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A31599 The second part of the present state of England together with divers reflections upon the antient state thereof / by Edward Chamberlayne ...; Angliae notitia. Part 2 Chamberlayne, Edward, 1616-1703. 1671 (1671) Wing C1848; ESTC R5609 117,915 324

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expedient to premise somewhat of the Ecclesiastical persons in England IN the Government of the Church of England among the Ecclesiastical persons governing in the Englih Church is First the King of England who is as the Lawyers say Personae sacra mixta cum sacerdote The King is the supreme Bishop of England and at his Coronation by a solemn Consecration and Unction he becomes a Spiritual Person Sacred and Ecclesiastical for as he hath put upon him Corona Regni as an Embleme of his King-ship and power in Temporals so hath he Stola Sacerdotis commonly called Vestis Dalmatica as a Levitical Ephod to signify his Priesthood and power in Spirituals He is Supreme Governor in all Causes Ecclesiastical as well as Civil is Patron Paramount of all Ecelesiastical Benefices in England to whom the last Appeal in Ecclesiastical Affaires are made who alone hath power to nominate persons for all Bishopricks and chief Dignities as Deaneries and some Prebends in the Church c as more at large may be seen in the First part of the Present State of England Next to the King in the Church Government are the Bishops whereof two are called Primats Metropolitans or Archbishops that is chief Bishops the one of Canterbury the other of York each of which have besides their Peculiar Dioceses a Province consisting of several Dioceses and therein by Common Law a Prerogative of proving Wills and granting Administrations where the person dying had bona notabilia that is above 5 l. in Divers Dioceses or Jurisdictions Also by Grants of several Kings they have each one certain Priviledges Liberties and immunities in their own Estates Under these two Archbishops are 26 Bishopricks whereof 22 are reckoned in the Province of Canterbury and four in the Province of York So that there are besides the two Archbishops twenty four Bishops all which have the Title of Lords by reason of their Baronies annext to their Bishopricks and have precedence of all other Barons both in Parliament and other Assemblies amongst these precedes always the Bishop of London who by antient right is accounted Dean of the Episcopal Colledg of that Province and by vertue thereof is to signify the Pleasure of his Metropolitan to all the Bishops of the Province to execute his Mandates to disperse his Missives on all emergency of affaires to precide in Convocations or Provincial Synods during the necessary absence of the Metropolitan Next to London in Parliament precedes Durham and then Winchester all the rest of the Bishops take place according to the Seniority of their Consecrations The Function of an English Bishop consists in what he may act either by his Episcopal Order or by his Episcopal Jurisdiction By his Episcopal Order he may ordain Deacons and Priests he may Dedicate Churches and burying places may administer the Rite and Ceremony of Confirmation without whom none of these things may be done The Jurisdiction of a Bishop is either Ordinary or Delegated the Ordinary is what by the Law of the Land belongs to each Bishop in his own Diocess the Delegated is what the King is pleased to confer upon him not as a Bishop but as he is a Subject and a considerable Member of the Kingdom For all Clergymen are in England as antiently among Gods own People the Jews and amongst the Primitive Christians so soon as they were under Christian Emperors judged fit to enjoy divers temporal honours and employments as First to be in the Commission of the Peace for who so proper to make and keep Peace as they whose constant duty it is to preach Peace who so fit as they whose main business and study it is to reconcile those that are at variance and therefore since His Majesties happy Restauration as well as before divers grave discreet Divines have been made Justices of Peace and thereby not only the poor Clergy-men have been protected from the oppression of their causeless enemies but many differences have been composed without any Law-sute in a more Christian and less expensive way Secondly to be of His Majesties Privy Council where frequently Cases of Conscience may arise relating to State matters that will admit neither of delay nor publication and therefore after the pattern of that excellent Christian Emperor Constantine the Great our good Kings both before and since the Reformation have always admitted some spiritual persons to their Council Tables and Closet-debates Thirdly to be employed in publick Treaties and Negotiations of Peace and this both the Ancient and Modern practice will justify that none hath been more frequently and succesfully used in such Messages then the Ambassadors of Christ Fourthly to enjoy some of the great Offices of the Crown as to be Lord Chancellor Lord Treasurer c. And it hath been observed that in the late Kings Raign when the Bishop of London was Lord Treasurer that Office was executed with as much diligence faithfulness dexterity and content to the Subject as well as to the King as ever it had been by any of his late lay-Predecessors In the ordinary Jurisdicton of a Bishop as a Bishop may be considered either the Jurisdiction it self or what is instated in him by the Law of the Land for the better execution of that Jurisdiction The Jurisdiction it self is established partly by Statute Law as to Licence Physitians Surgeons and School-Masters to unite and consolidiate small Parishes to assist the Civil Magistrates in the execution of some Statutes concerning Ecclesiastical affairs to compel the payment of Tenths and Subsidies due from the Clergy to the King Partly by Common Law as upon the Kings Writ to certify the Judges touching legitimate and illegetimate Births and Marriages to require upon the Kings Writ the burning of an obstinate Heretick also to require the Kings Writ for imprisoning the Body of one that obstinately stands excommunicated 40 dayes And partly by Common and Ecclesiastical Law together as to cause Wills of the Deceased to be proved to grant Administration of Goods of such as dye intestate to give order for the gathering and preserving of perishable Goods where none is willing to administer to cause Account to be given of Administrations to collate Benefices to grant Institutions to Benefices upon the Presentations of other Patrons to command Induction to be given to order the collecting and preserving of the Profits of vacant Benefices for the use of the Successors to defend the Franchises and Liberties of the Church to visit their particular Diocesses once in three years and therein to inquire of the Manners Carriages Delinquencies c. of Ministers of Church-wardens of the rest of the Parishoners and amongst them especially of those that profess themselves Physitians Surgeons School-masters Midwives of Wardens of Hospitals how they perform their several Duties and trusts also of all others professing Christianity and offending either against Piety as by Blasphemy Idolatry Superstition Perjury Heresie Errors against the 39 Articles Schism Conventicles absence from Divine Service unlawful abstinence
THE SECOND PART OF THE PRESENT STATE OF England Together with DIVERS REFLECTIONS UPON The Antient State thereof By EDWARD CHAMBERLAYNE Dr of Laws and Fellow of the Royal Society The SECOND EDITION Corrected and newly Augmented In Magnis voluisse sat est In the SAVOY Printed by T. N. for John Martyn Printer to the Royal Society and are to be sold at the Sign of the Bell in St. Pauls Church-Yard 1671. ORNATISSIMO CONSULTISSIMOQUE VIRO D. JOS. WILLIAMSON ARMIG E SOCIETATE REGIA LONDINENSI IN REGNI COMITIIS SENATORI REGIAE MAJESTATI AB ARCHIVIS STATUS ET INTIMIORI CONCILIO A SECRETIS HOC QUALE-QUALE ENGHIRIDIUM L. M. D. C. Q. E. C. TO THE READER IN a former small Treatise intituled The Present State of England the Author having given a succinct Account of the Government in general as it is Monarchical and therein of the King Queen Princes and Princesses of the Blood of the Great Officers of the Crown of the Kings Queens and Duke of Yorks Courts of the Three States of England Clergy Nobility and Commons and of divers other remarkables In this Second Part of the Present State of England he hath endeavored to describe with the like brevity the Particular Government of England Ecclesiastical Civil and Military The several Courts of Justice the Offices and Officers belonging thereunto and for the sake of Foreigners to exhibite a particular Description of the Famous City of London of the Two Renowned Universities c. In erecting such a spacious and various Edifice the Spectator at first view will hardly conceive how much pains was bestowed in digging the Foundation in raising Scaffolds in finding conveying and fiting Materials in contriving the Architecture in removing the Rubbish c. Other Builders consult onely their own Brains and the Dead that is Books whereunto access may be had at all hours but in this Work the Living and the choicest among them were to be advised with whereof some were far distant others seldom at leisure some unwilling to communicate their Knowledge others not at all affable However if the Reader reaping in few hours the Fruits of many Moneths labor shall receive any content the Author will not onely be satisfied for this but encouraged for another like Enterprise THE CONTENTS A. ADmiral 176 Admiralty 179 Archbishops 16 Archdeacon 29 Arches Court 39 249 Audience Court 40 B. Becons 161 Benchers 111 Bishops Function 17 Bishops Jurisdiction 17 Bishop making 21 Bishops Consecration 24 Bishops Translation 26 Britains Burse 202 C. Castles 161 Chancellours 40 Chancery Court 131 Chancery Officers 138 Civilians Colledge 249 Civilians a List 251 Christmas at Inns of Court 241 Church-Wardens 31 Clerk of the Market 150 High Commission Court 38 Common Pleas 112 Common Pleas Officers 114 Company of Traders 213 Constables High 149 Constables Petty 152 Convocation 34 Coroners 149 Court of Archdeacons 35 Court of Delegates 39 257 Court of Kings Bench 109 Court of Lords 106 Cursitors 142 Custom-house 226 D. Dean and Chapter 27 Deans Rural 29 Doctors Commons 249 E. Ecclesiastical Government 15 Ecclesiastical Persons ib. Ecclesiastical Censures 20 Ecclesiastical Causes 41 Ecclesiastical Laws 42 Ecclesiastical Tryals ib. Ecclesiastical Punishments 43 Exchange Royal 202 Exchequer 118 Exchequer Officers 120 Exchequer lower 124 Excommunications 43 G. Garrisons 156 Government of Cities 150 Government Civil 49 Government of Counties 145 Government Ecclesiastical 15 Government Military 154 Government of Villages 152 Grammar School 275 H. Heralds Colledge 266 House of Commons 71 House of Lords ib. I. Innes of Court 234 Innes of Chancery 233 Inner Barristers 237 Judges 246 L. Lancaster Dutchy 130 Laws of Rhodes 180 London Bridge 224 London burnt 197 London Character 188 London City ib. London Colledges 232 London Government 206 London rebuilt 201 London Tower 215 London Tythes 207 Lord Mayor 209 Lords Lieutenants 298 M. Master of the Ordnance 216 Merchants 205 Military Government 154 Militia Maritime 162 Militia standing 158 Mint 217 Mooting 240 N. Navy Charges 187 Navy Office 183 O. Officers of Common Pleas 114 Officers of Exchequer 120 Officers of Kings Bench 111 Ordination of Deacons 32 Ordination of Priests 33 P. Parliament 49 Parliament men 73 St. Pauls London 193 Paper Office 14 Patrons of Churches 30 Peculiar Court 40 Penance 46 Post Office 227 Prebendary 28 Prerogative Court 40 256 Privy Council 2 Privy Council Clerks 12 Privy Councellors 6 Privy Seal Clerks 14 Physitians Colledge 258 Physitians a List 260 R. Reader at the Innes of Court 238 Records in the Tower 217 Rectors Office 30 River New 204 Rool'd Oleron 180 Royol Soveraign 166 S. Secretaries of State 116 Signet Clerks 12 Sexton or Clerk 32 Sheriffs of Counties 147 Ships a List 169 Sergeants at Law 243 Sergeants Inne ibid. Sergeants making 245 Southwark 280 T. Thames 203 Trade of London 205 Tower Lieutenant 222 V. Vice Admiral 176 Vicar General 257 Universities 281 Utter Baristers 237 W. Wardrobe Office 230 Westminster 277 Angliae Notitia OR THE PRESENT STATE OF ENGLAND The Second Part. Of the Government of England in particular and First of the Kings most Honourable Privy Council THe Government of England in particular is either Ecclesiastical Civil or Military wherein the King is supreme Governour in all Causes and over all Persons from him is derived all Authority and Jurisdiction He is quasi Intellectus Agens Forma formarum vel potius Mundi Anglici Deus And the Primum Mobile thereof from whence all the Inferiour Orbes derive their Motion is that Noble Honourable and Reverend Assembly called Concilium secretum Privatum vel Continuum Regis Concilium which is a Court of such Antiquity and Honour that it may be said to be higher then the highest Court of England as the Parliament is usually called for our Parliaments are not only much younger but also may truly be said to be the Productions of the Kings Privy Council as appears by the words of the Writ for summoning of a Parliament This is the highest watch Tower of the Nation wherein the King with all his good Centinels and Watchmen about him takes a careful survey of all his Dominions and sometimes of all the Domininons of the World as any of them have any Relation to his where he Consults and Contrives how to protect his numberless Subjects not onley from Injuries amongst themselves but from the wrongs and violences of all other Nations where he doth consult and watch for the publick good Honour Defence Profit and Peace of all his people Before the later end of Henry the Third Quod provisum fuit per Regem Concilium suum Privatum sigilloque Regis confirmatum proculdubio legis vigorem habuit saith Spelman The Primitive and ordinary way of Government in England was by the King and and his Privy Council and all our Kings have acted much by it determining Controversies of great importance soemtimes touching Lands and Rights between party and party whereof there are very many Precedents and the Judges of
