in these words Le Roy Alfred ordcigna pur usage perpetuel que a deur foits per lan on plus sovene pur mistier in temps de Peace le Assembler a Londres put Parliementer surle guidement del People de dieu coment gents soy garderent de Pegers viverent in quiet receiverent droit per certain usages Saints Judgments King Alfred Ordaineth for an usage Perpetual that Twice a Year or oftner if need be in time of Peace they shall Assemble themselves at London to Treat in Parliament of the Government mark that of the People of God how they should keep themselves from Offences should live in quiet and should receive right by certain Laws and Holy Judgments Tory. Right for Standing Privy Councels or long Standing Parliaments may be Pentioners to Foraign States may give Councel for their own ends but a frequent Parliament is uncapable of being Brib'd and most improbable to give any Advice against the Common-weal Common-benefit of King and People Tant In Troth I am at a loss to find out a Reason why any should Address and be Thankful for Dissolving a Parliament Whig And yet your Hand was one of the first to an Address of like nature Heark you you know when and where Tant No more of that I am of another mind now But what says the Lord Coke the Laws Oracle and Apollo concerning the said Statute of King Alfred Whig He saith that the threefold end of this Great and Honourable Assembly of Estates is there declared First That the Subjects might be kept from offending that is that Offences might be prevented both by good and provident Laws and by the due Execution thereof Secondly That men might live safely and in quiet Thirdly That all men might receive Justice by certain Laws and Holy Judgments that is to the end that Justice might be the better Administred that Questions and Defects of Law might by the High-Court of Parliament be planed reduced to certainty and adjudged c. In short Si vetustatem spectes est anquessima si dignitatem est Honoratissima si Jurisdictionem est capacissima If you regard Antiquity the Parliament is the most Ancient Court if Dignity the most Honourable if Jurisdiction the most Soveraign and is a part of the frame of the Common-Law which is called usually Leges Anglicae Tant I thought the Parliament had beginning only since Magna Charta in the Reign of Hen. 3. which is not so very Ancient Whig Some of your Tantivees have said so and writ so but it is your ignorance or worse King Hen. 1. Surnamed Beauclark writ to Pope Pascal saying Notum habeat Sanctitas vestra quod me vivente auxiliante Deo Dignitates usus Regninostri Angliae non imminentur siego quod absit in tanto me dejectione ponerem optimates mei totus Angliae populus id nullo modo pateretur Your Holiness may please to understand that as long as I live by the help of God the Dignities and Customs of our Realm of England shall never be impared or diminished to which if I should which God forbid be so high-base as poorly to condescend my Lords and Commons of England would by no means permit the same Judge then how dangerous it is to change the Ancient Customs and usages of the Common Law much less the greatest and most useful of all the rest frequent and uninterrupted Sessions of Parliament without which the Liberties and Franchises have been and may be taken away remedilesly By the Canon Law Children born before Marriage Solemnized were Legitimate if Matrimony afterwards followed which is contrary to our Common Law This was William the Conqueror's Case who is said to be the Son of a Arlot so notorious that all Whores are since called Harlots for her sake yet William of Malmesbury says that Robert Duke of Normandy his reputed Father did after William was Born Marry his Mother Arlot which did Legitimate William by the Canon Law but it reaches not England For in the like Case when the Bishops would have ruled it according to the Papal Decree Omnes Comites Barones una voce respondement quod nolunt leges Anglicae mutare All the rest of the Lords Earls and Barons with one voice cryed out We will not change the Laws of England accounted the wisest Laws in the World but they must be the weakest and most deficient if it be Arbitrary whether Parliaments a Fundamental Constitution may or may not have a Being or only be born to die namely only to be called together that they may be Dissolv'd Therefore even the late Act for holding Parliaments once in three years or oftner if need be made by that Parliament that from the numerous Pentioners therein is commonly but Improperly called for distinction the Pentioners Parliament amongst the many precious Statutes they made take care and provide that Parliaments shall not only be called but sit and be held or else of what use is this Soveraign Remedy if it be not made use of It would be a Mock-Remedy and Mock-Parliament if it only be call'd together to be Dissolv'd This would defeat the very Letter of the Law as well as the true intent meaning and benefit thereof For if a Gracious and good King as King Charles I. is reported to be had such Horrible Oppressions and Violence committed in his Reign as Loanes Ship-money Illegal Seizures of mens Estates Liberties Free-quarter Coat and Conduct-money and False Imprisonment during his Reign contrary to Law as he acknowledged by after Statutes that condemned them If Papists were prefer'd to Offices of great Trust Military and Civil and if his Favorite the Earl of Strafford raised an Army of Papists 8000. and ruled by them committed such Hainous Enormities and Misdeeds that he was not fit to be a Puny Constable and committed such Tyrannies and Cruelties that no Record can parallel And if no remedy was found to these mischiefs but a Parliament and that not suffered to be for 12 long years together Oh Fruitless Remedy of a Parliament Oh dull and Improvident Ancestors That were wise above all the World to make good Laws for securing our Liberties and Properties of which they were Tenacious to the death And yet that the Law that secures these should not be able to secure it self but to grant a Prerogative to make all null and void at pleasure If such mischiefs happened during the Reign of a Gracious King what may not happen in a Reign less Gracious Penelope's Webb which she weav'd all day and undid all again at night might be a Fable but this the moral of it that our Laws which our wise Ancestors had been long contriving to save us from Arbitrary sway should all be unravell'd again and leave us by a Prerogative of which the Law is the Author to meer good will and pleasure Tory. I must needs say that the Law which should be Wise Holy and Good would be
