said Law was proponed in the 25 yeare of the raigne of Edward the 3. vppon a question mooued If children borne out of his alleageance might possesse heritage within England Whereunto was answered and enacted that all children borne ouersea hauing their Parents at the time of their birth at the faith and obedience of the croun of England should enioy alike benefite priuiledge as other heires borne within the Realm so the statute is a generall affirmatiue for that particular and the argument obiected therupon is â contrario sensu which kinde of argument prooues nothing For if I should say Omnis homo est animal Ergo quod non est homo non est animal the consequent wer false and therefore is the decision of the Law Argumentum à contrario sensu noÌ„ procedit in verbis narratiuis Legis Nec etiam in verbis dispositiuis Legis when that argument is inferred to correct or reforme the common Law like as in this cace it doth by drawing the Law contra trans mare natos in a specialitie contrair the common Lawe to the prejudice of higher powers which be not vnder the power or coÌ„passe of humane lawes and for this cause the other ancient decision is contrair to their intention wherin is said Argumentum á contrario sensu non procedit vbi sequitur correctio Iuris coÌ„munis in specie Thirdly the words of the said statute running vpon and so oft expressing heires and inheritance declares the meaning therof onlie to be directed for priuat persons who must succeede to their antecessors Iure haereditario for Princes succeede aswell Iure familiae as Iure haereditario ordinis naturae beneficio non hominis and are not as priuate meÌ„ astricted to enter cum onere debitoruÌ„ but they enter as pleases them the one or the other way to the end their crownes bee not exhaust and exsorbed so the saide statute beeing conceaued for the vse of priuate men allanerly that must enter as heires and no other way it cannot preiudge his Maiestie who may enter an other way viz. per Ius familiae apperteining to all Princes Soveraigne Ferdlie seeing this Law against strangers was fouÌ„ded vpon two respects which pertaine onlie to priuat men and not to Princes it can no way strike vppon them The first respect was grounded vpon the consideration of loyaltie Quia duorum Principum summorum vnus subditus esse non potest agreeable vnto that of the Evangell Nemo potest duobus dominis seruire The other respect was to saue transport of gold and siluer and other defended commodities and to cut off the occasion of priuate intelligence practises For which cause in France was made Ius albinatus as the practisians testifie Now in the person of a Royall successor these considerations of loyaltie transport and intelligence are not to be feared Fiftlie in Realmes where most strait Lawes bee kept against strangers as in France that Ius albinatus forsaid by which of necessity all strangers that would testate or succeed they must be naturalized with this clause modò sint Regnicolae yet Princes haue succeeded and do succeede to great lands and Dignities within that Realme without anie benefite of naturalization as the old Kings of Nauarre borne out of France to manie fair lands in Guyen and Languedok The D. of Lorane to the Dukerie of Bar yea of old the kings of England to the ample Dukeries of Aquitane Aniou Normandie and Britaignie and that because soveraignes are presumed euerie one to be brethren to other and being brethren it wer indigne to esteeme them externe or strangers and inept to make them subiect to Lawes of alleageance which be onely proper to subiects and vassals Sixtlie the clause conteined in the said pretended act excepting Les Enfans du Roy doth exeeme the king my soveraigne out of the compasse thereof for that word Enfans is in the Latine Liberi and be Liberi in the originall and right signification is not only meaned children in primogradu but also Nepotes pronepotes natinatorum qui nascentur ab illis Et â—…os omnes qui ex nepotibus descendunt lex duodecim tabularum filiorum nomine comprehendit Seuenthlie this Law foresaid de albinatu although conceaued generallie yet could it not bee extended to the crowne aswell as to the subiect and therefore the wise and learned did deuise the Lawe Salique for the succession Royall Last if this statute against forrain birth take place then shall manie absurde inconuenients follow therupon First Princes the ornament bewtie and light of the world without whome were nothing but darknesse disorder confusion they should be in worse condition nor the moste ignoble subiect of their Realme for by that Law subiects may euer succeed hauing their parents subiects but Princes cannot haue that immunitie because their Parents were neuer subiects Againe if a Prince for honor of his Realm or for securitie or enlarging therof shall matche him self or his children with