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
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 audiâ— 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
Seas to belong to the King of England according to an Ordinance made at Hastings in Sussex by John King of England about Four hundred and fifty years ago To maintain this Right and Title to protect Trade to subdue Pirates to defend this Kingdom against hostile Invasions and to reduce foreign Potentates to Reason the Kings of England have had especially of later times a considerable number of Ships of War for Strength for Beauty and Sailing if not for number surpassing all those of our Neighbor Nations For Strength by reason of the most excellent English Timber they are like so many floating Castles and Barbicans For Beauty so proportionably and spaciously built and so curiously and richly adorned that they are as so many Royal Palaces Amongst other Ships at Sea they are as so many Lions amongst other silly Beasts or as Eagles amongst other Birds Histories mention a great Fleet of Julius Caesar a Fleet of the forementioned King Edgar consisting of Three thousand six hundred Sail a Fleet of Lewis Son to Philip King of France of Six hundred Sail that arrived at Sandwich to assist the English Barons against King John but those doubtless were but as so many Cottages to Castles in respect of the present Ships of War Henry the Eighth in the Fifth year of His Reign built a Ship then accounted the greatest that ever had been seen in England and named it Henry Grace de Dieu or the Great Henry it was of One thousand Tun. In the Eighth year of King James was built by the Londoners a Ship of Twelve hundred Tun and called The Trades Increase which being lost in the East Indies King James caused another to be built of Fourteen hundred Tun which being given to Prince Henry was by Him named the Prince King Charles the Martyr perceiving the great encrease of Shipping in our Neighbor Nations and that the Soveraignty of these Seas was like to be disputed amongst other great Ships of War built one greater then any Ship of War either in England or in any Countrey of Europe and named it The Royal Soveraign which for a little diversion shall here be more particularly described The Royal Soveraign being a Ship of the First Rate or Rank built in the Year One thousand six hundred thirty and seven is in length by the Keel One hundred twenty seven Foot in bredth by the Beam Forty seven Foot in depth Forty nine Foot her draught of Water Twenty one Foot Of burden in all Two thousand seventy and two Tuns and One thousand five hundred fifty and four Tuns besides Guns Tackle c. This mighty Moving-Castle hath Six Anchors whereof the biggest weighs 6000 l. and the least 4300 l. It hath Fourteen Cables whereof the greatest is Twenty one Inches in compass and weighs 9000 l. Her least Cable being eight Inches in compass weighing near 1300 l. To the Royal Soveraign belong Eighteen Masts and Yards whereof the greatest called The Main Mast is One hundred and thirteen Foot long and Thirty eight Inches Diameter Her Main Yard One hundred and five Foot long and Twenty three Inches Diameter and her Main Top Fifteen Foot Diameter She hath Ten several sorts of Sails of several names as every Ship of every one of the Six Rates hath whereof her greatest Sail called Her Main Course together with her Bonnet contains One thousand six hundred and forty Yards of Canvas Ipswich double and the least Sail called The Fore-top-gallant-sail contains One hundred and thirty yards of Canvas The charge of one compleat Sute of Sails for the Soveraign is 404 l. Sterling Money The weight of the Sea store in point of Ground Tackle and other Cordage is Sixty Tuns Eight hundred and odd pounds She carries a long Boat of Fifty Foot a Pinnace of Thirty six Foot and a Skiff of Twenty seven Foot long The weight of her Rigging is Three and thirty Tun. She hath Three Tire of Guns all of Brass whereof there are Forty four in her upper Tire Thirty four in her second Tire and Twenty two in her lower Tire in all One hundred Guns She carries in all of Officers Soldiers and Mariners Seven hundred Men. Finally Her whole Charges for Wages Victuals Ammunition wear and tear for every Moneth at Sea costs the King 3500 l. Sterling as hath been computed by a very skilful person The charges of Building a Ship of the First Rate together with Guns Tackle and Rigging besides Victualing doth ordinarily amount to about 62432 l. Those of Lower Rates proportionally The King hath now Six Ships of the First Rate whereof Five are longer by the Keel then the forementioned Royal Soveraign and all of the same force except two which yet may carry each one One hundred and ten Guns Of Ships of War great and small the King had before the last War with the United Netherlands above One hundred and sixty Sail whereof a true List followeth A List in Alphabetical Order of all the Ships Frigats and Vessels of his Majestie 's Royal Navy together with the Rates Tuns Men and Guns usually accounted First Rate Ships Tuns Men Guns Charles 1229 550 80 Prince 1205 600 84 Soveraign 1554 700 100 Second Rate    St Andrew 775 300 56 St. George 775 300 56 Henry 1047 380 64 James 792 350 60 London 1050 500 64 Royal James 1100 500 70 Rainbow 782 320 56 Swiftsure 740 340 60 Triumph 779 350 64 Catherine   76 Victory 690 320 56 Unicorn 786 320 56 Vantguard 706 3â—0 56 Royal Oak   76 St. Michael    Third Rate    Anne 742 240 54 Dreadnought 738 240 52 Dunkirk 635 230 48 Edgar    Essex 633 230 48 Fairfax 755 240 52 Henrietta 781 250 50 Glocester 755 240 52 Lyon 550 210 48 Mary 727 260 56 Monk  260 50 Montague 769 260 52 Plâ—mouth 771 250 50 Revenge 741 240 52 Resolution 765 250 52 York 739 240 52 Rupert    Fourth Rate Ships Tuns Men Guns Antelope 550 160 40 Assistance 513 160 40 Advice 516 160 40 Adventure 505 140 24 Amity 354 120 30 Assurance 341 135 32 Bristol 534 180 44 Bear 430 130 36 Breda 515 160 40 Crown 536 160 40 Centurion 531 170 40 Convertine 500 170 40 Constant Warwick 315 135 32 Charity 400 140 38 Diamond 547 160 40 Dover 511 160 40 Dragon 414 150 38 Elizabeth 477 150 38 Elias 400 130 36 Expedition 323 120 30 Foresight 513 160 40 Guinea â—75 120 30 Happy Return 607 180 44 Hampshire 481 150 38 Jersey 560 160 40 Indian 500 180 40 Kent 600 170 40 Leopard 666 180 44 Matthias 400 160 44 Mary Rose 566 160 40 Marmaduke 400 130 32 Newcastle 633 180 44 Nonsuch 389 140 34 Portland 607 170 40 Princess 600 150 36 Portsmouth 433 150 38 Phenix 414 150 38 President 462 150 38 Providence 323 120 30 Reserve 512 160 40 Ruby 550 160 40 Swallow 543 170 40 Saphire 442 150 38 Tyger
and of the Liberties thereof ought still according to the aforementioned Acts to pay 2 s. 9 d. in the pound according to the true yearly value of the Rent of their Houses and Shops from time to time but the Citizens who think 2000 l. per annum not enough for an Alderman or for a Lawyer and yet 200 l. too much for a Pastor of a Parish opposing the same the business lies yet unestablished to the great dishonor of the Reformed Religion The Civil Government is not as it is at Paris Rome Madrid Vienna and other Capital Cities by a chief Magistrate some Nobleman set over the City by the King or Supreme Governor or as it was here in the time of the Romans when the chief Magistrate was called as it is still in Rome the Prefect of London or as it was in the time of the Saxons when he was called the Portgreve that is Custos or Guardian and sometimes Provost of London but after the coming in of the Normans the chief Magistrate was called Bailive from the French word Bailler tradere committere that is Commissarius or one that hath Commission to govern others and there were sometimes two Bailiffs of London till King Rich. I. Anno 1189. changed the name of Bailiff into MAYOR which also being derived from the French hath continued ever since a Citizen chosen by the Citizens annually unless sometimes for the disloyalty of the Citizens their Priviledges and Franchises have been taken from them and a Guardian set over them as was done by Hen. III. and Edw. I. Of latter times the Mayor of London though alwayes a Citizen and Tradesman hath been of such high repute and esteem that in all writing and speaking to him the Title of Lord is prefixt which is given to none others but either to Noblemen to Bishops Judges and of later times to the Mayor of York or to some of the highest Officers of the Realm He is also for his great Dignity usually knighted by the King before the year of his Mayoralty be expired His Table is and also the Table of each Sheriff such that it is not only open all the year to all commers strangers and others that are of any quality but so well furnished that it is always fit to receive the greatest Subject of England or of other Potentate nay it is recorded that a Lord Mayor of London hath feasted four Kings at once at his Table His domestick Attendance is very honorable he hath seven Officers that wait on him who are reputed Esquires by their places that is the Sword-bearer the Common Hunt who keepeth a gallant Kennel of Hounds for the Lord Mayors Recreation abroad the Common Cryer and four Water Bailiffs There is also the Coroner three Sergeants Carvers three Sergeants of the Chamber a Sergeant of the Channel four Yeomen of the Water-side one Under-water Bailiff two Yeomen of the Chamber three Meal-weighers two Yeomen of the Wood-wharfs most of which have their servants allowed them and have Liveries for themselves His State and Magnificence is remarkable when he appears abroad which is usually on horse-back with rich caparison himself alwayes in long Robes sometimes of fine Scarlet cloth richly furred sometimes Purple sometimes Puke with a great Chain of gold about his neck with many Officers walking before and on all sides of him c. but more especially on the 29. of October when he goes to Westminster in his Barge accompanied with all the Aldermen all his Officers all the several Companies or Corporations in their several stately Barges with their Arms Colours and Streamers and having there in the Exchequer Chamber taken his solemn Oath to be true to the King returns in like manner to Guild-Hall that is the great Common Hall of Guilds or incorporated Confraternities where is prepared for him and his Brethren a most sumptuous Dinner to which many of the great Lords and Ladies and all the Judges of the Land are invited This great Magistrate upon the Death of the King is said to be the prime person of England and therefore when King James was invited to come and take the Crown of England Robert Lee then Lord MAYOR of London subscribed in the first place before all the great Officers of the Crown and all the Nobility He is usually chosen on Michaelmas day out of the 26 Aldermen all persons of great wealth and wisdom His Authority reaches not only all over this great City and a part of the Suburbs but also on the famous River of Thames Eastward as far as Yendale or Yenleet and the mouth of the River Medway and Westward as far as Colny ditch above Stanes Bridge He hath power to punish and correct all that shall annoy the Stream Banks or Fish onely the strength and safety of the River against an Invasion and securing Merchandizing and Navigation by Blockhouses Forts or Castles is the Care of the King To the Lord Mayor and the City of London belong divers Courts of Judicature of high importance The highest and most antient Court is that called the Hustings i. e. Domus Causarum which doth preserve the Lawes Rights Franchises and Customs of the City There is a Court of Requests or Conscience The Court of the Lord Mayor and Aldermen where also the Recorder and Sheriffs sit Two Courts of the Sheriffs one for each Counter The Court of the City Orphans whereof the Mayor and Aldermen have the custody The Court of Common-Council consisting as the Parliament of England of two Houses one for the Lord Mayor and Aldermen and the other for the Commoners in which Court are made all By-laws which bind all the Citizens of London for every man either by himself or by his Representative gives his Assent thereunto wherein consists the great happiness of the English Subject above all the Subjects of any other Prince in the world that neither in Laws nor By-laws neither in Taxes or Imposts any man is obliged but by his own consent There is another Court of the Chamberlain of the City to whom belongs the Receipts of the Rents and Revenues of the City and to his Court the business of Apprentices over whom he hath a great authority To the Lord Mayor also belongs the Courts of Coroner and of Escheator and another Court for the conservation of the River of Thames Lastly the Court of Goal-delivery held usually eight times a year at the Old-Baily both for the City and Middlesex for the Tryal of Criminals whereof the Lord Mayor is the chief Judge and hath power of reprieving condemned persons There are other Courts called Wardmote or the meeting of Wards whereof there are 26 in the whole City In which Court inquiry is made into all things that can conduce to the regulating and well governing of the City Also the Court of Hall mote or Assembly of every Gild or Fraternity for regulating what belongs to each Company in particular The Traders of London are divided into Companies or
