Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	henry_n	king_n	noble_a	3,426	5	7.6084	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A16306	The cities aduocate in this case or question of honor and armes; whether apprentiship extinguisheth gentry? Containing a cleare refutation of the pernicious common errour affirming it, swallowed by Erasmus of Roterdam, Sir Thomas Smith in his common-weale, Sir Iohn Fern in his blazon, Raphe Broke Yorke Herald, and others. With the copies of transcripts of three letters which gaue occasion of this worke.	Bolton, Edmund, 1575?-1633?; Philipot, John, 1589?-1645, attributed name.	1629 (1629)	STC 3219; ESTC S106271	30,252	83

Gentlemen whosoeuer Which disposition measure not by the few Angells you receiue in this Letter For what are twenty in such a case If this my sute and request cary the lesse regard because it comes but from a priuate Citizen be pleased I pray to vnderstand that in me though being but one man multitudes speake and that out of a priuate pen a publike cause propounds it selfe And yet I come not single For with this Letter of mine I send you two other The one from a worshipfull friend and kinsman of mine written to me and the other of my Cousin his second sonne much what of one nature with this of mine And so with my loue and best respects remembred I commit you to Gods holy keeping and rest c. The true Copies of those two other Letters whereof in the former there is mention The Fathers Letter Cousin I pray peruse the enclosed which troubleth me as much as it doth my sonne and seeke satisfaction of such as are skilfull indeed I care not for charge for looke whatsoeuer it costs I will beare it In the meane while comfort my childe for if it bee so as hee writes hee shall not stay in London though it cost me fiue hundred Pounds And so in great hast I leaue you to our Lord Christ c. The Apprentises Letter to his Father MOst deare and most louing Father my most humble dutie remembred vnto you These are to giue you to vnderstand that my body is in good health praised he God but my minde and spirits are not for they are very much troubled For so it is Sir that albeit my Master be a very worthy and an honest Citizen and that my selfe doing as an Apprentise ought which I doe willingly not refusing any thing as remembring St. Peters precept Serui subditi estote in timore Domini am as well vsed in this house as if I were with you yet by reading certaine bookes at spare houres and conferring with some who take vpon them to be very well skill'd in Heraldry I am brought to beleeue that by being a Prentise I lose my birth right and the right of my blood both by father and mother which is to be a Gentlemen which I had rather dye then to endure This is my griefe and this the cause why my minde is so troubled as I cannot eat nor sleepe in quiet Teares hinder me from writing more and therefore most humbly crauing pardon and your most fatherly blessing I commit you to God c. From London c. THE CITIES ADVOCATE In a question of Honor and Armes Whether Apprentiship extinguisheth Gentrie The Contents of this first part 1 THe present question very important for many great causes Two Crowned Queenes of England much of the Nobility parties to it Bullen Calthorpe L. Majors of London their interesses in royall blood What Quaestio status and what the least capitis diminutio is Only the base neglect it Honour a faire Starre Disparagement odious Preuention of mischiefes by determining this question Proud Citie-races vnworthy of the Citie 2 The Cities Honors in Armes proued out of ancient Monuments The L. Fitz Walter Standard-bearer of London Claurie and Biallie two termes in old blazon 3 The transcendent power of opinion To derogate from the splendor of birth reputed a wrong Whence comes the present question of Apprentiship 4 The maine reason why some doe hold that Apprentiship extinguisheth Gentrie Apprentiship no bondage either in truth or at all The case truely propounded The skill of honest gettings a precious mystery What kinde of contract that seemes to be which is betweene Master and Apprentise 5 An obiection that Apprentiship is a kinde of bondage The fine folly of Erasmus in his Etymologie of an Apprentise The comparison betweene Seruus among Ciuilians and Apprentises among Englishmen holds not What the word Apprentise meanes Sir Thomas Smiths error in confounding seruitude and discipline 6. 7. 8. Particular points touching Seruus Sanctuarie at the Princes image Manumission and Recaptiuitie by Law None of those points concerne Apprentises more then Souldiers Schollers or religious nouices 9. 