have a mind to Imitate such a self-ruining madness the dire Events and many heavy and remediless Calamities which fell upon the over-sparing and cautious Constantinopolitans who denying their Emperor a necessary and fitting Aid to defend them as well as himself made the Turks Master of all Greece so renowned heretofore for Learning and that City and the Riches of it a twentieth or a very small part whereof might have disappointed all the Tyranny Bondage and Slavery which they have ever since been under and are according to Humane Judgement like to continue to the end of the World in no better a Condition And now that Hannibal is ad Portas Dangers on all sides encompassing and crowding in upon us we should neither forsake our selves and good old England which will surely be worth the saving nor so much mistake that which was ever accompted to be Reason Wisdom and Forecast as to undervalue the prospect and the cares of Prevention laugh at them as Pedantick Fopperies or the dotage of a Decrepit World and like Jonas displeasing his God fall asleep in the midst of a Tempest But rather make hast to return to our selves and set before us the Wisdom and Examples of our Ancestors and Predecessors who in the care of themselves and of the Private and Publick not separate but joyned together as well as of their Kings and Soveraigns would not be deterred by any Statemisfortunes or Irregularities or tempted by their Jealousies or Fears to suffer themselves as the Members and smaller parts of the Body to languish and be destroyed by neglecting the Head and the Security and Safety thereof or by not paying their Duty and Reverence to their Kings hate and ruine themselves which in all their Discontents and Murmurings against their Kings and Government the Anxieties or Commotions of their Minds and Passions or the Dispairs which had sometimes seized upon them they did so much seek to avoid as they did not refuse them Aids in all their Wars and Troubles Domestick and Foreign King Henry the Second who after a very great and general Act of resumption of the Aliened Crown Revenue some whereof had been granted by himself had discontented many of his great Nobility when all his Sons had Rebelled Warred and taken Arms against him wanted not a supply by Escuage from his Subjects of England to reduce them to Obedience and make his Wars in France King Richard the First being unfortunately in his Return Incognito from his warlike and glorious Expedition to Jerusalem made Prisoner by an unworthy Surprize of the Duke of Austria and the German Emperor enforced as some of our Historians have reported for his Deliverance to invest the former of them with the Superiority of his Kingdom of England by the delivering of his Hat unto him which the Emperor in the presence of divers of the Nobility of Germany and England returned unto him to hold the Kingdom of him by the Annual Tribute of Fifty thousand pound Sterling and his Brother John Usurping the Crown in his absence and Plotting with the Emperor and the King of France his mortal Enemy to continue him a Prisoner during his Life both Laiety and Clergy notwithstanding that he had by the perswasion of the Clergy more than of the Laiety been ingaged in that very Expensive War did so strain themselves to redeem the Person of their King the Kingdom and People at that time being secure enough from Foreign Invasions as they raised and paid One hundred and fifty thousand Marks in pure Silver of Cologn weight then a very great Sum of Money by Twenty Shillings imposed upon every Knights Fee the fourth part of the Revenue of the Laiety and the like of the Clergy a tenth of their Goods all or most the Chalices and Treasure of the Church being then also not a little sold to make up the Sum So as William Petit or Newbrigensis who wrote his Book in that time saith Ferè exmunita pecuniis Anglia videretur England seemed to be almost emptied of all her Money and the like courses were held for raising that then great Sum of Money in all his Dominions beyond the Seas King John likewise having resum'd much of his crown-Crown-Lands Murdered as was suspected his Nephew Arthur the right Heir to the Crown and thereby forfeited the Dutchy of Normandy to the King of France of whom he held it and in those many Troubles and Distresses which were cast upon him by his unruly Baronage constrained to acknowledge to hold his Kingdoms of England and Dominion of Ireland of the Pope and his Successors in Fee-Farm under the yearly Rent of One thousand Marks per Annum Charged his Earls and Barons with the Losses which he had sustained in France Fined and made them pay a seventh part of all their Goods had Two marks and a half granted unto him by the Parliament out of every Knight's Feé and within a year after a thirteenth part of all the Moveables and other Goods as well of the Clergy as of the Laiety King Henry the Third his Son resum'd all the Lands alien'd from the Crown had so great Troubles entail'd upon him by the Contests of his boisterous Baronage with his Father as Lewis the French King's Son was called in by some of them received their Homage and had London and a great part of the Kingdom delivered up and put into his Possession but upon better Consideration was afterwards sent home again by those that Invited him and the Barons of England having so little accorded with their Native King