Curiae Cancellariae but whether it was the same Office which is now executed by the Masters of the Chancery Non Constat however they were then under the notion of Clerks in an Ecclesiastical sence but as Writs were sent to Clerks or Ecclesiasticks with the Title of Magister so in Henry the Fourths time and not before there were Writs sent to Laicks with that Title and those were Persons of high Quality viz. in the 2.3 and 6. Hen. the 4th Magistro Thomae de la Ware sometimes call'd Ware and Warre to attend those Parliaments and the same Thomas was also Summon'd to the Parliaments of the 1.2.3.4.5.7.8 and and 9. of Hen. the 5th Magistro Tho. de la Ware and so to the 1.2 and 3. of Hen. the Sixth but in the second Parliament of that year Mr. De la Ware was not Summon'd but one VVrit was Magistro Johanni Stafford Thes Angliae and another VVrit Magistro Willielmo Alremith Custod privati Sigilli But in the 4th and 6. of Hen. the Sixth both those were left out and the same Magistro Tho. de la Ware Summond again and for brevity passing to the 36. of Hen. the Eighth and then it was expressly Roberto Bows Mil. Magistro sive Custod Rotulorum Cancellariae being then also chief of the twelve Masters of Chancery However Sir Edw. Coke saith they are Assistants to the Lord Chancellor or as the Manuscript saith Cojudices and thereupon ex Officio do sit in the Lords House and the antiquity of the Places allotted them there as will be shewn and their Imployments in every Parliament makes their attendance a kind of Praescription And now I proceed to such as sit in the Lords House by Patent only without Tenure VVrit or Praescription CHAP. XVII Of the Clerks of the Lords House HEre I am to speak of such as have places allowed them in the House of Lords by vertue of Patents only and first of the Clerks This Title of Clerk from Cleros when the Clergy had by reason of their great learning the guidance of Civil Offices was given as an honour to them and most of the great Offices as the Privy Seal Master of the Rolls c. had the Titles of Clerks but now that Title remains to a lower sort of which there are 26. in number who still retain that Title The first as to the Progresses of Parliament is the Clerk of the Pettibag which is under the Conduct and within the Patent of the Master of the Rolls who is the chief of all the Clerks in the Lords House of which Office I have spoke in that Section of the Rolls and in other places 2. The Clerk of the Crown in the Chancery call'd Clericus Coronae in Cancellario in his Patent of whom I have also spoke cursorily in several places is an Officer to whose care many great things are committed which may be read in Compton and others but as to what concerns this Subject I must again remind that all Parliament VVrits which are sent from the Pettibag are return'd and kept by the Officer so that the Pettibag gives as it were the beginning this the continuance and ending to a Parliament So as this Clerk of the Crown hath three Capacities Before the Sitting of a Parliament to receive returns of VVrits which were issued from the Pettibag And in Parliament to take care according to directions for the issuing of Writs in case of change or mortality And in the Lords House he first reads the Titles of all Bills to be presented to his Majesty of which and other parts of his Duty I shall speak more 3. The third Clerk is term'd in his Patent Clericus Parliamentorum because he is Clerk in all Parliaments during his life his imployment here being only conversant about the Affairs of Parliament Now in respect that all Bills and Matters of State have here their result in the Lords House he is the proper Keeper of such Records for the Lords House is a Court of Record and to that end his Books are fairly writ exactly compos'd according to the very words and sence of that House and constantly perus'd by some Lords appointed for that purpose as well for his own justification as others satisfaction He hath also an Assisting Clerk allowed him who is of great use and ease to him both of them being well grounded in learning experience and ability in the safe expediting the concerns of that House which hath both an Ocean of VVisdom and curious Rivolets of Honorary punctilios not to be omitted by them somewhat different from all other Courts he hath also a Reading Clerk allowed him who likewise attends the Lords Committees and these are all the Clerks which constantly attend in the Lords House and are within the Bar. 4. Of the Clerks of the House of Commons I shall speak in the second part 5. As I have shewn the Imployments of the Clerks of the Crown Office in Chancery so to prevent misapplications it is fit to shew the Imployments also of the Clerk of the Crown Office in the