stood up her Train born by the Lady Strange assisted by the Lord Chamberlain and Vice-Chamberlain At the left hand of the Queen and Southside kneeled the Ladies and behind the Queen at the Rail stood the Lord Keeper on the right hand the Lord Treasurer on the left hand with divers young Lords and Peers Eldest Sons Then all being placed M r Onslow the Speaker was brought in between Sir Francis Knolles Vice-Chamberlain and Sir Ambrose Cave Chancellor of the Dutchy and after Reverence done proceeded down to the Wall and from thence came up to the Rail in the way making three Reverences and standing there made other three like Reverences and then began his Oration as followeth MOST Excellent and Vertuous Princess c. Where I have been Elected by the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of this your nether House to be their Mouth or Speaker and thereunto appointed and allowed by your Majesty to supply the same room to the bewraying of my wants specially that thereby I shall be forced utterly to discover the barrenness of my learning before this Noble Assembly which not a little grieveth me and would gladly be excused considering the true saying How there is no difference between a wise Man and a Fool if they may keep silence which I require But again considering your Majesties Clemency taking in good part the good will of the party for want of ability which putteth me in remembrance and good hope perswading me that you will not take your said Clemency from me contrary to your Nature Again when I consider my Office as Speaker it is no great matter being but a Mouth to utter things appointed me to speak unto you and not otherwise which consisteth only in Speaking and not in any other Knowledge whereby I gather how it is necessary I speak simply and plainly according to the truth and trust reposed in me And thus considering whose Mouth I am which chose me to speak for them being the Knights Citizens and Burgesses who were not also by the Commons chosen for their Eloquence but for their Wisdom and discretion by this means being fit men to whom the Commons have committed the care and charge of themselves Wives and Children Lands and Goods and so in their behalf to foresee and take order for all things necessary Thus they being Chosen by the plain Commons it is necessary they Elect a plain Speaker fit for the plain matter and therefore well provided at first to have such a one as should use plain words and not either so fine that they cannot be understood or else so Eloquent that now and then they miss the Cushion But now upon occasion of beholding your Grace and this Noble Assembly I consider the manifold and great benefits which God suddenly hath sent unto this Country for although God hath granted the benefit of Creation and Conservation with many other Commodities to other Nations of the World yet this our Native Country he hath blessed not only with the like but also with much more fruitfulness than any other of which great and inestimable benefit of Gods preferment which appeareth better by the want that others have of the same I am occasioned now to speak the rather to move and stir up our hearts to give most hearty thanks to God for the same Now to speak of Government by Succession Election Religion or Policy First if the Body should want a Head it were a great Monster so it is likewise if it have many Heads as if upon every several Member were a Head And to speak of one Head although in the Body be divers Members which be made of Flesh Bones Sinews and Joints yet the one Head thereof governeth wisely the same which if it should want we should be worse than wild Beasts without a Shepherd and so worthily be called a Monstrous Beast Again If the Body should be Governed by many Heads then the same would soon come to destruction by reason of the Controversy amongst them who would never agree but be destroyed without any Foreign Invasion therefore God seeth it is needful that the people have a King and therefore a King is granted them and so therefore the best Government is to be ruled by one King and not many who may maintain and cherish the good and Godly and punish the Ungodly and Offenders As for Government by Election in that is great variance partiality strifes and part-takings As for Examples amongst the rest take out one which is called the most Holy as that of the Pope and weigh how holily and quietly it is done called indeed holy and quiet but utterly unholy and unquiet with great part-takings and strifes Now touching Religion To see the Divine Providence of God how that many Nations be Governed by one Prince which were impossible but that God Ordereth it so by whom the Order of Regiment is appointed and that in his Scriptures wherefore the Subjects ought to obey the same yea although they were evil and much more those that be good So God hath here appointed us not a Heathen or unbelieving Prince as he might but a Faithful and one of his own Children to govern us his Children in which Government the Prince serveth God two ways as a Man and as a King In that he is a Man he ought to live and serve God as one of his good Creatures And in that he is a King and so Gods special Creature he ought to make Laws whereby God may be truly worshipped and that his Subjects might do no injury one to another and specially to make quietness amongst the Ministers of the Church to extinguish and put away all hurtful and unprofitable Ceremonies in any Case contrary to Gods word in which point we have in your Majesties behalf great thanks to give unto God in setting forth unto us the Liberty of Gods word whereof before we were bereaved and that you have reformed the State of the corrupt Church now drawing Souls out of dangerous errors which afore by that Corruption they were led and brought unto And concerning Policy God hath Committed to your Highness two Swords the one of which may be called the Sword of War to punish outward Enemies withal and the other the Sword of Justice to Correct offending Subjects in which point of Policy your Majesty is not behind your Progenitors for although at your Entrance you found this Realm in War and ungarnished with Munition and that with such store as never was before yet you have dislodged our antient Enemies which were planted and placed even upon the Walls of this Realm And concerning Policy in Laws as Bones Sinews and Joints be the force of a Natural Body so are good Laws the strength of a Common-Wealth And your Laws be consisting of two points the Common Laws and the Statutes And for the Common Law it is so grounded on Gods Laws and Natures that three several Nations governing here have all allowed the same which is not inferior
you And I shall pray as I am bound to God for your long and prosperous Reign over us Then her Majesty called the Lord Keeper and Commanded him to Answer him which he did as followeth M r Speaker The Queens Majesty hath heard your humble Petitions and request made unto her the effect whereof she gathereth to stand in two points first for access to her person and secondly for good interpretation of your meaning and also larger Declaration thereof if need be For the former her Highness as her Noble Progenitors have done is well contented that in convenient time and for convenient Causes in convenient place and without importunity for that these parts now touched have not been afore this time so well handled as she trusteth now it shall be which considered as free access she granteth you as any other hath had For the second point because no man at all times may do so well but sometimes things may be uttered which may be mispoken for which cause in that time also you shall have her intreatable but she thinketh your circumspection to be such as she shall not therein need And so ended Now a word or two to remember you here present of both the Houses first this it is that I would advise you in this your proceeding to prefer the most weighty matters first and not trouble your selves with small matters and of no weight and therein also that all be done to understand the truth and to avoid all superfluous matters and losing or driving away of time Secondly It is profitable that you my Lords and all others that be here consider that long time requireth great expences and therefore wish you to make Expedition the rather to avoid the same And yet not meaning such Expedition that any thing needful to be done should be lightly passed over and not substantially done and seen unto but only I mean that you should settle your selves wholly to mighty matters and those which be necessary and to spare superfluous things and which needeth not And this is the sum I have to say Then the Speaker and the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons having made their low Reverence towards her Majesty departed to their own House and the Queen after the Lord Keeper had by her Majesties Commandment continued the Parliament unto the Morrow following returned into her Privy-Chamber and there shifted her and then repaired to her Barge and so to the Court Hactenus ex Memoriali praefato On Thursday the third day of