Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	bill_n	house_n	read_v	15,049	5	8.0831	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A52850	Discourses concerning government, in a way of dialogue wherein, by observations drawn from other kingdoms and states, the excellency of the English government is demonstrated, the causes of the decay thereof are considered, and proper remedies for cure proposed / by Henry Nevill ...; Plato redivivus. 1698	Neville, Henry, 1620-1694.	1698 (1698)	Wing N503A; ESTC R39070	112,421	300

probable you have and keep forty Servants and at length by your neglect and the industry and thrift of your Domesticks you sell one Thousand to your Steward another to your Clerk of the Kitchen another to your Bayliff till all were gone can you believe that these Servants when they had so good Estates of their own and you nothing left to give them would continue to live with you and to do their service as before It is just so with a whole Kingdom In our Ancestors times most of the Members of our House of Commons thought it an honour to retain to some great Lord and to wear his blew Coat And when they had made up their Lord's Train and waited upon him from his own House to the Lords House and made a Lane for him to enter and departed to sit themselves in the Lower House of Parliament as it was then and very justly called can you think that any thing could pass in such a Parliament that was not ordered by the Lords Besides these Lords were the King 's great Council in the Intervals of Parliaments and were called to advise of Peace and War and the latter was seldom made without the consent of the major part if it were not they would not send their Tenants which was all the Militia of England besides the King's tenth part Can it be believed that in those days the Commons should dislike any thing the Lords did in the Intervals or that they would have disputed their Right to receive Appeals from Courts of Equity if they had pretended to it in those days or to mend money-Money-bills And what is the reason but because the Lords themselves at that time represented all their Tenants that is all the People in some sort and although the House of Commons did Assemble to present their Grievances yet all great Affairs of high Importance concerning the Government was Transacted by the Lords and the War which was made to preserve it was called the Barons Wars not the War of both Houses for although in antienter times the word Baron were taken in a larger sense and comprehended the Francklins or Freemen yet who reads any History of that War shall not find that any mention is made of the concurrence of any assembly of such men but that Simon Monford Earl of Leicester and others of the great ones did by their Power and Interest manage that contest Now if this Property which is gone out of the Peerage into the Commons had passed into the King's hands as it did in Egypt in the time of Joseph as was before said the Prince had had a very easie and peaceable reign over his own Vassals and might either have refused justly to have Assembled the Parliament any more or if he had pleased to do it might have for ever managed it as he thought fit But our Princes have wanted a Joseph that is a wise Councellor and instead of saving their Revenue which was very great and their expences small and buying in those Purchases which the vast expences and luxury of the Lords made ready for them they have alienated their own Inheritance so that now the Crown-Lands that is the publick Patrimony is come to make up the interest of the Commons whilest the King must have a precarious Revenue out of the Peoples Purses and be beholding to the Parliament for his Bread in time of Peace whereas the Kings their Predecessors never asked Aid of his Subjects but in time of War and Invasion and this alone though there were no other decay in the Government is enough to make the King depend upon his People which is no very good condition for a Monarchy Noble Ven. But how comes it to pass that other Neighbouring Countries are in so settled a State in respect of England does their Property remain the same it was or is it come into the hands of the Prince You know you were pleased to admit that we should ask you en passant something of other Countries Eng. Gent. Sir I thank you for it and shall endeavour to satisfie you I shall say nothing of the small Princes of Germany who keep in a great measure their ancient bounds both of Government and Property and if their Princes now and then exceed their part yet it is in time of Troubles and War and things return into their right Chanel of Assembling the several States which are yet in being every where But Germany lying so exposed to the Invasion of the Turks on the one side and of the French on the other and having ever had enough to do to defend their several Liberties against the encroachments of the House of Austria in which the Imperial dignity is become in some fort Hereditary if there had been something of extraordinary power exercised of late years I can say Inter arma