again the reuenue kept vp vpō that which is superfluous Is it a losse to the K. to be beloued of the Commons if it be revenue which the K. seekes is it not better to take it of those that laugh than of those that crie Yea if all bee content to pay vpon a moderation and chaunge of the Species Is it more honourable and more safe for the King that the Subject pay by perswasion then to haue them constrayned If they be contented to whip themselues for the King were it not better to giue them their rod into their owne hands than to commit them to the executioner Certainly it is farre more happy for a Soveraigne Prince that a Subject open his purse willingly than that the same bee opened by violence Besides that when impositions are laid by Parliament they are gathered by the authority of the lawe which as aforesaid rejecteth all complaints and stoppeth every mutinous mouth It shall ever be my praier that the King embrace the Councell of honour and safety let other Princes embrace that of force COVNS But good Sir it is his Prerogatiue which the K. stands vpon and it is the Prerogatiue of the kings that the Parliaments doe all diminish IVST If your Lordship would pardon mee I would say then that your Lordships objection against Parliaments is ridiculous In former Parliaments three thinges haue beene supposed dishonour of the King The first that the Subjects haue conditioned with the King when the King hath needed them to haue the great Charter confirmed the second that the Estates haue made Treasurers for the necessary and profitable disbursing of those summes by them given to the end that the kinges to whom they were giuen should expend them for their owne defence for the defence of the common-wealth The third that these haue prest the King to discharge some great Officers of the Crowne and to elect others As touching the first my Lord I would faine learne what disadvantage the Kings of this Land haue had by confirming the great Charter the breach of which haue served onely men of your Lordships ranke to assist their owne passions and to punish and imprison at their owne discretion the Kings poore Subjects Concerning their private hatred with the colour of the Kings service for the Kings Majestie takes no mans inheritance as I haue said before nor any mans life but by the Law of the land according to the Charter Neither doth his Majestie imprison any man matter of practice which concernes the preservation of his estate excepted but by the law of the land And yet hee vseth his prerogatiue as all the Kings of England haue ever vsed it for the supreame reason cause to practise many thinges without the aduice of the law As in insurrections and rebellions it vseth the marshall and not the common law without any breach of the Charter the intent of the Charter cōsidered truely Neither hath any Subject made complaint or beene grieued in that the Kings of this land for their own safties and preservation of their estates haue vsed their Prerogatiues the great Ensigne on which there is written soli Deo And my good Lord was not Buckingham in England and Byron in France condemned their Peeres vncall'd And withall was not Byron vtterly contrary to the customes priviledges of the French denyed an advocate to assist his defence for where lawes forecast cannot prouide remedies for future daungers Princes are forced to assist themselues by their prerogatiues But that which hath beene ever grievous and the cause of many troubles very dangerous is that your Lordships abusing the reasons of state doe punish and imprison the Kings Subiects at your pleasure It is you my Lords that when Subjects haue sometimes neede of the Kings prerogatiue doe then vse the strength of the law and when they require the lawe you afflict them with the prerogatiue and tread the great Charter which hath beene confirmed by 16. actes of Parliament vnder your feete as a torne parchment or wast paper COVNS Good Sir which of vs doe in this sort breake the great Charter perchance you meane that we haue aduised the King to lay the new impositions IVST No my Lord there is nothing in the great Charter against impositions and besides that necessity doth perswade them And if necessity doe in somewhat excuse a private man a fortiori it may then excuse a Prince Againe the Kinges Majestie hath profit and increase of revenue by the impositions But there are of your Lordships contrary to the direct letter of the Charter that imprison the Kinges Subjects and deny them the benefit of the law to the Kings disprofit And what do you otherwise thereby if the impositions be in any sort grievous but Renovare dolores and withall digge out of the dust the long-buried memory of the Subjects former intentions with their Kings COVNS What meane you by that IVST I will tell your Lordshippe when I dare in the meane time it is enough for mee to put your Lordship in minde that all the estates in the world in the offence of the people haue either had profit or necessity to perswade them to adventure it of which if neither bee vrgent and yet the Subject exceedingly grieved your Lordship may conjecture that the House will bee humble suitors for a redresse And if it bee a Maxime in policie to please the people in all thinges indifferent and neuer suffer them to bee beaten but for the Kinges benefit for there are no blowes forgotten with the smart but those then I say to make them vassals to vassals is but to batter downe those mastering buildings erected by King Henry the seaventh and fortified by his Sonne by which the people and Gentlemen of England were brought to depend vpon the King alone Yea my good Lord our late deare Soveraigne kept them vp and to their advantage as well repaired as ever Prince did Defend mee and spend me saith the Irish churle COVNS Then you