Selected quad for the lemma: prince_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
prince_n	henry_n	king_n	margaret_n	2,334	5	11.5053	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49781	The right of primogeniture, in succession to the kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland as declared by the statutes of 24 E.3 cap 2. De Proditionibus, King of England, and of Kenneth the third, and Malcolm Mackenneth the second, Kings of Scotland : as likewise of 10 H.7 made by a Parliament of Ireland : with all objections answered, and clear probation made : that to compass or imagine the death, exile, or disinheriting of the King's eldest son, is high treason : to which is added, an answer to all objections against declaring him a Protestant successor, with reasons shewing the fatal dangers of neglecting the same.	Lawrence, William, 1613 or 14-1681 or 2.	1681 (1681)	Wing L691; ESTC R1575	180,199	230

truth in what the Flatterers of Kenneth boast that by this means the Govetousness and Slaughters of Kindred are avoided Neither are the Treacheries of Guardians less to be feared to the Children of Kings left in Minority than of their Kindred wherefore now the Tyrant being fallen who Ravished our Liberty let us valiantly resume the same and his Law Enacted by force and assented to by fear if it be a Law and not rather a selling us for Slaves let us abrogate and repeal the same and Restore again our Ancient Fundamental Laws which brought forth this Kingdom of nothing and from so small beginnings not only advanced to such an height as is inferiour to none of our Neighbours but when cast down hath again raised the same to its former Strength and let us imbrace the present opportunity while it offers it self which if once Elapsed we may in vain seek again The People are by this perswaded and the Twelfth day after the Funeral of Kenneth he is chosen King Anno Domini 994. And was after Slain in Battel in the Town of Vaumond in Louthian in the Second Year of his Reign And though Milcolumbus or Malcolm the second Son of Kenneth the Third who was so tormented in Conscience for Poysoning the first Son of his Brother Duffus to get an Act to Intayl the Grown to his own Posterity made no Conscience to kill Grinius another Son of the same Duffus in Battel Malcolm Son of Kenneth revives and confirms the Law making the Kingdom hereditary and having by the Success gotten the Power of the Sword into his hand in the Same manner as his Father Kenneth had by force Enacted again by force confirmed at the Same Scone by Parliament the Act of Intayl of the Crown to the Issue of Kenneth Buchanan 196. Yet doth Buchanan the same Historian p. 200 201 censure this Act of changing the Ancient Law of Election by Parliament of the Brother or any other person more fit than the Son to be Injust Imprudent and Infortunate Objections against the Reviver 1. Injust 1. Injustice Because he saith Italex enervat vires consilij publici sine quo nullus Legitimus dominatus potest consistere Such a Law enervates the Strength of Parliaments without which no Lawful Government can be for all Government is either by Conquest or Contract As to Conquest there is none demanded or acknowledged on Such a Title As to Contract there can be none without a Parliament who are the Representative of the People to contract for them 2. Imprudent ● Imprudence Because Propinquorum in eos qui Regno potiuntur insidias et Regnantium adversus eos quos et natura et lex voluit ●●ique esse Charissimos suspitiones nesarias quas narrationis or do Exphrabit tot priorum Seci●●orum clades cum illis collatae calamitatibus quae Alexandri tertij interitum sunt consecutae Leves prae ijs tolerabiles videri possunt The Treacheries of Kindred against those who enjoy the Kingdom and the wicked Suspitions of those who Reign against them who by the Bonds of Nature and Law they ought to esteem most dear as this discourse in order shall declare And the Slaughters of so many former Ages compared with the Calamities which hereby followed the death of Alexander the Third were light and tolerable Note Alexander the Third began his Reign Anno Domini 1649. he Married first Margaret Daughter to Henry the Third King of England by whom he had Alexander the Prince David and Margaret who married Hangonamus or as some call him Ericus Son to Magnus 4th King of Norway who bare him a Daughter commonly called the Maiden of Norway The Maiden of Norway had United England and Scotland if she had lived Skene And concerning this Lady of Norway saith Buchanan Lib. 8. p. 241. Edvardus Anglorum Rex gnarus suae sororis neptem Regis Norvegiae filiam unam Ex Alexandri posteris esse superstitem Eandemque Regni Scotorum Legitimam Heredem Legatos ad eam deposcendam filio suo in Scotiam misit c. Edward the First King of England knowing his Neice the Daughter of the King of Norway to be the only Remaining Issue of Alexander the Third and Lawful Heir to the Crown of Scotland he sent his Ambassadours into Scotland to ask her in Marriage for his Son They when they Argued much in the Publique Gonvention of the Publique Benefit which would