King's Bench who is no constant attendant in this House or in the House of Commons but only upon contingencies and then by Order but more especially in the Lords House for producing reading and managing Records concerning VVrits of Error Habeas Corpus c. of which I shall speak in order but his most eminent Imployment is upon the Tryal of Peers as will be shewn Of the 26. Clerks before mention'd who still retain that Title these five which I have named are the chief which are imployed in Parliamentary Matters but of the other 21. which may be seen in Lambert Fitz Herbert c. neither the six Clerks in Chancery being Officers of Eminency imployed in that Court bearing that Title nor are the other Clerks which are imployed also in that Court in the least as I know of ingag'd in the Fabrick of Parliaments Note that those five Clerks whom I first mention'd have places allotted them within the Bar of either House as I said And now I must speak of other Attendants of another nature viz. the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod and the Serjeant at Arms. CHAP. XVIII Of the Gentleman Vsher of the Black Rod. THere are but three ways by which the House of Lords do send any Message to the Commons of two of them I have spoken viz. by some of the Judges or by some of the Masters of Chancery and the King also uses two ways viz. by his Secretaries or some of the Privy-Council when they are Members of the House of Commons both upon ordinary and extraordinary occasions or for attending his Person upon Addresses c. But when he hath occasion to Command the House of Commons to attend him in the House of Lords he only sends this Officer the manner of which Ceremony I shall shew in order He is call'd the Black Rod from the Black Staff or Rod about three foot long tipt with
Silver and guilt with the Kings Arms at one end and a Lyon Couchant at the other end and a guilt Knob in the middle which he carries in his hand he is always a Person of Quality and born the Kings Subject and if not a Knight is made one upon admission to this Office and hath his Office by Patent the first Grant of it beginning in Hen. the 8. time 1. Before the Sitting of Parliament he observes the Lord Chamberlains directions in taking care that the House be fitted with all things for the Reception of the King and those who are to sit there 2. His Imployment also is to introduce Lords into that House 3. And after that House is Sat he hath Imployments concerning the Commitment of Delinquents c. 4. He hath a Seat allowed him but without the Bar and to ease him more in these and many other Imployments he hath an Usher to assist him call'd the Yeoman Usher also Door Keeper c. as will be shewn And so I am come to the last Attendant Officer of Note in that House viz. the Kings Serjeant at Arms. CHAP. XIX Of the Kings Serjeant at Arms Attendant in the House of Lords I Have spoken of the Servientes ad legem or Serjeants at Law Now I come to the Servientes ad arma Serjeants at Arms these were such as amongst the Romans were call'd Satellites Caesaris or a Guard to the Emperor and sometimes they were call'd Macerones from whence probably the word Mace might be us'd which these Serjeant at Arms use to carry before the King c. Of these Serjeants at Arms for I meddle not with the lower degree in Corporations sometimes call'd Serjeants of the Mace or only Serjeants there are twenty in number which are call'd the Kings Serjeants at Arms and these are Created with great Ceremony for the Person who is to be Created kneeling before the King the King himself lays the Mace on the Serjeants Right Shoulder and says these words Rise up Serjeant at Arms and Esquire for ever He hath his Patent for the Office besides of which and of the particulars of his Imployments Segar in his Book of Nobility gives a full account but of these twenty the King appropriates sixteen to his Personal Service whereof four wait on him every Quarter the other four are thus distributed viz. in time of Parliament one is to attend the Speaker of the House of Lords in case he is not Lord Chancellor another to attend the Speaker of the House of Commons one other to attend the Lord Chancellor and another the Lord Treasurer as well in as out of Parliament But in respect the Lord Chancellor and Speaker of the Lords House is usually the same Person there were but three of the twenty us'd in this time of Parliament and but two out of Parliament so as the other one or two are reserv'd for accidental occasions The Serjeant at Arms who attends the House of Lords hath the privilege of carrying the Mace before the Speaker whether he be the Lord Chancellor or not within the Lords House up to the very Chair of State and after he hath made his Obeysances he lays it