10. The finall cause denominates the action and proues Apprentiship not to be base The contrarie opinion pernicious to manners and to good Commonweale among vs chiefly now The different face of both opinions in daily experience The First Part. THE present question Whether Apprentiship extinguisheth Gentry being now not so much a paradox as growne in secret to be of late a common opinion I am bold to call a weighty and important question vniustly grounded vpon the learned folly of Erasmus of Roterdam and the incircumspection of Sir Thomas Smith Knight in his booke de Republica Anglorum and out of certaine wandring conceits hatcht among trees tillage as shall appeare hereafter Weighty and important I am bold to call it and it is so Because in looking out vpon the concernings of the case I finde that prospect so spacious that within the compass thereof as well the greater as the lesser Nobilitie of England are very notably and very inexplicably enwrapped What doe I say of the subalternall Nobilitie when the Royall name it selfe with all humble reuerence be it spoken was deeply interessed in the proposition For Queene Elizabeth though a free Monarch and chiefe of the English in her turne was a party of the cause which shee ingenuously and openly acknowledged calling Sir Martin Calthorpe kinsman as indeed he was being at that time Knight and Lord Maior of London Yea Sir Godfrey Bullen Knight also and Lord Maior of London was lineall Ancestor to Queene Anne her mother saith Camden in his Annals no longer before then in the reigne of Henry the sixth King of England Both which Knights being also Gentlemen borne of right Worshipfull Families ascended by due degrees from the condition of Apprentises to the greatest annuall honor of this Kingdome It is weighty and important because without much impropriety of speech it may be called quaestio status which in the ancient phrase of the Emperour Iustinian is as much to say as a tryall whether one is to be adiudged bond or free seruile or ingenuous and implieth that odious and vnnaturall sequel which by Textuists hath to name Capitis diminutio wherof though the Romane lawes make a threefold diuision yet in this our question if but onely the third and lowest degree were incurred which hapneth cum qui sui juris fuerunt coeperunt alieno iuri subiecti esse that alone should keepe vs from neglect It is weighty and important and can appeare none other because it directly tends to darken and as it were to intercloud the luminous body of that beauteous planet HONOR with not onely foule but lasting spots For what can lightly be a more disparagement then for the free to become a kind of bondmen or to be come of such Nay there is nothing without vs which can bee of so great disparagement Finally it is weighty and

or Monopolies of the citie more worthy of their acknowledgement if where now they are denominated of some particular ware or craft they were named of Eagles Vultures Lions Beares Panthers Tygers or so forth as the seuerall orders of the Noble in Mexico which Iosephus Acosta writes vnder their Emperor yet much better because more truly these fellowships of London cary the names of men as they haue vocations in professions which onely men can execute Or they would peraduenture thinke more noblie of them if those societies were denominated of Eyes eares hands feet or of other members as Philostratus in the life of that impostor Apollonius Tianaeus saith the officers and instruments of a Philosophical King in India were But as those were called of their King his eyes eares and so forth so haue these mysteries some one or other professor in each among them from the higher trade to the lowest eminently designed out with the addition of King as the Kings Mercer the Kings Draper and so forth Againe how much more worthy the whole is then the parts because the parts are in the whole so by that argument it is more honourable to be marshall'd as a man among societies of ciuill men then to be distinguisht by allusions to particular members At leastwise those singular Gentlemen might certainin their most contempt of the City remēber that of Plato Nemo Rex non ex seruis nemo non seruus ex Regibus and that also rare and reall worth may bee in the persons of Citizens themselues seeing Terentius Consul of old Rome with that noble Paulus Aemilius was free of the Butchers company and our Walworth Lord Maior of old London was free of the Fishmongers And they were not onely the Lords Knights and Gentlemen of Rome who had voice in election of their principall yearly Magistrates but euen handycrafts-men and Artificers as is most manifest by that place of Salust in his Iugurthine warre where Marius was chosen Consul by the speciall affection of that sort of Roman Citizens who saith he sua necessaria post illius honorem ducebant preferred his election by their voices before the trades by which they earnd their liuings Finally they may remēber that in the