Proxies there was but that one set down in the Page before-going which made two Proctors all the rest naming three or but one all which see afterwards on the 22.24.27 days of February and on the 7. and 28. days of March Where also it may be noted That John Archbishop of Canterbury had this Parliament five Proxies Now follows next in order to be set down the continuing of this Parliament which in the original Journal-book it self followed immediately upon the names of the Lords foregoing being present this afternoon So that the substance of the Lord Keeper's Speech foregoing and this also that follows at the presentment of the Speaker was supplied by my self out of a very exact Journal which I had of the Passages of the Lower House this present Parliament conceiving those Speeches in all my Journals ought more fitly to be referred to the Passages of the Upper House than of the House of Commons Dominus Custos Magni Sigill ex mandato Dominae Reginae continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem Jovis prox futur On Thursday Feb. 22. the Queens Majesty her self came about three of the clock in the afternoon accompanied with divers of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal there being present this day the Archbishop of Canterbury Sir John Puckering Kt. Lord Keeper of the Great Seal William Lord Burleigh Lord Treasurer of England the Marquiss of Winchester twelve Earls two Viscounts fifteen Bishops and twenty three Barons being for the most part the very same that are by name set down to have been present on Munday last The Queen and the Lords being thus sat the House of Commons having notice thereof Edw. Cooke the Queens Sollicitor chosen and presented immediately came up with Edward Coke Esq the Queens Sollicitor into the Upper House whom they had chosen for their Speaker who being led up to the Bar at the nether end of the said House between two of the most eminent Personages of the Lower House as soon as silence was made and the rest of the House of Commons had placed themselves below the Bar he spake as followeth The Speaker's Speech YOur Majesties most loving Subjects the Knights and Burgesses of the Lower House have nominated me your Graces poor Servant and Subject to be their Speaker This their Nomination hath hitherto proceeded that they present me to speak before your Majesty yet this their Nomination is onely a Nomination yet and no Election until your Majestie giveth allowance and approbation For as in the Heavens a Star is but opacum corpus until it hath received light from the Sun so stand I corpus opacum a mute body until your high bright shining wisdom hath looked upon me and allowed me How great a Charge this is The Speaker disables himself to be the Mouth of such a Body as your House of Commons represent to utter that is spoken Grandia Regni my small experience being a poor professor of the Law can tell but how unable I am to undergo this Office my present Speech doth tell that of a number of this House I am most unfit for amongst them are many grave many learned many deep wise men and those of ripe Judgments but I an untimely Fruit not ripe nay bud a but not scarce fully blossomed so as I fear your Majesty will say Neglecta fruge liguntur folia amongst so many fair fruits you have plucked a shaking leaf If I may be so bold to remember a Speech used the last Parliament in your Majesties own mouth Many come hither ad consulendum qui neseiunt quid sit consulendum a just reprehension to many as to my self also an untimely fruit my years and judgment ill befitting the gravity of this place But howsoever I know my self the meanest and inferiour unto all that ever were before me in this place yet in faithfulness of service and dutifulness of love I think not my self inferiour to any that ever were before me And amidst my many imperfections yet this is my comfort I never knew any in this place but if your Majesty gave him favour God who also called them to this place gave them also the blessing to discharge it The Lord Keeper having received Instructions from the Queen answered him Mr. Sollicitor HER Graces most Excellent Majesty hath willed me to signifie unto you that she hath ever well conceived of you since she first heard of you which will appear when her Highness selected you from others to serve her self but by this your modest wise and well-composed Speech you give her Majesty further occasion to conceive of you above that she ever thought was in you by endeavouring to deject and abase your self and your desert you have made known and discovered your worthiness and sufficiency to discharge the place you are called to And whereas you account your self corpus opacum her Majesty by the influence of her Vertue and Wisdom 〈◊〉 is commanded and aâ—â—â—â—â—ed by the Qs. order doth enlighten you and not onely alloweth and approveth you but much than keth the Lower House and commendeth their discretions in making such a Choise and electing so fit a man Wherefore Mr. Speaker proceed in your Office and go forward to your Commendation as you have begun The Lord Keepers Speech being ended the Speaker began a new Speech COnsidering the great and wonderful Blessings The second Speech of the Speaker besides the long Peaece we have enjoyed under your Graces most happy and victorious Reign and remembring withal the Wisdom and Justice your Grace hath reigned over us with we have cause to praise God that ever you were given us and the hazard that your Majesty hath adventured and the charge that you have born for us and our safety ought to make us ready to lay down our Lives and all our Living to do you service After this he related the great Attempts of her Majesties Enemies against us especially the Pope and the King of Spain adhering unto him how wonderfully were we delivered in 88 and what a favour therein God manifested unto her Majesty His Speech 〈…〉 after this tended wholly to shew out of the Histories of England and the old State how the Kings of England ever since Henry the third's time have maintained themselves to be Supream Head over all Causes in their own Dominions and recited the Laws that were made in his and other Kings times for maintaining their own Supremacy and excluding the Pope He drew down his Proofs by Statute in every Kings time since Hen. 3. 〈…〉 unto Edw. 6. This ended he came to speak of the Laws that were so great and so many already that they were fitly to be termed Elephaentinae Leges Wherefore to make more Laws it might seem superfluous Too great a multiplicity of our Laws and to him that might ask Quid Causa ut Crescunt tot magna volumina Legis it may be answered In promptu Causa est Crescit in orbe