down on the first Woolsack by the Speaker and so departs till the Speaker hath occasion to use him again upon the Rising of the House And herein methinks the Serjeant at Arms of the House of Commons hath more respect afforded him than the Serjeant at Arms to the House of Lords for the Commons Serjeant hath the freedom to stand at the Bar and hear all Debates and when weary of standing hath an easie seat by the door but the Lords Serjeant is not permitted to be in the Lords House whilst it is Sitting nor hath any Station within the Bar nor Seat without the Bar as the Gentleman Usher hath and yet this Office is more ancient than that and is not only Serjeant at Arms to the Speaker and Chancellor the Parliament not sitting but is the chief of the twenty of the Kings Serjeants at Arms he hath his Duputy so as if there should be occasion of two viz. for a Speaker and Chancellor he may supply one and his Deputy the other and besides his Deputy he hath also other Agents under him and hath use for them For upon Commitments of Delinquents without door he is to see them forth coming and in bringing them to the Bar but upon consmements or Commitment of any Member within doors that peculiarly belongs to the Gentleman of the Black Rod. So as these 2 Officers set the first wheel of a Parliament in motion for the Serjeant at Arms conducts the Chancellor or Speaker into the House of Lords the King sends the Black Rod to the Commons to bring up their Speaker who being confirm'd by the King goes to his Chair in the Commons usher'd with the other Serjeants at Arms and so when each Speaker retires from each House each Serjeant is to each a Conducter A Corollary to this First Part. I Have now shewn the General Warrants for Summoning a Parliament and the particular Writs and Patents impowring those who are to sit in the Lords House as also the Act of Precedency to prevent Disorders of Places when they meet there and given a touch of Proxies and of the words Lords and Peers and of other Accidental Writs and of the Returns of their Writs and of some who sit there without Writs or Patents and of others who are imployed there meerly by vertue of Patents And of all these I have made some Discourses as well to revive the notions of those who need no other information as to inform others who have little knowledge therein but what they gain from the short Memorials of Writers or from the imperfect Discourses which they glean from such as know some things in part but have not the true Concatenation of the Grandeur of a Parliament These discourses and those intended will I hope contain the whole System of this Constitution This part hath applied it self wholly to the Offices Degrees and Qualities pertinent to the House of Lords in general but as to the particular Persons owning those Offices Degrees and Qualities I reserve them for the Subsequent Parts of this Treatise that is after I have discours'd of the seven remaining Exemplar Writs in the Pawn which particularly concerns the House of Commons Viz. To Cornwall To Cambridge To London To Dover To Lancaster To Chester To Carnarvan in Wales And also shewn the Writs or Precepts derivative of those seven Exemplars and the manner of Elections and Returns of Writs and Precepts the Discourse of which will comprehend all the County Shires Cities and Burroughs which have power of Electing Members for Parliaments I shall then shew you the Places adapted for both Houses to meet in as also of the Members Summon'd and imployed in both Houses in this Parliament After these I shall speak of such Ceremonies as are us'd before any Members be admitted into
Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. one who is in Doctrinam mores sacros gregis Inspector and when Bishops grew numerous it was thought fit to place one to look after them and he had the addition of Archos i. e. principalis and so call'd Archi-Episcopus or Arch-Bishop having a certain number of Bishops and their Diocesses reduced to his Province or Care so that the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury with his own Diocess hath twenty two Diocesses or Bishopricks of the twenty six within his Province and the Arch-Bishop of York hath with his own four which makes in all twenty six besides the Bishop of Man who hath no Writ of Summons Anciently these Arch-Bishops and Bishops with Abbots Priors Deans Arch-Deacons and Proctors making the two Convocation-houses were summoned to appear two days before the Temporal Lords but since Henry the Eighth's time when Abbots and Priors were excluded the Bishops are summon'd to meet the same day that the Parliament begins but as Convocation-houses they are not summon'd to meet at Parliament till two or three days after the Lords Spiritual