from the Sacraments or else offending against Justice as the delaying of Legacies given to the poor or pious uses Dilapidations of Buildings or Goods belonging to the Church taking of Usury beyond the rate allowed by Statute Simony Perjury c. or by offending against Sobriety as Drunkenness Incest Adultery Fornication filthy Speech tempting of any ones Chastity Clandestine Marriages as for want of thrice publishing the Banes the want of Parents consent the want of witnesses which must be above two or marrying in a private place in an undue time before Eight in the morning and after Twelve of the Clock in the day c. Now for the better executing of this Jurisdiction the Law of England hath furnished the Bishops with a power of Ecclesiastical Censures whereof some may be inflicted both upon Lay-men and Church-men as Suspension from entring into the Church or else from receiving the Sacrament or greater Excommunications c. Others may be inflicted only upon Ecclesiastical Persons as Sequestration of their Ecclesiastical Profits Suspension sometimes ab Officio sometimes à Beneficio Deprivation and Deposition which is sometimes verbal by sentence pronounced against them and sometimes real by Degradation Here note that of all these Censures Excommunication is never inflicted but only for Contumacy as when a person being duly summoned will not appear or appearing will not obey the Orders of the Bishop The solemn manner of making a Bishop in England is as followeth When any Bishops See becomes vacant the Dean and Chapter of that Cathedral giving notice thereof to the King who is Patron of all the Bishopricks in England and humbly requesting that His Majesty will give leave for them to chose another the King hereupon grants to the Dean his Congè d' Eslire which in French wherein it was antiently penned signifies leave to elect then the Dean summons a Chapter or assembly of the Prebendaries who either elect the person recommended by His Majesties Letters or shew cause to the contrary Next the Election is certified to the party Elected who doth modestly refuse it the first and second time and if he refuse it a third time then that being certifyed to His Majesty another is recommended when the Election is accepted by the party it is certifyed to the King and the Archbishop of that Province whereupon the King gives his Royal Assent under the Great Seal of England which is exhibited to the Archbishop of the Province with command to confirm and consecrate him hereto the Archbishop subscribes Fiat Confirmatio and gives Commission under his Archiepiscopal Seal to his Vicar-General to perform all the Acts required for perfecting his Confirmation The Vicar-General then in the name of the Archbishop sends forth a Citation summoning all Opposers of the said Election or Person Elected to appear at a certain time and place especially assigned to make their objections This is done by an Officer of the Arches usually at Bow Church in Cheapsid London by Proclamation three times and then affixing the said Citation on the Church door for all people to read the said Officer returns an Authentick Certificate thereof to the Archbishop and Vicar-General At the day and place assigned for the appearance of the Opposers the Vicar General sits then the Proctor for the said Dean and Chapter exhibits the Royal assent and the Commission of the Archbishop which read and accepted by the Vicar-General the Proctor exhibits the Proxy from the Dean and Chapter and then presents the Elected Bishop and returns the Citation and desires the Opposers to be publickly called three times which being done accordingly he accuseth their contumacy and for penalty thereof desires that the business may proceed which the Vicar-General in a Schedule by him read and subscribed doth order Next the Proctor giving a summary Petition wherein is deduced the whole Process of Election and Consent desires a time to be assigned to prove it which the Vicar-General admits and decrees After which the Proctor exhibits the Royal Assent with the Elected Bishops Assent and the Certificate to the Archbishop and desires a term presently to be assigned to hear final sentence which the Vicar-General decrees Then the Proctor desires that all Opposers should be again called which being thrice publickly done and none appearing nor opposing they are pronounced contumacious and a Decree made to proceed to Sentence by a Schedule read and subscribed by the said Vicar-General Then the Elect person takes the path of Supremacy Simony and Canonical Obedience Next the Judge of the Arches reads and subscribes the Sentence after which usually there is an entertainment made for the Officers and others there present which being once done at the Sign of the Nags Head in Cheapside near the said Bow Church gave occasion to our adversaries of the Romish Church to affirm that Fable that there our first Bishops after the Reformation were consecrated When a Bishop is Elected and the Election confirmed he may give Institution and do his ordinary Jurisdiction and may sit in Parliament as a Lord thereof according to Sir Ed. Coke 4. Institut p. 47. After the Confirmation then according to the Kings Mandate is the solemn Consecration of the Elected Bishop which is done by the Archbishop with the assistance of two other Bishops in manner following Upon some Sunday or Holy-day after Morning Service the Archbishop beginneth the Communion Service after a certain Prayer appointed for this occasion one of the Bishops there present readeth the Epistle 1 Tim. 3. another readeth the Gospel John 21. then after the Nicene Creed and some Sermon the Elected Bishop vested with his Rochet or Linnen Garment is by two Bishops presented to the Archbishop or some other Bishop commissioned by him sitting in his Chair who demands the Kings Mandate for the Consecration and causes it to be read then the Elect Bishop takes the Oath of Supremacy and of Canonical Obedience to the Archbishop and after divers prayers and several Interrogatories put to the Bishop and his Answers the rest of the Episcopal Habit is put upon him and after more prayers the Elect Bishop kneeleth down and the Archbishop and Bishops there present lay their hands on his head and by a certain pious grave form of words they consecrate him Afterward the Archbishop doth deliver to the Bishop Elect a Bible with an other set form of words and so all proceed to the Communion Service and having received the Sacrament and the Blessing they retire from Church to dinner which is at the charge of the Bishop Elect and is usually very splendid and magnificent the greatest the Nobility Clergy Judges Privy-Counsellors c. honouring it with their presence the expence hereof with Fees of Consecration commonly amounting to Six or Seven hundred pounds This form and manner of consecrating Bishops is accordingly to the rule laid down in the Fourth Council of Carthage about the year 470 generally received in all the Provinces of the Western Church Note that by
our Order of Consecrating Bishops it is evident that Bishops are lookt upon as a distinct Order of themselves and not only as a different degree from the rest of the Presbyters as some would have it Next goes forth a Mandate from the Archbishop to the Archdeacon of his Province to instal the Bishop Elected confirmed and consecrated Then the said Bishop is introduced into the Kings presence to do his Homage for his Temporalties or Barony by kneeling down and putting his hands between the hands of the King sitting in a Chair of State and by taking of a solemn Oath to be true and faithful to His Majesty and that he holds his Temporalties of him Lastly the new Bishop compounds for the first Fruits of his Bishoprick that is agrees for his first years profits to be paid to the King within two years or more if the King please The Translation of a Bishop from one Bishoprick to another differs onely in this from the manner of making a Bishop that there is no Cons●c●ation The Translation of a Bishop to be Archbishop differs only in the Commission which is directed by His Majesty to four or more Bishops to confirm him Note that the difference between an Archbishop and a Bishop is that the Archbishop with other Bishops doth consecrate a Bishop as a Bishop with other Priests doth ordain a Priest The Archbishop visits the whole Province the Bishop only his Diocess The Archbishop can convocate a Provincial Synod the Bishop only a Diocesan Synod The Archbishop is Ordinary to and hath Canonical Authority over all the Bishops of his Province as the Bishop hath over all the Priests of his Diocess Several Bishops of England having Dioceses of a large extent it was provided by Stat. 26 Henry 8. that they should have a power to nominate some to the King to be with his approbation Suffragan or Subsidiary Bishops whereof see more in the first Part of the Present State of England Of these there are none at present in the Church of England but the next to the Bishops are now the Deans of Cathedral Churches Dean Chapter Antiently Bishops did not ordinarily transact matters of moment sine consilio Presbyterorum principalium who were then called Senatores Ecclesiae and Collegues of the Bishops represented in some sort by our Cathedrals whereof the Dean and some of the Prebends are upon the Bishops summons to assist him in Ordinations in Deprivations ab Officio Beneficio in condemnation of obstinate Hereticks in the greater Excommunications and in such like weighty affairs of the Church Upon the Kings Writ of Congè d' Eslire as before mentioned the Dean and Prebendaries are to elect the Bishop of that Diocess Cathedral and Collegiate Churches are as it were Seminaries or Seed-plots whereout from time to time may be chosen fit persons to govern the Church for having left the Country and living herein a Society together they learn experience they read men they by little and little put off the familiarity of the inferiour Countrey Clergy and thereby render themselves the more fit to be set over them in Government The Dean and Prebendaries during their required residence in their Cathedral or Collegiate Churches are to keep Hospitallity upon all Festivals to read Divinity in their turns which is now turned to Sermons or set speeches in the Pulpit at due time to administer the Lords Supper to frequent the Publick Divine Service to instruct the Country Clergy and direct them how and what to preach whereby they may best profit their Auditors In a word as they excel others in dignity and are therefore stiled Prelats so by their more eminent piety and charity they are to be examples and paterns to the inferiour Clergy In every Cathedral or Bishops See there is a Dean and divers Prebendaries or Canons whose number is uncertain Deans of the old Foundations founded before the suppression of Monasteris are brought to their Dignities much like Bishops the King first sending forth his Congè d' eslire to the Chapter they electing and the King granting his Royal assent the Bishop confirms him and gives his Mandate to install him Deans of the new Foundations upon suppression of Abbyes or Prinries transformed by Henry 8. in to Dean and Chapter are by a shorter course installed by virtue of the Kings Letters Patents without either Election or Confirmation Among the Canons or Prebendaries in the old Foundations some are Canonici actu having Prebendam sedile in Choro jus suffragii in Capitulo others are Canonici in herbis as they are called having right to the next Prebend that shall become void and having already a Stall in the Quire but no Vote in the Chapter A Prebend is properly the portion which every Prebendary of a Cathedral or Collegiate Church receiveth in the right of his place for his maintenance quasi pars vel portio prebenda Next in the Government of the English Church may be reckoned Archdeacons whereof there are 60 in all England Their Office is to visit two years in three and to enquire of Reparations and Moveables belonging to Churches to reform abuses in Ecclesiastical matters and to bring the more weighty affairs before the B●shop of the Diocess and therefore he is called Alter Episcopi Oculus the other being the Dean as is mentioned in the first part of the Present State Moreover the Office of an Archdeacon is upon the Bishops Mandate to induct Clerks into their Benefices and thereby to give them possession of all the Profits beloging thereto Many Archdeacons have by Prescription their Courts and Officials as Bishops have whereof more hereafter After Archdeacons are the Archipresbyteri or Rural Deans so called perhaps at first for his oversight of some Ten Parish Priests their Office is now upon orders to convocate the Clergy to signifie to them sometimes by Letters the Bishops pleasure and to give induction for the Archdeacon living afar off Next are to be considered the Priests of every particular Parish who are commonly called the Rectors unless the predial Tythes are impropriated and then they are stiled Vicars quasi vice fungentes Rectorum Their Office is to take care of all their Parishioners Souls and like good Shepherds to handle every particular Sheep apart to Catechise the ignorant reduce the straying confirm the wavering convince the obstinate reprehend the wicked confute Schismaticks reconcile differences amongst Neighbours to exercise the power of binding and loosing of souls as occasion shall offer to read duly Divine Service to Administer the holy Sacraments to visit the Sick to Marry to Bury to render publick thanks after Child-bearing to keep a Register of all Marriages Christnings and Burials that shall happen within the Parish to read the Divine Sermons or Homilies appointed by Authority and if the Bishop think fit to read or speak by heart their own conceptions in the Pulpit Lastly Deacons whose Office is to take care of the Poor Baptise Read in