said the Duke in his own Justification and Defence in the Star-Chamber Tory. He denyed it and examined divers Witnesses about the matter Tant And what then Tory. Nothing more the Cause never came to Judicial Hearing in that Court Tant Then let us hear no more of it I am sick of it my self I never heard so much before Go on Tory. After the Parliament was Dissolv'd and things well husht the Privy Council Order'd all Customs to be paid and the Refusers Punisht by Fines Imprisonment this was deem'd one New-council and Loans another Tant Loans prythee Tory what were they Tory. The King sent to the Rich a Letter beginning Trusty and Well-beloved c. under the Privy Seal requiring him or them to send him within twelve dayes so much Money as for Example in the West-riding in York-shire to Sir Thomas Wentworth 20 l Sir Francis Fuljam 20 l Sir Edward Osburn 30 l Godfrey Copley Esquire 15 l promising in the Name of the Kings Majesty his Heirs and Successors to repay the Money so lent Tant Ay when le ts hear that Tory. Within eighteen Months Tant And was the Money Repayed Tory. Pish that 's a silly question then of the City of London the King bid them lend him a hundred thousand pound Tant Well said a few such Summs from Towns or Cities would do the business but did they lend the Money Tory. No the City desir'd to be excused Tant And what then Tory. Then the Privy-Councel required them all excuses set apart to return a Direct and speedy Answer to his Gracious Majesty or in default thereof that his Majesty may frame his Councils as appertaineth to a King in such extream and Important occasions Tant And were they not afraid and apprehensive of the Innuendo Tory. The Commands rested not here for they also commanded the City to Equippe twenty of their best Ships in the River with all manner of Tackle Sea-stores and Ammunition men and Victuals for three Months Tant And did they do it Tory. They grumbled at it saying it was without President as did also the Deputy-Lieutenants and Justices of Peace at Dorset having received the Kings Commands for setting forth Ships from Pool Weymouth and Lime but the Council checkt them for daring to dispute Orders instead of obeying them and whereas they mention presidents they might know that the presidents of former times were Obedience not Direction Whigg It would puzzle a good Historian to find presidents of Obedience in England to Arbitrary-sway and Orders of Privy-Council for Impositions without Law to back them Tory. How Did not stout King Edward 1. Command Roger Bigot Earl of Norfolk and Lord Marshal of England and several other Lords to go to the Wars in Gascoygne in France which they refusing except the King himself went also in Person But the King threatned then to take away their Lands and their Lives saying to the Lord Marshal and Swearing By God Sir Earl you shall either Go or Hang. Whigg Ay but the Earl answered the King at the same moment I Swear by the same Oath I will neither Go nor Hang and so without leave went out of the Room and departed and shortly after he and Humphrey Bohun Earl of Hereford and other Lords and Noble-men Assembled and other their Friends to the number of thirty Bannerets one thousand five hundred men at Arms well appointed and stood upon their Guard but the King Dissembled his Resentments at that time being about to go to Flanders where he spent much Money and for recruit Summons a Parliament to meet at York promising from thenceforth never to charge his Subjects otherwise than by their Consents in Parliament and also to Pardon all such as had denyed to attend him in this Journey Tant And did they trust the Kings word Tory. Yes but he broke it and all his other Oaths and Confirmations of the Peoples Charters made in Parliament two Years after having obtained and bought a Pardon for so doing as aforesaid of his Holiness nay he begun to play his Arbitrary Pranks long before that for in 8 Edw. 1. he sent out his Writ of Quo Warranto a fine Engine to get Money to examine by what Title men held their Lands which upon flaws found in their Charters and pryed into by the Lawyers brought him in much Money 'till John Earl of Warren stopt the Current and stem'd the Tyde for calling upon him to show his Title He drew out an old rusty Sword and said He held his Land by that and by that would hold it to Death and having many Backers it made the King desist from his Project Tant An old rusty Sword dost say that was more than the old Christian Weapons Prayers and Tears Tory. And stopt the Kings Tyranny and lawless Usurpations more than a thousand Petitions Prayers and Tears Tant Still I say Subjects Christian Subjects should use no Weapons but Prayers and Tears Whigg What not against Robbers Thieves and Murderers Tant Not against Magistrates that Rob by Law Whigg Thou talk'st like an Asse every day more than other Rob by Law a Contradiction in terminis if there be Law for it it is not Robery Theft nor Murder and if it be against Law or without Law all violent taking of mens Goods one