Historical Collections OR An exact Account of the PROCEEDINGS OF THE Four last Parliaments OF Q. ELIZABETH Of Famous Memory Wherein is contained The COMPLEAT JOURNALS Both of the Lords Commons Taken from the Original RECORDS of their Houses AS ALSO The more particular Behaviours of the Worthy Members during all the last notable Sessions comprehending the Motions Speeches and Arguments of the Renowned and Learned Secretary Cecill Sir Francis Bacon Sir Walter Rawleigh Sir Edw. Hobby and divers other eminent Gentlemen Together with The most considerable Passages of the History of those times Faithfully and Laboriously Collected By Heywood Townshend Esq a Member in those Parliaments The like never Extant before LONDON Printed for T. Basset W. Crooke and W. Cademan at the George in Fleetstreet at the Green Dragon without Temple-bar and at the Popes-head in the New Exchange 1680. THE PREFACE TO The Reader THE whole Reign of our Renowned Queen Elizabeth was such a Series of admirable Events such a Pattern of wise and honest Counsel and steady Conduct such an age of hellish Plots and secret Conspiracies by the Papists on the one hand and such prudent Circumspection Female Courage and Zeal and happy Deliverances on the other that no History can deserve to be more minutely described than the Affairs in her time And though many famous Pens have already travelled therein and given us a fair prospect of her actions the subtile Contrivances and open Force of her Enemies against her sacred Life Government and the true Protestant Religion and the many providences and more than humane success which blessed and crowned her days yet we never had so full an account of her last Parliaments as is comprehended in this Volume especially so curiously as the very last is collected by Mr. Townshend a worthy Member in that Session who hath so faithfully done it that it is thought very fit even after so long an Interval to appear in publick There have been many excellent persons of the greatest abilities and worth who though they had not the ambition to struggle to be chosen into the House and were well acquainted without-doors with all the most important passages within have yet often wished they might have had the liberty of sitting there but a few days onely to observe the behaviour methods and tempers of Men so assembled and be an eye-witness how things are managed and passed there Now in this Relation there is so particular and exquisite an Account that such may even satisfie their curiosity in those very Circumstances For this is not onely the Journal-Book of what is entered upon Record but in the last Session especially there are all the particular Speeches Motions Arguments nay and the very behaviour of every one in that grand Assembly and all so painted to the life that to a considering Reader it is almost the same thing as if he had been present with them all the while Here you will finde that the Grievances they laboured to have redressed were very considerable their Arguments rational and strong though finely adorned which will be easily believed when we know the famous Secretary Cecill Sir Francis Bacon Sir Walter Rawleigh and many other solid States-men were fellow-Members in this illustrious Assembly whose Speeches alone are as I should guess a sufficient Invitation to any one that has but heard of them in our English world to know how they behaved themselves in that House of Commons which that you may do I shall make no further Preamble but conduct you into the Work it self Farewel ADVERTISEMENT ☞ That long-expected Work of Dr. William Howell's now Chancellor of Lincoln entituled The General History of the World in two Volumes in Folio the first reprinted with very large Additions and the second never before printed being a most exact History is finished Printed for T. Basset W. Crooke and W. Cademan An exact and perfect Journal of the Passages in the Vpper House of Parliament 31 Eliz. holden at Westminster Anno xxxj o Reginae Eliz. Annoque Dom. 1588. which began there Feb. 4. and then and there continued until the Dissolution thereof which was on March 29. Anno Dom. 1589. THE Queens Majesty soon after that her wonderful and glorious Victory which God Almighty had given her Navie over that vainly-stiled Invincible Armado sent against her Realm of England by the King of Spain Queen summons a Parliament soon after the defeat of the Spanish Invincible Armado summon'd this her High Court of Parliament to begin on Tuesday the 12th day of November that present year 1588. and in the 30th year of her Reign that so by common Advice and Councel she might prepare and provide against the inbred malice of that Prince and Nation But other occasions of great importance requiring the deferring of the said Assembly her Majestie prorogued the same to a further day in manner and form following MEmorandum The Queen prorogues the Parliament from the 12th of Nov. to the 4th day of Feb. Whereas the Queens Majestie by her Writ summoned her Parliament to begin and be holden at Westminster this present Tuesday the 12th of November 1588. her Highness for certain great and weighty Causes and Considerations her Majestie specially moving by the advice of her Privie Council and of her Justices of both her Benches and other of her Council learned did prorogue and adjourn the said Parliament until the fourth day of February next by vertue of her Writ-Patent sealed with the Great Seal and bearing date the 15th day of October last past Whereupon at this said 12th day of November the Archbishop of Canterbury Sir Christopher Hatton Lord Chancellor William Lord Burghley Lord Treasurer The Earl of Huntingdon the Bishop of London and three other Barons repaired to the Parliament-chamber commonly called the Vpper House and there in the presence of the Knights Citizens and Burgesses summoned to the said Parliament declared That her Highness for divers good Causes and Considerations her specially moving by her Highness's said Writ had prorogued the said Parliament from the said first summoned day An. 1588. until the fourth day of February next Whereupon the Writ for the said Prorogation in the presence of all that Assembly was openly read by the Clerk of the Upper House in haec verba ELizabetha Dei gratia Angliae Franciae Hiberniae Regina Fidei Defensor c. Praedelectis Fidelibus nostris Prelatis Magnatibus Proceribus Regni nostri Angliae ac dilectis fidelibus nostris Militibus Civibus Burgensibus dicti Regni nostri ad praesens Parliamentum nostrum apud Civitatem nostram Westm duodecimo die Novembris prox futurum inchoandum tenendum convocatis electis vestrum cuilibet salutem Cum nos pro quibusdam arduis urgentibus negotiis nos statum desensionem dicti Regni nostri Angliae Ecclesia Anglicana concernentibus dict Parliamentum nostrum ad diem locum praedict teneri ordinavimus