October were three Bills read of which the last being the Bill for the better Execution of certain Statutes and for the reformation of certain disorders used in the Law was read primâ vice tunc commissa Archiepiscopo Cantuarien Duci Norfolciae Comiti Mareschall Angliae Comiti Salopiae Comiti Wigorniae Comiti Leicester Episcopo Dunelmen Episcopo Elien Episcopo Carliolen Domino Cobham Domino Grey de Wilton Domino Haistings Domino Primario Justiciario Banci Regis Domino Primario Baroni Scaccarii Scrvienti Carus Nota That this days passages are wholly transcribed out of the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House as are also the greatest part of the days following although the whole proceedings of Wednesday foregoing were inserted out of the before-mentioned Anonymous memorial touching the Speakers presentment and allowance which I had by me Nota also That the former Bill touching the better Execution of certain Statutes c. was not only committed upon the first reading which is not usual till after the second but committed also to the Judges being but Assistants of the Upper House and to the Queens Serjeant being but a meer Attendant upon the same jointly with the Lords the only proper and undoubted Members of that Great Council which is a matter to be observed because of later days neither the said Assistants nor Attendant are ever appointed joint Committees with the Lords as here but only Commanded by the House to attend upon the Committee and there to give such advice as shall be required from them which is no greater respect yielded them at a Committee than in the House it self sitting the Parliament and were they still admitted to be Committees as they usually were in all these first Parliaments of the Queen yet could no inconvenience ensue thereby because at a Committee things are only prepared and made ready for the House in which and no where else they ought to be concluded and expedited And Nota lastly That the Parliament was this day continued to Saturday the 5 th day of October ensuing but whether by the Lord Keeper who as it seems at this time fell sick of the Gout or by the Lord Treasurer who for a while afterwards was appointed by the Queens Commission to continue it according to the usual form and course in such case used doth not appear in the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House but is omitted through the negligence of Francis Spilman Esq now Clerk of the same House On Saturday the 5 th day of October to which day the Parliament had been last continued two Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill for the taking away Clergy in certain Cases was read secundâ vice commissa Archiepiscopo Eboracen Duci Norf. Comiti Huntington Comiti Leicester Vice-Comiti Mountague Episcopo London Episcopo Dunelmen Episcopo Lincoln Domino Clinton Domino Morley Domino Wentworth Domino Willoughby Domino North Domino Hunsdon the two Chief Justices and the Chief Baron Nota That the Judges being meer Assistants and no Members of the Upper House were here also made joint Committees with the Lords which hath never been admitted of in later times These two Bills were read the Lord Keeper by reason of his being sick of the Gout abstaining this day and a good while aster from the Upper House and therefore William Lord Marquess of Winchester Lord Treasurer of England was Authorized by verbal Commission from the Queen to supply his place and accordingly continued the Parliament unto Monday next being the 7 th day of October the form and manner whereof although the President be very rare and of great use is only entred very briefly in the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House in these words following Hodie dictus Thesaurarius ex Mandato Dominae Reginae eò quod Dominus Custos Magni Sigilli Podagrae Morbo laboraret continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem Lunae proxim horâ consuetâ Nota That here the Marquess of Winchester Lord Treasurer of England did supply the Lord Keepers place in the Upper House without any Authority given him by Commission under the great Seal which in like Cases is usual and therefore it is most probable that her Majesty did by word of Mouth give him this Commandment or Commission either in private or in the presence of some other Lords of the Upper House which although it
and Prerogatives also in question contrary to their Duty and place that they be called unto And contrary to the express Admonition given in her Majesties name in the beginning of this Parliament which it might very well have become them to have had more regard unto But her Majesty saith that seeing they will thus wilfully forget themselves they are otherwise to be remembred and like as her Majesty allows and much commends the former sort for the respects aforesaid so doth her Highness utterly disallow and condemn the second sort for their audacious arrogant and presumptuous folly thus by superfluous Speech spending much time in medling with matters neither pertaining to them nor within the capacity of their understanding And thus much concerning the Parliament of the Lower House And as to the Lords here of the Upper House her Majesty hath Commanded me to let you know that her Highness taketh their diligence discretion and orderly Proceedings to be such as redoundeth much to their Honour and Commendations and much to her Comfort and Consolation And here an end touching Parliament men Now as to the Parliament matters her Majesty hath Commanded me to open and declare unto you her Opinion conceived therein touching two things the one is concerning the Subsidy and benevolence the other is concerning the Execution of the Laws As to the former which concerneth the Subsidy and benevolence her Pleasure is that I shall say unto you that in your dealings in that matter she hath noted three things principally every of them tending much to the setting forth of your benevolences and good wills The first is who it was that granted the second the manner of the granting the third what it was that was granted As to the first her Majesty forgetteth not that it is a grant made proceeding from the earnest affections and hearty good wills of her good dutiful and obedient Subjects for the greatest part And therefore hath Commanded me to say unto you that she maketh a greater accompt of the great good wills and benevolent minds of her good and loving Subjects than she doth of ten Subsidies which as it ought to bring and breed in us great comfort and delight so in reason it ought to move us as I doubt not but it doth to be and continue such as be worthy such an estimation and accompt Again her Majesty forgetteth not that besides this is not a Grant by good and loving Subjects that never made like Grant heretofore but by such as have contributed from time to time as the necessary Charges of the Realm and their own Sureties have required which doth much commend and set forth this benevolence of yours And thus much concerning the persons that have granted And as to the second which is the manner of granting her Highness knoweth very well that before her time these manner of Grants have sundry times past not without difficulties with long perswasions and sometimes not without sharp Speeches but this contrariwise without any such Speeches or other difficulty hath been freely and frankly offered and presented and like as the former did much extenuate their benevolence so is this of yours greatly extended It is written and very truly concerning Benevolences Qui diu distulit diu noluit and therefore justly concluded Bis dat qui citò dat which sayings she cannot but apply to you in the proceedings of your Grant Again Universality in consent doth greatly commend also your dealings in this matter for a more universal consent than was in this will hardly be had in any and therefore much the more commendable And thus much touching the manner of the Gift And as to the third which concerneth the thing given her Majesty saith that she thinketh it to be as great as any heretofore hath been granted and therefore you are to receive condign thanks for it And hath further willed me to say that if the Service of the Realm and your Sureties would so permit and suffer her Majesty would as gladly as readily and as frankly remit this Grant as you have freely and liberally granted it Thus I have remembred unto you the three Princely Observations that her Majesty hath conceived of this benevolence of yours much to your Comfort and greatly to her Majesties Honour to your Commendation for granting and to her Highness for this honourable accepting for her Majesty shall by this Grant receive no Commodity or benefit but rather a continual care in dispending and imploying of it about the necessary Affairs and Service of the Realm and your Sureties and yet it is a great Comfort to her Majesty to see you thus frankly and freely join with her Self the Realm and You. Now to the second and last part which concerneth the Execution of Laws which I mean to divide into two parts the first is the Execution of your Grant the second is the Execution of Laws now made