and Temporal are met and sitting in Parliament and those two Convocation-houses are seldom Adjourn'd Prorogu'd or Dissolv'd in three or four days and sometimes longer after the two Houses of Lords and Commons are Adjourn'd Prorogu'd or Dissolv'd These Arch-Bishops and Bishops considering them upon a Baronial account distinct from the Convocations are entred in all Clause Rolls and Pawns next the Blood Royal except when there was a casual interposition as this last of Vice-gerent and their places distinctly set down as in this Act viz. the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury then the Arch-Bishop of York and the other according to Seniority or Antientry as the word of the Act is till the Bishops of London Durham and Winchester were as by this Act fix'd in their Precedencies to the other twenty one and yet there is another method of Precedencies us'd in the Lords House and in all Solemnities by way of counterchanging of Precedencies between the Lords Spiritual and Temporal as will be shewn These twenty six injoy their Offices of Bishops upon a Spiritual and Ecclesiastical account and therefore are call'd Lords Spiritual their Ecclesiastical serving in ordine ad piritualia These for many Ages did manage the Offices of Chancellor and Keeper of the Great Seal also of Treasurer President Privy-Seal and Secretary of which I shall speak more but since Henry the Eighth's time these five Offices have been distinctly manag'd by Laicks of the chiefest quality and merit and the Bishops in a manner circumscrib'd to the Jurisdiction of their respective Diocesses which are of a kind of mixt nature consisting of Spiritualities and Temporalities In the Lords House they have almost equal Prividledges with the Lords Temporal except in matters of Blood when in respect of their Canons they commonly withdraw themselves appointing Proxies and entring Protestation but these Priviledges are not Hereditary like the Temporal Lords but meerly Successive and their Writs are somewhat of a different Nature from those to the Lords Temporal in point of extent concerning the Convocation-houses which do make a kind of a Parliament annext to a Parliament of which I shall speak more at large But how the Bishops were Summon'd may be read in the seventh Chapter SECT VI. Of the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper Obs THis great Officer being not only recited in this Act but having a peculiar Writ of Assistance in this and other Pawns which the next Ten Officers following have not in respect of their Offices I shall discourse more fully of him so soon as I have given a short view of the Ten remaining to be spoken of Edward Hyde Baron Hyde and Lord Chancellor was Summon'd by Writ Feb. 18. 1661. See Chap. II. SECT VII Of the Lord Treasurer of England Obs THis Officer being joyn'd also in this Pawn to the Earl of Southampton then Lord Treasurer and in former Pawns to other Degrees and being intended to be discours'd of in the fourth Exemplar and in the fifth Section of the Barons of the Exchequer I shall defer its inlargement to those Chapters Thomas Earl of Southampton Lord Treasurer of England was Summon'd by Writ Feb. 18. 1661. See Chap. II. SECT VIII Of the Lord President of the King's Council Obs I THis Officer from the time of King John was call'd Principalis and Capitalis Consiliarius and so continu'd till Queen Elizabeth's time and after not us'd till once in King Charles the firsts time and ever since to the end of this Parliament the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper hath supply'd the duty of that Place though not the Title the difference of granting them was that one was always by Patent and the other only by delivery of the Great Seal 2. There are also other Lord Presidents which sit in the Lords House viz. the President of Wales and President of the North but being not mention'd in this Act and the latter not sitting in this Parliament I refer them to my Annotations as also other Presidents of lower Degrees as of Colleges c. SECT IX Of the Lord Privy-Seal Obs IN Edward the Third's time and long after this Office was call'd Keeper of the Privy or Private Seal distinguishing him from the other call'd the Keeper of the Great Seal afterward he was call'd Clerk of the Privy-Seal Clerk being then a Title of Eminency and Gardien del Privy-Seal and in 34 H. 8. Lord Privy-Seal 2. He hath his Office by Patent but the Keeper of the Great Seal as I said only by delivery of that Seal and 't is very probable that this Office was in imitation of that which was us'd by the Romans the Officer whereof was call'd Comes privatorum and as Cassiodore calls him the Governour of the King 's private Affairs 3. Whilst the Court of Requests was in use