voce loquerentur Laws were invented to the end they should speak in one and the self-same sense to all men For which very reason in like manner these Laws have been called by Phylosophers a Rule or Square inflexible and by Aristotle in particular a mind without passion as hath been said but the Prophet David who was also a Prince and a King seemeth to call it by the name of Discipline for that as Discipline doth keep all the parts of a Man or of a particular House in order so Law well ministred keepeth all the parts of a Commonwealth in good order and to shew how severely God exacteth this at all Princes hands he saith these words And now learn ye Kings and be instructed you that judge the World Serve God in fear and rejoyce in him with trembling embrace ye Discipline lest he enter into wrath and so ye perish from the way of Righteousness Which words being uttered by a Prophet and a King do contain divers points of much consideration for this purpose As first that Kings and Princes are bound to learn Law and Discipline and secondly to observe the same with great humility and fear of God's wrath and thirdly that if they do not they shall perish from the way of Righteousness as though the greatest plague of all to a Prince were to lose the way of Righteousness Law and Reason in his Government and to give himself over to passion and his own will whereby they are sure to come to Shipwrack And thus much for the first help The second help that Commonwealths have given to their Kings and Princes especially in latter Ages hath been certain Counsels and Counsellors with whom to consult in matters of importance as we see the Parliaments of England and France the Courts in Spain and Dyets in Germany without which no matters of moment can be concluded And besides this commonly every King hath his Privy-Councel whom he is bound to hear and this was done to temper somewhat the absolute form of a Monarchy whose danger is by reason of his sole Authority to fall into Tyranny as Aristotle wisely noteth in his fourth Book of Politicks shewing the inconvenience or dangers of Government which is the cause that we have few or no simple Monarchies now in the world especially among Christians but all are mixt lightly with divers points of the other two forms of Government also and namely in England all three do enter more or less for in that there is one King or Queen it is a Monarchy in that it hath certain Counsels that must be heard it participateth of Aristocratia and in that the Commonalty have their Voices and Burgesses in Parliament it taketh part also of Democratia or popular Government All which limitations of the Princes absolute Authority as you see do come from the Common-wealth as having Authority above their Princes for their restraint to the good of the Realm as more at large shall be proved hereafter From like Authority and for like Considerations have come the limitations of other Kings and Kingly power in all times and Countries from the beginning both touching themselves and their Posterity and Successors as briefly in this place I shall declare And first of all if we will consider the two most renowned and allowed States of all the World I mean that of the Romans and Grecians we shall find that both of them began with Kings but yet with far different Laws and Restraints about their Authorities For in Rome the Kings that succeeded Romulus their first Founder had as great and absolute Authority as ours have now adays but yet their Children or next in Bloud succeeded them not of necessity but new Kings were chosen partly by the Senate and partly by the People as Titus Livius testifieth so as of three most excellent Kings that ensued immediately after Romulus viz. Numa Pompilius Tullius Hostilius and Tarquinus Priscus none of them were of the Bloud-Royal nor of Kin the one to the other no nor yet Romans born but chosen rather from among strangers for their Vertue and Valour and that by election of the Senate and consent of the People In Greece and namely among the Lacedemonians which was the most eminent Kingdom among others at that time the succession of Children after their Fathers was more certain but yet as Aristotle noteth their Authority and Power was so restrained by certain Officers of the people named Ephori which commonly were five in number as they were not only checked and chastned by them if occasion served but also deprived and sometimes put to death For which cause the said Phylosopher did justly mislike this eminent Jurisdiction of the Ephori over their Kings But yet we see hereby what Authority the Commonwealth had in this case and what their meaning was in making Laws and restraining their Kings Power to wit thereby the more to bind them to do Justice which Cicero in his Offices uttereth in these words Justitiae fruendae causa apud majores nostros in Asia in Europa bene moraâ—i reges olim sunt constituti c. at cum jus aequabile ab uno viro