Selected quad for the lemma: land_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
land_n	england_n	king_n	year_n	7,495	5	5.0764	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B02594	The case of Mary dutchess of Norfolk	Norfolk, Mary Howard, Duchess of, 1659?-1705	1700 (1700)	Wing C949; ESTC R225486	5,844	4

brought his Action against Sir John which was tryed Michaelmass-Term 92 at which time it had been more likely if Sir John had believed he could have done him any harm he should have kept him in Holland rather then have sent for him over especially considering that this fellow afterwards Swears Sir John Swore in a rage this fellow would betray him Hosieur being asked who sent for Vannas over He answered that after he had promised the Duke and Lord Howard to speak the truth of what he knew they desired him if he met Vannas to desire her to come over and speak the truth of what she knew And being asked how long after he met Vannas Answered about 12 months since And being asked when was the first time he spoke to her about her coming over to speak the truth Answered 't is about a year since And being asked how long it was since they resolved to come over Answered 12 months Vannas being asked whether she was not sent for from Holland to be a Witness Answered she knew nothing of it till eight or nine weeks ago Vannas Swears she was sent away on account of the Tryal Whereas Peacock Hawkesworth and Knight three Servants of the D●●ch●●● Swore the Dutchess turn'd her away before the Tryal for keeping company with Dutch Souldiers and they do Swear a new Cook-maid there before the Tryal Hossieur Swears he had a Key of the door going into the P●●● and could come in when he would And yet owns he knew but two of the Servants one whereof is long since dead And also the Dutchesses Servants Swear they never heard any body had a Key and that if any Key had been they must have known of it they also prove the Shutting up Bolting and Chaining the door every night and Opening it every morning and but one of the Servants remembers ever to have seen him at the Door and then he rung the Bell but came only to see a Country woman of his and to carry Letters to Holland and brought answer back to her but was not admitted beyond the passage Hossieur and Vannas Swear they saw the Dutchess and Sir John in Bed together at Mill-bank The Dutchesses woman Swore she has put the Dutchess to Bed and taken her up every night and morning several years and never saw him in the House And two others Swear they were constantly in waiting night and morning and positively deny any knowledge of any such thing and say they never saw Hussieur there and that Vannas was never admitted up stairs she was so dirty a creature much less to Dress or Undress the Dutchess as she Pretended often to have done Vannas Swears she could not tell the places she has been at these six weeks last past Whereas Mr. May and two other of the Dukes servants Swear she has been fourteen days in the Dukes own house with the full Liberty of the house Vannas being asked whether she ever told any body of the occasion of her going away she Swore yes she told it to a great many in Holland and not here Yet being afterwards asked whether she ever discovered that she was sent out of the way she Swore directly no. These are some of the many and plain Contradictions and Disproofs of these Evidences besides the great improbability in their own nature in several things Sworn But it is also to be noted that Husieur left Sir John's service in a disgust and so it is proved by Bayly another of the Dukes Witnesses and that what Husieur Swore could be nothing but Spight and Malice Yea it is proved on the Dutchesses part that he Swore he would find a way to be revenged of him and that perhaps it might not be long first and Mr. Strange Mrs. Pitts and and her two Maids who could have deposed very materially for the Dutchess refused to appear tho' often Summoned being persons not in the Dutchesses Interest or Power This Hosieur has been out of place ever since he left Sir John's service April 96. and is so still as he Swears And so in consequence likely to be necessitous Note also that Hosieur Swears Sir John gave him seven Guineas to pay the charges of himself Vannas and an other which were ordered to be kept private till they could be Shipp'd off and also for their passage into Holland which was in time from the 8 Feb. 92. till Easter Which does not look like a bribe for a secret of this nature being hardly sufficient to maintain three People and pay their Lodgings for two Months Hussieur would be thought a mighty Confident so as to have a Key to the Dutchesses house to come in and go out when he pleased and yet as well acquainted as he pretended to be with the house and the Dutchesses Bed-chamber he could not tell on what Floor it was nor what Furniture it had nor whether Wainscotted or Hanged And when he was asked which way the Windows of the Bed-chamber looked he triffled in that Question and concluded he could see the Water but was affraid to go near the Window for fear of being discovered and yet had no scruple of coming into the house with his Key at any time These things being observed it must be considered that the Facts now in effect charg'd against the Dutchess are suggested to be done many years since and were debated and considered before the Peers before the rejecton of the two first Bills and long before the Agreement for putting an end to all Controversies and Debates Now 't is very hard to put the Dutchess to account again for those very Facts considering that after eight or nine years many People are dead others dispersed and not in a little time to be found out and circumstances of times and places which in the nature of all these Cases is almost all that is left to discover a Falsity forgot The Dutchess is also under the unavoidable necessity of proving a Negative against down right Swearing and that without any matter Introductory and also by two mean Servants the one turned out of her Place for keeping company with Foot Souldiers and the other leaving his Place in disgust because he could not have the Play Money Masters are already too much in the power of their Servants and if they charge their Masters with Adultery Felony and even Treason it is not easily in the power of the Master to defend himself against down right Swearing Servants having those opportunities of the knowledge of times and places and Company which cannot be denied or avoided and which others have not whereupon they may frame and build false Evidence and many times are of ill Principles and desperate Fortunes and of tempers very Revengeful so that whoever turns away a Servant he is in his power for his Estate Honour and even Life it self And therefore for the safety and freedom of Families in other Countrys they are not permitted to be Evidence against their Masters in any matter criminal whatsoever Note also the Dutchess thinks She as an English Subject has by Magna Carta the same right to a Tryal in the Legal and ordinary way of Justice as the ●est of the Kings Subjects especially considering that there never yet was in England one Precedent of a Bill exhibited in Parliament to dissolve a Marriage at the first instance without any previous proceedings in the Ecclesiastical Courts which in these Cases is the Law of the Land and not above Five or Six Bills in above 600 years ever passed to dissolve Marriages or make Second Marriages good even after there had been a divorce in the Spiritual Courts and those Bills too in Cases generally where the Husbands were without any recrimination No Impediment appears why the Duke should not have endeavoured a Divorce at Law before he had attempted a Bill to dissolve the Marriage For any Application to the Legislature for Tryal of matters of Private right is improper because there are proper Judicatures that give that remedy the Law allows To ask any thing of the Legislature in private Causes between Party and Party beyond what the known Laws in force give seems to be improper ⊙ because 1. It is to make a Law in one persons Case which is not the Law in anothers 2. It is to retrospect actions and after the Fact to Augment or alter the Penalty Our Laws are certain and known that persons may conform their actions to them 3. The Courts and Forms of Law are equally the Subjects right with the Law and the application to the Legislature takes away all that right of Form and Charging whereas a certainty in time to Answer and exceptions to Witnesses and other Legal defences of the Fact cannot be denyed the meanest Subject The consequence that short and summary ways of proceedings may have on the Settlements of Estates and Families may be very dangerous and though the Duke of Norfolk's Bill passed the House of Peers yet a great number of the Peers both Spiritual and Temporal entred their Protest against its Passing and their reasons for it It ought to be no prejudice to the Dutchess that the next Heir presumptive to the Duke doth not as yet appear to be a Protestant because when a Bill which hath lately passed both Houses is become a Law it is not likely that Noble Family will be without a Protestant at the head of it If any of the Witnesses formerly examined on the Bill in 1691 be now again produced it is humbly apprehended that as the validity of their testimony they then gave was totally overthrown by a great number of Witnesses so it will be again tho' under the disadvantage of the great distance of time FINIS