the use of the King and Queen and the Heirs and Successors of the Queen which Fine shall be estreated into the Exchequer by the said Persons so authorized under their Seals within two Months after such Agreement and afterwards levied as Fines assessed by Justices of Assize and Gaol delivery in their Circuits This Statute must be concluded to extend to the Person himself whom we will call a Finder for it cannot be supposed that a Servant riding his Master's Horse or an Hireling representing a Freeholder is capable of Compounding for 40 l. There are several material Instances in this Act which are to be view'd at leisure and at large which neither Time nor Room will admit of now Therefore I only recite these two Instances First Offences committed during the time of Service shall be heard and determined by the Chief Commander Secondly This Act shall not discharge Service of War incident to the Tenure of Land This brings me to the Recital of Tenures heretofore which have been these Knights Service Villenage Escuage Wardship and several others which are described in several Volumes of Antiquity which are an obsolete Reading tho divertive yet not to be brought within the compass of a Pamphlet or Vade mecum But upon this occasion of comparing former Ages with the present they are really necessary therefore I request here to recite their Efficacy Knights Service obliged to attend the King when in Arms either at home or abroad He that held Land in a whole Knights Fee was obliged to attend the King forty days well and conveniently array'd for the War If he had two or three Knights Fees his times were to be increased accordingly If half a Knights Fee twenty days c. pro rata Villenage was upon the seeming present sort of Yeomanry who were to take care of the Liege-Lords Lands in Demeane as we say for Plowing and all Husbandry besides fetching his Coals Materials for Buildings or such Services he should be call'd to which in short did not allow him any time for him to say he was Master of especially during the War Escuage seems to mitigate this Rigour for Escuage according to my apprehension was either to go in Person as above in Knights Service or Commute as we say now commonly Compound by paying a Sum pro. rata according as the Land he possesses Knight's Fee 2,3 or half One. A Ward I shall not describe because under Age and not fit to march under Mars's Banner yet the coercive Power to serve under Venus seemed a greater Grievance to the Subject for under the one you could dye but once under the other you might live 60 Years in daily Torment each minute worse than Death For Marriage was ost-times directed like or not like as the Guardian thought fit This last or any of the former when really considered I stood amaz'd at the Health to old England and the more now because some Gentlemen I have met with lately who I thought had read more than my self have laught at my Desires for a Definition of old England If these Four Instances may be look'd upon as Members of the Body Politick in former times I desire to be pardon'd if I say this Monarchical Power was as Despotical as any Monarchy in Christendom it 's confest it did not extend to Life but it had the Privilege of the first Night with the Bride which yet in some places pays a Composition and is called Gava More Instances of this kind might be brought even from Magna Charta her self 31. If a Barony escheat to the King the Tenants that hold of the same not having other Lands that hold of the King in chief shall pay like Relief and do like Services to the King after such Escheat as they did to their former Lords c. 32. No Freeman shall give or sell so much of his Land that of the residue the Lord of the Fee may not have Services due to him It 's confess'd several little Rents are remaining to keep in mind the Services the Generality of the People underwent formerly which certainly are not to be wished for under the honourable and happy Character of old England has been under hard Services since Magna Charta which was obtain'd by popular Sway what did she endure or undergo before Magna Charta gain'd I would willingly joyn issue and pledg their Health if they only recite the Honour and Courage of old England which appear'd demonstrated and effected their great Exploits by those Services which do clearly evidence that the Nobility and Gentry going personally into the Field do defend and conquer with Honour and Advantage like our present King and like the antient Romans who whilst they went in person conquer'd for the most part But when they had enlarg'd their dominions and rais'd as they thought an immortal Terrour Honour and Character they became effeminate and made use of mercenary Armies and declin'd the Use of Arms themselves So that in process of time they waving the general Good set up for deep Politicians and by seperate Insinuations obtain'd Popularity and so fell into domestick Quarrels till there 's nothing remaining more than some of their Statues Medals and Histories to demonstrate what they have been I only hint at this Precedent with some of our own to demonstrate the Advantages of Personal Appearance It was by this means that the Scots were so oft repulsed when they made Incursions upon us By these means Wales was brought to an entire Obedience and Union By these means Ireland became tributary