Allegations it is evident That the Lords Spiritual are Pares or Peers but inter seipsos gradu Episcopali vitali but not Pares to the Temporal Lords who are Pares gradu haereditario Nobilitatis honoris either Descendent or Created so that though all the Lords in the Lords House may be said to be Peers yet the Lords Temporal being in gradu celsior is Nobilitatis are more properly to be accounted so than any other Degree in respect that as their Interest is greater than any other Degree so they cannot be said to be Pares to any lesser than themselves and therefore it may aptly be said that none but such Dukes Marquesses Earls Viscounts and Barons as are summon'd by Writ to sit in Parliament are to be accounted Peers of the Realm or of Parliament All other Degrees of Nobility or Degrees under these five Degrees are only Pares sui cujusque ordinis and not Pares Regni and so the House of Commons in time of Parliament are Pares minoris Nobilitatis and the Lords of the Lords House Pares majoris Nobilitatis The next subject that I am guided to treat of is concerning Proxees to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal which may be made either of Lords or Peers or of neither Lords nor Peers yet by this Proximation are pro hac vice nobilitated CHAP. XII Of Proxees I Am now to speak of such as are substituted by the Lords Spiritual or Lords Temporal to sit in the Lords House and these are called by the name of Proxees 1. The Latin word for Proxee is Procurator which is sometimes English'd Proxee and sometimes Proctor according to the Employment of the Person to whom it is apply'd Proxee in a Parliamentary sence is constantly apply'd to such a Deputy or Substitute as is chosen by any Lord Spiritual or Lord Temporal by Licence first had from the King in case of just occasion alledged for absence to supply his Deputy in the Lords House and thereupon his Vote to be as significant to all purposes as if the absent Lord were present and therefore the word Proxee may well be thought to be only the Tachygraphy or short writing of Proxime signifying the next in Judgment Opinion Degree or Quality to the Lord who chooseth him for his Proxee But Proctor which is the most literal abbreviation of Procurator hath several applications first to such as are in some sort a Limb or Branch of Parliaments viz. such as are chosen by the Chapters and Clergy together with Archdeacons and Deans to represent the whole Clergy as Knights Citizens and Burgesses do the Laity or whole Commons of England but these are more usually call'd Representatives the other constantly Proctors both being deputed by distinct Degrees to distinct Purposes as will be more fully shewn Secondly There are also Proctors for the two Universities of Cambridge and Oxford And Thirdly Proctors of Ecclesiastical Courts which have no other relation to Parliaments than according as they are concern'd in Elections The Proxees which are admitted to the Lords House are like those in the old Roman Empire call'd Procuratores Caesaris which were the chief of four sorts of Procuratores amongst them because that first and chief of the four were only imploy'd ad Res publicas administrandas the other three for lesser matters and so the Proxees of the Lords House being the chief of all other Proxees are to be esteemed Publicarum rerum administratores as fully as the absent Lords except in some particulars as to Place Continuance c. 2 These Noble Proxees are as I said lincensed by the King upon the Petition or Request of some Lord Spiritual or Lord Temporal and are not usually made of Strangers who are not Members of the Lords House nor of the Assistants of that House When the absent Lords occasions of absence have not been just or his absence inconvenient to the Publick the King hath often deny'd to License their Proxees but when the Allegations have been just the Proxee hath been sometimes allow'd without the Kings License Sometimes it hath been allow'd to the absent Lord to make a Proxee of such a person as is otherwise incapacitated to sit in the Lords House for by this he is nobilitated but there hath been none such allow'd in this Parliament 3. Generally the absent Lord doth six upon such a Lord as I said doth sit in the Lords House by his own Right and Writ of Summons whereby the Proxee-sitting Lord hath a double Voice one for himself the other for the absent Lord to whom he is Proxee 4. These Noble Proxees are made sometimes before the sitting of a Parliament after the Writs are issued and sometimes in the time of their sitting and their Deputations both before and after the sitting have several Forms as will be shewn 5. In former times the Lords Spiritual had the privilege to make two or three Proxees but since the dissolution of Abbies and that Abbots c. were excluded no Proxor or absent Lord doth make but one Proxee 6. The Licenses for Proxees as I said were granted by the King upon the absent Lords Petition which Petition from Edward the Third's time was in this Form Serenissimo Principi Domino Edwardo Dei gratia Regi Angliae Franciae Hiberniae Domino c. Quia impedimentis varijs arduis negotijs c. sumus multipliciter impediti quo instante Parliamento vestro apud Westmonasterium in Quind ' c. proximo futur ' personaliter esse non valentes And so others for other reasons pray that he may be allow'd his Proxee whereupon License was granted as may be seen in ancient Journals but more lately in Queen Elizabeth's time thus Right-trusty and well-beloved We greet you well Whereas we are inform'd That by reason of Sickness you are not able to make repair hither to this our Parliament to be holden at Westminster We have thought good by these our Letters to dispense with you for your absence and to License you to remain still at home for this time so nevertheless that you send up your Proxee of such Personage as may be for you in your Name to give his Voice and Assent or Denial to such Matters as shall be concluded on in our said Parliament And this our Letter shall be your Warrant Given under our Signet at our Palace at Westminster the 20th of November in the Eighth Year of Our Reign 8. These Licenses are usually entred in the Signet or Privy-Seal-Offices and pass no further but are certified to the Lords when sitting 9. This regular Method of Licenses continued till about the end of Queen Elizabeth's Reign but by the kindness or connivance of her Successors to the Nobles there hath been of late no more Ceremony us'd than a Verbal Motion to the King and some Nobles by that Indulgence have constituted Proxees without application to the King only adding in their Deputations to their Proxees viz. per Licentiam
tells us That about this time the Abbots Bishops c. which were placed here by the Pope were so numerous that it was proposed to him by the Commons that he would please with their Revenues to make 150 Earls 1500 Knights 6200 Esquires and Erect 200 Hospitals for maintaining of maimed Soldiers c. But it seems he had not that Courage which Henry the Eighth did after assume and it was needless for one or two to oppose his Power However H. 4. Henry the Fourth went on and in the Second and Seventh Years of his Reign made Acts against Purchasing of Bulls from the Pope for Exemptions or Benefices Also Henry the Fifth H. 5. Anno 5. cap. 4. made Acts against Provisors from the Pope and all these subject to a Praemunire In Henry the Sixth's time H. 6. the Bishop of Winchester being made Cardinal was admitted of the King's Council with this Protestation That he should absent himself in all Affairs and Councils wherein the Pope or See of Rome were concerned which he assented to and also he Enacted That no Alien should be a Broker That Priories and Aliens Lands should be seiz'd in time of War That no Advowson Presentation Collation or Induction be made to any Alien of any Benefice or Ecclesiastick Dignity That Aliens attending the Queen or King be removed and banished except those allowed by the Council That Aliens should lodge only in Englishmens Houses and to serve in War if able That no Priors be Collectors of Disms He also confirmed the Statutes against Provisions by the See of Rome In Edward the Fourth Ed. 4. R. 3. H. 7. Richard the Third and Henry the Seventh's time there was a Calm to that See none of the Laws repealed but so slenderly used that they made no great impression at Rome and