the better in troubled Waters Yet whatever have been the Effects of it hitherto God has wonderfully defeated their Designs Insomuch that this Church formerly scattered and eclipsed in the Reign of Charles I restored but afterwards undermined by Charles II and lately threatned with utter Ruin by his immediate Successor is now by the special Providence of God in a Hourishing Condition under the happy Influence of our present King William the Restorer of our Laws Religion and Liberties As for the Spirit of Persecution which the Church of England has been charged with in relation to Dissenters it cannot be justly laid to her Charge For whatever has been done in that Case was but according to Law and the Penal Laws were made as all statute-Statute-Laws in a regular Manner by the Votes of Parliament the Representatives of the People as well Dissenters as others 'T is true the Church-Party proved the most predominant And yet in point of Execution the sober part of the Church were always very tender and none but hot Men amongst them ready for Execution Influenced thereto by the Court which far from designing the Dissenters Union with the Church used the Rigour of the Law to create an implacable Hatred betwixt the afflicting Church and the suffering Body of the Dissenters Which had a sutable Effect For these imbittered what with Fines what with Imprisonments tho according to Law failed not to clamour on all sides against the persecuting Spirit of the Church of England and against those bloudy Laws as they used to call ' em The Sense of their present state made them forget what they had done when they usurped the Regal Power and how busy they were to imprison to banish to sequester With Grief I rake up these old Sores and nothing but a just Desire of righting both Parties could have extorted this from me But now the Dissenters have got Liberty of Conscience by a late Act of Parliament with the ready Concurrence of the Church-Party in both Houses I hope there 's no Ground left for Animosities between the Church and Them And if the Presbyterians who are the nearest to the Church of England and the greatest Party among Dissenters now they have seen so much of her incomparable Learning and invincible Stedfastness to the Protestant Religion and Interest would but shake off their groundless Prejudices and prefer the happiness of a Reunion before the Danger of a Schism what a Blessing it would prove to this Nation is almost unconceivable 'T is not long since the Church was their Sanctuary when they expected no Mercy from a late King who came to the Throne full of Resentment and Indignation against them Tho afterwards to compass his own Ends he tacked about and killed them almost with Kindness And why they should now separate from a Church which was so lately their Refuge when they crowded the very Church-Men out of Church it is past my Understanding For the Church of England is the same still Were they but so well-minded as to make the least step towards a Reunion I am assured the Church of England would be very forward to meet them Rather than they should continue their Separation and be Accountable to Gods Tribunal for it I am more than confident she would readily part with such Ceremonies as give 'em most offence But it is feared they would not be satisfied with those small Condescensions They are for more substantial Things which for Peace sake I shall forbear to name and leave for the Reader to guess The main Points wherein they differ from the Church of England is the Church Government and the publick Worship They hold that the Church was governed in the beginning by Presbyters or Elders and that it should be so governed still not by Bishops upon which account they got the Name of Presbyterians They except both against the latitude of the Bishops Power and the largeness of their Revenues as if neither of them could be used by the Clergy with Christian Moderation But it is more probable the unshaken fidelity of Bishops to Monarchy which many of the Dissenters were never very fond of sticks most in their Stomack For publick Worship they use no Liturgy wherein they differ from the Protestanâ— Churches beyond Sea They look upon Seâ— Forms as dead Prayers and delight only oâ— Extemporal Therefore the Lord's Prayer iâ— in a manner exploded by the rigid Sort oâ— them Yet one would think when their Minister prays before the Congregation his Prayer â—s a set Form to such as pray with him The Surplice the Sign of the Cross the bowing â—t the Name of Jesus and the kneeling at the Communion are to them so many Sins They deal plainly with God at least in outward appearance and are resolved as far as 〈◊〉 see to serve him without Ceremony Great Predestinarians many of 'em are and very strict Observers of the Sabbath In short their apparent Soberness in Conversation and Zeal in their Devotion has so increased their Number that they are lookt upon as the chief Party amongst all the Dissenters Next to whom both in their Opinions and Number are the Independents or Congregationalists So called for that they will have every particular Congregation to be ruled by their own Laws without dependence upon any other in Church-Matters For they prefer their own Gathered Churches in private Places to the publick Congregations in Churches which in contempt they call by the name of â—ceeple-Houses In most Things else they â—â—mp with the Presbyterians Except those particular Tenets some of 'em have intertainâ—d which for brevities sake I forbear to enumerate The riged sort of 'em called Brownists â—efuse to Communicate with any of the Reformed Churches The Anabaptists are so called from Rebaptiâ—ing those who coming to their Communion â—ere baptized in their Infancy For one of their chief Tenets is against Pedobaptism or baptizing of Children They hold besides â—hat Lay-people may preach As for those blaspheâ—ous Opinions their Fore-fathers have been charged with I hope few of the modern And baptists in England are guilty of them The Millenarians or Fifth-Monarchy-Men are so called from their Expectation of Christ's temporal Kingdom here on Earth for a thousand Years And this they ground upon several Places of Scripture which from a Spiritual they wrest into a Carnal Sense The Quakers are a sort of Enthusiasts so called because they use to quake and groan when they wait for the Spirit Whereas the Spirit of God is a Spirit of Peace and Quietness not to be found in Fire Earth-quakes and Whirl-winds but in the soft and still Voice They reject all Ministerial Ordinances and rail against premeditated Preaching oâ— Praying The Holy Scripture is no Rule for 'em to go by but Inspiration and the Light they pretend to is all in all with them So that any Man or Woman in their Meetings that fancies first to be seized with the Spirit is free to stand up for a Teacher to the