By these means it was the English made In roads into France to such a degree we claim it as our Conquest And the Name of Talbot remains as a Terrour But we have lost that Power by a long series of Peace in Queen Elizabeths days and King James's for after she had happily defeated the Spanish Armado she did it 's confess'd set up and went a great way in the Dominion of the Narrow Seas and soon after rested her self contented with Familiarities and pretty Insinuations into her People whose Steps King James I. followed for he had such an Aversion to Gun powder he smelt it at a great Distance and so being a Man of Literature he convers'd with Scholasticks and did go a great way towards arguing out Popery which made the subtle Jesuit go another way to work and dress himself in a Fanatical Disguise under which it 's doubted he still lurks amongst us however it s sadly experienc'd that the Jesuit was the Bellows that blew up the late Civil War and that altho he could not insinuate himself into the majority of the Nobility and Gentry so as to alienate them from their Duty to their King yet he knew what I have several times heard recited as the Original of an English Gentleman or two That the only means to counter Honour is Zeal And so we found that the Enthusiastick Head and hard Hand incouraging the unthinking Mobb at that time with
mount the Guard which seems to indicate that there 's a growing necessity that some coercive Power or Law should be set up again as formerly for making the Militia Artillery or Trainedbands useful as formerly I shall not insist upon this coercive Power at present but appropriate it to a particular Paragraph where I shall not argue it to be placed as an Additional Power in the Military Officer but rather adhere to the fixing of it in the Civil Magistrate who must be Diligent and Active consentaneously with the Military Officer according to the Emblem and Motto of our Neighbours being two Earthen Pots Floting on the Sea with this Inscription Si collidimur frangimur I know not to what charge and uncertainty we shall run for its visible that ever since the Civil-War the Militia has Annually declined and it was in those Unhappy Times that the first attempt was for putting the charge of the Militia into standing Troops for Awing and Insulting the Nobility Gentry and Freeholders I hope we shall not follow the pattern of those unaccountable times when we were so unfortunate and unhappy as to want both King Lords and Free Parliaments tho I must consess we seem by the neglect and disparaging of the Militia to incline to the like circumstances for 't is observable King Charles II endeavoured as much as he could to raise and keep up Regular Troops Guards Regiments and Independant Companies And that King James when he had increased them chose rather to part with his Parliament than with his Regular Troops and Regiments which are in a great part near an Establishment for it s concluded by Arguments lately 7000 Men that were in King Charles's time for Guards and Garisons are not now sufficient tho they make another figure for its thought 120000l paid them Annually then and it appears the Government allows 300000l for the Annual Payment of these 7000 who must be encreased twice 7 in a few years more if the Militia be not improved for it is not 20000 Men in regular standing Discipline that are sufficient for our Security if the Arguments are true that our Neighbours are so formidable and likely to Invade us by which arguments I did think they had been coming but God be praised I neither see nor hear of their coming now I hope its the noise or discourse of our Militia that does something discourage them who if they be made useful will be certainly our safeguard but when that will be I dare not venture to say for it is a rational business and requires time to effect it but if it be only talk'd of never gone about it s not to be accomplished It s like Propagation which must first have copulation and then lye forming near 12 Months in the Womb before it creeps or crawls out to view and then some time before it finds motion and can go and then some years before it comes to Maturity but better late than never Therefore I humbly offer in Writing what I have been long loath to come unto desiring rather to have proposed and explained my self by Discourse for I solemnly protest I do not think my self properly qualified for such a Pen-Man as is fit to appear in Print but it s the sincere affection I have for my Country that has prompted me to form my Notions into two Schemes the first your Lordship hath already view'd of Numbers and Charges the other I humbly Present here which I heartily wish may prove worth the Pains of your honours view and consideration It s no new Project Chimera or Capricio it s but the effects of the studies which I thought my Duty when I had the Honour to be in the Honourable House of Commons as a Representative of the City of Litchfield in King Jame's Parliament when that Honourable House of Commons were as Warm and Zealous for lessening the Army they had consented should be rais'd as this or the last years have been tho that Army was but a handful of Men then or very small to what this was lately I remember very well I was behind an Eminent Eloquent Lordly Estated Member then and is the same now who said there in