Mountague and Viscount Hereford present Then the Earls but nineteen present the Earl of Hertford the Earl of Pembroke Bedford Southampton Warwick Bath Huntington Sussex Cumberland Rutland Worcester Darby Shrewsbury Westmoreland Northumberland Oxford and Arundel their Robes of Scarlet with their Rows of Miniver Then the Marquess of Winchester but now as Lord Treasurer and the Marquess of Northampton the Duke of Norfolk went as Earl Marshal Then the Lord Keepers Serjeant and Seal and after Sir Nicholas Bacon Lord Keeper of the Great Seal in his Gown Here Clarenceux and Norroy Then the Queens Serjeant at Arms and after Garter Then the Duke of Norfolk with the gilt Rod as Marshal the Lord Treasurer with the Cap of Estate and the Earl of Worcester with the Sword Then the Queens Majesty on Horseback a little behind the Lord Chamberlain and Vice-Chamberlain her Grace Apparelled in her Mantle opened before furr'd with Ermines and her Kirtle of Crimson Velvet close before and close Sleeves but the Hands turned up with Ermines and a Hood hanging low round about her Neck of Ermins Over all a rich Coller set with Stones and other Jewels and on her Head a rich Caul And the next after Her the Lord Robert Dudley Master of the Horse leading the spare Horse And after all other Ladies two and two in their Ordinary Apparel By side the Queen went her Footmen and along on either side of her went the Pensioners with their Axes after the Ladies followed the Captain of the Guard Sir William St. Loe and after him the Guard In which Order Her Majesty proceeded to the North Door of the Church of Westminster where the Dean there and the Dean of the Chappel met her and the whole Chappel in Copes and S t Edwards Staff with the Inlet in the top was delivered unto her her Arm for the bearing thereof assisted by the Baron of Hunsdon the Canopy born over her by Charles Howard Esq Sir George Howard Sir Richard Blunt Sir Ed. Warner Sir John Perrott and Sir William Fitz-Williams Knights her Graces Train born up and assisted for the weight thereof from her Arms by the Lord Robert Dudley Master of the Horse and Sir Francis Knowles Vice-Chamberlain and so orderly proceeded to the Travers beside the Table of Administration Although other Princes have used to be placed in the Quire till the Offering but not now because there was neither Communion nor Offering and so she being placed all the Lords sate down on Forms besides the Travers the Spiritualty on the North side and the Temporalty on the South side the Sword and the Cap of Estate laid down on the Table Then the Quire sung the English Procession which ended M r Noell Dean of Pauls began his Sermon and first made his Prayer orderly for the Queens Majesty and the Universal Church and especially for that Honourable Assembly of three Estates there present that they might make such Laws as should be to Gods Glory and the good of the Realm The Sermon being ended and a Psalm sung her Majesty and the rest orderly on foot proceeded out of the South Door where she delivered the Dean the Scepter and so proceeded into the Parliament Chamber where the Queen stayed a while in her Privy Chamber till all the Lords and others were placed and then her Highness came forth and went and fate her down in her Royal Place and Chair of Estate the Sword and Cap of Maintenance born before her and when she stood up her Mantle was assisted and born up from her Arms by the Lord Robert Dudley Master of the Horse and Sir Francis Knowles Vice-Chamberlain The Lord Keeper sate alone upon the uppermost Sack until the Queen was sate and then went and stood without the Rail on the right hand the Cloth of Estate and the Lord Treasurer holding the Cap of Estate on the right hand before the Queen Garter standing by him and on the left hand standing the Earl of Worcester with the Sword and by him the Lord Chamberlain The Duke of Norfolk began the first Form and the Viscount Mountague for that the Viscount Bindon was not there ended it The Lord Clinton the Lord Admiral began the Form behind that of Barons and the Lord St. John of Bletsoe ended it The Archbishop of Canterbury began the Bishops Form and the Bishop of Glocester ended the same On the Woolsack on the right hand and Northside sate Sir Robert Catlin and Sir James Dyer Chief Justices Sir William Peter Anthony Browne Corbett Weston and M r Gerrard the Queens Attorney On the Sack on the left hand and Southside sate Sir William Cordall Master of the Rolls Sir Edward Saunders Chief Baron Justice Widdon Serjeant Carus and M r Russell the Queens Sollicitor and at their Backs sate Sir Richard Read Doctor Yale and Doctor Vaughan On the other Sack sate Doctor Huicke Spilman Clerk of the Parliament and M r Martin Clerk of the Crown and behind them kneeled M r 〈◊〉 Allen Dyeter Nicasius Cliffe and Permitter At the side hand of the Queen sate on the ground three or four Ladies and no more and at the back of the Rail behind the Cloth of Estate kneeled the Earls of Oxford and Rutland under Age the Earl of Desmond the Lord Roos the Lord Herbert of Cardiffe and divers other Noblemens Sons and Heirs Nota That these foregoing passages touching the solemn manner of her Majesties coming to the Upper House are not at all found in the Original Journal-Book of the same but are transcribed out of a written Copy or memorial of them I had by me as doth also the Lord Keepers Speech follow out of the same in the next place The Queens Majesty being set as aforesaid under the Cloth of Estate the House of Commons had notice thereof and thereupon the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the same repaired to the Upper House and being as many as conveniently could let in she Commanded Sir Nicholas Bacon the Lord Keeper to open the cause of Calling and Assembling this Parliament who thereupon spake as followeth My Lords and others of this Honourable Assembly YOU shall understand that my most Dread and Sovereign Lady the Queens Majesty here present hath Commanded me to declare the occasion of this Assembly which I am not able but unmeet to do as it ought to be done among such a noble wise and discreet Company Howbeit knowing the Experience of her Majesty bearing with such as do their good wills and your Honours Patience in bearing with me in the like afore this time it encourageth me the better herein not doubting of the like at this present Therefore my Lords the occasion is that necessary matters be provided for propounded and scanned and after agreed upon and ended which afterwards shall remain and continue which matters in my Judgment may well be divided into two parts one touching Religion for the setting forth of Gods Honour and Glory and the other concerning Policy for the Common-Wealth as
the rest of the Council declared that the Queens Majesty would receive the Petition to Morrow in the Afternoon at the Palace by Mr. Speaker with the whole House of which see more on the day immediately ensuing Mr. Comptroller with the Committees for the Bill of Subsidy were appointed to meet this Afternoon in the Star-Chamber On Thursday the 28 th day of January the Bill for Badgers of Corn to be bound by Recognizance in the open Sessions was read the first time Post Meridiem In the Afternoon Mr. Speaker with the whole House with a Notable Oration did exhibit their Petition to the Queens Majesty in the Gallery at the Palace touching Marriage and Succession which her Highness thankfully accepted with an Excellent Oration deferring the Answer to further time for the gravity of the Cases What further Answer her Majesty gave may be seen on Thursday the 16 th day of February ensuing and on Saturday the 10 th day of April postea But as touching the Petition delivered to her Majesty this Afternoon by the whole House from the Mouth of Mr. Speaker it is not at all contained in the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons and therefore having a Copy of it by me which I do gather by all concurring circumstances to be the very same here mentioned both in respect of the time and matter I have caused it to be inserted at large I am not ignorant that in divers Copies of this Speech another Petition also is joined with it as preferr'd likewise by the Lords to her Majesty at this time for the same Causes which in truth happened not until the second Session of this Parliament following Anno 8 9 Regin Elizabethae neither shall it be needful to make any further demonstration thereof in this place having so fully cleared it in the Upper House Journal at that aforesaid second Session ensuing upon Tuesday the 5 th day of November and now followeth the Copy of the above-mentioned Petition at this time preferr'd as aforesaid Your Commons in this your Majesties present Parliament Assembled most High and Mighty Princess our most Dread Sovereign Lady as they do daily to their Commodity and Comfort feel and receive the inestimable benefits of your most Gracious Government of this your Realm in Peace and Surety so do also most thankfully acknowledge the same beseeching Almighty God long to bless and continue your most prosperous Reign over them And among all these benefits which they daily receive of your Highness they have at this time willed me in their names to recognize unto your Highness that they account it not the least but rather among the greatest of them all That your Majesty hath at this time Assembled your Parliament for supplying and redressing the greatest wants and defaults in your Common-Weal and for the establishing the surety of the same which your Majesties most gracious meaning hath been at your Commandment signified unto us by the Right Honourable the Lord Keeper of your Great Seal of England namely in this that he willed us first to have consideration of the greatest matters that nearest touch'd the State of the Realm and the preservation thereof seeming therein also to express unto us the Conformity of your Majesties mind in having principal respect to the matters of greatest weight and for that respect Assembling this your Parliament And for asmuch as your said Subjects see nothing in this whole Estate of so great importance to your Majesty and the whole Realm nor so necessary at this time to be reduced to certainty as the sure continuance of the Government of the Imperial Crown thereof and the most honourable Issue of your Body which Almighty God send us to your Highness Comfort and for want thereof in some certain limitation to guide the Obedience of our Posterity And where Almighty God to our great Terror and dreadful Warning lately touched your Highness with some danger of your most Noble Person by Sickness from which so soon as your Grace was by Gods favour and mercy to us recovered your Highness sent out your Writs of Parliament by force whereof your Subjects are at this time Assembled your said Subjects are both by the necessity and importance of the matter and by the convenience of the time of Calling them immediately upon your recovery enforced to gather and confess that your Majesty of your most Gracious and Motherly Care for them and their Posterity have Summoned this Parliament principally for establishing of some certain limitation of the Imperial Crown of your Realm for preservation of your Subjects from certain and utter destruction if the same should not be provided in your Life which God long continue They cannot I say but acknowledge your Majesty hath most graciously considered the great dangers the unspeakable miseries of civil Wars the perillous and intermingling of Foreign Princes with seditious ambitious and factious Subjects at home the waste of noble Houses the slaughter of People subversions of Towns intermission of all things pertaining to the maintenance of the Realm unsurety of all mens Possessions Lives and Estates daily interchange of Attainders and Treasons All these mischiefs and infinite others most likely and evident if your Majesty should be taken from us without known Heir which God forbid to fall upon your Subjects to the utter subversion of the whole whereof you have Charge under God If good provision should not be had in this behalf Your Majesty hath weighed the Examples of Foreign Nations as what ensued the Death of Great Alexander when for want of certain Heirs by him begotten or appointed the variety of Titles the diversity of Dispositions in them that had Titles the ambition of them that under colour of doubtfulness of Titles forsook all obedience of Titles destroyed his Dominions and wasted Posterity with mutual Wars and Slaughters In what miserable Case also was this Realm it self when the Title of the Crown was tossed in question between the two Royal Houses of Lancaster and York till your most Noble Progenitors Henry the Seventh and the Lady Elizabeth his Wife restored it to a setled Unity and left the Crown in a certain course of Succession These things as your Majesty hath upon your own danger most graciously considered for our Comfort and Safety so we most humble Subjects knowing the preservation of our selves and all our Posterity to depend upon the safety of your Majesties most Royal Person have most carefully and diligently considered how the want of Heirs of your Body and certain limitation of Succession after you is most perillous to your Highness whom God long preserve amongst us We have been admonished of the great malice of your Foreign Enemies which even in your Life-time have sought to transfer the Dignity and Right of your Crown to a Stranger we have noted their daily most dangerous practices against your Life and Reign We have heard of some Subjects of this Land most unnaturally confederated with your Enemies to
Miles Dominus Custos magni Sigilli paucis verbis declaravit conventum Procerum populi quem Parliamentum vocant in hunc diem destinatum à dictâ Dominâ Reginâ certis quibusdam de causis considerationibus illam ad id specialiter moven differri in 30 diem Septembris prox futur These foregoing Prorogations of this present Session of Parliament being thus at large or abstractedly transcribed now follows in Order the Assembling and Meeting of both Houses in their several places on Monday the 30 th day of September to which day it had been last Prorogued so that either House going on where they last left there was no Meeting in the Upper House at all of both Houses nor the Queen came not in Person as she used to do when a new Parliament began nor hath it ever been used in latter times upon a meer Prorogation but yet on Wednesday the second day of October following by reason of the Choice of a new Speaker in the House of Commons which was occasioned by the Death of the former the Queens Majesty came in her accustomed Royalty as at the beginning of a Parliament is usual and there admitted of their new Speaker presented unto her whom they had Chosen but the day before by vertue of her Majesties Commission all which in due Form and Order follows On Monday the 30. day of September to which day this present Session of Parliament had been last Prorogued there Assembled in the Upper House according to the usual form and course as also the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons did in their own proper place Sir Nicholas Bacon Knight Lord Keeper of the great Seal of England the Lord Archbishop of York the Lord Marquess of Winchester Lord Treasurer of England the Duke of Norfolk Earl Marshal of England the Marquess of Northampton with divers Earls Viscounts Bishops and Barons the particular setting down of whose names is purposely omitted here although it were the first day of their Assembling together because they are at large set down on the second day of October following being Wednesday when by reason of her Majesties coming in Person to the Upper House the presence of the Lords was somewhat greater than upon this instant Monday Hodiè retornatum fuit Breve quo Edwardus Dominus Stafford ad praesens Parliament summonitus fuit qui admissus est ad suum praeheminentiae locum salvo semper jure superioris sedentis Consimile pro Henrico Domino Paget Consimile pro Rogero Domino North. Consimile pro Roberto Comite Leicestriae Consimile pro Henrico Comite Westmorl This day Sir Edward Rogers Knight Comptroller of her Highness Houshold Sir Francis Knolles Knight her Highness Vice-Chamberlain Sir William Cecill Knight her Highness Principal Secretary and Sir Ambrose Cave Knight Chancellor of her Highness Dutchy of Lancaster four Chief Members of the House of Commons and divers others of that Assembly to the number of twenty persons being sent up to the Lords from that House upon some urgent and weighty occasions desired to be admitted into the Upper House there to make known to their Lordships somewhat wherein they should require their advice and need their assistance upon which being admitted the said M r Comptroller assisted with the Personages and Company aforesaid did in comely order and discreet modesty make manifest and known unto the said Lords that Thomas Williams Esquire their late Speà ker in the last Session of this Parliament in the fifth Year of the Queens Majesty that now is was bereft from them by Death which had been openly and manifestly made known and testified unto them for remedy of which defection they humbly prayed their Lordships advice after which the Lord Keeper first requiring the said Personages a while to withdraw themselves and then commending the Order of the matter to the Lords sitting in consultation for the same it was by them all upon considerate advice therein had thought fit to signifie unto the said Commons by the Personages aforesaid that they thought it expedient and good the said Lord Keeper the Lord Treasurer of England the Duke his Grace of Norfolk and the Lord Marquess of Northampton with the four forecited Personages of the said House of Commons being also of her Highness most Honourable Privy-Council should in the name of both of the Assemblies with all humbleness and due celerity make intimation of their said Estate and the Petition thereupon depending unto her said Highness to which advice the said House of Commons upon knowledge had of the same wholly assented Dominus Custos magni Sigilli continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem Martis primum Octobris On Tuesday the first day of October the Bill for the making void of fraudulent Gifts and Alienations was read primâ vice The Queen having been moved as it seemeth the day past about the Death of the former Speaker and the Choice of a new one in the House of Commons by those eight Right Honourable Personages who were then and there named to move her Highness in it did give Order that this present Tuesday both the Lords and Commons should Assemble and meet together in the Parliament Chamber there to receive her Majesties Answer Where being Assembled the Lord Keeper shewed forth a Commission from her Highness under the great Seal of England which was directed unto him only the tenor whereof is set down at large in the Journal of the House of Commons de An. isto 8 Regin Eliz. to which House it properly belonged viz. That in respect Thomas Williams Esq the former Speaker was dead therefore the Lord Keeper was for her Majesty and in her Name to will and Command the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the said House of Commons to resort unto their accustomed place and there to Elect and chuse amongst themselves one able and sufficient person to be their Speaker for the rest of this present Parliament yet to come And after they should have made their Election that then three or four of them for and in all their names should signifie the same unto her Majesty and thereupon her Highness would further signifie her pleasure unto them what day and time they should present him so Elected before her as it had been used formerly in like Cases to be done There was this day no other Bill or other business agitated in the Upper House for immediately upon the reading of the last above-mentioned Commission the Continuance of the Parliament is Entred in the Original Journal-Book of the said House in manner and form following viz. Dominus Custos magni Sigilli continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque diem Mercurii secundum diem Octobris On Wednesday the second day of October it seemeth there was no meeting of the Lords nor any thing done in the Forenoon neither is any mention made in the foregoing continuance of this Parliament by the Lord Keeper to what Hour of this Wednesday it was continued
Constituted the sole and joint Proxy of eight several Temporal Lords who with six others as is aforesaid were absent this Session of Parliament from which as also from other Presidents of former and later times it may easily be gathered that any Member of the Upper House by the antient usage and custom of the same is capable of as many Proxies as shall be directed unto him although there was an Order made in the said House to the contrary A. D. 1626. That no Lord or Member whatsoever of the Upper House should for the time to come be capable of above two Proxies at the most which said Order was occasioned in respect that George Duke of Buckingham Favorite of the King Deceased and of King Charles being guilty of many Crimes did to strengthen himself by Voices not only procure divers persons to be made Members of that House but also engrossed to himself near upon twenty several Proxies Vide one other Extraordinary Proxy on Saturday the 9 th day of November and another on Sunday December the first following This Forenoon also these twenty Lords under written were appointed to repair in the Afternoon to the Queens Majesty viz. The Archbishop of York The Earl of Northumberland The Earl of Westmoreland The Earl of Shrewsbury The Earl of Worcester The Earl of Sussex The Earl of Huntingdon The Earl of Warwick Viscount Bindon Viscount Mountague The Bishop of London The Bishop of Durham The Bishop of Winchester The Lord Cobham The Lord Rich. The Lord Wentworth The Lord Pagett The Lord Sheffeild The Lord Hastings of Loughborough The Lord Hunsdon The business about which these Lords repaired to the Queen is not in the Original Journal-Book it self of the Upper House but it may be guested it was concerning those two great businesses of the Queens Marriage and the Declaration of the next Heir and Successor after the Queens Decease to the Crown which business bred so much distast afterwards between her Majesty and her Subjects in this Session so that as afterwards the Lords did Petition the Queen about it so now it should seem these Lords repaired unto her either to desire leave to prefer that Petition and that they might confer with the House of Commons about it or else to know of her Majesty a fitting time when they might repair unto her with their said Petition and so receive Answer unto it But what the Queen replied at this time is hard to be conjectured only it followeth at large that on Tuesday the 5 th day of November the Members of both Houses for that end appointed repaired to her Majesty in the Afternoon but whether they then offered up their Petitions unto her Majesty or whether the House of Commons did at this Session of Parliament prefer any Petition at all concerning those two great matters aforesaid is hard to be determined No mention is made in the Original Journal-Book of continuing the Parliament which seemeth to have happened by the Clerks negligence On Wednesday the 23 th day of October the Bill to repeal a branch of a Statute made Anno 23 Hen. 8. touching the prices of Barrels and Kilderkins was read primâ vice An Act declaring the manner of making and Consecrating of the Archbishops and Bishops of the Realm to be good lawful and perfect was brought from the House of Commons Dominus Thesaurarius continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem Jovis prox On Thursday the 24 th day of October the Archbishop of York the Lord Treasurer the Duke of Norfolk and divers other Lords both Spiritual and Temporal did Assemble in the Parliament-Chamber where nothing was done but only the continuance of the Parliament until Friday next at ten of the Clock On Friday the 25 th day of October the Lord Treasurer signified to all the Lords that the Queens Highness considering the decay of his Memory and Hearing being Griefs accompanying Hoary Hairs and Old Age and understanding the Lord Keepers slow amendment intended to supply both their said defects by Sir Robert Catlin Knight Chief Justice of the Kings Bench and shewed forth her Majesties Commission under the Great Seal of England which the Clerk by Commandment openly read in haec verba ELizabeth by the Grace of God Queen of England France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. To our Trusty and well Beloved Sir Robert Catlin Knight Chief Justice of the Pleas to be holden before us Greeting Where our right trusty and well-beloved Councellor Sir Nicholas Bacon Knight Lord Keeper of our Great Seal of England is at this present sore visited with sickness that he is not able to travel to the Upper House of this our present Parliament 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 or Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England hath been accustomed We minding the same place and room to be supplied in all things as appertaineth have named and appointed you from day to day and time to time hereafter during our pleasure to use and occupy the place and room of the said Lord Keeper in our said Upper House of Parliament amongst the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal there Assembled and there to do and execute in all things from day to day and time to time as the said Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England should and might do if he were there present using and supplying the same place Wherefore we will and Command you the said Sir Robert Catlin to attend unto and about the Executing of the premisses with effect And these our Letters Patents shall be your sufficient Warrant and discharge for the same in every behalf In Witness whereof we have caused these our Letters to be made Patents Witness our Self at Westminster the 25 th day of October in the Eighth Year of Our Reign Martin The Bill to repeal a branch of a Statute made in the 23 th Year of Henry 8. touching prices of Barrels and Kilderkins was read tertiâ vice and by common consent of all the Lords concluded Dominus Capitalis Justiciarius continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem Sabbati proximum On Saturday the 26 th day of October the Bill declaring the manner of making and Consecrating of the Archbishops and Bishops of this Realm to be good lawful and perfect was read primâ vice Memorandum The Lords after deliberate Consultation and advice taken how to proceed in the great matters of Succession and Marriage before moved by the House of Commons did this present day send Serjeant Carus and M r Attorney down unto them to signifie that they would a chosen number should be sent up unto them for their knowledge to be had of the same Vide concerning this business on Wednesday the 30 th day of October now next ensuing as also on Tuesday the 5 th day of November following Dominus
hard for amongst many other ways there is one plain evident and easie and that is where offences do abound in any Country contrary to the Laws which the Justices should so reform and there be nothing done by them for the Reformation of those offences I do not see but this makes a full charge of their uncarefulness and negligence whereby they are well worthy upon Certificate made as is aforesaid to be removed of all Governance to their perpetual ignominy and to the Commendation of all those that remain as good Officers And besides to set forth other pains upon them as by Law may be justified if this were once or twice done I doubt not but the Examples following of the doing of it would cause greater diligence to be used in the Execution of Laws than now there is And the better to understand which be those Justices that do offend why might there not be order taken that the name of every Justice that hath not prosecuted any Offender for any offence committed contrary to any Law which by the Commission that he is in he is authorized to see punished might be entred into some Rolls and also how often and how many of those kind of offences he hath also prosecuted for a declaration of his diligence whereby it might appear when such Visitation should come who hath been careful and who hath been negligent to the end that the slothful drowzy Drones might be severed from the diligent and careful Bees And like as I could wish this to be done concerning Offices of mean degree so do I desire that the same course might be taken with the great and greatest for so it should be Equable But if there be nothing done therein but things left as they have been then must you look to have your Laws Executed as they have been if not worse for words will not reform these matters as I have seen by proof And this is the sum of what I have to say at this time concerning the Execution of Laws This Speech of the Lord Keepers being thus transcribed out of the before-mentioned Copy thereof now follows the manner of her Majesties giving her Royal Assent to such Acts as passed as it is set down in the end of the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House in an 39 Reg. Eliz. although it be omitted in that of this present Parliament The Title of the Bill of Subsidy being read after the publick and private Acts the Clerk of the said House standing up did read the Queens Answer in manner and form following La Roigne remercie ses Loyaulx subjects accepte lour benevolence ainst le veult The said Clerk having read the Queens acceptance and thanks for the Subsidy given as aforesaid did then upon the reading of the Title of her Majesties Pardon pronounce in these French words following the thanks of the Lords and Commons for the same Les Prelats Seigneurs Communes en ce present Parliament Assembles au nom de touts vos autres subjects remercient tres humblement vostre Majesty prient à Dieu qu' il vous done santé bone vie longe To every one of the publick Acts allowed by the Queen the Clerk of the Parliament read these French words following La Roigne le veult To every private Act that passed the said Clerk read the Queens Answer in these French words following Soit fait come il est desiré These two last Answers to the publick and private Acts that passed are to be written by the said Clerk at the end of every Act. To such Acts as her Majesty doth forbear to allow the Clerk of the Parliament reads these French words following viz. La Roigne s' advisera Her Majesty finally having given her Royal Assent to twenty eight publick Acts and thirteen private Dissolved the Parliament which is Entred in the Original Journal-Book of the Upper-House in manner and form following viz. Dominus Custos magni Sigilli ex mandato Dominae Reginae Dissolvit praesens Parliamentum THE JOURNAL OF THE House of COMMONS A Journal of the Proceedings of the House of Commons in the Parliament bolden at Westminster An. 13 Reg. Eliz. A. D. 1571 which began there on Monday the 2 d day of April and then and there continued until the Dissolution thereof on Tuesday the 29 th day of May ensuing THIS present Journal of the House of Commons de an 13 Regin Eliz. is not only plentifully stored with all usual Passages touching the Orders and Priviledges of the House but is most worthy to be had in Eternal Remembrance in respect of the long agitation and judicious debatement of matters of Religion and Ecclesiastical Government for the Reformation of which the said House did express a great deal of earnest zeal and care although all in the issue came to nothing out of that old Principle inculcated into her Majesty by some politick Head and misapplyed by her viz. that nothing must be innovated in matters of Religion All which matters with those also less extraordinary are more largely set down in the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons than was usual in the former Journals of her Majesties Reign by reason that Fulk Onslow Esq did as may be guessed succeed in the place of Clerk of the said House unto ..... Seymour Esq somewhat before the beginning of this Parliament Which said Journal is also much perfected out of an imperfect Journal of the same House I had by me taken by some Anonymous Member of the said House at this Parliament in which to avoid confusion whatsoever is here inserted out of the said imperfect Journal is distinguished by some Animadversion The third Parliament of Queen Elizabeth held in the Thirteenth Year of her Majesties most happy and prosperous Reign begun at the City of Westminster upon Monday the second day of April and during the time that her Majesty was at the Sermon at Westminster Church whither she had repaired about ten of the Clock in the Forenoon of the said Monday the Lord Clinton High Admiral of England accompanied with divers of her Majesties most Honourable Privy-Council that is to say Sir Francis Knolles K t Treasurer of her Highness most Honourable Houshold Sir James Crofts K t Comptroller of the same Sir Ralph Sadler K t Chancellor of her Majesties Dutchy of Lancaster Sir Walter Mildmay K t Chancellor of her Highness Court of Exchequer and Sir Thomas Smith Knight repaired into the Lower House of Parliament And there in the presence and hearing of a great number of the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the same Parliament Assembled the said Lord Clinton signified that the Queens Majesty had called and appointed him to be the Steward of her Highness most Honourable Houshold to continue during her Majesties pleasure which being likewise affirmed and testified by the said other of her Highness most Honourable Privy-Council the said Lord Steward then further declared that he did then and there name Constitute
wholly omitted in the Original Journal-Book of the same so also by a like negligence are all those many and several Prorogations buried in Silence by which this Parliament was continued without Dissolution until the next meeting thereof on Wednesday the 8 th day of February in the eighteenth year of her Majesties Reign which was the second Session of this present Parliament and held about four years after the determination of this first Session by Adjournment as aforesaid so that it is very probable that there are not less than twenty several Prorogations For between that foresaid second Session in an 18 Reginae Eliz. and the third Session of this present Parliament in an 23 Reginae ejusdem which contained not above one years space more than had intervened between the two former Sessions there passed at least twenty five Prorogations as doth plainly appear in the end of the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House in the said Session of Parliament de an 18 Reginae praedict where they are for the most part set down either abstractedly or at large And lastly As touching the great business of the Scottish Queen so much and so long agitated in both Houses it did at this time receive no period or conclusion but in this Session of Parliament in an 14 Reginae Eliz. an Act passed both Houses against her and lastly in the Parliament de an 28 29 Reginae ejusdem she was a little before her Execution at Fortheringhay-Castle in Northamptonshire Condemned to be Worthy of Death by the Vote of both the said Houses of Parliament THE JOURNAL OF THE House of COMMONS A Journal of the Passages of the House of Commons in the Session of Parliament bolden at Westminster An. 14 Reginae Eliz. A. D. 1572 which began there on Thursday the 8 th Day of May and then and there continued until the Adjournment thereof on Monday the 30 th and last Day of June next ensuing THIS Journal of the House of Commons containeth in it not only many good passages touching the ordinary reading committing and expediting of Bills but is plentifully stored also with the frequent agitation and discussion of that great business touching the Scottish Queen whose practices not only with Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolk but also with the Foreign Enemies of her Majesty for the destruction and Invasion of the Realm are notably described which also is much enlarged out of a written Copy I had by me of such reasons as were conceived in the House of Commons for her speedy Execution and of the Petition also preferred to her Majesty to the same purpose which said Reasons and Petition being not found in the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons I have therefore to avoid confusion distinguished by an Annotation or Animadversion from that of the Journal it self where it hath in its due place been inserted There passed also in this said Session a Bill against the said Queen of Scots which is falsly referred in divers Copies thereof to the 23 th year of her Majesty On Thursday the 8 th day of May this first Session of the fourth Parliament of her Majesties Reign beginning at Westminster The Right Honourable the Earl of Lincoln High Admiral of England and by her Highness appointed Lord Steward for this present time came to the Lower House of Parliament accompanied with divers others of her Majesties most Honourable Privy-Council viz. Sir Francis Knolles Knight Treasurer of her Highness most Honourable Houshold Sir James Crofts Knight Comptroller of the same Sir Ralph Sadler Knight Chancellor of her Majesties Dutchy of Lancaster and Sir Walter Mildmay Knight Chancellor of her Highness Court of Exchequer And did then and there minister the Oath unto all the Knights Citizens Burgesses and Barons then and there Assembled The said Earl of Lincoln Constituting and Authorizing the said Sir Francis Knolles Sir James Crofts Sir Ralph Sadler and Sir Walter Mildmay to be his Deputies in and for the more speedy ministration of the said Oath according to the Statute in that behalf lately made and provided unto all such others of the said Knights Citizens Burgesses and Barons as should happen afterwards to appear upon any return during this present Parliament This day Robert Bell of the Middle-Temple London Esq was Chosen Speaker for this present Parliament But whether her Majesty were this day in Person in the Upper House or by what Authority from her said Highness the said Speaker was Elected cannot possibly be gathered out of the Original Journal of the said Upper House or that of the House of Commons but elsewhere it appears the Lord Keeper gave them Authority in the end of his Speech on Thursday foregoing On Saturday the 10 th day of May M r Speaker was by the House presented to the Queens Majesty and of her Highness well accepted and allowed who after his Oration made and the Ordinary Petitions granted repaired to the House of Commons and being set in the Chair received the Oath After which according to the usual form was read The Bill concerning Bayles to be taken in the Court of Common-Pleas was read the first time On Monday the 12 th day of May Four Bills of no great moment had each of them their first reading of which the third being the Bill for Proclamations to be made in Parish Churches and Chappels before Outlawries was committed unto M r Gent M r Robert Snagg M r Fenner M r Humberston M r Flowerdue M r French and M r Boyes who were appointed to meet this Afternoon at two of the Clock in the Temple Church The Lords did send Sir Richard Read and M r D r Huick to require M r Speaker and this whole House forthwith to make their repair unto their Lordships in the Upper House and upon their repair thither the Lord Keeper signified unto them that the Queens Majesties Pleasure is that twenty one of the said Upper House and forty four of this House should meet to Morrow in the Morning at eight of the Clock in the Star-Chamber then and there to consult and deliberate upon matters concerning the Queen of Scots Whereunto were appointed of this House M r Treasurer M r Comptroller M r Chancellor of the Dutchy M r Chancellor of the Exchequer My Lord Deputy of Ireland Sir Maurice Berkeley Sir Hugh Pawlet Sir Thomas Scott Sir Owen Hopton Sir Nicholas Arnold Sir John Thinne Sir Hen. Gate Sir Rowland Hayward M r Doctor Wilson M r Attorney of the Dutchy M r Recorder of London M r Serjeant Manwood M r Serjeant Geffry M r Mounson M r Sands M r Popham M r Yelverton M r Coleby M r Heneage M r Charles Howard M r Hatton M r Asteley M r Shute M r Hen. Knolles Sen. M r Hen. Knolles Jun. M r Peter Wentworth M r Sampole M r Norton M r William Moor. M r John Vaughan M r Tho. Randall M r John Vaughan of Caermarthen M r Greenfield Sen. M r Charles Somerset M
