Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
kingdom_n	king_n	people_n	see_v	6,159	5	3.7814	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A28070	A charge given by the most eminent and learned Sr. Francis Bacon, Kt., late Lord Chancellor of England, at a sessions holden for the verge, in the reign of the late King James declaring the latitude of the jurisdiction thereof, and the offences therein inquireable, as well by the common-law, as by several statutes herein particularly mentioned.	Bacon, Francis, 1561-1626.	1662 (1662)	Wing B276; ESTC R17806	9,379	23

A CHARGE Given by the most Eminent and Learned S r. FRANCIS BACON K t. Late Lord Chancellor of England at a Sessions holden for the VERGE in the Reign of the Late King IAMES DECLARING The Latitude of the Jurisdiction thereof and the Offences therein inquireable as well by the Common-Law as by several STATUTES herein particularly mentioned Lex vitiorum emendatrix virtutum commendatrix est LONDON Printed for Robert Pawley at the Signe of the Bible in Chancery Lane near the Temple 1662. Sir FRANCIS BACON'S CHARGE At the SESSIONS of the VERGE YOU are to know and consider well the Duty and Service to which you are called and whereupon you are by your Oath charged It is the happy estate and condition of the Subject of this Realm of England that he is not to be impeached in his Life Lands or Goods by flying rumours and wandring fames and reports or secret and private Inquisitions But by the Oath and Presentment of men of honest condition in the face of Justice But this happy estate of the Subject will turn to hurt and inconvenience if those that hold that part which you are now to perform shall be negligent and remiss in doing their duty for as of two evils it were better mens doings were looked into over strictly and severely then that there should be a notorious impunity of Malefactors as was well and wisely said of ancient time A man were better live where nothing is lawful then where all things are lawful This therefore rests in your care and conscience forasmuch as at you Justice begins and the Law cannot parsue and chuse offenders to their deserved Fall● except you first put then up and dis\cover them whereby they may be brought to answer for your Verdict is concluding to condemn But it is necessary to charge and without it the Court cannot proceed to condemn Considering therefore that you are the Eye of Justice ye ought to be single without partial affection watchful not asleep nor false asleep winking at Offenders and sharp sighted to proceed with underst●nding and discretetion for in a word if you shall not present unto the Court all such offences as shall appear unto you either by evidence given in or otherwise mark what I say of your own knowledge which have been committed within the Verge which is as it were the Limits of your Survey but shall smother and conceal any offence willingly then the guiltiness of others will cleave to your Consciences before God and besides you are answerable in some degree to the King and his Law for such your default and Suppression and therefore take good regard unto it you are to serve the King and his people you are to keep and observe your Oath you are to acquit your selves But there is yet more cause why you should take more especial regard to your Presentments then any other grand Juries within the Counties of this Kingdome at large for as it is a neerer degree and approach unto the King which is the fountain of Justice and Government to be the Kings Servant then to be the Kings Subject So this Commission ordained for the Kings Servants and Houshold ought in the execution of Justice to be exemplary unto other places David saith who was a King The wicked man shall not abide in my house as taking knowledge that it was impossible for Kings to Banish Wickednesse by the extending of all their power and care over all their Land or Empire yet at least they ought to undertake to God for their House We see further that the Law doth so esteem the Dignity of the Kings setled Mansion house as it hath laid unto it a Plot of twelve miles round which we call the Verge to be Subject to a special exempted Jurisdiction depending upon his Person and great Officers this is as a half pace or Carpet spread about the Kings Chair of Estate which therefore ought to be cleared and void more then other places of the Kingdome for if offences shall be shrouded under the Kings Wings what hope is there of Discipline and Justice in more remote parts We see the Sun when it is at the Brightest there may be perhaps a Bank of Clouds in the North or West or remote regions but near his Body few or none for where the King cometh there should come Peace and Order and an awe and reverence in mens hearts And this jurisdiction was in ancient time executed and since by Statute ratified by the Lord Steward with great Ceremony in the nature of a peculiar Kings Bench for the Verge for it was thought a kind of Ecclipsing to the Kings Honour that where the King was any Justice should be sought but immediately from his own Officers But in respect that office was oft void this Commission hath succeeded which change I do not dislike for though it hath less State yet it hath more strength Legally Therefore I say you that are a Jury of the Verge should leave and give a Pattern unto others in the care and conscience of your Presentments Concerning the particular points and Articles whereof you shal● inquire I will help your memory and mine own with order neither will I lead you or trouble my self with every Branch of several offences but stand upon those that are principal and most in use The offences whereof that you are to present are of four Natures The first Such as concern God and his Church The second Such as concern the King and His State The Third such as concern the Kings people and are capital The fourth such as concern the Kings People not Capital The Service of Almighty God upon whose Blessing the Peace Safety and good estate of King and Kingdome doth depend may be violated and God dishonoured in three manners by Profanation by contempt and by division or breach of Unity First if any man hath depraved or abused in word or Deed the Blessed Sacrament or disturbed the Preacher or Congregation in the time of Divine Service or if any have maliciously stricken with weapon or drawn weapon in any Church or Church-yard or if any Fair or Market have been kept in any Church yard these are Prophanations within the purview of several Statutes and those you are to present for Holy things Actions Times and Sacred places are to be preferred in reverence and Divine respect For contempts of our Church and Service they are comprehended in that known name which too many if it pleased God bear Recusancy which offence hath many Branches and Dependencies the Wife Recusant she tempts the Church-Papist he feeds and relevies the corrupt Schoolmaster he soweth ta●es the Dissembler he conformeth and doth not communicate Therefore if any person Man or Woman Wife or Sole above the age of Sixteen years not having some lawful excuse have not repaired to Church according to the several Statutes the one for the Weekly the other for the Monthly repair you are to present both