thinke that this violent breach of the Charter will be the cause of seeking the confirmation of it in the next Parliament which otherwise could neuer haue bin moued IVST I knowe not my good Lord perchance not for if the House presse the King to graunt vnto them all that is theirs by the lawe they cannot in justice refuse the King all that is his by the lawe And where will bee the issue of such a contention I dare not divine but sure I am that it will tend to the preiudice both of the K and subiect COVN If they dispute not their owne liberties why should they then dispute the Kings liberties which wee call his prerogatiue IVST Among so many so diverse spirits no man can foretell what may be propounded but howsoeuer if the matter be not slightly handled on the Kings behalfe these disputes will soone dissolue for the King hath so little neede of his prerogatiue and so great advantage by the lawes as
first so published that all men might plead it for their advantage but a Charter was left in deposito in the hands of the Archbishop of Canterbury for the time and so to his successours Stephen Langthon who was euer a Traytor to the King produced this Charter and shewed it to the Barons thereby encouraging them to make warre against the King Neither was it the old Charter simplie the Barons sought to haue cōfirmed but they presented vnto the King other articles and orders tending to the alteration of the whole common-wealth which when the King refused to signe the Barons presently put themselues into the field and in rebellious and outragious fashion sent the King word except he confirmed them they would not desist from making warre against him till he had satisfied them therein And in conclusion the king being betrayed of all his Nobility in effect was forced to graunt the Charter of Magna Charta and Charta de Forestis at such time as he was invironed with an Army in the meadowes of Staynes which Charters being procured by force Pope Innocent afterward disavowed threatned to curse the Barons if they submitted not themselues as they ought to their Soueraigne Lord which when the Lords refused to obey the King entertained an army of strangers for his own defence wherewith hauing mastered beaten the Barons they called in Lewes of France a most vnnaturall resolution to be their King Neither was Magna charta a law in the 19 th of Henry the 2◠but simply a Charter which hee confirmed in the 21 ◠of his reigne made it a law in the 25 th according to Littletons opinion Thus much for the beginning of the great Charter which had first an obscure birth from vsurpation and was secondly fostered shewed to the world by rebellion IVST I cannot deny but that all your Lordship hath said is true but seeing the Charters were afterwards so many times confirmed by Parliament made lawes that there is nothing in them vnequall or prejudicial to the King doth not your Honour thinke it reason they should be obserued COVNS Yes obserued they are in all that the state of a King can permit for no man is destroyed but by the lawes of the land no man disseized of his inheritance but by the lawes of the land imprisoned they are by the prerogatiue wherē the King hath cause to suspect their loyaltie for were it otherwise the King should neuer come to the knowledge of any conspiracy or treason against his Person or state and being imprisoned yet doth not any man suffer death but by the law of the land IVST But may it please your Lordship were not Cornewallis Sharpe Hoskins imprisoned being no suspition of treason there COVNS They were but it cost them nothing IVST And what got the King by it for in the conclusion besides the murmure of the people Cornewallis Sharpe Hoskins hauing greatly ouershot themselues and repented them a fine of 5 or 600 l was laid on his Maiesty for their offences for so much their diet cost his Maiestie COVNS I know who gaue the advice sure I am that it was none of mine But thus I say if you consult your memory you shall finde that those kings which did in their own times confirme the Magna Charta did not onely imprison but they caused of their Nobility and others to bee slaine without hearing or tryall IVST My good Lord if you will giue me leaue to speak freely I say that they are not well advised that perswade the King not to admit the Magna Charta with the former reseruations For as the King can neuer loose a farthing by it as I shall proue anon So except England were as Naples is and kept by Garrisons of another Nation it is impossible for a King of England to greaten and inrich himselfe by any way so assuredly as by the loue of his people For by one rebellion the King hath more losse then by a hundred yeares observance of Magna Charta For therein haue our Kings beene forced to compound with Roagues and Rebels and to pardon them yea the state of the King the Monarchie the Nobility haue beene endangered by them COVNS Well Sir let that passe why should not our kings raise mony as the kings of France doe by their letters and Edicts only for since the time of Lewes the 11 th of whom it is said that hee freed the French Kings of their wardship the French Kings haue seldome assembled the States for any contribution IVST I will tell you why the strength of England doth consist of the people and Yeomanry the Pesants of France haue no courage nor armes In France euery Village and Burrough hath a castle which the French call Chastean Villain euery good citty hath a good Cittadell the king hath the Regiments of his guards and his men at armes alwayes in pay yea the Nobility of France in whom the strength of France consists doe alwaies assist their King in those leavies because them selues being free they make the same leavies vpon their tennants But my Lord if you marke it France was neuer free in effect from