Estates to his own caused the whole united Body to be called Engel-lond since turned into England in a Parliament or Council held at Winchester in the Year aforesaid And by that Name he was then crowned in the presence of his Nobles and the rest of his Subjects Though the Truth is King Alfred a Grandchild of Egbert was he who totally united the Saxon Heptarchy into one Estate Thus from the Time of Egbert to this present Time England has continued a Monarchy above 870 Year First under 15 Kings of the Saxon Bace then under 3 Danish Kings and next to them under Edward the Confessour and Harold II two Kings of the Saxon Blood Who were succeeded by four Norman Kings And after Stephen the last of the Four the Saxon Blood was again restored in the Person of King Henry II Anno 1155 in whose Blood the Crown has continued ever since Now the English Monarchy is none of those Despotical Monarchies where the Subjects like Slaves are at the Arbitrary Power and Will of their Sovereign An unnatural sort of Government and directly contrary to the true end of Government which is the Preservation Welfare and Happiness of the People And what Happiness can a People propose to themselves when instead of being protected they may be plundered and murdered at the will of their Prince Men had as good live in a state of Anarchy as ly at some Princes Mercy whose unlimited Power serves only to make them furious and outragious And where lies the Advantage when the King proves a cruel Tyrant to be Robbed or Murdered by a Royal or a common Robber The Government of England Thanks be to God is better Constituted 'T is a Monarchy but not with that Dominion which a Master has over his Slave For then the King might lawfully sell all his Subjects like so many Head of Cattel and make Mony of his whole Stock when he pleases Here the Legislative Power is divided betwixt the King and his People but the Executive Power is lodged solely in the King Here the King has his Prerogative which is the Support of the Crown and the People their Priviledges which assert their Liberty If the King stretches his Prerogative so far beyond its Bounds as to overthrow the Liberty of the Subject he unhinges the Government and the Government being dissolved He and the Nation are to seek as in the late King's Case If any part of the Subjects incroach upon his Prerogative they undergo the lash of the Law which is no less tender of the Kings Prerogative than of the Subjects Liberty But the Question is in case of a Difference betwixt the King and his People who is a competent Judge To answer this Objection I shall make use of the Inquiry into the Measures of Submission to the Supream Authority 'T is to be considered says the Learned and Judicious Author that some Points are justly disputable and doubtful and others so manifest that any Objections made against them are rather forced Pretences than so much as plausible Colours If the Case be doubtful the Interest of the publick Peace and Order ought to carry it But the Case is quite different when the Invasions that are made upon Liberty and Property are plain and visible to all that consider them But upon such an Invasion how can the Subjects of England take up Arms against their King when the Militia is by several express Laws lodged singly in the King and those Laws have been put in the form of an Oath which all that have born any Imployment either in Church or State have sworn So that though the Subjects have a Right to their Property by many positive Laws yet they seem now to have no Right or Means left to preserve it And here seems to be a Contradiction in the English Government viz. a publick Liberty challenged by the Nation and grounded upon Law and yet a Renouncing of all Resistance when that Liberty is invaded and that also grounded upon Law This is indeed the main Difficulty But in Answer to it this we must take for a general Rule when there seems to be a Contradiction between two Articles in the Constitution That we ought to examine which of the two is the most evident and the most important and so fix upon it then we must give such an accommodating sense to that which seems to contradict it that so we may reconcile 'em together 'T is plain that our Liberty is only a Thing that we injoy at the Kings Discretion and during his Pleasure if the other against all Resistance is to be understood according to the utmost extent of the Words Therefore since the chief Design of our whole Law and of all the several Rules of our Constitution is to secure and maintain our Liberty we ought to lay that down for a Conclusion that it is both the most plain and the most important of the two And the other Article against Resistance ought to be so softened as that it do not destroy us If the Law never designed to lodge the Legislative Power in the King as it is self-evident 't is plain it did not intend to secure him in it in case he should go about to assume it Therefore the not resisting the King can only be applied to the Executive Power that so upon no pretence of ill Administrations in the Execution of the Law it should be lawful to resist him Another Proof that the Law only designed to secure the King in the Executive Power is the Words of the Oath which makes it unlawful to bear Arms against the King or any Commissionated by him For if the Commission be not according to Law 't is no Commission and consequently those who act by virtue of it are not Commissionated by the King in the sense of the Law Besides all general Words how comprehensive soever are still supposed to have a tacit Exception and Reserve in them if the matter seem to require it Thus Children are commanded to obey their Parents in all Things and Wives are declared by the Scripture to be subject to their Husbands in all Things as the Church is unto Christ For odious Things ought not to be suspected and therefore not named upon such Occasions but when they fall out they carry still their own force with them So by our Form of Marriage the Parties swear to one another till Death them do part and yet few doubt but that this Bond is dissolved by Adultery though it is not named In short when a King of England strikes at the very Foundations of the Government as the late King did and that his Maleversations are not only the effect of Humane Frailty of Ignorance Inadvertencies or Passions to which all Princes may be subject as well as other Men in such Cases that King may fall from his Power or at least from the Exercise of it and such his Attempts in the very Judgement of the greatest Assertors of Monarchy naturally