a forraine nation where hee or they beget children what barbarous iniquitie wer it to preiudge the parents remaining abroad for so honorable causes or to hurte the innocent children for a matter which lay not in their power to mend Now for particular examples to illustrate these argumentes I alledge but a fewe both before and after the conquest to shewe that forraine birth makes not incapabilitie to the crowne of England Edward the King Confessor before the conquest did cal home out of Hungarie his Nevoy Edward surnamed Vdislae borne in Hungarie who deing before the king his Vncle the same King Edward declared Edgar Athelin sonne to the said Vdislae borne also in Hungarie to be iust heritor albeit he was afterward defrauded thereof And after the Conquest Richard the first going to conqueis Ierusalem institute his Nevoy Arthur who was borne in Britaignie young Duke thereof to be his successor Like as king Stephan and King Henrie the 2. were both borne in France their Parents not being of the alleageance of England yet they were capable of the crowne of England The vther argument wherewith they impugne his Maiesties title is grounded vppon a statute made in the 28. yeare of the raigne of Henrie the 8. of worthy memorie wherein by consent of his Estates in Parliament is graunted vnto him full power by his letters Patents or by his Testament signed with his hand to declair determine and designe the successour of the crowne in cace his owne children should faile without issue of their owne bodies and the said crown to bee established in the person of the said successor by way of reversion or retour as they call it By vertue of this authoritie or arrest of Parliament giuen to the said noble Prince our aduersares doe alledge that by his latter Will or Testament he did institute and ordaine the succession of Francoyse Countesse of Suffolke his Neice by Marie his youngest sister to
succeede secluding altogether Margaret Queene of Scotland his eldest Sister and her desceÌ„t Wherunto I reply shortlie first by coniectures next by peremptorie answeres It is not probable that a Prince so righteous so wise so kinde as King Henrie the eight was known to be that he should so vnkindlie and vnrighteouslie deale with his eldest sister germane as to spoile and degrade her and her innocent succession of all honor and exspectation that God and nature had prouided for them Next hee could not forget the commendable answere of Henrie the seaventh his moste prudent father who at the contract of mariage made betwixt King Iames the fourth of worthie memorie and Ladie Margaret eldest daughter to the said King Henry the seauenth sundry of his counsel labouring to empesh that mariage said vnto him that it might come to the great dishonour and discommoditie of the realme in cace which was verie possible that England shoulde fall to bee subiect to the Kings of Scotland Whereunto the said noble Prince answered that in cace it fell out so there was no inconuenient to England for as William the Conquerour atteining to the crowne of England did ioine and subiect Normandie to England and not England to Normandy so Scotland beeing the least of the two Realmes should be subiected to England if any such accident should arriue because the lesser must cede and giue place to the greater By which answere the saide noble Prince Henrie the eight knew full wel it was not his Fathers meaning to defraud his eldest daughter nor her succession And therfore it is altogether improbable that hee should haue forget the mind and intention of his magnanime Father in a matter so recentlie and righteouslie done and that with his owne speciall consent and good lyking Thirdlie the said noble King knowing what torte and wrong his Father had receaued of Richard the 3. by such partiall exceptions made against his title and publishing so bitter lawes against him he coulde not be so obliuious much lesse iniurious as to fall in the same error which both hee himselfe and all iust men did so much abhorre in the person of the said vsurper Ferdlie in respect that about the same time when the said pretended Testament is alledged to be made it is certainlie knowne that the said noble King Henrie the eight did treat a mariage betwixt Prince Edward his sonne Mary of Scotland his petite Niece for which cause it were out of all purpose to think that hee should at one time deale so kindelie and vnkindelie as vnder pretext of such newe affinitie to preiudge his nearest Niece of all her lawfull esperances Last shall we beleeue that King Henrie the 8. who was a miracle yea a mirrour in his age of all magnificence appertaining to a Christian Prince should haue bene inferior in iustice and pietie to Iohn Galeas Duke of Millaine who shall bee for euer praised for his equitie in preseruing the prerogatiue of birth-right For