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
from his Parents all his life time after Besides these there are of late Grammar Schools founded and endowed in almost every Market Town of England wherein the children of the Town are onely to be taught gratis without any other allowance But in the multiplying of these Schools it may be doubted whether there appeared not more Zeal then Prudence for the Parents of such School-boys not able to advance them to the Universities all the rest besides Reading and Writing becomes useless and the Youths by Eight or ten years lazy living rendred unapt for the labor belonging to the more profitable Plough and divers Manufactures usually turn either Serving-men or Clerks to Justices or Lawyers whereby they learn much Chicanery they become cunning Petty-foggers multiply Law-sutes and cozen their Countrey or if perhaps they are set to Trades that little smattering in Learning got at the Grammar School renders them commonly proud stiff-necked self-conceited unapt to be governed apt to embrace every new Doctrine Heresie Schism Sect and Faction Or in case their Parents are able to put them to the University yet for want of sufficient maintenance and residence there they get onely to be half-learned and thereby a propensity to Preach Faction Sedition and Rebellion to seduce those that are more ignorant then themselves as was evident in our late unhappy troubles where it was observed that the Seducers were generally such as had been from those Market Latin Schools advanced to be either Commoners or Servitors for a short time in the University and the seduced ordinarily such as from those Schools became afterward Shop-keepers or Petty-foggers If such had been endowed with more or perhaps with less knowledge they had probably been much more humble loyal and obedient to their Governors both Civil and Ecclesiastical and therefore the late King of Spain consulting with his ablest Counsellors of State for a general Reformation of Matters that were found by experience to be inconvenient and prejudicial to His Kingdoms after mature deliberation came to this resolution That amongst other abuses the great number of Countrey Grammar Schools should by a solemn Prematica or Ordnance be diminished and the childrens time better employed at Manufactures Trades Husbandry c. Besides upon serious consideration it will be found that England is over-stocked with Scholars for the proportion of its Preferments and for its employments for Lettered Persons whereby it comes to pass that too many live discontented and longing for Innovations and Changes and watching for an opportunity to alter the Government both of Church and State This following List was provided to be inserted after the account of the standing Militia of England A List of the present Lords Lieutenants of the several Counties and Places of England in Alphabetical Order BEdford Earl of Alisbury Berks Lord Lovelace Bristol Duke of Ormond Bucks Earl of Bridgwater Cambridge Earl of Suffolk Cheshire Earl of Derby Cornwall Earl of Bath Cumberland Earl of Carlisle Derby Earl of Devonshire Devon Duke of Albemarle Dorset Duke of Richmond Durham Bishop of Durham Essex Earl of Oxford Glocester Marquess of Worcester Hereford Marquess of Worcester Hertford Earl of Essex Huntingdon Earl of Sandwich Kent Duke of Richmond Lancaster Earl of Derby Leicester Earl of Rutland Lincoln Earl of Lindsey Middlesex Earl of Craven Monmouth Marquess of Worcester Norfolk Lord Townsend Northampton Earl of Peterborough Northumberland Earl of Ogle Nottingham Duke of Newcastle Oxford Lord Say and Seal Purbeck Isle Sir Ralph Banks Rutland Viscount Camden Shropshire Lord Newport Southwark Borough Earl of Craven Somerset Duke of Ormond Southampton Lord St. John Stafford Lord Brook Suffolk Earl of Suffolk Surrey Lord Mordant Sussex Earl of Dorset Wales Earl of Carbery Warwick Earl of Northampton Westmerland Earl of Carlisle Wilts Earl of Essex Worcester Lord Windsor York East-Riding Lord Bellasis York West-Riding Duke of Buckingham THus the Reader hath had a small Map of a great Monarchy the most just and easie that ever any people lived under except onely those who lived in England before the late unparalleld Rebellion and many ways more happy then that which the great and good States-man Philip Comines so much admired in his days when he declared after he had much commended the Policy of the Venetian Commonwealth That amongst all the Seigneuries in the World England was the Countrey where the State was best ordered and where there was the least Violence and Oppression upon the People FINIS
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
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
a Bishop for their Prolocutor and the Lower being required by the Highe House to choose them a Prolocutor or Speaker which done they present him to the Upper House by two of their Members whereof one makes a Speech in Latin and then the Elect person makes another Speech in Latin Lastly the Archbishop answers in Latin and in the name of all the Lords approves of the person Both Houses debate and transact only such matters as His Majesty by Commission expresly alloweth In the Upper House things are first proposed and then communicated to the Lower House The Major vote in each House prevailes Out of Parliament time they usually assemble every day about Nine of the clock and first the Junior Bishop sayes prayers in Latin beginning with the Letany and then for the King c. And in the Lower House the Prolocutor says prayers In Convocation are debated only matters concerning Religion and the Church and sometime of giving His Majesty assistance in Money for as the Laity cannot be taxed without their own consent signified by their Representative in Parliament so the Clergy cannot be taxed without their consent signified by their Representative in Convocation The Clergy in Convocation might antiently without asking the Royal Assent and now may with the Royal Assent make Canons touching matters of Religion to bind not only themselves but all the Laity with-out consent or ratification of the Lords and Commons in Parliament Till the late Rebellion the Parliament did not at all meddle in the making Canons or in matters Doctrinal or in Translation of Scriptures only by their civil Sanctions when they were thereto required did confirm the Results and Consultations of the Clergy that so the people might be the more easily induced to obey the Ordinances of their Spiritual Governors The Clergy of England had antiently their Representatives in the Lower House of Parliament as appears by that antient Record so highly prized by the late Lord Coke and as the Upper House had and still hath Lords Spiritual as well as Temporal so in the Lower House there were always Commons Spiritual as well as Temporal for that Record saith expresly that the Commons in Parliament consist of three degrees or kinds First ex Procuratoribus Cleri Secondly ex Militibus Comitatuum Thirdly ex Burgensibus and the words of the Writ directed now to the Procuratores Cleri seem to give them the very same right to sit in that House as the words of the Writ to the Knights Citizens and Burgesses do give to them All the Members of both Houses of Convocation have the same priviledges for themselves and menial Servants as the Members of Parliament have and that by Statute The Archbishop of York at the same time holds at York a Convocation of all his Province in like manner and by constant correspondence doth debate and conclude of the same matters as are debated and concluded by the Provincial Synod of Canterbury Now for the Executive power in Church matters throughout the Kingdom of England there have been provided divers excellent Courts whereof the highest for criminal Causes was the High Commission Court for the jurisdiction whereof it was enacted primo Elizabethae that Her Majesty and Successors should have power by Letters Patents under the Great Seal to nominate Commissioners to exercise jurisdiction throughout the whole Realm to visit reform and correct all Errors Heresies Schisms Abuses and Delinquencies that may by any Ecclesiastical power be corrected or reformed This Court consisted of the highest persons of England in the Church and State and was the principal Bulwark and Preservative of the Church of England against the practices and assaults of all her Adversaries whether Romanist Puritan or Atheist yet for some pretended abuses the use thereof was taken away in the late seditious long Parliament whereupon followed a deluge of Errors in Religion Apostacy Atheism Blasphemy Sacriledge Incest Adultery impious Libels Schisms Conventicles c. all which so overwhelmed the manners of English men and occasioned at length so many profest Atheists that until the re-establishment of this or the like Court there cannot a Reformation be reasonably hoped for For civil affairs that concern the Church the highest Court is the Court of Delegates for the jurisdiction whereof it was provided 25 H. 8. that it shall be lawful for any subject of England in case of defect of justice in the Courts of the Archbishop of Canterbury to appeal to the Kings Majesty in his Court of Chancery and that upon such appeal a Commission under the Great Seal shall be directed to certain persons particularly designed for that business so that from the highest Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury there lies an Appeal to this Court of Delegates and beyond this to none other Next to the Court of Delegates are the Courts of the Archbishop of Canterbury where any Ecclesiastical Sutes between any persons may waving all inferior Courts be decided amongst them the highest Court is the Court of Arches so called from the Arched Church and Tower of S. Maries in Cheapside London where this Court is wont to be held the Judge whereof is called Dean of the Arches having jurisdiction over a Deanery consisting of 13 Parishes within London exempt from the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London Hither are directed all Appeals in Ecclesiastical matters within the Province of Canterbury To this Court belongs divers Advocates all Doctors of the Civil Law two Registers and ten Proctors the Dean at present is Doctor Sweat In the next place the Archbishop of Canterbury hath his Court of Audience kept within the Archbishops Palace and medleth not with any difference between parties but concerning Elections and consecration of Bishops Admission and Institution to Benefices dipensing with Banes of Matrimony c. The next Court is called the Prerogative Court which judgeth of Estates fallen by Will or by Intestates so called because the Archbishops jure Praerogativae suae hath this power throughout his whole Province where the party at the time of death had 5 l. or above in several Dioceses and these two Courts hath also the Archbishop of York Lastly the Court of Peculiars which dealeth in certain Parishes lying in several Dioceses which Parishes are exempt from the jurisdiction of the Bishops of those Dioceses and are peculiarly belonging to the Archbishop of Canterbury in whose Province there are 57 such Peculiars Besides these Courts serving for the whole Province every Bishop hath his Court held in the Cathedral of his Diocess over which he hath a Chancellor tearmed antiently Ecclesiecdicus Episcopi Ecdicus the Church Lawyer or the Bishops Lawyer who being skill'd in the Civil and Canon Law sits there as Judge and if his Diocess be large he hath in some more remote place a Commissary whose authority is only in some certain place of the Diocess and some certain Causes limited to him by the Bishop in his Commission and these are called Consistory Courts
