first so published that all men might plead it for their advantage but a Charter was left in deposito in the hands of the Archbishop of Canterbury for the time and so to his successours Stephen Langthon who was euer a Traytor to the King produced this Charter and shewed it to the Barons thereby encouraging them to make warre against the King Neither was it the old Charter simplie the Barons sought to haue cōfirmed but they presented vnto the King other articles and orders tending to the alteration of the whole common-wealth which when the King refused to signe the Barons presently put themselues into the field and in rebellious and outragious fashion sent the King word except he confirmed them they would not desist from making warre against him till he had satisfied them therein And in conclusion the king being betrayed of all his Nobility in effect was forced to graunt the Charter of Magna Charta and Charta de Forestis at such time as he was invironed with an Army in the meadowes of Staynes which Charters being procured by force Pope Innocent afterward disavowed threatned to curse the Barons if they submitted not themselues as they ought to their Soueraigne Lord which when the Lords refused to obey the King entertained an army of strangers for his own defence wherewith hauing mastered beaten the Barons they called in Lewes of France a most vnnaturall resolution to be their King Neither was Magna charta a law in the 19 th of Henry the 2◠but simply a Charter which hee confirmed in the 21 ◠of his reigne made it a law in the 25 th according to Littletons opinion Thus much for the beginning of the great Charter which had first an obscure birth from vsurpation and was secondly fostered shewed to the world by rebellion IVST I cannot deny but that all your Lordship hath said is true but seeing the Charters were afterwards so many times confirmed by Parliament made lawes that there is nothing in them vnequall or prejudicial to the King doth not your Honour thinke it reason they should be obserued COVNS Yes obserued they are in all that the state of a King can permit for no man is destroyed but by the lawes of the land no man disseized of his inheritance but by the lawes of the land imprisoned they are by the prerogatiue wherē the King hath cause to suspect their loyaltie for were it otherwise the King should neuer come to the knowledge of any conspiracy or treason against his Person or state and being imprisoned yet doth not any man suffer death but by the law of the land IVST But may it please your Lordship were not Cornewallis Sharpe Hoskins imprisoned being no suspition of treason there COVNS They were but it cost them nothing IVST And what got the King by it for in the conclusion besides the murmure of the people Cornewallis Sharpe Hoskins hauing greatly ouershot themselues and repented them a fine of 5 or 600 l was laid on his Maiesty for their offences for so much their diet cost his Maiestie COVNS I know who gaue the advice sure I am that it was none of mine But thus I say if you consult your memory you shall finde that those kings which did in their own times confirme the Magna Charta did not onely imprison but they caused of their Nobility and others to bee slaine without hearing or tryall IVST My good Lord if you will giue me leaue to speak freely I say that they are not well advised that perswade the King not to admit the Magna Charta with the former reseruations For as the King can neuer loose a farthing by it as I shall proue anon So except England were as Naples is and kept by Garrisons of another Nation it is impossible for a King of England to greaten and inrich himselfe by any way so assuredly as by the loue of his people For by one rebellion the King hath more losse then by a hundred yeares observance of Magna Charta For therein haue our Kings beene forced to compound with Roagues and Rebels and to pardon them yea the state of the King the Monarchie the Nobility haue beene endangered by them COVNS Well Sir let that passe why should not our kings raise mony as the kings of France doe by their letters and Edicts only for since the time of Lewes the 11 th of whom it is said that hee freed the French Kings of their wardship the French Kings haue seldome assembled the States for any contribution IVST I will tell you why the strength of England doth consist of the people and Yeomanry the Pesants of France haue no courage nor armes In France euery Village and Burrough hath a castle which the French call Chastean Villain euery good citty hath a good Cittadell the king hath the Regiments of his guards and his men at armes alwayes in pay yea the Nobility of France in whom the strength of France consists doe alwaies assist their King in those leavies because them selues being free they make the same leavies vpon their tennants But my Lord if you marke it France was neuer free in effect from ciuill warres and lately it was endangered either to be conquered by the Spaniard or to be cantonized by the rebellious French themselues since that freedome of Wardship But my good Lord to leaue this digression that wherein I would willingly satisfie your Lordship is that the kings of England haue neuer receiued losse by Parliament or preiudice COVNS No Sir you shall find that the subiects in Parliament haue decreed great things to the disadvantage and dishonour of our kings in former times IVST My good Lord to avoide confusion I will make a short repetition of them all and then your Lordship may obiect where you see cause And I doubt not but to giue your Lordship satisfaction In the sixt yeare of Henry the 3 rd there was no dispute the house gaue the King two shillings of euery plough land within England and in the end of the same yeare he had escuage paid him to wit for euery knights fee two markes in siluer In the fifth yeare of that King the Lords demaunded the confirmation of the Great Charter which the kings Councell for that time present excused alleadging that those priviledges were extorted by force during the Kings Minoritie and yet the King was pleased to send forth his writ to the Sheriffes of euery county requiring them to certifie what those liberties vvere and hovv vsed in exchange of the Lords demaund because they pressed him so violently the king required all the castles places which the Lords held of his had held in the time of his Father vvith those Manors Lordships vvhich they had heeretofore vvrested from the Crovvne vvhich at that time the King being provided of forces they durst not deny In the 14 th yeare he had the 15 th peny of all goods giuen him vpon condition to