by you and of the rest made before of others As to the former I am to remember you that like as it hath pleased the Queens Majesty thus Princely Honourably and thankfully to think of and accept this free and liberal Grant of yours so certainly if the like diligence and endeavour be not used by such of you as Choice shall be made of by her Majesty for the due putting in Execution of this Grant then surely those that shall be thus remiss or negligent as by that means her Majesty and the Realm shall be defrauded of any part of that which hath been thus freely granted shall thereby minister just occasion to her Highness to have their fidelity and truth towards her Majesty much to be suspected and charged which would touch them very near Neither is it an offence that would be pretermitted but severely punished Why if the Case were between common persons can there be a greater untruth and unthankfulness than for a man to make a grant in appearance willingly and readily and then to seek wilily and craftily to defraud the same Grant This amongst honest persons is utterly detested and if so how then might it be thought of between the Prince and his Subjects where for divers respects this bond is thrice as great for as the Subject by the Duty of his Allegiance is to serve the Prince truly even so is he by his Oath and so is he by the great trust that by the Princes Choice is committed unto him as a Commissioner in this matter above others Plainly to speak it may be affirmed and that justly that such as be in Commission for the Execution of this Grant and shall deal partially either for favour or for fear or for love to themselves or their Friends or negligently or remisly of purpose whereby her Majesty shall not be Answered of that that is due unto her such I say may justly be charged as men forgetting their Duty towards God and their Soveraign and to their Country It cannot be denied that numbers respect only their private profit and not the
deal both safely and honourably as well for your Self as for your State For thereby it seemeth that neither shall she nor any for her hereafter dare deal to do harm but also all Foreign Princes and Nations will think much Honour of such your merciful proceedings And lastly whereas she hath fallen into your hands from the violence of others and so as a Bird followed by a Hawk seeketh succour at your Majesties Feet your Highness thinketh your Self bound in Honour for that she is your Sister and a Queen Born not to proceed further only to her disablement counting it a strong work for your Safety These be the Reasons which in part may move your Majesty to take this Course as we do conceive All which notwithstanding if it it might please your most Excellent Majesty to suffer your poor and faithful Subjects to enter deeply upon good search of this Cause and by way of reply to make Answer with proceeding by just proofs for your Majesties Safety we doubt not but with your Highness favourable acceptation all that which hitherto hath been uttered is rather a Declaration of that most Mild and Gracious Nature of Yours than any assurance for your Person and State at all Reasons Answering the former Arguments May it therefore please your Majesty WHereas it is said that it standeth to very good purpose to proceed only in disabling the Scottish Queen for any Claim or Title to the Crown we take it by your Majesties Favour that such and especially disabling of the Scottish Queen is in effect a special Confirmation of a Right that she should have had Quia privatio praesupponit habitum And further we do take it for a known truth that by the Laws and Statutes in this Land now in Force she is already disabled and therefore it is to small purpose rem actam agere And for Answer unto the premisses we say further that neither shall this weaken others that are evil minded but rather strengthen them in their mischief and make them desperate where there is no other remedy And a Firebrand once kindled and finding apt matter to work upon will hardly be quenched without a great hazard Touching the grievous pains laid upon those that shall deal those will be little feared by the wicked whom hope of gain maketh more bold than such pains do appall Besides Nature given to this Nation and all others that are under the Moon maketh men often-times stir without cause and as Plato saith Naturales sunt conversiones rerum pub Yet they that heretofore have born Armour as Traytors not fearing the Law then in force which did as much restrain them as this or any Law to be made can be able being desperate will fear no Laws especially such an instrument living by whom all attempts are to be wrought Force overthroweth Justice till the Cause of all mischief which is the hoped help be clean taken away And where it is said that the making of a Law for her disabling emboldneth much your Subjects to deal against her We Answer that no new Law needeth to encourage good and Loyal Subjects against such a Person who hath broken all the Laws of God and nature and is worthy to be out of your Majesties Protection because she seeketh still the disturbance of this noble State and using often her own phrase threatneth that she will stir Coals Touching a new Law to be made against her if she should attempt any evil hereafter the experience of her former life is such that no Law hath any force with her that is fully minded to take her advantage upon any apt occasion offered And to threaten her with Death if she should seem to make an escape hereafter is such advice that she nothing feareth for besides that she was told at Lough-Leaven there was no way but Death with her if she would not take her Imprisonment quietly and live without seeking Liberty she notwithstanding adventured her self with a young Fellow very dishonourably to get away in a Boat And now since her coming into England she hath wrought divers wayes to make an Escape and imployed the heads of the chiefest Estates of your own disloyal Subjects for that purpose Therefore menacing and but threatning words of Law shall not keep her back from her malicious intent to subvert your Majesty and to give a push for the Crown come of her what will And likely it is that she may escape as well as be taken for she neither wanteth Wit nor Cunning to make her way And we have learned in matters of great hazard to be well advised and to take always that Order which may be the best Now there will want no Traytors to be always ready to bring this her device about and to do what they can for her Liberty And such as will not deal in small matters will adventure deep for a Kingdom because the reward is great when the service is done But your Majesty hath regard unto your Honour as much as to your Safety and thinketh that in taking this Course all Princes will speak well of your Highness May it please your Majesty We your good Subjects do well like of so honourable a meaning but we would be loth to see that when you have such regard of Honour you do thereby lose your State and so your Life Honour and all For if it should fall out that the Scottish Queen escaped your hands which Christ for his Mercies sake forbid all good Princes would think great want of Judgment and foresight First in your Majesty next in your Councel last of all in all the whole Nation and such a grief it would be to your Majesty and Subjects and to all other good Christian Princes throughout Europe as none could be greater Again such a matter of Comfort and Triumph it would be to the Adversaries that they would account her escape a miraculous work of God and that your Majesty had no power though will to keep her safe And when that day should come Wo be to all true Christians universally for upon her do depend the chiefest Enemies of Religion and to this Kingdom May it please you therefore most Gracious Queen to be well advised and to take sound Counsel when it is given knowing this for a certain truth that evil foreseen and advisedly looked unto doth ever the less harm But still your Majesty considering the great troubles that she hath had and forgetting or not greatly esteeming what troubles she hath brought unto your Realm doth by a merciful respect of your most Gracious Nature rather bend to do good to her than to seek Safeguard for your Self And seeing here your Sister though unnatural and also a Queen by Birth although not worthy of Life cannot but rather hazard your own self than deal with her according to her deserts This your Majesties nature being thus known it behoveth all your good Subjects most Gracious Soveraign to call and cry to God for his Heavenly
