Duke of Cumberland after the extinction of the Male Line of the Cliffords Finally the Kings forces at land being totally defeated he transported himself into France and was afterward made Admiral of such Ships of War as submitted to King Charles the Second to whom after divers disasters at Sea and wonderful preservations he returned to Paris 1652 where and in Germany sometimes at the Emperours Court and sometimes at Heydelberg he passed his time in Princely Studies and Exercises till the Restauration of his Majesty now raigning after which returning into England was made a Privy Counsellour in 1662 and in 1666 being joyned Admiral with the Duke of Albemarle first attackt the whole Dutch Fleet with his Squadron in such a bold resolute way that he put the Enemy soon to flight He enjoys a Pension from his Majesty of 4000 l. per Annum After Prince Rupert the next Heirs to the Crown of England are 3 French Ladies Daughters of Prince Edward lately deceased who was a younger Son of the Queen of Rehemia whose Widdow the Princess Dowager Mother to the said three Ladies is Sister to the late Queen of Poland Daughter and Coheir to the last Duke of Nevers in France amongst which three Daughters there is a Revenue of about 12000 l. Sterling a year After these is the Princess Elizabeth eldest Sister living to the Prince Elector Palatin born 26 Decemb. 1618. unmarried and living in Germany The next is another Sister called the Princess Louisa bred up at the Hague with the Queen her Mother in the Religion of the Church of England at length embracing the Romish Religion is now Lady Abbess of Maubisson at Ponthoise not far from Paris Last of all is the Princess Sophia youngest Daughter to the Queen of Bohemia born at the Hague 1630. and in 1659 wedded to John Duke of Lunenberg and Free Prince of Germany Heir to the Dutchy of Brunswick by whom she hath Sons and Daughters Of these three Princesses it is said that the first is the most learned the second the greatest Artist and the last one of the most accomplisht Ladies in Europe Of the Great Officers of the Crown NExt to the King and Princes of the Blood are reckoned the Great Officers of the Crown whereof there are Eight viz. the Lord High Chancellour the Lord High Treasurer the Lord Privy Seal the Lord High Admiral the Lord Great Chamberlain the Lord High Constable the Earl Marshal and the Lord High Steward for the time being First the Lord High Chancellour Summus Cancellarius so called because all Patents Commissions Warrants coming from the King and perused by him are signed if well or cancelled if amiss He is after the King and Princes of the Blood in Civil Affairs the highest Person in the Kingdom as the Archbishop of Canterbury is in Ecclesiastical Affairs His Office is to keep the Kings Great Seal to judge not according to the Common Law as other Civil Courts do but to moderate the rigour of the Law and to judge according to Equity Conscience or Reason His Oath is to do right to all manner of People poor and rich after the Laws and Customs of the Realm and truly counsel the King to keep secret the Kings Counsel nor suffer so far as he may that the Rights of the Crown be diminisht c. From the time of Henry 2. the Chancellours of England have been ordinarily made of Bishops or other Clergy-men learned in the Civil Laws till Henry 8. made Chancellour one Richard Rich a Common Lawyer from whom is descended the present Earl of Warwick and the Earl of Holland since which time there have been some Bishops but most Common Lawyers This High Office is in France durante vitâ but here is durante beneplacito Regis The Salary from the King is 848 l. per Annum and when the Star-Chamber was up 200 l. per Annum more for his Attendance there The Lord Chancellour or Lord Keeper who differ only in Name is created per traditionem magni Sigilli sibi per dominum Regem and by taking his Oath The Great Seal being lately taken from Edward Earl of Clarendon Lord Chancellour was by his Majesties great favour bestowed upon Sir Orlando Bridgeman with the Title of Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England The next Great Officer of the Crown is the Lord High Treasurer of England who receives this high Office by delivery of a White Staffe to him by the King and holds it durante beneplacito Regis Antiently he received this Dignity by the delivery of the Golden Keys of the Treasury His Oath is little different from that of the Lord Chancellour He is Praefectus Aerarii a Lord by his Office under whose Charge and Government is all the Kings Revenue kept in the Exchequer He hath also the check of all the Officers any way emploied in collecting Imposts Customs Tributes or other Revenues belonging to the Crown He hath the gift of all Customers Controllers and Searchers in all the Ports of England He hath the nomination of the Escheators in every County and in some Cases by Statute is to appoint a Measurer for the length and breadth of Clothes He with others joyned in Commission with him or without letteth Leases of all the Lands belonging to the Crown He giveth Warrants to certain Persons of Quality to have their Wine Custom free The Annual Salary of the Lord High Treasurer is in all 383 li. 7s 8d per Annum Since the decease of Thomas Wriothesly last Earl of South-hampton and last Lord High Treasurer of England this Office hath been executed by a Commission granted to five eminent Persons viz. the Duke of Albemarle Lord Ashley Sir Thomas Clifford Sir Will. Coventry and Sir John Duncomb The Third Great Officer of the Crown is the Lord Privy Seal who is a Lord by his Office under whose hands pass all Charters and Grants of the King and Pardons signed by the King before they come to the Great Seal of England also divers other matters of less Concernment as for payments of money c. which do not pass the Great Seal He is by his Place of the Kings Privy Council and Chief Judge of the Court of Requests when it shall be re-continued and besides his Oath of Privy Counsellour takes a particular Oath as Lord Privy Seal His Salary is His Place according to Statute is next to the Lord President of the Kings Council It is an Office of great Trust and Skill that he put not this Seal to any Grant without good Warrant under the Kings Privy Signet nor with Warrant if it be against Law or Custom until that the King be first acquainted This great Officer is mentioned in the Statutes of 2 Rich. 2. and then â—anked amongst the Chief Persons of the Realm And is at present enjoyed by John Lord Robarts Baron Robarts of Truro The Fourth Great Officer of the Crown is the Lord
Willmot Earl of Rochester Henry Jermin Earl of St. Albans Edward Montague Earl of Sandwich James Butler Earl of Brecknock Edward Hyde Earl of Clarendon Arthur Capel Earl of Essex Thomas Brudnel Earl of Cardigan Anthony Annesly Earl of Anglesey John Greenvile Earl of Bath Charles Howard Earl of Carlile John Craven Earl of Craven Thomas Bruce Earl of Alisbury Richard Boyle Earl of Burlington Vicounts Leicester Devereux Vicount Hereford Francis Brown Vicount Montague James Fiennes Vicount Say and Seale Edward Conway Vicount Conway Baptist Noel Vicount Camden William Howard Vicount Stafford Thomas Bellasis Vicount Falconbridge John Mordant Vicount Mordant George Savil Vicount Halifax Barons John Nevil Lord Abergavenny James Touchet Lord Andley Charles West Lord de la Warre George Berkly Lord Berkly Thomas Parker Lord Morly and Monteagle Francis Lennard Lord Dacres Conyers Darcy Lord Darcy and Menil William Stourton Lord Stourton William Lord Sandys de la Vine Edward Vaux Lord Vaux Thomas Windsor Lord Windsor Thomas Wentworth Lord Wentworth Wingfield Cromwel Lord Cromwell George Evre Lord Evre Philip Wharton Lord Wharton Francis Willoughby Lord Willoughby of Parham William Paget Lord Paget Dudly North Lord North. William Bruges Lord Chandos William Petre Lord Petre. Dutton Gerard Lord Gerard. Charles Stanhop Lord Stanhop Henry Arundel Lord Arundel of Warder Christopher Rooper Lord Tenham Fulk Grevil Lord Brooke Edward Montague Lord Montague of Boughton Charles Lord Howard of Charlton William Grey Lord Grey of Wark John Robarts Lord Robarts John Lovelace Lord Lovelace John Pawlet Lord Pawlet William Mainard Lord Mainard Thomas Coventry Lord Coventry Edward Lord Howard of Escrick Warwick Mohun Lord Mohun William Butler Lord Butler Percy Herbert Lord Powis Edward Herbert Lord Herbert of Cherbury Francis Seymour Lord Seymour Francis Newport Lord Newport Thomas Leigh Lord Leigh of Stonelty Christopher Hatton Lord Hatton Henry Hastings L. Loughborough Richard Byron Lord Byron Richard Vaughan Lord Vaughan Charles Smith Lord Carington William Widrington Lord Widrington Humble Ward Lord Ward Thomas Lord Culpeper Isaack Astley Lord Astley Richard Boyle Lord Clifford John Lucas Lord Lucas John Bellasis Lord Bellasis Lewis Watson Lord Rockingham Charles Gerard Lord Gerard of Brandon Robert Sutton Lord Sutton of Lexinton Charles Kirkhoven Lord Wotton Marmaduke Langdale Lord Langdale William Crofts Lord Crofts John Berkley Lord Berkley Denzil Hollis Lord Hollis Frederick Cornwallis Lord Cornwallis George Booth Lord de la Mere. Horatio Townsend Lord Townsend Anthony Ashley Cooper Lord Ashley John Crew Lord Crew c. Henry Bennet Lord Arlington John Freschevile Lord Fresschevile Richard Arundel Lord Arundeâ— of Trerice Of Temporal Lords or Peer of England there are at presenâ— about 170 whereof there arâ— 10 Dukes 3 Marquisses 6â— Earls 8 Vicounts and 78 Barons whereas within 60 yearâ— last past there was not onâ— Duke but one Marquiss abouâ— 20 Earls 3 or 4 Vicounts anâ— 40 Lords The Laws and Customs of England alwayes willing that Decorum and Conveniency should be every where observed and considering the Charges and Expences appertaining to the several Degrees of Honour as they belong to Men of Principal Service to the King and Realm both in time of War and Peace expected that each of them should have a convenient Estate and Value of Lands of Inheritance for the support of their Honours and the Kings Service Therefore antiently when the intrinsique value of a Pound Sterling was worth 30 l. of our Money now every Knight was to have about 800 Acres reckoned at 20 l. yearly in Land that is about 600 l. of our Money at this day A Baron to have 13 Knights Fees and one third part which amounted to 400 l. which multiplied by 30 was as much as 8000 l. a year at this day An Earl 20 Knights Fees and a Duke 40. And in case of decay of Nobility or that they had so far wasted their Revenues that their Honours could not decently be maintained as the Roman Senators were in such case removed from the Senate so sometimes some English Barons have not been admitted to sit in the Higher House of Parliament though they kept the Name and Title of Dignity still For the better support oâ— these Degrees of Honour the King doth usually upon the Creation of a Duke Marquiss Earl or Vicount grant an Annuity or yearly Rent to them and their heirs which is so annext to the Dignity that by no Grant Assurance or any manner of Alienation can be given from the same but is still â—ncident to and a support of the same Creation contrary to that Principle in Law That every Land of Feesimple may be charged with a Rent in Fee-simple by one way or other To a Duke the King grants 40 l. heretofore a considerable Pension to a Marquiss 40 Marks to an Earl 20 l. and to a Vicount 20 Marks To Barons no such Pensions is ordinarily granted onely the late King creating Mountjoy Blount the late Earl of Newport Lord Mountjoy of Thurlston granted him a Fee of 20 Marks per annum to him and his heirs for ever As the King of England hath ever had the repute of the richest in Domaines of any King in Europe so the Nobility of England have been accounted the richest in Lands of any Neighbouring Nation some having above 20000 l. yearly others 15000 and so many of them above ten that if one with another they have 10000 l. yearly it will amount to in all amongst the 160 Lords Sixteen hundred thousand pounds a year about the ninth part of the yearly Revenue of all England which upon Computation is found to be about Fourteen Millions yearly The English Nobility for Valour Wisdome Integrity â—nd Honour hath in all former Ages been equal to any in Christendom Every Lords House was a kind of a well disciplined Court insomuch that the Gentry Males and Females were wont to be sent thither for vertuous breeding and returned excellently accomplisht At home their Table Attendance Officers Exercises Recreations Garb was an Honour to the Nation Abroad they were attended with as brave numerous and uniform Train of Servants and Followers as any â—uâ—ope not thinking it consistent with their Honours to be seen walk the Streets almost in Cuerpo with one Lackey or not that much less to be found drinking in a Tavern c. If the English Nobility by â— long continued Peace excessive Luxury in Diet want oâ— Action c. were before thâ— late Wars born more feeble in body than their Ancestors anâ— by too fine and too full Dieâ— afterwards were rendred weaker in mind and then during thâ— late troubles by much licentiousness and want of fit Education were so debauched thaâ— it was lately difficult to finâ— as some are bold to affirme the Courage Wisdom Integrity Honour Sobriety and Courtesie of the Antient Nobility yet is it not to be doubted but that under a Warlike Enterprising Prince all those Vertues of their Fore-Fathers may spring afresh especially if we consider the vicissitude
Honourable Estate nor to be a Commander over Souldiers and therefore the English Nobility and Gentry till within late years judged it a stain and diminution to the honour and dignity of their Families to seek their Childrens support by Shop-keeping but only as in all great Monarchies by Military Court State or Church Emploiments much less to subject their Children to an Apprentisage a perfect Servitude for during that time whatever they gain by their Masters Trade or their own wit belongs all to their Master neither can they lie our of their Masters House noâ— take a Wife nor trade of their own but subject to all Houshold Work all Commands oâ— their Master undergo what punishment and eat and wear what their Master pleaseth which Marks of Slavery considered Heralds are of opinion that a Gentleman thereby loses his Gentility for ever till he can otherwise recover it and yet to the shame of our Nation we have seen of fare not onely the Sons of Baroners Knights and Gentlemen sitting in Shops and sometimes of Pedling Trades far more fit for Women and their Daughters but also an Earl of this Kingdom subjecting his Son to an Apprentisage and Trade but the folly of the English in swerving from their Ancestors steps herein as in other things is now apparent for those young Gentlemen possessing more noble and active Spirits could not brook such dull slavish lives and being thereby unfitted for other emploiments have generally taken ill debauched courses Priviledges The lower Nobility of England have fewer and lesse Priviledges than those in other Monarchies Some few Priviledges belong to Knights quatenus Knights 〈◊〉 a Knight be a Minor yet shall he be out of Wardship both for Lands Body and Marriage for though the Law doth judge him not able to do Knights Service till the Age of 21 years yet the King being Sovereign and Supreme Judge of Chivalry by dubbing him Knight doth thereby allow him to be able to do him Knights Service Knights are excused from attendance at Court-Leets They and their eldest Sons not compellable to find Pledges at the Visus Franci Plegii Knights by Magna Charta cap. 21. are so freed that no Demesne Cart of theirs may be taken The Son and Brother of a Knight by Statute law are capacitated to hold more than one Beenfice with cure of Souls By the Stat. Primo Jacobi It seems that Knights and their Sons though they cannot spend 10 l. per annum nor are worth 200 l. may keep Greyhounds Setting Dogs or Nets to take Pheasants or Partridges Some Priviledges also beâ—ong to Gentlemen Antientâ—y if an ignoble person did â—trike a Gentleman in England he was to lose his hand A Gentleman by Stat. Quint. Eliz. may not be comâ—elled to serve in Husbandry The Child of a Gentleman â—rought up to singing cannot â—e taken without the Parents â—nd Friends consent to serve â—n the Kings Chappel as others may The Horse of a Gentleman may not be taken to ride post Note That as there are somâ— Great Officers of the Crownâ— who for their Dignity anâ— Worth of their Places although they are not Noble men yet take place amongâ— the highest of the Higher Nobility so there are some Persons who for their Dignities in the Church-degrees iâ— the University Offices in thâ— State or Army although thâ— are neither Knights nor Gentlemen born yet take place amongst them So all Deanâ— Archdeacons Chancellours Prebends Doctors of Divinity Law and Physick Heads of Houses in the University usually take place nexâ— to Knights and before all Esquires and Gentlemen Likewise all Judges of Courts Mayors Bailiffs Justices of the Peace All Commissionated Officers in the Army as Colonels Master of Artillery Quarter-Master General c. All higher Officers in the Kings Court or State All Sergeants at Law c. These are wont to precede Esquires All Batchelors of Divinity Law and Physick all Doctors in the Arts commonly called Masters of Art all Barresters in the Innes of Court all Captains Officers in the Kings Houshold c. may equal if not precede Gentlemen that have none of those qualifications In England Gentry as in Germany all Nobility and Arms are held in Gavelkind descending to all the Sons alike only the eldest Son beareth Arms without difference which the younger may not Of the low Nobility in England the number is so great that there are reckoned at present above 500 Baronets more than the first intended number that is in all above 700 who are possest one with another of about 1200 l. a year in Lands Of Knights above 1400 who one with another may have about 800 l. Lands a year Of Esquires and Gentlemen above 6000 each one possest one with another of about 400 l. a year in Lands besides younger Brothers whose number may amount to about 16000 in all England who have small Estates in Lands but are commonly bred up to Divinity Law Physick to Court and Military Emploiments but of late too many of them to Shop-keeping The Lands in the possession of the lower Nobility will amount to about four Millions and sixty thousand pounds yearly Next to the lower Nobility and the first Degree of the Commons or Plebeans are the Freeholders in England commonly called Yeomen from the High Dutch Gemen or Gemain in English Common so in the Kings Court it signifieth an Officer which is in a middle place between a Sergeant and a Groom or else from the Low Dutch Yeman Some-body as the Spaniard calls a Gentleman Hidalgo Hijo d' algo that is the Son of Some-body The Yeomanry of England having Lands of their own to a good value and living upon Husbandry are lookt upon as not apt to commit or omit any thing that may endanger their Estates and Credits nor apt to be corrupted or suborned c. wherefore they are judged fit to bear some Offices as of Constable Churchwarden to serve upon Juries to be Train-Souldiers to vote in the Election of Knights of the Shire for Parliament c. In Cases and Causes the Law of England hath conceived a better opinion of the Yeomanry that occupy Lands then of Tradesmen Artificers or Labourers Husbandry hath in no age rendred a Gentleman ignoble nor uncapable of places of Honour Amongst the Romans some of the greatest Dictators and Consuls had been once Husbandmen and some of them taken from Plowing their Ground to bear those Highest Offices and Dignities so divers Princes Kings and Emperours have exercised Agriculture and the Grand Scipâ—o and the Emperour Dioclesian left their Commands to enjoy Husbandry By the Statutes of England certain Immunities are given to Freeholders and landed men though they are not Gentlemen Vide Stat. 1 Jacobi cap. 27. alibi Of the Free-holders in England there are more in number and richer than in any Countrey of the like extent in Europe 40 or 50 l. a year a piece is very ordinary 100 and 200 l. a year in some Counties is not rare Besides these
