to the party for so it is termed in Brook's Title Additions 44. but an Honour to the Kingdom And therefore it hath been an ancient Prerogative of the Kings of this Realm at their pleasure to compel men of worth to take upon them that Degree upon payment of a Fine But we see by Experience in these days that none are compelled thereunto and that is the reason wherefore if the Plaintiff be Knighted having the Writ it shall abate because he hath changed his name and that by his own Act. And for that cause also by the Common Law not only the King but every Lord of a Mannor ought to have of every of his Tenants a reasonable Aid to make his eldest Son a Knight And all Lands are subject to these Aids except only ancient Demesne and grand and petty Serjeanty-Tenures as the Law hath â—een anciently delivered And in Io. Shelden 131. where also it is said one that wrote a little after the Statute of Westminster the first allows as a good barr to the Avowry for the Tenant to plead that the Father himself is no Knight so that one not Knighted cannot claim this Ayd of his Tenants Briâ—an cap. de prices de avers And it was at the liberty of the Lord to make more or less of his Tenants by the Common Law in this Case but by the Statute of Westminster the first Chap. 35. it is put in contrary viz. forasmuch as before this time reasonable Aid to make ones Son Knight or to marry his Daughter was never put in certain nor how much should be taken nor at what time whereby some levied unreasonable Aid and more often than seemed necessary whereby the people were sore grieved It is provided that from henceforth of a whole Knight's Fee there be taken but Twenty shillings and of Twenty pounds in Land holden in Soccage Twenty shillings and of more more and of less less after that rate And that none shall levy such Aid to make his Son a Knight until his Son be of fifteen years old nor to marry his Daughter until she be of the Age of seven years And of that there shall be mention made in the King's Writs formed on the same when any will demand it And if it happen that the Father after he hath levied such Aid of his Tenants die before he hath married his Daughter the Executors of the Father shall be bound to the Daughter for so much as the Father received for the Aid And if the Father's Goods be not sufficient his Heir shall be charged therewith unto the Daugher And this Aid is so incident that although the Lord do confirm unto the Tenant to hold by Fealty and certain Rent and release unto him all other Services and Demands yet shall he have the Aid to make his eldest Son a Knight But the King was not bound by the Statute aforementioned because the King was not named in the Statute Therefore by the Statute 25 Edw. 3. chap. 11. the King's Aid were brought to a like value The intention of the Law is That an Heir until the Age of One and twenty years is not able to do Knights Service But such a presumption of Law doth give place to a Judgment of proof to the contrary as Bracton saith Sâ—abitur presumptioni donec probetur in contrarium And therefore when the King who is the Sovereign Judge of all Chivalry hath dubbed him a Knight he by this hath adjudged him able to do him Knight's Service and all men are concluded to say the contrary to it And therefore such an Heir being made a Knight either in the life time of his Father or afterwards during his minority shall be out of Ward and Custody both for his Land and Body and marriage by the Award of the ancient Common Law By reason also that the Honour of Knighthood is so great that it is not to be holden under by any yet if the King do create such an Heir within Age a Duke Marquess Earl Viscount or â—aron by this he shall not be out of Ward and Custody both for his Land and Body And therefore it is propounded by the Statute of Magna Charta chap. 3. Ita tamen quod si ipse dum infra aetatem fuerit fiat miles nihilominus terra remaneat in Custodia Dominorum suorum So that although such an Heir within Age be made Knight and thereby to this purpose is esteemed as of full Age yet the Land shall remain in Custody of the Lord till his Age of One and twenty years by the purview of the said Act. Question If the Son and Heir of the Tenant of the King by Knights Service c. be made Knight in Paris by the French King whether he shall be out of Wardship after the death of his Father or no for thereby he is a Knight in England Coke's seventh part b. 2 Edw. 4. fol. tamen vide in Coke's sixth part 74. b. mention is only made of Knights made by the King himself or by his Lieutenant in Ireland But when the King doth make an Heir apparent within Age of a Tenant by Knights Service a Knight in the life of his Ancestor and after the death of his Ancestor the said Heir being within Age shall in this Case be out of Ward and shall pay no value for his marriage neither shall the Lord have the Custody of the Land for in that Case by the making of him Knight in the life of his Ancestor he is made of full Age so that when his Ancestor dieth no interest either in the Body or in the Land shall invest in the Lord but the Knight may tender his Livery as if he were of full Age And in that case the King shall have primier Seisin as if he had been One and twenty years of Age at the time of the death of his Ancestor and not otherwise For the Statute of Magna Charta doth not extend unto it for the purview of it doth extend only when the Heir in Ward infra aetatem is made Knight then remanet terra in Custodia c. But when the Heir is made Knight in the life of his Ancestor then the Custody cannot remain which never had any inception or essence Also when the Heir after the death of his Ancestor within Age is made Knight if after tender made to him he within Age do marry elsewhere yet he shall not pay the forfeiture of his marriage for by the making him Knight he is out of Ward and Custody of his Lord for then he ought to be sui Iuris and may imploy himself in feats of Arms for defence of the Realm c. and therefore may not be within the Custody of another and none shall pay any forfeiture but when after any refusal he doth marry himself during the time when he is under the custody and keeping of his Lord And this doth appear by the Statute of Merton chap. 6. Si se mariturierit sine licentia
