Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	good_a	king_n	power_n	4,538	5	4.8909	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A70276	Divers historicall discourses of the late popular insurrections in Great Britain and Ireland tending all, to the asserting of the truth, in vindication of Their Majesties / by James Howell ... ; som[e] of which discourses were strangled in the presse by the power which then swayed, but now are newly retreev'd, collected, and publish'd by Richard Royston.	Howell, James, 1594?-1666.	1661 (1661)	Wing H3068; ESTC R5379	146,929	429

him poorer then the meanest of all his vassals they have made him to have no propriety in house goods or Lands or as one may say in his wife and children 'T was usual for the father to hunt in his Park while the son hunted for his life in the field for the wife 〈◊〉 lie in his bedds while the husband layed wait to murther him abroad they have seiz'd upon and sold his privat Hangings an●… Plate yea his very Cabinets Jewels Pictures Statues and Books Nor are they the honorablest sort of peeple and men nobly extracted as in Scotland that do all this for then it were not so much to be wondred at but they are the meanest sort of Subjects many of them illiterat Mechaniques wherof the lower House is full specially the subordinat Committees who domineer more o're Nobles and Gentry then the Parliament Members themselfs their Masters use to do Touching those few Peers that sit now voting in the upper House they may be said to be but meer Cyphers they are grown so degenerat as to suffer the Commons to give them the Law to ride upon their backs and do most things without them Ther be many thousand Petitions that have bin recommended by these Lords to the lower House which are scornfully thrown into corners and never read their Messengers have us'd to dance attendance divers hours and days before they were vouchsafed to be let in or heard to the eternal dishonour of those Peers and yet poor spirited things they resent it not The Commons now command all and though as I am inform'd they are summon'd thither by the Kings Original Writ but to consent to what the King and his Great Counsel of Peers which is the tru Court of Parlement shall resolve upon The Commons I say are now from Consenters become the chiefest Counsellors yea Controulers of all nay som of this lower House fly so high as to term themselfs Conquerors and though in all conferences with the Lords they stand bare before them yet by a new way of mix'd Committees they carry themselfs as Collegues These are the men that now have the vogue and they have made their Priviledges so big swoln that they seem to have quite swallowed up both the Kings Prerogatives and those of the Lords These are the Grandees and Sages of the times though most of them have but crack'd braines and crazy fortunes God wot Nay som of them are such arrand Knaves and coxcombs that 't is questionable whether they more want common honesty or common sense nor know no more what belongs to tru policy then the left leg of a joynt-stool They are grown so high a tiptoes that they seem to scorn an Act of Amnestia or any grace from their King wheras som of them deserve to be hang'd as oft as they have haires upon their heads nor have they any more care of the common good of England then they have of Lapland so they may secure their own persons and continue their Power now Authority is sweet though it be in Hell Thus my Lord is England now govern'd so that 't is an easie thing to take a prospect of her ruine if she goes on this pace The Scot is now the swaying man who is the third time struck into her bowels with a numerous Army They say he hath vow'd never to return till he hath put the Crown on the Kings head the Scept●…r in his hand and the sword by his side if he do so it will be the best thing that ever he did though som think that he will never be able to do England as much good as he hath done her hurt He hath extremely out-witted the English of late years And they who were the causers of his first and last coming in I hold to be the most pernicious Enemies that ever this Nation had for t is probable that Germany viz. Ponterland and Breme will be sooner free of the Swed then England of the Scot who will stick close unto him like a bur that he cannot shake him off He is becom already Master of the Englishmans soul by imposing a Religion upon him and he may hereafter be master of his body Your Eminence knows there is a periodicall fate hangs over all Kingdoms after such a revolution of time and rotation of fortunes wheele the cours of the world hath bin for one Nation like so many nailes to thrust out another But for this Nation I observe by conference with divers of the saddest and best weighdst men among them that the same presages foretell their ruine as did the Israelites of old which was a murmuring against their Governors It is a long time that both Iudges Bishops and privy Counsellors have bin mutter'd at whereof the first shold be the oracles of the Law the other of the Gospell the last of State-affaires and that our judgments shold acquiesce upon theirs Here as