Constituted the sole and joint Proxy of eight several Temporal Lords who with six others as is aforesaid were absent this Session of Parliament from which as also from other Presidents of former and later times it may easily be gathered that any Member of the Upper House by the antient usage and custom of the same is capable of as many Proxies as shall be directed unto him although there was an Order made in the said House to the contrary A. D. 1626. That no Lord or Member whatsoever of the Upper House should for the time to come be capable of above two Proxies at the most which said Order was occasioned in respect that George Duke of Buckingham Favorite of the King Deceased and of King Charles being guilty of many Crimes did to strengthen himself by Voices not only procure divers persons to be made Members of that House but also engrossed to himself near upon twenty several Proxies Vide one other Extraordinary Proxy on Saturday the 9 th day of November and another on Sunday December the first following This Forenoon also these twenty Lords under written were appointed to repair in the Afternoon to the Queens Majesty viz. The Archbishop of York The Earl of Northumberland The Earl of Westmoreland The Earl of Shrewsbury The Earl of Worcester The Earl of Sussex The Earl of Huntingdon The Earl of Warwick Viscount Bindon Viscount Mountague The Bishop of London The Bishop of Durham The Bishop of Winchester The Lord Cobham The Lord Rich. The Lord Wentworth The Lord Pagett The Lord Sheffeild The Lord Hastings of Loughborough The Lord Hunsdon The business about which these Lords repaired to the Queen is not in the Original Journal-Book it self of the Upper House but it may be guested it was concerning those two great businesses of the Queens Marriage and the Declaration of the next Heir and Successor after the Queens Decease to the Crown which business bred so much distast afterwards between her Majesty and her Subjects in this Session so that as afterwards the Lords did Petition the Queen about it so now it should seem these Lords repaired unto her either to desire leave to prefer that Petition and that they might confer with the House of Commons about it or else to know of her Majesty a fitting time when they might repair unto her with their said Petition and so receive Answer unto it But what the Queen replied at this time is hard to be conjectured only it followeth at large that on Tuesday the 5 th day of November the Members of both Houses for that end appointed repaired to her Majesty in the Afternoon but whether they then offered up their Petitions unto her Majesty or whether the House of Commons did at this Session of Parliament prefer any Petition at all concerning those two great matters aforesaid is hard to be determined No mention is made in the Original Journal-Book of continuing the Parliament which seemeth to have happened by the Clerks negligence On Wednesday the 23 th day of October the Bill to repeal a branch of a Statute made Anno 23 Hen. 8. touching the prices of Barrels and Kilderkins was read primâ vice An Act declaring the manner of making and Consecrating of the Archbishops and Bishops of the Realm to be good lawful and perfect was brought from the House of Commons Dominus Thesaurarius continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem Jovis prox On Thursday the 24 th day of October the Archbishop of York the Lord Treasurer the Duke of Norfolk and divers other Lords both Spiritual and Temporal did Assemble in the Parliament-Chamber where nothing was done but only the continuance of the Parliament until Friday next at ten of the Clock On Friday the 25 th day of October the Lord Treasurer signified to all the Lords that the Queens Highness considering the decay of his Memory and Hearing being Griefs accompanying Hoary Hairs and Old Age and understanding the Lord Keepers slow amendment intended to supply both their said defects by Sir Robert Catlin Knight Chief Justice of the Kings Bench and shewed forth her Majesties Commission under the Great Seal of England which the Clerk by Commandment openly read in haec verba ELizabeth by the Grace of God Queen of England France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. To our Trusty and well Beloved Sir Robert Catlin Knight Chief Justice of the Pleas to be holden before us Greeting Where our right trusty and well-beloved Councellor Sir Nicholas Bacon Knight Lord Keeper of our Great Seal of England is at this present sore visited with sickness that he is not able to travel to the Upper House of this our present Parliament holden at Westminster nor there to supply the room and place in the said Upper House amongst the Lords Spiritual and Temporal there Assembled as to the Office of the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England hath been accustomed We minding the same place and room to be supplied in all things as appertaineth have named and appointed you from day to day and time to time hereafter during our pleasure to use and occupy the place and room of the said Lord Keeper in our said Upper House of Parliament amongst the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal there Assembled and there to do and execute in all things from day to day and time to time as the said Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England should and might do if he were there present using and supplying the same place Wherefore we will and Command you the said Sir Robert Catlin to attend unto and about the Executing of the premisses with effect And these our Letters Patents shall be your sufficient Warrant and discharge for the same in every behalf In Witness whereof we have caused these our Letters to be made Patents Witness our Self at Westminster the 25 th day of October in the Eighth Year of Our Reign Martin The Bill to repeal a branch of a Statute made in the 23 th Year of Henry 8. touching prices of Barrels and Kilderkins was read tertiâ vice and by common consent of all the Lords concluded Dominus Capitalis Justiciarius continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem Sabbati proximum On Saturday the 26 th day of October the Bill declaring the manner of making and Consecrating of the Archbishops and Bishops of this Realm to be good lawful and perfect was read primâ vice Memorandum The Lords after deliberate Consultation and advice taken how to proceed in the great matters of Succession and Marriage before moved by the House of Commons did this present day send Serjeant Carus and M r Attorney down unto them to signifie that they would a chosen number should be sent up unto them for their knowledge to be had of the same Vide concerning this business on Wednesday the 30 th day of October now next ensuing as also on Tuesday the 5 th day of November following Dominus
Grey Marquess Dorset and Frances his Wife the Eldest Daughter and Coheir of Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk by Mary the French Queen being the youngest Daughter of Henry the Seventh and especially seeing that the Queen of Scots having Married the Lord Darley whom she had Created Duke of Albany and had by him Issue a Son born before the beginning of this Session of Parliament who afterwards was Monarch of Great Britain and duly considering also that the Scottish Queen had during the Life of the French King her Husband by his means pretended a right to the Kingdom of England before the Queen her self in respect of the Popes Authority and that some also did not stick to set a broach the Title of the Lady Elianor being the younger Sister and Coheir with the Countess of Hartford Married to the Earl of Cumberland therefore I say all these said premisses being duly weighed by both the said Houses of Parliament it made them to be more earnest in Petitioning her Majesty at this time to the same effect although it seemeth that the Petition delivered at this time was chiefly preferred in the name of the Lords of the Upper House as that other Petition had formerly been preferred in the Name of the Commons in the first Session of this Parliament in An. 5 Regin Eliz. whence it hath come to pass that neither of these Petitions being set down in the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House of Commons in either of these two Sessions of Parliament the times of their delivery have been exceedingly confounded together in all such several Copies as I have perused of them in which as also in Sir Robert Cotton's first Volume of the Journals of Parliament of the Queens time which are very imperfect and fragmentary they are erroneously Entred to have been both delivered in An. 1563. in which Year as also in part of the Year 1562. the Session in An. 5 Regin Eliz. was continued Post Meridiem The Archbishop of York the Lord Treasurer and the other Lords whose names are mentioned in the former part of this day with Sir Edward Rogers Knight Comptroller of her Highness Houshold and Sir William Cecill Knight her Majesties Principal Secretary and divers other Members of the House of Commons repaired to her Majesty this Afternoon being at her Palace of Whitehall to receive Answer from her Highness touching those two great businesses of her Marriage and the Declaration of her Successor as appeareth plainly by the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons fol. 266. a. where the report of her Majesties Answer is set down which she gave this Afternoon although there be no mention at all thereof in the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House And that this was the cause and ground of their attending upon her Majesty at this time appeareth also plainly by a certain Manuscript Memorial or Diary kept and set down by Sir William Cecill her Highness Principal Secretary and afterwards Lord Treasurer of England of the passages of the greatest part of her Majesties Reign in which the words are as followeth Nov. 5. The Queen had before her thirty Lords and thirty of the Commons of the Parliament to receive her Answer concerning the Petition for the Succession and for Marriage But whether the Lords preferred their said Petition this Afternoon or whether they had supplicated her Majesty any time before doth not any where certainly appear neither can I possibly gather further than by conjecture and so it is most probable that though her Majesty had notice before what their Petition was yet it was not preferred till this Afternoon For but on Saturday Morning foregoing which was the second day of this instant November it is plain that the Committees of the House of Commons as appeareth by the Original Journal-Book of the same House on Thursday the 31 th day of October fol. 264. b. on which day the said meeting of the Committees was appointed did then meet to consider and agree upon such reasons as they should shew to the Committees of the Lords whereby they might induce her Majesty both to encline to Marriage and to declare a Successor And however Sir Nicholas Bacon Knight Lord Keeper of the Great Seal be not nominated in either of the Original Journal-Books of the Upper House and House of Commons to have been present with the before-mentioned Lords and others yet it is plain that if the said Petition was preferred this Afternoon or whensoever else it was delivered from his mouth as may be gathered from the very Petition it self ensuing and is so also expresly set down by M r Camden in Annal Regin Eliz. edit Lugdun Batav A. D. 1625. pag. 99. and though he had abstained a while about this time from the Upper House by reason of his infirmity of the Gout yet he was now in the way of amendment and recovery repairing again to the said House on Saturday the 9. day of this instant November ensuing and therefore might very well meet the before-mentioned Lords and other the selected Members of the House of Commons at the Court this Afternoon So then it being most probable that the Lords did both prefer their Petition this Afternoon to her Majesty touching those two great matters of the Marriage and Succession and also received her Majesties Answer Therefore the said Petition doth here first ensue which the Lord Keeper pronounced in these or the like words following MOST humbly beseecheth your Excellent Majesty your Faithful Loving and Obedient Subjects all your Lords both Spiritual and Temporal Assembled in Parliament in your Upper House to be so much their good Lady and Soveraign as according to your accustomed benignity to grant a Gracious and Favourable Hearing to their Petitions and Suits which with all Humbleness and Obedience they are come hither to present to your Majesty by my Mouth in matters very nearly and dearly touching your most Royal Person the Imperial Crown of this your Realm and Universal Weal of the same which Suits for that they tend to the surety and preservation of these three things your Person Crown and Realm the Dearest Jewel that my Lords have in the Earth therefore they think themselves for divers respects greatly bound to make these Petitions as first by their Duty to God then by their Allegiance to your Highness and lastly by the Faith they ought to bear to their natural Country And like as most Gracious Soveraign by these Bonds they should have been bound to make the like Petition upon like occasion to any Prince that it should have pleased God to have appointed to Reign over them so they think themselves doubly bound to make the same to your Majesty considering that besides the Bond before-mentioned they stand also bound so to do by the great and manifold benefits they have and do receive daily at your Highness hands which shortly to speak be as great as the Fruits of Peace common quiet and Justice can give and this
Speeches of this present Afternoon Now solloweth the manner of her Majesties giving her Royal Assent to such Acts as passed out of one of the Original Journal-Books of the Upper House durante Regno Regin Eliz. viz. in an 30. although it be not so expresly set down in that of this present Session of Parliament Then were the Titles of all the Acts read in their due Order and the Bill of Subsidy to which the Clerk of the Parliament standing up did read the Queens Answer in manner and form following La Roigne remercie ses loyaulx subjects accepte leur henevolence auxi le veult The Clerk of the Parliament having read the Queens acceptance and thanks for the Subsidy given as aforesaid did then upon the reading of the Pardon pronounce in these French words following the thanks of the Lords and Commons for the same Les Prelats Seigneurs Communes en ce present Parliament assembles au nom de touts vous autres subjects remercient tres-humblement vostre Majesty prient à Dieu que il vous done en santè bonne vie longue Nota That here to the Subsidy Bill because it is the meer gift of the Subject the Queens Consent is not required for the passing of it but as it is joined with her thankful acceptance Nor to the Bill of Pardon because it is originally her free gift is any other circumstance required than that the thankful acceptance thereof by the Lords and Commons be likewise expressed it being but once read in either House before it come thus at last to be expedited Now to all other Bills either private or publick the Queens express consent though in different words is always requisite as followeth viz. The Bills of Subsidy and Pardon being passed in manner and form as aforesaid then were the publick Acts read to every one of which allowed by the Queén the Clerk of the Parliament read in French these words following viz. La Roigne le veult To every private Act that passed the said Clerk of the Parliament read the Queens Answer in these French words following viz. Soit fait come il est desire These two last Answers to the publick and private Acts that pass are to be written by the Clerk of the Parliament at the end of every Act. To such Acts as her Majesty doth forbear to allow the Clerk of the Parliament reads in these French words following viz. La Roigne s' advisera THen the Queen standing up said after she had given her Royal Assent unto nineteen publick Acts and thirteen private My Lords and others the Commons of this Assembly although the Lord Keeper hath according to Order very well Answered in my Name yet as a Periphrasis I have a few words further to speak unto you Notwithstanding I have not been used nor love to do it in such open Assemblies yet now not to the end to amend his talk but remembring that commonly Princes own words be better printed in the hearers memory than those spoken by her Command I mean to say thus much unto you I have in this Assembly found so much dissimulation where I always professed plainness that I marvail thereat yea two Faces under one Hood and the Body rotten being covered with two Vizors Succession and Liberty which they determined must be either presently granted denied or deferred In granting whereof they had their desires and denying or deferring thereof those things being so plaudable as indeed to all men they are they thought to work me that mischief which never Foreign Enemy could bring to pass which is the hatred of my Commons But alas they began to pierce the Vessel before the Wine was fined and began a thing not foreseeing the end how by this means I have seen my well-willers from mine Enemies and can as me seemeth very well divide the House into four First the Broachers and workers thereof who are in the greatest fault Secondly The Speakers who by Eloquent Tales perswaded others are in the next degree Thirdly The agreers who being so light of Credit that the Eloquence of the Tales so overcame them that they gave more Credit thereunto than unto their own Wits And lastly those that sate still Mute and medled not therewith but rather wondred disallowing the matter who in my Opinion are most to be Excused But do you think that either I am unmindful of your Surety by Succession wherein is all my Care considering I know my self to be mortal No I warrant you Or that I went about to break your Liberberties No it was never in my meaning but to stay you before you sell into the Ditch For all things have their time And although perhaps you may have after me one better Learned or Wiser yet I assure you none more careful over you And therefore henceforth whether I live to see the like Assembly or no or whoever it be yet beware however you prove your Princes Patience as you have now done mine And now to conclude all this nonwithstanding not meaning to make a Lent of Christmas the most part of you may assure your selves that you depart in your Princes Grace Then she spake openly to the Lord Keeper saying My Lord You will do as I bad Who then said aloud The Queens Majesty hath agreed to Dissolve this Parliament Therefore every man may take his ease and depart at his pleasure And the Queen rose and went and shifted her and took her Barge and returned to the Court being past six of the Clock and then after her rising she made Anthony Browne one of the Justices of the Common-Pleas a Knight That the advice and consent of the Common-Council or Parliament was often required for the Marrying of the Kings of England 1. WIlliam Duke of Normandy sending Ambassadors to King Harold to deliver up the Crown of England to him and to Marry the Dukes Daughter Herald returned him this Answer Si de filia sua quam debui in uxorem ut asserit ducere agit super Regnum Angliae mulierem extraneam inconsultis Principibus words of a large extension used in those times by Historians me nec debere nec sine grandi injuria posse adducere noverit Malmesbury that antient and famous Historian recites it thus Quae dixi de puellae nuptiis referens de Regno addebat praesumptuosum fuisse quod absque Generali Senatus Populi Conventu Edicto alienam illi haereditatem juraverit 2. William the Son of H. I. being dead Rex legalis Conjugii nexu olim solutus ne quid ulterius inhonestum committeret Consilio Radulphi Cantuar Pontificis Principum Regni quos omnes in Epiphania Domini sub uno Londoniae congregavit decrevit sibi in uxorem Atheleidem filiam Godfredi Ducis Lotharingiae 3. King John being Divorced the new Queen was Crowned de communi assensu concordi voluntate Archiepiscoporum Episcoporum Comitum Baronum Cleri Populi totius Regni 4. H.
of the same Parliaments for certain causes the House then moving disabled for ever afterwards to be any Member of this House at all hath of late brought a Writ against the Inhabitants of the said Borough for his wages amongst other times in attendance at the late Session of Parliament holden at Westminster in the 27 th year of her Highnesses Raign during which time as also a great part of some other of the said former Parliaments he did not serve in the said House but was for some causes as aforesaid disabled to be any Member of this House and was also then committed Prisoner to the Tower of London And so prayeth the advice and order of this Honourable House therein unto the censure and order whereof the said Inhabitants do in most humble and dutiful wise submit themselves And so shewed the said Writ which was then read by the Clerk After the reading whereof and some speeches had touching the former proceedings in this House against the said M r Hall as well in disabling him to be any more a Member of this House as also touching his said imprisonment the matter was referred to further consideration after search of the Precedents and Entries of this House heretofore had and made in the course of the said cause Vide diem Veneries 2 um diem Decembris diem Mercurii 22 um diem Martii postea M r Treasurer shewed that the Committees in the Cause for Conference to be had touching the answer to be made by this House to the Message lately delivered from her Majesty did meet according to the Commission of this House and after long and much debating and many great arguments it appeared very evidently by most strong reason that no other way whatsoever can be taken for the safety and continuance of true Religion of her Majesties most Royal Person and of the peaceable Estate of this Realm but only by Justice to be done upon the Queen of Scots according to her demerits Which Justice as her Majesty ought of duty to cause to be done so they resolved utterly to insist upon the prosecution of the former Petition unto her Highness as the one only way and none other to be performed in the said Cause And so left to some other of the said Committees the more particular discourses of their said Conferences Whereupon M r Vice-Chamberlain very excellently plainly and aptly shewed the manner of their Treaty in the said Conference and of the Reasons therein both brought and confuted touching any manner of possible or conjectural course of the said safety other than only by the death of the said Queen of Scots as neither by likelihood of reformation in her Person hope of strait guarding or keeping of her or of any caution of hostages to be taken for her reciting and applying most apt and invincible reasons in the several proofs thereof and so concluding his own opinion also only to be such and none other wished that if any member of the House could concèive or shew any other course or device tending to the purport of the said Message than hath been erst now remembred or in the said Committee offered he would shew the same And if not that then M r Speaker would move the question for the consent of the whole House to the continuance of prosecuting that said Petition together with the said Committees Whereupon after some little pause and none offering any speech to other end M r Speaker moving the question to the House it was resolved by the whole House to insist only upon the said Petition accordingly And also after sundry other speeches had tending all to the same resolution and some of them urging the remembrance purpose and present consideration of the former Association it was ordered that to morrow when the Lords do sit in the Upper House the former Committees of this House M r Robert Cecill being now added unto them do repair unto their Lordships for Conference with their Lordships touching the said resolution of this House in answer to her Majesties said Message And also with request to their Lordships to give Licence unto this House to join with their Lordships in the said Answer to her Majesty if it so please them M r Comptroller shewing his full assent and good liking of the said conclusion touching the prosecution of the said Petition only and of none other course at all as well in his former delivery thereof upon treaty of the said cause as now at this present declared further That he thinketh himself to have been in some of his late former speeches in that matter mistaken and misconceived by some of this House rather of ignorance in them he thinketh than of any evil disposition and purpose and so affirming earnest and devout prayer to God to incline her Majesties heart to the Petition of this House as a thing much importing he moveth that some apt and special course of prayer to that end might be devised and set down by some of this House and be not only exercised here in thus House every day but also by all the members of this House elsewhere abroad and also privately in their Chambers and Lodgings M r Treasurer liking well the motion and good meaning of M r Comptroller touching Prayer to be exercised as before shewed that fit Prayers for that purpose and extant in print are already used in this House and so may also be by the Members of the same privately by themselves and doth willingly wish the same might be so executed accordingly Sir John Higham assenting very readily to the continuation of pursuing the said Petition urged further very zealously and earnestly the burthen of the Oath of Association and so thereby amongst other things of great and necessary consideration and importance prayeth her Majesty may be solicited to the speedy execution of Justice upon the person of the Queen of Scots Mr. Recorder bending many Speeches and reciting many Precedents of Petitions in former times granted by sundry of her Majesties most noble Progenitors Kings of England to the subjects of this Realm at the humble Suits and Petitions of the Speaker and Commons of the Lower House which the Lords of the Upper House in those days could not obtain at their hands doth not only perswade very earnestly the said insisting of this House upon the said Petition but also undoubted assuredness of her Majesties granting and performing of the same as a thing answerable both unto her Highness most merciful loving and tender care over her good Subjects as also to the very necessity of the case Mr. Cope moved that Mr. Speaker might put it to the Question for the resolution of this House touching the prosecution of the said Petition with all good and fit speed Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer putting the House in remembrance of their resolution therein given already even now at this very instant Court upon the Question then propounded by Mr. Speaker moved the going forward
am to do this Office my present Speech doth tell that of a number in this House I am most unfit For amongst them are many grave many learned many deep wise men and those of ripe Judgments But I am untimely Fruit not yet ripe but a Bud scarcely blossomed So as I fear me your Majesty will say Neglectâ frugi eliguntur folia Amongst so many fair Fruit ye have plucked a shaking Leaf If I may be so bold as to remember a Speech which I cannot forget used the last Parliament in your Majesties own Mouth Many come hither ad consulendum qui nesciunt quid sit consulendum a just reprehension to many as to my self also an untimely Fruit my years and judgment ill besitting the gravity of this place But howsoever I know my self the meanest and inferiour unto all that ever were before me in this place yet in faithfulness of service and dutifulness of love I think not my self inferiour to any that ever were before me And amidst my many imperfections yet this is my comfort I never knew any in this place but if your Majesty gave them favour God who called them to the place gave them also the blessing to discharge it The Lord Keeper having received Instructions from the Queen Answered him M r Sollicitor Her Graces most Excellent Majesty hath willed me to signify unto you that she hath ever well conceived of you since she first heard of you which will appear when her Highness Elected you from others to serve her self But by this your modest wise and well composed Speech you give her Majesty further occasion to conceive of you above that which ever she thought was in you by endeavouring to deject and abase your self and your desert you have discovered and made known your worthiness and sufficiency to discharge the place you are called to And whereas you account your self Corpus opacum her Majesty by the Influence of her Vertue and Wisdom doth enlighten you and not only alloweth and approveth you but much thanketh the Lower House and commendeth their discretion in making so good a Choice and Electing so fit a Man Wherefore now Mr. Speaker proceed in your Office and go forward to your Commendation as you have begun The Lord Keepers Speech being ended the Speaker began a new Speech COnsidering the great and wonderful Blessings besides the long Peace we have enjoyed under your Graces most Happy and Victorious Reign and remembring with what Wisdom and Justice your Grace hath Reigned over us we have Cause daily to praise God that ever you were given us and the hazard that your Majesty hath adventured and the Charge that you have born for us and our safety ought to make us ready to lay down our selves and all our living at your Feet to do you service c. After this he related the great Attempts of her Majesties Enemies against us especially the Pope and the King of Spain who adhered unto him How wonderfully we were delivered in Eighty eight and what a favour God therein manifested unto her Majesty His Speech after this tended wholly to shew out of the History of England and the old State how the Kings of England ever since Henry the Thirds time have maintained themselves to be Supreme Head over all Causes within their own Dominions And then reciting the Laws that every one made in his time for maintaining their own Supremacy and excluding the Pope he drew down this proof by a Statute of every King since Henry the Third to Edward the Sixth This ended he came to speak of Laws that were so great and so many already that they were fit to be termed Elephantinae Leges Therefore to make more Laws it might seem superfluous And to him that might ask Quid causa ut crescant tot magna volumina Legis It may be Answered In promptu causa est crescit in orbe malum The malice of our Arch-Enemy the Devil though it were always great yet never greater than now and that Dolus Malum being crept in so far amongst men it was requisite that sharp Ordinances should be provided to prevent them and all care to be used for her Majesties Preservation Now am I to make unto your Majesty three Petitions in the name of the Commons First That liberty of Speech and freedom from Arrests according to the Ancient Custom of Parliament be granted to your Subjects Secondly That we may have access unto your Royal Person to present those things that shall be considered amongst us Lastly That your Majesty will give us your Royal Assent to the things that are agreed upon But this said last Petition seems to have been mistaken by that Anonymus out of whom this said Speech is transcribed as aforesaid for this Petition is proper and usual at the end of a Sessions upon a Prorogation or of a Parliament upon a Dissolution when the two Houses have passed divers Acts which only want the Royal Assent to put life into them And doubtless the third Petition which should have ensued here was for freedom from Arrests for themselves and their necessary Attendants which being wholly omitted I have before caused to be inserted though more briefly in its proper place And thus this mistake being cleared the residue of the said Speakers Speech ensueth And for my self I humbly beseech your Majesty if any Speech shall fall from me or behaviour found in me not decent and fit that it may not be imputed blame upon the House but laid upon me and pardoned in me To this Speech the Lord Keeper having received new Instructions from the Queen made his Reply in which he first commended the Speaker greatly for it And then he added some Examples of History for the Kings Supremacy in Henr. 2. and Kings before the Conquest As to the deliverance we received from our Enemies and the Peace we enjoyed the Queen would have the praise of all those attributed to God only And touching the Commendations given to her self she said Well might we have a wiser Prince but never should they have one that more regarded them and in Justice would carry an evener stroke without exception of persons and such a Prince she wisht they might always have To your three demands the Queen Answereth Liberty of Speech is granted you but how far this is to be thought on there be two things of most necessity and those two do most harm which are Wit and Speech The one exercised in Invention and the other in uttering things invented Priviledge of Speech is granted but you must know what priviledge you have not to speak every one what he listeth or what cometh in his brain to utter that but your priviledge is I or No. Wherefore M r Speaker her Majesties Pleasure is that if you perceive any idle Heads which will not stick to hazard their own Estates which will meddle with reforming the Church and transforming the Common-Wealth and do exhibite any Bills to such purpose
Souldiers as shall be found to have most need thereof The like whereof the Commons Assembled in this Parliament have Ordered For all the Members of that House that are absent and have not paid are to contribute in double manner Which Order is thought very just considering the Lords and others who have been absent and have been at no charge to come up and give their Attendance may very reasonably and with a great saving to their Charges contribute to this Order And if any Lord Spiritual or Temporal shall refuse or forbear thus to do which is hoped in Honour none will do there shall be ordinary means used to levy the same On Friday the 6 th day of April to which day the Parliament had been last continued four Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill for avoiding deceits used in sale of twice laid Cordage for the better preservation of the Navy of this Realm was read tertia vice conclusa Eight Bills were sent up to the Lords from the House of Commons of which the last was the Bill to make void the Spiritual Livings of those that have forsaken the Realm and do cleave to the Pope and his Religion On Saturday the 7 th day of April Two Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill for rating of the Wages of Spinners and Weavers and to reform the falsities of Regrators of Woollen Yarn was read primâ vice On Monday the 9 th day of April to which day the Parliament had been last continued three Bills were each of them read secundà tertiâ vice and so expedited of which the second was the Bill for the bringing of fresh Water to the Town of Stonehouse in the County of Devon Eight Bills also this Morning were sent up to the Lords from the House of Commons of which the first being the Bill for the Naturalizing of Justice Dormer and George Sheppy being born beyond the Seas of English Parents and to put them in the nature of meer English was read primâ secundâ vice But it doth not appear whether this Bill were committed or no which did not only happen in this place by the negligence of M r Anthony Mason at this time Clerk of the Upper House but also through the whole Original Journal Book of the said House this Parliament in all which although divers Bills are said to be read the second time yet it is not at all expressed whether they were thereupon Ordered to be ingrossed or further to be considered of by some select Committees of the House one of which of necessity must be put in Execution upon the said second reading of a Bill both in the Upper House and that of the House of Commons unless the Bill have its third reading also at the same time and pass the House or else be dasht upon the question and so cast out of it This Morning finally Whereas a Bill Intituled An Act touching Power and Liberty to repeal certain uses of a Deed Tripartite herein mentioned of and in certain Lands Mannors and Tenements of Anthony Cooke of Romford in the County of Essex Esquire hath been heretofore three times read and assented unto by the Lords in the which Bill there is no Saving to the Queens Majesty or any other person or persons of their lawful Estates or Titles This day there was a Saving drawn for her Majesty and all others which was offered to this House and some question and ambiguity did grow whether the Saving should be now added to the Bill And in the end it was resolved that the Saving should be added to the Bill for that it is usual and requisite to have some Saving in every Bill and for that there was nothing in the Saving contrary to any matter in the Bill and that her Majesties Right and all other be saved thereby Nevertheless upon weighty considerations the Lords have Ordered that this shall not hereafter be drawn to make any Precedent On Tuesday the 10 th day of April in the Morning were two Bills read of which the second being the Bill for the Queens most gracious and general free Pardon was read primâ vice and so passed upon the question Nota That the Bill or Act for the Queens general Pardon passeth each House upon the first reading Whereas other Bills cannot be expedited without being read three times both by the Lords and the Commons The Queens Majesty came not till the Afternoon and therefore in this place through the negligence of the Clerk the continuing of the Parliament until some hour in the Afternoon is omitted which should have been inserted in these words viz. Dominus Custos magni Sigilli continnavit praesens Parliamentum usque in horam c. à Meridie Between five and six of the Clock in the Afternoon this present Tuesday being the tenth day of April the Queens Majesty accompanied with her Officers and daily Attendants came to the Upper House and as soon as her Majesty with the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the rest that have place there were set the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons having notice thereof came up with their Speaker bringing with them the Bill of Subsidy The said Speaker being placed at the Bar at the lower end of the Upper House and as many of the House of Commons as could conveniently being let in after Humble Reverence done to her Majesty spake as followeth THE High Court of Parliament most High and Mighty Prince is the greatest and most ancient Court within this your Realm For before the Conquest in the High places of the West-Saxons we read of a Parliament holden and since the Conquest they have been holden by all your Noble Predecessors Kings of England In the time of the West-Saxons a Parliament was holden by the Noble King Ina by these words I Ina King of the West-Saxons have caused all my Fatherhood Aldermen and wisest Commons with the Godly men of my Kingdom to consult of weighty matters c. Which words do plainly shew all the parts of this High Court still observed to this day For by King Ina is your Majesties most Royal Person represented The Fatherhood in Ancient time were these which we call Bishops and still we call them Reverend Fathers an Ancient and chief part of our State By Aldermen were meant your Noblemen For so honourable was the word Alderman in Ancient time that the Nobility only were called Aldermen By Wisest Commons is meant and signified Knights and Burgesses and so is your Majesties Writ de discretioribus magis sufficientibus By Godliest men is meant your Convocation-House It consisteth of such as are devoted to Religion And as Godliest men do consult of weightest matters so is your Highness Writ at this day pro quibusdam arduis urgentibus negotiis nos Statum defensionem Regni nostri
QUEEN ELIZABETH IN PARLIAMENT A. L. Chancellor B. Marquises Earles C. Barons D. Bishops E. Judges F. Masters of Chancery G. Clerks H. Speaker of y e com̄ons I. Black Rod. K. Sergeant at Armes L. Members of the Commons house M. Sr. Francis Walsingham Secretary of State THE JOURNALS OF ALL THE PARLIAMENTS During the REIGN of Queen ELIZABETH BOTH OF THE HOUSE of LORDS AND HOUSE of COMMONS Collected By Sir SIMONDS D'EWES of Stow-Hall in the County of SUFFOLK Knight and Baronet Revised and Published By PAUL BOWES of the MIDDLE-TEMPLE LONDON Esq LONDON Printed for John Starkey at the Mitre in Fleetstreet near Temple-Bar 1682. TO Sir Willoughby D'Ewes Baronet SIR ALthough none can have so good Title to your Father's Labours as your Self and the improvement of his Posterity by them was his great desire yet he did not intend to confine them to his own Family but his Study tended to the publick good Amongst those very many and large Volumes Written by his own hand and his Servants I made choice thoroughly to revise these Journals in the Collecting of which the most indesatigably Industrious Author imployed much Time Labour and Cost constantly endeavouring to find out the Truth and faithfully and impartially relating the same In his own Preface to which there needs no other to be added he doth declare his Credentials and Vouchers̄ and also the Usefulness of the Work But there are several other good purposes to which these Journals are very conducible not particularly mentioned in his Preface Yet I shall name but two The one to be a discovery of the true intent and meaning of some Acts of Parliament of those times which are now controuerted The other to be a just representation of that Sincerity Perspicuity and Unreseruedness with which the Members of Parliament then exprest their Minds and gave their Advice that there was no difficulty to understand them The Authority and substantial Excellency of these Collections especially since the Original Journal Books are not now extant and their rarity do sufficiently recommend them to all Judicious Persons and did abundantly convince me that I could do no better service to my Country nor greater Justice to the Memory of my Worthy Uncle than to publish this Monument of his Fame Nor do I know how duly to express my thankfulness to you otherwise than by this publick acknowledgement as of your many other Favours so in particular for my free access unto and use of your well stored Library which hath furnisht me with this opportunity to subscribe my self Your most Obliged Humble Servant PAUL BOWES THE PREFACE OF Sir Simonds D'Ewes BEFORE THE ENSUING JOURNALS OF ALL THE Parliaments and Sessions of Parliament during the Reign of Queen ELIZABETH Wherein are expressed the several Materials and Authorities out of which the said Journals were extracted and drawn As also what Method and Form hath been observed in the transcribing of them together with the excellency and use of them IN respect that these ensuing Journals both of the Upper House and House of Commons during the Reign of that Incomparable Princess and Virgin Queen Queen Elizabeth whose memory will ever remain dear and precious to the Church of God are Collected and Framed up by my exceeding great pains and diligence out of several Materials and do contain in them Incomparable Historical matters both touching the Church and State as well as matters of rarity and Precedent incident to the Orders Priviledges or Usages of either House It shall not be amis shortly to touch those Heads that so they may serve as a Key for the better Direction and Guidance in the use of the Journals themselves First therefore I will set down briefly all those Materials out of which I have Collected these ensuing Journals Secondly the Method I have constantly observed in the causing them to be Penned or Transcribed And thirdly the rich Treasures of rarity and knowledge contained in them First for the Materials out of which I drew these ensuing Journals of either House they were for the most part rare and invulgar viz. 1. The Original Manuscript or Journal-Books of the Upper House of every Parliament and Session of Parliament of the Queens Reign remaining in the Office of the Clerk of the same House and these are absolute and undeniable Records and therefore could not be removed out of the said Office but I was inforced as often as I had occasion to use them to repair unto the same to which I had most free and respectful access always offered me as also to the Bundles of Original Acts and Petitions reserved there 2. A large Manuscript Abridgment in Folio of all the said Original Journal Books of the Upper House during her Majesties Reign very faithfully for the most part collected and transcribed with his own hands by Robert Bowyer Esquire who continued Clerk of the said House ab an 6 Jacobi Regis until the eighteenth year of the same King 3. The Original Journal-Book Manuscripts of the House of Commons of every Parliament and Session of Parliament during her Majesties Raign 4. Another help which I had for the perfecting of these Journals were the two Manuscript Volumes of Fragmentary and Imperfect Journals or rather Collections of the Parliaments and Sessions of Parliament of Queen Elizabeth's Reign which remained in Sir Robert Cottons well known and much famoused Library in the said Years 1629 and 1630. out of which I had most of the Speeches of Sir Nicholas Bacon Knight Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England Out of these also I had passages which did excellently serve to enlarge and beautify some of the Journals of the House of Commons as is fully mentioned in their proper places In which two Volumes of Parliamentary Collections which then remained in Sir Robert Cottons Library as asoresaid who since Deceased on Friday the 6. day of May Anno Domini 1631. many things being either ignorantly or negligently referred to other times than in truth they belonged unto are here rectified and enlarged according as the occasion it self required 5. And another means to enlarge these Ensuing Volumes were Manuscripts or written Fragments I had by me of Parliamentary Speeches Petitions and such like Passages especially touching the House of Commons all which served most fitly in their due places to supply those things and matters in which the Original Journal-Books themselves were defective 6. A further material for the furtherance of this present work was a Manuscript Treatise which I had by me Intituled Modus tenendi Parliamentum apud Anglos Compiled especially as I conceive by Robert Bowyer Esquire and afterwards enlarged by Henry Elsing Esquire at this present Clerk of the Upper House of Parliament in which were many good Collections touching Proxies Summons Receivors and Tryors of Petitions the Commons Prolocutor and other matters incident to the Passages of the Journals of either House and those especially gathered out of Records of which Treatise there is very
ensuing The Session of Parliament held in the 18 th year of Queen Elizabeth began on Wednesday the 18 th day of February Anno Domini 1575. and was Prorogued on Thursday the 15 th day of March ensuing The Session of Parliament held in the 23. year of Queen Elizabeth began on Monday the 16 th day of January Anno Domini 1580. and was Dissolved on Friday the 19 th day of April Anno Domini 1583. The Parliament held in the 27 th year of Queen Elizabeth began on Monday the 23. day of November Anno Domini 1584. and was Dissolved on Wednesday the 14 th day of September An. Domini 1586. Anno 28 Regin ejusdem The Parliament held in the 28 th and 29 th years of Queen Elizabeth began on Saturday the 29 th day of October Anno Domini 1586. and was Dissolved on Thursday the 23. of March Anno 29 Regin ejusdem The Parliament held in the 31. year of Queen Elizabeth began on Tuesday the 4 th day of February Anno Domini 1588. and was Dissolved on Saturday the 29 th day of March Anno Domini 1589. The Parliament held in the 35 th year of Queen Elizabeth began on Monday the 19 th day of November Anno Domini 1592. and was Dissolved on Tuesday the 10 th day of April Anno Domini 1593. The Parliament held in the 39. and 40. years of Queen Elizabeth began on Monday the 24. day of October Anno Domini 1597. and was Dissolved on Thursday the 9 th day of February An. 40 Regin ejusdem The Parliament held in the 43. and 44 th years of Queen Elizabeth began on Tuesday the 27 th day of October Anno Domini 1601. and was Dissolved on Saturday the 19 th day of December ensuing Anno 44. Regin ejusdem The Names of the Lord Keeper Lord Chancellor or others who supplied their places as Speakers of the House of Lords during all the Reign of Queen ELIZABETH as also all the Names of all the Clerks of the said House of Parliament together with the Names of the several Speakers of the House of Commons and Clerks of the same House during all the Parliaments of the said Queens Reign The several Years of her Majesties Reign in which the said Parliaments or Sessions of Parliament were held The Names of the Lord Keeper Lord Chancellor c. and of the Clerks of the House of Lords The Names of the Speakers of the House of Commons and of the Clerks of the same House IN the Parliament held in the first Year of Queen Elizabeth Sir Nicholas Bacon Knight Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England whose place was supplied Mar. 4. by the Marquess of Winchester Lord Treasurer of England Sir Thomas Gargrave Knight Speaker  Francis Spilman Esquire Clerk of the Upper House ..... Seimour Gent. Clerk of the House of Commons In the Session of Parliament held in the fifth Year of Queen Elizabeth The same Lord Keeper Thomas Williams Esq Speaker The same Clerk The same Clerk In the Session of Parliament held in the ninth Year of Queen Elizabeth The same Lord Keeper and his place supplied for divers dayes during his being sick of the Gout First by the Marquess of Winchester Lord Treasurer of England after by Sir Robert Catlin Knight Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench. Richard Onslow Esq the Queens Sollicitor  The same Clerk who either died or surrendred his place before the next Parl. began in An. 13 Reg. Eliz. The same Clerk In the Parliament held in the thirteenth Year of Queen Elizabeth The same Lord Keeper and his place supplied for divers dayes during his sickness by Sir Robert Catlin K t Lord Ch. Justice of the Kings Bench. Christopher Wray Serjeant at Law Speaker  Anthony Mason aliàs Wilkes succeeded Francis Spilman in the place of the Clerk of the House of Lords Fulk Onslow Gent. Clerk of the House of Commons In the Session of Parliament held in the fourteenth Year of Queen Elizabeth The same Lord Keeper and his place supplied in his absence for divers days by Sir Robert Catlin K t Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench. Robert Bell Esq Speaker  The same Clerk The same Clerk In the Session of Parliament held in the eighteenth Year of Queen Elizabeth The same Lord Keeper and his place supplied for divers dayes in his absence by the Lord Burleigh Lord Treasurer of England The same Speaker  The same Clerk The same Clerk In the Session of Parliament held in the twenty third Year of Queen Elizabeth Sir Thomas Bromley Knight Lord Chancellor John Popham Esq the Queens Sollicitor Speaker  The same Clerk The same Clerk In the Parliament held in the twenty seventh Year of Qucen Elizabeth The same Lord Chancellor John Puckering Serjeant at Law Speaker  The same Clerk The same Clerk In the Parliament held in the twenty eighth and twenty ninth Years of Queen Elizabeth The same Lord Chancellor and his place supplied for divers dayes during his sickness by Sir Edmund Anderson Knight Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. John Puckering Serjeant at Law Speaker again  The same Clerk The same Clerk from Oct. 29. to Dec. 2. 1589. And the same Clerks Kinsman W. Onslow Gent. from Febr. 15. to March 23. ensuing In the Parliament held in the thirty first Year of Queen Elizabeth Sir Christopher Hatton Knight Lord Chancellor George Snagg Serjeant at Law Speaker  The same Clerk The same Clerk In the Parliament held in the thirty fifth Year of Queen Elizabeth Sir John Puckering Knight Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England Edward Coke Esq the Queens Sollicitor Speaker  The same Clerk The same Clerk In the Parliament held in the thirty ninth and fortieth Years of Queen Elizabeth Sir Thomas Egerton Knight Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England Christopher Yelverton Serjeant at Law Speaker  Thomas Smith Esq succeeded Clerk of the Upper House to Anthony Mason alids Wilkes The same Clerk In the Parliament held in the 43 44 Years of Queen Elizabeth The same Lord Keeper J. Croke Esq Recorder of London The same Clerk The same Clerk THE JOURNAL OF THE House of LORDS A o 1 o Regin Eliz. A. D. 1558 1559. The Journal of the Proceedings of the House of Lords in the Parliament holden at Westminster A o 1 o Regin Eliz. Anno Dom. 1558. beginning there after one Prorogation of the same on Wednesday the 25 th of January and then and there continued until the Dissolution thereof on Monday the 8 th day of May Anno Dom. 1559. QUeen Mary Deceased on Thursday the 17 th day of November in the year of our Lord 1558. and the Parliament then Assembled in the 6th and last year of her Reign thereby immediately Dissolving the thrice Excellent and Prudent Princess Queen Elizabeth according to her right and Hereditary Title without any opposition or difficulty King Philip being then very happily absent beyond the