ensue such Marriage they found the Minds of the Scots not Dis-inclined from that affinity for Edward was a man of great Courage and of great Power and Ambition of greater And the glory of his Valour in the Holy Warr while his Father was alive and in Subduing Wales after his death shone bright Neither could they ever Remember the Scotish and English name to have been nearer Conjoyned than under the Last Kings Neither could old Hostility be more Commodiously abolished then if there were an Union made of both Nations upon Honest and Equal Conditions The Marriage was therefore Readily Assented unto and Conditions added by Mutual assent of both That the Scots should so long use their own Laws and Magistrates till such Children should be born of the same as were able to Reign And if none should happen to be procreated or being born should dye before their Lawful age Then the Kingdom of Scotland should go to the next of the Blood-Royal Things being thus Agreed Michael or as others mention Daevid Wemes and Michael Scot two Knights of Fife of great Repute for their Prudence with their Country in those Times were sent Embassadors to Norway but they because Margaret for that was the Young Ladies Name dyed before their Arrival returned home sad and nothing done by whose immature death there arose such Controversie as vehemently shook England and almost destroyed the Name of the Scots For to go on with the History as he and other Writers Relate it not withstanding this new Act of Intayling the Crown Ten Competitors arose to the Crown of Scotland notwithstanding the Act of Reviver making the same hereditary there arose Ten Competitors for the Succession Erick King of Norway Florence Earl of Holland Robert Bruce Earl of Anandale John de Baliol Lord of Galloway John de Hastings Lord of Abergaveny John Cumyn Lord of Badenair Patrick de Dunbar Earl of March John de Vesey Nicholas de Hues William de Ross All or the most part of them alledging themselves descended from David Earl of Huntingdon Younger Brother to William King of Scots and Great Uncle to the late King Alexander But the Principal and most Potent Factions which contended were that of Balyol and Bruce On which saith Sir Richard Baker Hist 96. broke out the Mortal Dissention between the Two Nations which consumed more Christian Blood and continued longer And the Wars between the Factions of Baliol and Bruce then any Quarrel we read of ever did between any Two People in the

First Because the Exiling or Disinheriting the King's eldest Son indangers the King himself Secondly Because to compass the Exile compasseth the Death of the eldest Son by depriving him of the King's Protection and exposing him to Poison or Assassination of his Enemies and to compass to Disinherit him is a manifest design to destroy him without which his Inheritance cannot be taken from him as Matth. 21.38 They said amongst themselves this is the Heir come let us kill him and let us seize on his inheritance And they caught him and cast him out of the Vinyard and slew him Object 8 Obj. 8. The Son of a King born after he is King is to be prefer'd in Succession before the Son of a King born while he is Prince And of this there are many Examples as Henry the First being the youngest Son of William the Conqueror Born when a Prince and born when a King standing in Competition for the Crown of England against Robert Duke of Normandy his elder Brother made this one of his Objections That Robert was born when his Father was but a Duke but Henry was born when his Father was a King and therefore obtained the Kingdom against Robert his eldest Brother And it is recited by Grot. de Jur. Bel. Pac. p. 171. That the like passed in Persia between Cyrus and Arsica in Judea between Antipater the Son of Herod the Great and his Brother in Hungary when Geissa obtained the Kingdom in Germany between Otto the First and Henry though not without Arms and likewise the same Question was between Xerxes and his Brother Atabarzanes and between Artaxerxes Mnemon and Cyrus the Sons of Darius and Parisatis Artaxerxes being the elder but born during the Private fortune of Darius and the like happened between Bajazet and Zemez contending for the Turkish Empire and many others Answ These were put to the Tryal of Battel and for the greatest part the eldest Son had the Success but if it had been otherwise the Event of War is no Rule of Justice and if it had been without War yet where there is a standing Act of Parliament Judicandum est Legibus non Examplis And this Act of Parliament was made to prevent the present and all other Accidents which might happen to disturb the Peace of Succession of the Kingdom and raise Civil Wars which it could not do without all other Sons and Heirs to the eldest Son and there being no other Son mentioned in the Letter of the Statute but the eldest and not a word of Distinction whether born before or after the Father's obtaining the Kingdom Vbi lex non distinguit ibi nec nos distinguere debemus for then the same mischiefs would insue beforementioned of extending a Statute of Treason by Equity which leaves Treason arbitrary to every