homines non consequerentur inventae sunt leges Good Kings were appointed in old time among our ancestors in Asia and Europe to the end thereby to obtain Justice but when men could not obtain equal Justice at one mans hands they invented Laws The same reason yieldeth the same Phylosopher in another place not only of the first Institution of Kingdoms but also of the change thereof again into other Governments when these were abused Omnes antiquae gentes regibus quondam paruerunt c. That is All old Nations did live under Kingdoms at the beginning which kind of Government first they gave unto the most just and wisest men which they could find and also after for love of them they gave the same to their Postesity or next in Kin as now also it remaineth where Kingly Government is in use But other Countries which liked not that form of Government and have shaken it off have done it not that they will not be under any but for that they will not be ever under one only Thus far Cicero and he speaketh this principally in defence of his own Commonwealth I mean the Roman which had cast off that kind of Government as before hath been said for the Offence they had taken against certain Kings of theirs and first of all against Romulus himself their first Founder for reigning at his pleasure without Law as Titus Livius testifieth for which cause the Senators at length slew him and cut him in small pieces And afterwards they were greatly grieved at the entring of Servius Tullius their sixth King for that he got the Crown by fraud and not by election of the Senate and special approbation of the People as he should have done But most of all they
and the Earl of Flanders the Sword Royal so that there are three Dukes three Earls in every one of both Ranks of Spiritual and Temporal Lords and as Gerard noteth the King is apparelled on this day three times and in three several sorts The first as a Priest the second as a King and Warriour the third as a Judge And finally he saith that this Solemnity of Anointing and Crowning the King of France is the most magnificent Gorgeous and Majestical thing that may be seen in the world for which he referreth us not only to the particular Coronations of these two ancient Kings Philip the first and second but also to the late Coronation of Henry the second Father to the last Kings of France which is also in print and indeed is a very goodly and most notable thing to be read though indeed much more to be seen But to say a word or two more of Philip Augustus before I pass any further which happened in the Year 1179. and in the 25. of the reign of our King Henry the second of England who as the French Histories say was present also at this Coronation and had his Rank among the Peers as Duke of Normandy and held the Kings Crown in his hand and one of his Sons had his Rank also as Duke of Gascony and the form used in this Coronation was the very same which is used at this day in the Admission of the Kings of France in recounting whereof I will let pass all the particular ceremonies which are largely to be read in Francis Belforest in the place before-mentioned and I will repeat only the Kings Oath which the said Author recounteth in these words The Archbishop of Rhemes being vested in his Pontifical attire and come to the Altar to begin Mass where the King also was upon a high seat placed he turned to him and said these words in the name of all the Clergy and Churches of France Sirs that which we require at your hands this day is that you promise unto us that you will keep all Canonical Priviledges Law and Justice due to be kept and defended as a good King is bound to do in his Realm and to every Bishop and Church to him committed whereunto the King answered I do promise and avow to every one of you and to every Church to you committed That I will keep and maintain all Canonical Priviledges Law and Justice due to every man to the utmost of my Power And by Gods help shall defend you as a good King is bound to do in his Realm This being done the King did Swear and make his Oath laying his hands upon the Gospel in these Words following Au nom de Jesus Christ je jure promets au Peuple Christien a moy suject ces choses c. Which is in English In the name of Jesus Christ I do Swear and promise to all Christian People subject unto me these points ensuing First to procure that all my Subjects be kept in the union of the Church and I will defend them from all Excess Rapine Extortion and Iniquity Secondly I will take order that in all Judgments Justice shall be kept with Equity and Mercy to the end that God of his Mercy may conserve unto me with you my People his Holy grace and mercy Thirdly endeavour as much as possible shall lie in me to chase and drive out of my Realm and all my Dominions all such as the Church hath or shall declare for Hereticks as God shall help me and his Holy Gospels Thus Sweareth the King and then kisseth the Gospel and immediatly