Kindred and drives her through the Streets lashing or beating her as she goes along This as Juvenal saith was Ipsis Marti Venerique timendum So Antinous in Homer threatens Irus with the chopping off his Nose Ears and Privities and Vlysses inflicts that very punishment upon his Goat-herd Melanthius for his Pimping So in Canutus his Law the Wife who took other Passengers aboard her than her Husband is doomed she should have her Nose and Ears cut off Jâ—â—us Anglorum The curious may see more in Selden Tacitus observes another Law Hâ—â—redes successoresque sui cuique liberi nullum testamentum Si liberi non sunt pâ—â—ximus gradus in possâ—ssâ—oâ—e sratres patrui avunculi Idem that every ones Children were their Heirs and Successors and there was no Will to be If there be no Children then the next of kin shall inherit Brethren or Unkles by the Fathers or Mothers This seems to point out Gavil-kind otherwise there had been need of a Testament to dispose of something for younger Children So Selden observes that till our Grandfathers time it was not lawful to dispose of Land-Estates by Will unless it were in some Burroughs that had such priviledges but this hindred not but they might dispose by Deeds Another Law he mentions Suscipere inimicitias seu patris seu propiâ—qui quam amicitias necesse est Idem Nec implacabiles durant luitur enim etiam homicidium certo Armâ—ntorum ac pecorum numero recipitque satisfactionem universa domâ—s Idem which shews the use of those are called Deadly Feuds in the North was that to undertake the enmities rather than the friendships whether of ones Father or Kinsman is more necessary Yet he saith those do not hold on never to be appeased for even Murther is expiated by a certain number of Cattle and the whole Family of the murdered Person receives satisfaction So we find in our English Saxon Laws Murthers were formerly bought off with Head-money which was called Wâ—â—gild though one had killed a Noble-man yea a King himself which as I remember was valued at 60000 Thrimsas or Groats and so a Prince 30000 and others Proportionable Another Law we find thus The Lord imposeth upon his Tenant a certain quantity of Corn or Cattle or Clothes Frumenti modum Deminus aut pecoris aut vestis colâ—no injungit Idem Here we certainly find the usage of Country Farmholders In â—â—imitivo Regni sâ—â—tu pâ—st conquis â—â—nem 〈…〉 〈…〉 argenti 〈◊〉 sed sola 〈◊〉 solvebantur Dialog Scaccar So yet in Scotland a Gentleman of Quality or Lords Estate is not computed by Annual Rent but by so many Bolls of Victual So we find in Gervase of Tilbury that the Kings had payments made them out of their Lands not in Summs of Gold or Silver but only in Victuals or Provisions out of which the King's House was supplied with necessaries for daily use which the King's Officers accounting with the Sheriffs reduced into many payments viz. a Measure of Wheat to make Bread for 100 Men 1 s. the body of a Pasture-fed Beef 1 s. a Ram or Sheep 4 d. for Food for 20 Horses 4 d. Thus far I have thought fit to pick out of Tacitus the manners of the Germans and compare some of them with the English Saxon or Norman Customs to discover their Conformity But since in this account from Tacitus we find no satisfactory testimony as to the power of making Laws but that in general they used to meet in Consultation about the New or Full of the Moon where 2 (r) Alter tertius dies consultatione coâ—â—ntium abâ—umitur Id. 636. or 3 Days were usally spent and the Turba or Common Body of those that met which elsewhere he saith was by hundreds being Armed the Priests commanded silence and had the power of keeping Matters in order and the Princes Authority was there as I have noted besore I say considering these things I must seek otherwhere for clearer discovery before which I will only note Judgments given in their Councils that at such Councils as (s) Liâ—â—â— apud concilium accusare quoque discrimen capitis intendere Tacitus describes Judgments were given upon offences for he saith here Accusations might be presented and Capital Matters tried the distinction of punishment * Distinctio paenarum ex 〈◊〉 proditores tranâ—fuâ—â—â— arâ—oribus suspendunt ignavâ—â— imâ—eâ—â—â— â—â—pore Lips torpâ—â—â— Infames 〈…〉 〈◊〉 insupâ—r crate 〈◊〉 â—acitus de moribus German In some Places of Germany Drowning is yet a Punishment as Platerus gives an Account of a Woman tied in a Sack and cast into the River near Basil who was found alive after being taken up at the usual place half a mile below where she was cast in Observat being according to the Crime Traytors and such as fled to the Enemy were hung upon Trees but the slothful unfit for War and such as are infamous for sluggishness as Lipsius will have it Torpore not Corpore infames were drowned in Morasses an Hurdle being laid upon them and the reason he gives of the divers punishments is that the first which he calls Scelera are to be shown while punished but the other which he calls Flagitia wicked and heinous crimes but particularizeth not what they were should be hid and punished by Drowning then follows Levioribus delictis pro modo poenarum equorum pecorumque numero convicti mulct antur pars mulctae Regi vel Civitati pars ipsi qui vindicatur vel propinquis ejus exolvitur and that for smaller faults the punishment was a Mulct of Horses or Cattle whereof a great part was pay'd to the King or City and part to him that was acquitted or his kindred By which we may note a Sovereignty in the Kings or Free Cities or People to whom these Mulcts were pay'd But I leave these obscurer times and proceed to greater light Therefore for the better clearing of the Authority of the Saxon Kings in giving Laws to their Subjects and the discovering who were the constituent parts of the great Councils I shall first note something of the several Laws made in Germany France Several Laws made in several King loms after the declining of the Reman Empire and the Northern Countries and so proceed to some general observations of our Saxon Laws and lastly to illustrate or expound by a short Glossary the Saxon Titles of Great Men found mentioned in the Councils First as the Ancientest I meet with I will begin with the Gothic Laws Gothick Laws These Goths overrun Europe and did not only cause great Wars and Destructions but made great alterations in the Laws and Kingdoms The Goths according to the custom of other Northern People used not written Laws but their Country Customs till (t) Sub Erudiâ—â— Rege Gothi Legum instituta scriptis bahere câ—â—perunt nam antea mâ—ribus consuetudine tenebantur Isidor Chron. Goth. Aera 504.
Magnatibus Proceribus dicti Regni nostri colloquium habere tractatum Tibi praecipimus firmiter injungentes quod facta Proclamatione in proximo Comitatu tuo post receptionem hujus Brevis nostri tenendo die loco praedicto duos Milites gladiis cinctos magis idoneos discretos Comitatus praedicti de qualibet Civitate Comitatus illius duos Cives de quolibet Burgo duos Burgenses de discretioribus magis sufficientibus libere indifferenter per illos qui Proclamationi hujusmodi interfuerint juxta formam Statutorum inde editorum provisorum eligi nomina eorundem Militum Civium Burgensium sic electorum in quibusdam Indenturis inter te illos qui hujusmodi Electioni interfuerint inde conficiendis sive hujusmodi electi praesentes fuerint vel absentes inseri eosque ad dictum diem locum venire facias ita quod iidem Milites plenam sufficientem potestatem pro se Communitate Comitatus praedicti Cives Burgenses pro se Communitate Civitatum Burgorum praedictorum divisim ab ipsis habeant ad faciendum consentiendum his quae tunc ibidem de communi Concilio dicti Regni nostri favente Deo contigerint ordinari super negotiis ante dictis Ita quod pro defectu potestatis hujusmodi seu propter improvidam Electionem Militum Civium aut Burgensium praedictorum dicta negotia infecta non remaneant quovis modo Nolumus autem quod tu nec aliquis alius Vicecomes dicti Regni nostri aliqualiter sit electus Et Electionem illam in pleno Comitatu factam distincte aperte sub Sigillo tuo Sigillis eorum qui Electioni illae interfuerint nobis in Cancellariam nostram ad dictum dâ—em locum certifices indilate remittens nobis alteram partem Indenturarum praedictarum praesentibus consutam una cum hoc Brevi Teste meipso apud Westmonast THE King to the Sheriff Greeting Whereas by the Advice and Consent of our Council Advice of Privy Council for certain difficult and urgent business concerning us and the State and defence of our Kingdom of England and the English Church we have ordained a certain Parliament of ours to be held at our City of c. the day c. next ensuing and there to have conference Conference with Prelates c. and to treat with the Prelates Great Men and Peers of our said Kingdom We command and straitly enjoyn you Proclamation at County-Court that making Proclamation at the next County Court after receipt of this our Writ to be holden the day and place aforesaid Two Knights girt with Swords c. you cause two Knights girt with Swords the most fit and discreet of the County aforesaid and of every City of that County two Citizens Two Citizens and of every Burrough Two Burgesses two Burgesses of the discreeter and most sufficient Indifferently chosen by those present at the Proclamation according to Statutes to be freely and indifferently chosen by them who shall be present at such Proclamation according to the tenure of the Statutes in that case made and provided Their Names inserted in Indentures betwixt the Sheriff and the Electors and the names of the said Knights Citizens and Burgesses so chosen to be inserted in certain Indentures to be then made between you and those that shall be present at such Election whether the parties so elected be present or absent and shall make them to come at the said day and place To cause them to come at the Day and Place The Knights from the County the Citizens and Burgesses from their Cities Burroughs to have full power to do and consent so that the said Knights for themselves and for the County aforesaid and the said Citizens and Burgesses for themselves and the Commonalty of the aforesaid Cities and Burroughs may have severally for them full and sufficient power to perform and to consent to those things which by the favour of God shall there happen to be ordained by the Common Council of our said Kingdom concerning the businesses aforesaid Lest for want of that Power or improvident Election the Business be undonâ— so that the business may not by any means remain undone for want of such power No Sheriff to be chosen or by reason of the improvident Election of the aforesaid Knights Citizens and Burgesses Election to be in full County But we will not in any case you or any other Sheriff of our said Kingdom shall be elected The Indentures to be sealed by the Sheriff and Electors And at the day and the place aforesaid the said Election made in the full County Court A Counterpart tacked to the VVrit returned into the Chancery you shall certify without delay to us in our Chancery under your Seal and the Seals of them which shall be present at that Election sending back unto us the other part of the Indenture aforesaid affiled to these Presents together with this Writ Witness our self at Westminster SECT 7. Concerning the Speaker and the Privileges of the House of Commons IT is not my design to treat of all things relating to the Constitution My Design not to controvert the Privileges of the House of Commons but to shâ—w the gradual Alterations Laws and Customs of the House of Commons there are several useful Books extant which are fit for the Honourable Members of the House to consult What I most aim at is to shew what the Ancient Usage hath been and how from time to time things have been refined to the Mode and State they are now in and I hope those great Spirits that honour their Countries with their Service will pardon one that designs nothing more than to give them a Profile of the whole Model both in the days of our remotest Ancestors and what it was in more Modern times under just and undoubted Soveraigns as also how much it was transformed when the pretended House of Commons being confederated with a successful Army murthered their Soveraign voted away the House of Lords and assumed the Title of the Supream Authority of the Nation of which last I shall treat in the next Chapter The Members being according to the Kings Command come to the place appointed sometimes the Soveraign with the Lords in their Robes have rid in State to the Parliament which is generally yet observed in Scotland and Ireland The Solemnity at the Opening of the Parliament However at the opening of the Parliament the King is seated on his Throne under the Canopy with his Royal Crown on his Head the Chancellor standing something backward on his Right-hand and the great Officers as Lord Treasurer Lord President of the Kings Council Lord Privy Seal Great Chamberlain the Lord Constable Marshal Lord Admiral Lord Steward and Kings Chamberlain attend on either side the State or in their Seats
and Death is owned by the (g) Pater vitae necisque potestatem habebat in filios Cicero Orator in his time to remain when he saith The Father had the Power of Life and Death over his Children So that what Brutus the first Consul did in beheading his two Sons in not taken by most to be done qua Consul but as Parent for that the Consuls never had any Regal Power without leave of the People If we consider the Scope of (h) Numb 11. Moses's Expostulation with God Almighty Why layest thou the burthen of all this People upon me Have I conceived all this People Have I begotten them must from hence infer That if He had been their common Parent he ought to have had the Charge and Government of them so natural seems the Connection betwixt Fatherly Authority and Filial Obedience and that this was an Original Truth the Philosopher cites (i) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Odyss 11. Homer who saith That every Father to his Children and his Wives gives Laws This kind of Power seems to be confirmed in Scripture concerning Cain Abraham sacrificing Isaac Thamar and Jephtha But in after times when Fathers abused that Authority it was judged expedient to deprive them of it and place it in the hands of the more publick Father the King Having thus cleared the point The Antiquity of Monarchy from History and Testimony That Monarchy is according to the Institution of Nature I come now to speak of the Antiquity of it (k) Vide Stillingfleet 's Origines Sacrae Sanconiathan of greater Antiquity than any Greek Historian gives a large account of the Phoenician Monarchy the like Manetho gives of the Aegyptian and the true Berosus of the Babylonian So * Polit. lib. 5. c. 11. Aristotle speaks of the long Duration of the Molossiac Kingdom which began in Pyrrhus Son of Achilles and according to (l) De Antiquis Familiis Regum Reinerus lasted nine Hundred and Fifty years and the Lacedaemonian according to Plutarch Eusebius and others continued near upon as long The Philosopher (m) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 L. 1. c. 1. advanceth the Origin of Kingly Government as high as the Heathen Religion or Philosophy could carry him when he saith That the very Heathen Deities were under this Form and Regimen So what Herodotus saith of the Egyptians may as truly be said of all other Nations That they could not live without Kings So Isocrates saith Before Democracy and Oligarchy the barbarous Nations and Cities of Greece obeyed Kings Therefore the Philosopher (n) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. saith At first Kings governed Cities and now Nations So Salust (o) In terris nomen Imperii primum fuit saith The name of Empire was first known in the World and Justin (p) Principio rerum Nationumque omnium imperium penes Reges erat Lib. 1. most expresly In the beginning of all things and Nations the Power and Government was solely and absolutely in Kings So (q) Certum est omnes Antiquas Gentes Regibus paruisse Lib. 3. de LL. Cicero saith That it is certain that all Ancient Nations did obey Kings If we consult Homer Plato Lucretius Diodorus Siculus lib. 2. Josephus lib. 4. c. 1. or any Historian Greek or Latin we shall find no Tract of Time nor Society of Men without Kingly Government The first Popular State we read of The first Common-wealths is that of Athens after the Reign of Erixias Anno Mundi 3275. and after that several other Cities of Greece as Sparta Corinth c. followed their examples expelling their Kings and in their Rooms erected little Commonwealths but great Tyrannies being in a continual broil either among themselves about their Magistrates or with their Neighbours for Preheminence till the time of Alexander the Great and the Macedonian Monarchy when the Country returned to their pristin Government and might so have continued if the Roman Arms and Ambition had not overthrown it As to Rome it self it was two Hundred and Fifty Years under Kings and Kingly Government was found under Lavinius when the Trojans came from that little Kingdom of Pergamus Therefore (r) Vrbem Romam a principio Reges habucre 1. Annal. Tacitus tells us That the City of Rome from the beginning had Kings to govern it Their Commonwealth began upon the Regifugium So that saith a Judicious (s) Dr. Nalsâ—n's Common Interest Author for three Thousand Years Monarchy possessed an Universal and Uninterrupted Empire over all the Affairs of the Universe so that the Sun the glorious Monarch of the day does not in all his Travels round the earthly Globe behold any spot of Ground inhabited by any thing but Brutes where Monarchy either is not at present or hath not been the Antient Original and fundamental way of Government From the consideration of this Naturalness of Monarchy Authors deducing Monarchy from a Divine Original and the Venerable Antiquity of it we may conclude the reason why the best and Ancientest Writers have adorned it with such Eulogiums deducing its Original from the Divine Being So Hesiod (t) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theog v. 91. saith Kings are from Jove and (v) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hymn in Jovem Callimachus adds that none are so Divine as they So in Homer (w) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ihad 6. v. 277. as well as in Hesiod they are stiled nourished of God and born of God not as deriving their Pedigrees but Kingly Honours from Jove as Eustachius notes and from Homer's making the Scepter of Agamemnon to be the Gift of Jove though a late (x) Absolute Power p. 63. Author contemptuously compares it to a Constables Staff He (y) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iliad 4. v. 738. saith The King hath both his Scepter and Jurisdiction from God Of which the curious Reader may see more Authorities in the learned Tract of Archbishop Vsher's Power of Princes (z) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato according to Synesius de Regno makes the Regal Office to be a Divine Good among Men and a King to be as it were a God among Men And (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Politico Diotogenes the Pythagorean saith that God hath given him Dominion Others have stiled them Gods which a late (b) Absolute Power p. 66. Author saith may be allowed for want of a better in Hobs's State of Ignorance and Atheism and would have him have the Epithete of Optimus as well as Maximus Thus some take a Liberty to ridicule all things most Sacred and Venerable But I shall have occasion to enquire into such Mens Principles afterwards and at present shall only say That no Mans Hyperbole or Expression is further to be understood than as it makes the Kingly Original from God and makes Kings his Viceroys upon Earth Therefore I shall not balk such Authorities (c) 2. de LL. Plato affirms Monarchy to be the
they make the whole Scope and design of their Government the Prosperity of their People Among the chiefest of which Benefits that of Peace is to be most valued as being the end and mark that all good Governours direct their Actions to In another place he makes it a sure sign of good Princes when they wish themselves all the good qualifications and fittedness for Government and all the Vertues of the greatest Princes for their Subjects good this being a full Demonstration how precious and valuable the safety and quietness of their Subjects are to them The learned Lord Chancellor Bacon marshals the degrees of Sovereign Honours under five Heads Degrees of Sovereign Honour every one of which are as so many Characteristicks of great and good Kings First the (t) Essays of Honour and Reputation 1. Conditores Imperiorum Layers of the foundations of Empires as Romulus Cyrus Caesar â— (u) 2. Legislatores perpetui Principes Secondly the Founders of their Laws or Law-makers who by constituting good Laws are as second Founders perpetual Princes because they govern by their Ordinances after they are translated from this World Such were Solon Lycurgus Justinian and others (w) 3. Liberatores Salvatores Thirdly such as have freed their People and delivered their Country from Servitude or have put an end to and composed long civil Wars as Augustus Vespasian our King Henry the Seventh and the Fourth of France and most eminently our late Royal Sovereign (x) 4. Propagatores vel propugnatores Fourthly such as by honourable ways enlarge their Territories or make a noble Defence against Invaders Lastly such who reign justly and make the Age good wherein they live therefore stiled Fathers of their Country such both was and is our late and present Gracious Soveraigns So that such a Prince as others describe according to their Wish or as an Exemplar the English Nation Character of King Charlâ—s the Second and all his Majestie 's Subjects above all other Kingdoms in the World have been and are Blessed with under the Reigns of two such unparallell'd Royal Brothers We may justly give our late Sovevereign of immortal memory that Character which we find in Arnisaeas as the Idea of a good Prince That leaving entirely to his Subjects their Properties governed according to God's Nature's and his own Laws founded upon Equity and Justice or that of (y) Rem pepuli esse non suam privatam Dio. vita Hadriani Hadrian's that so managed his Government That all might know that he studied the Peoples not his own private Profit Surely we may hope for great happiness under our present Sovereign Character of King Jarâ— the Second who hath not only been a Copartner in his Royal Brother's sufferings but a Co-adjutor in the management of his great Empire and hath so signalized himself in the hazzard of his Life and glorious Atchievements for his Country and is endowed with all the Heroic Accomplishments that ennoble Princes in the Records of Fame so that we have the greatest Moral assurances if we disturb not his Reign by Sedition and Rebellion that he will out-go most of his Ancestors in the prosperous Government of his People as well for their Glory as their Peace and Tranquillity Religion in a Prince his Duty and Advantage CHAP. XI The Care of Religion a duty incumbent upon Kings IT is not enough to give a Character of a good King in general but we must descend to Particulars and first of his Care of Religion according to that of (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Polit lib. 7. c. 8. Aristotle That in all Government the first and principal Concern of a Prince is to take care of things Divine For according to the (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diog. â—pud Stohaeâ—m Stoick It becomes him that is the Best to be worshipped by the Best and that the great Sovereign of the Universe be worshipped by his Earthly Vicegerents For of old it hath been noted That many advantages both accru'd to the Sovereign and People when the Prince was truly Religious Therefore the (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Polit. l. 5. c. 11. Philosopher tells us That it is the duty of the supream Governour principally to take care of those things which appertain to the Deity for thereby the People are more obedient to their Princes as not fearing injustice from them For that it is to be supposed that he that is Pious and Just will not do an Unjust and Impious Action and by it he is more secure in the assurance of Protection from the Deity whereby he may hope for its Defence and Patrociny from the Seditions and Treacheries of his Subjects having the Deity to fight for him Consentaneous to which is what (d) Omnia prospere eveniunt sequentibus deos Adversa autem spernentibus Lib. 5. Livy observes That all things happen to them prosperously that follow the Gods and as unprosperously to them that despise them Upon the same Ground it is that the Orator saith The Romans had not conquered the Spaniards by their Numbers or the French by their Strength the Carthaginians by their Stratagems or Grecians by their Arts nor the Italians and Latines and their Nation and Land by their Native and Inbred Wisdom but by Piety and Religion and (e) Atque hac una sapientia quod Deorum Immortalium numine omnia regi gubernarique perspeximus gentes nationesque superavimus De Aruspic by that Wisdom alone that they understood all things to be governed by the Deity they had overcome People and Nations Agreeable to this Affirmation is what we find recorded of Numa That his care of Religion was the chief cause of the succeeding Felicity of Rome For as the (f) Machiavel's Disc lib. 1. c. 12. Florentine Secretary observes That Romulus exercising his People wholly in Military Affairs his Successor Numa finding he had to deal with a Fierce Usefulness of Religion to civilize Subjects Rude Cruel and Ungovernable people thought the way to attemper and soften their minds was to devise some Religious Institutions which being once given credit to might make them more pliable to Government Therefore (g) Omnium primum ut rem ad multitudinem imperitam illis seculis rudem essicacissimam deorum metum injiâ—iendum ratus est Lib. 1. Livy saith That of all things he thought the fear of the Gods to be the most efficacious means for the ordering the unskilful Multitude rude in that Age. And (h) Numa Religionibus divino jure populum devinxit 3. Annal. Tacitus tells us That with Religions and Divine Laws he yoaked them in obedience and so intent he was in the Observance of the Service to the Gods he had introduced that Plutarch tells us That he being one time Sacrificing was told that the Enemies were advancing against him but he would not desist but returned (i) At ego rem divinam