divest him of his whole Authority To this purpose we have still fresh before us the Example of the late King of Portugal who for a few Acts of Rage fatal to very few Persons was put under a Guardianship and kept a Prisoner till he died and his Brother the present King made Regent in his place Which it seems was at least secretly approved by most of the Crowned Heads of Europe and even our Court gave the first Countenance to it Though of all others King Charles II. had the least Reason to do it since it justified a Younger Brother's supplanting the Elder But the Evidence of the Thing carried it even against Interest These are my Authors Arguments which I thought fit to insist upon to justify the Nations taking up Arms for the Defence of their Laws Religion and Property against the late King 's actual and bare-faced Subverting the whole Frame of this most happy and blessed Government A Government which has made many Kings glorious beyond the Great Nimrod of France and their People happy beyond all other Nations A Government which allows enough to a King that cares not to be a Tyrant and enough to the People to keep them from Slavery When the King's Prerogative do's not interfere with the Liberty of the People or the Peoples Liberty with the Kings Prerogative that is when both King and People keep within their own Sphere there is no better framed Government under the Sun Here is Monarchy without Slavery a great King and yet a free People And the Legislative-Power being lodged in the King Lords and Commons joyntly 't is such a Monarchy as has the main Advantages of an Aristocracy in the Lords and of a Democracy in the Commons without the Disadvantages or Evils of either The Government of England being thus constitued I see no Ground there is for passive Obedience where the Kings Commands are visibly contrary to Law and destructive of the Constitution The Measures of Power and consequently of Obedience must be taken from the express Laws of the State or from Immemorial Customs or from particular Oaths which the Subjects swear to their Princes And in all Disputes between Power and Liberty Power must always be proved for Liberty proves it self that being founded only upon a Positive Law this upon the Law of Nature Now 't is plain the Law of Nature has put no Difference or Subordination amongst Men except it be that of Children to their Parents or of Wives to their Husbands So that with relation to the Law of Nature all Men are born Free and this Liberty must be still supposed intire unless so far as it is limited by Contracts Provisions and Laws And as a private Person can bind himself to another Man by different Degrees either as a common Servant for Wages or as an Apprentice appropriate for a longer Time or as a Slave by a total giving himself up to another so may several Bodies of Men give themselves upon different Terms and Degrees to the Conduct of others And as in those Cases the general Name of Master may be equally used tho the degrees of his Power are to be judged by the nature of the Contract so in these all may carry the same Name of King and yet every ones Power is to be taken from the Measures of that Authority which is lodged in him and not from any general Speculations founded on some equivocal Terms such as King Sovereign or Supream But this has been of late so learnedly argued that I shall wave any further Discussion of this Matter This only I shall add that the King of England is by the moderate Assertors of this Monarchy called Pater Patriae and Sponsus Regni By which Metaphorical Characters the King and his Subjects come within the Relation of a Father and Children or within that of a Husband and Wife which is proper enough to represent the Nature and Mildness of the English Government Others make King and Subject to be no other Relation than that of Gardian and Ward Ad tutelam namque says Fortescue Legis Subditorum ac eorum Corporum Bonorum Rex hujusmodi erectus est the King being ordained for the Defence or Gardianship of the Laws of his Subjects and of their Bodies and Goods I have done and now I proceed to a further Description of this Monarchy 'T is Free and Independent that is not holden of any Earthly Potentate or any ways obliged to do Homage for the same as the Kingdom of Naples holden of the Pope by the King of Spain and that of Scotlund which held in Capite of the Crown of England Whereas the Kingdom of England owns no Superiour upon Earth A Monarchy that justly challenges a Freedom from all Subjection to the Emperour or Laws of the Empire For tho the Roman Emperors were anciently possessed of this Country and got by force of Arms the Possession of it yet upon their quitting the same the Right by the Law of Nations returned to the former Owners pro Derelicto as the Civilians speak The same is also free from all manner of Subjection to the Pope of Rome and consequently from those several Inconveniencies and Burdens which ly upon Popish Kingdoms As Taxes paid to that Bishop Provisions and Dispensations in several Cases to be procured from the Court of Rome and Appeals thither in Ecclesiastical Suits 'T is an Hereditary Monarchy and such as allow's of no Interregnum free therefore from those Mischiefs and Inconveniencies which frequently attend such Kingdoms as are Elective Though it is granted at least it seems apparent by History that England has been an Elective Kingdom especially in the Time of the Saxons When upon the King's Death those Persons of the Realm