others The Bill for Trial by Juries was Ordered to be ingrossed On Wednesday the 7 th day of March Two Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill for the paving of the City of Chichester was read the third time and passed the House The Bill for the maintenance of the Colledges in the Universities and of Eaton and Winchester was twice read and Ordered to be ingrossed The Bill for Butlerage and prisage of Wines was read the first time The Bill for collateral Warranties was twice read and committed unto the Master of the Wardrobe Sir Henry Knivet Mr. Serjeant Jeffries Mr. Colby Mr. French Mr. Snagg Mr. Lewkenor and others to confer this Afternoon Peremptory day was given for the Councel of the Lady Waynman and her adverse party to be here at this House to Morrow next at eight of the Clock in the Forenoon All the Privy-Council being of this House Mr. Captain of the Guard the Masters of the Requests Sir Nicholas Arnold Mr. Sampoole and Mr. Cromwell were appointed to meet this Afternoon at one of the Clock in the Chequer Chamber but it doth not appear about what business these foresaid Members of the House of Commons were appointed to meet All the Privy-Council being of this House Mr. Captain of the Guard Mr. Serjeant Lovelace and Mr. Serjeant Jeffryes were added to the former Committees for Fines and Recoveries Mr. Pursell Mr. Glascoe Mr. Hanmer Mr. Townesend Mr. Davies Mr. Bostock Mr. Price Mr. Aylmer and Mr. Broughton were appointed to have Conference with the Lords this Afternoon touching the Bills for reformation of Errors in Fines and common Recoveries in the County Palatine of Chester and in Wales and also touching some general Bill for that purpose to be devised Mr. Treasurer Sir Nicholas Arnold Mr. Cromwell Mr. Sandes and Mr. Sampoole were appointed to confer presently with the Lords touching the Bill of Rogues The Bill for the having of two Justices in the Shires of Wales was read the third time and passed the House Mr. Doctor Yale and Mr. Doctor Barkley brought from the Lords a Bill for the restitution in Blood of the Heirs of the Lord Stourton The Bill for reformation of Letters Patents was read the third time with some Amendments The Bill to take away the benefit of Clergy from such as commit Rapes and Burglaries and touching the purgation of Clerks Convict was thrice read and committed unto Sir Henry Knivett M r Serjeant Lovelace M r Serjeant Jeffries M r Sampoole M r Windham M r Atkins M r Dannet M r Diggs and others M r Doctor Yale and M r Powle did bring from the Lords a Bill touching certain Authority given to the Justices of the Queens Majesties Forests Chaces and Parks with commendation for expedition M r Serjeant Barham and M r Doctor Vaughan did bring word from the Lords that their Lordships do require that the Committees of this House may confer with them to Morrow in the Morning before eight of the Clock in the Parliament Chamber The Bill against the abuse of Goldsmiths the Bill for Confirmation of Letters Patents the Bill touching fraudulent Conveyances by the late Rebels in the North and the Bill for paving of the City of Chichester with one other of no great moment were sent up to the Lords by M r Comptroller and others Post Meridiem In the Afternoon an Abstract of a Devise for setting the Poor on work by the sowing and using of Rape-seed Hemp-seed and Flax-seed was read to this House Two Bills of no great moment had each of them their third reading and passed the House of which the first was the Bill for repairing of High-ways and Bridges near Oxford Upon the question it was Ordered that M r Hall be sequestred the House while the matter touching the supposed contempt done to this House be argued and debated Edward Smalley upon the question was adjudged guilty of contempt and abusing of this House by fraudulent practice of procuring himself to be Arrested upon the Execution of his own assent and intention to be discharged as well of his Imprisonment as of the said Execution Matthew Kirtleton School-Master to M r Hall was likewise upon another question adjudged guilty by this House of like contempt and abusing of this House in Confederacy and practice with the said Smalley in the intentions aforesaid Upon another question it was adjudged by the House that the said Smalley be for his misdemeanor and contempt committed to the Prison of the Tower Upon the like question it was also adjudged by this House that the said Kirtleton School-Master be also for his said lewd demeanor and contempt in abusing of this House committed to the Prison of the Tower Upon another question it was also resolved that the Serjeant of this House be commanded to bring the said Edward Smalley and the said Matthew Kirtleton School-Master to M r Hall into the House to Morrow next in the Forenoon to hear and receive their said Judgments accordingly And further that the matter wherein the said ARthur Hall Esq is supposed to be touched either in the privity of the said matter of arrest or in the abusing of the Committees of this House shall be deferred to be further dealt in till to Morrow Vide concerning this matter on Saturday the 10 th day of this instant March ensuing On Thursday the 8 th day of March Five Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the last being the Bill for maintenance of the Colledges in the Universities and of Eaton and Winchester was read the third time and passed with two Provisoes added M r Serjeant Lovelace M r Yelverton M r Boyer M r Layton and M r Robert Bowes were sent to the Lords to confer presently touching the amendments in the Bill of fraudulent Conveyances made by the late Rebels in the North. Two Bills also had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill against buying and selling of rooms and places in Colledges and Schools and the second for maintenance of Colledges in the Universities and of Eaton and Winchester had each of them their third reading and passed the House and were sent up to the Lords with two others by Secretary Smith and others The new Bill for High-ways was read the first time and committed to certain of the House to be presently amended The Bill for certain Authority to be given to the Justices of the Queens Majesties Forests Chaces Parks and Warrens was read the first time Vide de ista materia in fine hujus diei M r Doctor Barkley and M r Powle did bring from the Lords a Bill entitled an Act for the Lord Viscount Hayward of Bindon and Henry Hayward Esquire and Francis his Wife with commendation for expedition Two Bills had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill against abuses of Licence for transportation of prohibited Wares was read the
unto the 16 th day of January being Monday on which day this Session following in Anno 23 Reginae Eliz. Anno Domini 1580 began But her Majesty because it was no new Parliament was not present nor did the Lords wear their Robes on this said Monday being the first day of their meeting nor was their any solemn Speech made by the Lord Keeper but either House assembling themselves together severally in their due places fell to their ordinary businesses as upon other days is usually accustomed yet the beginning of this Session is as solemnly Entred in the Original Journal-Book as if it had been a new Parliament where it appeareth to be in manner and form following Die Lunae 16 die Januarii 1580 Anno Regni Excellentissimae metuendissimae Dominae nostrae Elizabethae Dei gratia Angliae Franciae Hiberniae Reginae Fidei Defensatricis c. Vicesimo tertio in quem diem post varias ac diversas Prorogationes praesens haec Sessio Parliamenti Prorogata fuit teneri inchoari apud Westmonasterium die loco praedict Domini tam Spirituales quam Temporales quorum nomina subsequuntur praesentes suerunt Episcopus London Episcopus Sarisburien Episcopus Wigorn. Episcopus Roffen Episcopus Coventr Litchfield These Bishops are thus placed in the Original Journal-Book on the dexter-side of the Lords not by reason of preheminency unless the Archbishop of Canterbury had been present but by reason of their Ecclesiastical Dignity these being all that are noted in the said Journal-Book to have been present this day now follow the names of the Lord Keeper and the Temporal Lords Thomas Bromley Miles Dominus Cancellarius Dominus Burleigh Thesaurarius Angliae Marchio Winton Comes Lincoln Magnus Admirallus Angliae Comes Arundell Comes Northampton Comes Wigorn. Comes Cumberland Comes Bathon Comes Norwicen Comes Southampton Comes Pembrook Comes Hartford Comes Leicester Vice-comes Mountague Vice-comes Bindon Barones Dominus Burgavenny Dominus Willoughby de Erisby Dominus Dacres Dominus Stafford Dominus Dudley Dominus Lumley Dominus Stourton Dominus Mountjoy Dominus Darcy de Darcy Dominus Windsor Dominus Cromwell Dominus Evers Dominus Wharton Dominus Willoughbie de Parham Dominus Howard Dominus North. Dominus S t John de Bletso Dominus de la Ware Dominus Cheyney Dominus Norris Nota There were no names of Receivors or Triors of Petitions read because this was but the third and last Session of a former Parliament as hath been observed and those names are never read but in the beginning of a new Parliament One Bill was read this Morning being for the reformation of Sheriffs Under-Sheriffs and their Ministers primâ vice Hodiè retornatum est Breve quo Preregrinus Bartye Dominus Willoughby silius haeres Katherinae Ducissae Suff. siliae haeredis Willielmi Willoughby nuper Domini Willoughby praesenti Parliamento interesse summonitus est qui admissus est ad suum praeheminentiae sedendi in Parliamento locum salvo jure alieno viz. the said Lord Willoughby was seated and took place next under the Lord Audley and above the Lord Barkley The like Writ returned for Edward Parker Lord Morley who accordingly was admitted salvo jure alieno and placed next under the Lord Barkley and above the Lord Dacres The Lords being thus set and in agitation of their own businesses Sir Francis Knolles Knight Treasurer of her Majesties Houshold Accompanied with Sir James Crosts Knight Comptroller of her Highness Houshold Sir Francis Walsingham Knight one of her Majesties Principal Secretaries and M r Doctor Wilson Esquire another of her Majesties Principal Secretaries Sir Walter Mildmay Knight Chancellor of her Majesties Exchequer and divers others being sent up to the said Lords by the House of Commons upon some urgent and weighty occasions desired to be admitted into the said Upper House there to make known to their Lordships somewhat of importance wherein they should require their advice and need their assistance upon which being admitted the said M r Treasurer assisted with the Personages and Company aforesaid did in comely order and discreet manner make manifest and known unto the said Lords that Sir Robert Bell Knight late Lord Chief Baron and Speaker of the said House who had been Elected to the said place in the first Session of this Parliament in the fourteenth year of her Majesty and had continued also the second Session thereof being in the eighteenth year of her said Highness Reign in the said place was now dead which had been openly and manifestly made known and testified unto them for remedy of which defection they humbly prayed their Lordships advice After which the Lord Keeper first requiring the said Personages a while to withdraw themselves and then commending the order of the matter unto the said Lords sitting in Consultation for the same it was upon considerate advice therein had by them all thought fitting to signifie unto the said Commons by the Personages aforesaid who had been sent from them that they thought it expedient and good that such of the Lords of the said House as were of her Highness Privy-Council with the Lord Marquess of Winchester and the Earl of Arundel Accompanied with such a number of the Commons House as by them should be agreed upon should in the name of both the Assemblies make intimation of their said Estate and the Petition thereupon depending unto her said Highness to which advice the said Commons upon knowledge had of the same wholly assented Then followed the Adjournment of the said Parliament by the Lord Keeper according to the usual form which is thus Entred in the Original Journal-Book Dominus Cancellarius Adjournavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem Mercurii proximum hora nona On Wednesday the 18 th day of January Billa for reformation of abuses in Sheriffs Under-Sheriffs and their Ministers secunda vice lecta Two other Bills also of no great moment were read primâ vice The Queen having been moved as it seemeth according to the resolution of the two Houses jointly agreed upon between them on Monday last past the 16 th day of this instant January about the Death of Sir Robert Bell late Lord Chief Baron their former Speaker and the choice of a new one in the House of Commons by the Marquess of Winchester and those other right honourable Personages who were then and there named to move her Highness in it did give Order that this present Wednesday both the Lords and Commons should assemble and meet together in the Upper House commonly called the Lords Parliament Chamber there to receive her Majesties Answer where being Assembled Sir Thomas Bromley Knight Lord Chancellor of England shewed forth a Commission from her Highness under the Great Seal of England which was directed to him only wherein her Majesty taking notice of the Death of Sir Robert Bell their former Speaker did Authorize the Lord Keeper for her Majesty and in her name to will and Command the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of
no notice but by relation of his Death as her Majesty hath And her Majesty hath the more certain notice for that her self had made Sir Robert Bell Lord Chief Baron and so his place of Speaker void as some thought although some others thought that the Chief Baron may be Speaker and she had since his Death made a new Chief Baron viz. Nota That this Argument doth very solidly and fully prove that the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons ought not at this time to have joined with the Upper House in Petitioning the Queen for liberty to chuse a new Speaker in respect that her Majesty could not but take notice of it as well as themselves and the rather at this present because she had first made Sir Robert Bell Knight their former Speaker Chief Baron of the Exchequer by which many supposed his place of Speaker was void in the said Commons House because he was to be called by Writ as a necessary attendant of the Upper House and lastly because her Majesty had now afterwards also upon his Death made another Chief Baron in his room by all which it appeared most plainly as is before urged that her Majesty could not but know as well as themselves that the said place of Speaker was void But whether M r Fulk Onslow the now Clerk of the House of Commons did conceive these reasons in his own mind and so by communicating them unto others of the said House and finding them to concur in the same opinion did thereupon Enter them in the Journal-Book of this Parliament or whether others of the House did first conceive it themselves and utter it to him in private in the said House yet certainly it having not been openly spoken in the House as appears by his own setting of it down but privately muttered it ought to have been Entred as a private opinion and not as any part of the Journal and to have been distinguished by being written in some other different hand from that in which the rest of the Journal was set down or the like But yet notwithstanding all those foresaid reasons already set down it was at last agreed by the greater number of the few Voices that the said Precedent should be followed which had before passed in the eighth year of her Highness Reign And accordingly were appointed the said M r Treasurer and Sir James Crofts Knight Comptroller of her Majesties most honourable Houshold and Thomas Wilson Esquire one of her Highnesses Principal Secretaries with a convenient number of others of the House to go to the Upper House to make Petition to the Lords for their Mediation to her Majesty for Licence to chuse a Speaker the place being void first by the making of the said Sir Robert Bell to be Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer and lastly by his Death which Message being by the said persons executed accordingly and they brought Answer again to the House from the Lords that their Lordships had appointed all the Lords of the Privy-Council with the Marquess of Winchester the Earl of Arundell and the Bishop of London to make that Suit to her Majesty and required to have four of this House being of her Majesties Privy-Council to join therein with them according to the said Precedent whereupon forasmuch as it appeared to this House that the Lords in appointing their number had varied from the said Precedent it was moved that likewise the number appointed by this House might also be altered that in precedent it might remain a thing Arbitratory to the House and that so five of this House being of the Privy-Council should be added to the Lords and the rather because it was then affirmed of some that the cause why only four of the Council being of this House were appointed in the said eighth year was for that the Lords number was then but four and for that also there were at that time but four of the Council in this House The now Lord Treasurer then being the one only Principal Secretary to her Majesty but at last the said Precedent was precisely urged and followed and the said M r Treasurer M r Comptroller and Sir Francis Walsingham Knight one of her Majesties two Principal Secretaries and Sir Walter Mildmay Knight Chancellor of her Highness Court of Exchequer were appointed by this House to join with the said Lords in the said Suit to her Majesty and Order was then also given that this House should also daily assemble to continue the Session and attend the Answer of her Highnesses Pleasure therein On Tuesday the 17 th day of January some number of this House Assembled this day to attend for the causes aforesaid On Wednesday the 18 th day of January the Right Honourable the Earl of Lincoln Lord Steward of the Queens Majesties most honourable Houshold came into this House and before him divers Knights Citizens and Burgesses returned into this House did openly receive and pronounce the Oath according to the form of the Statute in that case made and provided and he did also then and there signify and declare the right Honourable M r Treasurer M r Comptroller M r Secretary Wilson and M r Chancellor of the Exchequer to be his Deputies during this Session of Parliament that before them or any of them all such persons as should during this Session be returned to be of this House might openly receive and pronounce the said Oath accordingly which Deputation they did then execute This matter of the Lord Stewards Ministring the Oath of Supremacy unto such Members of the House of Commons as were newly Elected and returned to this new Session of Parliament being thus transcribed out of the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons now follows the whole manner of the proceeding of her Majesty in giving Authority by her Commission under the Great Seal unto the House of Commons to Elect a new Speaker and of their receiving the said Authority out of the Original Journal-Book of the House of Lords in respect that the same is but shortly and imperfectly set down in the Original Journal-Book of the said House of Commons This foresaid Wednesday Morning the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons being mindful of the great business of the Election of a new Speaker which they had treated of on Monday foregoing being the 16 th day of this instant January repaired to the Upper House commonly called the Parliament Chamber where being Assembled with the Lords those noble Personages and others who had been appointed to repair unto the Queen on Monday foregoing signified her Majesties Pleasure unto all the Lords and Commons there present concerning the Choice of a new Speaker by the Members of the House of Commons And thereupon the Lord Chancellor shewed forth a Commission under the Broad Seal of England which he Commanded the Clerk openly to read the the tenor whereof was as followeth ELizabeth c. To our Right Trusty and
instante decimo quarto die Septembris dissolutum determinatum sit per has literas nostras patentes idem Parliamentum nostrum penitus dissolvimus determinamus Et ideo vobis mandamus quòd circa praemissa diligenter intendalis ac ea in forma praedicta effectualiter expleatis exequamini Volumus etiam concedimus quòd omnes singuli Archiepiscopi Marchiones Comites Vicecomites Episcopi Barones Milites Cives Burgenses ac omnes alii quorum interest ad dictum Parliamentum nostrum conventuri de omni eo quod eis pertinet in praemissis faciend ' exequend sint omnino tenore praesentium exonerati quieti in omnibus prout decet In cujus rei testimonium has literas nostras fieri fecimus patentes Teste me ipsa apud Westmonasterium decimo quarto die Septembris Anno Regni nostri 28o. Per ipsam Reginam Nota That this last Dissolution of the aforesaid Parliament in Anno 28 Reginae Eliz. Anno Domini 1586. was somewhat above one whole year and a half from and after the first Prorogation thereof which was on Monday the 29 th day of March Anno 27 Reginae ejusdem Anno Domini 1585. by which it is probable that her Majesty had intended at first to have made this and the Parliament that follows to have been but two Sessions and not two several Parliaments as afterwards it sell out and as they now remain And it is the more strange that this resolution was at all altered because the ensuing Parliament held in Anno 28 29 Reginae Eliz. Anno Domini 1586. began within some forty five days after this last recited day on which this aforesaid Parliament was Dissolved as is aforesaid And that which yet maketh this foresaid Dissolution of the above-mentioned Parliament on this 14 th day of September the more strange is because it had been last prorogued on the 26 th day of April Anno 28 Reginae Eliz. unto the 14 th day of November following which if it had held would have fallen out full two Months after this day of the Dissolution thereof and at least a Fortnight after the 29 th day of October on which the next and new Parliament began in the said twenty eighth year of her Majesties Reign But to clear this doubtfully there was no other cause or ground upon which her Majesty altered that her first resolution but the blessed and strange discovery of that most horrible and merciless Conspiracy plotted between the Scottish Queen Ballard Babington and others for the speedy Murthering of her Majesty and Extirpation of true Religion The manner and Execution whereof having continued in agitation between them from July to September in this said twenty eighth year of her Majesties Reign upon the 20 th day of the last mentioned Month the two foresaid Conspirators and five more of their notablest Complices were Executed in S t Giles-Fields near London having been Condemned upon Tuesday the 13 th day of the said Month which was the very day foregoing the said 14 th day of the same Month on which the foresaid Parliament was Dissolved as appears fully by the fore-recited Commission After which also before the new Parliament began on Saturday the 29 th day of October following the Queen of Scots was tried at Fothringhay Castle in Northamptonshire and after Condemned in the Star-Chamber by the lawful Verdict of her Peers the proceedings whereof lasted from the 11 th day of the Month aforesaid being Wednesday unto the 25 th day of the same being Tuesday which Sentence was affirmed and allowed by the Parliament following in Anno 28 Regin Eliz. THE JOURNAL OF THE House of COMMONS A Journal of the Passages of the House of Commons in the Parliament holden at Westminster Anno 27 Reginae Eliz. Anno Domini 1584. which began there on Monday the 23 th Day of November and then and there continued until the Prorogation thereof on Monday the 29 th Day of March Anno Domini 1585. and was lastly Dissolved on Wednesday the 14 th Day of September Anno 28 Reginae ejusdem Anno Domini 1586. THIS Ensuing Parliament is replenished with many Excellent Passages concerning the Orders Priviledges and Usages of the same from which also divers good Precedents may be gathered touching Elections and Joint-Conferences with the Lords of the Upper House neither finally doth it want sufficient matter of publick Agitations the danger of the State and the Ecclesiastical Government of the Church being at large debated in it in which also appears the zeal of the said House against one Doctor Parrie a notorious Traytor being a Member thereof The Parliament beginning on Monday the 23 th day of November in Anno hoc 27 Reginae Eliz. her Majesty came from her Palace of Whitchall in her accustomed and Royal and stately manner unto the Cathedral Church of Westminster about .... of the Clock in the Forenoon during whose being there the Earl of Leicester at this time Lord Steward of her Highness Houshold came into the Utter Room of the House of Commons and then and there before his Lordship did the right honourable M r Treasurer and M r Comptroller of her Majesties Houshold and M r Chancellor of the Exchequer being severally chosen and returned Knights into the said House of Commons for the Counties of Oxon Hereford and Northampton take and pronounce the Oath according to the Statute in that behalf made and provided which done the said Lord Steward departed from the House into the lower end of the Room called the White-Hall or Court of Requests and then also did the right honourable M r Secretary Walsingham returned one of the Knights for the County of Surrey likewise take and pronounce the said Oath before his Lordship And then his Lordship caused as many of the said Knights Citizens Burgesses and Barons as at that time were returned into the Crown-Office to be called and returned and the names to be pricked of so many of them as then appeared and so nominating and appointing the said four honourable Personages to be his Lordships Deputies to see the said Oath taken and pronounced by all the residue of the said House of Commons departed and thereupon his Lordships said Deputies proceeded to the further ministring of the said Oath unto the residue of the said House of Commons But before such time as these four right honourable Personages deputed by the Earl of Leicester as aforesaid had administred the said Oath to all such of their fellow Members of the House of Commons as were present although the greatest part of them had taken it they had notice about two of the Clock in the Afternoon that her Majesty with divers of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal were then already set in the Upper House and there expected them who thereupon all of them together repaired thither and as many as conveniently could being let in Sir Thomas Bromley Lord Chancellor having made an
granted to her Majesty were brought in by Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer and read in the House and appointed to be delivered by M r Speaker to her Majesties Learned Councel to draw the Bill for the same Sir Francis Knolles Knight Treasurer of her Majesties Houshold declared this day unto the House their Lordships Answer touching the Petition so often before mentioned in which the House of Commons had desired their Lordships to join with them But what these Petitions were is by the negligence of Fulk Onslow Esquire at this time Clerk of the House of Commons wholly omitted not only here but in all other places of this present Journal where they are often before mentioned as may appear by the enumeration of the several days proceeding that concern them at the end of this Animadversion although they might be in part collected out of those fragmentary Answers which are likewise very imperfectly set down which were reported by the foresaid M r Treasurer to have been delivered to the Committees of the House of Commons by the Archbishop of York and are found in the said Original Journal Book it self But in respect the matters contained in the said Petitions were of great weight and well worthy to be left entire to Posterity that so the zealous care of the Commons at this time may not die in silence I have caused them to be transcribed wholly and exactly in this place of this present Journal out of a very good Copy of them I had by me by the help whereof also the Archbishops Answer to all the several Articles or Petitions aforesaid which were in number sixteen may be the better understood But before the inserting of the said Petitions it shall not be amiss to make reference unto the several days on which they were mentioned Vide therefore on Monday the 14 th day on Tuesday the 16 th day and on Monday the 21 th day of December foregoing As also on Monday the 15 th day Tuesday the 16 th Thursday the 18 th and Monday the 22 th and now lastly on this present Thursday the 25 th day of this instant February And now follow the said Petitions out of the foresaid Copy of them I had by me before which was prefixed this Title following The humble Petitions of the Commons of the Lower House of Parliament to be offered to the consideration of the Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal of the Higher House 1. WHere by a Statute made the thirteenth of her Majesties Reign it was Enacted That none should be made a Minister unless he be able to Answer and render to the Ordinary an account of his Faith in Latine according to certain Articles set forth in a Synod holden Anno 1562. and mentioned in the said Statute or have special gift and ability to be a Preacher It may please their honourable Lordships to consider whether it were meet to be Ordained that so many as have been taken into the Ministry since the making of this Statute and be not qualified according to the true meaning and intent of the same be within a competent time Suspended from the Ministry and Execution of any Function thereto appertaining unless they shall be found of that ability which the Statute requireth 2. That where in a Synod holden 1575. It was provided that unlearned Ministers heretofore made by any Bishops should not from thenceforth be admitted to any Cure or special Function it may also like their Lordships to advise whether so many as have been since that time admitted contrary to the form of that Article shall be within a competent time removed And that for better Explanation of that Article such be taken for unlearned as be not qualified according to the Statute before-recited and provision made for the due Execution of that Article so declared for ever hereafter 3. Where also in that great and weighty charge which in the Book containing the form of Ordering of Priests established by the Statutes of this Realm is prescribed to be delivered to all such as shall be received into the Ministry they are admonished that they be the Messengers the Watchmen the Pastors and Stewards of the Lord to teach to premonish to feed and to provide for the Lords Family to seek for Christs Sheep that be dispersed abroad and for his Children which be in the midst of this naughty World to be saved through Christ for ever with other remembrances of other sundry weighty parts of their Duties It may like their Honours to consider of some good Order to be given that none hereafter be admitted to the Ministry but such as shall be sufficiently furnished with gifts to perform so high and so earnest a Charge and that none be superficially allowed as persons qualified according to the Statute of the thirteenth of her Majesties Reign before recited but with deliberate Examination of their knowledge and exercise in the Holy Scriptures answerable to the true meaning of that Statute 4. Further That for so much as it is prescribed in the form of Ordering Ministers That the Bishops with the Priests present shall lay their hands severally upon the head of every one that receiveth Order without mention of any certain number of Priests that shall be present and that in a Statute made 21 th of King H. the Eighth is affirmed that a Bishop must occupy six Chaplains at giving of Orders it may be considered whether it may be meet to provide that no Bishop shall Ordain any Minister of the word and Sacraments but with the assistance of six other Ministers at the least and thereto such only be chosen as be of good report for their Life learned continually resiant upon their Benefices with Cure and which do give testimony of their Cure for the Church of God by their diligence in teaching and preaching in their Charge And that the said Ministers do testifie their presence at the admission of such Ministers by Subscription of their hands to some Act Importing the same And further that this admission be had and done publickly and not in any private House or Chappel 5. And where admission of unnecessary multitudes to the Ministry at one time hath been an occasion that the Church at this day is burthened with so great a number of unable Ministers It may like their Lordships to advise whether some provision might be made that none be admitted to be a Minister of the Word and Sacraments but in a benefice having Cure of Souls then vacant in the Diocess of such a Bishop as is to admit him or to some place certain where such Minister to be made is offered to be entertained a preacher or such Graduate as shall be at the time of their admission into the Ministry placed in some Fellowship or Scholarship within the Uniniversities or at the least that trial be made of this Order for such time as to their Honors wisdoms shall be thought convenient 6. That it be likewise considered whether
read Dominus Cancellarius continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem crastinum horâ nonâ On Thursday the 10 th day of November the Lords Committees made report unto the whole House that they of the House of Commons upon hearing the Sentence and divers of the special Evidences and Proofs whereupon the Sentence was grounded openly read unto them after long deliberation and consultation had betwixt them both publickly and privately they all with one assent allowed the same Sentence to be just true and honourable and that they humbly desired their Lordships to make choice of such number of Lords as their Lordships should think meet to joyn with them in Petition to her Majesty Whereupon their Lordships made choice of the said Lords following viz. the Lord Chancellor the Lord Treasurer the Lord High Chamberlain the Lord Steward the Earl of Northumberland the Earl of Kent the Earl of Rutland the Earl of Sussex the Earl of Pembroke and the Earl of Hartford the Lord Chamberlain the Lord Abergavenny the Lord Zouch the Lord Morley the Lord Cobham the Lord Grey the Lord Lumley the Lord de la Ware and the Lord Norris Memorandum That the Commons House made request to have the Petition assented unto by both the Houses to be introlled in the Parliament Roll the which the Lords thought better to defer until her Majesties liking or misliking were first had of the same Dominus Cancellarius adjournavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem Martis prox horâ nonâ On Tuesday the 15 th day of November the Lord Chancellor declared unto the whole House the order of proceeding of Committees in presenting the Petition unto her Highness and that her Majesties Answer was in so eloquent and goodly sort and with words so well placed that he would not take upon him to report it as it was uttered by her Majesty but that the effect was that her Highness highly thanked her so dutiful and loving Subjects for their great care and tender zeal that they shewed to have of her safety and were it not in respect of them and of the state of the Realm and maintenance of the true Religion she would not ..... And that her Highness did well know the greatness of the peril and the dangerous practice attempted against her Person and that her Majesty did acknowledge it to be the maintaining and defending hand of him that hath delivered her so often and from so great perils Her Highness concluded it was a Cause of great moment and required good deliberation and that she could not presently give Answer unto them but that her Highness would shortly deliver it to some of her Privy Council which should declare unto them her Highnesses mind And thus her Highness answered This day further the Lord Chancellor signified unto the Lords that on Monday her Majesty commanded him to require the Lords to advise amongst them if some other course might be taken without proceeding to the extremity of Execution which her Highness could better like of if any such might be found and that her Highness looked for Answer from their Lordships Nota That the whole entrance of this days business viz. the Lord Chancellors Report of the Queens Answer is crossed in the Original Journal-Book but remaineth as legible as any other part except a few interlined words but by the whole course following that ought to stand which is crossed for without that the business following hath no coherence with the premisses Dominus Cancellarius adjournavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem Sabbati prox horâ consuetâ Die Sabbati 19 Die Novembris Dominus Cancellarius continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem Martis prox horâ nonâ On Tuesday the 22 d day of November after many Speeches which tended all to one effect which was that their Lordships in their opinions could not find any other way than was already set down in their Petition then the Lords agreed that the matter should be put to the question and being particularly asked every one his several voice answered with one Consent that they could find no other way The House of Commons came up and desired the Lords to be content to appoint some of the Lords to confer with them upon the Answer that was to be made to her Highness and to deliver the same to her Majesty Whereupon the Lords made choice of these Lords following viz. the Archbishops of Canterbury and York the Lord Treasurer c. And the said Lords upon Conference had with the Committee of the Lower House made report that the like question was propounded to them of the House of Commons and that they Answered all with one consent no man gainsaying that they could find none other way Whereupon the said Committees of both Houses agreed upon this Answer to be made to her Majesty That having often conferred and debated of that question according to her Highness Commandment they could find none other way than was set down in the Petition Which Answer for the Lords was delivered unto her Majesty by the Lord Chancellor and for the Commons by their Speaker at Richmond on Thursday the 24 th day of November Dominus Cancellarius continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem Vcneris prox horâ nonâ On Friday the 25 th day of November the Lord Chancellor delivered her Maiesties Answer to the Lords to the last resolution the Effect whereof was as followeth viz. If said her Highness I should say unto you that I mean not to grant your Petition by my faith I should say unto you more than perhaps I mean And if I should say unto you that I mean to grant your Petition I should then tell you more than is fit for you to know And thus I must deliver you an Answer Answerless Whereas on the 7 th day of this instant Month of November whilst the Lords were in Consultation about the great matter of the Queen of Scots the Chief and only Cause of the Summons of this Parliament they of the House of Commons came up and desired Conference with some of the Lords of this House what number it should please their Lordships to appoint touching the said great cause which as they affirmed had been opened and declared unto them Whereupon the Lords made choice of divers Lords whose names see at large on Munday the 7 th day of this instant Month of November foregoing And to attend the said Lords were appointed the Lord Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas the Lord Chief Baron and Justice Gawdie the time and place of their meeting being in the very Parliament Chamber at two of the Clock in the Afternoon and after often meeting and long Conferences had they agreed upon a form of Petition which by both the Houses should be presented unto her Majesty And that Choice should be made of a certain number of either House to prefer the same unto her Highness Which being reported to this House the Lords liked very
Hospitality And therefore whereas these two meetings are placed in the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons very incongruously in two distinct and several Journals as if they had been two distinct and several Sessions they are here rightly placed together and so the passages of the said second meeting do now follow in due course and order On Wednesday the 15 th day of February to which day the Parliament had been Adjourned by the Lords Commissioners aforesaid on Friday the 2 d day of December foregoing the two Houses met in their several places without any pomp or Solemnity this being as hath been before observed neither new Parliament nor new Session but a mere new meeting of either House upon the said Adjournment of the former meeting thereof which began on the 29 th day of October being Saturday in Anno 28 Reginae Eliz. as is aforesaid The Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons being set M r Serjeant Puckering then Speaker thereof informed the House that M r Fulk Onslow Clerk of the Parliament was so weakned by Sickness that he could not at this present exercise his place Therefore he had appointed M r William Onslow his Knisman a Member of this House here present to supply it and therefore asked their allowance which they very willingly granted The same time M r Cromwell moved the House for that at their Petition her Majesty had done Justice upon the Scottish Queen to the greater Safeguard of her Majesties Person and the whole Realm he thought it fit that her Majesty might receive from them their humble thanks which motion was well liked but at this time it proceeded no further Two Bills had each of them one reading whereof the first was touching Fines and Recoveries before the Justices of the Common Pleas and the second for limitation of time touching Writs of Error growing by fraud The same day M r Vice-Chamberlain commanded as he said by her Majesty moved the House for that this Parliament was not expected to hold at this time many of the Nobility being Lieutenants in their Countries and others principal Members of this House were absent by occasion whereof those great weighty causes for which this Parliament is called cannot have such deep consultation as is fit Therefore he thought it convenient to have an Adjournment and therefore to move the Lords of the Upper House for the liking thereof Which motion being well liked M r Vice-Chamberlain and a convenient number of the House so many as would without nomination did attend him to the Lords who upon his return from the Lords made report that they having considered of the motion found the same want and therefore yielded to an Adjournment of the Parliament until Wednesday next being the 22 d day of this instant Month of February if this House would condescend unto it Unto which Adjournment this House also yielded which consent M r Vice-Chamberlain did there presently signifie to the Lords and upon his return the House brake up On Wednesday the 22 th day of February to which day the Parliament had been last adjourned upon Wednesday the 15 th day of this instant February foregoing the House again sitting the Right Honourable Sir Christopher Hatton Knight Vice-Chamberlain to her Majesty and one of her Majesties most Honourable Privy Council used this Speech in effect to the House viz. That it was her Majesties pleasure to have dangers disclosed and to have the House know that she thanked God for the goodness of the House that she wished the Session mistaken for Meeting to be short that men of Government might go home for matter of Government hospitality and defence and to take another time for making of Laws saving such as be now of necessity The dangers which her Majesty meaneth proceed of ancient malice and are to be prepared for and God called upon for aid The principal heads of the dangers The Catholicks abroad the Pope the King of Spain the Princes of the League the Papists at home and their Ministers The principal root hereof The Council of Trent which agreed to extirp Christian Religion which they term Heresie whereunto divers Princes assented and bound themselves in solemn manner Pope Pius Quint us sent her Excommunication against her Majesty Dr. Mourton and Mendoza a Spanish Ambassadour bestirred them a Northern Rebellion was bred the Pope and the rest practised for the Scottish Queen and she being acquainted proceeds by her means Pope Paulus the Thirteenth proceeds and sends Jesuits and Seminaries to England and Ireland and they proceed to inveagle the Subjects and disswade them from obedience Visko beginneth a Rebellion in Ireland James Fitz-Morris furthereth the Execution thereof Doctor Sanders and Desmond stir new Rebellion there and wrote into England c. Parry was moved to kill her Majesty and perswaded it was meritorious Pope Sixtus the Fifth imitateth the other Popes to execute their former devices and writeth to the Cardinal of Lorain and Guise that he will overthrow the Gospel which Mr. Vice-Chamberlain honourably termed the glorious Gospel and therefore moved them to join with the Princes of the League and to practise to win the King of Scots and to set up the Scottish Queen in England and made his reckoning of the Cantons that be Popish the Switzers the Duke of Savoy the Duke of Ferrara King of Spain and King of France A chief Instrument to work this was one Carew called also Father Henry He was sent into Germany and over Italy and France wrote to the Scottish Queen that the Powers will join to overthrow England and make known the effect of his labour to the Pope Invasion should have been made into England and Ireland the last year and not unlike to be attempted this year The Pope excommunicateth the King of Navar The Pope accounteth not of Popish preaching and perswasions that way but nevertheless moveth all to use the word and for maintenance thereof spareth his Treasure otherwise and withdraweth maintenance from Jesuits Seminaries and divers others Letters were found with the Scottish Queen which prove all these to be true If we serve Almighty God in sincerity of heart we need not to fear It is to be remembred that the King of Spain sought to recover some part of his Fathers credit by using our Treasure and force to get S t Quintines but he soon made his advantage of it and regarded not our Territories in France but suffered the loss of Calice and all our Territories and after the death of Queen Mary what he could Her Majesty sought for his good will sending the Lord Mountague the Lord Cobham Sir Thomas Chamberlain Knight M r Maun and others and they were but hardly used some of them were offered great indignity and M r Mauns Son forced by strength to do a kind of Penance He comforted the Queens Enemies he giveth colour of Wars he chargeth the Queen that her Subjects have aided his Rebels in the Low Countries with