liberty of Priviledg to all the Members of this House and their Servant And lastly if any mistaking of any Message delivered unto him from the Commons should happen that her Majesty would be pleased to attribute that to his weakness in delivery or understanding and not to the House As also any forgetfulness through want of memory or that things were not so judicially handled or expressed by him as they were deliver'd by the House To which after the Queen had spoken to the Lord Keeper again the Lord Keeper spake in effect as followeth Mr. Speaker her Majesty doth greatly commend The Lord-Keeper replies by the Queens Order and like of your grave Speech well divided and well contrived the first proceeding from a sound Invention and the other from a setled Judgment and Experience You have well and well indeed weighed the state of this Kingdome well observ'd the greatness of our puissant and great Empire the King of Spain the continual and excessive charges of the Wars of Ireland which if they be well weighed do not only shew the prudence of our gratious Soveraign in defending of us but also the greatness of the charge continually bestowed by her Majesty even out of her own Revenues to protect us and the exposing of her Majesties self to continual troubles and toilesome Cares for the benefit and safety of her Subjects Wherefore Mr. Speaker it behoveth us to think and say as was deliver'd by a great man lately in a Concilio ad Clerum opus est subsidio ne fiai exitum or as I think excedium Touching your other Requests First For freedom of Speech her Majesty willingly Consenteth thereunto with this caution That the matter be not spent in Idle and Vain matters Painting out the same with Froth and Volubility of words And her Majesty Commandeth That you suffer not any Speeches made for Contention or Contradiction-sake maintained only by a Tempest of words whereby the Speakers may seem to get some reputed Credit by imboldning themselves to maintain Contradiction and on purpose to trouble the House with vain and long Orations to hinder the Proceedings in more weighty and greater Importance Touching Access to her Person she most willingly granteth the same desiring she may not be troubled unless urgent and matters of great Consequence compel you thereunto For this hath been held for a wise Maxime In troubling great Estates you must trouble seldome For Liberty unto your selves and servants her Majesty hath Commanded me to say unto you all That she ever intendeth to preserve the Liberty of the House and granteth Liberty to the meanest Follower of the meanest Member of this House But her Majesties Pleasure is you should not maintain and keep with you notorious Persons either for Life or Behaviour As desperate Debtors who never come abroad fearing her Laws but at these times Petty Foggers and Vipers of the Common Wealth prouling and common Solicitors that sets Dissention between man and man and men of the like Condition to these These her Majesty earnestly desireth a Law may be made against as also that no Member of this Parliament would entertain or bolster up any man on the like Humor or Quality on pain of her Highnesses Displeasure For the Excuse of the House and your self Her Majesty Commandeth me to say That your Sufficiency hath so often times been approved before her That She doubteth not of the Sufficient Discharge of the Place you shall serve in Wherein she willeth you to have a special Eye and Regard not to make new and idle Laws and trouble the House with them But rather to look to the Abridging and Repealing of diverse obsolete and superfluous Statutes As also First To take in hand Matters of greatest Moment and Consequence In doing thus Mr. Speaker you shall fulfil her Majesties Commandment do your Country good and satisfy Her Majesties Expectation Which being said the Speaker made three Reverences to the Queen Then the Lord Keeper said For certain great and weighty Causes Her Highness's Pleasure is the Parliament shall be Adjourned until Friday next Which Speech was taken to be an Adjournment of the Lower House but it was not so meant wherefore the Lower House sate the next day being Saturday morning So after some room made the Queen came through the Commons to go into the Painted-Chamber who graciously offering her Hand to the Speaker he kissed it but not one word she spake unto him neither as she went through the Commons few said God bless your Majesty as they were wont in all great Assemblies And the throng being great and little room to pass she moved her Hand to have more room whereupon one of the Gentlemen Ushers said openly Back Masters make room And one answered stoutly behind If you will Hang us we can make no more room which the Queen seemed not to hear though she heaved up her Head and looked that way towards him that spake After she went to White-Hall by Water Saturday Octob. 31. I was not there thinking the House had not sare till Thursday but I heard there was a motion made for the maintenance of the Priviledges of the House and to have a Committee for it which was appointed on Thursday at one of the Clock in the Afternoon And two Bills were Read one against Drunkenness another that no Bishop nor Arch-Bishop may make any Lease in Remainder or Reversion until within three Years before the expiration of the former Lease This Day the Prayer was brought into the House which was appointed every Morning to be Read during the sitting of this Parliament amongst other Prayers by a Minister appointed for that purpose The COPY of the PRAYER OH Eternal Almighty and ever Living GOD A Prayer to be used Every Morning in the House of Commons which hast made the Eye and therefore seest which hath framed the Heart and therefore understandest from whose only Throne all Wisdome cometh Look down upon us that call upon Thee bow down thine Ear and hear us open thine Eyes and behold us which in the Name of thy Son and our Saviour do lift up our Hearts unto Thee Forgive us O Lord forgive us all that we have done amiss in Thought Word or Deed. Forgive us our negligences forgive us our unthankfulness make us mindful of thy Benefits and thankful for all thy Mercies Thou that seest the Hearts and searchest the Reins and beholdest the utmost parts of the World try and examine our Hearts and guide us in thy ways knit our Hearts unto Thee that we may fear thy Name Let us ever fear this Glorious and Fearful Name The Lord our God Let all that despise Thee feel thy Judgments Let all Men know it is a fearful thing to fall into the Hands of the Living God Let thy Mercies always prevent us and compass us about In all our Ways Words and Works let us set Thee always before our Eyes Remove from us all vanity and hypocrisy Let thy Truth always