ciuill warres and lately it was endangered either to be conquered by the Spaniard or to be cantonized by the rebellious French themselues since that freedome of Wardship But my good Lord to leaue this digression that wherein I would willingly satisfie your Lordship is that the kings of England haue neuer receiued losse by Parliament or preiudice COVNS No Sir you shall find that the subiects in Parliament haue decreed great things to the disadvantage and dishonour of our kings in former times IVST My good Lord to avoide confusion I will make a short repetition of them all and then your Lordship may obiect where you see cause And I doubt not but to giue your Lordship satisfaction In the sixt yeare of Henry the 3 rd there was no dispute the house gaue the King two shillings of euery plough land within England and in the end of the same yeare he had escuage paid him to wit for euery knights fee two markes in siluer In the fifth yeare of that King the Lords demaunded the confirmation of the Great Charter which the kings Councell for that time present excused alleadging that those priviledges were extorted by force during the Kings Minoritie and yet the King was pleased to send forth his writ to the Sheriffes of euery county requiring them to certifie what those liberties vvere and hovv vsed in exchange of the Lords demaund because they pressed him so violently the king required all the castles places which the Lords held of his had held in the time of his Father vvith those Manors Lordships vvhich they had heeretofore vvrested from the Crovvne vvhich at that time the King being provided of forces they durst not deny In the 14 th yeare he had the 15 th peny of all goods giuen him vpon condition to
the feare of imparing the one to wit the prerogatiue is so impossible and the burthen of the other to wit the lawe so waighty as but by a branch of the Kings prerogatiue namely of his remission and pardon the subiect is no way able to vndergoe it This my Lord is no matter of flourish that I haue said but it is the truth and vnanswerable COVNS But to execute the lawes very severely would be very grievous IVST Why my Lord are the Lawes grievous which our selues haue required of our Kings and are the prerogatiues also which our Kings haue reserued to themselues also grieuous how caÌ„ such a people then be well pleased And if your Lordship confesse that the lawes giue too much why does your Lordship vrge the prerogatiue that giues more Nay I will be bold to say it that except the Lawes were better obserued the prerogatiue of a religious Prince hath manifold lesse perils then the letter of the Lawe hath Now my Lord for the second third to wit for the appointing of Treasurers and remouing of Counsellers our Kings haue evermore laught them to scorne that haue prest either of these after the Parliament dissolued tooke the money of the Treasurers of the Parliament and recalled restored the officers discharged or else they haue bin contented that so me such persons should be remoued at the request of the whole kingdome which they themselues out of their noble natures would not seeme willing to remoue COVNS Well Sir would you notwithstanding all these arguments advise his Maiesty to call a Parlament IVST It belongs to your Lordships who enioy the Kings favour are chosen for your able wisdome to advise the K. It were a strange boldnesse in a poore and priuate person to advise Kings attended with so vnderstanding a Councell But belike your Lordships haue conceiued some other way how money may be gotten otherwise If any trouble should happen your Lordship knowes that then there were nothing so daungerous for a King as to be without money a Parliament cannot assemble in haste but present dangers require hasty remedies It wil be no time then to discontent the subjects by vsing any vnordinary wayes COVNS Well Sir all this notwithstanding wee dare not advise the king to call a parliament for if it should succeede ill wee that advise should fall into the kings disgrace And if the king be driuen into any extremity wee can say to the K. that because we found it extreamely vnpleasing to his Maiestie to heare of a Parliament we thought it no good manners to make such a motion IVST My Lord to the first let me tell you that there was never any iust Prince that hath taken any advantage of the successe of Councels which haue beene founded on reason To feare that were to feare the losse of the bell more then the losse of the steeple and were also the way to beate all men from the studies of the Kings seruice But for the second where you say you can excuse your selues vpon the Kinges owne protesting against a parliament the king vpon better consideration may encounter that finenesse of yours COVNS How I pray you IVST Even by declaring himselfe to be indifferent by calling your Lordships together and by delivering vnto you that he heares how his loving subiects in generall are willing to supply him if it please him to call a Parliament for that was the common answere to all the Sheriffes in England when the late benevolence was commaunded In which respect and because you come short in all your proiects and because it is a thing most daungerous for a King to be without treasure he requires such of you as either mislike or rather feare a parliament to set downe your reasons in writing which you either misliked or feared it And such as wish and desire it to set downe answeres to your obiections And so shall the King prevent the calling or not calling on his Maiesty as some of your great Councellers haue done in many other things shrinking vp their shoulders and saying the K. will haue it so COVNS Wel Sir it growes late and I will bid you farewell only you shall take well with you this advice of mine thst in all that you haue