Judge who will assume to declare it beyond the Letter and to insert as many kinds of Sons and Heirs as he pleased which would make the Law and all the Care and Wisdom of it in ascertaining the Son Heir to be of no Effect and leave the Kingdom in a dangerous Condition that every Prince Married in his Father's life-time and having then some Children and after his Father's Death others might occasion a Civil War who should succeed to the Crown when he died Object 9 Obj. 9. The next Objection That the King 's eldest Son is not yet Declared Prince of Wales or Prince of the Scots The Original of this Title used to be given to the eldest Sons of the Kings of England was from Henry the Third who gave his eldest Son Edward who was afterward King Edward the First on his Marriage to Elianor the Daughter of Spain amongst other Principalities in France England and Ireland likewise that of Wales Hinc natum ut deinceps unusquisque Rex qui secutus est filium majorem natu principem Walliae facere consuevit And in continuance of this Custom Anno 1610. Prince Henry the eldest Son of King James was solemnly created Prince of Wales by his Father As to the Title designing the Prince of Scotland to be next Successor or Heir apparent it seems to have been by their Investiture of Cumberland for saith Buchanan Rer. Scot. lib. 6. p. 175. That Constantine the Third in the Tenth year of his Reign Milcolumbo proximo Regis filio Cumbriam donavit qui honos velut Augurium Argumentum erat eum proxime regnaturum Ac deinceps in proximis aliquot Regibus id fuisse observaturum manifesta adversus veterem Comitiorum rationem fraude quae omnem Liberorum susfragiorum vim prope tollerit non minus quàm Coss●à Caesaribus Designatio Constantine the Third in the Tenth year of his Reign gave Cumberland to Malcoli● the Son of the last King which Honour was as it were the Inauguration or Sign of him who was next to succeed in the Kingdom and was after observed by some of the next Kings to that end to take away by Fraud the free Election by Parliament no less than did the Designations of the Consuls by the Caesars and after p. 189. he sath That Kenneth the Third being King by Election of the People to make the Kingdom Hereditary to his own Son Malcolm finding it an Impediment in his way that his Brother Duffus his Son Malcolm Cumbriae tum praefectus erat quam Regionem Scoti beneficio Regum Anglorum it a tenebant ut Cumbriae Praefectura velut omen Regni esset atque ita jam per aliquot aetates observatum erat was then Governor of Cumberland which Region the Scots held by Gift from the Kings of England to that intent that the Presidentship of Cumberland should be for a Sign who should be next Successor to the Kingdom and so for divers Ages the same hath accordingly been observed he to inherit his own Poisoned his Brother's Son and p. 190. he saith Milcolumbus regis filius in natura adhuc ad rerum administrationem aetate Cumbriae praefectus et princeps Scotorum est Declaratus quod nomen perinde est Scotis atque apud Gallos Delfinus apud priores Romanorum Imperatores Caesar apud posterio res Rex Romanorum quibus omnibus Successor superiori Magistratui dari intelligitur Malcolm the King's Son in an unripe Age for Publick Affairs is declared President of Cumberland and Prince of the Scots which Name is with the Scots Equipollent to the Daulphin amongst the French to Caesar amongst the Ancient Romans and amongst the Modern to the King of the Romans by all which Titles the Successor to the Superiour Magistracy is understood but notwithstanding for the most part this hath been the Custom yet it hath been likewise often omitted and Admit it had not yet there being no Law requiring it there is no pretence that such Omissions makes any incapacity in the Heir to succeed at Common Law or to be within this Statute for the Statute making no Distinction between the King 's eldest Son when

his whole Reign after the same was a perpetual Contention by him to raise his Prerogative to an Arbitrary Power Destructive to all Liberty and Propriety of his Subjects which he had Confirmed to them by Oath Charter and Act of Parliament and instead of asking a Dispensation of the Pope to Levy Taxes on the Subjects without their Consent in Parliament he took the easier way and dispensed with the Pope to Levy on them what he would and give him a share So the poor Subjects paid double whereas if they had paid only to the Pope or only to the King they had only born a single burden but now they Complained as the History mentioneth Shepheard and Woolf confederated to share the Sheep That the Shepheard and the Woolf Confederated both to destroy the Sheep and the Pope continually levied so many insupportable Taxes on them to maintain his Wars against the Emperor that both Clergy and Layety address'd their heavy Complaints of him to the King himself but the King was so far from relieving them that he offer'd the Pope's Legat to deliver up to him the Chief Opposers who now by the King's Animation grew more insolent to oppress them than before Henry the 3d. being dead his Son Edward the First Succeeded him a King Renowned