Subject from another is Theft and Robbery except the Law enjoyn it and may lawfully be Resisted without all doubt in like manner and with such Weapons as the Onset or Assault is made Tant What in an Officer a Commission-Officer Whigg No man can be Authoriz'd to do an ill thing or an illegal thing by any mans Commission much less by the Kings Commission or the Broad-Seal for the King can do no wrong if it be wrong it stands for nothing it is not the Kings act nor the Kings Commission but Surreptitious and punishable Tant And who shall Judge of its Legality or the legality of the Resistance Whigg The Judges and the Law and the Juries Tant Nay then we are well enough yet Whigg If you be well keep you so whil'st you are well but remember Belknap Tresilian c. many Judges have been Hang'd right right and good Reason for corrupt and false Judgment there are they that shall judge the Judges Tant Ay but when at the day of Judgment Whigg Yes yes no more on 't but this Doctrine of resisting with other Weapons than Prayers and Tears Force with Force Violence with Violence in our own just Defence seems so strange to the new Tantivee-men that herein join with the old Error of the Anabaptists condemned in the 37 Article of the Church of England as also the Family of Love who Condemned all Wars as did the Manichees nay the learned Ludovicus Vives saith Arma Christianum Virum tractare nescio an fas sit I know not whether or no it be lawful for a Christian to Fight at all or go to the Wars and wear Weapons Lactantius also was against all Killing right and
People in breaking his Coronation Oath and Kingly trust he lost his Peoples Hearts and cousequently his own Life and Roger Mortimer was Kill'd in the Queens Embraces and both Court and Church suffered in the other Instance Tant Did the City of London joyn with the Queen and the Confederates Whigg Yes and the Londoners to shew their good will to the Queen and the Confederate Lords with great despight Beheaded Walter Stapleton Bishop of Exeter and Lord Treasurer in rancour and hatred to the King with many others that they thought lov'd that unhappy King his Kingdom as well as himself suffering beyond all Patience for his Folly and Perfidiousness in breaking his Word Oath and Royal Trust and by Gods heavy Judgments and Displeasure there being in the eighth Year of this silly Prince's Reign such a Dearth or scarcity of Provisions that Horses and Dogs were eaten and Thieves in Prison pluck't in Pieces those that were newly brought in and had got some flesh of their backs and eat them them half alive Tant Sure that King was an ill-natur'd man Whigg No quite contrary he was fair of Body and of great Strength given much to Drunkenness but not much to Women Kind and Loving but unfortunate in pitching his Affections upon bad Men and evil Counsellors which was his Ruine and theirs too Tory. Some Men are not capable of good advice Quos Deus intendit perdere dementat prius Whom Heaven does Hate to their own wayes It leaves them Then Strips them of their Wits and then Bereaves them Whigg Some thought he deserv'd a better fate than he found to be Depos'd by his Parliament and Murther'd by the means of those that made him a Cuckold or Bishop Tarleton the Court-Pimp to the Queen and Mortimer others said Honi soit qui mal y pense Let evil befall to evil men Tory. Well we have enough of him to return to Archbishop Abbot who told little Doctor Land then Bishop of Bath in a Conference with him about Sybthorp's Sermon and this Passage therein viz. All Antiquity to be absolutely for absolute Obedience to Princes in all civil or temporal things that such Cases as Naboth's Vineyard may fall within this Whereupon the little-great-man was as a Man in a Rage and fell a Huffing saying that it was an odious Comparison for it must suppose that there must be an Ahab and a Jezabel and I cannot tell what Sons of Belial for false Witnesses and a Judge for the nonce c. But the Archb told him that Reviling and Railing does not answer his Argument All Antiquity taketh in Scripture and if there has been an Ahab or a Jezabel that which has been is possible to be again many years hence and if sayes Doctor Abbot I had allowed that Proposition for good I had been justly beaten with my own Rod For if the King the next day had commanded me to send him all the Money and Goods I had I must by my own Rule have obeyed him and if he had commanded the like to all the Clergy-men and Gentlemen Yeomen and Commons in England by Sybthorp's Proportion and my Lord of Canterbury's allowing the same they must have sent in all and left their Wives and Children in a miserable Case Tory. What care the Courtiers for your Wives and Children Whigg True but the wonder is that any Englishman that has an Estate though he got it by Pimping should desire any Tantivee-wayes or Arbitrary-sway lest he lose it as suddenly Tant Or that any of us Clergy-men should be Tantivees you would say is a wonder too Whigg You say right but greedy Dogs that can never have enough so they have but at present to please their rav'ning Appetite they gulp and swallow all but never consider how it will Digest or do them good Tory. Nay It is impossible to do them good for it never digests or breeds good blood but bad humours in abundance that overflowes them if it do not stick in their Throats at the first going down as many times it does and choaks them before they taste the Sweetness of their Morsels the Reward of their Spaniel-like fawning and Sycophantry Whigg I am glad to hear this from you Mr. Tory. Tant So am not I if Toryes leave Tantivees to shift for themselves what will become of us losing our main Props Whigg Then make use of your Main-sail and Skud over the Water where you all strive to be and whither you seem to drive might and main for Popery and