Seas Succeeded to all the Realms and Dominions of Mary her Sister excepting Callais and those other inestimable places in France which had been most dishonourably and vainly lost in the time and towards the end of the Reign of the said Queen and finding also the Innocent Blood of Gods Saints shed for the Witness of the Truth to have stained the former Government with the just Brand and Stigma of persecuting and Tyrannical And that her Realms and Dominions were much impoverished and weakened whilst in the mean time her Enemies every where abroad were encreased not only in Number but in Strength and Power She therefore in the very entrance of her Reign well considering and foreseeing that the surest and safest way to Establish the Truth to abolish all Foreign and usurped Authority to repair the breaches and weaknesses of her said Realms and Dominions to strengthen her Kingdoms with Shipping and Munition and to revive the decayed Trade thereof was by the common advice and Council and with the Publick assent of the Body of her Realm did Summons herfirst Parliament to begin on Monday the 23th day of January having before made and appointed that wise and able Statesman Sir Nicolas Bacon Knight Lord Keeper of the great Seal of England In the setting down of this Journal of the upper House in An. 1. Reg. Eliz. An. Dom. 1558. Summoned to begin at the day and place aforesaid I have caused to be Transcribed many things at large out of the original Journal Book Some things also of Form I have added to it which are in the very Original it self omitted in this regard only because they were but matters of Course and not much material yet I was much desirous both in this Journal of the Upper House and in that also of the House of Commons in this first year of the Queen to supply once for all the whole matter of Form that so I might the better omit it in the following Journals and have ready recourse hither unto it being all framed into one Structure or Body In this Journal of this first year is set down the ground form and return of the Writs of Summons with their usual and common differences the Commission for Prorogation and the form of Proroging the Parliament to a surther day The manner of the beginning of the Parliament with the Sitting of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal The places of Peers under age and of Noblemens Sons their Fathers living and the difference The whole form Verbatim of the Receivers and Tryers of Petitions And lastly for what or by whose Licence the Lords both Spiritual and Temporal may absent themselves from the Parliament House and send their Proxies the forms of Proxies the cause of a Vacat the several observations upon the return of such usual or unusual Proxies as were this Parliament returned the returns of which are set down at large out of the Original Journal Book it self with divers other things of the like nature and are digested as the following Passages of this first Parliament of Queen Eliz. into an orderly and exact Journal Before the Writs for the Summoning of this Parliament were sent forth the Queens Majesty did send her Warrant to Sir Nicolas Bacon Knight Lord Keeper of the great Seal of England commanding him speedily to cause the said Writs to be made as in like cases had been formerly accustomed the usual Form of which Warrant being by Bill Signed is as followeth Elizabeth by the Grace of God Queen of England France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. To our right Trusty and right Wel-beloved Nicolas Bacon Knight Lord Keeper of our Great Seal of England Greeting Whereas we by our Council for certain great and urgent Causes concerning us the good Estate and Common-wealth of this our Realm and of the Church of England and for the good Order and continuance of the same have appointed and Ordained a Parliament to be holden at our City of Westminster the sirst day of April next coming in which case divers and sundry Writs are to be directed forth under our Great Seal of England as well for the Prelates Bishops and Nobility of this our Realm as also for the Election of Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the several Counties Cities and Burroughs Towns of the same to be present at the said Parliament at the day and place aforesaid Whereupon We Will and Command you forthwith upon the receipt hereof and by Warrant of the same to cause such and so many Writs to be made and Sealed under our Great Seal for the accomplishing of the same as in like Cases hath been heretofore used and accustomed And this Bill Signed with our own hand shall be as well unto you as to every such Clerk and Clerks as shall make and pass the same a sufficient Warrant or Discharge in that behalf given Upon this Warrant the Lord Keeper sends out the said Writs of Summons returnable the 23th day of January being Monday and bearing Date at Westminster the 5th day of December in the first year of the Queen the form of which Writ is as followeth Elizabetha Dei Gratia Angliae Franciae Hiberniae Regina Fidei Defensor c. Clarissimo Consanguineo suo Thomae Duci Norfolciae c. Salutem Quia de advisamento assensu Consilij nostri pro quibusdam ardius urgentibus negotiis nos statum defensionem Regni nostri Angliae Ecclesiae Anglicanae concernentibus quodd am Parliamentum nostrum apud Civitatem nostram Westmonasterij vicessimo tertio die Januarij proximè futuro teneri ordinaverimus ibidem vobiscum cum Prelatis Magnatibus Proceribus dicti Regni nostri colloquium habere tractatum vobis sub fide ligeancia quibus nobis tenemini firmiter injungendo Mandamus quod consideratis dictorum negotiorum arduitate periculis imminentibus cessante excusatione quâcunque dictis die loco personaliter intersitis nobiscum cum Praelatis Magnatibus Proceribus praedictis super dictis negotiis tractatur ' vestrumque consilium impensur ' hoc sicut nos honorem nostrum salvationem Defensionem Regni Ecclesiae praedict ' expeditionemque negotiorum dictorum diligitis nullatenus omittatis Teste me ipsà apud Westmonasterium quinto Die Decembris Anno Regni nostri primo The Writ to the Archbishop of York for the See of Canterbury was now void by the Death of Cardinal Pool was after this Form ensuing Elizabetha Dei Gratia c. Reverendissimo in Christo Patri Nicholao Archiepiscopo Eboracen ' c. And so to the end as it is in the Duke of Norfolks Writ unless perhaps after the word Mandamus the words following are in fide dilectione quibus nobis tenemini c. instead of these words to the Temporal Lords Sub fide Ligeancia quibus nobis tenemini The Writs that were directed to the two Marquesses of Winchester and Northampton and to
in the Upper House but nothing was done save only the Parliament continued by the Lord Keeper which is entred in the Original Journal-Book of the same House in manner and form following Dominus Custos magni Sigilli continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in horam secundam post Meridiem About which hour in the Afternoon the Queens Majesty came in person into the Upper House of Parliament where were then present to attend her Sir Nicholas Bacon Knight Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England and divers other Lords both Spiritual and Temporal who being all set in their Parliament Robes according to their several Ranks in their due places the House of Commons had notice thereof and repaired thither with Sir Thomas Gargrave Knight their Speaker whose Speech to her Majesty and his very coming up being wholly omitted in the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House I have partly before supplyed it according to the usual course and added also the residue in like manner touching the substance of what he spake being also partly furthered in the setting down of it out of the Answer of Sir Nicholas Bacon Knight Lord Keeper of the Great Seal unto him whose said Answer I have also caused to be inserted at large out of a Copy thereof I had by me Sir Thomas Gargrave Knight before mentioned with as many of the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons as conveniently could being let into the Upper House and he placed at the Rail or Bar at the nether end of the same made a Learned Speech to her Majesty which is termed in the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons fol. 214. b. A Learned Oration the effect whereof may very probably be gathered to have been as followeth viz. He declared unto the Queens Majesty and that present Assembly with what care and speed the House of Commons had this present Parliament enacted and passed many good Laws which remaining yet as a dead Letter and without force he did humbly desire that her Majesty would be pleased by adding her Royal Assent unto them to make them living and active Laws Then he desir'd in the name of the House that her Majesty would be pleased to accept of the good endeavours and desires of the said House of Commons expressed this Parliament in all their proceedings and more especially that her Majesty would be pleased to take in good part the free gift of her said Subjects who in token of their Love and Zeal to her Majesty did with one assent offer unto her not only the Subsidy of Tonnage and Poundage but likewise one Subsidy and two Fifteens and Tenths as an undoubted effect and Testimony of their Duty and thankfulness towards her Majesty for those many blessings and benefits which had accrued to the Church and State by her Highnesses most lawful and just Succession Lastly He concluded with an humble desire that her Majesty would be pleased to accept of his hearty and zealous thanks in allowing and admitting him though unworthy to that place of trust and importance and to pardon all those weaknesses and imperfections which he had unwillingly or casually discovered in the Execution of it To which said Speech of the Prolocutors Sir Nicholis Bacon Lord Keeper of the Great Seal having first repaired to the Queen to her Chair of Estate to know her Majesties pleasure as in her name and by her Command returned him this wise and large Answer M r Speaker The Queens Majesty hath heard how discreetly and wisely you have declar'd the proceedings of this Session in the House of Commons for Answer whereunto and for the better signification to be made to my Lords of the Upper House of the Judgment of the Parliament men and these Parliament matters her Majesties pleasure and Commandment is that I should open and utter unto you three things The one is what her Highness understandeth by your doings this Parliament of your wisdom and diligence The second what of your liberality and benevolence and therewith how comfortable the former is and how thankful the second The third what her Highness would you should do for the good Execution of the Laws devised by you and of the rest heretofore devised by others And here my Lords and Masters all albeit in labouring to bear this burthen I am much more like to fall than but to faint under it because neither am I able to perform it as the Queens Majesty hath commanded it nor as your deserts justly crave it nor as my will wisheth and desireth it Nevertheless my trust is that you will pardon my weakness and want so as no note of arrogancy or folly be ascribed to me for it seeing as you know by duty driven I do it I had rather and I know it much better for me to be silent and so to have no need of your pardon than by Speech to all your pains in hearing and to mine also in speaking to deserve to pray it if mine Office would suffer But now to the matter For the first part wherein her Majesty considereth how in the debating of the great and weighty Causes of this Parliament we have banished all suddain rash and swift proceedings dangerous Enemies to all good Counsel and in place thereof have taken such convenient leisure as the weightiness of the matters of their better consideration hath requir'd And again what freedom of Speech hath been used and permitted for the plain Declaration of every mans knowledge and Conscience yea and how men in some Cases and some places have been rather by gentle perswasions provoked than by any sharp manner of Speech by men of Council disswaded therefrom and therewith also how learnedly and cunningly the disputable matters being of moment have been agreed and reasoned how gravely and deeply weighed and considered how advisedly and considerately resolved and concluded and lastly with what nigh and universal consent they have been by you enacted and established Besides also remembring your great Studies and endeavours and diligences for the opening and declaring what may be said Pro contra in all causes of doubts to the end as it seemeth to her Highness that when all was said and heard on both parts that by any of your could be inferr'd or produc'd That that which should thereupon for all respects appear to stand most with the Honour and Glory of God and the common Wealth of the Realm might be the better and more safely agreed upon and determined When her Majesty I say remembreth and considereth these things she saith she cannot but much commend and allow your wisdom and diligence therein greatly to her comfort and consolation and much to all your praises and commendations For now her Majesty verily trusteth that like as no manner of determination in Parliament neither can nor ought by any private Man to be infringed or undone so these determinations of yours in this form begun proceeded and concluded cannot hereafter justly no not by
only stored with many good passages touching the ordinary reading committing and expediting of Bills but also with much extraordinary matter concerning the private priviledge of the House and publick state of the Church and Common-Wealth which in this great Council of the Kingdom received much alteration and change to the yet lasting honour and welfare of them both In which also as in the preceeding Journal of the Upper House I have enlarged and supplied many things in matter of form which are not found in the Original Journal-Book of the same House touching the Writ of Summons the preferring reading and passing of Bills with the committing and sending of them up to the Lords and such like Neither doth there want much enlargement out of Record or otherwise concerning the Election Presentments and Petitions of the Speaker with all other things that are materially worthy of any Animadversion or Annotation which matters of Form or Explanation I did the rather cause to be inserted in this first Journal of the Parliament during her Majesties Reign that so I might the better omit it in the following Journal and have ready recourse hither unto it being all fram'd into one structure or body in this present Journal prout sequitur Sir Nicholas Bacon Knight Lord Keeper of the Great Seal having received her Majesties Warrant for the making and Issuing forth of the Writs of Summons did speedily cause them to be directed to such Peers and others as were to attend in the Upper House and to the several Sheriffs of England for the Election and Chusing of the Knights Citizens Burgesses and Barons that were to be present in the House of Commons And although neither any thing of this which hath preceeded nor any Copy of the Writ sent to each Sheriff be at all inserted into the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons yet as I have supplied that matter which preceedeth according to the form therof which was at this time used and hath been since continued so I have thought it not amiss once for all to add here also the Copy of the Writ at this time sent forth which hath since received no alteration and was as followeth Elizabetha Dei gratiâ Angl. Franc. Hib. Regina fidei defensor Ambrosio Jermyn Militi Vicecomiti Norff. Suff. salutem Quia de avisamento assensu Concilii nostri pro quibusdam arduis urgentibus negotiis Nos statum defensionem regni nostri Angl. Ecclesiae Anglicanae concernen quoddam Parliamentum nostrum apud Civitatem nostram Westm. Vicesimo tertio die Januarii prox futur teneri ordinavimus ibidem cum Praelatis Magnatibus Proceribus dicti Regni nostri Colloquium habere tract Tibi praecipimus firmiter injungentes quod fact â Proclamat in prox Comitat. tuo post receptionem hujus brevis nostri tenend die loco praedict duos Milites gladiis cinct magis idoneos discretos Comit. praedict de qualibet Civitate Com. illius duos Cives de quolibet Burgo duos Burgenses de discretior magis sufficientibus libere indifferenter per illos qui Proclam hujusmodi interfuer juxta formam statutarum inde edit provis legi nomina corundum Milit. Civium Burgensium sic electorum in quibusdam indentur inter te illos qui hujusmodi electioni interfuer inde conficiend sive hujusmodi elect praesentes fuerint vel absentes inseri eosque ad dict diem locum venire fac ita quod iidem Milites plenam sufficientem potestatem pro se Communitate Comit. praedicti ac dict Cives Burgenses pro se Communitat Civitatum Burgorum praedictorum divisim ab ipsis habeant ad faciendum consentiendum his quae tunc ibidem de Communi Concilio dicti regni nostri favente Deo contigerint ordinari super Negotiis antedictis it a quod pro defectu potestatis hujusmodi seu propter improvidam electionem Milit. Civium aut Burgensium praedictorum dicta Negotia infecta non remaneant quovismodo Nolumus autem quod tu nec aliquis alius Vic. dicti regni nostri aliqualiter sit electus Et Electionem illam in pleno Comitatu factam distincte aperte sub sigillo tuo sigillis corum qui electioni illi interfuerint Nobis in Cancellar nostram ad dict diem locum certifices indilate remittens nobis alteram partem Indenturarum praedictarum praesentibus consut una cum hoc breve Teste meipsa apud Westmonasterium Quinto die Decembris Anno Regni nostri Primo Nota That this is not the direct Copy of any Writ that I saw sent at this very time but only applied to this time according to the usual form of a like Writ which also doth serve to discover all the Writs sent to the several Sheriffs of England differing only from this in the name of the Sheriff and County And in the said Writ foregoing it is to be noted that the words Supremum Caput Ecclesiae Anglicanae were wanting which had been omitted also in the foregoing Parliament of her Sister Mary which notwithstanding it was afterwards agreed in the House on Friday the third day of Feb. following that the Writs of Summons were well sent forth and returned and that the Parliament ought to hold accordingly In the Antient Writ also of Summons the cause of the Assembling of the Parliament was expressed which at this day is not Neither was there then any such clause in the Writ as in this foregoing doth appear viz. Nolumus autem quod tu nec aliquis alius Vicecomes dicti regni nostri aliqualiter sit Electus By reason of which words some have conceived that the Sheriff of any County ought not to be Elected or admitted a Member of the House of Commons But to this it may first be truly answered that these words were primarily inserted into the said Writ by virtue of an Ordinance only made to that end upon some special Occasion in the Parliament held in an 46 Regis Ed. 3. as appears in the Parliament Roll of that Year numero 13. remaining with divers others in the Tower of London By which said Ordinance also Lawyers were as well excluded as Sheriffs Secondly the constant practice in most times since doth sufficiently prove of how little validity the said Ordinance of Parliament was conceived to have been for the debarring of the said Sheriffs from being Members of the House of Commons For the proof whereof I have only vouched such as fell out during her Majesties Reign viz. in an 27 Regin Eliz. Decemb. 21. Tuesday Ed. Leigh Esq being returned and admitted into the House of Commons as one of the Knights for the County of Stafford was afterwards Elected to be Sheriff of the same Shire In like manner Feb. the 23. Tuesday Sir Edward Dimock Knight was both Sheriff of the County of Lincoln and a Member of the House of Commons as
appears in the Journal ensuing in an eodem 27 Regin Eliz. So also in the Parliament de an 31 Regin Eliz. Feb. 21. Friday M r Saint Pole served as one of the Knights for the County of Lincoln being also Sheriff of the same Shire And lastly in the Parliament de an 43 44 Regin Eliz. Decemb. 2. Wednesday Peter Frechevile Esq was returned one of the Knights for the County of Darby being afterwards appointed Sheriff of the same County as was also Robert Lhuyde Esq constituted Sheriff of the County of Merioneth in Wales having been formerly returned Knight for the said Shire as appeareth in the Journal of the same Parliament on Tuesday the 8 th of Decemb. In and by all which Presidents it doth appear and may probably be gathered that neither her Majesty nor the House of Commons did conceive these two places to be incompetible but that they might well stand and be in one and the same man at one and the same time For her Majesty did first make these foregoing persons Sheriffs of the several Counties aforesaid not only after they were chosen but returned also Members of the House of Commons by which it is very plain she could not be ignorant of it and therefore her self and the said House did both allow of their being made Sheriffs as a thing well agreeing with the Priviledge of their former places and the service of that House and did not therefore give them a final discharge but only Liberty of recess about their necessary affairs into the several Counties before-mentioned as in the Case of Sickness or some other temporary cause of their absenting themselves from the House which being expedited they might return again to that service for doubtless if the said House had conceived that they had been disabled from their serving there by their new Offices it would have been ordered that a Warrant should have been sent to the Clerk of the Crown to have sent down a new Writ into the foresaid Counties for a new Election to have been made as in the Case of double Returns Death or the like is used And whereas in the Parliament de an 43 44 Regin Eliz. on Wednesday the 4 th day of November Sir Andrew Nowell being both Sheriff and Knight for the County of Rutland was wholly discharged and a Writ sent out de novo for a new Election That Case differed from all the foregoing Presidents and might well upon another reason be ordered by the House For the said Sir Andrew being Sheriff of the foresaid County of Rutland was afterwards Elected one of the Knights for the same and so compelled to return himself which could not be good in Law But if the said Sir Andrew had been chosen a Knight of some other Shire during his Sheriffalty or had been constituted Sheriff by her Majesty of the said County after he had been Elected and returned a Member of the House of Commons the Case had doubtless differed and the House would never have given Order for a new Writ to have been sent forth which course they observed in the two before-cited Presidents of M r Frechevile and Mr Lhuyde in the same Parliament Thirdly if these two places should not be competible then had it now lain in the Power of her Majesty or may lie in the power of any Soveraign of this Kingdom to have disabled as many Members from serving in the House of Commons as she should or could have constituted Sheriff She might have disfurnished or any Soveraign for the time being may disfurnish the said House at any time of all or the greater part of the ablest Members thereof Nota also That those words viz. Duos Milites Gladiis cinctos were inserted into the Writ of Summons after the Parliament an 13 E. 3. as may be gathered by the Parliament Roll of the same Year And whereas some have objected in the foregoing Case to prove that a Sheriff ought always to be attendant upon the affairs of the County and cannot therefore be a Member of the House of Commons the Objection is idle for till the tenth year of Queen Eliz. the Counties of Nottingham and Derby and of Warwick and Leicester had but two several Sheriffs as were also the Counties of Norfolk and Suffolk served with one Sheriff until the eighteenth Year of her Majesties Reign and so are the Counties of Sussex and Surrey served this present Year 1630. And antiently also as is plain by that MS. Catalogue of all the Sheriffs of England or the most part since the time of King H. 2. which is in many mens hands divers Counties were committed to one man as in an 1 H. 2. Richard Bassett and Awbrey de Vere were jointly constituted for Sheriffs of the several Counties of Norfolk Suffolk Northampton Essex Huntington Cambridge and Hartford and Robert Caran joined unto them for the Counties of Bedford and Buckingham From the Female Coheirs of the foresaid Richard Bassett being the Ancestor of the House of Weldon in Northamptonshire are lineally and undoubtedly descended the Families of Chaworth Stafford Knyvet Clinton Earl of Lincoln the Howards of the House of Suffolk and Clopton late of Kentwell in the County aforesaid and from the before-mentioned Awbrey de Vere is lineally descended as I take it Robert de Vere the nineteenth Earl of Oxford now living An. Dom. 1630. Upon the receit of the before-mentioned Writ and Election made accordingly the Sheriffs of every Shire made their several Returns of which the Form being set down in the old Book of Entries it shall be needless here to insert them But now having supply'd these matters of Form according to the usual Presidents the next passages follow out of the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons On Wednesday the 23 th of Jan. Anno Regni Regin Eliz. Primo The Parliament should have begun according to the Writs of Summons but by the Queens Commission directed to Sir Nicholas Bacon Knight Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England the Lord Treasurer and others to Prorogue the same until Wednesday the 25 th day of the same Month it was so done accordingly On Wednesday the 25 th day of Jan. The Parliament held and began according to the last Prorogation thereof but there is no mention made in the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons where or by whom the Names of the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the said House were called that so it might be seen who were present But most certain it is that at this day they took no Oath before the beginning of this present Parliament because that of Supremacy which was afterwards taken was not enjoyned by Statute till this first year of her Majesty But most likely it is that Hen. Fitz-Alan Earl of Arundell at this time Lord Steward of her Majesties Houshold did both cause their names to be called in some place near the Upper House and their Appearance to be Recorded before her
passing but paused a while to see if any Member of the House would speak unto it which at this day is commonly most used upon the third reading of a Bill and whether any of the said House spake unto the said Bill or no doth not appear But the Speaker holding the Bill in his hand made the Question for the passing of it in this sort viz. As many as are of the mind that the Bill shall pass say Yea which being Answered accordingly by the House or the greatest part of them the Bill passed and so he delivered it again unto the Clerk who because the Bill was Originally begun and first passed in the House of Commons wrote within the said Bill on the top of it towards the right hand these words viz. Soit baille aux Seigneurs The House was Adjourned until Thursday next because the Morrow following being Ash-Wednesday there was a Sermon to be Preached at the Court before the Queen at which as it should seem the greatest part of the House desired to be present On Thursday February the 9 th the Bill for Melcomb Regis in the County of Dorset to be fortified was read the first time And the Bill also to restore the Supremacy of the Church of England to the Crown of the Realm was read the first time and committed to M r Cooke as he is there termed and elsewhere Sir Anthony Cooke and as is very probable also to some others not named For it may be here noted that in the first Journals of her Majesties time the title of M r only is ordinarily given to Knights M r Sollicitor and M r Martin brought from the Lords the Bill for the Queens Title to the Crown which was delivered in such order and manner as was the Bill for the Restitution of Tenths and First-Fruits on Monday the sixth day of this Instant February foregoing Friday 10 Feb. the Bill for one Subsidy and two Fifteens and Tenths was read the third time and past M r Speaker declared the Queens Majesties Answer to the Message which was read to the House by M r Mason to the great honour of the Queen and the contentation of this House which is all that is contained in the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons touching this great business of their Petition preferred to her Majesty to induce her to marry and therefore it shall not be amiss to leave some larger memorial thereof for this business having been first propounded and resolved on in the said House on Saturday the 4 th day of this instant February foregoing and preferred to her Majesty as it should seem on the Monday following in the Afternoon was not answered by her Majesty until this Morning and was then also read in the said House as appeareth by the foregoing imperfect mentioning thereof And I am the rather induced to conceive that her Majesty gave not her Answer until this Morning to the said Petition of the Commons from a Copy of the said Answer which I have by me written by Alexander Evesham which said Answer out of the said Copy in which it is referred to this instant 10 th day of February with the title and subscription thereof do now in the next place follow verbatim Friday 10 th of Feb. 1558. c. The Answer of the Queens Highness to the Petition propounded unto her by the Lower House concerning her Marriage AS I have good cause so do I give you all my hearty thanks for the good Zeal and loving Care you seem to have as well towards me as to the whole Estate of your Country Your Petition I perceive consisteth of three parts and my Answer to the same shall depend of two And to the first part I may say unto you that from my Years of Understanding sith I first had consideration of my self to be born a Servant of Almighty God I happily chose this kind of life in the which I yet live which I assure you for mine own part hath hitherto best contented my self and I trust hath been most acceptable unto God from the which if either Ambition of high Estate offered to me in Marriage by the pleasure and appointment of my Prince whereof I have some Record in this presence as you our Treasurer well know or if eschewing the danger of mine Enemies or the avoiding of the peril of Death whose Messenger or rather a continual Watchman the Princes indignation was no little time daily before mine Eyes by whose means although I know or justly may suspect yet I will not now utter or if the whole cause were in my Sister her self I will not now burthen her therewith because I will not charge the Dead if any of these I say could have drawn or disswaded me from this kind of life I had not now remained in this Estate wherein you see me But so constant have I always continued in this determination although my Youth and words may seem to some hardly to agree together yet is it most true that at this day I stand free from any other meaning that either I have had in times past or have at this present with which Trade of Life I am so throughly acquainted that I trust God who hath hitherto therein preserved and led me by the hand will not of his goodness suffer me to go alone For the other part the manner of your Petition I do well like and take it in good part because it is simple and containeth no limitation of place or person if it had been otherwise I must needs have misliked it very much and thought it in you a very great presumption being unfitting and altogether unmeet for you to require them that may command or those to appoint whose parts are to desire or such to bind and limit whose Duties are to obey or to take upon you to draw my Love to your liking or to frame my will to your fantasie For a Guerdon constrained and gift freely given can never agree together Nevertheless if any of you be in suspect whensoever it may please God to incline my heart to another kind of Life you may very well assure your selves my meaning is not to determine any thing wherewith the Realm may or shall have just cause to be discontented And therefore put that clean out of your heads For I assure you what Credit my assurance may have with you I cannot tell but what Credit it shall deserve to have the sequel shall declare I will never in that matter conclude any thing that shall be prejudicial to the Realm For the well good and safety whereof I will never shun to spend my Life and whomsoever my chance shall be to light upon I trust he shall be such as shall be as careful for the Realm as you I will not say as my self because I cannot so certainly determine of any other but by my desire he shall be such as shall be as careful for the preservation of the Realm and you
was Prorogued on Saturday the 10 th day of April then next following together with the Solemn and Royal manner of her Majesties passing to the House of Lords on either of the said Days are for the most part transcribed out of several Anonymous Memorials thereof I had in my Custody being doubtless the very Original Draughts or Autographs set down by some observant Member of one of the Houses or by some other person then present in the Upper House for it was written in a hand of that time and much interlined The Parliament was Summoned to begin at Westminster on Monday the 11 th day of Jan. An. 5 Regin Eliz. An. D. 1562. upon which day Sir Nicholas Bacon Knight Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England with divers other Lords repaired to the Parliament Chamber commonly called the UpperHouse and then and there in presence of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and of the Knights Citizens and Burgesses Summoned to the same Parliament the Lord Keeper declared that the Queens Majesty by reason of the evil disposition of her Health could not be present this 11 th day of January and that she hath therefore been pleased to Prorogue the same until to Morrow being the 12 th day of the same And to this purpose a Writ Patent under the Great Seal of England whereby the said Parliament was Prorogued unto the 12. day of this Instant Jan. was read publickly by the Clerk of the Upper House in these words following Elizabeth Dei gratia Angliae Franciae Hiberniae Regina fidei desensor c. praedilectis sidelibus nostris Praelatis Magnatióus Proceribus Regni nostri Angliae dilectis sidelibus nostris Militibus Civibus Burgen dicti Regni nostri ad Parliamentum nostrum apud Civitatem nostram Westmonasterii undecimo die instantis mensis Jan. inchoand tenend convocatis electis vestrum cuilibet salutem Cum nos pro quibusdam arduis urgentibus negotiis nos statum defensionem dicti Regni nostri Angliae Ecclesiae Anglicanae concernent dictum Parliamentum nostrum ad diem locum praedict teneri ordinaverimus Ac vobis per separalia Brevia nostra apud Civitatem die praedict interesse mandaverimus ad tract and. consentiend concludend super hiis quae in dicto Parliamento nostro tune ibidem proponcrentur tractarentur Quibusdam tamen certis de causis considerationibus nos ad tempus specialiter movent dictum Parliamentum nostrum usque duodecimum diem hujus instantis Mensis Jan. duximus prorogand it a quod nec vos nec aliquis vestrum ad dictum undecimum diem Jan. apud Civitatem praedictam comparere teneamini seu arctemini volumus enim vos quemlibet vestrum inde erga nos penitus exonerari Mandantes tenore praesentium firmiter injungendo praecipientes vohis cuilibet vestrum ac omnibus aliis quibus in hac parte intererit quod ad dictum duodecimum dicm Januarii apud praedictam Civitatem Westmonasterii personaliter compareatis intersitis quilibet vestrum compareat intersit ad tractand faciend agend concludend super hiis quae in dicto Parliamento nostro de communi concilio dicti Regni nostri favente Deo contigerint ordinari Teste me ipsâ apud Westmonasterium nono die Januarii anno Regni nostri quinto This day although the Parliament began not nor any Peers sate in the Upper House but the Lord Keeper and some others of either House met only in the Parliament Chamber to Prorogue the Parliament unto the 12. day of this Instant Month as aforesaid were divers Proxies returned from many of the Lords both Spiritual and Temporal who in their absence did constitute others to give their Voices for them Nota That the Duke of Norfolk was Constituted the sole or joint Proctor of four several Peers and Francis Earl of Bedford was nominated the sole or joint Proctor of seven several Lords whereof one was Thomas Archbishop of York and another of them was William Bishop of Exeter By which it doth appear not only that a Spiritual Lord did Constitute a Temporal which at this day is altogether forborn as also for a Temporal Lord to Constitute a Spiritual which was but rarely used during this Queens Reign but likewise that any Peer of the Upper House by the ancient and undoubted usages and Custom of the same is capable of as many Proxies as shall be sent unto him On Tuesday the 12. day of January the Parliament held according to the Prorogation on yesterday foregoing and about eleven of the Clock in the Forenoon the Queens Majesty took her Horse at the Hall Door and proceeded in manner as followeth First All Gentlemen two and two then Esquires Knights and Bannerets and Lords being no Barons or under Age. Then the Trumpeters sounding Then the Queens Serjeant M r Carus in his Circot-Hood and Mantle unlined of Scarlet Then M r Gerrard the Queens Attorney and M r Russell Sollicitor Then Anthony Browne Justice of the Common Pleas and M r Weston of the Kings Bench. Then the Barons of the Exchequer Then M r Corbett and M r Whidon two Justiees of the Kings Bench. Then Sir Thomas Saunders Chief Baron of the Exchequer and Sir James Dyer Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas Then Sir William Cordall Master of the Rolls in his Gown and Sir Robert Catlin Chief Justice of the Kings Bench and these Justices and Barons of the Exchequer in their Scarlet Mantles Hood and Circot edged with Miniver the Mantle shorter than the Circot by a foot Then Knights Counsellors in their Gowns as Sir Anthony Cooke Sir Richard Sackvile Sir William Peeters and Sir Ambrose Cane Then Sir William Cecill Chief Secretary and Sir Edward Rogers Comptroller Then William Howard bearing the Queens Cloak and Hat Then Barons in all forty but there in number 30. a. St. John of Bletso Hunsdon Hastings of Loughborough Chandois North Effingham but now as the Lord Chamberlain Darcy of Chicke Paget Sheffield Willoughby Rich Wharton Evers Cromwell St. John Mordaunt Borough Wentworth Windsor Vaux Sands Mountegle Darcy of Menell Ogle Mountjoy Lumley Latimer Scroope Grey of Wilton Stafford Cobham Dacres of the North Dacres of the South Morley Barkley Strange Zouch Audeley Clinton but now Lord Admiral and Bargaveny their Mantles Hoods and Circot furr'd and two Rows of Miniver on their right Shoulder Then proceeded the Bishops all that were there present were but twenty two as Glocester and St. Asaph Chester Carlisle and Peterborough Norwich and Exeter Lichfield and Coventry Bath and Wells Rochester and St. Davids Salisbury and Lincoln Bangor and Worcester Ely and Hereford Landaffe Chichester and Winchester Durham and London their Robes of Scarlet lined and a Hood down their back of Miniver Then the Viscounts their Robes as the Barons but that they had two Rows and an half of Miniver as the Viscount of Bindon absent Viscount
as well of the said Francis as of the Bishop of Durham whom it concerned should on Saturday then next following be heard what could on either side be said in furtherance or disallowance of the same The Bill also for the Assurance of the Queens Majesties Royal Power over all States and Subjects within her Dominions was brought up to the Lords from the House of Commons On Monday the 22 th day of February two Bills had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill of one Subsidy and two Fifteens and Tenths granted by the Temporalty was secunda vice lect but no mention is made that it was either Ordered to be ingrossed or referr'd to Committees because it had been formerly sent up to the Lords from the House of Commons On Tuesday the 23 th day of February the Bill of one Subsidy and two Fifteens and Tenths granted by the Temporalty was read tertiâ vice communi omnium Procerum assensu conclus and sent to the House of Commons by Serjeant Carus and Doctor Huicke Nota That this Bill of Subsidy after it had passed the Upper House was not by them altered or amended in any thing but only sent back again unto the House of Commons to whom it did most properly belong and is on the last day of the Parliament or Session of Parliament to be brought up by the Speaker of the said House as it was at this time on Saturday the 10 th day of April ensuing and presented unto her Majesty by Thomas Williams Esq Prolocutor of the said House at this present Session before she gave her Royal Assent to such Acts as passed On Thursday the 25 th day of February the Bill for the Assurance of the Queens Majesties Royal Power over all States and Subjects within her Dominions was read the first time On Saturday the 27 th day of February the Bill for Restitution in Blood of the Children of Thomas Cranmer late Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bill declaring the Authority of the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England and the Lord Chancellor to be one were each of them read prima vice Eight Bills were brought up to the Lords from the House of Commons of which the first being the Bill of one Subsidy and two Fifteens and Tenths granted by the Temporalty and the second against carrying over Sheep Skins and Pelts over the Seas not being Staple Ware were each of them returned conclus This day according to the Order formerly taken Sir Francis Jobson with his Counsel came before the Lords and by them declared ..... And no more is set down in the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House and by the negligence of the Clerk the matter is so left abruptly but it doth plainly appear that it was touching the Assurance of certain Lands which concerned the Bishop of Durham ut videas on Saturday the 20 th of this Instant February foregoing On Monday the first day of March two Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill for the Restitution in Blood of the Sons and Daughters of the late Lord Hussey was read prima vice A Proviso to be annex'd to the Bill for the Assurance of the Queens Majesties Royal Power over all Estates and Subjects within her Dominions was read primâ secunda vice commissa ad ingrossand On Tuesday the 2 d day of March Ten Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill for the Confirmation of a Subsidy granted by the Province of Canterbury and the second against such as sell Wares for Apparel without ready money to persons under two hundred pound Lands or Fees were each of them read prima vice The Bill also for Restitution in Blood of the Children of Thomas Cranmer late Archbishop of Canterbury was read secunda tertia vice conclus and was with the Bill for the Children of the Lord Hussey which had likewise this day passed the House upon the third reading sent to the House of Commons by Sir Richard Read and Serjeant Carus On Wednesday the 3 d day of March Three Bills had each of them one reading of which the last being the Bill for the Assurance of the Queens Majesties Royal Power over all States and Subjects within her Dominions was read tertia vice with certain Provisions thereunto annexed by the Lords which were thrice severally read conclus A Proviso annexed by the House of Commons to the Bill against forging of false Deeds was read prima secunda tertia vice commissa Domino Rich Domino Willoughby Primario Justiciario Banci Regii Justiciario Browne Quod Nota Because no Bill or Proviso is usually committed after the third reading On Thursday the 4 th day of March The Bill for the Restitution in Blood of Sir Ralph Chamberlain Knight and John Haleston Esq The Bill against such as sell Wares for Apparel without ready money to persons under two hundred pound Lands or Fees The Bill for the punishments of Vagabonds calling themselves Egyptians And the Bill for uniting of Churches within the City of Winchester were each of them read secunda vice but no mention is made that they were either Ordered to be ingrossed or referred to Committees because they had been formerly sent from the Lords The Bill also for Restitution in Blood of William West and the Bill for the Town of Southampton were each of them read the first time and thereupon committed to Justice Southcote Serjeant Carus and the Queens Attorney Nota That these two Bills last mentioned were not only committed after the first reading which is not usual till the second but also committed to meer Assistants which are not Members of the House and therefore in both respects the President is more rare and remarkable vide consimile on Tuesday the 26 th day of Jan. foregoing On Saturday the 6 th day of March The Bill for the Subsidy of the Clergy And the Bill for the Restitution in Blood of Edward Turner were each of them read tertiâ vice conclus commis Servienti Carus Ricardo Read in Domum Communem deferend Three Bills were brought up to the Lords from the House of Commons of which the first was the bill for avoiding of divers Foreign Wares made by Handy-crafts-men beyond the Seas and the second touching Badgers of Corn and Drovers of Cattle to be Licensed Three Bills lastly of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill for the further punishment of Vagabonds calling themselves Egyptians was read tertia vice conclusa dissentiente Comite Arundel On Monday the 8 th day of March Six Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the third being the Bill against such as shall sell any Wares for Apparel without ready money c. The Bill declaring the Authority of the Lord Keeper
of the Great Seal of England and the Lord Chancellor to be all one And the Bill touching the true fulling and thicking of Caps were each of them read the third time and concluded Et unà cum aliâ Billa For the making Denizens of certain Children born beyond the Seas commissae sunt Attorn Dom. Reginae Doctori Huick in Dom. Communem deferend Three Bills were brought up to the Lords from the House of Commons of which the first being the Bill against such as shall sell any Wares for Apparel without ready money to persons under three thousand pound Lands or Fees was returned conclus And the last was the Bill that the Hospital Church of St. Katherine near the Tower of London shall be a Parish Church and for the erecting of a School Two Bills lastly of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill against Inchantments Sorceries and Witchcraft was read the first time On Tuesday the 9 th day of March Nine Bills had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill for the Restitution in Blood of Sir PeterCarew Knight And the second against Inchantments Sorceries Witchcrafts c. were each of them read the second time but no mention is made that they were either Ordered to be engrossed or referr'd to Committees because they had been formerly sent to the Lords from the House of Commons The sixth being the Bill for the uniting and annexing of Churches was read primâ vice commissa Justiciario Southcot ut in duos libros redigatur On Wednesday the 10 th day of March the Bill for the Restitution in Blood of William West And the Bill for Restitution in Blood of Sir William Carew Knight were each of them read tertiâ vice conclus Eight other Bills had each of them one reading of which the three last the one for Badgers of Corn and Drovers of Cattle to be Licensed Another touching the Lord Viscount Bindon And the third for the relief of the Poor were each of them read secunda vice On Thursday the 11 th day of March the Bill for avoiding of divers Foreign Wares made by Handy-crafts-men beyond the Seas The Bill against fond and phantastical Prophecies And the Bill for the punishment of the vice of Buggery were each of them read tertia vice conclusae commissae sunt Attornato Dominae Reginae Doctori Yale in Domum Communem deferend Six other Bills also of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill against Forgers of false Deeds and Writings and the third being the Bill for Badgers of Corn and Drovers of Cattle to be Licensed were each of them read tertia vice conclus Four Bills were brought up to the Lords from the House of Commons of which the first being the Bill for the Confirmation of the Subsidy granted by the Clergy and the second declaring the Authority of the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal and the Lord Chancellor to be one were each of them returned conclus On Saturday the 13 th day of March the Bill touching the Town of Southampton was read secunda vice commissa ad ingrossand The Bill touching the Boyers of Westminster was read prima secunda vice commissa ad ingrossandum The Bill also for Confirmation of divers Liberties granted by Letters Patents to the City of Exeter was read tertiâ vice And a Proviso added thereunto by the Lords being read prima secunda tertia vice the Bill was concluded Commun omnium procerum assensu On Monday the 15 th day of March Seven Bills had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill that the Hospital of St. Katherines near the Tower of London shall be a Parish Church and for the erecting of a School was read primâ vice and committed to the Bishop of London Quod nota For Bills are not usually committed until the second reading vide tamen consimile on Tuesday the 26 th day of January foregoing The fourth also being the Bill for the Enrolment of Bargains and Sales in the Queens Majesties Courts of Record in Lancaster Chester and Durham was read tertiâ vice commissa Servienti Carus Attornato Dominae Reginae unà cum Bill Civitat Exon. in Domum Communem deferend Five Bills were brought up to the Lords from the House of Commons of which the first being the Bill for the Restitution in Blood of Sir Ralph Chamberlaine Knight and John Harleston Esq And the Bill for Restitution in Blood of Anne Thomas Daughter and Heir of William Thomas Esq were each of them returned conclus On Tuesday 16. day of March the Bill for the relief of the Poor The Bill for uniting of Churches in Cities and Towns Corporate The Bill for the Boyers of London Westminster and Southwark And the Bill for the Confirmation of a Grant made by Letters Patents to the Town of Southampton touching the bringing of Malmesies and Sweet Wines by Merchant Strangers were each of them read tertiâ vice conclusae The Bill for the Assurance of the Queens Majesties Power over all States and Subjects within her Dominions which had been before here passed and concluded in the Upper House and sent down by them to the House of Commons and from the Commons sent back again to the Lords with certain Provisoes and Amendments added thereunto The said Bill needed no new reading but the said Provisoes and Amendments which had been added since it had passed the Upper House were now read primâ secundâ tertiâ vice all at once and so passed The Bills for Southampton and the Boyers of Westminster were sent down to the House of Commons by M r Sollicitor and D r Yale and from thence were returned two other Bills which had passed the Upper House the one for sundry politick Constitutions for the encrease of the Navy and the other for the Restitution in Blood of William West On Wednesday the 17 th day of March the Bill for Assignment for the Queens Houshold was read tertiâ vice and with the Bill for uniting of Churches in Towns Corporate and for relief of the Poor was sent from the Lords to the House of Commons The Bill for allowance to be made to the Sheriffs being called for the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal declared to the Lords that the Queen would her self take Order therein which her pleasure and determination she willed him to signifie unto them on her behalf On Thursday the 18. day of March Six Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the fourth being the Bill against Filing Washing and Clipping of Coins was read the second time and committed to be ingrossed The Bill concerning Viscount Bindon and the Bill for Tillage were Ordered this day to be ingrossed On Saturday the 20. day of March the Bill touching peculiar Jurisdictions was upon the second reading committed