abuses of the Bishops in every one of them He delivering the Bill made this his request That if the House thought good to receive it that then they might be Suitors unto her Majesty to have it allowed The Bill being delivered by Mr. Morris his hand unto Mr. Speaker Mr. Dalton of Lincolns-Inne stood up and spake with much earnestness against it saying IT is hard for me upon a sudden to answer a long premeditated Speech but as I am able I will say and shew what I think of the Bill exhibited It pretends great things in shew things tending to the hindrance of God's Service to the derogation of her Majesties Prerogative to the overthrowing of our Laws and violating of our Liberties things great in shew but no such things to be found in matter spoke against It is easie to make of a Mole-hill a Mountain in words so by a well compiled Speech to make a great and dangerous thing of nothing nay indeed a thing needless for that the State hitherto hath always stood upon this Government And so shewed how the Ecclesiastical Government was distinct from the Temporal The Reasons he gave were few or none onely his great mislike was that having received straight Commandment from her Majesty not to meddle with things concerning the Church and State of this Realm therefore in his opinion the Bill ought to be suppressed Mr. Speaker IN favour and in free love above my merits and deserts you have elected me to do all my best service and to be faithful to you This Bill delivered to me is long and containeth important matters of great weight and such matters as cannot be expressed in few words It hath many parts and if you put me presently to open it I cannot do it as I should for indeed it is a matter far above my ordinary practice and so I cannot so readily understand it and to deliver a thing before I conceive it I cannot Wherefore if it would please you to give me leave to consider of it I do profess I will be faithful and will keep it with all secrecy Hereupon it was put to the question Whether it should be committed to the Speaker onely or to the Privy Council and him But it was held to be against the Order of the House that a Bill should be committed before it was read Therefore upon a Motion made by Mr. Wroth it was agreed that Mr. Speaker should keep it This afternoon at two of the clock Mr. Speaker was sent for unto Court where the Queens Majesty her self gave him commandment what to deliver unto the House On Wednesday Feb. 28. after Prayers the Bill for Recusants was read This morning Mr. Morris was sent for to Court and from thence he was committed unto Sir John Fortesoue's keeping This Bill against Recusants was opened and read by Mr. Speaker who made fourteen divided parts of the same Mr. Speaker YEsterday a great Member of this House after a Speech used and his Reasons laid forth delivered two Bills unto me which Bills though not being read yet were diversly spoken of They being long and the matters grave and of great importance and the day being almost spent I desired further time to consider of the parts of the Bill I humbly thank this honourable House time was granted me freely it being almost twelve of the clock I have perused and read both of the Bills I have them about me and they have been continually with me ever since they were delivered to me never any man saw them nor ever any mans eye more than my own ever saw one word of them A little after I had perused the Bills I was sent for by a special Messenger from her Majesty Coming in her Royal presence I was commanded to deliver these words from her most excellent Majesty unto the body of the Realm for so she termed this House The matter I have to speak is great yea it is the greatest matter I ever had to deal in wherefore I pray God direct mentem linguam hanc I must be short for her Majesties words were not many and I may perhaps fail in the delivery of them for though my Auditors be great yet who is so impudent that the presence of such a Majesty would not appale him and it did greatly fear me when I did see none of these honourable persons in her presence who were present at the holding of the matter in this House yet so God in his providence had appointed it that even in this while came in some of the persons here present who if I fail in delivering what was given me in charge can report it unto you and I glad am that there are witnesses with me in this action what was my faithful service for the House I protest a greater comfort never befel me than that this my Integrity and faithful Promise to this House is not violated for her Majesty in her most gracious wisdom before my coming determined not to press me in this neither indeed did she require the Bill of me for this onely she required of me What were the things spoken of by the House which points I onely delivered as they that heard me can tell The Message delivered me from her Majesty The Speaker 〈…〉 Message to the Commons consisteth of three things First the end for which the Parliament was called Secondly the Speech which her Majesty used by my Lord Keeper Thirdly what her Pleasure and Commandment now is For the first it is in me and my power I speak now in her Majesties person to call Parliaments and it is in my power to end and determine the same it is in my power to assent or dissent to any thing done in Parliament The calling of this Parliament was onely that the Majesty of God might be more religiously served and those that neglect this service might be compelled by some sharper means to a more due obedience and more true service of God than there hath been hitherto used And further that the safety of her Majesties Person and of this Realm might be by all means provided for against our great Enemies the Pope and the King of Spain Her Majesties most excellent Pleasure being then delivered unto us by the Lord Keeper it was not meant we should meddle with matters of State or in Causes Ecclesiastical for so her Majesty termed them She wondered that any would be of so high commandment to attempt I use her own words a thing contrary to that which she had so expresly forbidden wherefore with this she was highly displeased And because the words then spoken by my Lord Keeper are not now perhaps well remembred or some be now here that were not there her Majesties present Charge and express Commandment is That no Bills touching matters of State or Reformation in Causes Ecclesiastical be exhibited And upon my Allegiance I am commanded if any such Bill be exhibited not to read it On Thursday March 1. after Prayers
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 Royal Predecessors Kings of England and Queens of England In the times of the West-Saxons a Parliament was held by the Noble Queen Ina by these words I Ina Queen of the West-Saxons The Antiquity of Parliaments in this Island have caused all my Fatherhood Aldermen and wise Commons with the Godly-men of my Kingdome to consult of weighty matters c. Which words do plainly shew the parts of this Court still observed to this day For in Queen Ina is Your Majesties most Royal Person represented The Fatherhood in antient time were those whom we call Bishops and still we call them Reverend Fathers an antient and free part of our State By Aldermen was meant your Noblemen for so honourable was the word Alderman in antient time that the Nobility only were called Aldermen By wisest Commons is signified your 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 weightiest matters so is your Highness Writ at this day Pro quibusdam arduis urgentissimis negotiis nos statum defensionem Regni nostri Ecclesiae tangentibus Your Highness Wisdome and exceeding Judgment with all careful