Delinquent is to stand in the Church Porch upon some Sunday bare head and feet in a white Sheet and a white Rod in his Hand there bewailing himself and beging every one that passes by to pray for him then to enter the Church falling down and kissing the ground then in the middle of the Church placed in a higher place in the sight of all the People and over against the Minister who declares the foulness of his crime odious to God and scandalous to the Congregation that God can no way be satisfied but by applying Christs sufferings nor the Congregation but by an humble acknowledging of his sin and testifying his sincere repentance and sorrow not in words only but with tears and promising there in the sight of God and his Holy Angels that by Gods assistance and by Prayer Meditation and daily works of Piety he will endeavor hereafter more carefully to watch against the temptations of the world the allurements of the flesh and the snares of the Devil which being done and the Priest in Christs name pronouncing the remission of sins the penitent humbly beseeches the Congregation to pardon him that great scandal against them and receive him into their holy Communion and to account him again a Member of their Church and in testimony hereof out of their Christian Charity to vouchsafe to say with him aloud the Lords Prayer And this way of the Church of England appears by divers Writers to be the antient way used by the Primitive Churches Note that it is ordained by the Canons of the Church of England that in case the crime be not notorious and publick the forenamed penance may at the parties request be commuted into a pecuniary Mulct for the poor of the Parish or some Pious uses provided that for the Reformation of the Delinquent that way appear to be the more probable way for some men will be thereby reclaimed who by publication of their offence would become more impudent and hardned when they perceive their reputation to be lost There remains one more punishment or Ecclesiastical censure which toucheth the body and that is denyal of Christian burial which is inflicted not in poenam mortuorum but in terrorem viventium who naturally desire that after their death their bodies may be decently interred And Christian burial is wont to be denyed by the Church of England to persons dying excommunicate to perjured persons to such as are hanged for Felony or that wilfully kill themselves and to Apostates Hereticks and Extortioners To these forenamed Censures and Punishments both Laity and Clergy are subject but besides these there are punishments whereunto the Clergy only are lyable as first Suspensio ab Officio when a Minister for a time is declared unfit to execute the Office of a Minister Then Suspensio a Beneficio when a Minister for a time is deprived of the profits of his Benefice and these two Censures are wont to be for smaller crimes Thirdly Deprivatio a Beneficio when for a greater crime a Minister is wholly and for ever deprived of his Living And fourthly Deprivatio ab Officio when a Minister is wholly and for ever deprived of his Orders and this is called Depositio or Degradatio and is commonly for some heynous crime meriting death and is performed by the Bishop in a solemn manner pulling off from the Criminal his Vestments and other Ensignes of his Order and this in the presence of the Civil Magistrate to whom he is then delivered to be punished as a Lay man for the like offence And herein Bishops are to take special care to behave themselves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not as lording over Gods Heritage not as absolute Masters over Servants to gain by their punishments but as Fathers over Children for their amendment and as being Ministers in Spiritual affairs to use their power for the good of Christians and to conduct that power by moderation Of the Parliament of England and therein of the Person summoning the manner of the summons the persons summoned their priviledges the place and manner of Sitting the passing of Bills in either House the passing of Acts of Parliament of Adjourning Proroguing and Dissolving of Parliaments A Brief Account of the Ecclesiastical Government having been given next follows the Civil Government towards which the first great wheel that moves is the Parliament of England Before the Conquest the Great Council of the King consisting only of the Great men of the Kingdom was called Magnatum Conventus or else Praelatorum Procerumque Concilium and by the Saxons in their own Tongue Micel Gemot the Great Assembly after the Conquest it was called by the French word Parlementum from Parler to talk together still consisting only of the Great men of the Nation until the Reign of H. 3. The Commons also were called to sit in Parliament for the first Writs sent forth to summon them bears date 49. H. 3. about 400 years agoe None but the King hath authority to summon a Parliament In the Kings absence out of the Realm the Custos Regni in the Kings name doth summon a Parliament and during the Kings minority within the Realm the Protector Regni doth the same No Parliament can begin without the Kings Presence either in Person or by Representation by Commissioners When the King of England is with his Parliament in time of peace he is then said to be in the height of his Royal Dignity as well as when he is at the head of his Army in time of War There is then scarce any thing that the King cannot do his power cannot be confined for Causes or Persons within any bounds He can with the concurrence of his Lords and Commons legitimate one that is born illegitimate bastardize one that is born legitimate that is to say one begotten in Adultery the Husband being then within the four Seas He can make an Infant of full age make an Alien or Forreigner an Englishman can attaint a man of Treason when he is dead when he is no more a man c. A Parliament is summoned in manner following About 40 days before the Parliament doth assemble the King issues out his Writ cum Advisamento Concilii sui and the Warrant is per ipsum Regem Concilium The Kings Writ which is a short Letter or Epistle is directed and sent to every particular person of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal commanding the Lords Spiritual in Fide Dilectione and the Lords Temporal per Fidem Allegiantiam to appear at a certain time and place to Treat and give their Advice in some certain important affairs concerning the Church and State c. Other Writs are sent to the High Sheriff of each County to summon the people to elect two Knights for each County two Citizens for each City and one or two Burgesses for each Burrough according to Statute Charter or Customs In these Elections antiently all the people had their Votes and most Votes carried it
but for avoiding of tumults and trouble it was enacted by H. VI. that none should have any suffrage in the election of Knights of the Shire but such as were Freeholders did reside in the County and had yearly Revenue 40 s. which till the discovery of the Gold and Silver in America was as much as 30 or 40 l. now whence it came to pass that the Lay-Commons were then elected as the Clergy-Commons the Procuratores Cleri were and ever have been viz. sine Prece sine Pretio sine Poculo c. The persons elected for each County are to be Milites Notabiles or at least Esquires or Gentlemen fit to be made Knights as it is in the Statutes of H. VI. They ought to be de discretioribus Militibus ad laborandum potentioribus as the words in some Writs have been they ought not to be of younger years for then it would be Juvenaâ—us si sic loqui liceat potiús quam Senatus not lazy Epicures but men of years vigorous active and abstemious men that will be content to give their constant attendance in Parliament or else to enjoy neither Priviledge nor Expences allowed to every Member of the Commons House They ought to be native English men or at least such as have been Naturalized by Act of of Parliament No Alien or Denizon none of the Twelve Judges no Sheriff of a County no Ecclesiastical person that hath cure of souls may be chosen a Parliament man to serve for any County City or Burrough Two things are said to be requisite to the legality of sitting in Parliament first that a man should be of full age that is 21 years old at the least for if no man under that age can dispose of his Estate nor make one legal Act to that purpose then much less may he bear any part in the supreme power of the Nation to Judge Vote or Dispose of the Estate of the whole Realm yet the practice in the House of Commons though never in the House of Lords hath sometimes been otherwise All Members of Parliament both Lords and Commons that they may attend the publick Service of their Countrey are priviledged with their menial Servants attending on their persons together with all their necessary Goods brought along with them from all Attachments and Imprisonments for Debts Trespasses Account or Covenant all the time that they are on the way to the place of Parliament all the time they are at Parliament and all the time they are on the way home again Eundo Morando ad propria redeundo for so were the old words but they are not priviledged from Arrests for Treason Felony or breach of the peace The place of meeting for the High and Honourable Assembly is in whatsoever City Town or House the King pleaseth but of latter times it hath been usually held at the Kings antient Palace and usual Residence at Westminster all the Lords in a fair Room by themselves and the Commons not far from them in another fair Room which was heretofore the antient free Chappel of S. Stephen The manner of sitting in the Lords House is thus The King as oft as he comes which hath usually been only at the opening of Parliaments or at the passing of Bills or at some solemn debates as the present King hath frequently done is placed at the upper end of the room in a Chair of State under a Cloth of State under which on either hand none but the Kings Children On the Kings right hand is a seat antiently for the King of Scotland when he was summoned to Parliament as he sometimes was in side legiantia but now it is for the Prince of Wales On the Kings left hand is a Seat for the Duke of York On the Kings right hand and next the wall are placed on a Form the two Archbishops next below on another Form the Bishops of London Durham and Winchester all the rest of the Bishops sit according to the priority of their Consecration On the Kings left hand upon Forms are placed the Lords Chancellor Treasurer President of the Kings Council and Lord Privy Seal if they are Barons above all Dukes except those of the Royal Family if they are not Barons then they sit uppermost on the Woolsacks On the same side sit the Dukes Marquisses and Earls according to their Creations Upon the first Form a cross the House below the Woolsacks sit the Viscounts and upon the next Forms the Barons all in Order The Lord Chancellor or Keeper if the King be present stands behind the Cloth of Estate otherwise sits on the first Woolsack thwart the Chair of State his Great Seal and Mace by him He is Lord Speaker of the Lords House Upon other Woolsacks sit the Judges the Privy Counsellors and Secretaries of State the Kings Council at Law the Masters of Chancery Thâ—se being not Barons have no suffrage in Parliament onely sit to give their advice when it is required The reason why these Sages are placed upon Woolsacks may probably be to mind them of the great importance of Wooll and Sheep to the Nation that it-never be neglected On the lowermost Woolsack are placed the Clerk of the Crown now Henry Barker Esquire and Clerk of the Parliament at present John Brown Esquire whereof the former is concerned in all Writs of Parliament and Pardons in Parliament the other recordeth all things done in Parliament and keepeth the Records of the same This Clerk hath also two Clerks under him who kneel behind the same Woolsack and write thereon Without the Bar of the Lords House sits the Kings first Gentleman Usher called the Black Rod from a black sttaff he carries in his hand under whom is a Yeoman Usher that waits at the door within a Cryer without and a Sergeant at Mace always attending the Lord Keeper When the King is present with his Crown on his head none of the Lords are covered The Judges stand till the King gives them leave to sit When the King is absent the Lords at their entrance do reverence to the Chair of State as is or should be done by all that enter into the Kings Presence-Chamber The Judges then may sit but may not be covered till the Chancellor or Keeper signify unto them the leave of the Lords The Kings Council and Masters of Chancery sit also but may not be covered at all The Commons in their House sit promiscuously onely the Speaker hath a Chair placed in the middle and the Clerk of that House near him at the Table They never had any Robes as the Lords ever had but wear every one what he fancieth most which to strangers seems very unbecoming the Gravity and Authority of the Great Council of England and that during their attendance on Parliament a Robe or grave vestment would as well become the Honourable Members of the House of Commons as it doth all the Noble Venetians both young and old who have right to sit in the Great Council