the Spaniards there were as many Obelisks or pointed Pillars set about their Graves as they had killed Enemies All which and infinite more Places in (c) The necessity of having a Standing Force is for preventing Rebellion and defending against Foreigners as appears in Aristotle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lib. 7. c. 8. him and other Authors produceable sufficiently clear the necessity of a Prince's both having and encouraging Military Force and all are as so many Arguments That it is very necessary and conducible to the Prince's Glory and Safety as well as his Peoples that he be not only valiant and couragious in his own Person but that he understand the Office of a great General There are none more famous in the World than such Princes as have themselves led and headed their own Armies as is most eminently proved in Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar So in our King Richard the First and Edward the First Hence it is that (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diâ— l. 13. Caesar was wont to say There are two things which obtain keep and encrease the Princedom viz. Soldiers and Money For as the great (e) Non ignavia magna imperia continâ—ri sed virorum armorumque faciendum certamen Historian observes By Sloth no great Empires are held together but it must be done by Force of Men and Arms It being (f) Sua retinere privatae domus de alienis certare regiâ—m 〈…〉 15. Annal. the part of a Private Family to retain its own but to carry Arms abroad is a Kingly Praise Such a Prince who hath when a Subject hazzarded his Life for his King and Country shown his great skill in ordering and providing for his Army in disciplining it How a Military Prince prevents Rebellious of his Subjects hath been fortunate and successful hath a Genius to military Employment a brisk and vigorous Soul not only when he comes to be Sovereign himself puts a fresh Spirit into his People by raising their Hopes and Confidence that he will encrease the Glory of his Nation but it makes him secure at home from Seditions and Rebellions For he is very fool-hardy or desperately Revengeful that will challenge a single Man who is experimented to have Valour and Skill at his Weapon much more is he who knowing his Prince such an one and who hath the Power of his Kingdom to assist and defend him will offer to molest his peaceable Reign unless he find some advantagious opportunity strangely favourable to his Design or take some Season before such a Prince be well setled in his Throne as despairing ever after to effect any thing and be in that desperate Condition that if he then cannot push forward his Designs he must for ever live inglorious and miserable Such was the Case of the rash ingrateful and aspiring Duke of Monmouth who to the eternal discredit of the name of Protestant so unpolitickly as well as maliciously raised the late Rebellion against his Lawful Soveraign pretending a Legitimacy which his Father that the best of all Men living knew the falshood of disowned and more than once made publick Declaration of it How he prospered in this attempt the World knows and if He and his Advisers had not been besotted they might have easily foreseen Besides this great and happy advantage to a valorous and Military Prince How a couragious Prince secures his Subjects from Foreign Enemies in the securing his own Country in Peace within themselves the Benefit is likewise great in the preventing of any affronts injuries or Indignities to him or his People from any of his Neighbours for none dare (g) Nâ—mâ— provocare au let aut facere in juriam ei Regno aut populo quem intelligit expeditum atque promptum ad vindicandum Vita Alex. provoke or do Injury to a King his Kingdom or People saith Lampridius that knows the Prince prepared forward and ready to vindicate his People This military Genius in a Prince being supperadded to his other Royal Vertues and Qualifications furbisheth all their Arms sets a fresh Gloss and Lustre upon them and such a Prince being generally successful in his Attempts for that commonly gives the first notice of his Courage and Conduct will have every one readily flock to his Standard to (h) Objicient se mucronibus insidiantium se suaque jactabunt quocun que desideraverit Imperantis salus Sen. 1. de Clem. expose themselves betwixt him and the points of Traitors Swords will have them throw themselves and their Fortunes whereever the safety of their King requires it So Cicero notes that Fabius Maximus Marcellus Scipio Marius and other great Generals had the Emperors Office and Armies committed to them not only for their Vertues but also by reason of their fortunateness to whom (i) Cic. pro Manilio Quibus etiam venti tempeslatesque obsecundant the Winds and Tempests have been favourable It greatly (k) Vehementer enim pertinet ad bella administranda quid hosâ—es quid socii de Imperatoribus existiment Idem conducing to the management of War what opinion the Enemies and Allies have of such Generals as the same Orator notes and the like may be said of Warlike Kings What immortal Glory is it to England that it hath had King Richard the First Of King Richard the First who carried his victorious Ensigns to the Holy Land What a Memorial of his Name and of the Prowess of his People hath King Edward the First left to all Posterity by the advancing his conquering Armes into the very High-Lands of Scotland Of King Edward the Third and the Black Prince What renown did King Edward the Third and the Black Prince his Son win in France when they not only won so great Victories but brought the King Prisoner and what no Nation else can boast of had at the same time the King of Scotland also Prisoner It may be easily conceived that these two valiant Princes and the Sons of that great King spirited the whole English Nation and in that Age the Renown of it equalled what now the French ascribe to their great King The Annals swell with the Atchievements of Henry the Fifth who in so few Years Of Henry the Fifth upon the matter subdued all France So that his Infant Son was Crowned King at Paris It is not to be expected that many Ages can produce such Examples but every Reader of History may observe That in every Age some one or two Crowned Heads carry the Trophies from all the rest fill their Countries with Triumphal Arches and raise pyramids of Glory to their own and their Countries high Renown A strange Factiousness in the Reigns of our three last Kings and the dreadful Rebellion Why our three last Kings could not appear so Formidable abroad have deprived them of the opportunity of showing the English Prowess on the publick Theater as it had been before Yet when they were employed they
Vercingetorix singly for their General against Caesar is well known and when he was besieged in Alexia by another Council of the Princes the Heduans and Avernois with their Client Towns or Cities which were many were to raise 35000. Men and so others proportionable and their Forces were committed to four Generals Now it is said by Caesar that when Vercingetorix had the sole command that he placed his Camp on an Hill and at certain distances he disposed the forces of every City several and every day called to him the Princes of those Cities either to communicate something to them or order them to do something The like manner of Clans and Families of which he who was most able for Military Service at that time commanded we have a plain proof in (a) Quodque praecipuum fortitudinis incitamentum est non casus non fortuita conglobatio turmam aut cuneum facit sed familiae propinquitates 1. Annal. Tacitus who saith of the Germans That the principal incitement of valour was that not chance or fortuitous meeting and embodying made a Wedge or Troop but Families and Kindred So he saith That Ariovistus at equal Intervals placed the Marcomanni Triboci Vangiones Nemetes Sedusii and Suevae That both the Gauls Germans and Britains had several Kings Several Petit Kings in Gaul Roylets or absolute Princes who had some one or more City or Country under his peculiar command is very clear in Julius Caesar so Galba the King of the Suessiones was chosen Commander in Chief against Caesar by the Belgians The opinion I have also that such Princes were the Heads of Clans appears in that of Orgetorix who when the City of the Helvetians which had under it fourteen Towns oppida and forty Hamlets Vicos and four Pagi Burroughs or Places of Judicature where were Senates all met in Consultation about burning their Country and possessing the Empire of Gaul This Orgetorix being elected but they having notice of his Conspiracy against them seize on him and condemn him to be burnt but upon the Day Orgetorix summoned all his Family or Kindred or those of his House or Clan as by Familia must be understood which consisted of a Thousand Men and all his Clients and Bonds-men or Debtors obaeratos whereof he had a great number and they rescued him Such as this Orgetorix was I doubt not Cavarinus was who and his Ancestors Caesar saith were Kings of Agendicum and Villannodunum So Targetius of the Carnuti Vertiscus Prince of Rhemes Divitiacus King of the Suessiones Comius King of the Atrebates or Artoys and the two Kings of the Eburones Ambiorix and Cativulcus Cingetorix of the Triveri I shall add but one Testimony for all of (b) Regna vulgo in Gallia a petentioribus atque iis qui ad conducendos homines facultates haâ—erent vulgo comparabantur Several Petit Kings in Britain Caesar's That Kingdoms were acquired in Gallia by those who were the most Powerful and those that have most Wealth to hire Men. As to the affairs of Britain recorded by Julius Caesar (c) Britanni olim Regibus parebant nunc per Principes factioniâ—us studiis trabuntur Tacit. vita Agric. c. 12. Therefore he tells us Their want of agreeing in Common Councils occasioned their certain Overthrow Pro nobis nihil utilius quam quod inâ—commune non consulunt rarus ad propulsandum commune periculum conventus it a dum singuli pugnant omnes vincuntur Id. we find Cassibilan chosen to manage the War In Kent no great County we find Kings viz. Cingetorix Carvilius Taximagulus and Sergonax and it cannot be doubted but there were many other petty Kings in the rest of the Country for we find that Mandubraces Son of Imanventius King of the Trinobantes i.e. Middlesex and Essex slain by Cassibilan was restored by Julius Caesar and after we find in Octavius Caesar's time Cunobelin King of the same whose Son Adminius fled to Caius Caligula where he came to Belgia for Protection so we read of Caractacus who maintained War for nine Years with the Romans and whose magnanimous Speech to Claudius is Extant in Tacitus so of Cartismandua a Queen of Brigantes that betrayed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 actacus I might give an account of Prasulagus King of the Icenians the famous Boodicia his Queen and of the famous Caledonian Galgacus but it is enough to my purpose that among the Britans we find Kings so stiled by Julius Caesar and other Writers especially by Tacitus and Dion (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hist Rom. lib. 60. speaking of Aulus Plantius sent General by order of Claudius Caesar with an Army into Britain saith That the Inhabitants at that time were subject to divers Kings of their own I shall now summ up the rest of the Laws Customs or Usages we find amongst the Gauls or Britans and first what concerns the publick out of Caesar The Magistrates (e) Magistrdtus quae visa sunt occultant quaeque esse ex usu judicaverint multitudini produm conceal those things they think fit and what they judge may be of use to the Publick they discover to the Populace (f) De Repub. nisi per 〈◊〉 loqui 〈…〉 ur De 〈…〉 l. 6. No Body hath leave to speak of the Commonwealths or of publick affairs but in Council They (g) 〈…〉 ita mos gentis 〈◊〉 in Concilium venerunt came Armed into the Council as Livy saith and Tacitus speaks the like of the Germans (h) 〈◊〉 lib. 21. Sancitum si quis quid de Rep. a sinitimis rumore aut sama acceperit uti ad Magistratum deferat neve cum quo alio commanicet It was established that if any received any Rumours from the Neighbourhood or any report concerning the Republick that he relate it to the Magistrate and none else They had something which our Hue (i) Vbi major atque illustrior res incidit clamore per Agros Regiones signisicant banc alii deinceps excipiunt proximis tradunt De Bello Gallico lib. 7. and Cry resembles when any great or famous thing happens they give notice of it by loud Cry through the Fields and Countries and this others receive and transmit it to the next so that in a Day as he observes Intelligence is given above an hundred Miles One thing more is remembred by Plutarch de virtutibus Mulierum that it was grown a Custom amongst them that they treated of War and Peace with their Women in Company and if any question arose betwixt them and their Allies they left it to them to determine On this Head the famous Selden spends a whole Chapter to reckon up the famous Princesses and Women and (k) Sexum in Imperiis non discernunt Tacit. vita Agric. Tacitus saith of the Germans In Rule they made no difference in Sex which shews it was Hereditary In now come to the more private Usages in their Families and Servants (l)
by whose Council and Advice the Kings used in the making Laws are the Witan Wites From Wita which Womner renders Optimas Princeps Sapiens a Nobleman Prince or Wiseman from witan to know and understand So in the Laws of King Ina we read Gethungenes Witan a famous noble or renowned Wite from Gethungen So in the version of Bede by King Alfred Witum is rendred Counsellors so by Sapientes when we meet with it in any Authors that render Witan by it we are to understand not only Judges but sometimes Dukes Earls Prapositi Provosts Thegns the King's Officers or Ministers So in the Charter (i) Histor Privileg Eccl. Eliensis fol. 117. b. of King Edgar to the Church of Ely Anno 970. Alferre Egelwinc and Brithnoth are called Dukes and Hringulph Thurferth and Alfric are called Ministri The first of which in another Charter is called Alderman and the other by the name of Sapientes Upon perusal and collating several Transcripts of Deeds and Councils I am of opinion that where Wites or Sapientes are used for Princes Noblemen and great Personages those are to be understood that were called to the Kings Council had command over Countries as Lord Lieutenants or were Members of the great Councils So that they were of the most wise and knowing of the great Princes Dukes Earls and Barons and where it doth not seem to import such great Men of Birth then it signifies Judges Which as to the first seems to be clear by what is said in the Auctuary (k) Lamb. fol. 147. tit de Heretochiis Qui Heretoches â—pud Angloâ—voâ—abantur se Barones Nobiles insignes sapientes vocati ductores excercituum c. to the 35 Law of Edward the Confessor where it is said There were other Powers and Dignities appointed through the Provinces and all the Countries and several Shires which are called by the English Heretoches in King Ina's Laws Here Thegne i. e. Noble Ministers or Officers and when he reckons up those who were to be understood by this name Heretoges he calls them Barons Nobles and famous Wisemen called Generals or great Officers in the Army and as to the latter Signification Doctor Brady hath sufficiently cleared it in Adelnoth's Plea against the Monks of Malmsbury where it is said that in the Presence of the King subtili disceptatione a Sapientibus suis i. e. Regis audita where by Sapientes must be understood the King's Judges Alderman Alderman or Ealderman was both a general Name (l) Spelman 's Glossary given to Princes Dukes Governours of Provinces Presidents Senators and even to Vice-Roys as also to particular Officers hence Aldermannus totius Angliae like my Lord Chief-Justice Aldermannus Regis Comitatus Civitatis Burgi Castelli Hundredi c. of whose Offices it is not easy particularly to define This being so copiously discoursed of by Sir Henry Spelman I shall refer the Reader to him The word Thane or Thegen was used by the Saxons in their Books variously sometimes it signified a stout Man Thane Soldier or Knight other times Thanus (m) Cyninges Thegen Med mera Thegen Woruld Thegen Maesse Thegen Somner Dial. Regius signified the Kings great Officer a Nobleman or Peer of the Realm other times a Thane or Nobleman of lower degree sometimes we meet with secular or Lay Thanes other times Spiritual Thanes or Priests Some Thanes were as the King's Bailiffs Praefects Reeves of which Doctor Brady gives account in his Argum. Antinorm Page 283. In several of the Councils we find no particular orders denominated but only a division of the whole into the Clergy Clergy and Laity and Laity So in the Council that Sir H. Spelman (n) Spelm. 1. Tom. Concil tells us Ethelbert King of Kent held 685. with Bertha his Queen and Eadbald his Son and the Reverend Bishop Austine Communi concilio tam Cleri quam Populi and the rest of the Optimates Terrae at Christmass having called a Common-Council of the Clergy and People by which it is apparent that both the Clergy o and Laity there understood are comprehended under the name Optimates Terrae the Nobility of Land So in King Ina's Laws as I shall hereafter particularize the command is given to Godes Theowas Gods Servant and eales folces all People So King Edmund held a great Council at Easter in London of Gods (p) Egther ge godcundra hada ge woruld cundra Order and the Secular Order or Worlds Order which Brompton (q) Mandavit omnibus Majoribus Regnorum veniunt Wintoniam Clerus Populus renders Laici in another part of King Edward's Laws So the Majores Regnorum of King Edgar are commanded to come and then it is said There came to Winchester the Clergy and People those were the Majores Regnorum The like was frequently used after the Conquest so at the Coronation of Henry the First Matthew Paris speaks of the gathering of the Clergy and all the People and then saith Clero Angliae Populo universo The Clergy answering him and all the Magnates and in another place Clero Populo favente the Clergy and People favouring Further we find in a great Council held by the King Anno 1102. 2 H. 2. (r) Omnes Principes Regni sui Ecclesiastici secularis ordinis Flo. Wigor fol. 651. lin 21. all the chief Men of his Kingdom of the Ecclesiastic and secular Order So that Plebs Populus Vulgus Incola where by way of Antithesis or contra-Opposition they are used do signify the Clergy and Laity or Lay-Princes not the common People After the Conquest we meet with the Word Regnum sometimes and other times Regnum Sacerdotium As to the first the Sence is to be understood best in the Quadripartite History (s) Quadrilog lib. 1. c. 26. of the Life of Thomas Becket where it is said the King called to Clarendon Regnum universum all the Kingdom and then saith To whom came the dignified Clergy and the Nobles which Matt. Paris puts out of all doubt by the enumeration that he makes of all that appertained to the Kingdom to be the Arch-Bishops Bishops Abbats and Priors Installed and the Earls and Barons So the meaning is best understood of the words in the last Chapter of Magna Charta that the Arch-Bishops Bishops Abbats Priors Earls Barons Knights and free Tenents and all of the Kingdom gave a fifteenth part of their Moveables and in other places after the Barons it is said Omnes alii de Regno nostro qui de nobis tenent in Capite concerning which the most Learned Doctor Brady hath given plentiful Proofs Magnates Proceres By the words Magnates Proceres frequently found in the Councils after the Conquest are to be understood the Arch-Bishops Bishops Abbats and Priors for the Clergy and the Earls and Barons for the Laity only unless afterwards that Dukes were included However they were used always to contra-distinguish
its Mitigation So Matt. Paris saith Episcopatus Abbatias omnes quae Baronias tenebant eatenus ab omni servitute sâ—â—ulari libertatem habuerant sub servitute statuit militarâ— and according to the Rules of the Feudal Law which as it was the Law for the most part in Normandy as to Possession and Tenure so was it in England until by the Indulgence of Usurpers as well as of lawful Sovereigns to the great Men and of them to their Tenents and Followers their Tenures became more easie and were changed into Inheritances both Free and Bond. So by Compact or Agreement betwixt kind and favourable as well as indigent Lords and serviceable Tenents as also by the Introduction of the use of the Canon or Imperial Law the Rigor of the Feudal Law was abated and received several Alterations and Amendments by flux of Time and especially by Acts of great Councils or Parliaments and the Necessities or Indulgence of Princes So that instead of more rigid Tenures the soft ones of Fee-simple in all its kinds by Deed or Feofment or inheritable and qualified Copyholds were introduced As to the second Particular concerning William the Conqueror's setling Laws for the equal Government Of the Conqueror's Laws both of the Normans and English I shall first give an account out of (f) Parte posteriori fol. 346. Hoveden what these were and how they were procured He saith That the Danish Laws being understood by the Conqueror to be used in Norfolk Suffolk and Cambridg-shire others (g) Chron. Liâ—â—f See for the Conqueror's Charter and Laws Dr. Brady fol. 17 252 254 258 298 249. add the Deirans and the Isles concerning Forfeitures he preferred them before the other Laws of the Kingdom and commanded they should be observed and gives the reason for it that his and the Ancestors of most of the Barons of Normandy were come from Norway therefore the Laws of the Danes ought to be preferred before those of the Britains viz. of the English and Picts Which saith my (h) Quo audito mox universi compatriota qui legâ—s edixerant tristâ—s essecâ—i unanimiter deprecati sunt quatenus permitâ—eret lâ—ges sibi prâ—prias consueâ—udines â—â—iqua halere Id. num 10. Hoveden fol. 347 num 1. Author being heard by the great Men of the Country who had as hereafter I shall show been appointed to revize the Laws they all were very sorrowful and unanimously intreated him that he would permit them to have the Laws proper to themselves and their ancient Customs under which their Fathers lived and they were born and bred under for that it would be very hard for them to receive unknown Laws and to judge of those things they understood not See Brady's Answer to Argum. Aâ—tiâ—oâ—â— p. 298 299. But finding the King unwilling to be drawn to consent they follow on their suit praying for the Soul of King Edward who bequeathed him his Crown and Kingdom whose Laws they were that they might not have the Laws of strange Nations imposed on them but he would grant them the Continuance of their Countries Laws To which intreaty of his Barons after Counsel taken my Author saith I cannot conceive but here were many of the Saxon Nobility and Men of best Account otherwise they could not call them the Laws their Fathers had lived under and the Normans could not then know much of our Laws or Speech but this was before he had subdued all fully he acquiesced and from that day the Laws of King Edward were of great Authority and Esteem throughout England and were confirmed and observed before other Laws of the Country Our Author further notes That these were not the proper Laws of King Edward but of Edgar his Grandfather which had been little observed for 68 years as in one place and 48 years in another he saith by reason of the Danish Invasions c. and being revived repaired and confirmed by King Edward were called his Laws The Account the Chronicle (i) Anglos Nobiles Sapientes suaâ—â—ge eruditos Id. fol. 348. Spelm. Concil tom 1. fol. 619. of Lichfield gives is this That King William in the fourth year of his Reign at London by the Counsel of his Barons made to be summoned through all the Counties of England all the Noble Wisemen and such as were skilled in their Law that he might hear their Laws and Customs and then gives an account how he approved of the Danish Laws used in Norfolk c. Concerning the Kindness the Conqueror pretended in his first four Years and his Rigour after see at large Dr. Brady in his Answer to the Argumentum Antinormanicum especially p. 260. and 299. But afterwards at the Intreaty of the Community of the English he yielded to grant them King Edward's Laws Before I proceed any further I cannot but note that what Hoveden calls Compatriotae here is called Communitas Anglorum and in both of them afterwards it is called Concilio Baronum by which we may know who these Compatriotae and this Communitas were viz. the Barons or great Men. Our Author proceeds That by the King's Precept out of every County of England Twelve Wisemen were chosen who were enjoyned an Oath before the King that according to their utmost they should discover the establishments of their Laws and Customs (k) Vt quoad possent recto tramite incedentes nec ad dextram nec ad sinistram divertentes nihil addentes nihil praevarieando mutantes Omnia quae praedicti â—urati dixerunt going in a strait Path neither declining to the right or left Hand omitting adding or prevaricating nothing and Aldred Archbishop of York who crowned King William and Hugh Bishop of London by the King's command writ the Laws which the said sworn Persons did produce But it is to be noted that this Chronicle of Lichfield is of a later Date than other Writers and the Laws in it differ from those in Ingulphus The next Testimony is that of (l) Circa sinem Hist fol. 519. num 36. Leges aquiâ—â—mi Regis Edwardi quas Dom. meus inclitus Rex W. authenticas esse perpetuas c. proclamarat Ingulphus who tells us That he brought from London to his Monastery i.e. Croyland the Laws of the most just King Edward which his Lord the famous King VVilliam willed to be Authentic and Perpetual and had proclaimed under the severest Penalties to be inviolably kept through the whole Kingdom of England and commended them to his Justiciaries in the same Language they were set forth in c. of which I shall say something below The Author of Jus Anglorum ab Antiquo and the Argumentum Anti-Normanicum and Mr. Petyt in his Rights of the Commons asserted have writ largely to prove That the Conqueror made little Innovation in our Laws and on the contrary the profoundly learned (m) Answer to Petyt p. 14. Great Officers Normans Doctor Brady hath from undeniable Records
secret Speeches as is usual in matters forbidden then with wandring Rumours fitted for the open ears of the most unskilful and then adapted for the turbulent and those that are desirous of change Thus they raise their Trumpets till they sound to Arms and Onset Fifthly These are open contagious Airs Clubs and Consults Shafts flying by Night and Day but they arise from the hollow Caverns where Clubs and Associations sit brewing of them and feathering those Bolts So Tacitus (n) Per conciliabula caetus seditiosa disserebant Lib. 3. Annal observes of the Gaâ—ls In little Consults they debated Seditious Matters Where obiter we may note how congenial the Actions of Seditious Persons are in all Ages which he further describes in the method of (o) Nocturnis colloquiis aut flexo ad vespâ—um die delapsis melioribus deterrimum quemque congregantes Idem 1. Annal. Porcennius when he excited the Souldiers of Pannonia to Rebellion That by Nightly Conferences and Evening Clubs when the better sort were retired he gathered the worst and such as he could confide in to work them to his purpose and confederate them to carry on his Designs Sixthly The Method (p) Studiâ— militum affectaverat contubernales appellando alios agnoscere quosdam requirere pecunia aut gratia juvare inserendo querelâ—s ambiguos de Galba sermones quaeque alia turbamenta vulgi Lib. 1. Histor Otho took to supplant Galba Calumnies the same Judicious Historian describes thus That he had practised before to get the Favour and good will of the Souldiers calling them Mates and Companions relieving and being bountiful to them inserting now and then complaints and glancings at Galba with Speeches of doubtful Construction or what other way he could bethink him to stir up and alter the Vulgar sort by disquieting and affrighting them Thus the Designers of changes in any State fit their Discourses to the present emergencies of Affairs and finding any sorts of grievances to complain of with innuendo's aggravate them and excite the People to believe that they only are forward to redress them Seventhly It is a sign of a Seditious Spirit Calculating a Princes Nativity when he is busie in Calculating the Nativity of a Prince Therefore Firmicus gives it in charge to his Astrologer not to answer such Questions Tertullian (q) Cui opus est perscrutari super Caesaris salute nisi a quo aliquid adversus eum cogitatur vel optatur aut Apologia 35. Sueton in Domitiano tells us That there is no need that any curiously enquire after the health of Caesar unless it be one that meditateth or wisheth something against him or hopes for some advantage after him So Tribonius was sent into Exile because he enquired of the Chaldaeans the end of the Prince So Domitian slew Pomposian because he had the Emperors Nativity and carried about him the Speeches of Kings and Captains out of Livy and called his Servants by the names of Mago and Hannibal Although Prophecies Prodigies and Prognostications are like Mercenary Souldiers that may be listed to fight on any side yet every Mans Superstition interprets them to his own advantage or according to his wishes hopes or fears So that when the Designers have a mind to make impressions of fear on the People they bring in some ill-boding Signs as Apparitions raining of Blood Oxen speaking Battels in the Air and such like to keep the People either in fear of Calamities or in hopes of more prosperous times by changes both which would be equal disturbances to Government Tacitus (r) Genus hominum pâ—tentibus insidum spâ—rantibus fallax quod in Civitate nostra vetabitur semper retinebitur 1. Hist speaking of Otho's confiding in the predictions of the Astrologers tells us They are a sort of men unfaithful to the Great deceitful to the Hopers which always will be forbid and always retained That the Romans judged such as gave credit to the Chaldaean Promises the Ceremonies of the Magicians and Interpreters of Dreams to be practicers against the State and guilty of Treason we have a memorable example of Libo (s) 2. Annal. ad Chaldaeorum promissa Magorum sacra somniorum etiam Interpreres impulit c. plenam imaginibus domum ostentat hortaturque ad luxum as alienum c. Infernas umbrâ—s carminibus eliceret Drusus of the Scribonian family whom the Astrologers put in mind that Pompey was his Great-Grandfather Scribonia wife of Augustus his Great Aunt the Caesars his Cousin Germans that his House was full of Images and Monuments of his Predecessors then they brought him to Licentious Riot and Debaucheries and to raise Infernal Spirits by Inchantments And though my Author judge there were some of Tiberius's Arts in his Accusation before the Senate yet we find he killed himself to avoid the infamy of a Sentence of the Senate and upon it a Decree was made to expell Astrologers and Magicians out of Italy Facts de Mathematicis Magisque Italia pellendis Senatus consulta Before I come to treat of the Prognosticks of the Mischiefs of Factions I must take notice of two of the certainest most demonstrative and dangerous signs of Faction running up to Seed that can be and those are Tumultuous Petitioning and Tumults These will the better be illustrated both separately and in conjunction The Method the Long Parliament used by laying open the Methods the Long Parliament took to effect their designs against their Gracious King First With great shew of Compassion and Commiseration for their fellow Subjects sufferings they eagerly debate the Grievances which by a correspondence betwixt the Members of the House of Commons and their Friends in the Country by Petitions many thousands strong were daily represented to them every one striving to be foremost in representing and outstrip his Neighbour in exaggerating the Grievances as they called them that they lay under In these Petitions to the Houses but mostly to the House of Commons were Bead-rolls of Complaints against the oppression of the Subject both by the Kings Council President and Ecclesiastical Courts the Star-Chamber High Commission Court the Judges countenancing exorbitant Power that the Property and Liberty of the Subject was invaded by Monopolies Ship-money Knight-hood-money c. illegal Sentences in the Star-Chamber the Innovations of the Bishops their severity against pious Nonconformists and People of peaceable and tender Consciences as they called them and the baser sort of the People were permitted or rather invited to come to the Parliament-House to back these strong Petitions By this Artifice they exposed the Government to obloquy and contempt among the People and raised in them a confident Opinion that their only Redress was to be hoped from the Parliament and so brought themselves into a popular esteem by so much more loosening the Peoples Affections and Allegiance to the King by so much as they faster knit the Peoples Hearts and Hands to their