that composed the then Parliament assembled in order to the chusing of another And tho one or other of the Royal Bloud was always chosen yet the next in lineal Succession was often set aside as is evident from the Genealogies of the Saxon Kings But however it was in those and after Times certain it is that ever since King Henry VII the Crown has run in a course of lineal Succession by Right of Inheritance Till the late King having forsaken the Government and abdicated the Kingdom the Crown with the general Consent of the Nation was set upon the Head of the Prince of Orange our present King joyntly with the Princess the next Heir to King James and the Succession settled as will appear afterwards And upon William and Mary our Gracious King and Queen may the Crown long flourish To conclude whatever be the Bent and Inclination of some Men amongst us for a Commonwealth the Generality of the Nation is so much for Monarchy that it is like so to continue as long as the World indures In that Eclipse of Monarchy which hapned before the Restauration of King Charles II how busy then the Commonwealth Party was to provide against its Return and to settle here
Defenders of the Faith Which last Title was given by Pope Leo X to King Henry VIII for a Book written by him against Luther in Defence of some Points of the Romish Religion and afterwards confirmed by Act of Parliament for Defence of the ancient Catholick and Apostolick Faith as it is now professed by the Church of England Whereas the King of France is called Most Christian and the King of Spain Most Catholick The Title of Majesty came not into use in England till the Reign of Henry VIII Instead whereof the Title of Grace now appropriated to the Dukes and the two Archbishops was given to former Kings and that of Highness to the foresaid King Henry till the Word Majesty prevailed When we speak to the King the Word Sir is often used besides Your Majesty according to the French Sire which is likewise applied â—o that King For the King's Arms or Ensigns Armorial He â—ears in the first place for the Regal Arms of â—rance Azure 3 Flower de luces Or quarterâ—d with the Arms of England which are Gules 〈◊〉 Lions passant Gardant in pale Or. In the seâ—ond place for the Royal Arms of Scotland a â—ion rampant Gules within a double Tressure â—unter flowred de luce Or. In the third place or Ireland Azure an Irish Harp Or stringed â—rgent In the fourth place as in the first To which has been added since the present King's â—ccession to the Crown another Lion in the â—iddle thus blazoned Azure a Lion rampant â—r between an Earl of Billets Or. And all this within the Garter the chief Enâ—gn of that Order above which is an Helmet â—swerable to his Majesties Sovereign Jurisâ—iction and upon this a Mantle The Mantle 〈◊〉 Cloth of Gold doubled Ermin adorned with 〈◊〉 Imperial Crown and surmounted for a Crest 〈◊〉 a Lyon Passant Gardant Crowned with the â—â—ke The Supporters a Lyon Rampant Gardant 〈◊〉 Crowned as the former and an Vnicorn Arâ—â—t Gorged with a Crown thereto a Chain afâ—ed passing between his Fore-legs and reâ—xed over his Back Or. Both standing upon Compartment placed underneath and in the â—ce of the Compartment this Royal Motto â—en mon Droit that is God and my Right â—hich Motto was taken up by Edward the â—ird when he first claimed the Kingdom of â—ance Who also gave the Motto upon the â—â—ter Honi soit qui mal y pense that is Shame to him that evil thereof thinketh The Arms of France are placed first as being the greater Kingdom and perhaps thereby to induce the French the more easily to owâ— the English Title The Ensigns of Royalty such as Crowns Scepters Purple-Robe Golden-Globe and Holy Vnction the King of England has them all And so he has all the Marks of Sovereignty As the Power of making Treaties and League with forein States of making Peace or Waâ— of sending and receiving Ambassadours Creating of Magistrates Convening the Parliament of Adjourning Proroguing and Dissolving the same when he thinks fit of conferring Title of Honour of pardoning some Criminals oâ— Coyning c. All which Marks of Sovereignty are by Law lodged in the Crown Accordingly the King of England without the Concurrence of his Parliament levies Meâ— and Arms for Sea and Land-Service and may if need require press Men for that purpose He has alone the Choice and Nomination of aâ—â— Commanders and Officers the principal Direction and Command of his Armies and thâ— Disposal of all Magazines Ammunition Castles Forts Ports Havens Ships of War The Militia is likewise wholly at his Command And though he cannot of himself raise Mony upon his Subjects without his Parliament yet he haâ— the sole Disposal of publick Moneys In the Parliament He has a Negative Voice that is he may without giving any Reason for it refuse to give his Royal Assent to anâ— Bill though passed by both Houses of Parliâ—ment and without his Assent such a Bill 〈◊〉 but like a Body without Soul He may at 〈◊〉 pleasure increase the Number of the House 〈◊〉 Peers by creating more Barons or summoning thither whom he thinks fit by Writ and of the House of Commons by bestowing Priviledges on any other Town to send Burgesses to Parliament He has the Choice and Nomination of all Counsellours and Officers of State of all the Judges Bishops and other high Dignities in the Church In short the King is the Fountain of Honour Justice and Mercy None but the King has the Sovereign Power in the Administration of Justice and no Subject has here as in France Haute Moyenne basse Jurisdiction that is High Mean or Low Jurisdiction So that the King only is Judge in his own Cause though he deliver his Judgement by the Mouth of his Judges By Him is appointed the Metal Weight Purity and Value of Coyn and by his Proclamation he may make any forein Coyn to be lawful Mony of England So tender is the Law for the Preservation of his Sacred Person that without any overt Act the very Imagining or intending the Death of the King is High Treason by Law And though by Law an Idiot or Lunatick Non Compos Mentis cannot commit Felony nor any sort of Treason yet if during his Idiocy or Lunacy he shall Kill or go about to Kill the King he shall be punished as a Traytor In point of Physick by an ancient Record it is declared That no Physick ought to be