needful to put you in remembrance that this Honourable Assembly are Assembled and come together here in this place for three special Causes of most weighty and great importance The first and principal is to make and abrogate such Laws as may be most for the preservation of our noble Soveraign The second ..... The third is to make or abrogate such Laws as may be to the chiefest surety safe-keeping and enrichment of this noble Realm of England So that I do think that the part of a faithful-hearted Subject is to do his endeavour to remove all Stumbling-Blocks out of the way that may impair or any manner of way hinder these good and Godly Causes of this our coming together I was never of Parliament but the last and the last Session at both which times I saw the Liberty of free Speech the which is the only Salve to heal all the Sores of this Common-Wealth so much and so many ways infringed and so many abuses offered to this Honourable Council as hath much grieved me even of very Conscience and love to my Prince and State Wherefore to avoid the like I do think it expedient to open the Commodities that grow to the Prince and whole State by free Speech used in this place at the least so much as my simple Wit can gather of it the which is very little in respect of that that wise Heads can say therein and so it is of the more force First All matters that concern Gods Honour through free Speech shall be propagated here and set forward and all things that do hinder it removed repulsed and taken away Next there is nothing commodious profitable or any way beneficial for the Prince or State but faithful and loving Subjects will offer it in this place Thirdly All things discommodious perillous or hurtful to the Prince or State shall be prevented even so much as seemeth good to our merciful God to put into our minds the which no doubt shall be sufficient if we do earnestly call upon him and fear him for Solomon saith The fear of God is the beginning of Wisdom Wisdom saith he breatheth Life into her Children receiveth them that seek her and will go beside them in the way of Righteousness so that our minds shall be directed to all good needful and necessary things if we call upon God with faithful hearts Fourthly If the Envious do offer any thing hurtful or perillous to the Prince or State in this place what incommodity doth grow thereby Verily I think none nay will you have me to say my simple opinion therein much good cometh thereof how forsooth for by the darkness of the Night the brightness of the Sun sheweth more excellent and clear and how can truth appear and conquer until falsehood and all subtilties that should shadow and darken it be found out for it is offered in this place a piece of fine Needle-work unto them that are most skilful therein for there cannot be a false stitch God aiding us but will be found out Fifthly This good cometh thereof a wicked purpose may the easier be prevented when it is known Sixthly An evil man can do the less harm when it is known Seventhly Sometime it happeneth that a good man will in this place for Argument sake prefer an evil cause both for that he would have a doubtful truth to be opened and manifested and also the evil prevented so that to this point I conclude that in this House which is termed a place of free Speech there is nothing so necessary for the preservation of the Prince and State as free Speech and without it is a scorn and mockery to call it a Parliament House for in truth it is none but a very School of Flattery and Dissimulation and so a fit place to serve the Devil and his Angels in and not to glorify God and benefit the Common-Wealth Now to the impediments thereof which by Gods Grace and my little Experience I will utter plainly and faithfully I will use the words of Elcha Behold I am as the new Wine which hath no vent and bursteth the new Vessels in funder therefore I will speak that I may have a vent I will open my Lips and make Answer I will regard no manner of Person no man will I spare for if I should go about to please men I know not how soon my Maker will take me away my Text is vehement the which by Gods sufferance I mean to observe hoping therewith to offend none for that of very Justice none ought to be offended for seeking to do good and saying of the truth Amongst other M r Speaker Two things do great hurt in this place of the which I do mean to speak the one is a rumour which runneth about the House and this it is take heed what you do the Queens Majesty liketh not such a matter whosoever prefereth it she will be offended with him or the contrary her Majesty liketh of such a matter whosoever speaketh against it she will be much offended with him The other sometimes a Message is brought into the House either of Commanding or Inhibiting very injurious to the freedom of Speech and Consultation I would to God M r Speaker that these two were Buried in Hell I mean rumours and Messages for wicked undoubtedly they are the reason is the Devil was the first Author of them from whom proceedeth nothing but wickedness now I will set down reasons to prove them wicked First If we be in hand with any thing for the advancement of Gods Glory were it not wicked to say the Queen liketh not of it or Commanded that we shall not deal in it greatly were these Speeches to her Majesties dishonour and an hard opinion were it M r Speaker that these things should enter into her Majesties thought much more wicked and unnatural were it that her Majesty should like or Command any thing against God or hurtful to her self and the State The Lord grant this thing may be far from her Majesties Heart Here this may be objected that if the Queens Majesty should have intelligence of any thing perillous or beneficial to her Majesties Person or the State would you not have her Majesty give knowledge thereof in this House whereby her peril may be prevented and her benefit provided for God forbid then were her Majesty in worse case than any of her Subjects And in the beginning of our Speech I shewed it to be a special Cause of our Assembly but my intent is that nothing should be done to Gods dishonour to her Majesties peril or the peril of the State And therefore I will shew the inconveniences that grow of these two First If we follow not the Princes mind Solomon saith the Kings displeasure is a Messenger of Death This is a terrible thing to weak nature for who is able to abide the fierce Countenance of his Prince but if we will discharge our Consciences and be true to God and Prince and
last Session shut out of Doors but what fell out of it forsooth his great indignation was therefore poured upon this House for he did put into the Queens Majesties Heart to refuse good and wholsome Laws for her own Preservation the which caused many faithful hearts for grief to burst out with sorrowful tears and moved all Papists Traytors to God and her Majesty who envy good Christian Government in their Sleeves to laugh all the whole Parliament House to scorn and shall I pass over this weighty matter so slightly Nay I will discharge my Conscience and Duties to God my Prince and Country So certain it is M r Speaker that none is without fault no not our Noble Queen sith then her Majesty hath committed great fault yea dangerous faults to her self Love even perfect love void of Dissimulation will not suffer me to hide them to her Majesties peril but to utter them to her Majesties Safety and these they are it is a dangerous thing in a Prince unkindly to abuse his or her Nobility and People and it is a dangerous thing in a Prince to oppose or bend her self against her Nobility and People yea against most loving and faithful Nobility and People And how could any Prince more unkindly intreat abuse oppose her self against her Nobility and People than her Majesty did the last Parliament did she not call it of purpose to prevent Traiterous perils to her Person and for no other Cause did not her Majesty send unto us two Bills willing us to make choice of that we liked best for her safety and thereof to make a Law promising her Majesties Royal Consent thereunto And did we not first chuse the one and her Majesty refused it yielding no reason nay yielding great reasons why she ought to have yielded to it Yet did we nevertheless receive the other and agreeing to make a Law thereof did not her Majesty in the end refuse all our Travels And did not we her Majesties faithful Nobility and Subjects plainly and openly decy pher our selves unto her Majesty and our hateful Enemies and hath not her Majesty left us all to the open revenge Is this a just recompence in our Christian Queen for our faithful dealings The Heathen do requite good for good then how much more is it to be expected in a Christian Prince And will not this her Majesties handling think you M r Speaker make cold dealing in any of her Majesties Subjects toward her again I fear it will And hath it not caused many already think you M r Speaker to seek a Salve for the Head that they have broken I fear it hath and many more will do the like if it be not prevented in time And hath it not marvellously rejoiced and encouraged the hollow hearts of her Majesties hateful Enemies and Traiterous Subjects no doubt but it hath And I beseech God that her Majesty may do all things that may grieve the hearts of her Enemies and may joy the hearts that unfeignedly love her Majesty And I beseech the same God to endue her Majesty with his Wisdom whereby she may discern faithful advice from traiterous sugared Speeches and to send her Majesty a melting yielding heart unto sound Counsel that Will may not stand for a Reason and then her Majesty will stand when