sought after as the Trumpets and Kettle-drums that call together the whole Array against the Government And if they cannot be dispossessed of that Evil Spirit by gentler means they are to undergo the severity of the Laws which are made against Incendiaries of a Kingdom which is of more dangerous consequence than the firing of a Private Man's Habitation The danger from these Libels are the greater because (g) In civitate discordi ob crebras Principum mutationes inter libertatem licentiam incerta parvae quoque res magnis motibus agebantur Tacit. 2. Hist in times of Faction and the often Changes of Government the People being unfixed fluctuating betwixt Liberty and Licentiousness small Matters are transacted with great Emotions As to Corporations they have all of them been endowed with their Privileges by the Grace and Bounty of the Sovereign from whence all Immunities and Honours do flow The first Institution of them was no doubt Concerning Corporations that Justice might be executed in them for the better governing their numerous Inhabitants that they might be the Places of Traffick where the adjacent Country might be supplied and their Neighbours might vend their Growth and Manufacture And thus being enriched by Commerce separated from their Country-Neighbours by Honours Offices and Liberties something a Gentiler Education might be expected there whereby they might be Patterns to their adjoyning Neighbours of good and vertuous Deportment being exempted from the Jurisdiction of the Justices of Peace and attendance upon Assizes whereby Legal Matters in order to the necessary Administration of Justice are executed in their Precincts by their own Members and many of them besides the Privileges to be found at large in the Statutes and Law-Books have power to chuse as many to represent them in Parliament as the whole County hath It would fill a large Volume to recount the particular Powers and Freedoms have been granted to them by the Royal Favour of the successive Kings of England whereby they are erected into little Commonwealths Therefore there is good reason as they may do much good or harm and they have all the enriching Streams and Conduits from the Sovereign Spring and Fountain so they should have a strict dependence upon the Sovereign that they may not employ those great Privileges against the Laws and Government nor the rich pragmatical Magistrates Citizens and Freemen animate Factions and Seditions against it or presume to obtrude their impertinent Advices upon their Sovereign or by their clamorous Petitions for Redress of pretended Grievances and Male-administration or by their Election of Factious Representatives dispose of the Fate of the Empire as they did in 1641. by their general Combinations with the then Parliament which they so effectually assisted in their Rebellion It is too manifest how little Justice the two last Kings could have in the great Metropolis the King 's Imperial Chamber or in other Corporations although they had all less or more received great Instances of their Royal Favours and Graces And tho' the great City by the late King of Immortal Memory 's Royal Munificence and Princely Care as much as in him lay by Act of Parliament and his own particular Bounty after it was so fatally reduced to Ashes was raised into one entire Palace so beautiful and splendid as all People must acknowledge it the Eighth Wonder yet the grateful Returns were unproportionable This great City enjoyed as ample and beneficial Privileges as any could wish for and though it be deprived of some of them yet by the Munificence of our late and present Sovereign it enjoys what is needful for its well governing in subordination to the Publick Since therefore the Corporations mostly were found to have made ill Returns to their Sovereigns for all their special Graces by a most wise Council it hath been judged fit to enquire by what Warrant they enjoyed those Privileges and to recall those Charters that new ones might be granted mostly with Additions of Privileges only that the Magistrates if they should abuse their Authority might be displaced at the King's Pleasure A most necessary Resumption of Power whereby they might not be in a capacity for the future to give any Disturbance to the Government Elsewhere I have given short Hints of the Practice of former Kings in vacating the Charters of the great City and shall only add what I find in the most Judicious Historian was done in a like Case by the Senate of Rome in Tiberius his Reign The Licence (h) Crebrescebat enim Graecas per urbes licentia atque impunitas asyla statuendi complebantur â—â—mpla pessimis servitiaâ—um eodem subsidio obaeraâ—i adversus creditores suspectique capitalium criminum receptabantur nec ullum satis validum Imperium erat coercendis seditionibus populi flagitia hominum ut Caeremonias Deum protâ—entes Igitur placitum ut mitterent civitates Jura atque Legauos c. Magnaque ejus diei species fuit quo Senatus majorum beneficia sociorum pâ—cta Regum etiam qui ante vim Romanam valuerant decreta Ipsorum numinum Religiones introspexit libero ut quondam quod firmaret mutareâ—ve Tacit. 3. Annal. and Impunities of ordaining Sanctuaries and Privileged Places encreased saith my Author throughout the Cities of Greece the Temples were filled with most lewd Bondslaves in the same were received Debtors against their Creditors and Men guilty of Capital Crimes were protected neither was there any powerful Authority able to bridle the Sedition of the People Villanies were protected no less than the Ceremonies of the Gods Therefore it was appointed That the Cities should send their Agents with their Laws Some by way of Resignation of their Charters freely remitted those things they had falsely usurped many did confide in the Antiquity of their Superstitions and their Deserts to the People of Rome The Pomp of that Day saith the Historian was great in shew In which the Senate for Tiberius had left the Senate a Shadow of their ancient Estate by sending the Requests of the Provinces to be examined by them considered of the Privileges granted by their Predecessors the Agreements with their Confederates the Decrees of the Kings before the Countries became subject to the Romans and the Religion of the Gods themselves to confirm or alter all By which it may appear to be no new thing for Sovereigns to enquire into the Privileges of Cities tho' claimed by Divine Original as many of those were from their Gods or by the Bounties of Princes As to Conventicles the Nurseries of Seditions since the Laws are obvious by which they may be suppressed and that in another Chapter I have treated of them I shall take no further notice of them here being as unwilling that truly consciencious mis led People that endanger not the Government should be severely punished as I heartily wish they would give no Disturbance to it CHAP. XLVI The Preservatives against Faction and Sedition THE general Amulets
Cowards as soon as Julius Civilis's Army could advance they were soon defeated and he ascribes the cause of it to the hasty choice of Men to supply the Legions Such new (f) Ignavissimus quisque in periculo minimum ausurus nimii verbis linguae feroces Id. 1. Histor Men make a glittering show at a Muster and will brag more than any of their Courage but they will sooner unsheath their Tongues than their Swords the Slothfullest and those that dare do least with their Hands being forwardest to boast of their Exploits (g) Pro Muraena Cicero comparing the Soldiery and the Gownmen gives Preference to the Military Sagum For he saith All the Lawyers Study Industry and Commendation of Pleading is owing to the safe-guard of Warlike Vertue the one consults for and defends his Client the other is exercised in the defence of the City and propagating the Limits of the Empire and the arts of the long Robe are silenced upon the very suspicion of Tumults Vegetius (h) Nihil neque sirmius neque felicius neque laudabilius est Republica in qua abundant milites Plurimum enim terroris armorum splendor importat 2. de Re Milit tells us That nothing is more firm more happy or more commendable than that Commonwealth which abounds with Soldiers the brightness of their Arms striking Terror into their Enemies whereas their rustiness tempts them to be assaulted as being unprepared and unprovided A standing Force proportionable to the occasion and no greater is as a Nursery to educate the growing Youth in Feats of Arms to inure them to Labour Watchfullness Discipline and Courage for few Princes live their whole time without some occasion of War either at home or abroad In this Kingdom the standing Force is not so great as to be oppressive or formidable to the People and the Militia being a Portion of the People themselves armed by the King's Authority can never be repined at by such as are Lovers of their King and Countries Safety To have them kept in good Discipline by training twice a Year more earefully and industriously would be for the safety and ornament of the Government Only it is requisite that great Care be taken that the Soldiery be not only skillfully trained but be exquisitely (i) St. Alban 's Essays obedient to their Prince and the Officers be well assur'd and of good repute not in the least inclinable to Faction and Sedition holding also good Correspondence with other great Men in the State for the most excellent Historian saith The (k) Fluxa militum sides periculum a singulis Faith of Soldiers is unstable and there wants not danger from them single much more if they should make any formidable Conjunction There are infinite Examples how the standing Armies have altered the Government as in the Roman Empire was most usual the Armies setting up one or other mostly after Nero's death so that we find scarce a Succession of three in many Ages As to a Prince's fortunateness A Prince's Fortunateness it is an happy thing and much for his Security that his Subjects have an Opinion of it or as we ought to speak that he is the care of Heaven and that Divine Providence is his Tutelar Therefore the great Orator (l) Ad amplitudinem gloriam ad res magnas gerendas divinitus adjuncta fortuna dormientibus dii omnia consiciunt in sinum iis de coelo victoria devolat Pro Leg. Manl. Sed â—e Nos facimus fortuna deam coeloque locamus saith That to greatness and Glory and the atchieving great things Fortune divinely sent is to be joined that even to them sleeping and waking the Deity is Beneficial and Victory from Heaven descends into their Lap. (m) Plut. de Fortuna Rom. Ancus Martius first built a Temple to Fortune in a mans habit and Tullus the King ascribed all his actions to the guidance of Fortune So Pliny (n) Lib. 36. c. 5. tells us The Image of good Fortune made by Praxitiles was kept in the Capitol By all which we may note how advantagious they thought good luck or fortune to be for the preservation of the Government and lest it should forsake them according to the opinion of that Age that the Deities lodged in the Statues as the Souls in the Bodies they chained the Image that it might not remove from them That is only reputed good Fortune among the common sort when Princes (o) Prosperis tuis rebus certaturi ad obsequium Fortunam adversâ—m omnes ex aequo detrect abunt Tacit. 2. Histor Lib. 1. Od. 35. affairs succeed well and according to their wishes and when they are so all strive to show obedience and when adverse fortune or evil things happen all do semblably withdraw their Service from their Prince It is of this Horace so elegantly writes under the name of Fortune Te Dacus asper â—e profugi Scythae Urbesque gentes Latium ferox Regumque matres Barbarorum Purpurei metuunt Tyranni To this fortunateness as near akin Of a Prince's Fame I subjoyn the fame and good reputation of a Prince It fans away the Pestilential air of Factions and Seditions keeps young even the old age of Princes So Tacitus (p) Magis sama quam vi stare res suas 6. Annal. saith of Tiberius when he grew old and was retired to Capraea to indulge himself and had contracted much hatred His affairs rather subsisted by fame than other force which if it were true of such a Prince how much more may it be advantagious to one that hath acquired a good fame upon the constant practices of laudable and Princely Actions Therefore the same great (q) Caeteris mortalium in eo stare consilia quid sibi conducere arbitrentur Principum diversam esse sortem quibus praecipuâ— rerum ad famam dirigenda 4. Annal. Historian saith That the Counsels of other Mortals consists in doing what they may judge conducible to their private Affairs but the lot of Princes is different for they must direct their principal actions to attain fame which must necessarily be that which is commendable and of value Yet there lies some difficulty in the make of the speaking Trumpet of a Prince's fame for sometimes it must be fitted to vulgar conception for they mostly misinterpret it as (r) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lib. 3. Thucydides well notes That modesty with them carries a shew of Idleness or Cowardise the circumspect and provident is reputed slothful and whatever is suddainly undertaken and hasty is counted vigorous and manly Therefore a Prince that expects a good fame and report must sometimes anticipate expectation in his proceedings and by surprise gain a repute of great sagacity and in some seasons and actions accommodate himself to the inclinations of his People and gratifie them in their desires So Queen Elizabeth got more money by remitting one Subsidy thereby gaining the
his two Sons Proclus and Euristhenes to an equal share in the Lacedemonian Throne The like observations are to be made in the Succession of Ptolomaeus Lagus and Ptolomaeus Phisco In the Sons of Severus in the Succession of Sinesandus who killed his brother Suintill rightful Heir of Spain and that of Sforza and Francis Duke of Milain and thousands more in all which either the Usurpers or the Kingdoms that obeyed them perished utterly or were brought to great ruine In Britain the whole nation of the Picts were extirpated by the endeavour of that People to hinder Keneth Son of Alpinus from possessing the Kingdom as right Heir of Fergusiana Sister of Mordred their King In England the Usurpation of Harold upon the Right of Edgar opened the passage to William the Conqueror The Usurpations of William Rufus and Henry the First upon their Brother Robert and of King Stephen upon the Empress Maud were accompanied with great effusion of Blood So that a great part of the ancient Norman Nobility both such as resided there or were transplanted hither were slain or grievously harassed The Usurpation of King John upon his Nephew Arthur caused great disquiets during his Reign and the effects lasted a great while after The removal of King Richard the Second by Henry the Fourth occasioned those lasting Wars and most miserable devastations betwixt the Houses of York and Lancaster during which Usurpation before the Crown was setled upon Edward the Fourth Historians reckon no less than seventeen pitched Battels and eight Kings and Princes of the Blood slain and put to death and that forty six Dukes and Earls besides innumerable Barons and Gentlemen and above 200000. common People were slain and destroyed in the space of Sixty Years To which we may add the cruel death of Edward the Fifth and his Brother by their bloody Unckle and his own miserable end and the calamitous fall of the Lady Jane Grey and her Noble Relations All which Princes although for the supporting their unjust Claims Invasions and Usurpations of the Crown they procured Parliamentary concurrence and popular Establishments yet after so great effusion of blood could not in reality transfer the Right from the next Heir of the blood but at last all centred again in the Right Heir ERRATA PAge 7. line 31. for Babarous read Barbarous for und r. and l. 24 for wins r. wires p. 13. l. 6. for Resumption r. Presumption p. 17. l. 5. for who r. where p. 44. l. 45. for removeable r. removal p. 47. l. 27. for purity r. parity p. 63. l. 26. for Herds r. Hords p. 81. l. 18. for third r. fifth p. 83. l. 46. for than r. not p. 92. marg l. 5. for mediocrita r. mediocriter and below for ad Clement r. ad Cluentem p. 133. l. 48. after before r. l. p. 141. l. 36. dele That p. 150. l. 28. for Peace r. Grace p. 152. l. 27. for 68. r. 6. E. 1. p. 160. l. 43. for Sarson r. Sarron p. 162. l. 12. for Fenix r. Ferrix l. 48. after rewards add he p. 167. l. 18. after find add 4 p. 176. l. 5. for implied r. imployed l. 32. for Frameae r. Framiae p. 180. l. 46. for Wargild r. Weregild p. 181. l. 10. for many r. money p. 194. marg l. 17. for King Edward's r. King Edmund's p. 197. l. 41. for Northrigena r. Northwigena p. 199. l. 19. for Markesus r. Markerus p. 216. l. 11. for Silvanset r. Silvanect p. 222. l. 36. for Aubert r. Hubert p. 245. l. 18. for Bochan r. Boetian p. 266. l. 3. for whereas r. where l. 18. for Mauleveren r. Mauleverer p. 291. l. 36. for Hull r. Hall p. 321. l. 13. dele having p. 335. l. 12. for Privileges r. Prerogatives p. 341. l. 8. for Salteyn r. Salveyn p. 376. l. 33. for dies twice r. diu p. 380. l. 24. for ele r. aelc and in marg for vpp r. App. p. 387. l. 6. for lye r. tye p. 389. l. 5. after finishing add a Period l. 7. for almost r. all most l. 13. for Bretan r. â—â—â—â—an l. 14. for sorda r eorda p. 400. l. 28. for albe r. able p. 419. l. 2. for Hisparians r. Hipparians l. 3. for Cleotimac r. Cleotimas l. 17. for Peleponensian r. Peleponesian and for Ob r. Obe p. 427. for Fifthly Sixthly and Seventhly r. Fourthly Fifthly Sixthly p. 430. l. 13. for keep r. help p. 437. l. 24. for hopes r. hops p. 446. l. 37. for end r. and. p. 452. l. 31. for Fung r. Fangs p. 459. l. 1. for Brats r. Brutâ— p. 461. l. 7. for Colbar r. Cobbam l. 25. for Rebellious r. Rubellius p. 462. l. 43. for rare r. race p. 467. l. 28. for Praeter r. Praetor p. 468. l. 1. for discovered r. described p. 469. l. 11. for milder r. middle A Catalogue of Books Printed for and Sold by Robert Clavel at the Peacock in St. Paul's Church-yard Books in Folio A Companion to the Temple or a Help to Devotion in the Use of the Common Prayer divided into Four Parts 1. Of Morning and Evening Prayer 2. Of the Litany with the Occasional Prayers and Thanksgivings 3. Of the Communion-Office with the Offices of Baptism Catechism and Confirmation 4. Of the Occasional Offices viz. Matrimony Visitation of the Sick c. The whole being carefully corrected and now put into one Volume By Thomas Comber D. D. Praecentor of York A Practical and Polemical Commentary or Exposition upon the Third and Fourth Chapters of the latter Epistle of St. Paul to Timothy By Thomas Hall B. D. A Course of Divinity or An Introduction to the Knowledge of the True Catholick Religion especially as professed by the Church of England In Two Parts The one containing the Doctrine of Faith the other the Form of Worship By Matthew Scrivener Etymologicon Linguae Anglicanae seu Explicatio Vocum Anglicarum Etymologica ex propriis Fontibus scil ex Linguis duodecim Anglo-Saxonica seu Anglica prisca notata A. S. Runica Gothica Cimbrica seu Danica antiqua notata Run Dan. Franco-Theotisca seu Teutonica vetere notata Fr. Th. Danica recentiori notata Dan. rec Belgica notata Belg. Teutonica recentiori notata Teut. Cambro-Britannica notata C. Br. Franco-Gallica notata Fr. Italica notata It. Hispanica notata Hisp Latina notata Lat. Graeca notata Gr. Authore Stephano Skinner M.D. The Voyages and Travels of the Ambassadors sent by Frederick Duke of Holstein to the Great Duke of Muscovy and the King of Persia begun in the Year 1633. and finished in 1639. Containing a compleat History of Muscovy Tartary Persia and other adjacent Countries with several Publick Transactions reaching near the present Times In Seven Books Whereto are added the Travels of John Albert de Manstelslo a Gentleman belonging to the Ambassie from Persia into the East-Indies containing a particular Description of Indosthan the Mogull's Empire the Oriental Islands Japan China and the Revolutions which hapned in those Countries within these
great Oeconomy the whole System is kept in regular and orderly Motion is firmly established and enabled to exert all those beneficial Powers that are admired in a well composed Body Politic. The Body without the Head being but a Trunk and inanimate Carcase and the Head without the Body as a curious piece of Clock-work without Motion It must be owned to be a noble Enterprise to make researches into the constituent Parts Harmony and Composure of Government which is that benign Supreme Power which influenceth vast Societies of men and combines all tempers constitutions and interests in one noble Machine for the benefit of the whole and every part and makes every Dominion a little World wherein Beauty Order and the Blessings of this Life are inspired into all the Members how minute soever with that calmness when no disturbances are given it that we scarce hear the motions of the (c) Sic orbem Reipubliâ—e esse conversum ut vix sonitum audire vix impressam orbitam viâ—ere possumus Cic. â—â— Attic. Ep. 36. Machine or see the Springs that move it But as in the Body Natural the (*) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philosopher observes That by the turbulence of depraved Appetites by heady Rashness and seducing Passions in the vitious and ill-affected the Body seems to command the Soul and Reason is dethron'd So in the Commonweal when from mistakes and misguided Zeal Discontent Ambition and other vitious Inclinations People are infected whereby the Malignant Fever of Sedition or the Pest of Rebellion rageth in a State the Sovereign is for a time kept from the Exercise of his Royal Power The Scheme of the whole work and sometimes dethron'd But to leave this pleasing Allegory which I could pursue in comparing all the Members of the Body and Faculties of the Soul with the constituent Parts and Offices of Government I shall instead of that draw a short Scheme of my design in this Work which I had never undertaken if it had not been that I was invited to it by a Great and Wise Minister of State My Lord President whose glorious Service to his Prince and Country will be celebrated in remotest Ages and having liv'd to make some Observations on the Causes and Managery of the Rebellion against King Charles the Martyr and the tendency to another Civil War of later date and revolving with my self that though many wise and judicious Persons both know and have learnedly writ of the secret Springs and Movements of them infinitely beyond what I can pretend to and that both our own Country-men have in Parts writ of all the branches of the English Government and many Foreigners of Politics in general or such as were fitted for the Governments under which they lived yet having met with none that had so particularly writ of the Excellency of the English Monarchy as to illustrate it so as it might be useful to the preventing Seditions and Rebellions and to clear the Commodiousness and Necessity of submitting to it and placing a great Portion of our happiness here in living under it I conceived it might be a profitable Essay to excite those who have not leisure and opportunity to peruse great and numerous Volumes to extract for their use such things as had occurred in my poor Reading to induce them to prize it as they ought and to furnish them with such Arguments as my low Reasoning was able whereby to answer the Objections of our late Republicans against it and discover their Methods of Proceedings towards the overthrowing it and to caution all the well-meaning Subjects against all the Arts of Factious and Seditious People and Principles And though I cannot promise my self the success I wish yet I hope I may excite some more knowing learned and judicious to furnish our little World with a more Copious and Elaborate Piece which may supply my defects and more abundantly satisfy the ingenious and curious Reader to whom I shall now draw the Curtain and expose the Model of the designed Work First Therefore (d) cap. 2. as a Foundation I shall treat of the necessity of Government in General In which Chapter I shall discourse of its Original in Families c. (e) cap. 3. Then that the People are not the original of Government Then (f) cap. 4. of the benefit of Government in instituting Laws In (g) cap. 5. securing Property and other particulars From this I proceed to treat of the (h) cap. 6. inconvenience of Democracy and of the several (i) cap. 7. Forms of Common Wealth Governments before and in Aristotle's time After which (k) cap. 8. of the inconvenience of all kinds of Republick Governments Then of the preference (l) cap. 9. of Monarchical Government before all others In all which Chapters I touch upon the Principles and Practices of our late Republicans which having dispatched I give the Character of a good (m) cap. 10. King in general Then that the care (n) cap. 11. of Religion is incumbent upon Kings Then of the (o) cap. 12. Clemency Prudence (p) cap. 13. Courage (q) cap. 14. and Military Conduct of Kings of the (r) cap. 15. burden and care of Kings (s) cap. 16. The Excellency of Hereditary Monarchy Then I proceed to the King's Authority and (t) cap. 17. Sovereignty in general and more (u) cap. 18. particularly according to our Laws by the Enumeration of many particulars (w) cap. 19. Then as a Corollary that the Sovereign is not accountable to any upon Earth That the King is not to be (x) cap. 20. Resisted or Rebelled against In what cases he may (y) cap. 21. dispence with the Execution of the Laws of his Country Then I treat of the King's Authority (z) cap. 22. in making Laws and of the Laws of the Romans in Britain and of the British and German Polity Next of the Saxons (a) cap. 23. great Councils of whom they consisted and how the Laws were established by the respective Kings Then of the great (b) cap. 24. Councils from the Conquest to the beginning of Hen. 3. Then of the great Councils (c) cap. 25. and Parliaments during the Reign of Hen. 3. to the end of Edw. 3. After which of the Parliaments (d) cap. 26. of England during the Reign of Edw. 2. to the 22. of King Charles the 2d Then of Modern (e) cap. 27. rightly constituted Parliaments and of the Factious (f) cap. 28. Members of Parliaments wherein I discourse at large of the Encroachments of some Parliaments especially of some Houses of Commons Then from the great Council I pass to the (g) cap. 29. Right Honourable the Privy Council their Qualifications to be at the King 's sole appointing Of Ministers (h) cap. 30. of State c. Then of the King's Sovereignty in appointing (i) cap. 31. Magistrates (k) cap. 32.