going to depart he called his children said O dura Lex ô dura natalitij iuris praerogativa quae aequales genere ac natalibus inaequali sorte seiungis Dolebat enim Iani fily stolidioris annos virtuti Philippi Mariae anteferri My peremptorie answeres be these The first is grounded vpon this decision Nec verò si aliquis Rex consensum statuum haberet vt priuaret regno filiuÌ„ aut proximum posset tamen id iure facere quia qui priuare non poterit non debet id facere cuius praetextu per Legem inducatur privatio For it is so cleare as the Sunne at mid day all the Doctors both of the Canon and Civill Lawe in one voice agree thereunto that no Prince nor estate separatim vel coniunctim hes power to transfer the crowne from one to an other namelie where the crowne is successiue For if it were lawfull to reiect one and mak choise of an other then should succession be turned in election which were absurde And heerevpon is there manie decisions of the Doctours whereof I repeat a few One of Iason saying Quod regna deferantur lege Diuina naturali consuetudinaria Canonica primogenito per rationem huius textus Nemo potest disponere regna nisi secundum Legis dispositionem Idem Felinus asserit Ioannes Andreas Cap. licet De voto Abbas cap. intellecto de Iureiurando Vbi dicit Reges non possepriuare consanguineos spe regni * secundum Innocentium Nec patres Reges possunt primogenitos exharedare aut minuere iura primogeniturae Benedictus in cap. Reynutius in verbo in eodem testamento Quia Regna deferuntur iure sanguinis quae naturae beneficio competunt liberis exhaeredatione paterna tolli non possunt nec etiam statuum Regni ministerio in remotiorem transferri Denique cum Dominus non tulerit Israclitas imo dederit illos in direptionem quod spreta domo Dauid sibi Regem Ieroboam filium Nabath constituissent negari nequit quantum partiales Regnorum translationes à propinquioribus ad remotiores non solum legibus humanis verâ—…metiam voluntati Diuinae repugnent Secondlie the said pretended Testament was supposititious contriued by such as meant to defraud both the heires female of the said king Henrie the 8. aswell as these of his eldest sister which did manifestly appeare immediatlie after the death of the said youÌ„g Prince Edward when as the Lord Gilford eldest son to the Duke of Northumberland did marie with Ladie Ieane eldest daughter to the foresaid Ladie Francoyse Duchesse of Suffolke to whome the said Testament designed the succession the meaning of which mariage was to erect the said Ladie Ieane and to deject the two innocent and moste illuster Enfantes of Henrie the eight Queene Marie and Queene Elizabeth Thirdlie of the witnesse that had signed the saide pretended Testament three of the most honest famous thereof vppon remorse of conscience before Queene Marie their Soveraigne Lady and her honorable Counsel did depone confesse and sweare that the said Testament was neuer signed by the said king Henrie but was sealed by one William Clerk with the kings seale when as the king was either dead or in the last article or agonie of death hauing no sense knowledge or remembrance and these three witnesses were the Lord Paget Sir Edmond Montague Knight cheef Iustice and the said William Clerk affixer of the seale as is aforesaid Vpon which testification the same beeing duelie tried by all circumstances requisit that it was not by corruption suborning nor menaces exhibite by the said witnesses the saide Queene Marie to the honour of God and her Realm for defence of the verity iustice and dignitie of the succession Royall and for auoyding of manie inconuenients that thereof might haue ensued by the partialitie of the said pretended Testament caused the examplar memoriall thereof which was in the ChaÌ„cellarie to be cancellat lacerate and destroyed as a thing indigne to
THE PALINOD OF IOHN COLVILL WHEREIN HE DOTH PEnitently recant his former proud offences specially that treasonable discourse latelie made by him against The vndoubted and indeniable title of his dread Soueraigne Lord King IAMES the sixt vnto the crowne of England after decease of her Maiesty present EDINBVRGH Printed by Robert Charteris 1600. TO THE READER BEhold heere gentle Reader a strange spectacle of a man tormented vvith the rack of his ovvne conscience vvho as he vvas not affrayed to spevv out of his knovvledge and vvilfullie the gall and venome of a malitious heart against his sacred Prince of vvhom he had in most bountifull manner receivedmanie Princelie favors so novv doth he not stick resolutelie to proclaime before the heavens and the earth that he is forced to eat vp that same filthie vomit and to speak more bitterlie a thousand folde against himself then anie man else could and so much the more as he vvas more privie to the faults and anguishes of his ovvn soule then any others could be The