administred to the King without a Warrant signed by the Privy Council by no other Physician but what is mentioned in the Warrant and the Physicians to prepare it themselves with their own hands If there be occasion for a Surgeon he must be likewise authorized by a Warrant And such is the Honour and Respect the King of England receives from his Subjects that 〈◊〉 Prince in Christendom receives more Homage Not only all Persons stand bare in his presence but even in his absence where he has a Chaiâ— of State All People at their first Address kneel to him and he is at all times served upon the Knee 'T is true the King of England is not free to act contrary to or to dispense with the known established Laws Neither can he of himself repeal a Law or make any new Law without the Concurrence of both Houses of Parliament A happy Impotency both to King and People For whilst the King keeps within the Bounds of the Law he can do no Wrong and the People can receive no Harm Had the late King but acted accordingly he might have been a most glorious Monarch instead of being now a general Object of Pity Far from being necessitated to creep under the shelter of a Proud Monarch he might have been a Curb to his Pride and the Refuge of many Nations that suffered Fire and Sword to advance what he called his Glory Three Crowns at once are too great a Sacrifice not to God but to a Mercenary Crew of Priests and Jesuits Tantum Religio potuit suadere Malorum As to the Rank and Reputation
the Garter 219 Knights Baronets 223 Knights of the Bath 224 Knights Batchelours Ibid. Knights Banerets 229 L. LAnd-Forces 177 Language of the English 12 English Laws 59 Lent-Preachers 171 The Lord Lieutenant's Power 179 Way of Living among the English 31 M. MAritime Power 181 Earl Marshal of England 131 Master of the Horse 161 Master of the Houshold 149 150 Master of the Wardrobe 160 Master of the Robes 162 Master of the Revels 163 Master of the Ceremonies 164 Maundy Thursday the Ceremony of that Day 173 English Measures 53 Merchants 229 Militia 178 Millenarians 70 Mint-Officers 51 N. ENglish Names 21 Nobility of England their Creation and Distinction 210 c Their Priviledges 215 Noble Women 258 O ORder of the Garter 219 Ordination of Priests and Deacons 251 Ordnance its Office and Officers 194 c. Original of the English 1 c. Oxford Regiment 168 P. PArsons 250 Patrons of Churches 252 Pledging the Original of it 43 Post-Office 47 Poverty a description thereof 230 Power of the King by Sea and Land 113 Prebendaries 248 Prerogative of the King 109 Presbyterians 68 President of the Council 129 Prince of Wales 122 Prince George 208 Princess Ann ibid. Privy Purse 162 Privy Seal 129 Proclamation of the King 98 Pursuivants 163 Q. QVakers 70 Sovereign Queen of England 121 Queen Mary's Character 143 Queen Consort 122 Queen Dowager 122 The present Queen Dowager 207 R. ENglish Recreations 39 Recusants 71 Reformation of the Church of England 63 Regency 117 Religion of England 61 Religion alters the Temper of Men 71 Revenues of the King of England 115 Revenues of the present King Queen 199 Revenues of the Clergy 253 Revenues of the Bishops 244 Rural Deans 249 S. SCotlands Union with England 85 c. Sergeants at Arms 163 Servants 266 Act of Settlement 119 Sextons 257 Ship-yards and their Officers 190 Sidesmen 257 Marks of Sovereignty 94 High Steward of England 126 Lord Steward of the King's Houshold 148 Succession to the Crown 118 T. TEmper of the English 4 Tenure in Villenage 268 Title of the King to the Crown of France 89 Tobacco the Benefits of it 38 The great Trade of England 55 Train-Bands see Militia The English way of Travelling 46 The Lord High-Treasurer 128 Treasurer of the King's House 150 V. S. VAlentines Day 45 Vestry 258 Vicars 253 The Vnreasonableness of the present disaffected Party 144 W. WAles its Union with England 84 Wardrobes of the King 160 Weights used in England 52 Women 258 Laws concerning them 260 261 Y. YAchts 186 Yeomen 228 Yeomen of the Gard 167 The Table FOR THE THIRD PART A ALdermen 73 Alienation Office 53 Apprentices Laws concerning them 112 Aâ—â—zes 80 Attachment 95 B. BAyliffs 74 Benefit of the Clergy 58 C. CHancery see Court Circuâ—ts 80 Clerk of the Market 72 Commission of Assize 81 Commission of Nisi-prius ib. Commission of Peace 82 Commission of Oyer Terminer ib. Commission of Gaol-delivery ib. Committees 30 c. Common Pleas see Court Constables 77 Convocation 96 Coroners 71 Privy Council 43 County Court 68 Court of Chancery 49 Court of King's Bench 55 Court of Common Pleas 59 Court of Exchequer 62 Court of Dutchy of Lancaster 66 Court of Admiralty 91 Court of Marshalsea 94 Court of Requests 94 Court Martial 91 215 Court Leet 75 Court Baron 76 Courts of Conscience 94 Prerogative Court 102 Court of Arches 100 Court of Audience 102 Court of Delegates 103 Court of Peculiars 104 Court of the Lord Mayor of London 106 Court of Aldermen at Lond. 107 Court of Common Council 108 Court of Goal-Delivery 110 Court of the London Sheriffs 111 Court of the Chamberlain ib. Court of the Orphans 114 Cursitors Office 52 H. HEadboroughs 77 House of Lords 11 House of Commons 12 Hustings 109 J. GRand Jury 70 L. A List of the Kings Houshold Officers and Servants 135 A List of the Gentlemen of the King's Bedchamber 144 A List of the Genâ—l Pensioners 152 A List of the Yeomen of the Guard Officers 153 A List of the Officers of the four Troops of Horse ib. A List of the Officers of the Oxford Regim 158 A List of the Officers of the Foot-guards 159 A List of the Chappel Royal 161 A List of the Queens Houshold 163 A List of the Nobility 168 A List of the Bishops 174 A List of the House of Commons 175 A List of the Privy Council 191 A List of the Lords Commissioners and Officers of the Court of Chancery 193 A List of the Judges and Officers of the C. of Kings Bench 19â— A List of the Judges and Officers of the C. of Common Pleas 200 A List of the Judges and Officers of the C. of Exchequer 203 A List of the Judges and Officers of the Dutchy of Lancast 206 A List of the Attorney aâ—â— Solicitor General Sergeants and Council at Law ib. A List of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury 208 A List of the Officers of the Custom 209 A List of the Officers of the Excise 210 A List of the Officers of the General Post-Office 211 A List