Judges Justices (l) cap. 33. of Peace and their Sessions Of the Kings Soveraignty in making (m) cap. 34. War and Peace Concerning (n) cap. 35. raising Money upon the Subject and obligation of Subjects to supply the Soveraign Having thus dispatched the particulars that more immediately relate to the Soveraign I come to the Subjects and first discourse (o) cap. 36. of the Nobility Then of the (p) cap. 37. Gentry and the (q) cap. 38. Commonalty Then of the disposition (r) cap. 39. of the Common People Next of the Subjects obedience (s) cap. 40. Which last leads me naturally to discourse of the contrary viz. (t) cap. 41. Faction and Sedition and the causers and causes of them under Ten several heads Then of the signs (u) cap. 42. of them Then of the (w) cap. 43. Prognosticks of Faction and Sedition After which I pass to the Remedies (x) cap. 44. of Faction and Sedition Then of the Preservatives (y) cap. 45. against Sedition and Faction and Lastly of Conspiracies (z) cap. 46. and Rebellions In all which I have endeavoured to divert the Reader with variety of History The Authors Apology for himself and Quotations out of such most approved Authors as I judged most suitable to my Design and would be most grateful to the Reader whom I desire according to my poor Talent to please as well as instruct and have chosen rather to give him the Authorities I use in their own Language and thereby be just to the Authors than to follow the way of many Writers in this Age who though they take the Notions and Hints from such as have writ before them yet by varying Expressions and new-wording things more Modishly their Writings pass for Originals Because I design this Work principally for the Nobility and Gentry as well as the Learned of all Ranks I have judged it a duty incumbent upon me to give them the Greek and Latin Quotations whereby they may be excited to peruse such Authors as have been valued in all Ages and lest some might complain of the interruption by them of the continued discourse I have mostly placed them in the Margent upon which they may cast their Eye only when they please And though the whole may look more like a piece of Mosaic Work than a beautiful Picture to be viewed uno intuitu yet I hope the Ingenious Reader will find that as I have bestowed some pains in disposing and placing the Gems and Stones so he will find in the perusal some lively Figures and Images which will bear proportion to the great Leviathan of Government I design to represent and though I cannot pretend to heighten and enrich all things with floridness of Language yet he will find something to commend it as a Country piece where it received its first and last hand Mr. Hobs having adorned the Frontispiece of his Leviathan with the figure of a Giant 's Head on all parts of which are swarms of all Orders Offices and Imployments of mankind that are combin'd in Government delineated as the Picts are supposed to have painted their Bodies or Trajan's Column is engraven A Parallel betwixt the Humane Body and Government So I think it not improper to give a rude draught of the Comparison betwixt the Parts and Offices of Humane Bodies and of the great Colossus of Government Sic parvis componere magna The common People I may not unfitly with their Tillage and Labor call the common Digestor like the Stomach that affords nourishment to this great Behemoth the (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lib. 2. Polit. c. 2. Philosopher telling us that the Husbandman's toyl is for nourishment The Mechanical Traders are the Bowels and lacteal Vessels which transmit the nourishment in the inferiour Belly The Merchants are the Veua Porta The lower Magistrates and Corporate Towns may be resembled to the Glandules and the Viscera that promote the secretion and distribution of the nutritive Juices The Gentry and Yeomanry are the Muscles Ligaments and Membranes which make up the fleshy and robust Parts The wealthy are the fat and plumpy Parts The Learned part of Mankind may be judged the Organs of Sense The Military the Hands and Feet The solid and judicious the Bones that give stability and erectness The Bishops and Judges bear some parallel to the Heart and Liver by whose functions the Religion and Laws are brought to refinedness and a racy Spirit The Preachers and Pleading Lawyers have some Analogy to the Lungs and Midriff which if untainted contribute much to the spiritualizing of the blood The Nobility are the Vital Spirits who by a liberal Education give a generous mien to the whole The Counsellors of State may well be compared to the Brain from whose Spirits the progressive and regular Motions are directed The Laws Spiritual and Temporal Leges a ligando by some are compared to the Nerves and Sinews that bind and fasten together all the Contexture or may be resembled to the Blood which permeates the whole mass and keeps every part from putrefaction The Sovereign is that Forma Informans that divinae particula aurae The Philosophers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the forming Soul the Portion of Divine Spirit and Ubiquitary power that presides and governs all CHAP. II. Of the necessity of Government in general in Families first and after in Societies HAving represented Government by the energy of the Soul in the combination with the Body in individuals The next Idea of it illustrated in Families The first Society of Man and Wife Therefore the Philosopher saith (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Polit. c. 1. There is a necessity to conjoyn those whereof one cannot be without the other as Male and Female for the cause of Procreation To which according to Hesiod (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sit Domusimprimis vxor Taurus arator he adds a servant but supposing in the first beginning there were no men servants born he makes that an Ox as being the usefullest for all the imployments this first joyned couple had use of in Tilling the ground and I doubt not but under that name he includes either all the Creatures serviceable to man or all that Species as Bull Cow Calf and Ox. Therefore the same great Philosopher (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Idem c. 8. The second society of a Family makes it his first consideration of Government to discourse of the three constituent parts of a Family The first Despotic of a Master over his Servants the second Paternal of a Father over his Children and the third Nuptial which is the Authority of the Husband over the Wife and from hence we may judge that Polybius considered his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 about which a late Author gives a large account Now the Master of the Family according to (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pol l. 1. c. 1. Aristotle in
Monarchy Aristocracy Democracy were not so evenly poiz'd and attemper'd ad pondus as Lycurgus endeavoured it in the Lacedaemonian State I shall content my self with an Epitome not a Paraphrase as the forementioned Author hath made of what Polybius (p) Lib. 6. Histor p. 197. Edit Basil hath left in his Excellent History wherein he deducing matters from such an Original as those who knew not or believed not the Creation could do delivers us his sence of the mutations and managery of Government to this purpose That when by reason of some great Inundation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 great Plague or Death all Institutions and Arts having been lost In process of time by the propagation of those that escap'd these Devastations a multitude grew who herded according to their kind and for the weakness of their Party in respect of ravenous Creatures as well as their Savage Neighbors we may suppose they associated together it necessarily followed that he who in the Strength of his Body and confidence of Spirit excell'd the rest obtain'd the Princedom and Empire as we see in Bulls Goats Cocks c. and so the rest obey'd that Man who was properly the Monarch and in Process of time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by familiar Conversation and living together under this one Head like a select Flock or Herd these Mortals began to think of Honest and Just and their contraries and by the noble or ignoble actions of some of the Society the Sence of Honour and Disgrace was impress'd in their Minds and consequently of Profitable and Incommodious (q) Idem pag. 198. He that was their Governour excelling in Power and in the opinion of all endowed with those qualifications were judged good and profitable and administring to his Subjects what was competent to every of them They now fearing no violence most willingly submitted themselves to him and he being venerable to them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with unanimous consent they impugn and revenge themselves on those who oppose or conspire against his Government and so from a Monarch he becomes a King when reason had obtain'd the Principality which before Fierceness and Power possess'd So that in all this first settlement of Monarchy or a Kingdom in the purest state of Nature we can conceive describ'd we have no mention in this judicious Author of Compact with the People or Election but of submitting It is true upon the degeneracy of Kings Factions arising he speaks of Election not of those of strong Bodies only and daring Souls for such he presumes made themselves Masters but of such as by their Wills and Reason experimentally discover'd in their Actions were most agreeable to the Peoples liking But that this was done by the force of Faction appears from what he subjoins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that those who were thus destined for the Kingdom selected special places and encompassed them with Rampiers or Walls fortifying them for the security of themselves and to supply their Subjects with necessaries from whence arose the great Cities which had large Sokes by which means they possess'd the whole Country of the Kingdom I do own that he makes offence and hatred of the People or envy against the succeeding Princes who were debauched and degenerated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be the causes why in process of time some of the Noblest became the leaders of the People to repress such Princes and root out the Monarchy and Kingdom But still it was because Factions encreased and so Aristocracy was changed into Oligarchy which set of Rulers oppressing the People whose discontents being observ'd by some popular Persons they animated them to join to subvert the Oligarchy Hitherto we find nothing of the imaginary delegation of the Peoples Power to one or more but prosperous events crown'd their Rebellions against their Superiors What follows is observable that the People having slain the Optimacy fearing the Injustice of Superiors they durst not set a King over themselves nor trust the Government in the hands of a few having so late Instances of their Tyranny and Sloth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So the single and sincere Hope which was only left in themselves induced them to establish a Democracy and so to themselves receive the Trust and Providence of the Common-weal which the (r) French Monarchy or Absolute Power p. 20. Paraphrast calls their last untainted hope founded on themselves that is in their own Strength So that till the forms of Government by a King or Tyrant Aristocracy or Oligarchy were wholly subverted we hear not a Syllable of the Peoples challenging a power and then it is no wonder when they have slain the richest and divided the spoil and have entertained an opinion that they shall never be Servants more but live in an equal Freedom and Wealth if they be blown up with a popular Pride and call themselves the supream Power But what is this to the natural Freedom pleaded for when it is nothing but the headstrong unbridledness of the Multitude that have cast their Riders and got loose the Reins on their own Neck (s) Idem pag. 199. Polybius goes on to tell us how Democracy was soon overturned after though for a while those who had Experience of the Oppression of the Rich were delighted with the Equality and Liberty of the present State 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that seemed sweet to them above all Treasure yet afterwards some growing Rich little valued that Equality and Liberty which custom had made them sleight and nauseate and so began to contemn the Poor and excelling the rest in Riches began to covet Rule yet knowing they could not by their own Interest or eminence of Vertue obtain it they began to be lavish of their Wealth and variously bait the People and so corrupt them into Tumults and Sedition and the People being thereby raised to hopes of living upon the Goods of those of contrary Factions by following some magnanimous and daring Captain who yet for his Poverty could not Lawfully aspire to the Honours of the Common-wealth found no better or easier way to rise but by heightning Factions whereby Parties being imbodied Murthered Plundered and Destroyed one another till at last wearied or one Man getting a greater interest in the People than the rest and being fortunate to overtop the rest they submit to such and after all their miseries return again to Monarchy I cannot dismiss (t) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Polybius without noting from him how preferrable Monarchy is to any of the popular sorts of Government For he observing that as Iron is wasted by rust Wood by worms so that although they might escape exterior defacings yet they will decay by those inbred devourers So he observes that all simple Governments are apt to some evil that is peculiar and consequential to their Nature as he instanceth in a Kingdom changed into Monarchy absolute by which he means that which we now
Disobedience and Neglect of those who ought to be subject to it So that it is almost impossible to find the least Footsteps of Law that is by far so ancient as Government If we consider the Infancy of the World when Nations were divided by the Swarms that made new Colonies we may easily conceive that Differences and Quarrels would not onely fall out amongst them about Boundaries but within the District of one Government the Shares of distinct Families and Persons would be allotted and these would require the Preservation of those Peculiars from the Incroachment of Thieves Robbers or other mischievous Persons From whence must spring a necessity of Laws to prevent Domestick Quarrels and Injuries and to ascertain to every man his Right and effect those good things which would make the Society happy Which Laws as far as we have any Record of History were first appointed by those who first led the Colonies or such as they chuse out to assist in such a design of concern who being supream over the People had the only Power of making Laws and exacting obedience to them Consentaneous to which the Serjeants at a late Call gave this Motto A Deo Rex a Rege Lex The Benefits Societies enjoy by Laws But however we conceive of the first Authors and Institutors of Laws it no ways lessens the benefit all Societies enjoy by being govern'd by Laws adapted to the Constitution of the People and Government For as (m) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Polit. lib. 1. c. 2. Aristotle observes Of all living Creatures man is the best so he is the worst if not governed by Laws and Judgment Both (n) Lib. 12. de LL. Plato and * Lib. 5. ult Eâ—kic Aristotle agree that Men Just and most Eminent in Vertue being as Gods among Men are under no Law living as regularly (o) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Polit. lib. 3. c. 13. on their own accord as others constrained by the Laws for these good Men are Laws themselves exciting others to Vertue by their Examples Yet since this is but the Portion of a few there is a necessity of enforcing the Laws by Authority upon those that are not obedient to them nor a Law to themselves As to the use of Laws The Usefulness of Laws the (p) 1 de Oratore Orator tells us that by their Authority we are taught to subdue our Lusts to circumscribe and bound our unlawful desires to defend our own and restrain our Eyes and Hands from that which belongs to others They were saith the same Cicero (q) Major hareditas unicuique nesteum a Jure Legious quam aliis a quibus illa bona relicta surt Id. pro Caecinna invented for the security of every one a greater and more plentiful Inheritance coming to us by them than from those that left us our Estates These are fitted for the Diseases of the Common-wealth ex malis moribus oriuntur bonae leges They restrain Men from their depraved Appetites the over-boilings of their Lusts the debauchery of their Lives the Injustice of their Rapines stop the Effusion of Innocent Blood secure every Man's Interest instruct and dispose all to do well and secure them when they do so Hedges are set up saith Mr. Hobs (r) Civil Wars to stop Travellers and keep them in the way that is allowed and prescrib'd and for hindring them from chusing a way for themselves So Laws are made to guide govern and punish Men who presume to decline the Rule and chuse another to walk by that is more agreeable to their own Appetite and Convenience The poorest necessitated Man saith a (s) Fr. Whyte Sacred Laws Judicious Author amidst the Calamities of his wretched Life would yet be more unhappy were not Laws and Government his Sanctuary Oppression the heaviest of all miseries would crush him to pieces and break the Repose of his shortest Slumbers The malice of the Clown the dark Arts of the City would surround us and what we most prize tho' we want the comfort of it no Man's Life could be safe a minute without them nothing could be sure nothing certain no commerce no conversation These protect the Orphan the Widow and the Stranger Seneca elegantly calls the Laws Virtutes Armatas because they compel evil manners into good order for without Laws Men are but a more cunning and pernicious sort of Brutes and where they are instituted and prevail humane Nature is most civilized refin'd and polite It is said of the Liberal Arts that Emolliunt mores nec sinunt esse feros They soften Mens minds and manners they correct that churlishness of temper and addulce and mellow the austere sowre and crabbed Disposition tame and make gentle the Savage Natures file off the Asperities of them all which is equally true of the force and efficacy of the Laws put in Execution What would this great World we live in be less than a great Bedlam were it not for these Political Combinations civil appointments and Laws which in all places and Countries not only curb and command that untamed Pride Fury and Malice which too naturally resides in many But the Laws likewise form and incorporate Men into civil Societies making those persons capable of Living conversing and dwelling together as Men endowed with rational and religious Faculties who otherwise would appear no better than a company of wild and Savage Creatures The Honour given to Law-makers So great Veneration had the Ancients for the Laws that they esteem'd the Lawgivers (t) Stephanus Niger Exposit Carm. Pythag Leges primo rudibus hominum animis simplices eram Maximeque fama celebravit Cretensium quas Minos Spartanorum quas Lycurgus ac mox Atheniensibus quâ—sitiores jam plures Solon praeseripsit Tâ—â—it 3 Annal. Holy and such as had Correspondence with the Deities they worshipped and were while they lived for these great Blessings to their People deified So Minos among the Egyptians makes Mercury the Author of the Laws and among the Cretians Jupiter Lycurgus among the Lacedaemonians fathered them on Apollo Numa Pompilius derived them from the whispers of the Goddess Aegeria the Persians from Zoroaster Xamolxis among the Goths deduces them from Vesta and that Moses received the Jewish Laws from God Almighty we all believe So that as every where we find the Heathens make the Gods descend for their Production and celestial Wisdom to flow into them saith the learned Mr. White in his Sacred Laws of the Land in which little Treatise is comprehended a great deal of curious Learning and who further adds That as Livy allows to Antiquity mixing things humane with divine to deduce the Original of Cities from Gods or Goddesses to make their beginnings more majestic the same may be said of the Laws saith my learned Author if it be Lawful to Canonize any to carry them up to Heaven or fetch them down from thence that Glory is alone due to the
found the greatest perfections of Human Nature to 〈◊〉 the like They do so justly and clearly support the Grandeur of Majesty the Dignity of the Crown with the Peace Liberty and Property of the Subject Whether Property was before Government or not that all Nations round about envy us for that felicity they can never hope to enjoy To disturb this blessed condition of the English Subject there are two Extremes The one of a People fond of a Notion of the Primitive fundamental of Government in the People that they will needs have Property in order of Nature before Government without considering that nothing is gained to their advantage by the concession of it For it must also be (f) Bishop of Lincoln's Preface to Power of Princes proved that it was before it in order of time for as one of the principal ends of Government is the preservation of mens acquisitions of Cattle and Fields by their industry so we must suppose some Government first because the right which any man hath to the acquired stock and lands must be ascertain'd to him by some Law which supposeth Government So that the dispute saith the Reverend Bishop is de Lana Caprina and when men have crowded themselves into the Circle they reap nothing but a Brain-sick giddiness and it is like the dispute in Macrobius Whether the Hen or Egg were first All that believe the Creation must own that Adam's Government was before any Mans property and the like may be said of Noah so that there is no need to have recourse to Articles or capitulations with the People which those make such a noise with unless they can first evince the World to be Eternal and Men to have sprung in some rank Soil as Tubera terrae Mushroms after a fruitful shower Another Extreme is what Mr. Hobbs every where in his Leviathan Against Arbitrary Sovereignty endeavours to establish viz That the Sovereign should be so absolute and so arbitrary that he should upon Exigents of State or at his own pleasure have the disposal of every Subjects fortune which how necessary it may be for vast Empires such as the Ottomans I dispute not But the Soveraigns of Christendom especially of England take no such measures to the advantages of themselves or their Subjects slavery The most judicious Earl of Clarendon in his eleborate Treatise against (g) Survey of Leviathan p. 110. Mr. Hobbs hath with great judgment refuted this opinion from whose Armory I shall borrow some of the Artillery though I dare not presume to use them with the same dexterity and address his Lordship doth This Propriety saith he introduceth the beauty of building and the cultivating of the Earth by art as well as industry that they and their Children might dwell in the Houses they were at the charge to build and reap the Harvest of those lands they had been at the charge to sow whatsoever is of civility and good manners all that is of art and beauty of rule and solid wealth in the world is the product of this the Child of beloved property and they 〈◊〉 at would strangle this Issue desire to demolish all buildings eradicate all plantations to make the Earth barren and live again in Tents and nourish their Cattle by successive marches into the Fields where the Grass grows Nothing but joy in propriety redeemed us from this barbarity and nothing but security in the same can preserve us from returning to it again If there be no Propriety continueth the great Lord there is nothing worth defending from foreign Enemies or from one another and consequently it is no matter what becomes of the Commonwealth For the Government can never be so vigorously assisted by a People who have nothing to lose as by those who defending it defend their own Goods and Estates which if they do not believe their own they will not much care into whose hands they fall To this wise Lord I may add what a great (h) Seneca Jure civili omnia Regis sum tamen illa quorum ad Regem pertinet universa possessio in singulos dominos discerpta sunt unaquaeque res habet possessorem suum Itaque dare Regi domum mancipia pecuniam possumus nec donare illi de suo dicimur Ad Reges enim poâ—stas omnium pertinet ad sâ—gula proprietas Statesman and Scholar hath long since observed That though by the Civil Law all are the Kings yet even those things whereof the Universal possession belongs to the King have their peculiar Owners So that we may give the King House Freehold or Money yet are not said to give him his own For to the King the Power over all appertains but to every single Person his Property according to that of Bulgaris to Zeno Omnia Rex possidet Imperio singuli dominio If it were thus under the absolute Power of the Roman Emperors in Seneca's time how much more secure may we judge Propriety in ours when so guarded by the Royal Sword and Scepter that in several cases Actions may be brought in defence of a Mans right even against the Crown and the Judges have pronounced Sentence against some claims of the King and ought to do so Whatever pains Mr. Hobs takes to render those precious words of Property unvaluable and insignificant we see that a better Philosopher than He and who understood the Rules of Government having lived under just such a Soveraign as Mr. Hobs would set up gives his judgment otherwise where he expresly tells us that he is (i) Errat si quis tutum sibiesse Regem putat ubi nihil a Rege tutum est Securitas securitaâ—e paciscenda est much deceived that thinks that King is in safety from whom the Subject is not safe in what he enjoys the security of the one being from the stipulation of the security of the other That in former ages also the condition of the English Subject hath been happier in enjoying greater security as to their Persons and Estates than the Subjects of Foreign Countries and that the English Laws and Government have been very tender of them appears by what another (k) De laudibus Legum Ang. c. 37. Lord Chancellor writes who lived in a turbulent age and was forced into exile with the Prince eldest Son to King Henry the Sixth He in many places treats of the miseries of the Peasants in France and of the generality of the French Subjects too tedious here to relate and in his free way of Dialogue with the Prince he divides Kingly Government into that which is Regal and Absolute and that which is Political In which last are condescensions of Princes to bound their Prerogative and this he commends to his Prince saying (l) Quis enim potentior liberiorve esse potesi quam qui non solum alios sed seipsum sufficit debellare Ib. No Prince can be reputed powerfuller or freer than that Prince who
their imperious Commands The World never knew greater oppression than those that stiled themselves Keepers indeed Jaylors of the Liberties of England were guilty of It would trouble saith a judicious (s) Malson's Common Interest Author a publick Accountant to cast up those vast Summs and incredible Treasures which in less than twice seven years they raised and spent to support the worst of all luxurious Rebellion and to act upon the publick charge and Theater of the Nation not Masques and Plays as they had charged one great part of the Expences of the Court on but the most real and inhumane Tragedies and those infinite in number one of which was such as the Sun never saw or any History could parallel It would be endless to recount the Annual Revenue of the Crown Bishops Chapter and Cathedral Lands besides the Money they received for the purchace of them the constant heavy and unheard of Assesments free Quarter Plunder Sequestration Compositions Decimations Excise and Customs voluntary Contributions of Plate Jewels c. Summs borrowed on the Publick Faith which some found to their cost was but fides Punica and almost innumerable ways and arts they had to squeeze and drain the Treasure of the Nation into their bottomless Gulph so that the same Writer is confident That not any three Kings of England since William the Conqueror to this present were so expensive to England as that one Tyrannical and Prodigal Parliament The Nation was then and ever will be under any Usurping Republic in worse than Egyptian Bondage In every County a Committee was placed to seize the Estates and Rents of all the Loyal Subjects with such a Tyrannical Arbitrariness as never was known under any Kings Reign and as if that were not enough there were added to them Basha Major Generals and the sucking Vermine in every Town and Hamlet were either fire-side Troopers or some well affected Person whose Information would be believed before the best in the Parish Every one that would not worship those Pagods were proceeded against by some of those or their Arbitrary High Courts of Justice or were convened before the House of Commons where every one of those Parliament Demarchs were as absolute as the Laws of their own will could make them No Person could either question their Actions or Authority but he paid his Life or Fortune or one of them for his presumption so that we saw the whole Kingdom brought into a slavery far greater than theirs that wear Canvase Cloth and Wooden Shooes and not only look like Ghosts but really are so as they made all which they either suspected feared or hated All which was never to have been altered as long as their standing Force should be true to them to the incredible charge oppression and impoverishment of the Subjects Friend and Foe though they had the Policy to lay the heaviest Burthen and Load upon the Backs of their Enemies if possible to break them keeping the Loyal Nobility and Gentry so poor that many of them have not been able or ever will be to forget the kindness of that Government which was the ruin of them and their Families I shall now pass to the last head of Rewards and Punishments No just Distribution of rewards or Punishments and executing of Justice none of which can be according to merit where prevalent Faction shall sway the Balance and open and shut the Eyes of Justice by the cunning Instruments of Partiality It being impossible to separate Faction and Interest from this kind of Authority so that none shall obtain any thing but according as they shall be judged favourable or advantageous to the Interest of the ruling Faction So that the Vertuous shall have the least share since Vertue is not over natural to Mankind it is like to thrive but poorly in a soil where it is not tenderly cherished and frequently refreshed with the encouraging Dews of Reward and Benefit But those shall have the greatest share that can best wheedle or seem by a well-managed Flattery to join with the topmost governing Party I shall therefore give some examples of the Ingratitude of Commonwealths to the well-deserving great and brave Men Ingratitude of Commonwealths who have served their Country and been ill rewarded by the governing Part or been exposed to be baited or worried by the People instigated by Factions or suffered base Ignominy Banishment or Death I shall begin with Athens the eye of Greece and the Seat of the Muses When Xerxes invaded Greece The ill usage of Themistocles the Athenians and Peloponnesians were the most considerable States yet the Athenians were forced to leave their City and get into their Navy which might carry the whole People and their Power to some remote Country where they might enjoy more secure Habitations The Spartans were unwilling to hazzard a Sea-Battle near Salamis but would have weighed Anchor and gone to Isthmus Themistocles did all he could to perswade the staying and joining of the Fleets there to wait the Enemy who would have less Sea room whereas if they fought elsewhere by his numbers he would have overborn the Confederates and when he could not prevail but that they would weigh Anchor the next day he sent a private message to the Persian Captains that the Grecian Fleet intended to fly and in the interim advised the Grecian Fleet to be in a readiness against all Events By which Stratagem he toiled the Persian Fleet to make the Attacque with that disadvantage he desired and the Grecians obtain'd a most memorable Victory Several other great Services he did not only in saving of Athens but the rest of Greece from Xerxes But when the Athenians were returned to their City and rebuilt it after the Battle of Mycale the People were so proud of their Exploits that they not only endeavoured to get the Command of many Towns and Islands of the Greeks but within their own Walls would admit no Government but meerly Democratical which being argued against by Themistocles they laid upon him the Punishment of the Ostracism banishing him for ten Years before which time was expired a new accusation was framed against him by the Lacedemonians that he intended to betray (t) Sir Walt. Raleigh b lib. 3. cap. 8. sect 7. Greece to Xerxes So that he was forced to fly to Artaxerxes who afterwards would have imployed him against Greece but he decided the great Conflict betwixt thankfulness to his well-deserving Patron and natural Affection to his own ill-deserving People by finishing his Life with a draught of Poyson This Ostracism was a Sentence of Banishment writ upon an Oyster-shell and the like in Sicily writ on a Leaf was called Petalismus This was so often abused by exterminating Persons not so much for Crimes as by factious Envy made use of to remove out of the way Persons that were like to oppose the prevailing Factions that the (u) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Polit. lib. 3. c. 13.