though these and former Kings did strive to make their respective Supremacies in Ecclesiastick Matters within their Dominions and to lessen the Pope's Power and Profit yet none could substantially effect it till Henry the 8th who seeing there was no other remedy and that all Laws against the Roman See were evaded and other Essays fruitless he fell to 't with right down Blows which is the only way to master a good Fencer as will appear in this next Section 8. Henry the Eighth did so contrive his matters H. 8. that he did first ingratiate himself with the Pope by writing in defence of the Church of Rome a Book against Luther which so affected the Pope that he immediately sent him a Bull which is in the same nature of a Patent with us and therein gave him the Title of Defensor Fidei Anno 12. which he accepted and for three years Anno 21 22 23. viz. in the 21 22 and 23 years of his Reign went plausibly on by making several Acts about Wills and Testaments Mortuaries and against Pluralities and Sanctuaries and Deeds to Churches but in the 24th he began to discover his Opinion Anno 24. that though he was for the Doctrine of the Church of Rome against Luther yet he had no mind to suffer his Kingdom to be exhausted for the Support of the Court of Rome whereupon an Act of Parliament was made against all Appeals to Rome Anno 25. and the next year Anno 25. That no First Fruits should be paid as formerly out of this Kingdom to Rome And in another Act That not any Imposition should be laid on his Subjects by colour of any Power from the Pope and then to secure himself and rivet his Subjects to him an Act was made declaring his Title and his Successor's to the Crown That being done an Act of Parliament was made Anno 26. to intitle him Supream Head of the Church of England and in the same year a positive Act Anno 26. That no First Fruits or Tenths should be paid out of any Promotions in England to the Pope of Rome In this time the King makes Archbishops Bishops Anno 27. and Suffragans and in the 27th year chuseth sixteen Spiritual and 16 Temporal Lords to settle the Canons for the Church of England and erect an Office of Augmentation so as having gained the two points of his Supremacy in opposition to the Church and Court of Rome viz. Defensor Fidei Supremum Caput one from the Pope himself the other from the Parliament and setled an Office for his purpose In the same year all Monasteries c. under 200 l. per Annum and all the Ornaments Goods and Jewels belonging to those Houses were setled on him and his Heirs by Acts of Parliament And four years after viz. 31 H. 8. it was Enacted Anno 31. That the King and his Heirs should have all Monasteries Abbies Priories and other Religious Houses dissolved or to be dissolved with their Mannors Lands c. And yet it is observable That in this very Parliament of 31 H. 8. there were twenty Roman Bishops twenty four Abbots and two Priors in all forty six and but forty four Temporal Lords the Act for Precedency in the House of Lords made the same year being not as I conceive altogether for regulating Precedencies but for purging the Abbots c. by that Act of Parliament so as doubtless they lost their Interest more by the King's resolution for expunging them than by Vote of Parliament 9. However the Abbots Priors c. being thus dissolved their Baronies by which they did formerly there sit being disposed of to other persons they had no foundation to sit in the Lords House which caus'd the first great Alteration in the Method of the following Writs for such as were to sit there as will be further shewn And in this great Alteration doubtless there was also a Divine Hand for as Pope Boniface the Third before mentioned did put out all the English Bishops and placed Foreigners his creatures in their rooms and made many more Bishopricks than he found so now by the Lex Talionis Like for Like Henry the Eighth did put out all the Pope's dependents and placed such Bishops in their rooms as would justifie the King's Supremacy here and renounce the Pope's And accordingly Bishop Bonner Cranmer Gardiner and others who wrote against the Pope's Supremacy were made one an Archbishop and the others Bishops And he also did erect six new Bishopricks viz. Chester Gloucester Peterborough Bristol Oxford and Westminster which last after one Bishop 〈◊〉 was turned to a Deanary as now 〈…〉 such of the Nobility and Gentry tha◠〈◊〉 to his Resolutions wanted not Lands and Mannors to gratifie them So that now he had the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in Parliament and the Kingdom it self on his side and even the Nobility and Gentry of England who formerly were almost entire for the Popes Authority their Judgments were now split in two some for the Court and some for the Church of Rome and so even the King and many of his Council did live
a Bishop of England or the Popes Vicar-General or that the See of Canterbury was void or that a Bishop was Chancellor and then the Exemplar Writ was directed to that Bishop and to neither of the Archbishops or if both Archbishopricks were void then to the Bishop of London Thirdly The Exemplar and Consimilar Writs to Bishops have been generally plac't in the Clause-Rolls and in all the Pawns extant before any Degrees except Princes of the Blood though their places in the Lords House are otherwise Fourthly Sometimes the Writ to the Archbishop was without any Epethit to his Christian name but the Epithet of the most constant Application was Venerabili Archiepiscopo and the like to Bishops but in Hen. the Eighths time it was alter'd Reverendissimo to Archbishops and Reverendo to Bishops Fifthly Also an other Title is usually in the Bishops Writs as in the Writs to the Lords Temporal viz. Praedilecto fideli Conciliario which is not in the ancient Writ but of late it is entred as an addition to such as are of the Kings Privy Council whereof the Bishop of Canterbury is for the most part one Sixthly In the 36. of Henry the Eighth the Writ is Primati Metropolitano which latter word was not extant till that Writ Seventhly In the latter Writs the words de advisamento assensu Concilii nostri are entred which are not in the old Waits and some other words which are in the Dukes Writ and not in the old Writs as may be observed in the Figures which I have placed in that Writ Eighthly And in the Mandamus instead of Firmiter injungentes to the Temporal Lords the Writs to the Bishops are Rogando Mandamus and instead of Fide ligeantia to the Temporal Lords it is In side dilectione to the Lords Spiritual so that to the word Praemonentes the Writs both to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal do agree as well in the Originals as Alterations except in those particulars before nam'd Ninthly From the word Praemonentes in the Writ there is a greater Latitude of power granted to the Lords Spiritual than to the Lords Temporal for the Lords Temporal are not impowred by their Writs to Summon the Laity who sit in the House of Commons as Representatives of the Commonalty but the Lords Spiritual are impowred by their Writs to Summon Deacons Archdeans and Proctors to attend the Parliament as Representatives of the Clergy who being met at places appointed distinct from the House of Lords or House of Commons those places where they meet have the Titles of Convocations the Bishops making the upper Convocation the Representatives of the Clergy the lower Suting to those two of the Laity one called sometimes the House of Lords or Peers or upper House the other sometimes the House of Commons or lower House The General Writs for this Parliament were dated as I have shewn the 18th of Febr. 1661. to meet the 8th of May 1661. but the Writs to the Bishops were not dated till the 29. of August following yet by these Writs they are appointed to meet die loco at the day and place viz. on the Eighth of May and at Westminster as in the General Writs so as the latter Writs seem to command an Impossibility but this is to be understood in a Parliament-sence viz. That the first day of the Meeting of a Parliament continues to the end of a Session or Prorogation and is accounted but as one day for an Adjournment is but the continuance of that day and a passing of Acts upon an Adjournment as in this case was not a determining the Session because they were passed by way of Proviso That it should not thereby discontinue the