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
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
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
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