Moreover every Archdeacon hath his Court and Jurisdiction where smaller differences arising within his limits are pleaded Also the Dean and Chapter hath a Court and take cognizance of Causes happening in places belonging to the Cathedral Lastly there are certain peculiar Jurisdictions belonging to some certain Parishes the Inhabitants whereof are exempt sometimes from the Archdeacons Jurisdiction and sometimes from the Bishops Jurisdiction Causes belonging to Ecclesiastical Courts are Blasphemy Apostasie from Christianity Heresies Schisms Ordinations Institutions of Clerks to Benefices Celebration of Divine Service Rights of Matrimony Divorces general Bastardy Tythes Oblations Obventions Mortuaries Dilapidations Reparation of Churches Probate of Wills Administrations Simony Incests Fornications Adulteries Solicitations of Chastity Pensions Procurations Commutation of Pennance c. the cognizance whereof belongs not to the Common Law of England The Laws and Constitutions whereby the Ecclesiastical Government doth stand and the Church of England is governed are first general Canons made by general Councels also the Arbitria sanctorum Patrum the opinion of Fathers the grave Decrees of several Holy Bishops of Rome which the Kings of England from time to time have admitted Next our own Constitutions made antiently in several Provincial Synods either by the Legats Otho and Othobon sent from Rome or by several Archbishops of Canterbury all which are by 25 H. 8. of force in England so far as they are not repugnant to the Laws and Customs of England or the Kings Prerogative Then the Canons made in Convocations of later times as primo Jacobi and confirmed by his Royal Authority Also some Statutes enacted by Parliament touching Ecclesiastical affairs And lastly divers Customs not written but yet in use beyond the memory of man and where these fail the Civil Law takes place The manner of Tryals by these Laws and Customs are different from the Tryals at Common Law and are briefly thus First goes forth a Citation then Bill and Answer then by Proofs Witnesses and Presumptions the matter is argued pro and con and the Canon and Civil Laws quoted then without any Jury the definitive sentence of the Judge passseth and upon that Execution And this is the manner of trying Ecclesiastical Civil Causes but Ecclesiastical criminal Causes are tryed by way of Accusation Denunciation or Inquisition The first when some one takes upon him to prove the crime the second when the Churchwardens present and are nor bound to prove because it is presumed they do it without any malice and that the crime is notorious Lastly by Inquisition when by reason of common fame inquiry is made by the Bishop ex officio suo by calling some of the neighborhood to their Oaths or the party accused to his Oath ex officio so called because the Ecclesiastical Judge doth it ex officio suo which is very antient and was usual among the Jews so Joshua to Acan Fili mi tribue gloriam c. So God himself to Adam upon his first transgression and likewise afterward to Sodom but by the prevailing faction in the long Parliament this power was extorted from the Church the want whereof is one main cause of the great libertinisme and debauchery of the Nation Now the punishments inflicted by these Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Courts according to these Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Laws proceed in this manner First the party delinquent is admonish'd next goes forth minor Excommunicatio whereby he is excommunicated or excluded from the Church or if not from the Church yet from the Communion of the Lords Supper is disenabled to be Plaintiff in a Law Sute c. And this commonly for stubborness shewed by not appearing in the Ecclesiastical Court upon summons or not obeying the Orders of the Court which though in smallest matters yet may be a very great crime for Res praecepta quo facilior est observatu eo praecepti violatio est gravior cum fit magis spontanea as S. Austin observes of the first sin of Adam Any command by how much the easier it may be observed by so much the more grievous is the breach thereof because it is the more voluntary besides in contempts it is not so much the violation of the Law as of the Authority which ought to be resented And herein the Church of England proceedeth no otherwise than the State of England for so odious in the eye of the common Law of Enland is the contempt thereof that not only for Felonies but even in an Action of the case in an Action of a small Debt Account or Detinue if a man will not appear and submit himself to a Tryal at Law a Process of Outlawry is grounded against him and he being once Outlawed he is out of the protection of the Law Caput gerit lupinum saith Bracton an Outlaw'd was antiently lookt upon as a Wolf lawfully to be killed by any man that should meet him as most just that he who contemned the Law and therein the King should not have benefit by the Law nor protection from the King and at this day he is to loose all his Goods and Chattels The Reader will easily pardon this digression when he considers the general cry against Excommunications at this day This power of lesser Excommunication the Bishop may delegate to any grave Priest with the Chancellour Excommunicato major is not only an exclusion from the company of Christians in Spiritual Duties but also in Temporal affairs and this commonly for Heresie Schism Perjury Incest and such grievous crimes and that it may be done with the more solemnity and terror it is to be pronounced by the Bishop himself in his proper person and being so Excommunicated a man cannot in any Civil or Ecclesiastical Court be Plaintiff or Witness And in case any man be so stubborn as to continue 40 days excommunicated the Kings Writ de excommunicato capiendo is granted forth of the Chancery against him whereupon he is cast into prison without Bail there to lie till he hath satisfied for his offence Next there is Anathematismus to be inflicted only upon an obstinate Heretick whereby he is declared a publick Enemy of God and rejected and cursed and delivered over to eternal damnation and this to be done by the Bishop also in his own person assisted by the Dean and Chapter or twelve other grave Priests Lastly there is Interdictum whereby is prohibited all Divine Offices as Christian an Burial Administration of Sacraments c. in such a Place or to such a People and if this be against a People it follows them wheresoever they go but if against a Place only then the People of that Place may go to Divine Offices elsewhere Besides these general censures of the Church which respect Church Communion there is another which toucheth the body of the Delinquent called Publick Penance when any one is compelled to confess in publick his fault and to bewail it before the whole Congregation in the Church which is done in this manner the
be spared because it intimates a distinct interest between the King and His Subjects which is not onely false but very dangerous to be allowed of The King is Pater patriae the Money given to him is for our use and benefit if we are niggardly to him we injure ourselves c. The Bill for the Kings general Pardon hath but one reading in either House for this reason because they must take it as the King will please to give it so the Bill of Subsidies granted by the Clergy assembled in Convocation for the same reason When the Bill for the general Pardon is passed by the King the Answer is thus les Prelats Signeurs communes en ce Parlament assemblez au nom de tous vos autres sujets remercient tres humblement vostre Majeste prient Dieu vous donner en sante bonne vie longue All Acts of Parliament before the Reign of Henry 7. were passed and enrolled in French now in Engli●h Most of our antient Acts of Parliament run in this stile The King at the humble request of the Commons with the assent of the Prelates Dukes Earles and Barons hath ordained or enacted After it was thus The King by the Advice and Assent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and with the Assent of the Commons doth enact of later times it hath been thus Be it enacted by the Kings most excellent Majesty by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and of the Commons although the words of the Writ for summoning the Commons which ought to be the main rule is onely ad Consentiendum and not ad Consilium impendendum as it is in the Writ to the Lords and it is evident that the Commons in the late long Parliament made that an advantage for justifying their usurpations against the King in that point and so in another Parliament the Commons endeavoured to maintain that the Concurrence of the Lords was not always necessary in an Act of Parliament because 1 Edward 6. cap. 5. in passing that Act against transportation of Horses the Lords were casually omitted yet by the Register of the Lords House it appears that that Bill began first in the Lords House and there passed before the Commons took it in debate and therefore the Kings Council at Law is very curious in wording rightly all Acts before they are brought to the King and the Clerks of the Parliament as carefull in transcribing and registring them However it is to be wished that to prevent future mischief to this Nation some clauses in the late Act of Oblivion and Indemnity might be amended or at least explained and more especially about the beginning of that Act these words That all manner of Treasons c. since January 1637. and before June 1660. by vertue of any Authority from His late Majesty King Charles or His Majesty that now is be pardoned c. which words might possibly be foisted in designedly to insinuate as if according to that most absurd and Traiterous position of some of the Rebellious Members of the Long Parliament the Kings person or any commissionated by him could be guilty of Treason against the Kings Authority or against His two Houses of Parliament by pursuing of Rebels to bring them to Justice according to the Laws of the Land It were also to be desired that to prevent the great dishonour of making additional and explanatory Acts of Parliament so frequently as hath of late been done all considerable Bills of Publick concernment once read in either House of Parliament may before they be passed be exposed to the view of all comers as antiently among the Romans was usual to the end that any other person besides those of the two Houses may within the space of certain days freely propose in Writing or otherwise his exceptions additions alterations or amendments Sed haec obiter When those things for which the Parliament was summoned have been sufficiently treated and brought to a conclusion then the King doth usually adjourn prorogue or dissolve the Parliament in maner following The adjournments are usually made in the Lords House by the Lord Keeper in the Kings Name to what other day the King pleaseth and also to what other place if he think fit to remove them as sometimes hath been done and then all things already debated and read in one or both Houses continue to the next meeting in the same state they were in before the adjournment and so may be resumed In the like maner the Parliament is Prorogued but by a Prorogation there is a Session and then the Bills that were almost ready in both Houses for the Royal Assent not having it must at the reassembling of the Parliament begin anew The Speaker of the House of Commons upon notice given that it is the Kings pleasure that House shall also adjourn doth say with the assent of the House This House is adjourned When the Kings pleasure is to prorogue or dissolve the Parliament His Majesty commonly cometh in person with His Crown on his Head sendeth for all the House of Commons to come to the Bar of the Lords House and after the Kings answer to each Bill signified as aforementioned His Majesty usually makes a Solemn Speech the Lord Keeper another and the Speaker of the House of Commons a third then the Lord Keeper by the special command of the King doth pronounce the Parliament prorogued or dissolved Note That the King being head of the Parliament if his death doth happen during the sitting of the Parliament it is ipso facto dissolved Antiently after every Session of Parliament the King commanded every Sheriff to proclaim the several Acts and to cause them to be duly observed yet without that Proclamation the Law intended that every one hath notice by his representative of what is transacted in Parliament of later times since Printing became common that Custom hath been laid aside The Number of Persons that have have Place and Suffrage in both Houses To the Lords House belong 3 Dukes of the Royal Blood though one be infra aetatem 7 other Dukes 3 Marquises 56 Earls 9 Vicounts and 67 Barons in all 154. Then there are two Archbishops and 24 Bishops so that the Total is 180. But many being under age some sick and infirm others abroad in the Kings Service the ordinary number is about 100. To the House of Commons belong first for the 40 Shires of England two for each in all 80 Knights then one for each of the twelve Counties of Wales 12 Knights For 25 Cities in England two to each and London four in all 52 Citizens For the Cinque Ports 16 Barons for the two Universities two Burgesses for each For 168 Burroughs there are about 330 Burgesses for some few of those Burroughs send but one Burgess apiece Lastly in each of the 12 Counties of Wales there is one Burrough that sends only one Burgess so the total Number of the House of
