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
so they wil be euer the other petition was reiected the King being pleas'd notwithstanding that the great Officers should take an oath in Parliament to doe Iustice. Now for the Parliament of Westminster in the 17 th yeare of the King the King had three markes and a halfe for euery sacke of wooll transported and in his 18 th he had a 10 th of the Clergy and a 15 ◠of the Laity for one yeare His Maiesty forbare after this to charge his subiects with any more payments vntill the 29 th of his reigne when there was giuen the King by Parliament 50 for euery sacke of wooll transported for sixe yeares by which grant the King receiued a thousand marks a day a greater matter then a thousand pounds in these dayes a 1000 l a day amounts to 365000 a yeare which was one of the greatest presents that euer was giuen to a King of this land For besides the cheapnes of all things in that age the Kings souldiers had but 3 d a day wages a man at armes 6 l a Knight but 2 ◠In the Parliament at Westminster in the 33 ◠yeare he had 26 ◠8 d for euery sacke of wooll transported in the 42 t◠yeare 3 dismes 3 fifteens In his 45 l yeare he had 50000 of the Layty because the Spiritualty disputed it did not pay so much the King chang'd his Chancellour Treasurer and Privy Seale being Bishops and placed Lay men in their roome COVNS It seemes that in those dayes the kings were no longer in loue with their great Chancellors then when they deserued well of them IVST No my Lord they were not that was the reason they were well serued it was the custome then in many ages after to change the Treasurer the Chancellour euery 3 yeares withall to heare all mens complaints against thē COVNS But by this often change the saying is verified that there is no inheritance in the fauour of Kings Hee that keepeth the figge tree saith Salomon shall eat the fruite thereof for reason it is that the seruant liue by the Master IVST My Lord you say well in both but had the subiect an inheritance in the Princes favor where the Prince hath no inheritance in the subiects fidelity then were kings in more vnhappy estate then common persons For the rest Salomon meaneth not that he that keepeth the figge tree should surfet though he meant he should eate hee meant not hee should breake the branches in gathering the figs or eate the ripe leaue the rotten for the owner of the tree for what saith hee in the following chapter he saith that he that maketh haste to be rich cannot be innocent And before that he saith that the end of an inheritance hastily gotten cannot be blessed Your Lordship hath heard of few or none great with Kings that haue not vsed their power to oppresse that haue not grown insolent hatefull to the people yea insolent towards those Princes that advanced them COVNS Yet you see that Princes can change their fancies IVST Yea my Lord when favorites change their faith when they forget that how familiar socuer Kings make thēselues with their Vassals yet they are kings He that provoketh a King to anger saith Salomon sinneth against his owne soule And he further saith that pride goeth before destruction and a high minde before a fall I say therefore that in discharging those Lucifers how deare soeuer they haue beene kings make the world know that they haue more of Iudgement then of passion yea they thereby offer a satisfactory sacrifice to all their people too great benefits of subjects to their King where the minde is blowne vp with their owne deseruings and too great benefits of Kings confer'd vpon their subiects where 〈◊〉 minde is not qualified with a great deale of modesty are equally dangerous Of this later and insolenter had King Richard the second deliuered vp to Iustice but three or foure he had still held the loue of the people and thereby his life and estate COVNS Well I pray you goe on with your Parliaments IVST The life of this great King Edward drawes to an end so doe the Parliaments of this time where in 50 yeares raigne he neuer receiued any affront for in his 49 th yeare he had a disme and a fifteene granted him freely COVNS But Sir it is an olde saying that all is well that ends well Iudge you whether that in his 50 th yeare in Parliament at Westminster hee receiued not an affront when the house vrged the King to remoue discharge frō his presence the Duke of Lancaster the Lord Latimer his Chamberlaine Sir Richard Sturry and others whom the King fauoured and trusted Nay they pressed the King to thrust a certaine Lady out of the Court which at that time bare the greatest sway therein IVST I will with patience answere your Lordship to the full and first your Lordship may remember by that which I euen now said that neuer King had so many gifts as this King had from his subiects and it hath neuer grieued the subiects of England to giue to their King but when they knew there was a devouring Lady that had her share in all things that passed and the Duke of Lancaster was as scraping as shee that the Chancellour did eat vp the people as fast as either of them both It grieued the subjects to feede these Cormorants But my Lord there are two things by which the Kings of England haue beene prest to wit by their subiects and by their owne necessities The Lords in former times were farre stronger more warlike better followed liuing in their countries then now they are Your Lordship may remember in your reading that there were many Earles could bring into the field a thousand Barbed horses many a Baron 5 or 600 Barbed horses whereas now very few of them can furnish twenty fit to serue the King But to say the truth my Lord the Iustices of Peace in England haue oppos'd the iniusticers of warre in England the kings writ runs ouer all the great Scale of England with that of the next Constables will serue the turne to affront the greatest Lords in England that shall moue against the King The force therefore by which our Kings in former times were troubled is vanisht away But the necessities remaine The people therefore in these later ages are no lesse to bee pleased then the Peeres for as the later are become lesse so by reason of the trayning through England the Commons haue all the weapons in their hands COVNS And was it not so euer IVST No my good Lord for the Noblemen had in their Armories to furnish some of thē a thousand some two thousand some three thousand men whereas now there are not many that can arme fifty COVNS Can you blame them But I will only answere for my selfe betweene you me be it spoken I holde it not safe to
first so published that all men might plead it for their advantage but a Charter was left in deposito in the hands of the Archbishop of Canterbury for the time and so to his successours Stephen Langthon who was euer a Traytor to the King produced this Charter and shewed it to the Barons thereby encouraging them to make warre against the King Neither was it the old Charter simplie the Barons sought to haue cōfirmed but they presented vnto the King other articles and orders tending to the alteration of the whole common-wealth which when the King refused to signe the Barons presently put themselues into the field and in rebellious and outragious fashion sent the King word except he confirmed them they would not desist from making warre against him till he had satisfied them therein And in conclusion the king being betrayed of all his Nobility in effect was forced to graunt the Charter of Magna Charta and Charta de Forestis at such time as he was invironed with an Army in the meadowes of Staynes which Charters being procured by force Pope Innocent afterward disavowed threatned to curse the Barons if they submitted not themselues as they ought to their Soueraigne Lord which when the Lords refused to obey the King entertained an army of strangers for his own defence wherewith hauing mastered beaten the Barons they called in Lewes of France a most vnnaturall resolution to be their King Neither was Magna charta a law in the 19 th of Henry the 2◠but simply a Charter which hee confirmed in the 21 ◠of his reigne made it a law in the 25 th according to Littletons opinion Thus much for the beginning of the great Charter which had first an obscure birth from vsurpation and was secondly fostered shewed to the world by rebellion IVST I cannot deny but that all your Lordship hath said is true but seeing the Charters were afterwards so many times confirmed by Parliament made lawes that there is nothing in them vnequall or prejudicial to the King doth not your Honour thinke it reason they should be obserued COVNS Yes obserued they are in all that the state of a King can permit for no man is destroyed but by the lawes of the land no man disseized of his inheritance but by the lawes of the land imprisoned they are by the prerogatiue wherē the King hath cause to suspect their loyaltie for were it otherwise the King should neuer come to the knowledge of any conspiracy or treason against his Person or state and being imprisoned yet doth not any man suffer death but by the law of the land IVST But may it please your Lordship were not Cornewallis Sharpe Hoskins imprisoned being no suspition of treason there COVNS They were but it cost them nothing IVST And what got the King by it for in the conclusion besides the murmure of the people Cornewallis Sharpe Hoskins hauing greatly ouershot themselues and repented them a fine of 5 or 600 l was laid on his Maiesty for their offences for so much their diet cost his Maiestie COVNS I know who gaue the advice