Providence needed not our Councels yet so urgent Causes there were of this Parliament so importunate Considerations as that we may say for we cannot judge if ever Parliament was so Needful as now or ever 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 latrea habet latiora he is placed in the midst of their habitations ut in tutissima turri they forage abroad sucking honey from every flower to bring to their King Ignavum Fucos pecus à Principibus arcent the Drones they drive out of their Hives non habentes aculeos and whoso 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 nè pereant ut confundantur nè noceant Vnder 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 there be but such Drones and Dore-Bees we will expel the Hive and serve your Majesty and withstand any Enemy that shall assault You our Lands or 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 strengths 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 come now to your Laws The Laws we have conferred upon this Session 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 continuance 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 Vpper 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 took from those superstitious Monasteries and Priories and translated them to the erecting of many foundations of Cathedral Churches and Colledges thereby greatly furthering the maintenance of Learning and true Religion The other Law to suppress the obstinant Recusate and the dangerous Sectary both very pernicious to your Royal Government Lastly your most loving and obedient Subjects the Commons of the Lower House most humbly and with 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 onely 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 most gracious Pardon The Lord Keeper then received Instructions from the Queen and afterwards replied unto the Speaker The former part of this Speech was an Answer almost verbatim to the Speaker's Oration very excellently and exactly done and those things which followed were to this or the like purpose The Lord Keeper HE said The Lord Keeper replies That her Majesty most graciously did accept of the Service and Devotions of this Parliament commending them that they had employed their time so well and spent it on necessary Affairs save onely that in some things they had spent more time than needed but she perceived some men did it more for their satisfaction than the necessity of the thing deserved She misliked also that such irreverence was shewed towards Privy-Counsellors who were not to be accounted as common Knights and Burgesses of the House Gently rebukes them for some Miscarriages that are Counsellors but during the Parliament whereas the other are standing Counsellors and for their wisdom and great service are called to the Council of State Then he said That the Queens Majesty had heard that some men in the case 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 eminent That her Majesty would not have the People feared with Reports of great dangers Gives them Cautions but rather to be encouraged with boldness against the Enemies of the State And therefore that she straightly charged and commanded that the mustred Companies in every County should be supplied if they were decayed and that their Provisions of Armour and Ammunition should be better than heretofore it hath been used
to lie with it upon the Cape and at Lambuck to which places comes all his Ships with Riches from all places and then they may set upon all that comes Saturday March 3. there ensued some discouse touching the Priviledges of the House Sunday March 4. Munday March 5. Mr. Beale HE desired to satisfie the House Mr. Beale by reason it was conceived by the Lords the other day that upon his Motion and by the President he shewed the House was led to deny a Conference with the Lords he acknowledged he mistook the Question appointed for there being but a Conference desired by the Lords and no confirming of what they had done he thought we might and thought fit we should confer And to this end he onely shewed the President That in the ninth year of Hen. 4. the Commons having granted a Subsidy which the Lords thought too little and they agreed to a greater and would have had the Commons to confirm that they had done This the Commons thought they could not do without prejudice to their honour Wherefore he acknowledged himself mistaken in the Question and desired if any were led by him to be satisfied for that he would have been of another opinion if he had conceived the matter as it was meant Sir Robert Cecill I Desire now I may be somewhat long Sir Rob. Cecill because I must include an Answer to three Speeches Those two honourable persons which sit above the one of them declared the true state of the Question the other what was sit we should do but my Answer shall tend onely to the other Tales that followed The first was a kind of satisfaction for a former mistaking but in the same satisfaction a new mistaking was also which was by way of information casting it into the House that the Queen should seem to demand three Subsidies Now the Queen never demanded three nor one so here is a new mistaking added to the former satisfaction The second mans Motion thus far I allow that the Councels of this House be secretly kept and that nothing be reported in Malam partem but if his meaning be that we may not impart any thing that is done here unto the Queen but that all things must be kept secret from her I am altogether against it This onely I should desire what ought to be observed that nothing ought to be reported unto her in Malam partem The third mans Motion consisted upon three points The first was News the second History the third and last a Motion His News was that mens Names were given up to the Queen this was News for I heard it not before The History was a large Report of the whole progress of this matter His Motion was that we should confer with the Lords about a Subsidy but not conclude a Subsidy with them His Motion seems contrary to his meaning or else is more than ever was meant for it was never desired of us by the Lords that we should confer with them about a Subsidy Sir Walter Rawleigh HE informed the House that he thought the Division of the House the last day Sir Walter Rawleigh to grow upon the mistaking of the Question and that some had since reported to him That had the matter been resolved that onely a general Conference was desired most of them that sat would not have been against it Wherefore he desired Mr. Speaker to put it to the question Whether they should confer with the Lords generally or no without naming a Subsidy This Motion being well liked Sir Walter Rawleigh was desired by the House to repeat it again that so it might be the better heard of them all And thereupon he said That touching the aforesaid Question which had receiv'd a No upon Saturday last he would not make it a Question again for by the Order of the House he could not but propound this for a new Question in these or the like words Whether the House would be pleased to have a general Conference with the Lords touching the great and eminent dangers of the Realm and State