vvork I haue published as it came to my hands vvithout adding any thing ther to or diminishing ought therfrom or altering any part therof presuming that the same should neither be offensiue to his Maiestie for vvhose privat satisfaction it vvas first penned or displeasing to M. Iohn Coluill the authour therof vvhom thou mayest assure thy self vpon the credite both of honorable and honest persons to haue purposelie vvritten and signed the same vvith his ovvne hand most humblie vpon his knees in the presence of the Erles of Argyle Craufurd to haue deliuered it to the L. Archbishop of Glasgovv his Maiest Ambassadour in France most earnestly craving that his Lordship vvithout any intercession for him vvould only vouchsafe to present it to his Maiesties vievv not in any hope that in reason he could conceiue of any favour or pardon from his highnesse thereby but rather to disbur then his ovvn fraughted conscience pressed dovvn vvith a vvaight of sorrovv heauier than the mountain Aethna Which reasonable petition vvhat stonie heart could denie to him vvho seemes to think no shame to be a sufficient reuenge taken of himself vvho vvith so high a hand had reuyled the annointed of the Lord doth novv by this as vvith a loud trumpet proclaime to all subiects Discite Iustitiam moniti c. And trulie good Reader notvvithstanding hypocrisie is of all sinnes the moste close and secrete and most hardlie remooued and that as he doth confesse of himself that he hath had a most subtile and vndiscernable vaile of it yet remember the common saying that the man runnes far vvho neuer returnes and that in charity vve are to conceyue and hope his repentance to be vnfained vvhich vve may boldly and confidētly affirme if to this good beginning he shall add of his feruent zeale to beare testimonie to the truth a plaine and perfite discouerie of all manner of plots treacheries intended against the Kings Maiesty by himself or others to his knovvledge vvhich the great King of Kings vvould neuer haue to be concealed lykevvise of all manner of persons subiects or aliens vvho hath either of malice to his Maiesty or loue to himself bene contriuers entysers prouokers counsellers adoers or assisters to any such mischeuous enterprises as directly or indirectly could subuert or anie vvise harme his Maiesties Royall person croun title honour state or dignity and by consequence might dravv vvith them the confusion and ruine both of the Kirk and Common vveale To vvhich no doubt all his honest friends vvill earnestlie incite him and his conscience if it be sinceare vvill prick him and for vvhich all good and religious persons vvill highlie commend him seing heerby God shall be glorified his Maiesties safetie and honour continued his countrie preserued and the Kirk fully satisfied in his harty conuersion and repentance Farevvell A. C. THE PALINOD OF IOHN COLVILL Wherin he doth penitentlie recant his former proud offences specially that treasonable discoúrse lately made by him against the vndoubted indenyable title of his dread soueraigne Lord King IAMES the sixt vnto the crown of England after decease of her Maiestie present IF my onelie name mentioned in the inscription of this my recantation shal make my discourse odious I can not meruell seing I am becum for my treasonable naughtinesse lothsome and odious to my selfe my conscience not only standing vp as a thousand witnesses against mee testifying the heynousnesse of my transgression but also furnishing within my self against my self all other necessarie members of a lawfull court to condemne mee shee being my actor assise Iudge dempster and burreau ieaning and tormenting mee with vnspeakable terrors whereof I neuer could finde rest or quietnesse till God of his infinite mercie knowing my weaknesse and imbecillitie to be such as without help I could neuer ryse did send vnto mee a Nathan whereas I lay lethargicke in my former desperation without sense or feeling of the dangerous estate I was into who letting mee see and feall the deepe dolour of my Aposteme which of before as a blinde and leprous person I did neither see nor feele incontinent I waxed exstatick and astonished as if without my knowledge I had found a snake hid in my bosome not knowing the meanes how to be ridd thereof So remaining some dayes in this inquietude the foresaid Nathan or rather Eliseus appointed by God to cure my leprosie finding mee in this perplexitie began to comfort mee in manner following saying My friend I haue let you see and feele an hid horrible Aposteme the dolour whereof if you haue an soule must needes torment you in pitifull manner Now to ease you of this dolour I will minister vnto you an vnexspected medecine for the inexspected wound that I haue opened vp vnto you letting you vnderstand that as your proud enormity is three-fold so must you make a