In the eleuenth yeare hee had given him by parliament a notable relief the one halfe of the woolls throughout England and of the Cleargy all their wools after which in the end of the yeare hee had granted in his parliament at Westminster forty shillings vpon every sacke of wool and for every thirty wool fels forty shillings for every last of leatherne as much and for all other merchandizes after the same rate The king promising that this yeares gathering ended he would thenceforth content himselfe with the old custome he had ouer and aboue this great ayde the eight part of all goods of all citizens and Burgesses and of others as of forreigne Marchants such as liued not of the gaine of breeding of sheepe and cattell the fifteenth of their goods Nay my Lord this was not all though more then euer was granted to any king for the same parliament bestowed on the king the ninth sheafe of all the corne within the lande the ninth fleece and the ninth lambe for two yeares next following now what thinke your Lordship of this parliament COVNS I say they were honest men IVST And I say the people are as loving to their king now as euer they were if they bee honestly and wisely dealt withall and so his Majestie hath found them in his last two parliaments if his Majestie had not beene betrayed by those whom he most trusted COVNS But I pray you Sir who shall a king trust if he may not trust those whom he hath so greatly advanced IVST I will tell your Lordship whom the king may trust COVNS Who are they IVST His owne reason and his owne excellent judgement which haue not deceived him in any thing wherein his Majestie hath beene pleased to exercise them Take councell of thine heart saith the booke of Wisedome for there is none more faithfull vnto thee then it COVNS It is true but his Majestie found that those wanted no judgement whom hee trusted and how could his Majestie divine of their honesties IVST Will you pardon mee if I speake freely for if I speake out of loue which as Salomon saith covereth all trespasses The trueth is that his Majestie would never beleeue any man that spake against them and they knew it well enough which gaue them boldnesse to do what they did COVNS What was that IVST Even my good Lord to ruine the kings estate so farre as the state of so great a king may be ruin'd by men ambitious and greedy without proportion It had beene a braue increase of revenue my Lord to haue raysed 50000′ land of the kings to 20000′ revenue and to raise the revenue of wards to 20000′ more 40000′ added to the rest of his Majesties estate had so enabled his Majestie as hee could never haue wanted And my good Lord it had beene an honest service to the king to haue added 7000′ lands of the Lord Cobhams woods and goods being worth 30000′ more COVNS I know not the reason why it was not done IVST Neither doth your Lordship perchance knowe the reason why the 10000′ offer'd by Swinnerton for a fine of the French wines was by the then Lord Treasurer conferr'd on Devonshire and his Mistris COVNS What moued the Treasurer to reject crosse that raising of the kings lands IVST The reason my good Lord is manifest for had the land beene raised then had the king knowne when hee had given or exchanged land what hee had giuen or exchanged COVNS What hurt had that beene to the Treasurer whose office is truely to informe the King of the value of all that he giveth IVST So hee did when it did not concerne himselfe nor his particular for hee could neuer admit any one peece of a good Manour to passe in my Lord Aubignes booke of 1000′ land till hee himselfe had bought then all the remaining flowers of the Crowne were culled out Now had the Treasurer suffer'd the Kings lands to haue been raised how could his Lordshippe haue made choice of the old rents as well in that book of my Lord Aubigne as in exchange of Theobalds for which hee tooke Hatfield in it which the greatest subject or favorite Queene Elizabeth had never durst haue named vnto her by way of gift or exchange Nay my Lord so many other goodly Mannors haue passed from his Majestie as the very heart of the kingdome mourneth to remember it and the eyes of the kingdome shedde teares continually at the beholding it yea the soule of the kingdome is heavy vnto death with the consideration thereof that so magnanimous a Prince should suffer himselfe to be so abused COVNS But Sir you knowe that Cobhams lands were entayled vpon his Cosens IVST Yea my Lord but during the liues and races of George Brooke his children it had beene the kings that is to say for euer in effect but to wrest the king and to draw the inheritance vpon himselfe he perswaded his Majestie to relinquish his interest for a petty summe of money and that there might be no counterworking he sent Brooke 6000 l to make friends vvhereof himselfe had 2000 l backe againe Buckhurst and Barwicke had the other 4000 l and the Treasurer and his heires the masse of land for euer COVNS What then I pray you came to the king by this great confiscation IVST My Lord the kings Majestie by all those goodly possessiōs vvoods goods looseth 500 l by the yere which he giueth in pension to Cobham to maintaine him in prison COV Certainly even in conscience they should haue reserved so much of the land in the Crowne as to haue giuen Cobham meate and apparell not made themselues so great gainers and the King 500 l per