sure I am that it was none of mine But thus I say if you consult your memory you shall finde that those kings which did in their own times confirme the Magna Charta did not onely imprison but they caused of their Nobility and others to bee slaine without hearing or tryall IVST My good Lord if you will giue me leaue to speak freely I say that they are not well advised that perswade the King not to admit the Magna Charta with the former reseruations For as the King can neuer loose a farthing by it as I shall proue anon So except England were as Naples is and kept by Garrisons of another Nation it is impossible for a King of England to greaten and inrich himselfe by any way so assuredly as by the loue of his people For by one rebellion the King hath more losse then by a hundred yeares observance of Magna Charta For therein haue our Kings beene forced to compound with Roagues and Rebels and to pardon them yea the state of the King the Monarchie the Nobility haue beene endangered by them COVNS Well Sir let that passe why should not our kings raise mony as the kings of France doe by their letters and Edicts only for since the time of Lewes the 11 th of whom it is said that hee freed the French Kings of their wardship the French Kings haue seldome assembled the States for any contribution IVST I will tell you why the strength of England doth consist of the people and Yeomanry the Pesants of France haue no courage nor armes In France euery Village and Burrough hath a castle which the French call Chastean Villain euery good citty hath a good Cittadell the king hath the Regiments of his guards and his men at armes alwayes in pay yea the Nobility of France in whom the strength of France consists doe alwaies assist their King in those leavies because them selues being free they make the same leavies vpon their tennants But my Lord if you marke it France was neuer free in effect from ciuill warres and lately it was endangered either to be conquered by the Spaniard or to be cantonized by the rebellious French themselues since that freedome of Wardship But my good Lord to leaue this digression that wherein I would willingly satisfie your Lordship is that the kings of England haue neuer receiued losse by Parliament or preiudice COVNS No Sir you shall find that the subiects in Parliament haue decreed great things to the disadvantage and dishonour of our kings in former times IVST My good Lord to avoide confusion I will make a short repetition of them all and then your Lordship may obiect where you see cause And I doubt not but to giue your Lordship satisfaction In the sixt yeare of Henry the 3 rd there was no dispute the house gaue the King two shillings of euery plough land within England and in the end of the same yeare he had escuage paid him to wit for euery knights fee two markes in siluer In the fifth yeare of that King the Lords demaunded the confirmation of the Great Charter which the kings Councell for that time present excused alleadging that those priviledges were extorted by force during the Kings Minoritie and yet the King was pleased to send forth his writ to the Sheriffes of euery county requiring them to certifie what those liberties vvere and hovv vsed in exchange of the Lords demaund because they pressed him so violently the king required all the castles places which the Lords held of his had held in the time of his Father vvith those Manors Lordships vvhich they had heeretofore vvrested from the Crovvne vvhich at that time the King being provided of forces they durst not deny In the 14 th yeare he had the 15 th peny of all goods giuen him vpon condition to
Commons of the Clergy in the South hee had the tenth penny and in the North the fift penny In the two and thirtyeth yeare he had a subsedy freely graunted In the three and thirtyeth yeare hee confirmed the great Charter of his owne Royall disposition and the states to shew their thankfulnesse gaue the king for one yeare the fift part of all the revenues of the land and of the Citizens the sixt part of their goods And in the same yeare the king vsed the inquisition called Traile Baston By which all Iustices and other Magistrates were grievously fined that had vsed extortion or bribery or had otherwise misdemeaned themselues to the great contentation of the people This commission likewise did enquire of intruders barrators all other the like vermine whereby the king gathered a great masse of treasure with a great deale of loue Now for the whole raigne of this king who governed England 35 yeares there was not any Parliament to his preiudice COVNS But there was taking of armes by Marshall and Hereford IVST That 's true but why was that because the king notwithstanding all that was giuen him by Parliament did lay the greatest taxes that ever king did without their consent But what lost the king by those Lords one of them gaue the king all his lands the other dyed in disgrace COVNS But what say you to the Parliament in Edward the Seconds time his successor did not the house of Parliament banish Peirce Gaueston whom the king favoured IVST But what was this Gaueston but an Esquier of Gascoine formerly banisht the Realme by king Edward the first for corrupting the Prince Edward now raigning And the whole kingdome fearing and detesting his venemous disposition they besought his Maiesty to cast him off which the king performed by an act of his owne and not by act of Parliament yea Gauestons owne fatherinlawe the Earle of Glocesterw as one of the Chiefest of the Lords that procured it And yet finding the kings affection to follow him so strongly they all consented to haue him recalled After which when his credit so increased that hee despised and set at naught all the auncient Nobility and not onely perswaded the king to all manner of outrages and riots but withall transported what he listed of the kings treasure and jewels the Lords vrged his banishment the second time but neither was the first nor second banishment forced by acte of parliament but by the forceable Lords his enemies Lastly hee being recalled by the king the Earle of Lancaster caused his head to bee stricken off when those of his party had taken him prisoner By which presumptuous acts the Earle and the rest of his company committed treason and murder treason by raysing an army without warrant murder by taking away the life of the kings subiect After which Gaveston being dead the Spencers got possession of the kings favour though the younger of them was placed about the K. by the Lords themselues COVNS What say you then to the Parliament held at London about the sixt yeare of that king IVST I say that king was not bound to performe the acts of this parliament because the Lords beeing too strong for the king inforced his consent for these be the words of our own history They wrested too much beyond the boūds of reasō CONS What say you to the Parliaments of the white wands in the 13 th of the king IVST I say the Lords that were so moued came with an army and by strong hand surprised the King they constrained sayth the story the rest of the Lords and compelled many of the Bishops to consent vnto them yea it sayth further that the king durst not but graunt to all that they required to wit for the banishment of the Spencers Yea they were so insolent that they refused to lodge the Queene cōming through Kent in the Castle of Leedes and sent her to prouide her lodging where shee could get it so late in the night for which notwithstanding some that kept her out were soone after taken and hang'd and the refore your Lordship cannot call this a Parliament for the reasons before alleaged But my Lord what became of these Lawgiuers to the king even when they were greatest a knight of the North called Andrew Herkeley assembled the Forces of the Countrey ouerthrew them and their army slewe the Earle of Hereford and other Barons tooke their generall Thomas Earle of Lancaster the Kinges cozen-germane at that tyme possessed of fiue Earledomes the Lords Clifford Talbort Mowbray Maudiut Willington Warren Lord Darcy Withers Kneuill Leybourne Bekes Louell Fitzwilliams Watervild and diverse other Barons Knights and Esquires and soone after the Lord Percy and the Lord Warren tooke the Lords Baldsemere and the Lord Audley the Lord Teis Gifford Tuchet and many others that fled from the battaile the most of which past vnder the hands of the hangman for constraining the King vnder the colour and name of a Parliament But this your good Lordship may iudge to whom those tumultuous assemblies which our histories falsely call Parliaments haue beene daungerous the Kings in the end ever preuailed and the Lords lost their liues estates After which the Spencers in their banishment at Yorke in the 15 th of the King were restored to the honors and estates and therein the King had a subsedy giuen him the sixt penny of goods throughout England Ireland and Wales COVNS Yet you see the Spencers were soone after dissolued IVST It is true my Lord but that is nothing to our subiect of Parliament they may thanke their owne insolencie for they branded despised the Queene whom they ought to haue honored as the Kings wife they were also exceeding greedy built thēselues vpon other mens ruines they were ambitious exceeding malitious wherevpon that came that when Chamberlaine Spencer was hang'd in Hereford a part of the 24 th Psalme was written over his head Quid gloriaris in malitia potens COVNS Well Sir you haue all this while excused your selfe vpon the strength and rebellions of the Lords but what say you now to King Edward the third in whose time and during the time of this victorious king no man durst take Armes or rebel the three estates did him the greatest affront that euer king receiued or endured therefore I conclude where I began that these Parliaments are dangerous for a king IVST To answere your Lordship in order may it please you first to call minde what was giuen this great king by his Subjects before the dispute betwixt him and the house happened which was in his latter dayes from his first yeare to his fift yeare there was nothing giuen the king by his subjects In his eight yeare at the Parliament at London a tenth and a fifteenth was graunted in his tenth yeare hee ceased vpon the Italians goods heere in England to his owne vse with all the goods of the Monkes Cluniacqs and others of the order of the Cistertians