Second State or Nobility of England p. 405. to p. 457. and therein of their Degrees Priviledges Precedence State Revenues c. p. 417. A Catalogue of all the Peers of England according to their Precedence p. 439. Of the Third State or Commons of England p. 457. Of Knights Esquires Gentlemen Yeomen Citizens Handycrafts c. p. 472. Of the Liberties and Properties of the English Subjects p. 493. Of the Women in England p. 497. Of the Children p. 509. Of the Servants p. 513. OF ENGLAND ENgland the better part of the best Iland in the whole World antiently with Scotland called Britain and sometimes Albion was about 800 years after the Incarnation of Christ by special Edict of King Egbert descended from the Angles a people of the Lower Saxony named Angle or Englelond thence by the French called Angleterre by the Germans Engeland and by the Inhabitants England It is situated between the Degrees 16 and 21 Longitude equal with Normandy and Britany in France and between 50 and 57 Northern Latitude equal with Flanders Zeland Holland Lower Saxony and Denmark The longest day in the most Northern part is 16 hours 44 minutes and the shortest 7 hours 16 minutes It is in length 386 miles in breadth 279 in compass by reason of the many Bayes and Promontories about 1300 miles in shape triangular contains by computation about 30 Millions of Acres about the thousandth part of the Globe and 333d part of the habitable earth almost ten times as big as the United Neatherlands five times as big as the Spanish Neatherlands less than all Italy by almost one half and in comparison of France is as 30 to 82. The Aire is far more mild and temperate if not more healthy than any part of the Continent under the same Climat By reason of the warm vapours of the Sea on every side and the very often Winds from the huge Western Sea the Cold in Winter is less sharp than in some parts of France and Italy though more Southern By reason of the continual blasts from Sea the Heat in Summer is less scorching than in some parts of the Continent that lies more Northern As in Summer the gentle Winds and frequent Showres qualifie all violent Heats and Droughts so in Winter the Frosts do only meliorate the cultivated Soyle and the Snow keep warm the tender Plants It is blessed with a very fertile wholsome Soyle watered abundantly with Springs and Streams and in divers parts with great Navigable Rivers few barren Mountains or craggy Rocks but generally gentle pleasant Hills and fruitful Valleys apt for Grain Corn or Wood. The excellency of the English Soyle may be learnt as Varro advised of old from the Complection of the Inhabitants who therein excell all other Nations or else from the high value put upon it by the Romans and the Saxons who â—ookt upon it as such a precious â—pot of ground that they thought it worthy to be fenced â—n like a Garden Plot with a mighty Wall of fourscore miles â—n length viz. from Tinmoâ—th on the German Sea to Solwey Frith on the Irish Sea whereby the Caledonian Bores might be excluded and with a monstrous Dike of fourscore and ten miles viz. from the Mouth of the River Wy to that of the River Dee whereby the Cambrobritan Foxes might be kept out lastly the excellency of her Soyle may also be learnt from those transcendent Elogies bestowed on her by Antient and Modern Writers calling England the Granary of the Western World the Seat of Ceres c. That her Valleys are like Eden her Hills like Lebanon her Springs as Pisgah and her Rivers as Jordan That she is a Paradise of Pleasure and the Garden of God O fortunata omnibus terris beatior Britannia te omnibus coeli ac soli ditavit Natura tibi nihil inest quod vitae offendat tibi nihil deest quod vita desiderat ita ut alter orbis extra orbem poni ad delicias humani generis videaris O happy and blessed Britanie above all other Countries in the World Nature hath enricht thee with all the blessings of Heaven and Earth Nothing in thee is hurtful to Mankind nothing wanting in thee that is desirable in so much that thou seemest another World placed besides or without the great World meerly for the delight and pleasure of Mankind As it is divided from the rest of the World so by reason of its great abundance of all things necessary for the life of Man it may without the contribution of any other part of the World more easily subsist than any of its Neighbouring Countries Terra suis contenta bonis non indiga mercis First for Food what plenty every where of Sheep Oxen Swine Fallow Deer and Coneys what plenty of Hens Ducks Geese Turkeys Swans Peacocks Phesants Partridges Woodcocks Snipes Plovers Quailes Herons Bustards Heath Cocks or Grouse Thrushes or Throstles Black-birds Veldevers Nightingales Pigeons and Larks What plenty of Salmon Trouts Carps Tench Lampreys Pikes Perches Eeles Crevish Flounders Plaice Shads Mullets What great abundance of Herrings Pilchards Oysters Lobsters Crabs Mackerel Whitings Soles Smelts Sprats Prawnes Ruffes c. What great plenty of Apples Pears Plums and Cherries How doth England abound with Wheat Barly Pulse Beans and Oates with excellent Butter and Cheese with most sorts of Edible Roots and Herbs It wants not Red Deer Hare Goats c. It wants not Wild-Ducks Wild-Geese Puffins Snipes God-wits and many other kind of Sea-fowl It wants not Apricocks Peaches Nectarins Grapes Figgs Melons Quinces c. Walnuts and Hasel-nuts Lastly for Drinks England abounds with Beer Ale Sider Perry and in some places with Metheglin Now of all these things there is such a constant continuance by reason of the Clemency of the Climat that scarce the least Famine which frequenteth other Countries hath been felt in England these 300 years Then for Rayment England produceth generally not onely very Fine Wooll which makes our Cloth more lasting than other Countrey Cloth and better conditioned against Wind Weather but also such great abundance of Wooll that not onely all sorts from the highest to the lowest are clothed therewith but so much hath been heretofore transported beyond the Seas that in honour of the English Wooll that broughâ— heretofore such plenty of Golâ— into the Territories of Charleâ— the puissant and bold Duke of Burgundy where the Staple for English Wooll was then keptâ— he instituted that famous Military Order of the Golden Fleece aâ— this day in highest esteem with the whole House of Austria This abundance and cheapness of Wooll in England proceeds not onely from the goodness of the Soyle but also from the freedom from Wolves and temperateness of Heat and Cold which in other Countries creates a great charge of a constant guarding their Sheep and housing them by Night and sometimes by Day Also for advancing the Manufacture of Cloth that necessary Earth called Fullers Earth
is no where else produced in that abundance and excellency as in England Beside there is in England great plenty of excellent Leather for all sorts of uses nor wants it Hemp and Flax at least not ground fit to produce them For Building it wants not Timber nor Iron Stone nor Slate Brick nor Tiles Marble nor Alablaster Mortar nor Lime c. Lead nor Glass For Firing either Wood Sea-Coal or Pit-Coal almost every where to be had at reasonable rates For Shipping no where better Oak no where such Knee Timber as they call it or Iron to make serviceable and durable Guns For War for Coach for Highway and Hunting no where such plenty of Horses also for Plow Cart and Carriages insomuch as Mules and Asses so generally made use of in France Italy and Spain are utterly despised in England Moreover England produceth besides a mighty quantity of Tinne Lead and Iron some Brass Copperas Allome Salt Saffron and divers other beneficial Commodities it wants not Mines of Silver yielding more in their small quantities of Ore and so richer than those of Poâ—osi in the West Indies whence the King of Spain hath most of his Silver those yielding usually but one Ounce and a half of Silver in one hundred Ounces of Ore whereas these in Wales Cornwall Lancashire and the Bishoprick of Durham yield ordinarily 6 or 8 Ounces per Cent. â—ut these lying deep are hard â—o come unto and Workmen â—ear which is otherwise in Poâ—osi Vineyards have been heretoâ—ore common in most of the â—outhern and Middle Parts of England and Silks might be â—ere produced as it was once â—esigned by King James but a great part of the Natives prone to Navigation supplying England at a very cheap rate with all sorts of Wine Silks and all other Forreign Commodities it hath been found far better Husbandry to employ English Ground rather for producing Wooll Corn and Cattle for which it is most proper In a word though some Countries excel England in some things yet in general there is no one Countrey under Heaven whose Aire is better stored with Birds and Fowls Seas and Rivers with Fishes Fields with all sorts of â—orn the Pastures with Cattel the Forests Parks and Woods with Wild Beasts onely for Recreation and Food the Mines with Metals Coals and other Minerals where are fewer ravenous and hurtful Beasts fewer venemous Serpents or noisome Flies fewer Droughts Inundations or Dearths fewer Unwholsom Serenes Pestilential Aires Tempestuous Hurricanes or Destructive Earthquakes lastly where there is a greater abundance of all things necessary for mans life and more especially for all kind of Food insomuch that it hath been judged that there is yearly as much Flesh and Beer consumed in England by over plentiful Tables as would well serve three times the number of People Add to all this that being encompassed with the Sea and well furnisht with Ships and abundance of Commodious and excellent Havens and Ports it excels for safety and security which is no small praise all the Neighbouring Countries if not all the Countries in the World It hath been possest by five several Nations and coveted by many more and no wonder so fair and rich a Lady should have many Lovers it being a Countrey as was said of the Tree in the midst of Paradise good for food pleasant to the eyes and to be desired whereas Scotland Wales Biscay Switzerland and other like Countries continue still in the possession of their Aborigines of the first that laid claim unto them none since judging it worth their pains to dispossesse them The first Inhabitants of England are believed to be the Britains descended from the â—auls subdued afterward by â—he Romans who by reason of â—â—eir troubles nearer home â—ere constrained to abandon this Countrey about 400 years afâ—er Christ whereupon the Picts â—ahabitants of Scotland invaâ—â—ng the Britains they call to â—â—eir aid the Saxons who chaâ—ng away the Picts soon made themselves Masters of the Britains but these not able to enâ—ure the heavy yoke of the â—axons after many Battels and Attempts to recover their lost Liberties and Countrey retired â—r were driven most of them â—nto the two utmost Western â—arren and mountainous parts of this Countrey called afterwards by the Saxons Walishland instead of Gaulishland as the Germans still call Italy Walishland because inhabited by the Cisalpine Gauls and the French call our Countrey of Britains Le Pais de Gales The Saxons solely possest of all the best part of this Isle were for a long time infested and for some time almost subdued by the Danes and afterwards wholly by the Normans who drave not out the Saxons but mixed with them so that the English blood at this day is a mixture chiefly of Normaâ— and Saxon not without 〈◊〉 tincture of Danish Romish and Britain Blood The English Tongue being aâ— present much refined exceedingly copious expressive and significant by reason of a liberty taken by the Natives of borrowing out of all other Languages whatever might conduce thereunto is as their blood a mixture chiefly of the Old Saxon a Dialect of the Teutonick and the Old Norman a Dialect of the French not without some savour of the Britains Romans and Danes Languages The Romans possessing England caused their Tongue the Latine once to be generally used in this Countrey The Saxons succeeding introduced their Language wheresoever they seated themselves The Normans afterwards getting possession of England caused the Norman or French Tongue to be learnt at School by the Saxons and for a long time had all Lawes Pleadings Sermons c. in French The Latine Tongue at present is made use of in Court Rolls Processes of Courts in Charters Commissions Patents Writs Bonds c. The Names of all Shires Cities Towns and Villages Places and Men in England are generally Saxon and so are most Nouns Appellative and a great part of the Verbs In French or rather Norman are still written the Common Laws and learnt by young Students thereof Also some Pleadings and all Mootes and Law Exercises are wholly French In Parliaments the King doth in French signifie his assent or dissent to all Bills The Natives of England by reason of the Temperate Climat Mild Aire not rendred unequal by high Mountains nor unhealthy by many Marshes plenty of wholsome food and the use of Beer rather than Wine pour la belle taille le beau teinct au visage as the French say for a just handsome large proportion of body for clear complexions and pleasing features do surpasse all the Nations of the World The English are generally great Flesh-eaters although by the nearness of the Sea and abundance of Rivers and Fish-ponds there is no want of Fish In former times their Table was in many places covered four times a day they had Breakfasts Dinners Beverages and Suppers and every where set Dinners and Suppers until in the late troubles wherein many eminent families were much impoverisht a