and the present necessary supply of Treasure to be provided speedily for the same according to the proportion of the necessity Which Question being propounded it was assented unto by all without any negative voice On Tuesday March 6. two Bills had each of them one reading of which the second being a Bill for confirming Letters-Patents granted to the Mayor Sheriffs Citizens and Commonalty of the City of Lincoln was read the second time Sir Edward Hobby one of the Committees for Returns and Priviledges shewed that for the Burrough of Calmesford in the County of Cornwall one Richard Leech was returned to the Sheriff for a Burgess by a false Return and that afterwards Sir George Carew Knight was returned Burgess by the true Return and alleadging that the said Richard Leech offer'd to yield the place to the said Sir George Carew he moved for the Order of this House therein And thereupon Mr. Speaker was appointed to move the Lord Keeper in the said Case for his Order either for his allowance of the said Sir George Carew in the place of the said Richard Leech or else in awarding a new Writ for chusing another at his Lordships pleasure And so for his Lordships Order in the Case of the Burgess returned for the Burrough of Southwark in the allowance of Richard Hutton already returned or else in awarding a new Writ for chusing another at his Lordships pleasure And so also for his Lordships altering the name of John Dudley to the name of Thomas Dudley in the return of one of the Burgesses of Newtown in the County of Southampton or else to award a new Writ at his Lordships pleasure Divers other Bills were read on this day On Wednesday March 7. Sir Edward Hobby moved the Case of Mr. Fitz-Herbert his bringing up unto this House by a Hab. Cor. cum causa from the Lord Keeper sheweth that he hath moved the Lord Keeper touching the said Writ and that his Lordship thinketh best in regard of the ancient priviledges of this House that a Serjeant at Arms be sent by order of this House for the said Mr. Fitz-herbert at his own charge by reason whereof he may be brought hither to this House without peril of being further arrested by the way and the state of his Cause consider'd of and examined when he shall come hither which was thereupon well liked and allowed of by this House Three Bills had each of them one reading of which the second concerning the lawful deprivation of Edward Bonner late Bishop of London was read the second time On Thursday March 8. Mr. Speaker shewed unto this House that according unto the appointment of this House he hath attended the Lord Keeper touching his Lordships pleasure for the directing of a new Writ for the chusing of another Burgess for the Burrough of Southwark in the County of Surrey instead of Richard Hutton Gentleman
the manner For the first he fell into commendations of the Commonalty for the second the manner which was speedy not by perswasion or perswasive inducements but freely out of duty with great contentment In the thing which you have granted her Majesty greatly commendeth your confidence and judgments and though it be not proportionable to her occasions yet she most thank fully receiveth the same as a loving and thank-ful Prince And that no Prince was ever more unwilling to exact or receive any thing from the Subject than she our most gracious Soveraign for we all know she never was a greedy Grasper nor siraight-handed keeper And therefore she commanded me to say That you have done and so she taketh it dutifully plentifully and thank-fully For your self Mr. Speaker her Majesty commanded me to say That you have proceeded with such wisdom and discretion that it is much to your commendations and that none before you have deserved more And so he ended after an Admonition given to the Justices of Peace That they would not deserve the Epethites of prowling Justices Justices of Quarrels who counted Champerty good Chevesance sinning Justices who did suck and consume the Good of this Commonwealth and also against all those that did lie if not all the year yet at least three quarters of the year in the City of London After these Speeches ended They are dissolved her Majesty gave her Royal Assent to nineteen Publick Acts and ten Private Acts and then the Parliament was dissolved by the Lord Keeper of the great Seal of England A perfect Journal of every days Proceedings in the House of Commons at the Parliament beginning at Westminster the xxvijth day of October Anno 1601. and in the 43. Year of the Raign of Q Eliz. and ending the xixth day of December then next following Collected by Mr. Heyward Townshend one of the Members of the said House THe first day of the Parliament The Queen goes to the Parliament in an open Chariot with a Canopy of Silver about three of the Clock in the Afternoon the Queens Majesty went by Land to westminster-Abby riding in a Chariot made all open only like a Canopy over her head being of Cloth of Silver with all the Bishops and Lords in their Parliament Robes according to their Degrees being marshalled by the Heraulds Where was made unto her a Sermon after the hearing whereof she went to the Upper-house of Parliament where being sate a while and the Knights and Burgesses of the Lower-house being sent for the door kept so that they went not all in notwithstanding some were within by some special means before and heard the Lord-keepers Speech made unto them which is after in effect delivered by Mr. Secretary Cicil Some of the Commons discontented in the Lower-house So that after the Knights and Burgesses had staid a good while it was told them That the Lord-keepers Speech was done and thereupon every man went away discontented In the mean time whilst her Majesty was at Sermon the Lord-Admiral came into the Court of Requests Admiral and there began to call the Knights and Burgesses by the Poil and also to swear them at the same time But because that course seemed too tedious he staid whilst Sir William Knowls Controuler of the household Sir John Stanhopp Vice-Chamberlain Sir Robert Cicil Principal Secretary of State and John Herbert Esquire second Secretary came who were all coming up from the Upper house together and then only the Knights and Burgesses were called After that the Lord Admiral and Mr. Secretary Cicil went up to the Upper-house but Mr. Controuler Sir John Stanhopp and Mr. Secretary Herbert went to the space before the Parliament House door where they sware all the Lower-house confusedly four at one time six at another eight at another taking their names that swore and who not and still as every man was Sworn he went into the house and to his place as best liked him VVhen all were Sworn and the Queen come to the Upper-House and the Lord-Keepers speech ended Then all the Privy Councel of the Lower-house came in thither and sate quiet a while and then putting their heads together Mr. Controuler stood up and spake to this effect That it was an Antient Custom in that House The Comptrouler speaks first that at those times some Man should break silence and I must confess at this time it belongs to my place It is needless to shew the use of this House because it s well known to all or most here All