is Sung Te Deum Laudamus and after that are said many particular Prayers by the Archbishop and then is the King vested and the Ring Scepter Crown and the other Kingly Ornaments and Ensigns are brought and put upon him with Declaration first what they signifie and then particular Prayers are made to God that their signification may be by the King fulfilled And after all ended the Archbishop with the Bishops do bless him and say these words unto him God which reigneth in Heaven and governeth all Kingdoms bless you c. Be you stable and constant and hold your Place and Right from hence forth which here is committed and laid upon you by the authority of Almighty God and by this present tradition and delivery which we the Bishops and other Servants of God do make unto you of the same and remember you in place convenient to bear so much more respect and reverence unto the Clergy by how much nearer than other men you have seen them to approach to God's Altar to the end that Jesus Christ Mediator of God and Man may confirm and maintain you by the Clergy and People in this your Royal Seat and Throne who being Lord of Lords and King of Kings make you Reign with him and his Father in the Life and Glory everlasting Thus saith the Archbishop unto him and after this he is led by him and the other Peers unto the Seat Royal where the Crown is put upon his Head and many other large Ceremonies used which may be read in the Author aforesaid and are too long for this place And yet have I been the larger in this matter of France for that I do not think it to be improbable which this Author and others do not to wit that most Nations round about have taken their particular Forms of Anointing and Crowning their Kings from this ancient custom of France though the substance thereof I mean of their Sacring and Anointing be deduced from Examples of far more Antiquity to wit from the very first Kings among the people of Israel whom God caused to be anointed by his Priests and Prophets in token of his Election and as a singular Priviledge of Honour and Preheminence unto them whereof King David made so great account when he said to the Souldier that had killed Saul his Enemy in the War quare non timuisti mittere manum tuam in Christum Domini Why didst thou not fear to lay thy hands upon the Anointed of God and he put him to death for it notwithstanding that Saul had been long before deposed and rejected by God and that himself had lawfully born Arms against him for many days so much was that Ceremony of Anointing esteemed in those days and so hath it been ever since among Christian People also For that Kings hereby are made Sacred and do not only participate with Priests but also with Christ himself who hath his Name of this circumstance of Anointing as all the world knoweth Probable then I say it is that albeit the substance of this ceremony of Anointing Kings be much elder than the Christian Kingdom of France yet is this particular and Majestical manner of doing the same by way of Coronation the most antient in France above all other Kingdoms round about especially if it began with the
the old King David did bear unto her son Solomon above all the rest of his Brethren Hereupon I say these two that is to say Queen Barsabee and Nathan the Prophet coming together to the old man as he lay on his bed and putting him in mind of his promise and oath made to Barsabe for the preferment of her son and shewing besides how that Adonias without his order and consent had gathered an Assembly to make himself King even that very day which did put the old King in very great fear and danger and further also telling him which pleased him well quod oculi totius Israel in eum respicerent ut indicaret eis quis sederet in solio suo post ipsum that is that the eyes of all Israel were upon him to see whom he would commend unto them to sit in his seat after him which was as much as to say as that the whole Commonwealth referred it to his choice which of his sons should reign after him Upon these Reasons and Perswasions I say the good old King was content that they should take Solomon out of hand and put him upon the Kings own Mule and carry him about the streets of Jerusalem accompanyed with his Guard and Court and crying with sound of Trumpets Vivat Rex Solomon and that Zadok the Priest should anoint and after that he should be brought back and placed in the Royal Throne in the Palace and so indeed he was at what time King David himself being not able through impotency to rise out of his bed did him Honour and Reverence from the place where he lay for so saith the Scripture Adâ—ravit Rex in lectulo suo King David adored his son Solomon thus Crowned even from his Bed all which no doubt though it may seem to have been wrought by humane means and policy yet must we confess that it was principally by the especial Instinct of God himself as by the sequel and success we see so that hereby also we are taught