of the blood a most valiant man and the best beloued of the people in generall of any man liuing especially considering that the K. gaue every day more then other offence to his subiects For besides that he fined the inhabitants that assisted the Lords in his Minority of the 17 shires which offence he had long before pardoned his blank Charters letting the Realme to farme to meane persons by whom he was wholly advised increased the peoples hatred towards the present gouernment IVST You say well my L. Princes of an ill destiny do alwaies follow the worst counsell or at least imbrace the best after opportunity is lost Qui confilia non ex suo corde sed alienis viribus colligunt non animo sed auribus cogitant And this was not the least griefe of the subiect in generall that those men had the greatest part of the spoile of the cōmonwealth which neither by vertue valour or counsell could adde any thing vnto it Nihil est sordidius nihil crudelius saith Anto Pius quāsi Remp. ij arrode qui nihil in eam suo labore cōferent COVNS Indeede the letting to farme the Realme was very grievous to the subiect IVST Will your Lordship pardon me if I tell you that the letting to Farme of his Maiesties Customes the greatest revenue of the Realme is not very pleasing COVNS And why I pray you doth not the K. thereby raise his profits every third yeare and one farmer out bids another to the kings advantage IVST It is true my Lord but it grieues the subiect to pay custome to the subject for what mighty men are those Farmers become and if those Farmers get many thousands every yeare as the world knowes they doe why should they not now being men of infinite wealth declare vnto the K. vpon oath what they haue gained and henceforth become the Kings collectors of his custome did not Queene Elizabeth who was reputed both a wise and just Princesse after shee had brought Customer Smith from 14000 l a yeare to 42000 l a yeare made him lay downe a recompence for that which hee had gotten And if these Farmers doe giue no recompence let them yet present the King with the trueth of their receivings and profits But my Lord for conclusion after Bollingbrooke arriuing in England with a small troope Notwithstanding the King at his landing out of Ireland had a sufficient and willing army yet hee wanting courage to defend his right gaue leaue to all his souldiers to depart put himselfe into his hands that cast him into his graue COVNS Yet you see hee was depos'd by Parliament IVST Aswell may your Lordship say hee was knock't in the head by Parliament for your Lordship knowes that if King Richard had ever escaped out of their fingers that deposed him the next Parliament would haue made all the deposers traytors and rebels and that iustly In which Parliamēt or rather vnlawful assembly there appeared but one honest man to wit the B. of Carliel who scorned his life estate in respect of right his allegiāce defēded the right of his Soveraigne Lo against the K. elect his partakers COVNS Well I pray goe on with the Parliaments held in the time of his successor Henry the fourth IVST This King had in his third yeare a subsedy in his fift a tenth of the Cleargie without a Parliament In his sixt yeare he had so great a subsedie as the House required there might bee no record thereof left to posterity for the House gaue him 20 of euery knights Fee and of every 20◠land 20◠and 12◠the pound of goods COVNS Yea in the end of this yere the Parliamēt prest the king to annex vnto the Crowne all temporall possessions belonging to Church-men within the land which at that time was the third foote of all England But the Bishops made friends and in the end saued their estates IVST By this you see my Lord that Cromwell was not the first that thought on such a businesse And if king Henry the 8◠had reserued the Abbeyes and other Church lands which he had given at that time the revenue of the Crowne of England had exceeded the reuenue of the Crowne of Spaine with both the Indies whereas vsed as it was a little enriched the Crown served but to make a number of petty-foggers and other gentlemen COVNS But what had the king in steed of this great revenue IVST Hee had a 15 th of the Commons and a tenth and a halfe of the Clergy and withall all pensions graunted by king Edward and king Richard were made voide It was also moved that all Crowne lands formerly giuen at least given by K. Ed and K. Rich should bee taken backe COVNS What thinke you of that Sir would it not haue beene a dishonour to the king and would not his Successors haue done the like to those that the king had advanced IVST I cannot answere your Lordship but by distinguishing for where the kings had given land for services and had not beene over-reached in his gifts there it had bin a dishonour to the king to haue made voide the graunts of his predecessors or his graunts but all those graunts of the kinges wherein they were deceived the very custome and policy