Adversaries in this manner viz. The Writ of Summons to the Parliament whereby the Baron by Writ hath his Original is to call that Honourable and Worthy Person so summoned to the number of that Right High and Honourable Assembly and to be a Judge to sit hear and determine Life and Member Plea and right of Land if there shall come occasion likewise to give Counsel and Advise in the most mighty Affairs of the Realm But these things are convenient for the quality and condition of men unfitting and altogether unbeseeming the Sex of women Ergo having respect unto the scope and final purpose of such Writs such Inheritances should only descend unto the Heir Female The Second Argument contra Secondly If it shall be answered That although the Heir Female to whom such Inheritance is descended be unfit in her own person for the accomplishing of these things yet she may marry with one sufficiently able for her and in her behalf to execute the same This Answer will neither satisfie nor salve the inconveniences For admit that such an Heir Female were at full Age at the death of her Ancestor unmarried for it doth lye in her own choice then whom shall be her Husband The Third Argument contra Thirdly If such Husband shall be called by the right of his Wife the Writ shall make some mention thereof for otherwise it may well be taken that the Husband was chosen in his own person and in behalf of himself and not in regard of his wife or such pretended Dignity descended unto him But there was never such a Writ of Summons seen wherein the wife was mentioned And if the husband of such a wife have been called to the Parliament which is always by General Writ not mentioning his wife he is thereby made a Baron of himself by virtue of the said Writ Having thus heard both sides to dispute place it doth now require to interpose Opinion to compound the Controversie This point in queâ—tion is somewhat perplexed by means of difficult Presidents For first it is observed That some Presidents do prove that Baronies by Writ have descended unto Heirs Female whose husbands have been called to Parliament whether in regard of themselves or in respect of their wives right it maketh no matter but since it is that the marriage of such Ladies gave that occasion to be summoned and such husbands and their Poâ—â—erity have and do lawfully bear the same Title of Dignity which the Ancestors of such a wife did before rightfully bear For by this Controversie theâ—e is no purpose to call the right of such Noble Houses into question Howbeit Secondly this is to be observed out of the Presidents and to be acknowledged of every dutiful Subject That the King's Majesty is nevertheless at liberty to call to his High Council of Parliament whom he shall in his Princely Wisdom think fit which by his Majestie 's Noble Progenitors have in former Ages likewise observed And therefore whereas Ralph Lord Cromwell being a Baron by Writ died without Issue having two Sisters and Coheirs Elizabeth the eldest who married Sir Thomas Nevile Knight and Ioan the younger who married Sir Humphrey Butcher Knight who was called to Parliament as Lord Cromwell and not the said Sir Thomas Thirdly It is to be observed That if a Baron by Writ die without Heir Male having his Daughter Sister or other Collateral Heir Male that can challenge the Land of the said Baron deceased by any ancient entail or otherwise the Title of such an Heir Female hath heretofore been allowed as by the honourable Opinions and Relations of the Right Honourable the late Commissioners in the Office of Earl-Marshal signified unto the late Queen upon Petition of the Sister and Heir of Gregory Lord Dacres deceased may appear Moreover in the same Pedigree of the Lord Dacres it was expressed That Thomas sometimes Lord Dacres had issue Thomas his eldest Son Ralph his Second and Humphrey his third Thomas the eldest died in the life of his Father having issue Ioan Daughter and Heir who was married to Sir Richard Fines Knight and after Thomas Lord Dacres his Grandfather and Father to the said Ralph and Humphrey died after whose death Henry the Sixth by his Letters Patents bearing date at Westminster the Seventh of November in the Seventh year of his Reign reciting the said Pedigree and Marriage doth by his said Letters Patents accept declare and repute the said Richard Fines to be Lord Dacres and one of the Barons of the Realm But afterwards in the time of Edward the Fourth the said Humphrey Dacres after the attainder of the said Ralph and himself by an Act of Parliament which was the first of Edward the Fourth And after the death of the said Ralph and the Reversal of the said Act by another Act in the Twelfth of Edward the Fourth the said Humphrey made challenge unto the said Barony and unto divers Lands of the said Thomas his Father whereupon both parties after their Title had been considered of in Parliament submitted themselves to the Arbitrement of King Edward the Fourth and entred into Bond each to other for the performance thereof whereupon the said King in his Award under his Privy Seal bearing date at Westminster the Eighth of April Anno Regni sui decimo tertio did Award that the said Richard Fines in the right of Ioan his wife and the Heirs of his body by the said Ioan begotten should keep have and use the same Seat and Place in every Parliament as the said Thomas Dacres Knight Lord Dacres had used and kept and that the Heirs of the body of the said Thomas Dacres Knight then late Lord Dacres begotten should have and hold to them and to their Heirs the Mannor of Holbeach And further That the said King Edward did Award on the other part that the said Humphrey Dacres Knight and the Heirs Males of the said Thomas late Lord Dacres should be reputed had named and called the Lord Dacres of Gillesland and that he and the Heirs Males of the body of the said Thomas then late Lord Dacres should have use and keep the place in Parliament next adjoyning beneath the said place which the said Richard Fines Knight Lord Dacres then had and occupied And that the Heirs of the body of the said Ioan his wife shall have and enjoy and that the Heirs Males of the said Thomas Dacres late Lord Dacres should have to them and the Heirs Males of their bodies begotten the Mannor of Iothington c. And so note that the name of the ancient Barony namely Gillesland remained unto the Heir Male to whom the Land was entailed Moreover this is specially observed If any Baron by Writ do die having no other Issue than Female and that by some special entail or other assurance there be an Heir Male which doth enjoy all or great part of the Lands Possessions and Inheritances of such Baron deceased the Kings have used to call to the