the rest of the Council declared that the Queens Majesty would receive the Petition to Morrow in the Afternoon at the Palace by Mr. Speaker with the whole House of which see more on the day immediately ensuing Mr. Comptroller with the Committees for the Bill of Subsidy were appointed to meet this Afternoon in the Star-Chamber On Thursday the 28 th day of January the Bill for Badgers of Corn to be bound by Recognizance in the open Sessions was read the first time Post Meridiem In the Afternoon Mr. Speaker with the whole House with a Notable Oration did exhibit their Petition to the Queens Majesty in the Gallery at the Palace touching Marriage and Succession which her Highness thankfully accepted with an Excellent Oration deferring the Answer to further time for the gravity of the Cases What further Answer her Majesty gave may be seen on Thursday the 16 th day of February ensuing and on Saturday the 10 th day of April postea But as touching the Petition delivered to her Majesty this Afternoon by the whole House from the Mouth of Mr. Speaker it is not at all contained in the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons and therefore having a Copy of it by me which I do gather by all concurring circumstances to be the very same here mentioned both in respect of the time and matter I have caused it to be inserted at large I am not ignorant that in divers Copies of this Speech another Petition also is joined with it as preferr'd likewise by the Lords to her Majesty at this time for the same Causes which in truth happened not until the second Session of this Parliament following Anno 8 9 Regin Elizabethae neither shall it be needful to make any further demonstration thereof in this place having so fully cleared it in the Upper House Journal at that aforesaid second Session ensuing upon Tuesday the 5 th day of November and now followeth the Copy of the above-mentioned Petition at this time preferr'd as aforesaid Your Commons in this your Majesties present Parliament Assembled most High and Mighty Princess our most Dread Sovereign Lady as they do daily to their Commodity and Comfort feel and receive the inestimable benefits of your most Gracious Government of this your Realm in Peace and Surety so do also most thankfully acknowledge the same beseeching Almighty God long to bless and continue your most prosperous Reign over them And among all these benefits which they daily receive of your Highness they have at this time willed me in their names to recognize unto your Highness that they account it not the least but rather among the greatest of them all That your Majesty hath at this time Assembled your Parliament for supplying and redressing the greatest wants and defaults in your Common-Weal and for the establishing the surety of the same which your Majesties most gracious meaning hath been at your Commandment signified unto us by the Right Honourable the Lord Keeper of your Great Seal of England namely in this that he willed us first to have consideration of the greatest matters that nearest touch'd the State of the Realm and the preservation thereof seeming therein also to express unto us the Conformity of your Majesties mind in having principal respect to the matters of greatest weight and for that respect Assembling this your Parliament And for asmuch as your said Subjects see nothing in this whole Estate of so great importance to your Majesty and the whole Realm nor so necessary at this time to be reduced to certainty as the sure continuance of the Government of the Imperial Crown thereof and the most honourable Issue of your Body which Almighty God send us to your Highness Comfort and for want thereof in some certain limitation to guide the Obedience of our Posterity And where Almighty God to our great Terror and dreadful Warning lately touched your Highness with some danger of your most Noble Person by Sickness from which so soon as your Grace was by Gods favour and mercy to us recovered your Highness sent out your Writs of Parliament by force whereof your Subjects are at this time Assembled your said Subjects are both by the necessity and importance of the matter and by the convenience of the time of Calling them immediately upon your recovery enforced to gather and confess that your Majesty of your most Gracious and Motherly Care for them and their Posterity have Summoned this Parliament principally for establishing of some certain limitation of the Imperial Crown of your Realm for preservation of your Subjects from certain and utter destruction if the same should not be provided in your Life which God long continue They cannot I say but acknowledge your Majesty hath most graciously considered the great dangers the unspeakable miseries of civil Wars the perillous and intermingling of Foreign Princes with seditious ambitious and factious Subjects at home the waste of noble Houses the slaughter of People subversions of Towns intermission of all things pertaining to the maintenance of the Realm unsurety of all mens Possessions Lives and Estates daily interchange of Attainders and Treasons All these mischiefs and infinite others most likely and evident if your Majesty should be taken from us without known Heir which God forbid to fall upon your Subjects to the utter subversion of the whole whereof you have Charge under God If good provision should not be had in this behalf Your Majesty hath weighed the Examples of Foreign Nations as what ensued the Death of Great Alexander when for want of certain Heirs by him begotten or appointed the variety of Titles the diversity of Dispositions in them that had Titles the ambition of them that under colour of doubtfulness of Titles forsook all obedience of Titles destroyed his Dominions and wasted Posterity with mutual Wars and Slaughters In what miserable Case also was this Realm it self when the Title of the Crown was tossed in question between the two Royal Houses of Lancaster and York till your most Noble Progenitors Henry the Seventh and the Lady Elizabeth his Wife restored it to a setled Unity and left the Crown in a certain course of Succession These things as your Majesty hath upon your own danger most graciously considered for our Comfort and Safety so we most humble Subjects knowing the preservation of our selves and all our Posterity to depend upon the safety of your Majesties most Royal Person have most carefully and diligently considered how the want of Heirs of your Body and certain limitation of Succession after you is most perillous to your Highness whom God long preserve amongst us We have been admonished of the great malice of your Foreign Enemies which even in your Life-time have sought to transfer the Dignity and Right of your Crown to a Stranger we have noted their daily most dangerous practices against your Life and Reign We have heard of some Subjects of this Land most unnaturally confederated with your Enemies to
each of them read the third time and passed the House and were with two others sent up to the Lords by Mr. Secretary The Bill for destruction of Crows Rooks c. and other such Vermine was read the second time and Ordered to be ingrossed The Bill also for paving of Kentish-street near Southwark And the Bill that Sanctuary shall not be allowable for Debt were each of them read the third time and passed the House and were sent to the Lords by Mr. Vice-Chamberlain Post Meridiem In the Afternoon a Proviso to the Bill for repairing of Goals and a Proviso to the Bill de Excommunicato capiendo were each of them read the first and second time On Friday the 9 th day of April the Proviso added to the Bill de Excommunicat capiend was read the third time and passed the House The Bill also for destruction of Rooks Crows and Coughs and such other Vermine was read the third time and passed the House and immediately sent up to the Lords by M r Vice-Chamberlain The new Bill for uniting of Churches in Boroughs or Towns being under the value of twenty Marks was read the first time And the Proviso lastly of this House to the Bill for repairing of Goals was read the third time and passed On Saturday the 10 th day of April It was Ordered that M r Pleddall shall have the Copies of such Examinations and Writings as have been certified into this House by the Master of the Rolls and other Committees and also that M r Francis Newdigate may have like Copies And that such Evidence as M r Pleddall hath delivered to the Committees hands may remain under their Seals and M r Pleddall's Seal in the keeping of the Officer of the Rolls that useth to keep the Evidences there Vide concerning this matter on Monday the 22 th day and on Tuesday the 30 th day of March foregoing The Bill for repairing of Goals was sent up to the Lords by M r Vice-Chamberlain The Queens Majesties free and general Pardon Signed with her Graces Hand was brought from the Lords by M r Attorney and M r Sollicitor and immediately read the third time and passed Nota That this Bill touching her Majesties Pardon passed upon the first reading whereas other Bills do never pass till after the third A Proviso sent down to the House of Commons from the Lords touching the Bill of Bankrupts And the addition to the Bill concerning Purveyors were read the first second and third time and passed the House In the Afternoon about three of the Clock the Queens Majesty sitting in her Royal Seat M r Speaker made an Excellent Oration rehearsing divers Laws made by divers Queens of this Realm and requiring the Queen to Assent to the Acts past both Houses and presented to her Majesty the Book of Subsidy and the Book of the general Pardon with most humble thanks for the same And the Lord Keeper by the Queens Commandment gave great thanks unto the Nobility and Commons and earnestly required them severally in their Countries to look that the Laws might be Executed And touching the Succession the Queen Commanded the Lord Keeper to declare her Highness device thereof the effect and conclusion whereof was that for the great weight of the matter her Majesty minded to take further advice Vide plus concerning this matter of Succession on Thursday the 28. day of January and on Tuesday the 16. day of February foregoing Then were the several Titles of the Acts read and thirty one publick Statutes and seventeen private were made Laws by her Majesties Royal Assent And then this Parliament was Prorogued until the second day of October next At which second day of October for that the Plague was great in London and Westminster The Queens Majesties Letters Patents of Commission were directed to the Lord Treasurer of England and other Bishops and Lords of the Upper House to Prorogue this Parliament unto the fifth day of October 1564. which was done accordingly in the presence of the said Lords and a few of the House of Commons Mr. Speaker not being there At which fifth day of October this Parliament was further Prorogued by the Queens Majesties Commission Patent unto the 30. day of April the next ensuing M r Speaker not being there At which 30. day of April It was then further Prorogued unto the 4. day of October then next following M r Speaker not being there At which fourth day of October Anno Domini 1565. Anno Septimo Reginae Elizabeth It was then further Prorogued unto the 7. day of February then next following M r Speaker not being there At which 7. day of Feb. 1565. Anno Elizabethae Reginae Octavo It was then further Prorogued unto the 30. day of Sept. then next following THE JOURNAL OF THE House of LORDS A Journal of the Proceedings of the House of Lords in the Session of Parliament bolden at Westminster An. 8 Regin Eliz. A. D. 1566. which began there after divers Prorogations of the same on Monday the 30 th of September and then and there continued until the Dissolution thereof on Thursday the 2 d day of Jan. Ann. 9 Regin ejusdem THIS Parliament de An. 8 Regin Eliz. being in Law but one and the same with that held in an 5 Reginae ejusdem An. Dom. 1563. although not Assembled till about three Years after was in the mean time never Dissolved but only Prorogued from time to time by six several Prorogations whereof the two first falling out in the said fifth Year of the Queen are there mentioned as most properly belonging to the first Session of this Parliament although the latter of them be entred at large in the Journal-Book de an 8 Regin Eliz. and the four last of the said fix Prorogations do all here follow before the beginning of this Journal of Parliament of the passages of the Upper House being full of excellent and rare matter as necessary matter of preparation unto it being in Law as hath been observed but the second Session of that former Parliament Assembled in An. 5 Regin Eliz. predictae whereof those two former Prorogations as they do at large appear in the end of the Journal of the Upper House of that fifth year of the Queen were the first of them from Saturday the 10 th day of April on which day that said first Session of this Parliament ended in that fifth year aforesaid to the second day of October next ensuing de an 5. Reginae ejusdem and the second Prorogation of those foresaid two former was from the said second day of October in the said fifth Year of the Queen to the 5 th day of October which should be in an 6 Regin Eliz. An. Dom. 1564. upon which foresaid 5 th day of October in an 6 Regin supradictae Annoque Dom. 1564. Prorogatum fuit ulterius praedictum Parliamentum modo forma sequentibus Memorandum quod quinto die Octobris Anno Regni Elizabethae
Dei gratiâ Angliae Franciae Hiberniae Reginae fidei defensor c. Sexto in quem diem praesens hoc Parliamentum Prorogatum fuerat convenerunt Domini tam spirituales quam Temporales quorum nomina subsequuntur Archiepiscopus Cantuarien Marchio Winton Thesaurarius Comes Suffex Comes Huntington Episcopus London Episcopus Roffen Dominus Clinton Admirallus Dominus Howard Camerarius Dominus Cobham Dominus Hunsdon Qui cum convenissent una cum populi atque Burgensium ut vocant satis magna frequentia praedictus Archiepiscopus Cantuarien paucis verbis declaravit conventum Procerum populi quem Parliamentum vocant in hunc diem destinatum à dicta domina Regina ccrtis quibusdam de causis considerationibus illam ad id specialiter moven differri in tricesimum diem Aprilis prox futurum atque ut tam proceribus quam populo palam fieret Regiam Majestatem ita constituisse Literas Commissorias dict Dominae Reginae Francisco Spilman Armig Clerico Parliamenti publicè clarâ voce legendas in manus tradidii Earum autem Tenor sequitur in haec verba Elizabetha Dei gratiâ Angliae Franciae Hiberniae Regina fidei defensor c. Reverendissimo in Christo Patri Matheo Cantuarien Archiepiscopo totius Angliae Primati Metropolitano ac Charissimo Consanguineo Consiliario suo Willielmo Marchioni Winton Thesaurario Angliae ncc non charissimis consanguineis suis Thomae Comiti Sussex Henrico Comiti Huntingdon Reverendis in Christo patribus Edmundo Episcopo London Edmundo Episcopo Roffen ac etiam praedilectis fidelibus consiliariis suis Edwardo Domino Clinton magno Admirallo suo Angliae Willielmo Domino Howard de Essingham Domino Camerario suo ac praedilectis sidelibus suis Willielmo Domino Cobham Gardiano sive Custodi quinque portuum suorum ac Henrico Domino Hunsdon salutem Cum nuper pro quibusdam arduis urgentibus negotiis nos statum defensionem Regni nostri Angliae ac Ecclesiae Anglicanae concernen praesens hoc Parliamentum nostrum apud Civitat nostram Westmonasterii duodecimo die Januarii Anno regni nostri Quinto inchoari teneri ordinaverimus à quo die idem Parliamentum nostrum tunc ibidem tent continuat fuerat usque decimum diem Aprilis tunc prox sequen ac post diversas Prorogationes idem Parliamentum nostrum usque ad in instantem Quintum diem Octobris Prorogatum ibidemque tunc tenend prosequend Sciatis tamen quod certis urgentibus causis considerationibus nos specialiter moven idem Parliamentum nostrum ulterius Prorogand duximus de sidelitate igitur prudentiâ circumspectione vestris plurimum considentes de avisamento assensu Concilii nostri assignavimus vos tres vestrum dantes vobis novem octo septem sex quinque quatuor tribus vestrum tenore praesentium plenam potestatem facultatem authoritatem hoc instan die Jovis ad praesens Parliamentum nostrum nomine nostro ad in tricesimum Aprilis prox futur usque praedictam Civitatem nostram Westmonasterii Prorogand continuand ibidemque tunc tenend prosequend ideo vobis mandamus quod circa praemissa diligenter intendatis ea in formâ praedicta effect ualiter expleatis Damus autem universis singulis Archiepiscopis Ducibus Magnatibus Comitibus Vice-Comitibus Episcopis Baronibus Militibus Civibus Burgen ac omnibus ahis quorum interest ad dictum Parliamentum conventur tenore praesentium firmiter in mandatis quod vobis in praenissis faciend pareant obediant intendant prout decet In cujus rei testimonium has Literas nostras fieri fecimus Patentes Teste me ipsa apud Westmonasterium Quinto die Octobris Anno Regni nostri Sexto The like Commission bearing date 30. die Aprilis An. 7 Eliz. was directed unto the Archbishop of Canterbury the Marquess of Winchester Lord Treasurer the Duke of Norsolk Earl Marshal of England the Earl of Arundel the Earl of Shrewsbury the Earl of Derby Thomas Earl of Sussex the Earl of Huntingdon the Earl of Pembroke the Earl of Warwick and the Earl of Leicester the Bishop of London and the Bishop of Rochester the Lord Cobham Warden of the Cinque-Ports the Lord Wentworth and the Lord Hunsdon Authorizing them 17 16 15 14 13 c. or three of them to Prorogue and continue the Parliament ut supra in the other Commissions mutatis mutandis unto the 4 th day of October next coming Teste me ipsa apud Westmonasterium 30 die Aprilis Anno Regni nostri Septimo On which 30 th day of April the Lord Treasurer the Duke of Norfolk the Earl of Arundel the Earl of Derby the Earl of Sussex the Earls of Huntingdon Pembroke and Warwick the Bishop of London the Lord Admiral the Lord Chamberlain the Lord Cobham the Lord Wentworth and the Lord Hunsdon did meet in the Parliament Chamber and in due and accustomed Form did Adjourn the Parliament unto the 4 th day of October according to the said Commission last specified and caused the said Commission to be publickly read by Francis Spilman Esq Clerk of the Parliament in hearing of the Commons then also present according to antient Custom in that behalf On the 4 th day of October Anno Regni Reginae Eliz. Septimo The like Commission ut supra bearing date the said 4 th day of October directed unto the Archbishop of Canterbury the Marquess of Winchester Lord Treasurer the Duke of Norfolk Earl Marshal of England the Earl of Sussex Chief Justice of all Forrests c. on this side Trent Ambrose Earl of Warwick Master of the Ordnance the Bishop of London and the Bishop of Rochester Edward Lord Clinton great Admiral of England William Lord Howard of Effingham Lord Chamberlain Thomas Lord Wentworth and Henry Lord Hunsdon authorizing them 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 and 3. ut antea mutatis mutandis to Prorogue and continue the same Parliament in Septimum diem Februarii prox futurum Teste me ipsa apud Westmonasterium 4 die Octobris Anno Regni nostri Septimo Which Commission was read by the Clerk of the Parliament in the Parliament Chamber in presence of ten of the Commissioners and of the Commons Memorandum quod hodie septimo die Februarii Anno Regni Eliz. Dei gratiâ Angliae Franciae Hiberniae Reginae sidei defensor c. Octavo in quem diem praesens hoc Parliamentum Prorogatum suer at convenerunt Domini tam spirituales quam temporales quorum nomina subsequuntur viz. Archiepiscopus Cantuarien Nicolaus Bacon Miles Custos magni Sigilli Marchio Winton Thesaurar Dux Norfolc Comes Marescallus Marchio North Comes Sussex Comes Warwick Episcopus London Episcopus Roffen Dominus Clinton Admirallus Dominus Howard Camerarius Dominus Wentworth Dominus de Hunsdon Qui cum convenissent unà cum populi atque Burgen ut vocant satis magnâ frequentiâ praedictus Nicolaus Bacon
Miles Dominus Custos magni Sigilli paucis verbis declaravit conventum Procerum populi quem Parliamentum vocant in hunc diem destinatum à dictâ Dominâ Reginâ certis quibusdam de causis considerationibus illam ad id specialiter moven differri in 30 diem Septembris prox futur These foregoing Prorogations of this present Session of Parliament being thus at large or abstractedly transcribed now follows in Order the Assembling and Meeting of both Houses in their several places on Monday the 30 th day of September to which day it had been last Prorogued so that either House going on where they last left there was no Meeting in the Upper House at all of both Houses nor the Queen came not in Person as she used to do when a new Parliament began nor hath it ever been used in latter times upon a meer Prorogation but yet on Wednesday the second day of October following by reason of the Choice of a new Speaker in the House of Commons which was occasioned by the Death of the former the Queens Majesty came in her accustomed Royalty as at the beginning of a Parliament is usual and there admitted of their new Speaker presented unto her whom they had Chosen but the day before by vertue of her Majesties Commission all which in due Form and Order follows On Monday the 30. day of September to which day this present Session of Parliament had been last Prorogued there Assembled in the Upper House according to the usual form and course as also the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons did in their own proper place Sir Nicholas Bacon Knight Lord Keeper of the great Seal of England the Lord Archbishop of York the Lord Marquess of Winchester Lord Treasurer of England the Duke of Norfolk Earl Marshal of England the Marquess of Northampton with divers Earls Viscounts Bishops and Barons the particular setting down of whose names is purposely omitted here although it were the first day of their Assembling together because they are at large set down on the second day of October following being Wednesday when by reason of her Majesties coming in Person to the Upper House the presence of the Lords was somewhat greater than upon this instant Monday Hodiè retornatum fuit Breve quo Edwardus Dominus Stafford ad praesens Parliament summonitus fuit qui admissus est ad suum praeheminentiae locum salvo semper jure superioris sedentis Consimile pro Henrico Domino Paget Consimile pro Rogero Domino North. Consimile pro Roberto Comite Leicestriae Consimile pro Henrico Comite Westmorl This day Sir Edward Rogers Knight Comptroller of her Highness Houshold Sir Francis Knolles Knight her Highness Vice-Chamberlain Sir William Cecill Knight her Highness Principal Secretary and Sir Ambrose Cave Knight Chancellor of her Highness Dutchy of Lancaster four Chief Members of the House of Commons and divers others of that Assembly to the number of twenty persons being sent up to the Lords from that House upon some urgent and weighty occasions desired to be admitted into the Upper House there to make known to their Lordships somewhat wherein they should require their advice and need their assistance upon which being admitted the said M r Comptroller assisted with the Personages and Company aforesaid did in comely order and discreet modesty make manifest and known unto the said Lords that Thomas Williams Esquire their late Speà ker in the last Session of this Parliament in the fifth Year of the Queens Majesty that now is was bereft from them by Death which had been openly and manifestly made known and testified unto them for remedy of which defection they humbly prayed their Lordships advice after which the Lord Keeper first requiring the said Personages a while to withdraw themselves and then commending the Order of the matter to the Lords sitting in consultation for the same it was by them all upon considerate advice therein had thought fit to signifie unto the said Commons by the Personages aforesaid that they thought it expedient and good the said Lord Keeper the Lord Treasurer of England the Duke his Grace of Norfolk and the Lord Marquess of Northampton with the four forecited Personages of the said House of Commons being also of her Highness most Honourable Privy-Council should in the name of both of the Assemblies with all humbleness and due celerity make intimation of their said Estate and the Petition thereupon depending unto her said Highness to which advice the said House of Commons upon knowledge had of the same wholly assented Dominus Custos magni Sigilli continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem Martis primum Octobris On Tuesday the first day of October the Bill for the making void of fraudulent Gifts and Alienations was read primâ vice The Queen having been moved as it seemeth the day past about the Death of the former Speaker and the Choice of a new one in the House of Commons by those eight Right Honourable Personages who were then and there named to move her Highness in it did give Order that this present Tuesday both the Lords and Commons should Assemble and meet together in the Parliament Chamber there to receive her Majesties Answer Where being Assembled the Lord Keeper shewed forth a Commission from her Highness under the great Seal of England which was directed unto him only the tenor whereof is set down at large in the Journal of the House of Commons de An. isto 8 Regin Eliz. to which House it properly belonged viz. That in respect Thomas Williams Esq the former Speaker was dead therefore the Lord Keeper was for her Majesty and in her Name to will and Command the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the said House of Commons to resort unto their accustomed place and there to Elect and chuse amongst themselves one able and sufficient person to be their Speaker for the rest of this present Parliament yet to come And after they should have made their Election that then three or four of them for and in all their names should signifie the same unto her Majesty and thereupon her Highness would further signifie her pleasure unto them what day and time they should present him so Elected before her as it had been used formerly in like Cases to be done There was this day no other Bill or other business agitated in the Upper House for immediately upon the reading of the last above-mentioned Commission the Continuance of the Parliament is Entred in the Original Journal-Book of the said House in manner and form following viz. Dominus Custos magni Sigilli continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque diem Mercurii secundum diem Octobris On Wednesday the second day of October it seemeth there was no meeting of the Lords nor any thing done in the Forenoon neither is any mention made in the foregoing continuance of this Parliament by the Lord Keeper to what Hour of this Wednesday it was continued
Capitalis Justiciarius continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem Lunae prox October the 27 th Sunday On Monday the 28. day of October Sir Robert Catlyn Knight Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench supplying the place of the Lord Keeper at this time sick of the Gout as is before-mentioned with divers other Lords Spiritual and Temporal met in the Upper House but nothing appeareth to have been done in the Original Journal of the same House only the continuance of the Parliament unto Wednesday next following On Wednesday the 30. day of October Two Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill declaring the manner of making and Consecrating of Archbishops and Bishops of this Realm to be good lawful and perfect was read secundâ vice The Lords whose names are here next after written were appointed to have Conference with a setled number of the House of Commons touching Petition to be made to the Queens Highness as well for the Succession as for her Marriage viz. The Archbishop of York The Lord Treasurer The Duke of Norfolk The Marquess of Northampton The Earl of Northumberland The Earl of Westmorland The Earl of Shrewsbury The Earl of Worcester The Earl of Sussex The Earl of Huntingdon The Earl of Warwick The Earl of Bedford The Earl of Pembroke The Earl of Leicester Viscount Mountague Viscount Bindon The Bishop of London The Bishop of Durham The Bishop of Winchester The Bishop of Worcester The Bishop of Lincoln The Bishop of Rochester The Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield The Lord Admiral The Lord Chamberlain The Lord Morley The Lord Cobham The Lord Grey The Lord Wentworth The Lord Windsor The Lord Rich. The Lord Sheffeild The Lord Paget The Lord North. The Lord Haistings of Loughborough The Lord Hunsdon It should seem that the Lords had intended at first to have appointed but thirty of themselves to have joined with the House of Commons about the foresaid Treaty or Conference to be had between them touching the said great matters of Succession and Marriage however it fell out afterwards as appeareth by the names above set down that they appointed more for it appeareth plainly by the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons although there be no mention at all of it in that of the Upper House that the Lords did this day send down word unto the House of Commons by M r Serjeant Carus and M r Attorney that they had Chosen thirty of themselves to consult and confer with a Select Committee of the said House touching the foresaid great business touching which see more on Tuesday the 5 th day of November following Dominus Capitalis Justiciarius continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem Jovis prox On Thursday the 31 th day of October the Bill for declaring the manner of making and Consecrating of the Archbishops and Bishops of this Realm to be good lawful and perfect Commissa est to the Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas Justice Southcote and Attorney General The Bill for annexing of Hexamshire to the County of Northumberland was read secundâ vice The House of Commons appointed Sir Edward Rogers Knight Comptroller of her Highness Houshold Sir Francis Knolles her Majesties Vice-Chamberlian Sir William Cecill her Highness Chief Secretary Sir Ambrose Cave Knight Chancellor of her Dutchy of Lancaster Sir William Peeter Sir Ralph Sadler Sir Walter Mildmay Knights all of her Highness Privy-Council and divers other Members of the House of Commons to have Conference with the Lords aforenamed whose names see on yesterday foregoing touching those two great matters of the Succession and Marriage to be dealt in by Petition to her Majesty As see more at large upon to Morrow ensuing in the Afternoon Dominus Capitalis Justiciarius continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem Martis 5 die Novembris prox On Tuesday the 5 th day of November the Bill for the annexing of Hexamshire unto the County of Northumberland and the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of the same unto the See of the Bishoprick of Durham was read tertiâ vice communi omnium Procerum assensu conclusa The Nobles under-named were appointed to wait on the Queens Highness this Afternoon with thirty of the House of Commons by her Highness special Commandment The Archbishop of York The Lord Treasurer The Duke of Norsolk The Marquess of Northampton The Earl of Northumberland The Earl of Westmerland The Earl of Shrewsbury The Earl of Worcester The Earl of Huntingdon The Earl of Sussex The Earl of Warwick The Earl of Bedford The Earl of Pembroke The Earl of Leicester Viscount Mountague Viscount Bindon The Bishop of London The Bishop of Duresm The Lord Clinton Lord Admiral The Lord Howard of Effingham Lord Chamberlain The Lord Morley The Lord Lumley The Lord Rich. The Lord Sheffeild The Lord Paget The Lord North. The Lord Haistings of Loughborough and The Lord Hunsdon Dominus Capitalis Justiciarius continuavit praesens Parliament usque in diem Crastinum hora consueta But there is no mention at all in the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House to what end or purpose the Lords above-mentioned with those thirty Members of the House of Commons repaired to her Majesty which doubtless fell out by the great negligence in a matter of so great weight of Francis Spilman Esq Clerk of the Upper House and therefore I have thought fitting and necessary to supply it at large partly out of the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons and partly out of other several Manuscript Memorials I had by me all which in their proper place I have particularly vouched It is therefore in the first place to be noted as fit matter of preparation to that which follows that these two great matters touching her Majesties Marriage and the Declaration of a certain Successor were agitated in the House of Commons in the first Session of this present Parliament in An. 5 Regin Eliz. and thereupon the greatest part of the said House with Thomas Williams their Speaker did prefer a Petition to her Majesty upon Thursday the 28 th day of January in the said fifth Year of her Majesties Reign by her Allowance in which having humbly supplicated her Majesty to Marry or in default of Issue of her own Body to declare a certain Successor they received a gracious Answer But now the same Parliament reassembling again to this second Session thereof in the eighth year of the Reign of the Queen and finding nothing to have been acted by her Majesty in either kind but that she remained still a Virgin without all likelyhood of Marriage and that the Succession of the Crown depended upon great uncertainties some holding the Queen of Scots to have best Right others the Countess of Lenox being the Daughter of Margaret of England by Archibald Douglass Earl of Anguisse her Second Husband and others also argued very strongly for Catherine Countess of Hartford being the Daughter and Coheir of Henry
the other a silent thought may serve For I thought it had been so desired as none other Tree's blossom should have been minded or ever any hope of any Fruit had been denied you And yet by the way if any here doubt that I am by Vow or determination bent never to trade in that kind of Life put out that kind of Heresy for your belief is there in a wry For though I can think it best for a private Woman yet I do strive with my self to think it not meet for a Prince and if I can bend my liking to your need I will not resist such a mind But to the last think not that you had needed this desire if I had seen a time so fit and it so ripe to be denounced The greatness of the cause therefore and need of your returns doth make me say that which I think the wise may easily guess that as a short time for so long continuance ought not to pass by roat as many tell their Tales even so as cause by Conference with the Learned shall show me matter worth the utterance for your behoof so shall I more gladly persue your good after my dayes than with all my Prayers whilst I live be means to linger my living thread And thus much more than I thought will I add for your Comfort I have good Record in this place that other means than you mention have been thought of perchance for your good as much as for my surety no less which if presently and conveniently could have been Executed it had not been now deferred or over-slipped But I hope I shall die in quiet with Nunc dimittis which cannot be without I see some glimpse of your following surety after my graved bones Nota That neither the foregoing Petition nor this latter Answer of her Majesty are found in the Original Journal-Book of the Upper-House but now the residue of the passages of the said Journal do for the most part follow out of the same On Wednesday the 6 th day of November the Bill for declaring of the manner of making and Consecrating of the Archbishops and Bishops of this Realm to be good lawful and perfect was read tertiâ vice quae cum quadam provisione annex in loco alterius provisionis adempt absciss disannex communi Procerum assensu conclusa est dissentientibus Comite Northumberland Comite Westmoreland Comite Worcester Comite Sussex Vice-Comite Mountague Domino Morley Domino Dudley Domino Dacre Domino Mounteagle Domino Cromwell Domino Mordant postea cum Billâ for the annexing of Hexhamshire unto the County of Northumberland and the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of the same unto the See or Bishoprick of Duresm deliberata fuit Magistro Vaugham Doctori Yale in Domum Communem deferend Dominus Capitalis Justiciarius continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem Jovis prox On Thursday the 7 th day of November Three Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill for Confirmation of Leases to be made by Morris Ridney and Joan his Wife was read primâ vice Dominus Capitalis Justiciarius continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem Sabbathi prox ix Novembris On Saturday the 9 th day of November the Bill for the graving of Alneagers Seals to be within the Tower of London was read secundâ vice commissa est Domino Marchioni Winton Thesaurar Angliae Domino Capitali Baroni ad supervidend considerand amendand Nota That here the Lord Chief Baron being but an Assistant of the Upper House and no Member thereof is made a joint-Committee with the Lord Marquess of Winchester of which see more on Thursday the third day of October fore-going The Bill also to restrain the Carriage of Woolls of the growth of Pembroke Carmarthen and Cardiganshires out of the Counties where they grew was read secundâ vice commissa ad ingrossand And the Bill lastly for the repealing of a branch of a Statute made An. 32 H. 8. for the Stature of Horses was read secundâ vice commissa Episcopo Elien Domino Clinton Admiral Domino Willoughby DominoSheffeild Domino North Domino S t John de Bletsoe Servienti Carus Nota That a Serjeant being but an Attendant upon the Upper House and no Member thereof is made a joint-Committee with the Lords Vide touching this matter on Thursday the 3 d day of October foregoing Then the Clerk read openly the Commission following ELizabeth by the Grace of God Queen of England France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. To our Trusty and well Beloved Councellor Sir Nicholas Bacon K t Lord Keeper of our Great Seal of England and to our Right Trusty and right well Beloved Sir Robert Catlin Knight Chief Justice of the Pleas before us to be holden Greeting Whereas We upon consideration that you the said Lord Keeper of our Great Seal were lately sore visited with Sickness that you were not able to travel to the Upper House of this our present Parliament holden at Westminster nor there to supply the room and place in the said Upper House amongst the Lord Spiritual and Temporal there Assembled as to your Office appertaineth did therefore by our Letters Patents of Commission bearing date the 25 th day of October in this present eighth Year of our Reign nominate appoint and authorize you the said Sir Robert Catlin from day to day and time to time from thenceforth during our pleasure to use and occupy the place and room of the said Lord Keeper in our said Upper House of Parliament amongst the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal there Assembled and there to do and execute in all things from day to day and time to time as the said Lord Keeper of our Great Seal should or might do if he were there present using and supplying the same place as in our said Letters Patents it doth and may at large appear And forasmuch as we understand that you the said Lord Keeper of our Great Seal are at this present in such state of health as ye are well able to travel to the said Upper House of our Parliament and there to supply the said room and place your self as heretofore ye have done We do therefore by these presents fully and absolutely determine our pleasure touching any further Execution by you the said Sir Robert Catlin of the said Commission before-mentioned And therefore we do signifie to you the said Sir Robert Catlin that our pleasure is that ye do from the date of these presents surcease from the Execution of the said Commission and every part thereof And we do also by these presents Command and authorize you the said Lord Keeper of our Great Seal from henceforth and from time to time hereafter to resort to your accustomed room and place in our said Higher House of Parliament and there to do and Execute from time to time all things that appertaineth to your office
there to do in such manner and form as though no such Commission had been directed and made any clause Sentence or matter in our said Letters Patents of commission or any other thing to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding and these presents shall be your Warrant and discharge for the same In Witness whereof we have caused these our Letters to be made Patents Witness our Self at Westminster the 8 th day of November in the Eighth Year of Our Reign There are no other passages of this day set down in the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House after the publick reading of the foregoing Commission by which the Lord Keeper was resetled in his former place in the said House saving the Entrance of the Continuation of the Parliament in manner and form following viz. Dominus Custos magni Sigilli continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque diem Lunae prox xi die Novembris November the 10 th Sunday On Monday the 11 th day of November Three Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill to restrain the Carriage of the Woolls of the growth of Pembroke Carmarthen and Cardigan-shires out of the Counties where they grow was read tertiâ vice communi omnium Procerum assensu conclusa Nota That the daily continuance of the Parliament entred in these words Dominus Custos magni Sigilli continuavit praesens Parliamentum c. being now hereafter performed in the residue of this Journal according to the ordinary use by the Lord Keeper only is for the most part omitted On Tuesday the 12 th day of November the Bill for the Lady Cobham's Jointure was read secundâ vice On Wednesday the 13 th day of November the Bill for the Lady Cobham's Jointure was read tertiâ vice quae communi omnium Procerum consensu conclusa est postea cum Billà to restrain the Carriage of Woolls of the growth of Pembroke c. was delivered to Serjeant Carus and Doctor Huick to be carried to the House of Commons Three Bills were brought up to the Lords from the House of Commons of which the last being the Bill for Confirmation of Letters Patents made for the Hospital of S t Bartholomew in Gloucester was read primâ vice On Thursday the 14 th day of November Three Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill for the avoiding of penal Laws was read primâ vice On Saturday the 16 th day of November to which day the Parliament had been last continued on Thursday foregoing Four Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the third being the Bill for the better Execution of penal Laws was read secundâ vice and committed unto the Bishop of Worcester Viscount Mountague the Bishop of London the Bishop of Winchester the Lord Willoughby the Lord Loughborough the Lord Hunsdon and to the Lord Chief Baron Justice Welch and the Attorney General Two Bills lastly were brought up to the Lords from the House of Commons of which the second being the Bill that in divers Counties there shall be but one Sheriss in one County was read primâ vice On Monday the 18 th day of November to which day the Parliament had been last continued on Saturday foregoing the Bill to avoid excess in Apparel was read primâ vice On Tuesday the 19 th day of November Three Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill to avoid excess in Apparel was read secundà vice and committed unto the Marquess of Northampton the Earl of Sussex the Earl of Huntington the Earl of Leicester Viscount Mountague the Bishop of London the Bishop of Winton the Bishop of Hereford the Bishop of Worcester the Bishop of Lincoln the Lord Lumley the Lord Sheffeild the Lord Pagett the Lord Hunsdon Justice Welch and Justice Southcot And the third being the Bill to enable the Town of Woollmarsh in the County of Surrey to use Cloth-making was read tertiâ vice communi omnium Procerum assensu conclusa On Wednesday the 20 th day of November Three Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the last being the Bill for the avoiding of worngful vexation upon the Writ of Latitat was read secundâ vice commissa ad ingrossand Dominus Custos magni Sigilli continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem Jovis prox horâ nonâ At which time the Lords Spiritual and Temporal did meet and nothing done but the Parliament continued by the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England until Saturday the 23 th day of November On Saturday the 23 th day of November Three Bills had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill for confirmation of Letters Patents made for the Hospital of S t Bartholomew in Gloucester was read tertiâ vice and by common consent of the Lords concluded The Bill also for avoiding of worngful vexation upon the Writ of Latitat was read tertiâ vice which by common consent of the Lords was concluded and by Serjeant Carus and R. R. sent down to the House of Commons On Monday the 25 th day of November to which day the Parliament had been last continued on Saturday foregoing three Bills had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill for the more expedition of the Administration of Justice in the Counties Palatine of Lancaster and Durham communi omnium Procerum assensu conclusa est On Tuesday the 26 th day of November the Bill for the Assurance of a Jointure to the Lady Mary Wife to Edward Lord Stafford was read tertiâ vice communi omnium Procerum consensa conclusa The said Bill for the Lady Staffords Jointure and the Bill for the more speedy expedition of the Administration of Justice in the Counties Palatine of Lancaster and Durham were delivered to Serjeant Carus and M r Vaughan in Domum Communem deferend On Wednesday the 27 th day of November and likewise on Thursday the 28 th day of the same Month the Lords did meet and nothing done save only the continuance of the Parliament by the Lord Keeper in Ordinary Form unto Monday the second day of December following On Monday the 2 d day of December Two Bills had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill for the erection of a Free School at Denbigh in Wales was read primâ vice Six Bills were sent up to the Lords from the House of Commons of which the first being the Bill for the repeal of a Statute made Anno 7 Edw. 6. for the prices of Wines sold by retail was read primâ vice And the third being the Bill declaring the manner of making and Consecrating of the Archbishops and Bishops of this Realm to be good lawful and perfect returned cum provisione annex was read primâ secundâ tertiâ vice
had notice that divers of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal with Sir Nicholas Bacon Knight Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England were Assembled in the Upper House and expected their repair thither they presently went up unto the Lords where the Lord Keeper shewed forth a Commission from her Majesty under the Great Seal of England directed unto him which he Commanded the Clerk openly to read Which said Commission as also the greatest part of the foregoing days passages are transcribed out of the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House and inserted here as into the due and proper place Which very things were in part also mentioned in the Original Book of the House of Commons with the passages of this present Tuesday although in both I have not omitted to supply some things my self which might easily be gathered by the comparing of several things together The Tenor of the said Commission ensueth verbatim ELizabeth by the Grace of God Queen of England France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. To our right Trusty and right well Beloved Chancellor Sir Nicholas Bacon Knight Lord Keeper of our Great Seal of England Greeting Where in the beginning of this present Parliament holden at Westminster the 12 th day of January in the fifth Year of our Reign the Knights Citizens and Burgesses being Assembled in the same Year in the same Parliament were Commanded by us to go to their accustomed place and there to chuse among themselves one to be their Speaker according to their accustomed manner whereupon the same Knights Citizens and Burgesses did Elect and chuse one Thomas Williams Esq to be their Speaker and the same their Election did afterwards certifie unto us which we did allow and ratifie since which time this our present Parliament hath been continued by divers Prorogations until the 30. of September in this present eighth Year of our Reign at which day the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and also the said Knights Citizens and Burgesses being Assembled for this present Parliament at Westminster in their accustomed places the said Knights Citizens and Burgesses have declared unto us that the said Thomas Williams since the last Session of this present Parliament is dead And thereupon have made their humble Suit and Petition unto us that they might have Licence and Commandment from us to proceed to elect among themselves one other to be their Speaker for the rest of this present Parliament yet to come Wherefore We having certain and perfect knowledge that the said Thomas Williams is dead as they have alledged and considering their humble Petition and Request very meet and necessary to be granted have appointed and Constituted you and by these Presents We do Will Command Constitute and Appoint you for us and in our Name to call the said Knights Citizens and Burgesses before you and other the Lords Spiritual and Temporal Assembled in this our present Parliament in the Higher House of our Parliament at Westminster and there for us and in our Name to Will and Command the said Knights Citizens and Burgesses to resort to their accustomed place and there to Elect and chuse amongst themselves one sufficient and able person to be their Speaker for the rest of this present Parliament to come And after they have so made their Election that then three or four of them for and in all their names shall signifie the same unto us And thereupon we will further signifie our pleasure unto them what day and time they shall present the person Elected before us as heretofore hath been in like cases accustomed to be done wherefore our Will and Pleasure is that you do diligently attend about the doing of the premises and execute the same with effect In Witness whereof we have caused these our Letters of Commission to be Sealed with our Great Seal of England Witness our Self at Westminster the first day of October in the Eighth Year of our Reign The residue of this Days Passages follows out of the Journal of the House of Commons As soon as the said Commission had been read the Knights Citizens and Burgesses and Barons of the House of Commons departed into their own House where Sir Edward Rogers Knight Comptroller of her Majesties Houshold declared unto them that for as much as Richard Onslow Esq her Majesties Sollicitor General was a Member of their said House being Elected a Burgess for the Borough of ..... in the County of Sussex they would use some means to have him restored unto them who as yet attended in the Upper House to join with them in their Election of a Speaker And thereupon notice thereof being given to the Lords of the Upper House upon Consultation had amongst them the said M r Onslow was sent down with the Queens Serjeant at Law M r Carus and M r Attorney General to shew for himself why he should not be a Member of this House who alledging many weighty reasons as well for his Office of Sollicitor as for his Writ of Attendance in the Upper House was nevertheless adjudged to be a Member of this House And thereupon proceeding to the Election M r Comptroller nominated M r Onslow to be Speaker who humbly disabled himself as well for non-ability of substance meet for that place as also for his Oath made to the Queens Majesty and required them to proceed to a new Election upon whose Arguments the House was divided and the number to have him Speaker was eighty two and the contrary was sixty And immediately M r Comptroller and M r Vice-Chamberlain brought him from his place to the Chair and there set him down On Wednesday the second day of October between three and four of the Clock in the Afternoon the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons repaired to the Upper House having notice that her Majesty with the Lords and divers others were already set in the said House expecting their coming where Richard Onslow Esq their Speaker Elect was led up to the Rail or Bar at the lower end of the said House between Sir Edward Rogers Knight Comptroller of her Majesties Houshold and Sir Francis Knolles Knight her Highness Vice-Chamberlain and so presented unto her Majesty where having disabled himself in many respects he was notwithstanding allowed by her Majesty by the Mouth of the Lord Keeper After which having desired free access to her Highness and pardon for himself if he should in any thing unwittingly fail or mistake the Lord Keeper by her Majesties Commandment declared her full Assent to the said particulars And thereupon the said Speaker being now compleatly and perfectly invested in his place departed back with the residue of the House of Commons unto their own House where according to the usual Form one Bill had its first reading viz. The Bill how Sanctuary-persons shall be compellable for payment of their Debts Nota That the Passages of this Afternoon containing in them the manner of the Presentment and Allowance of