Parliament so that the Bishops being admitted before any Session of determining the Parliament or before any Prorogation of it it is to be esteem'd in a Parliament-sence as I said as one day And so it is in Law where a Sum is due the Eighth of May payable at Westminster and not paid till the 29. of August and then paid in London and then accepted by the Creditor it doth bar all breaches or punctilios in Law or Equity between the Creditor and Debtor Besides If a Parliament continues some Months without Adjournments or Prorogations in which time many Members of both Houses Dye so as there is a necessity to send out Writs for a Supply of Members if the Writs should not issue in a certain Form with respect to a certain day though past it would produce many inconveniencies attending the Discretion or Indiscretion of Clerks who are to form such Writs and therefore all Writs though after Prorogations though many years subsequent have still reference to the first day of the Parliament as will be further shewn for it hath been the Wisdom of Parliaments to admit of no variation in that point Next As to the place of Meeting the Bishops are Summon'd to meet Cum Praelatis Magnatibus proceribus at Westminster which the Bishops do as to their Co-Interest in the House of Lords but in relation to the inferior Clergy the Bishops do meet at Westminster and sometimes Adjourn to such places out of Westminster as the Archbishop or his Vicar appoints which before the Fire in 1666. was at the Convocation-House on the South-side of St. Pauls Church in London but since in Westminster-Abby The Bishops in all this Parliament sit in Henry the Sevenths Chappel as the upper Convocation the Deans c. in St. Benedicts Chappel on the North-side of the Abby as the lower Convocation so as they have distinct Houses or Places from the House of Lords and House of Commons as also distinct days of meeting but always after the Parliament first meets and so of sitting some days after any Adjournment or Prorogation or Dissolution which is appointed beyond the Lords or Commons as will be shewn in the Chapter of Convocations 11. Concerning the alteration of Priorem into Decanum I have given an account 12. Instead of favente deo the later Writs say favente divina clementia 13. In the old Writs the year of Christ is not added for it was more than 300 years after Christ before the Computation was us'd but in the later Writs it is not omitted 14. Till about the year 855. there was not above 16 Bishopricks and then they increas'd to 19 and 21 and in Hen. 8. time to 26 and so they have continued ever since but in all times there have been several Transplacings and Transmutations so as the names of the Bishopricks of Dorchester Dunwich Haglested Sydnacester and Leicester Landasfirm Selsy Sherborn Chester in Durham Crediton and St. Petrocks 10 in all are utterly lost and drown'd in the now remaining 26 Bishopricks 15. The Bishops being men well Educated in all Sciences Divine and humane were stil imployed by our Successive Kings as well in matters Temporal as Spiritual for I find that of 153 Chancellors and Keepers of the Great-Seal from William the
assisting Interests to those three Estates The rest is divided into twenty Chapters with several Sections and Observations in them as followes CHAP. I. SECT I. The form of the Kings Warrant for Summoning this Parliament SECT II. Observations on the Names and Progresses of the Names of our English Kings more Especially and Prophetically of the Names of Carolus or Charles as also of variations of the words in the Titles of several Kings of England fixt in this Warrant SECT III. Observations and proceedings on this Warrant shewing the Kings Prerogative in Summoning Parliaments Of the difference between Warrants and Writs in signing and Sealing in Generals and particulars The variation of the form of Warrants Advised by the Kings Privy Council How that Council differs from the Great Council of Parliament The Warrant is first issued to the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper The Lord Chancellors Warrant to the Clerks of the Pettybag Of the first Digest of Writs kept there called the Parliament Pawn How these Pawns were Anciently us'd CHAP. II. A Transcript of the Pawn for this Parliament began the Eight of May 1661. Divided into twelve Paragraphs whereof the five first concern only the House of Lords the seven other the House of Commons Observations on this Pawn The reasons of placing figures on the Margent of the Pawn The Reason of the different Dates of Writs in the Pawn Why some of the Writs are abbreviated in the Pawn Of General Writs viz. Original and Judicial and of Parlimentary Writs viz. Brevia Clausa Patentia Exemplars and Consimilars The difference of the Lords Writs and Commons Writs The agreement of Writs in the Pawn Derivative Writs not in the Pawn are Equivalent to those in the Pawn Of Exemplar and Consimilar Writs viz. both in the Lords and Commons Houses The method propos'd for treating of these Writs CHAP. III. Of the Act of Precedencies divided into observations That the Act of Precedency is concern'd in the Lords House only The nature of the Act The Title of the High Court of Parliament used in that Act The Siting and calling over the Lords different from the method in the Act Why some Titles are named in the 4th Paragraph of the Act omitted in the 8th Of the Woolsacks in the Lords House Of the four degrees of State Officers which are placed by this Act. How the Pawn and Acts do disagree therein Of such as sit in the Lords House yet not mentioned in the Act but in the Pawn Of former Proceedings in the House of Lords omitted in this Act. CHAP. IV. Of the Degrees concern'd in the Act of Precedency SECT I. Of the Kings Privy Councellors Of the word Council apply'd to individual Persons and to an Assembly Of the Kings Privy Council Of several other of the Kings Councils Of the Kings Great Council or Parliament Of the Number and Quality of the Persons constituting the Privy Council Of the Antiquity of Councils Of the Nature and condition of Councellors in our Councils Elected for merit Of lesser Councils and Parliaments in this Kingdom Of the Privy Council and Parliament how sometimes mixt SECT II. Of the Princes of the Blood Of the seven degrees of the Blood Royal whose places are appointed by the Act of Precedency That any of the seven are Prior to all other degrees of Nobility That in their absence the Arch-Bishop hath precedence SECT III. Of the Kings Vicegerent Declaring the Kings Supremacy in the Church of England The great power granted to the Vicegerent in Church affairs None made since the 31 of H. the 8th but supply'd by Bishops SECT IV. Of Bishops The Antiquity of Bishops The meaning of the Word Of their Jurisdictions Of the Convocation Houses where they sit as Bishops and in Parliament upon a Baronial account How plac'd Call'd Lords Spiritual Anciently they did manage the Chief Offices of the Kingdom Of their Priviledge in the Lords House SECT V. Of the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper Referred to Chap. the 8th SECT VI. Of the Lord Treasurer Referred to Chap. the 9th SECT VII Of the Lord President of the Kings Council Of it's Antiquity Discontinuance and Supply Of other Lords Presidents SECT VIII Of the Lord Privy Seal It 's Antiquity and several Titles How granted Considered as Master of Requests Of his Seals and other Seals Of his Clerks concern'd in the Summons of Parliaments Of his Antiquity in Sitting in the Lords House Formerly supply'd by Ecclesiasticks now by Temporal Lords These three last mention'd Great Officers are thus Plac'd whether they be Nobles or not SECT IX Of the Lord Great Chamberlain Rais'd by Merit Had lands given to hold in Grand Sergiantry consisting of great Immunities The Antiquity of the Title Confer'd on some Noble Person whereby he sat in Parliament Made Hereditary his Employments in Accommadations for Parliaments SECT X. Of the High Constable His Antiquity since the 12 of Hen. 8. granted but pro hac vice at Coronations c. Their Power formidable to former Kings Devolv'd into Lord Marshal Of other Constables of lesser Qualities but still of gaeat use Of such of the Higher sort as were formerly Summoned to Parliaments SECT XI Of the Earl Marshal Of his Power and Jurisdiction Of the Original of the Title Of the Courts and Offices under him