that these the like determinations of the people Magistrates and Commonwealths about admitting or refusing of Princes to Reign or not to Reign over them when their designments are to good ends and for just respects and causes are allowed also by God and often times are his own special drifts and dispositions though they seem to come from man Whereof no one thing can give a more evident proof than that which ensued afterwards to Prince Rehoboam the lawful Son and Heir of this King Solomon who after his Fathers death coming to Sichem where all the People of Israel were gather'd together for his Coronation and Admission according to his Right by Succession For until that time we see he was not accounted true King though his Father was dead and this is to be noted the People began to propose unto him certain conditions for taking away of some hard and heavy Impositions laid upon them by Solomon his Father an evident President of the Oath and conditions that Princes do swear unto in these 〈◊〉 at their Coronation whereunto when Rehoboam refused to yield ten Tribes of the Twelve 〈◊〉 to admit him for their King but chose rather one Jeroboam Rehoboam's servant that was a meer stranger and but of poor percentage and made him their lawful King and God allowed thereof as the Scripture in express words doth testify and when Rehoboam that took himself to be openly injured hereby would by Arms have pursued his Title and had gathered together an Army of an hundred and fourscore thousand chosen Souldiers as the Scripture saith to punish these Rebells as he called them and to reduce these ten Tribes to their due Obedience of their natural Princes God appeared unto one Semeia an Holy man and bade him go to the Camp of Rehoboam and tell them plainly that he would not have them to fight against their Brethren that had chosen another King but that every man should go home to his House and live quietly under the King which each Party had and so they did and this was the end of that tumult which God for the sins of Solomon had permitted and allowed of And thus much by the way I thought good to touch out of Holy Scripture concerning the Jewish Commonâ—wealth even at the beginning for that it may give light to all the rest which after I am to treat of for if God permitted and allowed this in his own Common-wealth that was to be the example and pattern of all other that should ensue no doubt but that he approveth also the same in other Realms when just occasions are offered either for his service the good of the People and Realm or else for punishment of the sins and wickedness of some Princes that the ordinary line of Succession be altered Now then to pass on further and to begin with the Kingdoms of Spain supposing ever this ground of God's Oodinance as hath been declared First I say that Spain hath had three or four Races or Descents of Kings as France also and England have had and the first Race was from the Goths which began their Reign in Spain after the expulsion of the Romans about the Year of Christ 416. to whom the Spaniard referreth all his Nobility as the Frenchman doth to the German Franks and the English to the Saxons which entred France and England in the very same age that the other did Spain and the Race of the Gothish Kings endured by the space of 300 Years until Spain lost unto the Moores The second Race is from Don Pelayo that was chosen first King of Austria and of the Mountain-Countrey of Spain after the destruction thereof by the Moores about the Year of Christ 717 as before hath been touched which Race continued and encreased and added Kingdom unto Kingdom for the space of other three hundred Years to wit until the Year of Christ 1034. when Don Sancho Major King of Navarre got unto his Power the Earldom also of Aragon and Castilia and made them Kingdoms and divided them among his Children and to his second son named Don Ferdinando sirnamed afterward the Great he gave not only the said Earldom of Castilia with Title of Kingdom but by marrying also of the Sister of Don Dermudo King of Leon and Asturias he joined all those Kingdoms together and so began from that day forward the third Race of the Kings of Navar to reign in Castel and so endured for five hundred Years until the Year of Christ 1540. when the House of Austria entred to Reign there by Marriage of the Daughter and Heir of Don Ferdinando sirnamâ—d the Catholick and this was the fourth Race of Spanish Kings after the Roman's which endureth until this day And albeit in all these four Races and Ranks of Royal Descents divers Examples might be alledged for manifest proof of my purpose yet will I not deal with