Proxies there was but that one set down in the Page before-going which made two Proctors all the rest naming three or but one all which see afterwards on the 22.24.27 days of February and on the 7. and 28. days of March Where also it may be noted That John Archbishop of Canterbury had this Parliament five Proxies Now follows next in order to be set down the continuing of this Parliament which in the original Journal-book it self followed immediately upon the names of the Lords foregoing being present this afternoon So that the substance of the Lord Keeper's Speech foregoing and this also that follows at the presentment of the Speaker was supplied by my self out of a very exact Journal which I had of the Passages of the Lower House this present Parliament conceiving those Speeches in all my Journals ought more fitly to be referred to the Passages of the Upper House than of the House of Commons Dominus Custos Magni Sigill ex mandato Dominae Reginae continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem Jovis prox futur On Thursday Feb. 22. the Queens Majesty her self came about three of the clock in the afternoon accompanied with divers of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal there being present this day the Archbishop of Canterbury Sir John Puckering Kt. Lord Keeper of the Great Seal William Lord Burleigh Lord Treasurer of England the Marquiss of Winchester twelve Earls two Viscounts fifteen Bishops and twenty three Barons being for the most part the very same that are by name set down to have been present on Munday last The Queen and the Lords being thus sat the House of Commons having notice thereof Edw. Cooke the Queens Sollicitor chosen and presented immediately came up with Edward Coke Esq the Queens Sollicitor into the Upper House whom they had chosen for their Speaker who being led up to the Bar at the nether end of the said House between two of the most eminent Personages of the Lower House as soon as silence was made and the rest of the House of Commons had placed themselves below the Bar he spake as followeth The Speaker's Speech YOur Majesties most loving Subjects the Knights and Burgesses of the Lower House have nominated me your Graces poor Servant and Subject to be their Speaker This their Nomination hath hitherto proceeded that they present me to speak before your Majesty yet this their Nomination is onely a Nomination yet and no Election until your Majestie giveth allowance and approbation For as in the Heavens a Star is but opacum corpus until it hath received light from the Sun so stand I corpus opacum a mute body until your high bright shining wisdom hath looked upon me and allowed me How great a Charge this is The Speaker disables himself to be the Mouth of such a Body as your House of Commons represent to utter that is spoken Grandia Regni my small experience being a poor professor of the Law can tell but how unable I am to undergo this Office my present Speech doth tell that of a number of this House I am most unfit for amongst them are many grave many learned many deep wise men and those of ripe Judgments but I an untimely Fruit not ripe nay bud a but not scarce fully blossomed so as I fear your Majesty will say Neglecta fruge liguntur folia amongst so many fair fruits you have plucked a shaking leaf If I may be so bold to remember a Speech used the last Parliament in your Majesties own mouth Many come hither ad consulendum qui neseiunt quid sit consulendum a just reprehension to many as to my self also an untimely fruit my years and judgment ill befitting the gravity of this place But howsoever I know my self the meanest and inferiour unto all that ever were before me in this place yet in faithfulness of service and dutifulness of love I think not my self inferiour to any that ever were before me And amidst my many imperfections yet this is my comfort I never knew any in this place but if your Majesty gave him favour God who also called them to this place gave them also the blessing to discharge it The Lord Keeper having received Instructions from the Queen answered him Mr. Sollicitor HER Graces most Excellent Majesty hath willed me to signifie unto you that she hath ever well conceived of you since she first heard of you which will appear when her Highness selected you from others to serve her self but by this your modest wise and well-composed Speech you give her Majesty further occasion to conceive of you above that she ever thought was in you by endeavouring to deject and abase your self and your desert you have made known and discovered your worthiness and sufficiency to discharge the place you are called to And whereas you account your self corpus opacum her Majesty by the influence of her Vertue and Wisdom 〈◊〉 is commanded and aâ—â—â—â—â—ed by the Qs. order doth enlighten you and not onely alloweth and approveth you but much than keth the Lower House and commendeth their discretions in making such a Choise and electing so fit a man Wherefore Mr. Speaker proceed in your Office and go forward to your Commendation as you have begun The Lord Keepers Speech being ended the Speaker began a new Speech COnsidering the great and wonderful Blessings The second Speech of the Speaker besides the long Peaece we have enjoyed under your Graces most happy and victorious Reign and remembring withal the Wisdom and Justice your Grace hath reigned over us with we have cause to praise God that ever you were given us and the hazard that your Majesty hath adventured and the charge that you have born for us and our safety ought to make us ready to lay down our Lives and all our Living to do you service After this he related the great Attempts of her Majesties Enemies against us especially the Pope and the King of Spain adhering unto him how wonderfully were we delivered in 88 and what a favour therein God manifested unto her Majesty His Speech 〈…〉 after this tended wholly to shew out of the Histories of England and the old State how the Kings of England ever since Henry the third's time have maintained themselves to be Supream Head over all Causes in their own Dominions and recited the Laws that were made in his and other Kings times for maintaining their own Supremacy and excluding the Pope He drew down his Proofs by Statute in every Kings time since Hen. 3. 〈…〉 unto Edw. 6. This ended he came to speak of the Laws that were so great and so many already that they were fitly to be termed Elephaentinae Leges Wherefore to make more Laws it might seem superfluous Too great a multiplicity of our Laws and to him that might ask Quid Causa ut Crescunt tot magna volumina Legis it may be answered In promptu Causa est Crescit in orbe