I am inform'd 't was common for evry ignorant client to arraign his Iudg for evry puny Curat to censure the Bishop for evry shallow-brain home-bred fellow to descant upon the results of the Councell Table and this spirit of contradiction and contumacy hath bin a long time fomenting in the minds of this peeple infus'd into them principally by the Puritanicall Faction Touching the second of the three aforesaid I mean Bishops they are grown so odious principally for their large demeanes among this peeple as the Templers were of old and one may say it is a just judgment fallen upon them for they were most busy in demolishing Convents and Monasteries as these are in destroying Cathedralls and Ministers But above all it hath bin observ'd that this peeple hath bin a long time rotten-hearted towards the splendor of the Court the glory of their King and the old establish'd Government of the land 'T is true there were a few small leakes sprung in the great vessel of the St●…te and what vessel was ever so ●…ite but was subject to leakes but these wise-akers in stopping of one have made a hundred Yet if this Kings raign were parallell'd to that of Queen Elizabeth's who was the greatest Minion of a peeple that ever was one will find that she stretch'd the Prerogative much further In her time as I have read in the Latin Legend of her life som had their hands cut off for only writing against her matching with the Duke of Aniou others were hang'd at Tyburn for traducing her government she pardon'd thrice as many Roman Priests as this King did she pass'd divers Monopolies she kept an Agent at Rome she sent her Sergeant at Armes to pluck out a Member then sitting in the House of Commons by the eares and clapt him in prison she call'd them sawcy fellowes to meddle with her Prerogative or with the government of her houshold she mannag'd all forren affaires specially the warrs with Ireland soly by her privy Counsell yet there was no murmuring at her raign and the reason I conceave to be

Gentry and Servants and the enemy was hard by ready to face Him At the concluding of the Irish Cessation His Majesty was not there personally present but it was agitated and agreed on by his Commissioner and it hath been held alwaies less dishonourable for a King to capitulate in this kind with his own Subjects by his Deputy then in his own person for the further off he is the lesse reflects upon him 2. Upon the Pacification and Peace with Scotland there was an Amnestia a generall pardon and an abolition of all by-passed offences published there were honours and offices conferred upon the chiefest sticklers in the War At the Cessation in Ireland there was no such thing 3. When the Pacification and Peace was made with the Scots there was mony given unto Them as it is too well knowne But upon the setling of this Cessation the Irish received none but gave His Majesty a considerable summe as an argument of their submission and gratitude besides the maintainance of some of his Garrisons in the interim and so much partly in point of honour 4. At the concluding of the Pacification and Peace with Scotland there was a vigorous fresh unfoiled English Army a foot and in perfect equipage there wanted neither Ammunition Armes Money Cloaths Victuals or any thing that might put heart into the Souldier and elevat his spirits But the Protestant Army in Ireland had not any of all these in any competent proportion but were ready to perish though there had been no other enemy then hunger and cold And this implies a farre greater necessity for the said Cessation 5. In Ireland there was imminent danger of an instant losse of the whole Kingdome and consequently the utter subversion of the Protestant Religion there as was certified both to King and Parliament by sundry letters and petitions which stand upon record There was no such danger in the affairs of Scotland either in respect of Religion or Kingdome therefore there was more piety shown in preserving the one and prudence in preserving the other in Ireland by plucking both as it were out of the very jawes of destruction by the said Cessation We know that in the Medley of mundane casualties of two evils the least is to be chosen and a small inconvenience is to be born withall to prevent a greater If one make research into the French Story he will find that many kinds of Pacifications and Suspensions of Armes were covenanted 'twixt that King and som of his Subjects trenching far more upon regall dignity then this in Ireland The Spaniard was forced to declare the Hollanders Free-states before they could be brought to treat of a truce And now the Catalans scrue him up almost to as high conditions But what need I rove abroad so far It is well known nor is it out of the memory of man in Queen Elizabeths raign that in Ireland it self ther have bin Cessations all circumstances well weighed more prejudiciall to Majesty then this But that which I hear murmured at most as the effect of this Cessation is the transport of som of those Souldiers to England for recruting His Majesties Armies notwithstanding that the greatest number of them be perfect and rigid Protestants