Arbitrary Government are Inseperable at least Arbitrary Plants cannot thrive in England except they be water'd and besprinkled with Popish Exorcismes and Holy-water Some Bishops of the Church of England have said that there is but a very little little difference betwixt Popery and us our Holy-dayes our Service in English theirs in Latine but word for word in most parts thereof our Priests Vestments Church-musick Candles Altars Bowing Cringing the very same Tant Right but we have not Auricular Confession nor hold we Transubstantiation Whigg You mean you cannot perswade the People to come to Auricular-Confession but for the real presence many Preach it up but by a distinction Metaphysical a distinction without a difference they only deny the corporal presence Tant So then you 'l say we differ therein from the Papists only in nice words and terms of distinction Whigg If it be more than words wherein you differ in this point then that thing you bow to at the Altar is really nothing for if it be a real thing it is a corporeal thing if it take up its residence in one place of the Church more than the other and on the Altar and the East more than on the Pulpit and the West Nay some Preachers that Bow very reverently to the Altar at Service-time turn their Back-sides to it all the while they are Preaching very undecently if there be something there to be reverenc't more than on the North West or South-side where no Altars are Tant You are a Perillous Whigg Whigg And you are either a fool for bowing to nothing constantly or a Papist in heart for bowing to some real thing that takes up its Lodging on the Altar in the East which as yet you dare not name Tant Then you would make us believe that between the two Religions there went but a pair of Shears Whigg Far be it from me to say so but between some of the Priests and Bishops of the two Religions there has scarce gone so much as the Lord Faulkland said It is all that a good Living or 1500 l per annum can do to keep some of them from declaring themselves openly and professedly to be Papists these Fellowes never speak of the worst the darkest the blackest the bloodyest Superstition in the World under the known name of Popery Papists c. but mildly and gently they only call it the Church of Rome the Catholicks c. and if sometimes they call them Romanists and Roman Catholicks
they think if it were overheard all hopes of further Preferment is almost defunct as if Roman was a needless Epithite and as if none were Catholicks in the World but only that barbarous and bloody Sect because like the Devil in the Possessed their Name is Legion for that they are many and numerous more is the pity yet blessed be God if you go to tell Noses in Europe or all the World over Protestants are the major part as well as the better part though you throw to the Papists side all our Tantivees into the bargain Come come Rome loses ground every day let the Pope the Jesuits and the Devil do what they can in Combination I told you they have got but one Main-pillar and that is crazy and rotten almost as great a blunder as they keep Tant Why do you think we shall not carry all before us Whigg Yes you will some of you at least be advanc't as high as Haman if the learned Mr. Selden Prophecyed true for when Doctor Worral Chaplain to the Bishop of London Licensed Sybthorp's said Sermon he scratch't his Name out and suffered not so much as any Sign of the Letters of his Name to remain on the Paper by advice of Mr. Selden to whose better Judgment and for further advice he sent Sybthorp's Pamphlet call'd a Sermon after he had Licens'd it but Mr. Selden said to him What have you done you have allowed a strange Book yonder which if it be true there is no Meum or Tuum no man in England hath any thing of his own if ever the Tyde turn as it did with a Vengeance to the Toryes and Tantivees you will be Hang'd for Publishing such a Book But what the Chaplain upon second thoughts would not do his Master the Bishop of London did Licensing the same with his own hand the good man being not willing that any thing should stick with him that came recommended from the Court. Tant From the Court or Queen what skills it I commend him the same Bishop also Licensed a Book called The Seven Sacraments with all its Errors made by Doctor Cosens Bishop Laud's Confident and yet neither he nor any of them did ever declare themselves to be Papists openly Whigg No no I know it they were the wiser neither did Mountague whom they all upheld and advanc'd and yet he made the Church of England a Schismatick if the Church of Rome be a true Church and alwayes kept the Faith as Mountague asserts and the said Bishops did abett him and Preferr'd him and so did the D. of Buckingham magnifying him as a well Deserving man and when the King Charles 1. was Marryed to his Queen a Daughter of France Letters were sent to the High Commission-Court and other Courts to suspend and take off all Execution of the Laws against Papists then by Proclamation upon the Parliaments Remonstrance a quite contrary Command was published under the broad Seal of England and after the Parliament was Dissolved then all the Popish-Priests fourteen or fifteen at a time are set at Liberty again such great variation of the Compass was found in the same Climat and Longitude sometimes the Laws being put in Execution at a force-put and then again slackning the Reins and following natural inclination Tant What Opinion had Archbishop Abbot of those times and those Transactions Whigg When the allowance of Sybthorp's Pamphlet was put upon him he said He had some reason out of the grounds of that Sermon that the Duke had a Purpose to turn upside down the Laws and the whole Fundamental Courses and Liberties of the Subject and to leave us not under the Statutes and Customs which our