of the blood a most valiant man and the best beloued of the people in generall of any man liuing especially considering that the K. gaue every day more then other offence to his subiects For besides that he fined the inhabitants that assisted the Lords in his Minority of the 17 shires which offence he had long before pardoned his blank Charters letting the Realme to farme to meane persons by whom he was wholly advised increased the peoples hatred towards the present gouernment IVST You say well my L. Princes of an ill destiny do alwaies follow the worst counsell or at least imbrace the best after opportunity is lost Qui confilia non ex suo corde sed alienis viribus colligunt non animo sed auribus cogitant And this was not the least griefe of the subiect in generall that those men had the greatest part of the spoile of the cōmonwealth which neither by vertue valour or counsell could adde any thing vnto it Nihil est sordidius nihil crudelius saith Anto Pius quāsi Remp. ij arrode qui nihil in eam suo labore cōferent COVNS Indeede the letting to farme the Realme was very grievous to the subiect IVST Will your Lordship pardon me if I tell you that the letting to Farme of his Maiesties Customes the greatest revenue of the Realme is not very pleasing COVNS And why I pray you doth not the K. thereby raise his profits every third yeare and one farmer out bids another to the kings advantage IVST It is true my Lord but it grieues the subiect to pay custome to the subject for what mighty men are those Farmers become and if those Farmers get many thousands every yeare as the world knowes they doe why should they not now being men of infinite wealth declare vnto the K. vpon oath what they haue gained and henceforth become the Kings collectors of his custome did not Queene Elizabeth who was reputed both a wise and just Princesse after shee had brought Customer Smith from 14000 l a yeare to 42000 l a yeare made him lay downe a recompence for that which hee had gotten And if these Farmers doe giue no recompence let them yet present the King with the trueth of their receivings and profits But my Lord for conclusion after Bollingbrooke arriuing in England with a small troope Notwithstanding the King at his landing out of Ireland had a sufficient and willing army yet hee wanting courage to defend his right gaue leaue to all his souldiers to depart put himselfe into his hands that cast him into his graue COVNS Yet you see hee was depos'd by Parliament IVST Aswell may your Lordship say hee was knock't in the head by Parliament for your Lordship knowes that if King Richard had ever escaped out of their fingers that deposed him the next Parliament would haue made all the deposers traytors and rebels and that iustly In which Parliamēt or rather vnlawful assembly there appeared but one honest man to wit the B. of Carliel who scorned his life estate in respect of right his allegiāce defēded the right of his Soveraigne Lo against the K. elect his partakers COVNS Well I pray goe on with the Parliaments held in the time of his successor Henry the fourth IVST This King had in his third yeare a subsedy in his fift a tenth of the Cleargie without a Parliament In his sixt yeare he had so great a subsedie as the House required there might bee no record thereof left to posterity for the House gaue him 20 of euery knights Fee and of every 20◠land 20◠and 12◠the pound of goods COVNS Yea in the end of this yere the Parliamēt prest the king to annex vnto the Crowne all temporall possessions belonging to Church-men within the land which at that time was the third foote of all England But the Bishops made friends and in the end saued their estates IVST By this you see my Lord that Cromwell was not the first that thought on such a businesse And if king Henry the 8◠had reserued the Abbeyes and other Church lands which he had given at that time the revenue of the Crowne of England had exceeded the reuenue of the Crowne of Spaine with both the Indies whereas vsed as it was a little enriched the Crown served but to make a number of petty-foggers and other gentlemen COVNS But what had the king in steed of this great revenue IVST Hee had a 15 th of the Commons and a tenth and a halfe of the Clergy and withall all pensions graunted by king Edward and king Richard were made voide It was also moved that all Crowne lands formerly giuen at least given by K. Ed and K. Rich should bee taken backe COVNS What thinke you of that Sir would it not haue beene a dishonour to the king and would not his Successors haue done the like to those that the king had advanced IVST I cannot answere your Lordship but by distinguishing for where the kings had given land for services and had not beene over-reached in his gifts there it had bin a dishonour to the king to haue made voide the graunts of his predecessors or his graunts but all those graunts of the kinges wherein they were deceived the very custome and policy of England makes them voyde at this day COVNS How meane you that for his Majestie hath given a great deale of land among vs since he came into England and would it stand with the kinges honour to take it from vs againe IVST Yea my Lord very well with the kinges honour if your Lordship or any Lord else haue vnder the name of 100 land a yeare gotten 500◠land and so after that rate COVNS I will never belieue that his Majestie will ever doe any such thing IVST And I beleeue as your Lordship doth but we spake e're-while of those that disswaded the King frō calling it a Parliament And your Lordship asked mee the reason why any man should disswade it or feare it to which this place giues me an opportunity to make your Lordship an answer for though his Majestle will of himself never question those graunts yet when the Commons shall make humble petition to the King in Parliament that it will please his Majestie to assist them in his reliefe with that which ought to be his owne which if it will please his Majestie to yeeld vnto the house will most willingly furnish and supply the rest with what grace can his Majestie deny that honest suite of theirs the like hauing beene done in many Kinges times before This proceeding my good Lord may perchance proue all your phrases of the Kings honour false English COVNS But this cannot concerne many for my self I am sure it concernes me little IVST It is true my Lord and there are not many that disswade his Majestie from a Parliament COVNS But they are great ones a fewe of which will serue the turne well enough IVST But my Lord bee
they are justly or injustly laide IVST To impose vpon all things brought into the Kingdome is very auncient which imposing when it hath beene continued a certaine time is then called Customes because the subjects are accustomed to pay it yet the great taxe vpon wine is still called Impost because it was imposed after the ordinary rate of payment had lasted many yeares But we doe now a dayes vnderstand those things to bee impositions which are raised by the commaund of Princes without the aduice of the common-wealth though as I take it much of that which is now called custome was at the first imposed by Prerogatiue royall Now whether it be time or consent that makes them just I cannot define were they just because new and not justified yet by time or vnjust because they want a generall consent yet is this rule of Aristotle verified in respect of his Majestie Minus timent homines iniustum pati à principe quem cultorem dei putant Yea my Lord they are also the more willingly borne because all the world knowes they are no new Invention of the Kings And if those that advised his Maiestie to impose them had raised his lands as it was offered them to 20000 l more then it was and his wards to asmuch as aforesaid they had done him farre more acceptable seruice But they had their own ends in refusing the one and accepting the other If the land had beene raised they could not haue selected the best of it for themselues If the impositions had not been laide some of them could not haue their silkes others peeces in farme which indeed grieued the subiect tenne times more then that which his Maiestie enjoyeth But certainly they made a great advantage that were the advisers for if any tumult had followed his Maiesty ready way had beene to haue deliuered them ouer to the people COVNS But thinke you that the King would haue deliuered them if any troubles had followed IVST I know not my Lord it was Machiavels counsell to Caesar Borgia to doe it and K. H. the 8 deliuered vp Empson and Dudley yea the same King when the great Cardinall Woolsey who gouerned the King and all his estate had by requiring the sixt