of England makes them voyde at this day COVNS How meane you that for his Majestie hath given a great deale of land among vs since he came into England and would it stand with the kinges honour to take it from vs againe IVST Yea my Lord very well with the kinges honour if your Lordship or any Lord else haue vnder the name of 100 land a yeare gotten 500◠land and so after that rate COVNS I will never belieue that his Majestie will ever doe any such thing IVST And I beleeue as your Lordship doth but we spake e're-while of those that disswaded the King frō calling it a Parliament And your Lordship asked mee the reason why any man should disswade it or feare it to which this place giues me an opportunity to make your Lordship an answer for though his Majestle will of himself never question those graunts yet when the Commons shall make humble petition to the King in Parliament that it will please his Majestie to assist them in his reliefe with that which ought to be his owne which if it will please his Majestie to yeeld vnto the house will most willingly furnish and supply the rest with what grace can his Majestie deny that honest suite of theirs the like hauing beene done in many Kinges times before This proceeding my good Lord may perchance proue all your phrases of the Kings honour false English COVNS But this cannot concerne many for my self I am sure it concernes me little IVST It is true my Lord and there are not many that disswade his Majestie from a Parliament COVNS But they are great ones a fewe of which will serue the turne well enough IVST But my Lord bee
they neuer so great as great as Gyants yet if they disswade the King from his ready and assured way of his subsistence they must devise how the K. may be else-where supplied for they otherwise runne into a dangerous fortune COVNS Hold you contented Sir the King needes no great disswasion IVST My Lord learne of me that there is none of you all that can pierce the King It is an essentiall property of a man truely wise not to open all the boxes of his bosome even to those that are neerest and deerest vnto him for when a man is discovered to the very bottome he is after the lesse esteemed I dare vndertake that when your Lordship hath served the King twice twelue yeares more you will finde that his Majestie hath reserved somewhat beyond all your capacities his Majestie hath great reason to put off the Parliament as his last refuge and in the meane time to make triall of all your loues to serue him for his Majestie hath had good experience how well you can serue your selues But when the King finds that the building of your owne fortunes and factions hath beene the diligent studies and the service of his Majestie but the exercises of your leisures Hee may then perchance cast himself vpon the general loue of his people of which I trust hee shall never bee deceiued and leaue as many of your Lordships as haue pilfered from the Crowne to their examination COVNS Well Sir I take no great pleasure in this dispute goe on I pray IVST In that Kinges 5 th yeare hee had also a subsedy which he got by holding the house together from Easter to Christmas and would not suffer them to depart He had also a subsedie in his ninth yeare In his eleventh yeare the Commons did againe presse the king to take all the temporalities of the Church-men into his hands which they proved sufficient to maintaine 150 Earles 1500 knights and 6400 Esquiers with a hundred hospitals but they not prevayling gaue the King a subsedy As for the notorious Prince Henry the fift I finde that he had given him in his second yeare 300000 markes and after that two other subsedies one in his fifth yeare another in his ninth without any disputes In the time of his successour Henry the sixt there where not many subsedies In his third yeare he had a subsedy of a Tunnage and Poundage And here saith Iohn Stom began those payments which wee call customes because the payment was continued whereas before that time it was granted but for a yeare two or three according to the Kings occasions Hee had also an ayde and gathering of money in his fourth yeare and the like in his tenth yeare and in his thirteenth yere a 15 th He had also a fifteenth for the conveying of the Queene out of France into England In the twenty eight yeare of that King was the acte of Resumption of all honours townes castles Signieuries villages Manors lands tenements rents reversions fees c. But because the wages of the Kings seruants were by the strictnes of the acte also restrained this acte of Resumption was expounded in the Parliament at Reading the 31 th yeare of the Kings reigne COVNS I perceiue that those acts of Resumption were ordinary in former times for King Stephen resumed the lands which in former times hee had giuen to make friends during the Ciuill warres And Henry the second resumed all without exception which King Stephen had not resumed for although King Stephen tooke backe a great deale yet hee suffered his trustiest seruants to enjoye his gift IVST Yes my Lord in after times also for this was not the last nor shall be the last I hope And judge you my Lord whether the Parliaments doe not only serue the King whatsoeuer is said to the contrary for as all King Henry the 6 gifts graunts were made voide by the Duke of Yorke when he was in possession of the kingdome by Parliament So in the time of K. H. when K. Edw was beaten out again the Parliament of Westminster made all his acts voyde made him all his followers traytors gaue the King many of their heads lands The Parliaments of England do alwaies serue the King in possession It seru'd Rich. the second to condemne the popular Lords It seru'd Bollingbrooke to depose Rich. When Edw. the 4. had the Scepter it made them all beggars that had