annum looser by the bargaine but it 's past Consilium non est eorum quae fieri nequeunt IVST Take the rest of the sentence my Lord Sed consilium versatur in iis quae sunt in nostra potestate It is yet my good Lord in potestate Regis to right himselfe But this is not all my Lord And I feare mee knowing your Lordships loue to the King it would put you in a feaver to heare all I will therefore goe on vvith my parliaments COVNS I pray doe so and amongst the rest I pray you what say you to the Parliament holden at London in the fifteenth yeare of King Edward the third IVST I say there was nothing concluded therein to the prejudice of the King It is true that a litle before the sitting of the house the King displaced his Chancellour and his Treasurer and most of all his judges and officers of the exchequer and committed many of them to prison because they did not supplie him with mony being beyond the seas for the rest the states assembled besought the King that the lawes of the two Charters might bee obserued and that the great officers of the Crowne might bee chosen by parliament COVNS But what successe had these petitions IVST The Charters were observed as before
good Lord that a subsidy was then denied the reasons are delivered in Enlish histories indeed the King not long before had spent much treasure in ayding the Duke of Britaine to no purpose for hee drew ouer the King but to drawe on good conditions for himselfe as the Earle of March his father in law now did As the English Barons did invite Lewes of France not long before as in elder times all the kings and states had done and in late yeares the Leaguers of France entertayned the Spaniards and the French Protestants and Netherlands Queene Elizabeth not with any purpose to greaten those that ayde them but to purchase to themselues an advantageous peace But what say the histories to this deniall they say with a world of payments there mentioned that the King had drawne the Nobility drie And besides that whereas not long before great summes of mony were giuen and the same appointed to be kept in foure castles and not to be expended but by the aduice of the Peeres it was beleeved that the same treasure was yet vnspent COVNS Good Sir you haue said enough judge you whether it were not a dishonour to the King to be so tyed as not to expend his treasure but by other mens aduice as it were by their licence IVST Surely my Lord the King was well aduised to take the mony vpon any condition they were fooles that propounded the restraint for it doth not appeare that the King tooke any great heed to those ouerseers Kings are bound by their piety and by no other obligation In Queene Maries time when it was thought that shee was with child it was propounded in Parliament that the rule of the Realme should bee giuen to king Philip during the minority of the hoped Prince or Princesse and the king offered his assurance in great summes of money to relinquish the government at such time as the Prince or Princesse should bee of age At which motion when all else were silent in the house Lord Dueres who was none of the wisest asked who shall sue the kinges bondes which ended the dispute for what bonde is betweene a king and his vassals then the bond of the kinges faith But my good Lord the king notwithstanding the deniall at that time was with gifts from perticular parsons otherwise supplyed for proceeding of his iourney for that time into France he tooke with him 30 caskes filled with silver and coyne which was a great treasure in those dayes And lastly notwithstanding the first denyall in the Kings absence hee had Escuage graunted him to wit 20 s of euery Knights Fee COVNS What say you then to the 28◠yeare of that King in which when the King demaunded reliefe the states would not consent except the same former order had bin taken for the appointing of 4 overseers for the treasure As also that the Lord chief Iustice the Lord Chancellor should be chosē by the states with some Barōs of the exchequor other officers IVS My good Lord admit the King had yeelded their demaunds then whatsoever had beene ordained by those magistrates to the dislike of the Common wealth the people had beene without remedie whereas while the King made them they had their appeale and other remedies But those demaunds vanished and in the end the King had escuage giuen him without any of their conditions It is an excellent vertue in a King to haue patience and to giue way to the fury of mens passions The whale when he is stroken by the fisherman growes into that fury that he cannot be resisted but will overthrowe all the ships and barkes that come in to his way but when he hath tumbled a while hee is drawne to the shore with a twind thred COVNS What say you then to the Parliament in the 29 th of that King IVST I say that the commons being vnable to pay the king relieues himselfe vpon the richer sort and soe it likewise happened in the 33 of that king in which hee was relieued chiefely by the Citty of London But my good Lord in the Parliament in London in the 38 yeare he had giuen him the tenth of all the revenues of the Church for three yeares and 3 markes of every knights Fee throughout the kingdome vpō his promise oath vpon the obscruing of magna Charta but in the end of the same yeare the king being thē in France he was denyed the aydes which he required What