posterity of Citizens many right noble and worthy Gentlemen are often found and that besides the vniuersall mixture with Citie-races thorow the Kingdom it may not be denyed that true nobless shineth often very bright among thē For they are Companies of free Citizens in which soueraigne Maiesty it selfe is incorporated making them at once to be sacred as it were and certainly magnificent For euen as where the Sun is there is no darknes so where soueraign Princes are interressed parties there is no basenes And as the Philosophers Medicine purgeth vilest metals turning all to gold so the operation of Princes intention to ennoble Societies with his personall presence transmetalls the subiect and clearly takes away all ignobilitie Which things as they are most true in London so for that the Emperour Constantinus magnus if our ancient Fitz Stephan reports the right Henry King of England sonne of king Henry the second and that braue great Prince Edward the first and whosoeuer else were borne in the Citie they giue to it the glory of Armes and Ieffrey Chaucer Sir Thomas Moore knight with others borne in London communicate thereunto the glorie of wits and letters To nourish vp both which most excellent titles to reall nobilitie in the Citie the Artillery-yard and Gressam Colledge were instituted 8 Thus this question of Honor and Armes vndertaken at the instance of interessed parties but more for loue to that great Citie and her children being by Gods assistance and as we hope sufficiently discussed the end of all is this that albeit the loue of humane praise and of outward splendor in the markes and testimonies of it are very vehement fires in all worthiest natures yet haue they no beatitude nor so to say felicitation but onely as with referment to this of the blessed Apostle Soli Deo Honor Gloria Amen I haue viewed this booke and perused the same and finde nothing therein dissonant to reason or contrary to the Law of Honor or Armes William Segar Garter princip King of Armes Errata In the Epistle to the Masters For iuice of ingratitude read vice of ingratitude In the Epistle to the Prentises For preying read prying For honourable all read honorable strangers all Page 5 For larger volume read leger volume 17. For discouser read discourser 19. For ciuill Art gouernment read ciuill Art of gouernment ●ad For most an Art of encrease read most ancient Art of encrease 20. For a would read as would 23. For ouer-slaue read ouer his slaue 38. For fasteth read fastest 51. For you are read you as are 55. For controll all read controll of all 57. For Ramme read a Ramme 58. For certaine read certainly

King 4 Which acknowledgment besides that it is in the lawes of honor an act of bounden duty they may the rather take it for a glorie because our Princes haue vouchsafed to be incorporated as members of seuerall Companies in the Citie comming thereby as it were vnder that banner Nor onely so but Henrie the seuenth whom all of vs will easily confesse to haue well enough vnderstood what he did is credibly said to haue beene in person at the election of Master Wardens and himselfe to haue sitten openly among them in a gowne of crimson veluet Citie-fashion with a Citizens hood of veluet on his shoulders a la mode de Londres vpon their solemne feast-day in the common hall of his Company Merchantailers Moreouer his grand-childe Queene Elizabeth no way inferior to her ancestor in high pollicie was free of Mercers Lastlie which is more to our present purpose our late dread Soueraigne himselfe King Iames more learned then they both though learning hath beene a Royall abilitie in our ancient Princes so flourishing in Sebert King of east-East-England that our venerable countreyman BEDE affirmes him to haue been per omnia doctissimus encorporated himselfe into one the most important society of this kingdome Clothworkers as men dealing in the principall and noblest Staplewares of all these Ilands wooll and cloath 5 Nor let the names of Companies because they seeme not to sound honorably enough as appellations of degrees in Gentry and Nobility auert the mind from them as things ignoble and vnworthy the dignity of generous dispositions a thing erroniously holden in Fernes Blazon of Gentry For all renowned Cities euer had in them vrbana nobilitas and yet their citizens could not but bee distributed into orders tribes or titles of professions yea sometimes also in their games For the Circensian companies in Rome called factiones that is to say companies and denominated from the seuerall colors of their seueral clothings White blew greene and red to which Domitian added two other purple and gold were the speciall delights and exercises of Prince people which grew to such excesse no longer after then in Traians time that Plinius secundus