followed H. the 6. And it did the like for H. when Edw. was driuen out The Parliaments are as the friendship of this world is which alwayes followeth prosperity For K. Edw. the 4 after that hee was possessed of the Crown he had in his 13 yeare a subsedy freely giuen him in the yeare following hee tooke a benevolence through England which arbitrary taking frō the people seru'd that ambitious traytor the Duke of Bucks After the Kings death was a plausible argument to perswade the multitude that they should not permit saith Sir Thomas Moore his line to raigne any longer vpon them COVNS Well Sir what say you to the Parliament of Richard the third his time IVST I finde but one and therein he made diuerse good Lawes For K. Henry the seuenth in the beginning of his third yeare hee had by Parliament an ayde granted vnto him towards the reliefe of the Duke of Brittaine then assailed by the French King And although the King did not enter into the warre but by the advice of the three estates who did willingly contribute Yet those Northerne men which loued Richard the third raised rebellion vnder colour of the mony impos'd murthered the Earle of Northumberland whom the King employed in that Collection By which your Lordship sees that it hath not beene for taxes and impositions alone that the ill disposed haue taken Armes but euen for those payments which haue beene appoynted by Parliament COVNS And what became of those Rebels IVST They were fairely hang'd and the mony levied notwithstanding in the Kings first yeare he gathered a marvailous great masse of mony by a benevolence taking patterne by this kind of levie from Edw. 4 th But the King caused it first to be moued in Parliament where it was allowed because the poorer sort were therein spared Yet it is true that the king vsed some arte for in his Letters hee declared that hee would measure euery mans affections by his gifts In the thirteenth yeare hee had also a subsedy whereupon the Cornish men tooke Armes as the Northerne men of the Bishoppricke had done in the third yeare of the King COVNS It is without example that euer the people haue rebelled for any thing granted by Parliament saue in this kings dayes IVST Your Lordship must consider that he was not ouer much belou'd for hee tooke many advantages vpon the people and the Nobility both COVNS And I pray you what say they now of the new impositions lately laide by the Kings Maiesty doe they say that
the K. the Prince were cōstrained to yeeld to the Lords A cōstrained consent is the consent of a Captiue not of a K. therefore there was nothing done there either legally or royally For if it be not properly a Parliament where the subiect is not free certainely it can be none where the King is bound for all Kingly rule was taken from the King and twelue Peeres appointed and as some writers haue it 24 Peeres to gouerne the Realme and therefore the assembly made by Iack Strawe other rebels may aswell bee called a Parliament as that of Oxford Principis nomen habere non est esse Princeps for thereby was the King driuen not only to cōpoūd all quarrels with the French but to haue meanes to be revenged on the rebell Lords but he quitted his right to Normādy Aniou Mayne COVNS But sir what needed this extremity seeing the Lords required but the confirmation of the former Charter which was not preiudiciall to the King to graunt IVST Yes my good Lord but they insulted vpon the King and would not suffer him to enter into his own castles they put downe the Purvey or of the meate for the maintenance of his house as if the King had beene a bankrupt and gaue order that without ready money he should not take vp a Chicken And though there is nothing against the royalty of a King in these Charters the Kings of England beeing Kings of freemen and not of slaues yet it is soe contrary to the nature of a King to bee forced euen to those thinges which may be to his advantage as the King had some reason to seeke the dispensation of his oath from the Pope and to drawe in strangers for his owne defence yea Iure saluo Coronae nostrae is intended inclusiuely in all oathes and promises exacted from a Soueraigne COVNS But you cānot be ignorant how dangerous athing it is to cal in other natiōs both for the spoile they make as also so because they haue often held the possession of the best places with which they haue beene trusted IVST It is true my good Lord that there is nothing so daungerous for a King as to be constrained and held as prisoner to his vassals for by that Edward the second and Richard the second lost their Kingdomes and their liues And for calling in of strangers was not King Edward the sixth driuen to call instrangers against the rebels in Norfolke Cornewall Oxfordshire and elsewhere Haue not the K s. of Scotland beene oftentimes constrained to entertaine strangers against the Kings of England And the King of England at this time had he not bin diuerse times assisted by the Kings of Scotlād had bin endāgered to haue bin expelled for ever COVNS But yet you knowe those Kings were deposed by Parliament IVST Yea my good Lord being Prisoners being out of possession and being in their hands that were Princes of the blood and pretenders It is an old countrey prouerbe that might overcomes right a weake title that weares a strong sword commonly prevailes against a strong title that weares but a weake one otherwise Philip the second had never bin Duke of Portugal nor Duke of Millayne nor K. of Naples Scicilie But good Lord Errores not sunt trah udi in exemplum I speake of regall peaceable and lawfull Parliaments The King at this time was but a King in name for Glocester Leycester and Chichester made choise of other Nyne to whom the rule of the Realme was committed the Prince was forced to purchase