Durham The Bishop of Winchester The Bishop of Rochester The Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield The Bishop of Worcester The Bishop of Bath and Wells The Bishop of St. Davids The Bishop of Lincoln The Bishop of St. Assaph The Bishop of Chester The Bishop of Chichester The Bishop of Exeter The Bishop of Salisbury The Bishop of Ely The Bishop of Peterborough BARONS The Lord Zouche The Lord Cobham The Lord Stafford The Lord Grey de Wilton The Lord Dudley The Lord Lumley The Lord Sturton The Lord Windsore The Lord Mordant The Lord Wharton The Lord Rich. The L. Willoughby of Parham The Lord Sheffield The Lord Darcy of Chichester The Lord Chandois The Lord St. John of Bletsoe The Lord Compton The Lord Norreys The Lord Howard of Walden Sir Thomas Edgerton Kt. Lord Keeper of the great Seal of England made a Speech to this effect An. 1601. HE used strong perswasions both to Thankfulness and Obedience Lord Keeper's Speech and also shewed her Majesty desired the Parliament might end before Christmas He shewed the necessity we stand in and the means to prevent it the necessity of the Wars between Spain and England the means and treasure we had to oppose His advice was that Laws in force might be revised and explained and no new Laws made The causes of the Wars he laid down to be that they were Enemies to God the Queen and the Peace of this Kingdom that they conspired to overthrow Religion and to reduce us to a tyrannical Servitude These two Enemies he named to be the Bishop of Rome and the King of Spain Our Estate standing thus he advised us to be provident by reason we deal with circumspect Enemies and said he was confident of good success because God hath ever and he hoped ever would bless the Queen with successful fortune He shewed how apparent his providence was for by experience and judgment his tortering he giveth the means and courses he taketh for our instructions And secondly the success we had against him by Gods strong arm of defence in Anno 1588 and divers others times since You see to what effect the Queens support of the French Kings Estate hath brought him to even made him one of the greatest Princes in Europe yet when her Majesties Forces there left him how again he was fain to ransome a servile Peace at the hands of our Enemies the Spaniards with dishonourable and servile Conditions For the Low Countries how by her aid from a confused Government and Estate she brought them to an unity in Council and defended them with such success in her Attempts against the greatest power of the Spaniards tyrannical designes which have so much galled him that how many desperate practices have been both devised consented unto and set on foot by the late King his Father I need not shew you nor trouble you with Arguments for proof thereof being confessed by them that should have been Actors themselves thereof but De mortuis nil nisi bonum I would be loath to speak ill of the dead much more to slander the dead I have seen her Majesty wear at her Girdle the price of her own bloud I mean Jewels that have been given to her Physicians to have done that unto her which God will ever keep her from but she hath worn them rather in triumph than for the price that hath not been valuable Receivers of Petitions for England Receivers of Petitions Ireland Wales and Scotland Sir John Popham Kt. Lord Chief Justice Francis Gawdy one of the Justices of the Kings-bench George Kingsmell one of the Justices of the Common-Pleas Dr. Carewe and Dr. Stanhopp Receivers of Petitions for Gascoigne and other Lands and Countries beyond the Seas and of the Isles Sir Edm. Anderson Kt. Lord Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas Sir William Periam Kt. Lord Chief Baron Thomas Walmesly one of the Justices of the Common-Pleas Dr. Swale and Dr. Hene Triers of Petitions of England Ireland Wales and Scotland Triers of Petitions The Archbishop of Canterbury the Marquiss of Winchester the Earl of Sussex Lord Marshal of England the Earl of Nottingham Lord High Admiral of England and Steward of the Queens house the Earl of Hertford the Bishop of London the Bishop of Durham the Bishop of Winchester the Lord Zouche and the Lord Cobham All these or any four of them calling unto them the Lord Keeper of the great Seal and the Lord Treasurer and the Queens Serjeants at their leisures to meet and hold their place in the Chamberlain's chamber Triers of Petitions for Gascoigne and other Lands and Countries beyond the Seas and the Isles The Earl of Oxford High Chamberlain of England the Earl of Northumberland the Earl of Shrewsbury the Earl of Worcester the Earl of Huntingdon the Bishop of Rochester the Bishop of Lincoln the Lord Hunsdon Chamberlain to the Queen the Lord De-la-ware the Lord Lumley the Lord Burleigh All these or any four of them calling to them the Queens Serjeants and the Queens Atturney and Sollicitor to hold their place when their leisure did serve them to meet in the Treasurer's chamber Then the Lord Keeper continued the Parliament which is set down in the Original Journal-book in these words Dominus Custos Magni Sigilli ex mandato Dominae Reginae continuavit praesens Parliament usq in diem Veneris prox futur viz. 30 diem Octob. On Friday Octob. 30. about one of the clock in the afternoon her Majesty came by water to the Upper House and being apparelled in her Royal Robes and placed in her Chair of Estate divers of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal being present the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons who had attended at the door with John Crooke Esq Recorder of London John Crooke Esq Recorder of London presented as Speaker their Speaker elect the full space of half an hour were at last as many as could be conveniently let in And the said Speaker was led up to the bar at the lower end of the said House by Sir William Knolls Kt. Controuler of her Majesties Houshold and Sir John Fortescue Chancellor of the Exchequer and presented to her Majesty to whom after he had made three low Reverences he spake in effect as followeth Most sacred and mighty Soveraign UPon your commandment His Speech your Majesties most dutiful and loving Commons the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the Lower House have chosen me your Majesties most humble servant a Member of the same House to be their Speaker but my self finding the weakness of my self and my ability too weak to undergo so great a burthen do most humbly beseech your sacred Majesty to continue your most gracious favour towards me and not to lay this Charge so unsupportable upon my unworthy and unable self And that it would please you to command your Commons to make a new Election of another more able and more sufficient to discharge the great Service to be