comfortable words and commanded the Parliament to be dissolved Nota That this business had many and long Agitations in the House of Commons who were especially violent in that latter branch of it touching the Declaration of a Successor as see more at large on Monday the 25 th day of November foregoing and lastly I have thought good to give a short touch that all the foregoing passages of this Afternoon touching her Majesties Presence Royal Assent Speech and Dissolving the Parliament were thus Orderly set down in the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons and have here received little Alterations THE JOURNAL OF THE House of LORDS The Journal of the Proceedings of the House of Lords in the Parliament holden at Westminster An. 13 Reg. Eliz. A. D. 1571 which began there on Monday the 2 d day of April and then and there continued until the Dissolution thereof on Tuesday the 29 th day of May ensuing THIS Journal of the Upper House continuing about the space of two Months was very carelesly entred in the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House by the Clerk thereof who as it seems was Anthony Mason Esq succeeding about this time in the said Office of Clerk of the Upper House unto Francis Spilman Esq who had formerly supplied that place But yet by means of a Copious Journal I had by me of the Passages of the House of Commons in this Parliament taken by some Anonymous Member thereof and also of some Copies I had of the Speeches of Sir Nicholas Bacon Lord Keeper at the beginning and conclusion of this said Parliament this ensuing Journal is much enlarged And therefore to avoid confusion whatsoever is here inserted out of the said private Journal is particularly distinguished from that which is taken out of the above-mentioned Journal-Book of the Upper House by some Animadversions or Expression thereof both before and after the inserting of it Neither doth the Original Journal-Book it self of the Upper House want some matter of variety besides the ordinary Reading Committing and passing of Bills in respect that Sir Robert Catlyn Knight Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench was appointed by her Majesties Commission under the Great Seal to supply the Lord Keepers place upon occasion of his sickness during some part of this said Parliament in the first entry whereof is set down out of the foresaid Anonymous Journal of the House of Commons her Majesties coming to the Upper House with the Order and manner of it the substance also of which is found though somewhat more briefly set down in the Original Journal-Book of the same House On Monday the second day of April the Parliament beginning according to the Writs of Summons sent forth her Majesty about eleven of the Clock came towards Westminster in the antient accustomed most honourable Passage having first riding before her the Gentlemen Sworn to attend her Person the Batchellors Knights after them the Knights of the Bath then the Barons of the Exchequer and Judges of either Bench with the Master of the Rolls her Majesties Attorney General and Sollicitor General whom followed in Order the Bishops and after them the Earls then the Archbishop of Canterbury The Hat of Maintenance was Carried by the Marquess of Northampton and the Sword by the Earl of Sussex The place of the Lord Steward for that day was supplied by the Lord Clinton Lord Admiral of England the Lord Great Chamberlain was the Earl of Oxenford And the Earl Marshal by Deputation from the Duke of Norfolk was the Earl of Worcester Her Majesty sate in her Coach in her Imperial Robes and a Wreath or Coronet of Gold set with rich Pearl and Stones over her Head her Coach drawn by two Palfries covered with Crimson Velvet drawn out imbossed and imbroidered very richly Next after her Chariot followed the Earl of Leicester in respect of his Office of the Master of the Horse leading her Majesties spare Horse And then forty seven Ladies and Women of Honour The Guard in their rich Coats going on every side of them The Trumpeters before the first sounding and the Heralds riding and keeping their rooms and places Orderly In Westminster Church the Bishop of Lincoln Preached before her Majesty whose Sermon-being done her Majesty came from the Church the Lords all on foot in order as afore and over her Head a rich Canopy was carried all the way She being entred into the Upper House of Parliament and there sate in Princely and seemly sort under a high and rich Cloth of Estate her Robe was supported by the Earl of Oxenford the Earl of Sussex kneeling holding the Sword on the left hand and the Earl of Huntingdon holding the Hat of Estate and the Lords all in their Rooms on each side of the Chamber that is to say the Lords Spiritual on the right hand and the Lords Temporal on the left Nota That whereas the presence of these Lords ought here according to the usual course to have been inserted out of the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House it must of necessity be omitted in respect that through the great negligence of Anthony Mason Esq at this time as it should seem Clerk of the said House there are none of the said Lords noted to have been present yet it may be probably guessed who they were by those who attended on Wednesday of this instant April ensuing Quod vide The Judges and her Learned Councel being at the Woollsacks in the midst of the Chamber and at her Highness Feet at each side of her kneeling one of the Grooms or Gentlemen of the Chamber their Faces towards her the Knights Citizens and Burgesses all standing below the Bar her Majesty then stood up in her Regal Seat and with a Princely Grace and singular good Countenance after a long stay spake a few words to this effect or thus Mr right Loving Lords and you our right faithful and Obedient Subjects we in the name of God for his Service and for the safety of this State are now here Assembled to his Glory I hope and pray that it may be to your Comfort and the common quiet of our yours and all ours for ever And then looking on the right side of her towards Sir Nicholas Bacon Knight Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England standing a little beside the Cloth of Estate and somewhat back and lower from the same she willed him to shew the cause of the Parliament who thereupon spake as followeth THE Queens most Excellent Majesty our most Dread and Gracious Soveraign hath Commanded me to declare unto you the Causes of your Calling and Assembly at this time which I mean to do as briefly as I can led thereunto as one very loth to be tedious to her Majesty and also because to wise men and well-disposed as I judge you be a few words do suffice The Causes be chiefly two The one to establish or dissolve Laws as best shall serve for the Governance of the Realm
at and if offences were then her Majesties Clemency and Mercy the more to be commended Misericordia ejus super omnia opera ejus Besides like as it hath pleased God ten years and more by the Ministry of our said Soveraign to bless this Realm with those two inestimable benefits of Peace and Clemency so there is no cause but the same might by Gods Grace have continued twenty Years longer without intermission had not the Raging Romanist Rebels entertained the matter And here it is to be noted that this Merciful and Peaceful Reign of ten Years and more hath hapned in the time of Christs Religion now established I cannot think that any man can follow me in this in the time of the Romish Religion since the Conquest Nay a man might affirm that this is an Example for times to come without any like in times past comparing Singula singulis what should I say these be the true Fruits of true Religion I could further remember you of the Fruits of Justice the benefit of restoring your Money to Finess yea I could put you in mind but I think it needs not it happened so late of a Subsidy granted whereof the Queens Majesty of her own bountifulness remitted the one half was the like here in England ever seen or heard of But being out of doubt that these benefits already remembred be sufficient of themselves to move you to be thankful to your Power I leave any longer to detain you in this point And albeit a Subject cannot yield any benefit to his Soveraign in the same nature that he receiveth it because every benefit is more than Duty and more than Duty a Subject cannot yield to his Soveraign Yet can it not be denied but a Subjects acknowledging of benefits received joined with good will to yield as far as Liberty will reach doth sufficiently satisfie for the Subject for ultra posse non est esse To your best actions therefore address ye And thus much concerning benefits Now to the second part concerning urging by Necessity true it is that the extraordinary matters of Charge happened since the last Assembly here urging to have by necessity a relief granted amongst many others be these First The great Charge in suppressing the late Northern Rebellion with Charges also in reforming those the Queens Majesties Enemies in Scotland that assisted the Rebels and made Rodes into England The continual growing Expences by reason of Ireland as in subduing the Rebels within that Realm and withstanding the Scots Northward and other Foreign Forces intending Invasion Southward To these three Charges by Land you may add a fourth by Sea as the preparation and setting forth of Ships partly for the defence against all Foreign Forces suspected and intended partly for the safe conducting of the Wares and Merchandizes in greater strength and longer cut than heretofore hath been used These and such like extraordinary Charges whereof there be sundry with the remains of old Charges not possible to be born by the ordinary Revenue and yet of necessity to be expended do greatly exceed any extraordinary aid therefore commonly granted Again the great decay of the Queens Majesties Customs by reason of stay and alteration of Traffick albeit upon just occasion hath bred no small want for although in time it is not to be doubted but that will grow again to his old course and continue with great Surety Yet in the mean time this want must some way be supplied for you know the Horse must be provided for whilst the Grass is in growing At the least let us do so much for our selves as we do for our Horses For our selves it is that are to be relieved in this Case This I must needs say that if the Queens Majesty did use in matters of Expence to do as commonly Princes heretofore have used to do then with the more difficulty might such extraordinary aid be assented unto and yet of necessity to be had to withstand a greater necessity It hath been used in times past that Princes pleasures and delights have been commonly followed in matters of Charge as things of necessity And now because God be praised the relieving of the Realms necessity is become the Princes Pleasure and Delight a noble Conversion God continue it and make us as we ought to be earnestly thankful for it A Princely Example shewed by a Soveraign for Subjects to follow To descend in some particulars What need I to remember unto you how the gorgeous sumptuous superfluous Buildings of time past be for the Realms good by her Majesty in this time turned into necessary Buildings and upholdings The chargeable glittering glorious Triumphs into delectable Pastimes and Shows Embassadors of Charge into such as be void of excess and yet honourable and comely These and such like are dangerous dams able to dry up the flowing Fountains of any Treasure and yet these imperfections have been commonly Princes Peculiars especially young One free from these was accounted Rara avis c. and yet God be thanked a Phoenix a Blessed Bird of this kind God hath blessed us with I think it may be affirmed and that truly that there hath not been any matter of great Charge taken in hand by her Majesty in this happy Reign of twelve Years and more that hath not been thought before convenient to be done for the Weal and profit of the Realm so far her Highness is from spending of Treasure in vain matters and therefore the rather how can a man make any difficulty to contribute according to his Power specially in maintaining of his Sovereign his Country his Self his Wife and Children and what not having so long a proof by experience of such an imployment Here I would put you in mind of extraordinary Charges to come which in reason seems evident but so I should be over tedious unto you and frustra sit per plura quod sieri potest per pauciora And therefore here I make an end doubting that I have tarried you longer than I promised or meant or perchance needed your wisdoms and good inclinations considered But you know things are to be done both in form and matter And my trust is that if I had stayed I may be warranted by either or by both that you will take it in good part Thus far out of the Copy of this foregoing Speech As soon as the Lord Keepers Speech was ended then the Clerk of the Upper House read the names of Receivers and Tryers of Petitions in French whose names are transcribed out of the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House and were as followeth Sir Robert Catlin Knight Chief Justice of the Kings Bench Sir William Cordell Knight Master of the Rolls Sir John Widden Knight one of the Justices of Sir Richard Read Knight and D r Huick who were Receivers of Petitions for England Ireland Wales and Scotland Receivers of Petitions for Gascoigne and the parts beyond the Seas and the Isles Sir James Dyer Knight
although it be not very usual yet there want not divers Presidents Vide April the 20 th Friday postea Nota also That here the Judges being but Assistants unto the Upper House are made joint Committees with the Lords which is usually found in all these Parliaments of her Majesties Reign until the thirty ninth of the same Dominus Custos magni Sigilli adjournavit praesens Parliamentum until to Morrow at eight of the Clock On Friday the 6 th day of April Three Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the third touching Receivers c. deceiving the Queen of her Treasure was read secundâ vice commissa to the Earl of Hunt the Earl of Bedford the Earl of Leicester the Bishop of Rochester the Bishop of Salisbury the Bishop of Lincoln the Lord Hastings of Loughborough the Lord North the Lord Hunsdon and to the Queens Attorney and M r Sollicitor Nota That here the Queens Attorney and Sollicitor who are but meer Attendants upon the Upper House are made joint Committees with the Lords Dominus Custos magni Sigilli adjournavit praesens Parliamentum in diem Crastinum hora nona On Saturday the 7 th day of April the Lords Assembled according to the last Adjournment and the Lord Keeper being absent Dominus Clinton vicem gerens Senescalli ex mandato Dominae Reginae continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem Lunae proximum hora nona April the 8 th Sunday On Monday the 9 th day of April Two Bills had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill against such as shall bring in any Bulls c. was read prima vice and committed unto the Earl of Sussex the Earl of Huntington the Earl of Pembroke and others and to the Chief Justices of the Common-Pleas Justice Southcot and Justice Carus Nota That the Judges who were but meer Assistants unto the Upper House are here made joint Committees with the Lords Vide consimise Apr. 5. Thursday And the second touching Receivers Collectors c. was read the second time eisdem Dominis quibus primò commissa fuit denuò committitur Nota That this Bill was read before the second time on Friday the 6 th day of this instant April foregoing and committed and therefore it should seem that this Bill was not now read again the second time but only some additions or amendments thereunto annexed by the Committees and thereupon the Bill was again referred unto them to be further considered of For that Sir Nicholas Bacon Knight Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England was sick her Majesties Letters Patents were read Authorizing Sir Robert Catlin Chief Justice of England to supply the place of the said Lord Keeper at all times when the Lord Keeper during this present Parliament shall be absent The tenor of which here followeth verbatim ELizabeth by the Grace of God Queen of England France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. To our Trusty and Right Well-beloved Sir Robert Catlin Knight Chief Justice of our Common-Pleas before us to be holden Greeting Where our Right Trusty and Right Well-beloved Councellor Sir Nicholas Bacon Knight Lord Keeper of our Great Seal of England is at this time so visited with Sickness that he is not able to travel to the Upper House of this our present Parliament holden at Westminster nor there to supply the room and place in the said Upper House amongst the Lord Spiritual and Temporal there Assembled as to the Office of the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England hath been accustomed We therefore minding the same place and room to be supplied in all things as appertaineth for and during every time of his absence have named and appointed you and by these Presents do Constitute name appoint and authorize you from day to day and time to time when and so often as the said Lord Keeper shall happen at any time or times during this present Parliament to be absent from his accustomed place in the Upper House to occupy use and supply the room and place of the said Lord Keeper in the said Upper House amongst the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal there Assembled at every such day and time of his absence and then and there at every such time to do and execute all such things as the said Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England should or might do if he were there personally present using and supplying the same room Wherefore we will and Command you the said Sir Robert Catlin to attend to the doing and Execution of the Premises with effect And these our Letters Patents shall be your sufficient Warrant and discharge for the same in every behalf In witness whereof we have caused these our Letters to be made Patents Witness our selves at Westminster the 9 th day of April in the Thirteenth Year of our Reign Powle Nota That this Commission is in one respect very exotick and unusual because it doth not only give Authority to the Lord Chief Justice to supply the Lord Keepers place until his recovery and return to Parliament as is ordinary in other Commissions but it doth further authorize him to supply the said Lord Keepers place at any time during this Parliament when he shall be absent as well as at this present whence in this ensuing Journal it is frequent that sometimes the Lord Keeper and sometimes the Lord Chief Justice though seldomer without any new Commission do in their several turns continue the Parliament Robertus Catlin Miles Dominus Capital Justiciarius Banci Regis continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem Crastinum hora nona On Tuesday the 10 th day of April Billa de novo reformata per Dominos quibus pridie committebatur touching the bringing in of any Bulls or other Writings from the Bishop of Rome was read the first time The new Bill touching Receivers Treasurers Collectors c. defrauding the Queens Majesty of her Treasure was read the first time The Bill touching the Confirmation of the Attainder of Charles Earl of Westmerland Thomas Earl of Northumberland and others was read the first time The Lords requested to have Conference with certain of the House of Commons touching a Bill brought to them concerning matters of Religion whereupon Committees were appointed viz. the Archbishop of Canterbury the Marquess of Northampton and others The Lord Keeper continued the Parliament usque in diem Crastinum horâ Octavâ On Wednesday the 11 th day of April it was Ordered by the House that the Lords Committees for the Bill of Bankrupts may call unto them such of the House of Commons and others as they shall think good which may best inform touching any doubt or other matter that may rise upon the said Bill Two Bills also had each of them their second reading of which the second being the new Bill against the bringing in of Bulls was read the second time commissa Justiciario
against Simony the third for the severance of Sheriffs in the Counties of Bedford and Buckingham the fourth for the erection of a Grammar-School and writing-School in the Borough of Southwark and the last for the making of William Watson a free Denizen Dominus Custos magni Sigilli continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in horam secundam post Meridiem About which hour the Lord Keeper and divers other Lords both Spiritual and Temporal meeting Two Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill for the Erection of a Grammar-School and Writing-School in the Borough of Southwark was read primâ vice The Bill to restrain the Oppression of common Promoters was sent to the House of Commons by M r Attorney and Doctor Huick Dominus Custos magni Sigilli continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem proximum horâ Octavâ On Wednesday the 23 th day of May Two Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill touching Priests disguising themselves was read the first time Ten Bills were brought from the House of Commons the first to License the Earl of Leicester to found an Hospital the second whereby certain offences be made Treasons the third against fraudulent gifts to the intent to defeat Dilapidations the fourth for the paving of the Town of Ipswich the fifth whereby the Queens Majesties Servants in Ordinary of her Houshold and Chamber shall not be returned on Juries the sixth against the bringing in of Foreign Wares forbidden the seventh for the continuance of Sheriffs of sundry Counties the eighth for the bringing in of Bow-staves into the Realm the ninth for Ministers of the Church to be sound in Religion and the tenth for paving of a street without Aldgate Dominus Capitalis Justiciarius continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in horam secundam post Meridiem Nota That here the Lord Chief Justice did continue the Parliament unto the Afternoon by Virtue of that Authority which was given unto him by her Majesties Commission under the Great Seal of England and set down at large on Monday the 9 th day of April foregoing On the said 23 th day of May in the Afternoon Seven Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the third being the Bill for the paving of a Street without Aldgate the fourth for the bringing in of Bowes-staves into the Realm and the sixth for the paving of the Town of Ipswich were each of them read the second time but no mention is made that they were either referred to the Committees or ordered to be ingrossed in respect that they had been sent up to the Lords from the House of Commons this present Wednesday in the Forenoon of which see a like President on Wednesday the 16 th day of this instant May foregoing The last also of the said seven Bills touching Priests disguising themselves in strange Apparel was read the second time commissa ad ingrossandum Dominus Capitalis Justiciarius continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem proximum horâ Octavâ On Thursday the 24 th day of May Five Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill for the maintenance of the Navy and for encrease of Tillage and the second for incorporating and uniting of Weymouth and Melcomb-Regis in Com. Dorset were each of them read secundâ vice commissae ad ingrossand Eight Bills were brought up to the Lords from the House of Commons the first being the Bill for coming to Church and receiving the Communion the second touching order for Bankrupts the third for the Commission of Sewers the fourth for the appointing of two Sheriffs for the two Counties of Huntington and Cambridge the fifth for the restitution in Blood of Sir Thomas Wyat's Children the sixth that no Hay or Plate shall cross the Seas the seventh for speedy Tryal to be had upon Issues in the Counties of Salop. and Hereford and the last was the Bill for the Tryal of Felons in the twelve Shires of Wales Dominus Custos magni Sigilli continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in horam secundam post Meridiem About which hour the Lord Keeper and divers other Lords both Spiritual and Temporal being Assembled Two Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill for the Incorporation of both Universities and the second for the Tryal of Felons in the twelve Counties of Wales were each of them read primâ vice The Bill for coming to Church and the Bill for severance of Sheriffs in the Counties of Bucks and Bedford were delivered to Doctor Yale and Doctor Vaughan to be carried to the House of Commons Two Bills also had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill for the speedy Tryal to be had upon Issues in the Counties of Salop and Hereford was read prima vice commissa Justiciario Harper Three Bills were brought up to the Lords from the House of Commons the first to restrain the oppression of common Promoters the second for the restitution in Blood of Henry Brereton Esquire and the third for John Tirrell Esq The Bill for the paving of the Town of Ipswich was read tertiâ vice conclusa Dominus Custos magni Sigilli continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem Crastinum horâ Octavâ On Friday the 25 th day of May Three Bills had each of them one reading of which the first was for the Incorporation of both Universities the second for the Incorporation and uniting of Weymouth and Melcomb-Regis in Com. Dorset and the third for increase of Tillage and maintenance of the Navy they had each of them their third reading and passed upon the question And were sent to the Commons by M r Attorney and Doctor Vaughan Five Bills also of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the last being the Bill whereby the Queens Majesties Ordinary Servants of Houshold and Chamber shall not be returned on Juries was read tertiâ vice reject Two Bills were brought up to the Lords from the House of Commons of which the first being the Bill for coming to Church and receiving the Communion was returned conclusa Dominus Custos magni Sigilli continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in horam secundam post Meridiem About which hour the Lords met but nothing was done save only the continuance of the Parliament by the Lord Keeper usque in diem proximum horâ Octavâ On Saturday the 26 th day of May Three Bills were sent up to the Lords from the House of Commons of which the first being the Bill that no Purveyor shall take Grain Corn or Victual within five Miles of Cambridge and Oxford was returned with certain Amendments and so the Bill was concluded Two Bill also were brought from the House of Commons of which the first
and Authorize the said Sir Francis Knolles Sir James Crofts Sir Ralph Sadler Sir Walter Mildmay and Sir Thomas Smith Knights to be his Deputies for and in the ministring of the Oath to all and singular the Knights of the Shires Citizens of Cities Burgesses of Boroughs and Barons of the Ports returned and to be returned for that present Parliament according to the form of the Statute in that behalf then lately made and provided And immediately thereupon the faid Lord Steward and his Deputies did then and there Minister the said Oath to all such of the said Knights Citizens Burgesses and Barons as were then present accordingly Which done the Sermon ended and the Queens Majesty sat in her Royal Seat in the Upper House of Parliament the Commons standing at the lower end of the Chamber the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England learnedly and briefly declared the Causes of Calling the said Parliament and so in the end willed them to repair into their House and there after their accustomed manner to chuse of themselves an apt and fit man to be their Speaker and to present him to the Queens Majesty on the Wednesday next following in the Afternoon Whereupon the said Commons immediately resorted to their Common House and being there Assembled the Right Worshipful M r Christopher Wray Esq one of the Queens Majesties Serjeants at Law was by the first motion and nomination of the said M r Treasurer with one voice of the said whole House Chosen to be Speaker and placed in the Chair notwithstanding his Allegations of disabling himself and humble request for their proceeding to a new Election On Wednesday the 4 th day of April in the Afternoon Christopher Wray Esquire one of the Queens Majesties Serjeants at Law the Speaker Elect of the House of Commons was presented unto her Highness who sitting in her Royal Seat and allowing and affirming the Election after his Oration made and ordinary Petitions granted the said Lord Keeper willed him with the residue to repair to the House of Commons there to deliberate and consult upon the making of such good and wholesome Laws as might tend to the advancement of Gods Glory and preservation and safety of the Queens Majesty and the Common-Wealth of this Realm of England And thereupon the said M r Speaker and the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons returned back unto their own House and being there sat one Bill according to the usual Course had its first reading which was The Bill concerning coming to Church and receiving the Communion It was this day finally agreed upon the Motion of M r Speaker that the Letany should be read every day in the House during this Parliament as in the last was used and also a Prayer by M r Speaker such as he should think fittest for this time to be begun every day at half an hour after eight of the Clock in the Morning and that each one of this House then making default should forfeit every time four pence to the poor Mans Box. On Thursday the 5 th day of April Thomas Clark and Anthony Bull of the Inner-Temple London Gentlemen were by this House committed to the Serjeants Ward until further order should be taken with them for that they presumed to enter into this House and were no Members of the same as themselves at the Bar confessed This day the House was called and thereupon Edward Lewkenor John Bullock Nicholas Plumtree Edward Goodwyn and John Garnons were Commanded to attend the order of this House to Morrow next for that the House being this day called they had entred into the House and had not as them been returned by the Clerk of the Crown except Garnons whose Case is for that he is said to be Excommunicate On Friday the 6 th day of April It was Ordered that the Burgesses for Estringsted shall remain according to the return This day M r Treasurer M r Serjeant Manwood Geffrie and Lovelace M r Feltman M r Bell and M r Mounson were appointed to confer with M r Attorney and M r Sollicitor about the return of the Burgesses following for that the same Towns returned no Burgesses the last Parliament viz. Cornwall the Boroughs of Estlow Fowley Gloucestershire the Borough of Chichester Nottinghamshire the Borough of Easiretford Kent the Borough of Queenborough Oxfordshire the Borough of Woodstock Hampshire the Borough of Christ-Church Suffolk the Boroughs of Aldburgh Eye And to meet to Morrow in the Afternoon at three of the Clock in M r Treasurers Chamber at the Court. Nota That these ensuing Speeches are taken out of the before-mentioned Anonymous Journal M r Strickland a grave and ancient Man of Great Zeal stood up and made a long Discourse tending to the remembrance of Gods Goodness giving unto us the light of his Word together with the gracious disposition of her Majesty by whom as by his Instrument God hath wrought so great things and blaming our slackness and carelesness in not esteeming and following the time and blessing offered but still as men not sufficiently instructed what is truth or so that we think it not convenient to publish and profess it openly and that all reproachful Speeches of the slanderous might be stopped the draw-backs brought forward and the Over-runners such as over-run and exceed the rule of the Law reduced to a certainty he thought it Operae pretium to be occupied therein for which purpose he said the Professors of the Gospel in other Nations had writ and published to the World the Confession of their Faith as did those of Strasburgh and Franckford c. for which purpose also great Learned men in this Realm had travelled as Peter Martyr Paulus Fagius and others whose works hereupon were Extant And before this time and offer thereof was made in Parliament that it might be approved but either the slackness or somewhat else of some men in that time was the lett thereof or what else he said he would not say This Book he said rested in the Custody of M r Norton as he guessed a man neither ill disposed to Religion nor a negligent Keeper of such matters of Charge and thereupon requested that M r Norton might be required to produce the same he added also that after so many Years as now by Gods Providence we had been learning the purity of Gods truth we should not permit for any cause of Policy or other pretence any errors in matters of Doctrine to continue amongst us And therefore said he although the Book of Common-Prayer is God be praised drawn very near to the sincerity of the truth yet are there some things inserted more superstitious than in so high matters be tolerable as namely in the Administration of the Sacrament of Baptism the sign of the Cross to be made with some Ceremonies and such other Errors all which he said might well be changed without note of chopping or changing of Religion whereby the Enemies might slander us
mischief it may be to me and inconvenient also to utter the same I will not speak thereof but dutifully neither do I see any thing that is amiss at this present what was done a hundred years since I may safely tell and thus it was A Duke of this Realm wrote his Letters to a City which I know to this effect whereby he did signify that a Parliament was to be Summoned in short time and that for great causes he was to crave aid of all his Friends and reckoning them amongst the rest he wished them of four under-nominated to chuse two the Letter under the Dukes Seal is still preserved but hear you the Answer he was written to with due humbleness that they were prohibited by Law they might chuse none of them I will venture a little nearer In Queen Maries time a Council of this Realm not the Queens Privy-Council did write to a Town to chuse a Bishops Brother and a great Bishops Brother it was indeed whom they assured to be a good Catholick man and willed them to chuse to the like of him some other fit man The Council was Answered with Law And if all Towns in England had done the like in their Choice the Crown had not been so wronged and the Realm so robbed with such ease at that Parliament and truth banished as it was what hath been may be there is no impossibility It will be said I mistake it is not meant but that Towns shall be at liberty to chuse whom they list I say that Liberty is the loss of Liberty for when by Law they may do what they will they may not well deny what shall be required It is too truly said Rogando cogit qui rogat potentior And I have known one that to avoid a great mans displeasure that dwelt near him that was desirous as he knew to buy his Land did upon small occasion bind himself not to alienate his Land from his true Heirs this being known I mean that he was bound as aforesaid the great man was contented to let him keep his own quietly which otherwise he would not have done Surely Law is the only Fortress of the inferior sort of People and contrary to the Law the greater sort will not desire or expect anything Though now at this present God be praised we need not to fear the greatness of any man Justice is so well administred Yet hereafter whatsoever hath been we may fear either for maintenance of Faction or maintenance of Mischief Again I say it may be what heretofore was possibly again may be We stand and have stood of late upon the notorious manifestation of the Authority of Parliament except withal you keep the ancient usage of the same and withal endeavour the freedom thereof in effect you do nothing if I guess aright It is further said that in some Towns there are not men of discretion fit they be not the wiser said the Gentleman that spoke before for being Burgesses I can never be perswaded but that either the Lord whose the Town is be the Town never so little or the Steward if it be the Queens or some good Gentleman of the Country adjoinant will either assign them who know the Town and can be content to be free among them and to serve by their appointment for their Country and for them or else for some reasonable Fee such as be of their Learned Councel and who know them and the Country will deal for them I mean it not so strictly that those who should be chosen should of necessity be dwellers in the Town but to be either of the Town or towards the Town Borderers and near Neighbours at the least and to this effect I would the Bill were framed I stand too long hereon and abundance of matter occasioneth confusion this is all It was meant at the first and first Constitution of Parliament that men of every quarter and of all sorts should come to this Court that they should be freely chosen This in every Age hitherto hath seemed best to alter without cause is not convenient to give every Town liberty may offer in time inconvenience None so fit for every Country as those who know the same To chuse of their own it is a Liberty to lose their Liberty I think it a bad Commodity call it as you please by such kind of release in easing men of their Wealths or of some good part of their Living beshrow our Charity And in like sort and in like reason it seems to me this Law is inferred out of the Preface of the same For thus it is penned Forasmuch as some Towns are decayed and have not of their own therefore let every Town do what they list Of a particular Proposition to make a general conclusion it is against our Rules and nothing as saith the Philosopher is more absurd than non causam pro causà Some Towns cannot send fit men it standeth very strongly if you seek to help let the Plaister be fit for the sore let not the Salve be stretched too far lest the whole and sound flesh by the broad spreading of the Salve do either smart fret or fester The Medicine which healeth the sick man may be poyson for the whole and sound man All Citizens and Burgesses should not be thought alike and yet all provided for as there is due cause let there be therefore convenient consideration how to heal how to hurt And I could wish according to the weight of the matter it might be rather staid on than thus abruptly over-ruled and while we fly Scylla we fall not into Charybdis while we say that Boroughs cannot send to this High Court so fit men as be convenient that by altering the ancient usage which is the only Warrant and sole stay of freedom in Parliament it may happily be said we have no Parliament now within this Realm nor Liberty at all for any such here to be holden M r Bell in Answer of this did collect the substance of what had been said and in a long Discourse shewed that it was necessary all places should be provided for and not Boroughs only being but one of the Members of the Common-Wealth and that some of them have neither Wealth to provide fit men nor themselves any in any sort convenient He thought not amiss if in respect of those manifest wants convenient supply should be but without the Warrant of Parliament such alteration might not be He then thought it not amiss to be advised And for the objection of the danger which may ensue by reason of the Letters of Noblemen he could not he said but think it convenient to prevent the same and therefore wished that there might be the penalty of forty pound upon every Borough that should make such Election at the Nomination of any Nobleman M r Alford reasoned to this effect That above all things necessary care ought to be for the chusing and having of fit men to supply the place
without a Head thus do therefore it resteth that you according to your antient Order of your selves chuse some wise and discreet man who after he hath been by you chosen and presented and that presentation by the Queens Majesty allowed shall then be your Speaker and Day is given c. This Speech being thus transcribed out of the Copy I had of it as is aforesaid now follow the names of the Receivors and Tryors of Petitions out of the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House which the Clerk of the same readeth in French as soon as the Lord Keepers Speech is ended and which were as followeth Receivors of Petitions for England Ireland Wales and Scotland Sir Robert Catlin Knight Chief Justice of the Kings-Bench Sir William Cordell Knight Master of the Rolls Sir John Widdon Knight one of the Justices of the ----- Sir Richard Read K t one of the Justices of the ----- and D r Huick and they that will deliver Petitions are to deliver the same within six dayes next ensuing Receivors of Petitions for Gascoigne and other Lands beyond the Seas and the Isles Sir James Dyer Knight Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas Sir Edward Sanders Knight Lord Chief Baron Richard Weston one of the Justices of the ----- John Southcott one of the Justices of the ----- Doctor Lewis Doctor Yale and Doctor Vaughan and they that will deliver Petitions are to deliver the same within six days next ensuing Triors of Petitions for England Ireland Wales and Scotland The Archbishop of Canterbury the Earl of Oxford the Earl of Sussex the Earl of Huntington the Earl of Bedford the Bishop of London the Bishop of Winchester the Bishop of Ely the Lord Howard of Effingham Lord Chamberlain of the Queens House the Lord Windsor and the Lord North. All these or four of them calling unto them the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal and the Treasurer and the Queens Serjeants when need shall require shall hold their place in the Chamberlains Chamber Triors of Petitions for Gascoigne and other Islands beyond the Seas The Archbishop of York the Earl of Lincoln Lord Admiral of England the Earl of Leicester the Earl of Essex the Bishop of Worcester the Bishop of Lincoln the Bishop of Rochester the Lord Burleigh Principal Secretary the Lord Wentworth the Lord Buckhurst All they or four of them calling to them the Queens Serjeants Attorney and Sollicitor when need shall require shall hold their place in the Treasurer's Chamber Hodiè retornatum est breve Dom. Reginae quo Henricus Compton de Compton Chevalier praesenti Parliamento interesse summonitus est qui praesens admissus est ad suum praeheminentiae sedendi in Parliamento locum salvo cuique jure suo And two other Writs were returned in like manner by which Henry Cheyney of Toddington and Henry Lord Norris of Ricott were Summoned to be present this Parliament who were accordingly admitted to their due places saving to all others their right Nota That there is no entrance in the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House of any Continuance or Adjournment of the Parliament by the Lord Keeper which doubtless happened through the great negligence of Anthony Mason Esq at this time Clerk of the said House There were also divers Proxies returned on this present Thursday being the 8 th day of May but whether before or after the Continuance of the Parliament appeareth not in which two Spiritual Lords Constituted each of them two Proctors apiece according to the usual and frequent manner and are therefore omitted but four other Bishops nominating either three Proctors apiece or but one which is somewhat extraordinary therefore they are here inserted Die 8 o Maij introductae sunt literae Procuratoriae Hugonis Episcopi Landaven in quibus Procuratores suos constituit Nicolaum Wigorn. Richardum Meneven Nicolaum Bangoren Episcopos Eodem die introductae sunt literae Procuratoriae Jacobi Dunelmensis Episcopi in quibus Procuratorem suum constituit Edmundum Archiepiscopum Ebor. Eodem die introductae sunt literae Procuratoriae Johannis Herefordensis Episcopi in quibus Procuratores suos constituit Matthaeum Cantuariensem Archiepiscopum Edwin London Nicolaum Wigorn. Episcopos Eodem die introductae sunt literae Procuratoriae Thomae Assavensis Episcopi in quibus Procuratores suos constituit Robertum Wintonien Nicolaum Wigorn. ac Nicolaum Bangoren Episcopos Now although it be most usual for the Spiritual Lords to name two Proctors yet here four of six varied from it three of them exceeding that number and the other nominating but one It is likewise as usual for the Temporal Lords to Constitute but one Proctor and it is an Action worthy observation where they nominate more for in this very Parliament of fifteen Temporal Lords that sent Proxies but one nominated two Proctors which see afterwards on Monday the 12 th day of this instant May following and all the rest Constituted but one Proctor apiece which being trivial and ordinary are omitted Nota Also that the Earl of Leicester had this Parliament eight Proxies sent unto him viz. from George Earl of Shrewsbury Edward Earl of Darby Henry Lord Scroop Edward Lord Dudley Anthony Viscount Mountacute Gregory Lord Dacres William Lord Sands and Edward Earl of Lincoln all which seem to have been returned on Monday the 12 th day of this instant May in such order as they are here set down Nota That the Lord Burleigh also Principal Secretary to her Majesty had six Proxies sent unto him this Parliament viz. from John Marquess of Winchester Henry Lord Hunsdon Thomas Lord Buckhurst John Lord Latimer Edward Earl of Lincoln who made also the Earl of Leicester his joint Proctor with him and Robert Lord Rich. These also are set down in the Journal-Book to have been returned the 12 th day of May in such order as they are here set down but now by a late Order made in the Upper House an 2 do Caroli Regis no Lord is capable of above two Proxies Nota That in the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House it doth not appear at all whether her Majesty or any of the Lords were present on Saturday following being the tenth day of this instant May it appearing plainly that neither House sate on Friday the 9 th day of the same nor what was done thereon and therefore the Passages of the same are supplied out of the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons On Saturday the 10 th day of May in the Afternoon her Majesty being come to the Upper House with divers of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal being there also set and the Knights Citizens Burgesses and Barons of the House of Commons having notice repaired thither with Robert Bell of the Middle-Temple London Esq their Speaker Elect who was led up unto the Rail or Bar at the lower end of the said Upper House by two of the most Eminent Personages of the Commons and presented to her Majesty whom she allowed and Confirmed
in the said place of Prolocutor or Speaker notwithstanding his Excuse made and disabling himself according to the usual form After which the said Speaker being now fully and absolutely invested in his said place did after his humble thanks rendred to her Majesty in the Conclusion of his Speech make certain Petitions of course in the behalf of himself and the House of Commons viz. for the free access to her Majesty freedom of Speech and freedom from Arrests and Suits during the Continuance of the Parliament and for Pardon for himself if he should in any thing unwittingly mistake or offend All which being graciously allowed by her Majesty she arose and departed Nota That there is no entrance in the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House of the Continuance or Adjournment of the Parliament which doubtless happened through the great negligence of Anthony Mason Esq now Clerk of the same For it is plain the Lords did sit again on Monday following in the Forenoon to some hour of which it is most likely it was continued and the passages whereof as also of all the other days on which the said House sate do now in order follow out of the aforesaid Original Journal-Book of the same May the 11 th Sunday On Monday the 12 th of May to which day the Parliament had been last continued as is most likely the presence of the Lords is first noted in the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House which were as followeth their Names only being altered into English The Archbishop of Canterbury The Archbishop of York Sir Nicholas Bacon Knight Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England The Marquess of Winchester Comites The Earl of Oxford Great Chamberlain of England The Earl of Kent The Earl of Worcester The Earl of Rutland The Earl of Sussex The Earl of Warwick The Earl of Pembroke The Earl of Hartford The Earl of Leicester The Earl of Essex Viscount Bindon Episcopi The Bishop of London The Bishop of Winchester The Bishop of Ely The Bishop of Worcester The Bishop of S t Davids The Bishop of Salisbury The Bishop of Bath and Wells The Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield The Bishop of Peterborough The Bishop of Norwich The Bishop of Chester The Bishop of Bangor The Bishop of Lincoln The Bishop of Exeter The Bishop of Rochester Barones The Lord Howard of Effingham Chamberlain to the Queen The Lord Burleigh Secretary to the Queen The Lord Abergaveny The Lord Strange The Lord Dacres The Lord Stafford The Lord Grey of Wilton The Lord Mountjoy The Lord Darcy The Lord Mounteagle The Lord Sands The Lord Windsor The Lord Wentworth The Lord Burrough The Lord S t John of Basing The Lord Cromwell The Lord Evers The Lord Wharton The Lord Willoughby of Parham The Lord Pagett The Lord Darcy of Chich. The Lord North. The Lord Chandois The Lord S t John of Bletsoe The Lord Buckhurst The Lord De la Ware The Lord Compton The Lord Cheyney The Lord Norris This day also by Order and Consent of the whole House were appointed to confer with such number of the House of Commons as should please the said House to appoint for the more speedy and better direction of them in the great matter touching the Queen of Scots these Lords undernamed viz. The Archbishop of Canterbury The Archbishop of York The Earl of Oxford The Earl of Kent The Earl of Worcester The Earl of Sussex The Earl of Warwick The Earl of Bedford The Earl of Leicester The Earl of Essex The Bishop of London The Bishop of Winchester The Bishop of Ely The Bishop of Lincoln The Bishop of Rochester The Lord Chamberlain The Lord Burleigh The Lord Grey The Lord Windsor The Lord Wentworth The Lord North and the Lord Chandois Who were appointed to meet in the Star-Chamber at eight of the Clock in the Morning the next day Vide on Wednesday May the 28 th ensuing The Bill for preservation of Wood and Timber was read prima vice Commissa Archiepiscopo Cantuar. Comiti Lincoln Comiti Sussex Comiti Leicester Episcopo Elien Episcopo Wigorn. Episcopo Meneven Domino Howard Domino Camerario Domino Burleigh Domino Windsor Domino Wentworth Domino Pagett Domino Chandois Domino Buckhurst Justiciario Southcott Justic. Weston The Bill for punishment of Vagabonds and for relief of the poor was read prima vice Commissa Archiepiscopo Cantuar. Comiti Huntington Comiti Rutland Comiti Pembroke Comiti Hertford Episcopo London Episcopo Wigorn. Episcopo Meneven Episcopo Bangor Domino Grey Domino S t John Domino Evers Domino S t John de Bletsoe Justiciario Harper Christophero Wray Servienti ad Legem Nota That here a Bill is not only committed upon the first reading but a Judge who is but a meer Assistant unto the Upper House and a Serjeant who is but a meen Attendant thereon are made joint Committees with the Lords as in the Bill foregoing Dominus Custos magni Sigilli continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem Crastinum hurâ Octavâ This day also was brought in the Proxy of Edward Earl of Lincoln into the Upper House and as it seemeth the Proxies of fourteen other Temporal Lords viz. One Marquess two Earls one Viscount and ten Barons But there is no mention made in the Original Journal-Book whether they were returned before or after the Continuance of the Parliament according to the usual form as aforesaid which was in the Afternoon of this present Monday where each Temporal Lord nominateth one Proctor and therefore were admitted but the Earl of Lincoln nominating two Proctors which is somewhat extraordinary is transcribed out of the Original Journal-Book as followeth 12 th Maij introductae sunt literae Procuratoriae Edwardi Comitis Lincoln in quibus Procuratores suos constituit Robertum Comitem Leicester Willielmum Dominum Burleigh On Tuesday the 13 th day of May to which day the Parliament had been last continued the Bill against corrupt Presentations was read Primâ vice Nota Because the daily continuing of the Parliament in these words Dominus Custos magni Sigilli c. is but matter of course it is afterwards through the whole Journal-Book omitted unless something extraordinary fall out either in respect of the person time or manner of continuing of it On Wednesday the 14 th day of May to which day the Parliament had been last continued on the day next foregoing divers Lords Spiritual and Temporal Assembled but nothing was done save only the Continuance of the Parliament by the Lord Keeper to the day next following at eight of the Clock On Thursday the 15 th day of May to which day the Parliament had been yesterday continued the Bill for the punishment of Vagabonds and relief of the Poor was read secunda vice but there is no mention made that it was either Ordered to be ingrossed or referred to Committees of which doubtless there can be no other reason seeing it was not sent up
needful to put you in remembrance that this Honourable Assembly are Assembled and come together here in this place for three special Causes of most weighty and great importance The first and principal is to make and abrogate such Laws as may be most for the preservation of our noble Soveraign The second ..... The third is to make or abrogate such Laws as may be to the chiefest surety safe-keeping and enrichment of this noble Realm of England So that I do think that the part of a faithful-hearted Subject is to do his endeavour to remove all Stumbling-Blocks out of the way that may impair or any manner of way hinder these good and Godly Causes of this our coming together I was never of Parliament but the last and the last Session at both which times I saw the Liberty of free Speech the which is the only Salve to heal all the Sores of this Common-Wealth so much and so many ways infringed and so many abuses offered to this Honourable Council as hath much grieved me even of very Conscience and love to my Prince and State Wherefore to avoid the like I do think it expedient to open the Commodities that grow to the Prince and whole State by free Speech used in this place at the least so much as my simple Wit can gather of it the which is very little in respect of that that wise Heads can say therein and so it is of the more force First All matters that concern Gods Honour through free Speech shall be propagated here and set forward and all things that do hinder it removed repulsed and taken away Next there is nothing commodious profitable or any way beneficial for the Prince or State but faithful and loving Subjects will offer it in this place Thirdly All things discommodious perillous or hurtful to the Prince or State shall be prevented even so much as seemeth good to our merciful God to put into our minds the which no doubt shall be sufficient if we do earnestly call upon him and fear him for Solomon saith The fear of God is the beginning of Wisdom Wisdom saith he breatheth Life into her Children receiveth them that seek her and will go beside them in the way of Righteousness so that our minds shall be directed to all good needful and necessary things if we call upon God with faithful hearts Fourthly If the Envious do offer any thing hurtful or perillous to the Prince or State in this place what incommodity doth grow thereby Verily I think none nay will you have me to say my simple opinion therein much good cometh thereof how forsooth for by the darkness of the Night the brightness of the Sun sheweth more excellent and clear and how can truth appear and conquer until falsehood and all subtilties that should shadow and darken it be found out for it is offered in this place a piece of fine Needle-work unto them that are most skilful therein for there cannot be a false stitch God aiding us but will be found out Fifthly This good cometh thereof a wicked purpose may the easier be prevented when it is known Sixthly An evil man can do the less harm when it is known Seventhly Sometime it happeneth that a good man will in this place for Argument sake prefer an evil cause both for that he would have a doubtful truth to be opened and manifested and also the evil prevented so that to this point I conclude that in this House which is termed a place of free Speech there is nothing so necessary for the preservation of the Prince and State as free Speech and without it is a scorn and mockery to call it a Parliament House for in truth it is none but a very School of Flattery and Dissimulation and so a fit place to serve the Devil and his Angels in and not to glorify God and benefit the Common-Wealth Now to the impediments thereof which by Gods Grace and my little Experience I will utter plainly and faithfully I will use the words of Elcha Behold I am as the new Wine which hath no vent and bursteth the new Vessels in funder therefore I will speak that I may have a vent I will open my Lips and make Answer I will regard no manner of Person no man will I spare for if I should go about to please men I know not how soon my Maker will take me away my Text is vehement the which by Gods sufferance I mean to observe hoping therewith to offend none for that of very Justice none ought to be offended for seeking to do good and saying of the truth Amongst other M r Speaker Two things do great hurt in this place of the which I do mean to speak the one is a rumour which runneth about the House and this it is take heed what you do the Queens Majesty liketh not such a matter whosoever prefereth it she will be offended with him or the contrary her Majesty liketh of such a matter whosoever speaketh against it she will be much offended with him The other sometimes a Message is brought into the House either of Commanding or Inhibiting very injurious to the freedom of Speech and Consultation I would to God M r Speaker that these two were Buried in Hell I mean rumours and Messages for wicked undoubtedly they are the reason is the Devil was the first Author of them from whom proceedeth nothing but wickedness now I will set down reasons to prove them wicked First If we be in hand with any thing for the advancement of Gods Glory were it not wicked to say the Queen liketh not of it or Commanded that we shall not deal in it greatly were these Speeches to her Majesties dishonour and an hard opinion were it M r Speaker that these things should enter into her Majesties thought much more wicked and unnatural were it that her Majesty should like or Command any thing against God or hurtful to her self and the State The Lord grant this thing may be far from her Majesties Heart Here this may be objected that if the Queens Majesty should have intelligence of any thing perillous or beneficial to her Majesties Person or the State would you not have her Majesty give knowledge thereof in this House whereby her peril may be prevented and her benefit provided for God forbid then were her Majesty in worse case than any of her Subjects And in the beginning of our Speech I shewed it to be a special Cause of our Assembly but my intent is that nothing should be done to Gods dishonour to her Majesties peril or the peril of the State And therefore I will shew the inconveniences that grow of these two First If we follow not the Princes mind Solomon saith the Kings displeasure is a Messenger of Death This is a terrible thing to weak nature for who is able to abide the fierce Countenance of his Prince but if we will discharge our Consciences and be true to God and Prince and