Custom was taken up by some of the Nobility and Gentry of eating a more plentiful Dinner but little or no Supper as on the contrary the Romans and Jews anciently and the hotter Climats at this day have little or no Dinners but set Suppers The English are not now so much addicted to Gluttony and Drunkenness as heretofore nor unto Tobacco which perhaps within a few years may be expelled by Coffee Feasting also is not now so â—ommon and profuse as antiâ—ntly for although the Feasts â—t Coronations at the Installations of Knights of the Garter â—onsecrations of Bishops Entertainments of Ambassadors â—he Feasts of the Lord Mayor of London the Sergeants at Law â—nd Readers Feasts in the Innes of Court are all very sumptuous â—nd magnificent in these times â—et compared to the Feasts of â—ur Ancestors seem to be but â—iggardly and sparing for Richard Earl of Cornwall Brother â—o Henry 3 had at his Marriâ—ge Feast as is recorded Thirâ—y thousand Dishes of Meat â—nd King Richard the 2d at a Christmass spent daily 26 Oxen â—oo Sheep besides Fowl and â—ll other Provision proportionably so antiently at a Call 〈◊〉 Sergeants each Sergeant saitâ— Fortescue spent sixteen hundred Crowns which in thosâ— dayes was more than 1600â— now The English that feed not over liberally whereto the greâ—â— plenty and variety of Vianâ—â— entice them nor drink mucâ— Wine but content themselvâ—â— with Small Ale or Sider bâ— especially the later are observed to be much more health and far longer lived than any 〈◊〉 our Neighbour Nations For Apparel or Clothing the French Mode hath been genâ—rally used in England of laâ—â— years In the time of Queen Elizabeth sometimes the Hiâ—â— Dutch sometimes the Spanisâ— and sometimes the Turkish and Morisco Habits were by the English worn in England when the Women wore Doublets with Pendant Codpieces on the Breast full of Tags and Cuts moreover Gallygascons Fardingales and Stockings of divers Colours but since the Restauration of the King now raigning England never saw for matter of wearing Apparel less prodigality and more modesty in Clothes more plainness and comeliness than amongst her Nobility Gentry and Superiour Clergy onely â—he Citizens the Countrey People and the Servants appear clothed for the most part above and beyond their Qualities Estates or Conditions Since our late breach with France the English Men though not the Women have quitted the French Mode and taken a grave Wear much according with the Oriental Nations Churches thorowout all England and all Publick Edifices are generally of Solid Stone covered with Lead Cathedral and Collegiate Churches every where ample and magnificent and the Churches in Market Towns and Opulent Villages spatious and solid enough Houses in Cities that were heretofore usually of Wood are now built of good Stone oâ— Brick and covered with Slatâ— or Tile the Rooms within formerly wainscotted are now hung with Tapistry or other convenient Stuffe and all cieled with Plaister excellent against the rage of Fire against the Cold and Sluttishness The Modern Buildings have been far more slight and of less continuance than the Antient. The Houses of the Nobles and Rich are abundantly furnisht with Pewter Brass Fine Linnen and Plate The mean Mechanicks and ordinary Husbandmen want not Silver â—poons or some Silver Plate in â—heir Houses The Windowes every where â—lased not made of Paper or Wood as is usual in Italy and â—pain Chimnies in most places no â—toves although the far more â—outhern parts of Germany can â—ardly subsist in the Winter â—ithout them England contains 9725 Parishes now allowing to each Parish one with another 80 Families there will be 778000 Families and to each Family 7 persons there will be found in all Five Millions four hundred forty six thousand souls and amongst them about one Million of Fighting Men. As some years before the late Troubles no people of any Kingdom in the World enjoyed more freedom from Slavery and Taxes so generally none were freer from evil tempers and humours none more devoutly religious willingly obedient to the Laws truly loyal to the King lovingly hospitable to Neighbours ambitiosly civil to Strangers or more liberally charitable to the Needy No Kingdom could shew a more knowing prudent Nobility a more valiant Gentry a more learned and pious Clergy or a more contented loyal Commonalty The Men were generall honest the Wives and Women chast and modest Parents loving Children obedient Husbands kind Masters gentle and Servants faithful In a word the English were then according to their Native Temper the best Neighbors best Friends best Subjects and the best Christians in the World Amongst these excellent Tempers amongst this goodly Wheat whilst men slept the Enemy came and sowed Tares there sprang up of later years a sort of people sowre reserved narrow-hearted close-fisted self-conceited ignorant stiff-necked Children of Belial according to the genuine signification of the word ever prone to despise Dominion to speak evil of Dignities to gain-say Order Rule and Authority who have accounted it their honour to contend with Kings and Governours and to disquiet the Peace of Kingdoms whom no deserts nor clemency could ever oblige neither Oaths or Promises bind breathing nothing but sedition and calumnies against the Establisht Government aspiring without measure railing without reason and making their own wild fancies the square rule of their consciences hating despising or disrespecting the Nobility Gentry and Superiour Clergy c. These lurking in all quarters of England have at length with their pestilential breath infected some of the worse natured and worse nurtured Gentry divers of the inferiour Clergy most of the Tradesmen and very many of the Peasantry and prevailed so far as not onely to spoil the best governed State and ruine the purest and most flourishing Church in Christendome but also to corrupt the minds the humours and very natures of so many English insomuch that notwithstanding the late happy restauration of the King and Bishops the incessant joynt endeavours and studies of all our Governours to reduce this people to their pristine happiness yet no man now living can reasonably hope to see in his time the like blessed dayes again without a transplantation of all those sons of Belial as King James in his grave Testament to his Son did intimate without an utter extirpation of those Tares which yet the Clemency and Meekness of the Protestant Religion seems to forbid The Nobility and chief Gentry of England have been even by Strangers compared to the finest Flowre but the lower sort of common People to the coursest bran the innate good nature joyned with the liberal education and converse with Strangers in forreign Countries render those exceeding civil whereas â—he wealth insolence and pride â—f these and the rare converse â—ith strangers have rendred â—hem so distastful not onely to â—he few strangers who frequent England but even to their own Gentry that they could sometimes wish that either the Countrey were less plentiful or â—hat
neer a Last or 80 Bushels every day and 250 Men in a Ship of War will drink a Tun of Beer in 2 dayes allowing each man but his Pottle per diem At first all Nations bartered and exchanged one commodity for another but that being found troublesome by a kind of Custom good liking or usage amongst all Civilized Nations Silver and Gold as most portable pliable beautiful and less subject to rust hath been as early as the dayes of Abraham chosen to be the Instruments of Exchange and measure of all things and were at first paid onely by Weight till the Romans about 300 years before the Birth of Christ invented Coyning or Stamping Gold and Silver When Julius Caesar first entred this Iland here were current instead of Money certain Iron Rings afterwards the Romans brought in the use of Gold Silver and Brass Coyns In the time of King Richard the First Moneys coined in the East parts of Germany being for its purity highly esteemed some of those Easterlings were sent for over and emploied in our Mint and thence our Money called Esterling or Sterling Money as some think though others say of the Saxon word Ster Weighty King Edward the First since the Norman Conquest established a certain Standard for Coyn in this manner Twenty four Grains made one Penny Sterling 20 Penny weight one Ounce and 12 Ounces made a Pound Sterling consisting of 20 Shillings Of these 12 Ounces 11 Ounces 2 Penny weight Sterling was to be of pure Silver called Leaf Silver and the weight of about 18 Penny Sterling in allay the Minter might adde So that anciently a Pound Sterling was a Pound of Troy weight whereas now a Pound Sterling is but the third part of a Pound Troy and little more than a 4th part of Avoirdupois weight The Money of England was abased and falsified for a long time till Queen Elizabeth in the year 1560 to her great praise called in all such Money since which time no base Money hath been coined in England but onely of pure Gold and Silver called Sterling Money onely of later times in relation to the necessity of the Poor and Exchange of great Money a small piece of Brass called a Farthing or fourth part of a Penny hath been permitted to be coined but no man enforced to receive them in pay for Rent or Debt which cannot be affirmed of any other State or Nation in the Christian World in all which there are several sorts of Copper Money as current with them for any payment as the purest Gold or Silver No Moneys in any Mint are made of pure Silver because Silver in its purity is almost as flexible as Lead and therefore not so useful as when hardned with Copper Gold minted pure would also be too flexible and therefore is in all Mints allaied with some Copper and most Mints differ in more or less allay The Ordinary Silver Coyns at present in England are according to weight either the Ounce Troy the half Ounce the 5th part 10th part 15th part 20th part 30th part or 60th part thus denominated The Crown Half Crown Shilling Six Pence Four Pence Three Pence Two Pence a Penny The Standard of Sterling Silver in England is Eleven Ounces and Two Penny weight of Fine Silver and 18 Penny weight of Allay of Copper out of the Fire and so proportionably so that 12 Ounces of pure Silver without any allay is worth 3 l. 4 s. 6 d. and an Ounce is worth 5 s. 4 d. 1 ob but with allay is worth but 3 l. and the Ounce 5 s. The Ordinary English Gold Coyns are now only the old Carolus or 20 s. Piece which by a late Proclamation is current at 21 s. 4 d. it weigheth 5 Penny weight 20 Grains The New Guinea 20 s. weigheth 5 Penny 10 Grains The Standard of the English Carolus piece or Ordinary Gold is in the Pound weight Troy 22 Carrats of Fine Gold and 2 Carrats of Allay Silver or Copper that is 11 Ounces of Fine Gold and one Ounce of Allay Silver or Copper The Spanish French and Flemish Gold is of equal fineness with the English The English Silver Money hath less Allay than the French or Dutch The Moneyers divide the Pound weight into 12 Ounces Troy The Ounce Pen weight Grain Mite Droite Periot into 20 Pen. w. 24 Grains 20 Mites 24 Droites 20 Periots 24 Blanks The English Silver is coined at 3 l. 2 s. the Pound of Troy weight the 2 s. being allowed the Minters for Coinage The English Gold is coined at present at 44 l. 10 s. the Pound Troy weight whereof 15 s. is allowed the Minters for Coinage So that now the proportion of Gold to Silver in England is as one to 14 and about â…“ that is to say one Ounce of Gold is worth in Silver 14 Ounces and about â…“ or 3 l. 14 s. 2 d. of English Money That the English Coyn may want neither the purity nor the weight required it is most wisely and carefully provided that once every year the Chief Officers of the Mint appear before the Lords of the Council in the Star-Chamber at Westminster with some pieces of all sorts of Moneys-coined the fore-going year taken at adventure out of the Mint and kept under several Locks by several persons till that appearance and then by a Jury of 24 able Goldsmiths in the presence of the said Lords every piece is most exactly assaied and weighed Since the happy restauration of His Majesty now raigning the coyning or stamping of Money by Hammers hath been laid aside and all stampt by an Engine or Skrew whereby it is come to pass that our Coins for neatness gracefulness and security from counterfeiting surpass all the most excellent Coins not only of the Romans but of all the Modern Nations in the World In England at the beginning of Christianity they counted as all other Christians according to the then Roman Account by Olympiads or space of five years Afterwards in the Raign of Constantine the first Christian Emperour by Indictions or Fifteen years at length in the Raign of the Emperour Justinian 532 years after Christs Incarnation and not before all Christians generally began to count ab Anno Christi Incarnati at which time one Dionysius Exiguus or Abbas a worthy Roman had finisht a Cycle for the Observation of Easter which was then generally received and is still observed by the Church of England the ground whereof is this The Vernal Equinox at that time was accounted to be the 21 of March and by consequence must be the earliest Full Moon and then March the 8 must be the earliest New Moon and April the 5 the latest New Moon and April the 18 the latest Full Moon which happening on a Sunday as it will when the Dominical Letter is C. and the Golden Number 8 then Easter that year will be April 25. So when the New Moon shall be on March 8 and that happening on a Sunday
as it will when the Dominical Letter is D. and the Golden Number 16 then Easter will be on the 22 March as was this year 1668. But the Romish Church following new Rules for finding of Easter it happens sometimes that their Easter is full 5 weeks before ours and sometimes with ours but never after ours for Pope Gregory the 13th in the year 1582 having observed that upon exact account the year contained above 365 dayes not full 6 hours as had been from the time of Julius Caesar hitherto reckoned but only 5 hours 49 minutes and 16 seconds and that this difference of almost 11 minutes in the space of about 134 years maketh one whole day which not considered since the Regulation of Easter had brought back the year at least 10 dayes insomuch that the Vernal Equinox which was at first on the 21 of March was now on the 11th of March by reason whereof sometimes 2 Full Moons past between the Equinox and Easter contrary to the Primitive Institution thereof which was that Easter should alwayes be observed on the Sunday following the first â—ull Moon after the Vernal Equinox Pope Gregory then having observed these inconveniences resolved at once to take away 10 dayes and that out of the Moneth of October by calling the 5th day thereof the 15th and that for that year those Festivals which fell in those 10 dayes which by reason of the Vintage time were but few should be celebrated upon the 15 16 and 17th dayes of that Moneth And that the Equinox might never retrocede for the future it was then provided that every 400 years 3 Bissextile years should be left out that is in the years 1700 1800 and 1900 and so again in 2100 2200 and 2300 leaving the year 2000 to have its Bissextile and so every 400th year The English Nation as all other States that with-drew themselves from under the Bishop of Rome's Usurped Authority before the said year 1582 except Holland and Zealand observe still the Antient Account made by Julius Caesar 43 years before the Birth of Christ and is therefore called the Old Style or Julian Account the other observed by those still under the Romish Yoke is called the New Style or Gregorian Account and is by reason of the aforesaid 10 dayes taken away 10 dayes before ours for the beginning of Moneths and for all Fixt Festivals but various for all Moveable Festivals Easter and the other Moveable Feasts in England are most certainly thus found Shrove-Tuesday is alwayes the first Tuesday after the first New Moon after January except that New Moon happen on a Tuesday then the next is Shrove-Tuesday and the Sunday following is Quadragesima and the Sixth Sunday after is Easter Day and the Fifth Sunday after Easter is Rogation Sunday and the Thursday following being 40 dayes after the Resurrection is Ascention day 10 dayes after which or 50 dayes after Easter is Pentecoste or Whit sunday and the Sunday following is Trinity Sunday Which Computation of the Church of England agrees with all the Eastern Christian Churches for they and we find Easter by the Rules which were generally received by all Christendom Anno 532 and ever since till 1582 it was altered by the Pope as aforesaid yet cannot it be denied but that this old Computation is become erroneous for by our Rules two Easters will be observed within one year as in the last year 1667 and not one Easter to be observed this year as this Author observed the last year in his Proposals to the Parliament Advent Sunday hath a peculiar Rule and is alwayes the Fourth Sunday before Christmass Day or the nearest Sunday to St. Andrews whether before or after The year in England according to the Cycles of the Sun and Moon and according to Almanacks begins on the First of January but the English Church and State begins the year from the day of Christs Incarnation viz. on the 25 of March which also is observed in Spain yet the Portugues as divers Countries in Africa begin their year on the 29th of August the Venetians on the first of March according to the Epact the Grecians on the longest day as the old Romans did on the shortest day which two last seem to have most reason as beginning just at the Periodical day of the Suns return The Natural day consisting of 24 hours is begun in England at Midnight and counted by 12 hours to Midday and again by 12 hours to next Midnight whereas in Italy Bohemia Poland and some other Countries their Account 〈◊〉 from Sun-setting by 24 of thâ— Clock to the next Sun-setting and at Noremberg and Wirtenberg in Germany according to the old babylonian Account they begin at the first hour after Sun-rising to count one of the Clock and so again at the first hour after Sun-set Probably there was a time when those Names of Number now in use amongst all Civilized Nations were unknown and Men applied their Fingers of one or both hands to those things they desired to keep account of and thence it may be that the Numeral words are but Ten in any Nation and in some Nations but Five and then they begin again as after decem undecim duodecim c. The Hebrews and the Greeks instead of Numeral Words used the Letters of their Alphabets beginning again after the Tenth Letter The Latines made use onely of 7 of their Capital Alphabet viz MDCLXVI all comprehended in this Figure O and all made use of in the same order in the late year 1666 which never did happen before or ever will happen again The English as all the Western Christian World till about 400 years ago used only Numeral Words in all Writings but since use the Figures 1 2 3 c. which the Christians learnt first of the Maures or Arabs and they of the Indians Nomina quasi Notamina Names were first imposed upon Men for distinction sake by the Jews at their Circumcision by the Romans at the 9th day after Birth and by the Christians at the Baptisme of such signification for the most part that might denote the future good hope or good wishes of Parents toward their Children The English Names of Baptisme are generally either Saxon as Robert Richard Henry William Edward Edmund Edwin Gilbert Walter Leonard c. Which are all very significative or else out of the Old and New Testament as John Thomas James Abraham Isaack Jacob c. Names super-added to the Christian Names the French call Sur noms i. e. supernomina The Hebrews Greeks and most other Antient Nations had no Surnames fixt to their Families as in these dayes but counted thus for example among the Hebrews Melchi Ben Addi Addi Ben Casam c. So the Britaines Hughe ap Owen Owen ap Rhese c. so the Irish Neal mac Con Con mac Dermoti c. As Christian Names were first given for distinction of Persons so Surnames for distinction of Families About Anno 1000 the