and were those whom our Parliament it self imployed against the Irish. But put case they were all Papists must His Majesty therfore be held a Favourer of Popery The late King of France might have bin said as well to have bin a Favourer of Hugonotts because in all his wars he imployed Them most of any in places of greatest trust against the House of Austria wheras all the World knows that he perfectly hated them in the generall and one of the reaches of policy he had was to spend and waste them in the wars Was it ever known but a Soveraign Prince might use the bodies and strength of his own naturall-born Subjects and Liege men for his own defence When His person hath been sought and aimed at in open field by small and great shot and all other Engines of hostility and violence When he is in danger to be surprized or besieg'd in that place wher he keeps his Court When all the flowers of his Crown his royal prerogatives which are descended upon him from so many successive progenitors are like to be plucked off and trampled under foot When ther is a visible plot to alter and overturn that Religion he was born baptized and bred in When he is in dan●…er to be forced to infringe that solemn Sacramental Oath he took at his Coronation to maintain the said Religion with the Rights and Rites of the holy Anglican Church which som brain-sick Schismaticks wold transform to a Kirk and her Discipline to som chimerical form of government they know not what Francis the first and other Christian Princes made use of the Turk upon lesse occasions and if one may make use of a Horse or any other bruit animal or any inanimat Engine or Instrument for his own defence against man much more may man be used against man much more may one rational Creature be used against another though for destructive ends in a good cause specially when they are commanded by a Soveraign head which is the main thing that goes to justifie a war Now touching the Roman Catholicks whether English Welsh Irish or Scottish which repaire to his Majesties Armies either for service or security He looks not upon them ●…s Papists but as his Subjects not upon their Religion but their allegiance and in that ●…uality he entertains them Nor can the Pa●…ist be denyed the Character of a good Subject all the while he conforms himself to the Lawes in generall and to those lawes also that are particularly enacted against him and so keeps himself within the bounds of his civil obedience As long as he continues so he may challenge protection from his Prince by way of right and if his Prince by som accident be not in case to protect him he is to give him leave to defend himself the best he can for the law of nature allowes every one to defend himself and ther is no positive law of man can annul the law of nature Now if the Subject may thus claim protection from his Prince it followeth the Prince by way of reciprocation may require assistance service and supplies from the Subject upon all publick occasions as to suppress at this time a new race of Recusants which have done more hurt then ever the old did and are like to prove more dangerous to his Crown and regal Authority then any foreign enemy But whosoever will truly observe the genius and trace the actions of this fatal Faction which now swayes with that boundless exorbitant arbitrary and Antinomian power will find that it is one of their prime pieces of policy to traduce and falsifie any thing that is not conducible to their own ends Yet what comes from them must be so magisterial it must be so unquestionably

a rough account of a rambling Noctivagation up and down the world I may boldly say that neither Sir Iohn Mandevile or Coryat himself travell'd more in so short a time whence you see what nimble Postillions the Animal Spirits are and with what incredible celerity the imagination can crosse the Line cut the Tropiques and pass to the other Hemisphere of the world which shews that humane souls have somthing in them of the Almighty that their faculties have a kind of ubiquitary freedom though the body be never so under restraint as the Authors is They erre as much who think all Dreams false As They who think Them alwayes tru In the prison of the Fleet 3. Idus Decembris 1645. I. H. A VINDICATION OF HIS MAJESTY Touching a Letter He writ to Rome from the Court of Spain in Answer to a Letter which Pope Gregory the 15th had sent Him upon passing the Dispensation for concluding the Match with the I●…fanta Which Letter Mr. Pryn mention's in his Book call'd the Popish Royal Favorit wherby the World is apt to beleeve that His Majesty had Inclinations to Pope●…y Ther goe's also herewith A clearing of som Aspersions that the said Mr. Pryn cast's upon the Author hereof in the same Pamphlet viz. That he was a Malignant and no friend to Parlements WHERBY He takes occasion to speak somthing of the first Rise And also of the Duty as well as the Authority of Parlements To my worthily honor'd friend Sir W. S. Knight SIR I Have many thanks to give you for the Book you pleased to send me called the Popish Royal Favorite and according to your advice which I value in a high degree I did