controul for when displeasure was like to ensue he could speak fair and feast and if need was kiss away all discontent Towards his end as stale drink he grew sowr For as in the first part of his Reign he had been supplied by good-will against Law so in his latter times he had gotten a trick of supply by Law against good-will This was by penal Laws which are a remedy if they be used Ad terrorem but if strained beyond that the Remedy proveth worse than the Disease In their first institution they are forms of courtesie from the people to the King but in the rigorous execution of them are trials of mastery of the King over the people and are usually laid up against days of reckoning between the Prince and them Those penal Laws are best contrived that with the greatest terrour to the Delinquent bring the least profit to the King's Coffers Once for all this King's Acts were many his Enterprizes more but seldom attaining that end which they faced He was a man of War and did more by his Fame than his Sword was no sooner resolved in good earnest but he died left a Kingdom unassured his Children young and many friends in shew but in truth very few Now if ever was the Kingdom in a Trance Edward the Fourth left a Son the Prima materia of a King and who lived long enough to be enrolled amongst English Kings yet served the place no further than to be an occasion to fill up the measure of the wickedness of the Duke of Gloucester and a monument of Gods displeasure against the House of Edward the Fourth whether for that breach of Oath or treachery against Henry the Sixth or for what other cause I cannot tell But at the best this Prince was in relation to his Uncle the Duke of Gloucester little other than as an Overseer to an Executor that might see and complain but cannot amend For the Duke ruled over-ruled and mis-ruled all under the name of Edward the Fifth and left no monument of good Government upon record till he changed both the Name and Person of Edward the Fifth to Richard the Third his Fame had lifted him up and might have supported him had he regarded it But as no man had more honour before he ascended the Throne so no man ever entred and sate thereon with less His proceedings were from a Protector to an Vsurper and thence to a Tyrant a Scourge to the whole Nation especially the Nobility and lastly an instrument of Gods Revenge upon himself a man made up of Clay and Blood living not loved and dying unlamented The manner of his Government was strained having once won the Saddle he is loth to be cast knowing himself guilty all over and that nothing could absolve his Fame but a Parliament he calls it courts it and where his Wit could not reach to apologize he makes whole by recompence takes away Benevolences he is ready to let them have their present desires what can they have more He promiseth good behaviour for the future which he might the better do because he had already attained his ends Thus in one Parliament for he could hold no more he gave such content as even to wonderment he could assoon find an Army in the field to fight for him as the most meritorious of his Predecessors Hiâ— ill Title made him very jealous and thereby taught his best Friends to keep at a distance after which time few escaped that came within his reach and so he served God's Judgement against his adjutants though he understood it not Amongst the rest against the Duke of Buckingham his great Associate both in the Butchery of the two young Princes and usurpation of the Royal Scepter He lived till he had laid the Foundation of better times in the person of Henry the Seventh and then received his reward But an ill Conscience must be continually fed or it will eat up its own womb The Kings mind being delivered from fear of the Sons of Edward the Fourth now dead torments himself with thoughts of his Daughter alive ashamed he is of Butchery of a Girl he chuseth a conceit of Bastardizing the Children of Elizabeth Gray that calleth her self Queen of England but this proved too hard to concoct Soon after that he goes a contrary way The Lady Elizabeth Gray is now undoubted Wife of Edward the Fourth and her eldest Daughter as undoubted Heir to the Crown And so the King will now be contented to adventure himself into an incestuous Marriage with her if his own Queen were not in the way onely to secure the Peace of the Kingdom which he good King was bound in Conscience to maintain though with the peril of his own Soul and in this zeal of Conscience his Queen soon went out of the way and so Love is made to the young Lady But Henry Earl of Richmond was there before and the Lady warily declined the choice till the golden Apple was won which was not long after accomplished the King losing both the Lady his Crown and own Life together put an end to much wickedness and had the end thereof in Bosworth-Field CHAP. XXIV Of the Government in relation to the Parliament THe seasons now in Tract were of short continuance lives