to prejudice him touching his Mothers Inheritance who also did not offend or contrariwise especially in case where the Mother was seized of an Estate in Feesimple either in Lands or Tenements or Title of Honour And this was the case if I be not mistaken of Philip late Earl of Arundel notwithstanding the Attainder of Thomas Duke of Norfolk his Father for he had that Earldom in right of his Mother But they do agree That if the Lands or Tenements or a Title of Honour be given to a man and to his wife in tayl who hath Issue The Father is attainted of Treason and executed though this forfeiture of the Husband shall be no barr to the Wife concerning her interest by Survivorship yet their Issue is barred by the Statute 26 Hen. 8. cap. 13. and his Blood corrupted For in that case the Heir must necessarily make himself Heir as well of the Body of the one as of the other And yet the words of the Statute 32 Hen. 8. cap. 28. are That no Fine Feofâ—ment or other Act or Acts hereafter to be made or suffered by the Husband only of any Mannors Lands Tenements or Hereditaments being the Inheritance or Freehold of his Wife during the Coverture between them shall in any wise be or make any discontinuance or be prejudicial to the said Wife or to her Heirs or to such as shall have right title or interest to the same by the death of such Wife or Wives but the same Wife or her Heirs and such other to whom such right shall appertain after her decease shall or may then lawfully enter into all such Mannors Lands Tenements and Hereditaments according to their Rights and Titles therein For there is Adversity taken and agreed for Law between a discontinuance which doth imply a wrong and a lawful Baron which doth imply a right And therefore if Land be given to the Husband and the Wife and to the Heirs of their Bodies begotten and the Husband levies a Fine with Proclamation or do commit High Treason and dieth and the Wife before or after Entry dieth the Issue is barred and the Comisee for the King hath right unto the Lands because the Issue cannot claim as Heir unto both And with this doth agree Dyer 351. b. adjudged vide 5 Hen. 7. 32. Cott's Assize Coke's eighth part 27. where it is resolved That the Statute 32 Hen. 8. doth extend only unto Discontinuances although the Act hath general words or be prejudicial to the Wife or her Heirs c. but the conclusion if she shall lawfully enter c. according to their right and title therein which they cannot do when they be barred and have no right title and interest And this Statute doth give advantage unto the Wife c. so long as she hath right but it doth not extend to take away a future barr Although the Statute doth give Entry without limitation of any time nevertheless the Entry must attend upon the right and therefore if the Wife be seized in Feesimple and her Husband levy a Fine with Proclamation unto another and dieth now the Wife may enter by force of the Statute for as yet that Fine is not any barr unto her but her right doth remain which she may continue by Entry but if she do surcease her time and the five years do pass without Entry c. now by force of the Fine with Proclamation and five years past after the death of her Husband she is barred of her right and by consequence she cannot enter And the Statute doth speak of Fine only and not of Fine with Proclamation If there be Father and Son and the Father be seized of Lands holden in Capite or otherwise by Knight's Service the King doth create the Son Duke Earl or other Degree of Nobility and afterwards the Father dieth his Son being within the Age of One and twenty years he shall be no Ward but if the King had made him Knight in the life of his Father he should not have been in Ward after the death of his Father neither for the Lands descended nor for his Marriage though he be within Age. NOBILITY AND LORDS IN REPUTATION ONLY CHAP. XIV THERE are also other Lords in Reputation and Appellation who nevertheless are not de jure neither can they enjoy the priviledges of those of the Nobility that are Lords of the Parliament The Son and Heir of a Duke during his Father's life is only in courtesie of Speech and Honour called an Earl and the eldest Son of a Marquiss or an Earl a Lord but not so in legal proceedings or in the King's Courts of Judicature But the King may at his pleasure create them in the life of their Ancestors into any Degree of Lords of the Parliament And according to the German Custom all the younger Sons of Dukes and Marquisses are called Lords but by courtesie only which Title descends not to their Heirs A Duke or other of the Nobility of a Foreign Nation doth come into this Land by the King 's safe Conduct in which said Letters of safe Conduct he is named a Duke according to his Creation yet that Appellation maketh him not a Duke c. to sue or be sued by that name within this Realm but is only so by Reputation But if the King of Denmark or other Sovereign King come into England under safe Conduct he during his abode here ought to be styled by the name of King and to retain his Honour although not his Regal Command and Power And in this case may be observed by the way That no Sovereign King may enter into this Realm without licence though he be in League All the younger Sons of the Kings of England are of the Nobility of England and Earls by their Birth without any other Creation And if an Englishman be created Earl of the Empire or some other Title of Honour by the Emperor or other Monarch he shall not bear that Dignity in England but is only an Earl in Reputation A Lord or Peer of Scotland or Ireland is not of the Nobility or Peerage of England in all Courts of Justice although he is commonly reputed a Lord and hath priviledge as a Peer OF THE QUEEN CONSORT AND OF NOBLE WOMEN CHAP. XV. A QUEEN so called from the Sâ—xon word Cuningine as the King from Cuning by variation of Gender only as was their manner signifieth Power and Knowledge and thereby denotes the Sovereignty due unto them which they enjoyed in those days and do now in most Nations being capable of the Royal Diadem by the common right of Inheritance for want of Heirs Male But in France by the Salique Law the Sex is excluded from their Inheritance by which they debarred the English Title to their Crown There are three kinds of persons capable of the Title and Dignity of Queen amongst us and each of them different in Power and Priviledge The first is a Queen Sovereign to whom the Crown descends by Birth-right