part of euery mans goods for the King raised a rebellion the King I say disavowed him absolutely that had not the Dukes of Norfolke and Suffolke appeased the people the Cardinall had sung no more Masse for these are the words of our Story The King then came to Westminster to the Cardinals palace and assembled there a great Councell in which he protested that his minde was neuer to aske any thing of his Commons which might sound to the breach of his Lawes Wherefore hee then willed them to know by whose meanes they were so strictly giuen foorth Now my Lord how the Cardinall would haue shifted himselfe by saying I had the opinion of the Iudges had not the rebellion beene appeal'd I greatly doubt COVNS But good Sir you blanch my question and answere mee by examples I aske you whether or no in any such tumult the people pretending against any one or two great Officers the King should deliuer them or defend them IVST My good Lord the people haue not stayde for the kings deliuery neither in England nor in France Your Lordship knowes how the Chauncellour Treasurer and Chiefe Iustice with many others at seuerall times haue bin vsed by the Rebels And the Marshals Constables and Treasurers in France haue beene cut in pieces in Charles the sixt his time Now to your Lordships question I say that where any man shall giue a King perilous advice as may either cause a rebellion or draw the peoples loue from the King I say that a King shal be advised to banish him But if the King doe absolutely commaund his seruant to doe any thing displeasing to the Common-wealth and to his own peril there is the King bound in honour to defend him But my good Lord for conclusion there is no man in England that will lay any invention either grieuous or against law vpon the Kings Maiesty And therefore your Lordships must share it amongst you COVNS For my part I had no hand in it I thinke Ingram was he that propounded it to the Treasurer IVST Alas my good Lord euery poore wayter in the Custome-house or euery promoter might haue done it there is no invention in these things To lay impositions and sell the Kings lands are poore and common devices It is true that Ingram and his fellowes are odious men and therefore his Maiestie pleas'd the people greatly to put him from the Coffership It is better for a Prince to vse such a kinde of men then to countenance them hang-men are necessary in a Commonwealth yet in the Nether-lands none but a hangmans sonne will marry a hang-mans daughter Now my Lord the last gathering which Henry the seuenth made was in his twentieth yeare wherein hee had another benevolence both of the Cleargy and Laity a part of which taken of the poorer sort hee ordained by his Testament that it should bee restored And for King Henry the eight although hee was left in a most plentifull estate yet he wonderfully prest his people with great payments for in the beginning of his time it was infinite that hee spent in Masking and Tilting Banquetting and other vanities before hee was entered into the most consuming expence of the most fond and fruitlesse warre that euer King vndertooke In his fourth yeare hee had one of the greatest subsedies that euer was granted for besides two fifteenes and two dismes hee vsed Dauids Lawe of Capitation or head-money and had of euery Duke ten markes of euery Earle fiue pounds of euery Lord foure pounds of euery Knight foure markes euery man rated at 8 ◠in goods 4 markes and so after the rate yea euery man that was valued but at 40 paide 12 ◠and euery man and woman aboue 15 yeares 4 ◠Hee had also in his sixt yeare diuers subsedies granted him In his fourteenth there was a tenth demaunded of euery mans goods but it was moderated In the Parliament following the Clergie gaue the King the halfe of their spirituall liuings for one yeare of the Laity there was demanded 800000 ' which could not be levied in England but it was a marveilous great gift that the king had giuen him at that time In the Kings seuenteenth yeare was the Rebellion before spoken of wherein King disavowed the Cardinall In his seuenteenth yeare hee had the tenth and fifteenth giuen by Parliament which were before that time paide to the Pope And before that also the monyes that the King borrowed in his fifteenth yeare were forgiuen him by Parliament in his seuenteenth yeare In his 35 yeare a subsedy was granted of 4 ◠the pound of euery man worth in goods from 20◠to 5 ◠from 5 ◠to 10 l and vpwards of euery pound 2. And all strangers denisens and others doubled
Prerogatiue of Parlaments in ENGLAND Proued in a Dialogue pro contra betweene a Councellour of State and a Iustice of Peace Written by the worthy much lacked and lamented Sir W. R.K t. deceased Dedicated to the Kings Maiesty and to the House of Parlament now assembled Preserued to be now happily in these distracted Times Published and Printed at Hamburgh 1628. To the KING Most gracious Soueraigne THose that are supprest and helpelesse are commonly silent wishing that the common ill in al sort might be with their particular misfortunes which disposition as it is vncharitable in all men so would it be in me more dogge-like then man-like to bite the stone that strooke me to wit the borrowed authoritie of my Soueragne misinformed seeing their armes and hands that flang it are most of them already rotten For I must confesse it euer that they are debts and not discontentments that your Maiesty hath laid vpon me the debts and obligation of a friendlesse aduersity farre more payable in all Kinds then those of the prosperous All which nor the least of them though I cannot discharge I may yet endeauour it And notwithstanding my restraint hath retrenched all wayes as well the wayes of labour and will as of all other imployments yet hath is left with me my cogitations then which I haue nothing else to offer on the Altar of my Loue. Of those most gracious Soueraigne I haue vsed some part in the following dispute betweene a Counsellour of Estate and a Iustice of Peace the one disswading the other perswading the calling of a Parliament In all which since the Norman Conquest at the least so many as Histories haue gathered I haue in some things in the following Dialogue presented your Maiestie with the contentions and successes Some things there are and those of the greatest which because they ought first to be resolued on I thought fit to range them in the front of the rest to the end your Maiestie may be pleased to examine your owne great and Princely heart of their acceptance or refusall The first is that supposition that your Maiesties Subiects giue nothing but with adiunction of their own interests interlacing in one and the same act your Maiesties reliefe and their owne liberties not that your Maiesties pietie was euer suspected but because the best Princes are euer the least iealous your Maiestie iudging others by your selfe who haue abused your Maiesties trust The fear'd continuance of the like abuse may perswade the prouision But this caution how euer it seemeth at first sight your Maiesty shall perceiue by many examples following but friuolous The bonds of Subiects to their Kings should alwayes be wrought out of Iron the bonds of Kings vnto Subiects but with Cobwebs This it is most renowned Soueraigne that this trafficke of assurances hath beene often vrged of which if the Conditions had beene easie our Kings haue as easily kept them if hard and preiudiciall either to their honours or estates the Creditours haue beene paid their debts with their owne presumption For all binding of a King by Law vpon the aduantage of his necessitie makes the breach it selfe lawfull in a King His Charters and all other instruments being no other then the suruiuing witnesses of vnconstrained will Princeps non subijcitur nisi sua voluntate libera mero moto certa Scientia Necessary words in all the grants of a King witnessing that the same grants were giuen freely and knowingly The second resolution will rest in your Maiesty leauing the new impositions all Monopolies and other grieuances of the people to the consideration of the House Prouided that your Maiesties reuenue be not abated which if your Maiesty shall refuse it is thought that the disputes will last long and the issues will be doubtfull And on the contrary if your Maiesty vouchsafe it it may perchance be stiled a yeelding which seemeth by the sound to braue the Regalty But most excellent Prince what other is it to th' eares of the wise but as the sound of a trumpet hauing blasted forth a false Alarme becomes but common ayre Shall the head yeeld to the feet certainly it ought when they are grieued for wisdome will rather regard the commodity then obiect the disgrace seeing if the feet lye in fetters the head cannot be freed and where the feet feele but their owne paines the head doth not onely suffer by participation but withall by consideration of the euill Certainly the point of honour well weighed hath nothing in it to euen the ballance for by your Maiesties fauour your Maiesty doth not yeeld either to any person or to any power but to a dispute onely in which the Proposition and Minor proue nothing without a conclusion which no other person or power can make but a Maiesty yea this in Henry the third his time was called a wisedome incomparable For the King raised againe recouers his authority For being in that extremity as hee was driuen with the Queene and his Children Cum Abbatibus Prioribus saris homilibus hospitia quaerere prandia For the rest may it please your Maiesty to