Bench so called because anciently the King sometimes there sate in person on a high Bench and his Judges on a low Bench at his Feet to whom the Judicature belongs in the absence of the King In this Court are handled the Pleas of the Crown all things that concern loss of life or member of any Subject for then the King is concerned because the Life and Limbs of the Subject belong only to the King so that the Pleas here are between the King and the Subject Here are also handled all Treasons Felonies Breach of Peace Oppression Misgovernment c. This Court moreover hath power to examine and correct all Errors in facto in jure of all the Judges and Justices of England in their Judgements and Proceedings and this not only in Pleas of the Crown but in all Pleas Real Personal and mixt except only in the Exchequer In this High Court sit commonly Four Grave Reverend Judges whereof the First is stiled the Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench and is created not by Patent but by a short Writ thus Johanni Keeling Militi salutem Sciatis quod constituimus vos Justiciarium nostrum Capitalem ad placita coram nobis tenenda durante beneplacito nostro Teste me ipso apud Westm The rest of the Judges of the Kings Bench hold their places by Letters Patents in these words Rex omnibus ad quos praesentes literae pervenirint salutem Sciatis quod constituimus dilectum fidelem Richardum Rainsford Militem unum Justiciariorum ad placita coram nobis tenenda durante beneplacito nostro Teste c. These Judges and all the Officers belonging to this Court have all Salaries from the King and the chief of them have Robes and Liveries out of the great Wardrobe In this Court all young Lawyers that have been called to the Bar are allowed to plead and practice This Court may grant Prohibitions to keep other Courts both Ecclesiastical and Temporal within their Bounds and due Jurisdiction The Jurisdiction of this Court is general and extendeth to all England is more uncontroulable than any other Court for the Law presumes that the King is alwayes there in person None may be Judge in this Court unless he be a Serjeant of the Degree of the Coif that is a Serjeant at Law who upon taking this high Degree is obliged to wear a Lawn Coif under his Cap for ever after A List of the several Officers belonging to His Majesties Court of Kings-Bench LOrd Chief Justice Sir John Keeling Knight Justices are Sir Thomas Twisden Knight and Baronet Sir Richard Rainsford Knight Sir William Morton Knight Clerk of the Crown Sir Thomas Fanshaw Knight his Secondary Jasper Waterhouse Esquire Protonotary Sir Robert Henley Knight his Secondary William Livesay Esquire Marshal or Keeper of the Kings Bench Prison Stephen Mosedell Esquire Custos Brevium Justinian Paget Esquire Andrew Vivean and Francis Woodward Clerks of the Paper Office Sealer of the Writs Edward Coleman Gilbert Barrel Clark of the Rules Clerk of the Errors Henry Field George Bradford Clerk for Filing Declarations a Cryer Porter and some other inferiour Officers Then there are Filacers for the several Counties of England whose Office is in this Court to make out all Process upon original Writs as well real as personal and mixt They were lately these that follow Humphrey Ironmonger Edward Parnel James Buck Samuel Astrey Francis Greg John Hynde Thomas Stone Thomas Leach Gilbert Eveleigh Henry Ewin Joshua Langrige William Oglethorp John Philips William Osborn Rob. Hyde and Anthony Rouse The manner of Tryals in this and all other Common Law Courts in England being different from that of all other Countries and peculiar to England shall be at large described apart in a Chapter with other peculiars Of the Court of Common Pleas. THe next Court for execution of Laws is the Court of Common-Pleas so called because there are debated the usual Pleas between Subject and Subject Some say this Court as well as other Courts were at first held in the Kings House wheresoever he resided but by the Statute of Magna Charta it was ordained that this Court should not be ambulatory but be held at a certain place and that hath ever since been in Westminster-Hall None but Serjeants at Law may plead in this Court and so many of them as the King shall appoint are bound by oath to assist all that have any Cause depending in that Court This Court may grant prohibitions as the Court of the Kings Bench doth The chief Judge in this Court is called the Lord Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas or of the Common-Bench holdeth his place by Letters Patent durante bene placite and so do the other inferiour Judges of this Court whereof there are commonly three In this Court all Civil Causes Real and Personal are usually tryed according to the strict Rule of the Law Real Actions are pleadable in no other Court nor Fines levyed or Recoveries suffered but only in this Court at Westminster The King allows to the Lord Chief Justice of this Court a Fee Reward Robes and two Tun of Wine â—s is done to the Lord Chief Justice of the other Bench also to the other Judges of this Court and to four Serjeants is allowed Fees Reward and Robes to each one In the 11th and 12th of Edward 3. there were eight Judges belonging to the Common Pleas at other times seven six and five and so in the time of Henry 6. and Edward 4. but since usually but four as at this day Before the Reign of Queen Mary these and the rest or the twelve Judges rode upon Mules and not upon Horses as they now do in great State aâ— the beginning of the Term. A List of the several Officers belonging to His Majesties Court of Common-pleas LOrd Chief Justice Sir John Vaughan Kt. Sir Thomas Tyrrel Kt. Sir John Archer Kt. Sir William Wylde Kt. and Bar. these are the present Judges of that Tribunal Then there is an Officer called Custos Brevium the first Clerk of the Court whose Office it is to receive and keep all Writs returnable in that Court to receive of the Protonotaries all the Records of Nisi Prius called Postea's He holdeth his Place by Patent from the King and hath the Gift of the second Protonotary's Place and of the Clerk of the Juries· Sir Joseph Ash hath this Office and doth execute it by his Deputy Thursby Esquire There are three Protonotaries a word compounded of Greek and Latin which with the Antients was usual and signifies the first Notaries they are chief Clerks of this Court and by their Office are to enter and inroll all Declarations Pleadings which the Filazers did formerly promiscuously do Assises Judgments and Actions to make out Judicial Writs c. These considerable Offices are in the hands of Thomas Robinson Alan Lockhart and Humphrey Wirley Esquires The Chirographer also from two Greek words signifying to acknowledge a Debt by setting ones
hand is an Officer who ingrosseth Fines acknowledged c. He holdeth his Place also by Patent and is at present Mr. Sparks in trust for Sir William Drake who doth execute it by a Deputy Mr. Wayt. All these Officers aforementioned sit in the Court covered with black round knit Caps according to the mode immediately before the invention of Hats which was since the beginning of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth Moreover they are all sworn and have their Offices for life as a Freehold There are in this Court 3 Officers unsworn and hold their Places durante bene placito One Clerk of the Treasury Mr. George Ingram who hath the charge of keeping the Records of this Court and makes out all Records of Nisi Prius and divers other things This Office is in the Gift of the Lord Chief Justice 2. Clerk of the Inrolements of Fines and Recoveries who is by Statute under the three puisne Judges of this Court and removeable at their pleasure Note that the Inrolement of Fines and Recoveries or any part thereof by Stat 23 Eliz. cap. 3. is of as good force and validity in Law to all intents and purposes for so much of any of them so inrolled as the same being extant and remaining were or ought by Law to be The general neglect whereof in this Kingdom hath occasioned many Law Suits and hath proved in process of time exceeding dangerous to many mens Estates 3. The Clerk of the Outlawries Mr. Annuel who makes out the Writs of Capias Utlagatum after the Outlawry in the name of the Kings Atturney whose Deputy he is pro tempore There are five Clerks more 1. Clerk of the Kings Silver Henry Nurse Esquire unto whom every Fine or Final Agreement in sale of Lands is brought after it hath been with the Custos Brevium and to whom Money is paid for the Kings use 2. Clerk of the Warrants Mr· Thomas Brown executed by a Deputy Mr. James Mayo who entreth all Warrants of Atturney for Plaintiff and Defendant 3. Clerk of the Juries Mr. John Green who makes out the Writs called Habeas Corpora and Distringas for appearance of the Jury either in this Court or at the Assises in the Country 4. Clerk of the Essoins or Excuses for lawful cause of absence Mr. Townley 5. Clerk of the Super sedeas Mr. Abbot which is held by Patent but before King James time made by the Exchequer In this Court are also Filazers for the several Counties of England so called from the French Fil a Thred because they file their Writs These make out all Process upon Original Writs and do many other things too long to be here set down of these there are 14. viz. Fabian Philips Esquire who hath London Middlesex Huntington and Cambridge Shires The rest of the Counties are divided amongst these that follow Sir Roger Hill Henry Dutton Spicer Grey Fr. Hill Robert Child Charles Clare Sir Thomas Stringer Thomas Child Bennet Mark Hildesley Herbert Matthews and Hughes who is Protonatory Filazer and Exigenter of Monmouth by Patent the rest in the Gift of the Lord Chief Justice and hold for life There are also four Exigenters whose Office it is to make all Exigents and Proclamations in all Actions where process of Outlawry doth lye This Writ is called an Exigent because it exacteth the Party that is requireth his appearance to answer the Law and lies against a Transgressor of the Law that cannot be found nor any of his Goods within the County so that after summons by the Sheriff at five several County Courts if he appear not he is outlawed The four Exigenters at present are William Petty John Dawling Charles Clare and Silvester Petty all in the Gift of the Lord Chief Justice and are for life There are also belonging to this Court four Cryers and a Porter Of the Court called the Exchequer THe next Court for Execution of Laws is that called the Exchequer so called as some think from a Chequer-wrought Carpet covering the great Table in that Court as the Court of Green Cloth in the Kings house is so called from the Green Carpet or else from the French word Eschequier a Chess board because the Accomptants in that Office were wont to use such Boards in their Calculation Here are tryed all causes which belong to the Kings Treasury or Revenue as touching Accounts Disbursements Customs and all Fines imposed upon any man In this Court may sit the Lord Treasurer the Chancellor of the Exchequer the Lord Chief Baron and four other Learned Judges called Barons of the Exchequer and one other Cursitor Baron but the two first seldom sit and the five last Seldom fail The first of these five is the Principal Judge of this Court and answers the Bar or the Baristers who direct their Speech to him takes Recognizances for the Kings Debts c. It is an Office of High Honour and Profit he is styled Lord Chief