for his Valour and Wisdom against his Enemies yet Dissentions with his Subjects hindred that Valour and from extending themselves to that degree of Glory they might have otherwise arrived neither is it only Valour and Wisdom unless Justice is likewise joyned can make a People happy in their Prince or himself happy in them Edward the First a Papist King forswore himself to his Papist Subjects He likewise took the same Oath for preservation of Laws and Liberties as his Father and Grandfather had done but whether seduced by their Example or their Evil Counsellors as he had imitated them in the taking so likewise did he in the Violation of his Oath for as his Father had done before him notwithstanding his Oath and Complaints by his Subjects of the Pope's oppressions he and the Pope as his Father had done like the Shepheard and the Woolf agreed to divide the spoil of the Flock between them the Pope therefore granted the King the Tenth of all the Churches of England and the King grants the Pope to have the first fruits of those Churches Dan. Hist 202. This Edward likewise after many Contests wanting Money in the 25th year of his Reign called a Parliament wherein with much ado he granted the Confirmation of the two Charters of Magna Charta and Charta Forrestae and that with the omission of the Clause of Salvo Jure Coronae Nostrae such another Clause as is Aut per Legem terrae which the King laboured much to have inserted but the People would by no means agree he therefore Confirmed them absolutely and Enacts further That All Arch-Bishops and Bishops shall Pronounce the Sentence of Excommunication against all those that by Word Deed or Counsel do contrary to the aforesaid Charters or that in any Point break or undo the same and that the said Curses be twice a year Denounced and Published by the Prelates aforesaid And if the said Prelates or any of them be Remiss in Denunciation of the said Sentences the Archbishop of Canterbury and York for the time being shall Compel and Distrain them to the Execution of their Duties in form aforesaid as appears in the Statute 25 E. 1. cap. 4. And all this he confirms by Solemn Oath What greater Security can be Invented here is an Act of Parliament Oath Excommunication Curses Edward the First for a furnish of Gold absolved by the Pope from his Oath Archbishops Bishops Prelates all ingaged to see it performed but to what purpose King Edward sends a Furnish of Gold to the Pope for his Chamber and he sends him back an Absolution from his Oath and Covenant with his Subjects concerning the Charter of their Liberties whereby they are all again broken by the King and lost to the Subjects Bak. Hist. 99. Edward the Second a papist King forswore himself to papist Subjects Edward the First being dead for the Pope's Absolution from his Oath could not keep him alive Edward the Second Succeeds him who not only took his Coronation Oath and kept it not but likewise before his Coronation in Regard the Lords threatned they would hinder it unless according to his Father's Will who had Commanded him to Banish Pierce Gaveston he would do the same he Solemnly swore That if they would not Dispute his Coronation but rest quiet till the next Parliament he would Banish him as they desired And likewise after in the Third year of his Reign being further press'd and importuned consented at last that the Parliament should draw Articles of Agreement between him and the People of whatsoever was necessary for the good of the Kingdom and he would Ratisie the same upon Oath who thereupon Elected divers Choice Men both of the Clergy Nobility and Commons to Compose those Articles which done the Archbishop of Canterbury with the rest of his Suffragans solemnly pronounce the Sentence of Excommunication against all such who should Contradict those Articles which are there Publickly read before the Barons and Commons of the Realm in the Presence of the King amongst which the Observation and Execution of Magna Charta is required with all other Ordinances necessary for the Church and Kingdom And that as the late King had done all Strangers should be Banished the Court and Kingdom and all Evil Counfellors removed That the Business of the State should be treated of by the Counsel of the Clergy and the Nobles That the King should not begin any War or go any way out of the Kingdom without the consent of the Common Council of the same Dan. Hist. 205. which Articles and others though they seemed harsh to the King yet to avoid further Trouble he yielded to them and Ratified them on Oath but especially to the Banishment of his Minion Pierce Gaveston who being a Gascoigne was a Stranger intended by the Articles to be Banished Strangers some to be Banished from Court though not under the same Suspition as other French their Countrey-men who have generally when entertained in Court by the English Kings been Evil Councellors to them to Imitate the French Arbitrary Power and Persidiousness over their Subjects and to breed Division between the King and People to prepare the Kingdom to be a Prey to their own French Masters Stranger at Court Spies whose Leidger Spies and Intelligencers they hear have usually been entertained at the Cost of the English Kings against themselves none can therefore doubt but King Edward the First the Father of this King Edward the Second did Nobly and Wisely in Banishing all Strangers from his Court and left the same Command on his Son And more particularly concerning this Gaveston though he not only broke in this the Command