of the Officers of the Mint 212 A List of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty 213 A List of the Admirals 214 A List of the Commissioners other Officers belonging to the Navy ib. A List of the Officers of the Martial Court 215 A List of the Lords Lieutenants 216 A List of the Governours of Foregn Plantations 219 A List of the Consuls in Foreign Parts 220 A List of the Foreign Ministers residing here ibid. A List of the Knights of the Garter 221 A List of the Knights made by K. William 222 A List of the Deans in England Wales 225 A List of the Colledge of Civilians 226 A List of the Colledge of Physicians 230 A List of the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London 232 A List of the Lieutenancy of London 234 A List of the Governours of the Charterhouse 236 A List of the Chancellor Vice-Chancellor Heads of Colledges and Halls Proctors Orator and Professors in Oxford University 237 A List of the Chancellor Vice-Chancellor Heads of Colledges and Halls Proctors Orator and Professors in Cambridge 239 M. MAster 's of Chancery 50 Master of the Rolls 51 Mayors 73 P. PAper-Office 47 Parliament of England 1 Pie-powder Court 96 Privy Council 43 Q. QVarter Sessions 70 S. SEcretaries of State 45 Sheriffs 67 Sheriffs Turn 68 Signet-Office 47 Speaker of the House of Lords 10 Speaker of the House of Commons 14 Stewards 75 Subpoena Office 53 Swainmote 95 T. TRial of Malefactors 83 W. WArden of the Fleet 54 ERRATA PART I. Page 4. line 12. read Wiltshire p. 7. l. 10. dele of and l. 12. r. third p. 29. l. 5. r. Lincoln p. 81. in the list 1. Burntwood p. 89. l. 11. r. be p. 116. l. 10. r. Rockingham p. 291. l. 25. r. 1209. p. 302. r. only Grocer's Hall p. 324. l. 6. r. 25. p. 329. l. 13. r. 9000. p. 331. l. 16. r. manner p. 341.
And of all the Cities of Europe none can so justly challenge the Preeminency in this Point as London the Metropolis of England being not only perhaps the most ancient but also the wealthiest and reckoning all its Annexes the greatest City now extant in Europe Such a City as contains above 600 Streets Lanes Courts and Alleys and in them all by a late Computation at least a hundred thousand Houses So that allowing only 8 Persons to each House one with another which I think is moderate the Number of the Inhabitants will amount at that rate to above eight hundred thousand Souls Befides a World of Seamen that live and swarm in that constant tho' moving Forest of Ships down the River on the East side of the Bridge The Dwelling Houses raised since the Fire are generally very fair and built much more convenient and uniform than heretofore Before the Fire they were most Timber Houses built with little regard to Uniformity but since the Fire Building of Bricks has been the general Way and that with so much Art and Skill in Architecture that I have often wondered to see in well-compact Houses so many Conveniences in a small compass of Ground In short our English Builders have built so much of late Years that no Nation perhaps at this time can vy with them for making much of any Ground tho' never so little and contriving all the Parts of it to the best advantage in the neatest and most regular way with all the Conveniences the Ground can possibly afford And that which adds much to the Neatness of the late Buildings is the Wainscot now so much in use Which as it is the cleanest Furniture so it is the most durable and indeed the most proper for so moist a Country If we come to Stateliness I confess the Noblemens Houses at Paris being built of free Stone as most of that City are with large Courts before 'em for the Reception of Coaches make a fine outward Appearance But for uniformity state and magnificence we have some here and chiefly Montague-House that exceed by far most of ' em As for great Merchants Houses and fair Taverns scarce any City surpasseth London in this particular For publick Buildings as Halls Inns of Court Exchanges Market-Places Hospitals Colledges Churches besides the Bridge upon the River the Monument Custom-House and the Tower they are Things worth any Strangers Curiosity to view at least a good part of them Most of which have indeed the disadvantage of being built backward and out of the way to make room for Tradesmens Shops in the Streets Whereas if they had been all built towards the Street as generally they are in other Countries few Cities could make so great an Appearance But for stately strait and spacious Streets to pass by many curious Courts where shall one see finer than Cheapside Cornhill â—ombard-Street Fleet-Street Hatton Garden Pallnall and several others especially near the Court What forein City can shew so many Piazzas or fine Squares such as Lincolns-Inn-Fields Lincolns-Inn-Square Grays-Inn Red Lion and Southampton-Squares the Golden Square King 's Square in Sohoe S. James's Square Leicester-Fields and Covent-Garden The first of which is chiefly noted for its Spaciousness and King 's Square for its Stateliness Lastly when I reflect upon that disinal Fire which in three Days time consumed above thirteen thousand Houses besides 89 Parish Churches the vast Cathedral of S. Paul divers Chappels Halls Colledges Schools and other publick Edifices it is a matter of amazement to me to see how soon the English recovered themselves from so great a Desolation and a Loss not to be computed At 3 Years end near upon ten thousand Houses were raised up again from their Ashes with great Improvements And by that time the fit of Building grew so strong that besides a full and glorious Restauration of a City that a raging Fire had lately buried in its Ashes the Suburbs have been increased to that degree that to speak modestly as many more Houses have been added to it with all the Advantages that able and skilfull Builders could invent both for Conveniency and Beauty But it is time to come to Particulars The City properly so called is begirt with a Wall which gives entrance at seven principal Gates besides Posterns of later erection Viz. on the West-side Ludgate and Newgate both which serve for Prisons the first for such Debtors as are Freemen of the City the other for Malefactors both of the City and Country and is besides the County Goaâ— for Debt Northwards those of Aldersgate Cripglegate Moorgate and Bishopsgate And Eastward Aldgate Within