her Enemies are fallen for no Estate can stand where the Prince will not be governed by advice And I doubt not but that some of her Majesties Counsel have dealt plainly and faithfully with her Majesty herein if any have let it be a sure token to her Majesty to know them for approved Subjects and whatsoever they be that did perswade her Majesty so unkindly to intreat abuse and to oppose her self against her Nobility and People or commend her Majesty for so doing let it be a sure token to her Majesty to know them for sure Traytors and Underminers of her Majesties Life and remove them out of her Majesties presence and favour for the more cunning they are the more dangerous are they unto her Majesty But was this all No for God would not vouchsafe that his Holy Spirit should all that Session descend upon our Bishops so that that Session nothing was done to the advancement of his Glory I have heard of old Parliament men that the Banishment of the Pope and Popery and the restoring of true Religion had their beginning from this House and not from the Bishops and I have heard that few Laws for Religion had their Foundation from them and I do surely think before God I speak it that the Bishops were the Cause of that doleful Message and I will shew you what moveth me so to think I was amongst others the last Parliament sent unto the Bishop of Canterbury for the Articles of Religion that then passed this House he asked us why we did put out of the Book the Articles for the Homilies Consecrating of Bishops and such like Surely Sir said I because we were so occupied in other matters that we had no time to examine them how they agreed with the word of God what said he surely you mistook the matter you will refer your selves wholly to us therein No by the Faith I bear to God said I we will pass nothing before we understand what it is for that were but to make you Popes make you Popes who list said I for we will make you none And sure M r Speaker the Speech seemed to me to be a Pope-like Speech and I fear lest our Bishops do attribute this of the Popes Canons unto themselves Papa non potest errare for surely if they did not they would reform things amiss and not to spurn against Gods People for writing therein as they do but I can tell them News they do but kick against the prick for undoubtedly they both have and do err and God will reveal his truth maugre the hearts of them and all his Enemie for great is the truth and it will prevail and to say the truth it is an Error to think that Gods Spirit is tied only to them for the Heavenly Spirit saith first seek the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof and all these things meaning temporal shall be given you these words were not spoken to the Bishops only but to all and the Writ M r Speaker that we are called up by is chiefly to deal in Gods Cause so that our Commission both from God and our Prince is to deal in Gods Causes therefore the accepting of such Messages and taking them in good part do highly offend God and is the acceptation of the breach of the Liberties of this Honourable Councel for is it not all one thing to say Sirs you shall deal in such matters only as to say you shall not deal in such matters and so as good to have Fools and Flatterers in the House as men of Wisdom grave Judgment faithful Hearts and sincere Consciences for they being taught what they shall do can give
consideration of such as you shall think convenient And that you may the better judge of that which I shall propound it is requisite that I put you in remembrance First how the Queen found the Realm next how she hath restored and conserved it and thirdly how we stand now Touching the first no man can be ignorant how that our most gracious Queen at her Entring found this noble Realm by reason of the evil Government preceeding miserably over-whelmed with Popery dangerously afflicted with War and grievously afflicted with Debts the burthen of which three cannot be remembred without grief especially if we call to mind how this Kingdom being utterly delivered from the Usurped Tyranny of Rome and that many years together was nevertheless by the iniquity of later time brought back again into the former Captivity to the great thraldom both of Body and Soul of all the People of this Land A wretched time and wretched Ministers to bring to pass so wretched and wicked an Act to strengthen this Bondage of Rome We saw how there was brought hither a strong Nation to press our Necks again into the Yoke terrible this was to all the Inhabitants of this Land and so would have proved if their abode had been here so long as was to be feared from them and by their occasion came the War that we entred into with France and Scotland and not upon any Quarrel of our own but to help them forward to their great advantage and our great loss and shame by means whereof and of other disorders the Realm grew into great Debt both at home and abroad and so was left to the intollerable loss and charge of her Majesty and the State The Realm being thus miserably oppressed with Popery with War and with Debts the Queen our most Gracious Soveraign hath thus restored and conserved it she hath delivered us from the Tyrannous Yoke of Rome and restored again the most Holy Religion of the Gospel not slacking any time therein but even at the first doing that which was for the Honour of God to the unspeakable joy of all good Subjects But adventuring thereby the malice of the mighty Princes of the World her Neighbours being Enemies of our Religion whereby it did appear how much she preferred the Glory of our God before her own Quietness this done she made Peace with France and Scotland the one a mighty Nation the other though not so Potent yet in regard of their nearness and of their Habitation with us upon our Continent more dangerous which may easily appear by consideration of former times wherein it hath been seen how dangerous Scottish Wars have proved to this Realm above those of any other Nation But such hath been the Providence of our Gracious Queen as the Peace with Scotland which in times past was found very tickle is now become so firm as in no Age there hath been so long and so good Peace between them and us And that is brought to pass the rather for that her Majesty by two notable Exploits with her Forces the one to Lieth and another to Edenburgh-Castle hath both quieted that Realm and taken away all occasions of Hostility that might arise against this Country also by the first delivering Scotland from the French which had so great a footing there as without aid from hence they must needs in short time have Tyrannized over that Country to their perpetual servitude and to the peril also of this Country being so near them and they so ill Neighbours to dwell by And by the second ending and putting out the fire of the Civil Wars amongst them to the preservation of their young King and the perpetual quietness of that Realm both which as they have brought unto her Majesty great and immortal Honor and Renown and to this Country and that Peace and Surety So you cannot but think therewith upon the Charges which necessarily follow such two Journeys furnished by Land and by Sea as for the atchieving of so great Enterprizes was requisite What her Majesty hath done besides for the suppressing of a dangerous and unnatural Rebellion practised by the Pope the most principal and malicious Enemy of this State and put in ure by certain undutiful Subjects in the North parts of this Realm was seen so late even in your view as it needeth not to be remembred neither the charge that belongeth to a matter of such importance as did threaten the utter ruine to our most Gracious Soveraign and to all the People of this Land if God of his Mercy had not prevented it Notwithstanding all which costly Journies both into Scotland and within the Realm her Majesty hath most carefully and providently delivered this Kingdom from a great and weighty Debt wherewith it hath been long burthened A Debt begun four years at the least before the Death of King Henry the Eighth and not cleared until within these two years and all that while running upon Interest a course able to eat up not only private men and their Patrimonies but also Princes and their Estates but such hath been the care of this time as Her Majesty and the State is clearly freed from that eating corrosive the truth whereof may be testified by the Citizens of London whose Bonds under the Common Seal of the City of assurance of payment being usually given and renewed and which have hanged so many years to their great danger and to the peril of the whole traffick are now all discharged cancelled and delivered into the Chamber of London to their own hands By means whereof the Realm is not only acquitted of this great burthen and the Merchants free but also her Majesties credit thereby both at home and abroad greater than any other Prince for money if she have need and so in reason it ought to be for that she hath kept Promise to all men wherein other Princes have often failed to the hindrance of many Lastly for this point how the Justice of this Realm is preserved and ministred to her People by her Majesties political and just Government is so well known to all men as our Enemies are driven to confess that Justice which is the Band of all Common-Wealths doth so tie and link together all degrees of Persons within this Land as there is suffered here no violence no oppression no respect of persons in Judgment but Jus equabile used to all indifferently All which godly provident and wise acts in Government have brought forth these effects that we be in Peace and all our Neighbours in War that we be in quietness at home and safe enough from troubles abroad that we live in Wealth and all Prosperity and that which is the greatest we enjoy the freedom of our Consciences delivered from the Bondage of Rome wherewith we were so lately oppressed and thus we stand But for all this as wise Mariners in calm weather do most diligently prepare their tackles and provide to withstand attempts that may happen even