silent leges but besides their own particular States they have the Diet of the Empire which never fails to mediate and compose things if there be any great oppresson used by Princes to their subjects or from one Prince or State to another I shall therefore confine my self to the three great Kingdoms France Spain and Poland for as to Denmark and Sweden the first hath lately chang'd its Government and not only made the Monarchy Hereditary which was before Elective but has pull'd down the Nobility and given their Power to the Prince which how it will succeed time will shew Sweden remains in point of Constitution and Property exactly as it did anciently and is a well-Governed Kingdom The first of the other three is France of which I have spoken before and shall onely add That though it be very true that there is Property in France and yet the Government is Despotical at this present yet it is one of those violent States which the Grecians called Tyrannies For if a Lawfull Prince that is one who being so by Law and sworn to rule according to it breaks his Oaths and his Bonds and reigns Arbitrarily he becomes a Tyrant and an Usurper as to so much as he assumes more than the Constitution hath given him and such a Government being as I said violent and not natural but contrary to the Interest of the people first cannot be lasting when the adventitious props which support it fail and whilst it does endure must be very uneasie both to Prince and People the first being necessitated to use continual oppression and the latter to suffer it Doct. You are pleased to talk of the oppression of the People under the King of France and for that reason call it a violent Government when if I remember you did once to day extol the Monarchy of the Turks for well-founded and natural Are not the people in that Empire as much oppressed as in France Eng. Gent. By no means unless you will call it oppression for the grand Seignior to feed all his People out of the Product of his own Lands and though they serve him for it yet

and there is no need of it at all in this Case I have told you before that there is a necessity of a Senate and how short this Government would be without it and how confused in the mean time the Roman Senate was Hereditary amongst the Patricii except the Censor left any of them out of the Roll during his Magistracy for some very great and scandalous offence and in that case too there was an Appeal to the People as in all other Causes witness the Case of Lucius Quintius and many others To shew that there can be no need of such a change here as you speak of you may please to consider that all differences between the several parts of any Government come upon the account of Interest now when this Settlement is made the House of Peers and the House of Commons can have no Interest to dissent For as to all things of private Interest that is the Rights of Peers both during the sitting of Parliaments and in the Intervals is left to their own House to judge of as it is to the House of Commons to judge of their own Priviledges And as for the contest of the Peers Jurisdiction as to Appeals from Courts of Equity Belides that I would have that setled in the Act which should pass concerning the Lords House I believe it will never happen more when the Government is upon a right Foundation it having been hitherto fomented by two different Parties the Court-party sometimes blowing up that difference to break the Session lest some good Bills for the People should pass or that the King by rejecting them might discontent his People to avoid which Dilemma there needed no more but to procure some person to prosecute his Appeal before the Lords some honest Patriots afterwards possibly might use the same policy which they learnt from the Courtiers to quash some Bill very destructive in which they were out-voted in the Commons House otherwise it is so far from the Interest of the Commons to hinder Appeals from Courts of Equity that there is none amongst them but know we are almost destroyed for want of it And when they have considered well and that some such Reformation as this shall take place they will find that it can never be placed in a more honourable and unbyas'd Judicatory than this And I could wish that even in the Intermission of Parliamentary Sessions the whole Peerage of England as many of them as can conveniently be in Town may sit in their Judicial Capacities and hear Appeals in Equity as well as Judge upon Writs of Errour Now as to your other Objection which is indeed of great weight that the House of Commons must needs take it ill that the Lords should frustrate their endeavours for the Peoples good by their Negative If you consider one thing the force of this Objection will vanish which is That when this new Constitution shall be admitted the Lords cannot have any Interest or temptation to differ with the Commons in any thing wherein the Publick good is concerned but are obliged by all the ties in the World to run the same course and fortune with the Commons their Interest being exactly the same so that if