the Earl of Warwick he leaves Edward and indeavours to restore again the Title of Henry the Sixth and removes him out of the Tower where he had been a Prisoner almost Nine years and Restores him his Crown and all Imperial Ornaments and Officers and King Edward is proclaimed an Usurper and all his partakers Traitors which forced King Edward to fly to the Duke of Burgoign his Brother-in-Law who had Married his Sister but Warwick sending Forces over to Callice to Infest the Dominions of Burgoign for Entertainment of Edward Burgoign being sensible of the storm likely to fall on him wisely so wrought that he made a Truce with King Henry The Duke of Burgoign a Papist Ally forswore himself to Henry the Sixth a Papist King and Ratisied it by Oath that he would give no Aid to his Brother-in-Law Edward against him Yet this Oath he immediately broke and under-hand furnished him with Eighteen tall Ships Two thousand Dutchmen and Fifteen thousand Florens of Gold Here may be seen what little Trust can be had by an English Papist Prince to the Oath of a Foreign Papist Prince though he pretend the common Obligation of the same Religion See here the next Example how little a Papist King can trust the Oath of a Papist Subject or a Papist Subject him After the Second Battel at St. Albans between the Queen and the Forces of Edward Earl of Marsh the Nobles who in outward shew before seemed for the King withdrew themselves from Attending his Person and the Lord Bonvile coming in a Complemental manner to the King saying It grieved him to leave his Majesty Henry the Sixth a Papist King broke his Promise to two Papist Subjects to the loss of their lives but Necessity for the Safeguard of his Life inforced it But at length he was importuned and Sir Thomas Kyviel likewise by the King to stay he passing his Royal Word that their stay should not indanger their Bodies upon which promise they stayed but to their cost for such was the implacable Fury of the Queen that hearing Baron Thorp was by the Commons Beheaded at Highgate she the day after the Battel being Ash-Wednesday caused both their Heads to be struck off at St. Albans Truss Hist 172. If so Saint-like a Papist King or his Queen for him broke his word to those of his own Religion what is to be expected from them who openly appear in the shape of the Father of Lies and care not for Transforming so much as in shew to Saint or Angel As the Duke of Burgoign had contrary to his Oath aided Edward with a Fleet Men and Money against Henry the Sixth so he himself coming over and Landing at Ravenspur in Yorkshire finding but cold Entertainment and having marched to York and finding as little Expression of Welcom he fell on the old Popish shift of swearing and forswearing Edward the Fourth a Papist King forswore himself though he took the Sacrament on it to Papist Subjects He therefore swore deeply and took the Sacrament upon it that he came not to disturb King Henry but only to recover his own Inheritance and for the more shew thereof he wore an Estritch Feather Prince Edward's Livery which Proposition seemed so reasonable that many who resisted him before were as ready to assist him now both Sides seeking to make London their Friend to which end the Earl of Warwick sends to his Brother the Archbishop of York to Labour in it with the City to continue their Fidelity to Henry their King which he did accordingly but could not get above Seven or Eight thousand Men a small proportion to withstand King Edward Comines and Bodin make the Reason why the Citizens were rather inclinable to bring Edward to be because he owed the City great Debts and if he should miss they should lose their Debts Others add another Reason to be Because Edward had been kind to many of the Citizens Wives who importuned their Husbands to receive him but whatever were the cause the Archbishop of York so much doubted of the effect of their being Faithful that he sent secretly to Edward to desire him to receive King Henry into his Grace which on promise of being Faithful thereafcer he obtained and thereupon the Archbishop delivered King Henry into King Edward's hands Edward the Fourth contrary to his Promise suffers Henry the Sixth to be Murdered So here Edward a Papist King promiseth Henry a Papist King on the greatest Consideration one King can give to another the Delivery of his Person into his Competitors hands that he will not hurt him in his Custody yet after he Commands or Suffers him to be Murdered in the Tower by his Brother the Duke of Gloucester where he was Imprisoned A Papist Successor will give no Liberty of Conscience to Papist Subjects 3. A Papist Successor will not give Papists themselves Liberty of Conscience insomuch as a Thought