he was also call'd the Master of it being Master or Superiour to the Four Masters of Requests who were to receive peruse and present all Petitions to the King or to the Parliament in time of Parliament and direct the Petitioners in the right way of proceeding in their business and for want of this direction many men are ruin'd by crafty and unskilful directors and the Parliament troubled with needless applications for I conceive this Court was plac'd as will be shewn between the House of Lords and House of Commons for the Masters to sit there in time of Parliament as Tryers of Petitions to either House and were to judge whether the matter was proper for either House or any other Court which doubtless did take off a great expence of time from both Houses and from intangling them in matters which were properly relievable in other places 4. There are three forts of Seals which are chiefly us'd for publick Affairs two of them pass under the names of Privy or Private the other the Great or Broad-Seal yet for a clearer distinction one of the two is call'd the Privy
Decree made in the Star-Chamber which is Printed in Poltons Abridgment he is Stiled Defensor Fidei in terra Ecclesiae Anglicanae Hiberniae Supremum Caput which was 5 years before the Supremum Caput was settled by Act of Parliament but as a preparative to it in the 22 of his Reign he is stiled Praepotentissimus Metuendissimus Angliae Franciae Rex and only Fidei Defensor is added and no mention of Supremum Caput Then in the 30 year of his Reign he is Stiled Defender of the Faith and Lord of Ireland and on Earth Supream Head immediately under Christ of the Church of England In the 32. year he left out the word immediately and the next year the words under Christ So that in the 33 of his Reign the Title was Hen. by the Grace of God King of England France and Ireland Defender of the Faith and of the Church of England and also of Ireland on Earth Supream Head And thus by making himself King of Ireland he disobeyed the Pope in placing Defender after Ireland and this Title continued thus all his Life and the Circumscription on his Great Seal wrot accordingly and so did his Son Edward the sixth on His Great Seal and in Publick Acts. And the like did Queen Mary in the first year of her Reign but upon her Marriage with King Philip in the second year of her Reign and first of both their Title was King and Queen of England and France Naples Jerusalem and Ireland Defenders of the Faith Princes of Spain and Cicily Arch-Dukes of Austria Duke of Milan Burgundy and Brabant Countess of Hasburgh Flanders and Tyroll quite jostling out Supream Head during their Reigns When Queen Elizabeth came to the Crown the Circumscription of her Great Seal was Elizabetha Dei gratiâ Angliae Franciae Hiberniae Regina Fidei Defensor yet she maintained both Titles of Defensor and Supream during her Reign When King James came to the Crown the Circumscription of his Broad Seal was also Jacobus Dei gratiâ Angliae Scotiae Franciae Hiberniae Rex Fidei Defensor and no more yet he maintained the other Point both in his Government and Writings as may be read in his Praemonition to all Christian Monarchs and his Declaration against Vorstius and his Defence of the Right of Kings against Cardinal Perrone and in several of his Speeches in Parliament leaving men at liberty as Queen Elizabeth did to use the Title of Supream Head in their Pulpits and Evidences as they thought fit so as the learned Cambden in his Dedication of his Britannia to King James instead of Defensor writes him Propugnator Fidei When King Charles the First came to his Crown the Circumscription of his Great Seal was Carolus Dei gratiâ Rex Angliae Scotiae Franciae Hiberniae Fidei Defensor and no more yet to justifie both Titles in the seventeenth year of his Reign he caused the 39 Articles which were agreed on in the fourth of Queen Elizabeth to be reprinted and in the Front did publish his own Declaration in these words Being by God's Ordinance according to our just Titles Defender of the Faith and Supream Governour of the Church within these Our Dominions He therein declares That the Articles of the Church of England allowed and authorized heretofore do contain the Doctrine of the Church of England and requires his Subjects to continue in the uniform profession thereof And then as to the Discipline he further declares himself Supream Governor of the Church of England and that if any difference arise about the external Policy concerning Injunctions Cannons or other Constitutions whatsoever thereunto belonging the Clergy in their Convocations is to order and settle them having first obtained leave under his Majesties Broad Seal so to do and he approving their said Ordinances and Constitutions