consider that there can nothing befall your Maiesty in matters of affaires more vnfortunately then the summons of a Parliament with ill successe A dishonour so perswasiue and aduenturous as it will not onely finde arguments but it will take the leading of all enemies that shall offer themselues against your Maiesties estate Le labourin de la paurete ne saict poinct de breuct of which dangerous disease in Princes the remedy doth chiefly consist in the loue of the people which how it may be had and held no man knowes better then your Maiesty how to loose it all men know and know that it is lost by nothing more then by the defence of others in wrong doing The onely motiues of mischances that euer came to Kings of this Land since the Conquest It is onely loue most renowned Soueraigne must prepare the way for your Maiesties following desires It is loue which obeyes which suffers which giues which stickes at nothing which Loue as well of your Maiesties people as the loue of God to your Maiesty that it may alwayes hold shall be the continuall prayers of your Maiesties most humble vassall Walter Ralegh A DIALOGVE BETWEENE A COVNSELLOVR OF STATE AND A IVSTICE OF PEACE COVNSELLOVR NOW Sir what thinke you of M S Iohns tryall in Star-Chamber I know that the bruite ranne that he was hardly dealt withall because he was imprisoned in the Towre seeing his disswasion from granting a Benevolence to the King was warranted by the Law IVSTICE Surely Sir it was made manifest at the hearing that M.S. Iohn was rather in loue with his owne letter he confessed hee had seene your Lordships letter before hee wrote his to the Maior of Marleborough and in your Lordships letter there was not a word whereto the Statutes by M t S t Iohn alleadged had reference for those Statutes did
condemne the gathering of money from the Subject vnder title of a free gift whereas a fift a sixt a tenth c. was set downe and required But my good Lord though diuers Shires haue giuen to his Maiestie some more some lesse what is this to the Kings debt COVNS We know it well enough but we haue many other projects IVST It is true my good Lord but your Lordship will find that when by these you haue drawn many petty summs frō the subjects those sometimes spent as fast as they are gathered his Maiesty being nothing enabled thereby when you shal be forced to demand your great aide the countrey will excuse it selfe in regard of their former payments COVNS What meane you by the great aide IVST I meane the aide of Parliament COVNS By Parliament I would faine know the man that durst perswade the King vnto it for if it should succeed ill in what case were he IVST You say well for your selfe my Lord and perchance you that are louers of your selues vnder pardon do follow the advice of the late Duke of Alva who was euer opposite to all resolutions in businesse of importance for if the things enterprized succeeded wel the advice neuer came in question If ill whereto great vndertakings are commōly subiect he then made his advantage by remembring his countrey councell But my good Lord these reserued Polititians are not the best seruants for hee that is bound to adventure his life for his Master is also bound to adventure his advice Keep not backe councell saith Ecclesiasticus when it may doe good COVNS But Sir I speake it not in other respect then I think it dangerous for the King to assemble the three estates for thereby haue our former kings alwaies lost somwhat of their prerogatiues And because that you shall not thinke that I speake it at randome I will begin with elder times wherein the first contention began betwixt the Kings of this land and their subiects in Parliament IVST Your Lordship shall doe me a singular fauour COVNS You know that the Kings of England had no formal Parliament till about the 18 th yeare of Henry the first for in his 17 yeare for the marriage of his daughter the King raised a tax vpon euery hide of land by the advice of his privy councell alone But you may remember how the subiects soone after the establishment of this Parliament beganne to stand vpon termes with the King and drew from him by strong hand and the sword the great Charter IVST Your Lordship sayes well they drew from the King the great Charter by the sword and hereof the Parliament cannot be accused but the Lords COVNS You say well but it was after the establishment of the Parliament by colour of it that they had so great daring for before that time they could not endure to heare of S Edwards lawes but resisted the confirmation in all they could although by those lawes the Subjects of this Iland were no lesse free then any of all Europe IVST My good Lord the reason is manifest for while the Normans other of the French that followed the Conquerour made spoyle of the English they would not endure that any thing but the will of the Conquerour should stand for Law but after a discent or two when themselues were become English found themselues beaten with their own rods they then began to sauour the difference betweene subjection slauery insist vpon the law Meum Tuum to be able to say vnto themselues hoc fac vives yea that the conquering English in Ireland did the like your Lordship knowes it better than I. COVNS I thinke you guesse aright And to the end the subiect may know that being a faithfull seruant to his Prince he might enioy his own life and paying to his Prince what belongs to a Soueraigne the remainder was his own to dispose Henry the first to content his Vassals gaue them the great Charter and the Charter of Forrests IVST What reasō then had K. Iohn to deny the cōfirmatiō COVNS He did not but he on the cōtrary confirmed both the Charters with additions required the Pope whom he had thē made his superior to strengthē him with a goldē bul IVST But your honour knowes that it was not long after that he repented himselfe COVNS It is true he had reason so to do for the Barons refused to follow him into France as they ought to haue done and to say true this great Charter vpon which you insist so much was not originally granted Regally and freely for Henry the first did vsurpe the kingdome and therefore the better to assure himselfe against Robert his eldest brother hee flattered his Nobility and people with those Charters Yea King Iohn that confirmed them had the like respect for Arthur Duke of Britaine was the vndoubted heire of the crowne vpon whom Iohn vsurped And so to conclude these Charters had their originall from Kings de facto but not de iure IVST But King Iohn confirmed the Charter after the death of his Nephew Arthur when he was then Rex de iure also COVNS It is true for he durst doe no other standing accursed whereby few or none obeyed him for his Nobility refused to follow him into Scotland and he had so grieued the people by pulling downe all the Parke pales before harvest to the end his deere might spoyle the Corne And by seizing the temporalities of so many Bishoprickes into his hands and chiefly for practizing the death of the Duke of Brittaine his Nephew as also hauing lost Normandy to the French so as the hearts of all men were turned from him IVST Nay by your fauour my Lord. King Iohn restored K. Edwards Lawes after his absolution and wrote his letters in the 15 ◠of his reigne to all Sheriffes countermaunding all former oppressions yea this he did notwithstanding the Lords refused to follow him into France COVNS Pardon me he did not restore King Edwards Lawes then nor yet confirmed the Charters but he promised vpon his absolution to doe both but after his returne out of France in his 16 th yeare he denyed it because without such a promise he had not obtained restitution his promise being constrained and not voluntary IVST But what thinke you was hee not bound in honour to performe it COVNS Certainely no for it was determined the case of King Francis the first of France that all promises by him made whilst he was in the hands of Charles the fifth his enemie were voide by reason the Iudge of honour which tells vs he durst doe no other IVST But King Iohn was not in prison COVNS Yet for all that restraint is imprisonment yea feare it selfe is imprisonment and the King was subject to both I know there is nothing more kingly in a King than the performance of his word but yet of a word freely and voluntarily giuen Neither was the Charter of Henry the