threefold satisfaction one to God whome against your conscience as you your selfe confesse you haue offended in offending his annointed your Lord and Soueraigne and in this point I remit you to your owne priuate meditation wishing you to bewar of hypocrisie as you would incurre or escape eternall damnation Another satisfaction is due to your Prince wherein you cannot better declare your vnfeined repentance than to blesse with the same tongue that hes blasphemed and with the same hand that did write against the veritie to publish your owne lewdnes and vnloyaltie to his Maiesties honour your owne turpitude And this forme of doing by all appearance shal also satisfie the third partie whome you haue exasperate to wit all good subiectes scandalized by your presumpteous and arrogant misbehauiour the rather when as they shal see your repentance voluntare and not constrained your self free and no prisoner The Oliue branche was not more welcome to Noah nor to the creple Tolle grabatum tuum ambula then this advyse was vnto mee for fulfilling whereof my verie
secreat teares requiring neither vaunting nor witnes Ille dolet verè qui sine teste dolet and this my publict recantation shal beare testimonie to the world In which recantation I will not go about to declare what pretended necessities may moue men vnto but setting aside all excuses I acknowledge in humilitie that no such occasioÌ„ can be offered by a Prince as can make a good subiect declyne as I haue done For the Prince is the immediat Lord of our bodies and of all our worldlie fortunes hauing power to dispoâ—e thereupon at his pleasure as Saint Ambrose doth confes Epist 33. ad Marcellinam sororem Whereof Samuel in the originall institution of a King hes left to all posterities an indenyable testimonie So Princes beeing as it were Gods of the earth they are not answerable to earthly men bot to the supreme Godhead allanerlie and we their Vassals doe as they list to vs can haue no warrand to go further nor Samuel did go viz. to pray for them till God forbid and if he should forbid yet neuer to loose our tongue nor lift our hart nor hand or animat the people against them more nor Samuel Dauid the annointed successor did against Saul and Elias against Achab. And to this effect are pronounced all those golden sentences Omnis anima potestatibus superioribus subdita sit Reddite Caesari quod Caesaris est Obedite Principibus etiam discolis Together with the louable example of some Prophetes that did pray for the felicity of infidell Princes obeying and exhorting others to obey them I am not then to extenuat but to aggrauat my offences accusing not excusing my self And in one word Christian Reader vnto whose hands this Recantation witnes of my vnworthines may come I pray thee read it with patience pitie and iudge with thy selfe if I haue not iust occasion to lament my estate since neither at God nor my Princes hands I can look for anie thing but iust deserued punition both heere and hence except of grace they haue pitie on mee Take mee for an example of vnhappines and as a Mirrour wherein thou may see what is deforme and vnseemlie to them that woulde remain in honest reputation and howe easilie it may be lost that is most difficill to be found Of one thing I may assure thee as is before said that my behauior cannot seeme half so detestable to thee as it is to my self wherof thou may in thy owne person haue experience in cace which God forbid thou fall as I haue done Wherefore I pray Almightie God of his mercie that as my actions haue bene offensiue to manie so my repentance may not only be acceptabil to manie but also a caveat for all to flee such dangerous disloyall courses wherin skarce one of a thousand ca escape That same Almightie God graunt vnto thee a better minde and better fortune and vnto mee a better answere and end nor my former lyfe hes deserued AS the wounded Vrse or wyldegoat seeking his Origane doth with his filthie some and breath infect all other hearbes and as the Waspe of good and bad flowrs gathereth no thing but poison Euen so a man wounded with malice and curiositie doth vitiat and wrest whatsoeuer subiect he taketh in hand delyting more to defend lies nor trueth improbabilities nor probabilities paradoxes shadowes in stead of Orthodoxe and substance and herevpon hes proceeded so manie idle and absurde opinions sum impugning the snow to be white or the Sunne hore some praising follie Cupid and manie other far more ridiculous toyes yea some presuming to deny Gods providence and God him selfe Lyke as out of this same puddle of malice curiositie did flow my late inuectiue against the King my soueraignes iuste title to the crowne of England wherin by Elenches and by no good arguments by sophistrie and no formal Syllogismes I labour to my eternall discredite to make white black and light