Romans Concerning the Roman Ingratitude and onely single two or three of the many Examples of their Ingratitude to their deserving Chiestains to illustrate That Rewards were not bestowed as they ought to have been even to such as were the greatest Preservers of their Country and such as raised the Glory of the Roman Name to the highest pitch of Glory T. Martius Coriolanus called Coriolanus had conquered the Volsci and Aequi yet under pretext that he had advised to sell Corn in time of Dearth at an higher Rate than was convenient he was banished Yet he took not that Revenge he might have done in joyning with the Volsci Furius Camillus subdued the Falisci Furius Camillus but was banished the City upon a Suggestion of some Inequality of dividing the Spoil and retired to ARdaea from whence when the Gauls under Brennus had got all Rome but the Capitol he forgetting the Ingratitude of his Country drew an Army together with which he fell upon the dispersed Gauls and so saved his Country The two Scipio's strangely enlarged the Roman Empire The Two Scipio's by conquering every place where they were employed Publius Scipio the elder Brother overthrew Hannibal and subjected the whole State of Carthage by which he deservedly had the Style of Africanus as his Brother had that of Asiaticus by conquering the Kingdom of Macedon and giving Laws to all Greece and other Territories in Asia Concerning the elder the Senate was unwilling he should carry the War into Africk But the People were earnest for it Concerning Publius Scipio the elder Brother Upon which the Learned (x) Sir Walter Raleigh l. 5. c. 3. sect 18. Historian and Statesman observes That it is often found in Councils of State that the busie and obstinate Heads of a few do carry all the rest and many times Men make a surrender of their own Judgments to the Wisdom that hath gotten it self a Name by giving happy Directions in Troubles by-past therefore he that reposeth himself upon the Advice of many shall often find himself deceived The Counsel of the Many being wholly directed by the Empire of a Few that oversway the rest For here Q. Fabius was accounted the Oracle of his time for his wary Nature suited well with the Business that fell out in the chief of his Imployment therefore others adhered to him that was grown old in following one Course from which they would not shift as the change of Times required But the People who though they could not well advise and deliberate yet could well apprehend embraced the needful Motion of Scipio and furnished him with all Supplies and Furtherance they could From hence I may note the Inconvenience of this Government wherein sometimes the Senators shall be led by one or some few one way and then by others and sometimes the People shall over-rule the Votes of the Senate For though this may be fortunate at some times yet at others it may be as fatal The great Success of Scipio was celebrated with that excess of Joy and deservedly as Rome perhaps never shew'd the like and his Brother L. Scipio's Triumph was not much less than it Yet these two so famous Brothers afterwards were called one after another by two Tribunes of the People to Judgment in probability by the instigation of some of the Faction of the Senate against them The African could not endure that such unworthy Men should question him of purloining from the common Treasure or of being hired by Antiochus to make an ill Bargain for his Country When therefore the Day of Answer came he appeared before the Tribunes not humbled as one accused but followed by a great Train of his Friends and Clients with which he passed through the midst of the Assembly and having Audience told the People That upon the same day of the Year he fought a great Battel against Hannibal and finished the Punic War by a signal Victory In memory of which he thought it no fit Season to brabble at the Law but intended to visit the Capitol and there give Thanks to Jupiter and the rest of the Gods by whose Grace both on that day and at other times he had well and happily discharged the most weighty Business of the Commonweal and that if from the seventeenth Year of his Life until he now grew old the Honourable Places by them conferred on him had prevented the Capacity of his Age and yet his Deserts had exceeded the Greatness of those Honourable Places that then they would pray That the Princes and Great ones of the City might still be like to him So all followed him except the Tribunes and their Slaves and one of the Cryers by whom ridiculously they cited him to Judgment until for very shame as not knowing what else to do they granted him unrequested a longer Day But after when he perceived that the Tribunes would not let fall the Suit he willingly withdrew from that unthankful Rome that could suffer him to undergo such Indignities and so spent the rest of his time at Linternum Concerning Lucius Scipio the younger Brother The same Tribunes proceeded more sharply with his Brother Lucius Scipio the Asiatick whose wise Conduct and Valour had subjected Greece and Macedonia to the Roman Yoke and extended their Empire over those rich Countries They propounded a Decree unto the People touching Money received of Antiochus not brought into the Common Treasury that the Senate should give Charge unto one of the Praetors to inquire and Judicially determine thereof And Matters were so carried against him that he was condemned in a Sum of Money far greater than his Ability and for non-payment his Body should have been laid up in Prison but he was freed from the Rigour of this by Gracchus the Tribune and his Estate being confiscated when there neither appeared any Sign of his being beholden to Antiochus nor there was found so much as he was condemned to pay then fell his Accusers and all whose Hands had been against him into the Indignation of the People It is observed That Cato the elder who had been his Treasurer was a Promoter of this A Man saith Sir Walter Raleigh of great but not perfect Vertue Temperate Valiant and of singular Industry Frugal of the Publick and of his own who though not to be corrupted with Bribes yet was unmerciful and unconscionable in increasing his own Wealth by such means as the Laws did permit Ambition was his Vice which being joyned with Envy troubled both himself and the whole City And some write That Fabius Maximus out of some private displeasure countenanced these Proceedings From these and other Examples it may well be noted Summary of the Reman Discords how this famous Commonweal was pestered with Faction the want of sufficient Imployment were Sparks that help'd the kindling of the Fire of them which now began to appear and first caught hold of those great Worthies to whose Valour and Conduct Rome
affords us many Examples of Persons selling their Country and putting their great Councils upon ill attempts and labouring with their utmost cunning to frustrate good Designs because their Dependance upon a Foreign State or Kingdom was worth much more unto them than they could hope to gain by honest Service to their Country Supposing both the King and Optimacy be willing to promote the Peoples Happiness yet he is more able to compass that End by reason he hath a more United Power and the Execution of all Designs depends upon a single resolve and therefore may be managed with a certain closeness and all convenient swiftness so that good Councils shall be first discovered in their effects Whereas a great Body move slowly and most times the opportunity of Doing is gone by while they are but half way in their deliberation Besides More Inconveniences under Common-wealths than under Kings cateris paribus as there are many Advantages peculiar to Monarchy as in these three Chapters I hope I have evinced so there is not one Inconvenience to which a People living under Aristocracy are not subject in a much higher Degree than they are under Monarchy For supposing a King cruel yet one Man's Cruelty cannot reach so many as that of Multiplied oppressors when every one takes their peculiar Province to fleece or exercise their Lordliness over according as their Estates or Interests are divided The Covetousness likewise of Senators is more devouring because we may feed one Fire with less Expence of Fewel than five Hundred A Princes profuse Largesses to his Favourites is infinitely over-balanced by so many providing for their poor Kindred and making Friends and purchasing Dependants This very thing must likewise be practised by Senators for underproping their several reputations hiring Advocates to plead for them in their absence purchasing of Votes in their private concerns and obtaining of Offices Places and Estates for themselves and their Relations So that these must require more considerable Supplies from the People who must be squeezed every time any single Grandee wants than are necessary to nourish the Liberality of a Prince who hath a large Patrimony standing Revenue and places of Honour and Profit to gratify his Servants withal The wisest States having made ample allowances to their Princes to enable them to bestow Favours according to Merits or liking Some think that of Ecclesiastes Wo to thee O Land when thy King is a Child a strong Argument against Monarchy Another Objection answered because this Calamity is not incident to a Senate because they are not subject to Nonage But the place rightly understood saith a learned (i) Idem p. 23. Writer whom I have epitomized in the Parallel is a very full Confirmation of the happy Condition we have reason to expect under Monarchy and of the Calamities and Woes which probably attend an Aristocracy For the cause of those Miserie 's foretold is plainly thus A King during his Infancy being not able personally to Rule the Government is managed by the Nobles and thence come Factions and all the Mischiefs that accompany them To close therefore this Chapter we may consider that Kings have no Rivals whom they fear and must keep under as Governours of Commonwealths have which is no small Blessing to a People Kings as Proprietors take all the care possible saith a very (k) Jus Regin◠p. 58. Learned Author to improve their Dominions whereas Republicans are as Tenants mind nothing so much as their private Profit and the very Pretenders to Liberty and Property in this and the last Age have been the great Cheats of the Nation They when raised to govern grew insolent whereas Princes are still the same and their Passions rise not because their Fortunes do not The Prevailing Factions in Commonweals spare none that oppose them having no consideration of them but as Enemies whereas Kings pity even Rebels as considering them still as their Subjects and though I cannot say with my (l) Idem Author of one Year yet I may say of the whole time of the Usurpation That more were murthered and ruined in that Reforming Age than suffered by the Great Mogul and King of France in that space of time and more Severity was exercised by those Reformers than by all the Race of our Kings these Six hundred years And whatever Evil Ministers Kings are said to have yet what that Judicious Author notes of Scotland we may say the like of England That after they had taken from the Blessed King his Prerogative of chusing Judges and Councellors the Parliament did the next year put in I will not say with him the greatest Blockheads and Idiots in the Nation but men of much meaner Parts and more corrupt and unfit either for knowledge or the upright dispensing of the Laws Justice and Equity than any Age had known I have discoursed of this Head before and so shall say no more but that as well as in Antient times the unequal Distribution of Justice hath been noted so the Severity of the State of Venice against their Nobles and the executing Men without Citing or Hearing upon meer Jealousies induced a wise Spaniard who hath collected the Arbitrary Courses practised and allowed in that State to say That there is less of Liberty there than under the worst of Monarchies And for the State of Holland it hath been more than once observed how ingrateful they have been to all their Neighbours who have assisted them in their greatest need and with what a Jealousie they treat the Prince of Orange whose Ancestors setled them in the Possession of what they have as well as to the Crown of England is obvious to common Observation By them their Allies have been unworthily deserted In the matter of Trade no Pact or Faith hath been kept In their Country Mint and Cummin Coleworts and Herbs are excised nothing worn nothing fed upon or necessary for Humane Life but pays something to their Exchequer You pay a Tribute for the Ground you walk on for the Rivulets you pass on only they have not yet found out a Tax upon their Foggy Air. CHAP. X. The Character of a good King in general BEfore I come to treat of the Sovereignty I think it convenient to discourse of the usefullest Qualifications of Monarchs and the benefits that will redound to themselves and their Subjects thereby The (a) Ethic. 8. c. 10. Polit. lib. 3. 5. c. 4. Philosopher in several places compares a King to a Parent and Shepherd but a Tyrant to a Lord over Slaves and a Wolf Difference of a King and a Tyrant The One in his Government having a special Regard to the Peoples Benefit the Other governing without or against Law pro nutu arbitrio reducing all things under their absolute will and Power in such a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as is unhappy to their People and in the Conclusion to themselves The ancient Authors Description of a Good
Religion (s) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Polit. lib. 5. c. 11. saith It is not foolishly and impertinently to be pretended whereby we may infer it is to be sincere and Cordial So Pomponius (t) In Philipp◠Laetus tells us That Philippus Arabs covered his Wickedness and Cruelties by feigning himself a Christian and relaxing their Persecutions and he reigned but five Years and He and his Sons were massacred by his Soldiers at Verona Indeed it cannot be expected otherwise but that the Judgment of God and the Indignation of Men should fall upon such Dissimulation and Hypocrisie For however Princes or private Persons may lacker over their specious Religiousness yet in some times or places it will appear so thin that it will be discovered and at best it will bear no resemblance with pure Gold Foyl It must not be denied That Princes have a larger Latitude than others to conceal their Sentiments of Religion or to set the fairest Gloss upon it as being to guide their Actions in this matter as well as in secular Affairs suitable to the Interests of State But every one will likewise acknowledge that a Prince The Credit a Prince gains that is truly Religious who useth in this as well as other matters a generous plain dealing is valued more by this Standard Coin without Alloy than those are who make as the States of Holland do their Third in Silver mixed with four parts of adulterate Metal pass for currant Sterling Coyn. Among just Men such a Prince that deals candidly with God and the World will find infinite more credit than any Tinsel heart will do But I must pass to another of the Florentine's Paradoxes (u) Discourse lib. 1. cap. 12. 〈◊〉 's Opinion of the Bencht of the Heathen Religion he saith The Pagan World was kept principally in Obedience by the belief they had in the Responses of Oracles as that of Jupiter Ammon at Delos or Apollo's at Delphos c. or by the Prognosticks of the Augurs and that when once Men began to sleight these they neither believed God nor the Devil but became as ungovernable as unchained Slaves and in another (w) Id. lib. 2. c. 5. place adds That the cause why the Force and Power of Christians is less than that of the Grecians and Romans was in the difference of their Religion For that the Christian Religion makes the Honour of the World contemptible and of little Estimation whereas the Gentiles esteemed Honour to be the Soveraign good which to obtain they had an exceeding great Fierceness and Hardiness in all their Deeds and Enterprizes and that the Heathen Religion promiseth no Happiness but to such as having fought for their Prince Country and Commonweal were loaded with Glory and worldly Honour whereas the Christian Religion promiseth blessings to such as are humble and contemplative and to those which despise most the Goods and Honours of this World and further adds That the Christian Religion hath conducted and brought the World into that Weakness and Feebleness we see it in delivering it as a Prey to the wicked and barbarous People because all Christians to take the way to Paradise dispose and arm themselves rather to receive Blows than to give or take Vengeance So that to him it seems That the thing which makes Christians so effeminate and cowardly proceeds only from this That they esteem more of an Idle and Contemplative than an Active Life In answer to all which I do own The Answer That the Oracles and Augurs had some Influence upon the People but we must likewise yield That they were often Instruments and Tools fitted by Princes to carry on some designs to give Courage to their Soldiers and disheartning to their Enemies and that God in the Machine was oftentimes a Prince's Spring that lay there As to the Rites and Ceremonies whatever Power they had to influence Mens Minds to Obedience and Duty to Governours and to stimulate and excite them to great and glorious Actions the same Motives and Inducements we may find in the Christian Religion and better bottomed That there is something else besides bare Forms Modes and Schemes of Religion that ought to be countenanced and cherished by Princes and which is very conducive not to make any Comparisons to the support of Government I will now endeavour to prove First therefore let us consider what is related of Numa Concerning Numa Pompilius It is said he appointed divers Ordinances concerning Priests and several Ceremonies whereof several Rolls were found in his (x) Livius lib. 40. Decad. 4. Sepulcher Anno V. C. 574. in the Consulship of Lucius Manilius in a Stone Coffin one part Latin and the other Greek These Books being seven in all by order from the Consuls and Senate were perused by Quintus Petilius who made such a Report of them that according to Livy they were decreed to be burnt as of no great account and besides judged pernicious and damageable to the Commonwealth by bringing that Religion into Use which was like to bring great (y) Cum animadvertisset pleraque dissolvendam Religionem esse Ibid. alterations in the present Rites Valerius Maximus gives something a different account for he saith the Greek Books only (z) De disciplina sapientiae quia aliqua ex parte ad solvendam Religionem pertinere existimabantur noluerunt enim prisei viri quicquam in hac asservari civitate quo animi hominum a deorum cultu avocarentur Lib. 5. de Religione num 12. of the Discipline of Wisdom were burnt for that they were judged in some respects to dissolve Religion For saith my Author the Ancients would preserve nothing in this City by which the Minds of Men might be withdrawn or led aside from the Worship of the Gods From this Story I shall first mark obiter that it seems for want of the engraving these Institutions of Numa concerning Religion in Brass as the Roman Laws were though the successive Priests had the ordering them ever since yet there was that alteration made in that long interval of time in the Rites and Ceremonies from what he had instituted that to have reduced them to their practice was like to un-hinge all their present Ecclesiastical Polity and so the Senate Consuls and Priests thought it more adviseable to burn and annihilate them than to disorder the present Establishment Secondly We may note that the Senate and Consuls took care that nothing should be exposed to the People how sacred a Relique soever that might enervate or debilitate Religion Now we may further note out of a judicious (a) Dionys Halicarnassaeus lib. 11. Historian That Numa built a Temple to Faith where he established many Ceremonies to induce People to reverence Faith The good things Numa established in order to Government and to fear Perjury and ordained likewise upon Controversies happening among Parties they should be bound to go to the same Temple and there with certain
of Majestas Title of Majesty As Your Majesty His Majesty Imperial Majesty The word it self denoting all kind of special Dignity as if we should say in English Greatness as well in private Persons as supream Princes and Deities Ovid (k) Fastorum lib. 5. elegantly describes Majesty to be born of Honour and Reverence and he saith Majesty continued among the Gods until the Rebellion of the Giants against Jupiter when she so daunted them that afterwards she was honoured for it with a place next to Jupiter whose Kingdom she defends by the greatness only of her Presence and unarmed and that she came down also among Men since which both Supream and Subordinate Princes and some also of all Kinds have had their special Dignity from her Presence with them whence Majestas Pueri Matronae Virginis c. and as Valerius Maximus (l) Quasi privata 〈…〉 clarerum virorum sine Tribunalium fasiigio Lib. 3. c. 10. calls it a private kind of Magistracy a Majesty of eminent Men without the Honour of Tribunalship or any other Office But it is not of this kind of Majesty I now treat but as it is applicable to the Sovereign So in Cicero Majestas Populi Romani denotes the Supream Dignity of the State of Rome as (m) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In legatione in Foed Aetolorum Polybius calls it the Empire and Power of the People of Rome Afterwards this Majesty of the People or of the whole Empire and State was cast upon the Emperors as a Characteristick of Soveraignty and then it was Majestas Imperatorum Whence it grew into frequent use to write (n) Gruteri Inscr p. 246. n. 3. NVMINI MAJESTATIQVE EJVS DEVOTISS or DIC ATISSIMVS as in that Inscription in Tarragona in St. Barbara's Church of Septimius Acindynus to the Emperor Trajan From the use of Majesty thus applied came the name of Crimen Majestatis to denote that offence which was committed against the Dignity of the State of Rome or against the Emperor So (o) Majestatis crimen illud est quod adversus Pop. Rom. vel adversus securitatem ejus committitur P. ad Lâ—g Jul. Majest lib. 5. Vlpian saith It is that which is committed against the People of Rome or their Security (p) Majestatem minuisti quod Tribunum Plebis de Templo deduxisti De Invent. lib. 2. And Cicero calls it a Diminution of Majesty to draw a Tribune of the People out of the Temple And Justinian saith That the (q) Lex Julia Majestatis in eos qui contra Imperatorem vel Rempublicam aliquid moliti sunt suum vigorem extendit Instit Tit. de Publico Judicio Julian Law of Majesty extends its Force against them who attempt any thing against the Emperor or the Commonwealth And for this offence the word Majestas is used singly by (r) Hujus in metum penitus sustulisti contentus magnitudine qua nulli magis caruere quam qui sibi majestatem vindicabant Panegyr Pliny to Trajan That he had wholly taken away the fear of too frequent questiou upon that crime being contented with the greatness of his Power or Office which none more wanted than those that challenged Majesty to themselves as if he had said that his mild Empire and Greatness was better to himself and his People than theirs who had a more absolute Sovereignty This Expression of the Emperors by the abstract Majestas wherewith Numen also was commonly joyned in Inscriptions became it seems the Example by which the ensuing times brought in the frequency of those other Abstracti which designed the Emperors as well in the first as the second and third Person as Perennitas Aeternitas Tranquillitas Serenitas c. which are most obvious in the Rescripts of the old Emperors that remain in the two Codes of Theodosius and Justinian And in the Greek Empire this Attribute of Majesty was denoted by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Emperor had with the Addition of Sacred and sometimes with (s) Vide Codin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mâ—ursium in Glossar Graâ—o-Barb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 serenissima jestas There are great Numbers of other Epithetes that have been given to Soveraign Princes Other Attributes given to Princes as among the Romans Pius Foelix Clemens Tranquillus Sanctissimus Pater Patriae In the later times both in the Empire and Kingdoms Clementissimus Excellentissimus Invictissimus Illustrissimus Serenissimus Gloriosissimus Potentissimus Sacratissimus Celsissimus Religiosissimus and some have had peculiar Attributes The Emperor is stiled Semper Augustus the King of England Fidei Defensor the King of France Christianissimus of Spain Catholicus Most of these Attributes were given to denote the Eminence of their place or the peculiar Vertues such Princes excelled in and under the Greek Empire the Epithetes agreeable to their Language and the Attributes of the Eastern Monarchs are to this Day more luxuriant So we find Emanuel Comnenus in his Letter to Frederic Barbarossa writes thus (t) Albertus Stadensis in Chron. Anno 1179. Manuel in Christo Deo fidelis Imperator Porphyrogennetus Divinitus Coronatus Regnator potens excelsus semper Augustus Moderator Romanorum magnificus Nobilissimo Gloriosissimo Regi Almanorum Imperatori ac dilecto Fratri Imperii nostri salutem So (u) Canis Antiq. â—ect Tom. 5. p. 2. Isaacus Angelus useth this insolent Title as Mr. Selden calls it to the same Barbarossa Isachius a Deo constitutus Imperator Sacratissimus Excellentissimus Potentissimus Sublimis Moderator Romanorum Angelus totius Orbis Haeres Coronae magnae Constantini Dilecto Fratri Imperii sui Maximo Principi Alemaniae c. So the Sirnamed (w) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Camerar ad aure â—m Andâ—onic Bullam p. 9. Emanuel stiled himself Governed by God Heir of the Crown of Constantine the Great and observing of his Laws The Grand Seignior besides the Enumeration of all his vast Dominions particularly stiles himself By the infinite Grace of the just great and most puissant Creator and by the abundance of the Miracles of the chief of his Prophets Emperor of Victorious Emperors Distributer of the Crowns of the greatest Princes of the Earth c. Lord of Europe Asia and Africa conquered by his victorious Sword and powerful Lance c. and so after the recital of the several Kingdoms he saith of many other Countries Villages and Seigneuries Conquered by his Imperial Power and Justice c. By the Grace of God the resort of the great Princes of the World and the refuge of Honourable Emperors This was from Achmet Son of Mahomet to Hen. IV. of France A late Author (z) Treatise of Absolute Power p. 32 33. who takes all the Advantages to depress Monarchy out of a pretence of declaring against the too great absoluteness of Princes tells us That as the Majesty and real greatness of the Emperors declined and as
Misgovernment to call their Sovereigns to an account In the first Place it ought to be considered that by constituting any check upon Sovereign Princes all Decisions and Controversies must be writ in Blood and it would lay a fruitful (b) Non tanti est civilia bella movere Arguments against Resisting of Princes Seed-Plot of civil Wars by indulging the most pernicious Freedom of righting our selves for though the People or some ambitious Male-contents may not be so happy as they could wish yet to make use of Force as a Remedy will certainly encrease the Miseries If this Principle be granted it will make Sovereigns always jealous Would make Princes always jealous and consequently studious to secure themselves against such opposition by strong Hand which will be very galling to the Subject Besides upon all differences betwixt the King and People No Judges can be betwixt King and People no Judge can be found to determine the Matter and to allow this Power to the People is to allow a Difference that can have no end before one half of the Nation have ruined another as by sad Experience we found in our late Civil Wars Further it ought to be considered That this not only overthrows Monarchy but all Government for who will obey It overthrows all Government when they can resist Under all Governments we should have one Rebellion (c) Just Right of Monarchy p. 92.93 rising out of the Ashes of another for only those who prevailed should be satisfied and all the rest would certainly conclude that they might more justly oppose those Usurpers than the first did their lawful Prince and thus Government which is designed for the Security Peace and Tranquillity of the State should be perpetually embroyled and by the cruel Hostilities of emulous Factions mastering one another the common People and those who would desire to live peaceably should be the continual Prey of Ravenous Harpyes and Vultures If we allow Subjects to take Arms against their Prince Not allowed in Families we ought to allow Children the like Liberty against their Parents Servants against their Masters Soldiers against their Officers and the common Rabble against their Magistrates For the King in his Sovereignty eminently comprehends all these Relations Besides what reasonable Man can think much more ought to assert that it is fit to allow this Principle when all Ages Mischiess of the Peoples Liberties and daily Experience teach us That the numerous Party of Mankind is difficultly by the most rational and strictest Laws contained in their duty What might we therefore expect if every Man should be invested with Power to be his own Judge and be loosed from all Laws and encouraged to the Duty as it must be upon this Doctrine of transgressing disobeying and breaking all Laws that establish a Government uneasie to him It cannot but be observed and by daily Experience is found 〈◊〉 in all Popular Congresses in all Elections or public Votes of the Body of the People how violent they are when opposed by some few How Insolent when they find their Strength that nos numeri sumus And how Cruel when enraged as in the History of Cardinal Bentivolio to go no higher in that of Naples under Masianello and that of Amsterdam against the De Witts and many more might be instanced in And it will certainly be allowed that the Multitude being cajoled by Pretenders to be their Patriots and the publick-spirited maintainers of their Liberties Properties and Religion the usual Shams and Wheedles ambitious and contriving Men make of to seduce them find these very Men more unjust oppressive exorbitant and Arbitrary than the worst of Princes Therefore since the multitude is no better qualified to judge nor juster when led by such Chieftains Surely all prudent Men and Lovers of their own and their Countries Happiness must conclude it much safer and conducibler to the Publick Weal to obey those whom God hath set over them and the Laws their Duties and Oaths oblige them to bear Faith and Allegiance to than to subject themselves to their fellow-Subjects who can have no other Title but rebellious Success to warrant them to harass butcher and ruin them Whereas at the worst in Kings we have but an ill Master but allowing Subjects to usurp we may fight our selves into slavery under hundreds of Tyrants and those too fighting one against another so that we shall not know even which of those Devils to obey Would we consult the Histories of preceding times or our own Experiences we should find the Pretenders to reform (d) Idem p. 92. Pretenders to Reformation greatest Oppressors Government have proved the greatest Cheats to those they have seduced They in reality neither promoting Liberty or Religion but under that Vizard-mask shrouded other black designs and when they succeeded in their Attempts they became infinitely more oppressive to the People than the lawful Powers ever had or could be they pretended to protect them from the Rigor of And when (e) Idem p. 90 91. others rose against them on the same pretence they did in the severest manner declare that Rebellion in others which they contended to be lawful in themselves Whoever will not be convinced of this if he by woful Experience knew it not may read it in the Histories of our late Miseries and if he have any Spirit of Ingenuity or Christianity will totally abandon such Principles as brought so wasting a Calamity on our Country In the Constitution of our English Government we have but one Sovereign The Constitution of England's Government Monarchical to whom we owe Fealty Homage Allegiance and Obedience by Oaths and Laws Even all the Acts of Parliament that acknowledg this a Monarchy are so many solid Arguments and Testimonies of the Kings Supremacy and to set up any co-ordinate Power whatsoever would be to create Regnum in Regno in Temporals as the Phanatick Principle That Dominium fundatur in Gratia or in Orthodoxa Religione doth in Spirituals Than which no Sentiment was ever invented more dangerous to overturn States and bring all to Confusion If indeed we were to form the Government under which we were to live No new Government now to be framed we might agree upon setting up Ephori Tribunes of the People Daemagogues Calvin's Three Estates or a co-ordinate Power in the two Houses as so many checks upon the Supreme Governour But we are born under a Monarchy fix'd by Law and Consent time out of Mind so that we may as well yield to the Levellers reducing us to the pure pute State of Nature as the forming such an Idaea of a Common-wealth wherein a Sovereign is to be resisted if any factious Party think themselves aggrieved It is to be well considered that though William the Conqueror had little or no Title of Right yet his Conquest with the Subjects submission then and in after Ages to his Successors and the Obligation of Oaths and
subsequent Acts of Parliament supplied all Defects and all the Limitations of that absolute Power which accrued by Conquest being the free Concession of himself and his Successors which appears in their Grants by way of Charter as I shall hereafter have occasion to enlarge upon it is most evident that the King's Power is absolute where no Law (f) D. Digs Unlawfulness of Resisting can be produced to the contrary and no special Case can be determined by the Subject to the Kings disadvantage and though the Kings succeeding the Conquest to sweeten Subjection quaedam jura pactis minuerunt and these Acts of Grace were confirmed by Promise and Oath No Contract betwixt King and Subjects whereby they may exact an Account yet we find no Footsteps of any security given that should endanger the Person or Regal Authority by giving to their Subjects any legal Power to unking them if they should not perform Covenant Nor could it be rational to expect such for they knew full well if they should not break such Promises yet a Pretence that they did so as we have known it was alledged concerning the Coronation Oath might upon the first opportunity create a Civil War Therefore their Subjects had as little reason to accept as the Kings had to offer so pernicious a Security as would bring both Parties into such a sad Condition For if Rebellion were to be allowed in any Case that Case would be always pretended and though the Prince were Just Wise and Religious yet ambitious Men to compass their own Ends would impute to him Oppression Weakness or Irreligion as the World knows by too sad Experience was verified in King Charles the Martyr who taking his measures of others Sincerity by the rule of his own Heart suffered pretences of publick Good to grow up to insolent Tumults and at last to Rebellion and notwithstanding his Exemplary Practice in his publick Devotions was traduced to have but handsomly dissembled and favoured another Religion in his Heart and at last brought before a crew of Regicides impeached of breach of Trust Tyranny and I know not how many horrid Crimes against his Subjects who yet died the Peoples Martyr and the Royal Asserter of their Liberties and Priviledges which all his Subjects found to expire with him the greatest Arbitrariness and cruellest Tyranny being during their Power exercised by the new Common-wealth Men that ever was read of in any History Those who read Books among those of the Sect of Libertines in Politicks and so much magnify the great name of Liberty of the Subject and co-ordinate Powers Writers who lived under Common-wealths no Guides to us converse most in Greek and Latin Authors who lived under Commonwealths and so were profuse in the commendation of their Country Government against Usurpers or else these admired Authors were (g) Jus Regium p. 134. Stoicks who out of a selfish Pride equalled themselves not only to their Kings but to their own Gods even as our Quakers who pretend a Light within them a more sure guide to them than the Law Now the same reason they had to commend their form of Government We have more reason to commâ—nd our Government than the Romans or Grecians theirs and so much more as Monarchy is preferrable to Aristocracy we in England have reason to commend our Constitution where our Kings are truly the Fathers of their Country and if they would ballance the convenience or inconvenience of either Government they would soon discover it For whereas they say that the Doctrine of Non-resistance is the readiest Motive to establish Tyranny It is much more certain and experimentally known that the Leaders of the Rabble always prove such and that the Distractions of a civil War which ordinarily are occasioned by the pretence of reforming something amiss in the Governours and Competitions betwixt Persons for Soveraignty destroy more than the Lusts of any one Tyrant can do which made Lucan a Republican and of the Pompeian Party conclude after a sad review of the continual Civil Wars betwixt Sylla and Marius Caesar and Pompey without touching upon what followed under the Triumvirs Foelices Arabes Medique Eoaque tellus Qui sub perpetuis tenuerunt Regna Tyrannis And if he preferred even the Tyranny or absoluteness of those Kings before the State of Civil Wars how much more have we reason to submit and that chearfully to the most easy Yoak of the Sovereignty of our Princes We need not be solicitous that their unaccountableness to their Subjects shall prompt them to Tyranny because we have good Security as strong as humane Wisdom ever invented that we shall live happily under that Constitution which our Fore-fathers enjoyed the Benefit of in an high Degree The Security we have that no Arbitrary Government can be exercised in England never distrusting the sound temper of the Policy For first our Kings swear at their Coronations to preserve the Laws Liberties Properties and Religion Secondly If they should command illegal things the Executors of them are responsible to Parliamentary Inquisitions Lastly the Interest of the King is the same with that of the Subject as to their Prosperity and Misery so that a King will always consult the good of his Subjects which made (h) Praeestis hominibus sed hominum causa nec domini modo Arbitri rerum sed Tutores Administratores estis Collata est in sinum vestrum a deo hominibus Respublica sed nempe in sinum ut foveatur Epist Dedicat ad Imp. Reges Principes Lipsius tell the Sovereigns That they govern over Men but for their good and are not only Lords and Judges of Matters but Tutors and Administrators That the Government of the Commonweal by God and Men is placed in their Bosoms or Laps but so as to be cherished and protected there To conclude this discourse We have heard of or seen the sad Calamities the Republican Rebellion brought upon all his Majesties Dominions when the mild Government of King Charles the First was altered to the most Bloody and Tyrannical one of his rebellious Subjects that any Age could parallel and we have had Experience of the merciful Government of his Royal Son and Successor and have lived to see all the Establishments of Usurpers brought to Confusion We have seen a formidable Rebellion burst forth in our Magnanimous King James the Second's Reign which had been forming seven Years before utterly overthrown in two Months and we cannot peruse Histories but we must meet with infinite Examples of the sad devastations such Rebellions bring to their Country and the unsuccessfulness of them Therefore I would earnestly advise all Malecontents never to make their Country's Ruine and the slain Carcasses of their Countrymen the Steps by which they must ascend the Scaffolds or the Rounds of the Ladders they must mount the Gallows which without a Prince's Clemency are the sure Rewards of all Rebels and their certain Fate CHAP.