that she hath right not to succeed but to enjoy your Crown in possession and therefore as she is a most impatient Competitor acquainted with blood so will she not spare any means that may take you from us being the only Lett that she enjoyeth not her desire She is hardned in malice against your Royal Person notwithstanding that you have done her all favour mercy and kindness as well in preserving her Kingdom as saving her Life and Honour And therefore there is no place for mercy where there is no hope of amendment or that she will desist from most wicked Attempts The rather for that her malice appeareth such as that she maketh as it were her Testament of the same to be executed after her death and appointeth her Executors to perform the same She affirmeth it lawful to move Invasion therefore as of Invasion Victory may ensue and of Victory the death of the vanquished so doth she not obscurely profess it lawful to destroy you She holds it not only lawful but honourable also and meritorious to take your life c. being deprived of your Crown by her holy Father and therefore she will as she hath continually done seek it by all means whatsoever She is greedy of your death and preferreth it before her own life for in her late direction to some of her Complices she willed whatsoever became of her the Tragical Execution should be performed on you There is by so much the more danger to your Person since the Sentence than before by how much it behoveth them that would preserve her or advance her to hasten your death now or never before Execution done upon her as knowing that you and none else can give direction for her death and that by your death the Sentence hath lost the force of Execution and otherwise they should come too late if they take not the present opportunity to help her Her Friends hold Invasion unprofitable while you live and therefore in their opinion your death is first and principally to be sought as the most compendious way to ruine the Realm by Invasion Some of the eldest and wisest Papists set it down for a special good drift to occupy you with conceit that the preservation of her Life is the safety of your own and therefore you may be assured that they verily think that her life will be your death and destruction Secondly Forasmuch as concerns Religion It is most perillous to spare her that hath continually breathed the overthrow and suppression of the same being poysoned with Popery from her tender Youth and at her Age joyning in that false termed Holy League and ever since and now a professed Enemy of the Truth She resteth wholly upon Popish hopes to be delivered and advanced and is so devoted and doted in that profession that she will as well for satisfaction of others as feeding her own humor supplant the Gospel where and whensoever she may Which evil is so much the greater and the more to be avoided as that it slayeth the Soul and will spread it self not only over England and Scotland but also into all parts beyond the Seas where the Gospel of God is maintained the which cannot but be exceedingly weakened if defection should be in these two most valiant Kingdoms Thirdly For as much as concerns the happy Estate of this Realm The Lydians say Unum Regem agnoscunt Lydii duos autem tolerare non possunt So we say Unam Reginam Elizabetham agnoscunt Angli duas autem tolerare non possunt And therefore since she saith that she is Queen here and we neither can nor will acknowledge any other but you to be our Queen It will follow if she prevail she will rather make us slaves than take us for Children and therefore the Realm sigheth and groaneth under fear of such a Step-Mother She hath already provided us a Foster-Father and a Nurse the Pope and the King of Spain into whose hands if it should mis-happen us to fall what can we else look for but ruine destruction and utter extirpation of goods lands lives honour and all Whilst she shall live the enemies of the State will hope and gape after your death By your death they trust to make Invasion profitable for them which cannot be but the same should be most lamentable for us and therefore it is meet to cut off the head of that hope As she hath already by her poysoned baits brought to destruction more Noble men and their Houses and a great multitude of Subjects during her being here than she would have done if she had been in possession of her own Country and armed in the field against us so will she still be continually cause of the like spoil to the greater loss and peril of this Estate and therefore this Realm neither can or may endure her Her Sectaries do write and print that we be at our wits end worlds end if she over-live your Majesty meaning thereby that the end of our world is the beginning of theirs and therefore take her away and their world will be at an end before it begin Since the sparing of her in the 14 th year of your Reign Popish Traytors and Recusants have multiplied exceedingly And if you spare her now again they will grow both innumerable and invincible also And therefore now in the 4 th place Mercy in this case would in the end prove cruelty against us all Nam est quaedam crudelis misericordia And therefore to spare her is to spill us She is only a Cousin to you in a remote degree but we be Sons and Children of this land whereof you be not only the natural Mother but also the Wedded Spouse And therefore much more is due from you to us all than to her alone It would exceedingly grieve and wound the hearts of your loving Subjects if they should see so horrible Vice not condignly punished if any be wavering it will win them to the worser part and many will seek to make their own peace Wherefore as well for the comfort of the one as stay of the other and retaining of all It is most needful that Justice be done upon her Thousands of your loving Subjects of all degrees which have for special zeal of your safety made Oath before God to pursue to death by all forcible and possible means such as she is by just sentence found to be cannot save their Oaths if you keep her alive for then either we must take her life from her without direction which will be to our extream danger by the offence of your Law or else we must suffer her to live against our express Oath which will be to the uttermost peril of our own Souls wherewith no Act of Parliament nor power of man whatsoever can in any wise dispense And therefore seeing it resteth wholly in you by a most worthy and just execution of this sentence to keep us upright and free us in both we most humbly and earnestly
except those before-named went free and were never called in question that I heard of And thus far it is inserted out of the aforesaid Anonymous Journal On Monday the 26 th day of February the Bill for reducing disloyal Subjects to their due Obedience had its first reading Upon a Motion made by M r George Moore touching some questions for the manner of Election of one Richard Hutton returned into this House one of the Burgesses for the Borough of Southwark in the County of Surrey and supposed to have been indirectly made and so prayed to be further Examined by some Committee of this House and then to be reported over to this House for the further Order of this House in the same And upon another Motion thereupon also made by M r Wroth for a Committee for the Liberties and Priviledges of the Members of this House and their Servants it is upon the question Ordered that all the Members of this House being of her Majesties Privy-Council Sir William Moore M r Serjeant Yelverton M r Robert Wroth M r Recorder of London M r Heyle M r Conisby M r Miles Sands M r Attorney of the Wards M r Attorney of the Dutchy M r William Howard Sir Henry Cooke Sir Francis Godolphin Sir George Moore Sir Walter Raleigh Sir Francis Drake M r Tanfield M r Francis Bacon M r Lewkenor Sir John Harrington M r Emersam Sir Edward Hobby M r Lawrence Stourton M r Beale M r Doctor James Sir Henry Duton M r Doctor Caesar M r Tasborough Sir Moyle Finch Sir Thomas Cecill and Sir Francis Hastings shall during all this present Sessions of Parliament examine and make report of all such Cases touching the Elections and Returns of any