is this to the danger of a Parliament especially at this time they had reason to refuse they had giuen so great a some in the beginning of the same yeare And again because it was known that the King had but pretended warre with the king of Castile with whome he had secretly contracted an alliance and concluded a marriage betwixt his sonne Edward and the Lady Elenor. These false fires doe but freight Children and it commonly falles out that when the cause giuen is knowne to be false the necessity pretended is thought to be fained Royall dealing hath euermore Royall successe and as the King was denied in the eight thirtyeth yeare so was he denyed in the nine thirtieth yeare because the Nobility and the people saw that the King was abused by the Pope it plainly who aswell in despite to Manfred bastard son to the Emperour Fredericke the second as to cozen the King and to wast him would needes bestowe on the King the kingdome of Sicilie to recouer which the King sent all the treasure he could borrow or scrape to the Pope and withall gaue him letters of credence for to take vp what he could in Italy the King binding himselfe for the payment Now my good Lord the wisdome of Princes is seen in nothing more then in their enterprises So how vnpleasing it was to the State of England to consume the treasure of the land in the conquest of Sicily so farre of and otherwise for that the English had lost Normandy vnder their noses and so many goodly parts of France of their owne proper inheritances the reason of the deniall is as well to be considered as the denyall CONS Was not the King also denyed a subsidie in the fourty first of his raigne IVST No my Lord for although the King required mony as before for the impossible conquest of Sicily yet the house offered to giue 52000 markes which whether hee refused or accepted is vncertaine whilst the King dreamed of Sicily the Welsh inuaded spoyled the borders of England for in the Parliament of London when the King vrged the house for the prosecuting the cōquest of Sicily the Lords vtterly disliking the attempt vrged the prosecuting of the Welshmen which Parlament being proroged did again assemble at Oxford was called the madde Parlamēt which was no other thē an assembly of rebels for the Royall assent of the K. which giues life to all lawes form'd by the three estates was not a Royal assent when both
Commons of the Clergy in the South hee had the tenth penny and in the North the fift penny In the two and thirtyeth yeare he had a subsedy freely graunted In the three and thirtyeth yeare hee confirmed the great Charter of his owne Royall disposition and the states to shew their thankfulnesse gaue the king for one yeare the fift part of all the revenues of the land and of the Citizens the sixt part of their goods And in the same yeare the king vsed the inquisition called Traile Baston By which all Iustices and other Magistrates were grievously fined that had vsed extortion or bribery or had otherwise misdemeaned themselues to the great contentation of the people This commission likewise did enquire of intruders barrators all other the like vermine whereby the king gathered a great masse of treasure with a great deale of loue Now for the whole raigne of this king who governed England 35 yeares there was not any Parliament to his preiudice COVNS But there was taking of armes by Marshall and Hereford IVST That 's true but why was that because the king notwithstanding all that was giuen him by Parliament did lay the greatest taxes that ever king did without their consent But what lost the king by those Lords one of them gaue the king all his lands the other dyed in disgrace COVNS But what say you to the Parliament in Edward the Seconds time his successor did not the house of Parliament banish Peirce Gaueston whom the king favoured IVST But what was this Gaueston but an Esquier of Gascoine formerly banisht the Realme by king Edward the first for corrupting the Prince Edward now raigning And the whole kingdome fearing and detesting his venemous disposition they besought his Maiesty to cast him off which the king performed by an act of his owne and not by act of Parliament yea Gauestons owne fatherinlawe the Earle of Glocesterw as one of the Chiefest of the Lords that procured it And yet finding the kings affection to follow him so strongly they all consented to haue him recalled After which when his credit so increased that hee despised and set at naught all the auncient Nobility and not onely perswaded the king to all manner of outrages and riots but withall transported what he listed of the kings treasure and jewels the Lords vrged his banishment the second time but neither was the first nor second banishment forced by acte of parliament but by the forceable Lords his enemies Lastly hee being recalled by the king the Earle of Lancaster caused his head to bee stricken off when those of his party had taken him prisoner By which presumptuous acts the Earle and the rest of his company committed treason and murder treason by raysing an army without warrant murder by taking away the life of the kings subiect After which Gaveston being dead the Spencers got possession of the kings favour though the younger of them was placed about the K. by the Lords themselues COVNS What say you then to the Parliament held at London about the sixt yeare of that king