men knows that the speech of a multitude breedeth confusion and dissention It is therefore fit for us to chuse one to be our Speaker which for his experience may speak and for his sufficiency dare and can speak on all our Behalfs and Affairs Neither doth it stand with the Honor and Antient Usage of this House to speak but by one Neither is it answerable to the State of her Majesty to deliver unto her our mindes by the Tongues of a confused Multitude Then we are to fall into consideration what manner of person he shall be First A man Religious for Religion ought to be the foundation of our building and labour Then Honest Grave VVise Faithful and Secret These Vertues must concur in one Person able to supply this place Now having delivered unto you the necessity of a Speaker and his qualities I will deliver unto you my Opinion whom I think fit for the place referring it to your consideration and for my own part He Recommends the Recorder of London for their Speaker who seems to Admire at it not prejudicing the VVorth of any in this House I deem Mr. John Crook Recorder of London a most fit and worthy and able man for this Service At which words Mr. Crook put off his Hat with a kind of strange Admiration whose Sufficiency in all respcts and his Loyalty and Faithfulness to do our Common-wealth service is well known unto us and hath been often approved by his learned Speeches diverse times delivered before her Majesty I do not attribute so much to mine own Choice that I presume to assure you there is no Man here fitter for the same than he is but I only make bold to deliver my Opinion leaving the choise of him or any other to the free Election of every particular Member of this House And for the motion which hath been made touching the keeping out of the house during the time of the Lord Keepers Speech I do assure you it was not willingly done but through Ignorance of the Groom of the Chamber but if the House be desirous to hear the Effect thereof I will intreat some that were there at that time to satisfiy their desires The cause of which preclose was for that one Mr. Leigh during the time of the Commons swearing made a complaint to Mr. Controuler sitting in the House that they toook it in great disgrace that they were shut out After which
divers in this House do know Three Hundred Thousand Pounds before Easter How this shall be Raised and Gathered That is the Question For without this proportion of Charge neither can the Spaniards in Ireland be repelled nor the War there maintain'd Neither Her Majesties other Affairs be set on Foot Neither Provision sufficient can be made for defence against Forreign Invasions Admit with a less Charge we should now Expell him Will any man be so simple to think he will give over the Enterprise being of so great Consequence and grow Desperate I should think him a man but of a shallow Understanding and less Policy Surely if we had been of that mind when he had that great Overthrow of his Invincible Navy One Thousand Five Hundred Eighty Eight we had been destinated unto Perdition For how many chargeable Enterprises of Puissant great Consequence hath he since made The like if his Forces in Ireland should now Fail would he do again And therefore That we now do in Defence if he should be expelled with a less Matter would as well serve to make Defence against his next Invasion of that Kingdom as also to Enrich her Majesty to be ready to Furnish her Navy and Forces the speedier for her safety Besides if he bestows so vast a Treasure for the gaining of one poor Town Ostend what will he do to gain so strong and Famous a Kingdom as Ireland I will by the Leave of a VVorthy Person that sits by me and knows these things better than I do yeild a particular Account to you of the State it self First The last whole Subsidy after the Rate of Four Shillings Land and Eight Groats Goods came not to above Eighty-Thousand Pounds the Subsidy of the Clergy Twenty-Thousand Pounds the Double Fifteens Sixty-Thousand Pounds In all One-Hundred and Sixty-Thousand Pounds Since my Lord of Essex's Going into Ireland who now is with God she hath spent Three-Hundred-Thousand Pounds which cometh unto Three-Hundred and Twenty-Two-Thousand Pounds So the Queen is behind-hand Three-Hundred-Thousand Pounds Thus we refer the Matter to your Judicial Consideration We only shew you the present Estate of the Queen and her Affairs wishing no Man to look that we should give Advice what is to be done As though your Selves who are the Wisdom of the Land could not direct your Selves neither upon the Reasons alledged judge of the Necessity of the State Mr. Comptroller Sir John Fortescue Sir John Fortescue and Mr. Secretary Harbart spake all to the same Effect only Sir John Fortescue added this That what pleased the House in the Name of the Subjects to bestow the same Her Majesty did and ever would imploy to their Uses So that Dying it might be written on Her Tomb as on the Emperor Quod occupatus vixit So that She Dying Lived still imploying all to the Safety of Her Subjects And I beseech you remember That the Great Turk when he Conquer'd Constantinople found therein Three-Hundred Millions of Gold Which being told him If they said he had bestowed but Three Millions in defence of their City I could never have gotten it A notable Saving of the Great Turk From this Blindness I pray God Defend us that we may not be backwards to give Four Subsidies to Her Majesty for want whereof in time we may hap to lose that which cannot be Recovered or Defended with a Hundred So after a few other Conferences and Speeches Pro Contra it was concluded That the House should be Certified of their Proceedings on Monday and by General Consent the Three Pound Men were to be included And so the House about Six a Clock at Night rose confusedly Nota That Mr. Anthony Maynard by the Consent of the whole House sat in the Chair as Clerk to Register the Order of this Committee and by Consent also was Licensed to put on his Hat Sunday November the 8th On Monday November the 9th A Bill for Suppressing of Maintenance Also A Bill to suppress People from idle Shifting The first time Read Also A Bill for the Reformation of Abuses in the Making of Cloth Also A Bill for Advance of Customs A Bill for the Benefit of Merchants and Advancing of Her Majesties Customs both Inward and Outward Also Mr. Townsend moves against the great Number of common Sollicitors A Bill to Restrain the Number of Common Sollicitors put in by Mr. Townsend of Lincolns-Inn the Collector of this Journal to which he spake as followeth May it please you Mr. Speaker It was well said by a Worthy Member of this House Mr. Francis Bacon That every Man is bound to help the Common-Wealth the best he may Much more is every Man in his own Particular bound being a Member of this House if he knows any dangerous Enormity towards the Common-Wealth That he would not only open it but if it may be suppress it We being all here within these Walls together may be likened to a Jury shut up in a Chamber Every Man There upon his Oath and every Man Here upon his Conscience being the Grand Jury-Men of this Land bound to deal both Plainly and Truly Here-with though