as several Battels were fought betwixt them in one of which the King himself was taken Prisoner and in another released by the Valour of the Prince his Son the managers of that Rebellion Slain and their multitude of Partizans reduced to Obedience being a great part of the Kingdom by their Compounding with his Commissioners at Kenelworth to give him Seven years Purchase of the yearly value of their Lands which amounted to a very great Sum of Money for a Pardon for their Offences and a Redemption of their Estates the Subjects and People of this Nation did howsoever in order to their own Preservation besides the fifteenth part of all their Goods for his Grants of Magna Charta and Charta Forestae not deny him their Aids of Scutage Fifteenths and Tenths there being scarce a year wherein there was not a Parliament and seldom any Parliament without a Tax King Edward the First notwithstanding his Writs of Quo Warranto brought against all the Nobility Great Men Gentry and others of England Cities and Burroughs Claiming Liberties and Priviledges wherein he did put them strictly to prove them either by Grant or Prescription seized and confiscated the Estates of the Earls of Gloucester Hereford and Norfolk Men of great Might and Power for their refusing to go and serve him in his Wars beyond the Seas the Earl of Hereford being Constable and the Earl of Norfolk Earl Marshal of
the Second year of King Henry the Fourth An Assize shall be maintainable against the King 's Patentee of Lands without any title found for the King by Inquisition By an Act of Parliament made in the 4 th year of the Reign of the aforesaid King a special Assize shall be maintainable against a Disseisor by force Riots Routs and unlawful Assemblies are forbid by a Statute made in the 13 th year of the aforesaid King's Reign and the Justices of Peace near adjoyning Impowred to hear and determine the Offences and if they cannot are to certifie the King and his Council thereof By an Act of Parliament made in the second year of the Reign of King Henry the 5 th Commissions are to be from time to time awarded to Inquire of the defaults of the Justices of Peace Justices of the Assize Sheriffs and under-Sheriffs in not suppressing and punishing the same By an Act of Parliament made in the first year of King Richard the Third the Justices of Peace may let Prisoners to mainprize that are Arrested or Imprisoned for light suspition of Felony or by Malice and no Sheriff or other Officer shall seize the Goods of a Prisoner until he be attainted By an Act of Parliament made in the 23 th year of the Reign of King Henry the Eighth A Jury Convicted of giving a false Verdict if it be for any thing demanded above the value of Forty pounds and concerneth not the Jeopardy of a man's life shall forfeit Twenty pounds a piece the one half to the King and the other to the Party that will sue for the same and Five pounds a piece if the thing demanded be under the value of Twenty pounds and every one of them in the one Case and the other make fine and ransom by the discretion of the Judges before whom such false Verdict was given never after be of any Credence nor their Oaths accepted in any Court By an Act of Parliament made in the 32 year of the said King wrongful disseifin shall be no dissent in Law except the Disseisor shall have been five years in quiet Possession without entry or continual Claim of those who have lawful Title thereunto The Barons of the Exchequer are by an Act of Parliament made in the 33 th year of the aforesaid King Authorized by Bills of Equity in the Exchequer Chamber to acquit discharge or moderate all Recognizances Debts Detinues Trespasses Wastes Deceipts Defaults Contempts and Forfeitures Treasons Murders Felonies Rights Titles and Interest as well of Inheritance as Free-hold only excepted according to Equity and good Conscience By an Act of Parliament made in the 5 th and 6 th year of the Reign of King Edward the Sixth Great Penalties were laid upon those that should buy or sell Offices concerning the Administration of Justice or any Offices belonging to the King all Contracts Bonds Promises Covenants and Bargains to be void both as to the Buyer and Seller and the taker of any Gift or Promise to forfeit his Nomination and Interest therein By an Act of Parliament made in the 31 th year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth Three Proclamations shall be made in every Action Personal where an Exigent is awarded and the Defendant before the allowance of any Writ of Error or Reversal of the Utlary shall be bound to answer the Plaintiff and satisfie the Condemnation By an Act of Parliament made in the 43 th year of the Reign of the aforesaid Queen Every Sheriff Under-Sheriff or other Person making any Warrant for the Summons Arrest or Attaching of any Person or their Goods to appear in any of the Courts of Westminster or procuring it without Original Writ or Process to warrant the same being Convicted thereof shall be Imprisoned without Bail or Mainprize until they shall have paid the party grieved Ten pounds with all his other Damages and Twenty pounds a piece for their Offence to the Queen and for the avoiding of Vexatious Actions where any recovery is had for Debt or Damages for less than Forty shillings or not above no more Costs shall be awarded by the Judge than the Debt or Damages recovered