Authority of Parliament made in the Eleventh of King Edward aforesaid and therefore to supply that defect in the Fifth of Edward the Third he was created Duke of Cornwall by special Charter Elizabeth eldest Daughter of King Edward the Fourth was not a Dutchess of Cornwall although she was the Firstbegotten Daughter of Edward the Fourth for the Limitation is to the First-begotten Son Henry the Eighth was not in the life of his Father King Henry the Seventh after the death of his eldest Brother Arthur Duke of Cornwall by force of the said Creation for although he was sole Heir apparent yet he was not his eldest begotten Son And the Opinion of Stamford a Learned Judge hath been That he shall have within his Dukedom of Cornwall the King's Prerogative because it is not severed from the Crown after the form as it is given for none shall be Inheritor thereof but the King 's of the Realm For example whereas by Common Law if a man hold divers Mannors or other Lands or Tenements of divers Lords all by Knights Service some part by Priority and ancient Feoffment and other Land by Posterity and a later Feoffment and the Tenant so seized dieth and his Son and Heir within Age in this case the custody and wardship of the Body and his marriage may not be divided amongst all the Lords but one of them only shall have right unto it because the Body of a man is intire And therefore the Law doth say That the Lord of whom some part of those Lands are holden by Priority and by the same Tenure of Chivalry shall have it except the King be any of the Lords for then though the Tenant did purchase that Land last yet after his death the King shall be preferred before any of the other Lords of whom the Tenant did hold the Priority And so shall the Duke of Cornwall in the same Case have the Prerogative if his Tenant die holding of him but by posterity of Feoffment for any Tenure of his Dutchy of Cornwall although the same Duke is not seized of any particular Estate whereof the Reversion remaineth in the King for the Prince is seized in Fee of his Dukedom as beforesaid Iohn of Gaunt the fourth Son of King Edward the Third took to Wife Blanch Daughter and Heir of Henry Duke of Lancaster who had Issue Henry King of England so that the said Dutchy of Lancaster did come unto the said Henry by descent from the party of his Mother and being a Subject he was to observe the Common Law of the Realm in all things concerning his Dutchy For if he would depart in Fee with any thereof he must have made Livery and Seisin or if he had made a Lease for life reserving Rent with a Re-entry for default of payment and the Rent happen to be behind the Duke might not enter without making his Demand or if he had alienated any part thereof whilst he was within Age he might defeat the Purchaser for that Cause and if he would grant a Reversion of an Estate for life or years in being there must also be Attornment or else the Grant doth not take effect But after that he had deposed King Richard the Second and did assume the Royal Estate and so had conjoyned his Natural Body in the Body Politick of the King of this Realm and so was become King then the possession of the Dutchy of Lancaster was in him as King but not as Duke which degree of Dignity was swallowed up in that of the King for the lesser must always give place to the greater And likewise the Name of the Dutchy and the Franchises Liberties and Jurisdictions thereof when in the King's Hands were by the Common Law extinct and after that time the possessions of the Dutchy of Lancaster could not pass from Henry the Fourth by Livery of Seisin but by his Letters Patents under the Great Seal without Livery of Seisin and with Attornment And if he make a Lease for Life being Duke reserving a Rent with a Re-entry for default of payment and after his Assumption of the Crown his Rent happen to be unpaid he might Re-enter without Demand for the King is not bound to such personal Ceremonies as his Subjects are Therefore to have the said Dutchy to be still a Dutchy with the Liberties to the same as it was beâ—ore and to alter the order and degree of the Lands of the Dutchy from the Crown the said King Henry the Fourth made a Charter by Authority of Parliament which is entituled Charta Regis Hen. 4. de separatione Lancastriae à corona authoritate Parliamenti Anno Regni sui primo as by the Tenor thereof may appear And so by Authority of that Parliament the said Dutchy with all the Franchises and Liberties was meerly resigned from the Crown and from the Ministers and Officers thereof and from the Order to pass by such Conveyance which the Law did require in the possessions of the Crown But now the possessions of the Dutchy by force of the said Statute stood divided from the Crown and ought to be demeaned and ordered and pass as they did before Henry the Fourth was King yet there is no Clause in the Charter which doth make the person of the King who hath the Dutchy in any other Degree than it was before But things concerning his pleasure shall be in the same estate as they were before such separation insomuch as if the Law before the Charter by Authority of Parliament adjudged the person of the King always of full Age having regard unto his Gifts as well of the Lands which he doth inherit in the right of his Crown or Body Politick it shall be so adjudged for the Dutchy Land after the said Statute for the Statute doth go and reach unto the Estate Order and Condition of the Lands of the Dutchy but doth not extend unto the person of the King who hath the Lands in points touching his person Neither doth that distinguish or alter the preheminences which the Law doth give to the person of the King For if King Henry the Fourth after the said Act had made a Lease or other Grant of parcel of the Dutchy by the Name of Henry Duke of Lancaster only it had been void for it should have been made in the Name of Henry the Fourth King of England And thus stood the Dutchy of Lancaster severed from the Crown all the Reign of Henry the Fourth Henry the Fifth and Henry the Sixth being politickly made for the upholding of the Dutchy of Lancaster their true and ancient Inheritance however the right Heir to the Crown might in future time obtain his right thereunto as it happened in King Edward the Fourth's time but after the said King Edward obtained his right unto the Crown in Parliament he attainted Henry the Sixth and appropriated and annexed the said Dutchy again to the Crown as by the Statute thereof made in the first of the King's Reign