Speaks I am sorry and very loath to break a Resolution that I had taken which is for some respects to have been Silent or very sparing of Speech all this Parliament but your Commandments are to me a Law And I will be always ready to pleasure any particular Member of this House in this or the like Design My memory is frail and I know my self unable to Deliver Articulately the Grave Learned Speech of that Wise and Worthy Counsellor who first spake it For hard it is to tell a Wisemans tale after him and therefore to particularize I must plead my Excuse Seeing men of the best Sufficiency may forget when ordinary Capacities may Remember my mind was not then fit for Attention when I had some cause of Distraction He used perswasions of Thankfulness and Obedience as also shewed her Majesties Desire of a Dissolution of this Parliament before Christmass He shewed unto us the Necessity we stand in and the means to prevent it The necessity he said is the Wars between Spain and England the means to prevent it Treasure His Advise was that Laws in force might be Revisited and Explained and no new Laws made The Cause of the War he laid down to be That they were Enemies to God the Queen and the Peace of this Kingdom That they Conspired to overthrow Religion and to Reduce us to a Tyrannical Servitude These two Enemies he Named to be the Bishop of Rome and the King of Spain Our Estate being thus He Summon'd us to be Provident and Confident Provident by reason we deal with a provident Enemy and Confident because God hath ever and I hope ever will Blesse the Queen with Successeful Portune He shewed how Apparent his Providence was for by Experience and Judgment You know his Torturing he giveth and the Means and Courses he taketh for our Destruction And Secondly the Success we have had against him by Gods strong-Arm of Defence in 1588. and diverse times since You see to what Effect the Queens Support of the French Kings Estate hath brought him unto even made him one of the greatest Princes in Europe Yet when her Majesties Forces there left him how again he was fain to Ransome a Servile Peace at our Enemy the Spaniards Hand with Dishonourable and Servile Conditions For the Low-Countries how by Her Aid she hath from a Confused Government and Estate brought them to an Unity of Council and defended them with such Successe in her Attempts against the greatest Power of the Spaniards Tyrannical designs Which hath so much Gauled him that how many desperate Practises have been both Devised Consented unto and set on Foot by Commandment of the late King his Father I need not now shew you nor trouble you with Arguments for Proof thereof being Confessed by them that should have been Actors themselves of those bloody Designs but De mortuus nil nisi bonum I would be loath to speak of the Dead much more to slander the Dead I have seen her Majesty wear at her Girdle the Price of her Blood I mean Jewels which have been given to her Physitians to have done that unto her which I hope God will ever keep from her but she hath worn them rather in Tryumph than for the Price which hath not been greatly valuable Then he fell to perswade us because new Occasions were Offe'rd of Consultations to be Provident in Provision of means for our own Defence and Safety seeing the King of Spain means to make England miserable with beginning with Ireland neither doth he begin with the Rebells but even with the Territories of the Queen her self He shewed that Treasure must be our means for Treasure is the sinews of War Thus much that Honourable Person said from whom I protest I would diminish nothing that should be spoken of if I could Remember more or deliver it better And I had rather wrong my self than wrong him For my own Advise touching the particular Councils of this House I wish Cicil now gives his own advice that we would not trouble our selves with any Fantastick Speeches or idle Bills but rather with such as be for the general good both light in Conception and facile in Execution Now seeing it hath pleased you all with patience hitherto to hear me If with your Favor I may particularize and shew the Grounds of the former Speech touching the State of Ireland I shall be very glad both for my own Discharge and your Satisfaction The King of Spain having quit himself of France by a base and servile Peace forgetteth not to follow the Objects of his Fathers Ambition England and the Low-Countries he hath made diverse Overtures of Peace to which if they might be both Honorable and for the publick good I hold him neither a Wise nor an Honest man that would Impugne them He hath put an Army into Ireland the Number Four Thousand under the Conduct of a valiant expert and hardy Captain who Chooseth rather than to return to his own Country without any Famous Enterprise to live and die in this Service These Four Thousand are three parts of them natural Spaniards and of his best expert Soldiers except them of the Low-Countries those he would not spare because of his Enterprise of Ostend and how dangerous the loss of that Town would be to this Land I think there is no man of Experience but can Witness with me that he would easily be Master of that Coast and that the Trade between England and the Low-Countries were quite Dissolved yea he would be so dangerous a Neighbor to us that we which are Tenants at Discretion are likely shortly to be Tenants by his Courtesie when he is our Neighbor of the Low-Countries what Neighbor hath Spain to whom he shall not be a trouble I will shew you further what besides this he hath done and how Eagle-eyed he is still over us To resist the Turks Attempt he hath sent Ten Thousand Men. To the Low-Countries he hath sent Nine Thousand In an Enterprise of his own against the Turks he hath sent which being dispatched those Souldiers shall return against the next Spring and second these Four Thousand now in the Enterprize for Ireland To resist these Attempts in Being and the ensuing provisions against us Let us consider the certainty of our Estate in Ireland We have there an Army and nothing but an Army fed even out of England with what Charge it brings to the Queen what Trouble to the Subject what danger it is to them there left if the Provision should fail What hurt to the Common-wealth by making things at an higher Rate than otherwise they would be I refer it to your Wisdoms to imagine Over this I assure you It is beyond all President and Conjecture his Pretence and Cause of War there is to desend the Catholick Cause I mean to Tear her Majesties Subjects from her for I may say she hath no Catholick Obedient Subjects there because she standeth Excommunicated