their consents as well as the others Well he that hath an Office saith S t Paul let him wait on his Office or give diligent attendance upon his Ofsice It is a great and special part of our duty and office M r Speaker to maintain the freedom of Consultation and Speech for by this good Laws that do set forth Gods Glory and for the preservation of the Prince and State are made S t Paul in the same place saith hate that which is avil cleave unto that which is good then with S t Paul I do advise you all here present yea and heartily and earnestly desire you from the bottom of your hearts to hate all Messengers Tale-Carriers or any other thing whatsoever it be that any manner of way infringes the Liberties of this Honourable Councel yea hate it or them as venemous and poyson unto our Common-Wealth for they are venemous Beasts that do use it therefore I say again and again hate that which is evil and cleave unto that which is good and this being loving and faithful hearted I do wish to be conceived in fear of God and of love to our Prince and Statè for we are incorporated into this place to serve God and all England and not to be Time-Servers as Humour-feeders as Cancers that would pierce the Bone or as Flatterers that would fain beguile all the World and so worthy to be Condemned both of God and Man but let us shew our selves a People endued with Faith I mean with a lively Faith that bringeth forth good Works and not as Dead And these good Works I wish to break forth in this sort not only in hating the Enemies before-spoken against but also in open reproving them as Enemies to God our Prince and State that do use them for they are so Therefore I would have none spared or forborn that shall from henceforth offend herein of what calling soever he be for the higher place he hath the more harm he may do therefore if he will not eschew offences the higher I wish him hanged I speak this in Charity M r Speaker for it is better that one should be hanged than that this Noble State should be subverted well I pray God with all my heart to turn the hearts of all the Enemies of our Prince and State and to forgive them that wherein they have offended yea and to give them grace to offend therein no more even so I do heartily beseech God to forgive us for holding our peaces when we have heard any injury offered to this Honourable Councel for surely it is no small offence M r Speaker for we offend therein against God our Prince and State and abuse the confidence by them reposed in us Wherefore God for his great mercies sake grant that we may from henceforth shew our selves neither Bastards nor Dastards therein but that as rightly begotten Children we may sharply and boldly reprove Gods Enemies our Princes and State and so shall every one of us discharge our Duties in this our High Office wherein he hath placed us and shew our selves haters of Evil and Cleavers to that that is good to the setting forth of Gods Glory and Honour and to the Preservation of our Noble Queen and Common-Wealth for these are the marks that we ought only in this place to shoot at I am thus earnest I take God to witness for Conscience Sake Love Love unto my Prince and Common-Wealth and for the advancement of Justice for Justice saith an Antient Father is the Prince of all Vertues yea the safe and faithful Guard of mans Life for by it Empires Kingdoms People and Cities be governed the which if it be taken away the Society of man cannot long endure And a King saith Solomon that sitteth in the Throne of Judgment and looketh well about him chaseth away all evil in the which State and Throne God for his great mercies sake grant that our Noble Queen may be heartily vigilant and watchful for surely there was a great fault committed both in the last Parliament and since also that was as faithful hearts as any were unto the Prince and State received most displeasure the which is but an hard point in Policy to encourage the Enemy to discourage the faithful-hearted who of fervent love cannot dissemble but follow the Rule of S t Paul who saith let love be without dissimulation Now to another great fault I found the last Parliament committed by some of this House also the which I would desire of them all might be left I have from right good men in other Causes although I did dislike them in that doing sit in an evil matter against which they had most earnestly spoken I mused at it and asked what it meant for I do think it a shameful thing to serve God their Prince or Country with the tongue only and not with the Heart and Body I was answered that it was a common Policy in this House to mark the best sort of the same and either to sit or arise with them that same common Policy I would gladly have banished this House and have grafted in the stead thereof either to rise or sit as the matter giveth Cause For the Eyes of the Lord behold all the Earth to strengthen all the hearts of them that are whole with him These be Gods own words mark them well I heartily beseech you all for God will not receive half part he will have the whole And again he misliketh those two faced Gentlemen and here be many Eyes that will to their great shame behold their double dealing that use it Thus I have holden you long with my rude Speech the which since it tendeth wholly with pure Conscience to seek the advancement of Gods Glory our Honourable Soveraigns Safety and to the sure defence of this noble Isle of England and all by maintaining of the Liberties of this Honourable Councel the Fountain from whence all these do Spring my humble and hearty Suit unto you all is to accept my good will and that this that I have here spoken out of Conscience and great zeal unto my Prince and State may not be buried in the Pit of Oblivion and so no good come thereof Upon this Speech the House out of a reverend regard of her Majesty's Honour stopped his further proceeding before he had fully finished his Speech The Message he meant and intended was that which was set by her Majesty to the House of Commons in the said fourteenth year of her Reign upon Wednesday the 28 th day of May by Sir Francis Knolles Knight Treasurer of her Majesties Houshold inhibiting them for a certain time to treat or deal in the matter touching the Scottish Queen Now follows the proceeding of the House upon this Speech out of the Original Journal-Book it self M r Wentworth being Sequestred the House as aforesaid for his said Speech it was agreed and Ordered by the House upon the Question after sundry Motions and Disputations had therein
unto the 16 th day of January being Monday on which day this Session following in Anno 23 Reginae Eliz. Anno Domini 1580 began But her Majesty because it was no new Parliament was not present nor did the Lords wear their Robes on this said Monday being the first day of their meeting nor was their any solemn Speech made by the Lord Keeper but either House assembling themselves together severally in their due places fell to their ordinary businesses as upon other days is usually accustomed yet the beginning of this Session is as solemnly Entred in the Original Journal-Book as if it had been a new Parliament where it appeareth to be in manner and form following Die Lunae 16 die Januarii 1580 Anno Regni Excellentissimae metuendissimae Dominae nostrae Elizabethae Dei gratia Angliae Franciae Hiberniae Reginae Fidei Defensatricis c. Vicesimo tertio in quem diem post varias ac diversas Prorogationes praesens haec Sessio Parliamenti Prorogata fuit teneri inchoari apud Westmonasterium die loco praedict Domini tam Spirituales quam Temporales quorum nomina subsequuntur praesentes suerunt Episcopus London Episcopus Sarisburien Episcopus Wigorn. Episcopus Roffen Episcopus Coventr Litchfield These Bishops are thus placed in the Original Journal-Book on the dexter-side of the Lords not by reason of preheminency unless the Archbishop of Canterbury had been present but by reason of their Ecclesiastical Dignity these being all that are noted in the said Journal-Book to have been present this day now follow the names of the Lord Keeper and the Temporal Lords Thomas Bromley Miles Dominus Cancellarius Dominus Burleigh Thesaurarius Angliae Marchio Winton Comes Lincoln Magnus Admirallus Angliae Comes Arundell Comes Northampton Comes Wigorn. Comes Cumberland Comes Bathon Comes Norwicen Comes Southampton Comes Pembrook Comes Hartford Comes Leicester Vice-comes Mountague Vice-comes Bindon Barones Dominus Burgavenny Dominus Willoughby de Erisby Dominus Dacres Dominus Stafford Dominus Dudley Dominus Lumley Dominus Stourton Dominus Mountjoy Dominus Darcy de Darcy Dominus Windsor Dominus Cromwell Dominus Evers Dominus Wharton Dominus Willoughbie de Parham Dominus Howard Dominus North. Dominus S t John de Bletso Dominus de la Ware Dominus Cheyney Dominus Norris Nota There were no names of Receivors or Triors of Petitions read because this was but the third and last Session of a former Parliament as hath been observed and those names are never read but in the beginning of a new Parliament One Bill was read this Morning being for the reformation of Sheriffs Under-Sheriffs and their Ministers primâ vice Hodiè retornatum est Breve quo Preregrinus Bartye Dominus Willoughby silius haeres Katherinae Ducissae Suff. siliae haeredis Willielmi Willoughby nuper Domini Willoughby praesenti Parliamento interesse summonitus est qui admissus est ad suum praeheminentiae sedendi in Parliamento locum salvo jure alieno viz. the said Lord Willoughby was seated and took place next under the Lord Audley and above the Lord Barkley The like Writ returned for Edward Parker Lord Morley who accordingly was admitted salvo jure alieno and placed next under the Lord Barkley and above the Lord Dacres The Lords being thus set and in agitation of their own businesses Sir Francis Knolles Knight Treasurer of her Majesties Houshold Accompanied with Sir James Crosts Knight Comptroller of her Highness Houshold Sir Francis Walsingham Knight one of her Majesties Principal Secretaries and M r Doctor Wilson Esquire another of her Majesties Principal Secretaries Sir Walter Mildmay Knight Chancellor of her Majesties Exchequer and divers others being sent up to the said Lords by the House of Commons upon some urgent and weighty occasions desired to be admitted into the said Upper House there to make known to their Lordships somewhat of importance wherein they should require their advice and need their assistance upon which being admitted the said M r Treasurer assisted with the Personages and Company aforesaid did in comely order and discreet manner make manifest and known unto the said Lords that Sir Robert Bell Knight late Lord Chief Baron and Speaker of the said House who had been Elected to the said place in the first Session of this Parliament in the fourteenth year of her Majesty and had continued also the second Session thereof being in the eighteenth year of her said Highness Reign in the said place was now dead which had been openly and manifestly made known and testified unto them for remedy of which defection they humbly prayed their Lordships advice After which the Lord Keeper first requiring the said Personages a while to withdraw themselves and then commending the order of the matter unto the said Lords sitting in Consultation for the same it was upon considerate advice therein had by them all thought fitting to signifie unto the said Commons by the Personages aforesaid who had been sent from them that they thought it expedient and good that such of the Lords of the said House as were of her Highness Privy-Council with the Lord Marquess of Winchester and the Earl of Arundel Accompanied with such a number of the Commons House as by them should be agreed upon should in the name of both the Assemblies make intimation of their said Estate and the Petition thereupon depending unto her said Highness to which advice the said Commons upon knowledge had of the same wholly assented Then followed the Adjournment of the said Parliament by the Lord Keeper according to the usual form which is thus Entred in the Original Journal-Book Dominus Cancellarius Adjournavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem Mercurii proximum hora nona On Wednesday the 18 th day of January Billa for reformation of abuses in Sheriffs Under-Sheriffs and their Ministers secunda vice lecta Two other Bills also of no great moment were read primâ vice The Queen having been moved as it seemeth according to the resolution of the two Houses jointly agreed upon between them on Monday last past the 16 th day of this instant January about the Death of Sir Robert Bell late Lord Chief Baron their former Speaker and the choice of a new one in the House of Commons by the Marquess of Winchester and those other right honourable Personages who were then and there named to move her Highness in it did give Order that this present Wednesday both the Lords and Commons should assemble and meet together in the Upper House commonly called the Lords Parliament Chamber there to receive her Majesties Answer where being Assembled Sir Thomas Bromley Knight Lord Chancellor of England shewed forth a Commission from her Highness under the Great Seal of England which was directed to him only wherein her Majesty taking notice of the Death of Sir Robert Bell their former Speaker did Authorize the Lord Keeper for her Majesty and in her name to will and Command the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of
the House of Commons to resort unto their accustomed place and there to elect and chuse amongst themselves one able and sufficient person to be their Speaker for the rest of this present Parliament yet to come and after they should have made their Election that then three or four of them for and in all their names should signifie the same unto her Majesty and thereupon her Highness would further signifie her pleasure unto them what day and time they should present him so Elected before her as it had been formerly in like Cases accustomed to be done Nota That this Commission is set down at large in the Journal of the House of Commons de isto Anno 23 Reginae Eliz. to which it more properly belongeth This day lastly was returned one unusual Proxy from John Bishop of Exeter which is thus Entred in the Original Journal-Book the words only a little misplaced 18 die Januarii Johannis permissione divina Episcopi Exoniensis introductae sunt literae Procuratoriae in quibus Procuratorem suum constituit reverendum in Christo Patrem Johannem Episcopum Wigorniensem Nota That though there were no names of Triors or Receivors of Petitions read at this time because it was but the latter Session of a former Parliament and those said Receivors and Triors are never assigned but at the beginning of a new one yet it is very usual for the Lords of the Upper House to send their Proxies after a Prorogation as well as at the beginning of a new Parliament and especially if there be any long space or distance between the Sessions as was likewise used in the former Parliaments viz. in that second Session of Parliament held in Anno 8 Reginae Eliz. and the foregoing Session of Parliament held in Anno 18 Reginae ejusdem The Proxy before set down I therefore call an unusual because a spiritual Lord Constituted but one Proctor whereas for the most part they seldom or never nominate fewer than two and the Temporal Lords as seldom more than one and therefore those ordinary Proxies are for the most part wholly omitted and the extraordinary only transcribed out of the Journal-Book and at this Session of three Earls and ten Barons who sent their Proxies only one viz. Henry Earl of Huntington Constituted two Proctors which Proxies with some other unusual ones are set down the 23 th day of this instant January following on which said day being Monday they are all set down in the Original Journal-Book to have been introducted The Earl of Leicester had this Parliamentary Session six several Proxies sent unto him set down in the Original Journal-Book in the same Order they here follow viz. from Henry Earl of Darby Henry Lord Scroope Thomas Lord Buckhurst George Earl of Shrewsbury John Lord Darcy of Aston and from Henry Earl of Huntington who Constituted him the said Earl of Leicester his Proctor severally and jointly with Francis Earl of Bedford all which said Proxies or Letters Procuratory are Entred in the Original Journal-Book to have been returned or introducted on Wednesday the 25 th day of this instant January On Thursday the 19 th day of January Billa for avoiding of slanderous Libelling prima vice lecta and two other Bills of no great moment were each of them read secunda vice after which the continuance of the Parliament is thus Entred in the Original Journal-Book Dominus Cancellarius continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem prox hora secunda post meridiem On Friday the 20 th day of January the House met not till about two of the Clock in the Afternoon when her Majesty was her Self present with Sir Thomas Bromley Lord Chancellor and divers of the Lords both Spiritual and Temporal who being all set the Knights Citizens and Burgesses had notice given them thereof and thereupon repaired unto the Upper House with John Popham Esquire the Queens Sollicitor whom they had Elected and Chosen their Speaker on Wednesday the 18 th day of this instant January last past The said Speaker or Prolocutor with as many of the House of Commons as conveniently could being let in was led up between two of the most eminent Personages of the said House of Commons unto the Rail or Bar at the lower end of the Upper House and being there placed after three Reverences made spake to the effect following That whereas at the humble Suit of the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the Commons House of Parliament now Assembled it had been signified from her Majesty by the Mouth of the Lord Chancellor and by force of her Highness Commission under the Great Seal of England that it was her Pleasure and Command that the said Knights Citizens and Burgesses should chuse a Learned man for their Speaker instead of Sir Robert Bell late Lord Chief Baron and their Speaker whom it had pleased God to take out of this World that thereupon they had Chosen and compelled himself to take upon him that weighty Charge for which finding himself altogether unable and further at large pressing his own disability he lastly desired that her Majesty out of her gracious favour would be pleased to free him from that great imployment and that the said Knights Citizens and Burgesses might have Authority to Elect and Chuse some other more able and sufficient Member amongst them to undertake and perform the same Then the Queen called the Lord Chancellor unto her declaring her Opinion in that which he should Answer to the said Speaker or Prolocutor who thereupon returning to his place Answered the said Speaker that her Majesty had fully heard and did well allow of his modest and humble disabling of himself but yet being also acquainted with his faithfulness care and many abilities her Majesty was resolved he should undertake this Charge and therefore did both allow and approve of the said Election of the House of Commons Whereupon the said Speaker rendring his most humble thanks to her Majesty and acknowledging her gracious favour towards him promised his most faithful and careful endeavour for the discharge of the said place after which he proceeded to Petition her Majesty in the name of the House of Commons according to the usual course for freedom of Speech freedom of Access to her Majesty and freedom from Arrests and Suits for themselves and their necessary Attendants And lastly that if in any thing he should unwittingly mistake the blame might not lie upon the House but upon himself and that her Majesty would be pleased graciously to Pardon him To which the Lord Chancellor by Command from her Majesty Answered that she did well accept of his humble thankfulness and the promise of his best endeavour and diligence and that for all his Petitions her Majesty was well pleased that himself and the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons should have and enjoy all such freedoms and priviledges as had been formerly in like Case enjoyed and used in the times of her Majesties most
of Burroughs and Barons of the Ports did appear and sit down in the House of Commons but the number of them was not great partly by reason of sundry former Prorogations of the same Session made so near unto the days thereof appointed and partly also for that many of the Knights Citizens Burgesses and Barons since the last former Sessions were changed some by Death and some by other occasions and new returned in some of their places and in some others none which now could not sit in the House till they had first taken the Oath for acknowledging the Queens Highnesses Supremacy over all Estates within her Majesties Realms and Dominions which as then was not done neither could then be done because there was then no Lord Steward at all named or appointed for that purpose according to the form of the Statute in that case made and provided And being so set Sir Francis Knolles Knight Treasurer of her Majesties most honourable Houshold stood up and putting the House in remembrance as well of the Death of Sir Robert Bell K t late Lord Chief Baron of her Highness Exchcquer their Speaker since the last Session by reason whereof the House was then without a Speaker and could not therefore proceed in any thing as also of some course to be taken for procuring her Majesties Commandment to chuse another Speaker he declared unto them that as it was well known by often experience and usage that at the first Summons or beginning of a Parliament the Order is in that case to sit still till the House be sent for to the Upper House there to receive her Highness Commandment to chuse a Speaker so was it now uncertain what Order should be used when a Speaker dying after a former Session Prorogated a new is to be chosen in another Session ensuing holden by such Prorogation in which Case he said there were not many Precedents to his knowledge albeit yet one within our Memory which was in the eighth year of her Majesties Reign when Richard Onslow Esquire the Queens Majesties Sollicitor was chosenSpeaker in that Session de an 8 Reginae Eliz. which made but one and the same Parliament with the former Session held in Anno 5 Reginae ejusdem in which Thomas Williams Esq had been Speaker and died before the said second Session held by Prorogation in the said eighth year of the Queen he offered a Copy of that precedent but because M r Fulk Onslow the Clerk was present sitting as Clerk and had there his Original Book of notes out of which the said Copy was taken he was Commanded to read it out of his Book which was to this purpose But in respect it is omitted both in the foul Copy which Fulk Onslow now Clerk of the House of Commons took concerning the Passages of this Session of Parliament fol. 1. a. and also in the fair written or perfected Copy of the Journal of this said Session out of both which this present Journal is collected and enlarged fol. 106. b. therefore it being a Precedent useful I have supplied it out of the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House in the Parliament de Annis 8 9 Reginae Eliz. Anno Domini 1565. in manner and form following viz. That on Monday the 30 th day of December in the eighth year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth a new Session of Parliament being holden by Prorogation at Westminster and the Knights Citizens and Burgesses according to their usual Order and Custom meeting thereupon in the House of Commons did there find that Thomas Williams Esq their late Speaker in the first Session of this Parliament holden in the fifth year of the said Queen Eliz. was dead and that the said Commons falling by that means into Consultation what course was fittest to be taken in respect that until a new Speaker was chosen no business could be Entred upon or expedited in the said House did at length all resolve as the best course to send certain of the most eminent Personages being Members of the said House up unto the Lords to desire likewise their advice and assistance in whatsoever their Lordships in that Case should think fittest to be done And thereupon their Lordships joining four Members of their House with four more of the House of Commons did advise that with all humbleness and speed they should all jointly repair to her Majesty and make intimation of their said Estate and so further desire to know her pleasure therein And her Majesty did accordingly most graciously on the next day being Tuesday the first day of October send her Commission under the Great Seal of England directed unto the Lord Keeper by which the said Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons were Authorized to Elect and chuse a new Speaker which accordingly they did and thereupon presented him being Richard Onslow Esquire the Queens Sollicitor on the very next day following being Wednesday the second day of October But notwithstanding this precedent some were of opinion although they did not utter it because they supposed themselves not warranted to treat of any thing much less of any dealing with the Upper House without a Speaker or without her Majesties Commandment that this was the only precedent that could be shewed in such manner of proceeding and was but an innovation and not warranted upon good grounds but rather subject to inconvenience and peril So first they thought it was a breach of Duty to the Queen that we should enter into that or any other Consultation before her Majesties Pleasure known touching a Speaker Item there was no warrant to resolve us any thing so that there was no person to take the Voices or moderate the Consultation Item those who should go on such Message could have no good warrant to deliver it in the name of the House when the House could treat of nothing Item it had some inconvenience of drawing a special Prerogative to those of the House that were of her Majesties Councel from the rest of the House Item it had greater peril of precedent to draw the Petitions of the House to her Majesty to be done by mediation of the Upper House and they thought it to stand much in duty and humility to the Queen not to presume to make such Petition or to make difference in proceeding upon a Parliament newly Summoned and a Session of Parliament held by Prorogation as it is used upon new Summons so to sit still in all humility expecting that the House should be sent for to the Upper House there to receive her Majesties Pleasure and Commandment to chuse a Speaker which her Pleasure might either be delivered by the Lord Chancellor in her Majesties Presence or in her absence by Commission as in Cases of Prorogations and such like doings is used And for that it might be doubted how her Majesty should have notice that the Speakers place was void it was to be Answered that the House it self judicially hath
humble Petition unto her Highness for reformation of some abuses yet remaining in the Church and most humbly renewing the speedy consideration thereof unto her Majesties good remembrance at her good will and pleasure did further most humbly beseech her Highness in the name and behalf of the whole State of the Commons of her Realm that her Majesty would at their most humble Suit the rather have a vigilant and provident care of the safety of her most Royal Person against the malicious attempts of some mighty Foreign Enemies abroad and the Trayterous practices of most unnatural disobedient Subjects both abroad and at home envying the blessed and most happy and quiet Government of this Realm under her Highness upon the thread of whose Life only next under God dependeth the Life and whole State and stay of every her good and dutiful Subjects And withal that it might please her Highness to have such good care and regard generally for the maintenance of Mariners and of the Navigation the very strength and Walls of her Majesties Realms and Dominions as may seem most convenient unto her Highness most godly wisdom from time to time And so declaring that her Majesties Nobles and Commons having had consideration of her Highness great Charges many ways for defence of her Realms and People against Foreign Enemies and other Rebellious Subjects both already imployed and hereafter to be imployed have granted unto her Highness one Subsidy and two Fifteenths and Tenths which they besought her Highness to accept in good part according to their humble Duties and gave her Majesty most humble thanks for her Highness most Gracious general and free Pardon Which done the Lord Chancellor by her Majesties Commandment Answering very Excellently and briefly the parts of M r Speaker his Oration did amongst other things deliver her Majesties most hearty thanks unto both Houses for their great and good care for the safety of her Highness Person and also of her Honour good Fame and Dignity not yet comprehending within those general thanks such Members of the House of Commons as have this Session dealt more rashly in some things than was fit for them to do and giving them withal like hearty thanks for the said Contribution of a Subsidy and two Fifteenths and Tenths in that it was granted as willingly and frankly and also as largely and amply and to be Answered as speedily as any other like ever hath been taking the same in as good part as if it had been to her own private use where in very deed it is to be imployed to the general service and benefit of the whole Realm And so giving her Royal Assent to thirty Acts fifteen publick and fifteen private the said Lord Chancellor did by her Highness Commandment Prorogue this present Parliament until the 24 th day of April next coming Nota That all this days Passages with the manner of the Conclusion of the Parliament are wholly transcribed out of the Original Journal Book of the House of Commons and in that respect are here more largely set down than in the Journal of the Upper House and the rather because there is no Conclusion of any Parliament so exactly described in any other of the said Original Journal Books of the House of Commons during the Queens Reign The third and last Session finally of this present Parliament was upon the foresaid 24 th day of April Prorogued again unto the 29 th day of May and was at last after seventeen other Prorogations Dissolved by vertue of her Majesties Commission under the Great Seal of England in that behalf directed upon the 19 th day of April in the twenty fifth year of her Majesties Reign THE JOURNAL OF THE House of LORDS A. Journal of the Passages of the House of Lords in the Parliament holden at Westminster Anno 27 Reginae Eliz. Anno Domini 1584. which began there on Monday the 23 th Day of November and then and there continued until the Prorogation thereof on Monday the 29 th Day of March Anno Domini 1585. after which it was lastly Dissolved on Wednesday the 14 th Day of September Anno 28 Reginae ejusdem Anno Domini 1586. THIS Parliament Summoned and holden in the twenty seventh year of her Majesties Reign lasted a long time in respect of the continual sitting of either House for the space of about three Months at two several Meetings between which there intervened only one Adjournment of about forty days space There were no publick matters of any great consequence debated in it but many Excellent Passages for the Power Priviledge and Order of the Upper House may be observed from it At the first Prorogation thereof on Monday the 29 th day of March in Anno 27 Reginae Eliz. Anno Domini 1585. there passed near upon fifty several Acts or Statutes publick and private from which time it continued until the Dissolution thereof as abovesaid The day before the Parliament began being Sunday and the 22 th day of November the Original Journal-Book setteth down amongst others two unusual or extraordinary Proxies to have been introducted or returned thereon into the hands of the Clark of the Upper House for any Proxy if it be delivered into the hands of the said Clark whether it be before the Parliament begin or after is well returned and it is most likely that these two with some other ordinary or usual Proxies which are here omitted were delivered as aforesaid this Sunday towards the Evening because the Parliament was to begin the next Morning Which said Letters Procuratory are Entred as aforesaid in manner and form following 22 o die Novembris introductae sunt literae Procuratoriae Johannis Episcopi Carliolen ' in quibus Procuratorem suum constituit Johannem Episcopum London Item introductae sunt literae Procuratoriae Willielmi Episcopi Cestren ' in quibus Procuratorem suum constituit Edwinum Archiepiscopum Eboracen ' Nota. That here two Bishops did constitute but one Proxy apiece whereas it seldom happeneth that any spiritual Lord nominateth fewer than two But for any further observation upon the Proxies returned this Parliament Vide on Friday the 27 th day of this instant November following On Monday the 23 th day of November the Parliament began according to the Summons Which had been sent forth The Queens Majesty went to this Parliament in her accustomed Pompous and Royal manner being attended first unto the Cathedral Church of Westminst from her Palace of Whitehall by the Lords and others where having heard a Sermon she was afterwards conducted by them in the like Royalty into the Parliament Chamber commonly called the Upper House whither she came about two of the Clock in the Afternoon Nota That the whole manner and form aforesaid of her Majesties most Royal going to this Parliament is set down at large in M r Mills his Catalogue of Honour imprinted at London Anno Domini 1610. pag. 64. The Queen and the Lords Spiritual and Temporal being all set in
their several places the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons had notice thereof who thereupon repairing thither as many as conveniently could were let in and standing all together at the Rail or Bar at the lower end of the Upper House Sir Thomas Bromley Knight Lord Chancellor by the Queen Commandment declared unto them the Causes of the Assembling of this Parliament But what those Causes were neither the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House nor that of the House of Commons do at all mention in setting down the other daily Passages of this Parliament de Anno isto 27 Reginae Eliz. But in respect they are set down the above-mentioned Catalogue of Honour imprinted at London An. Domini 1610. pag. 〈◊〉 and that it is most probable that were there inserted out of the Collections or Memorial of some Member of the House of Commons at this Parliament therefore I have thought good to supply it verbatim as it is there set down The said Lord Chancellor declared unto them in her Majesties name that this Assembly of Parliament was for three causes called viz. For the glory of Almighty God and the furthering of Religion for the health and preservation of her Royal Majesty and the welfare of the Common-Weal Which after that he had a loud and most eloquently at large declared turning his Speech unto the Knights and Burgesses standing on a heap together below he willed them to make choice of their Prolocutor and to give notice of him so Chosen unto the Lords of the Privy-Council from whom they should expect what the Queens Pleasure and Answer was concerning him so Chosen to be afterward presented The substance of this Speech being so shortly set down in the said Catalogue of Honour I thought good to transcribe although it were imprinted because it doth much augment and perfect this present Journal of the Upper House The residue whereof doth next in order follow out of the Original Journal-Book of the same House there being only added now and then as the occasion offered it self some Observations and Animadversions upon it Nota Also that no names of any of the Lords Spiritual or Temporal are noted to have been present this day which happened through the negligence of the Clerk of the Parliament but it may be conjectured who they were by the names of such whose presence is noted on Thursday next following being the 26 th day of this instant November on which said day the presence of such Lords as attended this Parliament is first marked Then follow the names of the Receivors and Triors of Petitions which is the more remarkable at this time because it is said that the Clerk of the Parliament did read them by the Lord Chancellors Commandment whereas it should seem at other times and which is agreeable also to the course at this day he doth presently stand up of himself as soon as the Lord Chancellors or Lord Keepers Speech is ended and reads the said Receivors and Triors names yet the entrance aforesaid is at this time set down in the said Journal-Book in manner and form following Tunc having before-mentioned the Lord Chancellors Speech Parliamenti Clericus ex mandato Cancellarn omnibus Petitionibus exhiberi volentibus Receptorum Examinatorum nomina formâ subsequenti recitavit Then follows all in French of which the names were these Receivors of Petitions for England Ireland Wales and Scotland Sir Christopher Wray Lord Chief Justice of England Sir Gilbert Gerrard Master of the Rolls Sir Thomas Gawel Knight one of the Justices of the Kings-Bench Doctor Clarke and Doctor Ford. Receivors of Petitions for Gascoigne and other Countries beyond the Seas and the Isles Sir Edmund Anderson Knight Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas Sir Roger Manwood Lord Chief Baron Francis Windam one of the Justices of ..... Doctor Awbery and Doctor Barkley Such as will deliver Petitions must so do within six days next ensuing Triors of Petitions for England Ireland Wales and Scotland The Archbishop of Canterbury the Earl of Leicester Lord High Steward of England the Earl of Darby the Earl of Rutland the Bishop of Winchester the Bishop of Salisbury the Lord Howard of Effingham Chamberlain of the Queens House the Lord Gray of Wilton the Lord North. All these or any four of them calling unto them the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal the Lord Treasurer and also the Queens Serjeants at their leisure to meet and hold their place in the Chamberlains Chamber Triors of Petitions for Gascoigne and the Countries beyond the Seas and the Isles The Archbishop of York the Earl of Oxford Great Chamberlain of England the Earl of Warwick the Earl of Pembroke the Bishop of Norwich the Bishop of Chester the Bishop of Rochester the Lord Cobham the Lord Lumley and the Lord Buckhurst All these or four of them calling to them the Queens Serjeants and the Queens Attorney and Sollicitor to hold their place when their leisure did serve to meet in the Treasurers Chamber Breve returnatum which was returned this Morning quo Johannes Episcopus Gloucestren praesenti Parliamento interesse summonitus fuit qui admissus est ad suum praeheminentiae sedendi in Parliamento locum salvo jure alieno Dominus Cancellarius continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem crastinum horâ nonâ On Tuesday the 24 th day of November the Lords met in the Upper House but nothing was done saving the continuance of the Parliament by the Lord Chancellor until nine of the Clock the next Morning On Wednesday the 25 th day of November there was a like meeting of the Lords but nothing done saving the continuance of the Parliament by the Lord Chancellor unto two of the Clock in the Afternoon the day following But no presence of the Lords is noted on this day in the Original Journal-Book On Thursday the 26 th day of November the Commons having chosen their Speaker who upon his Presentment to the Queen was this day to be allowed of in the said place her Majesty Accompanied with divers of the Nobility came into the Upper House about three of the Clock in the Afternoon whose name and the names of such Lords Spiritual and Temporal as are marked in the Original Journal-Book of this Parliament to have been present this day do here ensue Regina Archiepiscopus Cantuar. Dominus Thomas Bromley Miles Cancellarius Archiepiscopus Eboracen Dominus Barleigh Dominus Thesaurarius Angliae Marchio Winton Comites Comes Oxon. Magnus Camerarius Comes Arundell Comes Kantiae Comes Darbiae Comes Wigorn. Comes Rutland Comes Cumberland Comes Sussex Comes Bathon Comes Pembrooke Comes Hartford Vice-Comes Mountague Vice-Comes Bindon Episcopi Episcopus London Episcopus Winton Episcopus Meneven Episcopus Sarisburien Episcopus Petriburgen Episcopus Norwicen Episcopus Roffen Episcopus Cestren Barones Dominus Howard Camerar Dominus Zouch Dominus Willoughbie Dominus Dacres Dominus Cobham Dominus Grey de Wilton Dominus Lumley Dominus Stourton Dominus Mountjoy
to allow the Clerk of the Parliament reads in French these words following La Royne s'advisera Nota That all the Acts which passed this Parliament were in number forty nine whereof thirty were publick and nineteen private ut vide in the Statute-Book at large printed Anno Domini 1585. Nota also That the express and direct manner of her Majesties giving her Royal assent to such Acts as passed at this Parliament as is before set down is not so entred in the Original Journal-Book of the same but is supplied out of that de Anno 39 Reginae Eliz. where it is at large inserted according to which Precedent the form being always the same the rest of the Journals of her Majesties Regin as well as this present Journal are enlarged and perfected To the further amplifying of which also here doth now in the next place ensue a most pious and gracious Speech of her Majesty's uttered by her upon the conclusion of this Parliament which being not found in the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House is therefore supplied out of a Copy thereof I had by me written by John Stow the Chronicler with his own hand being verbatim as followeth MY Lords and ye of the Lower House my silence must not injure the Owner so much as to suppose a Substitute sufficient to render you the thanks that my heart yieldeth you not so much for the safe keeping of my life for which your care appears so manifest as for the neglecting your private future peril not regarding other way than my present State No Prince herein I confess can be surer tied or faster bound than I am with the link of your good will and can for that but yield a heart and a head to seek for ever all your best yet one matter toucheth me so near as I may not overskip Religion the ground on which all other matters ought to take root and being corrupted may marr all the tree And that there be some fault-finders with the Order of the Clergy which so may make a slander to my self and the Church whose over-Ruler God hath made me whose negligence cannot be excused if any Schisms or Errours heretical were suffered Thus much I must say that some faults and negligences may grow and be as in all other great Charges it happeneth and what vocation without All which if you my Lords of the Clergy do not amend I mean to depose you Look ye therefore well to your Charges This may be amended without heedless or open exclamations I am supposed to have many studies but most Philosophical I must yield this to be true that I suppose few that be no Professors have read more And I need not tell you that I am so simple that I understand not nor so forgetful that I remember not and yet amidst my many Volumes I hope Gods Book hath not been my seldomest Lectures in which we find that which by reason for my part we ought to believe that seeing so great wickedness and greeves in the World in which we live but as way-faring Pilgrims we must suppose that God would never have made us but for a better place and of more comfort than we find here I know no Creature that breatheth whose life standeth hourly in more peril for it than mine own who entred not into my state without sight of manifold dangers of life and Crown as one that had the mightiest and greatest to wrestle with Then it followeth that I regarded it so much as I left my life behind my care and so you see that you wrong me too much if any such there be as doubt my coldness in that behalf for if I were not perswaded that mine were the true way of Gods will God forbid that I should live to prescribe it to you Take you heed lest Ecclesiastes say not too true They that fear the hoary frost the snow shall fall upon them I see many over-bold with God Almighty making too many subtle scannings of his blessed will as Lawyers do with humane Testaments The presumption is so great as I may not suffer it yet mind I not hereby to animate Romanists which what Adversaries they be to mine Estate is sufficiently known nor tolerate new-fangleness I mean to guide them both by Gods holy true Rule In both parts be perils and of the latter I must pronounce them dangerous to a Kingly Rule to have every man according to his own censure to make a doom of the validity and privity of his Princes Government with a common veil and cover of Gods Word whose followers must not be judged but by private mens exposition God defend you from such a Ruler that so evil will guide you Now I conclude that your love and care neither is nor shall be bestowed upon a careless Prince but such as but for your good will passeth as little for this World as who careth least with thanks for your free Subsidy a manifest shew of the abundance of your good wills the which I assure you but to be imployed to your weal I could be better pleased to return than receive This Speech of her Majesty being thus transcribed out of the foresaid Copy written by John Stow the Chronicler as is already mentioned now followeth the Prorogation of the Parliament which is entred in the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House in manner and form following Domina ipsa Regina prorogavit praesens Parliamentum usque in vicesimum diem Maii proximum Upon which said 20 th day of May the Parliament was again prorogued and so continued by five other several Prorogations unto Wednesday the 14 th day of September in Anno 28 Reginae Eliz. Anno Domini 1586. upon which said 14 th day of September it was at last dissolved The manner of which Dissolution and the substance of all the foresaid Prorogations do next ensue Memorandum quòd vicesimo die Maii Anno Regni Reginae Eliz. 27 o convenêre Proceres tam Spirituales quà m Temporales quorum nomina subscribuntur Johannes Archiepisiopus Cantuar. Thomas Bromley Miles Dominus Cancellarius Angliae Henricus Comes Darby Johannes Episiopus London Edwardus Dominus Zouch Qui cùm convenissent Dominus Cancellarius Literas Regias commissarias Anthonio Mason Clerico Parliamenti publicè legendas in manus tradidit The tenor whereof was a Commission unto the Archbishop of Canterbury the Lord Chancellor the Archbishop of York the Lord Treasurer the Earl of Oxford Lord great Chamberlain of England George Earl of Shrewsbury Earl Marshal of England and six other Earls also to the Earl of Warwick Master of the Ordnance four other Earls Charissimóque Consanguineo suo Anthonio Vicecomiti Mountague John Bishop of London John Bishop of Sarum John Bishop of Rechester Charles Lord Howard Lord Chamberlain of her Majesties House and eight other Barons giving to them or any three or more of them 〈◊〉 potestatem facultatem authoritatem hoc instante die Jovis ad praesens Parliamentum
this time Clerk of the same On Thursday the 10 th day of December Two Bill of no great moment had each of them their first reading of which the first was the Bill for the preservation of Plymouth Haven M r Serjeant Gawdy and M r Attorney General did bring a Message from the Lords that their Lordships do pray Conference with some of this House to join with a Committee of their Lordships touching the Bill lately passed this House and sent up unto their Lordships for the better and more reverend observing of the Sabbath day Whereupon M r Treasurer M r Comptroller Mr. Vice-Chamberlain the Lord Russell Sir William Herbert Sir William Moore Mr. Edward Lewkenor Mr. Francis Hastings and Mr. George Moore were appointed by this House to attend their Lordships therein to Morrow at two of the Clock in the Afternoon in the Parliament Chamber Vide concerning this matter of the Sabbath on Wednesday the 17 th day of March following The Bill against dying with Sumach and some other Bills wholly omitted through the negligence of the Clerk and therefore seem to have been of no great moment were upon the second reading committed unto Mr. Treasurer Mr. Recorder of London Mr. Hutton Mr. Henry Nevill and others and the Bills were delivered to the said Mr. Henry Nevill who with the rest were appointed to meet upon Monday next the 14 th day of this instant December following in the Afternoon in the Middle-Temple Hall The Bill also against vicious life and idleness was upon the second reading committed unto Sir William Herbert Sir Edward Dymock and others and the Bill was delivered to the said Sir Edward Dymock who with the rest were appointed to meet to Morrow at one of the Clock in the Afternoon in the Middle-Temple Hall Mr. Recorder one of the Committees appointed on Monday the 7 th day of this instant December foregoing in the Bill for the assurance of certain Messuages Lands and Tenements late Edward Fishers unto George Chewne Esquire and others in Fee-Simple according to the true intent and meaning of certain Conveyances unto them by the said Edward Fisher made reported to the House that upon Examination by himself and the other Committees therein had and also by comparing and conferring the Contents of the preamble of the said Bill with the Conveyances of the premisses and also with the Judgment upon the forgery in the Star-Chamber and also of their Conferences had with the said Edward Fisher and Katherine his Wife as well together as a part and asunder touching the premisses and circumstances of the same they have amended the said Bill according to the said Conveyances not only in the form thereof but also in the principal matter and substance and offered both the said Bill so amended the said Evidences or Conveyances being two several Deeds indented and inrolled in the Court of Chancery and also the said Judgment in the Star-Chamber exemplified under the Great Seal of England Whereupon the Bill was presently read and the said amendments also twice read and so the Bill thereupon Ordered to be ingrossed Vide plus on Monday the 22 th day of February following On Friday the 11 th day of December Six Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the Bill concerning the aforesaid business of Edward Fisher and for the assurance of certain Lands lately sold by him unto George Chewne Esquire and others in Fee-simple did pass upon the third reading Vide plus on Monday the 22 th day of February following Mr. Vice-Chamberlain in the behalf of himself and of the residue of the Committees in the great Causes shewed unto the House that they have had sundry Meetings together and endeavoured to draw two several Bills to such ends as they thought fittest and having one of the said Bills ready drawn but not the other yet for want of longer time to meet and which yet cannot now be before Monday next offered unto the said House the Bill that was ready drawn But what the Title of the Bill was or what these great matters were is wholly omitted through the Clerks negligence yet it may be probably conjectured that they were concerning the Subsidy and Religion or the Bill for the preservation of her Majesties most Royal Person De qua vide on Monday the 14 th day of December following The Bill lastly touching Grants by Corporations was upon the second reading committed unto M r Comptroller M r Recorder and others But the time and place appointed for their meeting is in the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons through the Clerks negligence wholly omitted On Saturday the 12 th day of December Notice being given to the House of one M r Hall a Member of the same that had not attended all this Parliament it was Ordered that the Serjeant should give him warning to attend upon Monday next Vide plus in fine hujus diei Mr. Recorder of London and Mr. Sollicitor were appointed by the House to examine the Record of the return of Mr. Bevill and Mr. Darrington the two Knights chosen for the Shire of Huntington and of the circumstances thereof Nota That the Recorder of London is in this place and in all other Passages of this Journal for the most part named and ranked before the Queens Sollicitor although his place at this time be after him Mr. Bevill one of the Knights returned for the said County of Huntington declared that he was charged by a Member of this House that he had lied in his former Speech to this House touching the Declaration of the manner of chusing himself and Mr. Darrington Knights for the Shire of Huntington wherein as he taketh himself to be very much abused being a Member of this House so appealing himself to the same he prayed remedy and order to be given therein by this honourable House upon the hearing of the cause Vide plus concerning this matter on Tuesday the 8 th day of this instant December foregoing as also on Monday the 21 th day of the same Month following The Bill for the assurance of certain Messuages Lands and Tenements late Edward Fishers unto George Chewne Esquire and others in Fee-simple was sent up to the Lords by Mr. Treasurer and others Vide de ista materia on Monday the 22 th day of February following Mr. Serjeant Gawdy and Mr. Attorney General did bring from the Lords a Bill for remedy against fraudulent Conveyances with recommendation thereof from their Lordships to this House and request also for present Conference with the Committees of this House touching the Bill for the observation of the Sabbath day Of which see more on Wednesday the 17 th day of March following Sir William Knolles Mr. Fanshaw and others were appointed Committees this Afternoon to meet in the Middle-Temple Hall about the Oath for Sheriffs c. Three Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the last being the Bill