concerning the Kings Revenue either certain or casual All Securities either by Bond or Recognizances to the Kings Majesty for any of his Debts are taken here All Proceedings upon any Statute by Information for Custom Excises or any other penal Law All proceedings upon the said Bonds or Recognizances or any other Bonds taken in the Kings name by Officers appointed thereunto under the Great Seal of England and transmitted into this Office for recovery thereof From hence issue forth Process to cause all Accountants to come in and account In the Court of Exchequer there being a Court of Equity all proceedings touching the same are in this Office with many other things concerning the Kings Revenue This Office is in the Kings Gift Next is the Lord Treasurers Remembrancer John Osburn Esquire whose Office is to make Process against all Sheriffs Receivers Bailiffs c for their Accounts and many other things of moment as Estreat-Rules all Charters and Letters Patents whereupon any Rents are reserved to the King In this Office there were heretofore twelve sworn Clerks whereof the two first were called Secondaries but since the Tenures were taken away the said Office is declined and the number of Clerks diminished This Office also is in the Kings Gift Clerk of the Pipe is Sir Robert Crook Knight who hath all the Accounts and Debts due to the King drawn down out of the Remembrancers Office and chargeth them down in the Great Roll or Pipe and therefore probably was it called the Pipe Office He hath under him eight sworn Clerks William Burnet Esquire chief Secondary Nicholas Highmore Wil. Satterthwayte Burnet Junior Caryl c. Here also Accountants have their Quietus est and here are made Leases of extended Lands Comptroller of the Pipe Brewster Esquire who writeth out Summons twice every year to the High Sheriffs to levy the Farms and Debts of the Pipe he also keepeth a controlment of the Pipe that is keepeth a Roll of the Pipe Office Accounts whereby to discover any thing that shall be amiss Clerk of the Pleas is Richard Beresford Esquire in whose Office all the Officers of the Exchequer and other Priviledged persons as Debtors to the King c. are to have their Priviledge to plead and be impleaded as to all matters at the Common Law And the proceedings are accordingly by Declarations Pleas and Tryals as at the Common Law because they should not be drawn out of their own Court where their attendance is required Forrein Opposer is Charles Whittaker Esquire whose Office is whereunto all Sheriffs repair to be by him opposed of their Green Wax and from thence is drawn down a Charge upon the Sheriff to the Clerk of the Pipe this Office is kept in Greys-Inn Clerk of the Estreats Williams Esquire whose Office is to receive every Term the Estreats or Extracts out of the Office of the Remembrancer of the Lord Treasurer and to write them out to be levied for the King also to make Schedules for such Summs as are to be discharged Auditors of the Imprest Bartholemew Beal and Robert Wylde Esquires who audit the great accounts of the Kings Customs Wardrobe Mint First Fruits and Tenths Naval and Military Expences Moneys imprested c. Auditors of the Revenue there are seven Sir Edmond Sawyer Kt. John Philips Esq Sir Joseph Seymour Kt. Aldworth Parsons Morice Esquires and Sir William Godolphin Kt. These audi● all the accounts of the Kings other Revenue that ariseth by Aydes granted in Parliament Remembrancer of First Fruits and Tenths James Roger Esq whose Deputyes George Farrington and William Prettyman take all Compositions for First Fruits and Tenths and make process against such as pay not the same this Office is kept in Hatton Garden There are also two other considerable Officers called Deputy Chamberlains Mr. Vines and Mr Lawrence in whose Office at Westminster are preserved all the Counterfoyles of the Talleys whereof more anon so exactly ranged by Months and years that they may presently be found out to be joyned with their respective Stock or Tally when thereunto required which being done and proving true they deliver the same attested for a lawful Tally to the Clerk of the Pipe for to be allowed in the Great Roll but in case any corruption hath been used the same is easily and soon discovered and the Offender severely punished by Fine and imprisonment There are also divers other Officers as Clerk of the Parcels Clerk of the Nichils Marshals Usher of the Exchequer whose Office is executed by a Deputy also 4 under Ushers Of the other part of the Exchequer called by some the Lower Exchequer where the Kings Revenue is received and disbursed with admirable Order and Frugality THe Principal Officer is the Lord Treasurer of whom see the First Part of the Pres State of England Since the Death of the Earl of Southampton 1667. This great Office hath been in the hands of five Commissioners Now there are but three Commissioners the Lord Ashley Sir Thomas Clifford and Sir John Duncomb who execute the same at Whitehall They have each one a considerable Salary from the King There is one Secretary Sir George Downing Knight and Baronet Next is the Chancellour of the Exchequer who is also an Officer of great Account and Authority he hath a principal power not onely in the Exchequer Court but also here in the managing and disposing of the Kings Revenue he hath also the Custody of the Exchequer Seal This Office is injoyed by the forementioned Lord Ashley Then there are two Chamberlaines of the Exchequer Sir Nicholas Steward and Mr. Hyldiard in whose Custody are all Antient Records Leagues and Treaties with forreign Princes the Standards of Moneys Weights and Measures those antient famous Books called Doomes-day and the Black book of the Exchequer whereof the former is Liber Censualis totius Angliae the Tax Book of England made by William the Conqueror wherein is described all the Lands of England with the true value and their Owners name it was six years in making viz. from the 14th to the 20th year of that King and called at first Rotulus Wintoniae but since named Doomes-day Book because therein was set down an exact Account not onely of all the Cities Towns and Villages of England but the number of Families of Men Souldiers Husbandmen Bondmen Servants Cattle how much mony what Rent how much Meadow Pasture Woods Tillage Common Marsh Heath every one possessed and when any one cited or any difference arose about those things or Taxes c. there was no place for denying or deceiving the King whereof many men ever made little Conscience though all good Christians ever counted it a grievous and hainous sin when this Book was opened like as it will be at the opening of the Book at the great day of doom or general Judgment of the World This Book is kept under three Locks and Keys not to be lookt into under 6s 8d and for every line transcribed is to be paid 4d
Headborough to keep the Peace to secure offenders to bring them before the Justice c. Then for the Ecclesiastical Government of Villages there is as before hath been mentioned the Parson or Vicar who hath Curam Animarum the Care of Souls as the Lord of the Mannor hath in some measure Curam Corporum for which he hath the Tythes Glebe and Church Offrings hath under him the Church-wardens and Sides-men to take care of the Church and Church Assemblies the Overseers of the Poor to take care of the Poor Sick Aged Orphans and other Objects of Charity and Lastly the Clark to wait on him at Divine Service Thus admirable and excellent is the Constitution of the present English Government above and beyond any other Government in Christendom O Fortunatos nimium bona si sua norint Angligenas If English men did know their Bliss Too great would be their Happiness Of the Military Government of England IT was a smart Motto that the Great Henry the IV. of France Grandfather to our Gracious King now raigning caused to be engraven on his Great Guns Ratio Ultima Regum Intimating thereby that when Subjects refuse to submit to the Laws of the Land or Neighbours to the Law of Nations then Kings have recourse to Force and Armes to bring them to Reason So long as Subjects are prone to Sedition and Neighbour-Princes and States to Ambition there will be a necessity of a Military Power in every State both by Land and likewise by Sea where the Country is any where bordering on the Sea Of the Military power of England both by Land and Sea the King of England hath the sole supreme Power Government Command and disposition And neither one nor both Houses of Parliament have any right to levey any Forces or make any War Offensive or Defensive as they have at large declared in Parliament Anno 14 Car 2. By Land the next under the King was the late Duke of Albemarle who by His Majesties Commission dated 4 th of April 1660. at Breda was made Generalissimo of all His Majesties Forces in all His Three Kingdoms Horse and Foot Land Souldiers in pay as well within Garrison as without Since the Death of the aforementioned Duke the Horse and Foot which are in constant Pay are thus ordered there are four excellent Regiments of Foot The first is called the Kings Regiment consisting of 24 Companies and near 1700 men commanded by Coll. John Russel whose Lieftenant Coll. is Edw. Grey brother to the Lord Grey and whose Major is William Rolleston The next is the Duke of Yorks Regiment 720 men commanded by Sir Charles Littelton whos 's Lieft. Coll. is Sir John Griffith and his Major Nath. Dorrel Of the third Regiment 600 men Sir Walter Vane is Coll. Thomas Howard of Suffolk Lieft. Coll. and Sir Thomas Ogle Major Of the fourth Regiment 960 men the Coll. is the Earl of Craven his Lieft. Col. is Sir James Smith his Major John Millar There is also a Gallant Regiment of Horse consisting of 8 Troops about 500 Horse besides Officers commanded by the Earl of Oxford and his Major is Francis Windham His Majesty hath besides 3 compleat Troops for his Life Guards whereof one is called the Kings Troop consisting of 200 Horse and commanded by the Duke of Monmouth Another the Queens Troop 150 Horse and commanded by Sir Philip Howard and the third the Duke of Yorks Troop 150 Horse and commanded by the Marquis of Blanquefort whereof see more in the first Part of the Present State of England The pay of a Colonel of Foot is 20 s. per diem and of a Colonel of Horse 12 s. per diem the other Officers have proportionable pay Each Foot Souldier in London hath 10 d. a day and each Horseman 2 s. 6 d. a day Onely those of the Life Guard have each 4 s. a day The rest of His Majesties Forces that are in constant pay are disposed of into several Garrisons a List whereof follows Alphabetically with the names of their several Governors Barwick Lord Widdrington Carlile Sir Philip Musgrave Chepstow Captain Roger Vaughan Chester Sir Jeofry Shackerly Dover Capt. Strode Deale Capt Titus Guernsey Lord Hatton Gravesend Sir Francis Leak Harwich Sir Charles Littleton Hull John Lord Bellassis Jersey Sir Thomas Morgan Languard Fort Major Dorrell St. Maws Sir Viel Vivian Pendenis Richard Lord Arundel Plimouth Earl of Bath Portsmouth D. of York Sir Philip Honywood Lieutenant Governor Scarborough Sir Tho. Slingsby Scylly Isle Sir Will. Godolphin Shereness Sir Bourcher Wray Tinmouth Col. Edward Villars Tower Sir John Robinson Vpner Castle Windsor Castle Prince Rupert Isle of Wight Sir Robert Holmes York the Lord Freschevile In some of these Garrisons His Majesty is at the charge of above 500 men constantly each Garrison Souldier hath 8 pence a day Of all the land Forces in pay the Commissaries Gen. of Musters are Henry Howard of Suffolk and Sir Cecil Howard The Pay-master of all the Forces is Sir Stephen Fox The Judge Advocate Dr. Sam. Barrow For regulating and ordering His Majesties Land Forces that are in constant pay there are no Orders yet setled by Act of Parliament as there are for his Sea Forces but may be in a short time Besides the afore-mentioned Forces there is the standing Militia by Land of all England setled in the King to be governed ordered and enlarged from time to time as his Majesty shall see occasion For the management of these standing Land Forces the King himself makes choice of divers of the principal Peers of his Kingdome and by Commission creates them Lord Lieutenants of the several Counties of England with power to arm array and form into Companies Troops and Regiments to conduct upon occasion of Rebellion or Invasions and employ the men so armed within the Counties and Places for which the said Lords are commissioned or into any other County as the King shall give order To give Commissions to Colonels or other Commissioned Officers to present to the King the names of the Deputy-Lieutenants who have in the absence of the Lord Lieutenant the same power and these are to be of the prime Gentry of the County to charge any person in the County with Horse Horsemen and Arms or Foot Souldiers and Arms within the said County proportionable to their estates with limitation that no person be charged with a Horse unless he hath 500 l. yearly Revenue or 6000 l. in personal Estate No person to be charged with a Foot Souldier unless he hath 50 l. yearly Revenue or 600 l. personal Estate Those that have meaner Estates are to joyn two or three together to find a Horse and Horseman or a Foot Souldier The forementioned Horse and Foot are to muster once or twice a year and each Horseman during the time of the Muster to be allowed him for whom he serves 2 s. a day and each Foot Souldier 12 d. a day For furnishing Ammunition and other Necessaries the Lord Lieutenant