So here the word Supream Head is changed into Supream Governour When King Charles the Second came to the Crown the Circumscription of his Broad Seal was Carolus Secundus Dei gratiâ Angliae Scotiae Franciae Hiberniae Rex Fidei Defensor and no more yet to justifie both Titles the very same year of his Return Anno 1660. he publish'd a Declaration to all his loving Subjects well worth the reading concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs which shews both his Christian condescention to his Subjects and Justifications to those two Titles for which he is styl'd by Writers Supream Moderator Now though in all Parliament-Writs which have come to my view and in other publick Acts and Writings since the first of Queen Elizabeth to this time after the words Defender of the Faith except in their Broad Seals there is added only one c. which I conceive was done for brevity and must be understood in relation to the Act of 36 Hen. 8. never yet repealed and every man had then and hath still liberty in their Deeds or Pulpits to mention the full Titles but by degrees about the year 1640. it began to cease in Pulpits and soon after in Pens contenting themselves with the c. These and other matters seeming trivial though proving dangerous in the consequences were yielded to as condescentions to gratifie a dissenting party in England who very probably were incited thereunto by underworking Papal Contrivers being excellent Artists in spurring on the least humour of Schism in this Church and so dealing in little things till greater were ripen'd in which latter they often made Attempts as may be read in Queen Elizabeth King James King Charles the First and this present King's time yet without success except in the Assassination of King Charles the first which was manag'd with such dexterity that it was made difficult to judge whether some of the English Dissenters in those times or the Romish Incensors were the chief Actors And after that it was carried on by a subtil way of redeeming their credits in this King's Preservation at Worcester yet still underhand endeavouring to subvert the whole Fabrick of this Kingdom as was discovered about the end of this Parliament 1678. which determin'd my publick Employments and therefore shall leave that Subject to other Pens Thus the new Empire of Rome and the old Empire of England have strugled through many Ages for Supremacy It is the Interest of England to be quiet within its own liquid Arms and so increase it self with other Kingdoms and States by a real mutual Traffick and Commerce But it is the Interest of Rome to be troublesome and increase it self in all Kingdoms and States without any real commutation or advantage to any but it self Yet it is difficult to make the Dissenters to the Church of England believe that the way which they take in opposing Rome will in time be destructive to their own Designs and Opinions Some of the Dissenters to the Church of England see and know this yet are so inveigled by such Dissenters to the Court of Rome who pretend to be for that Church but not for
on a special account of Absence and then it was performed by one of the Chief Justices 5. But to pass these being more fully shewn in my Annotations I do not find in any of the Clause-Rolls or in the Pettibag-Pawns that a Chancellor or Keeper had any distinct Writs of Summons to a Parliament till the 28. of Eliz. when Sir Tho. Bromley Knt. being the Queens Sollicitor was made Lord Chancellor and Summoned by a distinct Writ in the same Form as is hereafter set down which very Form hath continued ever since And in the 35. of Eliz. Sir John Puckering being but Serjeant at Law was made Custos Sigilli and had a particular Writ of Summons to that Parliament and in the 39. of Eliz. Sir Tho. Egerton Knt. being then Master of the Rolls was made Custos Sigilli and had this assisting Writ of Summons for that Parliament and the like in the 43. of her Reign and so in the 21. of King James and in the First of Caroli Primi particular assisting Writs were sent to the Bishop of Lincoln in these words Reverendo in Christo Patri praedilecto fideli Consiliario nostro Joanni Episcopo Lincolniae magni sigilli Angliae Custodi So as he had this Writ as an assisting Writ and another Writ virtute Baroniae 6. It may here be observed that this was the only Bishop that was either Keeper or Chancellor from the First of Eliz. to this time whereas before Queen Eliz. for the most part Bishops or Ecclesiasticks did execute those Offices but whenever it was conferred upon the Laicks choice was made out of the most eminent Families as in the 26. of Hen. the Second as I said Gessrey Natural Son to Henry the Second was made Chancellor and in the 15th of King John Ralph de Nevile