Comptroller and Mr. Secretary That the Gentlemen of the Country should be brought to Kiss Her Hand before they departed The Amendments in the Bill of Painting were Read and Mr. Lythe stood up and said Mr. Speaker We have been troubled with two P P ' s. this Parliament that is The Painters and the Plaisterers Methinks a Third P. would do very well and that is Put it out of Doors Mr. Davies said Let me add the next Letter Q. To end this Controversie I pray let it be put to the Question or else one of his P ' s. that it may be Passed The Bill touching Perjury and Subornation of Perjury was Read and Committed The Place of Meeting to be at the Middle-Temple-Hall and the Time Thursday in the Afternoon On Wednesday Decemb. 2. A Bill for certain Orders amongst Water-men A Bill for Explanation of the Statute 23 Reginae touching Recusants was Read and Committed The Place of Meeting to be in the Court of Wards and the Time to Morrow in the Morning A Bill to prohibit Transportation of Iron-Ordnance beyond Seas A Bill to secure the Patronage of Rotharston to Thomas Venables Esquire Mr. Francis Moore brought in a Bill for Confirmation of a Charter of King Edward the Sixth to the City of London touching St. Bartholomews-Bridewel and St. Thomas Apostles It was put to the Question and after Commitment ordered to be Ingrossed A Bill for the Amending of a Common-Road-Way called Double-Sole-Green between Kentish-Town and the City of London A Bill to Reform the Abuses in Weights and Measures by the Default of the Clerk of the Market and other Officers Read To which A Bill about Weights and Measures Mr. Fretswick speaks to it Mr. Fretswick Knight of Darby-shire spake and said In that I speak being least Worthy I hope it will be deemed to proceed from Affection not Presumption Besides I have learnt it for a Rule in this House It is better to venture Credit than Conscience There are Three things to be consider'd in this Bill The Inconvenience the Necessity of the Remedy and the Conveniency of Punishment For the Inconveniency no Man but knows it who knows the State of his Country In Mine there is nothing more generally complained of than the Inequality of Measures The Rich have two Measures with One he Buyes and Ingrosseth Corn in the Country that 's the Greater With the Other he Retails it at Home to his poor Neighbours that 's the Lesser This is the great and just Complaint of All. So after many other Matters moved upon the Statutes the Bill was Committed The Time of Meeting appointed on Saturday in the Afternoon in this House The Bill for more Diligent Resort to Churches on Sundayes A Bill for more diligent Resort to Church Mr. Owen against it was Read Mr. Roger Owen spake to it and said That he misliked the Bill for Two Respects The One for the Penalty the Other in respect of the Party punishing This is the Justice For the First The Penalty is Twelve Pence It is well known the poorest Recusant in England as well as the Rich ought to pay his Twenty Pounds and for want of Lands and Goods his Body is Lyable And therefore we shall doubly pinch him which is against the Law For the Other Touching the Justice I think it too great a Trouble and they already are loaden with a Number of Penal Statutes yea a whole Alphabet as appears by Hussey in the time of Henry the Seventh And this is so obvious that a Justice of Peace his House will be like a Quarter-Sessions with the Multitude of these Complaints I think also it is an Infringment of Magna Charta for That gives Tryal per Pares but This by Two Witnesses before a Justice of Peace And by this Statute if a Justice of Peace come into the Quarter-Sessions and say It is a good Oath this is as good as an Indictment Therefore for my part away with the Bill Sir Francis Hastings said I never in my Life before Sir Francis Hastings opposes him heard Justices of the Peace Taxed in this Sort For ought I know Justices of Peace are Men of Quality Honesty Experience and Justice I would ask the Gentleman that last spake but Two Questions The First Whether he would have any Penalty at all Inflicted The Second If in the First Statute or in This an easier Way for the Levying of this Twelve Pence can be If he deny the First I know his Scope if the Second no Man but himself will deny it And to speak so in Both is neither Gravely Religiously nor Rightly spoken And therefore for God's the Queen's and the Country's sake I beg the Bill may be Committed Sir Cary Reynolds said Sir Cary Reynolds for the Bill The Sabbath is ordained for Four Causes First To Meditate on the Omnipotency of God Secondly To Assemble our selves together to give God Thanks Thirdly That we might thereby be the better enabled to follow our own Affairs Fourthly That we might Hallow that Day and Sanctifie it King James the Fourth of Scotland in the Year 1512. and King James the Sixth in the Year 1579. or 1597. did Erect and Ratifie a Law That whosoever kept either Fair or Market upon the Sabbath that his Goods should be presently given to the Poor A Man gathering but a few Sticks on that Day was stoned to Death because that was thought to be a Prophanation of the Sabbath In France a Woman refraining to Sanctifie the Sabbath Fire appeared in the Air unto her this moved her not It came the second time unto her House and yet this moved her not It came the third time and devoured all that ever she had but a little Chird in the Cradie But to come nearer our selves In the Year 1583. the House of Paris Garden fell down as they were at the Bear-Baiting Jan. 23. on a Sunday and Four Hundred Persons fore Crushed yet by God's Mercy only Eight were Slain outright I would be a Suitor to the Honourable Persons that sits about the Chair That this Brutish Exercise may be used on some other Day and not the Sabbath which I wish with my Heart may be observed And I doubt not but great Reformation will come if this Bill doth but Pass To the better effecting whereof I humbly pray That if there be Imperfections in it it may be Committed Sir George Moore said 〈…〉 I have read That the Tongue of a Man is so tyed in his Mouth that it will Stir still It is tyed deep in the Stomack with certain Strings which reach to the Heart to this end That what the Heart doth offer the Tongue may utter what the Heart thinketh the Tongue may speak This I know to be true because I find in the Word of Truth Out of the Abundance of the Heart the Mouth speaketh For the Gentleman that inveighs so much against Justices it may proceed out of the Corruption of his Heart However I
