Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	defence_n	english_a	great_a	31	3	2.0652	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A05354	A treatise tovvching the right, title, and interest of the most excellent Princess Marie, Queene of Scotland, and of the most noble king Iames, her Graces sonne, to the succession of the croune of England VVherein is conteined asvvell a genealogie of the competitors pretending title to the same croune: as a resolution of their obiections. Compiled and published before in latin, and after in Englishe, by the right reuerend father in God, Iohn Lesley, Byshop of Rosse. VVith an exhortation to the English and Scottish nations, for vniting of them selues in a true league of amitie.; Defence of the honour of the right highe, mightye and noble Princesse Marie Quene of Scotlande and dowager of France. Selections	Leslie, John, 1527-1596.	1584 (1584)	STC 15507; ESTC S108494	94,307	147

matter groweth to faction and from factiō bursteth out to plain and open hostilitie wherevpō foloweth passing great perilles and oftentimes detestable alterations and subuersions of the plublick state For the better auoyding of suche and lyke inconueniences albeit at the beginning Princes reigned not by descent of blood and succession VVhy all the vvorld almost embraceth succession of princes rather than election but by choyse and election of the worthiest the world was for the most part constreyned to reiect and abandon election and so oftentimes in stead of a better and woorthier to take for their Gouernour some certain issue ofspring of one family though otherwyse perhappes not so mete VVhich defecte is so supplied partly by the greate benefit of the good reast and quyetnesse that the people vniuersally enioye by this course of succession and partly by the industrie and trauail of graue and sage personages whose counseil Princes doe vse in their affaires that the whole world in a manner these many thousand yeres hath embrased successiō by blood rather than by election And all politike Princes wanting issue of their own bodies to succede them haue euer had a speciall care foresight for auoyding of ciuil dissention that the people allwayes myght knowe the true and certain heyr apparent of the Croune specially when there appeared any lykelyhode of varitie of opinions or factions to ensue about the true and laufull succession in gouernement The care of English kinges to haue the successour to be knovvn This care and foresight doeth manifestly appear to haue bene not only in manye Princes of forain Countreis but also in the kynges of England aswell before as after the Conquest namely in S. Edward kyng of England that holie Confessour by declaring and appoynting Edgar Atheling his nephews fonne Flores hist anno 1057 to be his heyre as also in kynge Richard the first who before he interprised his Iourney to Ierusalem Richard Chanon of the Trinitie ī Londō assembled his Nobilitie and Commons together and by their consentes declared Arthure sonne of his brother Duke of Britain to be his next heir and Successour of the Croune Of whiche Arthure flores hist anno 1190 Poli. l. 14. as also of the sayd Edgar Atheling we will speake more hereafter This care also had king Richard the second what time by authoritie of Parlament he declared for heir apparent of the Croune the Lord Edmond Mortymer that Maried Philip daughter and heyr of his vnkle Leonell Polid. l. 20. duke of Clarence And to descend to later times the late kyng Henry the eight shewed as it is knowen his prudence and zelous care in this behalfe before his last voyage in to Fraunce And nowe if almightie God should as we be all bothe prince and others subiecte to mortall chaunces once bereaue the Realme of England of their present Queene the hartes and mindes of men being no better nor more firmely setled and stayed towardes the expectation of a certain succession than they seme now to be then woe alas it woundeth my very hart euen once to thinke vpon the imminent and almost ineuitable perilles of that noble Realme being lyke to be ouerwhelmed with the raiging roaring waues stormes of mutuall discorde and to be consumed with the terrible fire of ciuil dissention The feare whereof is the more by reason that already in these later yeres some flames of this horrible fire haue sparkled and flushed abroad some part of the rage of those fluddes haue beaten vpon the Englishe shores I mean the hote contention that hath there bene sturred in so many places and among so many persones Of bookes also dispersed abroode so many wayes fashioned framed as either depraued affection peruersely lusted or zelous defense of truthe sincerely moued men Seing therfore that there is iust cause of fear and of great daunger lykely to happen by this varietie of mennes myndes and opinions so