especially the Court of Chivalry and Heraulds A description of them Of their Employments relating to Parliaments Of the Earl Marshals Summons to Parliaments and how it became Hereditary SECT XII Of the Lord Admiral of England How the Title sprung Of his Power and Jurisdiction guided by the Civil Laws not repugnant to the Common Always plac'd in the hands of some of the Chief of the Nobility Had antiently their Sumons to Parliaments and so continue SECT XIII Of the Lord Steward Of the Orthography of the Name and Antiquity of the Office Of several Offices under that Title and particularly of the Title of this Office and of his Antient and Present Summons to Parliaments and of his Vses there SECT XIV Of the Lord Chamberlain of the Kings House Of his Authority and usefulness before in Parliaments Of Antient Presidents of Summoning him to Parliaments SECT XV. Of the Principal Secretary of State When the Act of Precedency was made he was the 12th Officer of State a Number of Esteeme the difference of his Writ when his Summons are single without annexing some Noble Degree to it CHAP. V. SECT I. Of the Decrees of Nobles From whence the word Nobility is derived Divided into Majores and Minores The Majores into 5 degrees the Minores into three the Majores makes the Lords House the Minores the Commons House SECT II. Of Dukes Duke from the Latin word Duco Dux Antiently Earls were Prior to Dukes in England How Dukes got the Priority Of the several Titles attributed to Dukes Duke and Earl promiscuously us'd And of the name Grace apply'd to Dukes in England Dukes were in England before they were formally Created The time
to amuse the World about Grebners Prophecy viz. that Carolus E stirpe Caroli Erit Carolo Magno Major but none can pretend to a greater interest in that Prophecy then our present King Charles the 2d being so punctually and Signally ex stirpe Caroli How ever I am sure nothing can be more particularly Prognostical and Applycable to any Regal Charles then this following Anagram to him being made when he was born Prince of Wales which I have ever since kept safe by me CHARLES PRINCE OF WALES Anagram AL FRAVNCE CRIES O HELP VS As to the uses which shall be made on these regal Names their Progresses and Anagrams being not the proper Subject of this place I shall refer them to my Annotations and proceed to Observations on the Warrant of another Nature THE INTRODUCTION Shewing how a Parliament CONSISTS Section I WHen Families increast into Villages Towns Cities large Countreys Kingdoms and Empires under one Father or Conductor for all other Governments are collateral to Paternal and Monarchical there was a necessity to Constitute a Supream Council of the chiefest and wisest men selected from the multitude as might keep such extended Dominions in a perfect Unity and Obedience to their Original Father or Monarch The end of this Constitution was both for Conservation of the Original Family or Potentate who did thus Constitute them or for his own ease in managing the common interest of Safety and Plenty That their proceedings in their Councils might have the more solemn Effects and Veneration several Nations in imitation have since given distinct names to their Supream Council erected as distinctions to those which were more Subordinate Thus the Jews from whom we derive our most credible Memoires of Antiquity had their Supream Council called the Sanhedrim consisting of secular Persons viz. One Prince as their chief Head besides Seventy others of mixt natures they had also another great Council altogether Ecclesiastical called a Synagogue and other lesser in the nature of our Convocations and sometimes all did meet at the great Sanhedrim which was only kept in Jerusalem and this was the Supream Council as may be seen in the 26th ch of Jeremiah v. 8. who was condemned by the Ecclesiastical Consistory of Priests and absolved by the Temporal or great Sanhedrim of Princes or chief Council as may be more fully seen in that Chapter and in the Jew's Antiquities And to pass the Ariopagus among the Athenians we read that the Old Romans also had their Great Council called a Senate consisting of 300. Laicks chosen out of the Nobiles Majores Minores and their Consistoriani where their Senate did sit and their Comites and Consistoriani as Members thereof did somewhat resemble the Constitution of a Parliament they had also a Pontifical Colledge consisting of Ecclesiasticks but the name of Senate at Rome hath been long since drown'd since the fall of that old Roman Empire for at Rome the name of Senate is now altered into that of Consistory and in the vacancy of the Pope or See of new Rome it is called a Conclave and now the Empire of Germany which did arise from the ashes of the old Roman Empire being shiver'd into several Proprietors lest it should grow again too great was brought to a Dyet for so the chief Council of that Empire is called Yet the old State of Venice still keeps the name of Senate for her great Council and the chief Council in France is called an Assembly of States But here in England we have the name of our chief Council from Romans Saxons Normans and lastly from the French for it hath been called by those Senatus Curia altissima Michel Synoth Assisa Generalis and many more names some of which I think fit to render in English viz. Senate the great Synod or meeting of the King and of the Wise-men the highest Judicatory the General Pleas the Great Court the Common Council of the Kingdom and the General Assize At last in the time of Henry the Third or Edward the Second all these Names were reduced to the word Parliament which was then borrowed from the Language and Name of the chief Councils in France in many of which Provinces and Parliaments our Kings had then a considerable interest I do here mention that the Original of this Name did begin with us in Henry the Third or Edward the Second's time but Sir Edward Coke in his Institutes is pleas'd to cite one Precedent before the Conquest When saith he the word Parliament was here us'd but it seems it did not continue a fix'd name of Parliament from thence for at the great Council held by Henry the First at Salisbury consisting of the three Estates viz. Lords Spiritual Lords Temporal and Commons it is called by the Name of Council and not Parliament as some other Writers have mistaken However it was not us'd again till once in Henry the Third's time as some say but we are certain that it was us'd in the 15th of Edward the Second as I shall shew from safe Records and after Edward the Third was Crowned King of France then and ever since this great Council of the whole Kingdom hath without variation gone by the Name of Parliament And though as that learned Institutor observes That the French Parliaments were lesser Courts subject to the Assembly of Estates yet that Assembly of Estates was but originally a grand Parliament constituted of those lesser Estates or Parliaments and those did anciently consist of Lords Temporal Commons and Clergy for in that rank they are cited by Comines Comines p. 226. an approved Author However since the 15th of Edward the Second we have not altered its name only a little in Orthography which hath made work for that learned Institutor and other grave Writers on this Subject about its Etymology so by Example of those Worthies I may venture to cull out one intending to speak of the rest in my Annotations viz. Parliament i. e. a Parly of minds and to this Etymology I may add this definition That our Parliament consists of a certain number of Men of certain Degrees and Qualities Summoned by Writs from the King to meet together in some place appointed by those Writs to parly or confer their minds to each other for the good of the Publick This Definition will be more fully proved in this following Treatise yet before I confirm it at large I think fit to give a brief and intelligible Explanation of it in relation to a Parliament here in England To that end I shall first set down the Nature of our Monarchical Government and then we shall more easily understand the Constitution of our Parliaments It is generally held That the frame of this Monarchy consists of a King and of three Estates subordinate to him The first Estate mentioned in all our Acts of Parliament is Spiritual and Ecclesiastical govern'd by the Lords Spiritual and this Estate hath Jurisdiction over the whole Kingdom not only considering