the Nobility or Bishops is made choice of by the Three States assembled in the name of the Infant King who by Nature or Alliance hath most Interest in the preservation of the Life and Authority of the Infant and to whom least benefit can accrue by his Death or Diminution as the Uncle by the Mothers side if the Crown come by the Father and so vice versa is made Protector so during the minority of Edward 6. his Uncle by the Mothers side the Duke of Somerset had the tuition of him and was called Protector and when this Rule hath not been observed as in the minority of Edw. 5. it hath proved of ill consequence If the King of England be Non compos mentis or by reason of an incurable disease weakness or old age become uncapable of governing then is made a Regent Protector or Guardian to govern King Edward 3. being at last aged sick and weak and by grief for the death of the Black Prince sore broken in body and mind did of his own will create his fourth Son John Duke of Lancaster Guardian or Regent of England If the King be absent upon any Foreign Expedition or otherwise which antiently was very usual the Custom was to constitute a Vice-gerent by Commission under the Great Seal giving him several Titles and Powers according as the necessity of affairs have required sometimes he hath been called Lord Warden or Lord of the Kingdom and therewith hath had the general power of a King as was practised during the Absence of Edward the First Second and Third and of Henry 5. but Henry 6. to the Title of Warden or Guardian added the Stile of Protector of the Kingdom and of the Church of England and gave him so great power in his absence that he was tantum non Rex swaying the Scepter but not wearing the Crown executing Laws summoning Parliaments under his own Teste as King and giving his assent to Bills in Parliament whereby they became as binding as any other Acts. Sometimes during the Kings Absence the Kingdom hath been committed to the care of several Noblemen and sometime of Bishops as less dangerous for attempting any usurpation of the Crown sometimes to one Bishop as Hubert Archbishop of Canterbury was Viceroy of England for many years and when Edward 3. was in Flanders though his Son then but nine years old had the Name of Protector John Stafford Archbishop of Canterbury was Governour both of the Kings Son and of the Realm Lastly Sometimes to the Queen as two several times during the absence of Henry 8. in France Of the QUEEN of ENGLAND THe Queen so called from the Saxon Konigin whereof the last syllable is pronounced as gheen in English it being not unusual to cut off the first Syllables as an Almes-House is sometimes called a Spital from Hospital She hath as high Prerogatives Dignity and State during the life of the King as any Queen of Europe From the Saxon times the Queen Consort of England though she be an Alien born and though during the life of the King she be femme covert as our Law speaks yet without any Act of Parliament for Naturalization or Letters Paâ—ents for Denization she may purchase Lands in Feesimple make Leases and Grants in her own Name without the King hath power to give to sue to contract as a femme sole may receive by gift from her Husband which no other femme â—overt may do Had anciently a Revenue of Queen Gold or Aurum Reginae as the Records call it which was the tenth part of so much as by the Name of Oblata upon Pardons Gifts and Grants c. came to the King Of later times hath had as large a Dower as any Queen in Christendome hath her Royal Court apart her Courts and Officers c. The Queen may not be impleaded till first petitioned shall not be amerced if she be nonsuited as all other Subjects are if she be Plaintiff the Summons in the Process need not have the solemnity of 15 dayes c. Is reputed the Second Person in the Kingdom The Law setteth so high a value upon her as to make it High Treason to conspire her death or to violate her Chastity Her Officers as Attourney and Sollicitor for the Queens sake have respect above others and place within the Barre with the Kings Council The like honour the like reverence and respect that is due to the King is exhibited to the Queen both by Subjects and Foreigners and also to the Queen Dowager or Widdow Queen who also above other Subjects loseth not her Dignity though she should marry a private Gentleman so Queen Katharine Widdow to King Henry the Fifth being married to Owen ap Theodore Esquire did maintain her Action as Queen of England much less doth a Queen by inheritance or a Queen Soveraign of England follow her Husbands condition nor is subject as other Queens but Soveraign to her own Husband as Queen Mary was to King Philip. Of the SONS and DAUGHTERS of ENGLAND THe Children of the King of England are called the Sons and Daughters of England because all the subjects of England have a special interest in them though the whole power of Education Marriage and disposing of them is only in the King The Eldest Son of the King is born Duke of Cornwall and as to that Dutchy and all the Lands Honours Rents and great Revenues belonging thereunto he is upon his Birth-day persumed and by law taken to be of full age so that he may that day sue for the Livery of the said Dukedom and ought of right to obtain the same as if he had been full 21 years of age Afterwards he is created Prince of Wales whose Investiture is performed by the Imposition of a Cap of Estate and Coronet on his Head as a Token of Principality and putting into his Hand a Verge of Gold the Emblem of Government and a Ring of Gold on hs Finger to intimate that he must be a Husband to his Countrey and Father to her Children Also to him is given and granted Letters Patents to hold the said Principality to him and his Heirs Kings of England by which words the separation of this Principality is prohibited From the day of his Birth he is commonly stiled the Prince a Title in England given to no other Subject The Title of Prince of Wales is ancient and was first given by King Edward 1. to his Eldest Son for the Welsh Nation till that time unwilling to submit to the yoke of strangers that King so ordered that his Queen was delivered of her first Child in Caernarvan Castle in Wales and then demanded of the Welsh If they would be content to subject themselves to one of their own Nation that could not speak one word of English and against whose life they could take no just exception Whereunto they readily consenting the King nominated this his new born Son and afterwards created
him Prince of Wales and bestowed on him all the Lands Honours and Revenues belonging to the said Principality The Prince hath ever since been stiled Prince of Wales Duke of Aquitaine and Cornwall and Earl of Chester and Flint which Earldomes are alwayes conferred upon him by his Patent since the Union of England and Scotland his Title hath been Magnae Britanniae Princeps but more ordinarily the Prince of Wales As Eldest Son to the King of Scotland he is Duke of Rothsay and Seneschal of Scotland from his Birth The King of Englands Eldest Son so long as Normandy remained in their hands was alwayes stiled Duke of Normandy Antiently the Princes of Wales whilest they were Soveraigns bare quarterly Gules and Or 4 Lyons passant gardant counterchanged The Arms of the Prince of Wales differ from those of the King only by addition of a Labell of three points and the Device of the Prince is a Coronet beautified with three Ostrich Feathers inscribed with Ich dien which in the German or old Saxon Tongue is I serve alluding perhaps to that in the Gospel The Heir whilest his Father liveth differeth not from a Servant This Device was born at the Battel of Cressy by John King of Bohcmia as serving there under the King of the French and there slain by Edward the Black Prince and since worn by the Princes of Wales and by the Vulgar called the Princes Arms. The Prince by our Law is reputed as the same Person with the King and so declared by a Statute of Henry 8. Corruscat enim Princeps say our Lawyers radiis Regis Patris sui censetur una persona cum ipso And the Civilians say the Kings Eldest Son may be stiled a King He hath certain Priviledges above other Persons To imagine the death of the Prince to violate the Wife of the Prince is made High Treason Hath heretofore had priviledge of having a Purveyor and taking Purveyance as the King To retain and qualifie as many Chaplains as he shall please To the Prince at the Age of 15 is due a certain Aid of Moneys from all the Kings Tenants and all that hold of him in Capite by Knight Service and Free Socage to make him a Knight Yet as the Prince in nature is a distinct person from the King so in Law also in some cases He is a Subject holdeth his Principalities and Seignories of the King giveth the same respect to the King as other Subjects do The Revenues belonging to the Prince since much of the Lands and Demesnes of that Dutchy have been aliened are especially out of the Tinne Mines in Cornwall which with all other profits of that Dutchy amount yearly to the summe of The Revenues of the Principality of Wales surveyed 200 years ago was above 4680 l. yearly a rich Estate according to the value of Money in those dayes At present his whole Revenues may amount to Till the Prince come to be 14 years old all things belonging to the Principality oâ— Wales were wont to be disposed of by Commissioners consisting of some principal Persons of the Clergy and Nobility The Cadets or younger Son of England are created noâ— born Dukes or Earls of what Places or Titles the King pleaseth They have no certain Appanages as in France but onely what the good pleasure of the King bestows upon them All the Kings Sons are Consilii nati by Birth-right Counsellors of State that so they may grow up in the weighty affairs of the Kingdom The Daughters of England are stiled Princesse the eldest of which have an Aid or certain rate of Money paid by every Tenant in Capite Knight Service and Soccage towards her Dowry or Marriage Portion To all the Kings Children belong the Title of Royal Highness All Subjects are to be uncovered in their presence to kneel when they are admitted to kiss their hands and at Table they are out of the Kings Presence served on the Knee The Children the Brothers and Sisters of the King if Plaintiffs the summons in the Process need not have the solemnity of 15 dayes as in Case of other Subjects The Natural or Illegitimate Sons and Daughters of the King after they are acknowledged by the King take precedence of all the Nobles under those of the Blood Royal. They bear what Surname the King pleaseth to give them and for Arms the Arms of England with a Bend Sinister border Gobionnee or some other mark of illegitimation Some Kings of England have acknowledged many and had more illegitimate Sons and Daughters King Henry the First had no fewer than sixteeen illegitimate Children Henry the Eighth amongst others had one by Elizabeth Blount named Henry Fitzroy created by him Duke of Somerset and Richmond Earl of Notingham and Lord High Admiral of England Ireland and Aquitain OF THE PRESENT KING OF ENGLAND THe King now raigning is CHARLES the Second of that Name His Name of Baptisme Charles in the German Tongue signifies one of a Masculine strength or vertue The Royal and also the most princely and antient Families of Europe at this day have properly no Surnames for neither is Burbon the Surname but the Title of the Royal Family of France nor Austria of Spain nor Stuart of England since the coming in of King James nor Theodore or Tudor for his 5 immediate Ancestors in England nor Plantagenet for 11 Generations before as some vainly think for although Geffery Duke of Anjou was surnamed Plantagenet from a Broom Stalk commonly worn in his Bonnet yet his Son H. 2. King of England was surnamed Fitz-empresse and his Son Richard Coeur de Lion So Owen Grandfather to King Henry 7. was ap Meredith and he ap Theodore pronounc'd Tyder Surnames being then but little in use amongst the Cambrobritans So Walter Father to Robert King of Scotland from whom our present King is descended was only by Office Grand Seneschal or High Steward or Stuart of Scotland though of later times by a long vulgar errour it hath so prevailed that they are accounted Surnames of many Families descended from him Steward is a Contraction from the Saxon word Stedeward that is in Latine Locum-tenens in French Lieu-tenant because the Lord High Steward was Regis Locum tenens a Name not unfit for any King who is Dei Locum tenens Gods Stuart or Lieutenant or Vicegerent upon Earth The King now raigning is Son to King Charles the Martyr and the Princess Henretta Maria Daughter of King Henry the Great of France from which two Royal Stocks he hath in his Veins all the Royal Blood of Europe concentred Is descended lineally and lawfully from the British Saxon Danish Norman and Scottish Kings and Princes of this Island From the first British King the 139th Monarch from the Scottish in a continued Succession for almost 2000 years the 109th from the Saxon the 46th and from the first of the Norman Line the 26th King So that for Royal
Extraction and long Line of just Descent his Majesty now raigning excells all the Monarchs of all the Christian if not of the whole World Is the first Prince of Great Britain so born and hath in possession larger Dominions than any of his Ancestors He was born the 29th of May 1630. at the Royal Palace of St. James over which House the same day at Noon was by thousands seen a star and soon after the Sun suffered an Eclipse a sad presage as some then divined that this Princes Power should for some time be eclipsed and some subject signified by a star should have extraordinary splendor Was christened the 27th June following by the then Bishop of London Doctor Land Had for Godfathers his two Uncles Lewis the 13th King of France and Frederick Prince Palatine of the Rhine then called King of Bohemia represented by the Duke of Richmond and Marquiss Hamilton his Godmother being his Grandmother then Queen Mother of France represented by the Dutchesse of Richmond Had for Governess Mary Countess of Dorset Wife to Edward Earl of Dorset In May 1638 he was first knighted and immediately after he was made Knight of the Garter and installed at Windsor About this time by Order not Creation he was first called Prince of Wales and had all the profits of that Principality and divers other lands annexed and Earldom of Chester granted unto him and held his Court apart from the King At the Age of Eight he had for Governour the Earl afterwards Marquiss and now Duke of Newcastle and for Tutor or Preceptor Doctor Duppa then Dean of Christchurch after Bishop of Salisbury and lately of Winchester At the Age of 12 was with the King his Father at the Battel of Edge-hill and soon after at Oxford was committed to the care of the Marquiss of Hertford About 14 years old was in the Head of an Army in the West of England At the Age of 15 a Marriage was proposed between him and the Eldest Daughter of the King of Portugal the Infanta Joanna since deceased Two years after was from Cornwall transported to the Isle of Scilly and after to Jersey and thence to his Royal Mother to St. Germains near Paris In 1648 was at Sea with some Naval Forces endeavouring to rescue the King his Father then in the Isle of Wight out of the wicked hands of his rebellious Subjects Not many moneths after upon the sad News of the horrid Murther of his Royal Father he was in Holland first saluted King and soon after proclaimed in Scotland being not yet 19 years of Age. At the Age of 20 from Holland he landed in Scotland June 1650 and in January following was crowned at Scoon The 3d of September 1651 fought the Battel of Worcester whence after the unfortunate loss of his whole Army wandring in disguise about England for six weeks he was at length transported from a Creek near Shoram in Sussex to Fecam near Havre de Grace in France in which Kingdom with his Royal Brothers and divers English Nobility Clergy and Gentry he was for some years received and treated as King of England and by his mediations and interest with the Prince of Conde and Duke of Lorraine then in the Head of two great and mighty Armies against the French King quenched the then newly kindled fires of a great and universal rebellion against him much resembling that of England and was a means of recalling the then fled and banished Cardinal Mazarine After which in Germany Flanders Spain c. he passed the residue of his time in the Studies and Exercises most befitting a Prince in solliciting the Aid of Christian Princes and in advising and vigorously promoting the several attempts of his Friends in England until the year 1660 at which time being at Brussells within the Spanish Territories and perceiving a general inclination and disposition of all England to receive him he providently removed himself to Breda within the Dominions of the United Netherlands in the moneth of April and thence in May to the Hague from whence after a magnificent Entertainment and an humble Invitation by English Commissioners sent from the then Convention at Westminster he embarkt at Schevling the 23th of May 1660 and with a gallant English Fleet and a gentle gale of Wind landed the 25th at Dover and on the 29th following being his Birth-day and then just 30 years of Age he entred into London and was there received with the greatest and most universal Joy and Acclamations and Magnificence that could possibly be expressed on so short a warning On the first of June following His Majesty fate in Parliament and on the 22th of April 1661 rode in triumph from the Tower to Westminster on the next day being St. Georges was crowned with great Ceremony On the 28th of May following declared to his Parliament his Resolution to marry the Infanta of Portugal who accordingly in May 1662 being landed at Portsmouth was there espoused to the King by the then Bishop of London now Archbishop of Canterbury Of the present Queen of England DONNA CATHERINA Infanta of Portugal being Queen Consort of England and the Second Person in the Kingdom was Daughter of Don Juan the Fourth of that Name King of Portugal descended from our English John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster and King of Castile and Jean Fourth Son of Edward the third King of England and of Donna Lucia Daughter of Don Guzman el bueno a Spaniard Duke of Medina Sidonia who was lineally descended from Ferdinando de la Cerde and his Consort Blanche to whom St. Lewis King of France her Father relinquisht his Right and Title to Spain descended to him by his Mother Blanche eldest Daughter and Heir of Alphonso the Spanish King She was born the 14th of November 1638 at Villa Vicosa in Portugal she was baptized Catherina signifying in Greek Pure her Father being then Duke of Braganza though right Heir of the Crown of Portugal the most potent Subject in Europe for a third part of Portugal was then holden of him in Vassallage and is only Sister at present of Don Alphonso the Sixth of that Name and 23th King of Portugal born 1643. Hath one Brother more called Don Pedro born 1648. Had another Brother called Don Theodosio the eldest Son of that King who was the most gallant and hopeful Prince of all Europe but died 1653 aged but 18 years yet his life thought worthy to be written by divers grave Authors of Portugal Having been most carefully and piously educated by her Mother and at the age of 22 desired in Marriage by King CHARLES the Second and the Marriage not long after concluded by the Negotiation of Don Francisce de Melo Conde de Ponte Marquis de Sande and then Extraordinary Ambassadour of the King of Portugal and solemnized at Lisbon She embarkt for England upon the 23th of April 1662 being the Festival of St. George Patron as well of Portugal as England and was safely
