Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	john_n	king_n	lewis_n	3,557	5	11.1220	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56250	A political essay, or, Summary review of the kings and government of England since the Norman Conquest by W. P---y, Esq.	Pudsey, William.; Petty, William, Sir, 1623-1687.	1698 (1698)	Wing P4172; ESTC R19673	81,441	212

others he himself made the Laws a Measure of his Prerogative It will not be worth Enquiry Whether he first Instituted a Parliament in the Form it now stands He raised Money in a Parliamentary way we find in his First Parliament at Salisbury he obtained Three Shillings upon every Hide of Land towards the Marriage of his Daughter with the Emperor although 't is said there these Aids were due by Common Law from the King's Tenants by Knight's Service viz. Aid to Ransom the King's Person Aid to make the King 's Eldest Son a Knight and Aid to Marry the King 's Eldest Daughter once And although this matter was ascertain'd afterwards by King John's Charter at Running-Mead yet following Kings have not been so tender and reserv'd in this Point If he may be said to be Cruel to his Brother Robert I 'm sure he was very Honourable towards Lewis of France when in England whither he came on his own Head notwithstanding he was Solicited and Tempted to make him away As to his Personal Virtues or Vices they were to himself If he fail'd in the Oeconomicks he had Troubles in his own House and whether his Misfortunes of this kind were occasioned by Judgments or the Follies of himself or Wife it is certain he had his share of them but he took so much care that the Nation knew but very few troubles during his Reign And as he obtained a Kingdom by a sort of Artifice so he used his Prerogative with Discretion STEPHEN THIS King's Reign was almost one entire Scene of Military Actions without any mixture of Civil Policy he did not live a Year to Enjoy or Manage Peace after his Agreement with Henry II. the Son of Maud And there was never any formal Meeting of the Body of the Estates in his time The Expences of his War were occasioned by a troubled Title and he maintained them by Confiscations and although he had continued Charges that way yet he required few or no Tributes from the People 'T is said he had another way of getting Money viz by causing Men to be Impleaded and Fined for Hunting in his Forests after he had given them Liberty to Hunt there For thus far at least the Kings Exercised an Absolute Prerogative only over the Beasts of the Forest Which is a Prerogative I confess they ought to Enjoy Indisputably HENRY II. THOUGH this King came to the Crown by the most Absolute Title and Clearest Right yet in Four and thirty Years time we do not find that he pretended to impose upon his People any Arbitrary Power but by Success and Policy he added to the Crown of England Scotland Ireland the Isles of Orcades Britain Poytiers Guyen and other Provinces of France And for all this he had only one Tax of Escuage towards his War with France His causing the Castles to be Demolished was a justifiable piece of Policy for the reason given as being Nurseries of Rebellion In the beginning of his Reign he refined and reformed the Laws and 't is said made them more Tolerable and Profitable to his People than they were before and what is better Governed himself by them We do not find the Punishments of Capital Offences or others were certain but variable and distinguished in the same Crime according to the degrees of Aggravation The Church-Chroniclers bestow a Judgment upon him for refusing to take the Protection of the Distressed Christians in Jerusalem offered to him by Heraclius the Patriarch and assign his Troubles at Home to that Cause but they might be mistaken and he might as he apprehended have had greater from his own Sons if he had gone Abroad upon that Errand And if the Church will forgive him the Story of Thomas Becket for he was otherwise very Civil to it the State had no reason to complain of him for he suffered neither his Wars nor his Pleasures to be Chargeable to the Nation nor his Concubines to be Spungers on the People RICHARD I. THERE is but little Observable in the Reign of this King with relation to the Subject at Home he being the greater part of it out of the Land If his Artifices of Raising Money were not Justifiable the occasion may at least Excuse him He obtained a Subsidy towards his necessary Charges of War what was properly called Taxation was by Parliament or by the Subjects own Contribution and Method of Charging themselves with as the Money raised for his Ransom If he may be charged with some slips in Justice he made it up in Courtesy which by the by goes a great way with Englishmen for 't is observed they may be Led tho' they will not well Drive And upon his return Home from the Holy Land we find the first thing he did was to give his Lords and People Thanks for their Faithfulness to him in his Absence and for their readiness to Supply him for his Ransom JOHN MOntaigne says in one of his Essays and he speaks it upon Observation of History That Women Children and Mad-men have had the Fortune to govern Great Kingdoms equally well with the Wifest Princes And Thucydides That the Stupid more frequently do it than those of better Understanding Whether this be an Argument of a Providential Disposing and Governing of Kingdoms I leave to those that are conversant that way Some Men perhaps may be apt to think it reflects Disgrace on Dignities if this be true Some Kings are involv'd in such a Cloud of Circumstances of Difficulty and Intrigues that there is no looking into them nor making any Judgment of their Actions Speed guesses of King John That if his Reign had not fallen out in the time of so Turbulent a Pope such Ambitious Neighbour Princes and such Disloyal Subjects nor his Story into the Hands of Exasperated Writers he had appear'd a King of as great Renown as Misfortunes This is civilly and gently said This is certain This King as all others when once they have broke through their Coronation-Oath presently became as it were infatuated and deaf to all good Counsel stoop't to every thing that was mean and base and having once laid aside his Native Honour run into all Dishonourable Sordid Actions The History represents him pursuing his Profit and even his Pleasures by all manner of Injustice He prosecuted his Brother Geoffry Archbishop of York and took from him all he had only for doing the Duty of a Wise and Faithful Councellor Hence his Lords grew Resty and refused to follow him into France unless he would restore to them their Rights and Liberties which he had invaded And when he shuffled with them in the Grant of their Demands What Wars what Miseries did not follow Wars at Home Foreiners call'd in the Nation plunder'd and spoil'd Money procured by Base poor-spirited Tricks He on one Side forc'd to truckle to the Pope and as is said to submit to somebody worse his Subjects on the other hand calling in to their Relief as they thought a Foreiner fetch