a most unworthy and least sufficient Member of this House my Self being touched I had rather adventure my Credit by Speaking though confusedly knowing the great Inconvenience and Mischief attends this Kingdom by Silence in so pleasing a Case as I perswade my self this Bill will be to every Man that hears it To which Mr. Speaker because I may have Benefit of Speech if occasion serves at the second Reading thereof I will not speak more at this present than only touch the Tract of the Bill it self The Honourable Person that in the Upper-House in the Beginning of this Parliament spake against the Lewd Abuses of Prowling Sollicitors and their great Multitude who set Dissention between Man and Man like a Snake cut in pieces crawl together and joine themselves again to stir up even Spirits of Dissention He I say advises us that a Law might be made to suppress them I have observed that no Man this Parliament ever profer'd to prefer any such Bill to this House but sure I am no Man spake to this Purpose I have therefore Mr. Speaker presumed out of my young Experience because I know part of their Abuses and with that small Portion of Learning that I have to draw a Bill and here it is The Title is thus An Act to Suppress the Multitude of Common Sollicitors The Body of the Act disableth all Persons to Sollicite in any Cause other than their own There is Excepted and Fore-prized Four several sorts Lawyers and Atturnies in their own Courts where they be Sworn Servants in Livery and Kinsmen within the Fourth Degree of Consanguinity And no Man within this Kingdom but may find a sufficient Sollicitor within these Four Degrees And I humbly pray The Bill being short may be Read and Received A Bill concerning certain Abuses in the Exchequer Committed the Committee
Member of the House his Servant knowing that both their Persons their Servants Goods and every thing they had were Privileged during this Great Councel How durst you presume to do it To which the poor Old Man answered upon his Knees That he knew not that his Master was of the House but peradventure the Bayliff did quoth he I do acknowledge I have offended and humbly crave Pardon and I protest upon my Salvation I would not have done it had I known his Master had been Privileged So the Serjeant of the House was commanded to take him away and presently after he was brought in again To whom Mr. Speaker gave Councel That himself should ever hereafter take Warning hereby and that the House receiving his modest Excuse did pardon his Offence And so paying his Fees he was Discharged The Serjeant was commanded to lay wait for the Bayliff but he could not be found A Bill to Restrain the Multitude of Idle People which flock from all Parts of the Realm to London and the Suburbs thereof was read To which Bill Sir George Moore spake and shewed the Unconscionableness of the Bill that no Mechanical Person could Trade in London And so it was Rejected without any one I I I for the Commitment but only Mr. Fetyplace one of the Burgesses for London A Bill for the Benefit of Merchants and Advancement of Her Majesty's Customes both Inward and Outward was Read and Committed On Wednesday November the 11th A Bill for Avoiding unnecessary Executions upon Judgments put to the Question and ordered to be Ingrossed A Bill for Explanation of an Act made 13 Reginae touching Leases of Benefices and Ecclesiastical Livings with Cure A Bill to enable Sir Edmond Markeham to sell his Lands being Tenant in Tail as other Tenants in Tail may do was read the first time A Bill for Reformation of Abuses in making of Cloth read the first time A Bill for the Inhabitants of the Town of Rappesdale in the County of Lancaster was Committed A Bill put in by Mr. Francis Moore Intituled An Act for Confirmation of Grants made to the Queen's Majesty and of Her Highness's Grants to others read the first time He said That forasmuch as it was dangerous to the Queen and State that Purchases should be Annulled by Misprision or the like and lest the Queen should be Tenant in Tail then all Sales made by her should be void Therefore to avoid this Inconvenience he had penned this Law almost word for word but altogether to the Sense of the Statute made Anno Hen. 8. cap. _____ which is even in manner of a Petition And it being but short I pray it may be Read and Received An Act to Restrain Transportation of Money out of this Realm and to Restrain certain Abuses in Exchanges This Bill was brought in by Mr. John Davis and read prima vice Vide Novemb. 9. A Bill for the Abbreviation of Michaelmass-Term A Bill to abbreviate Michaelmas-Term It was put to the Question Whether it should be Committed or no And the greater Voice were Yeas Yet the Burgesses of London were against it And therefore at naming of Committees Burgesses of London oppose it they were exempted but some would have them in and others out And after many Speeches made Pro Contra A Dispute Whether any of them should be of the Committee it was alledged by Sir Edward Hobby That they that had given their Voice against the Body of the Bill could not be Committees But at length Mr. Secretary Cecil said I am willing to speak in two Respects the One touching the Bill it self the Other touching the Controversie in the House Secretary Cecil speaks to it about the Commitment Touching the Bill I dare not upon my own Judgment be so venturous or bold to Reject this Bill unless first it might have a Commitment For the Wisdom of that Time when it was first Instituted was so apt to look into Imperfections that doubtless if any Inconvenience had been but espyed they would straight have avoided it Therefore in my Opinion it is not fit for us to look into the Actions of former Ages but upon mature and advised Deliberation I do therefore greatly commend the Wisdom of this House in Committing of this Bill and others of the like Nature and Consequence before we Reject them For the other Part Though it be a Rule in the House That those against the Bill should be no Committees yet in a Case of so great Consequence and so greatly touching the State of the City of London there is no Reason but they may have their particular Voices as Committees as well as any Member of this House Neither have we any Reason to Exclude them more than any other especially they being Chosen for the most Principal City of this Kingdom which is the Chamber of Her Majesty whom we should the rather respect for Her Majesties sake who doth and will remember their Loyalty and Faithfulness shewed unto Her in the late dangerous Action meaning the Earl of Essex his Rising For which if ever Prince had Cause of Thankfulness to Her Subjects doubtless Her Majasty is to confess as much In my Opinion therefore we should do great Wrong and purchase them great Blame at their Hands that sent them hither in Trust if in a Matter of this Consequence and so particularly touching the State of this City we should not admit them as Committees Mr. Wiseman said Mr. Wiseman replies That by Committing of a Bill the House allowed of the Body thereof though they disallowed of some Imperfections in the same And therefore committed it to some chosen Men in Trust to Reform and Amend any