Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	henry_n	king_n	year_n	31,102	5	5.6306	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61460	A letter to His Most Excellent Majesty King William III shewing, I, the original foundation of the English monarchy, II, the means by which it was remov'd from that foundation, III, the expedients by which it has been supported since that removal, IV, its present constitution, as to all its integral parts, V, the best means by which its grandeur may be for ever maintain'd.	Stephens, William, d. 1718.; William III, King of England, 1650-1702.	1699 (1699)	Wing S5461; ESTC R14146	10,509	17

A LETTER To His most Excellent Majesty King William III. SHEWING I. The Original Foundation of the English Monarchy II. The Means by which it was remov'd from that Foundation III. The Expedients by which it has been supported since that Removal IV. It s present Constitution as to all its integral Parts V. The best Means by which its Grandeur may be for ever maintain'd The Third Edition LONDON Printed by J. Darby in Bartholomew Close and sold by A. Baldwin in Warwicklane M. DC.XC.IX Price 3 d. SIR A Well-meaning and dutiful Subject humbly begs your Majesty to read this Letter which is written with no other design than only to set before you I. What was the antient Foundation of the English Monarchy II. How it was remov'd from its natural Foundation III. By what Expedients it has bin supported since that Removal IV. By what Expedient your Majesty may support the Monarchy during your Reign which I pray God may be long and happy and also raise it to as high a degree of Glory as ever it attain'd heretofore Under which Head is included its present Constitution as to all its integral Parts I. The Monarchy of England was settled upon an over-ballance of Lands vested in the King the Nobility and the Church who antiently possess'd above two thirds of the whole English Territory But the Noblemen held their Lands upon condition that they should assist the King on all his Occasions with certain Quotas of Men well arm'd and paid And then these Noblemen let out their Lands to their Tenants on condition they should always be ready to follow their respective Lords to the War as often as the King had any occasion for their Service So that very small Rents were demanded by the Lord from the Tenants because he had contracted for their Personal Service 'T was this disposition of Lands which enabled our former Kings to raise great Armies when they pleas'd and to invade France their natural Enemy with success and hereby it was that the Nobility upheld the Grandure of the King at home as well as abroad and at the same time they were a shelter and defence to the common People if the King were inclin'd to make any Incroachments upon them For the over-ballance of Propriety and consequently their greatest natural Power was vested in the middle state of Nobility who were therefore able to preserve both King and People in their due bounds Thus the English Monarchy stood upon a natural Foundation the King being the great Landlord of his People who were all bound by their Tenures in subordination to one another to support his Crown and Dignity II. This antient Foundation of the English Monarchy was sap'd and undermin'd by K. Henry the Seventh who having seen the Imperial Crown of England dispos'd at the pleasure of the Lords that had maintained a War against the Crown for near 400 years could not but be much concerned at the overgrown Power of the Peers who sometimes would pull down and set up what King they pleas'd and this Consideration made K. Henry the Seventh seek after ways and means how to lessen the Power of the Lords which had been so prejudicial to the Crown and seeing that their overgrown Power was supported by the great Territories of Land of which they were possess'd and which they could not alienate from their Heirs He by the help of his Parliament found out a way to change the Tenure of Lands in such a manner that the Tenant should be oblig'd only to pay a Rent instead of Personal Service to his Landlord and also a way was found out for the Lords to alienate their Lands from their Posterity This was done to the end the Lords might be encourag'd by an expensive way of living to sell their Lands and that the Commons who liv'd thriftily might be enabled to purchase them Hereby it came to pass that at the end of King Henry the Eighth's Reign in whose time most part of the Church-Lands were also sold to the People the common People of England had near two thirds of the Lands of England in their proper Possession and the King Lords and Church little more than one third part whereby the Ballance was turn'd on the side of the Commons who were therefore able to make War upon the King Lord and Church together as appear'd afterwards in the Reign of King Charles the First Thus it appears that the antient Foundation of the English Monarchy was remov'd in the Reign of K. Henry the Seventh and the over-ballance of Lands failing from the Lords to the Commons 't is evident that the Monarchy has ever since stood not upon an Aristocratical but a Popular Foundation and such a Foundation dos naturally support none but Common-wealth Forms of Government Wherefore a Monarchy supported on such a Foundation may properly be call'd a Government of Expedients because it is by Expedients and Inventions and not upon any bottom of its own that it subsists Now what Expedients our Kings have us'd to support the Monarchy is the next thing to be considered Wherefore III. The Ballance of Lands being chang'd by the end of K. Henry the Eighth's Reign from the Lords and Church to the Commons of England 't is past all doubt but that Queen Elizabeth discover'd the popular bottom of the Monarchy because she found out the only wise Expedient by which the Monarchy upon its new Foundation was capable of being supported in its antient Lustre and Glory Her Expedient was her Popularity by which she accommodated her personal Administration to the true Genius of the Monarchical Constitution as it then stood For the whole Reign of that Queen of Glorious Memory tho long but not tedious was past over in a constant Courtship to her People in which not only all her Actions but sometimes her very Words expressed her knowledg that the Monarchy was then founded on their Affections In what Glory she supported her self and the English Monarchy by that Expedient of Popularity notwithstanding very great Oppositions from the preeminent Powers of Europe her History do's sufficiently explain King James the First was not in his nature inclin'd to pursues this honourable and proper Expedient but his thoughts seemed to be set on his own Power more than upon his Peoples Good whereby it came to pass that the Flattery of the Court was more pleasing to him than the general Interest of his Kingdom And having got some superficial skill in the Arts and Sciences and a profound knowledg as he thought in Theology he made his Court to the Divines of the Church of England that they being appriz'd of his great Learning might in their Writings celebrate his Fame and insinuate to the People his great Knowledg in all sorts of Divine and Human Learning Hereupon at his first coming to the Crown of England he industriously assisted the Bishops and Church-Party against the Puritans whom the Church look'd upon as no less than her Enemies because tho they