diuersely affected aswell of the meaner sort of menne as of greate personages I take it to be the parte of euery naturall Englishe man of suche as fauoure them to labour and trauaile eache man for his possibilitie and for suche talent as God hath gyuen hym that this so imminent a mischiefe may be in conuenient time preuented VVe see what witt policye paynes and charges men employe with dammes weares and all kynde of ingenious deuises to prouide that the sea or other riuers doe not ouerflowe or burst the bankes in suche places as are most subiecte to suche daunger VVe knowe also what politike prouision is made in many good Cities and townes that no daungerous fires do aryse through negligence and that the furie therof if any happen may speedilye be repressed with diligence VVherein Augustus the Emperour among other his famours actes is woorthely commended honored for appointing in Rome an ordinary wache of seuen companies in seuerall places to preuent suche mischiefes as come by fyre being hereunto induced by reason that the Citie was set on fire in seuen seuerall places in one daye And shall not then euery man for his part and vocation haue a vigilant care and respect to extinguishe and quenche fuche a fyre alreadye bursten owt as may if the matter be not wyselye looked vnto subuert distroy and consume not one Citie onlye but also a whole Realme Countrye VVhiche to suppresse one ready and commodiouse waye as I thinke is that the Countrey men people of that nation may throughly vnderstand and knowe from time to time in what persone the right of succession of the Croune of that Realme doeth stande and remayne For now many men partly through ignorance of the sayd right title partly through sinister persuasion of some lewd pamphlets whereunto they haue too lightly giuen credit are seduced and caried away quite from the right opinion and good meaning whiche once they had conceiued and from the reuerence and duetie that they other wyse woulde and shoulde haue VVhiche corruption of Iudgement and opinion I doe hartely wishe to be plucked out of the hartes and mindes of men and shall in this Treatise doe my best indeuoure with moste strong reasons and prooses to remoue the same not presuminge vpon my selfe that I am better able than all others this to doe but vpon duety and zeal to open a waye fot the knoulege of trueth whiche by so many indirect meanes is restreined obscured and persecutde after reading and vewing of suche bookes and the argumentes therof as haue bene set forth by the aduersaires to the contrarie whiles I was in England Ambassador for my most gratiouse Soueraigne ladye the Quene of Scotland I attempted this woork not vnrequested of some noble personages then of great accompte nor without the aduise counsail and Iudgement of some verie skillfull in the customes lawes and statutes of that Realme VVherein I verily hope to showe suche good matter for euident demōstration of the truth as semeth to me

by the force of that surmised will whereby it might any thing appeare that king Henry the eight made any manner of limitation or assignatiō of the Croune to the heires of the Lady Francis VVherevpon it may well be gathered that either they knew of no suche limitation to the children of the Lady Francis by the said supposed will or toke it to be suche as could geue no good and lawfull force and strength to ayde and mainteine their vsurpation for the manifest forgerye of the same And therfore they purposely for ignorance can not be pretended in them kepte backe suppressed in the said Letters Patentes this pretensed limitation surmised to be made for the children of the said Lady Francis VVhiche neuethelesse the Aduersaries do nowe with so great and vehement asseueration blowe into al mens eares yet is it vtterly reiected and ouerthrowen if it were by nothing els than by these letters patēts for the pretensed title of the said Lady Iane. So that we nede to trauaile no further for any more proofe against the said asseueration But yet in case any man do loke for any other and more persuasion and proofe whiche as I sayd neede not ô the great prouidence of God ô his great fauour and goodnes to that Realme of the which it hath bene said Polid. li. 8 Regnum Angliae est regnum Dei and that God hath euer had a speciall care of it ô his great goodnes I say to this Realme euen in this case also For he hath opened and brought to light the verie truth of the matter whiche is burst out though neuer so craftily supressed and kept vnder VVe say then that the King neuer signed the pretensed will with his owne hande neither do we say it by bare hearsay or gather it by our former coniectures and presumptions onely though very effectuall and probable but by good and hable witnesses that auouche and iustifie of their owne certaine knowledge that the Stampe