of God King of England Scotland France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. To Our right Trusty and well beloved Counsellor Sir Edward Hide Knight Chancellour of England Greeting Whereas We by our Council for certain great and urgent Causes concerning Vs the good Estate and Common-wealth of this our Realm and of the Church of England and for the good Order and Continuance of the same have appointed and ordain'd a Parliament to be holden at our City of Westminster the eighth day of May next ensuing In which Case divers and sundry Writs are to be directed forth under our Great Seal of England as well for the Nobility of this our Realm as also for the Election of Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the several Counties Cities and Burrough Towns of the same to be present at the said Parliament at the Day and Place aforesaid Wherefore We Will and Command you forthwith upon receipt hereof and by Warrant of the same to cause such and so many Writs to be made and sealed under our great Seal for accomplishment of the same as in like Cases have been heretofore used and accustomed And this Bill signed with our Hand shall be as well to you as to every Clerk or Clerks as shall make or pass the same a sufficient Warrant in that behalf Given at Our Palace at White-hall this Eighteenth Day of February in the Twelfth Year of Our Reign and in the Year of our Lord One Thousand Six Hundred Sixty and One. Observations and Proceedings on this Warrant THe King of England by his undoubted Prerogative hath and his Predecessors ever had in himself the Power of Summoning as also to appoint the times of beginning continuing discontinuing or dissolving of Parliaments This Summoning for I shall speak of the rest in order or Uniting the chiefest Parts of his Kingdom into a Parliament or Representation of the Kingdom in a less Body than it self is performed by the King's Warrant in his Name and by his Authority only as Supreme not only of his Kingdom but of its Representation and from this Warrant all Writs of Summons for a Parliament are deriv'd The Warrant is in English Sign'd by the King 's own Hand and Seal'd with his Privy Seal or Signet but the Writs are always in Latin or anciently some few in French and are Seal'd with the King 's Great Seal in his Name with a Teste of his Approbation though not manually Sign'd or Seal'd by him The Warrant is General viz. for summoning the Nobility as also for Elections of Knights Citizens and Burgesses but the Writs deriv'd from those Warrants are to particular persons of particular degrees as will be shewn The Form of this Warrant is ancient and hath had little or no variation except in the leaving out of Abbots and Priors ever since the 36 of Henry the 8th and except in leaving out Prelates and Bishops in this very Warrant whereby the Bishops had no particular Writs before the sitting of this Parliament but within three Months after for which Omission Reasons will be given in the 7th Chapter Before this Warrant was issued the King and so former Kings did advise with their Privy Council which is manifested by the Words of the Warrant viz. Whereas We by our Council yet if these words had been omitted at any time and not inserted in the Warrant the Warrant was held good and sufficient for due Summons However for publick satisfaction the words of every Writ are always Quia de advizamento assensu Concilij nostri and this Council is call'd the King's Privy or Private Council of which I shall speak more and is the King 's constant or standing Council as well in time of Parliament as when there is none sitting so as before this Magnum Concilium or Parliament is summon'd this Privy Council consults and deliberates concerning the Motives and Reasons for calling it and after such deliberations and results doth advise the King to send out a Warrant And therefore I conceive it useful to set down the Names of such as were of the King 's Privy Council when the calling of this Parliament was advis'd and resolv'd upon At the Court of White-hall Feb. 1660 1. The KING Present His Royal Highness the Duke of York His Highness Prince Rupert William Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Juxon Edward Earl of Clarendon Lord Chancellor of England Hide Thomas Earl of Southampton Lord Treasurer of England Wriothesley John Lord Roberts Lord Privy-Seal Baron of Truro John Duke of Latherdale Maitland Earl of Guilford James Duke of Ormond Lord Steward of the King's House Butler George Duke of Albemarle Monk Henry Marquess of Dorchester Pierpoint Montague Earl of Lindsey Lord great Camberlain Bertie Edward Earl of Manchester the King's Chamberlain Montague Aldjernoone Earl of Northumberland Piercy Robert Earl of Leicester Sydny Charles Earl of Berkshire Howard Thomas Earl of Cleveland Wentworth George Earl of Norwich Goring Henry Earl of St. Albans Jermin Edward Earl of Sandwich Montague Arthur Earl of Anglesey Annesly Charles Earl of Carlile Howard William Viscount Say and Seal Fiennes Francis Lord Seymour Baron of Troubridge Frederick Lord Cornwallis Baron of Ai. Anthony Lord Ashley Cooper Charles Berkley Knight and Baronet Sir George Carteret Knight Vice-Chamberlain Sir Edw. Nicholas Knights Secretaries of State Sir Will. Morrice Knights Secretaries of State After the Warrant is sign'd and seal'd by the King it is sent from the Signet-Office to the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper and Directions are given to the Heralds to make Proclamation at the Court-gate and Capital City of London of the King's Resolutions of which I shall speak more in the Chapter of Proclamations The Lord Chancellor c. upon the receipt of this Warrant doth issue out his Warrant also to the Master of the Rolls as the chief Clerk of the Pettibag-Office in this Form YOu are hereby requir'd forthwith to prepare for the great Seal of England the several Writs of Summons for the Lords Temporal As also for the Judges and others to appear at the Parliament to be holden the 8th of May next together with the several Writs of Election of the several Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the several Counties Cities Towns and Burroughs within the Kingdom of England Dominion of Wales and Town of Berwick upon Tweed as also of the several Barons of the Cinque-Ports to serve in the said Parliament in such Method and Form and directed to such persons as are and have been usual in such Cases all which said Writs are to bear date this present eighteenth of February 1661. and for the so doing this shall be your Warrant Dated c. Upon receipt of the Lord Chancellor's Warrant the Clerks of the Pettibag by the assistance of the former Precedents of Writs and anciently by help of the Masters of Chancery and by advice with the Heralds as to Titles and true Names of Persons do fix a Schedule or digest or Forms of Writs to be issued
of its different Orthography Obs I. sometimes beginning the second Syllable with C. or S. and of its affinitry to the old Roman Comites Consiliarij I shall refer them to my annotations and here only shew how that by the words in the Kings Warrant by the Pawns and by the said Act of 31. Hen. 8. all which I have recited at large we may clearly see that the word Council doth consist of the Persons of the best Quality and Abilities to give Counsel and Advice to the King And when such a number as the King thinks fit to select for that purpose do meet in a Body Conjunctively 2. This Council is called the Kings Council and also the Persons therein are called the Kings Council yet more properly Counsellors and to confirm this the Kings Warrant saith To Our Right Trusty and well beloved Counsellor Sir Edward Hyde Knight Chancellor of England here 't is Personal then follows Whereas We by Our Council this intimates a Body of Persons or Counsellors Congregated 3. The Writs in the Pawns sometimes do add to the Person to whom the Writ is sent Conciliario suo and sometimes not but these following words are constantly in every Writ Quia de advizamento assensu Concilij nostri which is more large than what is in the Kings Warrant by inserting the words Advice and Consent of Our Council 4. The said Act saith in the Preamble Forasmuch as in all great Councils and Congregations of men which explains Councils and then that there may be no displeasure or let