Ecclesiae tangentibus Your Highness Wisdom and exceeding Judgment withal careful Providence needed not your Councils But yet so urgent Causes there were of this Parliament so important Considerations as that we may say for that we cannot judge never Parliament was so needful as now nor any so Honourable as this If I may be bold to say it I must presume to say that which hath been often said but what is well said cannot be too often spoken this sweet Council of ours I would compare to that sweet Commonwealth of the little Bees Sic enim parvis componere magna solebam The little Bees have but one Governour whom they all serve he is their King quia later a habet latiora he is placed in the midst of their habitations ut in tutissima turri They forrage abroad sucking Honey from ever Flower to bring to their King Ignavnm fuces pccus à praesepibus arcent The drones they drive away out of their Hives non habentes aculeos And who so assails their King in him immittunt aculeos tamen Rex ipse est sine Aculeo Your Majesty is that Princely Governour and Noble Queen whom we all serve being protected under the shadow of your Wings we live and wish you may ever sit upon your Throne over us And whosoever shall not say Amen for them we pray ut convertantur ne percant ut consundantur ne noccant Under your happy government we live upon Honey we suck upon every sweet Flower But where the Bee sucketh Honey there also the Spider draweth Poyson Some such venoms there be But such Drones and Door Bees we will expel the Hive and serve your Majesty and withstand any enemy that shall assault you Our Lands our Goods our Lives are prostrate at your feet to be commanded Yea and thanked be God and Honour be to your Majesty for it such is the power and force of your Subjects that of their own strength they are able to encounter your greatest enemies And though we be such yet have we a Prince that is sine Aculeo so full of that Clemency is your Majesty I fear I have been too long and therefore to come now to your Laws The Laws we have conferred upon this Sessions of so Honourable a Parliament are of two natures the one such as have life but are ready to die except your Majesty breathe life into them again the other are Laws that never had life but being void of life do come to your Majesty to seek Life The first sort are those Laws that had continuances until this Parliament and are now to receive new Life or are to die for ever The other that I term capable of life are those which are newly made but have no essence until your Majesty giveth them life Two Laws there are but I must give the Honour where it is due for they come from the Noble wise Lords of the Upper House the most Honourable and beneficial Laws that could be desired the one a confirmation of all Letters Patents from your Majesties most Noble Father of all Ecclesiastical Livings which that King of most renowned memory your Father took from those Superstitious Monasteries and Priories and translated them to the erecting and setting up of many Foundations of Cathedral Churches and Colledges greatly furthering the maintenance of Learning and true Religion The other Law to suppress the obstinate Recusant and the dangerous Sectary both very pernitious to your Government Lastly Your loving and obedient Subjects the Commons of the Lower House humbly and with all dutiful thanks stand bound unto your gracious goodness for your general and large Pardon granted unto them wherein many great offences are pardoned But it extendeth only to offences done before the Parliament I have many ways since the beginning of this Parliament by ignorance and insufficiency to perform that which I should have done offended your Majesty I most humbly crave to be partaker of your Majesties most gracious Pardon The Lord Keeper received Instructions from the Queen and afterwards replied unto the Speaker The former part of this Speech was an Answer almost verbatim to the Speakers Oration very excellently and exactly done And those things which follow are to this or the like purpose viz. That her Majesty did most graciously accept of these Services and Devotions of this Parliament commending them that they had imployed the time so well and spent it in so necessary affairs save only that in some things they had spent more time than needed But she perceived that some men did it more for their satisfaction than the necessity of the thing deserved She misliketh also that such irreverence was shewed towards Privy Councellors who were not to be accounted as common Knights and Burgesses of the House that are Councellors but during the Parliament whereas the other are standing Councellors and for their wisdom and great service are called to the Council of the State That the Queens Majesty had heard that some men in the Cause of great necessity and grant of Aid had seemed to regard their Country and made their necessity more than it was forgetting the urgent necessity of the time and dangers that were now imminent That her Majesty would not have the people seared with a report of great dangers but rather to be encouraged with boldness against the Enemies of the State And that therefore she straitly charged and commanded that the Mustered Companies in every Shire should be supplied if they were decayed And that their Provisions of Armor and Munition should be better than heretofore it hath been used That for this offer of three Subsidies her Majesty most graciously in all kindness thanketh her Subjects But except it were freely and willingly given she did not accept of it for her Majesty never accepteth any thing that is not freely given That if the Coffers of her Majesties Treasures were not empty or if the Revenues of the Crown and other Princely Ornaments could suffice to supply her wants and the Charges of the Realm in the word of a Prince she doth pronounce it she would not have charged her Subjects nor have accepted of this they give her The Lord Keeper's Speech being ended after some time of Intermission the Queen being set in her Chair of State used a Princely Speech unto the House of which the greatest part was to the effect and purpose following viz. THis Kingdom hath had many Wise Noble and Victorious Princes I will not compare with any of them in Wisdom Fortitude and other Vertues but saving the Duty of a Child that is not to compare with his Father in Love Care Sincerity and Justice I will compare with any Prince that ever you had or shall have It may be thought simplicity in me that all this time of my Reign I have not sought to advance my Territories and enlarge my Dominions for opportunity hath served me to do it I acknowledge that my Womanhood and weakness in that respect But
intermedling with the Succession of the Crown which she had expresly forbidden Which Passage as also divers other particular Speeches being not found in the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons are supplied out of another Journal of the same House very exactly and elaborately taken by an Anonymus being a Member of the same at this Parliament but yet with this Caution to avoid confusion that whatsoever is inserted out of the saidAnonymous Journal hath a particular Animadversion annexed unto it for discovery thereof The eighth Parliament of our Soveraign Lady Elizabeth by the Grace of God Queen of England France and Ireland Defender of the Faith begun at Westminster upon Monday being the 19 th day of February in the thirty fifth year of her Majesties Reign And thereupon many of the Knights Citizens Burgesses and Barons returned into the same Parliament then made their Appearances at Westminster before the Right Honourable the Earl of Darby Lord Steward of her Majesties most Honourable Houshold and did take the Oath before the said Lord Steward or his Deputies according to the Statute in that behalf lately made and provided The manner of the administring of the said Oath to the said Knights Citizens and Burgesses was as followeth The said Lord Steward removed into the Court of Requests and having called over the said Knights and others that were returned by their names M r Vice-Chamberlain and others of her Majesties Privy-Council took the said Oath before his Honour and then having appointed them his Deputies to swear the residue of the House of Commons who had then appeared according to their several returns he departed And thereupon his Lordships said Deputies proceeded to the further administrating of the aforesaid Oath to other Members of the said House who after they had taken the same entred into it and placed themselves The Fee for entring the name into the Serjeants Book is two shillings The reward to the Door-Keeper three shillings eight pence The Fee for returning the Indenture two shillings About two of the Clock in the Afternoon this present Monday her Highness with divers of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and such others as had place there being let into the Upper House and the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons as many as conveniently could being at length let in The Right Honourable Sir John Puckering Knight Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England declared the said Parliament to be called by her Highness only for Consultation and Preparation of Aid to be had and made against the mighty and great Forces of the King of Spain bent and intended against this Realm as well by some practices attempted by him in the Realm of France and with some of the Nobility of Scotland as by many other ways and means to that end and purpose And did in the end advise the said Commons to employ the time of this present Session of Parliament in the aforesaid Consultation and not to go about the making of any new Laws for the Common-Wealth at this time as well for that there are very many good Laws already in force more he said than are well executed as for that also such new Laws if they be needful may be treated of and dealt in at some other time hereafter And so willed them to repair to their accustomed place and make Choice of their Speaker Which done the said Parliament was Adjourned until Thursday next following After which the said Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons being Assembled in the same House the Right Honourable Sir Francis Knowles Knight one of her Majesties most Honourable Privy-Council and Treasurer of her Highness most Honourable Houshold stood up and putting the House in remembrance of the said Charge of the said Lord Keeper given unto them for chusing of their Speaker and very gravely and amply setting out sundry the good parts and commendable qualities and abilities of the Right Worshipful M r Edward Cooke Esquire Learned in the Laws of this Realm Sollicitor General to her Majesty and being a Member of this House returned into the same one of the Knights for the County of Norfolk doth in the end for his part and opinion nominate the said M r Edward Cooke to be chosen for their Speaker in this present Parliament if the residue of this House shall so think good Unto which Motion as many of the said House assented with their Voices so the said M r Edward Cooke thereupon stood up and very gravely and discreetly behaving himself as well in all due thankfulness unto this House for their said good opinion conceived of him as also in disabling himself in divers respects for the discharge due and requisite for that place humbly prayeth them to proceed to a new Election Which done the Right Honourable Sir Thomas Heneage Knight Vice-Chamberlain to her Majesty and one other of her Highness's most Honourable Privy-Council stood up and not only approving but also very much amplifying the said former sundry commendable gifts and abilities of the said M r Edward Cooke exceeding many others and comparable in his opinion and judgment with any others for that place and charge gathering also the same partly from his own late former Speech of excuses doth in the end resolutely deliver his opinion to make choice of the said M r Cooke to be their Speaker And also thereupon moving the question to the House the said M r Cooke was with one full consent and voice of the whole House nominated and chosen to be their Speaker for this present Parliament And so was thereupon presently brought by the said M r Treasurer and M r Vice-Chamberlain and set in the Chair And immediately after the House did rise and were appointed to repair thither again upon Thursday next following On Thursday the 22 th day of February to which day the Parliament that begun on Monday foregoing being the 19 th day of the same Month had been continued by Sir John Puckering Knight Lord Keeper of the Great Seal by her Majesties Commandment the Queens Majesty and divers of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal being set in the Upper House the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons had notice thereof and thereupon they repaired thither with Edward Cooke Esquire her Majesties Sollicitor their lately Elected Speaker who being led up to the Rail or Bar at the lower end of the said House by two of the most-eminent Personages of the aforesaid House of Commons after humble reverence made declared unto her Majesty his Election to the said place of Prolocutor and then alledging according to the usual course his own insufficiency did desire her Majesty to enable him to that Charge and to consider that howsoever he were the meanest that ever went before him in that place in respect of Experience yet in respect of his faithfulness he thought himself inferlour to none After which Speech her Majesty by the Mouth of the Lord
except those before-named went free and were never called in question that I heard of And thus far it is inserted out of the aforesaid Anonymous Journal On Monday the 26 th day of February the Bill for reducing disloyal Subjects to their due Obedience had its first reading Upon a Motion made by M r George Moore touching some questions for the manner of Election of one Richard Hutton returned into this House one of the Burgesses for the Borough of Southwark in the County of Surrey and supposed to have been indirectly made and so prayed to be further Examined by some Committee of this House and then to be reported over to this House for the further Order of this House in the same And upon another Motion thereupon also made by M r Wroth for a Committee for the Liberties and Priviledges of the Members of this House and their Servants it is upon the question Ordered that all the Members of this House being of her Majesties Privy-Council Sir William Moore M r Serjeant Yelverton M r Robert Wroth M r Recorder of London M r Heyle M r Conisby M r Miles Sands M r Attorney of the Wards M r Attorney of the Dutchy M r William Howard Sir Henry Cooke Sir Francis Godolphin Sir George Moore Sir Walter Raleigh Sir Francis Drake M r Tanfield M r Francis Bacon M r Lewkenor Sir John Harrington M r Emersam Sir Edward Hobby M r Lawrence Stourton M r Beale M r Doctor James Sir Henry Duton M r Doctor Caesar M r Tasborough Sir Moyle Finch Sir Thomas Cecill and Sir Francis Hastings shall during all this present Sessions of Parliament examine and make report of all such Cases touching the Elections and Returns of any the Knights Citizens Burgesses and Barons of this House and also all such Cases for priviledge as in any wise may occur or fall out during all the same Sessions of Parliament to the end this House upon the Reports of the same Examinations may proceed to such further course in every the same Cases as to this House shall be thought meet And it is further Ordered that the said Committees do meet upon Wednesday next in the Exchequer Chamber at three of the Clock in the Afternoon to examine the manner of the said Election of the said Richard Hutton and also any other case of Elections Returns or Priviledges whatsoever in question which shall be moved unto them by any Member of this House at their Pleasure And notice was then also given in the House to all the Members of the same that in all these Cases they might from time to time repair to the said Committees as occasion shall serve accordingly The Bill touching salted Fish and salted Herrings had its first reading Sir Robert Cecill Sir John Wolley Sir John Fortescue Sir Edward Stafford and M r Francis Bacon having severally delivered most manifest and apparent reasons of the inevitable necessity both of present consultation and also of present Provision of Treasure to prevent and withstand the great imminent perils and dangers of this Realm intended against the same by the King of Spain the Pope and other Confederates of the Holy League The said Sir Robert Cecill Sir John Fortescue Sir John Wolley and M r Francis Bacon laying open the sundry particular practices of the King of Spain against the State of this Realm attempted both in Ireland the Low Countries France and Scotland do each of them in the end conclude and move That a grave Committee of this House be presently selected to have Conference touching some fit course to be taken for the said consultation and provision of Treasure And thereupon it was upon the Question Ordered and Assented to by the whole House Nota That this is all that is found in the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons touching these Speeches which because they contain many Excellent Passages concerning the History of these times of her Majesty I have therefore supplied at large Sir Edward Staffords Speech only excepted which was wanting there also out of a very Elaborate Journal of the same House taken by some Anonymous Member thereof at this Parliament which is mentioned more at large in the beginning of this present Journal Sir Robert Cecill spake first and said As I remember I have been of this House these five Parliaments and I have not determined to say any thing in these Assemblies further than my Cogitations should concur with my Conscience in saying bare I or No. Give me leave I pray you to rehearse an old saying and it is in Latin Nec te collaudes nec te vituperes ipse for me to do the one were exceeding arrogancy and to do the other I do confess I hope you will pardon me The occasion of this Parliament as I take it by that which we received from the Honourable and Learned Speech of the Lord Keeper of and from her Majesty to us in the Higher House is for the cause of Religion and maintenance thereof amongst us the preservation of her Majesties most Royal Person and the good of this Realm of our Country All which because they be things of most dear and greatest price and at this present in exceeding great and imminent danger it is most behoofful to consult of speedy remedies which should proceed from the wisest Heads The Enemy to these is the King of Spain whose malice and ambition is such as together with the Pope that Antichrist of Rome for I may well couple them together the one being always accompanied with envy at our Prosperity the other with unsatiable desire makes them by all means to seek the Subversion of the State But concerning the first the cause of God and his Religion which her Majesty professed before she came to sit in this Royal Seat which she hath defended and maintained and for which cause God hath so blessed her Government since her coming to the Crown Yea while the Crown was scarce warm on her Head she abolished the Authority of Rome and did set up Gods truth amongst us and to her great renown made this little Land to be a Sanctuary for all the persecuted Saints of God whereby the people perceived her Magnanimity Zeal and Judgment Magnanimity in undertaking so great an Enterprize Zeal in professing the same not for the shew but of sincerity Judgment in defending it and preventing all his designs He sent forth his Bulls and Missives against her Majesty thereby most unnaturally depriving her of her most natural right the Duty and Loyalty which her Subjects should owe unto her c. He touched the many dangers her Majesty had been in which as it caused him to fear to think so did he tremble to speak concerning the danger of her Country and so the loss of our Lives Liberties Wives Children and all other Priviledges Let me not trouble you with things past so long and perhaps beyond my reach but with things past of late years and since Eighty eight When
Anno Dom. 1601. which was the last Parliament of her Majesties Reign a greater viz. of four Subsidies and eight Fifteenths and Tenths was again yielded unto whence it is plain that whatsoever is once granted by the Subject may often be raised but seldom falleth THE JOURNAL OF THE House of COMMONS A Journal of the House of Commons in the Parliament holden at Westminster Anno 39 Reginae Eliz. Anno Domini 1597. which began there on Monday the 24 th Day of October and then and there continued until the Dissolution thereof on Thursday the 9 th Day of February Anno 40 Reginae ejusdem THIS present Journal of the House of Commons is not only abundantly stored with many and sundry Passages touching the Orders Use and Priviledge of the House it self but containeth in it excellent matter touching the publick affairs of Church and State in which also her Majesty was most graciously pleased to give the said House free Liberty to reform some abuses of the first and to search into the dangers of the latter And that this said Journal might be the more exact and copious in some few places the defects thereof are supplied out of the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House and out of a certain imperfect and fragmentary Journal of the House of Commons The ninth Parliament of our Soveraign Lady Elizabeth by the Grace of God of England France and Ireland Queen Defender of the Faith c. begun at Westminster upon Monday being the 24 th day of October in the thirty ninth year of her Majesties Reign Upon which day many of the Knights of the Shires Citizens of Cities Burgesses of Boroughs and Barons of Ports did make their appearance at Westminster being returned into the same Parliament for the same Shires Cities Boroughs and Ports before the Right Honourable the Earl of Nottingham Lord Steward of her Majesties most honourable Household And did then and there in the Room commonly called the Court of Requests take the Oath of Supremacy seven or eight at a time being Enacted by and contained in the Statute de an 1 Reginae Eliz. Cap. 1. before the said Lord Steward and before Sir William Knolles Knight Comptroller of her Majesties Houshold Sir John Fortescue Chancellor of the Exchequer and Sir Robert Cecill Principal Secretary his Lordships Deputies And thereupon the said Knights Citizens Burgesses and Barons entring into their own House and expecting her Majesties further Pleasure her Highness then being in her Royal Seat in the Higher House of Parliament the said Commons were commanded to come before her Highness and being there Assembled the Right Honourable Sir Thomas Egerton Knight Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England delivered unto the said Commons the Causes of her Majesties Calling of this Parliament and so in the end willed them to repair again into the said House of Commons and there to make choice of their Speaker according to the former laudable usage and custom of the same House in that Case accustomed and willed them to present him unto her Majesty upon the Thursday next following Which done the said Commons presently repaired unto their own House and there being Assembled and sitting some space of time very silent at last the Right Honourable Sir William Knolls one of her Highness most Honourable Privy Council and Comptroller of her Majesties Household stood up and spake to the effect following Necessity constraineth me to break off this silence and to give others cause for speech According to the usual Custom we are to chuse our Speaker and though I am least able and therefore unfit to speak in this place yet better I deem it to discover my own Imperfections than that her most sacred Majesties Commandment to me delivered should not be fulfilled or your Expectation of this first days work by all our silences to be in any sort frustrate First therefore I think it very expedient to remember the Excellent and Learned Speech of that good man my Lord Keeper at which all of us or the most part of us at the least were present who very wisely shewed the Cause of calling this Honourable Assembly shewing unto us that it is partly for the reforming those Laws which be amiss partly quite to repeal others partly to augment those that be good and partly to Enact new Laws both for the Honour and profit of her Majesty and for the benefit of the Common-wealth And in conclusion wished us to depart from whence we came and there to chuse our Speaker who ought to be the Mouth of us all and to whom we might commit such weighty affairs as in this place should be debated amongst us For unfit it is if we have occasion to go unto the Sacred presence of her Majesty to go either confusedly without order or unorderly without Judgment Now because that knowledge doth rest in certainty I will with the more speed set afoot this motion deliver my opinion unto you who is most fit for this place being a member of this House and those good abilities which I know to be in him here he made a little pause and the House hawked and spat and after silence made he proceeded unto this place of dignity and calling in my opinion here he stayed a little M r Serjeant Yelverton looking upon him is the fittest man to be preferred after which words M r Yelverton blushed and put off his Hat and after sate bare-headed for I am assured that he is yea and I dare avow it I know him to be a man wise and learned secret and circumspect Religious and faithful no way disable but every way able to supply this place Wherefore in my Judgment I deem him though I will not say best worthy amongst us yet sufficient enough to supply this place and herein if any man think I err I wish him to deliver his mind as freely as I have done if not that we all join together in giving general consent and approbation to this motion So that the whole House cried I I I let him be And then Master Comptroller made a low reverence and sat down and after a little pause and silence M r Serjeant Yelverton rose up and after a very humble reverence made spake in effect thus much WHence your unexpected choice of me to be your Mouth or Speaker should proceed I am utterly ignorant If from my merits strange it were that so few deserts should purchase suddenly so great an Honour Nor from my ability doth this your choice proceed for well known it is to a great number in this place now assembled that my Estate is nothing correspondent for the maintenance of this dignity For my Father dying left me a younger Brother and nothing to me but my bare Annuity Then growing to mans estate and some small practice of the Law I took a Wise by whom I have had many Children the keeping of us all being a great impoverishing to my Estate and the daily living of us
only commit a great error in omitting to read some one Bill or other according to the usual Custom but was also much mistaken in informing the House that it had been Adjourned and so now stood Adjourned by those words which the Lord Keeper had spoken in the Upper House for his Lordship at this time as appears plainly by the Original Journal-Book of that House did only continue the Parliament and not Adjourn it which words although spoken by the Queens Commandment being personally present do only concern the said Upper House and reach not at all unto the House of Commons as was directly declared by the Lord Keeper himself in the next Parliament ensuing in An. 43 Regin Eliz. after that M r John Crooke M r Recorder of London their Speaker upon his allowance in and return from the said Upper House on Friday the 30 th day of October in An. eodem had by a like mistake misinformed the House that it was Adjourned and so caused it to rise without the reading of any Bill And therefore here once for all I have caused the true differences as I conceive in this kind to be here inserted viz. If the Lord Keeper by the Queens Commandment being personally present had either prolonged or Adjourned the Parliament or that her Majesty with her own Mouth had pronounced the said words or had caused the same to have been done by a Commission under the Great Seal in her absence in all these Cases it had reached alike both unto the Upper House and unto the House of Commons But if the Queens Majesty had with her own Mouth continued the Parliament as she did here command the Lord Keeper to do it yet this had only concerned the Upper House so that the Lords could not have met again until the day to which the said Parliament had been continued but the said House of Commons whom the said continuance concerned not might have met each day without intermission and have agitated such businesses and have given reading to such Bills as offered themselves And lastly If the Lord Keeper or Lord Chancellor for the time being do at any time Adjourn or continue the Parliament to a further day as of course he doth one of them for longer or shorter time every day the Upper House riseth and that he doth it not by Command or Commission from the Soveraign for the time being but do it of course as is aforesaid this concerns only the Upper House and the House of Commons are neither bound to take notice of it nor to surcease any of their daily Proceedings upon it On Saturday the 5 th day of November the House met about eight of the Clock in the Morning having through a meer mistake and error of the Speaker and themselves conceived their House to have been Adjourned by the Lord Keeper the first day of the Parliament unto this present Saturday as is more largely declared in fine diei praecedentis Nota also that some part of the Passages of this present Saturday following are transcribed out of the before-recited fragmentary and imperfect Journal M r Speaker this Morning according to the usual course brought in a Prayer to be used in the House during this Parliament which was as followeth OEternal God Lord of Heaven and Earth the great and mighty Councellor We thy poor Servants Assembled before thee in this Honourable Senate humbly acknowledge our great and manifold sins and imperfections and thereby our unworthiness to receive any grace and assistance from thee Yet most merciful Father since by thy providence we are called from all parts of the Land to this famous Council of Parliament to advise of those things which concern thy Glory the good of thy Church the prosperity of our Prince and the Weal of her people we most intirely beseech thee that pardoning all our sins in the Blood of thy Son Jesus Christ it would please thee by the brightness of thy Spirit to expel darkness and vanity from our minds and partiality from our Speeches and grant unto us such wisdom and integrity of heart as becometh the Servants of Jesus Christ the Subjects of a gracious Prince and Members of this Honourable House Let not us O Lord who are met together for the publick good of the whole Land be more careless and remiss than we use to be in our own private Causes Give Grace we beseech thee that every one of us may labour to shew a good Conscience to thy Majesty a good Zeal to thy word and a loyal heart to our Prince and a Christian Love to our Country and Common-Wealth O Lord so unite and conjoin the hearts of her Excellent Majesty and this whole Assembly as they may be a threefold Cord not easily broken giving strength to such godly I aws as be already Enacted that they may be the better Executed and Enacting such as are further requisite for the bridling of the wicked and the encouragement unto the godly and well affected Subjects That so thy great blessing may be continued towards us and thy grievous Judgments turned from us And that only for Christ Jesus sake our most glorious and only Mediator and Advocate to whom with thy blessed Majesty and the Holy Ghost be given all Honour and Praise Power and Dominion from this time forth for evermore Amen M r Francis Bacon spake first after that one Bill mentioned in the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons had been read the first time viz. the Bill against Forestallers Regrators and Ingrossers and made a Motion against Inclosures and Depopulation of Towns and Houses of Husbandry and Tillage And to this purpose he brought in as he termed it two Bills not drawn with a polished pen but with a polished heart free from affection and affectation And because former Laws are Medicines of our understanding he said that he had perused the Preambles of former Statutes and by them did see the inconveniencies of this matter being then scarce out of the shell to be now full ripened And he said that the over-flowing of the people here makes a shrinking and abate elsewhere And that these two mischiefs though they be exceeding great yet they seem the less because Qui mala cum multis patimur leviora videntur And though it may be thought ill and very prejudicial to Lords that have inclosed great grounds and pulled down even whole Towns and converted them to Sheep-Pastures yet considering the increase of people and the benefit of the Common-Wealth I doubt not but every man will deem the revival of former Moth-eaten Laws in this point a praise-worthy thing For in matters of Policy ill is not to be thought ill which bringeth forth good For Inclosure of grounds brings depopulation which brings first Idleness secondly decay of Tillage thirdly subversion of Houses and decay of Charity and charges to the Poor fourthly impoverishing the state of the Realm A Law for the taking away of such inconveniences is not to
Order After which ended and her Majesties Assent thereunto then the Dissolution of the Parliament followed by the Lord Keeper which is entred in the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House in these words following viz. Dominus Custos magni Sigilli ex mandato Dominae Reginae Dissolvit hoc praesens Parliamentum THE JOURNAL OF THE House of COMMONS A Journal of the Passages of the House of Commons in the Parliament holden at Westminster Anno 43 Reginae Eliz. Anno Domini 1601. which began there on Tuesday the 27 th Day of October and then and there continued until the Dissolution thereof on Saturday the 19 th Day of December ensuing Anno 44 Reginae ejusdem THIS large and copious Journal containeth in it not only a number of excellent Passages concerning the Orders and Priviledge of the House of Commons which are usually found in other Journals of the same House but also much matter touching the publick State and that great grievance of the Realm by reason of Patents of Priviledge or Monopolies in the abdication or censure of which her Majesty most graciously concurr'd with her Subjects In which also a great number of Speeches and other Passages which were not found in the Original Journal-Book of the said House are supplied out of a Journal of the same House taken at this Parliament by one of the Members thereof But yet to avoid confusion whatsoever is here inserted out of the said private Journal is particularly distinguished from that which is taken out of the above-mentioned Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons by some Animadversion or expression thereof both before and after the inserting of it The tenth Parliament of our Sovereign Lady Elizabeth by the Grace of God of England France and Ireland Queen Defender of the Faith c. begun at Westminster upon Tuesday being the 27 th day of October in the forty third year of her Majesties Reign upon which day many of the Knights for the Shires Citizens for Cities Burgesses for Boroughs and Barons for Ports returned into the same Parliament did make their appearance at Westminster aforesaid before the Right Honourable the Earl of Nottingham Lord Admiral and Lord Steward of her Highnesses most Honourable Houshold and did then and there take the Oath according to the Statute in that behalf made and provided tendred by the said Earl or by his Deputies who were Sir William Knolls Comptroller of her Majesties Houshold Sir John Stanhop her Highness Vice-Chamberlain Sir Robert Cecill Principal Secretary and John Herbert Esq second Secretary After which all the said Lord Steward's Deputies and some others of the House of Commons having gotten into the Upper House and her Majesty with divers of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal being set the greatest part of the residue of the Members of the said House of Commons had notice thereof about four of the Clock in the Afternoon being at that time still suting in the said House and expecting her Majesties Pleasure to be sent for up unto the said Upper House according to the antient usage and custom of former Parliaments And thereupon the said residue repaired immediately unto the Door of the said House but could not be let in the Door being still kept shut and so returned back again unto their own House much discontented Shortly after which time the Right Honourable Sir William Knolls one of the Deputies aforesaid came down into the said House of Commons and so being there set with the said residue for some little space of time M r Richard Lieffe one of the Barons returned into this present Parliament for the Port of Hastings in the County of Sussex stood up and shewing unto the said Comptroller the wrong done unto the greatest part of the Members of this House in their not being suffered to come into the said Upper House to hear her Majesties Pleasure signified by the Mouth of the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England humbly desired the said Comptroller to be a means that the effect thereof might be imparted unto some of the Members of this House for their better satisfactions Which as his Honour did think very reasonable and meet to be done at convenient time so did he impute the said fault wholly to the Gentleman-Usher of the said Upper House Which done and the residue of the said Deputies being shortly after come into the said House of Commons and there sitting the said M r Comptroller after some pause stood up and shewing unto this House that his place was to break the silence of this House for that time and putting the House in mind to make Choice of a Speaker according to her Majesties Pleasure given unto them in that behalf shewed that in his opinion he thinketh M r John Crooke Recorder of London returned one of the Knights for the City of London into this present Parliament to be a very fit able and sufficient Man to supply the whole Charge of the said Office of Speaker being a Gentleman very Religious very Judicious of a good Conscience and well furnished with all other good parts yet leaveth nevertheless the further consideration thereof to this House and so did sit again Which done and no one contrary Voice at all being delivered the said M r Crooke after some large Pause first taken stood up and very Learnedly and Eloquently endeavoured to disable himself at large for the burthen of that charge alledging his great defects both of Nature and of Art fit to supply that place and shewing all full Complements for the same to abound in many other Learned and grave Members of this House in the end prayed most humbly that they would accept of his due excuse and be pleased to proceed to a new Election and did then sit down again Whereupon the said M r Comptroller did stand up and said that hearing no negative Voice he took it for a due Election and demanding the further opinion of this House therein they all Answered Yea and gave their Assents Whereupon the said M r Comptroller and the Right Honourable Sir John Stanhop her Majesties Vice-Chamberlain immediately went to the said M r John Crooke and did set him in the Chair which done the said M r Crooke after some little pause did stand up and yielding unto this whole House most humble thanks for their great good opinion of him and loving favour towards him and praying them to accept of his willing mind and readiness and to bear with his unableness and wants in the service of this House referr'd himself to their good favours And then the said M r Comptroller signified further unto this House that her Majesties Pleasure was that the Members of this House having made choice of their Speaker should present him unto her Highness upon Friday next following in the Afternoon And so then every man departed and went his way On Friday the 30 th day of October about one of the Clock in the Afternoon the Knights Citizens and