(f) Glossar p. 362. Leges pristinas longa receptas consuetudine abolevit Britannisque novas dedit Sir Henry Spelman's Glossary I find that the Manuscript saith That he abolished the old Laws received by long Custom and gave to his Britans new ones which from the Makers Name are called the Laws of Hoel Dha Who over reads these Laws saith a judicious (g) Sacred Laws p. 76. Author will have little reason to think our Common Law ran from any such Fountain and it seems the old Laws and Customs of this People were far worse and more rude yet as the Proem informs us I know some will be displeased that I take no notice of the Mulmutian or of the Mercian Laws concerning which the Abbat (h) Jo. Bromp Coll. 956. num 10. of Jorval and the Monk (i) Lib. 1. c. 50. Concerning the Mercian Laws not British See for this and against it what the Judicious Selden hath writ in his fourth fifth and sixth Chapters of his Janus Anglorum in which the Story of Brute is judiciously confuted of Chester give this account That Dunwallo Mulmucius a British King who lived 430 years before our Saviour made those Laws which continued in esteem till Edward the Confessors days by the Name of the Leges Molmucinae in which he appointed Cities the Temples of the Gods and the Ways leading to them and the Ploughs of the Country Men to be Sanctuaries and after Mercia a Queen of the Britans Wife of Gwithelin whom Leland calls Mercia proba in the Minority of her Son saith the Monk of Chester who ruled in the Country of the Mercians published a Law full of Discretion and Justice called the Lex Mercia which two Laws Gildas the Historian translated out of the British Language into Latin and these in the Saxons time were called Merchena Laga or the Law of the Mercians which Alured the Saxon saith the Monk of Chester from the Latin turned into the Saxon Language and added the West Saxon Law and Canutus added the Danelga or Danish Law all which three being joyned together by Edward the Confessor made those we call the Common Law or King Edward's Laws To which I shall only give Sir Henry Spelman's answer in his Glossary That it is true that King Alfred did write the Mercian Laws into his own West Saxon Laws but as appears by the Preface to his Laws that he collected what ever he found in the Laws of King Ina his Countryman Offa King of the Mercians or Ethelbert who was first baptized and those that were just he collected others being rejected It is not probable that Offa a Saxon King the cruellest Enemy to the Britains having driven them out of all the Confines of his Kingdom into Wales should carry back their Laws as his Spoils especially the Laws being so wicked that in the next Age they should be expunged and juster Laws be chosen as we see in the Preface to those of Hoel Dha I shall offer but one Argument more and so conclude with Sir Henry Spelman's opinion When Ethelbert King of Kent made his Laws Anno 613. as in the next Chapter I shall relate Bede saith he framed them after the Roman Example after Romana Bisena by which we may understand either according to the Laws then used by the Civil or Ecclesiastic State of the Romans As to Sir Henry Spelman (k) Glossar tit Lex Whence most Laws after the breaking of the Roman Empire he saith when the Goths Saxons Longobards Danes Normans and other Inhabitants about the Baltic Sea and Northern parts of Germany had made great Conquests in Europe they imposed their Laws every where upon the conquered and their Country Riâ—â— hence the Agreement betwixt the Laws of the Germans French Italians Spaniards and Sicilians and who ever boast of the Antiquity of their Municipal Laws can deduce them no higher For (l) Quis enim victor populus sub victi legibus conquiniscet saith he What conquering People will bow the neck under the Laws of the conquered especially when they have ejected a great part of them out of the Country So that if the Britains had any Laws of their own after the Roman Conquest they must be preserved in the remotest parts of Scotland and after in Wales but England had other Laws as I shall make appear hereafter CHAP. XXIII Of the German Government and Laws of several Countries after breaking of the Roman Empire and an Introduction to understand the Saxon Law-makers HAving treated of the State of the Britans under the Romans I now in order should immediately treat of the Saxons great Councils and discover by what Authority Laws were made in their time who made up the great Council and whose advice was implied in the framing of their Laws But before I enter upon Particulars it may be needful to say something of the German Polity a Member of which most famous Country though we find not them mentioned during the time of the twelve Caesars no doubt the Saxons were Caesar tells us The Gods the Germans worshipped The Germans had no Druids * Germani neque Druidas habent qui rebus divinis praesint neque sacrisiciis student which attended Divine Matters nor did they study Sacrifices and that they accounted among the Gods those they see and from whom they are manifestly helped in their works as the Sun Vulcan and the Moon the rest they have not received as much as by report But Tacitus mentions their God Tuisto born of the Earth and his Son Mannus and that they worshipped Mercury most to whom they sacrificed Men but to Hercules and Mars other Animals Although the Germans Gauls and Britans were Barbarous yet they were Valiant and capable of great Improvement and that some worshipped Isis When I read in Caesar Tacitus Diodorus Strabo and others of the Barbarousness of the Germans Gauls and Britans their homely Diet poor Cottages and Clothing their Habitations dispersed according as there was convenience of Water or Wood and that uncultivated Disposition they describe I am ready to think before the Roman Attacques upon them they had lived something like the Savage Indians and had little of Arts or Industry among them but when I consider on the other side their great Armies their Weapons the Chariots of the Britans and Gauls called Esseda the (a) Lanceo ferreo cubitali longitudine latitudine duorum palmorum Aerea Galea caput muniâ—bant paulatim eminentiore in qua aut cornua impressa essent aut avium vel quadrupedum essigies sculptae Caesar l. 3. Lances of the Gauls with Heads of Iron a Cubit long and two Palms broad their large Shields and Brass Helmets the German Spears called Framâ—â—â— and the Ornaments of their Shields and Helmets with Figures of Birds or four-footed Beasts in Brass their orderly raising of such and such numbers of Men in such and such Circuits and Jurisdiction of Cities and their training up
their Youth in Arms and the Influence the Druids had in Gaul and Britain and the Priests in Germany in all which Particulars I could give a large account but that Ramus hath saved me the labour I say when I consider this I look upon them as People of brave and Heroic minds and such as were capable of great Improvements and who were People of Courage and Prowess But I shall leave these things and only speak of their Polity or Government Ecclesiastic Military The Religion of the Germans and Civil As to their Priests (b) Silentium per Sacerdotes quibus tum coercendi Jus est imperatum Tacit. de Moribus Germ. 634. Tacitus tells us That in the great Confluxes of the People they had some kinds of Presidentship and coercive Power in causing Silence None were permitted to Correct Bind or Punish any with Stripes but the Priests not allowing them to be inflicted for Punishment and at the Command of the Captain but as it were (c) Velut Deo imperante quem adesse bellantibus credunt Id. God commanding whom they believe to be present with their Armies Therefore he saith they carry some Effigies or Symbols of their Gods taken from their Graves into their Battles He (d) Nec cohibere parietibus Deos neque in ullam humani oris speciem assimulare ex magnitudine coelesâ—ium arbitrantur Id. 633. saith the Germans do not confine their Gods to Walls nor make them after the similitude of Humane Shape the greatness of Coelestial Powers not allowing it they consecrate Groves and Woods and call by the names of Gods that Secret which by Reverence alone they see Lucos ac nemora Consecrant Deorumque nominibus appellant Secretum illud quod sola Reverentia vident As to civil affairs Their Civil Government In their Councils which (e) Jura per Pagos Vicosque reddunt centeni singulis ex plebe comites consilium simul auctoritas adsunt Idem Tacitus before saith they ordinarily held about the New or Full Moon their Princes are chosen who administer Justice by Villages and Dorps and Council and Authority was in every Hundred Such were our ancient Wapentakes called Hundreds where (f) Conventus fiat in omni centena coram Comite aut suo misso coram Centenario ipsum placitum fiat LL. Alaman the Hundredary and others judged and in this account we have a description of our Fortnight and Monthly Courts in Wapentakes and of the Courts of Mannors but of this Sir William Dugdale is to be consulted in his Learned Treatise called Origines Juridiciales I come therefore to their Princely and Military Government For in so Warlike a Nation it is described by (g) Reges ex Nobilitate Duces ex virtute sumunt nec Regibus infinita libera Potestas Duces exemplo potius quam Imperio Si prompti si conspicui si ante Aciem agunt admiratione praesunt Id. 634. Tacitus as fittest for that Service He saith they take their Kings by their noble Extraction and their Captains or Leaders by their Vertue or Prowess nor is the Power of their Kings free and absolute and their Captains by Example rather than Command are obeyed If they be ready handed of a goodly Presence and signalize their Prowess in the Head of their Armies this gives them Command Further he (h) Mox Rex vel Princeps prout aetas cuique prout Nobilitas prout decus Bellorum prout facundia audiuntur Auctoritate suadendi magis quam jubendi potesâ—ate si displicuit sententia fremitu aspernantar sin placuit frameas concutiunt Honoratissimum assensus genus est armis laudari Id. 636. saith The King or Prince is heard that is valued esteemed and obeyed according to his Age his Nobility his Warlike Atchievements or Eloquence rather by the Authority of perswading than by the Power of Commanding If the matter proposed displease it is rejected with a fretting noise if it please they clash together their Spears the honourablest kind of assent being to commend with their Weapons All this seems to be fitted for Military Affairs and Tacitus having had occasion to treat of the Germans as they were engaged in Wars against the Romans must be thought to make his principal Remarks from the Intelligence he had from the Romans that were employed against them Therefore little can be expected of their Government in Times of Peace which no doubt they rarely enjoyed after the Roman Ambition of subduing all their Neighbours and bringing them under their Subjection was so much endeavoured That the Germans were a Warlike Nation appears in all the accounts given of them (i) Vita Germanorum omnis in venationibus aâ—quâ— in studiis rei militaris consumitur therefore Caesar tells us That the whole life time of the Germans was spent in Hunting and in Military Imployments So Tacitus relates That in their Councils either one of the Princes (k) Scuto Frameaque juvenem ornant hac apud illos toga hic primus juventae honos De Moribus Germ. or the Father or Kinsman adorn the Youth with a Shield and Spear This being among them as the Gown among the Romans the first Honour of their Youth So he saith They divided the Inhabitants of the Pagi into Hundreds of which one was the chief and these were the Footmen in their Armies The German Comites Their Princes had always a great number of Companions in Arms whom he calls Comites and Comitatus (l) Magnaque Comitum aemulatio quibus primus apud Principem suum â—â—â—us Principum cui plurimi acerrimi Comites Haec dignit â—◠〈◊〉 vires magno semper electorum juvenum globo circundati in pace decus in bello praesidium Id. p. 637. Cum ventum iâ— Aciem turpe Principi virtute vinci turpe comitatui virtutem Principis non adaequare among whom was great Emulation who should obtain the prime place about the Prince and so among the Princes who should have most and the valiantest Companions where this number of Clients Retainers or Companions is not only glorious to them in their own Country but among their neighbour-Cities where they fight It is shameful for the Prince saith he to be overcome by force and as shameful for these Companions not to equal the valour of their Prince and it is an infamous disparagement to them all their lives to escape alive out of the Fight if their Prince be slain for to defend him and to ascribe their own valiant Actions to his Glory is their principal Oath the Prince fighting for Victory and they for the Prince If the City from whence they sprung hath grown sluggish with long Peace and Idleness the most of the Noble Youth of their own accord seek those Nations where Wars are Idleness being ingrateful to them and the Princes cannot maintain these numerous Companions but by Force and War for these Comites require of
the Prince's Liberality (m) Exigunt enim Principis sui liberalitate illum bellatorem equum illam cruentam victricemque â—rameam Id. 538. Sir Henry Spelman derives Vassal from the old German Gessel Comes vel simpliciter vel qui pro mercede servit Glossar Fidelis the Warlike Horse and the bloody and conquering Framea or Spear For plentiful Food and Entertainments are to them in stead of Wages Thus far Tacitus Methinks in this description of the Comites and Comitatus there appears something like the Feudal dependence of the Milites upon the Prince they are bound by Oath to defend him they have Horse and Lance or Spear have liberal entertainment both in constant Food and Banquets for Wages and that they had also Lands set out for the service the following words seem to imply viz. That one cannot so (n) Nec arare terram aut expectare Annum tam facile persuaseris quam locare hostes vulnera mereri pigrum quinimo inters videtur sudore acquirere quod possis sanguine parare Id. P. 538. easily perswade them to plough land or expect the Fruits of the Year as to provoke the Enemy and to deserve wounds for it is sluggish to them and dull to acquire that by Sweat that they may obtain by Blood Whether this imply'd a Feudal Tenure or not I will not determine but it shews a rudiment of it And in Scotland not only in the Highlands but the Lowlands that which they call the Great-back i.e. to be attended whereever they travel when they please to command it with a great train of their Vassals and Tenants especially in military expeditions is yet in use and till the Law of H. 7. against Retainers this was as much used by the ancient English Nobility Their Princes presented with Gifts (o) Mâ—s est civitatibus ultro ac viritim conferre Principibus vel armentorum vel frugum quod pro â—â—nore acceptum etiam necessitatibus subvenit publice mittâ—â—tur electi equi magna arma phalerae torquesque Idem Tacitus further saith concerning their Princes That it was a custom for their Cities of their own accord and Man by Man to bestow upon their Princes Cattle and Corn which is received as an Honorary Gift and serves them for their House-keeping and the Princes most rejoyce in the Gifts of the neighbouring Nations which are not sent by single persons but as Publick Presents viz. Chosen Horses great Armes Horse-trappings and Collars or Chains and of late Money Here we may note that where Tacitus mentions Civitates he means some distinct Government or Country under one Government For he is positive that the Germans had not such places as were called Vrbes Cities nor did they endure conjoyned Seats of Habitation but did inhabit severally as a Fountain a Field or Wood pleased them their Cities being only fenced Woods or Morasses They went always armed I might note many other things in which the Saxons agreed with the description (p) Nihil neque publiâ—â— neque prâ—vaâ—â—â— râ—i nisi armati agunt tum ad negoâ—â—â— nec minus sape ad conviâ—ia procedunt armati Tacitus gives of the Germans and some usages we retain still but I shall only add two particulars more and so conclude He saith that they neither went about publick or private Affairs unarmed not only where business required but to their Feasts they went armed and to drink at them a Day and Night was no disgrace and often at these were quarrels which seldom passed without reproaches but often with death and wounds At these Feasts they consult saith he of reconciling Enemies De reconciliandis invicem iâ—imicis jungendis affinitatibus adsciscendis Principibus de pace denique aâ— bâ—â—â— plerumque in conviviis consulcant tanquam nullo magis tempore aut ad simplices cogitationes pateat animus aut ad magnas incale cat Deliberant dum â—ingere ne ciunt constituunt dum errare non possunt Id. 642. De minoribus rebus Principes consultant dâ— majoribus omnes ita tamen ut ea quoque quorum pâ—nes plehem arbitrium est apud Principes pertrectentur Id. 636. Their Consultations of joyning Affinities and chusing Princes and for the most part of Peace and War as if at no other time either the Mind is more open to receive simple thoughts or is more warmed to great ones yet however upon these occasions they unbosom themselves the next day they treat again of these matters deliberating when they know not how to dissemble and firmly resolve on a thing when they cannot err As to their publick Consultations Tacitus observes further That of lesser matters such as I suppose concerned not the Publick State of Affairs in War or Peace but the particular ordering the matters of their private Jurisdictions the Princes consult about greater business all yet so as those things of which the lowest sort of the People are Judges are first treated of by the Princes By which I understand Tacitus means by greater matters the Consultations about the defending themselves against their Enemies especially against the Romans where the unanimous suffrage of the greatest multitude was requisite By all which it is apparent that there were several Principalities in Germany and that the Souldiery made up a great part of the People and where we read of suffrages it is to be understood of theirs and whatever freedom of Votes c. we read of was principally in debating Military Affairs and that Germany doth yet retain free Princes and free Cities though under one Emperour De Moribus Germanorum as ancient Germany did is well known Another of their laudable Customs is thus remembred by Tacitus Insignis Nobilitas aut magna Patrum merita Principis dignationem etiam adolescentulis assignant which I render Great Nobility or the great merits of their Fathers gives the dignity of Princes even to their Youth In this we may note the propagation of Gentry through true Virtue deserving Honour to whose Memory is dedicated that Worship which is often bestowed on unworthy Posterity Haec debeamus virtutibus ut non praesentâ—s solum illas sed eâ—â—am ablatas eâ—conspectu colamus Senec. lib. 4. de Benef. c. 30. Dotem non uxor marito sed uxori maritus affert Idem Tacitus 〈◊〉 supra Accisis criâ—ibus nudatam Adulâ—eram coram propinquis expellit dâ—mo maritus ac pâ—r omnem vicum verbera agit Idem This saith Seneca we owe to Virtues that we do not only worship them present but worship them taken out of our sight Another of the German Laws or Usages was as Tacitus mentions That the Wife doth not bring the Husband a Portion but the Husband gives the Wife a Dowry Yet we find the Husbands severity in case of abusing his Bed thus The Husband if the Wife prove an Adultress cuts off her Hair strips her naked and turns her out of doors in presence of her
in the Record Item mandatum est singâ—lis Vicecomitibus per Angliam quod venire faciant duos Milites delegalioribus probioribus discretioribus Militibus singulorum Comitatuum ad Regem London in forma praedicta Item in forma praedicta scribitur Civibus Ebor. Lincoln caeteris Burgis Angliae quod mittant in forma praedicta duos de discretioribus legalioribus probioribus tam Civibus quam Burgensibus suis and so to the Barons of the Cinque-Ports which runs thus Rex Baronibus Ballivis Portus sui de Sandwico Cum Praelati Nobiles Regni nostri tam pro negotio Liberationis Edwardi Primogeniti nostri quam pro aliis Communitatem Regni nostri tangentibus ad instans Parliamentum c. Vobis mandamus in fide dilectione quibus nobis tenemini firmiter injungentes omnibus aliis praetermissis mittatis ad nos ibidem 4 de legalioribus discertioribus Portus vestri c. Nobiscum cum praefatis Magnatibus Regni nostri tractatum super praemissis consilium impensuri From all which it is observable first Observations on the first Writ to the Barons of the Cinque-Ports that in all probability the Writs then issued to the Knights Citizens and Burgesses were the same in form and substance with those to the Spiritual and Temporal Lords and in those to the Sheriffs c. Secondly the Qualifications of those to be elected are limited Thirdly It doth not appear whether the Counties themselves or the Sheriffs alone were to elect Fourthly The Writs for electing Citizens and Burgesses were directed immediately to the Citizens and Burgesses themselves not to the Sheriffs of the Counties Lastly that no Writ issued to the Citizens of London their Liberties then being seized into the King's Hand and that York and Lincoln are the only Cities mentioned particularly in the Roll. The first Writs entred at large in the Rolls are those (e) Cl. 22 E. 1. m. 6. dorso 22 E. 1. wherein is expressed that the King intending a Colloquium Tractatum with his Barons and great Men he commands that the Sheriffs cause to be elected two Knights De diâ—â—retioribus ad laborandum potentioribus cum plena potestate pro se tota communitate Com. praedicti ad consulendum consâ—ntiendum pro se communitate illa Hiis quae Comites Barones Proceres praeâ—icti concorditer ordinaverint in praemissis c. of the more discreet and more able to take Pains c. to come to Westminster c. with full Power for themselves and the whole Community of the said County to consult and consent each for himself and the said Community to those things which the Earls Barons and Nobles aforesaid unanimously ordain in the Premisses so that for want of such like Power the Business remain not undone I shall now insert what Variations I find in the Writs of Summons promiscuosly whether to Knights Citizens or Burgesses unless there be some remarkable difference to be observed First The Qualifications in the Writs As to their Qualifications generally both Knights Citizens and Burgesses are to be de legalioribus discretioribus ad laborandum potentioribus In the Writ 25 E. 1. (f) Cl. 25 E. 1. m. 6. dorso it is probioribus legalioribus and some two or all of these Epithetes are generally used till (g) Cl. 22 E. 3. m. 7. dorso 22 E. 3. m. 7. dorso where it is expressed that the Knights be gladio cinctos ordinem militarem habentes non alios de qualibet Civitate de quolibet Burgo duos Burgos de aptioribus discretioribus probioribus fide dignis Militibus Civibus Burgensibus Cl. 24 E. 3. par 2. m. 3. dorso and in the Twenty fourth of E. 3. there is an addition and limitation No Maintainers of Sâ—its c. to be choâ—â—n Qui non sunt Placitorum aut querelarum manutentores aut ex hujusmodi quaestu viventes sed homines valentes bonae fidei publicum commodum diligentes eligi and the self-same Limitations are in the 25 28 and 29 E. 3. So that it was used so long as the King thought fit In (h) Cl. 26 E. 3. m. 14. dorso 26 Ed. 3. it is unum Militem de provectioribus discretioribus magis expertis Militibus and so for Citizens and Burgesses by which it appears the King desired not any under Age as now is allowed to be chosen In 31 Ed. 3. besides (i) Cl. 31 E. 3. m. 2. dorso the usual words de discretioribus probioribus there is added de elegantioribus personis eligi Which in no Writ else before or after is to be found In the 36 E. 3. (k) Cl. 36 E. 3. m. 16. dorso it is de melioribus validioribus Militibus c. That of the Forty fourth of (l) Cl. 44 E. 3. m. 12. dorso E. 3. runs Duos Milites gladiis cinctos in Armis Actibus Armorum magis probatos circumspectos discretos It appears by the Parliament Roll 46 (m) Nul home de Ley pursuont busoignes en la Courte de Roy ne Viscount pur le Temps que il est Viscount soient retournez ne acceptez Chevalers des Countees neque ves qui sont Gentz de Ley Visâ—ounts ore retournez au Parlement eient Gages Rot. Parl. 46 E. 3. cum 13. E. 3. That it was accorded and assented to in that Parliament and an Ordinance made That no Lawyer pursuing Business in the Court of the King nor any Sheriff while he was Sheriff should be returned or accepted Knights of the Counties and if any were so returned they should have no wages Therefore in the fourteenth Number of the said Roll it is thus expressed Mes voyet le Roy que Chevalers Serjaunts i. e. Esquires not Serjeants at Law des meulieur valeurs du paiis soiz retornez desore Chevalers en Parlement quils sount esluz en plein Counts That Knights and Esquires of greatest value in their Country should be chosen in the full County The very next Writ 47 E. 3. (n) Cl. 47 E. 3 m. 13 dorso To be Knights giâ—t with Swords and skilful in Arms. runs thus Duos Milites gladiis cinctos seâ— Armigeros which explains the word Serjaunts before as in that Age being reputed Servants to Knights as holding Lands in such a Tenure of them de dicto Com. digniores probiores in Actibus Armorum magis expertos discretos non alterius conditionis duos Cives Burgenses qui in navigo exercitio mercandisarum notitiam habeant meliorem eligi and then in the Close follows Nolumus autem quod tu seu aliquis alius Vicecomes Regni praedicti aut aliquis alteriâ—s conditionis quam superius specificatur aliqualiter sit electus and the last Clause
by Sir Edward Coke (m) 4. Instit p. 12.1 Inst p. 69.2 Inst 7 8. Preface to ninth Report beyond all bounds of Truth and Modesty as also the great mistake of our learned judicious Antiquary (n) Archaion p. 257. Mr. Lambard and (o) Doderidge of the Antiquity of Parliaments others of great note who affirm that the true original Title and Right of all our ancient Cities and Burroughs electing and sending Burgesses and Citizens to our Parliaments is Prescription time out of mind long before the Conquest it being a Privilege they actually and of right enjoyed in Edward the Confessor's time or before and exercised ever since Indeed the whole series of the great Councils in the Saxon Danish and Norman Kings Reigns to the Forty Ninth of Henry the Third evince the contrary As to the Wages of the Knights Citizens and Burgesses The Wages of Knights Citizens and Burgesses it being a thing now obsolete though not out of force by those that would claim them I shall only note that the first Writ for them is coeval with our Kings first Writs of Summons and the reason given in the Writ is That whereas the King had summoned two Knights c. and they had stayed (p) Ac iidem Milites moram diuturniorem quam credebant traxerint ibidem propter quod non modicas fecerint expensas Cl. 49 H. 3. m. 10. dorso longer than they believed they should do by reason of which they had been at no small Expence therefore the King appoints the Sheriff by the counsel of Four lawful Knights to provide for the Two Knights of the Shire their reasonable Expences The Writ of the 28 Ed. 1. (q) Rot. Claus 28 E. 1. m. 12. dorso commands that they have rationabiles expensas suas in veniendo ad nos ibidem morando inde ad propria redeundo their reasonable Expences in coming to the King staying there and returning to their homes The like we find for the Citizens and Burgesses in the 1 Ed. 2. there was Four Shillings a day allowed for every Knight and Two Shillings for every Citizen and Burgess Mr. Prynne (r) Brief Parliamentary Writs part 4. p. 4. gives many good reasons why these Wages were allowed some of which I shall recite As first that all Laws allow Sallaries for Services and those being public Servants and Representatives or Atturneys for the Counties Cities Burroughs to consult about the great and arduous Affairs necessary Defence Preservation and Wellfare of the King and Kingdom and theirs for and by whom they were intrusted it is reason as they receive the benefit of their good Service in giving their good Advice towards the redressing of Grievances and making wholsom Laws that they should have allowed their necessary Expences Secondly It appears in ancient times there was no such ambition to be Parliament-men as of late but the Persons elected thought it a burthen therefore lest being elected they should neglect to repair to the Convention they had Sureties called Manucaptors for their Appearance Thirdly This obliged the Counties Cities and Burroughs to be carefuller in electing the discreetest ablest fittest and most laborious persons who would speediest and best dispatch all Public business which occasioned the shortness of Sessions Fourthly It begat a greater confidence correspondence and dependance betwixt the Electors and Elected Fifthly It kept poor petty Burroughs unable to defray the Expences of their Burgesses from electing or sending Members to our Parliaments and oblig'd some to Petition to be eased of the Charge whereby the number of Burgesses was scarce half so many and Parliaments were more expeditious in Councils Aids Motions and their Acts and Debates and so the Sessions were much shortned the Elections were then fairer and for the most part unquestionable the Commons House less unwieldy Privileges of Parliament less enlarged beyond the ancient Standard abuses in Elections Returns and Contests about them by reason of the Mercenary and Precarious Voices less troublesom whereas now in every new Parliament a great part of the time is spent in the regulating Elections But Mr. Prynne hints little upon one great cause of that usage which was that in Burroughs as well as Cities most what the persons elected were the Inhabitants in the Cities and Burroughs Merchants Tradesmen or the most popular Burghers as will appear to whoever peruseth the Chronological Catalogue Mr. Prynne (s) P. 900. to 1072. with no small pains hath collected into his Fourth Part of his Brief Register where I believe one can pitch upon no City of Burrough from the time of Ed. 1. to the 12 Ed. 4. but he will find by the very names that they were such as I have mentioned I am well assured of it for Yorkshire and particularly for the City of York they being generally such as we find in the List of their Mayors Beverly hath Four of the Sirnames of good Families and Kingstone upon Hull hath (t) 8 E. 3. William a S. Pole from whom the great Family of Suffolk sprung but it is well known he was a Merchant there Now since every part of the Country abounds with Gentlemen of Plentiful Fortunes Why wages not now paid to Knights Citizens and Burgesses Generous Education such as are versed in Affairs of their Country as Justices of the Peace Deputy Lieutenants and have been Sheriffs Members of Parliament and born Publick Offices there can be no expectation or Fear that those that are Candidates for Parliament Men for Burroughs will expect any Sallary or Reward so long as they chuse them There being generally Competitors who instead of expecting Wages are generally obliged now to vast expences to purchase the Votesâ— of the Electors so that now the Honourable House of Commons is quite another thing than what it was wont to be in elder Ages when they were summoned principally to give Assent to what the King and the Lords did to assent to Aids and Taxes and apportion their own Taxes bring up their Petitions concerning Grievances to be redressed by the King and his Council or the King and Lords and draw up Impeachments against great Offenders and such like Having thus considered the Writs of Summons to the Members of the House of Commons before Henry the Seventh's time in all its branches Copy of VVrits of Summons now used to the Sheriffs I shall give a Transcript of the Writ of Summons used at this day whereby may be seen how much of the old form is continued which I shall insert in Latin and English that the Emphasis of the Original may not be lost REX Vicecomiti Salutem c. Quia de advisamento assensu Concilii nostri pro quibusdam arduis urgentibus negotiis nos statum defensionem Regni nostri Angliae Ecclesiae Anglicanae concernentibus quoddam Parliamentum nostrum apud c. die c. proxime futuro teneri ordinavimus ibidem cum Praelatis