following are a few heads or particulars of them viz. The Leagues of foreign Princes and the Treaties with them And all the Atchievements of this Nation in France and other Foreign Parts The Original of all the Laws that have been Enacted or Recorded until the Reign oi Richard the Third The Homage and Dependency of Scotland upon England The Establishment of Ireland in Laws and Dominions The Dominion of the British Seas totally excluding both the French and Hollander to Fish therein without Licence from England proved by Records before the Conquest The Interest of the Isle of Man and the Isles of Jersey Gernsey Sark and Alderny which four last are the remaining part of the Norman possession The Title to the Realm of France and how obtained And all that the Kings or Princes of this Land have until that time done abroad or granted or confirmed unto their Subjects at home or abroad Tenures of all the Lands in England Extents or Surveys of Mannors and Lands Inquisitions post mortem being of infinite advantage upon tryals of Interest or Descent Liberties and Priviledges granted to Cities and Towns Corporate or to private Men as Court-Leets Waiffs Estrays Mercats Fairs Free warren Felons Goods or what else could come to the Crown or pass out of it Several Writs Pleadings and Proceedings as well in Chancery as in all the Courts of Common Law and Exchequer Inspeximus's and Inrolments of Charters and Deeds made and done before the Conquest Deeds and Contracts between party and party and the just establishment of all the Offices in the Nation The Metes and Bounds of all the Forests in England with the several respective Rights of the Inhabitants therein to Common of Pasture c. Besides many other Priviledges and Evidences which are too long to be here repeated or inserted And are therefore in the Petition of the Commons of England in Parliament An. 46 Edw. 3. num 43. said to be the perpetual Evidence of every Mans right and the Records of this Nation without which no story of the Nation can be written or proved These Records are reposited within a certain Place or Tower called Wakefield Tower adjoyning to the Bloody Tower near Traytors Gate There is another place called Julius Caesars Chappel in the White Tower The going up to this Chappel is in Gold Harbor Eighty four Steps up with Six or eight great Pillars on each side and at the upper end thereof there was a Marble Altar which in the late times of Rebellion was caused to be beaten down as a Monument of Tyranny and Superstition There are many Cart load of Records lying in this place out of which William Prynne Esquire late Keeper of the same with indefatigable labor Collected and Printed many of Publick Utility Annis 1659 1660 1662 1664. in Four several Volumes beginning Primo Regis Johannis for before that time there are no Rolls but onely Chartae Antiquae or Ancient Transcripts made and done before and since the Conquest until the beginning of King John Then follows His Son Henry the Third where the first Offices Post Mortem begins Then there is Edward the First Second and Third Richard the Second Henry the Fourth Henry the Fifth Henry the Sixth and Edward the Fourth and the Inquisitions Post Mortem of Richard the Third who reigned onely Three years The Rolls of that King are in the Chappel of the Rolls in Chancery Lane The Rolls in the Tower are variously distinguished viz. Rotuli Patentium Cartarum Parliamentorum Clausarum finium Scotiae Vasconiae Franciae Hiberniae Walliae Normanniae Alemanniae Oblatae Liberatae Extractae Perambulationes Forestae Scutag Rotul Marescal Romae de Treugis Chart. Patent fact in partibus transmarinis Patent de Domibus Judaeorum Protection de Perdonation c. Stapulae cum multis aliis which are lately depicted upon the outside of every Press in the Repository belonging to each Kings Reign and very easily to be brought forth for the use of the Client By a Table of Orders hanging up in the said Office and subscribed by the Keeper hereof The same is to be kept open and constantly attended for all Resorters thereto from the hours of Seven till eleven of the Clock in the Morning and from One till five in the Afternoon every day of the week except in the Moneths of December January and February and in them from Eight till eleven in the morning and from One to four in the Afternoon except on Holidays Publick Fasting and Thanksgiving days and times of great Pestilence The Governor of this great and important Fortress being called The Lieutenant of the Tower is usually a Person of great worth and fidelity who is Virtute Officii to be in Commission of the Peace for the Counties of Kent Surrey and Middlesex He is High Steward of a Court there held hath a Deputy and may refuse an Habeas Corpus may give Protection to all Debtors belonging to the Tower Infra Regnum Angliae Hath the Priviledge to take Unam lagenam Two Gallons and a Pint Ant● malum retro of all Wine Ships that come and to be as some hold Custos Rotulorum of the County of Middlesex His Salary is 200 l. per annum His usual Fee for every Prisoner sent to the Tower who are commonly Men of Estates is 20 l. and 3 l a week for an Esquire and 5 l. for a Knight For a Baron or above 50 l. at entrance to whom the King allows weekly 10 l. whereof two parts go to the Prisoner the third to the Lieutenant for Lodgings and Diet and 50 l. to the Lieutenant upon the Prisoners discharge The present Lieutenant of the Tower is Sir John Robinson Baronet The Gentleman Porter of the Tower holds his place by Patent and at the entrance of a Prisoner hath for his Fee Vestimenta superiora or else a Composition for the same The Gentleman Jaylor is put in by the Lieutenant of the Tower his Fee is 41 s. of a Gentleman and 5 l. of a Knight Then there are Forty Warders of the Tower accounted the Kings Domestick Servants and sworn by the Lord Chamberlain of His Majesties Houshold or by the Clerk of the Check The Moneys allowed by the King to the several Officers and Servants in the Tower and for keeping in repair that huge structure amounts to a vast sum Near the Tower is S. Katherines which hath a Royal Jurisdiction for the Ecclesiastical Causes and Probate of Wills and belongeth to the Queen Dr. Bud is Commissary from whom if any will appeal it must be to the King in His Court of Chancery who thereupon issueth out a Commission under the Great Seal as in Appeals from the Arches or Prerogative The next thing remarkable in the City of London may be the Bridge which for admirable Workmanship for vastness of Foundation for all Dimensions and for the solid stately Houses and rich Shops built thereon surpasseth all others in Europe it hath Nineteen
now corruptly the Charter house it being heretofore a Covent of Carthusian Monks called in French des Chartreux This Colledge called also Suttons Hospital consists of a Master or Governor at present Sir Ralph Sidenham a Chaplain Doctor Thriscross a Master and Usher to instruct 44 Scholars besides fourscore decayed Gentlemen Souldiers and Merchants who have all a plentiful maintenance of Dyet Lodging Clothes and Physick c. and live altogether in a Collegiate manner with much cleanliness and neatness and the four and fourty Scholars have not onely all necessaries whilst they are here taught but if they become fit for the Universities there is allowed unto each one out of the yearly Revenues of this Colledge 20 l. yearly and duly paid for 8 years after they come to the University and to others fitter for Trades there is allowed a considerable Sum of money to bind them Apprentices There are moreover all sorts of officers expedient for such a Society as Physitian Apothecary Steward Cooks Butlers c. who have all competent Salaries This vast Revenue and Princely Foundation was the sole Gift of an ordinary Gentleman Mr. Thomas Sutton born in Lincoln-shire and 't was of such high Account as it was thought fit that by the Kings Letters Patents under the Great Seal divers persons of the highest Dignity and Quality in Church and State should alwayes be the Overseers and Regulators of this Society as the Archbishop of Canterbury the Lord Keeper Lord Treasurer and 13 others Besides there are in London divers endowed Schools which in France would be stiled Colledges as Paul's School foundded 1512. by John Collet Doctor of Divinity and Dean of Pauls for 153 Children to be taught there gratis for which purpose he appointed a Master a Sub-master or Usher and a Chaplain with large stipends for ever committing the oversight thereof to the Masters Wardens and Assistants of the Mercers in London for his father Henry Collet sometime Lord Mayor of London was of the Mercers Company This famous School was also lately burnt down and now is reedified in a far more magnificent commodious and beautiful manner the worthy Master thereof is Mr. Samuel Crumholm alias Cromlum There are in London divers other endowed Schools as Merchant-Taylors Mercers-Chappel c. a particular Account whereof the designed Brevity of this Treatise will not admit It would also make this Book too much swell to give an Account of the many richly endowed Hospitals Almes-houses Work-houses or Houses of Correction the many stately built Taverns Inns and Coffee Houses some whereof surpass all others in foreign parts and are worthy to be viewed by curious Travellers who may also find it worthy their pains to remarque the several spatious well-built Theaters which for variety of Scenes excellent Actors Language Designs Musick c. are hardly to be equalled Moreover they may observe the many well furnisht Markets the weekly Horse-fairs the great commodiousness of Hackney-Coaches of Sedans of Boats c. belonging to this famous City also to consider the City of Westminster and the Burrough of Southwark both which now seem to be swallowed up in London Within the Precincts of Westminster are many Magnalia several things are as remarkable as any aforementioned the antient stately Abby Church founded before the Norman Conquest by the Pious King Edward the Confessor and most richly endowed afterwards rebuilt from the ground by Henry the III. with that rare Architecture now seen wherein are the most magnificent Tombs and Monuments of our Kings and Queens and greatest Nobles of England To the East end of which is added a Chappel of King Henry the VII which for the most admirable artificial work without and within for a Monument of massy Brass most curiously wrought is scarce to be paralleld in the World This huge Fabrick stands where first was the Temple of Apollo and afterwards King Sebert the East Saxon King that first built St. Pauls aforementioned built here a Church to St. Peter Queen Elizabeth converted this Abbey into a Collegiate Church and therein placed a Dean 12 Secular Canons or Prebendaries Petty Canons and others of the Quire to the number of 30 ten Officers belonging to the Church as many servants belonging to the Collegiate Dyet two Schoolmasters 40 Scholars 12 Almes-men with plentiful maintenance for all besides Stewards Receivers Registers Collectors and other Officers the principal whereof is the high Steward of Westminster who is usually one of the prime Nobility and is at present the Lord Chamberlain The Dean is entrusted with the custody of the Regalia at the Coronation honored with a place of necessary service at all Coronations and a Commission of Peace within the City and Liberties of Westminster the Dean and Chapter invested with all manner of Jurisdiction both Ecclesiastical and Civil not onely within the City and Liberties of Westminster but within the Precincts of St. Martin le grand within the Walls of London and in some Towns of Essex exempted in the one from the Jurisdiction of the Bishop of London and in the other from that of the Archbishop of Canterbury For Ecclesiastical Causes and probate of Wills it hath a Royal Jurisdiction Dr. Richard Lloyd is Commissary from whom Appeal must be onely to the King in his High Court of Chancery who thereupon issueth out a Commission of Delegates under the Great Seal of England When the Convocation is adjourned from St. Pauls for the conveniency of being nearer to the Parliament to Westminster the Bishops first declare upon a Protestation made by the Dean there that they intend not thereby to violate that high Priviledge viz. That no Bishop or Archbishop may come there without leave of the Dean first obtained There is also a fair Publick Library free for all strangers to study both morning and afternoon alwayes in Term time Next this Church stood the Royal Palace and usual place of Residence for the Kings of England who ordinarily held their Parliaments and all their Courts of Judicature in their dwelling Houses as is done at this day at Madrid by the King of Spain and many times sate themselves in the said Courts of Judicature as they do still in their Court of Parliament A great part of this huge Palace was in the time of Henry the VIII destroyed by fire what remained hath still been employed for the use of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament and for the chief Courts of Judicature The great Hall where these are kept some say was built by King William Rufus others by King Richard the II. about 300 years agoe and for all dimensions is not to be equalled by any Hall in Christendom Moreover Strangers and Foreigners may take notice of the extraordinary commodiousness conveniency and situation of the present Royal Palace and usual place of Residence called Whitehall belonging heretofore to Cardinal Woolsey seated between a noble navigable River and a most delectable Park of the great Chamber there called the Banquetting-House