the Compass of the Walls there are reckoned 97 Parishes and in relation to the Civil Government the City within the Walls and Freedom is divided into 26 Wards or Aldermanries of which more hereafter As to the publick Buildings here I shall begin with the Tower a Fort upon the Thames which commands both the City and River Called the Tower from the great white Tower in the middle which gives Name to the Whole 'T is all surrounded with a Wall and Ditch about a mile in compass with Cannon planted on the Walls and the Turrets thereof But it is besides the principal Store-house of England for Arms and Ammunition such as is said to contain Arms for about 60000 Men. Here are also kept the Jewels and Ornaments of the Crown and the ancient Records of the Nation As among others the Original of all the Laws that have been enacted or recorded till the Reign of Richard II. The Grants of several Kings to their Subjects at home and abroad and the Confirmations thereof The several Treaties and Leagues with forein Princes The Dominion of the British Seas The Title of the Kings of England to the Kingdom of France and how obtained All the Atchievements of this Nation in France and other forein Parts The Homage and Dependency of Scotland upon England The Establishment of Ireland in Laws and Dominions These and many other Records are reposited in Wakefield Tower near the Traytors Gate under the Custody of an Officer called the Keeper of the Records and whose Salary is 500 l. per Annum This Place is properly in the Master of the Rolls his Gift Every day of the Week except Sundays Holy-Days publick Fasting and Thanksgiving-Days and Times of great Pestilence they that have occasion to look into the Records have admittance In the Morning from 7 to 11 a clock and in the Afternoon from one till five Except in the Months of December January and February where Attendance is not given till 8 in the Morning and in the Afternoon not beyond 4 a clock In the Tower is the only Mint of England for Coyning of Gold and Silver To which belong several Offices which I intend to muster in my second Part where I shall speak of the English Coyns Lastly the Tower which has been formerly honoured with the Residence of several Kings who kept their Courts here is
absence to do whatever almost the Chancellour might do if he were present He keeps Judicial Courts wholly ruled by the Civil Law which all Members of the University are subject to And by Charter of Henry IV it is left to his Choice whether any Member in the University there inhabiting accused for Felony or High Treason shall be tried by the Laws of the Land or by the Laws and Customs of the University Though now where Life or Limb is concerned the Criminal is left to be tried by the Laws of the Land But in all Suits for Debts Accounts Contracts Injuries c. betwixt the Students he is the proper Judge and has Power to determine such Causes to Imprison to give corporal Punishment to excommunicate to suspend and to banish 'T is the Vice-Chancellor's Business to see that Sermons Lectures Disputations and other Exercises be performed that lewd people Hereticks c. be expelled the University and the Converse with Students that the Proctors and other Officers of the University duly perform their Duty that Courts be duly called and Law-Suits determined without delay In a word that whatever is for the Honour and Benefit of the University or may conduce to the Advancement of good Literature may be carefully obtained Next to the Vice-Chancellor are the two Proctors yearly chosen by turns out of the several Colledges These are to assist in the Government of the University more particularly in the business of Scholastick Exercises and taking Degrees in searching after and punishing all Violaters of Statutes or Priviledges of the University all Night-Walkers c. They have also the Oversight of Weights and Measures that Students may not be wronged Next in order is the Publick Orator Whose Charge is to write Letters according to the Orders of the Convocation or Congregation and at the Reception of any Prince or great Person that comes to see the University to make proper Harangues c. Then there is the Custos Archivorum or Keeper of Records Whose Duty is to collect and keep the Charters Priviledges and Records that concern the University to be always ready to produce them before the chief Officers and to plead the Rights and Priviledges of the University Lastly there is a Register of the Univerfity whose Office is to register all Transactions in Convocations Congregations Delegacies c. Besides the foresaid Officers there are certain publick Servants the chief whereof are the six Beadles and the Verger Three of the first are called Squire Beadles who carry large Maces of Silver gilt and the other three Yeomen Beadles whose Maces are of Silver but ungilt Their Office is always to wait on the Vice-Chancellor in publick doing what belongs to his Place and at his Command to seize any Delinquent and carry him to Prison to summon and publish the Calling of Courts or Convocations to conduct Preachers to Church and Lecturers to School c. But upon Solemnities the Verger appears with a Silver Rod in his hand and walking with the other six before the Vice-Chancellor is to observe his Commands and to wait on Grand Compounders c. I have already mentioned several great Priviledges granted by former Kings to this University That of sending two Burgesses to Parliament they hold from King James I. Another that no Victuals be taken by the King's Purveyors within 5 miles of Oxford unless the King himself comes thither is of a much more ancient Date But one of the most considerable is That granted by Charter of King Edward III whereby the Mayor of Oxford is to obey the Orders of the Vice-Chancellor and be in subjection to him Accordingly the Mayor with the chief Burgesses in Oxford and the High-Sheriff of Oxfordshire besides every Year in a solemn manner take an Oath given by the Vice-Chancellor to observe and conserve the Rights Priviledges and Liberties of the University of Oxford And every Year on the tenth of February being the Day of S. Scholastica a certain Number of the principal Burgesses publickly and solemnly do pay to each Colledge a Peny in token of their Submission to the Orders and Rights of the