there be any dissenting upon Bills between the two Houses when each of them shall think their own Expedient conduces most to the advantage of the Publick this difference will ever be decided by right reason at Conferences And the Lords may as well convince the Commons as be convinced by them and these contests are and ever will be of admirable use and benefit to the Commonwealth the reason why it is otherwise now and that the House of Peers is made use of to hinder many Bills from passing that are supposed to be for the ease of the People is that the great Counsellors and Officers which sit in that House do suggest whether true or false that it is against his Majesties Will and Interest that such an Act should pass whereupon it has found Obstruction but hereafter if our expedient take place it cannot be so first because our King himself cannot have any designs going as was proved before which shall make it his advantage to hinder any good intended his people whose prosperity then will be his own And then because in a short time the Peers being made by Act of Parliament will consist of the best Men of England both for Parts and Estates and those who are already made if any of them have small Estates the King if he had the Interest would not have the means to corrupt them the Publick Moneys and the great Offices being to be dispensed in another manner than formerly so their Lordships will have no Motive in the World to steer their Votes and Councils but their own Honour and Conscience and the preservation and prosperity of their Country So that it would be both needless and unjust to pretend any change of this kind Besides this alteration in the administration of our Government being proposed to be done by the unanimous consent of King Lords and Commons and not otherwise it would be very preposterous to believe that the Peers would depose themselves of their Hereditary Rights and betake themselves to the hopes of being Elected it is true they have lost the Power they had over the Commons but that has not been taken from them by any Law no more than it was given them by any but is fallen by the course of Nature as has been shewn at large But though they cannot lead the Commons by their Tenures as formerly yet there is no reason or colour that they should lose their Co-ordination which I am sure they have by Law and by the Fundamental Constitution of the Government and which is so far from being prejudicial to a lasting Settlement as was said that it infinitely contributes to it and prevents the Confusion which would destroy it If I should have proposed any thing in this Discourse which should have Intrenched upon the King 's Hereditary Right or that should have hindred the Majesty and Greatness of these Kingdoms from being represented by his Royal Person I should have made your Story of the Capuchine Fryar very Applicable to me Noble Ven. I see you have not forgiven me that Novel yet but pray give me leave to ask you one Question Why do you make the Election of Great Officers to be by a small secret Council that had been more proper for a Numerous Assembly as it is in most Commonwealths Eng. Gent. It is so in Democracies and was so in Sparta and is done by your Great Council in Venice but we are not making such a kind of Government but rectifying an ancient Monarchy and giving the Prince some help in the Administration of that great Branch of his Regality besides it is sufficient that our Parliament chuses these Councils that is always understood the Lords and Commons with the Kings Consent besides it is possible that if such

this Appearance to do their ordinary Work of giving Money and be gone and leave the Business of the Kingdom as they found it For it was proposed that whatsoever Security we were to receive should be both Conditional and Reversionable That is First We should not be put into Possession of this new Charter be it what it will till after the death of His Majesty who now is whereas such a Provision is desirable and indeed necessary for us for this only reason that when that unfortunate hour comes we might not be in that Confusion unprovided of a Calm Setled and Orderly as well as a Legal Way to keep out Popery Whereas otherwise if we be to take Possession in that Minute it must either miscarry or be gotten by a War if it be true that Possession be Nine Points of the Law in other Cases it is in this the whole Ten and I should be very unwilling in such a Distraction to have no Sanctuary to fly to but a piece of Parchment kept in the Pells and to have this too as well as other Advantages in the Power and Possession of him in whose prejudice it was made this had been almost as good an Expedient to keep out Popery as the Bill which was thrown out that Parliament which provided that in the Reign of a King that should be a Papist the Bishops should chuse one another upon Vacancies Those Counsellors who put my Lord Chancellor upon this Proposal were either very slender Politicians themselves or else thought the Parliament so If Magna Charta and The Petition of Right had not been to