but that they will so lovingly carefully and prudently consider and weigh this great and weighty Matter that such provision out of hand be taken therein as her Highness shall be preserved in all Honour and Royal Dignity and you and the rest of her Loving Subjects in common quiet and surety Now to make an end The Queen's Majestie 's pleasure is That you her welbeloved and trusty Knights of her Shires and Burgesses according to your laudable Custom shall repair to your Common House and there deliberately and advisedly Elect or rather amongst so many already Elect persons select one both grave and discreet who after he be by you presented and that Presentation by her Highness admitted shall then occupy the Office and Room of your Common Mouth and Speaker and of your day of presentation the Queens Majesty giveth you As soon as the Lord Keeper had ended his Speech and the Knights Citizens and Burgesses retired to the House of Commons to Elect and choose their Speaker Francis Spilman Esq Clerk of the Upper House stood up and read the Names of Receivers and Tryers of Petitions in French according to the Ancient and unusual manner And because I resolve in all the ensuing Journals of the said House during the Reign of this most Sacred Queen only to set down their said names without tying my self to the express Form or Language therefore I have in this place once for all Transcribed the exact Form thereof as it is entred in the Original Journal Book of the Upper House A. isto primo Regin Eliz. with this difference only that whereas it is there entred before the beginning of the said Journal here I have caused it to be referred unto and placed in that day to which it more properly belongs After which also divers Animadversions touching the Ancient use and nature of the said Receivers and Tryers are inserted Recepveurs des Petitions d' Angleterre Ir'land Gallee et D'Escoce Messire Robert Catelyn chl chef Justicier Et ceux qui veuleut delivrer leur Petitions les baillent dedans six jours prochainement ensuivants Messire Guillame Cordell chl garden des Rolles Messire Umfrey Browne chl et Justicier Messire Rich. Reed chlr Docteur Lewis Docteur Harnye Recepveurs des Petitions de Gascoigne et des autres terres et pais de per de la mer et des Isles Messire James Dyer chl et Justicier Et ceux qui veuleut delievrer leur Petitions les baillent dedans six jours prochainement ensuivants Messire Edward Saunders chl le chief Baron Messire Anthony Browne Justicier Messire Johan Vaughan Docteur Mowse Et sout assignes trieurs des Petitions d' Angleterre Ireland Gallee et d' Escoce Larcheresque de York Toute eux ensembles ou quatre des Prelattes et Seigneurs avant ditz appellants auecque eulx Mons. Le Garden du grand-Seal et Le Thesaurarier et ausi les Serians de la Roigne quand besoigne sera et tiendrout leur places en la Chambre du Chambrelain Le Marquisse de Winchester Thesaurar de Angleterre Le Duc de Norf. Conte Marescalle de Angleterre Le Cont de Arundel Le Cont de Rutland Le Cont de Bedford Le Cont de Pembrooke Le Baron Clinton et Saye Le Grand Admiral de Angleterre Le Baron Rych Et sout assignes Trieurs des Petitions de Gascoigne et de autres terres et pays per de la mer et des Isles Le Marquiss de Northampton Toute eux ensembles ou quatre des Prelats et Seigneurs avant-ditz appellants a-vecques eulx les Serjeans de la Roigne quand il sera besoigne et tiendrout leur places en le Chambre de Thesaurarier Le Conte de Shrewsbury Le Conte de Sussex Le Conte de Huntingdon Le Evesque de London Le Evesque de Carlisle Le Baron Howard d'effingham Chambrelaine de la Roigne Le Baron Stafford Le Baron Willoughby Le Baron Williams de Thame Le Baron North. The Knights Citizens Burgesses and Barons of the House of Commons having Notice about one of the Clock in the Afternoon of this foresaid Saturday being the 28th day of Jan. That her Majesty the Lord Keeper and divers Lords Spiritual and Temporal were set in the Upper House expecting their attendance they repaired immediately thither with Sir Thomas Gargrave Knight their Speaker Elect and being let in as many as conveniently could the said Sir Thomas Gargrave was led up to the Rail or Bar at the lower end of the said House by two of the most honorable Personages of the House of Commons where after three Reverences made to her Majesty he modestly and submissively excused himself as being unable to undergo the many and great difficulties of that place to which by the Grace of the Queen and the undeserved favour of the House of Commons he had been chosen Alledging withal that there were many Members in that House more worthy of the honour and more able to undergo the Charge of that service than himself And therefore desired and humbly advised the Queen's Majesty to free him from that employment and to commend to her Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons the Choice of some other of their more able Members But notwithstanding all these reasons and excuses according to the usual form by the said Prolocutor alledged Sir Nicholas Bacon Knight Lord Keeper of the Seal by her Majesties Commandment both encouraged him to the Careful undertaking of that Service and assured him of the Queen's acceptance and admission of him by this Oration following SIR Thomas Gargrave the Queen's Majesty doth right well perceive and understand your Comely and Modest manner in the disabling of your self for this Office and room whereunto her Trusty and Wel-beloved Knights and Burgesses have Elected you and do now presently present you and therewith also hath heard your Petition and Suit made with all humbleness and reverence for your discharge in this matter for answer whereunto her Majesty hath commanded me to say unto you that She her self right well doth understand that by the Orders and Rules of good Government and Policy Power and Authority to receive or refuse any Office of Service in any Common-Wealth should not be permitted to be in the Arbitriment of him who is thereunto Orderly called or appointed nor that the Judgment and discerning of Ability and disability in service pertaineth to the person called but to her Majesty asdoth right well appear by a Similitude that is old and Common but neither unapt nor untrue that is like as unto the head of a natural body pertaineth the appointment and as it were the Marshalling of every Member of the same Body to the particular Service and Office So to the Head of every Body Politick be it Emperor King or less State belongeth mediately or immediately derived the assignment and admitting of every Member of the same body to his Ministry
and Duty and as the contrary doing in the first were Monstrous in nature so surely the contrary doing in the second were Monstrous in reason Now her Majesty having this Authority in her as Head of the Politick Body of this Realm and therewith being credibly informed of your approved Fidelity wisdom and discretion and of the long experience that you have had in Parliament matters thinketh that if her Highness should assent to your Desire it would be prejudicial to her Majesty and the Common-wealth of the Realm Besides also for as much as you have been chosen and enabled to this Office and place according to an Ancient and Laudable Order by so many wise sage and discreet Knights and Burgesses to whose Judgment and opinion her Highness thinketh it meet and convenient for her to have great regard and to give much credit and saith that for that respect also her Majesty may not conveniently grant your Petition Again your self seeking in humble and reverent manner your own discharge and disablement have indeed by well comely modest and orderly doing thereof given no small cause whereby you are to be enabled and therefore her Majesty upon these respects and divers others doth now presently admit this Election and presentation made of you nothing at all doubting but that you will with such diligence faithfulness and circumspection use and Exercise your Office as thereby the good hope and expectation that her Majesty hath received of you by that she hath heard of others already shall be by that her self shall see and hear not only confirmed but also increased and augmented And so as her Highness's Loving Subjects of her Common's House shall neither have just cause to repent their Election her Majesty her admission nor you your self the assumption and taking upon you this Charge Unto which Speech of the Lord Keepers Sir Thomas Gargrave humbly submitting himself to the undergoing of the Charge and service imposed on him made a discreet and submissive answer in which he expressed the great blessedness now accrewed to the Realm and all conditions therein by her Majesties attaining the Crown being a Princess so Richly endued with Piety Wisdom Mercy Justice and tender Care of her people's good and safety and with all other gifts of mind and body requisite for the Government of so great a Kingdom Then he proceeded to many hearty Prayers and feeling Expressions of the good success of the Parliament and for the uniting of their Councils in one Issue and to the repairing of the many losses and preventing of many dangers now imminent over the Realm And lastly he came according to the usual Form first to desire Liberty of access for the House of Commons to the Queen's Majesties presence upon all Urgent and Necessary Occasions Secondly that if in any thing himself should mistake or misreport or over-slip that which should be committed unto him to declare that it might without prejudice to the House be better declared and that his unwilling Miscarriage therein might be pardoned Thirdly that they might have Liberty and freedom of Speech in whatsoever they Treated of or had occasion to propound and debate in the House The fourth and last that all the Members of the House with their Servants and necessary Attendants might be exempted from all manner of Arrests and Suits during the continuance of the Parliament and the usual space both before the beginning and after the ending thereof as in former times hath always been accustomed To which Speech of the said Speaker the Lord Keeper without any long pausing repli'd again in manner and form following MR. Speaker the Queen's Majesty hath heard and doth very well understand your wise and discreet Oration full of good meaning good Will and good Matter the Effect whereof as I take it may be divided into three parts of those the first containeth the commendation of the Queen's Highness The Second certain good wishes and desires of yours very honorable profitable and Commodious for the Realm to be followed and put into Execution The third divers Petitions concerning the Exercises of your Office and the Liberties and Priviledges of the Commons House For the first the Queen's Majesty giveth you most hearty thanks as for a good Exhortation made to her Highness to become such a one as you have commended her for but not acknowledging those vertues to be in her Highness Marry confessing that such as she hath be God's graces And therewithal her Highness wisheth as she trusteth you all do that for England's sake there were as many vertues in her as would serve for the good Government of this her Realm committed to her Royal Charge and desireth you all with her to give God dayly thanks for those which she hath and to make humble Petition to grant such increase of the rest as to his divine Providence shall be thought for his honour most Meet For the Second her Maiesty trusteth and verily believeth that those good wishes and desires of yours are so deeply graven and perfectly imprinted in the hearts of the hearers that the good success and sequel that should come thereof will evidently declare that you have not in vain spoken them nor they negligently heard them For the third and last you have divided into four Petitions The first for your access to the Queen's Highness and her Nobles for your reports and conference The Second that you be born with in any thing if you should in any of your reports be mistaken or overslipped and that without prejudice to the House it be better declared The Third Liberty of Speech for well debating of Matters propounded The Fourth and last that all the Members of the House and their Servants may have the same freedom from all manner of Suits as before time they used to have To these Petitions the Queen's Majesty hath commanded me to say unto you that her Highness is right well contented to grant them unto you as largely as amply and as liberally as ever they were granted by any her Noble Progenitors and to confirm the same with as great an Authority Marry with these Conditions and cautions first that your access be void of importunity and for matters Needful and in time Convenient For the Second that your Diligence and Carefulness be such Mr. Speaker that the defaults in that part be as rare as may be whereof her Majesty doubteth little For the Third which is for Liberty of Speech therewith her Highness is right well contented but so as they be neither unmindful or uncareful of their Duties Reverence and Obedience to their Sovereign For the last great heed would be taken that no evil disposed person seek of purpose that priviledge for the only defrauding of his Creditors and for the maintenance of injuries and wrongs These Admonitions being well remembred her Majesty thinketh all the said Liberties and Priviledges well granted To come to an end only this I have to put you in mind of that in the sorting of
as my self And albeit it might please Almighty God to continue me still in this mind to live out of the State of Marriage yet is it not to be feared but he will so work in my Heart and in your Wisdom as good Provision by his help may be made whereby the Realm shall not remain destitute of an Heir that may be a fit Governour and peradventure more beneficial to the Realm than such Off-spring as may come of me For though I be never so careful of your well doing and mind ever so to be yet may my Issue grow out of kind and become perhaps ungracious and in the end this shall be for me sufficient that a marble stone shall declare that a Queen having Reigned such a time lived and died a Virgin And here I end and take your coming to me in good part and give unto you all my hearty thanks more yet for your Zeal and good meaning than for your Petition And under her Majesties Answer aforesaid was subscribed in the same hand as followeth This was Copied out of a Printed Copy garnisht with gilt Letters given to the Honourable the Lady Stafford of her Majesties Privy-Chamber and written out by Alex. Evesham 1590. By which subscription the authentickness of this Copy doth sufficiently appear On Saturday the 11 th of Feb. the Letany was said by the Clerk kneeling and answered by the whole House on their Knees with divers Prayers The Bill touching Tanners Curriers and Shoemakers for Tann'd Leather And the Bill for selling of Tann'd Leather in Markets were each of them read the first time As also the Bill for the Recognition of the Queens Majesties title to the Crown was read the first time and committed The Bill also touching Liberties of Hexham and Hexamshire and the Bill for the Confirmation of divers Grants and Leases made by Bishops deprived were each of them read the first time M r Sollicitor and M r D r Lewis brought from the Lords two Bills one concerning Treasons and another for Explanation of the Statute of seditious words and rumors The Bills for Tonnage and Poundage and for the Subsidy of the Temporalty were sent up to the Lords by M r Treasurer and others not named in the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons On Monday the 13 th day of February the Bill for Garbling of Feathers was read the first time The Bill for thicking of Caps by mens Feet and Hands And the Bill for annexing the Supremacy to the Crown were each of them read the second time both which Bills as it should seem were now dashed upon the second reading aforesaid the first of them as probably may be gathered without any great dispute but the latter being of great weight was long argued as appears plainly by the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons before it was dashed and the new Bill framed to the same effect was read the first time on Tuesday the 21 th day the second time on the 22. day and the third time on Saturday the 25. day of this Instant February ensuing when it passed the House Vide plus concerning this matter on Tuesday the 27. day of April ensuing On Tuesday the 14. day of February the Bill to bring Artificers to dwell in Market Towns was read the first time Divers Arguments passed in the House touching the framing of a new Bill for annexing of the Supremacy to the Crown On Wednesday the 15 th day of February Committees were appointed for the drawing of a new Bill for annexing of the Supremacy to the Crown The Bill to restore the Earl of Pembrook Sir John Mason M r H. Nevill M r Fitz Williams Sir P. Foly Sir Hen. Seymour Sir Richard Sackvill Patentees by King Edw. the Sixth of the late Bishop of Winchesters Lands and the Bill for Order of Service and Ministers in the Church were each of them read the first time Upon a Request made to the Lords that thirty of this House might attend their Lordships for the Authority of his place whom it shall please the Queen to take to Husband M r Attorney declared from the Lords that twelve of their Lordships will be to morrow in the Afternoon in the Star-Chamber to meet with the thirty Members of this House The Bill for punishment of divers Treasons and the Bill for punishment of false rumors or tales were each of them read the first time On Thursday the 16. of Febr. the Bill for Common-Prayer and Administring of Sacraments was read the first time Two Bills also had each of them one reading the first being the Bill for the payment of an imposition by French Men in Somerset and Dorset to Melcombe Regis was read the second time and as it should seem committed to M r South and others not named The Bill for Recognition of the Queens Highness Title to the Crown was read the second time but no mention is made that it was either referred to Committees or Ordered to be ingrossed and the reason thereof was that this Bill had passed the Upper House and was sent down to the House of Commons on Thursday the 9. day of this instant Feb. foregoing fairly ingrossed in Parchment and therefore can be no more ingrossed neither do the Lords ordinarily refer such Bills to Committees unless there be very great cause in respect that each House holding correspondency with others they do not willingly submit that to the Agitation of a private Committee which hath been allowed and approved by the wisdom of the whole House The Bill for the deceitful using of Linnen Cloth was read the first time The Bill for the Recognition of the Queens Title to the Crown was read the second time but no mention is made that it was either Ordered to be engrossed or referr'd to Committees because it had been formerly sent from the Lords The Bill for punishment of divers Treasons was read also the second time which Bill being of great moment was as it should seem committed to M r Vice-Chamberlain erroneously written Fitz Chamberlain as may plainly be gathered and others although it had been sent down from the Lords on Saturday the 11 th day of this instant Feb. foregoing in which Case Bills usually pass of course in the House of Commons when they come ready expedited in Parchment from the Lords The Bill for restitution in Blood of the Queens Highness for the Attainder of Queen Anne her Highness Mother being brought from the Lords by M r Attorney was read the first time On Friday the 17 th day of February two Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill to restore the First-Fruits and Tenths with a new Proviso was read the second time and as it should seem committed to M r Sackvill and others although it had been formerly sent down from the Lords On Saturday the 18 th day of February four Bills of no great moment had each of them their first
attempt the destruction of your Majesty and us all that live by you We fear a Faction of Hereticks in your Realm Contentious and malicious Papists lest they most unnaturally against their Country most madly against their own Safety and most treacherously against your Highness not only hope for the woful day of your Death but also lay in wait to advance some Title under which they may revive their late unspeakable Cruelty to the destruction of Goods Possessions and Bodies and thraldom of the Souls and Consciences of your faithful and Christian Subjects We see nothing to withstand their desire but your only Life their Unkindness and Cruelty we have tasted we fear much to what attempt the hope of such opportunity nothing withstanding them but your Life will move them We find how necessary it is for your preservation that there be more set and known between your Majesties Life and their desire We see on the other side how there can be no such danger to your Majesty by ambition of any Apparent Heir established by your benefit and advancement for want of Issue of your Majesties Royal Body as you are now subject unto by reason of their desire and hope We know not how many pretend Titles and Trust to succeed you whose secret desire we so much more fear because neither their number force nor likelihood of disposition is known unto us and so we can the less beware of them for your preservation We find also by good proof that the certain limitation of the Crown of France hath in that Realm procured so great quiet as neither the person of the Prince in Possession hath been indangered by secret or open practice nor the Common-Weal molested by civil dissention through any quarrel attempted for the Title of that Crown And somewhat near home we have remembred the miserable estate of Scotland after the Death of King Alexander without any certain Heir or limitation to whom the Crown of Scotland should remain by reason whereof the whole estate of that Realm was left open to the ambition of many Competitors and most grievous desolation and spoil that grew upon such division which afterwards gave occasion to King James the Fifth to limit the Crown of Scotland to certain Noble Families of that Realm whereby they at this present enjoy that quiet surety which we want And all your Majesties most Noble Progenitors Kings of this Realm have been in this behalf so careful that from the Conquest till this present day the Realm was never left as it is now without a certain Heir living and known to whom the Crown after the Death of the Prince should appertain So as your Majesty of your singular Care for us and our Posterity hath at this time Assembled us for establishing of this great and only stay of our Safeties We again Most Gracious Sovereign Lady acknowledge our selves and all that we have to depend upon your Preservation being according to our bounden Duty most careful of the same are in most humble manner come to your Majesties presence And I the Mouth appointed for them together with and in the name of all your most loving natural and obedient Subjects do present unto you our most lowly Suit and Petition That for asmuch as of your Majesties Person would come the most redoubted and best Heirs of your Crown such as in time to come we would most Comfortably see and our Posterity most Joyfully Obey It may please your Most Excellent Majesty for our sakes for our preservation and comforts and at our most humble Suit to take to your self some Honourable Husband whom it shall please you to join unto in Mariage whom whatsoever he be that your Majesty shall choose we protest and promise with all humility and reverence to Honour Love and Serve as to our most bounden duty shall appertain And where by the Statute which your most noble Father Assented unto of his most Princely and Fatherly Zeal for his most loving Subjects for the limitation of the Succession of the Emperial Crown of this Realm Your Majesty is the last expresly named within the body of the same Act and for that your Subjects cannot judge nor do know any thing of the form or validity of any further limitations set in certain for want of Heirs of your Body whereby some great dangerous doubt remaineth in their Hearts to their great grief peril and unquietness It may also please your Majesty by Proclamation of certainty already provided if any such be or else by limitations of certainty if none be to provide a most gracious remedy in this great necessity which by your most Honourable and Motherly Carefulness for them hath occasioned this Assembly That in this convenient time of Parliament upon your late danger most graciously called by you for that cause your Grace may now extend to us that great benefit which otherwise or at other times perhaps shall never be able to be done again so not only we but all ours hereafter and for ever shall owe no less to your Majesties propagation of Succession than we do already owe to your most Famous Grandfather King Henry the Seventh his uniting of Division And your Subjects on their behalfs for your Majesties further Assurance whereupon their own preservation wholly dependeth shall imploy their whole endeavours and Wits and Power to renew devise and establish the most strong and beneficial Acts and Laws of Preservation and Surety of your Majesty and of your Issue in the Emperial Crown of this Realm and the most penal sharp and terrible Statutes to all that shall but once practise and attempt or conceive against your Safety that by any possible means they may invent or establish with such limitations of conditions and restraints to all in Remainders such grievous pains and narrow Animadversions to all that shall enterprize or imagine any thing in prejudice of your Highness and your Issue as your Majesty shall not have any cause of suspicion but most assured ground of Confidence in all your faithful Subjects continually Watching and Warding for your Preservation which God long continue that you may see your Childrens Children to his Honour and our Comfort and encline your Gracious Ear to our most humble Petitions This Petition of the House of Commons delivered by Thomas Williams Esq their Speaker to her Majesty this Afternoon as aforesaid to which see her Majesties further Answer sent to the said House on Tuesday the 16 th day of February ensuing now follows the residue of the passages of this Journal out of the Original Journal-Book of the same House On Friday the 29 th day of January Seven Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the sixth being the Bill for Fines to be levyed in the County Palatine of Durham was read the third time and passed the House For that John Hippesley Esq is returned a Burgess for Wotten-Basset in Wiltshire and also for Wells in Somersetshire and doth appear for
communi assensu conclusa On Tuesday the 3 d day of December Three Bills had each of them their second reading of which the two last were one for avoiding tedious Suits in civil and marine Causes and another to alter the nature of Gavelkind in the Lands of Thomas Brown Esq On Wednesday the 4 th day of December Two Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill for Confirmation of certain priviledges granted by the Queens Majesty for converting of Copper into Latten and for the viewing and searching all other kinds of Metals and Treasures was read primâ vice The Bill that in divers Counties there shall be but one Sheriff of one County was committed to the Earl of Huntington Viscount Mountague the Bishop of Hereford the Lord Mountjoy the Lord Darcie the Lord Willoughby the Lord North Justice Brown and the Attorney General On Thursday the 5 th day of December Two Bills had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill for Confirmation of certain Priviledges granted by the Queens Majesty for the converting of Copper into Latten and for the mining and searching of all kind of Treasures and Metals was read secundâ vice commissa The Bill also for the repeal of the Statute made Anno 7 Edw. 6. for the prices of Wines sold by retail was read tertiâ vice communi omnium Dominorum Spiritualium majore parte Dominorum Tempor consensu quassata est Four Bills were brought up to the Lords from the House of Commons of which the two last were one for the Town-Clark of York and another touching the Patents made for making of Allom and Copperas within the Realms or Dominions of the Queens Majesty On Friday the 6 th day of December Three Bills had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill touching Letters Patents made for the making of Allom and Copperas within the Realms or Dominions of the Queens Majesty was read primâ vice On Saturday the 7 th day of December Six Bills had each of them one reading of which the fourth being the Bill to alter the nature of Gavelkind in the Lands of Thomas Brown Esq was read tertiâ vice communi omnium Procerum consensu conclusa dissentiente Vicecomite Mountague The Bill also for Execution of penal Laws was read secundâ vice communi omnium Procerum assensu conclusa est cum quadam Schedulâ annex deliberat Servienti Carus Attornato General in Domum Communem deferend On Monday the 9 th of December Three Bills had each of them one reading of which the first being for repeal of the Act made Anno 22 Hen. 8. for the Stature of Horses was read tertiâ vice communi Procerum assensu conclusa On Tuesday the 10 th day of December Six Bills had each of them one reading of which the third being the Bill for the Bowyers of Westm. c. And the fourth for the confirmation of Letters Patents made for the making of Allom and Copperas were each of them read tertiâ vice communi omnium Procerum consensu conclusae After the reading of the three first Bills this day three Bills were sent to the House of Commons by Serjeant Carus and the Attorney General viz. the first for the Stature of Horses The second for the Bowyers of Westm. And the third for Allom and Copperas Dominus Custos magni Sigilli continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem Mercurii viz. undecim Decembr On which eleventh day of December the Lords met but nothing done but the Parliament continued in usual Form by the Lord Keeper until Thursday the next day following On Thursday the 12 th day of December Two Bills had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill for the Office of Town-Clark of the City of York was read tertiâ vice communi omnium Procerum assensu conclusa quae deliberat fuit Servienti Carus Generali Attornato in Domum Communem deferend pro certis causis emendand and to them was delivered the Bill of Subsidy Four Bills had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill for Confirmation of the late new Erected Deaneries and Prebends was read secundâ vice and committed to the Archbishop of York the Earl of Huntington Viscount Mountague the Bishop of Durham the Bishop of Chester the Bishop of Lincoln the Bishop of Bath the Lord Paget the Lord Hastings of Loughborough the Lord S t John of Bletsoe Justice Welch Serjeant Carus D r Huick and D r Yale Four Bills were sent up to the Lords from the House of Commons and delivered after the reading of the Bill last before-mentioned of which the two last were one touching Foreign Wares and Apparel sold by Merchants in gross which had its first reading And another to explain a branch of a Statute made Anno 27 Henr. 8. touching Colledges and Free-Chappels On Friday the 13 th day of December a Proviso added to the Bill that in divers Counties there shall be but one Sheriff in one County was read primâ vice commissa ad ingrossand The Proviso added to the Bill for the Assurance of the Jointure of the Lady Mary Wife to Edward Lord Stafford was read secundâ vice Three Bills had each of them one reading of which the last being the Bill touching Explanation of a branch of a Statute made 37 Henr. 8. concerning Colledges and Free-Chappels was read primâ vice On Saturday the 14. day of December Five Bills had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill for the punishment of Riots and Routs and unlawful Assemblies was read secundâ vice commissa Archiepiscopo Ebor. Duci Norfolciae Comiti Salop Comiti Huntington Comiti Leicester Vice-Comiti Mountague Episcopis London Dunelmen Winton Domino Morley Domino Cobham Domino Paget Domino North Domino Hunsdon duobus Capital Justiciar Attornato General ad considerand emendand After the reading of the first Bill two Bills were brought from the House of Commons of which the second being the Bill for Uniformity in Doctrine was read primâ vice On Monday the 16. day of December to which day the Parliament had been last continued on Saturday foregoing Four Bills had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill that in divers Counties there shall be but one Sheriff cum quadam Provisione conclusa est And with the Bill for Alneagers Seals and the Bill for Tryals in Merionethshire was sent by Serjeant Carus and M r Attorney General to the House of Commons On Tuesday the 17. day of December Three Bills had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill for the repairing the Piere of Hartland in Devon was read secundâ vice but no mention is made either of the committing of it to be ingrossed or referring of it to Committees Vide de istâ materiâ
3. declares Ad omnem notitiam volumus pervenire quod de assensu Magnatum fidelium nostrorum words comprehensive of a Parliament precedent and future Authorities in the like Case considered acceptabimus ducere in uxorem legitimam Alianoram filiam nobilis viri P. Comitis Provinciae c. he having had once a purpose to Marry the King of Scots younger Sister Proposuit Rex sayes the Historian ducere in uxorem Regis Scotiae Sororem indignantibus Comitibus Baronibus suis universis non enim ut dixerunt decebat quod Rex duceret filiam natu minorem cum Hubertus Justiciarius meaning Hubert de Burgo natu majorem haberet sibi matrimonio copulatam 5. Edward the Second pro solempnitate sponsalium Coronationis Consulted with his Parliament in his first Year 6. And An. 5 E. 3. the Chancellor declaring the reasons of the Assembly of the Parliament amongst others tells them that it was to consult and resolve whether the King should proceed with France for recovery of his Seignories en voie de amiable trete per aliance de mariage ou de guerre 7. In the 23 d Year of H. 6. that great Favourite William de la Pole Marquess of Suffolk then Chancellor by the Kings Command informs the Parliament that the Marriage with Margaret the Sicilian Kings Daughter was Contracted for inducing the Peace made with France against which the Lords as being made without their advice made Protestation and caused it to be entred upon the Parliament Roll but it appears the Commons agreed to it by the Petition which they put up to the King whereby they recommended by the Chancellors Interest his Services and Actions praying his Grace to accept him to his gracious favour and good acceptance and that he was a great instrument of the intended Peace and Marriage which the Commons well liked of though the Lords did not 8. The Lords Spiritual Temporal and Commons tell the King that they had considered how that the pretended Marriage between E. 4. and Elizabetl Gray was made of great presumption without the knowledge and assent of the Lords of this Land 9. And in the Parliament 1 H. 7. the Commons by Thomas Lovell their Speaker did Petition the King to Marry Elizabeth Edward the Fourths Daughter which he at their request back'd by the Lords agreed to do the Memorial of which is thus recorded in the Parliament Roll. Memorand quod decimo die Decembris Anno praesenti Communes Regni Angliae in pleno Parliamento coram Domino Rege comparentes per Thomam Lovell Prolocutorem suum Regiae Celsitudini bumillime supplicabant eandem Celsitudinem assectuose requirentes co considerato quod authoritate Parliamenti stabilitum est inactitatum quod baereditates Regnorum Angliae Franciae cum praeeminentia potestate Regali sint restent remaneant permaneant in persona ejusdem Domini Regis haeredum de corpore suo legitimè exeuntium eadem Regalis sublimitas vellet sibi il lam praeclaram Dominam Elizabetham Regis Edwardi Quarti siliam in Uxorem Conthoralem assumere unde per Dei gratiam sobolium propagatio de stirpe Regum à multis speratarum in totius Regni consolationem consequeretur Quare Domini Spirituales Temporales in eodem Parliamento existentes à sedibus suis surgentes ante Regem in Regali solio residentem stantes capitibus suis inclinatis eandem requestam fecerunt voce divisa quibus idem Rex respondebat ore preprio se juxta eorum desideria requestas procedere fuisse contentum 10. Anno Domini 1530. Anno 21 H. 8. the Parliament sent a Declaration or Letter to the Pope touching the Marriage and Divorce of that King from Queen Katherine telling him that Causa Regiae Majestatis nostra cujusque propria est à Capite in membra derivata dolor ad omnes atque injuria ex aequo pertinet and that if his Holiness did not give his consent nostri nobis curam esse relictam aliunde nobis remedia conquiramus that is in plain English if the Pope would not do it they would which indeed afterwards they did To which Pope Clement the Seventh sent an Answer directed thus Venerabilibus fratribus Archiepiscopis Episcopis ac dilectis filiis Abbatibus Nobilibusque viris Ducibus Marchionibus Comitibus Baronibus Militibus ac Doctoribus Parliamenti Regni Angliae 11. The Marriage of King Philip and Queen Mary it is true was treated on before yet nothing could absolutely be concluded till the whole Treaty and Articles of Marriage were solemnly and solidly debated in Parliament which being agreed to they confirm and establish them by a Law 12. We your Majesties most humble Subjects cannot forbear but with all humbleness most thankfully to set before the same our most lowly thanks for three special matters proceeding from your Majesty to our benefit joy and comfort in this present Assembly First For the more Princely consideration had of us in the forbearing at this time some portion of that which according to the greatness and necessity of your Affairs we of Duty meant and intended to have yielded unto your Majesty Secondly For the most comfortable assurance and promise by your Majesty made and declared unto us that for our Weal and Surety your Majesty would Marry as soon as God should give you opportunity to accomplish the same whereof we have received infinite comfort and shall pray to Almighty God to further and prosper all your Majesties Actions tending thereunto that we your most natural Subjects may speedily see some noble Issue of your Body to continue perpetually by Descent the Succession of this Imperial Crown Thirdly For the great hope and comfort we have conceived by the means of your Majesties most Honourable Speech uttered and declared unto us of your most Gracious and Princely Disposition and determination when time thereunto shall serve conveniently with the Surety of your Majesties Person and the Weal and Tranquillity of your Realm to have due regard to the further establishing of the Succession of your Imperial Crown Quod omnes tangit ab omnibus approbetur THE JOURNAL OF THE House of COMMONS The Journal of the Proceedings of the House of Commons in the Session of Parliament bolden at Westminster An. 8 Reg. Eliz. A. D. 1566. which began there after divers Prorogations of the same on Monday the 30 th of September and then and there continued until the Dissolution thereof on Thursday the 2 d day of Jan. An. 9 Reg. ejusdem THIS Journal of the House of Commons in this present Session of Parliament de An. 8 Regin Eliz. is not only replenished with excellent matter touching the usual Orders and Liberties of the House but also enriched with the unusual Election of a new Speaker and with the extraordinary agitation of those two great businesses touching her Majesties Marriage