But will force the Conscience either by Imprisonment Inquisitions Racks or Tortures falsly to accuse it self or by Compulsion to Oaths or External Forms and Ceremonies of Worship to betray it self to the Injust punishment of Penal Laws and Statutes He will exercise the Cruelty of the Inquisition on Papists themselves How little the Papist Inquisition spare their own Papists though they have not the least exception against them for their Religion may in part appear by the following Story Father Ephraim a Friar Capuchin was Born at Anxerre in France and was Brother of Monsieur Chateaude Boys Councellor of the Parliament of Paris Father Ephraim was Learned in the Languages and of as great Diligence Learning Eloquence and blind Zeal in Preaching up the Papist Religion as the best of them And to spread the same he Travelled to the Indies and was there entertained at Bagnabar by the Chek who had Married the eldest of the Princesses of Golconda and he Promised to build him an House and a Church gave him an Ox and two Men to carry him to Maslipatan where he stayed to Imbark for Pegu according to the order of his Superiours but finding no Vessel ready to set Sail the English drew him to Madrespatan where they have a Fort called St. George and a General Factory for every thing that Concerns the Countries of Golconda Pegu and Bengala they over-perswaded him that he might reap a fairer Harvest in this place than in any other part of the Indies to which end they built him a very neat House and a Church Madrespatan is but half a League from St. Thomas a Sea-Town on the Coast of Cormandel where was a very great Trade especially for Calecots and a very great Number of Merchants and Workmen lived there the greatest part whereof desired to Inhabit at Madrespatan with the English but that there was no Place for them to Exercise their Religion But when the English had Built a Church and perswaded Father Ephraim to stay many of the Portugueses quitted St. Thomas by reason of

was written indeed by Parsons Doleman's bitter Adversary Cardinal Allen and Francis Englefield the Scope of which book was to exclude from Succession all Persons whatsoever and how near soever unless they were Roman Catholicks contending farther for the Right of the Infanta of Spain as being descended from Constance Daughter of William the Conqueror Foreign Papist Princes will declare a Successor for the Protestants if they shall not declare one for themselves Protestant Princes Marrying foreign Papists shall lose their own Kingdoms but not gain theirs from Eleanor Eldest Daughter to Henry the Second Married to Alphonse the Ninth King of Castile from Beatrix Daughter to King Henry the Third so if the Protestants will not take the pains to declare a Successor for themselves 't is plain the Foreign Papist Princes will declare one for them to the purpose and first they declare for Religion he ought not to be a Protestant but a Catholick Then for Blood he ought not to be a Brittish but a Foreign Blood And in all Countries the Pope's Laws shall be a Salique Law to exclude Protestant Blood from Catholick Dominions and to intitle Catholick Blood to Protestant Dominions so as if Protestant Princes Marry with Catholicks they must play all against nothing Most Excellent Nonsence in the Papist Law of Successions 11. Danger of Counterfeit Wills and Testaments It exposes Succession to Counterfeit Wills and Testaments Though the Law is sufficiently clear That Kingdoms which are Publick Offices of Trust are not devisable by last Will and Testament as private Inheritances are yet because the Papist Power of the Sword may pretend to any thing unless the Protestant Subjects have an Act of Parliament declaring a Protestant Successor as a Sheild under God to defend themselves against it the same will be necessary to prevent even this Danger likewise For what Monarch or Emperor is so great as when sickness hath arrested and bound him with the fatal Cords of his Death-Bed where every Woman every Priest every Doctor are his Gaolers can promise himself Liberty to make a free Will Yea that he shall not have less than a private Subject when his Keepers shall make use of his own Publick Name and Authority against himself to exclude from him those faithful Friends who will force their way through to relieve a private Person from those Furies of his Bed which Torment him Or how can he promise himself though he make his Will in his perfect Health that as soon as he is dead it shall not be destroyed For did not H. 8. use all the Caution possible to secure his Will after his Death Had he not an Act of Parliament which gave him Power to Nominate Successors by his Will and made it High Treason for any to prejudice the Titles of the Persons so Nominated Did he not solemnly inrole it in Chancery yet when before the Death of Queen Elizabeth an inquisition was made after the Will of H. 8. to see whom he had Nominated to succeed The Will of H. 8. stoln off the file where inroled in case she should happen to dye without Issue they found the same to be taken by Bribe or Stoln off the Cursitors File by some who intended