Progenitors enjoyed but to the pleasure of Princes Tant That is brave it is al-a-mode d' France but when the Duke was Stabb'd did the same Arbitrary Courses go on Whigg Yes Loans and Monopolies Privy Seals and such Projects were continued and some say the Earl of Strafford begun to assess Souldiers upon the People that would not pay his Arbitrary demands in Ireland chiefly to make way the better for the like Project other-where yet he was a wise man and a right Englishman once 'till he became infected afterwards with Ambition and Court the fate and occasion of the Ruine of Bishop Laud as well as of him and of one more of more worth than both of them Besides Said the Archbishop Abbot Now it came in my heart that I was present at the Kings Coronation where many things on the Princes part were solemnly Promised which being observed would keep all in order and the King should have a loving and gracious People and the Commons a kind and gracious King But I am loth to plunge my self over head and ears in these difficulties the Loans c. that I can neither live with quietness of Conscience nor depart out of the World with good Fame and Estimation And perhaps my Soveraign if he looked well into this Paradox would of all the World hate me because one of my Profession Age and Calling would deceive him and with base Flattery swerve from the Truth Tant Then you think that the Kings Minions Buckingham Laud and Strafford were the Kings greatest Enemies and that of all the World he had most Cause to hate them Whigg No doubt on 't if their Councels came out of their own Heads or was not rather Instill'd and put into their Heads by I know who Tory. Oh! I apprehend you Whigg But whether it be the Devil or man that possesseth men with evil the Sinners that received the Temptation the Baits of Ambition and Avarice as they are Instruments of wonderful Mischief and Blood ought to pay dear for their Sycophantry Tant Pay dear do you say Strafford and Laud lost their Heads on Tower-hill and Buckingham was Stabb'd at Portsmouth by Felton you said But you did not tell me what mov'd him to this bloody Fact Whigg Felton neither fled for it nor denyed the Deed but said he Killed him for the Cause of God and his Countrey and when it was replyed that the Surgeons said there might be hopes of his Life Felton answered and said It is impossible I had the force of forty men assisted by him that guarded my Hand that he did not kill him for any private Interest whatsoever that the late Remonstrance of Parliament published the Duke so odious that he appeared to him deserving Death which no Justice durst Execute Tant But we say seldom comes a better Whigg Nay there was not much to choose for the same Councils were still carryed on so that the Duke was not look't upon as the Original but rather an Instrument to execute Perplext Counsels and when he was Kill'd there wanted not others that would venture in his room though all History tells us those little by-wayes and illegal wayes prove as fatal now a-dayes as of old in the dayes of Gaveston and the two Spencers Suffolk c. There was a Paper found tack't
years namely from March Anno Domini 1628. until April 13. 1640. which lasted but twenty dayes his Majesty Dissolving them also for they went on in the old Story looking back since the last Parliament at the Grievances which were as numerous as intollerable but the King found it necessary to call another Parliament which met November 3. 1640. and did the strange things you have heard Tant Sure the People were mad stark mad in 40. and 41. Whigg Oppression makes Wise men mad Tant Did not Addresses come from all parts to thank the King for Dissolving the Parliaments so fast Whigg No such matter for the people were so enraged when the Parliament was Dissolved 1628. attributing it to the D. of Buckingham that they would ordinarily utter these words Let Charles and George do what they can The Duke shall dye like Doctor Lamb. Tant How dyed Doctor Lamb Whigg The Boyes ordinary People and the Rabble beat him and bruised him and left him for dead falling on him as he walk't through the Old-Jury calling him the Duke's Conjurer Tant But when the Duke was Stabb'd who did they blame for the Dissolution of the Parliament Whigg Who who but the powerful men at Court especially Bishop Laud some few dayes after two Libels being found in the Dean of Paul's Yard to this effect Laud look to thy self be assured thy Life is sought as thou art the Fountain of Wickedness repent of thy monstrous Sins before thou be taken out of the World and assure thy self neither God nor the World can endure such a vile Councellor or Whisperer to live The other was as bad against the Lord Treasurer Weston Tant What he that you say dyed a profest Papist Whigg The same Tant But Bishop Laud dyed of the Church of England Whigg Yes yes It is better to be the Arch or Chief of the Clergy of England and chief Favourite Also than to be the Second at Rome and he very fairly refused a Cardinal's cap which was proffer'd him and I believe he was no more a Papist in heart than I am what he did in complyance with Popery and Popish Ceremonies was only in complacence to you know who Tory. The more blame-worthy to act against his little Conscience as appear'd by the then Favourites for Strafford Noy Laud c. untill Preferment dazel'd them and height made them Vertiginous and Turn-sick were as steddy Protestants and English-men as any Whigg Ay Ay the Devil knew what he did when he proffer'd our Saviour the Kingdoms of the World shewing the glory of them tempting him as if they had need be assisted by Divinity who are Temptation-proof Tant Right for onely Divines are temptation-proof Whigg True none are Temptation-proof but those that are true Divines in Reality not Divines that are such in Name onely or such