comfortable words and commanded the Parliament to be dissolved Nota That this business had many and long Agitations in the House of Commons who were especially violent in that latter branch of it touching the Declaration of a Successor as see more at large on Monday the 25 th day of November foregoing and lastly I have thought good to give a short touch that all the foregoing passages of this Afternoon touching her Majesties Presence Royal Assent Speech and Dissolving the Parliament were thus Orderly set down in the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons and have here received little Alterations THE JOURNAL OF THE House of LORDS The Journal of the Proceedings of the House of Lords in the Parliament holden at Westminster An. 13 Reg. Eliz. A. D. 1571 which began there on Monday the 2 d day of April and then and there continued until the Dissolution thereof on Tuesday the 29 th day of May ensuing THIS Journal of the Upper House continuing about the space of two Months was very carelesly entred in the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House by the Clerk thereof who as it seems was Anthony Mason Esq succeeding about this time in the said Office of Clerk of the Upper House unto Francis Spilman Esq who had formerly supplied that place But yet by means of a Copious Journal I had by me of the Passages of the House of Commons in this Parliament taken by some Anonymous Member thereof and also of some Copies I had of the Speeches of Sir Nicholas Bacon Lord Keeper at the beginning and conclusion of this said Parliament this ensuing Journal is much enlarged And therefore to avoid confusion whatsoever is here inserted out of the said private Journal is particularly distinguished from that which is taken out of the above-mentioned Journal-Book of the Upper House by some Animadversions or Expression thereof both before and after the inserting of it Neither doth the Original Journal-Book it self of the Upper House want some matter of variety besides the ordinary Reading Committing and passing of Bills in respect that Sir Robert Catlyn Knight Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench was appointed by her Majesties Commission under the Great Seal to supply the Lord Keepers place upon occasion of his sickness during some part of this said Parliament in the first entry whereof is set down out of the foresaid Anonymous Journal of the House of Commons her Majesties coming to the Upper House with the Order and manner of it the substance also of which is found though somewhat more briefly set down in the Original Journal-Book of the same House On Monday the second day of April the Parliament beginning according to the Writs of Summons sent forth her Majesty about eleven of the Clock came towards Westminster in the antient accustomed most honourable Passage having first riding before her the Gentlemen Sworn to attend her Person the Batchellors Knights after them the Knights of the Bath then the Barons of the Exchequer and Judges of either Bench with the Master of the Rolls her Majesties Attorney General and Sollicitor General whom followed in Order the Bishops and after them the Earls then the Archbishop of Canterbury The Hat of Maintenance was Carried by the Marquess of Northampton and the Sword by the Earl of Sussex The place of the Lord Steward for that day was supplied by the Lord Clinton Lord Admiral of England the Lord Great Chamberlain was the Earl of Oxenford And the Earl Marshal by Deputation from the Duke of Norfolk was the Earl of Worcester Her Majesty sate in her Coach in her Imperial Robes and a Wreath or Coronet of Gold set with rich Pearl and Stones over her Head her Coach drawn by two Palfries covered with Crimson Velvet drawn out imbossed and imbroidered very richly Next after her Chariot followed the Earl of Leicester in respect of his Office of the Master of the Horse leading her Majesties spare Horse And then forty seven Ladies and Women of Honour The Guard in their rich Coats going on every side of them The Trumpeters before the first sounding and the Heralds riding and keeping their rooms and places Orderly In Westminster Church the Bishop of Lincoln Preached before her Majesty whose Sermon-being done her Majesty came from the Church the Lords all on foot in order as afore and over her Head a rich Canopy was carried all the way She being entred into the Upper House of Parliament and there sate in Princely and seemly sort under a high and rich Cloth of Estate her Robe was supported by the Earl of Oxenford the Earl of Sussex kneeling holding the Sword on the left hand and the Earl of Huntingdon holding the Hat of Estate and the Lords all in their Rooms on each side of the Chamber that is to say the Lords Spiritual on the right hand and the Lords Temporal on the left Nota That whereas the presence of these Lords ought here according to the usual course to have been inserted out of the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House it must of necessity be omitted in respect that through the great negligence of Anthony Mason Esq at this time as it should seem Clerk of the said House there are none of the said Lords noted to have been present yet it may be probably guessed who they were by those who attended on Wednesday of this instant April ensuing Quod vide The Judges and her Learned Councel being at the Woollsacks in the midst of the Chamber and at her Highness Feet at each side of her kneeling one of the Grooms or Gentlemen of the Chamber their Faces towards her the Knights Citizens and Burgesses all standing below the Bar her Majesty then stood up in her Regal Seat and with a Princely Grace and singular good Countenance after a long stay spake a few words to this effect or thus Mr right Loving Lords and you our right faithful and Obedient Subjects we in the name of God for his Service and for the safety of this State are now here Assembled to his Glory I hope and pray that it may be to your Comfort and the common quiet of our yours and all ours for ever And then looking on the right side of her towards Sir Nicholas Bacon Knight Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England standing a little beside the Cloth of Estate and somewhat back and lower from the same she willed him to shew the cause of the Parliament who thereupon spake as followeth THE Queens most Excellent Majesty our most Dread and Gracious Soveraign hath Commanded me to declare unto you the Causes of your Calling and Assembly at this time which I mean to do as briefly as I can led thereunto as one very loth to be tedious to her Majesty and also because to wise men and well-disposed as I judge you be a few words do suffice The Causes be chiefly two The one to establish or dissolve Laws as best shall serve for the Governance of the Realm
Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas Sir Edward Saunders Knight Lord Chief Baron Richard Weston one of the Justices of Welsh one of the Justices of D r Lewis D r Yale and D r Vaughan Triers of Petitions for England Ireland Wales and Scotland The Archbishop of Canterbury the Earl of Arundel the Earl of Sussex the Earl of Huntington the Earl of Bedford the Bishop of London the Bishop of Durham the Bishop of Salisbury the Lord Clinton the Lord Admiral of England the Lord Cobham the Lord Wentworth and the Lord North. Triers of Petitions for Gascoigne and for other parts beyond the Seas and the Isles The Archbishop of York the Marquess of Northampton the Earl of Shrewsbury the Earl of Leicester the Bishop of Winchester the Bishop of Worcester the Bishop of Lincoln the Lord Howard of Esfingham Chamberlain of the Queen the Lord Windsor the Lord Hastings of Loughborough and the Lord Carie of Hùnsdon Hodiè retornatum breve quo Edwardus Comes Oxon. praesenti huic Parliamento summonitus fuit qui admissus fuit ad suum in sedendo praeheminentiae locum salvo cuique jure suo The like Writs returned for Henry Earl of Pembroke and William Lord Sands Hodiè retornatum fuit breve quo Richardus Episcopus Carliolen praesenti buic Parliamento summonebatur qui admissus fuit ad suum in sedendo praeheminentiae locum salvo jure alieno On Wednesday the 4 th day of April in the Afternoon but at or about what hour appeareth not although it may probably be guessed that it was about three of the Clock her Majesty with divers Lords Spiritual and Temporal Assembled in the Upper House whose names are marked to have been present this day in the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House being as followeth Regina Archiepiscopus Cantuarien Episcopus London Episcopus Dunelmen Episcopus Winton Episcopus Hereforden Episcopus Wigorn. Episcopus Lincolnien Episcopus Sarisburien Episcopus Meneven Episcopus Roffen Episcopus Norwicen Episcopus Carliolen Episcopus Cestren Episcopus Assaven Episcopus Glocestren Episcopus Bangoren Episcopus Landaven Nicolaus Bacon Miles Dominus Custos Magni Sigilli Marchio Northampton Comes Arundell Comes Oxon. Comes Wigorn. Comes Sussex Comes Southampton Comes Bedford Comes Pembroke Comes Leicester Vice-Comes Hereford Vice-Comes Mountague Which are all the Lords Spiritual and Temporal sitting on the two Upper Forms noted to be present this day Nota That the Spiritual Lords are always thus placed in the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House on the dexter side not in respect of their precedency but as it should seem because the Archbishop of Canterbury the chief of them is the first Peer of England and so the residue of the Clergy are placed next after him in respect of their Ecclesiastical Dignities The next that follow are the Barons who are placed in the said Journal-Book in respect of their several places and precedencies as followeth Barones Dominus Clinton Admirallus Angliae Dominus Howard Camerarius Dominus Burgavenny Dominus Strainge Dominus Dacres de Souch Dominus Cobham Dominus Stafford Dominus Gray de Wilton Dominus Dudley Dominus Lumley Dominus Darcie Dominus Mountegle Dominus Vauxes Dominus Windesor Dominus Wentworth Dominus Burgh Dominus Crumwell Dominus Evers Dominus Wharton Dominus Rich. Dominus Willoughby Dominus Paget Dominus Darcie de Chich. Dominus North. Dominus Shandois Dominus Haistings de Loughborough Dominus Hunsdon Dominus S t John de Bletsoe Dominus Buckhurst Dominus De la Ware Her Majesty and the Lords being thus set the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons had notice thereof and thereupon repaired to the Upper House with Christopher Wray Serjeant at Law their lately Elected Speaker whose presentation to her Majesty and allowance by her being not mentioned in the Original Journal-Book of the said House are therefore wholly transcribed out of that before-cited Anonymous Journal more particularly mentioned at the beginning of this present Journal the same also in effect being contained in the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons fol. 10. a. The said Speaker being led up to the Rail or Bar at the lower end of the Upper House by two of the most Honourable Personages of the House of Commons did there after three Reverences made humbly beseech her Majesty according to the usual course that albeit he could not obtain of the Commons who had Elected him to be their Speaker for such causes as he had alledged to be disbunthened of that place that so some other more fit and able might be chosen that yet her Highness would vouchsafe to have consideration of the greatness of the Service and therefore to require them eftsoons to return to the House and to make a new Choice To which his Petition the Lord Keeper by her Majesties Commandment Answered and said That as well for that her Highness had understood of him as for that the Commons had chosen him his Request could not be granted Whereupon the said Speaker being allowed he desired to be heard to say somewhat concerning the orderly Government of a Common-Weal which to be duly done he said there were three things requisite Religion Authority and Laws By Religion he said we do not only know God aright but also how to Obey the King or Queen whom God shall assign to Reign over us and that not in Temporal Causes but in Spiritual or Ecclesiastical in which wholly her Majesties Power is absolute And leaving all proofs of Divinity to the Bishops and Fathers as he said he would he prov'd the same by the practice of Princes within this Realm and first made remembrance of Lucius the first Christian King who having written to Elut herius the Pope 1300. Years past for the Roman Laws he was Answered that he had the Holy Scriptures out of the which he might draw to himself and for his Subjects Laws by his own good discretion for that he was the Vicar of Christ over the People of Brittain The Conqueror he said in the Erection of Battell-Abby granted that the Church should be free from all Episcopal Jurisdiction Henry the Third gave to Ranulph Bishop of London the Archbishoprick of Canterbury by these words Rex c. Sciatis quod dedimus Dilect nostro Ranulpho Archiepiscop Cantuarien quem instituimus Anulo Baculo The Ring he said was the sign of perfection The Staff the sign of Pastoral Rule which he could not do if these Kings had not had and used the Ecclesiastical Powers In the Reports of the Law we find that an Excommunication of a certain person came from the Pope under his Leaden Bull and was shewed in abatement of an Action brought at the Common Law which besides that it was of no force the King and Judges were of Mind that he who brought it had deserved Death so to presume on any Foreign Authority which Authority being now by Gods Grace and her Highness means abolished and the freedom of Consciences and the truth
and Prerogatives also in question contrary to their Duty and place that they be called unto And contrary to the express Admonition given in her Majesties name in the beginning of this Parliament which it might very well have become them to have had more regard unto But her Majesty saith that seeing they will thus wilfully forget themselves they are otherwise to be remembred and like as her Majesty allows and much commends the former sort for the respects aforesaid so doth her Highness utterly disallow and condemn the second sort for their audacious arrogant and presumptuous folly thus by superfluous Speech spending much time in medling with matters neither pertaining to them nor within the capacity of their understanding And thus much concerning the Parliament of the Lower House And as to the Lords here of the Upper House her Majesty hath Commanded me to let you know that her Highness taketh their diligence discretion and orderly Proceedings to be such as redoundeth much to their Honour and Commendations and much to her Comfort and Consolation And here an end touching Parliament men Now as to the Parliament matters her Majesty hath Commanded me to open and declare unto you her Opinion conceived therein touching two things the one is concerning the Subsidy and benevolence the other is concerning the Execution of the Laws As to the former which concerneth the Subsidy and benevolence her Pleasure is that I shall say unto you that in your dealings in that matter she hath noted three things principally every of them tending much to the setting forth of your benevolences and good wills The first is who it was that granted the second the manner of the granting the third what it was that was granted As to the first her Majesty forgetteth not that it is a grant made proceeding from the earnest affections and hearty good wills of her good dutiful and obedient Subjects for the greatest part And therefore hath Commanded me to say unto you that she maketh a greater accompt of the great good wills and benevolent minds of her good and loving Subjects than she doth of ten Subsidies which as it ought to bring and breed in us great comfort and delight so in reason it ought to move us as I doubt not but it doth to be and continue such as be worthy such an estimation and accompt Again her Majesty forgetteth not that besides this is not a Grant by good and loving Subjects that never made like Grant heretofore but by such as have contributed from time to time as the necessary Charges of the Realm and their own Sureties have required which doth much commend and set forth this benevolence of yours And thus much concerning the persons that have granted And as to the second which is the manner of granting her Highness knoweth very well that before her time these manner of Grants have sundry times past not without difficulties with long perswasions and sometimes not without sharp Speeches but this contrariwise without any such Speeches or other difficulty hath been freely and frankly offered and presented and like as the former did much extenuate their benevolence so is this of yours greatly extended It is written and very truly concerning Benevolences Qui diu distulit diu noluit and therefore justly concluded Bis dat qui citò dat which sayings she cannot but apply to you in the proceedings of your Grant Again Universality in consent doth greatly commend also your dealings in this matter for a more universal consent than was in this will hardly be had in any and therefore much the more commendable And thus much touching the manner of the Gift And as to the third which concerneth the thing given her Majesty saith that she thinketh it to be as great as any heretofore hath been granted and therefore you are to receive condign thanks for it And hath further willed me to say that if the Service of the Realm and your Sureties would so permit and suffer her Majesty would as gladly as readily and as frankly remit this Grant as you have freely and liberally granted it Thus I have remembred unto you the three Princely Observations that her Majesty hath conceived of this benevolence of yours much to your Comfort and greatly to her Majesties Honour to your Commendation for granting and to her Highness for this honourable accepting for her Majesty shall by this Grant receive no Commodity or benefit but rather a continual care in dispending and imploying of it about the necessary Affairs and Service of the Realm and your Sureties and yet it is a great Comfort to her Majesty to see you thus frankly and freely join with her Self the Realm and You. Now to the second and last part which concerneth the Execution of Laws which I mean to divide into two parts the first is the Execution of your Grant the second is the Execution of Laws now made by you and of the rest made before of others As to the former I am to remember you that like as it hath pleased the Queens Majesty thus Princely Honourably and thankfully to think of and accept this free and liberal Grant of yours so certainly if the like diligence and endeavour be not used by such of you as Choice shall be made of by her Majesty for the due putting in Execution of this Grant then surely those that shall be thus remiss or negligent as by that means her Majesty and the Realm shall be defrauded of any part of that which hath been thus freely granted shall thereby minister just occasion to her Highness to have their fidelity and truth towards her Majesty much to be suspected and charged which would touch them very near Neither is it an offence that would be pretermitted but severely punished Why if the Case were between common persons can there be a greater untruth and unthankfulness than for a man to make a grant in appearance willingly and readily and then to seek wilily and craftily to defraud the same Grant This amongst honest persons is utterly detested and if so how then might it be thought of between the Prince and his Subjects where for divers respects this bond is thrice as great for as the Subject by the Duty of his Allegiance is to serve the Prince truly even so is he by his Oath and so is he by the great trust that by the Princes Choice is committed unto him as a Commissioner in this matter above others Plainly to speak it may be affirmed and that justly that such as be in Commission for the Execution of this Grant and shall deal partially either for favour or for fear or for love to themselves or their Friends or negligently or remisly of purpose whereby her Majesty shall not be Answered of that that is due unto her such I say may justly be charged as men forgetting their Duty towards God and their Soveraign and to their Country It cannot be denied that numbers respect only their private profit and not the
did forbid that his Traiterous Son Absolom should be slain and when he was killed effeminately he bewailed the same to the discouraging of his People but he was sharply rebuked by Ioab his Councellor saying Thou hast shamed this day the faces of thy Servants which have saved thy life and the life of thy Sons c. Thou lovest those that hate thee and thou shewest this day that thou passest not for thy Captains and thy Servants And now I perceive if Absolom had lived and all we had been slain it would have pleased thee well What inconvenience was like to follow unto David by this doing and what other good direction may be taken out of this History well considered for brevities sake we leave to the Consideration of wise Princes and Governours When David was so much moved with these words that he was contented to take another course which turned both to the Comfort of his Subjects and his own benefit the application needeth not If David were moved thus to do to the Comfort of his own Subjects only and the abashing of his own private Rebels how much more have we to desire God to move the Queens Majesty by the Execution of this Lady to glad the hearts of all true Christians in Europe and to abash and damp the minds of all the Enemies of God and Friends of Antichrist Obj. It may be objected that thus to proceed is not Honourable for the Queens Majesty Respons The shadow of Honour as may evidently appear deceived upon like occasion both King Saul in sparing Agag King of Amaleck and King Achab in receiving to his Mercy King Benhadad as it is in the Example in the second Reason mentioned who did pretend great honour in saving a King and thought dishonour in the contrary that one King should kill another but mans Judgment and Gods in such cases are far diverse for indeed Execution of Justice upon any person whatsoever is and ever hath been accounted honourable Ioshua a worthy Prince and Governour put to Death at one time five Kings and that as might appear rudely causing his Souldiers to set their Feet on their Necks and slay them and willed them to be stout and not to fear to do it Ioshua 10. We find also in the Scriptures that in this Zeal of Justice two wicked Queens Iesabel and Athaliah both inferior in mischief to this late Queen have been by Gods Magistrates Executed and the same Execution commended in Scripture Obj. It may be further objected that the Queens Majesty in so doing should exceed the limits and bounds of Mercy and Clemency Resp. Indeed a Prince should be merciful but he should be just also It is said Misericordia veritas custodiunt Regem but in the next Chapter it followeth Qui sequitur justitiam misericordiam inveniet vit am Pro. 20. The Prince in Government must be like unto him who is not only amiable by Mercy but terrible also by Justice and therefore is called Misericors Justus Dominus Mercy oftentimes sheweth it self in the Image of Justice Yea and Justice in Scriptures is by God called Mercy Psal. 136. Who smote Egypt with their first-born for his mercy endureth for ever In that Psalm the smiting of Egypt with terrible Plagues the destruction of Pharaoh the killing of great and mighty Kings are called the merciful works of God as indeed they were but mercy towards the People of God and not towards the Enemies of God and of his People Therefore as the Queens Majesty indeed is merciful so we most humbly desire her that she will open her Mercy towards Gods People and her good Subjects in dispatching those Enemies that seek the confusion of Gods cause amongst us and of this noble Realm It may also be said that to spare one Person being an Enemy a Stranger a professed Member of Antichrist and Convicted of so many hainous Crimes with the evident peril of so many thousands of Bodies and Souls of good and faithful Subjects may justly be termed Crudelis misericordia Petiliano objiciente Deum non delectari humano Sanguine Respondet Legimus multos à famulo Dei Moise Misericorditer interfectos Nunquid crudelis effect us est cùm de monte descendens tot Millia juberet occidi August contra literas Petiliani li. 2. c. 86. Saul Jehosaphat Reges fuerunt populi Dei dum misericordiam iis quos Deus oderat praestiterunt Dei offensam in opere pietatis incurrerunt E contrario Phinehas filiique Levi gratiam Dei humanâ caede suorum parricidio meruerunt Hierom. The same Hierom de Origine animae saith the like Sparing of evil persons is misericors inobedientia S t Augustine also saith Sicuti est misericordia puniens est etiam crudelitas parcens Object But happily it may be that some do discredit these reasons by the persons when they cannot by the matter and will put in her Majesties mind that we in perswading her respect our own danger and fear of peril coming to us and not right and true judgment Yea and that it may appear very unseemly and worthy sharp reproof in a Bishop to excite a Prince to Cruelty and Blood contrary to her merciful inclination Resp. As touching the first branch Surely we see not any great continuance of danger likely to come unto us more than to all good Subjects while this State standeth and the State cannot lightly alter without the certain peril both of our Prince and Country Now if our danger be joined with the danger of our Gracious Soveraign and natural Country we see not how we can be accompted godly Bishops or faithful Subjects if in common peril we should not cry and give warning Or on the other side how they can be thought to have true hearts towards God and towards their Prince and Country that will mislike with us for so doing and seek thereby to discredit us As touching the second branch God forbid that we should be instruments to incense a merciful Prince to Cruelty and Bloodiness neither can we think well of them or judge that they have true meaning hearts that in the Minister of God and Officer do term justice and right punishment by the name ofBloodiness and Cruelty God I trust in time shall open her Majesties Eyes to see and espy their cruel purposes under the Cloak of extolling mercy When the Prince or Magistrate is slack in punishing the sinful and wicked the Bishop and Preacher is bound in Conscience before God to exhort him to more diligent and severe dealing therein lest the Blood both of Prince and People be required at his hands 3. Reg. 20. May the Prophet be accounted cruel to incite Achab to Bloodiness which so sharply rebuked him for his Clemency shewed towards Benhadad May Samuel be justly named cruel because in like case he reproved Saul for sparing the life of King Agag and killed the said Agag with his own hands in the sight of the Prince
of this days Passages as also the greatest part of the business of this ensuing Parliament out of the said Original Journal-Book of the same This day Arthur Hall Esq being brought by the Serjeant to the Bar and Charged by the House with seven several Articles humbly submitted himself to the House and confessed his folly as well touching the said Articles as also his other fond and unadvised Speech at the Bar and was upon the question remitted with a good Exhortation given him by M r Speaker at large Vide concerning this matter on Saturday the 17 th day of this instant May foregoing The Bill for the Jurors of Middlesex was committed unto M r Robert Wroth M r Newdigate M r Dalton M r Cromwell and M r Gent. On Tuesday the 20 th day of May the Bill for the Assurance of Lands late of Sir William and Sir Thomas Woodhouse Knights deceased was read the first time and referred unto Sir John Thynne Sir Robert Wingfield M r Moore M r Grimston M r Norton and M r Snagg to confer with the Parties and their Friends touching their Assents to the proceeding of the Bill Three Bills also of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the last being the Bill for the Town of Shrewsbury was read the third time and passed the House The Proviso to the Bill of Decem tales was twice read and the Bill and Proviso were Ordered to be ingrossed The Bill for Rites and Ceremonies was read the third time and referred to be considered by M r Treasurer Sir Thomas Scott M r Attorney of the Dutchy and others who were appointed to meet this Afternoon in the Star-Chamber On Wednesday the 21 th day of May the Bill between Chatterton and Chatterton was read and committed unto Sir Nicholas Arnold Sir Hen. Gates Sir George Penruddocke Sir Hen. Wallop and M r Cromwell who were appointed to meet here to Morrow Morning at six of the Clock The Bill for the Earl of Kent was read the first time Francis Harrington Esq being one of this House was appointed by the Queens Majesties most Honourable Privy-Council to repair forthwith to the Town of Stamford or thereabouts for her Majesties Service as by his Commission for taking of Post-Horses bearing date the 20 th day of this Month doth and may appear which M r Speaker Commanded to be set down and noted accordingly The Bill for the Earl of Kent was committed unto M r Attorney of the Dutchy Mr. Popham Mr. Bedell Mr. Sandes Mr. Fenner Mr. Dalton Mr. Shute and Mr. Matthew Dale and the opinion of the House was to leave out the general clause contained in the said Bill The Bill for Tales de Circumstantibus was read the third time and passed the House and was sent up unto the Lords with two other Bills of no great moment by Mr. Treasurer and others with further Order from this House to make Declaration unto the Lords of the Choice made by this House upon Monday last in the great Cause And also to desire to understand their Lordships liking of the same Choice and further to pray their good advice and pleasure for further proceeding therein Two Bills also of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill touching Presentations by lapse was read the second time and Ordered to be ingrossed Mr. Treasurer and the residue returning from the Lords Mr. Treasurer made report of their Message done to the Lords and declared that the Lords had resolved in the great cause amongst themselves much to the like effect with the former Choice made by this House And that their Lordships for the better and more speedy proceeding therein do pray present Conference with the former Committees of this House who are by the House appointed to attend their Lordships presently for that purpose And further Commission also was granted to the said Committees to impart unto the Lords Committees the Opinion of this House to be that for her Majesties better safety present Execution be done upon the Duke And the rather by reason of the tract of time which of necessity must arise by occasion of proceeding against the Queen of Scots by way of Charging her in proper Person and hearing of her Personal Answer And further that this Opinion of this House shall be delivered to the Lords of the Upper House in the name of all this House either by the said Lords Committees or else by some of this House if the said Lords Committees shall so advise and think good Vide concerning this matter on Thursday the 26 th day of June ensuing Three Bills lastly had each of them one reading of which the last being the Bill against Hunting and Killing of Conies was upon the first reading rejected On Thursday the 22 th day of May Three Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the third being the Bill for the true making of Callivers Daggs c. was upon the first reading committed unto Mr. Treasurer Sir Maurice Berkeley Sir Nicholas Arnold Sir Henry Wallop and others who were appointed to meet to Morrow in the Star-Chamber at two of the Clock in the Afternoon The Bill for Weekes against Dennis c. was committed unto Sir John Thinne Sir Henry Gates Sir Hen. Wallopp Sir Geo. Turpin and Mr. Moore and others who were appointed to meet upon Wednesday next at two of the Clock in the Afternoon in the Star-Chamber The Bill against Vagabonds and for relief of the Poor was read the second time and referred to be considered by Sir Henry Gates Mr. Serjeant Lovelace Mr. Yelverton and others who were appointed to meet in this House to Morrow at six of the Clock in the Morning Upon Declaration made unto this House by Mr. Speaker from the Queens Majesty that her Highness Pleasure is that from henceforth no Bills concerning Religion shall be preferred or received into this House unless the same should be first considered and liked by the Clergy And further that her Majesties Pleasure is to see the two last Bills read in this House touching Rites and Ceremonies It is Ordered by the House that the same Bills shall be delivered unto her Majesty by all the Privy-Council that are of this House Mr. Heneage and Mr. Doctor Wilson Master of the Requests or by any four of them The Bill to avoid the multitude of Rogues and Vagabonds was read the first time Upon the reading of the Bill Exhibited by Weekes against Dennis it was Commanded by the House to be set down and Entred that in all matters preferred and offered to this Court between any private persons and wherein the Bill shall by Order of this House be thought good to be committed those Committees shall make their Reports thereof unto this House in the presence of both the Parties and of their Learned Councel Three Bills lastly of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the third being
Assistance that his Power may be given to you next after the advancement of his Glory to seek assuredly your own Safety which your Majesty cannot fully do by this means that hath hitherto been taken or hereafter to be used Therefore it would please your most Excellent Majesty to give ear to the sound Reasons of your most Faithful Subjects and rather deal certainly than by Chance and there is no doubt but your Majesty shall avoid all apparent dangers and live in all Safety and Honour to Gods Glory and to the Comsort of all good Christian Princes universally Thus much against the opinion of disabling the Scottish Queen whereby it appeareth that it will be rather for her benefit than to her hurt And most certain it is that it will be dangerous for the State divers ways whereas dealing with her in the first degree according to her deserts the same is lawful safe necessary and honourable for your Majesty and all Christendome besides And because it may appear that this Speech is grounded upon Law and Reason there shall be Arguments in Law alledged sufficiently for this matter as the shortness of time may serve Civil Reasons for doubt of Answer A Confederate being in the Country of his Confederate is to be punished as though he were a Subject Every person offending is to be tryed in the place where he committeth the Crime without Exception of priviledge A King passing through another King's Realm or there Resident is but a private person The Dignity of the Person offending encreaseth the offence Reat us omnem honorem excludit A King deposed is not to be taken for a King and therefore Frederick King of Naples being deprived by the King of Spain was afterwards judged to be no King by Sentence A King though not deposed may commit Treason Diotorus a King Consederated with the Romans was Criminally judged by Caius Julius Caesar for that he Conspired to have slain the said Julius Caesar at a Banquet Joan Queen of Naples was put to Death for that she gave her Consent to the Murther of her Husband and caused him to be hanged out at a Window Henry the Seventh Emperour did give a Solemn Judgment of Death at Pisa 1311. against Robert King of Sicil for that the same King had entred into Conspiracy with the Subjects of the Emperour and yet was not King Robert within the Jurisdiction of the Emperour at the time of the Conspiracy neither at the time of the Judgment It standeth with the Law of nature which is immutable for any Person to proceed for the safety of himself and his Charge Great offences in the highest degree ought not to be punished for any affection of Kindred Justice Equity and Common-Wealth are to be preferred before the affection of Kindred Quia arctiora sunt vincula virtutis quà m sanguinis An offence of the highest degree against the Prince being the Head of the Political Body is an offence to every Member of the same and requireth sharp punishment for preservation of the whole The intent of offences in the highest degree is punished with death although the Execution of the intent doth not follow The benefit and priviledge of safe Conduct is lost by any Crime committed after the Grant made thereof Administration of Justice cannot but be honourable All just and honourable dealings are pleasing to God and profitable to the Prince and State Execution of Justice is void of all Injury It is dangerous for the State to swerve from the Ministration of Justice and the due Execution of Law To spare Offenders in the highest degree is an injury to the Prince and State of the Realm Poena unius salus multorum The loss of life is the penalty appointed for Treason and the loss of Lands and Goods with the possibility of Title cometh but in consequence and unnecessarily Punishment ought to be equal with the fault and he that ministreth less punishment than the fault deserveth doth not execute the Law according to the Rules of Justice Reasons to prove that it standeth not only with Justice but with the Queens Majesties Honour and Safety to proceed Criminally against Mary Steward late Queen of Scots for her Treasons committed against her Majesty and this Realm A Confederate being in the Country of his Confederate for a Crime committed is there to be punished Cod. de captivis post termino reversis verba legis At si sunt apud nos rei ex Civitatibus foederatis in eos damnatos animadvertimus Therefore although the Scottish Queen were a Confederate yet she is to be used in like fort as a Subject Item there is no Person of what degree soever he be but is there to be Tryed where the Crime is committed without exception of priviledge Cod. ubi de Criminibus agi oporteat verba legis Qua in Provincia quis deliquit aut in qua pecuniarum aut criminum reus sit ibi judicari debet hoc jus perpetuum sit But the Scottish Queen here hath offended Ergo. Item every Person is to be Condemned and adjudged equally In Crimine laesae Majestatis verba legis In crimine laesae Majestatis aequa est omnium conditio Ad legem Juliam laesae Majestatis But she hath fallen in crimen laesae Majestatis Ergo. Item a King in another Kings Territory may commit Treasons as another private Person Corectus de potestate regia n o 90. verba Quaero utrum Rex non habens justum titulum regni incidat in crimen laesae Majestatis Respondeo quod sic secundum Bartol in legem duodecim tabularum in legem prim ff de crimine laesae Majestatis But the Scottish Queen hath offended here in England Ergo. A King passing through another King's Realm or there resiant is but a private person Bartolus duodecim libro de Dignitatibus verba Sed tamen dubitatur si Rex vel Baro transit per alias partes extra Regnum suum utrum possit creare Milites Et videtur quod non quia ibi privatus est homo ff de Praefecto Urbis ff de officio praesidis Praeses in homines suae Provinciae imperium habet hoc dum est in Provincia 91. Coll. penult verba Quilibet Rex extra suum territorium privatus est Lapus in allegatione Censetur ad instar Privati But the Scottish Queen being here in England is out of her Territory Ergo to be punished as a private Person Every Person of what condition soever he be either superior or equal submitting himself to the Jurisdiction of another is to be judged by him to whom he submitteth himself L. est receptivum ff de judiciis verba Est receptivum eoque jure utimur ut siquis major vel equalis subjiciat se jurisdictioni alterius potest ei adversus eum jus dici But the Queen of Scots although she were a Queen and thereby equal by committing hainous Treason hath submitted her self to the Queens
Kirle of the Middle-Temple Gent. sitting in this House who being none of this House and further Examined confessed upon his Knees that he had sitten here this present day by the space of half an hour at the least craving pardon and alledging that he knew not the Orders of this House and was thereupon committed to the Serjeants Custody till further Order should be taken with him by this House M r Speaker coming to the House after eleven of the Clock read the usual Prayer omitting the Litany for the shortness of time and declared unto the House that the time was then so far spent as leisure could not then well serve them to proceed unto the reading of any Bill and therefore willed all the House then present to meet there again on the Morrow at eight of the Clock in the Forenoon And also that every one of the House which were then present should give notice thereof unto all such of the residue of this House then absent as they could in the mean time happen to see or meet with to the end that all they might likewise attend in this House at the time aforesaid accordingly On Tuesday the 24 th day of January Three Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the last being the Bill that Actions upon the Case shall be brought in proper Counties was read the first time M r Speaker declared himself for his own part to be very sorry for the error that happened here in this House upon Saturday last in resolving to have a publick Fast and sheweth her Majesties great misliking of the proceeding of this House therein declaring it to fall out in such sort as he before did fear it would do and advising the House to a Submission in that behalf further moved them to bestow their time and endeavour hereafter during this Session in matters proper and pertinent for this House to deal in and to omit all superfluous and unnecessary Motions and Arguments with all due regard and consideration to the Order of the House M r Vice-Chamberlain declaring a Message from her Majesty to this whole House by her Highness Commandment shewed unto them her great admiration of the rashness of this House in committing such an apparent contempt against her Majesties express Commandment very lately before delivered unto the whole House by the Lord Chancellor in her Highness name as to attempt and put in Execution such an innovation as the same Fast without her Majesties Privity and Pleasure first known blaming first the whole House and then M r Speaker and declaring her Majesties Protestation for the allowing of Fasting and Prayer with the use and exercise thereof in her own Person but reproving the undutiful proceeding of this House as against the duty of Subjects did nevertheless very eloquently and amply set forth her Majesties most honourable and good acceptation of the Zeal Duty and Fidelity of this whole House towards Religion the Safety of her Highness Person and the State of this Common-wealth in respect whereof her Majesty hath so long continued this Parliament without Dissolution declared further to the great joy and comfort of this whole House that her Majesty nevertheless of her inestimable and Princely good Love and Disposition and of her Highness most gracious Clemency construeth the said offence and contempt to be rash unadvised and an inconsiderate Error of this House proceeding of Zeal and not of the wilful and malicious intent of this House or of any Member of the same imputing the cause thereof partly to her own lenity towards a Brother of that man which now made this Motion M r Wentworth who in the last Session was by this House for just causes reprehended and committed but by her Majesty graciously pardoned and restored again And after many excellent Discourses and Dilatations of her Highness most honourable and loving care for the advancement of Religion and the State wherein she had before signified her Prohibition to this House by the Lord Chancellor shewed that her Highness hath already deeply consulted upon those matters in all due and needful respects and prepared sit and apt courses to digest them meet and ready to be delivered unto this House from her Highness by such direction as her Majesty thinketh most convenient And so perswading this House to imploy the time about the necessary service of the Queens Majesty and of the Common-wealth with due and grave regard to the antient Orders of this House concludeth that he thinketh it very meet that this whole House or some one of this House by Warrant of the House in the name of the said House do make most humble submission unto her Majesty acknowledging the said offence and contempt and in most humble and dutiful wise to pray remission of the same at her Highness hands with full purpose hereafter to forbear committing of the like offence M r Comptroller followed him and spake to the same effect but urged and enforced the fault of the House with much more violence M r Nicholas S t Leger spake next and with a great deal of discretion and moderation extenuated the said offence of the House urging first their great affection to her Majesty the sincerity of their intention in that Motion of the Fast Then the imperfections and sins to which not only private men but publick States are also subject and therefore needed to be supported by Prayer and Humiliation And then he urged the great fault and remissness of the Bishops who suffered that most necessary Duty of Fasting and Humiliation to grow even out of use in the Church And lastly he concluded that he trusted that both her Majesty and all her Subjects would be ready to express their true repentance to God in humbling themselves in Sack-Cloth and Ashes M r S t Poole followed M r S t Leger but spake somewhat differing from him aggravating the fault of the House and urging Submission M r Chancellor of the Exchequer spake next and admonished the House of their duty which they did owe to so good and gracious a Prince as her Majesty hath expressed her self to be in all this long time of her Government and therefore urged the House to Submission M r Sackford one of the Masters of the Requests urged the same Submission but withal he thought it very sitting and could wish it that M r Vice-Chamberlain who had brought the Message from her Majesty of her displeasure might also carry the Houses Submission back again untoher Highness M r Flowerden spake next and shewed the sincerity of his intention in speaking for the Fast when it was first moved but now concluded that it was most fitting for the House to make their Submission to her Majesty M r Carleton stood up and offered to have spoken but was interrupted by M r Speaker and the House Then M r Speaker asked the Question whether M r Vice-Chamberlain should carry the Submission of the House to her Majesty