a debate for Disbanding the Army What shall it be said that we who are in an Island in a great measure guarded by Gods Providence do that which no part of the World doth tho upon the Continent Establish a Standing Army and an Army that 's pickt up in the Streets To this there was no direct reply tho I confess I thought the last Expressions Haughty and possibly that worthy Member did not at that time consider that many of the greatest Nobility and Quality in England were in that Army And I do believe the Nobility and Gentry of England never put themselves under Command and into Arms so readily and willingly as they did into that small Army comparative to what has been since to this warm expression the chief reply was by a Member of excellent parts also who is now also of that House but I think beyond Seas who moved that the Army might be continued till the Militia was made useful then the House went upon Propositions for making the Militia useful whereupon it was my good Fortune for the House was pleased to hear me to say Time was a necessary ingredient for the exercising and making of Soldiers and that Fourteen Days in the Year was too short and strait a time for bringing Men into Order and Exercise so much of the time being spent in coming and going and then I was allowed to propose 20 24 or 28. And then the House did allow the enlarging of time to 28 Days I do not recite this out of Ostentation to shew the Honour and Favour I had at that time but to demonstrate it s no new thing if the Parliament should think fit to do something like these following Propositions which had been offered then if the Parliament had continued but the discourse and Arguments then for Disbanding the Army was supposed to be the chief cause for the breaking up the Parliament For as I remember 700000l was voted to be given and some steps were made towards the raising of it but rather than the King would part with his Army or Popish Officers and Servants he then slighted the Mony and parted with the Parliament this I confess is a little digressive from that I promised which demonstrates like a Maidens Blush that I am afraid to come to but out it must come however it succeeds In the first Place I Humbly Propose to lessen the Number of Foot one Half or more and a little increase the Number of Horse as thus the computed Number of Foot are 8439. which I would reduce to 40000 Officers Inclusive The Horse being 7400 I would increase them to 8000 Officers Inclusive now with submission or allowance I will proceed to computation of Pay for 48000 Horse and Foot For the 40000 Foot Officers Inclusive I would propose
turned to my Inconveniency or Prejudice therefore I crave your Lordships Pardon in general for the trouble that these Papers may have occasioned promising that if I remain after this Sessions discountenanced both in the attempts for making the Militia more useful and also the renewing and better settling the Annuities I will never set my hand again to a Publick Print as I do to this rather by way of Declaration than Recantation of what I have unhappily published to my loss and the dissatisfaction of a particular Lord from whom I do hereby solemnly declare with Truth and Sincerity that I have received more Favour and Kindness than any Man Living both at Court and in his own House and Family and that I think my self oblig'd to Serve him and them with the utmost of my Ability and this is all I can say towards an Attonement for what is past if it stands as a Fault Recorded which can be no worse Character'd than the Latin affords Nil habet infaelix Paupertas durius in se Quam quod Ridiculos homines facit My gross Presumption was Printing a Favour without License for and with which I humbly offered a Reason and endeavour'd an Apology so that I can say no more till I hear what Submission is made for Printing Letters of those of the Highest Quality and Exposing them to publick Sale which I have by me and by Purchase which with Submission tho they tend to the same purpose are not more Emphatical or Essicacious and why he shall rest unrecriminated that exposes Quality to publick Sale and I generally blam'd for communication to the Pares of the Original Author is I yet hope not so much a Fault as Misfortune being sincerely intended as a step rather towards corroboration of Honour than disturbance or any inconveniency if these approaches can not prevail for a Pardon I must farther follow the advice I long since learnt Dum Furor in cursu est currenti cede furori Humbly assuring your Lordships that for the future I shall be very Cautious of presuming to discourse either of or with Honour or Honours but rather observe the Scripture instructions When thou comest to a Rich Mans Table put thy Knife to thy Throat i. e. converse with none but thy equals And this Causes me to look back into this Paper to review and consider whether I have not presum'd in saying the Nobility of England never put themselves into Arms with more Willingness and Readiness than they did at King James's Access to the Crown Now finding it so nice and Difficult a Point to mention Honour I must enlarge by observing also That when the Protestant Nobility understood the Dispensing Power was putting in practice for relaxing or setting aside those Laws which had been many years and several Reigns in making for