thing therein which they found Imperfect And it is presumed That he that will give his No to the Committing of a Bill at the Commitment will be wholly against the Bill And therefore the House allowing of this Bill to be Committed are in my Opinion to disallow any that will be against the Body of the Bill for being Committees Mr. Comptroller said Mr. Comptroller starts another Question He was of Opinion for the Reasons before-alledged That they ought to be Committees But he moved another Question Whether a Committee speaking against a Bill at the Commitment may also Speak at the Ingrossing thereof in the House and have his Free Voice Sir Edward Hobby said Sir Edward Hobby replies That may be resolved upon by Precedents And for my own Opinion I think That he that is against the Body of the Bill can be no Committee and he that being a Committee speaketh against a Bill may also speak hereafter in the House Mr. Fulke Grevill said Mr. Fulke Grevill's Opinion A Committee was an Artificial Body and framed out of Us who are the General Body And therefore that which is spoken at the Committee Evanescit it is gone when the Body which is the Commitment is dissolved And then every particular Committee is no more a
House cried I I I. No quoth the Secretary you must stand at the Bar. And the House cried No No No. Then Mr. Secretary desired it might be put to the Question Whether he should speak or No And so it was and not Twenty said No. Then it was put to the Question Whether he should speak at the Bar or No And Mr. Brown the Lawyer stood up and said Mr. Speaker Par in Parem non habet Imperium we are all Members of one Body and One cannot Judg of Another So being put to the Question there were not above twelve I I I that he should stand at the Bar. Whereupon Mr. Martyn standing in his Seat shewed the Cause of his Speech to have been only for the Order of the House and not out of any Perswasive meaning that he had For he protested he neither knew the Man nor the Matter On Thursday Decemb. the Tenth A Bill for the Denization of certain Persons viz. Josepho Lupo and others was Read And because the said Josepho Lupo had neither Father nor Mother English the House respited the Bill A Bill for the Weavers was put to the Question and Committed the time and place of Meeting to be this Afternoon in the Exchequer-Chamber The Bill for the Assize for Wood was Ordered to be Ingrossed The Bill touching the taking away Gavel-kind-Custom in Kent was Read A Bill about Gavel-kind c. And Mr. Francis Moore said He thought the Bill a very Idle and frivolous Bill and Injurious For Mr. Moore against Repealing it if a man take a Wife by the Custome she shall have a Moyety but now if we make it go according to the Common Law she shall have but a Third part So if the Father committed a Felony and be Hanged the Son shall not lose his Inheritance because the Custom is The Father to the Bough and the Son to the Plough which at the Common Law he should lose Mr. Serj. Harris said I think this Bill a very good Bill Serj. Harris to have it Repealed for it defeats a Custom which was first devised for a Punishment and Plague upon the Country For when the Conquerour came in the Reason of this Custom was To make a Decay of the great Houses of the Old English for if a man of 800. l. Per Annum had eight Children now it must be divided into eight Parts And then if they had Children it must be subdivided again usque in non quantum where if it had gone to one as by the Common Law it would still have Flourished Mr. Boys amongst many Reasons shewed Mr. Boy 's of a contrary mind It would in Kent be a great loss to the Queen in her Subsidy for by reason of these Subdivisions there were many Ten-Pound men And whosoever knows the state of our Country shall find more under Ten Pound men than above come to the Queen and now if these being divided into several hands should now go according to the Common Law this would make the Queen a great Loser This Bill being put to the Question The Bill is Rejected the Noes were the greater yet the I I I would needs go forth and upon division it appeared the I I I were but 67. and the Noes 138. and so the the Bill was Rejected The Bill for suppressing Ale-houses A Bill to Suppress Tipling-Houses and Tippling-houses was Read Mr. Francis Moore offered a Proviso to the House Mr. Moore and shewed That he was of Councel and had a standing Fee from the Corporation of Vintners in London And shewed That they were an Ancient Corporation and had ever used by force of divers Charters of Kings of this Realm to sell Wine and now by this Bill all was inhibited And therefore Pray'd the Provise might be received which was received M. Johnson said Mr. Johnson against it If this Bill should Pass it would breed a great Confusion of Government for by this Law the Justices of the County may enter into the Liberties of any Corporation and License Sale of Wine and Beer Besides he must be Licensed by four Justices perhaps there be not four Justices in a Corporation Admitting Power were not given to the Foreign Justices now when these four Justices have enabled him by this Law they have no Power by this Law upon his misbehaviour to put him down and so very Insufficient and impossible to be Mended Sir Robert Wroth said Sir Rob. Wroth against it The Bill is That no Man shall c. but he must be allowed in the Quarter-Sessions by four Justices And what pain and Charge this will be to a poor man to go with some of his Neighbours 20 or 30 miles for a License And what a monstrous Trouble to all the Justices I refer it to your considerations The Speaker certified a Message from the Lords Sir Edward Hobby said We attended the Lords this morning touching the Information against Mr. Belgrave and in the end concluded That forasmuch as it concerneth Their as well as Our Privileges they desire some time to Consult and then will send us word of their Resolutions Doctor Stanhop and Doctor Hone brought a Bill from the Lords Intituled An Act for the Stablishment of the Remainder of certain Lands of Andrew Ketleby Esquire to Francis Ketleby And so they departed Mr. Spicer said If I should not agree to the Substance of the Bill I were no good Commonwealths-man And if I should agree to the Form I should scarce think my self a good Christian for I may justly say of this Bill Nihil est ubi error non est Mr. Laurence Hide moved That in respect it came from the Lords we would give it a Commitment Mr. Serjeant Harris said If this Bill should pass as was well said we all should lose the Liberties of our Corporations And Her Majesties Justices at the Sessions Serj. Harris against it should be troubled with Brables of Ale-Houses The Statute of Ed. 6. hath had Approbation these half Hundred Years and I wish we may not Repeal a good Law to make a worse Mr. Richard Brown said Mr. Brown against it Wines heretofore have been at Ten Pound a Tun and the Laws are That Wines should be sold at Two Pence the Quart and Her Majesty Receiveth One Thousand Six Hundred Pounds a Year Custom for them If now this Statute should stand that Four Justices should License the sale of Wines this would be a wrong to divers Licenses which are made by Pattentees of her Majesty and a beggaring of all Vintners And he that now keeps an Inn if he pleases not the Justices he shall be turned out And withal there is a Clause of disability which is most grievous Sir Robert Wroth said It seemes the House doth distast this Bill and I doubt of the Passing of it I would but move the House to remember That it is an Ancient Custom that for Reverence sake to the Lords of the Upper-House we only