take place till after the Decease of those Princes who confirmed them neither had the Barons shed their Blood to so good purpose nor the Members of the Parliament in Tertio Caroli deserved so Glorious an Imprisonment after it was ended The other Condition in this renowned Proposal is That all Provision and Security which is given us to preserve our Religion shall cease immediately whenever the Prince shall take a certain Oath to be penned for that purpose and I leave it to all thinking men to determine what that will avail us when we shall have a King of that Profession over us who shall not have so much Zeal for his Religion as he who is now the next successor hath but shall possibly prefer his Ambition and his desire to get out of Wardship before the Scruples of his Confessor and yet may afterwards by getting Absolution for and Dispensation from such Oaths and Compliance employ the Power he gets himself and the Security he deprives us of to introduce violently what Worship and Faith he pleases This Gracious Offer had the fatality to disguist one of the best Parliaments that ever Sate and the most Loyal so that laying it aside they fell upon the Succession the only thing they had then left and were soon after Dissolved leaving the Kingdom in a more distracted Condition than they found it and this can no way be composed but by mending the Polity so that whoever is King cannot be he never so inclined to it introduce Popery or destroy whatever Religion shall be established as you see in the Example of the Dutchy of Hanover whose Prince some fourteen Years since was perverted to the Roman Church went to Rome to abjure Heresie as they call the truth return'd home where he lived and Governed as he did before without the least Animosity of his Subjects for his Change or any endeavour of his to Introduce any in his Government or People and dying this last Spring left the Peaceable and undisturbed Rule of his Subjects to the next Successor his Brother the Bishop of Osnaburg who is a Protestant and this because the Polity of that Dukedom has been conserved entire for many years and is upon a right Basis and if our Case were so we should not onely be out of danger to have our Religion altered as I said before whoever is King but should in other things be in a happy and flourishing condition But I have made a long and tedious digression to answer your demands Now 't is time you assist me to find the Natural Cure of all our Mischiefs Doct. Stay Sir I confess my self to be wonderfully Edified with your discourse hitherto but you have said nothing yet of the Duke of Monmouth Eng. Gent. I do not think you desire it though you were pleased to mention such a thing for I suppose you cannot think it possible that this Parliament which is now speedily to meet by his Majesties Gracious Proclamation can ever suffer such a thing to be so much as Debated amongst them Doct. Sir you have no reason to take that for granted when you see what Books are Printed what great and Honourable Persons frequent him in private and countenance him in publick what shoals of the middle sort of people have in his Progress this Summer met him before he came into any great Town and what Acclamations and Bon-fires have been made in places where he lodged Eng. Gent. These things I must confess shew how great a Distemper the People are in and the great reason we have to pray God of his Mercy to put an end to it by a happy Agreement in Parliament But certainly this proceeds only from the hatred they have to the next Successour and his Religion and from the compassion they have to the Duke of Monmouth who as they suppose hath suffered banishment and dis-favour at Court at his Instance and not from any hopes of expectations that the Parliament will countenance any pretence that can be made in his behalf to the Succession Doct. It may be when we have discoursed of it I shall be of your mind as indeed I am enclined already But yet nothing in War is more dangerous than to contemn an Enemy so in this Argumentation that we use to secure our Liberties we must leave nothing unanswered that may stand in the way of that especially the Duke of Monmouth's Claim which is pretended to confirm and fortifie them for say some Men if you set him up he will presently pass all Bills that shall concern the Safety and Interest of the People And so we shall be at rest for ever Eng. Gent. Well I see I must be more tedious than I intended First then the reasoning of these men you speak of does in my apprehension suppose a thing I cannot mention without horrour which is That this Person should be admitted immediately to the Possession of the Crown to do all these fine Matters for otherwise if he must stay till the Death of our Soveraign who now Reigns which I hope and pray will be many years possibly these delicate Bills may never pass nor he find hereafter the People in so good a humour to admit him to the Reversion which if it could be obtain'd as I think it impossible Politically yet the Possession must be kept by a standing Army and the next Successour cannot