IVST I say that king was not bound to performe the acts of this parliament because the Lords beeing too strong for the king inforced his consent for these be the words of our own history They wrested too much beyond the boūds of reasō CONS What say you to the Parliaments of the white wands in the 13 th of the king IVST I say the Lords that were so moued came with an army and by strong hand surprised the King they constrained sayth the story the rest of the Lords and compelled many of the Bishops to consent vnto them yea it sayth further that the king durst not but graunt to all that they required to wit for the banishment of the Spencers Yea they were so insolent that they refused to lodge the Queene cōming through Kent in the Castle of Leedes and sent her to prouide her lodging where shee could get it so late in the night for which notwithstanding some that kept her out were soone after taken and hang'd and the refore your Lordship cannot call this a Parliament for the reasons before alleaged But my Lord what became of these Lawgiuers to the king even when they were greatest a knight of the North called Andrew Herkeley assembled the Forces of the Countrey ouerthrew them and their army slewe the Earle of Hereford and other Barons tooke their generall Thomas Earle of Lancaster the Kinges cozen-germane at that tyme possessed of fiue Earledomes the Lords Clifford Talbort Mowbray Maudiut Willington Warren Lord Darcy Withers Kneuill Leybourne Bekes Louell Fitzwilliams Watervild and diverse other Barons Knights and Esquires and soone after the Lord Percy and the Lord Warren tooke the Lords Baldsemere and the Lord Audley the Lord Teis Gifford Tuchet and many others that fled from the battaile the most of which past vnder the hands of the hangman for constraining the King vnder the colour and name of a Parliament But this your good Lordship may iudge to whom those tumultuous assemblies which our histories falsely call Parliaments haue beene daungerous the Kings in the end ever preuailed and the Lords lost their liues estates After which the Spencers in their banishment at Yorke in the 15 th of the King were restored to the honors and estates and therein the King had a subsedy giuen him the sixt penny of goods throughout England Ireland and Wales COVNS Yet you see the Spencers were soone after dissolued IVST It is true my Lord but that is nothing to our subiect of Parliament they may thanke their owne insolencie for they branded despised the Queene whom they ought to haue honored as the Kings wife they were also exceeding greedy built thēselues vpon other mens ruines they were ambitious exceeding malitious wherevpon that came that when Chamberlaine Spencer was hang'd in Hereford a part of the 24 th Psalme was written over his head Quid gloriaris in malitia potens COVNS Well Sir you haue all this while excused your selfe vpon the strength and rebellions of the Lords but what say you now to King Edward the third in whose time and during the time of this victorious king no man durst take Armes or rebel the three estates did him the greatest affront that euer king receiued or endured therefore I conclude where I began that these Parliaments are dangerous for a king IVST To answere your Lordship in order may it please you first to call minde what was giuen this great king by his Subjects before the dispute betwixt him and the house happened which was in his latter dayes from his first yeare to his fift yeare there was nothing giuen the king by his subjects In his eight yeare at the Parliament at London a tenth and a fifteenth was graunted in his tenth yeare hee ceased vpon the Italians goods heere in England to his owne vse with all the goods of the Monkes Cluniacqs and others of the order of the Cistertians
hands much more ought the great heart of a King to disdaine it And surely my Lord it is a greater treason though it vndercreepe the law to teare from the Crowne the ornaments thereof And it is an infallible maxime that hee that loues not his Majesties estate loues not his person COVNS How came it then that the acte was not executed IVS. Because these against vvhom it was graunted perswaded the King to the contrary As the Duke of Ireland Suffolke the chief Iustice Trisilian others yea that which vvas lawfully done by the King and the great Councell of the kingdome was by the mastery which Ireland Suffolke and Tresilian had ouer the Kings affections broken and disavowed Those that devised to relieue the King not by any private invention but by generall Councell were by a private and partiall assemblie adjudged traytors and the most honest Iudges of the land enforced to subscribe to that judgment In so much that Iudge Belknap plainely told the Duke of Ireland and the Earle of Suffolke when hee was constrained to set to his hand plainely told these Lords that he wanted but a rope that he might therewith receiue a reward for his subscription And in this Councell of Nottingham vvas hatched the ruine of those which governed the King of the Iudges by them constrained of the Lords that loued the King and sought a reformation and of the King himselfe for though the King found by all the Shreeues of the shires that the people would not fight against the Lords whom they thought to bee most faithfull vnto the King when the Citizens of London made the same answere beeing at that time