put pen to paper and somthing you may see I have done though in a poor pamphleting way to clear my self of those aspersions that seem to be cast upon His Majesty But truly Sir I was never so unfit for such a task all my Papers Manuscripts and Notes having bin long since seized upon and kept from me Adde hereunto that besides this long pressure and languishment of close restraint the sense wherof I find hath much stupified my spirits it pleased God to visit me lately with a dangerous fit of sickness a high burning fever with the new disease wherof my Body as well as my Mind is yet somwhat crazie so that take all afflictions together I may truly say I have passed the Ordeal the fiery Tryal But it hath pleased God to reprieve me to see better daies I hope for out of this fatal black Cloud which now ore-sets this poor Island I hope ther will break a glorious Sun-shine of peace and firm happinesse To effect which had I a Jury a grand-Jury of lives I wold sacrifice them all and triumph in the oblation So I most affectionately kiss your hands and rest Your faithfull though afflicted Servant From the Prison of the Fleet. I. H. The Pre-eminence and Duty OF PARLEMENT Sectio Prima I Am a Free-born Subject of the Realm of England wherby I claim as my native Inheritance an undoubted right propriety and portion in the Laws of the Land And this distinguisheth me from a slave I claim likewise protection from my Soverain Prince who as He is my Liege Lord is obliged to protect me and I being one of His Liege peeple am obliged to obey Him by way of Reciprocation I claim also an interest and common right in the High National Court of Parlement and in the power the priviledges and jurisdiction therof which I put in equal ballance with the Laws in regard it is the fountain whence they spring and this I hold also to be a principall part of my Birth-right which Great Councell I honour respect value and love in as high a degree as can be as being the Bulwark of our liberties the main boundary and bank which keeps us from slavery from the inundations of tyrannicall Rule and unbounded Will-government And I hold my self obliged in a tye of indispensable obedience to conform and submit my self to whatsoever shall be transacted concluded and constituted by its authority in Church or State with the Royal assent whether it be by making enlarging altering diminishing disanulling repealing or reviving of any Law Statute Act or Ordinance whatsoever either touching matters Ecclesiastical civil common capital criminall martial maritime municipall or any other of all which the transcendent and uncontrollable jurisdiction of that Court is capable to take cognizance Amongst the three things which the Athenian Captain thank'd the gods for one was That he was born a Grecian and not a Barbarian For such was the vanity of the Greeks and after them of the Romans in the flourish of their Monarchy to arrogat all civility to themselves and to terme all the world besides Barbarians so I may say to rejoyce that I was born a vassall to the Crown of England that I was born under so well-moulded and tempered a Government which endows the subject with such Liberties and infranchisements that bear up his naturall courage and keep him still in heart such Liberties that fence and secure him eternally from the gripes and tallons of Tyranny And all this may be imputed to the Authority and wisedome of this High Court of Parlement wherein there is such a rare co-ordination of power though the Soveraignty remain still entire and untransferrable in the person of the Prince there is such a wholsom mixture 'twixt Monarchy Optimacy and Democracy 'twixt Prince Peers and Commonalty during the time of consultation that of so many distinct parts by a rare co-operation and unanimity they make but one Body Politick like that shea●…e of arrows in the Emblem one entire concentricall peece the King being still the Head and the results of their deliberations but as so many harmonious diapasons arising from different strings And what greater immunity and happinesse can there be to a Peeple than to be liable to no Laws but what they make themselves to be subject to no contribution assessement or any pecuniary erogations whatsoever but what they Vote and voluntarily yeeld unto themselves For in this compacted Politick Body there be all degrees of peeple represented both the Mechanick Tradesman Merchant and Yeoman have their inclusive Vote as well as the Gentry in the persons of their Trustees their Knights and Burgesses in passing of all things Nor is this Soveraign Surintendent Councell an Epitome of this Kingdom only but it may be said to have a representation of the whole Universe as I heard a fluent well-worded Knight deliver the last Parliameut who compared the beautifull composure of that High Court to the great work of God the World it self The King is as the Sun the Nobles the fixed Stars the Itineant judges and other Officers that go upon Messages 'twixt both Houses to the Planets the Clergy to the Element of fire the Commons to the solid Body of Earth and the rest of the Elements And to pursue this comparison a little