the Nation but are drawn to promote private Animosities under (h) King's Speech 6 March 1678. pretence of the Publick and are so far from proceeding calmly and peaceably to curb the motions of unruly Spirits that endeavour to disturb them that they expose the King to the Calumny and danger of those worst of men who endeavour to render him and his Government odious to the People I shall now touch upon some of the Artifices used to bring in such Members in the Parliament of 1678. and some succeeding ones whereby their Conventions were rendred useless for the King and People and inglorious to themselves though they pretended to as much Loyalty and Publick good as those in 1641. did at their first sitting The King having dissolved the long Parliament and summoned this to sit the 6th of March 1678. The Artifices used by designing People to get such as they desired to be elect ed. the industry of the Dissenters Male-contents and we may suppose Common-wealths men was extraordinary great as now hoping they should be able to chuse such Members as would be more favourable to them They had been long instilling into the Peoples Heads The Characters they gave Men of the Court-party that in the former House there had been a Court and Country Party the former were for Arbitrary Government fleecing the People Persecution and such as gave no great credit to the Tragical representation of the Popish Plot The latter were moderate men and not so much for Ceremonies as the purity of Religion would stand for the Peoples Liberties and Properties by riding night and day about the Villages and trudging about Corporations and the weekly Conventicles they spread this Character abroad and with all the Arts imaginable endeavoured to proselyte (i) Address part 2. p. 2 3. all that were not sharp-sighted enough to pierce into their designs If any seemed not to believe those Characters or declared himself for the Government Civil or Ecclesiastical established by Law and neither for Popery or Arbitrary Government nor yet for a Commonwealth or Dissenters they run them down with noise traduced them behind their backs as Papists in Masquerade and men of Arbitrary Principles Papists in Masquerade And if any were so bold as to scruple the coherence of the Narratives of the Popish Plot he was vilified as a Defamer of the Kings Evidence as stifler of the Plot and from hence they concluded to insinuate into the Populace that those Loyal Gentlemen who had been Members of the late long Parliament had joyned with the Court to hinder the Discovery of the Plot and if any gainsaid them they used such questions What Are you for Popery Will you give your Voice for a Papist Are you willing to have your Throat cut Are you for Arbitrary Government By which means they won over too many to joyn with them Excluding Loyal and Orthodox Gentlemen to exclude many Loyal and Orthodox Gentlemen from being chosen Members of Parliament Their design was advantaged because some were their friends of old others had come the half way over to gain the reputation of moderate men others had been disgusted by the Government The Conventicle Teachers rallied up their Flocks and they all joyned to slander the Clergy as if they had a kindness for Popery in their hearts though they durst not discover it for the present And generally blasted all the Loyal Gentry as Popishly affected the Court-Party Pensioners c. So that if any one bore any Publick Office Military or Civil he was eo nomine to be rejected The Persons they recommended to the People to be chosen were first all those Gentlemen who called themselves the Country (k) Idem p. 5. Party who had appeared most zealous against his present Majesty the Queen Dowager and Ministers of State To these they added as many as they could of the reliques of the old Rebellion or their Children and made up the number out of the moderate and discontented Gentlemen Burgesses and Tradesmen It was sufficient recommendation if the Government had displaced any for these were looked upon as not to be corrupted or bought off and here and there they took in an honest Gentleman in hopes to win him to their side by this kindness After the dissolution of this Parliament when his late Majesty issued out his Writs for another to convene 17 Oct. 1679. they added to their former Arts the loud clamours against French Pensioners French Pensioners Popery Arbitrariness and all those who voted against the Bill of Exclusion as Popishly affected or downright Papists traducing his Majesty the Court the Ministers of State and almost all the Loyal Gentry and Clergy for endeavouring to have those men chosen The second advantage they made was the pretended discovery of (l) Address part 3. p. 5. Sir Stephen Fox of the Pensioners of the late long Parliament which discovery being hastily made and no Record of it being entred Pensioners to the King they took the confidence to add to it whomsoever they pleased to have so thought They made the People believe they knew who would be Pensioners likewise and led the diffidence to that height as to exclude as far as they could possibly not only all the Courtiers and other Persons who had any places of profit and advantage under his Majesty but their Relations too and wanted not much that they had excluded all those who bore any Honorary Imployment So that nothing recommended a man so effectually for a Parliament man as that he had not been thought fit to be trusted in the least by his then Majesty or their Neighbour Gentry these they cried up as true Friends to the Protestant Religion and the Country and he was an hard-hearted Man in their Dialect who called the Sincerity of their Loyal Intentions in question However by their Actings many of them have been discovered to be but cold Friends to the Government But Intending to discourse more fully of the several Arts us'd by designing Men in the Chapter of Factions I shall at present quit this Subject and only desire Kings to consider that they can condescend no lower to gratifie Importunities of Parliament or People in yielding up any of their Privileges The Philosopher of old hath noted how Kingly Authority was lessened among the Grecians which was no ways profitable to them He speaking of Kings in the Heroick times (m) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Polit. l. 3. c. 14. That then they had the Government and Administration of Matters in the Cities and the adjoyning Territories within their Dominions and what extended without the Limits of the Empire viz. to preserve and protect their Subjects against their Enemies make War and Peace c. But after partly by the spontaneous Concessions of the Princes and partly by the Encroachment of the People they came to be lessened in Power and in some Cities had only the Power of Sacrificing left in others
the Command of their Armies This as well as other Reasons must needs demonstrate That if ever any two Houses of Parliament should by Arts of Insinuation as that of 1641. did That unless the King would grant they might not be dissolved without their Consents Kings never to yield what the Long Parliament were so earnest for they could not have time to settle his Throne and redress Grievances or by denying necessary Supplies force a King to grant them a Power of prolonging their own Sitting or meeting at stated times without his Writ or yielding to their Bills implicitly as the Black Parliament of 41. endeavoured and then to have the Power of nominating the Great Ministers of State and the Officers of the Militia an end would be soon put to Monarchy Therefore every one that loves their Country The Care to be had in Elections the continuance of that most excellent Frame of Government for the Subjects security as no other Country enjoys those who would avoid the sad Ravages of Civil War who would make their Prince Glorious their Country Renowned themselves and their Posterities Happy let them be careful to elect Loyal and Judicious Members neither tainted with Faction Ambition or Self-ends and if any such be elected let the Wise and Loyal when they meet in that Great Assembly watch over the Designs of such ill Members discover their Intriegues be careful not to be circumvented by their Artifices stick close to the Fundamentals of Government and then all things will be prosperous and they will have the honour of being stiled True Patriots of their Country Sir (n) 4. Instit p. 35. Edward Coke hath noted That Parliaments succeed not well in five Cases Several Cases where Parliaments succeed not well when the King is displeased with the Two Houses First when the King hath been in displeasure with his Lords or Commons therefore it was one of the Petitions of the Commons to Edw. 3. That he would require the Archbishop and all other of the Clergy to pray for his Estate for the Peace and good Government of the Land and for the continuance of the King 's Good-will towards the Commons to which the (o) Rot. Parl. 25 E. 3. num 15. 43 E. 3. num 1. 50 E. 3. num 2. King replied The same prayeth the King The like Petition he saith many times the Lords have made and further adds That the King in all his weighty affairs had used the advice of his Lords and Commons always provided that both Lords and Commons keep within the Circle of the Law and Custom of Parliament The second is when any of the great Lords are at variance among themselves as he instanceth in the third (p) Rot. Parl. 3 H. 6. num 18. When Variance among the Lords of H. 6. in the Controversy betwixt John Earl Marshal and Richard Earl of Warwick and 4 H. 6. betwixt the Duke of Gloucester and Bishop of Winchester whereby little was done in any Parliamentary Court and that little of no moment The third When no good Correspondence betwixt the Lords and Commons when there is no good Correspondence betwixt the Lords and Commons which happens when some People out of design to render the meeting of the two Houses ineffectual do project some matters whereby the Houses may clash about Privileges as was lately in Shirley's Case about the Mony-Bill from the House of Lords and many other Particulars might be instanced in therefore Sir Edward Coke saith That when it was demanded by the Lords and Commons what might be a principal Motive for them to have good success in Parliaments Sitis insuperabiles si fuertis inseparabiles it was answered They should be insuperable if inseparable Cum radix vertex Imperii in Obedientium consensu rata sunt The very root and top of Government consists in the consent of the Obedient and the Subjects Happiness is in that Harmony when it is betwixt the two Houses and among themselves but much more happy when it is likewise betwixt the Sovereign and the two Houses It is that which compleats their own and the Peoples Felicity But when the two Houses or one of them are for wresting the Sovereigns Prerogative from him as in Forty one then it is the most fatal and ill-boding sign of any other The fourth is When Disagreement in the House of Commons when there wants Unity in the House of Commons as we had not long since Experience when within those Walls from whence wholesome Counsels are expected and all things tending to the preservation of the King's Peace Crown and Dignity such Heats were amongst the Members that if one Sword that was half drawn had been wholly unsheathed it was thought a very bloody Battel had been fought The last he makes When no Preparation for the Parliament is when there is no preparation for the Parliament before it begin for which purpose the Summons of Parliament is forty Days or more before the Sitting to the end that Preparations might be had for the considering the arduous and urgent affairs of the Realm And Sir Edward saith it was an ancient custom in Parliament in the beginning thereof to appoint a select Committee to consider of the Bills in the two preceding last Parliaments that passed both Houses or either of them and such as had been preferred read or committed and to take out of them such as were most profitable for the Commonwealth To these may be added a most material one When Redress of Grievances are preferred to the Supply of the King that makes unfortunate Congresses of Parliaments viz. When the Members come up with strong Resolutions to provide Remedies for some Grievances either real or surmised and at the same time the Sovereign is in great Straights for supplies for the safety repute or necessary occasions of the Government for then as in most of the Parliaments of King Charles the First the Houses are for redress of Grievances before supply how pressing and urgent soever and do not credit the King that he will give them time to redress them after he is supplied and they from design rather than this diffidence will not suffer supply and grievances to go pari passu Hand in Hand as we may remember in those Parliaments wherein the popular Men made such Harangues that they would know whether they were Freemen or Slaves or had any thing to give before they entred upon the giving part The like we saw in King Charles the Second's Reign in some of his last Parliaments whereby all their Consultations were abortive and both the Kings had no other Expedient but Prorogation or Dissolution and disuse of Parliaments for some Years followed How much happier have we been in the last Session of the Parliament under our most Wise The happy Harmony in the last Session of Parliament June 1685. Magnanimous and Gracious King wherein no strife or contention was but who
from the cruel Flatteries of others and yet needed no attemperament for that he continued in equal Authority and Favour with his Prince and of Cornelianus Piso * 4. Annal. he saith Nullins servilis Sententiae sponte Auctor quoties necessitas ingrneret prudenter moderans He never was willingly Author of any servile Opinion and as often as there was need he prudently moderated I shall only annex to this what may in general serve as a Character of an able and useful Minister of State faintly drawn from a great Original Whoever designs to serve his Prince and Country in the Administration of Affairs The Method of attaining to be a Minister of State must have had a liberal Education spent a great portion of his time in diligently perusing Ancient and Modern Histories Memoires of great men the Laws and Government of his own and Foreign Countries and the best Treatises of Politicks and then consider the most judicious and accomplished Persons and amongst them such principally as in their several Stations have the Practical Part of Affairs committed to them both in Courts of Judicature the Exchequer and Admiralty and in these especially note their dexterity for their Imployments wherein their Eminencies appear how their Interests are interwoven or independent what their dispositions and inclinations are especially in their obedience to the Government usefulness to it their Treatableness Avarice Pride Ambitious or Factious Propensities as well prying into the Vices they conceal as the laudable Qualities they make themselves conspicuous by distinguishing betwixt the natural and constrained tempers of every one If such an one be not Consiliarius natus he ought to get himself early chosen a Member of the House of Commons and then diligently read all such Books as treat of that Honourable House peruse the Journals note well and weigh not only what he finds there but also all the Speeches of the leading men the force of their Arguments and the tendencies of them Mark well who are forwardest to supply the Government whose Talent lies in contriving wholesom Laws for the benefit of the Subject who are the best Orators who the subtilest or solidest who affect Popularity who are suggesting suspicions of the increase of the Kings Power who the greatest informers of Grievances who cut the Thred evenest betwixt the Royal Prerogative and the Subjects Liberties in all these well pondering the grounds upon which every one bottom their Arguments contenting himself to be an Auditor and Register for some while in his Votes following the wisest and least byassed by private Interest During the time he is under the Discipline of this Noble School he must fill up the intervals of his vacant hours either in perusing such learned Authors as treat of the Subjects have been debated in the House or in conversation with the eminentest experienced Members or with such of the Court as he may be best informed from During all which time he must intermingle the Study of the Laws of those Foreign Countries his Prince hath Correspondence with and obtain true Characters of their Ministers of State their regulation of Trade their Taxes and Gabels their Military Force the disposedness of any Parties to Faction and consider wherein his own Prince or a Foreigner hath better Laws for the good Government of the Subjects and for the preserving the Crown in Splendor and Power A Person thus qualified and fitted for his Masters Service and the publick good of his Country cannot long want an opportunity of being noted and in peacable times some Ministers of State will be desirous to obtain his assistance and will be ready to befriend him for their own advantages to alleviate their own burthens and his Prince will be desirous to be served by a Person of such a Fund If the times be turbulent and factious it is not amiss for such a Person during his Noviceship to mingle himself with the popular and Male-content Nobility whereby he may know the bottom of their designs and the plausibleness of their Pretences the strength of their Reasons as well as of their party and the tendencies of the distinct Interests that may be united in rendring the Government ingrateful to the People though not in the methods of modelling or subverting it This I must confess is a dangerous point and requires one that hath an Heart and Brain all Amulet against the infection of Disloyalty and is dexterous enough to cajole such a Party which he may the easilier do by appearing only as a rasa Tabula and desirous of following others conduct and a well wisher to his Countrey and then he shall be sure not to miss a serious courtship from that party How then to extricate himself from those Thickets Brambles Coverts or Earths wherein he hath entred to unkennel the Foxes will be a great Master-piece and requires no common agility and deliberate forethought One of the Houses of Parliament is the fittest Theatre for him to unmask himself in where he may at one great step pass over to the Loyal side which will be done with more advantage if he take some Critical time when the signalizing his Loyalty will be more useful as well as endearing to his Soveraign and when Courage and Resolution will best bestead his Affairs Then he is to discover his Talent by demonstratively manifesting his true Zeal for and justifying the Government in concurring with the faithfulest and ablest Ministers of State or putting himself in the Van and without Affectation or Passion with weighty Reasons bold and natural utterance smartness of Judgment and Learning fully determine the point in debate and as often as there is occasion re-inforce his Argument with fresh matter Here he is to set up his rest being resolved for his whole life never to desert the Interest after he hath upon so good deliberation resolved upon it This Action will soon he discovered to his Prince of whose Privy-Council if he were not before we may suppose he will soon be admitted Hither he must carry a resolution fixed and unalterable to intend solely his Masters Service and the benefit of his People that nothing of the Rights of the Crown be diminished or of the Liberties of the People be invaded Here no double or sinister dealing must enter his thoughts he must be the same in his Prince's Cabinet as at the Council-Board he must use a true and dutiful diligence above his fellows in attending his Prince's Person and his Councils must be free from unlawful Ambition Bribery and By-Ends all over Oyled that none may fasten a gripe upon him be free debonaire and affable to all he converseth with but withal wholly reserved as to the discovery of his Masters Designs Ready to prefer none but such as may be truely serviceable to their King and Country culling out and recommending to his Imployment only Sober Discreet and Useful Persons in their several Capacities and never supporting or countenancing any that once falsify expectation
the Justices in Queen Elizabeth's time the Chancellor tells them that the Queen had levied Forces and Reason willeth and the obedience of good Subjects requireth that all things that the Prince commandeth for defence of the State should by the Subjects diligently and obediently be performed for dutys sake either not examining the cause or presuming the best cause but at that time she was pleased to signifie the cause of her doings As to the King of England's making War and Peace abroad it hath always been owned as the King 's sole Prerogative and when some Parliaments have addressed to our Kings to make War or Peace contrary to what the Soveraign judged convenient they have been advertised of their Duties yet when War is to be made in remote Countries which cannot be performed without great Expence much time and the exhausting of the Kingdoms Forces That the People may more chearfully serve their Prince and Country and that the Exchequer may not be too much diminished whereby the usual Charges of the Government may not be substracted Kings have upon good Reason proposed the Matter to their Parliaments whereby necessary Aids might be sufficiently supplied The Laws now in force concerning the Militia are That the (k) 13 Car. 2. c. 6. 14 Car. 2. c. 3. King hath the Prerogative alone to dispose of the Militia of the Nation to make War and Peace Leagues and Truces to grant Safe-Conduct without the Parliament and he may issue out Commissions of Lieutenancy impowering them to form into Regiments to lead them and employ them as well within their own as other Countries as the King shall direct to suppress Insurrections Rebellions and Invasions He hath the Command of all the Forts and places of Strength and alone to have the keeping and Command of the Magazins of Arms he alone to give Letters of Mark and Reprizal in times of War to give Safe-Conduct for Merchants to make a stop of Trades as he sees cause In the time of danger and for defence of the (l) Coke 7. 25. Realm may command all his Subjects to Arm and they are to assist him and for this the Commission of Array may be made use of and all the Courts of Officers of War in a time of War are his Prerogative and the Subjects are to serve the King within the Kingdom against Rebels and Traytors (m) Jenkins Cent. 6. Case 14.26.89 without Pay or Wages and this as it seems in any part of the Nation especially if the King go himself The Subject except in an extraordinary (n) Coke 7.8 Case is not to be forced out of the Realm unless it be to go with the Kings Person nor in any case unless upon the sudden Invasion or Assault of an Enemy to serve the King without wages and the King in time of War may take any mans (o) I e. 3. Stat. 1. 2 Eliz. c. 2. House to build a Fort or make a Bulwark upon any mans Land But the King may not rate the Nation to pay any money towards any War of his It is true in time of Peace the King cannot quarter his Military Forces without the consent of the respective Subjects nor raise money without Act of Parliament for the maintenance of any Army so that the Subject while they keep dutiful are in no danger of oppression by such a Power yet without a competent Standing Force and Guard Some Standing Forces necessary at the Kings absolute pleasure what Livy saith of the Senate (p) Timor inde Patres incessit ac si dimissus exercitus foret rursus câ—tus occultaeque conjurationes fierent Lib. 6. The Long Parliaments Claim of the Militia would be most true of all Soveraigns That if the Forces were dismissed unlawful Assemblies and covert Conspiracies would be again set on foot The longest lived mischievous Parliament that any English History can record knowing that they could not effect their designs of weakning the King without the Power of the Militia though they had a numerous Party prepared to espouse their Interest and as ready for Rebellion as they could desire yet that they might have some colour for justifying their proceedings pretended necessity of putting the Kingdom into a posture of defence against foreign Invasions which by subtile Plots they possessed the people they had Intelligence of and for fear of any violence to be offered to themselves or that the King seduced by evil Counsellors should set up Arbitrary Power so having obtained that Fatal Act of not being to be dissolved without their own consent issued out their Commissions for Levying Trayning and Exercising Forces in all Counties where they had power by no Law or colour of Law but that of pretended imminent danger wherein the King refused to grant Commissions to such as they could confide in for their aforesaid purposes All which was but colour and shew to wrest the Power out of the Kings hands To obviate such like mischievous practices for the future upon his Majestys happy Restauration it was enacted and declared The Claims of any Right of the Two Houses to the Militia totally vacated That the sole supreme Government Command and disposition of the Militia and all Forces by Sea and Land and of all places of strength c. is and by the Law of England ever was the undoubted right of his Majesty and his Royal Predecessors Kings and Queens of England and that both or either of the Houses of Parliament cannot nor ought to pretend to the same nor can or lawfully may raise or levy War offensive or defensive against his Majesty his Heirs and lawful Successors So that now that great Controversy which wasso violently disputed to the loss of so much English Blood and Treasure is I hope eternally determined never again to be revived without an horrid prosperous Rebellion and this Prerogative of the Crown being thus guarded by Law will never more be attacked while the Royal line continues which is to be hoped and wished will without interruption be prolonged while the British Soil exists CHAP. XXXVI Concerning raising of Money upon the Subject and the obligation of Subjects to supply the Soveraign AS to the raising of Money for the support of Government I have discoursed something in the Title of Property and shall here only treat of the necessity in all Government That the Soveraign be plentifully supplyed with a Revenue suitable to the charge Although Darius the Persian be reckoned by Herodotus one of the first that exacted Tribute The necessity of Tributes and Aids yet it cannot be conceived but that ever since there was a Prince who commanded large Countrys and had potent Neighbours Tribute Aid and such like provision was exacted of the people for the defraying the necessary charges of it So Tacitus (a) Nec enim quies gentium sine armis nec arma sine stipendiis nec stipendia sine tributis 4. Hist tells us That we may be