held it a matter worthy of his complaint and censure as in one of his Epistles is extant where he saith nunc panno fauent nunc pannum amant Againe such of the Gentry who liue not in the citie and doe most of all eleuate themselues with contempt of others in respect of the Arts and wayes of maintenance were they but incorporated vnder the true titles of their meanes in which we will not speake of the prodigious eating vp of whole houses townes and people by a thousand wicked deuises proper to the mysterie of depopulation against whose consuming works so many statutes of this land haue long time warred in vaine the names of those citie-brotherhoods or Companies would easilie sound in a most curious eare full out as faire and well Corne Cattle Butter Cheese Hay Wood Wooll Coles and the like the materialls of their maintenance all of them inseparable to Countrey-Commonweales and without which they can no more subsist then Drapers as Drapers without cloath Glodsmiths as Goldsmiths without Iewels or plate and so forth Neither doth it create any great odds in this point touching honour betweene parties in this dispute that Gentlemen by their officers as Bailiffes Reeues or the like doe order their affaires for their more ease dignities For besides that the wisest among them exercise that superintendency in their owne persons so herein the worthy Citizen is no way behind dispatching his businesses by Factors Iourneymen or expert Apprentises reseruing onely to himselfe the oueruiew and controll all their doings Citie-noblesse so apparent that the Knights or Gentlemen of Rome professing Merchandise and others among them that way bent had their Hall or seat of their Colledge or companie vpon Mount Capitoline it selfe dedicated to their patron Deity or tutelarie God-head Mercurie Other encorporated societies there also were as Goldsmiths and the rest who liued so far from being excluded out of the power of common-weale or from honors and signes of noblenesse that they had right in some cases euen to ouertop the Lords and out of their owne body to choose not only Consuls but euen Dictators also their super-soueraigne most absolute Magistrate before their Emperors times Yea so mighty were they growne in respect of elections and negatiue authoritie that Clodius to be reuenged vpon Cicero left his owne rancke of Patritians and Lords and turned Commoner 6 To conclude such Gentlemen are much deceiued which no sooner heare one named to be of this or that Societie or Colledge of trade in London as of Grocers Haberdashers Fishmongers or of any other of the twelue principall Monopolies the Zodiacke of the citie in whose Eclipticke line their Lord Maior must euer runne his yeares course but they forthwith entertaine a low conceit of the parties quality as too too much beneath their owne ranck and order without further examinatiō when it often happens that he who is titularlie of this or that Fraternity neuer was bred vp in it nor vnderstands any more what it meanes then the remotest Gentleman their Masters themselues hauing been Merchants or of other profession of life diuerse from their title vnder which they are marshall'd the law of the citie imposing an absolute necessity that all who are free of the city should cary the name of some one or other of their brotherhoods Againe what doe the constellations of heauen shine the worse or the lesse because they carrie the names of Ramm of a Water-bearer of Fishes and so forth Or how many the fewer are their seuerall lights for that Answerably to which I say that if the parties mind be adorn'd with the starre-lights of vertue and honor what basenesse is it for him to bee marshall'd vnder any of the names comprehending one or other of the honest Arts of worldly life 7 In disputing thus let me not be thought to set vp an enuious comparison betweene these two worshipfull degrees or qualificatiōs of men That is very farre from me For it must euer bee granted to the authority of general opinion founded vpon custome among vs that the true Countrey-Esquire caeteris paribus is in his proper place before the Citie-Esquire which with the perpetuall clause beforesaid of caeteris paribus holds also throughout the other degrees of the inferior Noblesse in England I reason here as reason bids not against the right or dignities of persons either as in parallell or as in disparagement but against the vanity and offences rising out of causelesse elatiō and arrogance and against their errours who not vnderstanding the things of their owne countrey are indeed meere Meteoroscopers and houer in the clowdy region of admiration vpon rude and vnlearned fansies for which cause as minds needing to be healed so would I sincerely that they were healed Such are theirs who would perhaps think the Companies