then Countess of Killimeak in Ireland The Lady Dudley Dutchess of 〈…〉 The celebrated Beauties Barbara Villiers Dutchess of Cleaveland and Countess of Southampton and Louyse Rene Angelique de Carwell Dutchess of Portsmouth Countess of Petersfield c. Of Titles by Descent and Marriage there are Examples enough so that I need not trouble the Reader with any repetition I shall only set down some few general Observations not sufficiently discoursed of If a King's Daughter marry a Duke or an Earl illa â—emper dicitur Regalis by Law and Courtesie Noble women by descent Birthright or Creation remain Noble although they marry Husbands under that degree Also any Daughter of an Earl or Viscount that continues a Virgin or marrieth an Esquire yet she retaineth the Honour that sprung from her Parents and shall take place accordingly and be saluted by the Title of Lady If a Gentleman Knight or Peer marry a wife of ignoble Parents she shall enjoy the Title Name and Dignity of her Husband not only during his life but when she is a widow or afterwards married to an Ignoble person but this is by the Courtesie and not by the Law of the Realm Whereas on the contrary let a woman of Blood and Coat-Armour marry a Yeoman or Churle that is Ignoble and hath no Coat-Armour his Condition in point of Honour is in no respect advanced and she shall retain the Honour State and Dignity she was born unto Yet if she have iâ—â—ue by that Yeoman or Ignoble person she being an Heiress that Issue shall have liberty to bear her Coat but Sir Iohn Fern saith only for life and that on a Lozenge Shield with a difference of a Cinquefoil If a French Spanish or other woman Alien be married to a Peer of the Realm or to a Gentleman and be not denizened she is debarred all Priviledges and Titles due to her Husband nor can she claim any Dower or Joynture from him by the Laws of England Yet in some things our Laws are wonderful kind to the Female Sex especially procreandi causa As thus if a man and his wife separate for some fraud or private loathing of the Marriage Bed or the like and so continue for some years after which time the woman bringeth forth a Child which though got by another man and her Husband in all that time not having enjoyed her yet if he live in the Kingdom he must Father the Child and if before that time he had no Child that shall inherit his Lands if entailed or left without Will Also if a Wife be with Child when her Husband dieth and she marry another man before her delivery the latter Husband must own the Child which must be his Heir at Law if he were childless The Wives Dignities and Lands descend to her Heirs not to her Husband yet to encourage him to play the man the Courtesie of England is such that as the Wife hath the third part of his Estate in Lands for her Joynture during her life if a Widow so the Husband if he get his Wife with Child and that Child be heard to cry he shall enjoy all her Lands during his life The Wife can make no contract whatsoever that shall stand good in Law to the detriment of her Husband without his consent nor can she make a Will or dispose of what she hath whilst she is a Feme Covert â—he cannot be produced as a witness for or against her Husband nor shall she be accessory to his felonious acts although she receive the Goods or conceive the Fact if she be not personally an Actor therein Female Children are also by Law capable to give their consent to marriage at Seven years old and the Lord 's eldest Daughter is to have aid of his Tenants to marry her at that age though she may dissent from this Contract when she comes to Twelve but if at that Age she doth not dissent she is bound for life she may then make a Will and dispose of Goods and Chattels by it At Nine years of Age she is Dowable at Fourteen she might receive her Lands into her Hands and was then out of Wardship if she were Fourteen at the death of her Ancestor otherwise she was in Wardship till she accomplished Sixteen years and then she was free At One and twenty she is enabled to contract or alienate her Lands by Will or otherwise If there be no Son the Lands as well as Goods are equally divided amongst the Daughters who are Coheirs In ancient times Women amongst the Romans were thought worthy of enjoying peculiar favours and respect And out of their great love and honour to the Mother of Marcus Coriolanus for diverting his fury which he threatned the Citizens to their ruin for their ingratitude towards him the Citizens granted the Roman Dames the priviledge of wearing the Segmenta Aurea or Bordures of Gold and purple on their Garments They were also permitted to wear gold Ear-rings to have place on the way and in memorial of the said preservation there was erected a Temple dedicated to the Female Fortune Anne of Britain wife to Charles the Eighth of France as an ornamental Honour to several deserving Ladies instead of the Military Belt and Collar bestowed on them a Cordon or Lace and admonishing them to live chastly and devoutly and to put the greater esteem thereon the surrounded her Escocheon of Arms with the like Cordon from which Example it is now become the Custome for unmarried women to bear their Arms in form of a Lozenge which are commonly adorned with such a Cordon Ioseph Micheli Marquez for the further Honour of the Female Sex gives an Example of the Noble women of Tortosa in Aragon whom he calls Cavalleros or Knights For saith he Don Raymond last Earl of Barcellona who by right of his wife Petronilla sole Daughter and Heir to King Ramiro the Monk joyned his Principality to the Kingdom of Aragon having in the year 1149. taken from the Moors the City of Tortosa who in a few months after laid siege to the said City and reduced the Inhabitants to so great a strait that their intentions were of surrendring it up to the Moors but the women hearing thereof for the diverting their ruin put on mens Apparel and by a resolute Sally forced the Moors to raise the Seige And the Earl in acknowledgment of his thanks for this their Noble Act as a reward of Honour instituted an Order not much unlike a Military Order into which were admitted only those brave women and their Descendants The Badge which he assigned them was something like a Fryer's Capouch but of a crimson colour which they wore upon their Head-clothes Amongst the priviledges which this Earl granted them they were to be freed from all Taxes to have precedency of men in publick Meetings and that all the Iewels and Apparel of their deceased Husbands should be their own although of never so great value And these women having thus purchased this