passed away more speedily than years and it may seem useless to enquire what is the nature of the Government in such a time whenas the greatest work was to maintain Life and Soul together and when all is done little else is done For though the Title of the House of York was never so clear against that of Lancaster yet it had been so long darkned with a continual â—uccession of Kings of the Red Rose that either by their Merit had gained a Throne in the peoples Hearts or by their Facility had yielded their Throne up to the peoples will as it proved not easie to convince them that liked well their present Lot and were doubtful of change or to make them tender of the right of Edward the Fourth above their own quiet Above Threescore years now had England made trial of the Government of the Lancastrian Princes and thereof about Thirty years experience had they of Henry the Sixth they saw he was a gentle Price On the other side Edward the Fourth newly sprung up out of a Root watered with blood himself also a man for the Field This might well put the minds of the people to a stand what to think of this Man whose Nature and ends are so doubtful and brought nothing to commend him to the good wills of the people but his bare Title which the common sort usually judge of according as they see it prosper more or less Add hereunto that Divine Providence did not so clearly nor suddenly determine his secret purpose concerning this change by any constant success to either part by means whereof the one half of Edward the Fourth's Reign was spent while as yet Henry the
also the Civil Magistrate the cognizance in point of Right albeit future times introduced a change herein CHAP. XV. A brief Censure of the Saxon Prelatical Church-Government THis that I have said might at the first view seem to represent a curious Structure of Church-policie which might have put a period to time it self but to speak sine ira studio the height was too great considering the foundation and therefore ever weak and in need of props The foundation was neither on the Rock nor on good ground but by a Ginn screwed to the Roman Consistory or like a Castle in the Air hanging upon a pin of Favour of Kings and great men At the first they thought best to temporize and to hold both these their strings to their Bow but feeling themselves somewhat under-propped by the Consciences of the ignorant people they soon grew wondrous brave even to the jealousie of Princes which also was known so notoriously that the publick Synods rang That the Prelates loved not Princes but emulated them and envied their greatness and pursued them with detraction And if the Cloth may be judged by the List that one example of Wilfrid Archbishop of York will speak much He was once so humble minded as he would always go on foot to preach the Word but by that time he was warm in his Archbishops Robes he was served in Vessels of Gold and Silver and with Troops of Followers in such Gallantry as his Pomp was envied of the Queen A strange growth of Prelacy in so small a space as Eighty years and in the midst of stormy times such as then afflicted this poor Country But this is not all for never doth Pride lead the way but some other base Vice follows I will not mention the lives of the Monks Nuns and other Clerks Malmsbury speaks sufficiently of their Luxury Drunkenness Quarrelling and Fighting Others witness thereto and tell us that the Clergie seldom read the Scripture and did never preach and were so grosly ignorant that Alfred the King being a diligent Translator of Latine Writers into the Saxon Tongue rendreth this reason Because they would be very useful to some of his Bishops that understood not the Latine Tongue Nor were the Presbyters of another dye for that King bewailing their ignorance in his Letter to Wolfegus saith That those which were de gradu spirituali were come to that condition that few of them on this side Humber could understand their Common prayers or translate them into Saxon and so few as I do not saith he remember one on this side the Thames when I began to reign And the Synod that should have salved all covers the Sore with this Canonical Plaister that those of the Clergie that could not say Domine miserere in Latine should instead thereof say Lord have mercy upon us in English. It was therefore a vain thing for the Clergie to rest upon their Works or Title of Divine Right their great Pomp sacred Places and savour of Kings commended them to the Administration or rather Adoration of ignorant people and the favour of the Roman Chair unto the regard of Kings who maintained their interest with the Conclave on the one side and with the People on the other side by their means and so they mutually served one another It cannot be denied but the Pope and Kings were good Cards in those days yet had the Prelacie maturely considered the nature of the Saxon Government so much depending upon the people they might have laid a more sure foundation