Baron is Created by Letters Patents to hold this Dignity Quam dieu bene se gesserit wherein he hath a more fixed estate then the Chief Justices of either Bench for the Law intends this an Estate for Life in the absence of the Lord Chief Baron the other three Barons supply his place according to their Seniority but the fifth is said to be a Cursitor of the Court and administers the Oaths to the Sheriffs Under-Sheriffs Baylifs Searchers Surveyors c. of the Custom-house In the Exchequer are held two Courts one of Law another of Equity All Judicial Proceedings according to Law are coram Baronibus but the Court of Equity held in the Exchequer Chamber is coram Thesaurario Cancellario Baronibus This Court had its beginning primo Ph. Mar. The Authority of this Court is of original jurisdiction without any Commission Note also that all the other forementioned Courts were not Instituted by any Statute or written Law but have their Original from the antient Custom of the Kingdom For a long time after the Conquest there sat in the Exchequer both Spiritual and Temporal Barons of the Realm and in later times there sate in their places others that were not Peers of the Realm yet stiled Barons quia ibi sedere solebant Barones All the Twelve Judges belonging to these High Tribunals sit in Robes and Square Caps like those Doctors of Divinity because as some say they were antiently most commonly Clergy-men and Doctors Bishops or Prelates A List of the several Officers belonging to His Majesties Court of Exchequer In the Vpper Exchequer THe Kings Remembrancer Thomas Lord Vicount Fanshaw in whose Office are 8 sworn Clerks whereof John Payn and Thomas Hall Esquires at present are the two Secondaries the rest are Ansel Beaumont Hugh Frankland Butler Buggin George Wats Nicholas Sanders c. In this Office pass all the Accounts concerning the Kings Revenue for Customs Excise Hearth-money Subsidies and all Ayds granted to the King in Parliament and all other Accounts of what nature soever
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 Engliâ—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
of proceedings not used in Common Law Courts as the Defendants answering to the Bill and sometimes to the Interrogatories upon Oath though to the accusing of a mans self in divers matters dammageable and penal also by the whole manner of publication the depositions of Witnesses by the examining of witnesses upon Interrogatories and in perpetuam rei memoriam by the term and use of final Decree and many other points differing from the Common Law and wholly agreeing with the Civil Law This Court is alwayes open when all the others are shut but onely in Term time so that if a man be wrongfully imprisoned in the Vacation time out of Term the Lord Chancellour may grant his Writ of Habeas Corpus and do him justice according to Law So likewise may this Court grant Prohibitions in time of Vacation as well as in Term time A List of the several Officers belonging to the High Court of Chancery SIR Orlando Bridgman Knight and Barronet Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England Then the 12 Masters of the Chancery as followeth Sir Harbottle Grimston Baronet Master of the Rolls Sir William Childe Knight Doctor of Laws Sir Justinian Lewin Knight Doctor of Laws Sir Thomas Escourt Knight Sir Mundeford Bramston Knight Doctor of Laws Sir Nathaniel Hobart Knight Sir William Glascock Knight Sir John Coel Knight Sir Robert Stewart Knight Sir Timothy Baldwin Knight Doctor of Laws Sir Andrew Harket Knight Sir William Beversham The House founded at first for the converted Jews was after their expulsson out of England annext for ever to the Office of Master of the Rolls where he hath the custody of all Charters Patents Commissions Deeds Recognisances which being made up in Rolls of Parchments gave occasion of the Name At present there are kept all the Rolls since the beginning of Henry 7. the rest are kept in the Tower of London In his gift are besides the six Clerks Offices the Offices of the Examiners and three Clerks of the Pettibag Next Clerk of the Crown Henry Barker Esquire this Office is of high importance he is either by himself or Deputy continually to attend the Keeper of the Great Seal for special matters of State and hath a place in the Higher House of Parliament he makes all Writs for summoning Parliaments and upon a Warrant directed to him by the Speaker of the House of Commons upon the Death or removal of any Member he makes a Writ for a new Election Protonatary of this Court is Robert Pescod Esquire this Office is chiefly to expedite Commissions for Embassies It is executed by a Deputy Clerk of the Hamper or Hannaper sometime stiled Warden of the Hannaper Whose Office is to receive all the Money due to the King for the Seals of Charters Patents Commissions and Writs and to attend the Keeper of the Seal dayly in Term time and at all times of Sealing with leather baggs now but antiently probably with Hampers wherein are put all sealed Charters Patents c. and then those Baggs delivered to the Comptroller of the Hamper This Office is now enjoyed by Henry Seymer Esquire and executed by a Deputy Warden of the Fleet or Keeper of the Fleet-Prison is an Office very considerable and is to take care of the Prisoners there who are commonly such as are sent thither from this Court for contempt to the King or his Laws or such as will not pay their Debts c. The present Warden is Sir Jeremy Whitchcote It is executed by a Deputy Serjeant at Armes is Humphrey Ley Esq whose Office is to bear a great gilt Mace before the Lord Keeper c. Six Clerks are Officers of great account next in degree to the twelve Masters in Chancery whose Office is to inroll Commissions Pardons Patents Warrants c. That are passed the Great Seal They were antiently Clerici and afterwards forfeited their places if they did marry till by Act of Parliament in the time of Hen. 8. they were allowed to take Wives They are also Atturneys for Plaintiffs and Defendants in causes depending in this Court The present six Clerks Sir John Marshal Matthew Pindar Esq Matthew Bluck Esq Sir Cyril Wyche John Wilkinson Esq and Edward Abney Esq who sit altogether at their Office in Chancery Lane Examiners in Chancery there are two Sir Robert Peyton and Sir Nicholas Strode Their Office is to examine the Witnesses in any suit on both sides on their Oaths This Office also is executed at the Rolls Clerks of the Petty Bag in Chancery are three Edmund Warcup Esq John Hobson Esq and George Low Esq they are under the master of the Rolls Their Office is to make all Patents for Customers Comtrollers all Conge d' eslires first summons of Nobility Clergy Knights Citizens and Burgesses to Parliament c. The Subpena Office is to issue out Writs to call a person into Chancery This Office is in the hands of Frances Lady Vane Sir Walter Vane and Charles Vane and executed by a Deputy Clerk of the Patents or of Letters Patents under the Great Seal of England is Sir Richard Pygot and executed by a Deputy erected 16 Jac. The Register of the Court of Chancery the Farl of St. Albans under whom are three Deputy Registers for the Court two Deputy Registers for the Rolls two entring Clerks and a Keeper of the Books Cursiters Office in the Chancery is to make out Original Writs they were antiently called Clerici de Cursu of these there are twenty four whereof each one hath certain Counties and Cities allotted to them into which they make out such Original Writs as are required These Clerks are a Corporation within them-themselves and are all persons of Quality whose names follow The Names of the Cursiters now in being are these that follow JOhn Symonds Principal William Barker Assistants Benjamin Gladman Assistants Henry Edmonds Ge. Norbury Abr. Nelson Rich· Plumpton Roger Brown John Norbury Richard Cross Edmund Eyre Will. Adderley Abr. Skynner Jo. Shelbury Will. Plumpton Thomas Fisher Elias Gladman Roger Twisden Ben. Storke John More William Loe. H. Amhurst Philip Barecroft Rich. Parmee Esquires who execute these Offices by themselves or by their Deputies This Office is kept near Lincolns Inn. Clerk of the Presentations of Spiritual Benefices Edwes Esquire Commissioners Sir George Courthop Sir Edm. Turner Halsal Esq Alienation Office N. Crew Esq Receiver Gen. Joh. Nichols All the forementioned Courts of Judicature at Westminster are opened four times the year called the four Termes viz. Easter Term which beginneth alwayes the seventeenth day after Easter and lasteth 27 dayes Trinity Term begins the 5 th day after Trinity Sunday and lasteth 20 dayes Michaelmas Term began heretofore a little after that Feast but now by a late Statute begins the 23 October and lasteth 37 dayes Lastly Hilary Term begins now 10 dayes after St. Hilary Bishop or the 23 of January and lasteth 21 dayes so in all 105 dayes from whence must be deducted about 20 Sundayes and Holydayes which
are as the Dies Nefâ—sti wherein the Courts sit not so that in one fourth part of the year and that in one City all considerable causes of the greatest part of England are fully decided and determined whereas in forreign parts the Courts of Justice are open all the year except high Holydayes and Harvest and that in all great Cities This may seem therefore strange to all Forreigners till they know that the English have alwayes been given more to peaceableness and industry then other people and that rather then go so far as London and be at so great Charges with Attourneyes and Lawyers they will either refer their differences to the Arbitration of their Parish Priests who do or ought to think it a Principal part of their Duty to reconcile differences within their Parishes or to the Arbitration of honest Neighbours or else are content to submit their differences to tryal before the Judges of Assises or the Itinerant Judges who twice a year viz. after the end of Hilary Term and after the end of Trinity Term two by two of these principal Judges ride several Circuits and at the Principal Town of every County sit to hear and determine all Causes of lesser moment both civil and criminal a most excellent wise Constitution begun by King Hen. 2. Anno 1176. who at first divided England into six Circuits not the same that are now and to each Circuit allotted three judges Wales also is divided into two Circuits North and South Wales for which are designed in like manner two Sergeants at Law for each Circuit These Judges give Judgment of the Pleas of the Crown and all Common Pleas within those Counties dispatching ordinarily in two or three days all Controversies in a County that are grown to issue in the fore-mentioned Courts at London between Plaintiffs and Defendants and that by their Peers a Jury of 12 men ex viceneto out of the neighbourhood where about the business lyes So that twice a year in England and Wales Justice may be said to be rightly and speedily administred even at our own doors Besides the forementioned Courts at Westminster Henry 8. erected for the more ease of the Subject a Court in the North of England another for the County of Wales and Counties adjoyning and intended another for Cornwall and Devonshire and these in manner of those Courts called in France Parlements where all cases might be decided both according to the Laws of England and according to equity in Chancery Of these Courts that for Cornwal was never fully erected those people desiring rather to come to London for Justice that of the North was by the late long Parliament taken away and so was that of Wales but this last since the Restauration of the King again erected Of this Court or Council of the Marshes of Wales is a Lord President at present the Lord Vaughan Earl of Carbury divers Councellors Secretary Attourney Sollicitor Surveyor who have Salaries from His Majesty HAving given a brief Account of the Civil Government of all England in General next shall be described the particular Government of Counties Hundreds Cities Burroughs and Villages For the Civil Government of all Counties the King makes choice of some of the Nobility Clergy Gentry and Lawyers men of worth and parts who have their usual residence in the County so many as His Majesty pleaseth to keep the Peace of the County and these by Commission under the great Seal are called Justices of Peace and such of them in whom the King doth more particularly confide or respect are called Justices of the Quorum from those words in