is the Bishop's Palace This City is governed by a Mayor seven Masters sixteen Burgesses a Recorder Town-Clerk c. and hath the election of Parliament men It offers to view amongst other remarkables four Steeples and three Churches whereof two are Parochial viz. Trinity and St. Michaels that an ancient well built Church in form Cathedral which being impaired by a late fall of its beautiful Spire is since restored to its former lustre at a vast expence and charge this a stately large and brave inlightned Fabrick a curious Shell whose Content is one hundred yards in length and seven and twenty yards in breadth besides several Isles and Chappels both on the North and South sides thereof supported by neat and slender Pillars with five Isles whose Steeple for tower and lofty tapering Spire gives place to none in England Bablack Church one of the three is a solid Antique Structure its form Collegiate where Divine Offices are performed but at some Festivals in the year It hath gloried in a matchless Wall and though its form was irregular for a defensible Fortification yet was it built strong broad high and large in circumference now only guessed at by its ruins and its twelve lofty Ports oâ— Gates yet standing No place compares with this City for a most beautiful Cross of large dimensions and height adorned with variety of Statues Figures and Sculptures richly laid over with Gold and set off with becoming Colours It hath among others one magnificent Hall called Aula Sanctae Mariae fit for a celebrious Congress or Assembly Here is a fair Grammar School founded by Iohn Hales Esquire yet styled Schola Regis Henrici Octavi and another School of late erection for poor Children by Mr. Christopher Davenport late Alderman Appendant to both is a Library with learned Authors both Print and Manuscripts of which Schools the Mayor and Aldermen of this City are Visitors The Hospitals are 2 well and plentifully providing for twenty Blue-Coats eleven poor men in black Gowns and two Nurses in the one and eight other married Couples in blue Gowns in the other and a Nurse To it is annexed very large and rich Commons great Annual Loans and Gâ—fts distributed amongst poor young and hopeful Tradesmen together with frequent remembrances of some noble Benefactor or other who intrustred the City to dispose of their bounty to others as among themselves viz. forty pounds per Annum to St. Iohns Colledge in Oxford and forty pounds per Annum to several other Cor-Proporations Also near the said City at a Pool called Swanswell is a Spring which filleth a seven Inch Diameter of which water the quantity of five Tun an hour is daily raised to the top of a Turret six and thirty foot high by a stream out of the said Pool containing nine cubical Inches which moveth an overshot Wheel and a triangular Crank with Ballances and Buckets being an heaving or lifting Engine from hence the water is conveyed into the Streets of the City and Houses of such Inhabitants as will and do take the said water at an Annual Rent This Water-work was begun by Thomas Sargenson Mason and Bartholomew Bewley Plumber in the year 1630. and hath been since altered and put into the form it now worketh in the year 1658. and so continued by Thomas Bewley Son of the said Bartholomew who is the present prietor The City is owner of a rich Delf or Mine of Coles near adjoyning to it which is hoped will in a little time add much to its Revenue the present Undertakers using that method for the mastering of the Water which the inadvertency of former Undertakers either could not contrive or at least not effectually prosecute The staple Commodity of the place is Cloth but to how low an ebb that trade is now come to every place can report and competently judge as well as this City It s Government consists of Annual Officers ten Aldermen or Justices with two standing Councels viz. the Upper the Second or Common-Councel The Annual Officers are the Mayor Recorder two Sheriffs Steward Coroner two Chamberlains tow Wardens and some other Attendant and Ministring Officers The Mayor is the eye of the Body the King 's immediate Lieutenant having the precedency of all Prince Henry himself when in Coventry refused to take the better hand of him when modestly the Mayor offered it saying He would not resume a right of his Fathers Graunts This Authority is Solitary or Social Solitary as to be Clerk of the King's Market Steward and Marshal of the King's House to be in Commission for Arrays and Head of the twelve Companies Social in the upper Councel which consists of Aldermen and some Candidates for the Majoralty where he orders and manageth the particular Affairs and Revenues of the City distributes the bounty of Benefactors sometimes calling in the Assistance of the second Councel arbitrarily chosen by him and his Brethren out of the wealthiest and discreetest Citizens and consisting of five and twenty who are as Witnesses of their just administrations as well as Advisors in all Alienations of City Lands and Grants of other nature The Aldermen are Justices of the Peace in as full Latitude as any other having ten Wards or Precincts assigned them with an Appropriation of a Ward to each Alderman as to some respects though otherwise every one is Justice throughout both as to the City and County of the City which is of large extent Of these Justices there are of the Quorum four viz. the Mayor Recorder and two eldest Aldermen The Mayor's Insignia are a Sword a Hat of Maintenance a great Mace and six smaller with a Tip-staff the Robes black lined with Furr and on solemn and festival days Scarlet lined with Foins The present Aldermen and Justices for the year 1676. are William Ielliff Alderman now Mayor the second time the Right Honourable Iames Earl of Northampton one of his Majesties Privy Council Recorder Ioseph Chambers Iames Nailer Iulius Billers William Vale Ralph Phillips Nathaniel Harryman Thomas King Thomas Bewley Abell Brooksby Humfry Burton Coroner Sir Richard Hopkins Kt. Serjeant at Law Steward As to the Rights Immunities Priviledges when and by whom granted together with all other things coincident to this City from its first appearance to its ascending Grandure and Declining or Cadency they are most amply and learnedly mentioned to our hand by the Pen of the learned Mr. Dugdale Norroy King of Arms to whom we referr the Reader The Arms belonging to this City are parted per Pale Gules and Vert an Elephant Argent on a Mount proper bearing a Castle on his back Or. WARWICK the Shire-Town of good account being the place where the Assizes and general Sessions for the County are kept it is indifferent large containing two Parish Churches besides some demolished its Houses are well built its Streets spacious and good is a place well inhabited and enjoyeth a good trade especially for Mault It is governed by a Mayor twelve Brethren four