his liberty frō the Earle of Leycester by giuing for his ransome the County Pallatine of Chester But my Lord let vs judge of those occasions by their events what became of this proud Earle was hee not soone after slaine in Euesham was he not left naked in the field and left a shamefull spectacle his head being cut off from his shoulders his priuy parts from his body laid on each side of his nose And did not God extinguish his race after which in a lawfull parliament at Westminster confirmed in a following parliament of Westminster were not all the Lords that followed Leycester disinherited And when that foole Glocester after the death of Leycester whom he had formerly forsaken made himselfe the head of a second rebellion and called in strangers for which not lōg before he had cried out against the K. was not hee in the end after that hee had seene the slaughter of so many of the Barons the spoile of their castles Lordships constrained to submit himselfe as all the suruiuers did of which they that sped best payd their sines and ransomes the King reserving to his younger sonne the Earledomes of Leycester and Derby COVN Well sir we haue disputed this King to his graue though it be true that he outliued all his enimies brought them to confusion yet those examples did not terrifie their successors but the Earle Marshall and Hereford threatned King Edward the first with a new warre IVST They did so but after the death of Hereford the Earle Marshall repented himselfe and to gaine the Kings favour he made him heire of all his lands But what is this to the Parliament for there was never K. of this land had more giuen him for the time of his raigne then Edward the sonne of Henry the third had COVNS How doth that appeare IVST In this sort my good Lord in this kings third yeare he had giuen him the fifteenth part of all goods In his sixt yeare a twentith In his twelfth yeare a twentyeth In his fourteenth yeare hee had escuage to wit forty shillings of euery knights Fee in his eighteenth yeare hee had the eleventh part of all moueable goods within the kingdome in his nineteenth yeare the tenth part of all Church liuings in England Scotland and Ireland for sixe yeares by agreement from the Pope in his three twentith yeare he raised a taxe vpō wooll and fels on a day caused all the religious houses to be searched al the treasure in thē to be seized brought to his coffers excusing himselfe by laying the fault vpō his treasurer he had also in the end of the same yeare of algoods of all Burgesses of the Commons the 10 ◠part in the 25 ◠yeare of the Parliamēt of S t Edmūdsbury he had an 18 th part of the goods of the Burgesses and of the people in generall the tenth part Hee had also the same yeare by putting the Clergy out of his protection a fift part of their goods and in the same yeare he set a great taxe vpon wools to wit from halfe a marke to 40 ◠vpon euery sacke wherevpon the Earle Marshall and the Earle of Hereford refusing to attend the King into Flanders pretended the greeuances of the people But in the end the king hauing pardoned thē cōfirmed the great Charter he had the ninth penny of all goods from the Lords and
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
maintaine so great an Armory or Stable it might cause me or any other Nobleman to be suspected as the preparing of some Innovation IVST Why so my Lord rather to bee commended as preparing against all danger of Innovation COVNS It should be so but call your observation to accompt you shall find it as I say for indeed such a jelousie hath been held euer since the time of the Ciuill wars ouer the Military greatnes of our Nobles as made them haue litle will to bend their studies that wayes wherefore let euery man prouide according as hee is rated in the Muster booke you vnderstand me IVST Very well my Lord as what might be replyed in the preceiuing so much I haue euer to deale plainly and freely with your Lordship more fear'd at home popular violence then all the forreine that can be made for it can neuer bee in the power of any forreine Prince without a Papisticall party either to disorder or endanger his Majesties Estate COVNS By this it seemes it is no lesse dangerous for a king to leaue the power in the people then in the Nobility IVST My good Lord the wisdome of our owne age is the foolishnes of another the time present ought not to bee prefer'd to the Policy that was but the policy that was to the time present So that the power of the Nobility being now withered and the power of the people in the flowre the care to content them would not be neglected the way to win them often practized or at least to defend them from oppression The motiue of all dangers that euer this Monarchy hath vndergone should bee carefully heeded for this Maxime hath no posterne Potestas humana radicatur in voluntatibus hominum And now my Lord for King Edward it is true though he were not subject to force yet was hee subiect to necessity which because it was violent hee gaue way vnto it Potestas saith Pythagoras iuxia necessitatem habitat And it is true that at the request of the house he discharged put from him those before named which done he had the greatest gift but one that euer he receiued in all his dayes to wit from euery person man woman aboue the age of fourteen yeares 4 ◠of old mony which made many Millions of Groats worth 6 ◠of our mony This he had in generall besides he had of euery beneficed Priest 12 d. And of the Nobility Gentry I know not how much for it is not set down Now my good Lord what lost the King by satisfying the desires of the Parliament house for assoone as hee had the money in purse hee recalled the Lords and restored them who durst call the King to accompt when the Assembly were dissolued Where the