England in some difficult cases were not wont to give Judgment until they had first consulted the King or his Privy Council Moreover the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament have oft-times transmitted matters of high moment to the King and his Privy Council as by long experience and wisdom better able to judge of and by secrecy and expedition better able to transact some State Affairs then all the Lords and Commons together At present the King and his Privy Council take Cognisance of few matters that may well be determined by the known Laws and ordinary Courts of Justice but onely as aforesaid consult for the Publick Good Honour Defence Safety and Benefit of the Realm not medling with matters that concern Freeholds but matters of Appeal and sudden Emergencies The Lords of the Privy Council are as it were a part of the King incorporate with him and his Cares bearing upon their Shoulders that great weight that otherwise would lye wholly upon His Majesty wherefore of such high value and esteem they have always been that if a man did but strike in the House of a Privy Counsellor or elsewhere in his presence he was grievously Fined for the same and to conspire the death of any of them was made Felony in any of the Kings servants within the Check Roll and to kill one of them was High Treason A Privy Councellor though but a Gentleman shall have precedence of all Knights Baronets and younger Sons of all Barons and Viscounts The Substance of their Oath is That they shall according to their power and discretion Truly Justly and Evenly Counsel and Advise the King in all matters to be Treated in His Majesties Council that they shall keep secret the Kings Counsel c. By Force of this Oath and the Custom of the Kingdom of England a Privy Counsellor is made without any Patent or Grant and to continue onely during the Life of the King that makes him nor so long unless the King pleaseth Heretofore there hath been usually a Lord President of the Kings Privy Council a Dignity of so high Repute that by a Statute of Henry the Eight he is to take place in publick next to the Lord High Treasurer of England His Office was to speak first to business to report to His Majesty the Passages and State of businesses transacted at Council Table The last Lord President was the Earl of Manchester Father of the present Lord Chamberlaine To his Privy Councellors the King of England may declare or conceal from them whatsoever he alone judgeth fit and expedient qua in re saith the Excellent Sir Tho. Smith absolutissimum est hoc Regnum Angliae prae Venetorum Ducatu aut Lacedaemoniorum Principatu The King with the advice of his Privy Council doth publish Proclamations binding to the Subject provided that they are not contrary to Statute or Common Law In cases where the publick peace honour or profit of the Kingdom may be endangered for want of speedy redress there the King with his Privy Council usually make use of an absolute power if need be The Members of this most Honorable Council are such as his own free Will and meer Motion shall please to choose and are commonly men of the highest rank eminent for Estates Wisdom Courage Integrity c. And because there are few cases of moment so temporal but that they may some way relate to spiritual affairs therefore according to the general Rules of Policy and Government which God himself ordained amongst his chosen people the Jews the Privy Council as well as the great Council of Parliament is composed of Spiritual as well as Temporal persons some of the principal Bishops of England have in all times been chosen by His Majesty to be of his Privy Council The Lords of His Majesties Privy Council are at present these that follow His Royal Highness the Duke of York His Highness Prince Rupert Gilbert Lord-Archbishop of Canterbury Sir Orlando Bridgman Knight and Baronet Lord Keeper of the Great Seal John Lord Roberts Lord Privy Seal George Duke of Buckingham Mr. of the Horse to His Majesty James Duke of Monmouth James Duke of Ormond Lord Great Steward of His Majesties Houshold Henry Marquis of Dorchester Henry Earl of Ogle Thomas Earl of Ossory Robert Earl of Lindsey Lord Great Chamberlain of England Edward Earl of Manchester Lord Chamberlain of His Majesties Houshold· Awbrey Earl of Oxford John Earl of Bridgwater Robert Earl of Leceister Henry Earl of S. Albans Edward Earl of Sandwich Arthur Earl of Anglesey John Earl of Bath Groom of the Stole to His Majesty Charles Earl of Carlisle William Earl of Craven John Earl of Rothes His Majesties Commissioner in Scotland John Earl of Lotherdale Secretary of State in Scotland John Earl of Tweedale John Earl of Middleton Richard Earl of Carbury Lord President of Wales Roger Earl of Orrery Humphrey Lord Bishop of London Henry Lord Arlington one of His Majesties Principal Secretaries of State Francis Lord Newport Comptroler of His Majesties Houshold John Lord Berkley Lieutenant of Ireland Densel Lord Holles Anthony Lord Ashley Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Thomas Clifford Knight Treasurer of His Majesties Houshold Sir George Carteret Knight Vice-Chamberlain to His Majesty Sir John Trevor Knight one of His Majesties Principal Secretaries of State Sir Thomas Ingram Knight Chancellor of the Dutchy Sir William Morice Knight Sir John Duncom Knight Sir Thomas Chicheley Knight Master of the Ordnance These are all to wait on his Majesty and at Council Board sit in their Order bare-headed when His Majesty presides At all Debates the lowest delivers his opinion first that so he may be the more free and the King last of all declares his Judgment and thereby determines the mater in Debate The Time and Place of holding this Council is wholly at the Kings pleasure but it is most commonly held in the morning on Wednesday and Friday out of Parliament time and Term time and in the Afternoon in time of Parliament and Term. A Council is seldom or never held without the Presence of one of the Secretaries of State of whose Office and Dignity much more considerable in England than in other Nations take here this brief Account The Kings of England had antiently but one Secretary of State until about the end of Henry the Eight his Reign it was thought fit that weighty and important Office should be discharged by two Persons both of equal authority and both stiled Principal Secretaries of State In those days and some while after they sate not at Council Board but having prepared their business in a Room adjoyning to the Council-Chamber they came in and stood on either hand of the King and nothing was debated at the Table until the Secretaries had gone through with their Proposals But Queen Elizabeth seldom coming to Council that Method was altered and the two Secretaries took their places as Privy Counsellors which Dignity they have retained and enjoyed ever since and a
the Church assist the Priest at the Lords Supper by giving the Cup only After this brief account of Ecclesiastical persons somewhat may here not unfitly be added touching those persons who though not in holy Orders yet have a peculiar Relation to the Church and are quasi semi Ecclesiastici as first Patrons of Churches who by first building of Churches or first endowing them with Lands have obtained for them and their Heirs a right of Advowson or Patronage whose office and duty is to present a fit Clerk when the Church is void to the Bishop to be by him Canonically instituted and to protect the said Church as far as he can from all wrong and in case his Clerk prove unfit for the place to give notice thereof to the Bishop Next are the Oeconomi vel Ecclesiae Guardiani the Church wardens whose Office is to see that the Church be in good repair fitly adorned and nothing wanting for Divine Service Sacrament and Sermons that the Church yard be sufficiently mounded or inclosed that there be an exact Terrier of the Glebe Lands and if any thing belonging to the Church be detained to sue for the same to observe that all Parishoners come duly to Divine Service to require the penalty for absence to enquire after to admonish and to present to the Bishop scandalous livers to collect the Charity of the Parishoners for poor Strangers to declare and to execute the orders of the Bishop to see that none presume to vent his own conceptions in the Pulpit unless he hath a special licence so to do The Churchwardens are elected every Easter Week usually by the Parson and Parishoners if they so agree if not then one by the Parson and the other by the Parishioners There are also in greater Parishes joyned with the Church wardens Testes Synodales anciently called Synods-men now corruptly called Sides-men who are to assist the Church-wardens in enquiries into the lives of inordinate livers and in presenting men at Visitations Lastly the Sacristan corruptly the Sexton or Clark who is ordinarily to be chosen by the Parson only he ought to be twenty years old or above of good life that can read write and sing his office is to serve at Church the Priest and Church-wardens In the Church of England there are as in the antient primitive times three Orders Bishops Priests and Deacons None may be admitted Deacon before the age of 23 years unless he hath a Dispensation to be admitted younger None may be made a Priest till he be completely 24 years old None may be admitted Bishop till full 30 years old The Ordination of Priests and Deacons is four times the year upon four several Sundayes in the Ember or Failing Weeks that so all the Nation may at once in their joynt Prayers to God recommend them that are to receive Ordination which is performed by a Bishop in a solemn grave devout manner thus for Deacons After Morning Prayer there is a Sermon declaring the Duty and Office of Deacons and Priests then they being decently habited are presented to the Bishop by the Archdeacon or his Deputy whom the Bishop askes if he hath made due inquiry of them and then askes the people if they know any notable impediment or crime in any one of them after follow certain godly Prayers then a Collect Epistle and Gospel but before the Gospel the Oath of Supremacy is administred to every one of them and the Bishop putteth divers godly questions to them which being answered they all kneel and he laying his hands upon them severally doth ordain them Deacons then delivers to every one of them the New Testament and gives them authority to read the same in the Church then one of them appointed by the Bishop reads the Gospel and then all with the Bishop proceed to the Communion and so are dismissed with the Blessing pronounced by the Bishop The Ordination of Priests is partly in the same manner only the Epistle and Gospel are different and after the questions and answers made the Bishop puts up a particular prayer for them and that ended he desires the Congregation to recommend them to God secretly in their prayers for doing of which there is a competent time of general silence then follows Vent Creator Spiritus in Meter to be sung then after another prayer they all kneeling the Bishop with the Priests present layeth his hands upon the head of every one severally and gives them Ordination in a grave set form of words different both from that of Bishops and that of Deacons the rest as in the ordaining of Deacons Of the Ecclesiastical Government of England and first of the Convocation FOr the Church legislative power or the making of Ecclesiastical Laws and consulting of the more weighty affairs of the Church the King by the advise of his Privy Council usually convokes a National Synod commonly called the Convocation which is summoned in manner following The King directeth his Writ to the Archbishops of each Province for summoning all Bishops Deans Arch-deacons Cathedrals and Collegiate Churches according to their best discretion and judgment assigning them the time and place in the said Writ whereupon the Archbishop of Canterbury directs his Letters to the Bishop of London as his Dean Provincial first citing himself peremptorily and then willing him to cite in like manner all the Bishops Deans Archdeacons Cathedral and Collegiate Churches and all the Clergy of his Province to that place and at the day prefixt in the Writ but directeth withal that one Proctor sent for each Cathedral and Collegiate Churche and two for the body of the inferiour Clergy of each Diocess may suffice The Bishop of London accordingly directs his letters to the Bishops of every Diocess of the Province citing them in like manner to appear and to admonish the Deans and Archdeacons to appear personally and the Cathedrals Collegiate Churches and inferiour Clergy of the Diocess to send their Proctors to the place and at the day appointed also to certifie to the Archbishop the names of all so summoned by them The place where the Convocation of Clergy in the Province of Canterbury hath usually been held was St. Pauls Church in London but of later times at St. Peters in Westminster in the Chappel of Henry the Seventh where there is as in Parliament a Higher and a Lower House or a House of Lords Spiritual and a House of Commons Spiritual The Higher House of Convocation in the Province of Canterbury consists of 22 Bishops whereof the Archbishop is President sittting in a Chair at the upper end of a great Table and the Bishops on each side of the same Table all in their Scarlet Robes The Lower House consists of all the Deans Archdeacons one Proctor for every Chapter and two Proctors for all the Clergy of each Diocess in all 166 persons viz. 22 Deans 24 Prebendaries 54 Archdeacons and 44 Clerks representing the Diocesan-Clergy The first day both houses being assembled the Higher chooseth