defence of the Protestant Religion we now pretend to and that all Eneavours possible were in agitation for introducing the Popish Persuasion the Protestant Nobility and Gentry quitted their Posts in the Army and other Employments and Trusts as fast as any sober People in the World ever did for altho they have a great regard to Monarchy yet they will not so much indulge it as arbitrariously to disannul those Laws by which we enjoy as happily as any People in the World our Religion and Property which God continue long For I am near an assurance it is not in the power of Foreigners to give us any great Disturbance so long as we continue the present appearing mutual Affection and interchangeable Addresses and Answers as have past betwixt the King Lords and Commons this present Parliament who if they continue like the Sheaf of Arrows are not to be broken but should they unhappily separate then our Neighbour by the Instigation of the lurking Jesuit may break or snap us in pleces like dry Reeds and Tobacco-pipes I must request leave for two or three Lines towards explaining my self for keeping my peace with the Souldiery who I hope will allow me to explain my self thus That I think it absolutely neceslary they should continue in the Station they seem settled for this year and also fill'd up to a compleat number equal to their Officers if occasion requires or a greater Number upon emergent Necessity such as has been discours'd of the French Landing For the Militia must be dwindled below Effeminacy and become as inconsiderable as a cast Mistress not having been look'd upon these seven years last past she has been mentioned and so far enacted several years as to be in readiness not with Arms and Ammunition but with a Months Pay in their Pockets If this be all the Improvement that can be made of her it 's time to lay her aside absolutely and inlarge and encourage those Military Powers who have put a stop to all designed Insults over us either by French Power or Popish Designs and I doubt not are of Courage Disposition and Affection to preserve the present King with the Religion and Property of all his Dominions both from Foreign Powers and Domestick Enemies This I say because I in part know and am apt to believe more than I know that many of Quality great and good Estates have ventur'd Lives and Fortunes rather for preservation of the Constitution and those Laws that preserve cur Religion and Property than obtaining Self interest It s apparent few have gain'd Advantage by these Wars and it 's now as clear to the World by the general Peace that the major part of the Confederacy entred into and maintained the War the best they could rather upon the Consideration of Property than Religion For we hear very little of any Article in the Peace concerning Religion unless some mention of the Vaudois But many in this Island have ventured their Persons and all of us our Money very freely by Sea and Land and the main of the Argument has been the Defence of Religion For which I have heard several Officers declare themselves such Champions that if the King shall think there is any Danger they are ready to obey his Commands yet if the Wisdom of the Nation think it secure they are willing to turn their Swords into Plow-shares These Dispositions are to be esteem'd and admired and deserve Encouragement by Honours and Rewards It 's much to be lamented Conquering time should deprive the World of such Men who have charged and as it were bid Defiance to Death by their hazardous and fatiguing Voyages and Marches by Sea and Land not regarding their own Safety in Sieges and Battles whilst the Honour and Preservation of their own Country with the Good and Safety of their Neighbours and Confederates were in their thoughts these Men are immortal whose Fame may last long after they have yielded their Couragious Heads to the Summons of pale Death upon a soft Pillow For it 's doubtful whether they will be succeeded with the like Principles after a long Peace It is natural for couragious Men to love each
his Condition until the next Quarter Sessions and then as it shall appear to the Bench he shall according to their direction be Allowed and Maintain'd out of the Publick Stock of the County Here it may be said and I expect it that it will be a great difficulty to proportion and raise this Mony and that your Lordships have not Power either by your Lieutenancy or Authority of your whole House to raise Mony to your Lordships power of raising Mony I acquiece but with submission to your Lordships if your Lordships who are Lord-Lieutenants of all the Counties of England and Wales consult to draw a Bill for making the Militia more useful leaving Blanks for the Horse and Foot with a Blank for such a computed sum to be raised yearly and this Bill be approved by your most Honourable House I am with submission apt to hope and inclined to think the Honourable House of Commons will fill up the Blanks and compleat the Bill especially if the Bill have a Preamble containing the Charge and Services of former Ages to what our present Freedom is and will be if such a Bill as these and the like Propositions should take effect For if your Lordships take this present Printed List of Horse and Foot amounting to Ninety odd Thousand who are short of the computed Annual value of the Kingdom which is Fourteen