And by the Law Writs of Habeas Corpus una Cum die Causa Captionis are granted by the Courts of King's-Bench or Common Pleas when any are Imprisoned by the King or any other without Cause shewed to be Bailed if the Cause shall not appear to be Just and Legal And if any Man Imprison any of the King's Subjects without just Cause or enter upon or take away any of their Estates against the Tenor of our Magna Charta and Charta Forestae and many of our other excellent Laws and reasonable Customs he may although it be by the King's Command if not legal be punished for the same And our Magna Charta and Liberties are so Bulwarked and Fortified as every man may have reason enough to be assured That the People of England and Wales cannot upon any Emergencies and Violations of Laws want relief or Redress When the Justices in Eyre Instituted by King Henry the Second to ride their Circuits until they were by King Edward the Third changed into those of Assizes who in their Vernal and Autumnal Circuits carrying the King's Justice and Care of it into every Shire and County of England and Wales to prevent as much as might be their Travels and Expences to seek it farther from home did amongst many other Articles and Matters concerning the King and his People give in Charge to the Grand Juries of the several Cities and Counties of their Circuits which were Men of good Estates Knowledge Experience and Concerns Sworn to present what they should be charged to Inquire of and direct them to Inquire and present false Weights and Measures Lands seized into the King's hands which ought not to be seized or being ordered to be restored were not of those that were amerced without reasonable Cause and not according to the Offence or by their Peers without a saving to their Contenement a Merchant without a saving to him his Merchandize and a Villain without saving his Waynage and not by the Oaths of good and lawful Men of the Neighborhood if any Earls and Barons were amerced but by their Peers and after the manner of their Offences and if any Man of the Church be amerced otherwise than according to his Lay-Tenement and after the quantity of his Offence and by the Statute of Marleborough made in the One and fiftieth year of King Henry the Third of all other the breaches of the Laws and Liberties granted by Magna Charta and the Charter of the Forrest and other Articles and Matters to be Inquired of given unto them in Writing and upon their Oaths to answer distinctly what they did know Affirmatively or Negatively When the Judges of the Court of King's Bench who do yet retain the power of Justices in Eyre do in every Easter and
all Ecclesiastical Promotions and Benefices overturned the then established Religion of the Kingdom seized and took into his Possession the great yearly Revenue of 600 Abbies Priories and Nunneries most of the Hospitals and Colleges which had been given to Religious Uses with Anathema's with as many other dreadful Curses and Imprecations as the Minds of Men could imagine to fall upon the Violaters thereof amounting in the then yearly value unto something more than One hundred and Ninety thousand Pounds sterling per Annum being at a then low and undervalued rate scarce the 20 th Peny of the now since improved yearly value excluded the Founders from their Reversions and Legal Rights thereof when the uses unto which they were first ordained should be altered or otherwise applied Confiscated the very many rich Shrines Chalices Plates Copes Jewels Pearls Precious Stones Gold and Silver not only found in those Religious Houses but in all the Cathedrals and Churches in England the Riches of all which could amount to no less than many Millions of Money Sterling more if not equal unto the vast and admired Reserves and Treasures of the Venetian Republick or that of many Popes Provisions reported to have been laid up in the Castle of St. John de Angelo at Rome in case of any Invasion or War of the Turks and unhappily wasted expended and gave away not only a great part of those immense Riches and Land Revenue but all the Eighteen hundred thousand Pounds sterling which were left him in his Father's Treasury debased some of his Gold Coin and made it Currant for a greater value than in truth it would yield And the better to gentle and pacifie the People who stood amazed at it promised and undertook that they should never more be troubled with Aids or Subsidies Was notwithstanding when afterwards the Publick Occasions required Aids or Supplies neither foreclosed by his Promise or denied the assistance of his People But the Lords and Commons in Parliament did in the 35 th year of his Reign assent to an Act of Parliament for the remitting unto him all such Sums of Money as he had borrowed of them or any other by way of Impress or Loan by his Privy Seals sithence the First day of January in the 33 th year of his Reign and if he had paid to any Person any some of Money which he had borrowed by Sale of Land or otherwise the same Person his Heirs Executors or Administrators should repay it again to the King and if any Person had sold his Privy Seal to another the Seller should repay the Money to the Buyer thereof And for a further Supply did in the last year of his Reign grant unto him one Subsidy with two Fifteenths and Tenths by the Temporalty and one Subsidy by the Clergy Whose Successors and Posterity