A CONFERENCE About the Next SUCCESSION TO THE Crown of England Divided into Two Parts The First containeth The Discourse of a Civil Lawyer how and in what manner Propinquity of Bloud is to be preferred The Second containeth The Speech of a Temporal Lawyer about the particular Titles of all such as do or may pretend within England or without to the next Succession Whereunto is also added A New and Perfect Arbor and Genealogy of the Descents of all the Kings and Princes of England from the Conquest unto this day whereby each mans Pretence is made more plain Dedicated to the Right Honourable the Earl of Essex one of Her Majesties Privy-Council and of the Noble Order of the Garter Published by R. Doleman Re-printed at N. with License MDCLXXXI The sum of both Parts more in particular THE first declareth by many Proofs and Arguments That the next Propinquity or Ancestry of Bloud alone though it were certainly known yet it is not sufficient to be admitted to a Crown without other Conditions and Circumstances requisite be found also in the person pretendent THE second examineth the Titles and Pretensions of all such as may have Claim or Action to the Crown of England at this day what may be said for them and what against them And in the end though he leave the matter extreme doubtful as touching the best right yet he giveth certain Conjectures about some persons that are likest to prevail To the Right Right Honourable the Earl of Essex one of Her Majesties Privy Council TWo principal Causes among others Right Honourable are wont to invite men to dedicate any Book or Treatise to a Person in Authority The one Private Duty and Obligation the other Publick Utility in respect that the Master may concern that Person for the Common Good And to confess the truth both of these jointly have moved me at this time to present unto your Honour above others the two Books ensuing which contain a Conference had in Holland not long since â—â—out the Pretences and Pretenders to the Crown of England as your Honour shall perceive by the Preface of each Book and therefore hereof I shall need say no more but only declare the aforesaid two Causes of this Dedication First then I say that my particular obligation towards your Honours Person riseth partly of good Turns and Benefits received by some Friends of mine at your Lordships hands in your last Voyage and Exploits in France but principally of far greater Favours receiv'd from your Noble Ancestors I mean not only your Father whose untimely death was to England no small Wound but of your Grand-father also that worthy Knight Sir Walter Deverux who though he lived not to come to those Titles of Honour whereunto he was born yet left he behind him so rare a memory for his excellent Parts of Learning Wit Feature of Body Courtesy and other such Noble Commendations as none in England perhaps the like in our time wherein also hath lived your Honours Great Grandfather Sir Henry Deverux Visconde Ferys well remembred yet by divers of my said Friends obliged unto him as also recorded by our English Histories as well for his Merits and Worthiness as in like manner for his Match with the Heir of the most Famous and Noble House of the Bourchers Earls of Essex whereof also your Honour is known to be descended and to hold at this day as well their Nobility of Blood as Dignity of Title and this shall serve in this place for my particular obligation whereof perhaps hereafter upon other occasion I may give further relation and testimony to the World in token of my Gratitude But for the second Point of Publick Vtility I thought no man more fit than your Honour to dedicate these two Books unto which treat of the Succession to the Crown of England for that no man is in more high and eminent Place or Dignity at this day in our Realm than your self whether we respect your Nobility or Calling or Favour with your Prince or high Liking of the People and consequently no man like to have a greater part or sway in deciding of this great Affair when time shall come for that determination then your Honour and those that will assist you and are likest to follow your Fame and Fortune And for that it is not convenient for your Honour to be unskilful in a matter which concerneth your Person and the whole Realm so much as this doth and finding this Conference had by two Learned Lawyers to handle the Question very pithily and exactly and yet with much Modesty and without offence of any and with particular affection and devotion to Her Majesty and with special care of Her Safety I thought not expedient to let it lie unpublished as also judged that no Hands were fitter to receive the same nor any Protection more secure or plausible than that of your Honour whom God long preserve in all true Honour and Felicity to the Comfort of Your Lordships Faithful Servants and Clients and to the Publick Benefit of your Countrey From my Chamber in Amsterdam this last of December 1593. Your Honours most Affectionate R. DOLEMAN The CONTENTS of the first PART THe Preface containing the occasion of this Treatise with the subject purpose and parts thereof That Succession to government by nearness of bloud is not by Law of Nature or Divine but only by humane and positive Laws of