Selected quad for the lemma: justice_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
justice_n	chief_a	lord_n	treasurer_n	2,704	5	10.8093	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26139	The original and growth of printing collected out of history, and the records of this kingdome : wherein is also demonstrated, that printing appertaineth to the prerogative royal, and is a flower of the crown of England / by Richard Atkyns.	Atkyns, Richard, 1615-1677.	1664 (1664)	Wing A4135; ESTC R22866	21,864	35

That if any person bought Forreign Books bound he should pay 6 s. 8 d. per Book And it was further Provided and Enacted That in case the said Printers and Sellers of Books were unreasonable in their prices they should be moderated by the Lord Chancellor Lord Treasurer the two Lord Chief Justices or any two of them who also had power to Fine them 3 s. 4 d. for every Book whose price shall be enhanced Thus was the ART of Printing in its Infancy Nursed up by the Nursing Father of us all and in its riper Age brought up in Monasteries of greatest Accompt and yet were the Instruments thereof restrained from the Evil of enhancing the prices of Books to the Detriment of their Fellow-Subjects by the Authority aforesaid While they had this Check upon them they were not only Servants to the King but Friends to the Kingdom But when they were by Charter Concorporated with Book-Binders Book-Sellers and Founders of Letters 3 and 4 Phil. and Mary and called the Company of Stationers the Body forgot the Head and by degrees breaking the Reines of Government they kickt against the Power that gave them Life And whereas before they Printed nothing but by the Kings especiall Leave and Command they now being free set up for themselves to print what they could get most Money by and taking the Advantage of those Virtiginous Times of the latter end of Henry the 8. Edward the 6. and Queen Mary they fill'd the Kingdom with so many Books and the Brains of the People with so many contrary Opinions that these Paper-pellets became as dangerous as Bullets to verifie that Saying of Tertullian That Lawyers Gowns hurt the Common-wealth as much as Souldiers Helmets Thus was this excellent and desireable ART within less than one hundred years so totally vitiated that whereas they were before the King's Printers and Servants they now grew so poor so numerous and contemptible by being Concorporated that they turn'd this famous ART into a Mechanick Trade for a Livelyhood But here I must break off though abruptly and answer an Objection for methinks I hear the Critick say How can that be a Mechanick Trade now that the Author allowes to be a famous Art heretofore being alwayes one and the same thing The Matter of which before I answer I must crave leave to give you the signification of the Word Mechanick the rather because the several sorts of Trades of which the Company of Stationers are Composed and more particularly the Book-Sellers who say they are of no Manufacture do peremptorily deny themselves to be Mechanicks The Word Mechanicus which signifies a Handicrafts-man doth in the strict Sense comprehend Printers Founders of Letters and Book-Binders And I believe in the large Sense all Trades-men whatsoever But if that be deficient let us go to the Original Greek Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies a Cunning Contrivance of the Head as well as Hand and this will certainly take in all Trades for as much as there is Cunning in all Trades But if it should miss any yet it cannot fail of the Company of Stationers because they are denominated a Mystery and there the strict signification of the Word comes in again Now for the matter of the Objection That a Famous ART cannot be a Mechannick Trade I Answer This is so far from being true that there is nothing in Nature but is good or bad according as 't is us'd for the great Creator of all things made nothing to no purpose even Meat and Drink without which we cannot live if abus'd destroyes life Twenty dye of Surfets for one that is starved for want of Meat But to give you an instance ad idem Musick is not onely an Art but one of the Liberall Arts practised by Princes themselves and made instrumentall to the Glory of God yet what Trade is there more despicable in the World both in Name and Nature than a Common Fidler though he may draw as good a sound out of an Instrument and have as much Art in Playing and Composing as any Gentleman yet if he get his Living by it and makes it his Trade he is still but a Fidler and herein I pity him more than any of other Professions because he perverts the Creation and turns Day into Night for most commonly when sober Persons are in Bed he must play to please the humours of the lighter sort And though his Heart be ready to break through Melancholy he must sing a merry Song to delight the Company if commanded or have his Fiddle sing about his Ears Is not this Mechanick think you But to Return where I digrest Printing became now so dangerous to the Common-wealth That there were more Books Burnt in Ten years than could be Printed in Twenty And now it concern'd the Prince altogether as much to Suppress the Abuse as it was before to Obtain the Use of Printing And had there not been a Reserve of Licensing such Books as should be Printed still remaining in the Crown they might have published the wickedness of their own Imaginations with Authority But Queen Elizabeth at her very first Entrance to the Crown finding so great Disorders in Church and State by reason of the abuse in Printing Secures in the first place the Law and the Gospel of both which the Kings and Queens of England have inherent Right as Heads of the Church and Supream of the Law and not onely in their publique but private Capacity as Proprietors the Power and Signiory of this under Favour cannot be severed from the Crown The Kings being the Trustees of the People who have formerly taken an Oath at their Coronation That they shall keep all the Lands Honours and Dignities Rights and Freedoms of the Crown of England in all manner whole without any manner of minishment and the Right of the Crown hurt decay'd or lost to their Power shall call again into the Antient Estate Which Oath the said Queen kept inviolably and liv'd the more quietly for it all the time of her Reign and died in Peace True it is they may and do gratifie their Friends and Servants in giving them the Emoluments and Profits that arise from Printing but the Power they cannot alienate from the Crown without losing the most pretious Stone out of their Diadem To shew you one Example for all the said Queen the first Year of her Reign grants by Patent the Priviledge of sole Printing all Books that touch or concern the Common-Laws of England to Tottel a Servant to her Majesty who kept it intire to his Death After him to one Yestweirt another Servant to Her Majesty After him to Weight and Norton and after them King James grants the same Priviledge to More one of His Majesties Clerks of the Signet which Grant continues to this Day and so for the Bible the Statute-Laws the Book of Common-Prayer Proclamations as much as the Grammer the Primer c. art all