that follovved Iack Straw Wat Tyler after they had murthered his Chancellor his Treasurer Chiefe Iustice and others brake open his Exchequer and committed all manner of outrages and villanies and why did he doe it but to avoid a greater danger I say the Kings haue then yeelded to those that hated them and their estates to wit to pernicious rebels And yet without dishonour shall it be called dishonour for the King to yeeld to honest desires of his subjects No my Lord those that tell the King those tales feare their own dishonour and not the Kings for the honour of the King is supreame and being guarded by Iustice and piety it cannot receiue neither wound nor stayne COVNS But Sir what cause haue any about our King to feare a Parliament IVST The same cause that the Earle of Suffolke had in Richard the seconds time and the Treasurer Fartham with others for these great Officers being generally hated for abusing both the King and the subiect at the request of the States were discharged and others put in their roomes COVNS And was not this a dishonour to the king IVST Certainly no for King Richard knew that his Grandfather had done the like and though the king was in his heart vtterly against it yet had hee the profite of this exchange for Suffolke was fined at 20000 markes 1000 ◠lands COVNS Well Sir we will speake of those that feare the Parliament some other time but I pray you goe on with that that happened in the troublesome raigne of Richard the second who succeeded the Grandfather beeing dead IVST That king my good Lord was one of the most vnfortunate Princes that euer England had hee was cruell extreame prodigall and wholly carryed away with his two Minions Suffolk the duke of Ireland by whose ill advice others he was in danger to haue lost his estate which in the end being led by men of the like temper he miserably lost But for his subsedies hee had giuen him in his first yeare being vnder age two tenths and two fifteenes In which Parliament Alice Peirce who was remoued in king Edwards time with Lancaster Latimer and Sturry were confiscate banished In his second yeare at the Parliament at Glocester the King had a marke vpon euery sacke of wooll and 6 d the pound vpon wards In his third yeare at the Parliament at Winchester the Commons were spared and a subsedy giuen by the better sort the Dukes gaue 20 markes and Earles 6 markes Bishoppes and Abbots with myters fixe markes euery marke 3◠4 d euery Knight Iustice Esquier Shrieue Parson Vicar Chaplaine paid proportionably according to their estates COVNS This me thinkes was no great matter IVST It is true my Lord but a little mony went far in those dayes I my selfe once moued it in Parliament in the time of Queene Elizabeth who desired much to spare the Common people and I did it by her Commaundement but when we cast vp
again the reuenue kept vp vpō that which is superfluous Is it a losse to the K. to be beloued of the Commons if it be revenue which the K. seekes is it not better to take it of those that laugh than of those that crie Yea if all bee content to pay vpon a moderation and chaunge of the Species Is it more honourable and more safe for the King that the Subject pay by perswasion then to haue them constrayned If they be contented to whip themselues for the King were it not better to giue them their rod into their owne hands than to commit them to the executioner Certainly it is farre more happy for a Soveraigne Prince that a Subject open his purse willingly than that the same bee opened by violence Besides that when impositions are laid by Parliament they are gathered by the authority of the lawe which as aforesaid rejecteth all complaints and stoppeth every mutinous mouth It shall ever be my praier that the King embrace the Councell of honour and safety let other Princes embrace that of force COVNS But good Sir it is his Prerogatiue which the K. stands vpon and it is the Prerogatiue of the kings that the Parliaments doe all diminish IVST If your Lordship would pardon mee I would say then that your Lordships objection against Parliaments is ridiculous In former Parliaments three thinges haue beene supposed dishonour of the King The first that the Subjects haue conditioned with the King when the King hath needed them to haue the great Charter confirmed the second that the Estates haue made Treasurers for the necessary and profitable disbursing of those summes by them given to the end that the kinges to whom they were giuen should expend them for their owne defence for the defence of the common-wealth The third that these haue prest the King to discharge some great Officers of the Crowne and to elect others As touching the first my Lord I would faine learne what disadvantage the Kings of this Land haue had by