that lay heavy burdens on others but will not touch them themselves with one of their fingers or such as preach Prayers and Tears onely to other Christians whilest they themselves tear and rend with the Civil Sword curses instead of prayers and instead of tears rant it with blood and wounds Tory. You think the Laws are the onely as well as the best Boundaries to keep King and People within their just limits and duty Whigg Right The Rules of Justice or the Laws are the Hercules Pillars or the nè plus ultra to King and People to the Kings Prerogative and the Peoples Liberties as they are the Hercules Pillars so they are the Pillar to every Hercules to every Prince which if he pass he goes into the vast Ocean the Lord knowes whither for no body knowes what will be the End and Issue of such dismal wandring Therefore the old Rule of Law is Solum Rex hoc non potest facere quod non potest justè agere The King can do nothing but what he can Legally do Therefore Antiochus King of Asia sent his Letters and Missives to all his Provinces That if they received any Dispatches in his Name not agreeable to Law and Justice Ignoto se literas esse scriptas ideoque iis non parerent he disclaim'd the same as not being his Act and deed though attested under the Broad-Seal Tory. But suppose at a Bone-fire on a Thanksgiving Night such a Whigg as you pass by and will not drink the Kings Health or the Dukes Health and I break your head Whigg Whigg Then you are a Ryotor and the Magistrates ought to punish you accordingly and in my own defence I may lawfully Knock your Pate again Tory to get out of your clutches Tory. That might occasion Knocking-work Whigg Have a care then that you keep the Kings-Peace and do not dye as a Fool dyeth for he that makes the assault the Aggressor must be responsible for all the mischief that ensues from his own wickedness and villanously-bold attempt in stopping the Kings Subjects and setting upon them with violence in the Kings High-way walking peaceably by them Tory. There is none but a Rebell will refuse the King or Dukes Health Whigg There is none but a drunken Coxcomb will say so besides 't is expressely against His Majesties Proclamation publisht Against forcing of Healths down mens Throats whether they will or no. Tory. Wee for the King will Drink and Whore It showes our Loyalty the more Whigg Ay such Loyalty has done wonders wonderful Mischief and the Kings Friends were his greatest Enemies and Traytors and most guilty Laesae Majestatis Tory. How prove you that Whigg Infallibly by the Premises for if the King can do no wrong and can onely do that that Legally and justly he may do then 1. Tunnage and Poundage without Authority of Parliament 2. Money for Knights Fees or lest you should be made a Knight 3. Loans and Privy Seals Benevolences and Monopolies 4. Billeting of Souldiers 5. Ship-money and Ship-writs 6. Imprisonment and seizures for refusing to pay those illegal Taxes were none of them the Kings Act and deed though in his Name and under his Seal Tant That 's strange why man the return of the Cause of their Commitment upon their Habeas Corpus was this Per speciale mandatum domini Regis that the Prisoners were Committed by the special Command of the King himself and so the Council Order'd Whig That 's Braze Good Councellors will take upon themselves harsh things and leave the King the Honour and Thanks of our Acts of Grace and Goodness but this invests all the order of true Politicks Mercy and Goodness only naturally and immediately flow from the Throne Justice from the Ministers Therefore the Sword is carried before him but the Scepter in his Hand Tory. Ay but it was advised that the Calling of a Parliament being pleasing to the People and obliging should be given out to be at the motion of Buckingham Ay Ay But when it was Dissolv'd the King did it in his own Person as well as by his Prerogative But has the King such a Prerogative to Adjourn
all Kings are called so especially whilst they Live and to their Heads for a King can do no wrong And all men acknowledged that King Charles I. of his own Natural Temper was inclined to Goodness and Mercy and Justice and Righteousness and the keeping of Faith with men and observing his Word fulfilling his Promises and keeping stedfast to Religion and therefore they think that he knew nothing of the matter when Popish-Books or Books in Favour of Popery as Mountagues Book aforesaid and the Authors of such Books and the Books for Arbitrary Government and the Authors of them Sybthorp aud Manwaring were the men and the Books the Tenents Doctrines and Opinions that were prefer'd advanc'd extoll'd cry'd up and Countenanc'd at Court above all other men and Books were really Orthodox and according to Law nay some think the King knew not that Mountague and Manwaring were not only Pardon'd but made Bishops since the Parliament had judg'd them unmeet for their demerits which no man in England durst publickly own or vindicate to this day and vile wretchedness and false Doctrines to be uncapable of the meanest Benefices yet these must be the chief Shepheards the Flocks were like to be well govern'd and Bishop Land that abetted and Countenanc'd the said Authors and Books Licensed their false Doctrines and impure as well as Illegal Principles and got their Books Licensed was made Archbishop and who but he with the King and Court The King knew nothing of all this nor that Papists great Papists were put into Commission all the Kingdom over nor that Arbitrary Government in Loanes Knighthood-Money Tunnage and Poundage Ship-Money Assessing and Billeting of Souldiers c. The King knew nothing of all this these were Deeds Deeds not Words Deeds that made the Kingdom groan Deeds that Affrighted the Parliament and the Kings best Subjects with too much cause of Jealousies