and attained their ends with much more ease and honour I commend not the base way of Popularity by principles of Flattery but that honourable service of Truth and Vertue which sets up a Throne in the minds of the Vulgar few of whom but have some sparks of Nature left unquenched for though Respect may chance to meet with Greatness yet Reverence is the proper Debt to Goodness without which we look at great men as Comets whose influence works mischief and whose light serves rather to be gazed upon than for direction The foundation thus happily laid the progress of the building was no less irregular in regard of their ends that they aimed at For first they admitted the Laity into their Synods who were not so dull but could espie their ambition nor so base spirited as to live in slavery after conviction This Errour was espied I confess but it was too late and though they reformed it yet it was after Four hundred years labour And in the mean time by the contentions of the Clergie amongst themselves Kings had first learned so much of their Supremacy and the Laity so much of their Liberty as they began to plead with the Clergie and had brought the matter to issue before the Synod could rid themselves of these Lay-Spectators or rather Overseers of their ways and actions A second Errour was the yoking of the Bishops power under that of the Synods for they had little or no power by the Canon that was not under their controul neither in admission or deprivation of Presbyters or others determining of any Cause nor passing sentence of Excommunication And this could not but much hinder the hasty growth of Antichrist's power in this Kingdom Nor could it ever be compleated so long as the Synods had the chief power Nevertheless the inthralled spirits of the Clergie and terrour of the Papal thunder-bolt in continuance of time surmounted this difficulty and Synods became so tame and easily led as if there had been but one Devil to rule amongst them all For if any quick eye or active spirit did but begin to peep or stir the Legate e latere soon reduced him into rank and kept all in awe with a Sub poena of unknown danger A third error was the allowing of peculiars and exemptions of Religious Houses from ordinary jurisdiction and this was an error in the first concoction a block in the way of Prelacy and a clog to keep it down This error was soon felt and was occasion of much mutiny in the body Ecclesiastical but exceeding profitable for Rome not only in point of Revenue by the multitude of Appeals but especially in maintaining a party for the Roman See in case the Prelacy of England should stumble at the Supremacy of Rome Otherwise it seemed like a Wen upon the body rather than any Homogene Member and without which certainly the English Prelacy had thriven much better and the Roman Chair much worse In all which regards I must conclude that the Prelatical Government in England was as yet like a young Bear not fully licked but left to be made compleat by time and observation CHAP. XVI Of the Saxons Common-wealth and the Government thereof and first of the King. HAving already treated of the Saxon Church in order I am now come to the Republick which in all probability will be expected to be suitable to their original in Germany whereunto having
Yoke is easie and Burthen light But their motion proved so irregular as God was pleased to reduce them by another way CHAP. XLIV Of the Norman entrance THus was England become a goodly Farm The Britons were the Owners the Saxons the Occupants having no better title than a possession upon a forcible entry with a continuando for the space of Four hundred years seldom quiet either from the claim and disturbances of the restless Britons or invading Danes who not onely got footing in the Country but setled in the Throne and after gave over the same to the use as it proved of another people sprung from the wilde stock of Norway and thence transplanted into a milder Climate yet scarcely civilized That in one Isle the glory of God's bounty might shine forth to all the barbarism of Europe in making a beautiful Church out of the refuse of Nations These were the Normans out of the continent of France that in their first view appeared like the Pillar of the Cloud with terrour of Revenge upon the Danish pride the Saxon cruelty and Idolatry of both people But after some distance shewed like the Pillar of fire clearing God's providence for the good of this Island to be enjoyed by the succeeding generations Nor was this done by Revelation or Vision but by over-ruling the aspiring mind of Duke William of Normandy to be a scourge unto Harold for his usurpation and unto the people for their causless deserting the Royal Stem Yet because the haughtiest spirit is still under fame and opinion and cannot rest without pretence or colour of Right and Justice the Duke first armed himself with Titles which were too many to make one good claim and served rather to busie mens mindes with