said against our greatest those men in the end shal be your Iudges in their owne cause you that trouble your selfe with reformation are like to be well rewarded for hereof you may assure your selfe that wee will never allow of any invention how profitable soeuer vnlesse it proceede or seeme to proceede from our selues IVST If then my Lord wee may presume to say that Princes may be vnhappy in any thing certainly they are vnhappy in nothing more then in suffering themselues to be so inclosed Againe if we may beleeu Pliny who tels vs that t' is an ill signe of prosperity in any kingdome or state where such as deserue well find no other recompence then the contentment of their owne consciences a farre worse signe is it where the justly accused shall take revenge of the just accuser But my good Lord there is this hope remaining that seeing he hath beene abused by them he trusted most hee will not for the future dishonour of his iudgment so well informed by his owne experience as to expose such of his vassals as haue had no other motiues to serue him then simply the loue of his person and his estate to their revenge who haue only beene moued by the loue of their owne fortunes and their glory COVNS But good Sir the King hath not beene deceiued by all IVST No my Lord neither haue all beene trusted neither doth the world accuse all but beleeue that there be among your Lordships very just and worthy men aswell of the Nobility as others but those though most honoured in the Common-wealth yet haue they not beene most imployed your Lordship knowes it well enough that 3 or 4 of your Lordships haue thought your hands strong enough to beare vp alone the weightiest affaires in the Common-wealth and strong enough all the land haue found them to beate downe whom they pleased COVNS I vnderstand you but how shall it appeare that they haue onely sought themselues IVST There needes no perspectiue glasse to discerne it for neither in the treaties of peace and warre in matters of revenue and matters of trade any thing hath happened either of loue or of judgment No my Lord there is not any one action of theirs eminent great or small the greatnesse of themselues only excepted COVNS It is all one your papers can neither answere nor reply we can Besides you tell the King no newes in delivering these complaints for hee knowes as much as can be told him IVST For the first my Lord whereas he hath once the reasons of things deliuered him your Lordships shall neede to be well advised in their answeres there is no sophistrie wil serue the turne where the Iudge the vnderstaÌ„ding are both supreame For the 2 d to say that his Maiesty knowes cares not that my Lord were but to despaire all his faithfull subiects But by your fauour my Lord wee see it is contrary wee find now that there is no such singular power as there hath beene justice is described with a ballance in her hand holding it even and it hangs as even now as ever it did in any kings dayes for singular authority begets but generall oppression COVNS Howsoeuer it be that 's nothing to you that haue no interest in the kings fauour nor perchance in his opinion concerning such a one the misliking or but misconceiuing of any one hard word phrase or sentence will giue argumeÌ„t to the K. either to coÌ„demn or reiect the whole discourse And howsoever his Mâ— may neglect your informations you may be sure that others at whom you point wil not neglect their revenges you will therefore confesse it when it is too late that you are exceeding sory that you haue not followed my aduice RemeÌ„ber Cardinall Woolsey who lost all men for the Kings service and when their malice whom hee grieved had out-liued the Kings affection you know what became of him as well as I. IVST Yea my Lord I know it well that malice hath a longer life than either loue or thankfulnesse hath for as we alwaies take more care to put off paine than to enjoy pleasure because the one hath no intermission with the other we are often satisfied so it is in the smart of injury and the memory of good turnes Wrongs are written in marble Benefits are sometimes acknowledged rarely requited But my Lord wee shall doe the K. great wrong to judge him by common rules or ordinary examples for seeing his Majesty hath greatly enriched and advanced those that haue but pretended his service no man needes to doubt of his goodnesse towards those that shal performe any thing worthy reward Nay the not taking knowledge of those of his owne vassals that haue done him wrong is more to be lamented than the relinquishing of those that doe him right is to be suspected I am therefore my good Lo held to my resolutioÌ„ by these a besides the former The 1 that God would neuer haue blest him with so many yeres in so many actioÌ„s yea in all his actions had he paid his honest servants with evill for good The 2 d where your Lordship tells me that I will be 〈◊〉 for not following your aduice I pray your Lordship to belieue that I am no way subiect to the common sorrowing 〈◊〉 worldly men this Maxime of Plato beeing true Dolores aex amore animi orga corpus noscuntur But for my body my mind values it at nothing COVNS What is it then you hope for or seeke IVST Neither riches nor honour nor thankes but I only seeke to satisfie his Majestie which I would haue bin glad to haue done in matters of more importance that I haue liu'd and will die an honest man EINIS The Authours Epitaph made by himselfe EVen such is Time which takes in trust Our Youth and Ioy 's and all wee haue And payes vs but with age and dust Which in the darke and silent graue When wee haue wandred all our wayes Shuts vp the story of our daies And from which Earth and Graue and Dust The Lord shall raise mee vp I trust Humanum est erraâ—eâ— Hen. 5. Hen. 6. Edw. 6. M. R. Eliz. R. Q. E.