to advance their own Title for there were Sixteen Titles then on foot Osborn Tit. Queen Eliz. 99. Plotina the Empress Wife of the Emperor Trajan who was with him at his Decease Adrian got the Empire by a Counterfeit Will. in regard she had a great favour for young Adrian Plotted with him to help him to the Empire and to that end feigned that Trajan had adopted him for his Son and shewed a Counterfeit Instrument or Writing to ●●at Effect which matter was so cunningly handled that it took such effect as she desired And the Army presently swore Obedience to Adrian notwithstanding he was absent at Antioch in Syria where he was left General who being advertised thereof and the Legions whereof he was General consenting thereto he presently wrote to the Senate intreating to be Confirmed in the Empire And when the Senate had received his Letter and understood what had passed his Request was easily granted for there was no denyal by old Men to young Men when once they had given so great a share of the Sword as they had not reteined a greater in their own hands wherewith to recall the same when they thought good William the Conqueror pretended a Will and Promise and thereby excluded Edgar Atheling the right Heir William the Conqueror likewise pretended a Will and a Promise of the Kingdom of England from Edward the Confessor which though Edward notwithstanding his Holiness had no Authority or any thing to do to give away from the Right Heir Edgar Atheling nor to enslave the Land to a Foreigner yet it s known how ill effect these Pretences had and the same might have been prevented if Edgar had been declared Successor by Act of Parliament in the life-time of Edward It incourages Usurpers For the ascertaining the Heir by Supreme Authority 12. Danger of Incouraging Usurpers wherein both the Assent both of the King and People is included takes away and the not ascertaining feeds Pretenders and their Parties with hopes So Tacitus lib. 3. Annal. Sic Cohibere pravos aliorum spes rebatur by declaring a Successor in certain he thought the wicked hopes of others were Checkt and in another place Plena Caesarum Domus Juvenis filius Nepotes adulti moram cupitis Sejani adferebant his House full of Caesars his Son in Strength of Youth his Nephews grown up deterred the Ambition of Sejanus And the best remedy King David used against Adonijah Proclaiming himself was to Proclaim Solomon In Titles Doubtful 13. Danger it leaves an Interregnum The infinite mischiefs of Interregnums either on doubtful Titles of Successions or on doubtful Powers or Elections appearing in Histories are too many to be here recited and lest some should be so far deceived as to believe there can be no Interregnum by the Law of England he is desired not to place his Faith in the Fictions of Lawyers That the King never dyes and there is no Interregnum lest if by not declaring a Successor in his Life-time whom God grant long to live the contrary Effects appear when it will be too late to provide a Remedy It Cantons Kingdoms 14. Danger of Cantonizing Kingdoms For so writes Justin of Alexander the Great Alexander rogatus quem Haeredem faceret Imperii respondit dignissimum qua voce veluti Bellicum inter Amicos cecinisset aut malum discordia immisisset ita omnes in aemulationem consurgunt ambitione vulgi tacitum favorem Militum Alexander being asked whom he would make Successor to his Empire answered The most Worthy By which as though amongst his own Friends he had sounded a Charge to Battel one against another or had thrown the Apple of Discord amongst them so did they rise together in

can only be understood where there is a Necessity and no Remedy But where God is pleased to offer a just King and a just Parliament to Judge equally there is no Necessity of using any unjust means though to obtain Right 3. If a Prince buy not with ready Money or Donatives given in Possession but oblige himself in future Promises if he obtain the Kingdom the Mercenaries are so many who will expect to be promised and their Nature so unsatiable That no Prince can be so rich who is to obtain nor can any Kingdom be so rich when it is obtained as to be able to satisfie a small part of them and who fail of their Expectation turn Enemies As Rich. 3. promised the Duke of Buckingham if he obtained the Kingdom very great Rewards but after he was King failed to perform the same the Duke of Buckingham became his Mortal Enemy and King Richard paid his Promises by cutting him off for Treason when he had first ruined Richard by laying the Plot for Henry the Seventh 4. If the Kingdoms are left exposed to Sale a Papist Successor will be richer than a Protestant and so carry it by Money though not by Right Impoverisheth the Prince 5. It impoverisheth and weakens the Prince and his Posterity So the German Emperors have impoverished and weakened themselves by giving away so many Royalties to 7 Electors to buy them in Elections That the Electors are greater than they The Mischiefs as to the People are Mischiefs of buying Crowns to the Subject 1. The Sale of the Successions of the Three Kingdoms and buying of them Destroys all Religion