musing whilst he catcheth the prey than settle their judgements in approving of his way First he was Cousin-german to the Confessor and he childless and thus the Duke was nigh though there were nigher than he but the worst point in the case was that the Duke was a Bastard and so by the Saxon Law without the line nor was there other salve thereto but the Norman custom that made no difference so as the Duke had a colour to frame a Title though England had no Law to allow it And this was the best flower of his Garland when he meant to solace himself with the English as may appear by what his Son Henry the first sets forth to the World in his Charter whereby he advanced the Abbey of Ely into the degree of a Bishoprick and wherein amongst his other titles he calls himself Son of William the great Qui Edwardo Regi successit in regnum jure haereditario But if that came short he had the bequest of the Confessor who had designed the Duke to be his Successor and this was confirmed by the consent of the Nobility and principally of Harold himself who in assurance thereof promised his Sister to the Duke in marriage This countenanced a double Title one by Legacy the other by Election and might be sufficient if not to make the Duke's title just yet Harold's the more unjust and to ground that quarrel that in the conclusion laid the Duke's way open to the Crown And for the better varnish the Duke would not be his own Judge he refers his Title to be discussed at the Court of Rome and so flattered the Pope with a judicatory power amongst Princes a trick of the new stamp whereby he obtained sentence in his own behalf from the infallible Chair The Pope glad hereof laid up this amongst his Treasures as an Estoppel to Kings for times to come And the King made no less benefit of Estoppel against the English Clergie that otherwise might have opposed him and of assurance of those to him that were his friends and of advantage against Harold that had gotten the Crown sine Ecclesiastica authoritate and by that means had made Pope Alexander and all the Prelates of England his Enemies But if all failed yet the Duke had now a just cause of quarrel against Harold for breach of Oath and Covenant wherein if Harold chanced to be vanquished and the Crown offered it self fair he might without breach of conscience or modesty accept thereof and be accounted happy in the finding and wise in the receiving rather than unjustly hardy in the forcing thereof And this might occasion the Duke to challenge Harold to single Combat as if he would let all the World know that the quarrel was Personal and not National But this mask soon fell off by the death of Harold and the Duke must now explain himself that it was the value of the English Crown and not the Title that brought him over For though he might seem as it were in the heat of the chase to be drawn to London where the Crown was and that he rather sought after his Enemies than it yet assoon as he perceived the Crown in his power he disputed not the right although that was Edgar's but possessed himself of the long-desired prey and yet he did it in a mannerly way as if he saw in it somewhat more than Gold and precious Stones for though he might have taken it by ravishment yet he chose the way of wooing by a kind of mutual agreement Thus this mighty Conqueror suffered himself to be conquered and stooping under the Law of a Saxon King he became a King by lieve wisely foreseeing that a Title gotten by Election is more certain than that which is gotten by Power CHAP. XLV That the Title of the Norman Kings to the English Crown was by Election SOme there are that build their opinion upon passionate notes of angry Writers and do conclude that the Duke's way and Title was wholly by Conquest and thence infer strange aphorisms of State destructive to the Government of this Kingdom Let the Reader please to peruse the ensuing particulars and thence conclude as he shall see cause It will easily be granted that the Title of Conquest was never further than the King's thoughts if it ever entred therein else wherefore did he pretend other Titles to the world But because it may be thought that his wisdom would not suffer him to pretend what he intended and yet in practice intended not what he did pretend it will be the skill of the Reader to consider the manner of the first William's Coronation and his succeeding Government His Coronation questionless was the same with that of the ancient Saxon Kings for he was crowned in the Abbey of Westminster by the Archbishop of York because he of Canterbury was not Canonical At his Coronation he made a solemn Covenant to observe those Laws which were bonae approbatae antiquae legis Regni to defend the Church and Church-men to govern all the people justly to make and maintain righteous Laws and to inhibit all spoil and unjust judgements The people also entred into Covenant with him That as well within the