the Knights Citizens Burgesses and Barons of this House and also all such Cases for priviledge as in any wise may occur or fall out during all the same Sessions of Parliament to the end this House upon the Reports of the same Examinations may proceed to such further course in every the same Cases as to this House shall be thought meet And it is further Ordered that the said Committees do meet upon Wednesday next in the Exchequer Chamber at three of the Clock in the Afternoon to examine the manner of the said Election of the said Richard Hutton and also any other case of Elections Returns or Priviledges whatsoever in question which shall be moved unto them by any Member of this House at their Pleasure And notice was then also given in the House to all the Members of the same that in all these Cases they might from time to time repair to the said Committees as occasion shall serve accordingly The Bill touching salted Fish and salted Herrings had its first reading Sir Robert Cecill Sir John Wolley Sir John Fortescue Sir Edward Stafford and M r Francis Bacon having severally delivered most manifest and apparent reasons of the inevitable necessity both of present consultation and also of present Provision of Treasure to prevent and withstand the great imminent perils and dangers of this Realm intended against the same by the King of Spain the Pope and other Confederates of the Holy League The said Sir Robert Cecill Sir John Fortescue Sir John Wolley and M r Francis Bacon laying open the sundry particular practices of the King of Spain against the State of this Realm attempted both in Ireland the Low Countries France and Scotland do each of them in the end conclude and move That a grave Committee of this House be presently selected to have Conference touching some fit course to be taken for the said consultation and provision of Treasure And thereupon it was upon the Question Ordered and Assented to by the whole House Nota That this is all that is found in the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons touching these Speeches which because they contain many Excellent Passages concerning the History of these times of her Majesty I have therefore supplied at large Sir Edward Staffords Speech only excepted which was wanting there also out of a very Elaborate Journal of the same House taken by some Anonymous Member thereof at this Parliament which is mentioned more at large in the beginning of this present Journal Sir Robert Cecill spake first and said As I remember I have been of this House these five Parliaments and I have not determined to say any thing in these Assemblies further than my Cogitations should concur with my Conscience in saying bare I or No. Give me leave I pray you to rehearse an old saying and it is in Latin Nec te collaudes nec te vituperes ipse for me to do the one were exceeding arrogancy and to do the other I do confess I hope you will pardon me The occasion of this Parliament as I take it by that which we received from the Honourable and Learned Speech of the Lord Keeper of and from her Majesty to us in the Higher House is for the cause of Religion and maintenance thereof amongst us the preservation of her Majesties most Royal Person and the good of this Realm of our Country All which because they be things of most dear and greatest price and at this present in exceeding great and imminent danger it is most behoofful to consult of speedy remedies which should proceed from the wisest Heads The Enemy to these is the King of Spain whose malice and ambition is such as together with the Pope that Antichrist of Rome for I may well couple them together the one being always accompanied with envy at our Prosperity the other with unsatiable desire makes them by all means to seek the Subversion of the State But concerning the first the cause of God and his Religion which her Majesty professed before she came to sit in this Royal Seat which she hath defended and maintained and for which cause God hath so blessed her Government since her coming to the Crown Yea while the Crown was scarce warm on her Head she abolished the Authority of Rome and did set up Gods truth amongst us and to her great renown made this little Land to be a Sanctuary for all the persecuted Saints of God whereby the people perceived her Magnanimity Zeal and Judgment Magnanimity in undertaking so great an Enterprize Zeal in professing the same not for the shew but of sincerity Judgment in defending it and preventing all his designs He sent forth his Bulls and Missives against her Majesty thereby most unnaturally depriving her of her most natural right the Duty and Loyalty which her Subjects should owe unto her c. He touched the many dangers her Majesty had been in which as it caused him to fear to think so did he tremble to speak concerning the danger of her Country and so the loss of our Lives Liberties Wives Children and all other Priviledges Let me not trouble you with things past so long and perhaps beyond my reach but with things past of late years and since Eighty eight When
all nothing but my daily Industry Neither from my Person or Nature doth this choice arise for he that supplieth this place ought to be a man bigg and comely stately and well spoken his voice great his carriage Majestical his Nature haughty and his Purse plentiful and heavy but contrarily the stature of my body is small my self not so well spoken my voice low my carriage Lawyer-like and of the common fashion my Nature soft and bashful my Purse thin light and never yet plentiful Wherefore I now see the only cause of this choice is a gracious and favourable censure of your good and undeserved Opinions of me But I most humbly beseech you recal this your sudden Election And therefore because the more sudden the sooner to be recalled But if this cannot move your sudden choice yet let this one thing perswade you that my self not being gracious in the Eye of her Majesty neither ever yet in account with any great Personages shall deceive your expectation in those weighty matters and great affairs which should be committed unto me For if Demosthenes being so learned and eloquent as he was one whom none surpassed trembled to speak before Phocion at Athens how much more shall I being unlearned and unskillful supply this place of dignity charge and trouble to speak before so many Phocions as here be yea which is the greatest before the unspeakable Majesty and Sacred Personage of our dread and dear Soveraign The terror of whose countenance will appall and abase even the stoutest heart yea whose very name will pull down the greatest courage For how mightily doth the estate and name of a Prince deject the haughtiest Stomach even of their greatest Subjects I beseech you therefore again and again to proceed unto a new Election here being many better able more sufficient and far more worthy than my self both for the Honour of this Assembly and general good to the publick State Thus far out of the aforesaid fragmentary and imperfect Journal the rest that follows is out of the Original Journal-Book it self After which Speech of Serjeant Yelverton's the Right Honourable Sir John Forteseue Knight one other of her Highness said most Honourable Privy-Council and Chancellor of her Majesties Exchequer stood up and affirming all the said former Speech of the said M r Comptroller in the Commendation and good parts of the said M r Serjeant Yelverton and inferring further that he the said M r Chancellor had well perceived by the said M r Serjeants own Speech tending to the disabling of himself to the said place that he was thereby so much the more sufficient and meet for the same And so for his part likewise nominating the said M r Serjeant Yelverton to be their Speaker moved the House further for their liking and resolution therein who all with one accord and consent yielded unto the said Election Whereupon the said M r Comptroller and M r Chancellor did rise up and place the said M r Serjeant Yelverton in the Chair Which done the said M r Serjeant after some small pause stood up and giving unto the whole House most hearty thanks for their good opinions and conceit of him signified unto them nevertheless that by their good favours he would endeavour when he should come before her Majesty to be an humble Suitor unto her Highness to be discharged of the said place if he so could And immediately the House did rise and were to meet there again upon the Thursday next following On Thursday the 27 th day of October the House being set and before M r Speaker went up to her Majesty in the Upper House M r Chancellor of the Exchequer moved and admonished that none of this House should after this present day enter into the same House with their Spurs on for offending of others and withal that none do come into this House before they have paid the Serjeants Fees of this House due unto him according to the accustomed usage of this House in that case M r Speaker with the greatest number of the Members of this House after their abiding along time silent and attending her Majesties Pleasure from the Upper House to be sent for thither did