the Commission Quorum A. B. unum esse volumus that is some business of more importance may not be transacted without the presence or concurrence of one of them One of the principal Justices of Peace and Quorum is by the Lord Keeper made Custos Rotulorum so called because he hath the Custody of the Rolls or Records of the Sessions and is to bring them to each Quarter Sessions The Original of Justices of Peace is from the first year of Edward 3. Their Office is to call before them examine and commit to Prison all Theeves Murderers wandring Rogues those that hold Conspiracies Conventicles Riots and almost all other Delinquences that may occasion the breach of Peace and quiet to the Kings Subjects to commit all such to prison as either cannot or by Law are not to be bailed that is cannot be set at liberty by Sureties taken for their appearance at a place and time certain land to see them brought forth in due time to Tryal Every Quarter or three months the Justices meet at the chief or Shire Town where the Grand Enquest or Jury of the County is summoned to appear who upon Oath are to inquire of all Traitors Hereticks Theeves Murderers Money-coiners Riots c Those that appear to be guilty are by the said Justices committed to prison to be tryed at the next Assises when the Judges of Westminster come their Circuits aforementioned For execution of Laws in every County except Westmorland and Durham the King every Michaelmas Term nominates for each County a Sheriff that is a Reeve of the Shire Praepositus or Praefectus Comitatus a Governor or Guardian of the County for the words of the Patent are Commisimus tibi Custodiam Commitatus nostri de N. The Sheriffs Office is to execute the Kings Mandates and all Writs directed to him out of the Kings Courts to empannel Juries to bring Causes and Criminals to Tryal to see the sentences both in Civil and Criminal affairs executed to wait on and guard the Itenerant Judges twice a year so long as they continue within the County which at the Assises is performed with great Pomp Splendor Feasting c In order to the better execution of his Office the Sheriff hath attendant his Under-Sheriff divers clerks Stewards of Courts Bayliffs of Hundreds Constables Gaolers Sergeants or Beedles besides a gallant train of servants in rich Liveries all on Horseback at the Reception of the Judges He was antiently chosen as Knights of the Shire but to avoid Tumults it is now thus Every year about the beginning of November the Judges Itinerant nominate six fit men of each County that is Kts. or Esquires of good Estates out of these the Lords Keeper Treasurer Privy Councellors and 12 Judges assembled in the Exchequer Chamber and sworn make choice of three of which the King himself after chooseth one to be Sheriff for that year only though heretofore it was for many years and sometimes heriditary as at this day to the Cliffords who by dissent from Robert de Vipont are Sheriffs heriditary of the County of Westmoreland by Charter from King John Furthermore the Sheriffs Office is to collect all publick profits Customes Taxes of the County all Fines Distresses and Amerceaments and to bring them into the Kings Exchequer or Treasury at London or else where as the King shall appoint The
or Deputy Lieutenants may levy every year one fourth part if they judge it expedient of each mans proportion in the Tax of 70000 l. a moneth upon the whole Kingdom And in the case of marching against an enemy they have power to cause every man so charged to allow each Souldier one months pay which the King is after to repay before they may be charged with another moneths pay These Forces are alwayes in readiness with all things necessary at the beat of a Drum or sound of Trumpet to appear muster and be compleat with men horse and armes and are at certain times trained and disciplined that they become able skilful and useful Souldiers These are to be commanded only within the Kingdom for the security of the King and Kingdom Subservient in the standing Militia to the Lord Lieutenant and Deputy Lieutenant are the Justices of Peace of every County who upon all occasions according to the orders of their Superiors are to send their Warrants to the High Constable of the Hundred or Petty Constable of the Parish c. These are commonly called the Train-bands of every County whereof the number is so great that in only five of the bigger Counties of England there are to be found well provided forty thousand able lusty men ready to assist the King upon all occasions so that in all times of peace the King hath six or sevenscore thousand men enrolled and wholly and solely at his disposing for the defence of his Kingdom of England For the better securing of the Kingdom from foreign Invasion besides the Ships of war whereof more anon there are upon certain eminent places over al parts of England mediterrane as well as maritime high Poles erected whereon are fastned pitch Barrels to be fired by night and a smoke made by day and thereby to give notice in few hours to the whole Kingdom of the approaching Invasion whereupon the Inhabitants in arms make haste to the sea-coasts These are called Becons from the Saxon Beacen or Beacnian to shew by a sign In all times of danger some are set to watch at every Becon Antiently there were many Castles in all parts of England but inland Castles generally have either been demolisht in latter times or wittingly suffered to decay that to Rebels they might be no shelter to Invaders no stay nor to the Invaded any refuge in flight and consequently that there may not be any lingring war again in England which is the greatest misery and calamity that can ever happen to a Nation In 1588. upon expectation of the Spanish Armado stiled invincible there went forth from the Queen Commissions to muster in all parts of England all men that were of perfect sense and limb from the age of 16. to 60 except Noblemen Clergy-men University Students Lawyers Officers and such as had any publick charges leaving only in every Parish so many Husbandmen as were sufficient to till the ground In all those Musters there were then numbred three millions but of those fit for war about six hundred thousand In another Muster of Queen Elizabeth there were found in all England fit for war of common Souldiers about four hundred thousand and of those armed and trained one hundred eighty five thousand besides Horse near forty thousand and that the Nobility and Gentry were then able to bring into the field of their Servants and Followers twenty thousand men Horse and Foot choice men and excellent horses and in all fit for war and ready upon all occasions six hundred forty two thousand leaving sufficient to till the ground and to furnish Trades besides Nobility Gentry c. Of the present Maritime Power belonging to the Crown of England THe Kingdom of England being a Peninsula almost surrounded with the sea there will alwayes be a necessity of maritime forces And as next Neighbours grow potent at sea the King of England will be necessitated to augment his maritime forces proportionably how great soever the charge thereof may be or else to quit his antient right to the Soverainty of the narrow seas and to suffer his Merchants to be abused and their traffique every where interrupted It is true that in the 24. of Eliz. upon a general view and muster there were found but 13 Ships of war and 135 Ships of considerable burden belonging to all the Subjects of England and in the year 1600 her Majesty had but 36 Ships of war and 13 or 14 Pinaces the biggest Ship was then of One thousand Tun carried Three hundred and forty Mariners One hundred and thirty Soldiers and but Thirty piece of Ordnance The lesser Ships of War were of One hundred Tun Forty or fifty Mariners Seven or eight Soldiers and Eight Guns The Pinnaces of Thirty Tun Eighteen or twenty Mariners and Two or four Guns so small was the Royal Fleet in those days when our next Neighbor Nations were weak and always engaged with Civil and Foreign Wars but now that their strength at Sea is of late so prodigiously increased it will be most expedient for this Kingdom to be always well provided And God be thanked we have a King that understands better and takes more delight in Maritime Affairs and Ships of War then any of His Royal Ancestors or any Soveraign Prince now living in the World and who hath made it His cheif business that way to fortifie this Kingdom The Forces of Potentates at Sea Sont des Marques de Grandeur d'Estat saith a French Author Whosoever commands the Sea commands the Trade of the World He that commands the trade commands the Wealth of the World and consequently the World it self Again As he that is Master of the Field is said to be Master of every Town when it shall please him so he that is Master of the Sea may in some sort be said to be Master of every Countrey at least of such as are bordering on the Sea for he is at liberty to begin or end a War where and upon what terms he pleaseth and to extend his Conquests even to the Antipodes To the Crown of England belongs the Dominion of all the Narrow Seas round about the whole Island of Great Britain by Ancient Right whereof it hath had possession in all times First the Aborigenes or Ancient Britains were possest thereof as Mr. Selden makes appear and in their Right the Romans held it then the Saxons having gotten possession of England kept that Dominion their King Edgar amongst His Royal Titles calling Himself Soveraign of the Narrow Seas Afterward the Normans possessing England claimed and quietly possest the same Dominion in testimony whereof the Swedes Danes Hans-Towns Hollanders Zealanders c. were wont to ask leave to pass the British Seas and to take Licenses to fish therein And to this day do strike Sail to all the Ships of War belonging to the King of England as oft as they pass by any one of them thereby to express that they acknowledge the Soveraignty of the British
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 2â—5 1â—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
Corporations and are so many Bodies Politique Of these there are 12 called the chief Companies and he that is chosen Lord Mayor must be free of one of these Companies which are 1 Mercers 2. Grocers 3. Drapers 4. Fishmongers 5. Goldsmiths 6. Skinners 7. Merchant-Taylors 8. Haberdashers 9. Salters 10. Ironmongers 11. Vintners 12. Clothworkers All which Companies have Assembly places called Halls which are so many Basilikes or Palaces and many of them worthy to be viewed by all Strangers It hath been the custom of some of our Kings to honour some of these Companies by taking their freedom thereof and the present King was pleased to be made free of the Company of Grocers and the present Prince of Orenge lately chose to be made free of the Company of Drapers There are besides near 60 other Companies or Corporations all enjoying large Priviledges by the Kings Gracious Charter granted unto them and fair Halls to meet in For the security and defence of this famous City and River there have been antiently divers Fortresses but that called the Tower of London hath been eminent above all others It is not only a Fort or Cittadel to defend and command both City and River but a Royal Palace where our Kings with their Courts have sometimes lodged a Royal Arsenal where are Arms and Ammunition for 60000 Soldiers the Treasury for the Jewels and Ornaments of the English Crown the only Mint for coyning of Gold and Silver the great Archive where are conserved all the Records of the Court of Westminster the chief Prison for the safe custody of great Persons that are Criminal in short if the great extent thereof within the Walls be considered and its authority over the several Hamlets without and the many high Priviledges and Liberties belonging thereto it may rather be reputed a City then a Cittadel The Tower of London is out of all County or Parish only a small part some hold to be in Middlesex is a liberty of it self exempt from all Taxes to the King to the Church or to the Poor It hath a Parochial Church exempt ftom all Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of the Archbishop and is a Donative bestowed by the King without Institution or Induction There are Thirteen Hamlets in several Parishes of large extent belonging to the Tower whose Trainbands are all bound to assist the Constable or Lieftenant of the Tower they are all called the Kings Company are