of the Council in respect of Precedency therefore for the better reputation of his Counsellors and other Subjects doth Enact c. And in the 3d. Paragraph the President of the Kings Council is there also named by which we understand the Kings Privy-Council of which he is President to be a Council distinct from other Councils where there are Presidents 2ly And from Parliaments where there are Speakers instead of Presidents anciently called the Great Council and so it is still though the name is alter'd to Parliament and 3ly From other Assemblies and Conferences of Councils which are the words in the last Paragraph of that Act. 5. And therefore this Council here meant in this Warrant Pawn and Act is that which we now call the Kings Privy Council T is true the King hath several other Councils as that of Wales and in the North and others both here and in Foraign Plantations but this Privy-Council is the Supream standing Council out of which sometimes the King thinks fit to select some few for the more safe secret and easie dispatch of Affairs 6. Which by the Jews were called Cabala but by us properly Comitties However this Privy Council is the standing Council of the Kingdom giving Forms and Being to all other Councils especially what concerns the Beginning Continuing and Ending of any Parliament and yet this Council or Parliament is a greater Council than that and of greater Authority when it is in being and therefore anciently as I said call'd Magnum Publicum Concilium and this Privatum Concilium 7. This Great and publick Council consists of the King Lords Spiritual Lords Temporal viz. of such to whom the King sends Writs of Summons and of Commons viz. of such as the People think fit to Elect by vertue of the Kings Writs But this Privatum or Privy Council are of such only as the King Elects out of the Degrees next mentioned or out of other Degrees as he shall best judge of their Abilities for it Yet very often Parliaments have persuaded Kings to make Alterations in Privy Councils both as to Persons and Number 8. The number of the Persons of this Privy Council are in a manner indefinite because it depends upon the Kings pleasure But anciently it consisted only of 12. since that they have increased and varied and in the beginning of this Parliament they were 29. but before the end of it above 40. The number of the Great Council or Parliament is partly indefinite in the Lords House and partly circumscrib'd and so in the Commons House as will be shewn for these anciently had not above 2. or 300. but this Parliament had in both Houses above 700. as will be shewn 9. This very name of Council and Counsellors as they are or ought to be is much more ancient than the Consuls of Rome which had their name a Consulendo for their abilities in giving Counsel and possibly borrow'd from the name of Neptune the God of the Sea who was call'd also Consiliorum Deus so as probably of their two yearly Consuls one was chosen for the Affairs of the Sea as Admiral the other for the Affairs of the Land as General however it is observable that the Title of Consul or Counsellor did continue 1046. years in that Empire deducting three years interposition of the Decemviri or 10 Governors and 4 years of Tribunes or 3 Governors and 12 years of Tribunes consisting of 4 Governors and 30 years by Tribunes consisting of six Governors and 5 years under an Anarchy and 2 years wherein Tribunes had a Consulary power and then the Government again slid into Consuls so as deducting these 56 years they continued intire under that Consulary Tutelage 990 years and as that way of Government was useful to Rome whilst it was a Common-wealth so we see when Julius Caesar took on him the Roman Empire and turn'd it to a Monarchy he did not discard the Consulary way of managing Affairs nor did his Successors so as they continued full 540. years after Julius Caesar in prosecution of that Monarchical Empire till the Papal Interests had supplanted the Western Empire and made General Councils tending rather to the dis-uniting of Princes than for uniting Religion as was pretended and instead of Consuls erected a Consistory and Conclave the last being only new names for a Council 10. This is certain that Councils or Counsellors or Consuls are of that nature that no Government can subsist without them though by different Appellations and I read of few or none in all the Roman Stories who had the Title of Consul conferr'd on him but those who either by their Wisdom had given such good Counsel as prov'd prosperous to the Empire or had done such eminent Services that from such Heroick actions the Emperors and Senators derived Arguments of their Abilities to Counsel as having actually done and from that experience might Counsel what was fit to be done and thereupon formerly call'd Consul and now Counsel or Counsellor and fit to sit both in Privy Council or publick Parliament 11. This Honour was still founded in merit by the estimation of Judgment Experience or Resolution for what they had Advised Counsell'd or Successfully acted and therefore they were seldom made Viri Consulares till they were 43. years of age and for such as had been thus Serviceable to the Empire if a Consulship were not void yet they had always some Offices or
Conquerours time there have been 62 Archbishops and Bishops employ'd in these Offices and from the first Institution of Treasurer in William the 2d's time to Ed. the 4ths time there have been 42. Archbishops and Bishops Treasurers but from Ed. the 4th's to this time no Bishop hath been Treasurer except William Archbishop of Canterbury in Charles the 1sts time then Bishop of London they have been also Chief Justices c. But for other Offices in respect I find them not mention'd in any of their Writs of Summons to Parliaments as additional Titles I shall not make any further inquiries but indeed anciently most of the Judicial Offices in the Kingdom or State were under the Care and Management of the Clergy and therefore the Chancellor Treasurer Privy-Seal c. were called Clerici or Clerks as a distinction from the Laity And being men generally of the greatest Knowledge and Learning were thereupon chosen into Offices of the highest nature 16. That though for many Ages before the end of Hen. the 8th's Reign the Bishops were then of the Roman Religion yet whenever they had the least encouragement from the present Kings of England and sometimes without it they still oppos'd the Superintendency and Supremacy both of the Church and Court of Rome as to the Dominions of the respective Kings of England protesting that the same was a destruction of the Realm and Crown of England which hath always said they been Free and hath no earthly Sovereignty but onely God in all Regalities as may be seen in the Parliament Rolls of Rich. 2d Hen. the 6th and in other Kings Reigns and since Hen. the 8th the Bishops and Clergy under them have been almost the only Bulwark against the Storms and Incroachments of Rome upon us 17. It appears by a long concatenation of Records that they have had these various Titles of Honour viz. in the Latin Records Archiepiscopi Episcopi Praelati Pares and in such Records as are writ in French or English Archevesque Evesque Archbishops Bishops Prelates Peers Grantz Grandees or Great ones in distinction of the Lesser Peers or House of Commons of which I shall speak more also Seigniors singly and Signiors du Parlement also Lords and Lords Spiritual and Barons claiming onely a Vital Feudal Tenurial and not Nobilitated Peerage in distinction of the Lords Temporal whose Peerage is Personal Hereditary and Nobilitated 18. Though they absent themselves from the House of Lords upon Tryals of blood yet it was and is still in obedience to the morality of the Canon-Laws for though those Canon-Laws were practised in times of Popery yet the reasonableness and conscientiousness of that Law still continues and now we are free from the bondage of Popery the Protestant Bishops still think themselves obliged to it as the Papal Bishops were before like the 4th Commandment which still morally obligeth Us as formerly it did the Jews yet where they do absent themselves in Cases of blood it is done by leaving Proxy or protestation of their Right of Sitting c. 19. And lastly it may be very well observed though their influence and Interest upon a Spiritual and Temporal account is