able to arme 50000◠men told the Major that they would never fight against the Kings friends and defenders of the Realme when the Lord Ralph Basset who was neere the K. told the King boldly that hee would not adventure to haue his head broken for the Duke of Irelands pleasure vvhen the Lord of London told the Earle of Suffolke in the Kings presence that he was not worthy to liue c. yet vvould the King in the defence of the destroyers of his estate lay ambushes to entrap the Lords when they came vpon his faith yea when all was pacified and that the King by his Proclamation had clear'd the Lords and promised to produce Ireland Suffolke the Archbishop of Yorke Tresilian Bramber to answer at the next Parliament these men confest that they durst not appeare and when Suffolke fled to Callice and the Duke of Ireland to Chester the King caused an army to be leavied in Lancashire for the safe conduct of the Duke of Ireland to his presence when as the Duke being encountered by the Lords ranne like a coward from his company fled into Holland After this vvas holden a Parliament which vvas called that vvrought vvonders In the eleuenth yeare of this King wherein the forenamed Lords the Duke of Ireland the rest were condemned and confiscate the Chiefe Iustice hang'd with many others the rest of the Iudges condemned banisht a 10 th and a 15 th given to the King COVNS But good Sir the King was first besieged in the Tower of London and the Lords came to the Parliament no man durst contradict them IVST Certainly in raising an army they committed treason and though it did appeare that they all loued the King for they did him no harme hauing him in their power yet our law doth construe all leavying of war without the kings commission and all force raised to be intended for the death destruction of the K. not attending the sequell And it is so judged vpon good reason for every vnlawfull and ill action is suppos'd to be accompanied with an ill intēt And besides those Lords vsed too great cruelty in procuring the sentence of death against diuers of the Kings servaunts who were bound to follow and obey their Master and Soveraigne Lord in that hee commaunded COVNS It is true and they were also greatly to blame to cause then so many seconds to be put to death seeing the principalls Ireland Suffolke and Yorke had escaped them And what reason had they to seeke to enforme the State by strong hand was not the Kinges estate as deere to himselfe as to them He that maketh a King know his errour manerly and priuate and giues him the best aduice hee is discharged before God and his owne conscience The Lords might haue retired themselues when they saw they could not prevaile and haue left the King to his owne wayes who had more to loose then they had IVST My Lord the taking of Armes cannot be excused in respect of the law but this might be said for the Lords that the K. being vnder yeres being wholly governed by their enimies the enimies of the kingdome because by those evill mens perswasiōs it was aduised how the Lords should haue bin murthered at a feast in London they were excusable during the kings minority to stand vpō their guards against their particular enemies But we will passe it ouer and go on with our parliaments that followed whereof that of Cambridge in the K s 12 th yeare was the next therein the K. had giuen him a 10 th a 15 th after which being 20. yeares of age rechāged saith H. Kinghton his Treasurer his Chancellor the Iustices of either bench the Clerk of the priuy seale others tooke the gouernment into his own hands Hee also tooke the Admirals place frō the Earle of Arundell in his roome hee placed the Earle of Huntingdon in the yeare following which was the 13 th yeare of the K. in the Parliament at Westminster there was giuen to the King vpon every sacke of wooll 14 s and 6 d in the pound vpon other marchandize COVNS But by your leaue the King was restrained this parliament that he might not dispose of but a third part of the money gathered IVST No my Lord by your fauour But true it is that part of this mony was by the Kings consent assigned towards the wars but yet left in the Lord Treasurers hands And my Lo it would be a great ease a great sauing to his Maiestie our Lord and Master if it pleased him to make his assignations vpon some part of his revenewes by which he might haue 1000◠vpon every 10000◠and saue himselfe a great deale of clamour For seeing of necessity the Nauy must be maintained that those poore men aswell Carpenters as ship keepers must be paid it were better for his Maiesty to giue an assignation to the treasurer of his nauy for the receiuing of so much as is called ordinary then to discontent those poore men who being made desperate beggers may perchance be corrupted by them that lye in waite to destroy the K s estate And if his Maiesty did the like in all other payments especially where the necessity of such as are to receiue cannot possible giues daies