was made Keeper of the Great Seal and in 22. of Henry the Third Geffrey a Templer and John de Lexington were made Keepers of the Great Seal and in the 37. of his Reign his Queen upon the Kings going into Gascoine which is remarkable as I said had the Custody of the Great Seal and in the 45. of that Ring Walter de Merton was made Chancellor and in the 49. of that King Thomas de Cantilupe was made Chancellor and in the 53. Richard de Middleton made Custos Sigilli and in the 56. John de Kirkley and Peter de Winton made Keepers of the Seal and in the 2. of Edward the Third Henry de Bughersh made Chancellor In the 14. of Edw. the Third John de St. Paul made Keeper of the Seal in the same year Sir Robert Burgtheire Knt. made Chancellor and Keeper of the Seals and the like in the 15th to Robert Parning and in the 17th to Robert de Sadington and in the 19th to John de Offord and in the 20. to John de Thoresby In the Records of the same year it is said that Sir Lionel Duke of Clarence the Kings Son then Lord Keeper of England gave Command by Proclamation That no Arms should be worn sitting that Parliament whose name is omitted in the Catalogue of the Lord Keepers by Mr. Selden in his Discourse of the Office of Chancellor and Keeper and in the 45. to Sir Robert Thorpe and in the 46. to John Knivet and in the 2. of Rich. the Second to Sir Le Scroop and in the 6. of Rich. 2. to Sir Michael de la Pool and in the 11. of Hen. 4. to Sir Thomas Beaufort and in the 32. H. 6. Richard Earl of Salisbury was made Chancellor singly and in the 21. of Hen. the Eighth Sir Thomas Moor Knt. made Chancellor and Keeper and in the 24. of Hen. the Eightht Thomas Audley made Chancellor and Keeper and in the 36. Hen. 8. Thomas Lord Wriothesly made Chancellor and Keeper and in the First of Edw. the Sixth Sir William Pawlet Knt. Lord St. John of Basing made Keeper and in the same year Sir Richard Rich made Chancellor and in the First of Eliz. Sir Nicholas Bacon Keeper and the 21. Thomas Bromley Chancellor who continued so to the 28. of her Reign and was the first that I find as is before mentioned that had a particular Writ of Assistance and though in the Fourteenth of King James Sir Francis Bacon was Keeper in the Eighteenth of Jac. Henry Viscount Mandevile Lord President of the Council and Lodowick Duke of Richmond William Earl of Pembroke Sir Julius Caesar had jointly the Custody of the Great Seal and in the first Car. 1. Sir Thomas Coventry and in the 16. Car. 1. Sir Edw. Littleton and 21. Car. 1. Sir Rich. Lane were Keepers of the Great Seal yet we find no particular Writs in the Pettibag directed to any but such as I have before mentioned and to these which follow viz. in 15. Car. 1. Sir John Finch Knt. Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas was made Custos Sigilli and had a particular Writ of Summons to attend that Parliament 7. As to this Writ of 13. Car. 2. of which I am to treat it is to be observed that the Warrant before mentioned sent to Sir Edward Hyde Knt. and Chancellor to impower him to send out Writs was directed in these words To our Right Trusty and Well-beloved Counsellor Sir Edward Hyde Knt. Chancellor of England but in his Latine Writ of Assistance the words are Praedilecto perquam fideli Consiliario suo Edwardo Domino Hyde Cancellario suo Angliae leaving out Militi or Equiti aurato and putting in Domino and the reason of this variation as I conceive was That the Warrant was agreed on by the King and Council before the Third of November at which time he was Baron of Hindon and therefore in the Warrant he is named only Sir Edward Hyde Knt. but in the Writ Domino Hyde which is the Adjunct Title of a Baron as he then was and I find before the Parliament met he was created Viscount Cornbury and Earl of Clarendon and thereupon had another Writ in relation to those Dignities which was entered in the Pawn and the entry dated the 12th of April before the Parliament met and in the latter Writ he had also his additional Titles so that I observe that if the Chancellor or Keeper be above the Degree of a Baron he hath his Writ according to his Degree and therein only intimating his Chancellorship or Keepership as is before shewn in the 36. of Hen. the Eighth 1 Mariae c. But if he be not a Baron then he hath this Assisting Writ Quatenus Chancellor or Keeper as may be seen in the former Precedents from the 28. of Eliz. to this Writ of 13. Car. 2. If he be a Baron as I said he hath or may require a Baronial Writ besides this Assisting Writ The form of his Assisting Exemplar Writ is as follows the other will be seen among the Barons SECT VIII The Form of the Assisting Writ to the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper CArolus Secundus Dei Gratia Angliae