spread over this whole Kingdom their Revenues great and thereby their Tenants Officiates and Dependents very numerous yet I do not find in Histories that the Bishops of England did ever raise an Army to justifie their interest against any of our Kings or against the other two Estates of Lords Temporal or Commons by Sword or Force but still supported it by their Pen or Prayers 20. Thus I have given an account of the Managers of Religion in this Island and of the Writs whereby they were Summon'd to Parliaments and of other great employments wherein they have been intrusted of a mixt nature part Civil and part Ecclesiastick and both tending to Religious Duties I should now proceed to the Writs which concern Abbots and Priors which till the 36. Hen. 8. were ever entred next the Bishops in the Clause-Rolls and Pawns but there having been no Writs directed to them since the said 36. of H. the 8th except two in Queen Mary's time one to the Abbot of Westminster the other to the Prior of St. John's of Jerusalem I shall follow the Method of the Pawns since the said 36th year referring the Discourse of them to the Chapter of Dissolutions and here proceed to the third Exemplar Writ viz. to the Lord Chancellor being the first Officer of State and Principal Assistant and now annext to a Barony and after to his Title of Earl as will be shewn CHAP. VIII The Third Exemplar of the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper AMongst the Romans this great Officer was called Actuarius Scriba Notarius Principis praesentis Vicarius Cancellarius and so it came into France and amongst the Saxons it had the name of Referendarius but in England we do not find this Title of Chancellor till the first of King John An. 1199 though Lambert and others derive it from Edward the Confessors time This Officer continued in so high an esteem that in the 5th of Richard the 2d The Commons in Parliament in their Exhibits to the King desired that the most wise and able man in the Realm might be chosen Chancellor which made Budaeus one of Hen. the 8ths Orators to give this Description Hunc saith he rerum omnium cognitione omni Doctrinarum virtutumque genere instructissimum ornatissimum ingenioque ad omnia versatili omnia in numerato habere oportere fatendum est This Discription is also to be applyed to the Keeper of the Great Seal which invention of a publick Seal as it was more ancient with the Romans so it seems to be very ancient with us in England that Office being Constituted by William the Conquerer in the Year 1067. and for the honour of both as it is shewn in this Section Geffrey a Natural Son to Hen. the Second was Chancellor and the Queen to Henry the Third was Keeper of the Seal 2. These two Offices were sometimes kept distinct and sometimes united in one Person till the Fifth of Queen Eliz. and then it was Enacted That both those Offices should be accounted but as one and the same and that hereafter both should not be used at one time by distinct Persons 3. Whilst they were distinct they had two Seals the Chancellors was of Gold and the Keepers of Silver the Court esteemed Officina Regis and the Seal Clavis Regni but whenever they were either united or distinctly executed still this high Office was managed by Archbishops or Bishops or by the most eminent Laicks for Learning Integrity and Abilities as may be seen by comparing the History of them with their Catalogues 4. To manifest their Eminency it is evident from the Rolls that in the opening of all Parliaments the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper did constantly by the Command of the King shew them the reasons of Summoning them unless in a Vacancy or
on a special account of Absence and then it was performed by one of the Chief Justices 5. But to pass these being more fully shewn in my Annotations I do not find in any of the Clause-Rolls or in the Pettibag-Pawns that a Chancellor or Keeper had any distinct Writs of Summons to a Parliament till the 28. of Eliz. when Sir Tho. Bromley Knt. being the Queens Sollicitor was made Lord Chancellor and Summoned by a distinct Writ in the same Form as is hereafter set down which very Form hath continued ever since And in the 35. of Eliz. Sir John Puckering being but Serjeant at Law was made Custos Sigilli and had a particular Writ of Summons to that Parliament and in the 39. of Eliz. Sir Tho. Egerton Knt. being then Master of the Rolls was made Custos Sigilli and had this assisting Writ of Summons for that Parliament and the like in the 43. of her Reign and so in the 21. of King James and in the First of Caroli Primi particular assisting Writs were sent to the Bishop of Lincoln in these words Reverendo in Christo Patri praedilecto fideli Consiliario nostro Joanni Episcopo Lincolniae magni sigilli Angliae Custodi So as he had this Writ as an assisting Writ and another Writ virtute Baroniae 6. It may here be observed that this was the only Bishop that was either Keeper or Chancellor from the First of Eliz. to this time whereas before Queen Eliz. for the most part Bishops or Ecclesiasticks did execute those Offices but whenever it was conferred upon the Laicks choice was made out of the most eminent Families as in the 26. of Hen. the Second as I said Gessrey Natural Son to Henry the Second was made Chancellor and in the 15th of King John Ralph de Nevile was made Keeper of the Great Seal and in 22. of Henry the Third Geffrey a Templer and John de Lexington were made Keepers of the Great Seal and in the 37. of his Reign his Queen upon the Kings going into Gascoine which is remarkable as I said had the Custody of the Great Seal and in the 45. of that Ring Walter de Merton was made Chancellor and in the 49. of that King Thomas de Cantilupe was made Chancellor and in the 53. Richard de Middleton made Custos Sigilli and in the 56. John de Kirkley and Peter de Winton made Keepers of the Seal and in the 2. of Edward the Third Henry de Bughersh made Chancellor In the 14. of Edw. the Third John de St. Paul made Keeper of the Seal in the same year Sir Robert Burgtheire Knt. made Chancellor and Keeper of the Seals and the like in the 15th to Robert Parning and in the 17th to Robert de Sadington and in the 19th to John de Offord and in the 20. to John de Thoresby In the Records of the same year it is said that Sir Lionel Duke of Clarence the Kings Son then Lord Keeper of England gave Command by Proclamation That no Arms should be worn sitting that Parliament whose name is omitted in the Catalogue of the Lord Keepers by Mr. Selden in his Discourse of the Office of Chancellor and Keeper and in the 45. to Sir Robert Thorpe and in the 46. to John Knivet and in the 2. of Rich. the Second to Sir Le Scroop and in the 6. of Rich. 2. to Sir Michael de la Pool and in the 11. of Hen. 4. to Sir Thomas Beaufort and in the 32. H. 6. Richard Earl of Salisbury was made Chancellor singly and in the 21. of Hen. the Eighth Sir Thomas Moor Knt. made Chancellor and Keeper and in the 24. of Hen. the Eightht Thomas Audley made Chancellor and Keeper and in the 36. Hen. 8. Thomas Lord Wriothesly made Chancellor and Keeper and in the First of Edw. the Sixth Sir William Pawlet Knt. Lord St. John of Basing made Keeper and in the same year Sir Richard Rich made Chancellor and in the First of Eliz. Sir Nicholas Bacon Keeper and the 21. Thomas Bromley Chancellor who continued so to the 28. of her Reign and was the first that I find as is before mentioned that had a particular Writ of Assistance and though in the Fourteenth of King James Sir Francis Bacon was Keeper in the Eighteenth of Jac. Henry Viscount Mandevile Lord President of the Council and Lodowick Duke of Richmond William Earl of Pembroke Sir Julius Caesar had jointly the Custody of the Great Seal and in the first Car. 1. Sir Thomas Coventry and in the 16. Car. 1. Sir Edw. Littleton and 21. Car. 1. Sir Rich. Lane were Keepers of the Great Seal yet we find no particular Writs in the Pettibag directed to any but such as I have before mentioned and to these which follow viz. in 15. Car. 1. Sir John Finch Knt. Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas was made Custos Sigilli and had a particular Writ of Summons to attend that Parliament 7. As to this Writ of 13. Car. 2. of which I am to treat it is to be observed that the Warrant before mentioned sent to Sir Edward Hyde Knt. and Chancellor to impower him to send out Writs was directed in these words To our Right Trusty and Well-beloved Counsellor Sir Edward Hyde Knt. Chancellor of England but in his Latine Writ of Assistance the words are Praedilecto perquam fideli Consiliario suo Edwardo Domino Hyde Cancellario suo Angliae leaving out Militi or Equiti aurato and putting in Domino and the reason of this variation as I conceive was That the Warrant was agreed on by the King and Council before the Third of November at which time he was Baron of Hindon and therefore in the Warrant he is named only Sir Edward Hyde Knt. but in the Writ Domino Hyde which is the Adjunct Title of a Baron as he then was and I find before the Parliament met he was created Viscount Cornbury and Earl of Clarendon and thereupon had another Writ in relation to those Dignities which was entered in the Pawn and the entry dated the 12th of April before the Parliament met and in the latter Writ he had also his additional Titles so that I observe that if the Chancellor or Keeper be above the Degree of a Baron he hath his Writ according to his Degree and therein only intimating his Chancellorship or Keepership as is before shewn in the 36. of Hen. the Eighth 1 Mariae c. But if he be not a Baron then he hath this Assisting Writ Quatenus Chancellor or Keeper as may be seen in the former Precedents from the 28. of Eliz. to this Writ of 13. Car. 2. If he be a Baron as I said he hath or may require a Baronial Writ besides this Assisting Writ The form of his Assisting Exemplar Writ is as follows the other will be seen among the Barons SECT VIII The Form of the Assisting Writ to the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper CArolus Secundus Dei Gratia Angliae
stand fair but if divulged they are sure not only to lose the credit of the Event but double the disrepute if both be bad Herein some men are naturally of a more reserved temper than others however those are only fit to be Counsellors and Secretaries of State who have no Windows in their Breast that is no such transparent Eyes as men may easily see their disposures of Affairs but can wisely keep the Secrets of State from other mens Inspections and in Parliaments I conceive such Tempers are very useful for if the People Trust them they do well in performing their Trust but appealing again to the People shews a diffidence in their own Judgments Thus having shewn the Kings Warrant in the Front and the Secretaries Writ in the Rear and fix't the Noble Lords betwixt those who manage the Laws Divine and those who are Assistants in Human Laws and run through the most constant Writs which are us'd for Summoning such as are to fit in a Parliament either as Essential or Assisting Members thereof I should now proceed to the House of Commons but I shall crave leave First To speak of some accidentall Writs for Assistants Secondly Of the manner of return of all the aforesaid Writs Thirdly Of such as sit there without Writ or Patent Fourthly Of such as sit there only by Patent and Fifthly Of some other Officers who are imployed there by vertue of Patents CHAP. XIV Of Consimilar Writs and Patents upon Emergent occasions 1. I Find in Mr. Prins Breviary That he cites many Records long before Henry the Eighth which I shall not examine because some of them have been so long disus'd Of Knights Justices of North Wales Treasurer of Carnarvan Treasurer of the Kings House Chancellor of the Exchequer Deans Archdeacons Escheators and one Magister Thomas Yong which he takes to be a Master of Chancery that have been Summon'd by Writ to sit in Parliaments in the Lords House but since Henry the Eighth in the Pettibag several Writs of Assistants were issued as I have shewn in the 11th Chap. Sect. 9. to shew the Kings Power some of which were Professors of the Law and some not 2. There was another Writ viz. to the Warden of the Cinqueports which was not constant but occasional for sometimes it was directed to an Earl and sometimes to some one Person under the Degree of a Baron yet by vertue of the Writ he was impowr'd to sit in the Lords House but since Henry the Fourths time when that Office was supplied by the Prince of Wales after called Henry the Fifth who had a Writ with the addition of Guardian ' Quinque Portuum that Trust hath been committed to some one of the Blood Royal and from that Writ other Writs are derived to all the Cinqueports But in respect this Writ as to a Parliament is mostly concern'd about Election of 16. Members to serve in the House of Commons I shall refer the Discourse of it to the second part in that Chapter which particularly treats of the Cinqueports 3. If at any time the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper be absent upon just occasion as when the Lord Keeper Bridgman in this Parliament was Sick a Patent was made for Sir John Vaughan then Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas to supply his place and the like to Sir Francis North Chief Justice of the Common Pleas also c. and though for the most part this happens in time of Parliament yet because it may happen between the time of Summons and the Sitting of a Parliament which is the chief design of this part of this Treatise I have thought fit to enter the form of that Patent in this place rather than defer it viz. CHARLES c. To Our Right Trusty and Welbeloved Sir Francis North Knt. Chief Justice of Our Court of Common Pleas Greeting Whereas Our Right Trusty and Welboved Councellor Heneage Lord Finch Our Lord High Chancellor of England is often so infirm that he is not able constantly to attend in the upper House of this Our present Parliament now holden at Westminster nor there to supply the room and place in the said upper House amongst the Lords Spiritual and Temporal there Assembled as to the Office of the Lord Chancellor of England hath been accustomed We minding the same place and room to be supplied in all things as appertaineth for and during every time of his absence have named and appointed you And by these Presents do Name Constitute and Appoint and Authorize you from day to day and from time to time when and so often as the said Lord Chancellor shall happen at any time or times during this present Parliament to be absent from his accustomed place in the said upper House to Occupy Vse and Supply the said room and place of the said Lord Chancellor in the said upper House amongst the Lords Spiritual and Temporal there Assembled at every such day and time of his absence and then and there at every such time to do and execute all such things as the said Lord Chancellor of England should or might do if if he were there personally present Vsing and Supplying the same room Wherefore We Will and Command you the said Sir Francis North to attend to the doing and execution of the premisses with Effect and these Our Letters Patents shall be your sufficient Warrant and Discharge for the same in every respect In Witness whereof We have caused these Our Letters to be made Patents Witness our Self at Westminster the Nineteenth day of March in the Nine and twentieth Year of our Reign Per ipsum Regem propria manu Signat And having now dispatch't all the Writs and Patents which concern the Summoning of such as sit in the Lords House it is proper to shew the manner of returning of those Writs which is usual in all Courts and ought to be strictly observed here CHAP. XV. Of Returns of Writs relating to the Summoning of such as are to Sit in the Lords House IN all Judicial Courts from whence Writs do issue there is care taken for their due Returns as may be seen in Fitz Herbert and such Authors who have treated of the nature of Writs and their Returns but none of them giving a full account of Parliament Writs and Returns gives me occasion to insert this Chapter As to the Return of the Writs to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Assistants they ought by every individual Person who had a Writ to be deliver'd to the Clerk of the Parliament before the House Sit or immediately upon their Entrance into the House at the Table and by the said Clerk they are to be kept with the Records of that House By the omission of this method many inconveniencies have and may happen to their Successors or Posterity and therefore it is wisht there were more care taken in their due Returns to which they may be incourag'd being of so little trouble in the performance But as to the