the conclusion The Dukes of Lancaster and York forsake the Court Favourites step into their rooms The old way of the eleventh year is re-assumed Belknap and others are pardoned and made of the Cabinet The pardon of the Earl of Arundel is adnulled contrary to the advice of the major part and the Archbishop the Earl's Brother is banished The Lords forsake the wilful King still the King's Jealousie swells The Duke of Hertford is banished or rather by a hidden Providence sent out of the way for a further work The Duke of Lancaster dies and with him all hope of moderation is gone for he was a wise Prince and the onely Cement that held the Joynts of the Kingdom in correspondency And he was ill requited for all his Estate is seized upon The Duke of Hertford and his party are looked upon by the people as Martyrs in the Common Cause and others as Royalists Extremities hasten on and Prerogative now upon the wing is towering above reach In full Parliament down goes all the work of the tenth and eleventh years Parliament which had never been if that Parliament had continued by adjournment The King raiseth a power which he calleth his Guard of Cheshire-men under the terrour of this displaying Rod the Parliament and Kingdom are brought to Confession Cheshire for this service is made a Principality and thus goes Counties up and Kingdoms down The King's Conscience whispers a sad message of dethroning and well it might be for he knew he had deserved it Against this danger he entrenches himself in an Act of Parliament that made it Treason To purpose and endeavour to depose the King or levy War against him or to withdraw his Homage hereof being attainted in Parliament And now he thought he was well guarded by engagement from the Parliament but he missed the right conclusion for want of Logick For if the Parliament it self shall depose him it cannot be made a Traytor or attaint it self and then hath the King gained no more than a false birth But the King was not thus quiet the sting of guilt still sticks within and for remedy he will unlaw the Law and gets it enacted That all procurers of the Statute of 10 Richard the Second and the Commission and procurers of the King's assent thereto and hinderers of the King's proceedings are adjudged Traytors All these reach onely the Branches the Root remains yet and may spring again and therefore in the last place have at the Parliament it self For by the same it is further declared That the King is the sole Master of the Propositions for matters to be treated in Parliament and all gainsayers are Traitors Secondly That the King may dissolve the Parliament at his pleasure and all gainsayers are Traitors Thirdly That the Parliament may not proceed against the King's Justices for offences by them committed in Parliament without the King's consent and all gainsayers are Traitors These and the like Aphorisms once voted by the Cheshire-men assented unto by the Parliament with the Kings Fiat must pass for currant to the Judges and if by them confirmed or allowed will in the King's opinion make it a Law for ever That the King in all Parliaments is Dominus fac primum and Dominus fac totum But the Judges remembred the Tenth year and Belknap's entertainment and so dealt warily their opinion is thus set down It belongeth to the Parliament to declare Treason yet if I were a Peer and were commanded I should agree So did Thorning under-write and thereunto also consented Rickill and Sir Walter Clopton the last being Chief-Justice of the King's Bench the first Chief-Justice of the Common-pleas and the second another Judge of the same Bench. The sum in plainer sence is that if they were Peers they would agree but as Judges they would be silent And thus the Parliament of England by the first of these four last-mentioned conclusions attainted themselves by the second yielded up their Liberties by the third their Lives and by the last would have done more or been less And to fill up the measure of all they assigned over a right of Legislative power unto six Lords and three Commons and yet the King not content superadded that it should be Treason for any man to endeavour to repeal any of their determinations The Commonwealth thus underneath the King tramples upon all at once for having espied the shadow of a Crown fleeting from him in Ireland he pursues it leaves the noble Crown of England in the base condition of a Farm subject to strip and waste by mean men and crosses the Irish Seas with an Army This was one of England's Climacterical years under a Disease so desperate that no hope was left but by a desperate Cure by sudden bleeding in the Head and cutting off that Member that is a principle of motion in the Body For it was not many Moneths e're the wind of affairs changed the King now in Ireland another steps into the Throne The noise hereof makes him return afar off enraged but the nigher he comes the cooler he grows his Conscience revives his Courage decays and leaving his Army his Lordship Kingdom and