word of a King is there is power saith Ecclesiasticus who shall say vnto him what doest thou saith the same Author for euery purpose there is a time judgment the King gaue way to the time his judgmēt persweded him to yeeld to necessity Consularius nemo melior est quà m tempus COVNS But yet you see the king was forc'd to yeeld to their demaunds IVST Doth your Lordship remember the saying of Monsieur de Lange that he that hath the profit of the warre hath also the honour of the warre whether it be by battaile or retreate the King you see had the profit of the Parliament and therefore the honour also what other end had the king then to supply his wants A wise man hath euermore respect vnto his ends And the king also knew that it was the loue that the people bare him that they vrged the remouing of those Lords there was no man among them that sought himselfe in that desire but they all sought the King as by the successe it appeared My good Lord hath it not been ordinary in England and in France to yeeld to the demaunds of rebels did not King Richard the second graunt pardon to the outragious roagues murtherers that follovved Iack Straw Wat Tyler after they had murthered his Chancellor his Treasurer Chiefe Iustice and others brake open his Exchequer and committed all manner of outrages and villanies and why did he doe it but to avoid a greater danger I say the Kings haue then yeelded to those that hated them and their estates to wit to pernicious rebels And yet without dishonour shall it be called dishonour for the King to yeeld to honest desires of his subjects No my Lord those that tell the King those tales feare their own dishonour and not the Kings for the honour of the King is supreame and being guarded by Iustice and piety it cannot receiue neither wound nor stayne COVNS But Sir what cause haue any about our King to feare a Parliament IVST The same cause that the Earle of Suffolke had in Richard the seconds time and the Treasurer Fartham with others for these great Officers being generally hated for abusing both the King and the subiect at the request of the States were discharged and others put in their roomes COVNS And was not this a dishonour to the king IVST Certainly no for King Richard knew that his Grandfather had done the like and though the king was in his heart vtterly against it yet had hee the profite of this exchange for Suffolke was fined at 20000 markes 1000 ◠lands COVNS Well Sir we will speake of those that feare the Parliament some other time but I pray you goe on with that that happened in the troublesome raigne of Richard the second who succeeded the Grandfather beeing dead IVST That king my good Lord was one of the most vnfortunate Princes that euer England had hee was cruell extreame prodigall and wholly carryed away with his two Minions Suffolk the duke of Ireland by whose ill advice others he was in danger to haue lost his estate which in the end being led by men of the like temper he miserably lost But for his subsedies hee had giuen him in his first yeare being vnder age two tenths and two fifteenes In which Parliament Alice Peirce who was remoued in king Edwards time with Lancaster Latimer and Sturry were confiscate banished In his second yeare at the Parliament at Glocester the King had a marke vpon euery sacke of wooll and 6 d the pound vpon wards In his third yeare at the Parliament at Winchester the Commons were spared and a subsedy giuen by the better sort the Dukes gaue 20 markes and Earles 6 markes Bishoppes and Abbots with myters fixe markes euery marke 3◠4 d euery Knight Iustice Esquier Shrieue Parson Vicar Chaplaine paid proportionably according to their estates COVNS This me thinkes was no great matter IVST It is true my Lord but a little mony went far in those dayes I my selfe once moued it in Parliament in the time of Queene Elizabeth who desired much to spare the Common people and I did it by her Commaundement but when we cast vp
Kings stay in Ireland hee had a 10 th and a 15 th graunted COVNS And good reason for the King had in his army 4000 horse and 30000 foote IVST That by your fauour was the Kings sanity for great armies do rather devour themselues then destroy enimies Such an army whereof the fourth part would haue conquered all Ireland was in respect of Ireland such an army as Xerxes led into Greece in this twentith yeare wherein hee had a tenth of the Cleargy was the great conspiracy of the Kings vnkle the Duke of Glocester and of Moubrey Arundell Nottingham and Warwick the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Abbotte of VVestminster and others who in the 21 â— yeare of the King were all redeemed by parliament what thinkes your Lordship was not this assembly of the 3 states for the kings estate wherein hee so prevailed that hee not onely overthrew those popular Lords but besides the English Chronicle sayth the king so wrought and brought things about that hee obtained the power of both houses to be graunted to certaine persons to 15 Noblemen and Gentlmen or to seauen of them COVNS Sir whether the king wrought well or ill I cannot judge but our Chronicles say that many things were done in this parliament to the displeasure of no small number of people to wit for that diverse rightfull heires were disinherited of their lands liuings with which wrongfull doings the people were much offended so that the King with those that were about him and chiefe in counsell came into great infamy and slander IVST My good Lord if your Lordship will pardon mee I am of opinion that those Parliaments wherein the kings of this land haue satisfied the people as they haue beene euer prosperous so where the king hath restrained the house the contrary hath happened for the K â— atchiuements in this parliament were the ready