Millions per Ann. and reduce them again to 48000 Horse and Foot which is about half and then Abstract and Proportion every County Proportionably I do suppose it will be no great difficulty to say how many Men and how much Mony each County shall raise and by way of Addition scattering the 7000l for contingent Charges into parcels through the Dominions of England and Wales There may a difficulty arise amongst your Lordships I confess how to joyn small and great Counties together for Regimenting of them and then dividing the 40000 Foot into four parts and also the Horse of 8000 into four parts so that 10000 Foot and 2000 Horse may March and Encamp every Year This when the Charge is agreed will be a greater Nicety than the proportioning the Money yet if your Lordships meet with serious Intention and amicable Inclination for settling the Militia near these Schemes or Discourse I doubt not but this seeming ravel'd Clue of Pack-thread may be drawn streight and after one or two years Encampments at Hounslow of these 12000 for one Month who will have a very short March from London and Middlesex and the Counties adjacent for the first year or two by that time the remoter Counties who are more ignorant will gain some Information and Experience and become fashionable as Iter Borcale sings Thus Ring the Bells of Bow Down to the Country Candlesticks below These little Instances may be tedious to your Lordship your Honour being inclinable to make the Militia useful and it 's probable your Honour's Thoughts may be imploy'd in a better way to a true value yet if this my Pains proves like the Labour of cutting a Pebble stone which with artificial Setting may make a shew till your Diamond appears yet the Labour is not wholly lost for it will be discernibly meaner than your Lustre and consequently your Care for your Country will be wonderfully admired tho you in the instance actuate your personal and Posterity's Preservation as may appear more clearly after I have according to promise presented a Paragraph of the Word Coersive Which is not to be defined with my Incapacities but I hope the Recital of Antient Statutes will demonstrate I am in some measure apprehensive of the Word Imprimis Stat. 7. Edw. I. Says it belongs to the King to prohibit Force of Arms and all other Force against the Peace and to punish Offenders therein according to Law And herein every Subject is bound to be aiding Stat. 1. E. III. Stat. 2. 5. None shall be charged to arm himself other ways than was used in the time of the King's Progenitors neither yet shall any be compell'd to go out of his Shire but when Necessity requireth and the sudden coming of strange Enemies into the Realm and then it shall be done as in times past for the Defence of the Realm Stat. c. 18. Hen. VI. 19. It is Felony for a Souldier retained to serve the King in his Wars not to go with or to depart from his Captain without Licence Stat. 7. Hen. VII 1. A Captain which shall not have the whole Number of Souldiers or not pay them their due Wages within six days after he shall have received them shall forfeit all his Goods and Chattels and suffer Imprisonment Stat. 2. 3. Edw. VI. 2. A Souldier that makes away his Horse or Arms proof thereof being made before the Chief Commander shall suffer Imprisonment without Bail until he hath satisfied the Party at whose Charge he was set out In this Act also it's Felony without Benefit of Clergy for a Souldier retain'd to depart without Licence of his Commander whereupon Justices of the Peace may proceed as in case of Felony After these Strictnesses comes the Compassion and natural Equity in that Age which was a considerable Sum in those days for a maimed Souldier upon a Certificate under the Hand and Seal of the Chief Commander or the Captain under whom he served to him that hath not born Offices not exceeding 10 l. To any Officer under a Lieutenant 15 l. To a Lieutenant 20 l. This Statute admits of many Particulars as Wingate in his Abridgment reviewed and revived by Washington will demonstrate from whom I have these Abstracts and shall recite more therefore I may be easily discover'd upon Suspicion or Dislike If I quote I will as near as I can be true where I do not quote if I say that which is not allow'd to be generally good it 's my Misfortune for I intend every Particle for the best in the main tho most Actions and even a short Sentence may admit of various Constructions and it 's oft said that most things have two Handles and if I am taken by the weakest and must like a crazy piece of Earthen Ware fall to the ground and be dash'd in pieces I am the more Unfortunate especially at this Season when the Doctrine of Charity and Compassion for Misfortunes and Infirmities is the grand Admonition But if I am the only Person blameable I hope in the Conclusion after I have recited some more Statutes and sum'd up the Heads of this Discourse in this Escrole to say something for my self by way of Declaration which may indicate my Desire for an Atonement Stat. 4. 5. Phil. Mar. 3. If any one who shall be commanded to muster by any authorized thereunto doth absent himself having no lawful Excuse or at such Musters doth not bring with him his best Arms he shall suffer ten days Imprisonment without Bail to be imposed by the Persons so authorized unless he agree to pay 40 l. as a Fine to