the offence and the time how long Again such as maintain relieve keep in Service of Livery Recusants though themselves be none you are likewise to present for these are like the Roots of Nettles which sting not themselves but bear and maintain the stinging Leaves So if any that keepeth a Schoolmaster that comes not to Church or is not allowed by the Bishop for that Infection may spread for so such Recusants as have been convicted and conform'd and have not received the Sacrament once a year for that is the Touch-stone of their true Conversion and of these offences of Recusants take you especial regard Twelve Miles from Court is no region for such Subjects In the Name of God why should not Twelve miles about the Kings Chair be as free from Papist Recusants as twelve Miles from the City of Rome the Popes Chair is from Protestants There are Hypocrites and Atheists and so I fear there be amongst us But no open contempt of their Religion is endured If there must be Recusants it were better they lurked in the Country then here in the Bosome of the Kingdome For matter of Division and Breach of unity it is not without a mystery that Christs Coat had no Seam nor no more should the Church if it were possible Therefore if any Minister refuse the Book of Common Prayer or wilfully swearveth in Divine Service from that Book or if any person whatsoever do scandalize that Book or if any person whatsoever do and speak openly and maliciously in derogation of it such men do but make a rent in the Garment and such are by you to be enquired of But much more such as are not only differing but in a sort opposite unto it by using a superstitious and corrupt form of Divine Service I mean such as say or hear Masse These Offences which I have recited to you are against the Service and Worship of God there remain two which likewise pertain to the Dishonour of God the one is the abuse of his Name by Perjury the other is the adhearing to Gods declared Enemies evil and out-cast spirits by Conjuration and Witchcraft For Perjury it is hard to say whether it be more odious to God or pernicious to man for an Oath saith the Apostle is the end of Controversies if therefore that Boundary of Suits be taken away or mis-set where shall be the end Therefore you are to enquire of wilful and corrupt perjury in any of the Kings Courts yea of the Court Barons and the like and that as well of the Actors as of the Procurers and Subborners For Witchcraft by the former Law it was not Death except it were actual and grosse of invocation of evil Spirits or making Covenant with them or taking away Life by Witchcraft But now by an Act in his Majesty's times Charms and Sorceries in certain cases of procuring of unlawful love or Bodily hurt and others are made Felony the second offence the first being Imprisonment and Pillory And here I do conclude my first part concerning Religion and Ecclesiastical Causes wherein it may be thought that I do forget matters of Supremacy or of Jesuits and Seminaries and the like which are usually sorted with Causes of Religion But I must have leave to direct my self according to mine own perswasion which is that whatsoever hath been said or written on the other side All the late Statutes which inflict capital punishment upon Extollers of the Popes Supremacy Deniers of the Kings Supremacy Jesuits and Seminaries and other Offenders of that nature have for their principal scope not the punishment of the Error of Conscience but the repressing of the peril of the estate This is the true Spirit of the Laws and therefore I will place them under my second Devision which is of Offences which concern the King and his estate to which now I come These Offences therefore respect either the Safety of the Kings Person or the Safety of his Estate and Kingdome which though they cannot be dissevered in deed yet they may be distinguished in speech First then if any have conspired against the life of the King which God have in his custody or of the Queens Majesty or of the most noble Prince their eldest Son the very compassing and very imagination thereof is High Treason if it can be proved by any fact that is overt for in the case of so suddain dark and pernicious and peremptory attempts it were too late for the Law to take a Blowe before it gives and this High Treason of all other is most heynous of which you shall enquire though I hope there be no cause There is another capital offence that hath an affinity with this whereof you here within the Verge are most properly to enquire the Kings Privy Councel are as the principal Watch over the Safety of the King so as their Safety is a portion of his if therefore any of the Kings Servants within his Chequer Roll for to them only the Law extends have conspired the death of any the Kings Privy Councel this is Felony and thereof you shall enquire And since we are now in that Branch of the Kings Person I will speak also of the Kings Person by representation and the Treasons which touch the same The Kings Person and Authority is represented in three things in his Seals in his Moneys and in his principal Magistrates if therefore any have counterfeited clipp'd or scaled his moneys or other moneys currant this is high Treason so to kill certain great Officers or Judges executing their Office We will passe now to those Treasons which concern the safety of the Kings State which are of three kinds answering to three perils