this summe strangers not being inhabitants aboue 16 yeares 4 â— a head All that had Lands Fees and Annuities from 20 to 5â— and so double as they did for goods And the Cleargy gaue 6 the pound In the thirty seuenth yeare a Benevolence was taken not voluntary but rated by Commissioners which because one of the Aldermen refused to pay he was sent for a soldier into Scotland He had also another great subsedy of sixe shillings the pound of the Clergy and two shillings eight pence of the goods of the Laity and foure shillings the pound vpon Lands In the second yeare of Edward the sixt the Parliament gaue the King an ayde of twelue pence the pound of goods of his Natural subiects and two shillings the pound of strangers and this to continue for three yeares and by the statute of the second and third of Edward the sixt it may appeare the same Parliament did also giue a second ayde as followeth to wit of euery Ewe kept in seuerall pastures 3 of euery weather kept as aforesaid 2 â— of euery sheepe kept in the Common 1 â— ob The House gaue the King also 8 the pound of euery woollen cloath made for the sale throughout England for three yeares In the third and fourth of the King by reason of the troublesome gathering of the polymony vpon sheepe the taxe vpon cloath this acte of subsedy was repeal'd and other reliefe giuen the King and in the kings seauenth yeare hee had a subsedy and two fifteenes In the first yeare of Queene Mary tunnage and poundage were granted In the second yeare a subsedy was giuen to King Philip and to the Queene shee had also a third subsedy in Annis 4. 5. Now my Lord for the Parliaments of the late Queenes time in which there was nothing new neither head money nor sheepe money nor escuage nor any of these kindes of payments was required but onely the ordinary subsedies those as easily graunted as demaunded I shall not neede to trouble your Lordship with any of them neither can I informe your Lordship of all the passages and actes which haue passed for they are not extant nor printed COVNS No it were but time lost to speake of the latter and by those that are alreadie remembred we may iudge of the rest for those of the greatest importance are publique But I pray you deale freely with mee what you thinke would bee done for his Maiestie if hee should call a Parliament at this time or what would bee required at his Maiesties hands IVST The first thing that would be required would be the same that vvas required by the Commons in the thirtenth yeare of H. the 8 to wit that if any man of the commons house should speake more largely then of duety hee ought to doe all such offences to be pardoned and that to be of record COVNS So might euery Companion speake of the King what they list IVST No my Lord the reuerence vvhich a Vassall ovyeth to his Soueraigne is alvvaies intended for euery speech howsoeuer it must import the good of the King and his estate and so long it may bee easily pardoned othervvise not for in Queene Elizabeths time vvho gaue freedome of speech in all Parliaments vvhen Wentworth made those motions that were but supposed dangerous to the Queenes estate he was imprisoned in the Towre notwithstanding the priviledge of the house and there died COVNS What say you to the Scicilian vespers remembred in the last Parliament IVST I say hee repented him heartily that vsed that speech and indeede besides that it was seditious this example held not The French in Scicily vsurped that Kingdome they kept neither law nor faith they tooke away the inheritance of the Inhabitants they tooke from them their wiues and rauished their daughters committing all other insolencies that could bee imagined The Kings Maiesty is the Naturall Lord of England his Vassals of Scotland obey the English Lawes if they breake them they are punished without respect Yea his Maiesty put one of his Barons to a shamefull death for being consenting onely to the death of a Common Fencer And which of these euer did or durst commit any outrage in England but to say the trueth the opinion of packing the last was the cause of the contention and disorder that happened COVNS Why sir doe you not think it best to compound a Parliament of the Kings seruaunts and others that shall in all obey the kings desires IVST Certainely no for it hath neuer succeeded well neither on the kings part nor on the subiects as by the Parliament before-remembred your Lordshippe may gather for from such a composition doe arise all jealousies and all contentions It was practized in elder times to the great trouble of the kingdome and to the losse and ruine of many It was of latter time vsed by King Henry the eight but euery way to his disadvantage When the King leaues himselfe to his people they assure themselues that they are trusted and beloued of their king and there was neuer any assembly so barbarous as not to aunswere the loue and trust of their King Henry the sixt when his estate was in effect vtterly ouerthrowne vtterly impouerished at the humble request of his Treasurer made the same knowne to the House or otherwise vsing the Treasurers owne words Hee humbly desired the King to take his staffe that hee might saue his wardship COVNS But you know they will presently bee in hand with those impositions which the King hath laid by his owne royall prerogatiue IVST Perchance not my Lord but rather with those impositions that haue beene by some of your Lordships laide vpon the King which did not some of your Lordships feare more than you doe the impositions laid vpon the Subjects you would neuer disswade his Majestie from a Parliament For no man doubted but that his Majestie was advised to lay those impositions by his Councell and for particular things on which they were laid the aduice came from petty fellowes though now