now credibly informed to this House by John Aldrich Gentleman one of the Citizens returned for the City of Norwich and also by Sir Roger Woodhouse Knight one of the Knights for the said County of Norff. and also by Edward Grimstone Esquire one of the Burgesses for the Town of Ipswich in the County of Suff. that the said Thomas Beamont is impotent and incurably sick and diseased it was at the earnest motion of the said John Aldrich made to this House for another Citizen to be chosen and returned for the said City of Norwich in the place and stead of the said Thomas Beamont Ordered and resolved by this House that a Warrant be made forthwith by this House to the Clerk of the Crown-Office in the Chancery for the directing of a new Writ for the chusing and returning of another Citizen of the said City of Norwich in the place and stead of the said Thomas Beamont accordingly And for as much as Hugh Graves one of the Citizens for the City of York did the last former Session of this present Parliament move the House and make request that by Order of this House another Citizen might be chosen and returned for the said City of York in lieu and stead of Gregory Peacocke his fellow Citizen being then and yet still incurably sick and diseased and for that also that Robert Askewith is already returned and hath attended this present Session in the room and place of the said Gregory Peacocke it was now Ordered and resolved by this House that the said Robert shall stand and remain still as a Citizen for the said City of York in the lieu and place of the said Gregory Peacocke according to the return thereof made The Bill for the Lord Zouch was after sundry Motions and Arguments put to the Question and dashed It was also upon further consideration of the said returns and defaults Ordered and resolved That Thomas Fleming Gentleman being returned into this Session and appearing in the place of James Dalton one of the Burgesses for Kingstone upon Hull in the County of York being incurably sick and diseased shall stand and continue according to the return in that behalf already made And that John Fawcher likewise returned a Burgess for the said Town of Kingston upon Hull in the lieu and stead of James Clerkson sick and Samuel Cox Esquire returned a Burgess for the City of Rochester in the County of Kent in the room and place of William Partridge Esquire being sick Sir William Drury Knight returned a Burgess for Castle Riseing in the County of Norff. in the room and place of Edward Flowerdewe Esq being sick Richard Mollineux Esquire returned a Burgess for the Town of Wigan in the County of Lancaster in the room and place of Edward Fitton Esquire being in the Queens Majesties Service Fulke Grevill Esquire returned a Burgess for the Town of Southampton in the room and place of Sir Henry Wallop Knight being in the Queens Majesties Service and Richard Herbert Esquire returned a Burgess for the Town of Montgomery in the room and place of Rowland Pugh Esquire supposed to be dead but yet known to be in plain life shall be forthwith amoved from their said places and the said James Clerkson Edward Flowerdew Esquire Edward Fitton Esquire William Partridge Esquire Sir Henry Wallop Knight and Rowland Pugh Esq and every of them shall stand and continue for their said several rooms and places notwithstanding any such causes of sickness the Queens Majesties Service or supposed allegation of being dead Vide Januar 19. Januar. 21. antea And it is also further agreed upon and resolved by this House That during the time of sitting of this Court there do not any time any Writ go out for the chusing or returning of any Knight Citizen Burgess or Baron without the Warrant of this House first directed for the same to the Clerk of the Crown according to the ancient Jurisdiction and Authority of this House in that behalf accustomed and used Nota. This resolution of the House is no other than had been formerly taken by them in the beginning of this Parliament upon Saturday the 21 th day of January foregoing which also was further ratified and confirmed by the opinion and judgment of Sir Thomas Bromley Knight at this time Lord Chancellor of England M r Doctor Gibbon and M r Doctor Clerk did bring word from the Lords that their Lordships did desire present Conference with ten of this House or more touching the Bill lately passed in this House concerning Iron-Mills Whereupon were appointed M r Comptroller M r Treasurer of the Chamber Sir Thomas Shirley Sir William Moore Sir Thomas Sampoole M r Recorder of London M r Norton M r Cowper M r Aldersey M r Gaymes and M r Leife The Bill against certain deceitful stuff used in the dying of Cloths was sent up to the Lords by M r Comptroller and the said Committees and the provision passed and assented unto and amended according to the request of their Lordships The Bill for maintenance of Mariners and of the Navigation all the Amendments Provisions and Additions being three times read was passed upon the Question Where by a former Order of this House Arthur Hall Esquire was committed Prisoner to the Tower of London there to remain by the space of six Months and so much longer as until himself should willingly make a general revocation or retractation under his hand in writing of certain Errors and slanders contained in a certain Book set forth in print and published in part greatly tending to the slander and reproach of Sir Robert Bell Knight deceased late Speaker of this present Parliament and of sundry other particular Members of this House and also of the Power Antiquity and Authority of this House to the satisfaction of this House or of such Order as this House should take for the same during the continuance of this present Session of Parliament as by the same Order made and set down by this House upon Tuesday being the 14 th day of February foregoing in this present Session of Parliament more at large doth and may appear And where also the said Arthur Hall hath ever since the said Order taken remained in the said Prison of the Tower and yet still doth and hath not at all made any revocation or retractation of the said slanders errors and untruths to the satisfaction of this said House according to the said Order It is now therefore Ordered and resolved by this House That the further allowance of such revocation or retractation to be hereafter made as aforesaid shall be referred unto the Right Honourable Sir Francis Knolles K t one of her Majesties most Honourable Privy-Council and Treasurer of her Highness most Honourable Houshold Sir James Crofte Knight one other of her Majesties most Honourable Privy-Council and Comptroller of her Majesties said most Honourable Houshold Sir Christopher Hatton Knight one other of her Highness said most Honourable
Privy-Council and Vice Chamberlain to her Majesty Sir Francis Walsingham K t and Thomas Wilson Esquire her Highness two Principal Secretaries Sir Walter Mildmay Knight one of her Majesties most Honourable Privy-Council and Chancellor of her Highness Court of Exchequer and Sir Ralph Sadler Knight one other of her Majesties said most Honourable Privy-Council and Chancellor of her Highness Dutchy of Lancaster being all Members of this House or unto any three of them to be by them or any three of them further declared and reported over unto this House in the next Session of Parliament to be holden after the end of this said Session accordingly Vide concerning this matter on Saturday the 4 th day Monday the 6 th day Wednesday the 8 th day and Tuesday the 14 th day of February foregoing M r Serjeant Anderson and M r Doctor Clerk did bring word from the Lords that the Lord Chancellor commanded them to signifie unto this House that the Queens Majesty purposeth God willing to come to the Upper House this present day in the Afternoon And therefore his Lordship willeth that this House be then there present to attend upon her Highness and withal that the Bill of the Subsidy shall then be delivered to M r Speaker to be presented by him in the name of this whole House unto her Majesty M r Doctor Lewes and M r Doctor Gibbon did bring from the Lords the Bill for the Subsidy and withal a report that their Lordships do say that the use is indifferent either to take it there or send it hither which being after their departure reported to the House by M r Speaker it was by the House resolved that the use thereof is not indifferent but always hath been and is that it be sent down into this House and not left there Quod nota Mr. Comptroller returning from the Lords with the others which were sent up with them to the Lords did bring word that their Lordships are well satisfied with the Messages of this House sent up to their Lordships by them Mr. Serjeant Anderson and Mr. Doctor Clerk did bring from the Lords the Bill against slanderous words and rumors uttered against her Majesty and also the Bill touching Iron-Mills with offer of certain Amendments in both the same Bills which Bills were then presently amended according to their Lordships request and sent up unto them by Mr. Treasurer and others Post Meridiem It is Ordered and resolved by this House upon the question That every Knight for the Shire that hath been absent this whole Session of Parliament without excuse allowed by this House shall have by Order and appointment of this House twenty pound for a Fine set and assessed upon him to her Majesties use for such his default and for and upon every Citizen Burgess and Baron for the like default ten pound And for some mild and favourable course of dealing to be used by way of admonition or warning for the better preventing of greater Fines and amerciaments hereafter It is now Ordered that all such Knights for Shires Citizens for Cities Burgesses for Boroughs and Barons for Ports as have been here and attended at any time this Session of Parliament and have departed without Licence shall for his and their such default forfeit and lose the benefit of having or receiving his or their wages due or to be due for his or their attendance in that behalf And for the better Execution of this Order the Clerk of the Crown shall not at any time hereafter deliver out any Writ for levying of the Wages or allowance of any such Knight Citizen Burgess or Baron without Warrant first had from the Clerk of this House for the same And it is also further Ordered by this House that from henceforth no Knight Citizen Burgess or Baron being a Member of this House shall upon any occasion depart from his attendance or service in this House without Licence from this House or from the Speaker for the time being and the same Licence to be Entred and set down by the Clerk of this House accordingly upon pain of such Fine and Amerciament for his such contempt over and besides the loss of his Wages or allowance as to this House upon Examination of the matter shall seem requisite M r Attorney General and M r Doctor Lewes did bring from the Lords the Queens Majesties most Gracious General and free Pardon which being reported unto the House by M r Speaker the said Pardon was once read and so passed upon the question accordingly The Queens Majesty being come into the Upper House of Parliament and there sitting in her Royal Seat the Lords and Commons attending upon her Highness M r Speaker in his Oration to her Majesty did very aptly and briefly declare the chief and principal purpose in making of Laws to consist of three several parts to wit the first for the true and sincere service and glory of God secondarily for the surety and preservation of her Majesties most Royal Person and thirdly for the good quiet and benefit of the Common-Wealth of this her Highness Realm and Subjects of the same ascribing the sincere and plentiful Preaching of Gods word with the due and right use of Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and the true exercise and discipline in the Churches to be the ordinary means both of the advancement of Gods Glory her Majesties Safety and of her Subjects Prosperity the dew of the word watering and bringing forth in all good Christian Consciences the true knowledge and fear of God faithful Love and due Obedience unto her Majesty and perfect unity in the general Society of this Common-Wealth And the exercise of the Sword of Discipline to cut off repress and correct all excesses and errors tending to the impeachment of all good effects aforesaid Declaring further unto her Highness that her Majesties Nobles and Commons in this present Parliament Assembled had very carefully gravely and dutifully travelled in this present Session to devise and ordain good and wholsome Laws for those ends and purposes to be established and allowed by her Highness and also some other good and necessary Laws as well for the whole State of the Common-Wealth in general as for the private benefit and necessary relief of sundry her Majesties particular good Subjects And so recommending all the same unto her Highness and especially two of them whereof one doth chiefly and principally tend to the bridling and reforming of her Majesties disobedient and obstinate Subjects the utter Adversaries of true Religion and the most pernicious and dangerous Enemies of her Highness most Royal Person State and Government the second for the due maintenance and preservation of her Majesties Honour good Fame and Dignity humbly besought her Majesty to give life unto all the said Laws by her Royal Assent And then yielding unto her Highness most humble thanks in the name of the whole House for her Majesties most Gracious good acceptation of their most
Oration unto the whole Assembly did in the end declare unto the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the said House of Commons that it was her Majesties will and pleasure that they should go together unto their own House and there amongst themselves should chuse a Speaker and of the day of his Presentation her Majesty would hereafter give them further Order Whereupon they departed thence and came into their own House where being set and the number appearing upon the view not to be much less than the whole Sir Francis Knowles Knight Treasurer of her Highness's Houshold stood up and put them in mind how lately the Lord Chancellor had signisied unto them her Majesties pleasure for the choice of a Speaker And further added that for his part he did very well allow of M r Serjeant Puckering as of a very able Member of the said House to be chosen into the said place and to undergo it yet nevertheless did leave every man to his own free opinion to nominate any other of whom they might think better After whose Speech many of the said House named also M r Serjeant Puckering and none was heard to disallow or speak against the said choice whereupon M r Treasurer standing up again did then and there put it to the question asking them whom they would be pleased to allow of for their Speaker and to name him To which the greater part of the House making Answer again that they did allow of and chuse the said M r Serjeant Puckering for their Speaker as before he stood up and in a modest and humble Speech disabled himself yet withal acknowledging the great favour of the House unto him in that they had been pleased to nominate and chuse him unto a place of so great charge and weight Which excuse of his being not allowed he was led up between two of the most eminent Personages of the said House unto the Chair and placed in it On Tuesday the 24 th day of November it seemeth the House met not because the Speaker was not yet presented neither is there any mention of the said day in the Original Journal Book of the House of Commons de Anno isto 27 o Reginae Eliz. On Wednesday the 25 th day of November M r Treasurer signified unto the House that her Majesties pleasure was that the Speaker be presented unto her Highness in the Upper House to morrow next at two of the Clock in the Afternoon and therefore willed every one of this House to take notice thereof to the end they may then and there wait upon her Majesty accordingly On Thursday the 26 th day of November the Queens Majesty and divers of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal being set in the Upper House the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons had notice thereof about two of the Clock in the Afternoon and thereupon with John Puckering Serjeant at Law their Speaker Elect they repaired thither the said Prolocutor or Speaker being led up by two of the most honourable Personages of the said House and there having made his excuse according to the usual sorm at the Bar or Rail at the lower end of the Upper House it was not allowed by her Majesty whereupon the said Speaker having with all humble acknowledgement of her Majesties favour submitted himself according to the usual course to the undergoing of the said Prolocutorship made certain Petitions in the name of the House of Commons for freedom of speech of access to her Majesty and immunity from Arrests and Saits for themselves and their necessity Attendants And lastly petitioned for himself that if in any thing he should erre or mistake unwillingly her Majesty would be pleased to pardon it To which Speech the Lord Chancellor delivered her Majesties Answer by her commandment that she was graciously pleased to allow of his said Petitions and therefore wished them to use their said Liberties and Priviledges with moderation and reverence Then the Knights Citizens and Burgesses departing with their Speaker to their own House there was read one Bill only the first time being for the better and more reverent observing or the Sabbath day after the reading whereof the House rose On Friday the 27 th day of November two 〈◊〉 had each of them one reading of which the second being the bill for the better and more reverent observing of the Sabbath day was read the second time and committed unto Sir Walter Mildmay Sir John Higham Sir Francis Drake Mr. Recorder of London Mr. James Dalton Mr. George Moore Mr. Brooke Mr. Doctor Turner Mr. Francis Hastings Mr. Fox Mr. Andersan Sir Richard Greenfield Mr. William Mohun Sir Drew Drury Sir Henry Nevill Sir William Moore Sir Nicholas Woodroose Sir William Herbert Mr. Robert Beale Mr. Edward Popham Mr. 〈◊〉 Mr. Edward Lewkenor Sir Robert Germin Mr. Lieutenant of the Tower Mr. George Carie Sir Thomas Manners Mr. Daniel Mr. John 〈◊〉 Mr. Grice Mr. Richard Prowze Mr. Thomas Brercton Sir Richard Knightly and Sir William Mallory who were appointed to meet this Afternoon at two of the Clock in the Exchequer-Chamber and the Bill was delivered to Sir William Mallory one of the said Committees Nota That this Bill of the Sabbath did not pass the two Houses but another and that also not without great difficulty and long debatement being committed and amendments upon amendments added unto it ut vide on Wednesday the 17 th day of March following On Saturday the 28 th day of November three Bills of no great moment had each of them their first reading of which the first was concerning the better pursuit of Hue and Cry Sir Walter Mildmay Chancellor of the Exchequer taking occasion to speak of the sudden calling of this Parliament at so unseasonable a time of the year and of the likelihood of the short continuance thereof did thereupon declare the same to be called for very urgent and necessary causes Sir Christopher Hatton Vice-Chamberlain of her Majesties Houshold spake next and it seemeth much to the same effect with Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer but what the very words were or the substance of them is wholly omitted in the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons although these two Speeches did last about two hours as is afterwards shewed At the end whereof it seemeth further that a Committee was appointed to consider of a Bill to be drawn concerning the matter of Subsidy One being no Member of this House being found to have sit here this present day by the space of two hours during the whole time of the Speeches delivered by M r Chancellor and M r Vicechamberlain as aforesaid did upon Examination confess his name to be Richard Robinson and that he was by occupation a Skinner and dwelt at the Harts Horns in Gracious street London the house of one Mark Fryer a Skinner also his Father-in-law Whereupon himself having been stripped to his shirt and his pockets all searched the Custody and further Examination of
were indorsed in the upper or higher part of the same which the said M r Treasurer and the rest at this time sent up to the Upper House with the aforesaid three Bills did accordingly impart to their Lordships Vide plus de ista materia on Monday the 21 th day of this instant December following The Bill for Hue and Cry was read the second time during the absence of M r Treasurer and the rest as aforesaid The reading of which Bill being ended M r Treasurer and the residue returning from the Lords brought word that he the said M r Treasurer imparted unto their Lordships the Request of this House for Conference with their Lordships both for the Bill touching the Sabbath de qua Billa vide on Wednesday the 17 th day of March ensuing and also for the Petitions of the griefs of this House unto both which the Lords said they would by and by send their Answer Vide concerning Petitions on Thursday the 25 th day of February ensuing M r Vice-Chamberlain declared unto this House That her Majesty graciously considering the great pains and careful travel of this House in the Service and Affairs of the Realm hath determined upon Monday next to adjourn the Court of Parliament until some other convenient time after Christmas that such Gentlemen and other Members of this House may the more conveniently repair home to their houses in the mean time for their better ease and recreation And so moved further That as before that time of Adjournment being upon Monday next there can nothing of great moment possibly be prepared to passing so he wished that the same short time may be imployed in the speeding of such Bills as are nearest to the passing and mentioned some of those which came unto us from the Lords and that the residue may rest in the same case of furtherance in the mean time as now they are in M r Serjeant Gawdy and M r Doctor Ford did bring from the Lords again the Bill for the restitution in blood of the Lord Thomas Howard amended in the indorsement viz. indorsed under the Bill and the former indorsement above razed out The Bill for restitution in blood of the Lord Thomas Howard was sent up to the Lords by M r Treasurer and others and also the Bill for paving of the Town of Newark upon Trent the Bill for the Town of Caernarvon and the Bill for fraudulent Conveyances all which came from their Lordships before not rightly indorsed were sent up to their Lordships to have the same indorsements reformed and amended as that in the Bill for the Lord Thomas Howard was before amended The Bill for the true answering of the Debts of Edward Fisher was read the first time Vide on Monday the 22. day of February ensuing M r Richard Lewkenor one of the Committees in the Bill to avoid partial Juries and Tryals in the name of himself and the residue of the same Committees brought in the old Bill and also a new Bill praying that the same new Bill may be read accordingly The Bill for reformation of Errours in Fines and Common Recoveries in the twelve Shires of Wales was upon the second reading committed unto M r Sollicitor Sir William Herbert M r Penruddock M r David Williams and others who were appointed to meet upon Thursday next in the Afternoon in Lincolns-Inn-Hall After which the Bill for continuance and explanation of divers Statutes had its second reading M r Serjeant Gawdy and M r Doctor Barkeley did bring from the Lords the Bill touching the Sabhath day with Message from their Lordships that they can find by no Precedent that they can now add any thing at all upon our Conference to their former Additions inserted into the said Bill and do think withal that those things we desire are already provided for in their said Additions as the Bill now standeth and do therefore pray that being so good a Bill as this is they will have care it do not miscarry and so departed Whereupon it was then thought good to reserve the Bill in state as it was till it may be further considered of by view of the Precedents of this House in like cases And Sir Thomas Heneage M r Sollicitor M r Recorder Sir William Moore M r Cromwell and M r Sandes were appointed to search the Precedents of this House for that purpose in the mean time of the next sitting of this Court after the said Adjournment Vide plus de ista materia on Wednesday the 17 th day of February ensuing The Bill for the preservation of Grain was ordered upon the Question to be discontinued and divers others of no great moment as touching Ecclesrastical Livings Maintenance of the Navy and the like were continued until the end of this Adjournment which was now drawing on on Monday next being the 21 th day of December And the Committees appointed for the continuance of them were these following viz. M r Vice-Chamberlain M r Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Thomas Heneage Sir Thomas Cecil Sir William Moore M r Sollicitor M r Lieutenant of the Tower Sir Richard Knightley M r Francis Hastings Sir Nicholas Woodroofe M r Dannet M r Haymond M r Cromwell M r Owen M r Rawleigh M r Grafton Sir Francis Drake M r Doctor Hammond M r Wolley M r Grice Sir Henry Nevill Sir John Peter Sir William Drury Sir Robert Conestable Sir Robert Germin Sir Henry Cock who were appointed to meet on Thursday after Christmas-day in the Afternoon at two of the Clock at Ely place After M r Vice Chamberlain's late former Speeches delivered unto this House of her Majesties good and grateful acceptation of the earnest and dutiful care and proceedings of this House in providing for the safety of her most Royal Person and of her Highnesses said most loving and favourable regard of adjourning this Court of Parliament for some such convenient time as during which the greater part of the Members of this House may at their pleasure repair home to their dwellings as well for their better recreations and ease as for their further dealing in their own private affairs it was moved by Mr. Speaker That some due form or course of yielding unto her Majesty most humble and dutiful thanks for the same her said Highnesses most honourable and gracious acceptation and consideration in the name and behalf of this whole House in most loyal humble dutiful and obedient manner may be considered of and devised Whereupon after a few Speeches resolved and prayed that the same should and might be done most fitly and conveniently by those honourable Personages Members of this House which are of her Majesties most honourable Privy Council who being then present did very willingly and honourably undertake to execute the same most faithfully and effectually On Monday the 21 th day of December three Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill for the true payment of
Recoveries in the 12. shires of Wales was read the second time The Bill concerning Insufficient Justices Sheriffs c. in Wales was read the first time and committed to the former Committees in the last former Bill and M r Recorder M r Attorney of the Wards and M r Harris were added unto them and the Bill was delivered to M r Attorney who with the rest was appointed to meet this Afternoon in Lincolns-Inn Hall M r Treasurer and the residue returning from the Lords M r Treasurer declared that according to the appointment of this House they have dealt with the Lords both as touching the Bill for the better observation of the Sabbath day and also for their Lordships answer to the Petitions and shewing unto their Lordships that by Warrant of the Precedents of this House this House might very well make additions unto their Lordships additions in the same Bill wherewith as he thought their Lordships seemed somewhat satisfied so touching their Lordships answer to the said Petitions he said That it so much passed his Capacity to conceive and understand all the effect of it as that he would not undertake upon him to make a report of it but would leave it to such other of the said Committees as could both better remember it and deliver it Whereupon M r Chancellor of the Exchequer affirming M r Treasurer his former speech touching their said proceedings for the said Bill of the Sabbath shewed further that as concerning their said motion for their Lordships answer to the said Petitions Their Lordships Sequestring the Committees of this House into the outer Chamber there came shortly after unto them the Lord Treasurer and the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury The said Lord Treasurer declaring first unto them the answer of the Lords to the said Petitions in general and afterwards the said Lord Archbishop shewing the same in particular having a certain note in his hand for his remembrance but uttering much more in his Speech which he said was so long and consisted of so many parts as he thought for his own part he could not sufficiently signifie unto this House And did therefore make a motion that those of the Committees which were also then present thereat might meet this Afternoon in the Exchequer Chamber and helping each other's memory set down the substance and effect of the said answer in all the parts thereof as near as they can and so then afterwards to signifie the same unto this House to morrow Which was thereupon so agreed and resolved accordingly Vide touching these Petitions on Thursday the 25 th day of this instant February following The Bill concerning the Lord Dacres and the Lord Norris was read the third time and thereupon passed the House On Tuesday the 23. day of February Two Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the last being the Bill for the true Answering of Tythes c. had its first reading Upon a Motion begun by Sir Thomas Lucy and continued by Sir Thomas Moore that those of this House which are of her Majesties Privy-Council may in the name of this whole House be humble Suitors unto her Majesty that for as much as that villanous Traitor Parry was a Member of this House in the time of some of his most horrible and traiterous Conspiracies and attempts against her Majesties most Royal Person whom Almighty God long preserve her Majesty would vouchsafe to give Licence to this House for that many of this House are of the Fellowship of the Association to proceed to the devising and making of some Law for his Execution after his Conviction as may be thought fittest for his so extraordinary and most horrible kind of Treason It was resolved that those of this House being of her Majesties most honourable Privy-Council and now present at this Motion to wit Mr. Treasurer and Mr. Vice-Chamberlain shall exhibite the same humble Suit of this House unto her Majesty accordingly at their convenient opportunity A Proviso was added to the Bill for Plymouth-Haven and was twice read and Ordered with the Bill to be ingrossed M r Cromwell was added to the former Committees for Priviledges and touching serving of Process upon the Members of this House and their Servants M r John North Knight for Cambridgeshire was added to the former Committees for reviving of Statutes and the same Bill with the three Provisoes before read were again committed to the same Committees and to the same M r North together with the Bill touching Cables Halters and Ropes Sir Edward Dymock being Sheriff of the County of Lincoln was Licensed by this House to depart into the Country for the service of her Majesty in the charge of his said Office Nota That Sir Edward Dymock here being Sheriff of Lincolnshire was also a Member of the House of Commons and continued in the service of it without interruption or question a great part of this Parliament and now upon the Licence of this House departed into the Country about some necessary occasions concerning his said Office Vide concerning this matter on Friday the 4 th day of December foregoing A like Precedent also there was in Anno 31 Reginae Eliz. on Friday the 21 th day of February Quod vide The Bill for the Jointure of the Countess of Huntingdon was twice read and passed upon the Question The new Bills last passed were sent up to the Lords by M r Treasurer M r Vice-Chamberlain and others with Commission also to put their Lordships in remembrance touching their search for Precedents with the Clerk of the Upper House alledged by the Committees of this House for Warrant of this House in proceeding with the Bill for the better observation of the Sabbath day by additions of this House to be added unto their Lordships former Additions in the same Bill Vide concerning this matter on Thursday the 25 th day of this instant February ensuing It should seem though it be not expresly set down in the Original Journal-Book that the House did this day fall into consultation and consideration of all the dangers which were imminent over the Kingdom of the means to prevent them and of the great expences her Majesty had been at in the defence of her Dominions and Allies fit to be supplied which is set down at the end of this day in manner and form following The open dangers threatned to this Kingdom are from Spain the Pope and the holy League in France the secret from the Jesuits that secretly lurked here to stir up her Majesties Subjects of the Roman Religion to all manner of Treason and Rebellion Both which dangers though the time of them were a while intermitted in respect of the Execution yet the purpose was not which their late Conspiracies and attempts both here and in Ireland did plainly show The means to prevent these dangers were to suppress the spreading of Jesuits and the growing of Popery to exact such Oaths of the Papists as
John Puckering Serjeant at Law their Speaker who being placed at the Rail or Bar at the lower end of the said Upper House did according to the usual form humbly crave her Majesties most Royal Assent to such good Laws as had passed the two Houses Whereupon her Majesty having by her Assent given Life to thirty publick Acts and nineteen private the Parliament was Prorogued unto the 20 th day of May next ensuing and at last after five other Prorogations it was Dissolved upon Wednesday the 15 th day of September Anno 28 Regin Eliz. Anno Domini 1586. THE JOURNAL OF THE House of LORDS An Exact and perfect Journal of the Passages of the Upper House in the Parliament holden at Westminster Anno 28 Reginae Eliz. Anno Domini 1586. which began there on Saturday the 29 th Day of October after two Several Prorogations thereof and then and there continued until it was at length Dissolved on Thursday the 23 th Day of March Anno 29 Reginae ejusdem THE Journal of this Parliament both in respect of the greatness of the matter handled in it being the business of Mary Queen of Scots as also of the many rare Precedents which happened in the Carriage of it the Queens Person being represented and the Lord Chancellors place supplied by others with the Adjournment and re-assembling again of the same somewhat extraordinary is and ought to be esteemed most worthy of observation And it is most plain that this Parliament was at the first beyond the Queens own expectation summoned and afterwards Assembled upon no other cause or ground than the timely and strange discovery of that bloody and merciless Treason Plotted by Babington and others for the violent cutting off her Majesties life of which Mary Queen of Scots had been first by a most Just and Honourable Tryal fully Convicted and afterwards Judicially pronounced to have been in a high nature guilty But yet her Majesty not satisfied with her so just a Tryal and Attainder assembled the Parliament on purpose that so all those former proceedings how just so ever might be further Committed and referred to the impartial examination and final Judgment of the whole Realm And that this great Council of the Kingdom was merely called together at this time about this business is most plain because the last Prorogation of ths former Parliament holden in Anno 27 Regin Eliz. Anno Dom. 1584. was from the 26 th day of April Anno 28 Regin Eliz. Anno Dom. 1586. unto the 14 th day of November then next ensuing But long before the said day the former Conspiracy being discovered about the latter end of July in Anno eodem the former Parliament was dissolved on Wednesday the fourteenth day of September following in the 28 th year of her Majesty And this new one Assembled on Saturday the 29 th day of October immediately after ensuing At which time the Queen came not to the Upper House in Person but was represented by three Commissioners not as her Majesty afterward professed because she feared the Violence of any Assassinte but because she abhorred to be an hearer of so foul and unnatural a conspiracy plotted against her by the Scottish Queen a Kinswoman so near to her Highness Yet by this means her absence doubtless drew on the greater safety and her Loving and Loyal Subjects did the more clearly perceive in how great and unavoidable danger she stood as long as that Queen lived and were therefore doubtless stirred up to consult in this so important a Cause with the greater Zeal and earnestness for the preservation of Religion the Security of her Majesties Life and the safety of these Realms Which matters the Lords of the Upper House did so seriously intend as that in this first meeting in this present Parliament which lasted from the foresaid 29 th day of October being Saturday unto the second day of December next following being Friday it appeareth not in the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House that any one Bill publick or private was read or so much as once treated of This Parliament was summoned to have begun on Saturday the 15 th day of October Anno 28 Regin Eliz. at which said day her Highness for great and weighty causes and Considerations her thereunto especially moving did prolong and adjourn the said Parliament unto Thursday being the 27 th day of the said Month of October by vertue of a Writ under the Great Seal dated the eighth day of this present October whereupon on the said 15 th day of October the Archbishop of Canterbury with divers other Lords and Councellors repaired to the Parliament Chamber commonly called the Upper House and there in presence of divers Lords Spiritual and Temporal the Knights Citizens and Burgesses summoned to the same Parliament did declare her Highnesses pleasure to Prorogue the same Parliament from this first summoned day until the 27 th of the said Month and thereupon the Writ for the said Prorogation was publickly read by the Clerk of the Upper House Upon the said 27 th day of October Sir Thomas Bromley Knight Lord Chancellor of England and divers Lords with a good number of the House of Commons met again in the Parliament Chamber and did again Prorogue this present Parliament after the usual and accustomed form unto the Saturday next following being the 29 th day of this present October On which said 29 th day of October the Parliament held accordingly and the Lords in the Afternoon repaired to the Upper House and there placed themselves according to their several Degrees Upon which the Knights Citizens and Burgesses having notice that the Lords expected their presence repaired to the said House and being let in as many as could conveniently Sir Thomas Bromley the Lord Chancellor declared unto the whole Assembly that her Majesty was so hindred by great and urgent occasions as she could not be present yet had notwithstanding given full Authority to Three Members of the Upper House in her Majesties name and stead to begin the said Parliament Whose names are entred in the Original Journal-Book of this Parliament in manner and form following Regina representata per Commissionarios viz. Archiepiscopum Cantuariensem Dominum Burleigh Thesaurarium Comitem Darbiae Magnum Seneschallum All the Lords then present were these following Archiepiscopus Cantuarien Thomas Bromley Miles Dominus Cancellarius Archiepiscopus Eboracen Dominus Burleigh Dominus Thesaurarius Angliae Comites Comes Oxon Magnus Camerarius Comes Kantiae Comes Darbiae Magnus Seneschallus Comes Wigorn. Comes Rutland Comes Cumberland Comes Sussex Comes Pembrook Comes Hartford Comes Lincoln Vicecomes Mountague Episcopi Episcopus London Episcopus Dunelmen Episcopus Winton Episcopus Bathon Wellen. Episcopus Sarisburien Episcopus Roffen Episcopus Exon. Episcopus Cestren Barones Dominus Howard Admirallus Dominus Aburgavenny Dominus Zouch Dominus Barkley Dominus Morley Dominus Dacres Dominus Cobham Dominus Stafford Dominus Grey de Wilton Dominus Lumley Dominus