by the Earl of Sandwich conducted by a Squadron of Ships to Portsmouth where the King first met her and was remarried On the 23th of August 1662 her Majesty coming by water from Hampton Court was with great Pomp and Magnificence first received by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London at Chelsey and thence conducted by water to Whitehall The Portion she brought with her was Eight hundred Millions of Reas or two Millions of Crusado's being about Three hundred thousand pounds Sterling together with that important place of Tangier upon the Coast of Africk and the Isle of Bombaim neer Goa in the East Indies with a Priviledge that any Subjects of the King of England may trade freely in the East and VVest Indie Plantations belonging to the Portugueses Her Majesties Joynture by the Articles of Marriage is Thirty thousand pounds Sterling per Annum and the King out of his great affection toward her hath as an addition settled upon her 10000 l. per Annum more The Queens Arms as Daughter of Portugal is Argent 5 Scutcheons Azure cross wise each Scutcheon charged with 5 Plates or Besants Argent Saltier-wise with a Point Sable the Border Gules charged with 7 Castles Or. This Coat was first worn by the Kings of Portugal in memory of a Signal Battel obtained by the first King of Portugal Don Alphonso against 5 Kings of the Moors before which Battel appeared Christ crucified in the air and a Voice heard as once to Constantine the Great In hoc signo vinces before which time the Portugal Arms were Argent a Cross Azure Queen CATHERINE is a Personage of such rare perfections of Mind and Body of such eminent Piety Modesty and other Vertues that the English Nation may yet promise all the happiness they are capable of from a Succession of Princes to govern them to the end of the World Of the Queen-Mother THe Third Person in the Kingdom is the Queen-Mother or Dowager Henretta Maria de Bourbon Daughter to the Great King Henry the Fourth Sister to the Just King Lewis the Eleventh Wife to the Pious Martyr King Charles the First Mother to our Gracious Sovereign King Charles the Second and Aunt to the present Puissant King Lewis the 14th She was born the 19th of November 1609 married first at Nostre Dame in Paris by Proxy 1625 and shortly after in the moneth of June arriving at Dover was at Canterbury espoused to King Charles the First In the year 1629. was delivered of her First born a Son that died shortly after in 1630 of her Second our present Soveraign whom God long preserve in 1631 of her Third Mary the late Princess of Orenge a Lady of admirable Vertues who had the happiness to see the King her Brother restored 6 or 7 moneths before her death In 1633 of her Fourth James now Duke of York In 1635 of her Fifth named Elizabeth who being a Princess of incomparable Abilities and Vertues died for grief soon after the murther of her father In 1636 of her Sixth named Anna who died young In the year 1640 of her Seventh Child Henry of Oatlands designed Duke of Glocester who living till above 20 being most excellently accomplished in all Princely Endowments died four moneths after the Restauration of the King In the year 1644 of her Eighth the Lady Henretta now Dutchess of Orleans In the year 1641 her Majesty fore-seeing the ensuing storm of Rebellion and seeing the groundless Odium raised already against her self timely withdrew her self with her eldest Daughter then newly married to Henry Prince of Orange into Holland whence in 1643 after a most furious storm and barbarous fierce pursuit of the English Rebels at Sea she landed at Burlington Bay with Men Money and Ammunition and soon after with a considerable Army met the King at Edgehill and thence was conducted to Oxford In April 1644 marching with competent forces from Oxford towards Exeter at Abington took her last farewel of the King whom she never saw again In July following embarkt at Pendennis Castle she sailed into France where entertained at the Charges of her Nephew the persent King of France she passed a solitary retired life until the moneth of October 1660. when upon the Restauraution of her Son to the Crown of England she came to London and having settled her Revenues here she went again with her youngest Daughter the Lady Henretta into France to see her espoused to the then Duke of Anjou now of Orleans and in the moneth of July 1662 being returned into England she settled her Court at Somerset-House where she continued till May 1665 then crossed the Seas again and hath ever since continued in France her Native Countrey She needeth no other Character then what is found in the Seventh Chapter of that inimitable Book compiled by him that knew her best Of the present Princes and Princesses of the Blood Royal of England THe First Prince of the Blood in France called Monsieur sans queue is the Most Illustrious Prince James Duke of York Second Son to King Charles the Martyr and only Brother to the present King our Soveraign He was born Octob. 14. 1633 and forth-with proclaimed at the Court Gates Duke of York the 24th of the same moneth was baptized and afterward committed to the Government of the then Countess of Dorset The 27th of July 1643 at Oxford was created by Letters Patents Duke of York though called so by special command from his Birth without those Solemnities the iniquity of the times not admitting thereof that were used to the King his Father 1605 when being Second Son to King James and so Duke of Albany in Scotland was created Duke of York with the preceding Solemn Creation of divers young Noblemen to be Knights of the Bath and the Robes of State put upon him the Cap of State on his Head and the Golden Rod into his Hand the Prime Nobility and Heralds assisting at that Ceremony After the Surrender of Oxford his Royal Highness was in 1646 conveyed to London by the then prevailing disloyal part of the Two Houses of Parliament and committed with his Brother Glocester and Sister Elizabeth to the care of the Earl of Northumberland In 1648 aged about 15 was by Colonel Bampfield conveyed in a disguise or habit of a Girle beyond Sea first to his Sister the Princess Royal of Orenge in Holland and afterward to the Queen his Mother then at Paris where he was carefully educated in the Religion of the Church of England and in all Exercises meet for such a Prince About the Age of 20 in France he went into the Campagne and served with much Gallantry under that great Commander the Protestant Mareschal de Turenne for the French King against the Spanish forces in Flanders Notwithstanding which upon a Treaty between the French King and Cromwell in 1655 being obliged with all his retinue to leave the French Dominions and invited into Flanders by Don Juan of Austria he there served
under him against the French King then leagued with the English Rebels against Spain where his Magnanimity and Dexterity in Martial Affairs though unsuccessful were very eminent In the year 1660 came over with the King into England and being Lord High Admiral in the year 1665 in the War against the Vnited States of the Netherlands commanded in person the whole Royal Navy on the Seas between England and Holland where with incomparable valour and extraordinary hazard of his own Royal Person after a most sharp dispute he obtained a Signal Victory over the whole Dutch Fleet commanded by Admiral Opdam who perisht with his own and many more Ships in that Fight He married Anne the eldest Daughter of Edward Earl of Clarendon late Lord High Chancellour of England by whom he hath had a numerous issue whereof are living first the Lady Mary born 30 April 1662 whose Godfather was Prince Rupert and Godmothers the Dutchesses of Buckingham and Ormond Secondly the Lady Anne born in Febr. 1664 whose Godfather was Gilbert Lord Archbishop of Canterbury her Godmothers were the young Lady Mary her Sister and the Dutchess of Monmouth She is lately for her health transported into France Thirdly 15 Sept. 1667 was born Edgar lately created Duke of Cambridge by Letters Patents under the Great Seal of England whose Godfathers were the Duke of Albemarle and the Marquiss of Worcester his Godmother the Countess of Suffolk The Titles of his Royal Highness are Duke of York and Albany Earl of Ulster Lord High Admiral of England Ireland and all Foreign Plantations Constable of Dover Castle Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports Governour of Portsmouth c. Of the Prince of Orenge NExt to the Duke of York and his Issue is William of Nassau Prince of Orenge only Issue of the lately deceased Princess Royal Mary eldest Daughter to King Charles the First and wedded 1641 to William of Nassau Commander in Chief of all the Forces of the States General both by Land and by Sea His Highness the present Prince was born 9 dayes after his Fathers death on the 14th Novemb. 1650 had for Godfathers the Lords States General of Holland and Zealand and the Cities of Delft Leyden and Amsterdam His Governess was the Lady Stanhop then wife to the Heer van Hemvliet At 8 years of age was sent to the University of Leyden His Revenue is about 60000 l. Sterling besides Military Advantages enjoyed by his Father and Ancestors which amounted yearly to about 30000 l. Sterling more He is a Prince in whom the high and princely qualities of his Ancestors already appear Of the Princess Henretta THe next Heir after the fore-named to the English Crown is the Princess Henretta only Sister living to the present King of England She was born the 16th of June 1644 at Exeter during the heat of the late Rebellion after the surrender of Exeter conveyed to Oxford and thence 1646 to London whence with her Governess the Lady Dalkieth she escaped into France was there educated as became her high Birth and Quality but being left wholly to the care and maintenance of the Queen her Mother at Paris embraced the Romish Religion At the age of 16 years came with the Queen Mother into England and 6 moneths after returning into France was married to the only Brother of the French King the Illustrious Prince Philip then Duke of Anjou till the death of his Uncle and now Duke of Orleans whose Revenue is 1100000 Livres Tournois besides his Appanage not yet setled Her Portion was 40000 l. Sterling her Joynture to be the same with the present Dutchess Dowager of Orleans This Princess hath issue one Daughter if she hath a Son the French King allows him 50000 Crowns yearly and the Appanage after the death of the present Duke reverts to the Crown Of the Prince Elector Palatine THere being left alive no more of the Off-spring of King Charles the First the next Heirs of the Crown of England are the Issue and Descendants of Elizabeth late Queen of Bohemia only Sister to the said King who was married to Frederick Prince Palatine of the Rhine afterwards stiled King of Bohemia whose eldest Son living is Charles Lodowick Prince Elector Palatine of the Rhine commonly called the Palsgrave from the High Dutch pfaltzgraff Palatii Comes was born the the 22th December 1617 at Heydelberg and afterwards in Holland at the Hague and at the University of Leyden was educated in a Princely manner At the age of 18 years came into England was created Knight of the Garter about two years after fought a Battel in Westphalia In the year 1637 passing incognito thorow France to take possession of Brisach upon the Rhine which the Duke Saxon Weymar intended to deliver up unto him together with the Command of his Army he was by that quick-sighted Cardinal Richlieu discovered at Moulins and thence sent back Prisoner to the Bois de Vincennes whence after 23 weeks imprisonment he was by the mediation of the King of England set at liberty In the year 1643 he came again into England and with the Kings secret consent because the King could not continue unto him the wonted Pension whilst the Rebels possest the greatest part of his Majesties Revenues made his Addresses to and abode with the disloyal part of the Lords and Commons at Westminster until the Murder of the said King and the Restauration of the Lower Palatinat according to the famous Treaty at Munster for which he was constrained to quit all his right to the Upper Palatinat and accept of an Eighth Electorship at a juncture of time when the King of England had he not been engaged at home by an impious Rebellion had been the most considerable of all other at that Treaty and this Prince his Nephew would have had the greatest advantages there In 1650 he espoused the Lady Charlotte Daughter to the Landgrave of Hessen by which Lady he hath one Son named Charles aged about 16 and one Daughter aged about 14. Of Prince Rupert NExt to the Issue of the Prince Elector Palatin is Prince Rupert born at Prague 27 Novemb. 1619 not long before that very unfortunate Battel there fought whereby not only all Bohemia was lost but the Palatin Family was for almost 30 years dispossest of all their Possessions in Germany At 13 years of age he marcht with the then Prince of Orenge to the Siege of Rhineberg afterwards in England was created Knight of the Garter At the age of 18 he commanded a Regiment of Horse in the German Wars and in a Battel being taken by the Imperialists under the Command of Count Hatzfield he continued a prisoner above three years In 1642 returning into England and made General of the Horse to the King fights and defeats Collonel Sands near Worcester routed the Rebels Horse at Edge-hill took Cirencester recovered Lichfield and Bristol raised the long Siege before Latham House fought the great Battel at Marston Moor was created Earl of Holderness and