which may happen to an estate these perils are Foreign Invasions open Rebellion and Sedition and privy practise to alienate and estrange the hearts of the Subject and to prepare them either to adhear to enemies or to burst out into tumults and commotions of themselves Therefore if any person have sollicited or procured any invasion from Forreigners or if any have combined to raise and stir the People to Rebellion within the Realm these are high Treasons tending to the overthrow of the State of this Common-wealth and to be enquired of The third part of practice hath divers branches but one principal root in these our times which is the vast and over-spreading ambition and usurpation of the See of Rome for the Pope of Rome is according to his last challenge and pretences become a Competitor and Corival with the King for the hearts and allienations of the people and to make them as Fuel ready to take fire upon any of his Commands This is that yoke which this Kingdome hath happily cast off even at such time when the Popish Religion was neverthelesse continued and that divers States which are the Popes Vassalls do begin to shake of If therefore any person have maintained and

you still dividing to give you the better light they are of three Natures The first is matter of force and outrage The second matter of fraud and deceipt The third Breach and inobservance of certain wholsome and politick Laws for Government For the first you shall enquire of Riots and unlawful Assemblies of forcible entries and detainets with force and properly all assaults of striking drawing weapon or other violence within the Kings house and the precincts thereof for the Kings house from whence examples of peace should flowe in the farthest parts of the Kingdome as the ointment of Aarons head to the skirts of his garment ought to be sacred and inviolate from force and brawls aswell in respect of reverence to the place as in respect of danger and greater trouble and of all example to the whole Kingdome and therefore in that place all should be full of peace order regard forbearance and silence Besides open force there is a kind of force that commeth with an open and armed hand but disguised that is no lesse hateful and hurtful and that is abuse and oppression by authority And therefore you shall enquire of all Extortions in Officers and Ministers as Sheriffs Bailiffs of hundred Escheators Coroners Constables Ordinaries and other who by colour of Office do pole the people For frauds and deceipts I do chiefly commend to your care the frauds and deceipts in that which is the chief means of all just contract and permutation which is Weights and Measures wherein although God hath pronounced that a false weight is an abomination yet the abuse is so common and so general I mean of Weights and I speak upon knowledge and late examination that if one were to build a Church he should need but false Weights and not seek them far off the Bills or Piles of Brasse to make the Bells and the Weight of Lead to make the Battlements And herein you are to make special enquiry whether the Clerk of the Market within the Verge to whom properly it appertains have done his duty For Nusances and Grievances I will for the present only single out one That you present the decayes of High-ways and Bridges for where the Majesty of a Kings House draws recourse and accesse it is both disgraceful to the King and also diseaseful to the people if the ways near about be not fair and good wherein it is strange to see the chargeable Pavement and Cawseys in the entrances of Towns abroad beyond the Seas whereas London the second City at the least of Europe in glory in greatness and in wealth cannot be discerned by the fairnesse of the wayes though a little perhaps by the Broadnesse of them from a Village For the last part because I passe these things over briefly I will make mention to you of three Laws The one concerning the Kings pleasure The second concerning the peoples food And the third concerning Wares and Manufactures You shall therefore enquire of the unlawful taking of Partridges and Pheasants or Fowle the detraction of the Eggs of the said Wild-fowl the killing of Hares or Deer and the stealing of Venison or Hares for that which is for exercise and sport and courtesie should not be turned to Gluttony and Sale Victual You shall also enquire whether Bakers and Brewers keep their Assize and whether aswell they as Butchers Inn-holders and Victuallers do sell that which is wholsome and at reasonable prices and whether they do link and combine to raise prices Lastly you shall enquire whether the good Statute be observed whereby a man may have that he thinketh he hath and not be abused or misserved in that he buyes I mean the Statute that requireth that none use any mannual occupation but such as have been seven years Apprentice to it which Law being generally transgressed makes the people buy in effect Chaff for Corn for that which is miswrought will miswear There be many more things inquireable by you throughout all the former parts which it were over-long in particular to recite you may be supplyed either out of your own experience or out of such Bills and Informations as shall be brought unto you or upon any question that you shall demand of the Court which will be ready to give you any further direction as far as it is fit But these which I have gone through are the principal points of your charge which to present you have taken the Name of GOD to witnesse and in the Name of GOD perform it Dixi. FINIS Articuli super Chartas c. 3.13 R. 2. c. 3.33 H. 8. c. 12. God the Church Profanations 1. E. 6. c. 1 1. Eliz. c. 2.1 M. c. 3.5 E. 6. c. 4.13 E. 1. Stat. of Winton Profanations Breach of Unity Perjury Conjuration and Witchcraft 1. Iacob c. 12. Supremacy placed with offences of State The King and the State The Kings person Privy Councellor Representation of person The state Invasion and Rebellion Alienation of hearts Supremacy Treason c. 5 Eliz. c. 1. Iesuits 3 Iac. c. 4. 5. 28 El. c. 2. 13 El. c. 2. 23 El. c. 1. Agnus Dei. Militar Prophecies The people capital Life 1. Iac. c. 8. Honesty of Life 1 Iac. c. 11. 28 E. 1. Articuli super Chartasc 2.31 El. c. 4.33 H. 6. c. 1.21 H. 8. c. 7. The people not capital Force Nusance Breach of Statutes Kings Pleasure Food Manufactures 5 Eliz. c. 4.