faithful and loving Subjects an inestimable blessing of God unto her Majesty than in their riches abilities and forces rehearsing this Sentence fide quà m ferro tutiùs regnant Reges He also said that for matter of other affair not of this House he had cause even now very lately to be with the Lords and perceived by some of them that the Lord Chancellor also to Morrow did repair to the Court with twenty others of the Lords at the least And therefore it were very necessary also that M r Speaker also did in like sort go with these of this House And further moved that M r Speaker might be furnished with sufficient reasons to be by himself propounded unto her Majesty in the name of this House for her satisfaction in Answer to the said Message and so not to expect reasons to be objected unto him by her Highness for that he said he knew very well her Majesty looked for these reasons of satisfaction at their hands by way of propounding and not only by way of Answering Whereupon the House did then rise and this Court was Adjourned till Friday next in the Forenoon On Friday the 25 th day of November M r Grice hearing it reported as he shewed that the French Embassadour lately arrived is appointed to have access unto her Majesty to Morrow at the Court and fully perswading himself for his part that the said Embassadour cometh not for any good either to her Majesty or to the Realm and knowing that their manner is in such Cases to be attended for the most part with a Company of Rascals and basest sort of People of their Nation and all the rabble of them accustomed to thrust into the presence of the Prince with their Master moved That for the better safety of her Majesties most Royal Person from peril of any desperate attempt of any of the said French it would please those of this House of her Highness Privy Council to procure that the said Embassador might both be heard and also receive his answer at the hands of her Majesties Council and in no wise to have access unto her Highnesses Person M r Vice-Chamberlain shewed that at the last conference of the Committees of this House with the Lords this matter was remembred and considered of amongst them And that the Lord Chamberlain and others at the Court about her Majesty were already appointed to take order for it accordingly M r Serjeant Gawdie and M r Attorney General do bring word from the Lords That where their Lordships according to some former direction had purposed presently to have sent for this House to have attended their Lordships for Prorogation of this present Parliament their Lordships being set had sithence received Letters of her Majesty by which her Highness signified her pleasure to have the same Parliament yet continued two or three days longer for certain weighty considerations moving her Majesty thereunto whereof their Lordships commanded them to advertise this House and further to signifie unto this House that their Lordships had thereupon Adjourned the said Parliament in their House until Friday next and so then the said M r Serjeant Gawdie and M r Attorney departed Which Message being afterwards declared unto this House by M r Speaker this Court was also adjourned until Friday next in like manner On Friday the 2 d day of December upon a motion this day renewed on the behalf of the Inhabitants of the Borough of Grantham in the County of Lincolne touching a Writ brought against them by Arthur Hall Esquire whereby he demandeth wages of the said Inhabitants for his service done for them in attendance at sundry Parliaments being Elected and returned one of the Burgesses of the said Borough in the same Parliaments for as much as it is alledged that the said Arthur Hall hath been heretofore disabled by this House to be at any time afterwards a Member of this House and also that in some Sessions of the same Parliaments he hath neither been free of the Corporation of the said Borough and in some other also hath not given any attendance in Parliament at all It is ordered that the examination of the state of the Cause be committed to the Right Honourable Sir Walter Mildmay Knight one of her Majesties most Honourable Privy Council Chancellor of her Highnesses Court of Exchequer Sir Ralph Sadler Knight one other of her Majesties most Honourable Privy Council and Chancellor of her Highnesses Dutchy of Lancaster Thomas Cromwell Robart Markham and Robert Wroth Esquires to the end that after due examination thereof by them had if it shall so seem good to them they do thereupon move the Lord Chancellor on the behalf of this House to stay the granting out of any attachment or other Process against the said Inhabitants for the said Wages at the suit of the said Arthur Hall And the said Committees also to signify their proceedings therein to this House at the next sitting thereof accordingly Vide November 21. antea Mar. 22. postea M r Serjeant Gawdie and M r Attorney General do bring word from the Lords that their Lordships do desire that M r Speaker and this whole House do presently repair unto their Lordships into the Higher House Which being then signified unto the House by M r Speaker all the House thereupon repaired thither presently accordingly Prorogued to the 15 th day of February But this Parliament was not at this time Prorogued but only adjourned by the Lords Commissioners appointed upon Saturday the 29 th day of October foregoing and therefore M r Fulk Onslow at this time Clerk of the House of Commons is exceedingly mistaken in this place and M r William Onslow his Kinsman who supplied his place in the next meeting of this Parliament doth likewise erre in setting down the beginning or commencement of the said new meeting upon the foresaid 15 th day of February being Wednesday where he stileth it a Session of Parliament holden by Prorogation whereas it was neither new Parliament nor new Session but a meer new meeting of one and the same Parliament And that these were two new meetings and not two Sessions it is most plain by the very words touching the Adjournment thereof entred in the original Journal-Book of the Upper House in manner and form following viz. On Friday the second of December Commissionarii Reginae adjournaverunt praesens Parliamentum usque in decimum quintum diem Februarii prox Secondly There was not any one Act that did pass at the end of this first meeting which I conceive is an inseparable accident unto every Session of Parliament Thirdly and lastly It is very plain that this Adjournment was of the like nature and upon the like occasion with that in the last Parliament in Anno 27. Reginae Eliz. Anno Domini 1584. viz. because Christmass drawing near the Members of either House might have liberty to recede into their several Countries for the better relief of the Poor and maintenance of
countenancing Monsieur with Money at Cambray with sending her Nobility with him into the Low Countries with the actions of Sir Francis Drake with assistance of the Low Countries Of the purpose of the Combined Princes Their shew is to deal with the King of Navarr to extirp him but their drift is to ruinate Religion not only there but to set upon and to work the ruine of it here also Wherein the King of Spain and Guise are now very busie Their malice is the more for executing the Scottish Queen but their hope is the less The King of Spain his designments are to invade England and Ireland His Preparation Three hundred sixty Sail of Spain Eighty Gallies from Venice and Genoua One Galliass with six hundred armed men from the Duke of Florence Twelve thousand men maintained by Italy and the Pope Six thousand by the Spanish Clergy Twelve thousand by his Nobility and Gentlemen of Spain It is reported that ten thousand of these be Horsemen I think it not all true but something there is We must look to the Papists at home and abroad It hath touched us in the blood of the Nobility and the blood of many Subjects They practise to frame Subjects against all duty and bring in Doctrine of lawfulness and merit to kill the Queen and have sent their Instruments abroad to that purpose Two manner of forces are to be handled Assistance to the Low Countries defence by force otherwise That God may assist us in Justice in Right in Defence against those Princes The assistance is acceptable that will be profitable Her Majesty oweth relief there in Honour according to the Leagues especially between us and the House of Burgundy which Leagues differ from Leagues growing between Prince and Prince for they grew between the people and this State We are bound to help them in Honour according to the Leagues Many Marriages and many Secrecies have been long between us and the relieving of the afflictions of that people may not be omitted The heads of their miseries are The Spanish Inquisition by Placard using strange tortures not to be suffered great impositions without and against Law sending some of their people into Spain and there tyrannized over their Noblemen done away taking their Towns and setting Tyrants over them to use them like Dogs The purpose was to bring the Low Countries into a Monarchal seat and then vae nobis The Queens dealing there is warranted by God The Queen is occasioned of necessity for safety of her Dominions and us that that Country may be preserved that the English Commodities may be vented there with readiness with safety and with profit the recovery thereof will be good for this Country and Crown it may not be suffered that a Neighbour should grow too strong he uttered that as though it were not meet another Prince should have it for examples whereof he commended the Princes of Italy and especially the Duke of Florence for using that policy Henry the 7 th for aiding the Duke of Brittany with eight thousand men rather than the King of France after he had found great friendship of them both that the King of France might not grow too strong The King of Spain seeketh to be yet greater for he hath already a Seat in Council amongst the Princes of Germany by reason of Territories his Father got there And if he could he would frame the Low Countries to his desire As to the pretence of Injuries before remembred As to the first going over her Majesty misliked it and punished some of the Captains he named Sir Humfrey Gilbert for one Concerning Monsieur the first time her Majesty drew him from proceeding for the Low Countries The second time she consented that he should only assist the Low Countries which Monsieur afterwards abused contrary to her Majesties meaning Concerning M r Drakes first Voyage her Majesty knew it not and when he came home she seized the whole Mass of Substance brought by him to satisfie the King of Spain if cause so required and thereupon desired Certificate for Invasion into Ireland Concerning M r Drake's last Voyage it was to meet with the restraints and seisures in Spain and their purpose of War was thereupon discovered for there was found by the Master of M r Bonds Ship who took the Corrigedore and others a Commission from the King of Spain whereby he termed us his Rebels as he termed the Low Countries He then remembred another grievance not touched before which was the entertaining of Don Anthony Which he answered to be done in Honorable Courtesie because of his State who was a King anointed and crowned though his seat was not long untroubled and coming hither in honourable and courteous manner though something weakned required the entertainment he had Then he iterated that the great grief is Religion and said that all godly ones are bound to defend it He then said God endue us to fear him and all things shall prosper He said her Majesty protesteth sincere service to God and to leave the Crown in peace c. commended her courage against their malice esteeming it not less than the stoutest Kings in Europe M r Chancellor of the Exchequer after M r Vice-Chamberlain his speeches ended remembred some of the former and inferred and so concluded that the great preparations of War which was fit speedily to be thought of and provided would grow chargeable and therefore thought it fit with expedition that the House should appoint a convenient number of the same to set down Articles for a Subsidy Whereupon are appointed Committees for concluding and drawing of Articles for the Subsidy and other great Causes all the Privy Council being of this House the first Knight for every Shire and others who were appointed to meet in the Exchequer Chamber at two of the Clock in the Afternoon One Bill lastly being for the better payment of Debts and Legacies by Executors and Administrators was read the first time On Thursday the 23 d day of February three Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill against delay of execution in Actions of Debt was read the first time The Committees appointed for Conference touching a Loan or Benevolence to be offered to her Majesty are M r Francis Bacon M r Edward Lewkenor and others On Friday the 24 th day of February four Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the last being a Bill to avoid many dangers touching Records of Fines levyed in the Court of Common Pleas was upon the second reading committed unto M r Recorder of London M r Morrice M r Drew and others and the Bill was delivered to M r Recorder who with the rest was appointed to meet in Serjeants-Inn in Fleetstrect on Saturday next at two of the Clock in the Afternoon Sir Thomas Scot Sir Henry Knyvet M r Thomas Knyvet and M r Topclyffe are appointed by this House to search
certain Houses in Westminster suspected of receiving and harbouring of Jesuits Seminaries or of Seditious and Popish Books and Trumperies of Superstition On Saturday the 25 th day of February the Bill for the limitation of Time of Errors growing by Fraud had its second reading and the Committees appointed for the Bill of Fines and Recoveries on the day foregoing are also appointed for this said Bill to meet at Serjeants-Inn in Fleetstreet at two of the Clock in the Afternoon and the Bill was delivered to M r Recorder of London Two other Bills also of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the last being the Bill for Attainder was upon the second reading committed to all the Privy Council of this House Sir Henry Knyvet M r Recorder of London M r Francis Bacon M r Morrice and others who were appointed to meet upon Tuesday in the Exchequer Chamber at two of the Clock The Bill delivered by M r Speaker to the Right Honourable Sir Francis Knowles On Munday the 27 th day of February the House was informed by M r Harris that one William White had arrested M r Martin a Member of this House Therefore it is ordered by the House that the Serjeant should warn White to be here to morrow sitting the Court. Vide plus de ista materia die Sabbat die 11 o Mar ' prox ' Two Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill for delay of execution of Justice by Writs of Error was committed unto M r Sollicitor Sir Henry Knyvet M r Recorder M r Cromwell M r Dalton and others and the Bill was delivered to M r Cromwell and all these to meet on Tuesday next at Serjeants-Inn Hall in Chancery Lane at two of the Clock in the Afternoon The same day M r Cope first using some Speeches touching the necessity of a learned Ministry and the amendment of things amiss in the Ecclesiastical Estate offered to the House a Bill and a Book written the Bill containing a Petition that it might be Enacted that all Laws now in force touching Ecclesiastical Government should be void And that it might be Enacted that that Book of Common Prayer now offered and none other might be received into the Church to be used The Book contained the form of Prayer and Administration of Sacraments with divers Rites and Ceremonies to be used in the Church and desired that the Book might be read Whereupon M r Speaker in effect used this Speech For that her Majesty before this time had commanded the House not to meddle with this matter and that her Majesty had promised to take order in those Causes he doubted not but to the good satisfaction of all her people he desired that it would please them to spare the reading of it Notwithstanding the House desired the reading of it Whereupon M r Speaker willed the Clerk to read it And the Court being ready to read it M r Dalton made a motion against the reading of it saying that it was not meet to be read and that it did appoint a new form of Administration of the Sacraments and Ceremonies of the Church to the discredit of the Book of Common Prayer and of the whole State and thought that this dealing would bring her Majesties indignation against the House thus to enterprize the dealing with those things which her Majesty especially had taken into her own charge and direction Whereupon M r Lewkenor spake shewing the necessity of Preaching and of a learned Ministry and thought it very fit that the Petition and Book should he read To this purpose spake M r Hurleston and M r Bainbrigg and so the time being passed the House brake up and the Petition nor Book read This done her Majesty sent to M r Speaker as well for this Petition and Book as for that other Petition and Book for the like effect that was delivered the last Session of Parliament which M r Speaker sent to her Majesty Vide 2 d Mar ' and the 4 th of Mar. On Tuesday the 28 th day of February her Majesty sent for M r Speaker by occasion whereof the House did not sit On Wednesday the first day of March M r Wentworth delivered unto M r Speaker certain Articles which contained questions touching the Liberties of the House and to some of which he was to answer and desired they might be read M r Speaker required him to spare his motion until her Majesties pleasure was further known touching the Petition and Book lately delivered into the House but M r Wentworth would not be so satisfied but required his Articles might be read Then M r Speaker said he would first peruse them and then do that were fit This is all that is found in the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons touching this matter and therefore in respect of the weight of it having as I conceive a very authentick and true Copy both of the Speech and Articles at large I thought good to have them fully inserted in manner and form following viz. M r Speaker For as much as such Laws as God is to be honoured by and that also such laws as our Noble Soveraign and this worthy Realm of England are to be enriched strengthened and preserved by from all foreign and domestick Enemies and Traytors are to be made by this Honourable Council I as one being moved and stirred up by all dutiful love and desirous even for conscience sake and of a mind to set forwards God's Glory the wealth strength and safety of our natural Queen and Commonweal do earnestly desire by question to be satisfied of a few questions to be moved by you M r Speaker concerning the liberty of this Honourable Council for I do asture you I praise my God for it that I do find in my self a willing mind to deliver unto this Honourable Assembly some little taste and account of that simple Talent which it hath pleased God of his singular favour and goodness to bestow upon me to gain to his Highness honour and Glory and to shew unto my noble Prince and Commonwealth true faithful and dutiful service of the which mind I am sure M r Speaker here are many godly faithful and true hearted Gentlemen in this Honorable Assembly howbeit the want of knowledge and experience of the liberties of this Honourable Council doth hold and stay us back For as we have a hearty desire to serve God her Majesty and this noble Realm even so are we fearful and loth to give or offer any offence to her Majesty or unto her Laws the which we presume we shall not do if keep our selves within the Circle of them and no man can observe that whereof he is ignorant Wherefore I pray you M r Speaker eftsoons to move these few questions by question whereby every one of this House may know how far he may proceed in this Honourable Council in matters that concern the
Committees The Bill for the Pier of Hartilpool aforesaid was read the third time and after many Arguments both with the Bill and likewise against the Bill it was deferred to be further disputed and argued unto to Morrow On Thursday the 13 th day of March Three Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the last being the Bill touching Richard Southwell was upon the second reading committed unto Mr. Secretary Wolley Mr. John Stanhope Mr. Haydon Mr. Recorder of London and others who were appointed to meet in the Exchequer Chamber upon Saturday next at two of the Clock in the Afternoon The Bill concerning Leases made of Lands parcel of the Possessions of the Bishoprick of Oxford was upon the second reading committed unto Mr. Treasurer the Master of the Wardrobe Mr. Cromwell the Knights for the County of Oxford Mr. Oglethorp and others who were appointed to meet upon Saturday next in the Afternoon at two of the Clock in the Exchequer Chamber The Bill for repealing of certain Statutes with some Amendments was read and afterwards referred to be further considered of by Mr. Grafton Mr. Harris and Mr. Cromwell and the Bill was then delivered to Mr. Cromwell The Amendments in the Bill for the maintenance of Dover-Haven being opened to the House and the Bill read in such sort amended was passed upon the question after a Proviso offered for the Cinque-Ports first refused upon another former question Mr. Doctor Ford and Mr. Doctor Cary do bring from the Lords the Bill lately passed this House and sent up to their Lordships for the better recovery of costs and damages against Informers and passed since by their Lordships with a Proviso and some Amendments annexed to the same Bill After divers Arguments both with the Bill and against the Bill but whether it were the Bill last before-mentioned to have been sent down from the Lords it appeareth not although it seemeth to have been the same and after a Proviso received upon the question and some Amendment also of one word in the Bill viz. Sunderland to be put in the 14 th line and the word Soulderland to be put out of the Bill And the said Bill with the Proviso and Amendment aforesaid being put to the question was dashed upon the question and also upon the division of the House by the advantage of three persons viz. with the Yea a hundred twenty six and with the No a hundred twenty nine The Bill touching the bringing in of salted Fish and Herrings into this Realm was delivered to Mr. Wroth one of the Committees in the same On Friday the 14 th day of March Three Bills had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill for the Town of Barwick was read the second time and thereupon committed unto Mr. Cromwell Mr. Grimston the Burgesses of Barwick Mr. Robert Bowes and others and the Bill was delivered to Mr. Cromwell who with the rest was appointed to meet this Afternoon at two of the Clock in the Exchequer Chamber The Bill touching the Children of Aliens and Denizens was upon the second reading committed unto the Committees in the Bill for Retailers appointed on Thursday the 12 th day of this instant March foregoing and for both to meet to Morrow in the Afternoon in the Exchequer Chamber Two Bills lastly had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill touching Mortmain was read the third time and some Amendments then made being thrice read also was after many Arguments both with the Bill and against the Bill passed upon the question Mr. Serjeant Shuttleworth and Mr. Powle do bring from the Lords the Bill for the preservation of the Haven of Orford in the County of Suffolk lately passed this House and since passed with their Lordships with a Proviso by them added in their passing of the same which Proviso being thereupon presently thrice read the same Proviso then passed also upon the question On Saturday the 15 th day of March Three Bills had each of them one reading of which the third being the Bill to avoid Horse-stealing had its first reading The Amendments in the Bill for relief of the City of Lincoln being twice read and the Bill also read in such sort amended the Bill was upon the question committed to the former Committees and unto M r Vice-Chamberlain Sir John Parrot M r Alford the Master of the Wardrobe Sir Robert Jermin and others who were appointed to meet this present day at two of the Clock in the Afternoon in the Exchequer Chamber Mr. Doctor Clark and Mr. Doctor Stanhop did bring from the Lords a Bill against the Erecting and maintenance of Cottages The former Committees were appointed on Mar. 11. Tuesday The Bill and Committees names concerning Leases made of the Lands parcel of the possession of the Bishoprick of Oxford was delivered to Mr. Treasurer one of the Committees And so likewise the Bill and Committees names touching Aliens and Strangers retailing of Foreign Wares and also touching the Children of Aliens and Denizens The Bill and Committees names concerning Richard Southwell Esquire was delivered unto Mr. George Moor one of the Committees in the same The Amendmènts in the Bill for relief of the Curriers being twice read the Bill was Ordered upon the question to be ingrossed On Monday the 17 th day of March Four Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the last being the Bill for pursuit of Hue and Cry was upon the second reading committed unto Mr. Vice-Chamberlain Mr. Shirley Mr. Harris Mr. Wroth Sir William Moor Mr. William Fleetwood and others who were appointed to meet to Morrow at two of the Clock in the Afternoon in the Exchequer Chamber The Bill for Pleading at large in an Ejectione firmae had its first and second reading and an Amendment twice read and upon the question Ordered to be ingrossed The Bill touching Forestallers Regrators and Ingrossers was brought in by Mr. Treasurer one of the Committees without any thing done and further report made and so likewise the Bill for Denizens Children Mr. Speaker signified unto the House that her Majesties gracious pleasure was that it be signified unto them that four of this House be specially chosen to have Conference with some of the Lords of her Highness most Honourable Privy Council and other Officers of her Houshold for convenient Orders and Constitutions to be made for ..... But what should here follow is by the great negligence of Mr. Fulk Onslow at this time Clerk of the House of Commons wholly omitted yet it should seem that her Majesty did now by Mr. Speaker send word to the said House that upon the above-mentioned Conference so had and passed according to her Majesties Prescription the said House might proceed in the two Bills so often before agitated on Saturday the 15 th day on Monday the 17 th and on Thursday the 27 th day of February foregoing and on Tuesday
last continued Three Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill for the grant of three entire Subsidies and fix Fifteenths and Tenths granted by the Temporalty was read primâ vice which said Bill had already passed the House of Commons and had been sent up from them to the Lords on Saturday last This Morning also two Bills of no great moment were sent up to the Lords from the House of Commons of which the second was the Bill concerning the restraining of Popish Recusants to certain places of aboad c. On Tuesday the 27 th day of March Three Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the first being for the Assurance of certain Lands and Tenements to Read Stafford and Mabell his Wife was read tertia vice expedit On Wednesday the 28 th day of March Three Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the second being for the grant of three entire Subsidies and Fifteenths c. was read secunda vice Five Bills also were sent up to the Lords from the House of Commons of which the first was for restitution in blood of Sir Thomas Parrot K t and was read primâ vice This day finally was one unusual or extraordinary Proxy returned from one of the Bishops absent at this time from the Parliament as divers other Peers by the Licence of her Majesty in which said Proxy he constituted but one Proctor whereas the Ordinary Custom is for every Spiritual Lord to nominate two Proctors at the least and every Temporal Lord but one This Proxy is thus Entred in the beginning of the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House viz. 28 Martii introductae sunt Literae Procuratoriae Thomae Cicestrensis Episcopi in quibus Procuratorem suum constituit Johannem Cantuariensem Episcopum On Thursday the 29 th day of March Three Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill for restitution in blood of Sir Thomas Parrot K t was read secunda tertia vice expedit On Friday the 30 th day of March Five Bills had each of them one reading of which the first was the Bill for the grant of three entire Subsidies c. granted by the Temporalty And the last was the Bill of Subsidy granted by the Clergy Both which Bills at this time upon their several third readings passed the House On Saturday the 31 th day of March Six Bills had each of them one reading of which the last being the Bill prohibiting Strangers born to sell by way of retail Foreign Wares brought into this Realm was read secunda tertia vice and rejected On Monday the second day of April to which day the Parliament had been last continued the Bill for Explanation of a Statute made in the thirty third year of Henry the Eighth touching Grants made to his Majesty and Confirmation of Letters Patents was read secunda vice Six Bills were brought up to the Lords from the House of Commons of which the second was for bringing in of fresh Water into the Town of Stonehouse in the County of Devon On Tuesday the third day of April Five Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the fourth being the Bill for the maintenance of the Navigation of England was read secunda vice On Wednesday the 4 th day of April the Bill for Explanation of the Statute made in the thirty fourth year of Henry the Eighth for confirmation of Letters Patents made by his Highness to others was read primâ secundâ vice On Thursday the 5 th day of April Three Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill for Confirmation of Letters Patents to the Mayors Sheriffs Citizens and Commonalty of the City of Lincoln was read tertiâ vice conclusa This Morning also this Order following was agreed on amongst the Lords viz. WHereas the Lords of Parliament both Spiritual and Temporal assembled in the Parliament Chamber here at Westminster have with one uniform consent both in their own names and the rest of the Lords now absent Ordered that there shall be a charitable relief and contribution made towards the Aid and help of a number of Souldiers that are seen in the time of this Parliament maimed and sore hurt in the Wars of France and Low Countries and on the Seas for the service of the Queens Majesty and the Realm and for that purpose have allowed that every Archbishop Marquess Earl and Viscount should pay toward their Contribution the sum of forty shilings every Bishop thirty shillings and every Baron twenty shillings for Collection whereof there hath been appointed the Queens Majesties Almoner and the Bishop of Worcester to collect the sums of Bishops and the Lord Norris to collect the sums payable by the Lords Temporal which hath been diligently done and received by them from all the Lords Spiritual and Temporal that have been present and that have attended to their great charge on the service of the Realm in this Parliament And considering the number of the Souldiers to be relieved therewith being very many notwithstanding the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons have yielded very good and large Contributions according to their Degrees Yet for the better relief of the said maimed Souldiers It is by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal that have given their Attendance here and have charitably and honourably yielded to this Contribution thought meet and so it is Ordered and Decreed by them with common and free consent that all the Lords of Parliament that have been altogether absent in this Sessions and that shall not have Contributed to this charitable use of relief before the end of this Sessions shall be required by Letters to be sent to them by the Lords that had their Procuration for their absence or by Letters from the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal required and charged to Cause payments to be made according to their Degrees and Vocations the double of the sums of money paid by the Lords that have been here present and continued their Attendance That is to say that every Earl that hath been absent shall pay four pound the Archbishop of York to pay as much And every Bishop also absent to pay three pound and every Baron forty shillings And for such as have been here present and continued their Attendance at some times though very seldom having been absent for the more part it is thought meet that every such Lord Spiritual and Temporal shall according to their Degrees pay a third part more than the Lords that have been constantly present All which sums of money they shall cause to be delivered to the hands of the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal to be afterwards by such Spiritual Lords of Parliament as are chosen for that purpose distributed to the maimed
Souldiers as shall be found to have most need thereof The like whereof the Commons Assembled in this Parliament have Ordered For all the Members of that House that are absent and have not paid are to contribute in double manner Which Order is thought very just considering the Lords and others who have been absent and have been at no charge to come up and give their Attendance may very reasonably and with a great saving to their Charges contribute to this Order And if any Lord Spiritual or Temporal shall refuse or forbear thus to do which is hoped in Honour none will do there shall be ordinary means used to levy the same On Friday the 6 th day of April to which day the Parliament had been last continued four Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill for avoiding deceits used in sale of twice laid Cordage for the better preservation of the Navy of this Realm was read tertia vice conclusa Eight Bills were sent up to the Lords from the House of Commons of which the last was the Bill to make void the Spiritual Livings of those that have forsaken the Realm and do cleave to the Pope and his Religion On Saturday the 7 th day of April Two Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill for rating of the Wages of Spinners and Weavers and to reform the falsities of Regrators of Woollen Yarn was read primâ vice On Monday the 9 th day of April to which day the Parliament had been last continued three Bills were each of them read secundà tertiâ vice and so expedited of which the second was the Bill for the bringing of fresh Water to the Town of Stonehouse in the County of Devon Eight Bills also this Morning were sent up to the Lords from the House of Commons of which the first being the Bill for the Naturalizing of Justice Dormer and George Sheppy being born beyond the Seas of English Parents and to put them in the nature of meer English was read primâ secundâ vice But it doth not appear whether this Bill were committed or no which did not only happen in this place by the negligence of M r Anthony Mason at this time Clerk of the Upper House but also through the whole Original Journal Book of the said House this Parliament in all which although divers Bills are said to be read the second time yet it is not at all expressed whether they were thereupon Ordered to be ingrossed or further to be considered of by some select Committees of the House one of which of necessity must be put in Execution upon the said second reading of a Bill both in the Upper House and that of the House of Commons unless the Bill have its third reading also at the same time and pass the House or else be dasht upon the question and so cast out of it This Morning finally Whereas a Bill Intituled An Act touching Power and Liberty to repeal certain uses of a Deed Tripartite herein mentioned of and in certain Lands Mannors and Tenements of Anthony Cooke of Romford in the County of Essex Esquire hath been heretofore three times read and assented unto by the Lords in the which Bill there is no Saving to the Queens Majesty or any other person or persons of their lawful Estates or Titles This day there was a Saving drawn for her Majesty and all others which was offered to this House and some question and ambiguity did grow whether the Saving should be now added to the Bill And in the end it was resolved that the Saving should be added to the Bill for that it is usual and requisite to have some Saving in every Bill and for that there was nothing in the Saving contrary to any matter in the Bill and that her Majesties Right and all other be saved thereby Nevertheless upon weighty considerations the Lords have Ordered that this shall not hereafter be drawn to make any Precedent On Tuesday the 10 th day of April in the Morning were two Bills read of which the second being the Bill for the Queens most gracious and general free Pardon was read primâ vice and so passed upon the question Nota That the Bill or Act for the Queens general Pardon passeth each House upon the first reading Whereas other Bills cannot be expedited without being read three times both by the Lords and the Commons The Queens Majesty came not till the Afternoon and therefore in this place through the negligence of the Clerk the continuing of the Parliament until some hour in the Afternoon is omitted which should have been inserted in these words viz. Dominus Custos magni Sigilli continnavit praesens Parliamentum usque in horam c. à Meridie Between five and six of the Clock in the Afternoon this present Tuesday being the tenth day of April the Queens Majesty accompanied with her Officers and daily Attendants came to the Upper House and as soon as her Majesty with the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the rest that have place there were set the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons having notice thereof came up with their Speaker bringing with them the Bill of Subsidy The said Speaker being placed at the Bar at the lower end of the Upper House and as many of the House of Commons as could conveniently being let in after Humble Reverence done to her Majesty spake as followeth THE High Court of Parliament most High and Mighty Prince is the greatest and most ancient Court within this your Realm For before the Conquest in the High places of the West-Saxons we read of a Parliament holden and since the Conquest they have been holden by all your Noble Predecessors Kings of England In the time of the West-Saxons a Parliament was holden by the Noble King Ina by these words I Ina King of the West-Saxons have caused all my Fatherhood Aldermen and wisest Commons with the Godly men of my Kingdom to consult of weighty matters c. Which words do plainly shew all the parts of this High Court still observed to this day For by King Ina is your Majesties most Royal Person represented The Fatherhood in Ancient time were these which we call Bishops and still we call them Reverend Fathers an Ancient and chief part of our State By Aldermen were meant your Noblemen For so honourable was the word Alderman in Ancient time that the Nobility only were called Aldermen By Wisest Commons is meant and signified Knights and Burgesses and so is your Majesties Writ de discretioribus magis sufficientibus By Godliest men is meant your Convocation-House It consisteth of such as are devoted to Religion And as Godliest men do consult of weightest matters so is your Highness Writ at this day pro quibusdam arduis urgentibus negotiis nos Statum defensionem Regni nostri