great ones belonging to the Custome-house Now my Lord what prejudice hath his Majestie his revenue beeing kept vp if the impositions that were laid by the aduice of a few be in Parliament laid by the generall Councell of the kingdome which takes off all grudging and complaint COVNS Yea Sir but that which is done by the King with the aduice of his priuate or priuy Councell is done by the Kings absolute power IVS. And by whose power is it done in Parliament but by the Kinges absolute power mistake it not my Lord The 3 estates doe but advise as the priuy Councel doth which advice if the king embrace it becomes the kings own acte in the one the kings law in the other for without the kings acceptation both the publicke priuate aduices bee but as empty egge-shels and what doth his Majestie loose if some of those things which concerns the poorer sort be made free
the feare of imparing the one to wit the prerogatiue is so impossible and the burthen of the other to wit the lawe so waighty as but by a branch of the Kings prerogatiue namely of his remission and pardon the subiect is no way able to vndergoe it This my Lord is no matter of flourish that I haue said but it is the truth and vnanswerable COVNS But to execute the lawes very severely would be very grievous IVST Why my Lord are the Lawes grievous which our selues haue required of our Kings and are the prerogatiues also which our Kings haue reserued to themselues also grieuous how caÌ„ such a people then be well pleased And if your Lordship confesse that the lawes giue too much why does your Lordship vrge the prerogatiue that giues more Nay I will be bold to say it that except the Lawes were better obserued the prerogatiue of a religious Prince hath manifold lesse perils then the letter of the Lawe hath Now my Lord for the second third to wit for the appointing of Treasurers and remouing of Counsellers our Kings haue evermore laught them to scorne that haue prest either of these after the Parliament dissolued tooke the money of the Treasurers of the Parliament and recalled restored the officers discharged or else they haue bin contented that so me such persons should be remoued at the request of the whole kingdome which they themselues out of their noble natures would not seeme willing to remoue COVNS Well Sir would you notwithstanding all these arguments advise his Maiesty to call a Parlament IVST It belongs to your Lordships who enioy the Kings favour are chosen for your able wisdome to advise the K. It were a strange boldnesse in a poore and priuate person to advise Kings attended with so vnderstanding a Councell But belike your Lordships haue conceiued some other way how money may be gotten otherwise If any trouble should happen your Lordship knowes that then there were nothing so daungerous for a King as to be without money a Parliament cannot assemble in haste but present dangers require hasty remedies It wil be no time then to discontent the subjects by vsing any vnordinary wayes COVNS Well Sir all this notwithstanding wee dare not advise the king to call a parliament for if it should succeede ill wee that advise should fall into the kings disgrace And if the king be driuen into any extremity wee can say to the K. that because we found it extreamely vnpleasing to his Maiestie to heare of a Parliament we thought it no good manners to make such a motion IVST My Lord to the first let me tell you that there was never any iust Prince that hath taken any advantage of the successe of Councels which haue beene founded on reason To feare that were to feare the losse of the bell more then the losse of the steeple and were also the way to beate all men from the studies of the Kings seruice But for the second where you say you can excuse your selues vpon the Kinges owne protesting against a parliament the king vpon better consideration may encounter that finenesse of yours COVNS How I pray you IVST Even by declaring himselfe to be indifferent by calling your Lordships together and by delivering vnto you that he heares how his loving subiects in generall are willing to supply him if it please him to call a Parliament for that was the common answere to all the Sheriffes in England when the late benevolence was commaunded In which respect and because you come short in all your proiects and because it is a thing most daungerous for a King to be without treasure he requires such of you as either mislike or rather feare a parliament to set downe your reasons in writing which you either misliked or feared it And such as wish and desire it to set downe answeres to your obiections And so shall the King prevent the calling or not calling on his Maiesty as some of your great Councellers haue done in many other things shrinking vp their shoulders and saying the K. will haue it so COVNS Wel Sir it growes late and I will bid you farewell only you shall take well with you this advice of mine thst in all that you haue said against our greatest those men in the end shal be your Iudges in their owne cause you that trouble your selfe with reformation are like to be well rewarded for hereof you may assure your selfe that wee will never allow of any invention how profitable soeuer vnlesse it proceede or seeme to proceede from our selues IVST If then my Lord wee may presume to say that Princes may be vnhappy in any thing certainly they are