good Lord that a subsidy was then denied the reasons are delivered in Enlish histories indeed the King not long before had spent much treasure in ayding the Duke of Britaine to no purpose for hee drew ouer the King but to drawe on good conditions for himselfe as the Earle of March his father in law now did As the English Barons did invite Lewes of France not long before as in elder times all the kings and states had done and in late yeares the Leaguers of France entertayned the Spaniards and the French Protestants and Netherlands Queene Elizabeth not with any purpose to greaten those that ayde them but to purchase to themselues an advantageous peace But what say the histories to this deniall they say with a world of payments there mentioned that the King had drawne the Nobility drie And besides that whereas not long before great summes of mony were giuen and the same appointed to be kept in foure castles and not to be expended but by the aduice of the Peeres it was beleeved that the same treasure was yet vnspent COVNS Good Sir you haue said enough judge you whether it were not a dishonour to the King to be so tyed as not to expend his treasure but by other mens aduice as it were by their licence IVST Surely my Lord the King was well aduised to take the mony vpon any condition they were fooles that propounded the restraint for it doth not appeare that the King tooke any great heed to those ouerseers Kings are bound by their piety and by no other obligation In Queene Maries time when it was thought that shee was with child it was propounded in Parliament that the rule of the Realme should bee giuen to king Philip during the minority of the hoped Prince or Princesse and the king offered his assurance in great summes of money to relinquish the government at such time as the Prince or Princesse should bee of age At which motion when all else were silent in the house Lord Dueres who was none of the wisest asked who shall sue the kinges bondes which ended the dispute for what bonde is betweene a king and his vassals then the bond of the kinges faith But my good Lord the king notwithstanding the deniall at that time was with gifts from perticular parsons otherwise supplyed for proceeding of his iourney for that time into France he tooke with him 30 caskes filled with silver and coyne which was a great treasure in those dayes And lastly notwithstanding the first denyall in the Kings absence hee had Escuage graunted him to wit 20 s of euery Knights Fee COVNS What say you then to the 28◠yeare of that King in which when the King demaunded reliefe the states would not consent except the same former order had bin taken for the appointing of 4 overseers for the treasure As also that the Lord chief Iustice the Lord Chancellor should be chosē by the states with some Barōs of the exchequor other officers IVS My good Lord admit the King had yeelded their demaunds then whatsoever had beene ordained by those magistrates to the dislike of the Common wealth the people had beene without remedie whereas while the King made them they had their appeale and other remedies But those demaunds vanished and in the end the King had escuage giuen him without any of their conditions It is an excellent vertue in a King to haue patience and to giue way to the fury of mens passions The whale when he is stroken by the fisherman growes into that fury that he cannot be resisted but will overthrowe all the ships and barkes that come in to his way but when he hath tumbled a while hee is drawne to the shore with a twind thred COVNS What say you then to the Parliament in the 29 th of that King IVST I say that the commons being vnable to pay the king relieues himselfe vpon the richer sort and soe it likewise happened in the 33 of that king in which hee was relieued chiefely by the Citty of London But my good Lord in the Parliament in London in the 38 yeare he had giuen him the tenth of all the revenues of the Church for three yeares and 3 markes of every knights Fee throughout the kingdome vpō his promise oath vpon the obscruing of magna Charta but in the end of the same yeare the king being thē in France he was denyed the aydes which he required What is this to the danger of a Parliament especially at this time they had reason to refuse they had giuen so great a some in the beginning of the same yeare And again because it was known that the King had but pretended warre with the king of Castile with whome he had secretly contracted an alliance and concluded a marriage betwixt his sonne Edward and the Lady Elenor. These false fires doe but freight Children and it commonly falles out that when the cause giuen is knowne to be false the necessity pretended is thought to be fained Royall dealing hath euermore Royall successe and as the King was denied in the eight thirtyeth yeare so was he denyed in the nine thirtieth yeare because the Nobility and the people saw that the King was abused by the Pope it plainly who aswell in despite to Manfred bastard son to the Emperour Fredericke the second as to cozen the King and to wast him would needes bestowe on the King the kingdome of Sicilie to recouer which the King sent all the treasure he could borrow or scrape to the Pope and withall gaue him letters of credence for to take vp what he could in Italy the King binding himselfe for the payment Now my good Lord the wisdome of Princes is seen in nothing more then in their enterprises So how vnpleasing it was to the State of England to consume the treasure of the land in the conquest of Sicily so farre of and otherwise for that the English had lost Normandy vnder their noses and so many goodly parts of France of their owne proper inheritances the reason of the deniall is as well to be considered as the denyall CONS Was not the King also denyed a subsidie in the fourty first of his raigne IVST No my Lord for although the King required mony as before for the impossible conquest of Sicily yet the house offered to giue 52000 markes which whether hee refused or accepted is vncertaine whilst the King dreamed of Sicily the Welsh inuaded spoyled the borders of England for in the Parliament of London when the King vrged the house for the prosecuting the cōquest of Sicily the Lords vtterly disliking the attempt vrged the prosecuting of the Welshmen which Parlament being proroged did again assemble at Oxford was called the madde Parlamēt which was no other thē an assembly of rebels for the Royall assent of the K. which giues life to all lawes form'd by the three estates was not a Royal assent when both
the K. the Prince were cōstrained to yeeld to the Lords A cōstrained consent is the consent of a Captiue not of a K. therefore there was nothing done there either legally or royally For if it be not properly a Parliament where the subiect is not free certainely it can be none where the King is bound for all Kingly rule was taken from the King and twelue Peeres appointed and as some writers haue it 24 Peeres to gouerne the Realme and therefore the assembly made by Iack Strawe other rebels may aswell bee called a Parliament as that of Oxford Principis nomen habere non est esse Princeps for thereby was the King driuen not only to cōpoūd all quarrels with the French but to haue meanes to be revenged on the rebell Lords but he quitted his right to Normādy Aniou Mayne COVNS But sir what needed this extremity seeing the Lords required but the confirmation of the former Charter which was not preiudiciall to the King to graunt IVST Yes my good Lord but they insulted vpon the King and would not suffer him to enter into his own castles they put downe the Purvey or of the meate for the maintenance of his house as if the King had beene a bankrupt and gaue order that without ready money he should not take vp a Chicken And though there is nothing against the royalty of a King in these Charters the Kings of England beeing Kings of freemen and not of slaues yet it is soe contrary to the nature of a King to bee forced euen to those thinges which may be to his advantage as the King had some reason to seeke the dispensation of his oath from the Pope and to drawe in strangers for his owne defence yea Iure saluo Coronae nostrae is intended inclusiuely in all oathes and promises exacted from a Soueraigne COVNS But you cānot be ignorant how dangerous athing it is to cal in other natiōs both for the spoile they make as also so because they haue often held the possession of the best places with which they haue beene trusted IVST It is true my good Lord that there is nothing so daungerous for a King as to be constrained and held as prisoner to his vassals for by that Edward the second and Richard the second lost their Kingdomes and their liues And for calling in of strangers was not King Edward the sixth driuen to call instrangers against the rebels in Norfolke Cornewall Oxfordshire and elsewhere Haue not the K s. of Scotland beene oftentimes constrained to entertaine strangers against the Kings of England And the King of England at this time had he not bin diuerse times assisted by the Kings of Scotlād had bin endāgered to haue bin expelled for ever COVNS But yet you knowe those Kings were deposed by Parliament IVST Yea my good Lord being Prisoners being out of possession and being in their hands that were Princes of the blood and pretenders It is an old countrey prouerbe that might overcomes right a weake title that weares a strong sword commonly prevailes against a strong title that weares but a weake one otherwise Philip the second had never bin Duke of Portugal nor Duke of Millayne nor K. of Naples Scicilie But good Lord Errores not sunt trah udi in exemplum I speake of regall peaceable and lawfull Parliaments The King at this time was but a King in name for Glocester Leycester and Chichester made choise of other Nyne to whom the rule of the Realme was committed the Prince was forced to purchase his liberty frō the Earle of Leycester by giuing for his ransome the County Pallatine of Chester But my Lord let vs judge of those occasions by their events what became of this proud Earle was hee not soone after slaine in Euesham was he not left naked in the field and left a shamefull spectacle his head being cut off from his shoulders his priuy parts from his body laid on each side of his nose And did not God extinguish his race after which in a lawfull parliament at Westminster confirmed in a following parliament of Westminster were not all the Lords that followed Leycester disinherited And when that foole Glocester after the death of Leycester whom he had formerly forsaken made himselfe the head of a second rebellion and called in strangers for which not lōg before he had cried out