and Fears of Popery and Arbitrary Government when it was really practic'd in so many particulars and the Councellors and Favorites that abetted the same the only men in Favour and nothing was said against them in Parliament but it prov'd the ruine of the men though Parliament-men that might Parler le ment speak their minds freely and lawfully and also prov'd to be the Dissolution of those Parliaments 'till the Kings Necessities and Straits were so great and the Dissolutions so frequent and on the strange occasions aforesaid that the Parliament would do nothing 'till the King not only had Promis'd but had granted it by Statute that they should not be Dissolv'd but by their own Consent Tory. It is the greatest wonder in the world to me that any King should Dissolve a Parliament but by their own Consent or 'till all Grievances be Redress'd for the King is Pater Patriae the Father of the Country and what an odd Humour is it if a Father that has a Child or Children troubled with griefs or Grievances and had a Prerogative that could but would not remedy them nay nor suffer them that would remedy his Children is this Father like or like something else The King is the chief Shepheard of his People his Flock but what an odd humour is it if a Shepheard when he sees Doggs and Wolves tear and rend his Sheep shall neither according to the duty of his place deliver his Sheep out of their Jaws nor yet suffer others to do it but contrarily side with the Doggs and defend the Worried Sheep much more if he see the Currs on worse if he shall go Snips in the Booty and Prey Whigg I am glad to hear this of you Mr. Tory you have been us'd to Language that has less of Sense Reason or Law in it Tant But all this while Mr. Whigg you do not tell us any thing in Answer to this excuse the Favourites made namely Necessity the Kings necessities required that which indeed ought not to be done by Law Whig Necessity Pish this excuse aggravates their Offence for thus they dispute in a Carcle and justify their wickedness by greater by links and chains of evil consequences First the Kings Affairs by their Evil Councel and Managements is brought into Straits and Necessities the effect of them then these evil effects are made the Cause of the continuance of worse effects World without end But thank God for a Parliament The Pretence of this same Whimzey Necessity hath ruin'd the Liberties and Properties of the French-men in Normandy to this day For they were ruled once by as good Laws as we are but being opprest with some Grievances contrary to their Charters Customs and Franchises they made their Complaint to Lewis the Tenth who by his New Charters in the year 1314. acknowledged their Rights and Customs aforesaid and confirmed them Confessing also that they had been unjustly grieved and wrong'd but by the said New Charter did provide that from thence forward they should be free from all Subsidies and and Exactions to be imposed upon them without their own Consents but with this saving or small exception Si necessitis grand ne le requiret namely except great necessity required the contrary Which little business Mr. Necessity has done their business and broke the neck of all their Laws Charters and Franchises and of Subjects they are become Slaves and Vassals little differing from Turky-Gally-Slaves for no man can say any thing is his own if necessitye le Grand that is the King require the same nay they dare not now say That their Souls are their own so great is the Encroachment of Tyranny Covetousness and Oppression if you give it an Inch it will take an Ell and thefore you Toryes are a base generation for you hate your Friends most of all and Spaniard-like at the same time basely Fawn Wagg your Tails and Cringe base Currs to the Hand that beats you most nay you 'l Fight to Blood in pursuit of your Sycophantry poor Slaves And your Tantives will Preach your People all out of Church rather than not Preach up the said false Doctrine of Sybthorp Mountague and Manwaring Oh most unworthy Treacherous and Easy-bought Hirelings That for to be made a Shepheard or chief Bishops of Souls would betray them and Sell them all and your own to boot into the bargain in defyance of the Laws of God and the Realm which the King is Sworn and bound to obey perform observe and keep The Throne cannot have it has been found by woful experience worse Friends nor greater Traytors than such Sycophants and Wretches as you are Tant We are as much obliged to you Mr. Whigg for your good Opinion of us Whig 'T is according to your Merits Is it not enough that this Kingdom and Commonwealth should be once in one Age undone by the same kind of men the same Sell Truths the same Illegal Principles and Tantivee-Practices and Parasitical Flatteries and Slye Insinuations under the Vizard of Divinity Loyalty and the Church the Church and yet not one in a hundred of
the Strangest Law in the World if it should give a Prerogative to destroy it self and so become felo de se it s own Executioner having so carefully fenc'd against Arbitrary sway in all Ages and so Industriously and zealously too have our Ancestors stood up for the same to the last drop of their Bloods as chusing rather to leave us no Lands Charters Priviledges and Fields rather than Akeldama's as one calls them Fields of Blood and such as we must like them be forc'd to Fight for their Defence and our own against Arbitrary Projects Whig There needs no Fighting for them if we make the good Old Laws the Arbitrator of the Good Old Cause For the Law alone gives the King his due and his Subjects their due but because men naturally encline to do what they list without controul wonder not if even the best of Kings surrounded with so many Parasites and pimping Sycophants have been tempted to rule and do as he list without Check-mate