Empire are maintained Thus is Poland preserved from the power of the Turk and by this very way were our Kings anciently guarded their Castles defended their Forces for Conquest as well as Defence mustered up viz. by Knights Service as our Histories and Law Books sufficiently demonstrate Of Captains General Marshals and other chief Commanders AN Army may be provided a Navy rigged manned and equipped but the chief and most difficult task is to find a Generalissimo worthy of Command one upon whose Conduct the hope of the War depends I mean not in the force of his Person but in his Knowledge in Military Affairs in his Magnanimity which comprehends the four Cardinal Vertues viz. Prudence Justice Temperance and Fortitude in his Authority and in his Disposition to engage the Affections of his Souldiers without which they will hardly be brought to do him Honour nor their King and Country good Service as might be demonstrated by several Examples were it convenient It behoveth a General not only to Conduct his Army but carefully to provide for them Provisions as well as Ammunition and to shew himself prudent patient cautious and liberal unto them indeavouring to gain by love what he might command from them by power And this made Homer to call Agamemnon a Pastor of People because he carefully looked after the safety of his Army Theodosius the Emperor did not command the meanest of his Souldiers to do any thing but that he himself would sometimes do And Antonius did sometimes march on foot and carry in his Hand the general Ensign of the Army which was very ponderous to shew that his Souldiers should not refuse to undergo any Labour that should be required from them Amongst the many good properties required in a General nothing is more commendable than Liberality and on the contrary Covetousness as much detestable for hard it is to attend the Affairs of War and be overmuch in love with Money Yet that Commander who with Honor and good Conscience can attain to Wealth is not to be disliked for thereby he may upon an emergent occasion supply the wants of a necessitated Army And that General is most to be esteemed who as a Souldier knoweth how to offend his Enemy to govern his own Forces patiently to suffer want and to endure labour heat and cold For sometimes it is found that he who hath Authority to command wanteth another to command him for want of true knowledge of those things that belong unto his Office for it is more difficult for a General or Commander to know what belongeth unto him than to execute the Office of that place seeing that Skill must precede Action and use go before Commandment It is expedient for all Princes and Commanders to be well read in Histories and principally those that concern the Actions of their Ancestors And this as some believe caused King Edward the Third when he made War against Robert the Second King of Scots to order a certain Monk to attend him in that Expedition to write down all the Actions of that Enterprize Mahomet the Second Emperour of the Turks endeavoured much to know the Histories of his Predecessors and gave liberally unto one Iohn Maria of Vincenza to write the Victories he obtained against Vssancassan King of Persia. Much more praise and honour is due unto those Commanders that by long Service and due degrees of War have deserved the Titles appertaining unto Arms and bear about them the Scars and Marks of true Valour A General of Horse according to Plato ought to be made by the consent of the whole Army The Praefecti or great Commanders were elected by those Souldiers that bare Targets The Tribuni militum had their advancement by the voice of Men at Arms and other Captains or Commanders of a lower quality were chosen by the chief General And that Person that in Service was most painful in Actions most industrious in Perils most resolute in Counsel most provident and in Execution most quick was by the Chieftains elected for their Emperor Leo the Emperor in his Book entituled The Preparation for War speaking of the Election of a General saith That to know the generosity of a Horse or a Dog we have regard to his proper Operations rather than to the Dam or Sire which begot him even so the Nobleness of a Man ought to be considered by his proper Valour and Vertue and not by the Blood of those that brought him into the World neither of the Glory of his Ancestors which oft-times degenerates I confess to aim more at the Nobleness of the Blood than at the necessary Vertues of the Person chosen is a dangerous Error in time of Action and proved fatal to Phocas the Emperor when he sent his Nephew Manicel against the Sarazens being a young Man of no Experience yet stubborn in his Resolves who contrary to the Vote of his Council of War followed his Enemy till he was drawn by them into certain Streights and hemmed in and the most part of his Army slain Fazelli lib. 6. Dec. 2. Hist. Sicili A Charge of so grand an Import ought therefore to be bestowed upon a worthy Person whose Vertues have been tryed in times of trouble one if to be found whose conduct hath been crowned with Success The Commander whose Helmet hath been usually canopied with the Plumes of Victory will not quickly be forsaken of his Souldiers in the uttermost Extremity they still expecting the same Fortune should attend him as Iulius Caesar oftentimes experienced nor is it an easie task to engage an Enemy against him upon equal terms An experienced liberal and tender affectionative General to his Souldiers is then the Man and the more Illustrious by Birth the better Equality causing Emulation which some convert to envy and that oftentimes ends in inveterate Malice Never have we been more fortunate than in our Royal Armies when we have had a King or an Heir Apparent to the Crown the Head thereof witness our Victories in Palestine and Cyprus under King Richard our many victorious Henries and Edwards the Battels of Cressey Poictiers and Agincourt our grand Victory at Sea in the Dutch War under the Conduct of his Royal Highness Iames Duke of York Nor are we at present destitute of Captains of the Blood Royal which are endowed with all Virtues and Princely Qualities requisite for so great Imploy Let me but mention his Royal Highness the Duke of York and all Christendome will second me to his eternal Fame that neither Alexander Caesar nor any other old Captains shewed greater Courage or Skill passed through greater perils by Land or Sea than he hath done nor is there any Person in Europe that can justly dispute for Glory with him or whose Life hath been so illustrious Let us but consider How that at Twenty years of Age he had traced most part of Christendome to encounter glorious Actions that since he has been engaged in all sorts of Combats wherein he hath been Conqueror