against the K. was not hee in the end after that hee had seene the slaughter of so many of the Barons the spoile of their castles Lordships constrained to submit himselfe as all the suruiuers did of which they that sped best payd their sines and ransomes the King reserving to his younger sonne the Earledomes of Leycester and Derby COVN Well sir we haue disputed this King to his graue though it be true that he outliued all his enimies brought them to confusion yet those examples did not terrifie their successors but the Earle Marshall and Hereford threatned King Edward the first with a new warre IVST They did so but after the death of Hereford the Earle Marshall repented himselfe and to gaine the Kings favour he made him heire of all his lands But what is this to the Parliament for there was never K. of this land had more giuen him for the time of his raigne then Edward the sonne of Henry the third had COVNS How doth that appeare IVST In this sort my good Lord in this kings third yeare he had giuen him the fifteenth part of all goods In his sixt yeare a twentith In his twelfth yeare a twentyeth In his fourteenth yeare hee had escuage to wit forty shillings of euery knights Fee in his eighteenth yeare hee had the eleventh part of all moueable goods within the kingdome in his nineteenth yeare the tenth part of all Church liuings in England Scotland and Ireland for sixe yeares by agreement from the Pope in his three twentith yeare he raised a taxe vpō wooll and fels on a day caused all the religious houses to be searched al the treasure in thē to be seized brought to his coffers excusing himselfe by laying the fault vpō his treasurer he had also in the end of the same yeare of algoods of all Burgesses of the Commons the 10 ◠part in the 25 ◠yeare of the Parliamēt of S t Edmūdsbury he had an 18 th part of the goods of the Burgesses and of the people in generall the tenth part Hee had also the same yeare by putting the Clergy out of his protection a fift part of their goods and in the same yeare he set a great taxe vpon wools to wit from halfe a marke to 40 ◠vpon euery sacke wherevpon the Earle Marshall and the Earle of Hereford refusing to attend the King into Flanders pretended the greeuances of the people But in the end the king hauing pardoned thē cōfirmed the great Charter he had the ninth penny of all goods from the Lords and
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
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
this summe strangers not being inhabitants aboue 16 yeares 4 â— a head All that had Lands Fees and Annuities from 20 to 5â— and so double as they did for goods And the Cleargy gaue 6 the pound In the thirty seuenth yeare a Benevolence was taken not voluntary but rated by Commissioners which because one of the Aldermen refused to pay he was sent for a soldier into Scotland He had also another great subsedy of sixe shillings the pound of the Clergy and two shillings eight pence of the goods of the Laity and foure shillings the pound vpon Lands In the second yeare of Edward the sixt the Parliament gaue the King an ayde of twelue pence the pound of goods of his Natural subiects and two shillings the pound of strangers and this to continue for three yeares and by the statute of the second and third of Edward the sixt it may appeare the same Parliament did also giue a second ayde as followeth to wit of euery Ewe kept in seuerall pastures 3 of euery weather kept as aforesaid 2 â— of euery sheepe kept in the Common 1 â— ob The House gaue the King also 8 the pound of euery woollen cloath made for the sale throughout England for three yeares In the third and fourth of the King by reason of the troublesome gathering of the polymony vpon sheepe the taxe vpon cloath this acte of subsedy was repeal'd and other reliefe giuen the King and in the kings seauenth yeare hee had a subsedy and two fifteenes In the first yeare of Queene Mary tunnage and poundage were granted In the second yeare a subsedy was giuen to King Philip and to the Queene shee had also a third subsedy in Annis 4. 5. Now my Lord for the Parliaments of the late Queenes time in which there was nothing new neither head money nor sheepe money nor escuage nor any of these kindes of payments was required but onely the ordinary subsedies those as easily graunted as demaunded I shall not neede to trouble your Lordship with any of them neither can I informe your Lordship of all the passages and actes which haue passed for they are not extant nor printed COVNS No it were but time lost to speake of the latter and by those that are alreadie remembred we may iudge of the rest for those of the greatest importance are publique But I pray you deale freely with mee what you thinke would bee done for his Maiestie if hee should call a Parliament at this time or what would bee required at his Maiesties hands IVST The first thing that would be required would be the same that vvas required by the Commons in the thirtenth yeare of H. the 8 to wit that if any man of the commons house should speake more largely then of duety hee ought to doe all such offences to be pardoned and that to be of record COVNS So might euery Companion speake of the King what they list IVST No my Lord the reuerence vvhich a Vassall ovyeth to his Soueraigne is alvvaies intended for euery speech howsoeuer it must import the good of the King and his estate and so long it may bee easily pardoned othervvise not for in Queene Elizabeths time vvho gaue freedome of speech in all Parliaments vvhen Wentworth made those motions that were but supposed dangerous to the Queenes estate he was imprisoned in the Towre notwithstanding the priviledge of the house and there died COVNS What say you to the Scicilian vespers remembred in the last Parliament IVST I say hee repented him heartily that vsed that speech and indeede besides that it was seditious this example held not The French in Scicily vsurped that Kingdome they kept neither law nor faith they tooke away the inheritance of the Inhabitants they tooke from them their wiues and rauished their daughters committing all other insolencies that could bee imagined The Kings Maiesty is the Naturall Lord of England his Vassals of Scotland obey the English Lawes if they breake them they are punished without respect Yea his Maiesty put one of his Barons to a shamefull death for being consenting onely to the death of a Common Fencer And which of these euer did or durst commit any outrage in England but to say the trueth the opinion of packing the last was the cause of the contention and disorder that happened COVNS Why sir doe you not think it best to compound a Parliament of the Kings seruaunts and others that shall in all obey the kings desires IVST Certainely no for it hath neuer succeeded well neither on the kings part nor on the subiects as by the Parliament before-remembred your Lordshippe may gather for from such a composition doe arise all jealousies and all contentions It was practized in elder times to the great trouble of the kingdome and to the losse and ruine of many It was of latter time vsed by King Henry the eight but euery way to his disadvantage When the King leaues himselfe to his people they assure themselues that they are trusted and beloued of their king and there was neuer any assembly so barbarous as not to aunswere the loue and trust of their King Henry the sixt when his estate was in effect vtterly ouerthrowne vtterly impouerished at the humble request of his Treasurer made the same knowne to the House or otherwise vsing the Treasurers owne words Hee humbly desired the King to take his staffe that hee might saue his wardship COVNS But you know they will presently bee in hand with those impositions which the King hath laid by his owne royall prerogatiue IVST Perchance not my Lord but rather with those impositions that haue beene by some of your Lordships laide vpon the King which did not some of your Lordships feare more than you doe the impositions laid vpon the Subjects you would neuer disswade his Majestie from a Parliament For no man doubted but that his Majestie was advised to lay those impositions by his Councell and for particular things on which they were laid the aduice came from petty fellowes though now great ones belonging to the Custome-house Now my Lord what prejudice hath his Majestie his revenue beeing kept vp if the impositions that were laid by the aduice of a few be in Parliament laid by the generall Councell of the kingdome which takes off all grudging and complaint COVNS Yea Sir but that which is done by the King with the aduice of his priuate or priuy Councell is done by the Kings absolute power IVS. And by whose power is it done in Parliament but by the Kinges absolute power mistake it not my Lord The 3 estates doe but advise as the priuy Councel doth which advice if the king embrace it becomes the kings own acte in the one the kings law in the other for without the kings acceptation both the publicke priuate aduices bee but as empty egge-shels and what doth his Majestie loose if some of those things which concerns the poorer sort be made free
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