to wait on the Kings person in time of need and to go no farther than the King Within the Tower is kept the Office of Master of the Ordnance called in France le grand Mastre de l' Artillerie so called ab arte telorum mittendorum and hath been alwayes an Office of great Account and Importance commonly conferred on persons of great eminency and integrity It hath the ordering of that grand Magazin there lodged wherein and at the Minories Woolwich and Chatham is Ammunition at all times for as many Land and Sea forces as may not onely defend England but be formidable to all our Neighbours The place of Master of the Ordnance is since the death of that accomplished Gentleman Sir William Compton executed by Commissioners viz. by the Lord John Berkley now Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Sir John Duncomb Knight and Thomas Chichely Esquire Lieutenant of the Ordnance is David Walter Esquire and Groom of his Majesties Bed-chamber and the Pay-master is Captain George Wharton Surveyor is Jonas More Esquire Keeper of the Stores is Richard March Esquire Clerk of the Ordnance is Richard Sherborn Esquire Clerk of the Deliveries is George Clerk Esquire Under which several Officers there are many Officers and Servants for brevity sake to be passed over The forementioned Commissioners have the charge and superintendence of all the Ordnance Arms offensive Ammunition of War by Sea and Land The Lieutenant of the Ordnance is Treasurer doth receive and disburse all moneys touching this Office The Surveyor of the Ordnance doth supervise all Arms. Clerk of the Ordnance is to record all Orders touching that Office Keeper of the Stores is to have the custody of all the Arms offensive Clerk of the Deliveries takes Indentures for all Stores issued out All these hold by Patent immediately from the King All Inferior Officers and Artificers places are in the gift of the Master or Commissioners of the Ordnance Moreover in the Tower is kept the office of Warden of the Mint where onely of later times is minted all the Bullion that is minted in England The Warden of the Mint is a very considerable charge and is at present Sir Anthony St. Leger Master Worker is Henry Slingsby Esquire Comptroller is James Hore Esquire These hold by Patent of the King Assay-Master to try the pureness of the Mettal is Mr. John Brittle Surveyor of the Meltings and Clerk of the Irons is Mr. Thomas Swallow There is moreover a Weigher a Teller and a Graver all which five last named Officers hold also by Patent from the King but are to be approved by the three first Commissioned Officers in whose custody is all Money or Bullion brought in by the Subject There are besides many other Inferior Officers and Servants belonging to the Mint The office of His Majesties Records kept in the Tower of London is of venerable Antiquity and the place of Keeper and Deputy of the same dignified with special trust whereof Sir Algernon May Knight is at present the Keeper salary 500 l. per annum and William Ryley Esquire of the Inner Temple is Deputy thereof This place is properly in the Master of the Ro'ls his gift and then His Majesty by His Letters Patents hath usually confirmed it As the Chappel of the Rolls in Chancery-lane and Petty-Bag office doth fill with Records out of other Offices they are transmitted into the Tower after some years for it hath been the wisdom and care of former Ages to send the Records of several Courts to the Tower for their preservation and safety not onely as a Policy of State but the particular Interest of all Men having Estates requiring it there being many precedents for it remaining in the Records of the Tower and a particular Form of a Writ to send the Records in the Chappel of the Rolls to the Tower of London The Records of the Tower amongst other things contain the Foundations of Abbeys and other Religious Houses and the Records in the Rolls contain the dissolution of those Abbeys and the donation of the Lands of which many Families are now possest and if those Records were all in one place the people might have access unto them all under one and the same search and charge which would be a great ease and benefit to the people and a safety to the Records of this Nation Besides these Records at the Rolls being joyned to those in the Tower will make a perfect continuance of all the Ancient Rights of the English Nation which are now set forth in the Records of the Tower whereof these
Arches founded in a deep broad River and some say on a soft ozy Ground is Eight hundred Foot in length Sixty high and Thirty broad hath a Draw bridge almost in the middle and Twenty Foot between each Arch it was built Anno 1209. in the Reign of King John The first Stone-bridge in England having been built above One hundred years before by Queen Maud Wife to Henry the First at Stratford on the River Lee Three miles from London so called from the Highway there passing over a Ford and since called Stratford Bow from the Arched Bridge a piece of Architecture then new to the English Nation The building of this Bridge of London was an exceeding difficult and costly piece of Work and to those that consider the constant great Flux and Reflux at that place it seems almost impossible to be done again The charges of keeping it in repair is so great that it hath been thought fit by our Ancestors to have a large House a vast Revenue in Lands and Houses divers considerable Officers c. to be set apart for the constant care and repair thereof Concerning this Bridge and the stupendious site and structure thereof take here the fancy of an ingenious Person deceased WHen Neptune from his Billows London spi'd Brought proudly thither by a High Spring-Tide As through a Floating Wood he steer'd along And moving Castles cluster'd in a throng When he beheld a mighty Bridge give law Unto his Surges and their fury aw When such a Shelf of Cataracts did roar As if the Thames with Nile had chang'd her shoar When he such Massie Walls such Towers did eye Such Posts such Irons upon his back to â—ie When such vast Arches he observ'd that might Nineteen Rialto's make for depth and height When the Cerulean god these things survey'd He shook his Trident and astonish'd said Let the whole Earth now all Her Wonders count This Bridge of Wonders is the Paramount Not far below this famous Bridge is placed the Custome House where is received and managed all the Impositions laid on Merchandise Imported or Exported from this City which are so considerable that of all the Customs of England divided into three parts the Port of London pays Two thirds that is above 330000 l. yearly In this Office there are employed many persons of great ability and worth Collectors Customers Comptrollers Surveyors Registers whereof some have Salaries of 500 l. yearly besides many perquisites The House where this great Office was kept being destroyed by the late Fire is now rebuilt in a very much more magnificent uniform and commodious manner by the King and will cost His Majesty 10000 l. the building There are at present within this City of London divers other very considerable Offices whereof take the account following Of the Office of Post-Master General THe Profits of the said Office are setled by Act of Parliament on his Royal Highness the Duke of York but His Majesty doth constitute His Post-Master General by Letters Patents under the Great Seal of England and accordingly hath conferred that Office upon the Right Honorable Henry Lord Arlington His Principal Secretary of State The present Post-Master General keepeth one Grand or General Office in the City of London from whence Letters and Pacquets are dispatched Every Monday to France Italy Spain Flanders Germany Sweden Danemark c and to Kent Every Tuesday to the United Netherlands Germany c. And to all parts of England Scotland and Ireland Every Wednesday to Kent onely and the Downs Every Thursday to France Spain Italy and all parts of England and Scotland Every Friday to the Spanish and United Netherlands Germany Sweden Danemark and to Kent Every Saturday to all parts of England Scotland and Ireland And the Answers of the said Letters and Pacquets are received in the said Office in due Course And from thence dispersed and delivered according to their respective directions with all expedition The said Office is managed by a Deputy and other Officers to the number of Seventy seven Persons who give their actual attendance respectively in the dispatch of the business Upon this Grand Office depends One hundred eighty two Deputy Post-Masters in England and Scotland most of which keep Regular Offices in their Stages and Sub Post-Masters in their Branches and also in Ireland another General Office for that Kingdom which is kept in Dublin consisting of Eighteen like Officers and Forty five Deputy Post-Masters The present Post-Master General keeps constantly for the transport of the said Letters and Pacquets Between England and France Two Pacquet-Boats Flanders Two Pacquet-Boats Holland Three Pacquet-Boats Ireland Three Pacquet-Boats And at Deal Two Pacquet-Boats for the Downs All which Officers Post-Masters Pacquet-Boats are maintained at his own proper charge And as the Master piece of all those good regulations established by the present Post-master General for the better government of the said office he hath annexed and apropriated the Market Towns of England so well to the respective Post-stages that there is no considerable Market-Town but hath an easy and certain Conveyance for the Letters thereof to and from the said grand office in the due Course of the Mailes every Post Note also that all Letters are conveyed with more expedition and less charges then in any forreign Country A Letter containing a whole sheet of Paper is conveyed 80 miles for 2 d. 2 sheets 4 d. and an ounce of Letters but 8 d. and that in so short a time by night as well as by day that every 24 hours the Post goes 120 miles and in 5 dayes an answer of a Letter may be had from a place 300 miles distant from the Writer Moreover if any Gentleman desires to ride Post to any principal Town of England Post-Horses are alwayes in readiness taking no Horse without the consent of his owner which in other Kings reigns was not duly observed and only 3 d. is demanded for every English mile and for every Stage to the Post boy 4 d. for conducting Besides this excellent convenience of conveying Letters and Men on Horseback there is of late such an admirable commodiousness both for Men and Women of better rank to travel from London to almost any great Town of England and to almost all the Villages near this great City that the like hath not been known in the World and that is by Stage Coaches wherein one may be transported to any place sheltred from foul weather and foul ways free from endamaging ones health or body by hard jogging or over violent motion and this not onely at a low price as about a shilling for every 5 miles but with such velocity and speed as that the Posts in some forreign Countryes make not more miles in a day for the Stage Coaches called flying Coaches make Forty or Fifty miles in a day as from London to Oxford or Cambridge and that in the space of Twelve hours not counting the time for Dining setting forth not too early and
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