better Condition though Gentiles than the Christians under the Romans or that it is derived from Gens I am more inclined to be of the latter Opinion finding it more agreeable to the common Use For Cicero (b) In Topicis calls those Gentiles qui ex eadem Gente Ingenui qui nunquam Capite sunt diminuti Gens consisting of a multitude which have sprung from one Generation and of many of these Gentes consists a Nation to which agrees that of (c) Gentilis dicitur ex eodem genere ortus is qui simili nomine appellatur Festus ad Verbum Festus that Gentilis is one born of the same Gens or Kindred and who is called by the like Name So we find the Horatii the Corvine Julian Flavian Family c. So the Greeks use the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for one nobly descended from great Parentage So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was Nobility which (d) Polit. lib. 4. c. 8. lib. 5. c. 1. Aristotle calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Antient Wealth and Vertue or the (e) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rhetor. ad Theod lib 2. c. 5. Dignity of the Ancestor The first Authors of it being stiled famous Men and Honourable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the largest acceptation of the Word as it is now used saith the judicious (f) Tiles of Honour p. 852. Selden it denotes one that either from the Blood of his Ancestors or the Favour of his Sovereign or of them that have Power from the Sovereign or from his own Vertue Employment or otherwise according to the Laws and Customs of Honour in the Country he lives in is ennobled made Gentile or so raised to an eminency above the Multitude perpetually inherent in his Person These are stiled the Nobiles minores for distinction sake The use of the word Nobilis the word Nobiles being now appropriated to those of the higher Rank The ancient use of Nobilis especially before the Roman Monarchy was such that it was justly given to none but him that had Jus imaginum or some Ancestor at least that had born some of the great Offices or their Magistratus Curules as (g) 〈…〉 1. cap. 19. Censorship Consulship c. From whose Image kept he had the Jus Imaginum Therefore the preceding Ancestor was called novus Homo or Ignobilis Some Ages after the Romans were under a Monarchy the Title of Nobilis was given to such as by the Emperors Patents of Offices or their Codicilli Honorarii were first raised out of the lowest Rank After that Arms of Ensigns of Distinction born upon Shields grew to be in may Families Hereditary which was about four hundred Years since as Sir Edward Bish in his Aspilogia avoucheth it came into frequent use that he who was either formerly ennobled by Blood or newly by acquisition either assumed or had by Grant from his Sovereign or those deputed by him some special note of Distinction by Arms also to be transmitted with his Gentry to his Posterity Yet (h) 〈◊〉 Mr. Selden notes that in the Proceedings in the Court of Chevalry betwixt Reginald Lord Grey of Ruthin Plaintiff and Sir Edward Hastings Defendant concerning the bearing of a Manch Gules in a◠Field Or in the depositions taken in the Moote Hall at Bedford it is recorded that John Botiler of the County of Bedford and Roger Tenstal Mayor of Bedford having been the Plaintiffs Servants severally deposed Il est Gentilhom d' Auncestrie mas nad point d' Armes Gentlemen without coats of Arms. That he was a Gentlemen of antient time but had no Arms. But I shall pass from this That which I desire the Gentry to observe is Advice to the Gentry That they are the Seminary of our greater Nobility and that from Loyal Wise Learned Valiant and Fortunate Persons of their Order in all Princes Reigns the Nobility have sprung Therefore as some of them are derived from as numerous Ancestors as any in other Kingdoms and have by Hereditary Succession greater Estates than many foreign Counts and as they desire either to conserve the Repute their Ancestors have honourably entailed on them or to transmit them to their Posterities so it will be their Interest and Glory to accomplish themselves in all sorts of useful Learning whereby they may be Serviceable to their King and Country There are Bodily Exercises they should be well skilled in as Fencing Riding the great Horse and all Military Exercises to enable them to serve in the Militia of the Nation and their diligent perusing all sorts of History and the Laws of the Land will fit them for the managing of Civil affairs and dispensing the Kings Laws as Justices of Peace Sheriffs Commissioners Representatives in Parliament as also for the greater Offices of State Since they are born to large Patrimonies and thereby have a more generous Education and derive a more refined Spirit from their Ancestors they can with infinite more Ease enter into publick Employment having none of those sinking (i) Hand facile emergunt quorum virtutibus obstat Res angust a domi weights of Poverty and mean Education which enforce others to use extream Diligence e're they can mount the first half Pace the Gentleman is seated on by that time he leaves his tutors It is true the Priviledges of the Gentry of England properly so called are not so great as in some Countries where they have power of Life and Death over their Servants or are exempted from Taxes and enjoy other Immunities which are denied to the Commons yet they have others as beneficial in that they make up a great share of the Ministerial parts of the Government It is required by God and their Prince that they should so deport themselves as they may be singular (k) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dio lib. 2. Examples to their Tenants and Neighbours of Wisdom Temperance Justice Loyalty and all the System of Vertues and by a generous Hospitality without Debauchery preserve their Interest in the affection of their Neighbors and that the Poor may daily and zealously pray for them being made the Voiders and receiving the Sportula of their plentiful Tables By this way of living they will sow among their Neighbours the Seeds of all useful Vertues and enrich their Countries and be able in time of need to serve their Prince with their numerous Dependants It is for the use of the blooming Gentlemen I write this The more sage and ancient need only such Intimations to refresh their Memories I have made Observations how fatal it hath been to themselves and the whole Kingdom when the Gentry have been seduced to sleight at first and after as they have been wrought upon by Designers to over-awe or overturn the Government and either by Piques among themselves or Aemulations Envies and Discontents have been brought into the Combinations and Conspiracies with those who under the specious Pretences
is one of the dangerousest signs of a strong and prevailing Faction when a Prince hath notice and apprehension of it yet either for want of courage or easiness of temper to believe better of the Factious than they deserve quiets his resolution of opposing them at some critical time whereby they finding their Prince to yield to their importunities in granting some one thing he hath declared against readily interpret it a fear in him and when they have taken him at low water-mark they flow amain upon him with new and new Floods Such Princes thinking to make themselves easie by complying embarrass themselves the more with fresh troubles strengthen the hands of the Factious and by deserting their best Counsels and Friends open their own retrenchments dismount their own Artillery and give such ground to the Factious as at last they are either forced to quit their Throne or with too late rally'd resolutions fight for that Post they have so supinely quitted CHAP. XLV The Remedies of Faction and Sedition AS no Malady in the natural Body can be cured without the knowledg of the proper causes so the prevention of the growth of Faction and Sedition unto Rebellion is best effected by substracting the matter and taking away the fundamental causes of it First it is to be observed (a) Omne recens malum facile opprimitur inveteratum fit plerumque robustius Cicero Philip. That all budding evils are sooner stifled than those that are not only run up to Seed but suffered to shake in a rank Soil Therefore the Historian (b) Incipiens nondum adulta seditio melioribus conciliis flectitur saith That young and not grown up Sedition is bent with easier Councils So beginning Ulcers are easilier cured than those that are festered to the Bone or are Callous Fistulas Sedition is a personal Crime but because it consists in the several qualifications of the Persons I shall treat of the Cure in the same method as I have of the Causers and Causes The signs being as so many Symptoms which will require also some remarks First as to the debauched 1. The Debauched they are but the Velites the light-armed Vancouriers there is small danger from them They grow as Tares in every Country and Age they are the luxuriant branches of a rank Soil and long peace They are the Sutlors of the Camp There is a curse of peace that brings such weeds but the Howes of the Laws and Ecclesiastical discipline will hinder their growth and eradicate them The best Antidote against the mischiefs these people can bring to the Common-weal is the Prince's example to put vice out of fashion and countenance for a Prince's Vertue and Piety influenceth much No doubt his Majestie 's great care to forbid and discredit all kinds of Vice will work a greater (c) Hac conditio Principum ut quicquid faciam prâ—ipere 〈◊〉 Quintil. Declam 2. reformation among the dissolute than his Laws and will engage the hearts and affections of all vertuous sober and considerate Persons for as the passage among the Romans to the Temple of Honour was through that of Vertue so must that be to Loyalty and Christianity through Morality Secondly The light-headed airy Persons 2. Light-Headed as they are something a kin to the debauched the one pleasing his sensual Appetite and the other feeding the Chimaeras of his Brain as their peculiar Province so they are as little dangerous The suppressing Libels and Pamphlets would starve them But if they wanted them it is likely they would be worse imployed Therefore it is necessary in all Governments to countenance and set on work ingenious Persons who are well principled to the State to ridicule the Factious and feed these flutterers of the Air with Canary-seed and they will never fly against the wind or out of their Aviary but there sport themselves with as much variety of hopes flights and short Notes as the Birds do and yet other mortals be as ignorant of the impulsive causes as we are of the motives of the frisks and flutters of those Choristers of the Air. However these are not to be countenanced and indulged lest their wild Notes be imitated or that airiness grow too fashionable whereby solidity and stayedness be ridicul'd as we have seen it too much in our age when the Military educacation made the Schools and Universities less frequented and the licentiousness of those times is not yet forgot So that whereas in one (d) Pontefract Mr. Wakefield Mr. Hitchin Mr. Skipton Ald. Corporation before the War the Earl of Arundel found three Aldermen that used their Greek Testaments at Church it may be there are not three in a County that do so and Gentlemen have too much disused the reading of Latin Authors from whence our Language hath received the greatest improvement and yet to cover their unkilfulness many are too prone in this Age to decry the use of quotations out of such choice Authors But this in transitu Thirdly 3. The Indigent The necessitous and indigent being the Infantry of Faction and the gross Body require the Governments greater circumspection to prevent their being arrayed by the Factious Chieftains Necessitas ad turpe cogit Robbing and Stealing are their Master exploits in times of Peace Those which will adventure to stretch an Halter will adventure upon Bullets for a small constant Salary and being Mercenary will pass on either side where the greatest prospect of gain is therefore the Government is too take all possible care that Prodigality and Luxury bring not the better sort to want The way to enrich a People in general is to open and well ballance Trade cherish all sort of Manufacture banish Idleness repress wasts and excess improve and husband the Soil regulate all things vendable moderate Taxes and Tributes to invite the Indigent to people new Plantations or those that are fit for it to serve abroad in Military imployments These are such Remedies as being vigorously put in execution will leave few in want but such as by their laziness will chuse to freeze on Horseback rather than take the pains to go on foot to get them heat A Prince that would enrich his Subject saith my (e) Essays Lord St. Albans must take care that the Treasure of money in the State be not gathered into few hands otherwise a State may have a great stock and yet starve Money being like Dung not useful unless spread The best Mine above ground is when a Country affords not only the Commodity but the Manufacture and carriage for then treble hands are set on work Thence in all projects of cutting Rivers for the transporting of Commodities further within Land it ought to be well considered whether it be not more profitable to have many poor men and their Cattle imployed in Land carriage than by the cheaper way of Water only to enrich the Tradesmen and starve a hundred heads for one If the wholsom Laws for
it was so once by the Prince and so the vulgar instantly credit his Sentiments as Oracles so that he having already acquired an easy belief with the greatest facility in the World puts a false gloss upon the Princes best designed Actions and retaining his old dependences they will whisperingly disperse his sence of things Let him then make himself heads of the Country Party and the true Protestants as of late some affected to be called and he is presently without further labour and industry adored as the Peoples prime Patriot Having got Tools enough to work with still pretending his concern for the Publick weal of the People and at the same time tacitly insinuating some reflections upon his Quondam-fellow Counfellors depreciating their Wisdom and Honesty and leaves the application to his Admirers They will be sure to aggravate all appearances of Male-Administration since his laying aside and insinuate that Affairs have a tendency to oppression of the People altering Religion or such like plausible Subjects and so by little and little the Peoples affections will be estranged from their Prince and shall be set upon this new Idol the fallen Lucifer If the Soveraign upon some emergences by necessitated to call a Parliament he shall obtain a great if not a major part of the Members chosen according to the Common Peoples by as he shall put upon them most opposite to the Kings Interest In such an Assembly he shall be sure to have great Interest and under some pretences of Grievances of the Subject render useless to the Affairs of the Soveraign and upon its necessary dissolution improve still his Interest that the succeeding Parliament shall be as wayward and by promoting Bills he knows his Soveraign can neither in Honour or Conscience assent to still more alienate the Peoples affections from him till at last he get to be sole Director of such Assemblies having all this while the Wisdom and cunning to keep himself within the compass and reserve that for Words or Actions he be not obnoxious to the Laws Having obtained this height he is able to influence the Elected of City Magistrates secure himself by them and at last to form Conspiracies against his Prince till which time he being the Idol of the People is only feared and suspected but nothing of Traiterous Designs being yet pregnantly discovered he runs on his risk till some fortunate discovery of his designs force him to abscond and then his whole machinations come to light and if he escape the hand of Justice he is forced to leave his Countrey and ends his life ingloriously abroad This is the common exit of such who had much better have offered violence to these headstrong Passions and been content with a quiet retreat and dieted and physicked their virulent distempers with the applications of sage Counsel and the Precepts of Judicious Men finding out the cure for their Diseases in Books and Solitude than thus to live in the Pangs and Throes of Ambition to the disquiet of their Prince and the emptying of their Country Of such we may not only say with (h) Percandam posthac modestiam ut contentius esset Tacit. 4. Annal. Drusus That Modesty must be prayed to that they be content with their Greatness but Justice must be invoked to prune such luxuriant Branches as not only overtop and Shade all the rest but suck away from them all their Sap and Nourishment In (i) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lib. 2. Dio Cassius I find it advised That such Criminals as these that are above the stroke of Justice and whom a Prince cannot with security to himself bring to a Publick Trial should not be arraigned but as open Enemies instantly punished So some Princes finding such subtle ambitious Men beyond the reach of their Justice by way of publick Arrest and Trial by the Law being satisfied in their Consciences that they were hatching great mischiefs to their State and the subversion of their Government have commanded by their Soveraign Power execution of them by private hands So fell Frier (k) History of Hungary George newly made Cardinal for tampering with Solyman the magnificent to bring him into Transilvania and exclude King Ferdinand by direction from the King to Castald his General there So fell the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of Burbon but this sort of Justiec brought as great mischiefs afterwards to their Crowns as they could in probability have sustained by their lives at least if the Prince had with watchful oversight so timed the Execution that they had let them live till they had made their Treasons more manifest So Tacitus (l) Inauditi atque indefensi tanquam inno centes â—erierunt 1. Histor speaking of Galba's putting to death Cingonius Varro and Petronius Turpillianus saith That they being not suffered to be heard and defend their Causes judicially perished in the repute of Innocents Therefore there are other ways more just and safe for Princes to take with so great and subtile Criminals As to toyle them into some great errours give them opportunities to shew their ill Conduct and Council or to do something ungrateful to the People that they may go out of their places with such a scar as will stick by them in their retirement and study to enjoy a quiet recess lest they be called to an account for what they connived at when they fell so if they can be rendred unuseful and of little credit with the People they will have none to back them in their attempts but Persons of small Reaches and Interest and then for smaller Transgressions they may be called to an account and if they be conscious to themselves of any guilt they will quit their undertakings for fear of a suddener Catastrophe than Ostracism If such Ambitious Persons have gained so great Interest that neither by setting Spies upon them or by other Arts their secret drift can be sifted out * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 5. Polit. c. 11. then Aristotle's Rule is to be observed by compassings and windings to remove them and not to tak all their Power away at once or to remove them to some higher place where they may have a new Administration to begin in which they are not so well versed on wherein they can do nothing without the Prince and his Councils daily inspection and where no dependences are to be gained Above all a Prince is to take care to follow the (m) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. Philosophers Rule to make no man too great for as he saith It is the safeguard of the Principality to make no one Man great For Tacitus (n) Semper periculosum privati hominis nomen supra nomen Principis attolli Vita Agricolae well observed It is most inconvenient and dangerous to have any one more in vogue than the Prince for if such have not powerful Principles of Loyalty lodged in their breasts they have great temptations and opportunities to do Mischiefs especially
a fore-plotted Chart and fore-ordained Chain of Causes that certainly will produce their effect Nothing (r) Sapientis nihil esse vovum aut subitum ut nunquam dicat non putaram Laertius lib. 6. c. 1. can happen to him new or sudden or that he is not provided for so that he is free from the imperfection of those that being surprised have no excuse but that they had not thought Seneca saith Nothing living is so morose as man none to be treated with greater Arts and Xenophon (s) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyropaed lib. 1. tells us It is easier to command all Creatures else than man Therefore prudent and provident circumspection is more necessary for Princes than for all conditions of men besides This it is that makes them confident and boldly to undertake any Action when the design is plotted out before and all Circumstances measured by Scale and Ballance For as Thucydides (t) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lib. 1. observes When with a negligent confidence any matter is proposed in the performance it totters of fails Therefore Herodotus (u) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Prince's Political Capacity rightly describes a provident Person That he is upon that account the best if in deliberating he prolong time and be fearful of what may happen but in Action be confident As to a Prince's Political Capacity it is a Theme too bulky for this Treatise it consists of all the Wisdom Forecast Circumspection Adroitness and Dexterity a Prince can use not only to obtain a repute of Wisdom but also to govern his People in difficult times with such Art as they may feel they are brought into a state of Tranquillity when they were wholly despairing of arriving at it Every ordinary Pilot can steer the Ship in an open Sea and fresh Gale it is Tempests Quick-sands and Rocks that require Skill King James the First called it King-craft It is indeed the Royalest of all Arts and they are the happiest Princes who with a good Conscience can best use it All the observations through this whole Treatise are but an illustration of this Political Skill which though collected by a weak Judgment yet being the observations of Wise and Learned Men may I hope not want their use In those dextrous Hits his late Majesty of Glorious Memory was very fortunate in the Transactions with some of his Parliaments and stemming those Troubles too many endeavoured to involve his Reign with In which none doubts but his present Majesty who was particeps Curarum had a great Stroke when every Period in those turbulent times were so ordered that a Civil War was prevented so that we now reap the Benefit of them in enjoying a Blessed Calm which we hope and pray for it may continue after so threatning a Storm Another primary Prevention of Sedition is for a Prince to be Wealthy A Prince's Wealth Riches (w) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Coâ—icus Vetus are not unelegantly called the Life and Blood of Mortals when a private Man is possessed of them we observe how many he obligeth what Respect is paid him how easily he accomplisheth any thing he undertakes â— How much more therefore must it be advantageous to a Prince Obedience is not more generally paid to Shrines than to rich Coffers Te columus Regina pecunia Thousands of Hands are set on Work thousands of contriving Heads consult the best for the Prince's affairs Millions of Weapons are fitted for his use who hath a full Exchequer Fleets are equipped (x) Quisquis hâ—bet nummos secura navigat aura Fortunamque suo temperat arbitrio Petronius and scour the Ocean defending a Prince's Territories and carrying his Victorious Ensigns into remotest Lands when their Admiral is ballasted with Silver When all Engins of Battery fail the strongest City may be reduced by an Ass laden with Gold The (y) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. Polit. c. 7. Philosopher tells us It is not only necessary to have Wealth according to Phaleus's Constitution suitable to the Extent of the Command but also for the Uses abroad to defend the Country against the next Neighbours and Strangers Above all other means to prevent and suppress Sedition The necessity of a Standing Force the keeping up a sufficient Force is the securest and most efficacious means for thereby the Person and the Government of the Prince are surely defended Therefore Dio (z) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Li. 42. Cassius saith There are two things that maintain keep and encrease any Government viz. Military Force and Riches So (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Polit. lib. 2. c. 7. Aristotle tells us That all forms of Government are so to be ordered that they may have sufficient Warlike Force Therefore the keeping in good Discipline a competent Force and having good Guards are most necessary for a Prince So that I think it was but a part of Tiberius's Art of Dissimulation when Togonius moved That so often as he came into the Senate twenty Senators armed should be appointed for his Guard and he made reply (b) Neque sibi vitam tauti ut armis tegenda foâ—eâ— 6. Annal. That his Life was not of that worth that it should be sheltered or defended with Arms. Sloth never preserves (c) Non ignavia magna Imperia contineri sed virorum armorumque faciendum certamen Si foris bostem non habet domi inveniet great Empires but Arms and Men of Valour for it is a certain Rule That in all Countries where Enemies are wanting abroad Peace Riches and the Factions that they produce without a Competent Militia will endanger Civil Wars at home Therefore a Prince must always keep subsidiary Forces to prevent such Mischiefs for at one time or other Seditious Men will be troubling the State and such times may happen (d) Is habirus animorum suit ut pessimum facinus auderent pauci plures vellent omnes paterentur 1. Histor as Tacitus describes in Otho's Insurrection against Galba That such was the disposition of their Minds that some few durst commit the greatest Wickedness more willed it and the most or all did quietly suffer it whereas by the readiness of standing Forces the Prince may top the Poppy Heads and over-power Insurrections at their first Peeping and so terrify all the rest that they may keep their Huts and Cabins There is more need for a Prince to have a well disciplined competent Force for that new raised Men are not to be relied upon Besides (e) Tumultuariâ—e Belgarum Cobortes Paganorum lixarumque ignava sed procax ante periculum manus Subito delectu suppletâ— Legiones augebantur 4. Hist many other Proofs of this we may find one memorable instance in Tacitus who tells us That Herennius having in his Camp certain tumultuary cohorts of the Belgians and a great number of Peasants and followers of the Camp brave Men saith he before the danger appears but in danger pitiful
The Advantage of Hereditary Succession in Private Families Aristotle's Opinion Philosopher dividing Kingly Government into four kinds as I have before instanced allows all to be Haereditary except the Aesymnaetian which was Elective and since in many places he affirms Kingdoms to be more durable than Commonwealths we may conclude that the fundamental cause of that duration is the Lineal Succession We experience in private Families where a long Series of Ancestors have transmitted Inheritances to Posterity how by the settledness and encrease of their Estates their alliances and the Employments they have had in their respective Ages they have acquired Honour Renown Interest and Stability that not only a greater Respect is payed to them than to others of a later Rise but they are thereby enabled upon many accounts to manage publick or private affairs with more sure success and repute than those than have not acquired such a nodosam Aeternitatem (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De Repub. l. 3. c. 11. Aristotle makes that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or natural Love of Parents to their Children to be one reason of the Succession of Sons to Fathers in their Kingdoms thence he makes it improbable that they who have obtained the Soveraignty should not deliver it to their Children because it would discover a Vertue beyond the ordinary Elevation of humane Nature to prefer the Benefit and good of the People by leaving them the Liberty of chusing upon every avoidance the most worthy if such a Prince's Son appeared not so rather than to establish the Principality in their own Family (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pâ—ly 〈◊〉 lib. 6. p. 455. D. Edit Wickl 1509. Several Reasons why Succession is to be preferr'd before Election Polybius speaking of Kings being most eminent for Wisdom Polybius his Opinion Justice and Valour whereby they drew the People to reverence them and consequently to submit themselves to their Conduct and Command saith That the Son having his education under such a vertuous wise Father whereby he had been present with him when affairs of the greatest Importance had been debated in common presumption was judged to be better capacitated to govern than any of a strange Family and so none would envy him his dignity but all readilier judged him the fittest to succeed And there is good reason to consider the cause of it for Government is an Art not easily attained to and by the unskilfullness in the proper Rules and Maxims the wrong Applications the Ignorance in pursuing the right Methods and chusing fit Instruments the Factious and Populace get advantages to make unfortunate times Therefore those Monarchs who from their Infancies are trained up and accustomed to Instructions in the Rudiments of Government as they grow up must more readily comprehend them must attain the better understanding of the great affairs and secret reasons of Stâ—â—â— be more quick apprehensive and sagacious in perceiving what is conducive to the common good and what not and so more ready in all publick Dispatches than such who have not been educated with all these Advantages Besides Governours at first must be to seek in understanding the nature of great Affairs so that one may as well expect (c) Dr. Nalson's Common Interest p. 113. a Man taken from the Plough should be able to Conn a Ship and carry her an East-India Voyage as that a Person though of the greatest natural and acquired Parts should at first be fit to Pilot the Government or skilful and dexterous in the steerage of the important affairs of a publick State and as in Republicks it falls out by that time he hath arrived at a competent Skill he must resign his Place and Power to others as raw and unexperienced as he was Whereas Succession in Monarchy doth effectually prevent this Inconvenience and which is of great moment it gives them an Interest and desire of designing well for the publick good safety and security of the People and the opportunity of finishing whatever is well begun For though it have happened by the Succession of a weak or vitious Prince that damage and infelicity have befallen the People yet it is very rare in History that two such succeed one another So we find in this Kingdom that Ed. 1. and Ed. 3. brought as great Honour and Renown to their Countries as their Fathers had Misfortunes and even in such Princes Reigns the Calamities that have befallen their Kingdoms have rather sprung from the Potency of Factions that took the advantage by the weakness of the Prince to bring him to Contempt that they might obtain the managery of affairs than from other Causes For even under such unfortunate Princes if it were not for factious Disturbances the Laws and good Order might during their Reigns conserve their Kingdoms in Peace Whereas in Kingdoms that are Elective The Inconveniences that happen where Right Succession is not observed Competitors and Candidates cause not only great Disturbances and Mischiefs at the Instant as we have infinite Examples when the Roman Emperors were chosen by the Factions of the Senate or Army as also in Germany before the expedient of chusing a King of the Romans and in the Miseries that have befallen Poland but Aemulations and Animosities have been continued for Ages among the prime Nobility and thence it is that the (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lib. 5. Polit. c. 10. Giphanii Comment Philosopher so long since hath ascribed it one of the Principal Causes of the Destruction of a Kingdom when there is Discord in the Royal Family or as his Interpreter saith among the participes Regni as Brethren and Kindred of the Royal Family as (e) In vita Cleomenis Aegidis Plutarch tells us in the Kingdom of Sparta and as Justin gives us an account of the slaughter of Brethren and Kinsmen in the Kingdom of Syria and as it occasioned the Destruction of the flourishing Kingdom of Egypt by the Competition betwixt Ptolomy and Cleopatra and as our Ancestors sadly experienced in the Civil Wars betwixt the Houses of York and Lancaâ—â—â— and France in the Faction of Orleance and Burgundy and of later Date in the Kingdom of Hungary betwixt King John and the Emperor Ferdinand If therefore such Calamities befal Countries where Factions ruine their Peace how much more shall we judge the miserable Confusions will be when any shall challenge a Power to make a Breach in the Royal Chain of Succession especially when we find even at Rome upon the Election of the Pope by custom the People plunder the Pallace of the Cardinal who is elected Pope and since that outrage is committed where such an one is chosen as is owned by so great a part of Europe to be Christ's Vicar we are not to wonder that at the Death of the Ottoman Heir the Janizaries and Soldiery rifle and plunder Jews and Christians and cease not to commit all manner of Outrages till the new Grand Signior by his