preparations to his ruine COV You meane by the general discontetmet that followed and because the King did not proceede legally with Glocester and others Why Sir this was not the first time that the Kings of England haue done things without the Counsell of the land yea contrary to the lawe IVST It is true my Lord in some particulars as euen at this time the Duke of Glocester was made away at Callice by strong hand without any lawfull triall for hee was a man so beloued of the people and so allied hauing the Dukes of Lancaster and Yorke his brethren the Duke of Aumarle and the Duke of Hereford his Nephewes the great Earles of Arundell and VVarwicke with diuerse other of his part in the conspiracy as the King durst not trie him according to the law for at the tryall of Arundell and VVarwicke the king was forced to entertaine a petty army about him And though the Duke was greatly lamented yet it cannot be denyed but that he was then a traytor to the King And was it not so my Lord with the Duke of Guise your Lordship doth remember the spurgald proverbe that necessitie hath no law and my good Lord it is the practice of doing wrong and of generall wrongs done that brings danger and not where kings are prest in this or that particular for there is great difference betweene naturall cruelty and accidentall And therefore it was Machiauels advice that all that a king did in that kind he shall do at once and by his mercies afterwards make the world know that his cruelty was not affected And my Lord take this for a generall rule that the immortall policy of a state cannot admit any law or priuiledge whatsoeuer but in some particular or other the same is necessarily broken yea in an Aristocratia or popular estate which vaunts so much of equality and common right more outrage hath beene committed then in any Christian Monarchy COVNS But whence came this hatred between the Duke and the King his Nephew IVST My Lord the Dukes constraining the King when he was young stucke in the kings heart and now the Dukes proud speech to the King when hee had rendred Brest formerly ingaged to the Duke of Brittaine kindled againe these coales that were not altogether extinguished for he vsed these words Your grace ought to put your body in great paine to winne a strong hold or towne by feares of armes ere you take vpon you to sell or deliuer any towne gotten by the manhood and strong hand and policy of your noble progenitours VVhereat sayth the story the King chaunged his countenance c and to say trueth it was a proud and maisterly speech of the Duke besides that inclusiuely hee taxed him of sloath and cowardize as if he had neuer put himselfe to the adventure of winning such a place vndutifull wordes of a subiect do often take deeper roote then the memory of ill deedes do The Duke of Biron found it when the King had him at advantage Yea the late Earle of Essex told Queene Elizabeth that her conditions was as crooked as her carkasse but it cost him his head which his insurrection had not cost him but for that speech who will say vnto a King saith Iob thou art wicked Certainly it is the same thing to say vnto a Lady thou art crooked and perchance more as to say vnto a King that he is wicked and to say that hee is a coward or to vse any other wordes of disgrace it is one and the same errour COVN But what say you for Arundell a braue and valiant man who had the Kings pardon of his contempt during his minority IVST My good Lord the Parliament which you say disputes the Kings prerogatiue did quite contrary and destroyed the kings charter and pardon formerly giuen to Arundell And my good Lord do you remember that at the Parliament that wrought wonders when these Lords compounded that parliament as the King did this they were so mercilesse towards all that they thought their enemies as the Earle of Arundell most insolently suffered the Qu to kneele vnto him three houres for the sauing of one of her servants and that scorne of his manebat alto mente repostum And to say the truth it is more barbarous vnpardonable then any act that ever hee did to permit the wife of his Soueraigne to kneele to him being the Kings vassaile For if he had saued the Lords seruant freely at her first request as it is like enough that the Qu would also haue saued him Miseris succurrens paria obtinebis aliquando For your Lordship sees that the Earle of Warwicke who was as farre in the treason as any of the rest was pardoned It was also at this parliament that the Duke of Hereford accused Mowbray Duke of Norfolke and that the Duke of Hereford sonne to the Duke of Lancaster was banished to the Kings confusion as your Lordship well knowes COVNS I know it well and God knowes that the K. had then a silly and weake Counsell about him that perswaded him to banish a Prince
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
again the reuenue kept vp vpō that which is superfluous Is it a losse to the K. to be beloued of the Commons if it be revenue which the K. seekes is it not better to take it of those that laugh than of those that crie Yea if all bee content to pay vpon a moderation and chaunge of the Species Is it more honourable and more safe for the King that the Subject pay by perswasion then to haue them constrayned If they be contented to whip themselues for the King were it not better to giue them their rod into their owne hands than to commit them to the executioner Certainly it is farre more happy for a Soveraigne Prince that a Subject open his purse willingly than that the same bee opened by violence Besides that when impositions are laid by Parliament they are gathered by the authority of the lawe which as aforesaid rejecteth all complaints and stoppeth every mutinous mouth It shall ever be my praier that the King embrace