only the said Elected Knights who as those also who opposed them brought their Councel on both sides and were fully heard what they could say After which also Mr. Recorder and himself desiring fully to inquire into this matter had conferred and devised therein with the Clerk of the Crown-Office in the Chancery and comparing those Records together with some of the Statutes Ordained in those Cases they do find such difference in them tending to matter of effect and to be Answered by the Sheriff if there be cause and not for any matter in their opinions for this House to deal with whereby to cassate or make void the said Election as they take it And yet because that resteth now chiefly upon matter of Precedents to see further how this House may decide this cause he declared that Mr. Recorder and he will make further search of the Precedents in like Cases with the Clerk of the higher House for that purpose and then further to advertise this House as cause shall require Vide concerning this matter on Tuesday the 8 th day and on Saturday the 12 th day of this instant December foregoing The Bill for the preservation of the Haven of Plymouth was upon the second reading committed unto Sir Francis Drake M r Wroth Mr. Edgcombe and others who were appointed to meet the third day of the next sitting of this Court in Lincolns-Inn Hall in the Afternoon of the same day A new Bill that Parsonages impropriate may be disposed to godly and charitable uses was read the first time Mr. Sollicitor touching the excessive number of penal Laws in force very intolerable to the Subjects neither possible to be kept and yet not any put in Execution as that for Apparel in King H. 8. his time and such like moved that a Committee be had of some selected Members of this House learned in the Laws to make a view of the same Laws against the next sitting of this Court after the Adjournment of the same to the end that this House may then thereupon proceed to some course of diminishing the great number of the same as upon due considerations in that behalf to be had shall be further thought meet and convenient And thereupon were named and chosen for that purpose all the Privy-Council being of this House Mr. Sollicitor Mr. Recorder of London Mr. Morrice Mr. Sandes Mr. Attorney of the Wards and others who were appointed to meet on Wednesday before the next Term in the Afternoon in Lincolns-Inn Hall The Bill for paving of the Town of Newark upon Trent after the third reading passed upon the question Mr. Treasurer and the residue of the Committees returning from the Lords he declared that they have received some Answer from their Lordships upon the Conference and referred the report thereof to Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer as unto whom the same was by their said Lordships appointed to be delivered over unto this House Whereupon Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer declared that their Lordships had caused the said Notes in writing to be read in the House and their Lordships found the said grievances to concern but some particular Countries and not the whole Realm to wit the Countries only of Warwick Lincoln and Essex and therefore might be considered to be reformed in time by some other convenient means But being Answered by the Committees of this House that albeit there were Petitions in writing exhibited but for these three Counties yet by Motions and Speeches in the House it well appeared to be the grief of the whole Realm Which their Lordships having understood did feelingly express how sensible they were of it and how truly they did join with us of the House of Commons in wishing the reformation thereof and were now ready to aid us with their best assistances therein as erst in the two last former Sessions of Parliament they had done at both which times her Majesty had thereupon Commanded some of the Lords of the Clergy to take care and consideration of the same causes wherein as little or nothing hath been done for case or redress of the same so their Lordships of the Upper House not minding to impute the fault thereof to any and yet remembring withal that their Lordships were present when her Majesty by the Mouth of the Lord Chancellor did give Commandment unto Mr. Speaker not to deal in the House of Commons with matters concerning Religion or the Church without her Highness pleasure first known and therefore do also take the same Commandment to extend as well to their Lordships as to this House have resolved that those of the Lords which are of her Majesties Privy-Council do first move her Highness to know her Majesties Pleasure therein before they proceed any further in the matter The Lord Chief Justice of England the Lord Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas the Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer and the Master of the Rolls being sent down from the Lords to the House of Commons and admitted into the said House the said Lord Chief Justice having in his hand a Commission under the Great Seal of England declared unto Mr. Speaker that her Majesty having given Authority by Commission under the Great Seal of England unto divers of my Lords the Bishops Earls and Barons of the Upper House to Adjourn this Parliament unto the 4 th day of February next coming the said Lords Commissioners have Adjourned the same in the Upper House and their Lordships have thereupon also sent them to this House to signifie the same Adjournment over unto this House that the Knights Citizens and Burgesses and Barons of this House may likewise take notice of the same Adjournment accordingly Which thing was also after their departure out of this House declared unto this House by Mr. Speaker And so thereupon this Court by Warrant and in sorm aforesaid was adjourned unto the said 4 th day of February next coming Which done M r Vice-Chamberlain standing up and putting the House in remembrance of her Majesties most Princely and loving kindnesses signified unto this House in the former Messages and Declarations of her Highnesses thankful acceptations of the dutiful cares and travails of this House in the Service of her Majesty and the Realm moved the House that besides the rendring of our most humble and Loyal thanks unto her Highness we do being assembled altogether joyn our hearts and minds together in most humble and earnest prayer unto Almighty God for the long continuance of the most prosperous preservation of her Majesty with most due and thankful acknowledgment of his infinite benefits and blessings poured upon this whole Realm through the mediation of her Highnesses Ministry unde him And he said he had a Paper in writing in his hand devised and set down by an honest godly and learned man and which albeit it was not very well written yet he would willingly read it as well as he could if it pleased them to follow and say after him as
of Oxford great Chamberlain of England the Earl of Warwick the Earl of Pembroke the Bishop of Durham the Bishop of Lincoln the Bishop of Rochester the Lord Hunsdon Chamberlain to the Queen the Lord Lumley and the Lord Buckhurst Assoon as the Clerk of the Parliament had read these Names and had likewise ended other things of course belonging unto them viz. That the first Tryors of England c. or any four of them calling unto them the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Treasurer and also the Queens Serjeants should at their leisure meet together in the Chamberlains Chamber And that the last Tryors of Gascoigne c. or any four of them calling unto them the Queens Serjeants and the Queens Attorney and Sollicitor should hold their place when their leisure did serve them to meet in the Treasurers Chamber Then the Lords Lieutenants adjourned the Parliament until Monday next following This day were divers Proxies returned of which the Extraordinary ones were these that follow 29 o die Octobris introductae sunt Literae procuratoriae Marmad Episcopi Meneven in quibus Procuratores suos constituit Johannem Archiepiscopum Cantuar. Johannem Episcopum London Thomam Episcopum Wintonien Item introductae sunt Literae procuratoriae Willielmi Episcopi Cestren in quibus Procuratorem suum constituit Johannem Episcopum Cantuarien Item introductae sunt Literae procuratoriae Hugonis Episcopi Bangor in quibus Procuratores suos constituit Johannem Episcopum Cantuarien Willielmum Dominum Burleigh Thesaurarium Item introductae sunt Literae procuratoriae Johannis Episcopi Carliolen in quibus Procuratorem suum constituit Edwinum Archiepiscopum Ebor. Nota That these were all the Extraordinary or unsual Proxies that are entred in the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House to have been returned this Parliament For whereas the Spiritual Lords do for the most part constitute two Proctors and the Temporal Lords but one and those likewise of their own Order here the Bishop of S t Davids nominated three the Bishops of Chester and Carlisle but one apiece and the Bishop of Bangor did constitute the Lord Burleigh Lord Treasurer of England his Joynt Proctor with John Bishop of Canterbury which I take to be the only Precedent with two others in Anno 5 Eliz. during all the Parliaments of Queen Elizabeth's Reign where a Spiritual Lord did nominate a Temporal for his Proctor or a Temporal Lord a Spiritual although in the Reign of Queen Mary and other times more ancient it was very usual and ordinary On Monday the 31 th of October her Majesties Person was represented as it had been on the first day of this Parliament by three Commissioners viz. the Archbishop of Canterbury the Lord Burleigh Lord Treasurer of England and the Earl of Darby great Steward of England who were stiled the Lords Lieutenants These with divers other Lords both Spiritual and Temporal being fet in their Parliamentary Robes in the Upper House the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons had notice thereof and thereupon with John Puckering Serjeant at Law who had been Speaker also the last Parliament their now Prolocutor repaired thither and being as many as conveniently could let in the said M r Speaker was led up by two of the most eminent Personages of the House of Commons to the Rail or Bar at the lower end of the said Upper House who being there placed and having according to the usual course desired himself to be excused that so the House of Commons might make choice of some other more able Member amongst themselves it was not allowed but his former wise and discreet behaviour the last Parliament in the Execution of this very place was alledged and much commended Whereupon the said M r Speaker having made humble reverence and in very discreet and good manner submitted himself to the undertaking of the said Prolocutorship did in the end of his Speech make divers petitions of course for freedom of Speech freedom of Access to her Majesty and freedom from Arrests and Suits in the Name of the House of Commons and lastly for pardon for himself if he should unwittingly erre in the report or carriage of any thing Whereunto the Lords Commissioners by the Lord Chancellor answered That the said House of Commons and himself should enjoy and use such Priviledges as others in the times of the Queen her Noble Progenitors had accustomed to use and enjoy Nota That it doth not appear by the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House whether the Speaker were presented in the Forenoon or in the Afternoon Dominus Cancellarius continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem Veneris prox horâ octavâ On Friday the 4 th day of November the Lords Spiritual and Temporal being Assembled the Lord Chancellor continued the Parliament unto the next day at eight of the Clock On Saturday the 5 th day of November the Lord Chancellor declared unto the Lords the foul and indirect dealings practised by the Queen of Scots against her Majesty and the whole Realm notwithstanding so many great benefits and favours which the said Queen of Scots had received of her Majesty the which matter by William Lord Burleigh Lord Treasurer of England as one unto whom the said Queen of Scots whole proceedings were better known by reason of his long Service done unto our most gracious Soveraign Lady since the beginning of her Reign were more fully dilated Dominus Cancellarius continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem Lunae horâ octavâ On Monday the 7 th day of November while the Lords were debating the matter of the Queen of Scots the House of Commons came up and desired a Conference with some of the Lords of this House what number it should please them to appoint about the great matter of the Queen of Scots already opened unto them Whereupon the Lords chose out to the number of twenty one viz. the Archbishops of Canterbury and York the Lord Treasurer the Lord Steward the Earl of Northumberland the Earl of Kent the Earl of Rutland and the Earl of Sussex the Bishop of London the Bishop of Durham the Bishop of Winchester and the Bishop of Worcester the Lord Admiral the Lord Chamberlain the Lord Cobham the Lord Grey the Lord Lumley the Lord Shandois the Lord Buckhurst the Lord de la Ware and the Lord Norris Dominus Cancellarius continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem crastinum horâ nonâ On Tuesday the 8 th day of November nothing was done but the Parliament was by the Lord Chancellor continued usque in diem crastinum horâ nonâ On Wednesday the 9 th day of November were read divers Letters as well of Anthony Babington to the Queen of Scots as of the said Queen of Scots to the said Anthony Babington Charles Paget and others The Sentence also pronounced by the Commissioners against the Queen of Scots was read A form of a Petition agreed upon by the Committees of both Houses was
well thereof And thereupon made Choice of divers Lords whose names see at large on Thursday the 10 th day of this instant November foregoing And they of the House of Commons appointed their Speaker and all the Privy-Council of that House and so many others as in all with the Privy-Council made up the Number of 42. Persons to join with the said Lords And they altogether understanding first her Majesties pleasure for the time of their repair to her Highness presence which was signified to be on Saturday the 12 th day of November the Lord Chancellor in the name of the Lords and the Speaker in the name of the House of Commons declared unto her Majesty That both the Lords and Commons after often Conferences and long consultation had concluded to be humble Suitors unto her Majesty by way of Petition the effect whereof was then at good length opened unto her Majesty by the Lord Chancellor and Speaker and the Petition thereupon delivered unto her Majesty in writing And where it was before desired by them of the said House of Commons that presently upon the Agreement of the Form of the Petition it might be entered into the Rolls of the Parliament the Lords thought it better to stay the enterance thereof until it were presented unto her Highness which done the Lords ordered that this Friday the 25 th day of November the said Petition should be entered into the Parliament Roll in manner and form following viz. May it please your most Excellent Majesty Our must Gracious Soveraign We your humble loving and faithful Subjects the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament assembled having of long time to our intolerable grief seen by how manifold most dangerous and execrable practices Mary the Daughter and Heir of James the Fifth late King of Scots Dowager of France and commonly called Queen of Scots hath compassed the destruction of your Majesties sacred and most Royal Person in whose safety next under God our chief and only felicity doth consist and thereby not only to bereave us of the sincere and true Religion of Almighty God bringing us and this Noble Crown back again into the Thraldom of the Romish Tyranny but also utterly to ruinate and overthrow the happy State and Common Weal of this most Noble Realm which being from time to time by the great mercy and providence of God and your Highness singular wisdom foreseen and prevented your Majesty of your exceeding great Clemency and Princely Magnanimity hath either most graciously passed over or with singular favour tolerated although often and instantly moved by your most loving and faithful Subjects to the contrary in times of your Parliaments and at many other times and hath also protected and desended the said Scottish Queen from those great dangers which her own people for certain detestable Crimes and offences to her imputed had determined against her All which notwithstanding the same Queen was nothing moved with these and many other your Majesties most gracious favours towards her but rather obdurate in malice and by hope of continual impunity imboldened to prosecute her cruel and mischievous determination by some speedy and violent course and now lately a very dangerous Plot being conceived and set down by Anthony Babington and others That six desperate and wicked persons should undertake that wicked and most horrible enterprize to take away your Majesties Life whom God of his infinite mercy long preserve she did not only give her advice and direction upon every point and all circumstances concerning the same make earnest request to have it performed with all diligence but did also promise assurance of large reward and recompence to the doers thereof which being informed to your Majesty it pleased your Highness upon the earnest Suit of such as tendred the safety of your Royal Person and the good and quiet state of this Realm to direct your Commission under the Great Seal of England to the Lords and others of your Highness Privy-Council and certain other Lords of Parliament of the greatest and most antient Degree with some of your principal Judges to examine hear and determine the same Cause and thereupon to give Sentence or Judgment according to a Statute in that behalf made in the twenty seventh year of your most Gracious Reign By vertue whereof the more part of the same Commissioners being in number thirty six having at sundry times fully heard what was alledged and proved against the said Scottish Queen in her own presence touching the said crimes and offences and what she could say for her defence and excuse therein did after long deliberation give their Sentence and Judgment with one consent that the death and destruction of your Royal Person was imagined and compassed by the said Anthony Babington with the privity of the same Scottish Queen And that she her self did also compass and imagine the death and destruction of your most Royal Person Now for as much as we your Majesties most humble loyal and dutiful Subjects representing unto your most Excellent Majesty the universal State of your whole people of all degrees in this your Realm do well perceive and are fully satisfied that the same Sentence and Judgment is in all things most honourable just and lawful And having carefully and effectually according to our most bounden duties weighed and considered upon what ground and cause so many Traiterous complots and dangerous practices against your most Royal Person and Estate and for the invading of this Realm have for the space of many years past grown and proceeded do certainly find and are undoubtedly perswaded that all the same have been from time to time attempted and practised by and from the Scottish Queen and by her Confederates Ministers and Favourers who conceive an assured hope to atchieve speedily by your Majesties untimely death that which they have long expected and whereof during your Life which God long preserve to our inestimable Comfort they despair to wit to place her the said Scottish Queen in the Imperial and Kingly Seat of this Realm and by her to banish and destroy the Professors and professing of the true Religion of Jesus Christ and the antient Nobility of this Land and to bring this whole State and Common-Weal to Foreign Subjection and utter ruin and confusion which their malicious and traiterous purpose they will never cease to prosecute by all possible means they can so long as they may have their Eyes and Imaginations fixed upon that Lady the only ground of their treasonable hope and conceits and the only Seed-plot of all dangerous and traiterous devices and practices against your Sacred Person And seeing also what insolent boldness is grown in the heart of the same Queen through your Majesties former exceeding favours and Clemencies towards her and thereupon weighing with heavy and sorrowful hearts in what continual peril of such like desperate Conspiracies and practices your Majesties most Royal and Sacred Person and Life more dear unto us than
added viz. vicesimo nono In the fourth and last place the Printed Books of Statutes are likewise mistaken for Christopher Barker at this time Printer to the Queens Majesty who Printed the Statutes of this Parliament at large in Anno 1587. maketh no mention of any Parliament or meeting of Parliament in Anno 28 Regin Eliz. but mentioneth that Book of Statutes in this manner Anno 29 o Regin Eliz. at this present Session of Parliament holden by Prorogation at Westminster the 15 th day of February in the 29 th year of the Raign of our most gracious Soveraign Lady Elizabeth c. Whereas if he had intituled it truly it should have been thus At this present Parliament holden at Westminster the 29 th day of October in the 28 th and 29 th years of the Raign of our most Gracious Soveraign Lady Elizabeth c. M r Poulton also in his Abridgement of Statutes Printed by the Company of Stationers Anno Dom. 1612. setteth down a false Title before the Statutes of this Parliament viz. Statutes made at the Session of Parliament holden by Prorogation at Westminster the 29 th day of October Anno 28 Eliz. and Anno Dom. 1587. c. In which said Title there are these two notorious and gross mistakes The first in that he saith this Parliament was holden by Prorogation whereas the former Parliament held in Anno 27 o Regin Eliz. being dissolved upon the 14 th day of September in Anno 28 Regin ejusdem this Parliament begun and held in the said 28 th and 29 th years of her Majesty was newly Summoned and not held by Prorogation His second mistake is more gross than this in that he allots all these proceedings to the year of our Lord 1587. whereas both meetings did begin and end during the year 1586. reckoning the year to begin upon the 25 th day of March as in all the Journal-Books of Parliaments and the Printed Books of Statutes and all Records and private Instruments it is always observed All which may show how great inconvenience it may bring to take up things upon trust from others without searching out the truth seeing so many men in that which they were best skilled in and had doubtless so industriously travelled in yet should be so grosly mistaken for it is not worth the proof that this was an Adjournment and not a Prorogation seeing it is positively entred in the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House on Friday the second day of December foregoing And likewise when the two Houses did meet again on Wednesday the 15 th day of February following the foresaid Journal-Book beginneth thus Die Mercurii 15 o die Februarii Domini tam Spirituales quà m Temporales quorum nomina subsequntur praesentes fuerunt Whereas if that meeting had been a new Session the Entrance ought to have been thus viz. Die Mercurii 15 o die Februarii in quem diem hoc praesens Parliamentum Prorogatum fuerat Proceres tam Spirituales auà m Temporales c. Or thus viz. In quem diem c. Sessio Parliament Prorogata fuit teneri inchoari apud Westminster die loco praedict Domini tam Spiritual quà m Temporal quorum nomina Subscribuntur praesentes fuerunt c. To which also may lastly be added that no Bill passing the two Houses in the first meeting of this Parliament nay for ought that can be gathered out of the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House no one Bill having so much as any reading there as hath been before observed and so no Royal Assent putting life into any one Law it could not be a Session but a meer meeting which continued from Saturday the 29 th of October unto Friday the second day of December in Annis 28 29. Regin Eliz. Anno Dom. 1586. This doubt being thus fully cleared and the mistakings upon which it grew being likewise discovered the residue of the Journal of this present Parliament upon the second meeting of the two Houses next ensueth On Wednesday the 15 th day of February Anno 29 o Regin Eliz. Anno Dom. 1586. to which day the Parliament had been on Friday the second day of December foregoing last Adjourned The two Houses met in their several places without any presence of the Queen or Solemnity amongst the Lords by coming in their Robes or any other Pomp whatsoever because this was neither new Parliament nor new Session but a meer new meeting of either House upon an Adjournment of the former meeting thereof which began on the 29 th day of October being Saturday in Anno 28 Regin Eliz. as is aforesaid Memorandum that this day Sir Edmund Anderson Knight Lord Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas shewed forth to be publickly read a Commission directed unto him from her Majesty in which appeared that the Lord Chancellor was so visited at this time with sickness that he was not able to travel to the Upper House to supply his room and place there her Majesty minding the said room and place to be supplied in all things during the absence of the said Lord Chancellor hath appointed and authorized the said Sir Edmund Anderson during the absence of the said Lord Chancellor to supply his Room as by the Tenour of the said Commission here ensuing more fully appeareth ELizabeth by the grace of God Queen of England France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. To our Trusty and right Well-beloved Sir Edmund Anderson Knight Chief Justice of our Court of Common-Pleas Greeting Whereas our Right Trusty and Right Well-beloved Chancellor Sir Thomas Bromley Knight Lord Chancellor of England is at this time so visited with Sickness that he is not able to travel to the Upper-House of this our present Parliament holden at Westminster nor there to supply the room and place in the said Upper-House among the Lords Spiritual and Temporal there Assembled as to the Office of the said Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England hath been accustomed We minding the same place and room to be supplied in all things as appertaineth for and during every time of his absence have named and appointed you and by these presents do constitute name appoint and Authorize you from day to day and time to time when and as often as the said Lord Chancellor shall happen at any time or times during this present Parliament to be absent from his accustomed place in the said Upper House to occupy use and supply the room and place of the said Lord Chancellor in the Upper House amongst the Lords Spiritual and Temporal there Assembled at every such day and time of his absence And then and there at every such time to do and execute all such things as the said Lord Chancellor of England should or might do if he were there personally present using and supplying the same room Wherefore we Will and Command you the said Sir Edmund Anderson to supply the doing and Execution of the Premisses with
that she hath right not to succeed but to enjoy your Crown in possession and therefore as she is a most impatient Competitor acquainted with blood so will she not spare any means that may take you from us being the only Lett that she enjoyeth not her desire She is hardned in malice against your Royal Person notwithstanding that you have done her all favour mercy and kindness as well in preserving her Kingdom as saving her Life and Honour And therefore there is no place for mercy where there is no hope of amendment or that she will desist from most wicked Attempts The rather for that her malice appeareth such as that she maketh as it were her Testament of the same to be executed after her death and appointeth her Executors to perform the same She affirmeth it lawful to move Invasion therefore as of Invasion Victory may ensue and of Victory the death of the vanquished so doth she not obscurely profess it lawful to destroy you She holds it not only lawful but honourable also and meritorious to take your life c. being deprived of your Crown by her holy Father and therefore she will as she hath continually done seek it by all means whatsoever She is greedy of your death and preferreth it before her own life for in her late direction to some of her Complices she willed whatsoever became of her the Tragical Execution should be performed on you There is by so much the more danger to your Person since the Sentence than before by how much it behoveth them that would preserve her or advance her to hasten your death now or never before Execution done upon her as knowing that you and none else can give direction for her death and that by your death the Sentence hath lost the force of Execution and otherwise they should come too late if they take not the present opportunity to help her Her Friends hold Invasion unprofitable while you live and therefore in their opinion your death is first and principally to be sought as the most compendious way to ruine the Realm by Invasion Some of the eldest and wisest Papists set it down for a special good drift to occupy you with conceit that the preservation of her Life is the safety of your own and therefore you may be assured that they verily think that her life will be your death and destruction Secondly Forasmuch as concerns Religion It is most perillous to spare her that hath continually breathed the overthrow and suppression of the same being poysoned with Popery from her tender Youth and at her Age joyning in that false termed Holy League and ever since and now a professed Enemy of the Truth She resteth wholly upon Popish hopes to be delivered and advanced and is so devoted and doted in that profession that she will as well for satisfaction of others as feeding her own humor supplant the Gospel where and whensoever she may Which evil is so much the greater and the more to be avoided as that it slayeth the Soul and will spread it self not only over England and Scotland but also into all parts beyond the Seas where the Gospel of God is maintained the which cannot but be exceedingly weakened if defection should be in these two most valiant Kingdoms Thirdly For as much as concerns the happy Estate of this Realm The Lydians say Unum Regem agnoscunt Lydii duos autem tolerare non possunt So we say Unam Reginam Elizabetham agnoscunt Angli duas autem tolerare non possunt And therefore since she saith that she is Queen here and we neither can nor will acknowledge any other but you to be our Queen It will follow if she prevail she will rather make us slaves than take us for Children and therefore the Realm sigheth and groaneth under fear of such a Step-Mother She hath already provided us a Foster-Father and a Nurse the Pope and the King of Spain into whose hands if it should mis-happen us to fall what can we else look for but ruine destruction and utter extirpation of goods lands lives honour and all Whilst she shall live the enemies of the State will hope and gape after your death By your death they trust to make Invasion profitable for them which cannot be but the same should be most lamentable for us and therefore it is meet to cut off the head of that hope As she hath already by her poysoned baits brought to destruction more Noble men and their Houses and a great multitude of Subjects during her being here than she would have done if she had been in possession of her own Country and armed in the field against us so will she still be continually cause of the like spoil to the greater loss and peril of this Estate and therefore this Realm neither can or may endure her Her Sectaries do write and print that we be at our wits end worlds end if she over-live your Majesty meaning thereby that the end of our world is the beginning of theirs and therefore take her away and their world will be at an end before it begin Since the sparing of her in the 14 th year of your Reign Popish Traytors and Recusants have multiplied exceedingly And if you spare her now again they will grow both innumerable and invincible also And therefore now in the 4 th place Mercy in this case would in the end prove cruelty against us all Nam est quaedam crudelis misericordia And therefore to spare her is to spill us She is only a Cousin to you in a remote degree but we be Sons and Children of this land whereof you be not only the natural Mother but also the Wedded Spouse And therefore much more is due from you to us all than to her alone It would exceedingly grieve and wound the hearts of your loving Subjects if they should see so horrible Vice not condignly punished if any be wavering it will win them to the worser part and many will seek to make their own peace Wherefore as well for the comfort of the one as stay of the other and retaining of all It is most needful that Justice be done upon her Thousands of your loving Subjects of all degrees which have for special zeal of your safety made Oath before God to pursue to death by all forcible and possible means such as she is by just sentence found to be cannot save their Oaths if you keep her alive for then either we must take her life from her without direction which will be to our extream danger by the offence of your Law or else we must suffer her to live against our express Oath which will be to the uttermost peril of our own Souls wherewith no Act of Parliament nor power of man whatsoever can in any wise dispense And therefore seeing it resteth wholly in you by a most worthy and just execution of this sentence to keep us upright and free us in both we most humbly and earnestly
of this House Sir Robert Jermin Sir John Higham Sir Thomas Brown Sir William Moore Mr. Francis Hastings Mr. Cromwell Sir John Harrington Mr. Recorder Mr. Beal These Members of the House touching whose Commitment Mr. Cromwell moveth were sent unto the Tower on Thursday the 2 d day of this instant March foregoing for whose liberty Sir John Higham had also moved before on Saturday the 4 th day of the same Month last past The Bill for errors in Records of Attainders was read the second time with the amendments and upon the motion was ordered to be ingrossed On Tuesday the 14 th day of March the Bill for confirmation of the Subsidy granted by the Clergy was thrice read and passed upon the question The Bill against buying of Wares by strangers was upon the second reading committed unto Mr Aldersey M r Saunders M r Harris and others who were appointed to meet upon Tuesday next in Serjeants-Inn Hall in Chancery Lane The Bill for Curriers was read the second time and committed to the Committees aforesaid and to Mr. Recorder Mr. Beale Mr. Salkingston and others and the Bill was delivered to Mr. Salkingston The Bill for fraudulent Conveyances by Traytors was upon the second reading committed unto Mr. Sollicitor Mr. Harris Mr. Wroth Mr. Conisbie and others and the Bill was delivered to Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer one of the said Committees who with the rest was appointed to meet in the Exchequer Chamber this Afternoon The Bill for payment of Sir Gerrard Croker his debts was brought in again by the Committees being amended after the same was ingrossed and passed upon the Question The Bill for Horse-stealing was read the third time with the amendments and additions and dashed upon the question Mr. Attorney and Mr. Doctor Carew do bring from the Lords two Bills of which the first was for the Sale of Thomas Hanfords lands Three Bill of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the last being an Act for the more speedy and due execution of certain Branches of the Statute of 23. of her Majesty to keep her Majesties Subjects in due obedience was read the first time Two Bills were sent up to the Lords from the House of Commons whereof the first was the Bill for the Subsidy of the Clergy Nota That there is no mention made of the sending up of these two Bills in the Journal-Book of the House of Commons which happened through the negligence of M r William Onslow at this time supplying the place of the Clerk of that House and therefore it is supplyed out of the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House On Wednesday the 15 th day of March two Bills of no great moment had each of them their first reading whereof the first was the Bill of Fines for abridging Proclamations The Bill for payment of Hanfords debts was twice read and committed unto Mr. Morrice Mr. Cromwell Mr. Sollicitor Mr. Comptroller and others and the Bill was delivered to Mr. Comptroller The Bill for delay of Execution in Writs of Errors was thrice read and upon some arguments upon the Bill again committed unto Mr. Vice-Chamberlain Mr. Chancellor Mr. Wolley Mr. Cromwell and others who were appointed to meet this Afternoon in the Exchequer Chamber Nota. That this Bill was committed after the second reading upon Monday the 27 th day of February foregoing and now again as it seemeth upon the third reading which is not usual by reason of some dispute that rose about it Two Bills were sent up to the Lords this day of which the first was touching errors in records of Attainders of High Treason and the second for repealing of a Statute touching Fish made in Anno 13 Reginae Eliz. The sending up of these two Bills is not at all mentioned in the Journal-Book of the House of Commons which happened in this place as in divers others of this second meeting of this present Parliament through the inexperience and negligence of Mr. William Onslow who supplied the place of Mr. Fulk Onslow Clerk of the said House being detained from thence by sickness and therefore it is supplyed out of the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House On Thursday the 16 th day of March the Bill for Recusants was upon the second reading committed unto all the Privy Council of this House Sir Robert Jermin Sir John Higham Sir William Moore and others who were appointed to meet this Afternoon in the Exchequer Chamber The Bill against delay of Execution by Writs of Error being put to the question upon the third reading by the division of the House the same was dashed The Bill for to take away one Proviso made 13 o of the Queen for Deeds Grants c. was dashed upon the question but after what reading it was dashed it doth not appear yet it is probable it was upon the second reading it having been read the first time upon the Wednesday immediately foregoing The Bill for confirmation of Leters Patents from her Majesty under the great Seal of England c. was twice read and committed to be ingrossed The Bill for making of Cloths in Suffolk was upon the second reading committed unto Sir Robert Jermin Sir John Higham Sir William Moore Mr. Cromwell and others and the Bill was delivered to Sir Robert Jermin who with the rest was appointed to meet to Morrow in the Afternoon in the Guildhall M r Edward Penruddock M r Sprynt M r Richard Lewkenor and M r Gyles Estcourt have leave to depart but upon what reasons or grounds the House gave them leave is very negligently omitted On Friday the 17 th day of March the Bill for Fines with Proclamation was upon the second reading committed to be ingrossed The Bill for Avenon was upon the second reading committed to M r Vice-Chamberlain M r Chancellor M r Woolley Sir Robert Jermin and others who were appointed to meet to morrow in the Afternoon in the Exchequer-Chamber A Proviso added to the Bill of Fines was twice read and ordered to be ingrossed The Bill for Errors in Fines brought in by the Committees with the Amendments was twice read and committed to be ingrossed A Saving to Hanford's Bill was twice read and committed to the former Committees The Bill brought in again by the Committees against Recusants with a Proviso and Amendments also twice read The Bill for continuance of Statutes was read the third time and passed not upon the Question A Proviso also added to the same Bill that no person shall put in Sureties upon any Information was twice read and committed unto Mr. Recorder Mr. Glanvile Mr. Harris Mr. Wroth Mr. Philipps Mr. Morley Mr. Fansham Mr. Hare and Mr. Jones who were appointed to meet at the Middle Temple Hall this Afternoon at four of the Clock Nota That it is not expressed in the Original Journal-Book whether this Bill passed upon the third reading or not but it is most probable that the House did defer to give their assent unto
Prorogand Ita quod nec vos nec aliquis vestruin ad dictum duodecimum diem Novembris apud Civitatem praedictam comparere teneamini seu arctemini volumus enim vos quemlibet vestrum erga nos penitus exonerari Mandantes tenore praesentium firmiter injungendo praecipientes vobis cuilibet vestrum omnibus aliis quibus in hac parte intererit quòd ad dictum quartum diem Februarii apud praedictam Civitatem Westmonasterii personaliter compareatis intersitis quilibet vestrum compareat intersit ad tractand faciend agend concludend super hiis quae in dicto Parliamento nostro de communi Concilio dicti regni nostri favente Domino contigerint ordinari In cujus rei testimonium has Literas nostras fieri fecimus Patentes Teste meipsa apud Westmonasterium 15. die Octobris Anno Regni nostri 30. Per ipsam Reginam Ha. Gerrard On Tuesday the 4 th day of February in the 31. year of her Majesties Reign to which day the Parliament had been last Prorogued upon Tuesday the 12 th day of November foregoing and accordingly now held The Queens Majesty was personally present accompanied by the Lord Chancellor and divers of the Lords both Spiritual and Temporal but the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House doth not at all mention the presence of any Lords which happened through the great negligence of M r Anthony Mason at this time Clerk thereof yet it may be collected February 8. The Queen being set under her Cloth of State and the Lords placed in their Parliamentary Robes according to their several ranks and orders the Knights Citizens Barons and Burgesses of the House of Commons had notice thereof and thereupon repaired to the said Upper House and as many of them as conveniently could being let in stood before the Rail or Bar at the nether end thereof Then Sir Christoper Hatton Knight Lord Chancellor of England in a Speech which he used did at large declare the Queens gracious disposition to peace and her great wisdom in preserving the same and singular government of the Realm Next he shewed the great benefit which this Kingdom enjoyed by her government and remembred her great Conquest over the Spanish late wonderful Army or Fleet on the Seas videlicet in Anno 30 Reign Eliz. Anno Domini 1588. He further declared how much the King of Spain remained bent against this Kingdom And lastly shewed the Cause of calling this Parliament to be that by the consent of the most grave and wise Persons now called together out of all parts of the Realm preparation may as far forth by the Counsel of man as is possible be made and provided that Arms Souldiers and Money may be in readiness and an Army prepared and furnished against all Events The Lord Chancellors Speech being ended the Clerk of the Parliament read the names of the Receivors and Triors of Petitions in French according to the usual form which were these Receivors of Petitions for England Ireland Wales and Scotland Sir Christopher Wray Chief Justice Sir Gilbert Gerrard Knight Master of the Rolls Sir Robert Shute one of the Justices of Kings Bench D r Aubrey and D r Ford. Receivors of Petitions for Gascoigne and other Countries beyond the Seas and the Isles Sir Edmond Anderson Chief Justice of the Common Pleas Sir Roger Manwood Chief Baron Francis Windham one of the Justices of the Common Pleas D r Clerk and D r Cary. Tryors of Petitions for England Ireland Wales and Scotland The Archbishop of Canterbury the Earl of Darby the Earl of Worcester the Earl of Sussex the Bishop of London the Bishop of Winchester the Lord Howard of Effingham Lord Admiral Lord Cobham the Lord Grey of Wilton Tryors of Petitions for Gascoigne and for other Countries beyond the Seas and the Islands The Earl of Oxford great Chamberlain of England the Earl of Warwick the Earl of Pembrook the Bishop of Salisbury the Bishop of Lincoln the Bishop of Rochester the Lord Hunsdon Lord Chamberlain to the Queen the Lord Lumley and the Lord Buckhurst As soon as the Clerk of the Parliament had read these names and had likewise ended other things of course belonging unto them viz. That the first Tryors of England c. or any four of them calling unto them the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Treasurer and also the Queens Serjeants should at their leisure meet together in the Chamberlains Chamber and that the last Tryors of Gascoigne c. or any four of them calling unto them the Queens Serjeants the Queens Attorney and Sollicitor should hold their place when their leisure did serve them to meet in the Treasurers Chamber Then the Queen continued the Parliament unto a day to come which is entred in the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House in manner and form following viz. Ipsa Regina continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem Jovis prox ' hora secunda post Meridiem On Wednesday the 5 th day of this instant February although the Upper House sate not yet was one extraordinary Proxy returned or brought in unto the Clerk of the said House as there had formerly been another of a like nature returned on Monday the third day of the said Month foregoing which because it was returned before the Parliament it self began and is entred together with that before mentioned in the beginning of the Original Journal-Book of the said House it shall not be much amiss to set them down both together in this place in such manner and form as they are entred in the said Journal-Book viz. Vacat 3. die Februarii introductae sunt Literae procuratoriae Willielmi Assaphen ' Episcopi in quibus Procuratores suos constituit Johannem Archiepiscopum Cantuar ' Johannem Episcopum Roffen Hugonem Episcopum Bangoren ' Nota That though the word vacat be here placed in the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House in the Margent of this Proxy in such manner and sort as this is transcribed yet there doth not appear any reason thereof for as it may be collected by the presence of the Lords set down on Saturday the 8 th day of this instant February following neither the said Bishop of S t Asaph was present himself after the said Proxy sent nor all nor any of his Proctors absent nor himself dead which are only causes of a Vacat 5 to Die Februarii introductae sunt Literae procuratoriae Johannis Carliolen ' Episcopi in quibus Procuratorem suum constitiuit Johannem Archiepiscopum Cantuarien ' Nota That these Two Proxies are therefore called unusual and extraordinary because these two Bishops did constitute the first of them three Proctors and the last of them but one whereas for the most part the Spiritual Lords do nominate two and the Temporal Lords but one which may be collected in part out of the very Returns of this Parliament for of five Spiritual Lords that sent their Proxies three constituted two
this Journal of the Upper House save only the return of divers unusual Proxies and a Speech used by her Majesty her self at the conclusion of the Parliament which also is supplied out of a certain Journal of the House of Commons very claborately taken by an Anonymus And Sir Christopher Haton the late Lord Chancellor being dead since the last Parliament whose death was occasioned from the grief he conceived at some harsh Speeches of her Majesty used unto him touching divers great sums due unto her from him Sir John Puckering her Highness Serjeant who had been twice before Speaker or Prolocutor of the House of Commons succeeded him in the full power and priviledges of his place though not in his title he having only the Stile of Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England The Summons for this Parliament being Returnable upon this Monday the 19 th day of February it held accordingly the Queen coming privately by water accompanied with Sir John Puckering Lord Keeper of the Great Seal and many of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal There being present this day these Peers and others ensuing Archiepiscopus Cantuarien Johannes Puckering Miles Dominus Custos magni Sigilli Dominus Burleigh Dominus Thesaurarius Angliae Marchio Wintoniae Comites Comes Oxon. Magnus Camerarius Angliae Comes Darby Magnus Seneschallus Comes Northumbriae Comes Salopiae Comes Cantiae Comes Wigorn. Comes Cumberland Comes Sussex Comes Huntingdon Comes Bathon Comes Pembroke Comes Hartford Comes Essex Comes Lincoln Vice-Comes Bindon Episcopi Episcopus London Episcopus Dunelmen Episcopus Assaphen Episcopus Cestren Episcopus Covent ' Lich. Episcopus Lincoln Episcopus Petriburgen Episcopus Hertf. Episcopus Cicestren Episcopus Bangor Episcopus Wigorn. Episcopus Landaven Episcopus Salopiae Episcopus Bathon Wellen. Barones Dominus Howard mag Maresc ' Adm. Angliae Dominus Hunsdon Camerarius Reginae Dominus Strange Dominus Morley Dominus Stafford Dominus Grey Dominus Scroope Dominus Montjoy Dominus Sandes Dominus Windsor Dominus Cromwell Dominus Wharton Dominus Rich. Dominus Willoughby Dominus Sheffield Dominus North. Dominus Shandois Dominus St. John Dominus Buckhurst Dominus De la Ware Dominus Crompton Dominus Norris And the Queen and the Lords Spiritual and Temporal having on their Parliamentary Robes and having seated themselves in their several places The Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons had notice thereof and repaired to the Upper House Where contrary to the Ancient use and Custome they found the door shut upon them which happened by reason that divers of the House and others having gotten in privately before and filled up the place at the Bar or Rayl at the lower end of the said House Sir John Puckering Lord Keeper of the Great Seal by Commandment from her Majesty had already made some enterance into his Speech before the said Knights Citizens and Burgesses had any Notice of it who sate in their own House expecting to be called up to the said Upper House upon her Majesties coming But the door at length being opened by her Majesties Commandment about two of the Clock in the Afternoon as many as conveniently could were let in Where the Lord Keepers Speech was directly in these words following or not much differing from them He shewed in the first place as matter of Preface and Ornament not much material somewhat touching the Antiquity Nature and use of Parliaments Then he came to set forth as the principal matter which her Majesty did desire to have made known and manifest to all her loving Subjects the great Malice of the King of Spain which he had towards this Realm And that he shewed by sundry instances as his last Invasion intended his Forces then addressed out of the Low Countries for that purpose to have been conducted by the Duke of Parma And then he proceeded in the rest of his Oration verbatim or much to the intent and purpose sollowing The high and mighty Ships that then he prepared and sent for that purpose because he found them not fit for our Seas and such a purpose he is building of Ships of a less Bulk after another Fashion some like French Ships some like the Shipping of England and many hath he gotten out of the Low Countries He is now for the better invading of England planting him in Britanie a Country of more facility to offend us than the Low Countries there he hath fortified himself in the most strong Holds of that Country In Scotland he hath of late wrought most of the Nobility to conspire against their King to give Landing to his Forces there and to assist him in his Invasion thither A greater part of the Nobility in Scotland be combined in this Conspiracy and they have received great Sums of Money for their service therein And to assure the King of Spain of their assistance they have Signed and sent their promises sealed to the King This Conspiracy the King of Scots was hardly brought to believe but that her Majesty advertised him thereof having entertained Intelligence thereof as she hath of all things done and intended in those parts And that the King might better advise thereupon her Majesty hath sent one of her Noblemen now into Scotland and the King hath assured her Majesty with all his Ability and endeavour to prevent the Spaniard whose purpose is on the North parts to assault us by Land and on the South side to invade us by Sea which is the most dangerous practice that could be devised against us And now the rage of this Enemy being such his Forces joyned with other Princes his Adherents greater the charge of her Majesty for defence of her Realm both with Forces by Sea and Armies by Land hath been such as hath both spent the Contribution of her Subjects by Subsidies and what otherwise they have offered her and also consumed her Treasure yea caused her to sell part of her Highness's Crown And it is not to be marvelled how all this is consumed but rather to be thought how her Majesty could be able to maintain and defend this her Realm against so many Realms conspired against us Wherefore we her Majesties Subjects must with all dutiful consideration think what is fit for us to do and with all willingness yield part of our own for the defence of others and assistance of her Majesty in such an insupportable Charge Were the cause between Friend and Friend how much would we do for the relief one of another But the Cause is now between our Soveraign and our selves seeing there is so much difference in the Parties how much more forward ought we to be The Aid that formerly hath been granted unto her Majesty in these like Cases is with such slackness performed as that the third of that which hath been granted cometh not to her Majesty A great shew a rich grant and a long summ seemeth to be made but it is hard to be gotten and the summ not great which is paid