That he hath appeared magnanimous in Campaigns Leguers Battels and Seiges by Land in the most furious and dreadful Sea fights in which he hath given life to some Enemies and taken it from others His escaping such Hazards and passing by Domestick Broyls with a Princely Scorn would half perswade a credulous person that he had evaded the time of dying and that for the World 's general good it were decreed he should endure as long as the Sun and Moon to support the Grandure of the Brittish Monarchy in the Person of his Sacred Majesty King Charles the Second and his lawful Successors The Effiges of the Right Noble George late Duke of ALBEMARLE Earle of Torrington Baron Moncke of Potheridgeâ— Beauchamp and Teys Knight of the Noble order of the Garter Lord Leiutenant of Devonshire Captaine Generall of all his Majestyes Land Forces Ioynt Admirall with his Highness Prince Rupert in the last Dutch Warrâ— one of the Lords Comissioners of his Majestys Treasuryâ— one of the Gentlemen of his Bedchamber one of the Lds of his most honble privy Councell c a. Edw. Le Davis sculp Thus in a Victor's Garland oft we see Laurels with Cypress intermixed be But I could lose my self in the Admiration of these Objects were I not again surprized by the late Generous and Noble Exploits of the Heroick Prince Iames Duke oâ— Monmouth whose brave Spirit disdaining to be confined to the ease of a Court life contemning the soft pleasures of Peace seeks out Dangers abroad makes Bellona his Mistress deâ—ies death in his ascent to Honour and thus immortalizes his Name throughout Christendome by his Valour and Conduct at Mastricht in Anno 1673. To affect Glory in Youth is becoming a Royal Birth and to begin with Victory is a happy Omen of Future Success In a long progress of time a Coward may become a Conquerour Some others from mean Adventures passing through gross Errors grow to Experience and in time perform great Exploits But as there are few Rivers Navigable from their first Fountain so are such Men doubtless very rare and singular who have not any need either of growth or years nor are subject either to the Order of Times or Rules of Nature Proceed brave Prince in the path you have so fairly traced out and let the World see your renowned Valour Of a lower Orb we may justly boast of our English Fabius General Monk who so wisely wearied out Lambert by his delays and cajoled the rebellious Rump Parliament He was a Person of great Valour Experience and Prudence whose Loyalty and Conduct hath given him a never dying Fame to be celebrated by the Pens and Tongues of all good Subjects whilst the Name of Britain lasteth His Exploits were truly great his Success in his Conduct renowned with too many Victories to be here inserted Let it suffice to say he was bred a Souldier and after the many risks of Fortune got the Art to mannage that fickle Lady so well that he triumphed over his Foes both in War and Peace acted the part of a good Politician the trusty old Cushai confounding the Counsel of Achitophel to preserve his Royal Master and was the blessed Instrument of his Majestie 's most happy Restauration to his Crown and Dignity and the Kingdom to its pristine Laws and Liberties securing to himself and Posterity that well purchased Title of the most High Potent and Noble Prince George Duke of Albemarle Earl of Torrington Baron Monk of Potheridge Beauchamp and Teys besides which Hereditary Titles he was Knight of the Noble Order of the Garter one of his Majesties most Honourable Privy Council and Captain General of all his Majesties Forces during life an Honour and Office scarce ever before intrusted in the hands of a Subject in times of Peace He lived the darling of his Country dearly beloved of his Majesty and all the Royal Stem and dreadful to our Forreign and Home-bred Foes but laden with Love Honour and Years He yielded up his Life to the Hands of him that gave it and departed in peace the Third Day of Ianuary Anno Dom. 16 69 70. lamented by all good Subjects Post funera Virtus We have many more that by Experience and Conquest are very well known to be eminent Warriers whose Noble Acts were enough to fill large Volumes and whose worthy Atchievements will be recorded in the Histories of that Age for an Encouragement to Posterity the Effigies of some of which I have here lively represented to your View The Effigies of ye. Right honble Charles Earle of CARLISLE Viscount Morpeth Baron Dacres of Gillsland Lord Leiutenant of Cumberland Westmoreland Vice Admirall of ye. Countyes of Northâ—mberland Camberland Westmoreland the Bishoprick of Durham The Towne County of Newcastle Maritin parts There adiacent one of his Matyes most honble priuy Councell c a Abra. Blâ—thing sculp The Effiges of the Right honble William Earle of Craven Viscount Craven of Vffington Baron Craven of Hampsted-Marshall Lord Leiutenant of the County of Middlesex and Borough of Southwarke and one of the Lords of his Majestys most honble privy Councell ca. This Portraiture is in memory of Bertram Ashburnham of Ashburnham in Sussex who in the tyme of King Harold was Warden of the Cinqueports Constable of Dover and Sheriff of the said County and being a person in soe great power at the Landing of William the Congueror King Harold who was then in the North sent him a Letter to raise all the force under his Comand to withstand the Invador And when the King camâ— vp to oppose yâ— Conqueror the said Bertram who had an eminent Comand in the Battle received soe many wounds that soon after he dyed thereof And since which tyme through the mercy of god the Said family in a direct male line have euer since continued at Ashburnham aforesaid and are the present possessors thereof Edw Le Davis Sculp THE SECOND PART OR Honour Civil AND Treateth of the Nobility and Gentry according to the Laws and Customes of England CHAP. I. Of Honour General and Particular HONOUR is the Reward of Vertue as Infamy the Recompence of Vice and he that desireth to mount her footsteps as naturally all men in some degree or other are addicted unto must arrive thereunto by the way of Vertue which was strictly observed by the Romans for Dignities by Birth were not enough to advance them thereunto if they were not endowed with Heroick and Vertuous Qualifications and Honour should be a Testimony of their Excellency therein Some Learned Writers say That Honour consisteth in exterior Signs and Aristotle calleth it Maximum bonorum exteriorum Others say it is a certain Reverence in Testimony of Vertue Honour is of greater esteem than Silver or Gold and ought to be prized above all Earthly Treasure And for the encouragement of Youth to vertuous Atchievements the Romans were no more slack in their Rewards and Badges of Honour than they were in their punishment