have ever since not refused to Subscribe to those Laws of God Nature and Nations That Children are obliged to assist both their Political and Natural Parents The contrary whereof would be against the Rules of Humanity and Mankind Judge Hutton a greater Friend unto the Law then Ragioni di Stato Reason of State or Government declaring in his Argument in the Exchequer Chamber against the Ship-Money in the latter end of the Reign of King Charles the Martyr That an Act of Parliament that a King should have no aid or help of his Subjects would be void and of none effect King Edward the Sixth after the many Seditions and Troubles which assaulted his Infant Government and excellent endowments of Virtue and Piety by the Wars with Scotland quarrellings of the Protector and Admiral his Uncles on the Mother's side and the Plots of Dudley Duke of Northumberland was although he had taken into his hands all the Lands Houses and Tenements formerly given under dire Imprecations and Curses for the quiet and welfare as the People then thought of the Souls of their Ancestors Children Friends and Benefactors departed out of this World and gone into the next together with the Colleges given to Superstitious Uses free Chappels Fraternities and Guilds with all their Lands Goods and Estates seizure of Church Goods in Cathedrals and Parish Churches and such as had been imbezil'd with Jewels Gold and Silver Chalices ready Money Copes and other Vestments reserving to every Church one Chalice and one Covering for the Communion Table was not grudged in the last year of his short Reign one Subsidy with two Fifteens and Tenths granted by the Temporalty and a Subsidy by the Clergy Queen Mary being a profess'd Catholick renversed the Protestant Religion put many to Death Banished and Persecuted all the Eminent Professors thereof Married Philip the Second King of Spain and thereby endangering if she had any Issue by him to have brought England under the Laws and Yoke of his Spanish Dominions with the Bloody and Cruel Inquisition to boot began to restore the Lands of the Abbies and Monasteries and intended to relinquish all her right therein Lost Calice which had been in the English Possession ever since the Conquering of it from the French by King Edward the Third Made severe Laws against the Protestants Abrogated all those that were made against the Catholicks shook and tottered the Estates of many of the Protestants great Nobility in their Lands which had belonged to their Monasteries and Religious Houses and of many Thousands of considerable Families of the Kingdom who had those kind of Lands either given them by King Henry the Eighth or King Edward the Sixth or had Purchased them of others who might well have foreseen their not Enjoyment of them if she had but a little longer continued her Reign to perfect the entire returning to the Church of Rome of her self and as many of the People as she should be able to force into it was not in her short Reign without the Aids and Assistance of the People when the Publick Affairs called for them Richard the Third though for his Cruelties and ill obtaining of the Crown he merited not the Title of a King after his stabbing King Henry the Sixth whereof he died in the Life-time of King Edward the 4 th and after his Death procuring himself to be made Protector of the Kingdom during the Minority of King Edward the Fifth his Nephew whose Guards when he had made to be dismissed and enticed him and his Brother into the Tower of London upon a counterfeit pretence of Safety and Honour he procur'd to be Murthered Did the like to his own Elder Brother the Duke of Clarence whom he contrived to be drowned in a But of Malmsey made himself King and in the setling of his wrongful Title and wicked Usurpation made some good Laws was notwithstanding in the Second year of his Reign besides the great Confiscations of divers of the Nobility and other great Men not refused an Aid or Imposition Queen Elizabeth Inheriting the Courage of her Father King Henry the Eighth and the Wisdom and Prudence of her Grandfather King Henry the Seventh the happy Uniter of the White and Red Roses having by a Provident Care made such a Choice of Wise and ValiantSea and Land Commanders
have any part or profit thereof There shall be no disturbance of free Elections by face of Arms Malice or otherwise By the Statute called Articuli Super Chartas made in the 28 th year of the Reign of the aforesaid King There shall be chosen in every Shire by the Commonalty of the same Shire Three substantial men Knights or other lawful wise and well-disposed Persons who shall be Justices Sworn and Assigned by the Kings Letters Patents under the great Seal to hear and determine where before no remedy was at the Common Law such plaints as shall be made upon all those that do Commit or Offend against any point contained in the great Charter or Charter of the Forrest which were ordained to be proclaimed at four several quarters of the year in full County in every year in every County and to hear the Plaints as well within the Franchises as without and from day to day without allowing any the delays which be allowed by the Common Law and to punish by Imprisonment Ransom or Amercement according to the Trespass No Common Pleas shall be holden in the Exchequer contrary to the form of the great Charter the Marshal of the King's House