every paticular Commonwealth and consequently may upon just causes be altered by the same Chap. 1. fol. 1. Of the particular form of Monarchies and Kingdoms and the different Laws whereby they are to be obtained holden and governed in divers Countries according as each Commonwealth hath chosen and established Chap. 2. f. 12. Of the great reverence and respect due to Kings and yet how divers of them have been lawfully chastised by their common-wealths for their misgovernment and of the good and prosperous success that God commonly hath given to the same and much more to the putting back of an unworthy pretender Chap. 3. f. 30. Wherein consisteth principally the lawfulness of proceeding against Princes which in the former chapter is mentioned what interest Princes have in their subjects goods or lives how Oaths do bind or may be broken by subjects towards their Princes and finally the difference between a good King and a Tyrant Chap. 4. f. 51. Of the Coronation of Princes and manner of their admitting to their authority and the Oaths which they do make in the same unto the Commonwealth for their good government Chap. 5. f. 66. What is due to onely succession by Birth and what interest or right an Heir apparent hath to the Crown before he is Crowned or admitted by the Commonweath and how justly he may be put back if he have not the parts requisite Chap. 6. f. 98. How the next in succession by propinquity of bloud have oftentimes been put back by the Commonwealth and others further off admitted
and the like we read of Job that was Gentle and lived before Moses Sanctificabat filios consurgensque diluculo offerebat holocausta per dies singulos He did sanctify his children and rising early in the Morning did offer for them holocausts or burnt sacrifices every day This men used in those days and this they were taught by Law of Nature I mean both to honour God above all things and to honour him by this particular way of Sacrifices which is proved also evidently by that which at this day is found and seen in the Indians where never any notice of Moses's Law came and yet no Nation hath ever been found among them that acknowledgeth not some kind of God and offereth not some kind of Sacrifice unto him And albeit in the particular means of honouring this God as also in distinguishing between false gods the true God these people of the Indians have fallen into most gross and infinit errours as also the Gentiles of Europe Asia and Africa did by the craft and subtilty of the Devil which abusing their ignorance did thrust himself into the place of God and derived and drew those Sacrifices and supreme honours unto himself which were due to God alone yet is it evident hereby and this is sufficient for our Purpose that by God and Nature the Highest and Chiefest End of every Common-wealth is Cultus Dei the Service of God and Religion and consequently that the principal Care and Charge of a Prince and Magistrate even by Nature it self is to look thereunto whereof all Antiquity both among Jews and Gentiles were wont to have so great regard as for many years and ages their Kings and chief Magistrates were also Priests and divers Learned men do hold that the Priviledge and Preheminence of Primogenitura or the first born Children so much esteemed in the Law of Nature as before we have seen consisted principally in this that the Eldest Sons were Priests and had the Charge and Dignity of this greatest Action of all other upon Earth which our temporal Magistrates so little regard now And this respect and reverence towards Religion was so greatly planted in the Breasts of all Nations her self as Cicero pronounced this general Sentence in his time Nulla est geus tam fera nulla tam immunis cujus mentem non imbuerit Deorum colendorum religio There is no Nation so fierce or barbarous whose minds are not endued with some Religion of worshipping Gods And Plutarch writing against a certain Atheist of his time saith thus If you travel far Countreys you may chance to find some Citys without learning without Kings without riches without money but A City without Temples and without Gods and Sacrifices no man yet hath ever seen And finally Aristotle in his Politicks having numbred divers things necessary to a Commonwealth addeth these words Quintum primum circa rem Divinam cultus quod sacerdotium sacrificiumque vocant In the Fifth place which indeed ought to be the First of all 〈◊〉 is necessary to a Commonwealth the honour and service due unto God which men commonly do comprehend by the words of Priesthood and Sacrifice All this I have alledged to confute even by the Principles of Nature her self the absurd opinions of divers Aâ—hâ—â—sts of our time that will seem to be great Politicks who affirm that Religion ought not to be so greatly respected in a Prince or by a Prince as though it were his chiefest Care or the matter of most importance in his Government which you see how false and impious