Liberty behind as a naked man submits himself to release all Homage and Fealty to resign his Crown and Dignity his Titles and Authority to acknowledge himself unworthy and insufficient to reign to swear never to repent of his resignation And thus if he will have any quiet this wilful man must be content for the future neither to will nor desire And poor England must for a time be contented with a doleful condition in which the King cannot rule and the Parliament will not and the whole body like a Chaos capable of any form that the next daring spirit shall brood upon it CHAP. II. Of the State of the King and Parliament in relation of it to him and him to it A King in Parliament is like the first-born of Jacob The excellency of Dignity and the excellency of Power but alone unstable as water Examples of both these we have in these two Kings Whereof the first was Crowned by the Parliament and Crowned it the latter also Crowned it but with Thorns and yet the Parliament in all held on that wise way that it neither exceeded its own bounds nor lost its own right I shall enter into the consideration of particulars under these heads First In relation more immediately to the interest of the King Secondly To the interest of the Kingdom in general The King though higher than all the people by the head and so hath the Prerogative of Honour as the most worthy yet his strength and abilities originally do rise from beneath otherwise he is but like a General without an Army the Title big but airy and many times his person subject to so much danger that instead of drawing the Eyes of all the people to look upon him with admiration they are drawn to look to him with observation and in this
Peace for whilst Henry the Sixth was in France which was in his Tenth year from St. George's day till February following the Scots propound terms of Peace to the Duke of Gloucester he being then Custos Regni which he referred to the Order of the Parliament by whom it was determined and the Peace concluded in the absence of the King and was holden as good and effectual by both Kingdoms as if the King had been personally present in his full capacity CHAP. XXIII A Survey of the Reigns of Edward the Fourth Edward the Fifth and Richard the Third THe Reign of Henry the Sixth was for the most part in the former parts of it like Fire buried up in the Ashes and in the latter parts breaking out into a Flame In the heat whereof the Duke of York after Fealty given by him to Henry the Sixth and Dispensation gotten from the Pope to break his Faith lost his life and left his Son the Markgrave to pursue his Title to the Crown which he claimed by Inheritance but more especially by Act of Parliament made upon the agreement between Henry the Sixth and his Father This was Edward the Fourth who nevertheless reserved himself to the Election of the Lords and was by them received and commended to the Commons in the Field By which means he gaining the possession had also encouragement to maintain the same yet never held himself a King of full Age so long as Henry the Sixth lived which was the one half of his Reign Nor did he though he held many Parliaments scarce reach higher than at reforming of Trade which was a Theam well pleasing to the people next unto their Peace which also the King carefully regarded For although he had been a Souldier of good experience and therewith successful yet as one loath to trust too far either the constancy of the people of his own Opinion or the fortune of War with his neighbouring Princes he did much by brave countenance and discourse and yet gained repute to the English for valour after the dishonourable times of Henry the Sixth He had much to do with a wise King of France that knew how to lay out three or four calm words at any time to save the adventure of his peoples bloud and make a shew of money to purchase the peaceable holding of that which was his onely by force until the wind proved more fair to bring all that continent under one head In his Government at home he met with many cross Gales occasioned principally by his own rashness and neglect of the Earl of Warwick's approved friendship which he had turned into professed enmity and so weakned his own cause thereby that he was once under water his Kingdom disposed of by new intail upon the Heirs of Duke Clarence and so the Earl of Warwick remained constant to the House of York though this particular King was set aside Nor did he in all this gain any thing but a Wife who though his Subject and none of the greatest Family neither brought any interest unto her Lord and Husband amongst Foreign Princes brought nevertheless a Pearl which was beyond all which was the purchase of the Union between the two Houses of York and Lancaster and a peaceable succession in the Throne for a long while to come It must be granted that there fell therewith an unhappy inconvenience in the raising of a new Nobility of the Queens Kindred of whom the ancient Stock