an Original Writ within the Year and so let it lie dormant After which Motion The Bill passed the House after four Hours Argument and sitting till three quarters of an hour after Twelve was devided The I I I. had 151. Voices and the Noes 102. so the Bill passed by 49. Voices Then the Noes should have fetched the Bill and goe out with it because it was at the passage of the Bill but because the time was past and it was very late and several Committees to sit this afternoon they were dispensed withal On Friday Decemb. 4. A Bill for the Repealing of a Statute made 14. Reginae for the length of Kersies A Bill touching Weights and Measures A Bill for the Confirmation of the Authority of the Mayor Aldermen and Citizens of London touching St. Katharin's Creed-Church London was Committed the place and time appointed for Meeting Doctors Commons on Friday next at two of the Clock in the afternoon A Bill intituled an Act for the Assuring of the Patronage of the Vicarage of Rotherston to Thomas Venables Esquire brought in by Mr. Clayfeild of Grays Inn who shewed That all the Parties were agreed to the Bill and called at the Committee to the Amendments was put to the Question and Ordered to be Ingrossed A Bill for Dreining of certain Grounds in the Fenny Countries after Commitment now brought in by Sir Robert Wroth who certified the House only of one little Amendment and the Omission of a long and Frivulous Proviso was also put to the question and Ordered to be Ingrossed A Bill to prevent Perjury and Subornation of Perjury and unnecessary expences in Suits in Law after commitment yesterday it was brought in by the Collector of this Journal who was Chosen to Report it to the House He shewed That the Committees had only put in the word That and commanded him to offer to the Consideration of the House the substance of the Bill c. and so he Recited it As also that there was Disputed an Exception That no Suits might be removed that were under Forty Shillings but for that perhaps it would be thought to be prejudicial to the Prerogative of the Courts at Westminster the Judges in the upper House would not so willingly assent to the Passage of this Bill Lastly because by long and Antient Custome and Common Law Suits might be Removed c. now being an Innovation and because vve know not how beneficial this Law vvill be therefore it vvas thought by the Committees convenient that it should have a time of Probation untill the end of the next Parliament And so it vvas put to the Question and Ordered to be Ingrossed A Bill for Reformation of Abuses in Sheriffes and other inferior Officers for not Executing Writs and Proclamations was Committed the time and place appointed for Meeting the Midle-Temple-Hall on Monday in the afternoon A Bill for making of Fustians vvithin this Realm and profit to the Common-Wealth by the same vvas Committed and the place and time of Meeting appointed the Exchequer-Chamber on Tuesday in the afternoon A Bill prohibiting Fairs and Markets to be holden on the Sunday vvas Committed to the former Committees for the Sabbath and the time of Meeting to be to morrow Sir Edward Hobby said It pleased the House about the beginning of the Parliament to appoint certain Committees to receive the Complaints and hear Causes touching the Privileges of the House we have met but never above three or four at one time together May it please the House That the Committees Names may be Read and that warning may be given to all to meet to morrow in the afternoon at the Court of Wards there to Debate those matters that shall happen questionable And also I am to move you to take notice of an Information exhibited in the Star-Chamber against a Member of this House which it pleased you to Commit over upon Information thereof to be decided at the Committee And all said I I I. Mr. Phillips said It pleased the House to Commit a Bill for Reformation or Explanation of the Law made 39. Reginae The Committees met and entred into three Considerations First whether the Act of 39. Reginae Intituled An Act to Reform Deceipts and breaches of Trusts touching Lands given to Charitable Uses should stand in force or no as now it is And all generally agreed it should not The Second vvas vvhether Reformation thereof should be by Explanation or Abroation And in the end it was concluded it should be by Abrogation The third was whether it should be Abrogated by the general Repeal of Statutes or that there should be a particular Statute for that purpose And 't was agreed that it should be done by a particular Statute And for that purpose being so Commanded by the Committee I have drawn a Bill referring it to the Wisdome of the House to be Considered of The Title is An Act for the good Execution of Charitable Uses in this Statute particularly mentioned Doctor Cary and the Clerk of the Crown brought a Bill from the Lords for the Suppressing of the multitude of Ale-Houses and Victualling-Houses which was presently Read Mr. Johnson upon hearing this Bill Read said Methinks there is an apparent Fault and that is the Fill gives liberty to Justices of the Peace to search c. which by the Generality thereof is as well within Corporations as without and therefore good to be considered of A Bill for continuance of divers Statutes and for Repealing of some others Mr. Serjeant Harris moved That the Statute for Tillage might be continued and said If we shall continue and discontinue upon every slight motion good Laws we shall do like little Children which make babies then beat them then pull them in pieces A Bill for the Relief of the Poor brought in by Sir Robert Wroth. The substance of the Information of which Mr. Tate the last day spake of And also Sir Edward Hobby this day An Information by Edward Coke Her Majesties Atturney Mr. Atturney Coke who sheweth That the Queen Calleth her Parliament and that her self is the Chief Peer thereof And that it was called for divers Weighty Causes and Matters And therein further shewed that the Town of Leicester in the County of Leicester is an Ancient Burrough-Town And that the said Burrough sends Burgesses to the Parliament-House And whereas the Parliament began the Twenty Seventh Day of October and they Chose George Belgrave of Belgrave Esquire in the said County of Leicester to be Burgess for the said I own supposing the said George Belgrave to come with the good liking and free consent of the Earl of Huntington without whose Advice the said Town neither hath nor will choose any Burgess whereas indeed he is a noted Enemy to the said Earl of Huntington and finding and fearing they would not Choose him because of the same he the said Belgrave against the said Election prepared put on his back a blew Coat with a Cognizance