darknes But as the Sun cannot alwaies be obscured with cloudes and as the gemme or pretious stone doeth not losse his vertue though he be couered with filth villanie no more can my partiall cavillations impeshe his Maiesties possibilities or diminish anie thing of his grandeur For as the steill the more it is vsed the lesse it doeth rouste a valiaunt knight the more he be assailed the more appeareth his valour and the more gold be tryed in the fire the more it is purified Euen so the more his Maiesties title be oppugned with frivolous sophistique contradiction the equitie and iustnesse therof is but the more manifested as by this refutation of my former naughtinesse shall euidentlie appeare Then to come to the purpose the scope of al my venemous satyre was to proue that his Maiestie had no iust title to the crown of England neither by divyne nor humane Lawe drawing my first Sophisme from the Law of nature in this sort By right or lawe of nature nothing is myne nor thine but all be common nothing proper and no proprietare Ergo be law of nature no proprietie can be acclaimed Heervnto is answered that in the libertie vsurped by mee in confounding Ius Legem that is to say Right and Law it being genus and this species I hyde my self in many starting holes whereof by distinction of these two words I am easily cut off Next the antecedent is fals For in the originall creation of all naturall things when as there could be no other Lawe but Ius naturae no Ius gentium nor civill because there was neither nation nor citie at that time Adam was Lord and proprietar of that originall place and of al naturall things therein contained as in Genesis the first and most ancient history is expressed So the antecedent beeing false the consequent can inferre no verity My second caption is grounded vpon the Etymologie or definition of the Law of Nations in this sort The right of Nations is that which equallie is obserued among all Nations but the right whereby his Maiestie would possesse the crown of England is not equallie obserued among all Nations Ergo c. By distinguishing or explaining the assumption the subtility of this caption is elided for although the Law of proximitie of blood wherupon his Maiesties title is grounded be not equallie obserued in all Nations yet all Nations admit the generall that is to say to haue Magistrates and superior powers confessing therwithal that these Magistrats or powers haue iust titles either by succession election or by some other forme aggreable to the nature of the countrie wher they are so the particular diversitie of customes in succession proceeding from the diuersitie of civill and municipall Lawes in euery Realme doeth not seclude the generall vniformitie of all Nations which sauing in such as be altogether barbarous quae pro beluis habendae sunt doe all holde that Magistrates haue iust titles to such kingdomes or Republiques as they be called vnto And therfore his Majesties tytle
doth not disaccord but accord with the right of Nations ingenere My third captioun grounded on the civill Law is so confused and cautelous that it cannot well bee reduced to anie forme I will therefore with this cleare demonstration open vp and impugne the same As for the ciuil Law if we meane the Romane or Imperiall to the Emperours their selues haue confirmed and obserued Iura sanguinis following Edicta Praetorum vnde Liberi vnde Legitimi vnde Cognati And if thereby we shall vnderstand the Municipall or common Law of cuerie Realme then may it be evidentlie prooued that euery Realme hes prouided and established fundamentall Lawes for maintayning the blood Royall in the right line Whereby it is euident that by the Law Ciuill in what sense soeuer it be taken his Maiestie hath a most iust claime and competition As to the Law Diuine by the historie of Iacob Esau may appeare what respect and preferment was giuen to Primogenitur or first-birth seing Iacob thogh he was elected did pretend no right thereto vntill his elder brother did renounce and abiure the same And in Numeri the same prerogatiue is confirmed to the eldest and euerie one ordained to succeede according to proximitie of blood Heerewithall the lineal succession of the Kings of Iuda from father to children and failing thereof to neerest kinsmen doeth manifestlie proue this Ius sanguinis to haue bene autorized as wel in the Pallice as amongst the people Neither can that of Moises in Deuteronom be omitted vbi Odiosae Filius primogenitus dilectae Filio praeferri iubetur such was the respect of primogenitur And albeit this right of primogenitur was altered in Iacob Ioseph Salomon and some others yet such few particular exceptions done at the speciall command of God whose pleasure is reason and whose power hes no limitation doth not abolish the generall Law more nor the particular fact of