of Nobility thought scorn and yet they were so considerable as to be envied A Wound hard to be cured and yet easily avoided by such as know how to deny themselves And therefore can be no prejudice unto that conclusion That for an English King to marry his own Subject is more safe for the King and beneficial for the Kingdom than to marry a Stranger But Edward the Fourth did not long lie underneath upon the next fair Gale he comes from beyond the Sea and like his first Predecessor of the House of Lancaster claims onely his Dutchy which no man could in reason deny to be his right and therefore were the sooner engaged with him in that accoust This was an act that in the first undertaking seemed modest but when it was done appeared too bold to adventure it upon the Censure of Henry the Sixth and therefore they were not more ready to engage than slack to dis-engage till they were secure in the Kings Interest which not long after ensued by the death of Henry the Sixth Thus Edward the Fourth recovered the Crown to save his Dutchy His Government was not suitable for he came in by the People but endeavoured to uphold himself by Foreign Dependencies as if he desired to spread his Roots rather wide than deep How ill this Choice was the event shewed for Plants that root wide may be strong enough against an outward Storm but they soon grow old barren and rot irrecoverably from beneath Such was the end of this mans Government himself lived and died a King and left Issue both Male and Female the one tasted the Government the other kissed it but neither of them ever enjoyed further than a bare Title Nor was the Government of Edward the Fourth so secured by the Engagements of Foreigners for as he sought to delude so he was deluded both by Burgundy and Scotland to the prejudice of all three Towards his own people his carriage was not so much by Law as by Leave for he could fetch a course out of the old way of rule satisfie himself dissatisfie others and yet never was called to account What was done by Entreaty no man could blame and where Entreaties are countenanced by Power no man durst contradict Thanks to his Fate that had brought him upon a People tired by Wars scared by his success and loth to adventure much for the House of Lancaster in which no courage was left to adventure for it self The greatest errour of his way was in the matter of Revenue the former times had been unhappy in respect of good Husbandry and Edward the Fourth was no man to gather heaps His occasions conduced rather to diffuse and his mind generally led the way thereto so as it is the less wonder if he called more for accommodations than the ordinary Treasury of the Crown could supply Hereto therefore he used expedients which in his former times were more moderate for whilst Henry the Sixth lived he did but borrow by Privy Seal and take Tunnage and Poundage by way of hire Afterwards when no Star appeared but what was enlightned from his own Sun he was more plain and tried a new trick called Benevolence Unwelcome it was not onely in regard of its own nature but much more in the end for it was to serve the Duke of Burgundy in raising a War against France in the first view but in the conclusion to serve his own Purse both from Friends and Foes And yet this also passed without much
to its end CHAP. XL. A Summary Conclusion upon the whole matter IN the stating of this whole account I shall first glance upon the natural Constitution of the people of England and then gather up the scattered Notions into one form because the one doth not a little illustrate the other and shew the same to be radical and not by any forced inoculation The people are of a middle temper according to their Climate the Northern Melancholy and the Southern Choler meeting in their general Constitution doth render them ingenious and active which nourished also under the wings of Liberty inspires a Courage generous and not soon out of breath Active they are and so nigh to pure act that nothing hurts them more than much quiet of which they had little experience from their first transmigration till the time of King James but ever were at work either in building as before the Norman times or after in repairing their ruines occasioned by tempestuous pretensions from Rome and Foreign Princes or by Earthquakes of Civil Contention about the Title between the two Houses of York and Lancaster or intrenchments of the Crown upon the Liberty of the people But King James conquering all enmity spake Peace abroad and sang Lullaby at home Yet like a dead calm in a hot Spring treasured up in store sad distempers against a back-Winter Their ingenuity will not allow them to be excellent at the Cheat but are rather subject in that kind to take than give and supposing others as open-hearted as themselves are many times in Treaties over-matched by them whom they over-match in Arms. Upon the same account they are neither imperious over those beneath nor stubborn against them