by your Lordships Favour no cause it should deserve the Title of Improper And I take it by your Lordships Favours it was not Preposterous For the First Matter we took should be handled was the Doubts which we Imagined your Lordships had conceived of the Bill And if your Lordships had ought else conceived I thought fit to shew your Lordships that we then came without Commission So my Lords I hope I have made it appear That the Speech was neither strange improper or preposterous But We of the Lower-House who be here Committees do beseech your Lordships that you would not conceive otherwise of Us than we deserve And your Lordships shall find Us ever ready in all Dutiful Service as coadjuting Members of one United Body the House of Parliament So after withdrawing themselves a little from the Table the Lords Whispered together and at length calling Us the Lord Treasurer said The Lords were satisfied with our Answer 〈…〉 and were very glad they found Us so Conformable by which they doubted not but we should well agree for the Conference whereby the Bill might have the better Passage Mr. Secretary Cecil answered That he was very glad their Lordships did conceive aright of them and that the Committees because they were many and would not be troublesome to them with multiplicity of Speeches had chosen for their Speakers to Satisfie their Lordships Mr. Bacon Mr. Bacon c. to manage the Conference Mr. Serjeant Harris Mr. Francis Moore Mr. Henry Mountague and Mr. Boys So the Lords called Mr. Attorney General to them who began to make Objections and Mr. Bacon answering Mr. Attorney again Objected and Mr. Serjeant Harris before he had fully ended began to answer To which Mr. Attorney said Nay Good Mr. Serjeant Leap not over the Stile before you come at it Hear me out I pray you and conceive me aright So when he had done Mr. Serjeant Answered I beseech your Lordships to hear me and that I may answer without check or Controul which I little Respect because it is as light as Mr. Attorney's Arguments And so he proceeded to answer So the Conference brake up untill the next Morning at which time the Lords said They would send us word when they were ready In the Afternoon A Bill for the Relief of Theophilus Adams Touching certain Obligations supposed to be made void by a Proviso contained in the Statute 39. Reginae cap. 22. Intituled An Act for the Establishment of the Bishoprick of Norwich and the Possessions of the same against a certain pretended concealed Title made thereunto A Bill for Reformation of Abuses in Selling and Buying of Spices and other Merchandizes A Bill that no Fair or Market should be kept on Sundayes On Saturday Decemb. 12. A Bill to confirm the Assurance of the Mannors and Farmes of Sagebury aliàs Sadgbery and Obden and other Hereditaments to Samuel Sands Esq and John Harris Gentleman and their Heirs being Ingrossed was put to the Question and was Passed A Bill for Redress of certain Abuses used in Painting A Bill about Painters and Plaisterers was moved by Sir George Moore and some others that this Bill might be let slip and the Cause referred to the Lord Mayor of London because it concerned a Controversy between the Painters and Plaisterers To which Mr. Davis Answered That the last Parliament this Bill should have Passed this House but it was referred as now desired and Bonds made by the Plaisterers for performance of the Orders made by the Lord Mayor yet all will do no Good wherefore Mr. Speaker I think it good it should be put to the Question Sir Stephen Somes stood up and desired That my Lord-Mayor might not be troubled with them but that it might be put to the Question and it seemed likely to go against the Painters But I stood up as it was putting to the Question and shewed That in the Statute of 25. Ed. 3. cap. 3. Plaisterers were not then so called but Dawbers and Mudd-Wall-Makers who had for their Wages by the day Three-Pence 〈…〉 and his Knave Three-Half-Pence so was his Labourer called they continued so until King Hen. 7th's time who brought into England with him out of France certain Men that used Plaister of Paris about the Kings Ceilings and Walls whose Statute-Labourers these Dawbers were Those Statute-Labourers learned in short time the Use of Plaister of Parts and did it for the King and increased to be many then sueing to the King for his Favor to Incorporate them who fulfill'd their desire and Incorporated them by the Name of Gipsarii which was for Clay or Mudd aliàs Morter-makers Anno 16 Hen. 7. Being no Free-Men for all their Incorporation they obtained the Kings Favourable Letters to Sir William Remington then Lord Mayor of London and the Aldermen to allow them Free-men Which was granted At which time came in Four of them and paid Ten Shillings a piece for their Freedom and in Three Years after that manner came in the Number of Twenty but they paid Four Pounds a piece for Their Freedom They Renewed their Patent in King Hen. 8's time and called themselves Plaisterers aliàs Morter-makers for the Use of Loame and Lime They made an humble Petition and Supplication after this to Sir John Munday then Lord Mayor and the Aldermen to grant them Orders for the better Rule and Government of their Company in these words We the good Folkes of Plaisterers in London of Plaister and Loame of the said City for the Redress of certain Abuses of Lath-Plaister and Loame wrought in the said Crafts c. And then had allowed unto them Search for their Company for the Use of Lath Loame and Lime In all their Incorporations at no time they had any words for Colours neither yet in their Ordnances For all they were Incorporated by the name of Plaisterers yet all King Hen. 8's time they were called Dawbers as appeareth in the accompts of the Chamber of London paid to such and such Dawbers for so many Days so much and to their Labourers so much The Plaisterers never laid any Colours in the Kings Houses nor in the Sherifs of London but this Year they wore no Livery or Cloathing the Seventeenth of King Hen. 8. They have been suffered to lay Ale-house Colours as Red-lead and Oaker and such like and so now they intrude themselves into all Colours Thus they take not only their own Work but Painting also and leave nothing to do for the Painter Painters and Stainers were two several Companies in King Edw. 3. time One for Posts and all Timber-work to Paint And the other for Painting and Staining of Cloth of great continuance both Companies were joyned into one by their own Consent and by the Consent of the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of the City The Nineteenth Year of Edw. 4. The Painters had Orders allowed them for the Use of Oyl and Colours especially named in Hen. 4's time from the Lord Mayor and City