Phineas doth abolish the general Law against homicide or the Polygamy and incest of the Patriarkes destroy the Lawe against Incest and Adulterie Then the Law of God howsoeuer I haue wrested the same in my former partialitie doeth not derogate but corroborate the title of my Soueraigne Lord vnto the Realme foresaid But the chief question wherein I doe most cavill and calumniat is this If a Prince hauing Ius sanguinis to an other Realme as this present King of France Henrie the 4. beeing but King of Nauarre had to the Realme of France and as my soueraigne Lord hath to that of England if anie Positiue Law of that Realme where he should succeede can iustlie seclude him Whereunto my answere is negatiue impugning my former affirmation first in Thesi syne in Hypothesi by these vrgent reasons and examples following In Thesi First Princes having no superiour power but the supreame Godhead they be only subiect to his lawes omnibus alijs legibus humanis soluti dicuntur and if of their naturall pietie or goodnesse they shall humble them self to be subiect therevnto as Theodosius Valentinian seemed to advyse them saying Digna vox Principe Legibus se subditum esse fateri that subiection or rather moderation est voluntatis non necessitatis officium Which assertion is founded vpon good reason for if forraine Lawes should binde them then were they vassals no Princes if domestick lawes then shoulde they be astricted to punition in cace of transgression and to be astricted to punition is a manifest subiection no soveraignitie Next althogh it may be said that the Prince in his Fisque and in manie vther things quae sunt privati iuris is subiect to the Lawe yet neither may hee nor his crown be bound in ijs quae sunt iuris publici * Atqui ius Regiae successionis publicum est cùm omnes â—â—…uitates sint publicae As also the same may bee verefied by all the titles of the Lawe conceiued of Dignities and Magistrates both in the Digestes and Code Thirdlie if anie Lawe may be extended to the crowne or Prince they suld bee expreshe mentioned therein speciallie where the Law is exclusiue dinisiue or obligatorie and for this cause the Law excluding the femals à feudis the Lawe of division of heritage inter fratres sorores the Lawe oblishing the successor with the goods of the defunct to pay his debts binds not the crowne when the crowne is not expressed per rationis sdentitatem the Law contra peregrinos conceiued simply without mention of the crown may not be extended therevnto To affirme the contrary heerof and to alleadge that Iura successionis haereditaria which be made in any Realme suld binde the Prince aswell as the people because they bee made within the Realme which he hes or pretends to haue is to sturre vp sedition yea it is as absurde and inept as to persew a Shiref or a whole Prouince for fulfilling all contracts made within his jurifdiction or within the precinct of the said Prouince or as who should think the Schoole-maister subiect to the order appointed by him self for ruling his Disciples Perdlie to this houre there can bee no example exhibite where anie having the title of blood to the crowne of England with power and courage to bear out the same that any Positiue law hath barred them For proof whereof I will vse onlie such examples as be most recent The Positiue lawes made in Henrie the sixt his time against Edward Duke of Yorke did not impeshe him nor his race from the crowne nor the bitter statuts made by Richard the vsurper against that most magnanime Prince of worthie memorie Henrie the 7. did not seclude him from the right which he had both by God and nature Yea in our dayes the manifold Lawes and libels defamatours made against the most christian King present could not impesh him from the crowne of France Now in Hypothesi I cum to examine such Positiue Lawes as bee obiected against the King my soueraignes title of which kinde there bee speciallie two One auncient an other later To impugne the ancient I take my first argument from the Rubricke or Intitulation thereof bearing these words De ceux qui sont nez outre ou de la mer. i. De trans mare natis By which Rubricke or argument it is verie probable that this stature in the originall thereof did not containe this word Peregrinis for the tenour of a Lawe shoulde not exceed the nature or substance of the title and so it should not preiudge his Maiestie who is borne within the said Yland As also to them that will indifferentlie marke the drift and intention of that statute they shall finde ittend onelie against children borne without the four seas which compasse the said yland whereby Scotland is no more secluded nor Wales Cornewall And so it is not improbable which some alleadge that the Rubrique foresaid should be De Peregrinis trans mare natis non De Peregrinis trans mare natis Secondlie because the