of Bishops and Knights and Lords in Parliament Tant Why Has Parliaments then been as Old a Constitution as Kings of England Whig Yes for ought can be known to the contrary The said Famous Old Book the said Mirrour of Justice shows that Parliaments were before a single King Ruled England namely during the Heptarchy when there were seven Kings rather than fail to rule England Tant I shall never have enow of Kings I do so love them Whig Ay but seven Kings were accounted more than enough and after the Heptarchy when the King of the West-Saxons namely Cornwall Devonshire Dor setshire Sommer setshire Wiltshire Hampshire and Barkshire had swallowed up all the rest Parliaments still were or Senates as long before this during the Reign of the Senate and Caesars of Rome here in England So also after Egbert when the Bishop of Winchester Ethelwolph his Eldest Son with much ado was perswaded to leave his Bishoprick and a Religious Life for a Kingdom after he had purchas'd a Pardon from the Pope for breaking his Religious Vow And yet he had much ado to keep his Crown upon his head for breaking but one poor Law for if he had not by death timely death cheated his Lords they had certainly Depos'd him for placing his Queen in a Chair of State which was then contrary to Law made ever since Queen Ethelburg by chance Poison'd her Husband King Birthrick by a Venemous Potion which she said at least she had prepared for another but being a Handsome Whore she fled into France 'till by frequent Adulteries she died Miserably and like a Rotten Whore and for her sake the West-Saxons ordained whence Note they were Law-makers in these days a Law that no Kings Wife should hereafter have the Title or Majesty of a Queen which Law as aforesaid King Ethelwolph being so bold as to dispense with and break the Lords would certainly have Depos'd him but that his Grave prevented them Tant Then belike it was not safe for Kings to break Laws in those days Whig Judge you and long after Stout King Edward I. told the Bishops plainly that he could not being but one Member of the Body though the Head undo what the whole Body had done and Enacted as is before remembred Tant You are full of your Old Storyes to maintain your Whiggism Whig I invent none I write nothing but what I have Authentick Histories and Records to Vouch and Attest the Truth And thus Parliaments continued in the short Reign of Ethelbald Successor to his Fathers Crown and Bed for to his Eternal shame he Married Judith his Fathers Widdow So also in the Reigns of Ethelbert Ethelred and Alfred the four Sons of Ethelwolph who Successively Reigned one after another which Alfred was as Learned as Valiant and first Founded the University of Oxford one of the Oldest Universities in the World Tant I thought Universities had been as Old as Christianity What could Christianity and the Ministry continue in the World nine hundred years in its greatest splendor without an University and an Academian Whig Yea so it seems without either Oxford-Scholar Bloxford-Schollar or Cantabrigian Alas alas Universities were at first the Pope's Invention so also were School-men School-Divinity and Canon-Laws with which he has so defac'd Christianity with his Painting Glazings Glossings Comments Arguments Syllogismes Fallacies Fripperies and Metaphysical-Fopperies that Schollars are forc'd to Fool away a great deal of time in Cracking these Insipid Shells and Outward Rindes that their Teeth are broke and worn out before they come to Taste true and Solid Learning or Christianity nay the Majority never come at the Kernel and Marrow of true Divinity and useful Learning during their whole Life not much unlike that Popish Doctor that had been nine years Doctor of Divinity before he saw a Bible Tant Doctor Subtilis I 'le warrant Tory. Prythee Parson do not thus Interrupt Mr. Whigg with your Impertinent Parenthesis Go on Whigg Whig To serve you Tory I will and will let you know that there were Parliaments to which Knights and Burgesses were Summon'd after the Heptarchy in the Reigns aforesaid and the Reigns of Alfred's Sons King Edward as Stout a man as his Father not so Book-Learn'd but more Successful through the help of his Sister Madam Elfled the Wife of Ethelred Earl of Mereia to whom when she had brought him one Daughter with Grievous Pains in her Travel she turn'd Souldier and Virago helping her Brother most Manfully against the Welsh and Danes and brought them all under her refusing the Nuptial Bed of her Husband saying It was a floolish pleasure that brought with it so Excessive Pains Tant Few of our women now a dayes are of her mind they 'l venture again and again Tory. This Parson is always Interrupting us with his Idle Notes Commentaries and Observations Proceed good Mr. Whigg there is some profit and understanding to be learn'd by you Parson hold your Tongue if it be possible for a Prating Circingle to leave his Impertinence in Company Whig This Old Fundamental frame continued in the Reigns of Athelstone Edgar Ethelred Canutus Harold William the Conqueror c. So that Parliaments are part of the Frame of the Common-Law which no Kings can defeat frustrate or make void nor did ever any attempt the same but it proved Fatal to him nay proved to be his ruine Witness all the Unhappy Reigns and Violent Deaths of English Kings that have broke loose and made Rapes and violent attempts upon the known Chast and Sacred Laws of England the Common-Law to King and People fram'd in the Law and Light of Nature Right Reason and Holy-Writ Secondly According to the said Law made in the Reign of King Alfred Parliaments are to Sit frequently Right and good Reason I do not say as often as you take Physick Spring and Fall at least but however so often as the Noxious Humours abound above the Boundaries Banks and Limits of the Law and