vnhappy in nothing more then in suffering themselues to be so inclosed Againe if we may beleeu Pliny who tels vs that t' is an ill signe of prosperity in any kingdome or state where such as deserue well find no other recompence then the contentment of their owne consciences a farre worse signe is it where the justly accused shall take revenge of the just accuser But my good Lord there is this hope remaining that seeing he hath beene abused by them he trusted most hee will not for the future dishonour of his iudgment so well informed by his owne experience as to expose such of his vassals as haue had no other motiues to serue him then simply the loue of his person and his estate to their revenge who haue only beene moued by the loue of their owne fortunes and their glory COVNS But good Sir the King hath not beene deceiued by all IVST No my Lord neither haue all beene trusted neither doth the world accuse all but beleeue that there be among your Lordships very just and worthy men aswell of the Nobility as others but those though most honoured in the Common-wealth yet haue they not beene most imployed your Lordship knowes it well enough that 3 or 4 of your Lordships haue thought your hands strong enough to beare vp alone the weightiest affaires in the Common-wealth and strong enough all the land haue found them to beate downe whom they pleased COVNS I vnderstand you but how shall it appeare that they haue onely sought themselues IVST There needes no perspectiue glasse to discerne it for neither in the treaties of peace and warre in matters of revenue and matters of trade any thing hath happened either of loue or of judgment No my Lord there is not any one action of theirs eminent great or small the greatnesse of themselues only excepted COVNS It is all one your papers can neither answere nor reply we can Besides you tell the King no newes in delivering these complaints for hee knowes as much as can be told him IVST For the first my Lord whereas he hath once the reasons of things deliuered him your Lordships shall neede to be well advised in their answeres there is no sophistrie wil serue the turne where the Iudge the vnderstaÌ„ding are both supreame For the 2 d to say that his Maiesty knowes cares not that my Lord were but to despaire all his faithfull subiects But by your fauour my Lord wee see it is contrary wee find now that there is no such singular power as there hath beene justice is described with a ballance in her hand holding it even and it hangs as even now as ever it did in any kings dayes for singular authority begets but generall oppression COVNS Howsoeuer it be that 's nothing to you that haue no interest in the kings fauour nor perchance in his opinion concerning such a one the misliking or but misconceiuing of any one hard word phrase or sentence will giue argumeÌ„t to the K. either to coÌ„demn or reiect the whole discourse And howsoever his Mâ— may neglect your informations you may be sure that others at whom you point wil not neglect their revenges you will therefore confesse it when it is too late that you are exceeding sory that you haue not followed my aduice RemeÌ„ber Cardinall Woolsey who lost all men for the Kings service and when their malice whom hee grieved had out-liued the Kings affection you know what became of him as well as I. IVST Yea my Lord I know it well that malice hath a longer life than either loue or thankfulnesse hath for as we alwaies take more care to put off paine than to enjoy pleasure because the one hath no intermission with the other we are often satisfied so it is in the smart of injury and the memory of good turnes Wrongs are written in marble Benefits are sometimes acknowledged rarely requited But my Lord wee shall doe the K. great wrong to judge him by common rules or ordinary examples for seeing his Majesty hath greatly enriched and advanced those that haue but pretended his service no man needes to doubt of his goodnesse towards those that shal performe any thing worthy reward Nay the not taking knowledge of those of his owne vassals that haue done him wrong is more to be lamented than the relinquishing of those that doe him right is to be suspected I am therefore my good Lo held to my resolutioÌ„ by these a besides the former The 1 that God would neuer haue blest him with so many yeres in so many actioÌ„s yea in all his actions had he paid his honest servants with evill for good The 2 d where your Lordship tells me that I will be 〈◊〉 for not following your aduice I pray your Lordship to belieue that I am no way subiect to the common sorrowing 〈◊〉 worldly men this Maxime of Plato beeing true Dolores aex amore animi orga corpus noscuntur But for my body my mind values it at nothing COVNS What is it then you hope for or seeke IVST Neither riches nor honour nor thankes but I only seeke to satisfie his Majestie which I would haue bin glad to haue done in matters of more importance that I haue liu'd and will die an honest man EINIS The Authours Epitaph made by himselfe EVen such is Time which takes in trust Our Youth and Ioy 's and all wee haue And payes vs but with age and dust Which in the darke and silent graue When wee haue wandred all our wayes Shuts vp the story of our daies And from which Earth and Graue and Dust The Lord shall raise mee vp I trust Humanum est erraâ—eâ— Hen. 5. Hen. 6. Edw. 6. M. R. Eliz. R. Q. E.