It is as antient as the Civility of the Nation though perhaps by another name This Court proceeds either ordinarily according to the Laws Statutes and Customes of the Nation and in Latin granting out Writs mandatory and remedial Writs of Grace or else according to Equity and Conscience and by English Bill so that the Chancery hath two Courts in one the equitable part is by Bills Answers and Decrees to examine Frauds Combinations Trusts secret uses c. to moderate the Rigour of the Laws and rescue men out of the hands of their Oppressors To relieve a man especially in three things viz. against Cheats unfortunate accidents and breaches of Trust Out of this Court issue out Writs or Summons for Parliaments Edicts Proclamations Charters Protections safe Conducts Writs of Moderata Misericordia when any person hath been amerced too high and for a reasonable part of Goods for Widdows and Orphans Patents for Sheriffs Writs of Certiorari to remove Records and false Judgements in inferiour Courts Writs of Audita Querela and Scire facias here are sealed and inrolled Letters Patent Treaties and Leagues with forreign Princes Deeds betwixt Party and Party touching their Lands and Estates or Purchasers taking recognizances and making of Extents upon Statutes and Recognizances for payment of Moneys or securing of Contracts Writs Remedial or Magisterial Commissions of Appeal Oyer and Terminer c. The Court of Common Pleas which are betwixt Subject and Subject hath its Original and Commissions from the Chancery and cannot hold Pleas without it For the Latin part of this Court are the 24 Cursitors and for the English part are the six Clerks The Court of Equity that proceeds not according to Law is no Court of Record and therefore binds onely the person not his Lands or Goods The Judge of this Court is the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England He is here the sole Judge whereas in other Courts there are three or four Judges but he may and doth often in cases of greater weight and difficulty in cases of Law call some of the other Judges to his assistance and therefore it is said this Office may be discharged by one that is no professed Lawyer as it was almost always antiently and so of later times by Sir Christopher Hatton and after by Doctor Williams Bishop of Lincoln to their great praise and commendation It is the highest Dignity in England that a Lay-man is capable of it is Summum ambientis animi quasi Solstitium and the Chancellor is Magistratuum omnium Antistes Antiently the Lord Chancellor had sometimes his Vicechancellor commonly called Keeper of the Great Seal but of later times they differ onely in name In France he that is made Chancellour is durante vita his place cannot be taken away although the Seales may It is said there that he is so to attend to the sole Interest of the King and People that he must not be sensible of any Relations or other consideration and therefore he may not put himself in mourning neither for his own Father nor for the King himself Chancellours have been in England as the learned Dugdale finds as soon as Christianity was embraced by the Saxons The Chancellor is said to be keeper of the Kings Conscience to judge secundum aequum bonum according to equity and conscience he is to moderate the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the exact rigour and letter of the Law whereunto other Judges are strictly tyed for the Princes of this Realm in imitation of the King of Kings governing the World by justice and mercy have erected two supreme Tribunals together at the upper end of Westminster-Hall one of Justice wherein nothing but the strict Letter of the Law is observed and the other of Mercy wherein the Rigour of the Law is tempered with the sweetness of Equity which is nothing else but Mercy qualifying the sharpness of Justice This Court being a Court of Conscience the less it is perplexed with the quirks of Lawyers the more it is guided by Conscience and Equity and therefore the Kings of England would have this Court superiour to the other Tribunals that so if any thing was done amiss by those following the Rigour of the Law here good by Conscience and Equity it might be amended wherein they followed the noble Pattern of the Great Constantine qui omnes suas leges imperfectas esse voluit ut inde subditi sui appellarent ad Episcopos and therefore in all former times the Judges of this Court were chosen out of the Clergy able Divines who by their skil in the Law of God and of Nations were best able to judge according to Moderation and Equity and most willing to execute accordingly also fittest to dispose of the Kings spiritual Benefices Besides when this High Office was given to Bishops and Clergy men in whom wealth and a publick Spirit being usually conjoyned what great publick Acts of Piety and Charity were done by them for this Nation to mention onely in Oxford What noble and rich foundations are Christ-church Magdalens New Colledge and Merton Colledge all founded by Bishops that were Chancellors and on the contrary since the places of Chancellor Treasurer Privy Seal c. have been usually in the Hands of Lay-men what one great work hath been done for the Publick but onely wealth heaped up for their own private Families The manner of Proceeding in this Court is much like that in the Courts of the Civil Law the Actions by Bill or Plaint the Witnesses examined in private the Decrees in Engli●h or Latin not in French No Jury of twelve men but all Sentences given by the Judge of the Court. The Chancellor or Lord Keeper hath twelve assistants antiently called Clerici or Magistri Cancellariae because they were usually in Holy Orders and all Doctors of Laws for Master and Doctor was antiently the same as at this day a Doctor in the Arts is called Magister in Artibus The first of these is called Master of the Rolls a place of great dignity and is in the gift of the King either for life or during His Majesties pleasure and this Officer hath jure Officii the gift of those considerable Offices of the six Clerks in Chancery hath the keeping of the Rolls hath the House of the converted Jews now called the Rolls and in the absence of the Chancellor heares Causes and makes Orders by Vertue of a Commission with two Masters and not jure Officii One reason why the Masters of Chancery were ever Civilians may be because for all cases almost imaginable some Law or case conformable thereunto may be fetched by a good Civilian out of that Law of Laws called the Civil Law Another may be because the Chancery more antient then in any other Court of England for all Original writs and Comissions whereupon the other Courts do ground all their proceedings do come from thence hath probably been taken from the Civil Law divers points
447 150 38 Welcome 400 150 38 Yarmouth 608 180 44 Fifth Rate       Augustin 300 110 26 Briar 180 90 18 Colchester 287 110 24 Convert 250 110 26 Coventry 200 110 20 Dartmouth 220 110 22 Dolphin 130 80 14 Eagle 299 110 22 Forester 230 110 32 Fame 200 95 20 Gift 300 100 26 Garland 2●5 1●0 20 Greyhound 150 90 22 Half-Moon 300 110 26 Happy Entrance 200 100 20 Hector 150 90 20 Hound       Lizard 100 170 16 Milford 262 115 22 Mermaid 287 110 22 Norwich 258 110 22 Nightingale 300 110 22 Oxford 240 105 22 Constant Warwick   80 22 Pearl 285 110 22 Pembroke 210 110 22 Paul 240 95 22 Richmond 235 110 22 Rosebush 300 100 24 Success Frigat 230 115 24 Speedwell 200 100 20 Sorlings 250 110 22 Success 380 130 34 Satisfaction 220 110 26 Saphire 300 100 26 Westergat 300 100 26 Sixth Rate       Bramble 120 70 14 Blackmore 90 50 12 Carnation 100 60 12 Chesnut 90 45 10 Cag-way 60 40 8 Cignet 60 40 6 Drake 146 70 12 Dolphin 50 25 4 Diver Smack       Eaglet 60 40 8 Fox 120 70 14 Francis 90 50 10 Griffin 90 50 12 Gift 120 70 12 Hind 60 40 8 Hawk 60 40 8 Harp 60 40 6 Hart       Hunter 50 30 6 Henrietta Pinnace 65 25 6 Kingsale 90 50 10 Lark 80 50 10 Lilly 60 40 6 Martin 130 70 12 Mary 120 60 12 Marygold Hoy       Nonsuch Catch 60 40 8 Minion       Paradox 127 70 12 Pearl Brigant 50 25 4 Roe 60 40 8 Rose 60 40 6 Sparrow 90 60 12 Swallow 60 40 6 True Love 100 60 12 Vulture 100 60 12 Weymouth 120 70 11 Wolf 120 70 16 Besides the above mentioned Vessels there was the New Gally the Eagle Stork Violet Ostridge Church and Elias in all 160 sail During the late War with the United Netherlands France and Denmark some of these forementioned Vessels were lost and since the Peace concluded many have been new built even this present year four Ships of the first Rate and three of the third Rate have been to his Majesties great expences built and perfectly finished or will be in a short time Those new built Ships of the first Rate are the Royal James Prince St. Andrew London All his Majesties Maritime Forces are under the Command of the Lord High Admiral of England touching whose Name Titles Power Priviledges c. See the first part The Lord Admiral hath under him many Officers of high and low condition some at Sea others at Land some of a Military some of a Civil capacity some Judicial others Ministerial so that the Dominion and Jurisdiction of the Sea may justly be stiled another Commonwealth or Kingdom apart In Mari sunt Regna distincta idque Jure Gentium sicut in arida terra saith Baldus that learned Oracle of the Civil Law And the Lord High Admiral of England may fitly be stiled or at least reputed as a Vice-Roy of the Maritime Kingdom of England The Vice-Admiral of England is an Officer to whom next under the High-Admiral it belongs to see the Royal Navy kept in good repair the wages of Mariners and Ship-wrights duly paid and the Ships provided of all things necessary for any Expedition The Lord High-Admiral of England doth by virtue of his place appoint in divers parts of the Kingdom his several Vice-Admirals with their Judges and Marshals by Patent under the Great Seal of the High Court of Admiralty These Vice-Admirals and Judges do exercise Jurisdiction in Maritime affairs within their several limits and in case any person is agrieved by any Sentence or Interlocutory Decree that hath the force of a definitive Sentence he may appeal to the High Court of Admiralty The present Vice-Admirals of the several Coasts of England with their Judges are these that follow in Alphabetical order Bristol City Sir Thomas Bridges Vice-Admiral Cheshire and Lancashire the Earl of Derby Vice-Admiral Sir Tim. Baldwin Kt. Dr. of Laws Judge Cornwall South parts Trelawny Vice-Admiral Cornwall North parts Sir John Godolphin V. Admiral Mr. Scawen Judge Cumberland Earl of Carlile V. Admiral Durham Earl of Carlile V. Admiral Devonshire John Vowel Esq V. Admiral Dr. Masters Judge Dorsetshire Bullen Reyms Esq Essex Sir John Bramston V. Admiral Sir Mundiford Bramston Judge Glocester Thomas Cheston Esq V. Adm. Kent Duke of Richmond V. Adm. Lincoln Lord Castleton V. Adm. Newcastle Earl of Carlile V. Adm. Norfolk Lord Townsend V. Adm. Sir Justinian Lewen Kt. Dr. of Laws Judge Northumberland Earl of Carlile V. Adm. Somersetshire Sir Thomas Bridges V. Admiral Sussex Sir John Pelham V. Adm. Dr. Low Judge Suffolk Sir Henry Felton V. Adm. Dr. Clark Judge Southampton and Isle of Wight Sir Robert Holms V. Adm. Dr. Lloyd Judge Wales North parts Col. John Robinson V. Adm. Mr. Walter Mansel Judge York Earl of Mulgrave V. Adm. For handling of Maritime Affairs the Lord High Admiral hath Courts of his own whereof that at London is the principal or supreme where all Process and Proceedings run in his name and not in the Kings as it doth in all Common-Law Courts in this Court usually call'd the Court of Admiralty he hath a Lieutenant called Judge of the Admiralty who is commonly some learned Dr. of the Civil Law and is at present Doctor Jenkins lately knighted for his great worth and now called Sir Lionel Jenkins The Proceeding in this Court in all Civil Matters is according to the Civil Law because the Sea is without the limits of the Common-Law but under the Admirals Jurisdiction therefore the Civil Law onely all Common Law secluded is made use of and by Libel they proceed to the Action the Plaintiff giving Caution to prosecute the Sute and to pay what shall be judged against him if he fail in the Sute the Defendant on the contrary securing the Plaintiff by sufficient surety or caution as the Judge shall think meet that he will appear in Judgment and pay that which shall be adjudged against him and that he will ratifie and allow all that his Proctor shall do in his name whereby the Clients are well assured to obtain that which by Law shall be adjudged to them let the Cause fall on which side soever In the Admiralty Court of England use is made not onely of the Civil Laws but the Laws of Rhodes and Oleron whereof the former is an Island in the Mediterranean Sea about twenty miles distant from the Continent of Asia Minor and is now under the Turk the antient Inhabitants whereof by their mighty Trade and Power at Sea grew so expert in the Regulation of all Maritime Matters and Differences and their Determinations therein were esteemed so just and equitable that their Laws in such affairs have ever since been observed for Oracles Those Laws were long ago incorporated into the Volumes of the Civil Law And the Romans who gave Laws to other