High Admiral of England whose Trust and Honour is so great that this Office hath usually been given either to some of the Kings younger Sons near Kinsmen or to some one of the highest and chiefest of all the Nobility He is called Admiral from Amir in Arabick and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek that is Praefectus Marinus a word borrowed from the Eastern Empire where such kind of compounds were much in re-request and introduced into England after the Wars in the Holy Land by King Richard or King Edward 1. The Patent of the Lord Admiral did anciently run thus Angliae Hiberniae Aquitaniae Magnus Admirallus but at present thus Angliae Hiberniae ac Dominiorum Insularum earundem Villae Callesiae Marchiarum ejusdem Normandiae Gasconiae Aquitaniae Magnus Admirallus Praefectus Generalis Classis Marium dictorum Regnorum To the Lord High Admiral of England is by the King intrusted the management of all Marine Affairs as well in respect of Jurisdiction as Protection He is that High Officer or Magistrate to whom is committed the Government of the Kings Navy with Power of decision in all Causes Maritime as well Civil as Criminal of all things done upon or beyond the Sea in any part of the World all things done upon the Sea Coasts in all Ports and Havens and upon all Rivers below the first Bridge next toward the Sea The Lord Admiral hath the power to commissionate a Vice-Admiral a Reer Admiral and all Sea Captains also Deputies for particular Coasts Coroners to view dead bodies found on the Sea Coasts or at Sea Commissioners or Judges for exercising Justice in the Court of Admiralty to imprison release c. He hath sometimes a power to bestow Knighthood to such as shall deserve it at Sea To the Lord Admiral belongs by Law and Custom all penalties and amercements of all Transgressors at Sea on the Sea Shore in Ports and from the first Bridge on Rivers towards the Sea also the Goods of Pyrats Felons or Capital Faulters condemned outlawed or horned Moreover all Waifs Stray Goods Wrecks of Sea Deodands a share of all lawful Prizes Lagon Jetson and Flotson as the Mariners term them that is Goods lying in the Sea on Ground Goods floting on the Sea and Goods cast by the Sea on the Shore not granted to Lords of Mannors adjoyning to the Sea All great Fishes as Sea Hogs and other Fishes of extraordinary bigness called Royal Fishes except only Whales and Sturgeons This High Dignity is at present enjoyed by the Kings only Brother the Illustrious Prince James Duke of York The Fifth Great Officer of the Crown is the Lord Great Chamberlain of England an Officer of great Antiquity to whom belongs Livery and Lodging in the Kings Court and certain Fees due from each Archbishop and Bishop when they do their Homage or Fealty to the King and from all Peers of the Realm at their Creation or doing the Homage or Fealty and at the Coronation of any King to have 40 Ells of Crimson Velvet for his own Robes and on the Coronation day before the King riseth to bring him his Shirt Coyfe Wearing Clothes and after the King is by him apparelled and gone forth to have his Bed and all Furniture of his Bed-Chamber for his Fees all the Kings Night Apparel and to carry at the Coronation the Coyfe Gloves and Linnen to be used by the King upon that occasion also the Sword and Scabberd and the Gold to be offered by the King and the Robe Royal and Crown and to undress and attire the King with his Robes Royal and to serve the King that day before and after Dinner with water to wash his hands and to have the Basin and Towells for his Fees c. This Honour was long enjoyed by the Earls of Oxford from the time of Hen. 1. by an Estate Tayle or Inheritance but in the two last Coronations by the Earls of Lindsey and that by an Estate of Inheritance from a Daughter or Heir General claimed and controverted The Sixth Great Officer is the Lord High Constable of England so called some think from the Saxon Cuning by contraction King and Stable quasi-Regis columen for it was antiently written Cuningstable but rather from Comes Stabuli whose Power and Jurisdiction was antiently so great that after the death of Edward Bohun Duke of Buckingham 1521 the last High Constable of England it was thought too great for any Subject But since upon occasion of Coronations as at that of King Charles 2. was made the present Earl of Northumberland and at Solemn Trials by Combat as at that which was intended between Rey and Ramsey 1631 was made Robert Earl of Lindsey there is created pro hac vice a Lord High Constable His Power and Jurisdiction is the same with the Earl Marshal with whom he sits Judge in the Marshals Court and takes place of the Earl Marshal The Seventh Great Officer of the Crown is the Earl Marshal of England so called from Mare in the old Saxon i.e. Horses and Schal Praefectus He is an Earl some say by his Office whereby he taketh as the Constable doth Cognisance of all matters of War and Arms determineth Contracts touching Deeds of Arms out of the Realm upon Land and matters concerning Wars within the Realm which cannot be determined by Common Law This Office is of great Antiquity in England and antiently of great Power The last Earl Marshal was Henry Howard Earl of Arundel who died in 1652 his Father Thomas Earl of Arundel and he enjoying that Office onely for the Term of their lives by the Kings Letters Patents At the Coronation of His Majesty now raigning the present Earl of Suffolk for that Solemnity only was made Earl Marshal The Eighth and last Great Officer of the Crown is the Lord High Steward of England quasi Stedeward Locum tenens the Kings Lieftenant in Lawyers Latin Seneschallus of Sen in Saxon Justice and Schals Governour or Officer His Power antiently in Civil Matters was next to the King and was so transcendent that it was thought fit not longer to trust it in the hands of any Subject for his Office was Supervidere regulare sub Rege immediatè post Regem as an antient Record speaks totum Regnum Angliae omnes ministros Legum infra idem regnum temporibus pacis guerrarum The last that had a State of Inheritance in this High Office was Henry of Bullinbrook Son and Heir to the great Duke of Lancaster John of Gaunt afterwards King of England since which time they have been made only hâc vice to officiate at a Coronation by vertue of which Office he sitteth judicially and keepeth his Court in the Kings Palace at Westminster and there receiveth the Bills and Petitions of all such Noblemen and others who by reason of their Tenure or otherwise claim to do Services at the New Kings Coronation
with special equity considered Hence is it that so many Priviledges Immunities Exemptions and Dispensations have been to the Clergy of England granted in all times Our Ancestors thinking it very reasonable that as Souldiers were wont by the Roman Emperours to be endowed with certain Priviledges for their warding and fighting to preserve the State from external Enemies so the Clergy ought to have certain Immunities and Priviledges for their watching and spiritual Warfare to preserve the State from internal Enemies the World the Flesh and the Devil Ut serventur immunes Clerici quo Castris suis sedulo commorantes vigiles excubias ducentes summo caell â—mperatori illaesos populos repraeâ—entent Legibus effectum est â—t quam plurima iis Privileâ—ia concessa sint tum ad eorum personas tum bona ac res spectanâ—ia Of Priviledges some belong to Archbishops some to Bishops as they are so and some belong to them and to the inferiour Clergy as they are Ecclesiastiques or Churchmen Before the coming of the Savons into England the Christian Britains had 3 Archbishops viz. of London York and Caerleon an antient great City of South-Wales upon the River Uske Afterward the Archiepiscopal See of London was by the Saxons placed at Canterbury for the sake of St. Austin the Monk who first preached the Gospel there to the Heathen Saxons and was there buried The other of Caerleon was translated to St. Davids in Pembroke-Shire and afterward subjected wholly to the See of Canterbury since which all England and Wales reckon but 2 Archbishops Canterbury and York The Archbishop of Canterbury antiently had Primacy as well over all Ireland as England and the Irish Bishops received their Consecrations from him for Ireland had no other Archbishop until the year 1152 and therefore in the time of the 2 first Norman Kings it was declared that Canterbury was the Metropolitan Church of England Scotland and Ireland and the Isles adjacent He was therefore sometimes stiled a Patriarch and Patriarcha was a Chief Bishop over several Kingdoms or Provinces as an Archbishop is over several Dioceses and had several Archbishops under him was sometimes called Alterius Orbis Papa Orbis Britannici Pontifex and matters done and recorded in Ecclesiastical affairs ran thus Anno Pontificatus Nostri primo secundo c. He was Legatus Natus that is a perpetual Legantine Power was annext to that Archbishoprick near 1000 years ago whereby no other Legat Nuncio or Ambassadour from the Bishop of Rome could here exercise any Legantine Power without special Licence from the King He was so highly respected abroad that in General Councils he was placed before all other Archbishops at the Popes right Foot He was at home so highly honoured by the Kings of England that according to the Practice of Gods own People the Jews where Aaron was next in Dignity to Moses and according to the practice of most other Christian States where the next in Dignity and Authority to the Sovereign is usually the chiefest Person of the Clergy he was accounted the Second Person in the Kingdome and named and ranked even before the Princes of the Blood He enjoyed some special marks of Royalty as to be Patron of a Bishoprick as he was of Rochester to Coyn Moneys and to have the Wardships of all those who held Lands of him Jure Hominii as it is called although they held in Capite other Lands of the King a Princely Prerogative even against the Kings written Prerogative In an antient Charter granted by William the Conquerour to Lanfranc Archbishop of Canterbury he is to hold his Lands with the same freedom in Dominico suo as the words are as the King holdeth his in Dominico suo except only in 2 or 3 Cases and those of no great importance It is an Antient Priviledge of the See of Canterbury that wheresoever any Mannors or Advowsons do belong unto that See that place forthwith becomes exempt from the Ordinary and is reputed a Peculiar and of the Diocess of Canterbury The Archbishop of Canterbury by the favour of our Kings is judged fit to enjoy still divers considerable Pre-eminencies He is Primat and Metropolitan over all England and hath a super-eminency and some Power even over the Archbishop of York hath power to summon him to a National Synod and Archiepis Eboracensis venire debet cum Episcopis suis ad nutum ejus ut ejus Canonicis dispositionibus obediens existat The Archbishop of Canterbury is at this day Primus par Regni the first Peer of England and next to the Royal Family to precede not only all Dukes but all the Great Officers of the Crown He is stiled by the King in his Writs directed to him Dei Gratiâ Archiepisc Cant. and writes himself Divina Providentia whereas other Bishops write Divinâ Permissione and he is said to be inthroned when he is invested in the Archbishoprick To Crown the King belongs to him and it hath been resolved that wheresoever the Court shall happen to be the King and Queen are Speciales Domestici Parochiani Domini Ar. Cant. and had antiently the Holy Offerings made at the Altar by the King and Queen wheresoever the Court should happen to be if his Grace was there present Also the Power of appointing the Lent Preachers as thought by our Ancestors much more fit for a Prelate or Spiritual Person to do as in all other Christian Courts then for any Lay Lord as hath been used in England since one Cromwell was by Hen. 8. made Vicar General and placed above the Archbishop of Canterbury The Bishop of London is accounted his Provincial Dean the Bishop of Winchester his Chancellour and the Bishop of Rochester his Chaplain In writing and speaking to him is given the Title of Grace as it is to all Dukes and Most Reverend Father in God He hath the Power of all Probate of Testaments and granting Letters of Administration where the Party dying had Bona Notabilia that is five pounds worth or above out of the Diocess wherein he died or ten pounds worth within the Diocess of London or if the party dying be a Bishop though he hath no Goods out of the Diocess where he died Also to make Wills for all such as die intestate within his Province and to administer their Goods to the Kindred or to Pious Uses according to his discretion which most transcendent Trust and Power is so antiently in England belonging to Bishops that the best Antiquary cannot find the first Original thereof By Stat. 25 H. 8. he hath the Honour and Power to grant Licences and Dispensations in all Cases heretofore sued for in the Court of Rome not repugnant to the Law of God or the Kings Prerogative As to allow a Clerk to hold a Benefice in Commendam or Trust To allow a Son contrary to the Canons to succeed his Father immediately in a Benefice To allow a Clerk rightly qualified to hold two Benefices with
be verified of Religion and Gods Service amongst us The time thereof may be Threescore years and ten if it continue till Fourscore it will be but small joy to those that shall then behold the Condition of the English Church and the best read Historian cannot produce one example of a happy State where the Clergy hath been exposed to the peoples Contempt which must needs happen where their Benefices their Maintenance is scandalous and their Persons despicable It is the last Trick saith St. Gregory that the Devil hath in this World when he cannot bring the Word and Sacraments in disgrace by Errours and Heresies he invented this Project to bring the Clergy into contempt and low esteem as it is now in England where they are accounted by many as the dross and refuse of the Nation Men think it a stain to their blood to place their Sons in that Function and Women ashamed to marry with any of them whereas antiently in England as among the Jews the Tribe of Levi was counted Noble above all other Tribes except that of the Royal Tribe of Judah the Function of the Clergy was of so high account and esteem that not only the best Gentry and Nobility but divers of the Sons and Brothers of divers of our English Kings since the Conquest and before disdained not to enter into Holy Orders and to be Clergy-men as at this day is practised in most other Monarchies of Christendome Ethelwolph Son and Successor to Egbert first sole King of England was in Holy Orders and Bishop of Winchester at his Fathers death Odo Bishop of Bayeux in Normandy was Brother to William the Conquerour Henry de Blois Brother to King Stephen was Bishop of Winchester Geofry Plantagenet Son to Henry 2 was Bishop of Lincoln Henry de Beaufort Brother to Henry the 4th was Bishop also of Winchester And of later Times that most prudent Henry 7 had designed his second Son to be a Clergyman to omit many others of Noble Blood Which Policy is still observed even amongst the few Families of the Romish Religion in England wherein are to be found at this day some Brothers or Sons of Dukes Marquisses Earls and Barons in Holy Orders and all the rest of the Stock of Baronets Knights or Gentry and for this cause find respect not only amongst those of their own Opinions but even of the more sober moderate and best civilized Protestants Whilst this Policy lasted in England the Clergy were judged the fittest Persons to execute most of the Chief Offices and Places of the Kingdom according to the Divine Policy amongst Gods peculiar People where the Priests and Levites were the Principal Officers and Judges in every Court to whom the People were to be obedient on pain of death and the Laity did with much reverence and respect submit to them And as then Os Sacerdotis Oraculum erat plebis according to that of Malachi 2. 7. So Os Episcopi Oraculum erat Regis Regni Rex amplectabatur universum Clerum lata fronte ex eo semper sibi eligebat primos a Consiliis primos ad officia Regni obeunda Primi igitur sedebant in omni Regni Comitiis Tribunalibus Episcopi in Regali quidem Palatio cum Regni Magnatibus in Comitatu una cum Comite in Turno cum Vicecomite in Hundredo cum Domino Hundredi sic ut in promovenda Justitia usquequaque gladius gladium adjuvaret nihil inconsulto Sacerdote vel Episcopo ageretur And because the Weal of the Kingdom and the Service of the King depended so much upon them and their presence for that end so oft required at London it was judged expedient that every Bishoprick should have a Palace or House belonging to it in or about London and it is known at this day where stood the Houses of every one except that of St. Asaph which also might probably have had one but more obscure than some other that Bishoprick having been as still very mean Great was the Authority of the Clergy in those dayes and their Memory should be precious in these dayes if we consider that they were the Authors of so great benefits and advantages to this Kingdom that there are few things of any importance for promoting of the welfare of this Church and State wherein the Bishops and Prelats under God have not been the Principal Instruments The Excellent Laws made by King Ina King Athelstan King Edmund and St. Edward from whom we have our Common Laws and our Priviledges mentioned in Magna Charta were all made by the perswasions and advice of Bishops and Archbishops named in our Histories The Union of the 2 Houses of York and Lancaster whereby a long and bloody War was ended was by the most wise Advice and Counsel of Bishop Morton then a Privy Councellour The Union of England and Scotland that inexpressible advantage to both Nations was brought to pass by the long fore-sight of Reverend Bishop Fox a Privy Councellour in advising Henry the 7th to match his Eldest Daughter to Scotland and his Younger to France Most of the Great Publick Works now remaining in England acknowledge their antient and present being either to the sole Cost and Charges or to the liberal Contributions or at least to the powerful Perswasions of Bishops as most of the best endowed Colledges in both our Vniversities very many Hospitals Churches Palaces Castles have been founded and built by Bishops even that famous chargeable and difficult Structure of London-Bridge stands obliged to the liberal Contributions of an Archbishop and it was a Bishop of London at whose earnest request William the Conquerour granted to the City of London so large Priviledges that in a grateful remembrance thereof the Lord Mayor and Aldermen to this day upon some solemn dayes of their resort to St. Pauls Church do go in Procession to the Grave Stone where that Bishop lies interred But above all The Converting England to the Christian Religion the Reforming that Religion when corrupted and since that the maintenance of the Doctrine thereof against all Romish Writers and of the Discipline thereof none of the least good Offices against all the Practices and Power of the Puritan and Presbyterian Factions and all those other Sectaries lineally descended from them all this and more is owing if not solely yet principally to Bishops and Prelats by the late want of whom to sit at the Stern how soon was this goodly Vessel split upon the Rocks of Anarchy and Confusion Even since the late Restauration of Bishops to set down the many considerable Publick Benefits flowing from them and other Dignified Clergy would tire the Reader What Sums of Money have been by them expended in repairing Cathedral Churches Episcopal Houses in founding and building Hospitals in Charity to poor Widdows of Clergymen utterly ruined by the late Rebels for redeeming of poor Christian Slaves at Algier what publick and private Sums for supplying the Kings Necessities at his