above but can well discern both person and time Man Woman or Child all is one with them they will honour Majesty where ever they see it And of the twain tender it more when they see it set upon infirmity as if they knew how to command themselves onely in order to the publick good Nevertheless they love much to be free When they were under awe of the Popes Curse they bore off designs by the head and shoulders but afterwards by watchfulness and foresight and having attained a light in Religion that will own their Liberties of them both they make up one Garland not to be touched by any rude hand but as if it were the bird of the eye the whole body startles forthwith the Alarm is soon given and taken and whether high or low none are spared that stand in their way This they do owe to the Eastern people from whom they fetch their Pedegree So as the onely way to conquer them is to let them have their Liberties for like some Horses they are good for carriage so long as their Burthens are easie and sit loose upon them but if too close girt they will break all or cast their load or die And therefore Queen Elizabeth gained much to the Crown by fair carriage good words and cleanly conveyance which was not soon discovered nor easily parted with But Henry the Eighth by height of spirit and great noise and therefore was no sooner off the Stage but what was gotten by the snatch was lost by the catch and things soon returned into their ancient posture again The first Government of the people before their departure out of Germany was in the two States of Lords and Commons The Clergie came not into pomp and power till Austin's time and soon came to the height of a third State appendent to the former and so continued till Henry the Eighth's time Then they began to decay in power and in Queen Elizabeths time utterly lost the same and so they can no longer be called a State although they still keep state The two States of Lords and Commons in their Transmigration being then in the nature of an Army of Souldiers had a General by their Election under whom after they had obtained a peaceable setling they named him anew by the name of Konning or the Wise man for then was Wisdom more necessary than Valour But after the Clergie had won the day and this Konning had submitted himself and his people to their Ghostly Father they baptized him by a new name of Rex and so he is stiled in all written Monuments which we owe onely to Ecclesiasticks although the vulgar held their appellation still which by contraction or rather corruption did at length arrive into the word King a notion which as often changeth the sence as the Air some making the person all in all others some in all and some nothing at all but a complement of State. The Clergie gave him his Title in the first sence and are willing he should have a power over the Estates in order to their design which then was to rule the King and by him all his People he doing what he listeth with them and the Clergie the like with him The Saxons take the word in the second sence for though they had put upon the Commonwealth one Head and on that one Head one Crown yet unto that Head did belong many Eyes and many Brains and nothing being done but by the common sense a power is left to him much like to that of the outward Members Executory In time of War how unruly soever the humours be yet must the Law be his rule He cannot engage the people either to make continue or determine any offensive War without their consent nor compel them to arm themselves nor command them out of their Counties for War or impose Military charge upon them against their free consent or contrary to the known Law. In calmer times much rather he can neither make new Laws nor alter the old form new Judicatories Writs Process Judgements or new Executions nor inable or disable any Conveyances of Estates He may seem possessed of more power in Church-government yet De jure can neither make nor alter Doctrine or Worship or Government in the Church nor grant Dispensations or Licenses Ecclesiastical nor Commissions of Jurisdiction other than according to the Law. And as a close to all by one Oath taken at the Coronation he not onely giveth to the people security of the Peace and good Behaviour but beareth witness that he oweth Allegiance both to the Law and the People different from that of the peoples in this That the King's Allegiance is due to the Law that is originally from the peoples Election but the Peoples to the King under a Law of their own framing This leadeth on the consideration of a higher degree of power than that of Kings For though Law as touching morality in the general be of heavenly Birth yet the positive Laws arising from common Prudence concerning the Honour Peace and Profit of every Nation are formed by humane constitution and are therefore called Honesta or justa because by common vote they are so esteemed and not because any one man supposeth them to be such The words of