Keeper having allowed and approved his Election the said Speaker having in a second Speech shortly touched her Highness happy and victorious Reign and somewhat largely proved the antientSupremacy of the Kings of England in Ecclesiastical matters did in the end of his said Speech make certain Petitions of course in the name of the House of Commons First For liberty of Speech Secondly For freedom from Arrests And thirdly For Access unto her Majesty And lastly For Pardon for himself if he should in any thing unwittingly be mistaken To which Speech the Lord Keeper having received new Instructions from her Majesty made a reply in particular to the several branches of the said Speakers Speech And to his three demands he Answered that liberty of Speech was granted in respect of the I and No but not that every one should speak what he listed And touching freedom from Arrests and Access to her Majesty he advised that they might be cautiously made use of Nota That none of these Particulars touching the Presentment of the Speaker are set down in the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons but are abstracted out of another Journal of the same House taken by an Anonymous Member of the same during the Parliament mentioned at the beginning of this present Journal yet it appeareth plainly by the very Original Journal-Book it self Fol. 262. l. that the Prosocutor was this day presented to her Majesty where the words are as followeth viz. Jovis xxii do Febr. 92. This Day M r Speaker was presented unto her Majesty Which said words being only here a little otherwise placed for Order sake than there have a large Blank left at the end of them of somewhat above half a page with intention no doubt at the first to have inserted the whole manner of the proceeding both of this presentment and admission After the Return also of the Speaker now compleatly invested in that place with the rest of the House of Commons one Bill was read according to the usual form in that Case accustomed which is set down in the said Journal-Book in these words following viz. The Bill that a Bar at large may be pleaded in any Action of Ejectione firmae was read the first time M r Speaker immediately after the reading of this Bill and his opening of the contents of the same to this House shewed unto them from her Majesty that her Highness had Adjourned mistaken for continued the Higher House till Saturday next And also that her Majesties pleasure likewise was that this House should therefore be Adjourned till the same time which being so done accordingly this House did then rise and every man went away On Saturday the 24 th day of February the House being set and a great number of the Members of the same assembled M r Speaker not then as yet being come to the House some of the House said one to another they heard he was sick And one affirmed it to be so indeed shewing that he had been with him this Morning himself and left him sick in his Bed and his Physician and his Wife with him and some others supposing that he would shortly signify unto this House the Cause of that his absence moved that the Clerk might in the mean time proceed to saying of the Litany and Prayers Which being so done accordingly the Serjeant of this House presently after the said Prayers finished brought word from M r Speaker unto the Right Honourable Sir John Woolley Knight one of her Majesties most Honourable Privy Council and a Member of this House and then present in the same House that he had been this last Night and also was this present Forenoon so extreamly pained with a wind in his Stomach and Loosness of Body that he could not as yet without his further great peril and danger adventure into the Air at this time which otherwise most willingly he would have done And willed that the Clerk of this House might signify unto the House the said estate of his Case and in his name to desire their good favourable considerations of the same not doubting their gentle and courteous acceptance of that his so reasonable excuse as by this House hath also been in former time used in like Case towards some other his Predecessors in the place he now serveth And to shew them he trusteth in God he shall be able to attend them in this House upon the next day of sitting which will be Monday next The Effect of which Message being then signified unto this House by the said Clerk of the House all the said Members of this House being very sorry for M r Speaker his sickness rested well satisfied And so the House did rise and every man departed away Nota That this is all which is found in the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons touching this days business and therefore that which followeth is supplied out of that Anonymous Journal mentioned at the beginning of this present Journal touching the residue of this days passages This day M r Peter Wentworth and Sir Henry Bromley delivered a Petition unto the Lord Keeper therein desiring the Lords of the Upper House to be suppliants with them of the lower House unto her Majesty for Entailing the Succession of the Crown whereof a Bill was readily drawn by them Her Majesty was highly displeased therewith after she knew therof as a matter contrary to her former strait Commandment and charged the Council to call the parties before them Sir Thomas Heneage presently sent for them and after Speeches had with them commanded them to forbear the Parliament and not to go out from their several Lodgings The day after being Sunday and the 25 th of Febr. though the House sate not yet they were called before the Lord Treasurer the Lord Buckhurst and Sir Thomas Heneage The Lords intreated them favourably and with good Speeches But so highly was her Majesty offended that they must needs commit them and so they told them Whereupon M r Peter Wentworth was sent Prisoner unto the Tower Sir Henry Bromley and one M r Richard Stevens to whom Sir Henry Bromley had imparted the matter were sent to the Fleet as also M r Welch the other Knight for Worcestershire Vide Mar. 10. About this matter in the beginning of the Parliament was appointed a Committee to be had of many grave wise and ancient Parliament men which were of the House but at this time few met at the place appointed at least not such as were expected It was appointed also at this time to M r Stevens to peruse the penning of the Petition that should have been delivered to that House and to have provided a Speech upon the delivery of it But this Office by reason of other occasions he could not attend What other things were done or spoken in that Conference were as I heard confessed to some of the Privy-Council by some of those Parties that were present at that Conference All that were there
all nothing but my daily Industry Neither from my Person or Nature doth this choice arise for he that supplieth this place ought to be a man bigg and comely stately and well spoken his voice great his carriage Majestical his Nature haughty and his Purse plentiful and heavy but contrarily the stature of my body is small my self not so well spoken my voice low my carriage Lawyer-like and of the common fashion my Nature soft and bashful my Purse thin light and never yet plentiful Wherefore I now see the only cause of this choice is a gracious and favourable censure of your good and undeserved Opinions of me But I most humbly beseech you recal this your sudden Election And therefore because the more sudden the sooner to be recalled But if this cannot move your sudden choice yet let this one thing perswade you that my self not being gracious in the Eye of her Majesty neither ever yet in account with any great Personages shall deceive your expectation in those weighty matters and great affairs which should be committed unto me For if Demosthenes being so learned and eloquent as he was one whom none surpassed trembled to speak before Phocion at Athens how much more shall I being unlearned and unskillful supply this place of dignity charge and trouble to speak before so many Phocions as here be yea which is the greatest before the unspeakable Majesty and Sacred Personage of our dread and dear Soveraign The terror of whose countenance will appall and abase even the stoutest heart yea whose very name will pull down the greatest courage For how mightily doth the estate and name of a Prince deject the haughtiest Stomach even of their greatest Subjects I beseech you therefore again and again to proceed unto a new Election here being many better able more sufficient and far more worthy than my self both for the Honour of this Assembly and general good to the publick State Thus far out of the aforesaid fragmentary and imperfect Journal the rest that follows is out of the Original Journal-Book it self After which Speech of Serjeant Yelverton's the Right Honourable Sir John Forteseue Knight one other of her Highness said most Honourable Privy-Council and Chancellor of her Majesties Exchequer stood up and affirming all the said former Speech of the said M r Comptroller in the Commendation and good parts of the said M r Serjeant Yelverton and inferring further that he the said M r Chancellor had well perceived by the said M r Serjeants own Speech tending to the disabling of himself to the said place that he was thereby so much the more sufficient and meet for the same And so for his part likewise nominating the said M r Serjeant Yelverton to be their Speaker moved the House further for their liking and resolution therein who all with one accord and consent yielded unto the said Election Whereupon the said M r Comptroller and M r Chancellor did rise up and place the said M r Serjeant Yelverton in the Chair Which done the said M r Serjeant after some small pause stood up and giving unto the whole House most hearty thanks for their good opinions and conceit of him signified unto them nevertheless that by their good favours he would endeavour when he should come before her Majesty to be an humble Suitor unto her Highness to be discharged of the said place if he so could And immediately the House did rise and were to meet there again upon the Thursday next following On Thursday the 27 th day of October the House being set and before M r Speaker went up to her Majesty in the Upper House M r Chancellor of the Exchequer moved and admonished that none of this House should after this present day enter into the same House with their Spurs on for offending of others and withal that none do come into this House before they have paid the Serjeants Fees of this House due unto him according to the accustomed usage of this House in that case M r Speaker with the greatest number of the Members of this House after their abiding along time silent and attending her Majesties Pleasure from the Upper House to be sent for thither did go out of this House towards the said Upper House there to be the more near and ready to come before her Highness in the said Upper House at such time as her Majesty should please to send for them And afterwards being admitted and the said Speaker presented and allowed by her Majesty according to the usual form in that case accustomed and returning back again from the said Upper House attended by the Serjeant of this House bearing the Mace before him upon his aforesaid allowance in the Upper House in the said place of Prolocutor he took his place in the Chair and being there set signified unto the House that whereas in former times the Order was to have a Bill read before the House did rise the same could not be so done at this time because her Majesty had in the Upper House Adjourned this Parliament till Saturday next come seven-night being the 5 th of November next coming at eight of the Clock in the Forenoon of the same day till which time he and all the Members of this House might depart and take their ease And so then every man went his way Nota That this was a mistake of M r Serjeant Yelverton now Speaker of the House of Commons for the Adjournment in the Upper House did not nor could not hinder the reading of a Bill in the House of Commons upon the allowance of their Speaker in the said Upper House and their return from it according to the antient use and custom although the Adjournment of the Parliament by her Majesty being present in the said House is for the most part accounted an Adjournment of both the Houses To make which truth more clear there shall need no other Precedent to be cited than that in the last Parliament de An. 35 Regin Eliz. where Edward Cooke Esquire the Queens Sollicitor being chosen Speaker of the beforementioned Commons House was presented unto her Majesty upon Thursday the 22 th day of February and the words there were Dominus Custos magni Sigilli ex mandato Dominae Reginae continuavit praesens Parliamentum c. to the next Saturday following by which very words the Parliament was also continued at this time unto the Saturday seven-night after And then upon the return of the said M r Cooke their Speaker to the House of Commons in the said thirty fifth year of her Majesty an ordinary Bill touching the pleading of a Bar at large in an Ejectione firmae had its first reading although after the reading he there declared that it was her Majesties pleasure that the said House should be Adjourned and not meet again until the said Saturday on which the Upper House met again also And therefore it is plain that M r Serjeant Yelverton did at this time not
man comes into his Country will be better satisfied when they shall know they have spared no man nor made any disjunction It was said by a Member of the House that he knew some poor people pawn'd their Pots and Pans to pay the Subsidy It may be you dwell where you see and hear I dwell where I hear and believe And this I know that neither Pot nor Pan nor Dish nor Spoon should be spared when danger is at our Elbows But he that spake this in my Conscience spake it not to hinder the Subsidy or the greatness of the Gift but to shew the Poverty of some Sessed and by sparing them to yield them relief But by no means I would have the three pound men exempted because I do wish the King of Spain might know how willing we are to sell all in defence of Gods Religion our Prince and Country I have read when Hannibal resolved to sack Rome he dwelt in the Cities adjoining and never feared or doubted of his Enterprize till word was brought him that the Maidens Ladies and Women of Rome sold their Ear Rings Jewels and all their necessaries to maintain War against him I do take my self in duty bound to acquaint this House with the modesty of the Committee at the Proposition that where first this House never stuck to commit it they never stuck understanding the reasons to grant it I do perswade my self that the bonus genius of this House did not wish a more resolved unity than we had unity in resolution And of this great Committee it may be said de majoribus Principes consultant de minoribus omnes Thus by your Commandments have I undergone this Charge and will be ready to do the like duty whensoever you command me Then after Consultation had of the great occasions it was put to the Question whether the double Tenths and Fifteenths should be paid by the first day of February viz. for this fourth Subsidy before the third begin and that the first payment of the first three Subsidies should be brought in by the 10 th of June viz. half a Subsidy And all said Yea and not one No. Then was a Motion made by Sir Robert Wroth that this new Subsidy might be drawn in a Bill by it self to which should be annext a Preamble of the great necessities the willingness of the Subject and that it might be no Precedent but that would not be yielded unto Then M r Speaker asked the House if they would appoint Committees so they appointed the Queens Councel and all the Serjeants of the House and no more M r Francis Moore moved that that which was done might be compleatly done and the Subsidy gathered by Commission and not by the old Roll for peradventure some were dead others fallen to Poverty others Richer and so deserved to be inhansed c. And withal he said that the granting of this Subsidy seemed to be the Alpha and Omega of this Parliament M r Wingfield moved the Honourable of the Councel Members of this House That seeing the Subsidy was granted and they yet had done nothing it would please her Majesty not to dissolve the Parliament till some Acts were passed Serjeant Harris said The Motion of the Gentleman that last spake is not now to be discussed we are to speak touching the Subsidy M r Francis Bacon after a Repetition of some of what was done Yesterday that the three pound men might not be excluded he concluded that it was Dulcis tractus pari jugo therefore the Poor as well as the Rich not to be exempted Sir Walter Raleigh said I like not that the Spaniards our Enemies should know of our selling our Pots and Pans to pay Subsidies well may you call it Policy as an Honourable Person alledged but I am sure it argues Poverty in the State And for the Motion that was last made of Dulcis tractus pari Jugo Call you this par jugum when a poor man pays as much as a rich and peradventure his Estate is no better than he is set at or but little better when our Estates that be thirty pound or forty pound in the Queens Books are not the hundred part of our Wealth Therefore it is not Dulcis nor pari M r Secretary Cecill That now seeing one of the weightiest matters and causes of Calling this Parliament was agreed upon he doubted not but we should have both a quick Parliament and speedy payment But for that the Gentleman said on my right hand that the Subsidy was the Alpha and Omega of this Parliament I think he spoke it not simply out of humour but rather upon probability for I can assure you her Majesty is as respective over you touching her Laws which she desireth may be perused and amended that she meaneth not to Dissolve this Parliament till some things be amended For that that I said touching the Spaniards knowing of our sale of our Pots and Pans and all we have to keep him out which should be a matter of Policy to which the Gentleman on my left hand Sir Walter Raleigh took Exceptions I say it is true and yet I am mistaken I say it is good the Spaniards should know how willing we are to sell our Pots and Pans and all we have to keep him out Yet I do not say it is good he should know we do sell them that is I would have him know our willingness to sell though there be no need but not of out Poverty in selling or of any necessity we have to sell them which I think none will do neither shall need to do Then all the House cryed No No as much as to say no man did so Sir Arthur Gorge moved that it would please the Council that Order might be taken that Justices of the Peace might be Sessed according to the Statute viz. at twenty pound Lands whereas there be few Justices that be above eight or ten pound by M r Secretary noted in his Table Book Then Serjeant Heyle stood up and made a Motion saying M r Speaker I marvel much that the House will stand upon granting of a Subsidy or the time of payment when all we have is her Majesties and she may lawfully at her Pleasure take it from us Yea she hath as much right to all our Lands and Goods as to any Revenue of her Crown At which all the House hemm'd and laughed and talked Well quoth Serjeant Heyle all your Hemming shall not put me out of Countenance So M r Speaker stood up and said It is a great disorder that this should be used for it is the antient use of every man to be silent when any one speaketh and he that is speaking should be suffered to deliver his Mind without interruption So the said Serjeant proceeded and when he had spoken a little while the House hemm'd again and so he sate down In his latter Speech he said he could prove his former Position by Precedent in the times of
us proceed by Bill and see if the Queen would have denied it Another that the Patents should be brought here before us and cancelled and this were bravely done Others would have us to proceed by way of Petition which Course doubtless is best but for the first and especially for the second it is so ridiculous that I think we should have as bad success as the Devil himself would have wished in so good a Cause Why if idle courses had been followed we should have gone forsooth to the Queen with a Petition to have repealed a Patent of Monopoly of Tabaco Pipes which M r Wingfields note had and I know not how many conceits but I wish every man to rest satisfied till the Committees have brought in their resolutions according to your Commandments On Wednesday the 25 th day of November Three Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the last being the Bill for the levying of Fines in the County and City of Chester was read the second time and committed unto all the Queens Learned Councel being of this House the Knights and Burgesses for the County and City of Chester Sir John Egerton and others who were appointed to meet upon Friday next in the Inner-Temple Hall at two of the Clock in the Afternoon Sir Edward Hobbie made Report of the Committees travel in the Bill touching M r Nevill and delivered in the Bill with some Amendments and a Proviso The Amendments and Proviso in the Bill for Mr. Nevill were twice read and Ordered with the Bill to be ingrossed and not to be read the third time until her Majesties Pleasure be further known to be signified unto this House by Mr. Sollicitor Mr. Speaker or some other thereunto appointed The Amendments in the Bill touching trifling Suits were twice read and with the Bill Ordered to be ingrossed The Bill to prevent double payment of Debt upon Shop-Books was read the second time and committed unto Sir Walter Raleigh Mr. Beeston Sir Francis Hastings and others and the Bill was delivered to Mr. Beeston who with the rest was appointed to meet in the Inner-Temple Hall at two of the Clock in the Afternoon upon Friday next The Committees for the Exchequer Bill who were appointed on Saturday the 21 th day of this instant November foregoing brought in the Bill with some Amendments and after some Speeches therein had upon the question resolved that it should be presently recommitted to be considered of in the Committee Chamber of this House and thereunto are appointed Mr. Mountague Mr. Winch Sir Robert Wroth Mr. Jones Mr. Martin Mr. Tate Mr. Johnson c. Mr. Henry Mountague brought in the Bill touching Process and Pleadings in the Court of Exchequer with Report of the Amendments The Amendments in the Bill for Orders in the Court of Exchequer were twice read and with the Bill Ordered to be ingrossed Mr. Speaker after a silence and every man marvelling why the Speaker stood up spake to this effect It pleased her Majesty to command me to attend upon her Yesterday in the Afternoon from whom I am to deliver unto you all her Majesties most gracious Message sent by my unworthy Self She yields you all hearty thanks for your care and special regard of those things that concern her State Kingdom and consequently our Selves whose good she had always tendred as her own for our speedy resolution in making of so hasty and free a Subsidy which commonly succeeded and never went before our Councels and for our Loyalty I do assure you with such and so great Zeal and Affection she uttered and shewed the same that to express it our tongues are not able neither our hearts to conceive it It pleased her Majesty to say unto me that if she had an hundred tongues she could not express our hearty earty good Wills And further she said that as she had ever held our good most dear so the last day of our or her Life should witness it And that the least of her Subjects was not grieved and she not touched She appealed to the Throne of Almighty God how careful she hath been and will be to defend her People from all Oppressions She said that partly by intimation of her Council and partly by divers Petitions that have been delivered unto her both going to the Chapel and also to walk abroad she understood that divers Patents which she had granted were grievous to her Subjects and that the Substitutes of the Patentees had used great Oppressions But she said she never assented to grant any thing which was Malum in se. And if in the abuse of her Grant there be any thing evil which she took knowledge there was she her self would take present Order of reformation I cannot express unto you the Apparent Indignation of her Majesty towards these abuses She said that her Kingly Prerogative for so she termed it was tender and therefore desireth us not to fear or doubt of her careful reformation for she said that her Commandment was given a little before the late troubles meaning the Earl of Essex's matters but had an unfortunate Event but that in the middest of her most great and weighty occasions she thought upon them And that this should not suffice but that further Order should be taken presently and not in futuro for that also was another word which I take it her Majesty used and that some should be presently repealed some suspended and none put in Execution but such as should first have a Tryal according to the Law for the good of the People Against the abuses her wrath was so incensed that she said that she neither could nor would suffer such to escape with impunity So to my unspeakable comfort she hath made me the Messenger of this her gracious Thankfulness and Care Now we see that the Axe of her Princely Justice is laid to the Root of the Tree and so we see her gracious goodness hath prevented our Counsels and Consultations God make us thankful and send her long to Reign amongst us If through weakness of memory want of utterance or frailty of my Self I have omitted any thing of her Majesties Commands I do most humbly crave Pardon for the same And do beseech the Honourable Persons which assist this Chair and were present before her Majesty at the delivery hereof to supply and help my imperfections which joined with my fear have caused me no doubt to forget something which I should have delivered unto you After a little pause and silent talking one with another M r Secretary Cecill stood up and said There needs no supply of the Memory of the Speaker But because it pleased him to desire some that be about him to aid his delivery and because the rest of my Fellows be silent I will take upon me to deliver some thing which I both then heard and since know I was present with the rest of my Fellow Counsellors and the Message was the same
I went to Sir Edmund's Chamber where I found him to reconcile my self and make an Atonement for that was his word with him As I was doing this M r Serjeant came into the Chamber and there Arrested me whose Arrest I most willingly obeyed and do now acknowledge my self to have offended though not wittingly May it please you I have served her Majesty these eighteen Years in her Wars and in all my Life I was never Trespasser in any offence of this or the like nature I do therefore most humbly beseech you in your Wisdoms to have consideration of the nature and circumstances of mine offence and most willingly I do submit my self to your Censures William Mackerells being a poor simple Fellow could say nothing for himself but only that he knew not M r Pemerton to be of the House no not for his Life if it c. So the Serjeant was commanded to remove them forth Mr. Johnson said Some we Pardon out of Discretion some out of Commiseration I think set all Parliaments together they will not match this Parliament with numbers of this nature only impunity the Cause Sir Edmund Morgan said The Gentleman Mr. Speaker is a Man of good desert sort and carriage and I think if he had known me to have been of this House he would not have served me with the Subpoena Truly he came to my Lodging and acknowledged his great fault and prayed me to extenuate it I protest I think he did not know I was of the House And therefore I humbly pray that in regard of his person and good service done to her Majesty his offence may be as freely remitted by the House as it is by me And that it would please you all to reserve your Justice to matters of greater importance Which-Speech was marvellous well liked of by the House M r Pemerton being asked what he could say whether William Mackerells knew him he Answered I and that his men had told him He said he knew that the said William was a very Knave and therefore he would not entreat the favour of the House but let him have the Justice of the House Which Speech was generally misliked as churlish M r Fleetwood a Counsellor of Grayes-Inn shewed unto the House that one Holland a Scrivener by Temple-Bar and his Man had beaten his Servant And he humbly prayed they might be sent for And the question grew upon dispute whether this were punishable And after upon a Precedent vouched by M r Roger Owen of 8 Hen. 4. touching a Knight of the Parliament coming towards the Parliament And so agreed they should be sent for See the whole matter on Saturday next M r Kennell and M r Mackerells were brought to the Bar and after their offences laid open by the Speaker he said it pleased the House to have so favourable consideration of their offences that they should only have three dayes Imprisonment in the Custody of the Serjeant and pay him their Fees M r Downald moved the House first that that gracious Message which had been sent from her Majesty might be written in the Books of Records of this House being worthy to be written in Gold as well as it is written and fixed in the true heart of every good Subject Secondly That the Honourable Assembly of this House would move her Majesty and be earnest means of speed lest that which is now meant indeed may by protraction of time be altered or perhaps not so happily effected M r Secretary Cecill said I promised to be as silent as I could Among much Speech of the wise there wants not much folly much more in me I do not speak because I do dislike the Motion of the Gentleman that last spake but to defend the diligence and grace of the Queen It is no matter of Toy for a Prince to notifie in publick a matter of this weight Though the Idol of a Monopoly be a great Monster yet after two or three days I doubt not but you shall see him dismember'd And I protest there is not any Soul that lives deserves thanks in this Cause but our Sovereign Yesterday the Queen gave Order for a Draught of a Proclamation I had it in my hand You all know I went even now out of the House that was in the middle of M r Tate's Speech then I read it and sent for him that should deliver it to her hands Now what needs this new Zeal M r Davies said M r Speaker I stood up before to speak it is not much I had to say only this That which was delivered unto you from her sacred self I think to be Gospel that is Glad Tidings And as the Gospel is registred and written so would I have that also for if ever glad tidings came to the heart of the Subject they now come This is all Sir Sir George Moore said This eating and fretting Disease of Monopolies I have ever detested with my heart and the greater the grievance is the more inestimable is the grave wisdom of her Majesty in repealing them And therefore for us to think we can sufficiently requite the same it were to hold a Candle before the Sun to dim the Light And seeing she in her Clemency and Care to us hath taken the matter in her own hands I wish the matter may be no more spoke of much less proceeded in Sir Francis Hastings said It ought to be written in the Tables of our hearts c. Mr. Lawrence Hide said I think the Gentleman that set this Motion on foot spake out of Joy for her Majesties Grace and Zeal to have performance of her Promise In that he wished it might be recorded in Paper here or Parchment it is not to be intended but he meant also in our hearts which remain no longer than we live But Records remain long and will give a lively memory in Ages to come And therefore for that part of his Motion I think it very good and wish the Clerk may do it accordingly Mr. Comptroller said I think he that first moved this question exceedingly forgot himself and exceedingly detracted from her Majesty who I know out of her abundant love and grace to this House hath taken such speedy course as hath been delivered by my Fellow Counsellor With that affection she embraceth this House that in more familiar than Princely sort it hath pleased her to say Recommend me to the House with thanks for their promise and care for their common good Mr. Speaker said My Heart is not able to conceive nor my Tongue to utter the Joy I conceived of her Majesties Gracious and especial Care for our good c. Wherefore as God himself said Gloriam meam alteri non dabo so may her Majesty say in that she her self will be the only and speedy Agent for performance of our most humble and most wished desires Wherefore let us not doubt but as she hath been so she still will be our most Gracious Sovereign and natural
of Peace Ministers to her Majesty without whom the Commonwealth cannot be If this boldness go on they will accuse Judges and lastly the Seat of Justice it self That all Justices should be thus generally accused this is meer Barbarism indeed When her Majesty shall have understanding hereof it will be no content unto her and a scandal unto us all M r Glascock said In that I am taxed to tax Justices of Peace I am to pray the House to give me leave to make an Apology for my self M r Speaker I will not deny that I spake and protest it in my conscience I spake only of the inferiour sort of Justices commonly called Basket Justices against these I will not speak that I spake last but other matter in other Terms They be like the wise men of Chaldee that could never give judgment till they saw the Entrails of Beasts Our Statutes penal be like the Beast born in the Morning at his full growth at noon and dead at night So these Statutes quick in Execution like a wonder for nine days so long after they be at the height but by the end of the year they are carried dead in a Basket to the Justices House Mr. Speaker said Mr. Glascock you speak from the matter and purpose and this that you have spoken you must justify Mr. Martin said I am rather willing to speak in that I would willingly have an end of this matter I think we all agree upon the substance that it is fit the Sabbath should be sanctified The other matter which is the impediment I know it is a grief but I leave it as matter more fit to be decided at a Committee than here And therefore for the Honour of the Queen and of her Government I wish it may be committed without further Argument Sir Robert Wroth said I think the Office of Justice of Peace is too good a calling for him that exclaims against it and I think he 'll ne're have the honour to have it It were good they were named and that he told who they were otherwise honest men will be loth to serve the Queen when they shall be slandered without proof Therefore I would he might answer it at the Bar. And all said No No. Mr. Johnson said This Bill is an excellent good Bill And I have observed in all the Speeches yet spoken have been interlarded with other matter The Gentleman now protesteth he spake of Basket Justices I appeal to the whole House whether his definition were not general viz. A Justice of Peace is a kind of living Creature that for half a Dozen of Chickens will dispense with a dozen of penal Statutes I think it is well known that the Honourable that sit about the Chair and all the rest of her Majesties Privy Council have and do hold the same place and this toucheth them as much as Inferiour Justices And therefore I humbly pray he may answer it at the Bar and that it may not be past over with silence M r Hide said Every man agrees this Bill hath good matter and we all agree and consent to the substance though dissent to the form some have more wit some have more understanding than others If they of meaner capacity and Judgment spake impertinently let us not in a spleen straight cry Away with the Bill but let us give it the same favour we give to Bills of far inferiour nature that is a Commitment so the Bill was committed to the former Committees who were appointed on Wednesday the 18 th day of November foregoing and to all the Privy Council being of this House Sir Robert Wroth Sir Carew Reignolds Sir Anthony Cope Mr. Bond Mr. Martin Mr. Hide Mr. Owen Mr. Beeston and Mr. Wimarke who were appointed to meet to Morrow in the Afternoon in the Exchequer Chamber at two of the Clock Two Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill against Victualling Houses Taverns c. was read the third time And after many Arguments upon the question dashed The Bill against double payment of Debts upon Shop-Books was read the third time and Ordered upon the question of Amendment in some few words to be committed unto Mr. Serjeant Harries and others and to be put to the question for passing to Morrow Peter Fretchvile Esquire returned unto this present Parliament one of the Knights for the County of Derby for that he is chosen Sheriff of the County and other his necessary affairs is licensed by Mr. Speaker to depart home Nota That have it appeareth that Peter Fretchvile Esquire being a Member of the House and elected Sheriff of the County of Derby did notwithstanding continue his place in the same by which it is apparent that the said places are not incompetible but may stand and be together simul semel in one and the same Person On Thursday the third day of December Four Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill for the strengthening of the North parts was read the second time and committed unto all the Privy Council being Members of this House the Knights and Burgesses for Cumberland Westmerland and Northumberland and others who were appointed to meet to Morrow in the Afternoon at two of the Clock in the Exchequer Chamber Mr. Davies brought in the Bill touching Garbling of Spices with some Amendments which were twice read and the Bill Ordered to be ingrossed The Bill for the Assurance of the Joynture of the Countess of Sussex was read the second time and committed unto the Privy Council being Members of this House M r Serjeant Harries Sir Walter Raleigh Sir Robert Wroth and others who were appointed to meet this Afternoon in the Exchequer Chamber at two of the Clock The Bill for the Assurance of the Joynture of Rachell the wife of Edward Nevill of 〈◊〉 in the County of Kent was read the second time and committed unto Sir Edward Hobbie Sir George Moore Sir Moyle Finch Sir John Grey Mr. Francis Moore and others who were appointed to meet this Afternoon at two of the Clock in the Exchequer Chamber The Bill touching the confirmation of the sale of Lands made by Lewes late Lord Mordant deceased was read the second time and committed unto the former Committees for the Earl of Sussex and M r Attorney of the Wards M r Tansield M r Winch and M r Ludlow who were added unto them M r Mountague moved that such persons as shall prefer and have benefit by any private Bills may in regard of their said benefits be charged with some consideration and payment of Money towards the relief of the Poor which being assented unto It was Ordered by the whole House That such persons as shall have any private Bills expedited and passed in this House during this Session of Parliament only shall pay towards the relief of the Poor for every Bill so passed in this House touching
the sale of Lands ten pound and likewise for every Bill for consumation of partiuclar Joyntures the sum of five pound to be distributed in such sort as this House shall further appoint Upon a motion made by M r Secretary Cecill that the Charity and Collection made by the Members of this House for the relief of the Poor during this present Session of Parliament may especially be extended to the comfort of the poor maimed Souldiers now remaining in and about the City of London it was most willlingly and readily assented unto by the whole House M r Dannet Burgess for Yarmouth said May it please you M r Speaker The duty I owe to my Sovereign and Country makes me bold to crave your Patience to hear me The matter that I shall speak of is twosold the first concerneth the Honour of the Queen the second the safety of our Country two very high points for me to handle and require a more eloquent Discourse than I am able to make I will use no circumstance or with superfluous matter abuse the time which is very precious but to the matter I have been of the Parliament five or six times and I have always observed by this House and I would willingly be resolved by the Honourable about the Chair that all the Wars of her Majesty are Wars offensive and I do not hear the contrary How then windes it that such a number of her Majestie Subjects be spoiled robb'd beaten wounded themselves taken used with such extream torture rack'd carried away imprisoned ransomed sined and some executed and all this time no Wars But give me leave for these ten Years I am sure the Subjects of this Land on the Sea-Coast have undergone these Tyrannies and by whom even by two base Towns Dunkirk and Newport Dunkirk at first began with two Ships and are now encreased to almost twenty They are at home at Supper and the next day here with us I must needs confess the great charge that I know the Lord Admiral is at continually by lying ready to take these Pirates Send to take them they straight 〈◊〉 home if our Ships return they are streight here again I dare boldly say it they have done England more hurt since they began than all France either in the time of Hen. 8. Edw. 6. or Queen Mary If it be so that these two base Towns shall so confront the Power of this Land I see no reason why they should be suffered for it is a great dishonour both unto the Queen and unto the Kingdom I have heard many say that the Navies are the Walls of the Kingdom but we suffer our Ships still to be destroyed some to be burnt and some to be sunk We may compare our Seamen to Sheep feeding upon a fair Mountain in the midst whereof stands a little Grove full of Wolves Why M r Speaker we are so plagued with them that they be so bold as now and then to take our Harvest-men tardy with Ambuscadoes I speak with grief and it was reported unto me by a Scottish-man that Duke Allert and the Infanta should plainly publish that they would pull down so many of the Walls of England that they would easily make an Entry And it had been better for Sea-Coast men to have given the Queen an hundred Subsidies that they had been long since supprest My humble Motion is that it would please the House to enter into consideration of these things for the honour good and safety both of the Queen and of the Kingdom M r Peake said I must needs shew unto this House upon so good an occasion offered how grievously the Town of Sandwich for which I serve is vexed and almost undone insomuch as in that Town there is neither Owner Master or Mariner that hath not felt it Her Majesty is continually at Charge but what ensueth or cometh of it I never yet knew If in the County of Kent at Shooters Hill Gadd's Hill Baram Down c. there should many and ofter Robberies be committed and the Justices look not to it this were but an ill part Every day men come home their Goods and all they have taken away yea their very Apparel and if the Ships might also be carried away they would do it This would be amended and looked into We had need to cherish this Subject I think him to be the best and most necessary Member of the Common-Wealth I mean the Navigator M r Martin said I like not these extravagant Speeches in the manner though I mislike them not in the matter They are like to men whose Houses being on Fire run out into the street like Madmen for getting themselves of help That that Cottage of Dunkirk the flourishing Estate whereof is a dishonour to our Nation should so much offend us when we never offer to suppress them it is no marvail I think there is no man but understands the grief But I wish that those who at first propounded to the House this matter had also laid down some project though never so small of remedy otherwise such cursory Motions as these be cannot be but very distastful to the House M r Lithe said Within these twelve dayes one man lost two hundred pound only by Dunkirkers who took the same away M r Secretary Cecill said My Speech shall only tend to advance the Motion of the Gentleman that spake first in this point If we would have remedy we are to consider two things First That it will be a matter of charge and secondly That there must be a distribution thereof For the first I leave it to you for the second it is out of my Element Withal I must excuse them that have Authority to remedy this For unless you would have a continual charge unto her Majesty by having Ships lying betwixt us and Dunkirk it is impossible but that at sometimes these Robberies will be committed I could very well agree to bring this Motion to some head being a matter in mine opinion very considerable in a Committee And all said I I I. M r Dannet said I would only move the House that some Masters of Ships and Seamen might be sent for to attend at the Committee Whereupon it was Ordered to be considered of and refer'd to Committees viz. all the Privy Council being Members of this House the Queens Learned Councel being of this House Sir Walter Raleigh the Burgesses for Ports and Sea-faring Towns the Knights of the Shires for Maritime Counties the Masters of Request M r Lieutenant of the Tower Sir Francis Hastings Sir Robert Wroth and others who were appointed to meet upon Saturday next at two of the Clock in the Afternoon in the Exchequer Chamber The Bill touching Fines within the County of the City of Chester was read the third time and past upon the question M r Tate said I would only move the House that whereas an Information is exhibited by the Earl of Huntington against a Member of this House M r Belgrave