Restauration what Expences in Hospitality c. above and beyond the Charity and Bounty of others who have ten times their Wealth and Riches As they have then been beneficial to this Kingdome above and beyond other ranks of men so they have had the highest respect reverence and esteem In all Ages amongst all Nations amongst Turks as well as Jews and Christians it was judged fit that the Principal Domestique Servants of the King of Heaven and Earth either should be of the Chiefest and Noblest upon Earth or at least should be so esteemed Such Reverence our Ancestors bare to that Function that as Selden observes to fall down and kiss the Feet was a Ceremony usual towards other Bishops and Principal Prelates besides the Bishop of Rome Divers of our Saxon and Norman Kings and Nobles so respected them that they constrained them in Publick Grants yet to be seen to sign before the highest of the Lay Nobles and sometimes before the Kings own Sons and Brothers and to rank them before c. In the year 1200. three Kings viz. of England Scotland and of South-Wales to express their pious and courteous respect to Hugh Bishop of Lincoln disdained not with their own Royal Shoulders to bear his dead Corps to the Grave And yet it hath been observed even by Strangers that the Iniquity of the present times in England is such that the English Orthodox Clergy are not only hated by the Romanists on the one side and maligned by the Presbyterian on the other side as the English Liturgy hath also been for a long time by both of them a sure evidence of the excellency thereof and as our Saviour was crucified between two Theeves but also that of all the Christian Clergy of Europe whether Romish Lutheran or Calvinian none are so little respected beloved obeyed or rewarded as the present Pious Learned Loyal Orthodox Clergy of England even by those who have alwayes professed themselves of that Communion O Deus in quae tempora reservasti nos Here followeth a Catalogue of the present Deans in the Provinces both of Canterbury and York In the Province of Canterbury Dr. Turner Dean of Canterbury Dr. Sancrost Dean of Pauls Dr. Dolben Bishop of Rochester and Dean of Westminster Dr. Clark Dean of Winchester Dr. Wilford Dean of Ely Dr. Creyton Dean of Bath and Wells Dr. Williams Bishop of Ossory and Dean Commendatory of Bangor Dr. Fell Dean of Christ-Church Dr. Hardy Dean of Rochester Dr. Gueson Dean of Chichester Dr. Thomas Dean of Worcester Dr. â—redyok Dean of Salisbury Dr. Honywood Dean of Lincoln Dr. Lloyd Dean of St. Asaph Dr. Cary Dean of Exeter Dr. Duport Dean of Peterborough Dr. Crofts Dean of Norwich Dr. Toogood Dean of Bristol Dr. Hodges Dean of Hereford Dr. Brough Dean of Glocester Dr. Wood Dean of Litchfield In the Province of York Dr. Hitch Dean of York Dr. Sudbury Dean of Durham Dr. Carlton Dean of Carlile Dr. Bridgeman Dean of Chester Note That in the Cathedral Churches of St. Davids and of Landaff there never hath been any Dean but the Bishop in either is Head of the Chapter and in the Bishops absence the Chanter at St. Davids and at Landaff the Archdeacon Note also That there are some Deans in England without any Jurisdiction only for honour so stiled as the Dean of the Chappel Royal and Dean of the Chappel of St. George at Windsor Moreover Some Deans there are without any Chapter yet enjoying certain Jurisdictions as the Dean of Croyden the Dean of Battel the Dean of Bocking c. Of the Nobility or Second Estate of England NObiles quasi viri Noscibiles or Notabiles In all Christian Monarchies men that have been Notable for Courage Wisdom Wealth c. have been judged fit and worthy to enjoy certain Priviledges Titles Dignities Honours c. above the Common People to be placed in an higher Orbe and to be as a Skreen between the King and the Inferiour Subjects to defend the one from Insolencies and the other from Tyranny to interpose by their Counsel Courage and Grandeur where common persons dare not ought not to be so hardy to support the King and defend the Kingdom with their lives and fortunes The Nobility of England is called the Peerage of England because they are all Pares Regni that is Nobilitate Pares though gradu impares The Degrees of the English Nobility are onely five viz. Duke Marquiss Earl Vicount and Baron These are all Barons but the four first are for State Priviledge and Precedence above and before other Barons A Duke in Latine Dux a ducendo Noblemen being antiently either Generals and Leaders of Armies in time of War or Wardens of Marches and Governours of Provinces in times of Peace afterwards made so for term of life then held by Lands and Fees at length made Hereditary and Titular The first Duke since the Conquerour was Edward the Black Prince created so by Edward 3 in the 11th year of his Raign A Duke is at this day created by Patent Cincture of a Sword Imposition of a Cap and Coronet of Gold on his Head and a Verge of Gold put into his hand Marchio a Marquiss was first so called from the Government of Marches and Frontier Countries The first that was so created was Robert Vere Earl of Oxford made Marquiss of Dublin in Octavo of Richard 2. A Marquiss is created by a Cincture of a Sword Imposition of a Cap of Honour with a Coronet and delivery of a Charter or Patent Earls antiently called Comites because they were wont Comitari Regem to wait upon the King for Counsel and Advice The Saxons called them Ealdormen the Danes Eorlas and the English Earls They had antiently for the support of their state the third penny out of the Sherives Court issuing out of all Pleas of that Shire whereof they had their Title but now it is otherwise An Earl is created by the Cincture of a Sword a Mantle of State put upon him by the King himself a Cap and a Coronet put upon his head and a Charter in his hand All Earls are stiled by the King Consanguinei nostri Our Cosins and they antiently did and still may use the style of Nos All the Earls of England are local or denominated from some Shire Town or Place except 2 whereof one is personal as the Earl Marshal of England who is not only honorary as all the rest but also officiary The other is nominal viz. Earl Rivers who takes his denomination from an Illustrious Family as the rest do from some noted place Vicecomes quasi vice Comitis gubernaturus Comitatum This Title was first given say some by Hen. 6. in the 18th year of his Raign to John Beaumont though it may be found that 5 H. 5. Sir Robert Brent was by that King created a Vicount A Vicount is so made by Patent In the Laws of the Longobards and of the Normans this Word
but to have expedition of Justice At the beginning of Parliament when the Oath of Supremacy is exacted of all those of the House of Commons yet is it not reqnired of any of the Lords because the King is otherwise assured of their Loyalty and Fidelity as is presumed In all Cases wherein the Priviledge of Clergy is allowed to other men and also in divers Cases where that Priviledge is taken away from other men every Peer of the Realm having Place and Voice in Parliament shall upon his Request by Stat. 1. Ed. 6. without burning in the hand loss of Inheritance or corruption of Blood be adjudged for the first time as a Clerk convict though he cannot read All Barons of England are exempted from all attendance at Sherives Turns or any Leets as others are to take the Oath of Allegeance A Peer cannot be outlawed in any Civil Action because he cannot be arrested by any Capias and by the same reason lies no Attachment against him By the Custom of England as is by the Law of the Empire Nobiles non torquentur in quibus plebeii torquerentur Nobiles non suspenduntur sed decapitantur yet this by the meer favour of the King and in some cases especially of Felony hath been otherwise sometimes For the suppressing of Riots and Routs the Sheriff may raise the Posse Comitatus that is â—all able men are to assist him yet may not the Sheriff command the Person of any Peer of the Realm to attend that Service A Baron of Parliament being sent for by the Kings Writ or Letter or by his Messenger to come to Court or to Parliament or to appear before the Council-Board or in his Court of Chancery may both coming and returning by the Kings Forest or Park kill one or two Deer In any Civil Trial where a Peer of the Realm is Plaintiff or Defendant there must be returned of the Jury at least one Knight otherwise the Array may be quasht by Challenge The Laws of England are so tender of the Honour Credit Reputation and Persons of Noblemen that there is a Statute on purpose to prohibit all offence by false reports whereby any scandal to their persons may arise or debate and discord between them and the Commons and because it is to defend not only Lay Lords but Bishops and all great Officers of the Realm it is called Scandalum Magnatum If a Peer of the Realm appear not upon a Subpena yet may not an Attachment be awarded against him as it may against a common person though of later times the practice hath been otherwise The House of a Peer cannot in some Cases as in search for Prohibited Books for Conventicles c. be enâ—â—red by Officers of Justice without a Warrant under the Kings own hand and the hands of 6 of his Privy Council whereof 4 to be Peers of the Realm No Peer can be assessed towards the standing Militia but by 6 or more of themselves The Law allowing any one of the Commonalty to be arâ—aigned for Felony or Treason in favorem vitae to challenge 35 of his Jury without shewing cause and others by shewing cause yet allows not a Peer of the Realm to challenge any of his Jury or to put any of them to their Oath the Law presuming that they being all Peers of the Realm and judging upon their Honour cannot be guilty of Falshood oâ— Favour or Malice All Peers of the Realm have a Priviledge of qualifying a certain number of Chaplains who after a Dispensation from the Archbishop if to him iâ— seem good and the same ratified under the Great Seal of England may hold Plurality of Benefices with Cure of Souls In this manner every Duke may qualifie 6 Chaplains every Marquiss and Earl 5 apiece every Vicount 4 and every Baron 3. A Peer of the Realm may retain 6 Aliens born whereas another may not retain above 4. In Case of Amercements of the Peers of the Realm upon Non-suits or other Judgements a Duke is to be amerâ—ed only 10 pounds and all under only 5 l. and this to be done by their Peers accordâ—ng to Magna Charta alâ—hough it is oft done by the Kings Justices instead of their Peers All Peers of the Realm beâ—ng constant hereditary Councellours of the King in his Great Council of Parliament and being obliged upon the Kings Summons to appear and attend in all Parliaments upon their own Charges are priviledged from contributing to the Expences of any Member of the House of Commons for which no levy may be made upon any of their Lands parcel of their Earldoms or Baronies any of their antient Demesnes Copyhold or Villain Tenants The Estates of all Peers of the Realm being judged in the Eye of the Law sufficient at all times to satisfie all Debts and Damages satisfaction is to be sought by Execution taken forth upon their Lands and Goods and not by Attachments Imprisonments of their Persons those are to be alwayes free for the Service of the King and Kingdome noâ— by Exigents or Capias Utlegatum c. Other Priviledges belong to the Peers of England as 8â— Tun of Wine Custome free to every Earl and to the rest proportionably c. Notwithstanding these great Priviledges belonging to the Nobility of England yet the greatest of them no not the Brother or Son of the King ever had the Priviledge of the Grandees of Spain to be covered in the Kings Presence except only Henry Ratcliffe Earl of Surrey as before Pag. 147. nor had ever that higher Priviledge of the Nobility of France whose Domain Lands and their Dependants holding them are exempted from all Contributions and Tailles whereby they are tied to their King and so enabled to serve him that although Rebellions are frequent yet seldome of long continuance and never prosperous whereas the highest born Subject of England hath herein no more Priviledge than the meanest Plowman but utterly want that kind of reward for antient Vertue and encouragement for future Industry Touching the Places or Precedences amongst the Peers of England it is to be observed that after the King and Princes of the Blood viz. the Sons Grandsons Brothers Uncles or Nephews of the King and noâ— farther Dukes amongst the Nobility have the first place then Marquisses Dukes eldest Sons Earls Marquisses eldest Sons Dukes younger Sons Vicounts Earls eldest Sons Marquisses younger Sons Barons Vicounts eldest Sons Earls younger Sons Barons eldest Sons Vicounts younger Sons Barons younger Sons Here note That it was decreed by King James that the younger Sons of Barons and Vicounts should yeeld Place and Precedence to all Knights of the Garter quateâ—us tales and to all Privy Councellours Master of the Wards Chancellour and Under Treasurer of the Exchequer Chancellour of the Dutchy Chief Justice of the Kings Bench Master of the Rolls Chief Justice of the Common Pleas Chief Baron of the Exchequer and all other Judges and Barons of the Degree of the Coise of the said Courts
Garter upon the Left Leg upon pain of paying 2 Crowns to any Officer of the Order who shall first claim it onely in taking a Journey a Blew Ribon under the Boot doth suffice Upon the Left Shoulder upon Cloak Coat or Riding Cassack in all places of Assembly when they wear not their Robes they are to wear an Escutcheon of the Arms of St. George that is a Cross with a Garter and this by an Order made April 1626. That Ornament and Embellishment about the said Escutcheon now worn and called the Star or rather the Sun in its glory was at the same time enjoyned The The greatest Monarchs of Christendome have been enrolled and have taken it for an Honour to be of this Order There have been of this Order since the Institution 8 Emperours 25 or 26 Forreign Kings besides many Soveraign Princes c. The Fellows and Companions of the Most Noble Order of St. George are at present these that follow ranked according as they are seated in their several Stalls at Windsor IN the first Stall on the right hand is the Soveraigne of the Order King Charles the Second who is Patron and Sole Disposer of the Order The Stall opposite to His Majesty is now void In the other Stalls on the Sovereign Side are thus placed these that follow 2 The Duke of York 3 Prince Rupert 4 Marquiss of Brandenbourgh 5 Earl of Salisbury 6 Earl of Northumberland 7 Duke of Buckingham 8 Earl of Bristol 9 Count Marsin 10 Earl of Sandwich 11 Duke of Richmond 12 Earl of Strafford 13th Stall is void On the other side opposite to these afore-named are placed in this Order these that follow 2 Prince Elector Palatine 3 Prince of Orenge 4 Prince of Denmark 5 Earl of Berkshire 6 Duke of Ormond 7 Duke of Newcastle 8 Prince of Tarent 9 Duke of Albemarle 10 Earl of Oxford 11 Earl of Manchester 12 Duke of Monmouth 13th Stall on this Side also is void The whole number of Fellows of this Order is not to exceed 26. In the next place are Knights Bannerets Equites Vexilliferi antiently a high Honour now obsolete there being at this time none of this Order in England These may bear Supporters of their Arms and none under this Degree Knights of the Bath so called of their Bathing used before they are created The first of this sort were made by Henry 4th Anno 1399. They are now commonly made at the Coronation of a King or Queen or Installation of 〈◊〉 Prince of VVales They weaâ— a Scarlet Ribon Belt-wise They are still made with much Ceremony too long here to be described Other Knights called Equites Aurati from the Gilt Spurs usually put upon them and Knights Batchelors quasi Baschevaliers Knights of lower Degree So Bachelors in Arts or Divinity quasi Low Knights or Servitors in Arts. These were antiently made by girding with a Sword and Gilt Spurs and was bestowed onely upon Sword men for their Military Service and was reâ—uted an excellent and glorious Degree and a Noble Reward â—or Courageous Persons but â—f late being made more common and bestowed upon â—own Men contrary to the â—ature of the thing as Degrees â—n the University are sometimes â—estowed upon Sword men it â—s become of much less reputaâ—ion Yet amongst Gown men 〈◊〉 is given only to Lawyers and â—hysitians and not to Divines â—ho may as well become that Dignity and be Spiritual Knights as well as Spiritual Lords These are now made with no other Ceremony but kneeling down the King with a drawn Sword lightly toucheth them on the Shoulder after which heretofore the King said in French Sois Chevalier au nom de Dieu and then Avances Chevalier When a Knight is to suffeâ— death for any foul Crime hiâ— Military Girdle is first to be ungirt his Sword taken away hiâ— Spurs cut off with an Hatchetâ— his Gantlet pluckt off and hiâ— Coat of Arms reversed Next amongst the Loweâ— Nobility are Esquires so called from the French word Escuyers Scutigeri because they were wont to bear before the Prince in War or before the better sort of Nobility 〈◊〉 Shield or else perhaps because they bear a Coat of Arms as Ensigns of their descent and by our Lawyers are called Armigeri Of this Title are first all Vicounts eldest Sons and all Vicounts and Barons younger Sons and by the Common Law of England all the Sons of Earls Marquisses and Dukes are Esquires and no more Next are the Esquires of the Kings Body mentioned among the Officers of the Kings Court after these are reckoned Knights eldest Sons and their eldest Sons for ever then younger Sons of the elder Sons of Barons next Esquires created by the King by putting about their Necks a Collar of Esses and bestowing on them a pair of Silver Spurs Lastly any that are in superiour Publick Office for King or State are reputed Esquires or equal to Esquires as Justices of the Peace Mayors of Towns so Councellours at Law Batchelors of Divinity Law or Physick although none of them really are so In the last place among thâ— lower Nobility are accounted the Gentry of England that have no other Title but are descended of antient Families that have alwayes born a Coaâ— of Arms. This Kind of Honour is derived from the Germans to the rest of Christendome and was never known in any Countrey where the German Customs were unknown as in Asia Africa and America The Germans antiently warring oft amongst themselves painted their Scutcheons with the Picture of some Beast Bird or other thing for distinction and put some eminent and visible Mark upon the Crest of their Helmets and this Ornament both of Arms and Crest descended by inheritance to their Children to the eldest pure and to the rest with some note of distinction such as the Old Master of Ceremonies in High Dutch Here-alt now Herald thought fit Gentlemen well descended and well qualified have alwayes been of such repute in England that none of the higher Nobility no nor the King himself have thought it unfitting to make them sometimes their Companions The Title of Gentleman in England as of Cavalier in France Italy and Spain is not disdained by any Nobleman All Noblemen are Gentlemen though all Gentlemen are not Noblemen The State of Gentry was antiently such that it was accounted an abasing of Gentry to put their Sons to get their Living by Shop-keeping and our Law did account it a disparagement of a Ward in Chivalry to be married to a Shop-keepers Daughter or to any meer Citizen for Tradesmen in all Ages and Nations have been reputed ignoble in regard of the doubleness of their Tongue without which they cannot grow rich for Nihil proficiunt nisi admodum mentiuntur as Tully observed and therefore amongst the Thebans no man was admitted to places of Honour or Trust unless he had left off trading ten years before So by the Imperial Laws a Tradesman is not capable of any