go out of this House towards the said Upper House there to be the more near and ready to come before her Highness in the said Upper House at such time as her Majesty should please to send for them And afterwards being admitted and the said Speaker presented and allowed by her Majesty according to the usual form in that case accustomed and returning back again from the said Upper House attended by the Serjeant of this House bearing the Mace before him upon his aforesaid allowance in the Upper House in the said place of Prolocutor he took his place in the Chair and being there set signified unto the House that whereas in former times the Order was to have a Bill read before the House did rise the same could not be so done at this time because her Majesty had in the Upper House Adjourned this Parliament till Saturday next come seven-night being the 5 th of November next coming at eight of the Clock in the Forenoon of the same day till which time he and all the Members of this House might depart and take their ease And so then every man went his way Nota That this was a mistake of M r Serjeant Yelverton now Speaker of the House of Commons for the Adjournment in the Upper House did not nor could not hinder the reading of a Bill in the House of Commons upon the allowance of their Speaker in the said Upper House and their return from it according to the antient use and custom although the Adjournment of the Parliament by her Majesty being present in the said House is for the most part accounted an Adjournment of both the Houses To make which truth more clear there shall need no other Precedent to be cited than that in the last Parliament de An. 35 Regin Eliz. where Edward Cooke Esquire the Queens Sollicitor being chosen Speaker of the beforementioned Commons House was presented unto her Majesty upon Thursday the 22 th day of February and the words there were Dominus Custos magni Sigilli ex mandato Dominae Reginae continuavit praesens Parliamentum c. to the next Saturday following by which very words the Parliament was also continued at this time unto the Saturday seven-night after And then upon the return of the said M r Cooke their Speaker to the House of Commons in the said thirty fifth year of her Majesty an ordinary Bill touching the pleading of a Bar at large in an Ejectione firmae had its first reading although after the reading he there declared that it was her Majesties pleasure that the said House should be Adjourned and not meet again until the said Saturday on which the Upper House met again also And therefore it is plain that M r Serjeant Yelverton did at this time not
Apology for my self I have held the favour of this House as dear as my Life and I have been told that I deserved to be taxed Yesterday of the House I protest my Zeal to have the business go forward in a right and hopeful course and my fear to displease her Majesty by a harsh and rash proceeding made me so much to lay aside my discretion that I said it might rather be termed a School than a Council or to that effect But by this Speech if any think I called him School-Boy he both wrongs me and mistakes me Shall I tell you what Demosthenes said to the Clamours which the Athenians made that they were Pueriles dignos pueris And yet that was to a popular State And I wish that whatsoever is here spoken may be buried within these Walls Let us take Example of the Jewish Synagogue who would always Sepelire Senatum cum honore and not blast their own Follies and Imperfections If any man in this House speak wisely we do him great wrong to interrupt him if foolishly let us hear him out we shall have the more cause to tax him And I do heartily pray that no Member of this House may plus verbis offendere quà m consilio juvare M r Francis Moore said I must confess M r Speaker I moved the House both the last Parliament and this touching this point but I never meant and I hope this House thinketh so to set limits and bounds to the Prerogative Royal. But now seeing it hath pleased her Majesty of her self out of the abundance of her Princely goodness to set at liberty her Subjects from the thraldom of those Monopolies from which there was no Town City or Country free I would be bold in one motion to offer two considerations to this House The first that M r Speaker might go unto her Majesty to yield her most humble and hearty thanks and withal to shew the joy of her Subjects for their delivery and their thankfulness unto her for the same The other that where divers Speeches have been made extravagantly in this House which doubtless have been told her Majesty and perhaps all ill conceived of by her I would therefore that M r Speaker not only should satisfy her Majesty by way of Apology therein but also humbly crave pardon for the same Mr. Wingfield said My heart is not able to conceive the joy which I feel and I assure you my Tongue cannot utter the same If a sentence of Everlasting happiness had been pronounced unto me it could not have made me shew more outward joy than now I do which I cannot refrain to express and here as I think he wept There could nothing have been more acceptable to the Subject than this Message And I verily think if ever any of her Majesties words be meritorious before God this is I do agree withall my heart in the first part of the Gentlemans motion that last spake but do utterly mislike the latter For it is not to be intended we should have had so good and gratious a Message if the truth of some particular Speeches had been delivered unto her And now for us to accuse our selves by excusing a fault with which we are not charged were a thing in my opinion inconvenient and unfitting the wisdom of this House Mr. George Moore spake to the same effect Sir Francis Bacon spake to the same effect also and in the end concluded thus Neseio quid peccati portet haec purgatio So it was put to the question and concluded That thanks should be returned by the Speaker and some twelve were named to go with him as a convenient number and intreaty made to the Privy Council to obtain liberty to be admitted On Thursday the 26 th day of November the Bill for the Amendment of the Highway called Double sole Green in the County of Middlesex was read the first time Mr. Fretchvill offered to the consideration of the House a Bill to reform the abuses in weights and measures and declared the necessity of reformation therein and prayeth the reading Two Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill touching Feltmakers was read the second time and committed unto the Knights and Citizens for London Sir George Moore the Knights for Middlesex and Surrey Mr. Wiseman and others who were appointed to meet upon Saturday next in the Middle-Temple Hall at two of the Clock in the Afternoon Two Bills had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill for the better furnishing of her Majesties Navy Royal touching Cordage was upon the first reading rejected Mr. Doctor Parkins made Report of the meeting of the Committees in the Bill for the benefit of Merchants and advancement of her Majesties Custom And that the Committees do think it a Bill in their opinions not to be any more dealt in by this House for many reasons by him delivered The Bill for the grant of four entire Subsidies and eight Fifteenths and Tenths granted by the Temporalty was read the first time Vide concerning this Bill on Saturday the 5 th day of December next following Mr. Jones one of the Committees in the Bill for Landoveroure who were appointed on Tuesday the 24 th of this instant November foregoing certifieth in the Bill with some Amendments therein by the Committees M r Secretary Cecill said If I should tell you otherwise than truth in matter of so great consequence I should need no other process than my own Conscience That to so gratious a Message there was never returned more infinite thanks we all are assured From the Queen I have received a short Answer in these words You can give me no more thanks for that which I have promised than I can and will give you thanks for that which you have already performed meaning the Subsides and Fifteenths So inseparable are the qualities of the Prince and the Subject Good for the one and for the other If by true interpretation of the Law Voluntas reputatur pro facto you shall not need your good will being already known use any actual thanks neither will she receive any till by a more affected consummation she hath compleated that work at that time she will be well pleased to receive your thanks and to return to you her best favours Vide concerning this matter on Saturday the 5 th day of December following On Friday the 27 th day of November four Bills had each of them one reading of which the last being the Bill for the enlarging of the Statute of the first year of her Majesties Reign touching the breed of Fish was read the first time and rejected Two Bills of like consequence had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill for the true payment of Tythes within the Walls of the City of Norwich was read the second time and committed unto the Citizens for Norwich Sir Francis Hastings M r