and Justice among the People for your Kingdom-Sellers usually receive a great share of their Money out of the Power they Contract to have of the Sale of all Publick Offices of Gain both Ecclesiastical and Temporal If therefore Bishops and other Ecclesiastical Persons buy their Offices they will neither Form nor Preach any Divinity but for Gain If Temporal Judges or other Judicial or Ministerial Officers buy their Offices those who buy will sell and take Bribes and none shall have Justice unless he buys In Turky all the great Officers buy their Places of the Grand Seignior whereby they run themselves into great Debts which they rake out again of the poor People by all manner of Rapine and Oppression And though the fame is of the Great Turk's great Severity on the Bribery of Judges yet no Courts in the World are more corrupt for that Vice than they For what colour can the Emperor have to punish those Thieves to whom he himself is accessary by selling their Licences to Rob at so dear a rate as he usually puts them to buy and will afterward take the whole spoil if it grow to any bulk 2. The Exchequer will be ingaged under unsupportable Debts and charged with Pensions to a Multitude of Pretended Claimants of Promises which will totally exhaust the Publick Treasure load the People with insupportable Burdens and Taxes and destroy all the Military Defence of the Kingdoms by Sea and Land for want of Pay 3. Kingdom-Sellers will usually have Commissions to take all Penalties on the Penal Statutes to Dispense and Pardon Offences against those Statutes and to Pardon or make Composition for the Penalties which Penal Statutes concerning both Religion Justice Trade Military Affairs and the whole Policy of the Kingdom will be totally subverted by Money by such said Kingdom-Sellers It Exposes the Kingdom to Conquest 16. Danger of exposing this Kingdom to Conquest For if a Successor is not declared by King and Parliament a Multitude of Competitors may arise and having no Judge of greater Power than themselves do try their right by Battel and Civil Wars wherein he who Joyns will declare himself a Conqueror from which these two Mischiefs will arise 1. There cannot be a free Parliament for the Sword will awe and over-power the Elections both of Burgesses and Knights and when they come to sit the greatest part of the Members will be Military Officers The Conqueror will grant no Law except for Money and the Army will have a Negative Vote on the Parliament 2. All the Nation especially the Rich and Noble which happen to be of the side that is Vanquished whether right or wrong will be either Fined or Confiscated and many of their lives taken by their own Brethren of the same Religion and Nation and therefore it most concerns the Nobles and not the Poor to prevent Civil War as is visible in all the Victories obtained between the Houses of York and Lancaster wherein both Princes and Nobles destroyed one another and set up their Heads upon Poles by turns And it was the usual saying of Edward the Fourth in all the Battels he fought Kill the Nobles but save the People Some further Examples of declaring Successors by Parliament Some further Examples of declaring Successors follow besides what before mentioned To this purpose of declaring a Successor by Parliament Grot. de Jur. Bel. Pac. 111. says Sic Euphaes Rex Messeniis permisit dispicere quem ex Regali Aepitidarum genere Regnaret Et de Xerxis Artabarzanis Controversia Populus Cognovit Et 179 sive in conventu ordinum ut factum in Anglia Scotia teste Cambdeno sive per Delegatos ad id Negotium ut factum in Aragonia teste Mariana lib. 20. So King Euphaes permitted the Messenians to consider who ought to Reign of the Royal race of Epitidae And the People of Persia had Conusans of the Controversie between Xerxes and Artabarzanes Or the same is determined in Parliament as Cambden testifies is done in England and Scotland or by Delegates of the People as Mariana testifies lib. 20. was done in Aragon So King Edward the Third the Wise Author of this great Statute whereon this Discourse hath proceeded to prevent Civil Wars on any doubt arising on Succession to the Crown not only declared his eldest Son by this Statute but likewise he happening to Die in his Father's Life-time caused to prevent all farther Scruples his Grandchild Richard of Bourdeaux to be declared Successor by Act of Parliament Moses Declares a Successor Moses being told that he should die Numb 27.15 desireth God to declare a Successor And Moses spake unto the Lord saying Let the Lord the God of the spirits of all flesh set a Man over the Congregation which may go out before them and which may go in before them and which may send them out and which may bring them in That the Congregation of the Lord be not as sheep which have no shepheard And the Lord said unto Moses Take thee Joshua the Son of Nun a Man in whom is the Spirit and lay thine hand upon him and set him before Eleazer the Priest and before all the Congregation and give him a Charge in their sight and thou shalt put some of thine Honour upon him that all the Congregation of the Children of