Freeholders which are so called because they hold Lands or Tenements inheritable by a perpetual Right to them and their heirs for ever there are in England a very great number of Copyholders who hold Lands within some Mannors only by Copy of Court Roll of the said Mannour c. have Jus perpetuum utile Dominium though not Allodium directum Dominium which none in England but the King hath Amongst the Commons of England in the next place are reckoned Tradesmen amongst whom Merchants of Forrein Trafick have for their great benefit to the publick for their great Endowments and generous living been of best repute in England and although the Law of England look upon Tradesmen and Chapmen that live by buying and selling as a baser sort of people and that a Ward within age may bring his Action of Disparagement against his Guardian for offering any such in Marriage yet in England as well as Italy to become a Merchant of Forreign Commerce without serving any Apprentisage hath been allowed as no disparagement to a Gentleman born especially to a younger Brother Amongst Tradesmen in the next place are Whole-sale-men then Retailers lastly Mechanicks or Handy-crafts-men These are all capable of bearing some Sway or Office in Cities and Towns Corporate The lowest Member the Feet of the Body Politique are the Day-Labourers who by their large Wages given them and the cheapness of all Necessaries enjoy better Dwellings Diet and Apparel in England than the Husbandmen do in many other Countries Liberties and Properties As the Clergy and Nobility have certain Priviledges peculiar to themselves so they have Liberties and Properties common to the Commonalty of England The Commons of England for hereditary fundamental Liberties and Properties are blest above and beyond the Subjects of any Monarch in the World First No Freemen of England ought to be imprisoned or otherwise restrained without cause shewn for which by Law he ought to be so imprisoned Secondly To him that is imprisoned may not be denied a Writ of Habeas Corpus if it be desired Thirdly If no cause of Imprisonment be alledged and the same be returned upon an Habeas Corpus then the Prisoner ought to be set at Liberty Fourthly No Soldiers can be quartered in the House of any Freeman in time of Peace without his will though they pay for their quarters Fifthly Every Freeman hath such a full and absolute propriety in Goods that no Taxes Loans or Benevolences can be imposed upon them without their own consent by their Representative in Parliament Moreover They have such an absolute Power that they can dispose of all they have how they please even from their own Children and to them in what inequality they will without shewing any cause which other Nations governed by the Civil Law cannot do Sixthly No Englishman may be prest or compelled unless bound by his Tenure to march forth of his County to serve as a Souldier in the wars except in case of a Forreign Enemy invading or a Rebellion at home Nor may he be sent out of the Realm against his will upon any forreign Employment by way of an honourable Banishment Seventhly No Freeman can be tried but by his Peers nor condemned but by the Laws of the Land or by an Act of Parliament Eighthly No Freeman may be fined for any Crime but according to the merit of the Offence alwayes salvo sibâ— contenemente suo in such manner that he may continue and go on in his Calling Briefly If it be considered only that they are subject to no Laws but what they make themselves nor no Taxes but what they impose themselves and pray the King and Lords to consent unto their Liberties and Properties must be acknowledged to be transcendent and their worldly condition most happy and blessed and so far above that of the subjects of any of our Neighbour Nations that as all the Women of Europe would run into England the Paradise of Women if there were a Bridge made over the Sea so all the Men too if there were but an Act for a general Naturalizati-of all Aliens Of the Women Children and Servants of England TOuching the Women of England there are divers things considerable in the English Laws and Customs Women in England with all their Moveable Goods so soon as they are married are wholly in potestate viri at the will and disposition of the Husband If any Goods or Chattels be given to Feme Covert to a Married Woman they all immediately become her Husbands She cannot let set sell give away or alienate any thing without her Husbands consent Her very Necessary Apparel by the Law is not hers in property If she hath any Tenure at all it is in Capite that is she holds it of and by her Husband who is Caput mulieris and therefore the Law saith Uxor fulget radiis mariti All the Chattels personal the Wife had at the Marriage is so much her Husbands that after his death they shall not return to the Wife but go to the Executor or Administrator of the Husband as his other Goods and Chattels except only her Parapherna which are her Necessary Apparel which with the consent of her Husband she may devise by Will not otherwise by our Law because the property and possession even of the Parapherna are in him The Wife can make no Contract without her Husbands consent and in Law matters sine viro respondere non potest The Law of England supposeth a Wife to be in so much Subjection and Obedience to her Husband as to have no will at all of her own Wherefore if a Man and his Wife commit a felony together the Wife by the Law can be neither Principal nor Accessory the Law supposing that in regard of the subjection and obedience she owes to her Husband she was necessitated thereunto The Law of England supposes in the Husband a power over his Wife as over his Child or Servant to correct her when she offends and therefore he must answer for his Wives faults if she wrong another by her Tongue or by Trespass he must make satisfaction So the Law makes it as high a Crime and allots the same punishment to a Woman that shall kill her Husband as to a Woman that shall kill her Father or Master and that is Petty Treason and to be burnt alive So that a Wife in England is de jure but the best of Servants having nothing her own in a more proper sense than a Child hath whom his Father suffers to call many things his own yet can dispose of nothing The Woman upon Marriage loseth not onely the power over her person and her will and the property of her Goods but her very Name for ever after she useth her Husbands Surname and her own is wholly laid aside which is not observed in France and other Countries where the Wife subscribes her self by her Paternal Name as if Susanna the Daughter of R. Clifford be married
to E. Chamberlayn she writes her self Susanna Clifford Chamberlayn Notwithstanding all which their condition de facto is the best in the World for such is the good nature of Englishmen towards their Wives such is their tenderness and respect giving them the uppermost place at Table and elsewhere the right hand every where and putting them upon no drudgery and hardship that if there were a Bridge over into England as aforesaid it is thought all the Women in Europe would run thither Besides in some things the Laws of England are above other Nations so favourable to that Sex as if the Women had voted at the making of them If a Wife bring forth a Child during her Husbands absence though it be for some years within England and not beyond the Seas that Husband must father that Child If a Wife bring forth a Child begotten by any other before Marriage yet the present Husband must own the Child and that Child shall be his Heir at Law The Wife after her Husbands death may challenge the third part of his yearly Rents of Lands during her life and within the City of London a third part of all her Husbands moveables for ever As the Wife doth participate of her Husband Name so likewise of his Condition If he be a Duke she is a Dutchess if he be a night she is a Lady if he be an Alien made a Denison she is ipso facto so too If a Freeman marry a Bondwoman she is also free during the Coverture wherefore it is said as before Uocor fulget radiis Mariti All Women in England are comprised under Noble or Ignoble Noble Women are so three manner of wayes viz. by Creation by Descent and by Marriage The King the Fountain of Honour may and oft hath created Women to be Baronesses Countesses Dutchesses c. By Descent such Women are Noble to whom Lands holden by such Dignity do descend aâ— Heir for Dignities and Titles of Honour for want of Males descend to Females but to one of them onely because they are things in their own nature entire and not to be divided amongst many as the Lands and Tenements are which descend to all the Daughters equally besides by dividing Dignities the Reputation of Honour would be lost and the Strength of the Realm impaired for the Honour and Chevalry of the Realm doth chiefly consist in the Nobility thereof By Marriage all Women are Noble who take to their Husbands any Baron or Peer of the Realm but if afterwards they 〈◊〉 to Men not Noble they 〈◊〉 their former Dignity and follow the condition of their laâ—â— Husband for eodem modo distolvitur earum Nobilitas quo constituitur But Women Noble by Creation or Descent or Birthright remain Noble though they marry Husbands under their Degree for such Nobility is accounted Character indelebilis Here note that by the Courtesie of England a Woman Noble only by Marriage alwayes retaineth her Nobility but if the Kings Daughter marry a Duke or an Earl illa semper dicitur Regalis as well by Law as Courtesie Noble women in the Eye of the Law are as Peers of the Realm and are to be tried by their Peers and to enjoy most other Priviledges Honour and Respect as their Husbands Only they cannot by the opinion of some great Lawyers maintain an Action upon the Statute De Scandalo Magnatum the Makers of that Statute meaning only to provide in that Case for the Great Men and not for the Women as the words of that Statute seem to import Likewise if any of the Kings Servants within his Check Roll should conspice the death of any Noblewoman this were not Felony as it is if like Conspiracy be against a Nobleman None of the Wives Dignities can come by Marriage to their Husbands although all their Goods and Chattels do onely the Wives Lands are to descend to her next Heir yet is the Courtesie of England such that as the Wife for her Dower hath the third part of her Husbands Lands during her life so the Husband for the Dignity of his Sex and for playing the Man in begetting his Wife with Child which must appear by being born alive shall have all his Wives Lands for his Dower if it may be so called during his life By the Constitutions of England married persons are so fast joyned that they may not be wholly separated by any agreement between themselves but only by Sentence of the Judge and such separation is either a Vinculo Matrimonii and that is ob praecontractum vel ob contractum per metum effectum vel ob frigiditatem vel ob affinitatem sive Censanguinitatem vel ob Saevitiam or else such separation is a Mensa Thoro and that is ob Adulterium The Wife in England is accounted so much one with her Husband that she caunot be produced as a witness for or against her Husband Concerning Children in England The Condition of Children in England is different from those in our Neighbour Countries As Husbands have a more absolute Authority over their Wives and their Estates so Fathers have a more absolute Authority over their Children Fathers may give all their Estates from their own Children and all to any one Child and none to the rest the consideration whereof keeps the Children in great awe Children by the Common Law of England are at certain ages enabled to perform certain Acts. A Son at the age of 14 may choose his Guardian may claim his Lands holden in Socage may consent to Marriage may by Will dispose of Goods and Chattels At the age of 15 he ought to be sworn to his Allegeance to the King At 21 he is said to be of full age may then make any Contracts may pass not only Goods but Lands by Will which in other Countries may not be done till the Annus consistentiae the age of 25 when the heat of youth is somewhat abated and they begin to be staied in mind as well as in growth A Daughter at 7 years is to have aid of her Fathers Tenants to marry her for at those years she may consent to Marriage though she may afterwards dissent At 9 she is dowable as if then or soon after she could virum sustinere and thereby Dotem promereri At 12 she is enabled to ratifie and confirm her former consent given to Matrimony and if at that age she dissent not she is bound for ever she may then make a Will of Goods and Chattels At 14 she may receive her Lands into her own hands and is then out of Wardship if she be 14 at the death of her Ancestor At 16 though at the death of her Ancestor she was under 14 she shall be out of Wardship because then she may take a Husband who may be able to perform Knights-service as well as hers At 21 she is enabled to contract or alienate her Lands by Will or otherwise The Eldest Son inherits all Lands and to the younger Children are disposed Goods and Chattels and commonly the Eldest Sons Wives Portion and besides they are carefully educated in some Profession or Trade If there be no Son the Lands as well as Goods are equally divided amongst the Daughters Concerning Servants in England The Condition of Servants in England is much more favourable than it was in our Ancestors dayes when it was so bad that England was called the Purgatory of Servants as it was and is still the Paradise of Wives and the Hell for Horses Ordinary Servants are hired commonly for one year at the end whereof they may be free giving warning 3 Moneths before and may place themselves with other Masters only it is accounted discourteous and unfriendly to take another Mans Servant before leave given by his former Master and indiscreet to take a Servant without a Certificate of his diligence and of his faithfulness in his Service to his former Master All Servants are subject to be corrected by their Masters and Mistresses and resistance in a Servant is punisht with severe penalty but for a Servant to take away the life of his or her Master or Mistris is accounted a Crime next to High Treason and called Petty Treason and hath a peculiar Punishment Capital Slaves in England are none since Christianity prevailed A Slave brought into England is upon landing ipso facto free from Slavery but not from ordinary service Some Lands in England are holden in Villanage to do some particular Services to the Lord of the Mannor and such Tenants may be called the Lords Servants There is a Twofold Tenure called Villanage one where the Tenure only is servile as to plow the Lords ground sow reap and bring home his Corn dung his Land c. the other whereby both Person and Tenure is servile and bound in all respects at the disposition of the Lord such persons are called in Law pure Villans and are to do all Villanous Services to improve the Land he holds to the Lords use themselves to be wholly at the Lords Service and whatever they get is for their Lord of such there are now but few left in England The nearest to this condition are Apprentices that signifies Learuers a sort of Servants that carry the Marks of pure Villans or Bond-slaves as before in the Chapter of Gentry is intimated differing however in this that Apprentices are Slaves only for a time and by Covenant the other are so at the Will of their Masters FINIS Name Climat Dimensions Aire Soyle Comâ—odities Inhabitants Their Language Stature Dyet Attire Buildings Number of Inhabitants Dispositions and humours of the Inhabitants Recreations Weights and Measures Measures Moneys English Coâ—â—â—tation English Numbring English Names Surnamesâ— Name Title Arms. Patrimony Dominions Person Office Power and Prerogative Supremacy and Soveraignty Divinity Respect Minor â—capaâ—ty Absence â—â—me â—erogaâ—es Dignity Eldest Son Title Arms. Dignity Priviledges Revenues Cadets Name Surname Genealogy Birth Baptisme Court Education Marriage Arms. Lord Chancellour Dignity Office Oath Salary Lord Treasurer Oath Office Lord Privy Seal Dignity Admiral Office Chamberlain Constable Earl Marshal High Steward Clergy their Dignity Name Degrees Bishop Archbishop Suffragan Bishop Dean Archdeacon Priviledges of the Clergy Archbishop Canterbury York don Revenues of the Clergy Name Use Degrees Duke Marquisâ— Earl Vicount Baron Priviledges Precedence State Marquiss Earl Vicount Baron Number Revenue Baronets Knights Knights of the Garter Knights Bannerets Knights of the Bath Knights Bachelors Gentleman