only of Beer and Ale for the City of London though it be a very moderate Imposition is farmed or rented of the King at above one hundred and twenty thousand pounds a year and about one fourth part of all that Excise throughout England Churches Parish Churches besides Chappels there were in all 130. that is double the Number of Churches parochial to be found in any City of Christendom the Mother Church whereof is dedicated to the memory of Saint Paul the only Cathedral of that Name in Europe and founded by Sebert a Saxon King about the year 610. in a place where had stood a Temple dedicated to Diana and afterward enlarged by Erkenwald the 4 th Saxon Bishop thereof and that old Fabrick being almost destroyed by Fire Mauritius another Bishop of London in One thousand eighty three began and finished a great part of the present magnificent Pile in the space of 20 years but the Quire and Tower were not finished till 1221 and then it was dedicated in a most solemn manner as was the Temple of Solomon the King the Bishops and a vast number from all Parts of the Nation assisting thereat It is seated on the highest part of all the City and was more conspicuous perhaps then any Cathedral Church in the World it was a structure for length height and antiquity surpassing all other Churches the length thereof was 690 Foot therein excelling by 20 foot St. Peters in Rome which for beauty proportion and divers other things excels all other Temples it was in height 102 foot and in breadth 130. The Church was built as other Cathedrals in a perfect Cross and in the midst of the Cross upon mighty high Arches was a Tower of Stone 260 foot high and on that a spire of Timber covered with Lead in height 260 foot more in all from the ground 520 foot above which was a ●ole of Copper Gilt of 9 foot in compass whereon stood the Cross 15 foot and a half high and almost 6 foot a cross made of oak covered with Lead and another cover of Copper over the Lead above all stood the Eagle or Cock of Copper Gilt four foot long and the breadth over the Wings 3 foot and a half In the year 1561. a part of this magnificent Pile was much wasted and the rest endangered by a fire begun in that stately Timber Spire by the negligence of a Plummer who left his Pan of Fire there whilest he went to Dinner as he confest of later years on his Death Bed But by the great Bounty and Piety of Queen Elizabeth of the Citizens of London and of all the Clergy of the Province of Canterbury it was again repaired in the space of Five years After which the Stone work decaying apace by reason of the corroding quality of the abundance of Sea-coal smoak the Learned and Pious Doctor Laud coming to be Bishop of London and after of Canterbury was so zealous and vigorous for upholding this most Ancient Church and Stately Monument of England and glory of the City of London that by the Kings favor and liberal contribution of Godly People maugre all opposition of the Puritans the work was so eagerly pursued that before the year 1640. the whole Body was finished with Portland Stone excellent against all smoak and weather and the Tower scaffolded up to the top with a purpose to take it all down and to rebuild it more fair and of a greater height with a stately Pinnacle at each corner because the Arches were not thought strong enough to support another Steeple and to place in that Tower the biggest and most tunable Bells in the World For performance whereof and for adorning the Church there was in the Chamber of London above One hundred and seventy thousand pounds all taken out soon after and employed in an Unnatural War by a stiff necked People against the best of Kings in which one single act a great part of the Citizens of London and of the Long Parliament became deeply guilty of a horrid Rebellion and detestable Sacriledge After the Murder or rather Martyrdom of the forementioned Archbishop the Skaffolds were taken away and sold with some of the Lead which covered this famous Structure and this House of God made a Stable for Horses by the Disloyal Army and almost all suffered to decay till the Restauration of the King who having a pious intent to set upon the repair thereof again it was all ruined by the late dreadful Conflagration in 1666. Which yet hath not so discouraged our gracious King and the rest of our Church Governors but that in a short time they intend to begin again the repair of the Mother Church of the Mother City of this Kingdom to the glory of God and high honor of this City and Nation for the speedy promoting whereof both King and Parliament City and Countrey Clergy and Laity high and low seem to stand engaged to lend their aid and assistance Of the forementioned Fire that was able to destroy such a vast solid Structure as the Cathedral of S. Paul a brief account may here be acceptable especially to Foreigners who have had imperfect relations thereof THe City of LONDON within the Walls was seated upon near Four hundred and sixty Acres of Ground whereon was built about Fifteen thousand Houses besides Churches Chappels Halls Colledges Schools and other Publick Buildings whereof about Four parts of five were utterly devoured in the late dismal Conflagration and about One part of five of the whole City and Suburbs counting therein Westminster and Southwark There were then destroyed Eighty seven Parochial Churches Six Consecrated Chappels all the Principal Publick Edifices as the forenamed Cathedral of S. Paul the great Guild-Hall wherein are held Nine several Courts belonging to the City the Royal Exchange the Custome-House most Halls of Companies c. whereof the whole damage is almost incredible In that one commodity of Books onely wherewith London abounded was lost as Judicious Stationers have computed One hundred and fifty thousand pounds for the loss fell most upon that and Three or four other cumbersome commodities not easie on a sudden to be removed viz. Wines Tobacco Sugars and Plumbs wherewith this City was furnished beyond any City in the World Yet in this vast Incendy not above Six or eight persons were burnt Of this dreadful Fire there were many concurrent occasions First The Drunkenness or Supine negligence of the Baker in whose House it began or of his Men. Next The dead time of the night wherein it began viz. between One and two of the Clock after Midnight when some were wearied with working others filled with drink all in a dead sleep Thirdly The dead time of the week being Saturday night when Traders were retired to their Countrey Houses and none but Children or Young Servants left behind Fourthly The dead time of all the year being then the long Vacation on the Second of September when Tradesmen were generally abroad
placito The Proctors belonging to this Court aforementioned are persons that exhibite their Proxies for their Clients and make themselves parties for them and draw and give in Pleas or Libells and Allegations in the behalf of their Clients produce the Witnesses prepare the Causes for Sentence and attend the Advocates with the Proceedings They are also admitted by the Fiat of the Archbishop introduced by the Two Senior Proctors and are allowed to practise immediately after their admission they wear Black Robes and Hoods lined with White Fur. According to the Statutes of this Court all Arguments made by Advocates and all Petitions made by the Proctors are to be in the Latin Tongue All Process of this Court run in the name of the Judge thus Egi. Sweit Miles LL. Dr. Almae Curiae Cant. de Arcubus Lond. Officialis Principalis and returnable before him heretofore in Bow Church now in the Common Hall at Exeter House The Places and Offices belonging to this Court are all in the gift of the Archbishop of Canterbury whose Court it is Here note That the next Morning after the sitting of this Court the Judge of the Court of Audience did usually sit but since the late Troubles that Court hath been discontinued Next is the Court of Admiralty whereof see more in Chapter of the Military Government The present Judge of this Court is Sir Leolin Jenkins Knight Doctor of Laws whose Title is Supremae Curiae Admiralitatis Angliae locum tenens Judex sive Praesidens The Writs and Decrees run in the name of the Lord High Admiral and are directed to all Vice-Admirals Justices of Peace Majors Sheriffs Bailiffs Constables Marshals and others Officers and Ministers of our Soveraign Lord the King as well within Liberties as without To this Court belongs a Register Orlando Gee Esquire a Marshal who attends the Court and carries a Silver Oar before the Judge whereon are the Arms of the King and of the Lord High Admiral The Lord Admiral hath here his Advocate and Proctor and all other Advocates and Proctors are presented by them and admitted by the Judge This Court is held on the same day with the Arches but in the afternoon and heretofore at St. Margarets Hill in Southwark but now in the same Common Hall at Exeter house But the Admiralty Session is still held for the Tryal of Malefactors and Crimes committed at Sea at the Antient place aforesaid The places and Offices belonging to this Court are in the Gift of the Lord High Admiral Next is another Court belonging to the Archbishop of Canterbury called the Prerogative Court whereof see more in the Chapter of the Ecclesiastical Government of England The Judge of this Court is the forenamed Sir Leolin Jenkins and his Title here is Curiae Prerogativae Cant. Magister Custos sive Commissarius All Citations and Decrees run in the name of the Archbishop This Court is kept in the same Common Hall in the afternoon next day after the Arches and was heretofore held in the Consistory of St Pauls The Judge is attended by a Register Marke Cottle Esquire who sets down the Decrees and Acts of the Court and keeps the Records all Original Wills and Testaments of parties dying having Bona Notabilia c. The place is commonly called the Prerogative Office now kept in the Savoy where for a moderate Fee one may search for and have a Copy of any such Testament made since the Rebellion of Wat Tiler and Jack Straw by whom many Records and Writings in several places of London were then burnt and destroyed The Places belonging to this Court are in the Gift of the Archbishop of Canterbury From the forementioned Courts Appeals do lye to the Court of Delegates whereof more pag. 76 the Judges whereof are appointed by the Lord Keeper under the great Seal of England pro illa vice and upon every cause or business there is a new Commission and new Judges according to the nature of the Affair or Cause as sometimes Bishops Common-Law-Judges and Civilians and sometimes Bishops and Civilians and sometimes Common-Law-Judges and Civilians and sometimes Civilians onely To this Court belongs a standing Register and the Court is kept in the same Common Hall in the afternoon the day after the Prerogative The Citations and Decrees here run in the Kings Name From this Court lyes no Appeal in Common course But the King of His meer Prerogative Royal may and many times doth grant a Commission of Review under the Broad Seal In this Colledge also usually resides the Vicar-General belonging to the Archbishop bishop of Canterbury who as he is Primate hath the Guardianship of the Spiritualties of every Bishop within his Province during the Vacancy and executes all Episcopal Power and Jurisdiction by his Vicar-General who is at present in the Province of Canterbury Sir Richard Chaworth Knight Doctor of Laws The Archbishop of York hath the like Power in his Province and his Vicar-General is Dr. Burnel he also hath a Prerogative Court whereof the Judge is Dr. Levet Of the Colledge of Physitians in London AMongst other excellent Institutions in the City of London there is a Colledge or Corporation of Physitians who by Charters and Acts of Parliament of Henry VIII and since his Raign have certain Priviledges whereby no man though a Graduat in Phsick of Oxford or Cambridge may without Licence under the said Colledge Seal practice Physick in London or within seven miles of this City nor in any other part of England in case he hath not taken any Degree in Oxford or Cambridge Whereby also they can administer an Oath fine and imprison any Offenders in that and divers other particulars can make By-Laws purchase Lands c. Whereby they have Authority to search all the shops of Apothecaries in and about London to see if their Drugs and Compositions are wholesome and well made whereby they are freed from all troublesome Offices as to serve upon Juries to be Constable to keep watch and ward to bear Arms or provide Armes or Ammunition c. any Member of that Colledge may practice Surgery if he please not onely in London but in any part of England This Society had antiently a Colledge in Knight-Rider-Street the Gift of Doctor Linacre Physitian to King Henry the VIII since which a House and Ground was purchased by the Society of Physitians at the end of Amen street whereon the ever famous Dr. Harvey Anno 1652. did erect at his own proper charge a Magnificent Structure both for a Library and a Publick Hall for the meeting of the several Members of this Society endowed the same with his whole Inheritance which he resigned up while he was yet living and in Health part of which he assigned for an Anniversary Harangue to commemorate all their Benefactors to exhort others to follow their good Examples and to provide a plentiful Dinner for the worthy Company Anno 1666. This goodly Edifice could not escape the Fury of that dreadful Fire and