shall not hold Plea of Free-hold Debt Covenant or Contract made betwixt the King's People but only of Trespasses done within the Verge and Contracts made by one Servant of the house with another The Chancellor and Justices of the King's Bench shall follow the King so that he may at all times have near unto him some that be Learned in the Laws which be able duly to order all such matters as shall come unto the Court at all times when need shall require No Writ that toucheth the Common Law shall go forth under any of the Petit Seals By an Act of Parliament made in the 34 th year of the Reign of the aforesaid King Nothing shall be purveyed to the King without the Owners assent By an Act of Parliament made in the Reign of the said King No Tallage or Aids shall be taken or levyed by the King or his Heirs within the Realm without the good will and assent of the Arch-Bishops Bishops Earls Barons Knights Burgesses and other Freemen of the Land By an Act of Parliament made in the first year of the Reign of King Edward the Third Aids granted to the King shall be taxed after the old manner By an Act of Parliament made in the second year of the Reign of the aforesaid King No Commandment under the King's Seal shall disturb or delay Justice No Bishops Temporalty shall be seized without good Cause Justices of Assize shall in their Sessions enquire of the Demeanour of Sheriffs Escheators Bailiffs and other Officers and punish the Offenders No Person shall be pardoned for an Utlary after Judgment without Agreement with the Plaintiff or Outlawed before Judgment until he do yield his Body to Prison By an Act of Parliament made in the 14 th year of the said King It was assented established and order'd that Delays and Errors in Judgments in other Courts shall be Redressed in Parliament by a Prelate 2 Earls and 2 Barons who by good advice of the Chancellor Treasurer and Justices of the one Bench and the other and of the King's Council as they shall think convenient shall proceed to make a good accord and Judgment And that the Chancellor Treasurer Keeper of the Privy Seal Justices of the one Bench and the other Chancellor and Barons of the Exchequer and Justices assigned and all that shall intermeddle in the said places under them shall by the advice of the said Arch-Bishop Earls and Barons make an Oath well and truly to serve the King and his People and by the advice of the said Prelate Earls and Barons to increase or diminish when need shall be the number of the said Ministers and from time to time when Officers shall be newly put in cause them to be sworn in like manner A Declaration by Act of Parliament made in the 25 th year of the said King's Reign What Offences shall be adjudged Treason and if any other Case supposed Treason not therein specified shall happen before any Justices they shall tarry without going to Judgment of the Person until the Cause be shewed and declared before the King and his Parliament whether it ought to be Judged Treason or other Felony By an Act of Parliament made in the same year No person shall be compelled to make any Loans to the King or charged with any benevolence None shall be Condemned upon Suggestion Imprisoned nor put out of his Free-hold nor his Franchises without Presentment but by the Law of the Land or by Process made by Writ Original at the Common Law nor that none shall be sent out of the Franchise or Free-hold unless he be duly brought to answer and fore-judged by Course of the Law and any thing done to the contrary shall be holden for none By an Act of Parliament made in the 5 th year of the Reign of King Richard the Second None shall enter into Lands where it is not lawful or with force under the pain of Imprisonment and Ransom at the King 's Will. A Penalty is to be inflicted upon a Clerk of the Exchequer which maketh out Process for a Debt discharged By the Statutes of the Fifth and Fifteenth of King Richard the Second where Lands or Tenements are entred and deteined by force the next Justice of the Peace is Impow'red to view the force and by the Power of the Sheriff and County to remove it and Imprison the Offenders and by the Statute of 8 th of H. 6. whether it be entred by force or it be continued and not entred by force may by a Jury impannel'd and their Verdict if the Deteiner hath not been Three years before in quiet possession reseise the said Lands and Tenements and put the party ejected into his former possession A man Impleaded in the Exchequer shall be received by himself or any other to plead his Discharge By an Act of Parliament made in the 12 th year of the aforesaid King The Chancellor Treasurer Keeper of the Privy Seal Steward of the King's House the King's Chamberlain Clerk of the Rolls Justices of the one Bench and the other Barons of the Exchequer and all that shall be called to ordain or make Justices of Peace Sheriffs Escheators Customers Comptrollers or any other Officer or Minister of the King shall be firmly sworn that they shall not make Justices of Peace Sheriffs Escheators Customers Comptroller or any other Officer or Minister of the King for any gift or brocage favour or affection By an Act of Parliament made in the 13 th year of the said King's Reign He that will that Swear he oweth nothing to the King shall be discharged no Bonds or Recognizances shall be taken for the King's Debts By an Act of Parliament made in