the Councell of honour and safety let other Princes embrace that of force COVNS But good Sir it is his Prerogatiue which the K. stands vpon and it is the Prerogatiue of the kings that the Parliaments doe all diminish IVST If your Lordship would pardon mee I would say then that your Lordships objection against Parliaments is ridiculous In former Parliaments three thinges haue beene supposed dishonour of the King The first that the Subjects haue conditioned with the King when the King hath needed them to haue the great Charter confirmed the second that the Estates haue made Treasurers for the necessary and profitable disbursing of those summes by them given to the end that the kinges to whom they were giuen should expend them for their owne defence for the defence of the common-wealth The third that these haue prest the King to discharge some great Officers of the Crowne and to elect others As touching the first my Lord I would faine learne what disadvantage the Kings of this Land haue had by confirming the great Charter the breach of which haue served onely men of your Lordships ranke to assist their owne passions and to punish and imprison at their owne discretion the Kings poore Subjects Concerning their private hatred with the colour of the Kings service for the Kings Majestie takes no mans inheritance as I haue said before nor any mans life but by the Law of the land according to the Charter Neither doth his Majestie imprison any man matter of practice which concernes the preservation of his estate excepted but by the law of the land And yet hee vseth his prerogatiue as all the Kings of England haue ever vsed it for the supreame reason cause to practise many thinges without the aduice of the law As in insurrections and rebellions it vseth the marshall and not the common law without any breach of the Charter the intent of the Charter cōsidered truely Neither hath any Subject made complaint or beene grieued in that the Kings of this land for their own safties and preservation of their estates haue vsed their Prerogatiues the great Ensigne on which there is written soli Deo And my good Lord was not Buckingham in England and Byron in France condemned their Peeres vncall'd And withall was not Byron vtterly contrary to the customes priviledges of the French denyed an advocate to assist his defence for where lawes forecast cannot prouide remedies for future daungers Princes are forced to assist themselues by their prerogatiues But that which hath beene ever grievous and the cause of many troubles very dangerous is that your Lordships abusing the reasons of state doe punish and imprison the Kings Subiects at your pleasure It is you my Lords that when Subjects haue sometimes neede of the Kings prerogatiue doe then vse the strength of the law and when they require the lawe you afflict them with the prerogatiue and tread the great Charter which hath beene confirmed by 16. actes of Parliament vnder your feete as a torne parchment or wast paper COVNS Good Sir which of vs doe in this sort breake the great Charter perchance you meane that we haue aduised the King to lay the new impositions IVST No my Lord there is nothing in the great Charter against impositions and besides that necessity doth perswade them And if necessity doe in somewhat excuse a private man a fortiori it may then excuse a Prince Againe the Kinges Majestie hath profit and increase of revenue by the impositions But there are of your Lordships contrary to the direct letter of the Charter that imprison the Kinges Subjects and deny them the benefit of the law to the Kings disprofit And what do you otherwise thereby if the impositions be in any sort grievous but Renovare dolores and withall digge out of the dust the long-buried memory of the Subjects former intentions with their Kings COVNS What meane you by that IVST I will tell your Lordshippe when I dare in the meane time it is enough for mee to put your Lordship in minde that all the estates in the world in the offence of the people haue either had profit or necessity to perswade them to adventure it of which if neither bee vrgent and yet the Subject exceedingly grieved your Lordship may conjecture that the House will bee humble suitors for a redresse And if it bee a Maxime in policie to please the people in all thinges indifferent and neuer suffer them to bee beaten but for the Kinges benefit for there are no blowes forgotten with the smart but those then I say to make them vassals to vassals is but to batter downe those mastering buildings erected by King Henry the seaventh and fortified by his Sonne by which the people and Gentlemen of England were brought to depend vpon the King alone Yea my good Lord our late deare Soveraigne kept them vp and to their advantage as well repaired as ever Prince did Defend mee and spend me saith the Irish churle COVNS Then you thinke that this violent breach of the Charter will be the cause of seeking the confirmation of it in the next Parliament which otherwise could neuer haue bin moued IVST I knowe not my good Lord perchance not for if the House presse the King to graunt vnto them all that is theirs by the lawe they cannot in justice refuse the King all that is his by the lawe And where will bee the issue of such a contention I dare not divine but sure I am that it will tend to the preiudice both of the K and subiect COVN If they dispute not their owne liberties why should they then dispute the Kings liberties which wee call his prerogatiue IVST Among so many so diverse spirits no man can foretell what may be propounded but howsoeuer if the matter be not slightly handled on the Kings behalfe these disputes will soone dissolue for the King hath so little neede of his prerogatiue and so great advantage by the lawes as