among the learned is very considerable saith of one Colledge of Oxford in his time what might be said of some others there and in Cambridge Non credo in orbe terrarum extra Angliam simile esse addam aut fuisse Magnae illic opes vectigalia c. Verbo vis dicam Unum Oxoniense Collegium rem inquisivi superat vel decem nostra The whole number of Students in Oxford that partake of the Revenues of the Colledges are about One thousand and of other Students about twice as many There were anciently in this University before the founding of Colledges Two hundred Hospitia Studiosorum Inns Hostels or Halls and as Armachanus Writes there were Thirty thousand Students and Twenty miles round Oxford were by the Kings of England set apart for Provision in Victuals for this City The Discipline of these Colledges and Halls is far more exact and excellent then in any Foreign University First All that intend to take any Degree are to take their Dyet and Lodging and have a Tutor constantly in some Colledge or Hall then they are to perform all Exercises to be subject to all Statutes and to the Head of the House Next they are to be subject to the cheif Magistrate of the University to perform Publick Exercise and to be subject to the Publick Statutes thereof They are to suffer themselves to be shut up by night in their several Houses They are never to be seen abroad out of their Chambers much less out of their Colledges without their Caps and Gowns an excellent order no where observed in Foreign Parts but in Spain Their Gowns are all to be black onely the Sons of the higher Nobility are herein indulged and all Doctors are honored with Purple or rather Scarlet Robes which anciently were allowed onely to Emperors or Kings but now in England besides the King all Peers in Parliament all Doctors in the Universities all Majors and Governors of Cities and all the Principal Judges are at certain times cloathed in Scarlet The Degrees taken in the University are onely two viz. Of Bachelar and Master for so they are anciently called as well in Divinity Law and Physick as in the Arts. At present the Degrees in those Three Professions are called Bachelars and Doctors onely in the Arts Bachelar and Master Yet is it not to be supposed That because in Musick one of the Liberal Arts he that takes the second Degree is usually now stiled a Doctor therefore to be preferred before a Master of Arts who is Doctor of all the Liberal Arts yet Men otherwise Learned have sometimes committed such Errors by their Ignorance in words and names Every year at the Act or time of compleating the Degree of Master both in the Three Professions and Arts which is always the Monday after the Sixth of July there are unless some extraordinary occasion hinders great Solemnities not onely for Publick Exercises but Feastings Comedies and a mighty concourse of Strangers from all parts to their Friends and Relations then compleating their Degrees whereby and by the set Fees it usually costs a Doctor of Divinity Law or Physick about One hundred pounds sterling and a Master of Arts 20 or 30 l. sterling In these Three Professions and in the Arts there proceed Masters or Doctors yearly about One hundred and fifty and every Lent about Two hundred Bachelars of Arts. The time required by Statute for studying in the University before the taking of the forementioned Degrees because it is much longer then what is required in any Foreign University shall here be set down more particularly To take the Degree of Bachelar in Arts is required four years and three years more for to be Master of Arts. To take the Degree of Doctor of Divinity the Student must necessarily first have taken the Degree of Master of Arts and then after seven years more he is capable of being Bachelar in Divinity and then four years more is requisite before the Degree of Doctor can be had To take the Degree of Doctor of Laws the more ordinary way is in three years after Master of Arts one may be capable of the Degree of Bachelar and in four years more of Doctor of Laws the like for Doctor in Physick The Exercises required for taking these Degrees are many and difficult enough yet not such but that may be performed in less time by any Men of good abilities But it was the Wisdom of our Ancestors so to order that before those degrees were conferred upon any and they allowed to practice they might first gain Judgment and Discretion which comes with Time and Years and perhaps that those of slower parts might by Time and Industry make themselves capable of that Honor as well as those of quicker abilities To speak now particularly of the Publick Schools in Oxford of the large Salary to each Publick Professor of the most famous Bodlean Library that for number of choice Books curious Manuscripts diversity of Languages liberty of Studying facility of finding of any Book equals if not surpasses the famous Vatican To speak of the curious Architecture and vast charges of the New Theater fabricked by the most ingenious Dr. Christopher Wren at the sole cost and charges of the most Reverend Father in God Gilbert the present Archbishop of Canterbury for the use of Scholastick Exercises and of that most excellent Printing Press there To speak of the beautiful solid Stone Buildings Chappels Halls Libraries large Revenues admirable Discipline of several Colledges To describe the most delightful Publick Physick Garden abounding with variety of choice Plants and surrounded with stately Stone Walls at the sole expences of the Right Honorable Henry Earl of Danby would require another Volume What hath been said of Oxford the like may be said of Her Sister Cambridge which for Antiquity Beautiful Colledges large Revenues good Discipline number of Students plenty of Diet and of all other things necessary for advancement of Learning if in complaisance she will at any time give place to Oxford yet at the same time will challenge precedence before any other University of the Christian World These are the two glorious Fountains of Learning to the fame whereof Foreigners come on Pilgrimage to offer up Honor and Admiration and yet even these had lately been like to be dried up by the over-heated Zeal of some ignorant Fanaticks These are the cheifest Store-houses of Lettered Men which sends forth yearly a great number of Divines Civilians Physitians c. to serve all parts of this Kingdom To supply these great Store-houses there are in several parts of England Grammar Schools whereof the principal are Pauls Westminster Winchester Eaton Merchant-Taylers the Charter-house all richly endowed to maintain Masters Ushers and a certain number of Scholars so that a childe once admitted into these Schools if he become capable may at length be preferred to be Scholar or Fellow in some Colledge of one of these Universities and will want little or no assistance
Council is seldom or never held without the presence of one of them at the least Their employment being of extraordinary trust and multiplicity renders them most considerable both in the eyes of the King upon whom they attend every day as occasion requires and of the Subjects also whose requests and desires are for the most part lodged in their hands to be presented to the King and always to make dispatches thereupon according to His Majesties Answers and Directions As for Forraign Affairs the Secretaries divide all the Kingdoms and Nations which have intercourse of business with the King of England into two grand Provinces whereof each Secretary taketh one to himself receiving all Letters and Addresses from and making all dispatches to the several Princes and States comprehended within his own Province But in all matters of home concern whether they relate to the Publick or to particular persons both the Secretaries do equally and indistinctly receive and dispatch whatsoever is brought to them be it for the Church the Militia or private Grants Pardons Dispensations c. They have this special Honour that if either of them be a Baron he taketh place and hath the precedence of all other persons of the same degree though otherwise by their Creation some of them might have right to precede him and a Knight in like manner if he hath no other qualification They have their several Lodgings appointed them in all the Kings Houses as well for their own Accommodation as for their Office and those that attend upon it They have also a very liberal Diet at the Kings charge or Board-wages in lieu of it To shew how considerable their place is their setled allowance from the King in Salary and Pension is little less than Two thousand pounds Sterling per annum to each of them The Secretaries and Clerks whom they imploy under them are wholly at their own choice and have no dependance upon any other power or person besides themselves They have the Custody of that Seal of the King which is properly called the Signet the use and application whereof gives denomination to an Office constantly attending the Court called the Signet Office wherein there are four Clerks who wait alternately by Months and prepare such things as are to pass the Signet in order to the Privy Seal or Great Seal The present Secretaries of State are Henry Lord Arlington whom for his eminent Services at home and abroad both in War and Peace His Majesty was pleased to advance into the place of Sir Edward Nicholas And Sir John Trevor who for his great abilities and succesful Negotiations had that Trust and Honour conferred upon him when Sir William Morice late Secretary of State was by His Majesties gracious consent permitted to retire from business Waiting on the Privy Council there are Four Clarks in Ordinary who waite by Months each one he that comes in is always a week before and a week after his Month to assist there Their Office is to read what is brought before the Council and draw up all such Orders as the King and Lords shall direct and cause them to be Registred They are these that follow Sir Richard Brown Sir Edward Walker Sir John Nicolas Sir Robert Southwel Salaries to each 250. l. besides Fees for Orders and Letters c. Beside the forenamed Officers there is a Keeper of the Records John Woolly Esq no Fee Two Keepers of the Council Chamber Fee to each 45 l. Thirty Messengers whereof Ten at a time by turns waite every Moneth Fee to each 45 l. These upon Occasion are sent by Warrant of the Lords of the Privy Council to fetch any Person under the Degree of a Baron and to keep him Prisoner in his House till farther order Attending on the Secretaries are the Clerks of the Signet or Little Seal which is always in the Custody of the Secretaries for sealing the Kings Private Letters and for all such Grants as pass His Majesties hands by Bill assigned Of these Clerks there are four Sir John Nicholas Knight of the Bath Sir Philip Warwick Knight Trumbal Esquire and Sidney Bear Esquire These have no Fee from the King but onely Dyet which at Pension is 200 l. yearly Their Office is in Whitehall they waite by Month each of them three Months in a year One of them alwayes attends the Court wheresoever it removes and by Warrant from the King or Secretaries of State or Lords of the Council prepare such Bills or Letters for the King to sign as not being matters of Law are by any Warrants directed to them to prepare In their Office all Grants either prepared by the Kings learned Council in the Law or by themselves for the Kings hand when signed are returned and there transcribed again and that transcription is carried to one of the Principal Secretaries of State and Sealed and then it is called a Signet which is directed to the Lord Privy Seal and is his Warrant for issuing out a Privy Seal upon it which is prepared by the Clerks of that Seal is sufficient for the payment of any Moneys out of the Exchequer and for several other uses but when the nature of the Grant requires the passing the Great Seal then the Privy Seal is an Authority to the Lord Keeper to pass the Great Seal as the Signet was to the Lord Privy Seal to affix that Seal to the Grant but in all three Offices viz. Signet Privy-Seal and Great-Seal the Grant is transcribed So all which passes from the King hath these several ways of being considered before perfected There are also four Clarks of the Privy Seal viz. the Lord Sandwich whose Interest for his life is in one Mr Watkins Mr Baron Master Bickerstaff and Mr. More of their Office is to be seen in Stat. 27. of Henry 8. worthy to be noted To this Office in time when the Court of Request is in being belongs the Sealing of all Commissions and other process out of that Court. Moreover depending on the Secretaries of State is an antient Office called the Paper-Office the Keeper whereof hath in his Charge all the publick Papers Writings Matters of State and Counsel all Letters Intelligences Negotiations of the Kings publick Ministers abroad and generally all the Papers and dispatches that pass through the Offices of the two Secretaries of State which are from time to time transmitted into this Office and here remain disposed by way of a Library within His Majesties Palace of Whitehall This considerable Officer hath a Fee of 160 l. per annum payable out of the Exchequer and is at present that very worthy person Joseph Williamson Doctor of Laws After the Kings most Honorable Privy Council that Primum mobile or rather that Resort or Spring may be considered the Great wheeles first moved by that Spring which are the Convocation for the Ecclesiastical Government and the Parliament for the Civil But for the better understanding of the Ecclesiastical Government it will be