it is even among the Gentiles themselves but much more among Christians who have so much the greater obligation to take to heart this matter of Religion by how much greater Light and Knowledge they have of God and therefore we see that in all the Princes Oaths which before you have heard recited to be made and taken by them at their Admission and Coronation the first and principal Point of all other is about Religion and maintainance thereof and according to this Oath also of Supreme Princes not only to defend and maintain Religion by themselves in all their states but also by their Lieutenants and under-Governours we have in our Civil Law a very solemn form of an Oath which Justinian the Emperour above 1050. years ago was wont to give to all his Governours of Countreys Citys and other places before they could be admitted to their Charges and for that it is very effectual and that you may see thereby what care there was of this matter at that time and what manner of Solemn and Religious Protestations as also Imprecations they did use therein it shall not be amiss perhaps to repeat the same in his own words which are these following The Title in the Civil Law is Juramentum quod praestatur iis qui administrationes accipiunt The Oath which is given to them that receive Governments And then the Oath beginneth thus Juro per Deum omnipotentem Filium ejus unigenitum Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Spiritum Sanctum per sanctam gloriosam Dei genitricem semper virginem Mariam per quatuor Evangelia quae in manibus meis teneo per sanctos archangelos Michaelem Gabrielem puram conscientiam germanumque servitium me servaturum sacratissimis nostris Dominis Justiniano Theodosiae coujugi ejus occasione traditae mihi ab eorum pietate administrationis Et quod communicator sum sanctissimâ—e Dei Catholicae Apostolicae Ecclesiae nullo modo vel tempore adversabor ei nec alium quemcunque permittam quantum possibilitatem habeam si vero non haec omnia servavero recipiam omnia incommoda hic in futuro seculo in terribili judicio magni Domini Dei Salvatoris nostri Jesu Christi habebo partem cum Juda cum lepra Gehazi cum tremore Cain insuper poenis quae lege eorum pietatis continenter ero subjectus Which in English is thus I do swear by Almighty God and by his Holy Son our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Holy Ghost and by the holy glorious Mother of God the perpetual Virgin Mary and by the four Holy Gospels which I do hold in my hand and by the holy Archangels S. Michel and S. Gabriel that I will keep a pure Conscience and perform true Service unto the Sacred Persons of our Lords and Princes Justinian and Theodosia his Wife in all occasions of his Government by their benignity committed unto me Moreover I do swear that I am communicant and member of the most Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church of God and that I shall never at any time hereafter be contrary to the same nor suffer any other to be as much as shall lie in my possibility to let And if I should break this Oath or not observe any point thereof I am content to receive any punishment both in
to live among us with Forces either present or so near as that without resistance he may call them when he listeth and of this he needeth no more proof say these men than the Examples before alledged of the Danes and Normans and the Misery and Calamity which for many years the English passed under them and furthermore the reason hereof is evident say these men for first in this third kind of admitting a stranger King we are deprived by his dwelling amongst us of those Utilities before mentioned which Ireland Flanders Britany Naples and other States enjoy by living far off from their Princes which Commodities are much more Liberty and Freedom less Payments less Punishments more Employments of the Nobility and others in Government and the like And secondly by his coming Armed unto us we cannot expect those Commodities which before I touched in the second kind of Foreign Government but rather all the Incommodities and Inconveniences that are to be found either in domestical or foreign Governments all I say do fall upon this third manner of admitting a Stranger as easily shall be seen For first of all the greatest Incommodities that can be feared of a domestical Prince are pride cruelty partiality pursuing of Factions and particular hatred extraordinary advancing of his own kindred pressing pinching and over-rigorous punishing of his People without fear for that he is ever sure of his party to stand with him within the Realm and so hath the less respect to others and for that all these inconveniences and other such like do grow for the most part by the Princes continual presence among his Subjects they are incident also to this other though he be a stranger for that he is also to be present and to live among us and so much the more easily he may fall into them than a domestick