toleration of such offences shall be suffered Next That ye inquire what Places and persons are fit to be suppressed and looked unto Ordinary-tables Tippling-houses some even Brothel-houses or worse in which both of Muttons Veals and Lambs there is continually made an unmeasurable expence But consider who are the men that devour the Substance of the Land which should sustain us all what kind of men be they even your discoursers which do introduce Novelties and slander the State the most pestilent seditious and dangerous Members of the Land In rooting out these men you shall shew the best part of your duties to God and her Majesty which her Majesty expressly chargeth you to take special heed of I am also to remember you what good Laws were lately made for the punishment of vagrant Rogues and sturdy Beggars To relieve poor Souldiers and for the provision of poor Souldiers the neglect of which duty in not seeing these good Laws executed will draw Gods curse and displeasure upon us And therefore order by you ought to be taken that those which be poor be relieved and idle persons suppressed which do mispend the good gifts of God plentifully bestowed upon us That you look the poverty of Souldiers be relieved according to their quality and degree and that twenty pounds by the year be not given to some when others far poorer have but forty shillings by the year And therefore look that those Laws that were last made be not last but first put in execution These be matters and crimes which if they be not amended the Commonwealth and State may still stand and languish though not perish But there is another matter of great importance which if it be not looked unto will overthrow even the body of the State it self which none can or will deny unless he be given over to a senseless stupidity It is not unknown what Plots have been and are laid against the Queens Person whom God preserve and the body of the State by those we call Jesuits unnatural Vipers ready to eat out the belly of their Mother who being now grown to some strength and head do proceed with more violence and greater malice in their actions than ever heretofore They have made unto them an Archpriest and Ruler About Jesuits and secular Priests their practices the principal Agent against God the Queen Religion and the State because they might execute their dangerous Enterprizes and Designes with a kind of conjoyned Unity They do not stick to determine even in the height of their pride great yea even the greatest matters In this the Secular Priest is no Agent neither dangerous in that degree to the State for as there be degrees of Offences so are there degrees of Offenders But I excuse not the Secular Priest and therefore therein I pray you mistake me not for what Writings and Books have been extant and are given out of their Quarrels and Controversies and I warn you to take heed of them There be three Workers in the subversion of the State First the Jesuit secondly the secular Priest and thirdly a kinde of Parson of our own Religion yet as he thinketh of a more pure spirit disliking onely the government of the Church and State These her Majesties pleasure is That you should be more diligent to search out than you have been and to observe who entertains these in their houses which be of the Catholick Roman Religion Those that incur the danger of the Law let them now look for execution howsoever offences heretofore have been tolerated by Magistrates not doing of their duties Many are Justices of the Peace but what do they but maintain Quarrels Stirs Controversies and Dissention betwixt their Neighbours We have two evident Examples the one in Gloucestershire the other that was moved this morning viz. in Sir Thomas Throgmorton's Case The thirst after this Authority Concerning Justices of the Peace proceedeth from nothing but an ambitious humour of gaining of Reputation amongst their Neighbours that still when they come home they may be presented with Presents and that they may sit high on the Bench in the Quarter-Sessions that they may maintain and buy Titles Is there any more fervent than others in the business of the Commonwealth he straight hath given him the Epethite of a busie Jack but I know there be many good and I wish their number were increased but who be they even the poorer and meanest Justices by one of which more good cometh to the Commonwealth than by a hundred of greater condition and degree And thus much I had in commandment to say to Justices of Peace to Commanders to Constables and other inferiour Officers To you who be Justices of Assize there yet remaineth by her Majesties express commandment a further Charge and Admonition to be delivered That you see the great offences which heretofore have not been to be hereafter punished And her Majesty said she hath chosen you to be Justices for your wisdom and integrity and she hath divided you by two's in several Circuits to ride twice every year that the one might be aiding and assisting to the other not onely to try a Nisi prius or decide some petty Cause but with special care and diligent observance to look into the disorders of your Circuits suppose for the purpose in Norfolk although truely I think that County is best govern'd and I would say more if he which rideth that Circuit were absent To examine Justices touching Misdemeanours to inform her Majesty how many Ale-houses they have pulled down how many Priests they have taken and who harbour them and of all these matters to give an account to her Majesty at your return that she taking notice from you the good Justices may be rewarded and the evil removed Your not doing of this breedeth nothing but impunity which is dangerous in the State and the very root of Sedition and Rebellion And Clemency of this nature is Crudelis Clementia but the other Securitas Salutaris Her Majesty commanded me to say unto you that she would have you spend more time in understanding the faults and grievances in every of your Circuits than you have heretofore done for she saith that she hath not been informed of any more than of one onely This you may well do and she commandeth it to be done the times being so peaceful which I hope will continue And as God hath blessed her Majesty these Forty four years amongst us so I hope God will yet lengthen her days for the continuance of which we ought all to pray for FINIS AN Alphabetical TABLE Of the most material BILLS DEBATES and other Matters Contained in this BOOK A ACcomptants a bill for satisfaction against them p. 83 Ale complained of by Mr. Johnson that 't is as strong as Wine and will burn like Sack p. 181 Ale-houses a bill to suppress their multitude p. 135 No man to frequent any within two miles of his own dwelling p. 196