onely was put to the said wil that euen when the King him selfe was now dead or dyeing and past all remembrance The forgerie of this supposed vvill disclosed before the Parlament by the L. Paget The Lorde Paget being one of the priuie Counsaile with Queene Marie of his owne free will and godly motion for the honour of the Realme for reuerence of truth and iustice thoughe in the facte him selfe perhappes culpable but thereto by great authoritie forced did first of all men disclose the matter first to the said Counsaile then before the whole Parlament Sir Edward Mountegue also the chief Iustice that was priuie and present at the saide doinges did confesse the same as well before the Counsaile as before the Parlament Yea VVilliam Clarke ascribed among other pretensed witnesses confessed the premisses to be true And that him selfe put the stampe to the said will and afterward purchased his Charter of pardon for the said fact Vpon the which depositions well and aduisedly weighed and pondered Queene Marie with the aduise of her Counsaile to the honour of God and that Realme to the maintenance of trueth and iustice the rightful successiō of the Croune for the eschewing of many foule mischieffes that might vpon that forgerie ensue A vvorthy deede for a Prince to cancell false Recordes caused the Recorde of the said forged will remaining in the Chancerie to be cancelled defaced and abolished as not worthy to remaine among the true and sincere Recordes of that noble Realme VVhiche her noble facte deserueth immortalitie of eternall prayse and fame no lesse than the fact of the Romaines that abolished the name and memorie of the Tarquinians for the foule acte of Sextus Tarquinius in defiling Lucretia No lesse than the fact of the Ephesians Cicero 3. offic who made a lawe that the name of the wicked Herostratus should neuer be recorded in the bookes of any their Historiographers Sueton. de viris illustrib No lesse thā the fact of the familie of the Manlians at Rome taking a solemne othe that none among them should euer be called Capitolinus bycause M. Manlius Capitolinus had sought to oppresse his Countrey with tyrannie And to come nerer home no lesse than in England their forefathers deserued Bed lib. 3. histor Ecclesiast c. i. whiche quite rased out of the yeares and times the memorie and name of the wicked Apostates Osricus and Eanfridus numbring their tyme vnder the reigne of the good King Oswald The aduersaries therfore are muche to be blamed going about to staine and blotte the memorie of the said Queene and Magistrats as though they had done this thing disorderly and as though there had bene some special cōmoditie therein to them which is apparently falfe For as the said abolition was nothing beneficiall to other Magistrats so if it hadde bene a true and an vndoubted will the said Queene vould neuer haue caused it to be cancelled as well for her honour and conscience sake as for priuate respect seeing her owne royall estate was by the same set foorth cōfirmed Yet would they faine blemish and disgrace the testimonie of the said Lorde Paget and S. Edward Mountague They set against them eleuen witnesses thinking to matche and ouermatche them with the number But here it muste be remembred that though they be eleuen yet they are too slender and weake for the weight and importance of the matter It is againe to be remembred that often times the lawe doth as well weigh the credit as number the persons of the witnesses Aliàs saith Calistratus numerus aliàs dignitas authoritas confirmat rei L. testiū ff de testibus L. Ob carmen ibid. de qua agitur fidem According to this saith also Archadius Confirmabit Iudex motum animi sui ex argumentis testimoniis quae rei aptiora vero proximiora esse compererit Non enim ad multitudinem respicere oportet sed ad sinceram testimoniorum fidem testimonia quibus potius lux veritatis assistit It hath not lightly bene heard or sene that men of suche state vocation in so great and weightie a cause would incurre first the displeasure of God then of their Prince and of some other of the best sorte if their depositions were vntrue and would purchase them selues dishonour slaūder infamie yea disclose their owne shame to their owne no manner of way hoped cōmoditie nor to the commoditie of other their frendes No iust cause to repel the testimonie of the L. Paget and ohers or discommoditie and hurte of their enemies This sufficently doth purge them from all sinister suspicion for this their deposition and testimonie their deposition proceding as it plainly seemeth from no affectiō corruptiō or partialitie but from a zeale to the trueth and to the honour of the Realme And though perchance if they had bene thereof iudicialy conuicted condemned and had not by dew penance themselues reformed some exceptions might haue bene layed