Prince for that he shall have both external counsil of a People that hateth us to prick him forward in the same which two motives every domestical Prince hath not Again they say that the worst and greatest Incommodities of a foreign Government that may be feared are tyranny and bringing into servitude the People over whom they govern and filling of the Realm with Strangers and dividing to them the Dignities Riches and Preferments of the same all which they say are incident also by all probability to this third-kind of foreign Government where the Prince Stranger liveth present and hath Forces at hand to work his will and this is the case say they of the King of Scots who only of any foreign Pretender seemeth may justly be feared for these and other reasons alledged before when we talked of his pretence to the Crown To conclude then these men are of opinion that of all these three manners of being under Strangers or admitting foreign Government this third kind peculiar as it were to the King of Scots Case is to be only feared and none else for as for the second they say that it is not only not to be feared or abhorred but rather much to be desired for that of all other sorts it hath the least inconveniences and most Commoditiâ—s for which causes we read and see that where Kings go by Election commonly they take Strangers as the Romans and Lacedomonians did often at the beginning and after the beginning of the Roman Monarchy their foreign born Emperours were the best and most famous of all the rest as Trajan and Adrian that were Spaniards Septimius Severus born in Africa â—onstantine the Great Natural of England and the like and the very worst that ever they had as Caligula Nero Heliogabolus Commodus and such other like Plagues of the Weal publick were Romans and in our days and within a few years we have seen that the Polonians have chosen three Kings Strangers one after another the First Stephen Battorius Prince of Transilvania the Second Henry of France and last of all the Prince of Swecia that yet liveth and the State of Venetians by way of good Policy have made it for a perpetual Law that when they have War to make and must needs chuse a General Captain and commit their Forces into his Hands he must be a stranger to wit some Prince of Italy that is out of their own States hereby to avoid partiality and to have him the more indifferent and equal to them all which yet so many prudent men would never agree upon if there were not great reason of Commodities therein so as this point is concluded that such as speak against this second kind of having a foreign Prince speak of passion or inconsideration or lack of experience in matters of State and Commonwealths As for the first manner of being under foreign Government as a Member or Province of another bigger Kingdom and to be governed by a Deputy Viceroy or strange Governour as Ireland Flandâ—rs Naples and other States before-mentioned be with certain and stable Conditions of Liberties and Immunities and by a form of Government agreed upon on both sides these men do most confess also that there may be Arguments Reasons and Probabilities alledged on both sides and for both parties but yet that all things considered and the inconveniences hurts and dangers before rehearsed that Subjects do suffer also oftentimes at the hands of their own natural Prince these men are of opinion for the causes already declared that the Profits are more and far greater than the damages or dangers of this kind of foreign Government are and so they do answer to all the Reasons and Arguments alledged in the beginning of this Chapter against foreign Government that either they are to be understood and verified only of the third kind of foreign Government before-declared which these men do confess to be dangerous or else they are founded for the most part in the errour and prejudice only of the vulgar sort of men who being once stirred up by the name of Stranger do consider no further what reason or not reason there is in the matter and this say these men ought to move these men little for as the common people did rise in tumult against the French for example in Sicilia and against the Danes in England so upon other occasions would they do also against their own Countreymen and oftentimes have so done both in England and other where when they have been offended or when seditious Heads have offered themselves to lead them to like Tumults so that of this they say little argument can be made The like in effect they do answer to the Examples before alledged of the Grecian Philosophers and Orators that were so earnest against Strangers And First to Aristotle they say that in his Politicks he never handled expressly this our Question and consequently weighed not the Reasons on both sides and so left it neither decided nor impugned and he that was Master to Alexander that had so many foreign Countries under him could not well condemn the