confirming the great Charter the breach of which haue served onely men of your Lordships ranke to assist their owne passions and to punish and imprison at their owne discretion the Kings poore Subjects Concerning their private hatred with the colour of the Kings service for the Kings Majestie takes no mans inheritance as I haue said before nor any mans life but by the Law of the land according to the Charter Neither doth his Majestie imprison any man matter of practice which concernes the preservation of his estate excepted but by the law of the land And yet hee vseth his prerogatiue as all the Kings of England haue ever vsed it for the supreame reason cause to practise many thinges without the aduice of the law As in insurrections and rebellions it vseth the marshall and not the common law without any breach of the Charter the intent of the Charter cōsidered truely Neither hath any Subject made complaint or beene grieued in that the Kings of this land for their own safties and preservation of their estates haue vsed their Prerogatiues the great Ensigne on which there is written soli Deo And my good Lord was not Buckingham in England and Byron in France condemned their Peeres vncall'd And withall was not Byron vtterly contrary to the customes priviledges of the French denyed an advocate to assist his defence for where lawes forecast cannot prouide remedies for future daungers Princes are forced to assist themselues by their prerogatiues But that which hath beene ever grievous and the cause of many troubles very dangerous is that your Lordships abusing the reasons of state doe punish and imprison the Kings Subiects at your pleasure It is you my Lords that when Subjects haue sometimes neede of the Kings prerogatiue doe then vse the strength of the law and when they require the lawe you afflict them with the prerogatiue and tread the great Charter which hath beene confirmed by 16. actes of Parliament vnder your feete as a torne parchment or wast paper COVNS Good Sir which of vs doe in this sort breake the great Charter perchance you meane that we haue aduised the King to lay the new impositions IVST No my Lord there is nothing in the great Charter against impositions and besides that necessity doth perswade them And if necessity doe in somewhat excuse a private man a fortiori it may then excuse a Prince Againe the Kinges Majestie hath profit and increase of revenue by the impositions But there are of your Lordships contrary to the direct letter of the Charter that imprison the Kinges Subjects and deny them the benefit of the law to the Kings disprofit And what do you otherwise thereby if the impositions be in any sort grievous but Renovare dolores and withall digge out of the dust the long-buried memory of the Subjects former intentions with their Kings COVNS What meane you by that IVST I will tell your Lordshippe when I dare in the meane time it is enough for mee to put your Lordship in minde that all the estates in the world in the offence of the people haue either had profit or necessity to perswade them to adventure it of which if neither bee vrgent and yet the Subject exceedingly grieved your Lordship may conjecture that the House will bee humble suitors for a redresse And if it bee a Maxime in policie to please the people in all thinges indifferent and neuer suffer them to bee beaten but for the Kinges benefit for there are no blowes forgotten with the smart but those then I say to make them vassals to vassals is but to batter downe those mastering buildings erected by King Henry the seaventh and fortified by his Sonne by which the people and Gentlemen of England were brought to depend vpon the King alone Yea my good Lord our late deare Soveraigne kept them vp and to their advantage as well repaired as ever Prince did Defend mee and spend me saith the Irish churle COVNS Then you thinke that this violent breach of the Charter will be the cause of seeking the confirmation of it in the next Parliament which otherwise could neuer haue bin moued IVST I knowe not my good Lord perchance not for if the House presse the King to graunt vnto them all that is theirs by the lawe they cannot in justice refuse the King all that is his by the lawe And where will bee the issue of such a contention I dare not divine but sure I am that it will tend to the preiudice both of the K and subiect COVN If they dispute not their owne liberties why should they then dispute the Kings liberties which wee call his prerogatiue IVST Among so many so diverse spirits no man can foretell what may be propounded but howsoeuer if the matter be not slightly handled on the Kings behalfe these disputes will soone dissolue for the King hath so little neede of his prerogatiue and so great advantage by the lawes as