the feare of imparing the one to wit the prerogatiue is so impossible and the burthen of the other to wit the lawe so waighty as but by a branch of the Kings prerogatiue namely of his remission and pardon the subiect is no way able to vndergoe it This my Lord is no matter of flourish that I haue said but it is the truth and vnanswerable COVNS But to execute the lawes very severely would be very grievous IVST Why my Lord are the Lawes grievous which our selues haue required of our Kings and are the prerogatiues also which our Kings haue reserued to themselues also grieuous how caÌ„ such a people then be well pleased And if your Lordship confesse that the lawes giue too much why does your Lordship vrge the prerogatiue that giues more Nay I will be bold to say it that except the Lawes were better obserued the prerogatiue of a religious Prince hath manifold lesse perils then the letter of the Lawe hath Now my Lord for the second third to wit for the appointing of Treasurers and remouing of Counsellers our Kings haue evermore laught them to scorne that haue prest either of these after the Parliament dissolued tooke the money of the Treasurers of the Parliament and recalled restored the officers discharged or else they haue bin contented that so me such persons should be remoued at the request of the whole kingdome which they themselues out of their noble natures would not seeme willing to remoue COVNS Well Sir would you notwithstanding all these arguments advise his Maiesty to call a Parlament IVST It belongs to your Lordships who enioy the Kings favour are chosen for your able wisdome to advise the K. It were a strange boldnesse in a poore and priuate person to advise Kings attended with so vnderstanding a Councell But belike your Lordships haue conceiued some other way how money may be gotten otherwise If any trouble should happen your Lordship knowes that then there were nothing so daungerous for a King as to be without money a Parliament cannot assemble in haste but present dangers require hasty remedies It wil be no time then to discontent the subjects by vsing any vnordinary wayes COVNS Well Sir all this notwithstanding wee dare not advise the king to call a parliament for if it should succeede ill wee that advise should fall into the kings disgrace And if the king be driuen into any extremity wee can say to the K. that because we found it extreamely vnpleasing to his Maiestie to heare of a Parliament we thought it no good manners to make such a motion IVST My Lord to the first let me tell you that there was never any iust Prince that hath taken any advantage of the successe of Councels which haue beene founded on reason To feare that were to feare the losse of the bell more then the losse of the steeple and were also the way to beate all men from the studies of the Kings seruice But for the second where you say you can excuse your selues vpon the Kinges owne protesting against a parliament the king vpon better consideration may encounter that finenesse of yours COVNS How I pray you IVST Even by declaring himselfe to be indifferent by calling your Lordships together and by delivering vnto you that he heares how his loving subiects in generall are willing to supply him if it please him to call a Parliament for that was the common answere to all the Sheriffes in England when the late benevolence was commaunded In which respect and because you come short in all your proiects and because it is a thing most daungerous for a King to be without treasure he requires such of you as either mislike or rather feare a parliament to set downe your reasons in writing which you either misliked or feared it And such as wish and desire it to set downe answeres to your obiections And so shall the King prevent the calling or not calling on his Maiesty as some of your great Councellers haue done in many other things shrinking vp their shoulders and saying the K. will haue it so COVNS Wel Sir it growes late and I will bid you farewell only you shall take well with you this advice of mine thst in all that you haue said against our greatest those men in the end shal be your Iudges in their owne cause you that trouble your selfe with reformation are like to be well rewarded for hereof you may assure your selfe that wee will never allow of any invention how profitable soeuer vnlesse it proceede or seeme to proceede from our selues IVST If then my Lord wee may presume to say that Princes may be vnhappy in any thing certainly they are vnhappy in nothing more then in suffering themselues to be so inclosed Againe if we may beleeu Pliny who tels vs that t' is an ill signe of prosperity in any kingdome or state where such as deserue well find no other recompence then the contentment of their owne consciences a farre worse signe is it where the justly accused shall take revenge of the just accuser But my good Lord there is this hope remaining that seeing he hath beene abused by them he trusted most hee will not for the future dishonour of his iudgment so well informed by his owne experience as to expose such of his vassals as haue had no other motiues to serue him then simply the loue of his person and his estate to their revenge who haue only beene moued by the loue of their owne fortunes and their glory COVNS But good Sir the King hath not beene deceiued by all IVST No my Lord neither haue all beene trusted neither doth the world accuse all but beleeue that there be among your Lordships very just and worthy men aswell of the Nobility as others but those though most honoured in the Common-wealth yet haue they not beene most imployed your Lordship knowes it well enough that 3 or 4 of your Lordships haue thought your hands strong enough to beare vp alone the weightiest affaires in the Common-wealth and strong enough all the land haue found them to beate downe whom they pleased COVNS I vnderstand you but how shall it appeare that they haue onely sought themselues IVST There needes no perspectiue glasse to discerne it for neither in the treaties of peace and warre in matters of revenue and matters of trade any thing hath happened either of loue or of judgment No my Lord there is not any one action of theirs eminent great or small the greatnesse of themselues only excepted COVNS It is all one your papers can neither answere nor reply we can Besides you tell the King no newes in delivering these complaints for hee knowes as much as can be told him IVST For the first my Lord whereas he hath once the reasons of things deliuered him your Lordships shall neede to be well advised in their answeres there is no sophistrie wil serue the turne where the Iudge the vnderstaÌ„ding are both supreame For the 2 d to say that his Maiesty knowes cares not that my Lord were but to despaire all his faithfull subiects But by your fauour my Lord wee see it is contrary wee find now that there is no such singular power as there hath beene justice is described with a ballance in her hand holding it even and it hangs as even now as ever it did in any kings dayes for singular authority begets but generall oppression COVNS Howsoeuer it be that 's nothing to you that haue no interest in the kings fauour nor perchance in his opinion concerning such a one the misliking or but misconceiuing of any one hard word phrase or sentence will giue argumeÌ„t to the K. either to coÌ„demn or reiect the whole discourse And howsoever his Mâ— may neglect your informations you may be sure that others at whom you point wil not neglect their revenges you will therefore confesse it when it is too late that you are exceeding sory that you haue not followed my aduice RemeÌ„ber Cardinall Woolsey who lost all men for the Kings service and when their malice whom hee grieved had out-liued the Kings affection you know what became of him as well as I. IVST Yea my Lord I know it well that malice hath a longer life than either loue or thankfulnesse hath for as we alwaies take more care to put off paine than to enjoy pleasure because the one hath no intermission with the other we are often satisfied so it is in the smart of injury and the memory of good turnes Wrongs are written in marble Benefits are sometimes acknowledged rarely requited But my Lord wee shall doe the K. great wrong to judge him by common rules or ordinary examples for seeing his Majesty hath greatly enriched and advanced those that haue but pretended his service no man needes to doubt of his goodnesse towards those that shal performe any thing worthy reward Nay the not taking knowledge of those of his owne vassals that haue done him wrong is more to be lamented than the relinquishing of those that doe him right is to be suspected I am therefore my good Lo held to my resolutioÌ„ by these a besides the former The 1 that God would neuer haue blest him with so many yeres in so many actioÌ„s yea in all his actions had he paid his honest servants with evill for good The 2 d where your Lordship tells me that I will be 〈◊〉 for not following your aduice I pray your Lordship to belieue that I am no way subiect to the common sorrowing 〈◊〉 worldly men this Maxime of Plato beeing true Dolores aex amore animi orga corpus noscuntur But for my body my mind values it at nothing COVNS What is it then you hope for or seeke IVST Neither riches nor honour nor thankes but I only seeke to satisfie his Majestie which I would haue bin glad to haue done in matters of more importance that I haue liu'd and will die an honest man EINIS The Authours Epitaph made by himselfe EVen such is Time which takes in trust Our Youth and Ioy 's and all wee haue And payes vs but with age and dust Which in the darke and silent graue When wee haue wandred all our wayes Shuts vp the story of our daies And from which Earth and Graue and Dust The Lord shall raise mee vp I trust Humanum est erraâ—eâ— Hen. 5. Hen. 6. Edw. 6. M. R. Eliz. R. Q. E.