Her Majesty thinketh this to be for that the wealthier sort of men turn this charge upon the weaker and upon those of worst ability for that one dischargeth himself and the other is not able to satisfie what he is charged withal These things would be reformed by such as are Commissioners in this present service Her Majesty further hath willed me to signify unto you that the calling of this Parliament now is not for the making of any more new Laws and Statutes for there are already a sufficient number both of Ecclesiastical and Temporal and so many there be that rather than to burthen the Subject with more to their grievance it were fitting an Abridgment were made of those there are already Wherefore it is her Majesties Pleasure that the time be not spent therein But the principal Cause of this Parliament is that her Majesty might consult with her Subjects for the better withstanding of those intended Invasions which are now greater than were ever heretofore heard of And whereas heretofore it hath been used that many have delighted themselves in long Orations full of verbosity and of vain ostentations more than in speaking things of substance The time that is precious would not be thus spent The Sessions cannot be long by reason the Spring time 't is fit that Gentlemen should repair to their Countries the Justices of Assize also to go their Circuits So the good hours should not be lost in idle Speeches but the little time we have should be bestowed wholly on such businesses as are needful to be considered of And so willed them to Elect a Speaker As soon as the Lord Keepers Speech was ended the Clerk of the Parliament read the names of the Receivors and Triors of Petitions in French according to the ancient use and form which were as followeth viz. Receivors of Petitions for England Ireland Wales and Scotland Sir John Popham Lord Chief Justice of the Kings-Bench John Clynch one of the Justices of the Kings-Bench Francis Gawdy another of the Justices of the said Bench Doctor Awberry and Doctor Ford. They which will deliver Petitions are to deliver the same within six days next ensuing Receivors of Petitions for Gascoign and other parts beyond the Seas and the Isles Sir Edmond Anderson Lord Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas Sir William Perrian Lord Chief Baron and Thomas Walmsley one of the Justices of the Common-Pleas Doctor Cary and Doctor Stanhop And they which will deliver Petitions are to deliver the same within six days next ensuing Tryors of Petitions for England Ireland Wales and Scotland the Archbishop of Canterbury the Marquess of Winchester the Earl of Darby Lord Steward of the Queens Houshold the Earl of Sussex the Earl of Pembroke the Earl of Essex the Bishop of London the Bishop of Durham the Lord Howard of Effingham Earl Marshal and Lord Admiral of England the Lord Cobham the Lord Grey of Wilton All these or any four of them calling to them the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England and the Treasurer and the Queens Serjeants when need shall require shall hold their places in the Chamberlains Chamber Tryors of Petitions for Gascoign and other parts beyond the Seas and the Isles the Earl of Oxford Great Chamberlain of England the Earl of Shrewsbury the Earl of Huntington the Bishop of Rochester the Bishop of Lincoln the Lord Hunsdon Lord Chamberlain to the Queen the Lord Lumley and the Lord Buckhurst These or any four of them calling unto them the Queens Serjeants when need shall require shall hold their places in the Treasurers Chamber Nota That all that which is set down touching the coming up of those of the House of Commons into the Higher House and the Lord Keepers Speech being before placed after the names of such Lords Spiritual and Temporal as were this day present is not found in the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House but is here inserted partly out of the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons and partly out of another very exact Journal of that House which was in my Custody being very diligently observed and set down by some Anonymus who was a Member of the said House during this Parliament And I have always thought it most fitting in all these several Journals ever to refer the aforesaid Speeches the Presentments of the Speakers and such other Passages as are wholly handled and agitated in the Upper House to be set down as largely as by any good Authority they may in the Journal of the same to which they do most truly and properly belong and only for Orders sake to give a short touch or remembrance of them in the Journal of the House of Commons Finally at the Conclusion of this days business the Continuance of the Parliament is Entred in the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House in manner and form following viz. Dominus Custos magni Sigilli ex Mandato Dominae Reginae continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem Jovis prox ' futurum On Thursday the 22 th day of February to which day the Parliament had been last continued the Queens Majesty her self came about three of the Clock in the Afternoon accompanied by the Archbishop of Canterbury Sir John Puckering Knight Lord Keeper of the Great Seal William Lord Burleigh Lord Treasurer of England the Marquess of Winchester and divers others of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal being for the most part the very same that are by name set down to have been present on Monday foregoing the first day of this Parliament The Queen and the Lords being thus set the House of Commons had notice thereof who immediately thereupon came up with Edward Cooke Esquire the Queens Sollicitor into the Upper House whom they had Chosen for their Speaker or Prolocutor Which said Speaker being led up to the Bar at the nether end of the said House between two of the most Eminent Personages of the House of Commons who as soon as silence was made and the rest of the said House as many as could conveniently get in had placed themselves in the space below the said Bar spake as followeth YOur Majesties most loving Subjects the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons have nominated me your Graces poor Servant and Subject to be their Speaker This their nomination hath hitherto proceeded that they present me to speak before your Majesty Yet this their nomination is only as yet a Nomination and no Election until your Majesty giveth Allowance and Approbation For as in the Heavens a Star is but opacum Corpus until it have received light from the Sun so stand I Corpus opacum a Mute Body until your Highness bright shining Wisdom hath looked upon me and allowed me How great a Charge this is to be the Mouth of such a Body as your whole Commons represent to utter what is spoken Grandia Regni My small Experience being a poor Professor of the Law can tell But how unable I
last continued Three Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill for the grant of three entire Subsidies and fix Fifteenths and Tenths granted by the Temporalty was read primâ vice which said Bill had already passed the House of Commons and had been sent up from them to the Lords on Saturday last This Morning also two Bills of no great moment were sent up to the Lords from the House of Commons of which the second was the Bill concerning the restraining of Popish Recusants to certain places of aboad c. On Tuesday the 27 th day of March Three Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the first being for the Assurance of certain Lands and Tenements to Read Stafford and Mabell his Wife was read tertia vice expedit On Wednesday the 28 th day of March Three Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the second being for the grant of three entire Subsidies and Fifteenths c. was read secunda vice Five Bills also were sent up to the Lords from the House of Commons of which the first was for restitution in blood of Sir Thomas Parrot K t and was read primâ vice This day finally was one unusual or extraordinary Proxy returned from one of the Bishops absent at this time from the Parliament as divers other Peers by the Licence of her Majesty in which said Proxy he constituted but one Proctor whereas the Ordinary Custom is for every Spiritual Lord to nominate two Proctors at the least and every Temporal Lord but one This Proxy is thus Entred in the beginning of the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House viz. 28 Martii introductae sunt Literae Procuratoriae Thomae Cicestrensis Episcopi in quibus Procuratorem suum constituit Johannem Cantuariensem Episcopum On Thursday the 29 th day of March Three Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill for restitution in blood of Sir Thomas Parrot K t was read secunda tertia vice expedit On Friday the 30 th day of March Five Bills had each of them one reading of which the first was the Bill for the grant of three entire Subsidies c. granted by the Temporalty And the last was the Bill of Subsidy granted by the Clergy Both which Bills at this time upon their several third readings passed the House On Saturday the 31 th day of March Six Bills had each of them one reading of which the last being the Bill prohibiting Strangers born to sell by way of retail Foreign Wares brought into this Realm was read secunda tertia vice and rejected On Monday the second day of April to which day the Parliament had been last continued the Bill for Explanation of a Statute made in the thirty third year of Henry the Eighth touching Grants made to his Majesty and Confirmation of Letters Patents was read secunda vice Six Bills were brought up to the Lords from the House of Commons of which the second was for bringing in of fresh Water into the Town of Stonehouse in the County of Devon On Tuesday the third day of April Five Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the fourth being the Bill for the maintenance of the Navigation of England was read secunda vice On Wednesday the 4 th day of April the Bill for Explanation of the Statute made in the thirty fourth year of Henry the Eighth for confirmation of Letters Patents made by his Highness to others was read primâ secundâ vice On Thursday the 5 th day of April Three Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill for Confirmation of Letters Patents to the Mayors Sheriffs Citizens and Commonalty of the City of Lincoln was read tertiâ vice conclusa This Morning also this Order following was agreed on amongst the Lords viz. WHereas the Lords of Parliament both Spiritual and Temporal assembled in the Parliament Chamber here at Westminster have with one uniform consent both in their own names and the rest of the Lords now absent Ordered that there shall be a charitable relief and contribution made towards the Aid and help of a number of Souldiers that are seen in the time of this Parliament maimed and sore hurt in the Wars of France and Low Countries and on the Seas for the service of the Queens Majesty and the Realm and for that purpose have allowed that every Archbishop Marquess Earl and Viscount should pay toward their Contribution the sum of forty shilings every Bishop thirty shillings and every Baron twenty shillings for Collection whereof there hath been appointed the Queens Majesties Almoner and the Bishop of Worcester to collect the sums of Bishops and the Lord Norris to collect the sums payable by the Lords Temporal which hath been diligently done and received by them from all the Lords Spiritual and Temporal that have been present and that have attended to their great charge on the service of the Realm in this Parliament And considering the number of the Souldiers to be relieved therewith being very many notwithstanding the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons have yielded very good and large Contributions according to their Degrees Yet for the better relief of the said maimed Souldiers It is by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal that have given their Attendance here and have charitably and honourably yielded to this Contribution thought meet and so it is Ordered and Decreed by them with common and free consent that all the Lords of Parliament that have been altogether absent in this Sessions and that shall not have Contributed to this charitable use of relief before the end of this Sessions shall be required by Letters to be sent to them by the Lords that had their Procuration for their absence or by Letters from the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal required and charged to Cause payments to be made according to their Degrees and Vocations the double of the sums of money paid by the Lords that have been here present and continued their Attendance That is to say that every Earl that hath been absent shall pay four pound the Archbishop of York to pay as much And every Bishop also absent to pay three pound and every Baron forty shillings And for such as have been here present and continued their Attendance at some times though very seldom having been absent for the more part it is thought meet that every such Lord Spiritual and Temporal shall according to their Degrees pay a third part more than the Lords that have been constantly present All which sums of money they shall cause to be delivered to the hands of the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal to be afterwards by such Spiritual Lords of Parliament as are chosen for that purpose distributed to the maimed
intermedling with the Succession of the Crown which she had expresly forbidden Which Passage as also divers other particular Speeches being not found in the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons are supplied out of another Journal of the same House very exactly and elaborately taken by an Anonymus being a Member of the same at this Parliament but yet with this Caution to avoid confusion that whatsoever is inserted out of the saidAnonymous Journal hath a particular Animadversion annexed unto it for discovery thereof The eighth Parliament of our Soveraign Lady Elizabeth by the Grace of God Queen of England France and Ireland Defender of the Faith begun at Westminster upon Monday being the 19 th day of February in the thirty fifth year of her Majesties Reign And thereupon many of the Knights Citizens Burgesses and Barons returned into the same Parliament then made their Appearances at Westminster before the Right Honourable the Earl of Darby Lord Steward of her Majesties most Honourable Houshold and did take the Oath before the said Lord Steward or his Deputies according to the Statute in that behalf lately made and provided The manner of the administring of the said Oath to the said Knights Citizens and Burgesses was as followeth The said Lord Steward removed into the Court of Requests and having called over the said Knights and others that were returned by their names M r Vice-Chamberlain and others of her Majesties Privy-Council took the said Oath before his Honour and then having appointed them his Deputies to swear the residue of the House of Commons who had then appeared according to their several returns he departed And thereupon his Lordships said Deputies proceeded to the further administrating of the aforesaid Oath to other Members of the said House who after they had taken the same entred into it and placed themselves The Fee for entring the name into the Serjeants Book is two shillings The reward to the Door-Keeper three shillings eight pence The Fee for returning the Indenture two shillings About two of the Clock in the Afternoon this present Monday her Highness with divers of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and such others as had place there being let into the Upper House and the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons as many as conveniently could being at length let in The Right Honourable Sir John Puckering Knight Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England declared the said Parliament to be called by her Highness only for Consultation and Preparation of Aid to be had and made against the mighty and great Forces of the King of Spain bent and intended against this Realm as well by some practices attempted by him in the Realm of France and with some of the Nobility of Scotland as by many other ways and means to that end and purpose And did in the end advise the said Commons to employ the time of this present Session of Parliament in the aforesaid Consultation and not to go about the making of any new Laws for the Common-Wealth at this time as well for that there are very many good Laws already in force more he said than are well executed as for that also such new Laws if they be needful may be treated of and dealt in at some other time hereafter And so willed them to repair to their accustomed place and make Choice of their Speaker Which done the said Parliament was Adjourned until Thursday next following After which the said Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons being Assembled in the same House the Right Honourable Sir Francis Knowles Knight one of her Majesties most Honourable Privy-Council and Treasurer of her Highness most Honourable Houshold stood up and putting the House in remembrance of the said Charge of the said Lord Keeper given unto them for chusing of their Speaker and very gravely and amply setting out sundry the good parts and commendable qualities and abilities of the Right Worshipful M r Edward Cooke Esquire Learned in the Laws of this Realm Sollicitor General to her Majesty and being a Member of this House returned into the same one of the Knights for the County of Norfolk doth in the end for his part and opinion nominate the said M r Edward Cooke to be chosen for their Speaker in this present Parliament if the residue of this House shall so think good Unto which Motion as many of the said House assented with their Voices so the said M r Edward Cooke thereupon stood up and very gravely and discreetly behaving himself as well in all due thankfulness unto this House for their said good opinion conceived of him as also in disabling himself in divers respects for the discharge due and requisite for that place humbly prayeth them to proceed to a new Election Which done the Right Honourable Sir Thomas Heneage Knight Vice-Chamberlain to her Majesty and one other of her Highness's most Honourable Privy-Council stood up and not only approving but also very much amplifying the said former sundry commendable gifts and abilities of the said M r Edward Cooke exceeding many others and comparable in his opinion and judgment with any others for that place and charge gathering also the same partly from his own late former Speech of excuses doth in the end resolutely deliver his opinion to make choice of the said M r Cooke to be their Speaker And also thereupon moving the question to the House the said M r Cooke was with one full consent and voice of the whole House nominated and chosen to be their Speaker for this present Parliament And so was thereupon presently brought by the said M r Treasurer and M r Vice-Chamberlain and set in the Chair And immediately after the House did rise and were appointed to repair thither again upon Thursday next following On Thursday the 22 th day of February to which day the Parliament that begun on Monday foregoing being the 19 th day of the same Month had been continued by Sir John Puckering Knight Lord Keeper of the Great Seal by her Majesties Commandment the Queens Majesty and divers of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal being set in the Upper House the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons had notice thereof and thereupon they repaired thither with Edward Cooke Esquire her Majesties Sollicitor their lately Elected Speaker who being led up to the Rail or Bar at the lower end of the said House by two of the most-eminent Personages of the aforesaid House of Commons after humble reverence made declared unto her Majesty his Election to the said place of Prolocutor and then alledging according to the usual course his own insufficiency did desire her Majesty to enable him to that Charge and to consider that howsoever he were the meanest that ever went before him in that place in respect of Experience yet in respect of his faithfulness he thought himself inferlour to none After which Speech her Majesty by the Mouth of the Lord
r Lewes Sir Edward Dimock the Recorder and Citizens of York M r Recorder of London and others who were appointed to meet to Morrow at two of the Clock in the Afternoon in this House The Amendments in the Bill touching the late Deprivation of Edward Bonner late Bishop of London being twice read by the Clerk the Bill was upon the question Ordered to be ingrossed The Amendments in the Bill touching salted Fish and salted Herrings being twice read the Bill was upon the question Ordered to be ingrossed The Amendments in the Bill for confirmation of assurances of certain Lands and Tenements from Richard Knightley Valentine Knightley and Edward Knightley Esquires unto Charles Hales Esquire Thomas Bricket and John Lamberd Gent. being twice read the Bill was upon the question Ordered to be ingrossed M r Serjeant Harris one of the Committees in the Bill for the Naturalizing of Samuel Saltingstall and others appointed on Monday the fifth day of this instant March foregoing brought in the Bill with some Additions which being first read to the House were by the Order of the House agreed to be inserted into the Bill and then afterwards the same Additions being twice read the said Bill was Ordered to be ingrossed The Amendments in the Bill concerning M r Read Stafford being twice read the Bill was upon the question Ordered to be ingrossed M r Wroth one of the Committees in the Bill for the true assizing of Bread appointed on Monday the 5 th day of this instant March foregoing shewed the meeting and travel of the said Committees at sundry times about the said Bill and that they thought good to make a new Bill for that matter And so delivered in both the old Bill and also the new Bill The Bill for restraining Popith Recusants to some certain places of aboad was read the second time and committed to the former Committees which said Committees were appointed on Wednesday the 28 th day of February last past to meet to Morrow at two of the Clock in the Afternoon in this House and the Bill was delivered to M r Treasurer M r Winch one of the Committees in the Bill for the relief of Jurors upon Tryals between party and party appointed on Saturday the 10 th day of this instant March foregoing shewed That the Committees have met and conferred on the said Bill and did think good to make a new Bill And so delivered in both the old Bill and also the new Bill To Morrow in the Afternoon is appointed to have Conference and meeting touching provision to be treated of for relief of poor Souldiers The Committee for which business was appointed on Monday the 12 th day of this instant March foregoing mitted unto Sir William Moore Mr. Hubbard Mr. Sands and others and the Bill was delivered to Mr. Hubbard who with the rest were appointed to meet upon Tuesday next in the Afternoon at two of the Clock in the Exchequer Chamber Mr. Thomas Posthumus Hobby is Ordered by this House to move Sir Edward Hobby Brother of the said Thomas that the Bills in his Custody touching springing uses and perpetuities and touching the Execution of Process and against Recusants may be brought into this House to Morrow sitting the Court. The Committees in the Bill against Counterfeiting of Councellors hands c. appointed on Saturday the 10 th day of this instant March foregoing are deferred until Monday next in the Afternoon The Bill concerning Mr. Ognall was upon the second reading committed unto Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir John Wolley Mr. Wroth and others who were appointed to meet upon Tuesday next at two of the Clock in the Afternoon in the Exchequer Chamber Mr. Serjeant Owen and Mr. Doctor Carey do bring from the Lords a Bill Intituled An Act against persons Outlawed and such as will not pay their Debts and Duties The Bill for granting of three intire Subsidies and six Fifteenths and Tenths granted to the Queens Majesty had its first reading Vide more concerning this Bill on Thursday the 22 th day of this instant March next ensuing On Saturday the 17 th day of March Mr. Richard Toptliffe and Mr. William Basset Esquires Sheriffs of the County of Darby and Mr. Moore being of Councel with Mr. Basset were heard at large at the Bar of this House touching the Case of Thomas Fitzherbert Esquire returned a Member into this House and now Prisoner in the Custody and Charge of the said Sheriffs and after long hearing of the said Parties it was in the end resolved by this House that this House being a Court of Record would take no notice of any matter of fact at all in the said Case but only of matter of Record And that M r Speaker on the behalf of this House shall move the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England for return to be made by the said Sheriff into the Chancery of the Writ of habeas corpus cum causa in that Case lately awarded by his Lordship unto the said Sheriff upon Motion to his Lordship from this House in that behalf according to the purport of the same Writ which being not done with such due Expedition as it ought the same being indilatè his Lordship will then at the request of this House assess a good round Fine upon the said Sheriff for the same his Contempt Vide concerning this matter on Thursday the first day and on Friday the second day of this instant March foregoing as also on March 30 th Friday Apr. 3 d Tuesday and Apr. 5. Thursday postea M r Thomas Posthumus Hobby shewed that according to the appointment of this House he hath moved his Brother Sir Edward Hobby for the two Bills which were in his hands viz. the Bill for Perpetuities and the Bill touching the Execution of Process c. And that the said Sir Edward Hobby saith he is a Committee amongst others in both the same Bills by appointment of this House and that the same Bills were in that respect delivered to him by the Clerk of this House And that albeit he thinketh it reasonable he should be acquainted with the proceedings in the said Bills in the Committee as one of the same Committees yet in regard of the dutiful good will he beareth to the Members of this House and loth to offend any of the same he delivered the said Bills to the said Mr. Posthumus Hobby to be brought into this House accordingly And so the said M r Thomas Posthumus Hobby delivered the said Bills Three Bills had each of them one reading of which the last being the Bill to confirm the sale of certain Lands and Tenements made by Sir Richard Knightley Knight Valentine Knightley and Edward Knightley Esquires unto Charles Hales Esquire Thomas Bruncket and John Lambert Gent. and others was read the third time and passed upon the question The Serjeant of the House received of M r Miles Sands six shillings and of M r Lewes two shillings to be given
Cancelled and rased This I read in my Book For in this Case whatsoever a man tells me 〈◊〉 believe it not unless I see it written Non lego non credo in these Cases In the twenty third of the Queen I was of Councel with one in a Cause where we tryed all means to reverse a Judgment and brought a Writ of Error in the Parliament and the Writ was issuing out of the Parliament and upon the fieri facias was set Domina Regina and it was under the Great Seal of England and the Writ was returned in Parliament So this is plain the Writ is always returnable in Parliament but if in Parliament then of the Upper House for of that House we are but a Limb. This Writ I have seen then thus returned but never any man saw a Writ returnable in the Lower House so for this I hold the Writ cannot be returnable into this House But now for the Authority we have for though this be true I say yet I speak not to take any priviledge from this House for some things there are wherein we have Authority all of us But this is certain whatsoever we do sedente Parliamento it is the Act of the whole Court for the Lords without the Commons and the Commons without the Lords can do nothing Now then at the first before the division of the House all Writs were returned proximo Parliamento but since the division of the House it hath been always used and plainly it must be returned into Chancery And to say we cannot have notice of it nor cannot judge upon the Record being in Chancery plainly we may as well as we do upon the Return of every Burgess which is made into the Chancery and the Cause is all one And the Chancery in making the Writ will not alter from that their Warrant made from this House which must be according unto ancient form for waiting the other day upon my Lord Keeper by your Commandments for the making of this Writ I desired to have a recital added in these words Quòd cùm existente Parliamento captus fuit c. with the recital of the Cause of priviledge My Lord Keeper conferring with the Judges upon it would not allow it but thought better the usual form of Habeas Corpus should be kept without any suspicion of priviledge until there appeared a Cause of priviledge for the party As for the Book of 38 H. 8. Trewinnards Case recited in my Lord Diers I have heard great learned men say that that Cause is no good Law and that the House did more than was warrantable Now for the Motion of Conference with the Judges the Case of Thorpe 31 H. 6. is not able for this point I have the Record Thorpe was Speaker in that Parliament The Parliament being Summoned to be in June it was Prorogued until September in the mean time Thorpe was taken in Execution by the Duke of York he notwithstanding this thought to have had the priviledge of the Parliament At the next Sessions the matter being greatly considered whether he could have a priviledge or no a Conference was had in the Cause with the Judges the Judges being required in humble sort refused except it were so that the House did command them for in the House of Parliament the chief Judges and their Judgments are controulable by the Court but if the House did command them they would be willing to inform them what in their opinions they knew and thought This they did in the great Cause of Thorpe and I think we should do well in doing the like Now another thing is to be considered for Judicis Officium est ut res it a temperari c. The consideration of Time must accompany a Judges Office the Parliament draweth to an end and this would be done with expedition so the party was appointed to have his Councel the next Morning in the Parliament and they to be heard and have the advice of the Judges Vide the Resolution and Conclusion of this business upon Thursday the 5 th day of this instant April ensuing Thus far out of the aforesaid Anonymous Journal the residue of this days Passages and part of the next are inserted out of the Original Journal-Book it self M r Francis Bacon one of the Committees in this Bill for relief of Maimed Souldiers and Mariners appointed on Monday the 2 d day of this instant April foregoing shewed the meeting and travel of the said Committees and sundry Amendments thought good to be offered by them to this House and shewing the same Amendments with the reasons of them to the House the same Amendments were well liked of by this House and assented to be inserted into this said Bill and after the twice reading of the said Amendments the said Bill so being amended was upon the question Ordered to be ingrossed Post Meridiem Four Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill for Naturalizing of Justin Dormer and George Sheppy born beyond the Seas had its first reading On Wednesday the fourth day of April M r Barker one of the Committees in the Bill concerning Spinners and Weavers who had been appointed on Monday the 26 th day of March foregoing shewed the meeting and travel of the Committees and their Amendments to the Bill praying the reading of the same Amendments which being read and ordered by the House to be inserted into the Bill the same Amendments were afterwards twice read and the Bill was upon the Question Ordered to be Ingrossed M r Wroth one of the Committees in the Bill concerning Brewers shewed the meeting and travel of the Committees and their Amendments to the said Bill and prayeth the reading of the same Amendments which being read and Ordered by the House to be inserted in the said Bill and also twice read afterwards was upon the Question Ordered to be ingrossed The Bill for Explanation of a Branch of a Statute made in the twenty third year of her Majesties Reign Intitled an Act to retain the Queens Majesties Subjects in their due obedience with some Amendments to the same was read the second time Upon which divers Speeches passed in the House before the said Bill was committed some of them being of very good moment Which because they are omitted in the Original Journal-Book it self are therefore supplied out of the often before recited Anonymous Journal in manner and form following Sir Thomas Cecill Doctor Lewen M r Sands Sir Thomas Heneage Sir Edward Dimock and some others spake diversly to this Bill touching the Explanation of a Branch of the Statute made in Anno 23 Regin Eliz. for reducing disloyal Subjects to their due obedience as is aforesaid Sir Walter Raleigh said In my conceit the Brownists are worthy to be rooted out of a Commonwealth But what danger may grow to our selves if this Law pass it were fit to be considered For it is to be feared that
it is in defence of the Religion of God of our most gracious Soveraign and of our natural Country of our Wives our Children our Liberties Lands Lives and whatsoever we have Wherefore not mistrusting your forwardness that I may not offend in too much enlarging of this point as a poor remembrance of her Majesty I shortly say to your Lordships quod justum est necessarium est nothing can be more just than this War nothing ought to seem more necessary than carefully to provide due maintenance for the same And to you of the House of Commons to the end you may orderly proceed and wisely consult of these weighty Causes delivered unto you her Majesties pleasure is you should according to your accustomed manner go down to the Lower House and there make choice of some grave wise and Learned man among you to be your Speaker who shall be for an understanding sufficient and for discretion fit as your Mouth to signify your minds and to make your Petitions known to her Highness and him on Thursday next to present in this place Nota that this foregoing Speech of the Lord Keeper is not found in the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House but is supplied by me out of a Copy thereof lying by me which I conceive to have been very truely transcribed out of the Original and I have always conceived it most proper to refer this and such like other Speeches if warranted by any good authority to the Journal of the said Upper House because they are delivered in it and only for Order sake to have some short Memorial thereof in the Journal of the House of Commons As soon as the Lord Keeper had ended his Speech and the Knights Citizens and Burgesses were departed down to their own House the Clerk of the Upper House read the Names of the Receivers and Triers of Petitions in French which were as followeth viz. Receivers of Petitions for England Ireland France and Scotland Sir John Popham Lord Chief Justice John Clinch one of the Justices of the Kings Bench Francis Gaudy one of the Justices of the said Bench Dr. Carew and Dr. Stanhop Receivers of Petitions for Gascoigne and other Lands and Countries beyond the Seas and the Isles Sir Edmund Anderson Knight Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas Sir Willam Perriam Knight Lord Chief Baron Thomas Walmesley one of the Justices of the said Common Pleas Dr. Lewen and Dr. Cousins and they who will deliver Petitions to deliver them within six days Tryers of Petitions for England Ireland Wales and Scotland The Arch-Bishop of Canterbury the Marquess of Winchester the Earl of Sussex great Marshal the Earl of Nottingham Lord Steward of the Queens Household and Lord Admiral of England the Bishop of London the Bishop of Winchester the Lord Cobham and the Lord North. All these Lords and Prelats or any four of them calling unto them the Keeper of the Great Seal and the Lord Treasurer and also the Queens Serjeants shall hold their place when their leisure serveth in the Chamberlains Chamber Tryers of Petitions for Gascoigne and other Lands and Countries beyond the Seas and the Isles The Earl of Oxford Great Chamberlain of England the Earl of Shrewsbury the Earl of Huntington the Bishop of Rochester the Bishop of Worcester the Lord Hunsdon Lord Chamberlain to the Queen the Lord Lumley and the Lord Buckhurst All these Lords and Prelats or any four of them calling unto them the Queens Serjeants and also the Queens Attorney and Sollicitor when their leisure serveth shall hold their place in the Treasurers Chamber The Lord Burgh absent being at this time Lord Deputy of Ireland The Lord De la Ware absent because he made question of his place intending to make Suit to the Parliament concerning the same Dicto 24 o die Octobris viz. Primo die hujus Parliamenti Introductum est breve quo Archiepiscopus Eboracen ' praesenti Parliamento interesse summonebatur admissas est ad suum praeheminentiae sedendi in Parliamento locum salvo jure alieno 〈◊〉 brevia introduct sunt 4. Comitibus 10. Episcopis 5. Baronibus Dominus Custos magni Sigilli ex mandato Dominae Reginae continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem Jovis proximum futurum viz. 27 diem Octobris On Thursday the 27 th day of October the Queens Majesty repaired in the-Afternoon to the Upper House of Parliament accompanied with divers Lords Spiritual and Temporal who attended her Majesty this said day in the House being for the most part the same that are mentioned to have been present there on Monday the 24 th day of this instant October foregoing Of which the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons having notice M r Serjeant Yelverton being chosen Prolocutor or Speaker of the said House was by them brought into the Upper House and by the hands of Sir William Knolles Controller of her Majesties Houshold and Sir John Fortescue Chancellor of the Exchequer presented Who by a Speech full of Gravity and Modesty signifying the accomplishment of the Duty of the House of Commons in making an Election but excusing himself by pretence of many disabilities and imperfections and wishing earnestly he were of sufficiency to perform the Duty of that place made humble Suit to her Majesty that he might be discharged and that the said House of Commons might proceed to a new Election Which excuse was not allowed by her Majesty as the Lord Keeper delivered by Answer but the choice of the said M r Yelverton was by her Majesty very well approved and his sufficiency much commended He then proceeded in another Speech according to the manner to undertake that charge and to present to her Majesty in the behalf of the said House of Commons certain humble Petitions for access unto her Majesty in the behalf of the said House upon needful occasions and for the using and enjoying such Liberties and Priviledges as in former times had been granted and allowed by her Majesties Progenitors and her self Whereunto her Majesty making Answer by the Mouth of the Lord Keeper did yield her Gracious Assent with admonition that the said Liberties and Priviledges should be discreetly and wisely used as was meet Dominus Custos magni Sigilli ex mandato Dominae Reginae continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem quintum Mensis Octobris On Saturday the 5 th day of November the Bill for the speedy satisfaction of her Majesty against Accomptants was read primâ vice Introductum est breve Thomae Domini Gray de Wilton quo praesenti Parliamento interesse summonebatur admissus est ad suum praeheminentiae sedendi in Parliamento locum salvo jure alieno The Earl of Lincoln's excuse by reason of sickness presented by the Lord Treasurer Thomas Lord de la Ware having petitioned the Queens Majesty for his Ancient and right Place of Precedence in and amongst the Peers in Parliament and her Majesty well allowing his said
Anno Dom. 1601. which was the last Parliament of her Majesties Reign a greater viz. of four Subsidies and eight Fifteenths and Tenths was again yielded unto whence it is plain that whatsoever is once granted by the Subject may often be raised but seldom falleth THE JOURNAL OF THE House of COMMONS A Journal of the House of Commons in the Parliament holden at Westminster Anno 39 Reginae Eliz. Anno Domini 1597. which began there on Monday the 24 th Day of October and then and there continued until the Dissolution thereof on Thursday the 9 th Day of February Anno 40 Reginae ejusdem THIS present Journal of the House of Commons is not only abundantly stored with many and sundry Passages touching the Orders Use and Priviledge of the House it self but containeth in it excellent matter touching the publick affairs of Church and State in which also her Majesty was most graciously pleased to give the said House free Liberty to reform some abuses of the first and to search into the dangers of the latter And that this said Journal might be the more exact and copious in some few places the defects thereof are supplied out of the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House and out of a certain imperfect and fragmentary Journal of the House of Commons The ninth Parliament of our Soveraign Lady Elizabeth by the Grace of God of England France and Ireland Queen Defender of the Faith c. begun at Westminster upon Monday being the 24 th day of October in the thirty ninth year of her Majesties Reign Upon which day many of the Knights of the Shires Citizens of Cities Burgesses of Boroughs and Barons of Ports did make their appearance at Westminster being returned into the same Parliament for the same Shires Cities Boroughs and Ports before the Right Honourable the Earl of Nottingham Lord Steward of her Majesties most honourable Household And did then and there in the Room commonly called the Court of Requests take the Oath of Supremacy seven or eight at a time being Enacted by and contained in the Statute de an 1 Reginae Eliz. Cap. 1. before the said Lord Steward and before Sir William Knolles Knight Comptroller of her Majesties Houshold Sir John Fortescue Chancellor of the Exchequer and Sir Robert Cecill Principal Secretary his Lordships Deputies And thereupon the said Knights Citizens Burgesses and Barons entring into their own House and expecting her Majesties further Pleasure her Highness then being in her Royal Seat in the Higher House of Parliament the said Commons were commanded to come before her Highness and being there Assembled the Right Honourable Sir Thomas Egerton Knight Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England delivered unto the said Commons the Causes of her Majesties Calling of this Parliament and so in the end willed them to repair again into the said House of Commons and there to make choice of their Speaker according to the former laudable usage and custom of the same House in that Case accustomed and willed them to present him unto her Majesty upon the Thursday next following Which done the said Commons presently repaired unto their own House and there being Assembled and sitting some space of time very silent at last the Right Honourable Sir William Knolls one of her Highness most Honourable Privy Council and Comptroller of her Majesties Household stood up and spake to the effect following Necessity constraineth me to break off this silence and to give others cause for speech According to the usual Custom we are to chuse our Speaker and though I am least able and therefore unfit to speak in this place yet better I deem it to discover my own Imperfections than that her most sacred Majesties Commandment to me delivered should not be fulfilled or your Expectation of this first days work by all our silences to be in any sort frustrate First therefore I think it very expedient to remember the Excellent and Learned Speech of that good man my Lord Keeper at which all of us or the most part of us at the least were present who very wisely shewed the Cause of calling this Honourable Assembly shewing unto us that it is partly for the reforming those Laws which be amiss partly quite to repeal others partly to augment those that be good and partly to Enact new Laws both for the Honour and profit of her Majesty and for the benefit of the Common-wealth And in conclusion wished us to depart from whence we came and there to chuse our Speaker who ought to be the Mouth of us all and to whom we might commit such weighty affairs as in this place should be debated amongst us For unfit it is if we have occasion to go unto the Sacred presence of her Majesty to go either confusedly without order or unorderly without Judgment Now because that knowledge doth rest in certainty I will with the more speed set afoot this motion deliver my opinion unto you who is most fit for this place being a member of this House and those good abilities which I know to be in him here he made a little pause and the House hawked and spat and after silence made he proceeded unto this place of dignity and calling in my opinion here he stayed a little M r Serjeant Yelverton looking upon him is the fittest man to be preferred after which words M r Yelverton blushed and put off his Hat and after sate bare-headed for I am assured that he is yea and I dare avow it I know him to be a man wise and learned secret and circumspect Religious and faithful no way disable but every way able to supply this place Wherefore in my Judgment I deem him though I will not say best worthy amongst us yet sufficient enough to supply this place and herein if any man think I err I wish him to deliver his mind as freely as I have done if not that we all join together in giving general consent and approbation to this motion So that the whole House cried I I I let him be And then Master Comptroller made a low reverence and sat down and after a little pause and silence M r Serjeant Yelverton rose up and after a very humble reverence made spake in effect thus much WHence your unexpected choice of me to be your Mouth or Speaker should proceed I am utterly ignorant If from my merits strange it were that so few deserts should purchase suddenly so great an Honour Nor from my ability doth this your choice proceed for well known it is to a great number in this place now assembled that my Estate is nothing correspondent for the maintenance of this dignity For my Father dying left me a younger Brother and nothing to me but my bare Annuity Then growing to mans estate and some small practice of the Law I took a Wise by whom I have had many Children the keeping of us all being a great impoverishing to my Estate and the daily living of us
confirmation and establishment of the Deprivation of divers Bishops in the beginning of her Majesties Reign being thrice read the Bill with the Amendments passed upon the question Two Bills had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill against lewd and wandring persons pretending themselves to be Souldiers or Mariners was read the third time and referred after sundry speeches unto Sir Robert Wroth and others to go up unto the Committees Chamber of this House and to amend some parts of the said Bill according to some of the said motions M r Attorney General and M r Doctor Stanhop do bring from the Lords a Bill passed with their Lordships intituled An Act for confirmation of the Subsidy granted by the Clergy and do shew that their Lordships do recommend the same to this House for the speedy expedition of the same Bill in this House The Bill for confirmation of the Subsidy granted by the Clergy had its first reading M r Attorney General and M r Doctor Stanhop do bring from the Lords a Bill lately passed from their Lordships by the good assent and agreement of the said parties Intituled An Act of Parliament for Arthur Hatch her Majesties Ward for the injoying of the Rectory and Parsonage of South Molton in the County of Devon for certain years reserving the usual Rent The Amendments of the Committees of this House that 〈◊〉 may enjoy their Leases against Patentees in several Cases being twice read and also one Proviso for her Majesty in the same Bill likewise twice read were ordered to be joyned and inserted into the said Bill And one special Proviso also for M r Throgmorton being twice read It was Ordered after many Arguments upon the said Bill and last Proviso pro contra That M r Throgmorton and M r Moyle Finch being at the Door of this House should be severally called in and demanded by M r Speaker whether they would assent to have the matter in controversy between them referred to be ended by such Arbitrators as had been before nominated for that purpose unto them in the Committee viz. the Lord Keeper and the Lord Treasurer and the two Chief Justices and in what sum they would be bound each to other for their standing to and performing of such Award therein so to be made It was at last after sundry such demands made resolved by both their assents at the Bar in this House that each of them should enter into Bond unto the other in the sum of five thousand pound to stand to the Order and Arbitrament of the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England and the two Chief Justices or any three of them for and concerning the two Leases in question So as the same Order or Arbitrament be made before the first sitting of this Court which shall happen to be held next after the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord now next ensuing and the Condition of the Bond to be drawn by the Learned Councel of the Parties and to be perused and considered of further by M r Speaker On Tuesday the 20 th day of December the Bill for Confirmation of the Subsidy granted by the Clergy was read the second time and passed upon the Question M r Recorder of London one of the Committees in the Bill against lewd and wandring persons pretending themselves to be Souldiers or Mariners who were appointed on Wednesday the 7 th day of this instant December foregoing shewed that they had amended the said Bill in some parts which Amendments being twice read to the House before any allowance for the third reading of them several Members of this House did argue to the parts of the said Bill and Amendments both with it and against it after which Committees were appointed in the said Bill against wandring Souldiers and Mariners and also in the Bill concerning Lessees and Patentees against the next sitting of this Court and to meet to Morrow in the Afternoon in the Middle-Temple Hall who were as followeth viz. M r Sollicitor Sir Thomas Egerton Sir Gilley Merick M r Rosse M r Recorder of London M r Brograve Attorney of the Dutchy Sir George Carey M r Crew M r John Hunt M r Philips M r Finch M r Hext M r Serjeants Harries Heyle and Warherton Sir Walter Raleigh Sir Robert Wroth Sir Oliver Lambert M r Francis Moore Sir Henry Norris M r Bourchier M r Mountague M r George Crooke together with all the Committees in all other Bills formerly committed by this House and not as yet expedited who are likewise to meet at the aforesaid time and place concerning such Bills as are committed unto them M r Attorney General and M r Doctor Stanhop did bring three Bills from the Lords which had passed before in this House and had been sent up to their Lordships whereof one was the Bill for erecting of Houses of Correction and punishment of Rogues Vagabonds and Sturdy Beggars which Bill their Lordships had passed with some Amendments and Additions Another Bill was for relief of the Poor which Bill their Lordships had in like manner passed with some Amendments and Additions And the third was for Explanation of a Statute made in the first year of the Queens Majesties Reign concerning Labourers which Bill their Lordships had also before passed with some Amendments and sent it down into this House and had received the same again afterwards with Message from this House that this House had no Warrant to take notice of that Amendment because it was in Parchment and not in Paper And shewed that their Lordships did not expect any exception of such Levity from the Gravity of this House and the rather because this House had before in this present Sessions of Parliament admitted of such like Amendments in Parchment from their Lordships in two other Bills and not in Paper without any such exception their Lordships taking it not to be much material whether such Amendments be written in Parchment or in Paper either white Paper black Paper or brown Paper Which Message being so delivered and the said M r Attorney and M r Doctor Stanhop departed M r Speaker reported unto the House the substance of the same Message putting them in remembrance that the said Amendment not only was not in Paper but was also subscribed or indorsed with Soit baille aux Communes And further shewed that the Cause of the said returning of the said last recited Bill unto their Lordships to the end the said Amendments thereof might be sent down by their Lordships unto this House in Paper without any such subscription or indorsement and not in Parchment did proceed upon the Advertisement of the Clerk of this House unto M r Speaker that the Ancient and usual Order of the Parliament in both Houses was and is that Amendments in Bills are to be set down only in Paper and not in Parchment and that also without any manner of Endorsement in the
their Heirs and Assigns notwithstanding any default of payment of their Rents during the time that the Reversion or Inheritance remained in the Crown And the Bill Intituled An Act for the better Execution of Judgment were sent up to the Lords by Mr. Comptroller and others The Bill for the Queens Majesties most gracious general and free pardon was once read and passed upon the Question Nota That whereas to the passing of other Bills three distinct and several Readings are required here the Bill for her Majesties most gracious Pardon passed upon the first Reading M r Serjeant Drew and M r Doctor Carew did bring from the Lords the Bill Intituled An Act for the Grant of three Subsidies and six Fifteenths and Tenths and did shew that their Lordships have in like manner passed the same Bill and so delivered the same to M r Speaker to the end he may carry the same up into the Upper House to be presented by him unto her Majesty in the name of this whole House Nota That the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons ended here and contained no other or further Passages of this day although her Majesty came in Person in the Afternoon to the Upper House which is therefore supplied out of the fragmentary and imperfect Journal mentioned more particularly at the beginning of this present Journal as followeth The Queens Majesty came to the Upper House somewhat after three of the Clock in the Afternoon this present Thursday being the 9 th day of this instant February of which the House of Commons having notice repaired thither with Christopher Yelverton Serjeant at Law their Speaker who having in the name of the House presented her Majesty with the Bill of three Subsidies and six Fifteenths and Tenths and amongst other things desired her Majesties Royal Assent to such Laws as had passed the two Houses he was Answered according to her Majesties Commandment by the Lord Keeper that she thankfully accepted the said Gift of her Loving Subjects and very well allowed of the said Speakers pains and Speech Then M r Smith the Clerk of the Upper House having read the Titles of all the Acts her Majesty gave her said Royal Assent to twenty four publick Acts or Statutes and to nineteen private and refused or quashed forty eight several Bills which had passed both the Houses After which Sir Thomas Egerton Knight Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England by her Majesties Commandment Dissolved this present Parliament THE JOURNAL OF THE House of LORDS A Journal of the passages of the Upper House of Parliament holden at Westminster Anno 43 Reginae Eliz. Anno Domini 1601. which began there on Tuesday the 27 th Day of October and then and there continued until the Dissolution thereof on Saturday the 19 th Day of December ensuing Anno 44 Reginae ejusdem THIS Journal of the Upper House containing part of the passages of the Upper House in the 10 th and last Parliament of her Majesties Reign is plentifully stored not only with the ordinary business of Reading Bills with the Committing Amending and expediting of them but also with divers very useful and good Precedents touching the Liberties and Priviledges of the House it self In which also divers Speeches and other passages which were not found in the Original Book of the said House are supplied out of other private Journals of that time of very good Authority But yet to avoid confusion whatsoever is here inserted out of the said private Journals is particularly distinguished from that which is taken out of the above-mentioned Original Journal-Book of the Upper House by some Animadversion or expression thereof both before and after the inserting of it Before the particular relation of each days passages of the Upper House in this Parliament be inserted out of the Original Journal-Book it self of the said House all the Proxies both usual and unusual entred also at the beginning thereof which had been returned and delivered in unto the Clerk of the said House during the continuance of the same are here in the next place to be transcribed and set down all of them together and cannot be so orderly digested and referred to each day on which they were returned as formerly they have been For whereas before this Parliament and the last past in Anno 39 Reginae Eliz. Henry Spilman and Anthony Mason Esquires who had been successively Clerks of the said Upper House did usually enter the said Proxies at the beginning of each Journal with express mention of several days on which they were introducted or returned now Thomas Smith Esquire as well in this Parliament as in that which last preceded in the said 39 th year of her Majesty when he succeeded unto the said Anthony Mason in the place of the said Clerk of the Upper House did only generally enter them at the beginning of this present and that last foregoing Journal de Anno 39 Eliz. as aforesaid as had been formerly accustomed saving that it differed somewhat in the manner of entring them and that the several days also on which they had been introducted and delivered unto him were not at all set down or expressed Which course having heen since also followed unto this present year 1629. the said Proxies can be no more referred to the proper days as in divers foregoing Journals they have been but must be once for all generally set down at the beginning of this present Journal in manner and form following Literae procuratoriae in hoc Parliamento sunt allatae Archipiescopi Eboracensis Matthaei c. qui procuratores suos constituit Johan Archiepiscopum Cantuarien ' Tobiam Episcopum Dunelmen ' conjunctim divisim Nota That whereas there is an c. after the word Matthaei in the Proxie foregoing it seemeth that these words are left out viz. absentis ex licentia Dominae Reginae and so if nothing had been omitted the said Proxie as may very probably be conjectured should have been thus inserted Archiepiscopi Eboracensis Matthaei absentis ex licentia Dominae Reginae qui procuratores c. as is before set down Nota also that the Proxies are all entred in the Genitive Case and must therefore be referred to those foregoing words viz. Literae procuratoriae in hoc Parliamento sunt allatae Henrici Episcopi Carliolen qui procuratores suos constituit Matthaeum Archiepiscopum Eboracen ' Ricardum Episcopum Cestren ' conjunctim divisim Galsridi Episcopi Gloucestren ' qui procuratores suos constituit Ricardum Episcopum London Anthonium Episcopum Meneven ' Gulielmum Episcopum Exon ' conjunctim divisim Herberti Episcopi Hereforden ' qui procuratores suos constituit Johannem Episcopum Rossen ' Gulielmum Episcopum Coventr ' Litchfield Gulielmum Episcopum Norwicen ' conjunctim divisim Gulielmi Episcopi Norwicen ' qui procuratorem suum constituit Johannem Archiepiscopum Cantuarien ' Nota That the Bishops Proxies are set before the Proxies of the
brought him even made him one of the greatest Princes in Europe when her Majesties Forces there left him how again he was fain to Ransom a servile Peace at our enemies the Spaniards hands with dishonourable and servile Conditions For the Low-Countries how by her aid from a confused Government and State she brought them to an Unity in Counsel and defended them with such success in her Attempts against the greatest power of the Spaniards Tyrannical designs which have so much gauled him that how many desperate practices have been both devised consented to and set on foot by commandment of the late King his Father I need not shew you neither trouble you with Arguments for proof thereof being confessed by them that should have been Authors themselves But de mortuis nil nisi bonum I would be loth to speak of the dead much more to slander the dead I have seen her Majesty wear at her Girdle the price of her blood I mean Jewels which have been given to her Physicians to have done that unto her which I hope God will ever keep from her but she hath rather worn them in Triumph than for the price which hath not been greatly valuable Then he fell to perswade us because new occasions were offered of consultations to be provident in provision of means for our own defence and safety seeing the King of Spain means to make England miserable by beginning with Ireland neither doth he begin with the Rebels but even with the Territory of the Queen her self He shewed that Treasure must be our means for Treasure is the sinews of War Nota That the substance of this Speech is only here inserted as it was afterwards repeated in the said House upon Tuesday the third day of November which next ensued by Sir Robert Cecill her Majesties principal Secretary who had done it to satisfy divers Members of the same who could not get into the Upper House to hear it this first day of the Parliament as is aforesaid Now follow the Names of the Receivors and Tryors of Petitions out of the Original Journal-Book of the said House As soon as the Lord Keeper had ended his Speech and that such of her Majesties Privy-Council and others of the House of Commons as had privately got in and heard it were departed down to their own House Thomas Smith Esq Clerk of the Upper House read the Names of the Receivors and Triors of Petitions in French which were as followeth Receivors of Petitions for England Ireland Wales and Scotland Sir John Popham Knight Lord Chief Justice Francis Gawdy one of the Justices of the Kings Bench George Kingsmell one of the Justices of the Common Pleas D r Carew and D r Stanhop Receivors of Petitions for Gascoign and other Lands and Countries beyond the Seas and of the Isles Sir Edmund Anderson Knight Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas Sir William Perriam Knight Lord Chief Baron Thomas Walmesley one of the Justices of the Common Pleas D r Swale and D r Howard They who will deliver Petitions to deliver them within six dayes Triors of Petitions for England Ireland Wales and Scotland The Archbishop of Canterbury the Marquess of Winchester the Earl of Sussex Lord Marshal of England the Earl of Nottingham Lord High Admiral of England and Steward of the Queens House the Earl of Hartford the Bishop of London the Bishop of Durham the Bishop of Winchester the Lord Zouch and the Lord Cobham All these or any four of them calling unto them the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal and the Lord Treasurer and also the Queens Serjeants at their leisure to meet and hold their place at the Chamberlains Chamber Triors of Petitions for Gascoign and other Lands and Countries beyond the Seas and of the Isles The Earl of Oxford High Chamberlain of England the Earl of Northumberland the Earl of Shrewsbury the Earl of Worcester the Earl of Huntington the Bishop of Rochester the Bishop of Lincoln the Lord Hunsdon Chamberlain to the Queen the Lord Le Ware the Lord Lumley and the Lord Burleigh All these or four of them calling unto them the Queens Serjeants and the Queens Attorney and Sollicitor when their leisure did serve them to meet and hold their place in the Treasurers Chamber Then the Lord Keeper continued the Parliament which is set down in the Original Journal-Book in manner and form following Dominus Custos Magni Sigilli ex mandato Dominae Reginae continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem Veneris proximè futurum viz. 30 m diem Octobris Nota That although there be some short mention made of the Presentment of the Speaker of the House of Commons in the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House yet because it is very imperfectly and briefly Entred there I have therefore supplied it somewhat largely out of a private Journal of the House of Commons On Friday the 30 th day of October about one of the Clock in the Afternoon her Majesty came by Water to the Parliament Chamber commonly called the Upper House and being Apparelled in her Royal Robes and placed in her Chair of State divers also of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal being present the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons who had attended at the Door of the said House with John Crooke Esq Recorder of London their Speaker Elect the full space of half an hour were at last as many as conveniently could let in and the said Speaker was led up to the Bar or Rayl at the lower end of the same House by the hands of Sir William Knolles Knight Comptroller of her Majesties Houshold and Sir John Fortescue Chancellor of the Exchequer and presented to her Majesty to whom after he had made three low Reverences he spake in effect as followeth MOST Sacred and Mighty Sovereign Upon your Majesties Commandment your most dutiful and loving Commons the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the Lower House have chosen me your Majesties most humble Servant being a Member of the same House to be their Speaker but finding the weakness of my self and my ability too weak to undergo so great a burthen I do most humbly beseech your Sacred Majesty to continue your most gracious favour towards me and not to lay this charge so unsupportable upon my unworthy and unable Self And that it would please you to Command your Commons to make a new Election of another more able and more sufficient to discharge the great service to be appointed by your Majesty and your Subjects And I beseech your most excellent Majesty not to interpret my denial herein to proceed from any unwillingness to perform all devoted dutiful service but rather out of your Majesties Clemency and Goodness to interpret the same to proceed from that inward fear and trembling which hath ever possessed me when heretofore with most gracious Audience it hath pleased your Majesty to Licence me to speak before you For I know and must acknowledge that
his eldest Son Edward Craysord should enter into sufficient Bond unto the said William Vaughan without hazard of the Bond for themselves and their Heirs that they and every of them shall stand to the Award and Arbitrement of the Earl of Worcester the Lord Bishop of London and the Lord Cobham or any two of them And that also the said William Vaughan shall enter into like Bond with a sufficient surety for himself and his Heirs to stand to the said Award of the Lords before-mentioned or any two of them so as such Award be made before the Feast of Easter next following And moreover it is Ordered by the Court that if they or either of them shall refuse to enter into Bond according to the said Order That the Lord Keeper notwithstanding the ending of the Parliament and thought it be after the time shall commit them or either of them to close Prison so refusing there to remain until the party refusing be conformable to the said Order Vide concerning this matter on Tuesday the first day Wednesday the second day Thursday the third day Friday the fourth day Monday the fourteenth day Tuesday the fifteenth day and on Friday the eighteenth day of this instant December foregoing Dominus Custos Magni Sigilli continnavit praesens Parliamentum usque ad horam secundum post meridiem hujus instantis diei About which hour in the Afternoon the Queens Majesty was personally present being accompanied with the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Sir Thomas Egerton Knight Lord Keeper of the Great Seal the Lord Buckhurst Lord Treasurer of England and with divers other Lords Spiritual and Temporal but what was there done is not mentioned in the Original Journal of the Upper House and is therefore supplied out of a very elaborate private Journal of the House of Commons Her Majesty with divers Lords Spiritual and Temporal being set in the Upper House in their Parliament Robes between two and three of the Clock in the Afternoon the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons had notice thereof and thereupon repaired thither with John Crooke Esquire Recorder of London their Speaker who being placed at the Rail or Bar at the lower end of the said Upper House after he had made three Reverences to her Majesty fitting under a rich Cloth of State spake to this effect following That Laws were not at first made with humane Pen but by Divine Ordinance That politick Laws were made according to the evil conditions of Men and that all Laws serve not for all times no more than one Medicine for all Diseases If he were asked what were the first and chiefest thing to be considered he would say Religion So Religion is all in all for Religion breeds Devotion Devotion breeds Zeal and Piety to God which breedeth Obedience and Duty to the Prince and obedience of the Laws which breedeth Faithfulness and Honesty and Love Three necessary and only things to be wished and observed in a well Governed Common-Wealth And that her Majesty by planting true Religion had laid such a Foundation upon which all those Virtues were so planted and builded that they could not easily be rooted up and extirpated And therefore he did acknowledge that we ought and do acknowledge that we will praise God and her Majesty for it And then he descended to speak of Governments and Laws of Nations among and above all which he principally preferr'd the Laws of this Land which he said were so many and so wise that there was almost no offence but was met with in a Law Notwithstanding her Majesty being desirous for the good of her Land to call a Parliament for redress of some old Laws and making some new her dutiful and loving Subjects having considered of them have made some new and amended some old which they humbly desire may be made Laws by her most Royal Assent which giveth life unto them And so after thanks given for the Pardon by which we dread your Justice and admire your mercy and a prayer unto her Majesty that she would accept as the Testimonies of our Love and duty offered unto her with a free Heart and willing Spirit Four entire Subsidies and Eight Fifteenths and Tenths to be collected of our Lands and Livelihoods In speaking whereof he mistook and said Four entire Fifteenths and Eight Subsidies but he was remembred by some of the Councel that stood near about him and so spake right as aforesaid and having craved pardon for his offence if either he had forgotten himself in Word or Action he ended The which the Lord Keeper Answered thus in effect First as touching her Majesties proceedings in the Laws for her Royal Assent that should be as God should direct her Sacred Spirit Secondly For your presentation of Four Subsidies and Eight Fifteenths and Tenths Thirdly your humble thankfulness for the Pardon for them and yourself I will deliver her Majesties Commandment with what brevity I may that I be not tedious to my most gracious Sovereign First she saith touching your proceeding in the matter of her Prerogative that she is perswaded Subjects did never more dutifully And that she understood you did but obiter touch her Prerogative and no otherwise but by humble Petition And therefore that thanks that a Prince may give to her Subjects she willingly yieldeth But she now well perceiveth that private respects are privately masqued under publick presence Secondly touching the presentation of your Subsidy she specially regardeth two things both the persons and the manner For the first he fell into Commendations of the Commonalty for the second the manner which was speedy not by perswasion or perswasive inducements but freely out of duty with great contentment In the thing which ye have granted her Majesty greatly commendeth your confidence and Judgment And though it be not proportionable to her occasions yet she most thankfully receiveth the same as a loving and thankful Prince And that no Prince was ever more unwilling to exact or receive any thing from the Subject than she our most gracious Sovereign For we all know she never was a greedy Grasper nor strait-handed Keeper And therefore she commanded me to say that you have done and so she taketh it dutifully plentifully and thankfully For your self M r Speaker her Majesty commanded me to say that you have proceeded with such Wisdom and Discretion that it is much to your Commendations and that none before you hath deserved more And so he ended after an Admonition given to the Justices of the Peace that they would not deserve the Epithetes of prolling Justices Justices of Quarrels who counted Champetrie good Chevesance Sinning Justices who do suck and consume the wealth and good of the Common-Wealth and also against those who lie if not all the Year yet at least three quarters of the year in this City of London After the before-recited Speeches were ended as abovesaid then were the titles of all the Acts read in their due
Order After which ended and her Majesties Assent thereunto then the Dissolution of the Parliament followed by the Lord Keeper which is entred in the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House in these words following viz. Dominus Custos magni Sigilli ex mandato Dominae Reginae Dissolvit hoc praesens Parliamentum THE JOURNAL OF THE House of COMMONS A Journal of the Passages of the House of Commons in the Parliament holden at Westminster Anno 43 Reginae Eliz. Anno Domini 1601. which began there on Tuesday the 27 th Day of October and then and there continued until the Dissolution thereof on Saturday the 19 th Day of December ensuing Anno 44 Reginae ejusdem THIS large and copious Journal containeth in it not only a number of excellent Passages concerning the Orders and Priviledge of the House of Commons which are usually found in other Journals of the same House but also much matter touching the publick State and that great grievance of the Realm by reason of Patents of Priviledge or Monopolies in the abdication or censure of which her Majesty most graciously concurr'd with her Subjects In which also a great number of Speeches and other Passages which were not found in the Original Journal-Book of the said House are supplied out of a Journal of the same House taken at this Parliament by one of the Members thereof But yet to avoid confusion whatsoever is here inserted out of the said private Journal is particularly distinguished from that which is taken out of the above-mentioned Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons by some Animadversion or expression thereof both before and after the inserting of it The tenth Parliament of our Sovereign Lady Elizabeth by the Grace of God of England France and Ireland Queen Defender of the Faith c. begun at Westminster upon Tuesday being the 27 th day of October in the forty third year of her Majesties Reign upon which day many of the Knights for the Shires Citizens for Cities Burgesses for Boroughs and Barons for Ports returned into the same Parliament did make their appearance at Westminster aforesaid before the Right Honourable the Earl of Nottingham Lord Admiral and Lord Steward of her Highnesses most Honourable Houshold and did then and there take the Oath according to the Statute in that behalf made and provided tendred by the said Earl or by his Deputies who were Sir William Knolls Comptroller of her Majesties Houshold Sir John Stanhop her Highness Vice-Chamberlain Sir Robert Cecill Principal Secretary and John Herbert Esq second Secretary After which all the said Lord Steward's Deputies and some others of the House of Commons having gotten into the Upper House and her Majesty with divers of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal being set the greatest part of the residue of the Members of the said House of Commons had notice thereof about four of the Clock in the Afternoon being at that time still suting in the said House and expecting her Majesties Pleasure to be sent for up unto the said Upper House according to the antient usage and custom of former Parliaments And thereupon the said residue repaired immediately unto the Door of the said House but could not be let in the Door being still kept shut and so returned back again unto their own House much discontented Shortly after which time the Right Honourable Sir William Knolls one of the Deputies aforesaid came down into the said House of Commons and so being there set with the said residue for some little space of time M r Richard Lieffe one of the Barons returned into this present Parliament for the Port of Hastings in the County of Sussex stood up and shewing unto the said Comptroller the wrong done unto the greatest part of the Members of this House in their not being suffered to come into the said Upper House to hear her Majesties Pleasure signified by the Mouth of the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England humbly desired the said Comptroller to be a means that the effect thereof might be imparted unto some of the Members of this House for their better satisfactions Which as his Honour did think very reasonable and meet to be done at convenient time so did he impute the said fault wholly to the Gentleman-Usher of the said Upper House Which done and the residue of the said Deputies being shortly after come into the said House of Commons and there sitting the said M r Comptroller after some pause stood up and shewing unto this House that his place was to break the silence of this House for that time and putting the House in mind to make Choice of a Speaker according to her Majesties Pleasure given unto them in that behalf shewed that in his opinion he thinketh M r John Crooke Recorder of London returned one of the Knights for the City of London into this present Parliament to be a very fit able and sufficient Man to supply the whole Charge of the said Office of Speaker being a Gentleman very Religious very Judicious of a good Conscience and well furnished with all other good parts yet leaveth nevertheless the further consideration thereof to this House and so did sit again Which done and no one contrary Voice at all being delivered the said M r Crooke after some large Pause first taken stood up and very Learnedly and Eloquently endeavoured to disable himself at large for the burthen of that charge alledging his great defects both of Nature and of Art fit to supply that place and shewing all full Complements for the same to abound in many other Learned and grave Members of this House in the end prayed most humbly that they would accept of his due excuse and be pleased to proceed to a new Election and did then sit down again Whereupon the said M r Comptroller did stand up and said that hearing no negative Voice he took it for a due Election and demanding the further opinion of this House therein they all Answered Yea and gave their Assents Whereupon the said M r Comptroller and the Right Honourable Sir John Stanhop her Majesties Vice-Chamberlain immediately went to the said M r John Crooke and did set him in the Chair which done the said M r Crooke after some little pause did stand up and yielding unto this whole House most humble thanks for their great good opinion of him and loving favour towards him and praying them to accept of his willing mind and readiness and to bear with his unableness and wants in the service of this House referr'd himself to their good favours And then the said M r Comptroller signified further unto this House that her Majesties Pleasure was that the Members of this House having made choice of their Speaker should present him unto her Highness upon Friday next following in the Afternoon And so then every man departed and went his way On Friday the 30 th day of October about one of the Clock in the Afternoon the Knights Citizens and
Answer they would have none other Mr. Speaker said it could not be intended against his will for his hand is to the Indenture but he moved whether it should be intended that this Sir Anthony Nowell were una eadem persona or no And though it were yet whether they could take notice thereof not being certified out of the Chancery To which all the House said there was no other of the name Then Mr. Comptroller stood up and moved that in respect the Return was joint and that they did disallow Sir Anthony Nowell he desired to be resolved of the Learned Masters of the Law in this House whether all the Return were insufficient and so Sir John Harrington to be excluded To which all the whole House said No. Mr. Serjeant Harris said No because the said Warrant is affirmative to chuse any but the Sheriff who is excepted by special words so that the Return of the other is warranted but that of himself is void Sir Edward Hobbie Answered and said nay then Mr. Serjeant if you stand on that I think there are few Knights in this House lawfully chosen for the words of the Writ and Statute are that he must be Commorant within the County which but few are To which not one word was Answered And that Clause was hushed up Mr. Speaker said Well I will put it to the question which shall be twofold one whether the Return be void the other whether a new Warrant shall be sent forth To which being twice moved all cryed I I I not one man said No. Sir Edward Hobbie said Mr. Speaker the Warrant must go from your self for in the twenty seventh Year of this Queen when Parrie was Burgess for Queenborough a new Election was made and the Warrant was sent from the Speaker Nota That this resolution of the House is directly contrary to a former Precedent agreed on in the House of Commons upon Friday the 21 th day of February in the Parliament de An. xxxi o Regin Eliz. Anno Dom. 1588 1589. where Mr. S t Poole being both Knight for the County of Lincoln and Sheriff of the same also was notwithstanding allowed to retain his place in the said House as a Member thereof and had only Licence given unto him to depart into the said County about the business of his said Sheriffwick in no other form or manner than is vouchsafed of course to the Members of the said House upon any urgent occasions by them alledged requiring their absence for some time be it longer or shorter Where other Precedents also to this purpose are vouched and yet perhaps both the said Precedents may stand good and be reconciled with this difference that where any man is first Sheriff of some County and then Elected a Knight of the same or a Citizen Burgess or Baron of any City Borough or Cinque-Port of the same that in this Case his Election is void because it must of necessity follow as in this Case of Sir Andrew Nowell it did that he must return himself which cannot be good in Law But where a man is first Elected a Member of the House of Commons be it Knight Citizen Burgess or Baron and is afterwards made Sheriff of some County here his first Election standeth good as it should seem also it doth although he may be first made a Sheriff of some County and be afterwards Elected a Knight Citizen Burgess or Baron of and in some other Shire or County And the reason of all is plain in respect that in all these latter Cases his Return cannot be made by himself but by the Sheriff of the County where he is Chosen This only holds good in the Case of Knight of the Shire The Bill for Explanation of such Statutes as touch Leases to be made by Archbishops and Bishops was read the second time and rejected after Mr. Boise had spoken to it as followeth To which only Mr. Boise stood up and said that this Act would be prejudicial to the Bishop present and the Successor to their Servants and to the Bishops own Farmers and Tenants To the Bishop present in the maintenance of his Estate which cometh only by continual Fines which if they be taken away then are they not able to maintain that Hospitality and keep that retinue either belonging to their place or answerable to their living For consider the Revenue of the greatest Bithoprick in England it is but two thousand two hundred pounds whereof he payeth for Annual Subsidies to the Queen five hundred pounds And what damage we shall do both to him and his Successor herein his Revenue being so beneficial to her Majesty I refer to all your Judgments To the Successor it must needs be more hurtful For when he first cometh in he payeth First-Fruits and yet is not allowed to make his benefit by Fines which all Bishops Farmers are content to do so that he is cast one whole Annual value behind hand and perhaps hath no power neither to make Leases in twelve or sixteen Years This Mr. Speaker will induce the Ministers of the Word not to seek Bishopricks whereby we may bring the Clergy both to Poverty and Contempt from which they have ever been carefully defended and provided for even by the most antient Statutes and Laws of this Land now extant Hurtful it is to their Servants for this may be every Mans Case We know very many good Gentlemens Sons serve Bishops and how can they reward their long and faithful Services but only by means of granting over of these Fines or some other means out of their Spiritual Function But this Act is good for the Courtier but I may speak no more of that point Lastly Mr. Speaker my self am Farmer to a Bishop and I speak this as in my own Case on my knowledge to the House that it is ordinary upon every Grant after four or five years ever 〈◊〉 and take a new Lease but I refer it to the consideration of the House to do their Pleasure 〈◊〉 Only this I can certifie That I have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Bill the last Parliament exhibited to this purpose which I having confer'd together with the present Bill do find them to be word for word all one And the last was rejected Whereupon this was also as is before-mentioned rejected Thus far out of the afore-mentioned private Journal the residue of this days Passages that follows are transcribed out of the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons it self The Bill that Plaintiffs in Writs of Error shall give good Bayl was read the second time and committed unto Mr. Carie Mr. Tanfield and others who were appointed to meet upon Monday next in the Middle-Temple Hall at two of the Clock in the Afternoon The Bill against fraudulent Administration of Intestates Goods was upon the second reading committed unto the last former Committees in the Bill for Writs of Error to meet at the same time and place The Bill against excessive and
of which the second being the Bill or Petition of Cloth-workers had its first reading Mr. Johnson made Report of the meeting and Travel of the Committees in the Bill for punishment of idle and base persons with certain Amendments The Bills and Committees names touching trifling Suits and against common Sollicitors were delivered to Mr. Boyce The Amendments in the Bill for punishment of Offences in base and idle Persons were twice read and with the Bill Ordered to be ingrossed Two Bills also had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill concerning matters of Assurances used amongst Merchants was read the second time and Committed unto all the Privy Council being Members of this House all the Doctors of the Civil Law likewise of this House Sir Walter Raleigh and others who were appointed to meet upon Thursday next in the Exchequer Chamber at two of the Clock in the Afternoon John Baker was brought to the Bar by the Serjeant and charged by Mr. Speaker with his offence c. was asked what he could answer for himself Upon his humble submission made earnest protestations of not knowing the said Wooddal to pertain to any Member of this House and being Sequestred until the House had considered of the same he was again brought to the Bar and by Order of the House discharged paying his Fees Vide concerning this matter on Yesterday immediately foregoing Thus far out of the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons the residue of this dayes Passages are inserted out of the private Journal M r Hugh Beeston stood up in the lower end of the House and said M r Speaker We that be here cannot hear you that be above I would it would please them that speak there to speak louder Also I am to certifie you that I am here for a Town but not for mine own Country of Denbighshire or for any part thereof but if I should not speak somewhat for my Country I dare never go thither again Therefore I heartily beseech you M r Speaker That the House may be resolved what course is taken according to the Order of the House for the Election of a Knight and Burgess for they cannot but find themselves grieved for want of the Election But what is done I know not M r Secretary Cecill said Because I was the Reporter of the stay of the Election as also of the proceeding I will now also certifie you that there was Order taken for the sending out of a Warrant for the Election but what is done therein I know not M r Speaker said I gave Warrant to the Clerk of the Crown according to the antient form to send out a new Writ who answered me that the Lord Keeper desired to have the Warrant directed to him for a new Writ and for his Warrant for sealing thereof so that nothing is done therein Sir Edward Hobbic said There is no Court that doth not observe his Rites and follow his Priviledges much more this High Court of Parliament being the greatest and Commander of all other Courts doth and ought to observe the same most strictly And all the Precedents which I have seen and observed touching this point have ever gone to the Clerk of the Crown and to none other And therefore I take it that course ought inviolably to be observed Sir George Moore said I agree with the Gentleman that last spake that Precedents ought to be observed but yet not altogether upon urgent occasion or by necessity of time knowing this I take it my duty to inform you if any alteration have been it proceeded from the imperfection of a Speaker It was well observed by an antient Member of this House that no Conserence with the Lords touching a Subsidy should be had Yet that Rule hath been altered in late Parliaments by reason of special Causes So do I think it would be more Honourable to this House to direct our Warrant to the Lord Keeper than to any inferiour Minister in the Chancery Sir Francis Hastings said By the leave of your Honourable Favours I will shew you that I my self was Yesterday with the Lord Keeper and how Honourably I heard him speak of this House that he desired nothing more than to shew the duty and love he beareth us as also himself would be our immediate Officer and would be willing and glad to receive a Warrant from us so it might be directed to him for his discharge be it in what terms soever we pleased And he said he doubted not but if this Honourable House knew so much they would rather chuse him than any other for their Minister Thus much I thought good to certifie this House of which being spoken in private unto me I now deliver in publick unto you for my own advice I think nothing can be more Honourable unto this House than to have a Person of so great Estate to whom we may direct our Warrant as to our Minister M r Francis Bacon said It is far more Honourable for this House in my opinion when our Warrant shall move the principal Member of Justice than when it shall command a base petty or inferiour Servant to the Clerk of the Crown or the Clerk of the petty Bag. It will be said that our Warrant Emanavit improvidè when we shall direct our Warrants to these base Officers when we may move the Great Seal of England by it even as soon as either petty Bag or petty Officer M r Speaker said I was and ever am Zealous and Jealous of the Priviledges and Orders of this House I was commanded by you to send forth a Warrant for the Election of a Knight and Burgess I found a resolution that during the time of the sitting of this House the Speaker for a new Election is to make a Warrant directed to the Clerk of the Crown so that in my doing thereof I hope I have done rightly M r Secretary Cecill said I hope I shall move unto you a Conclusion which will end this Controversie and in the mean time a saving to all persons I mean not to second my former Error for which I was excepted unto that is that M r Speaker or any Member should attend the Lord Keeper but that four might be Assigned by this House to go to the Lord Keeper I say to go as if he should have said mark I say not to attend to the Lord Keeper to know the cause of the stay as also his request unto this House And that other six might be Assigned to call before them the Clerk of the Crown the Clerk of the petty Bag and the Clerk of this House with their Precedents and Books to see to whom this Warrant hath in former times been directed and whether the Priviledges in former Ages have danced a Pavin to and fro and according to the time have been altered This to be done this Afternoon and to certifie this House to Morrow and then we to make a determinate resolution To
the Lord Keeper to tell us that she hoped we would not hereafter meddle in Cases of this nature so nearly touching her Prerogative Royal. Mr. Martin spake to this effect I agree with one that said Learning should have her Reward but I say more that our Souls should have their Spiritual Food And I do wish that Divines may have promotion not only with good convenience but also with good abundance Though I be Zealous yet I hope to refrain and restrain my self from that heat which the heat of my Zeal and love of my Country drew me into very lately for which I do not only acknowledge my self guilty in your Censures but also crave Pardon of every particular Member of this House that heard me but most especially of him I offended But touching this Bill Mr. Speaker and so he spake to the Bill c. After this Speech an old Doctor of the Civil Law spake but because he was too long and spake too low the House hawk'd and spat and kept a great coil to make him make an end Which Speech finished Sir Francis Hastings stood up and said My Masters I utterly dislike this strange kind of course in the House it is the antient usage that every man here should speak his Conscience and that both freely and with attention yea though he speak never so absurdly I beseech you therefore that this may be amended and this troubling of any man in his Speech no more used But to the matter Mr. Speaker I protest that which I shall speak I will utter to you all out of the Conscience of a Christian Loyalty of a Subject and heart of an Englishman I know that Distributio Parochiarum est ex jure humano non Divino But he that said so much give me leave to tell him that Distributio verbi Divini est ex jure Divino humano If then by the distributing and severing of Benefices to divers learned men the Word may be the better distributed unto the people and preached as God be thanked it hath been these forty three years under her Majesties happy Government the point of whose dayes I beseech the Almighty may be prolonged I see no reason Mr. Speaker why we should doubt of the goodness of this Bill or make any question of the committing thereof c. Mr. Roger Owen after particular Answers to divers particular Objections by Doctors shewed that a Statute was but privatio communis Juris And this Act will make no Innovation because it repeals only the Proviso and not the Body Whereas it was said by a Doctor that Honos alit artes and much more to that purpose And if you take away the honour and reward then you take away the Study it self For Answer thereunto Mr. Speaker I say under favour that this Statute takes away no Benefices from the Clergy but doth only better order the distribution of Benefices among the Clergy For another Doctor that alledged a Canon confirmed under the Great Seal of England I say under favour that they of the Clergy and not we of the Laity are bound thereby for they are as it were By-Laws to them but not to us Then the Speaker stood up and put it to the question for the Commitment Whereupon it was Ordered by the more Voices that it should be Committed But the Committees Names being omitted in the private Journal they are supplied out of the Original Journal-Book it self and were as followeth viz. All the Queens Privy Council and all the Learned Councel being Members of this House Sir Walter Raleigh Sir Francis Hastings Sir Carew Reignolds Mr. Francis Bacon and divers others who were appointed to meet upon Friday next in the Exchequer Chamber at two of the Clock in the Afternoon Mr. Speaker did lastly this Forenoon move the House to resolve whether they would sit to Morrow or no it being the day of her Majesties most Blessed and Hereditary Succession to the Crown of England To which after a little Speech had It was agreed by the House that after the Sermon was done at Westminster which would be ended by ten of the Clock they would sit the residue of the Forenoon And this was affirmed to be the antient Custom On Tuesday the 17 th day of November Three Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill for the enabling of Edward Nevill of Berling in the County of Kent and Sir Henry Nevill Knight his Son and Heir Apparent to dispose of certain Copy-hold Lands c. was read the first time And the third being the Bill against unlawful Hunting of Deer or Conies in the Night time was read the second time and upon the question of ingrossing was rejected Heyward Townsend of Lincolns-Inn Esq delivered in a Bill to Mr. Speaker Intituled An Act to prevent Perjury and Subornation of Perjury and unnecessary expences in Suits of Law Upon the delivery whereof he said Mr. Speaker I take every man bound in Conscience to remove a little mischief from the Common-Wealth before it take Head and grow to a great inconvenience This mischief is ordinary and general and therefore though but small to be considered and provided for And if a Heathen Philosopher could admonish us obstare principiis I see no reason but men indued with Christianity should be sensible of the least hurt or sore growing in his Country either regardless or respectless For which purpose a Gentleman well experienced having found this grief common to the poorer sort like a good Subject tendring all the parts of this Common-Wealth engaged me at my coming into the House this Morning to offer unto all your considerations this Bill which it may please you to entertain with that willingness it is offered I doubt not but this inonvenience will quickly be redressed And thereupon the Bill according to the desire of the said Mr. Townsend had its first reading The Bill for Confirmation of Letters Patents made by King Edward the Sixth unto Sir Edward Seymour Knight was upon the second reading committed unto the Queens Learned Councel Members of this House the Masters of Request Sir Robert Wroth Sir Maurice Barkley and others who were appointed to meet in the Committee Chamber of this House upon Friday Morning next The Bill for the strengthening of the Grant made for the maintenance and Government of the House of the Poor called S t Bartholomews Hospital of the Foundation of King Henry the Eighth was read the second time and committed unto all the Queens Learned Councel being Members of this House Mr. Doctor Caesar Sir Edward Hobbie Sir Robert Wroth Mr. Dr. Bennet and others who were appointed to meet upon Saturday next at Lincolns-Inn Hall at two of the Clock in the Afternoon The remainder of this days Passages follows out of the private Journal An Act to suppress the Sin of Adultery was read the first time The substance whereof was that if a Woman or Man or both were
the sale of Lands ten pound and likewise for every Bill for consumation of partiuclar Joyntures the sum of five pound to be distributed in such sort as this House shall further appoint Upon a motion made by M r Secretary Cecill that the Charity and Collection made by the Members of this House for the relief of the Poor during this present Session of Parliament may especially be extended to the comfort of the poor maimed Souldiers now remaining in and about the City of London it was most willlingly and readily assented unto by the whole House M r Dannet Burgess for Yarmouth said May it please you M r Speaker The duty I owe to my Sovereign and Country makes me bold to crave your Patience to hear me The matter that I shall speak of is twosold the first concerneth the Honour of the Queen the second the safety of our Country two very high points for me to handle and require a more eloquent Discourse than I am able to make I will use no circumstance or with superfluous matter abuse the time which is very precious but to the matter I have been of the Parliament five or six times and I have always observed by this House and I would willingly be resolved by the Honourable about the Chair that all the Wars of her Majesty are Wars offensive and I do not hear the contrary How then windes it that such a number of her Majestie Subjects be spoiled robb'd beaten wounded themselves taken used with such extream torture rack'd carried away imprisoned ransomed sined and some executed and all this time no Wars But give me leave for these ten Years I am sure the Subjects of this Land on the Sea-Coast have undergone these Tyrannies and by whom even by two base Towns Dunkirk and Newport Dunkirk at first began with two Ships and are now encreased to almost twenty They are at home at Supper and the next day here with us I must needs confess the great charge that I know the Lord Admiral is at continually by lying ready to take these Pirates Send to take them they straight 〈◊〉 home if our Ships return they are streight here again I dare boldly say it they have done England more hurt since they began than all France either in the time of Hen. 8. Edw. 6. or Queen Mary If it be so that these two base Towns shall so confront the Power of this Land I see no reason why they should be suffered for it is a great dishonour both unto the Queen and unto the Kingdom I have heard many say that the Navies are the Walls of the Kingdom but we suffer our Ships still to be destroyed some to be burnt and some to be sunk We may compare our Seamen to Sheep feeding upon a fair Mountain in the midst whereof stands a little Grove full of Wolves Why M r Speaker we are so plagued with them that they be so bold as now and then to take our Harvest-men tardy with Ambuscadoes I speak with grief and it was reported unto me by a Scottish-man that Duke Allert and the Infanta should plainly publish that they would pull down so many of the Walls of England that they would easily make an Entry And it had been better for Sea-Coast men to have given the Queen an hundred Subsidies that they had been long since supprest My humble Motion is that it would please the House to enter into consideration of these things for the honour good and safety both of the Queen and of the Kingdom M r Peake said I must needs shew unto this House upon so good an occasion offered how grievously the Town of Sandwich for which I serve is vexed and almost undone insomuch as in that Town there is neither Owner Master or Mariner that hath not felt it Her Majesty is continually at Charge but what ensueth or cometh of it I never yet knew If in the County of Kent at Shooters Hill Gadd's Hill Baram Down c. there should many and ofter Robberies be committed and the Justices look not to it this were but an ill part Every day men come home their Goods and all they have taken away yea their very Apparel and if the Ships might also be carried away they would do it This would be amended and looked into We had need to cherish this Subject I think him to be the best and most necessary Member of the Common-Wealth I mean the Navigator M r Martin said I like not these extravagant Speeches in the manner though I mislike them not in the matter They are like to men whose Houses being on Fire run out into the street like Madmen for getting themselves of help That that Cottage of Dunkirk the flourishing Estate whereof is a dishonour to our Nation should so much offend us when we never offer to suppress them it is no marvail I think there is no man but understands the grief But I wish that those who at first propounded to the House this matter had also laid down some project though never so small of remedy otherwise such cursory Motions as these be cannot be but very distastful to the House M r Lithe said Within these twelve dayes one man lost two hundred pound only by Dunkirkers who took the same away M r Secretary Cecill said My Speech shall only tend to advance the Motion of the Gentleman that spake first in this point If we would have remedy we are to consider two things First That it will be a matter of charge and secondly That there must be a distribution thereof For the first I leave it to you for the second it is out of my Element Withal I must excuse them that have Authority to remedy this For unless you would have a continual charge unto her Majesty by having Ships lying betwixt us and Dunkirk it is impossible but that at sometimes these Robberies will be committed I could very well agree to bring this Motion to some head being a matter in mine opinion very considerable in a Committee And all said I I I. M r Dannet said I would only move the House that some Masters of Ships and Seamen might be sent for to attend at the Committee Whereupon it was Ordered to be considered of and refer'd to Committees viz. all the Privy Council being Members of this House the Queens Learned Councel being of this House Sir Walter Raleigh the Burgesses for Ports and Sea-faring Towns the Knights of the Shires for Maritime Counties the Masters of Request M r Lieutenant of the Tower Sir Francis Hastings Sir Robert Wroth and others who were appointed to meet upon Saturday next at two of the Clock in the Afternoon in the Exchequer Chamber The Bill touching Fines within the County of the City of Chester was read the third time and past upon the question M r Tate said I would only move the House that whereas an Information is exhibited by the Earl of Huntington against a Member of this House M r Belgrave