University Thus you have a short Description of Oxford as a City and an University My next Business is the Description of Cambridge Cambridge CAMBRIDGE the chief Town of Cambridgeshire and that from whence the Country is denominated bears from London North by East and is distant therefrom 44 miles thus From London to Waltham 12 to Ware 8 more thence to Puckeridge 5 to Barkway 7 and to Cambridge 12 more 'T is seated at the Confluence of two Rivers the Cam and the Grant which running from thence Northward in one Channel empty themselves in the Ouse 3 miles above Ely By these Rivers it is separated into two but unequal Parts but they have Communication by a Bridge It is a Place of a large Extent numbering 14 Parishes And according to Doctor Fuller's Observation in his Worthies of England 't is a Town within an University whereas Oxford is an University within a Town For in Cambridge the Colledges are not so surrounded with Streets as in Oxford but for the generality seated in the Skirts of the Town which afford them the better and more delightfull Walks and Gardens about them There are in Oxford as I said before 18 Indowed Colledges and 7 Halls In Cambridge there is but 12 Colledges and 4 Halls 'T is true they are all Indowed and generally so large that the Number of Students is commonly little different from that of Oxford The Names of them and of their Founders together with the Time of their Foundation you have in the following Table Colled Halls Founded by Anno. S. Peter's Colledge Hugh de Balsham Bishop of Ely 1284 Clare-Hall Rich. Badow Chanc. of the University 1326 Pembroke-Hall Mary S. Paul 1343 Gonvile Cajus Edmund de Gonvile and Cajus 1348 Trinity-Had Wil. Bateman Bishop of Norwich 1350 Corpus Christi H. of Monmouth D. of Lancaster 1351 King's Colledge King Henry VI. 1441 Queen's Colledge Margaret Wife to King Henry VI. 1448 Catharine Hall Robert Wood Lord Chancellor of the University 1475 Jesus Colledge John Alcock Chanc. of England 1496 Christs Colled S. John's Coll. Margaret Countess of Richmond 1505 Christs Colled S. John's Coll. Margaret Countess of Richmond 1508 Magdalen Coll. Tho. Audley Chanc. of England 1519 Trinity Colledge King Henry VIII 1546 Emanuel Colledge Sir Walter Mildmay Chancellor of the Exchequer 1582 Sidney and Sussex Francis Sidney Chancellor of Sussex 1598 The Degrees at Cambridge are usually taken as at Oxford except in Law and Physick For at Cambridge six Years after one has taken the Degree of Master of Art one may take the Degree of Batchelor and after five Years more that of Doctor The Batchelors of Arts compleat their Degree in Lent beginning at Ash-Wednesday And the first Tuesday of July is always Dies Comitiorum there called the Commencement wherein the Masters of Arts and the Doctors of all Faculties compleat
Time of the Year which amongst Citizens is the most proper for their Diversion This Fair is famous not so much for Things bought or sold as for its great Variety of Shews either of Nature or Art So that one may apply to it what the Romans of old used to say of Africk Quid novi fert Africa For here is always to be seen strange sorts of living Creatures And for such as love Feats of Activity Comical or Tragical Shews here they are to be seen in the utmost persection Which draws daily during the Fair a great Concourse of people to the benefit of the Shewers and the satisfaction of the Beholders And now amongst the English particular Customs I shall in the first place take notice of their Way of Pledging one another whereof this is the Original When the Danes Lorded it over England they used when the English drank to stab them or cut their Throats To avoid which Villany the Party then drinking requested some of the next to him to be his Surety or Pledge for his Life From whence came the Expression used to this day of Pledging one another when the Party drunk to takes his turn and drinks next after him Another Custom the English had formerly upon the Danes account which Time has so corrupted that there remains no sign of the first Institution except in the Name Hock-tide an old Saxon Word which signify's the Time of Scorning or Triumphing The English in the Reign of King Ethelred were so oppressed and broken by the Danes that Ethelred was fain to buy his Peace of them at the yearly Tribute of 10000 pound soon after inhaunced to 48000 which Monies were raised upon the Subjects by the Name of Danegelt But the King weary of this Exaction plotted with his Subjects to kill all the Danes as they slept in their Beds Which was accordingly done on S. Brice's Night Nov. 12.1012 The joyfull English having thus cleared their Country of the Danes instituted the annual Sports of Hock tide in Imitation of the Romans Fugalia at the expulsion of their Kings This Solemnity consisted in the merry Meerings of the Neighbours in those Days during which the Festival lasted and was celebrated by the younger sort of both Sexes with all manner of Exercises and Pastimes in the Streets At Coventry they yearly acted a Play called Hock-Tuesday till Q. Elizabeths Time The 14th of February being S. Valentines Day has been kept Time out of mind and is so to this day both by the English and Scots with some relation to the Instinct of Animals For Nature teaches us that about this time of the Year the Beasts of the Field and Fowls of the Air feeling a new heat by the approach of the Sun the Males chuse their Females and begin to couple From whence it is probable young Men and Maidens took occasion to meet together at this time to an equal Number and having their respective Names writ down severally upon pieces of paper rolled up the Men draw the Maidens Names and these the Mens So the Lot gives every Man a She Valentine and every Maid a He one the Men wearing their Lots for some Days rolled up about their Hat-bands and the Women before their Breast Whereupon they make each other a Present and sometimes it comes to be a Match in good earnest These Particulars so well known to the whole Nation I would not have insisted upon but for the satisfaction of Foreiners Upon whose Account I shall likewise explain but in few Words the Story of the Welsh Custom of wearing Leeks on their Hats the first day of March being S. David's Day Once upon a time to use the old English Style the Welsh Liberty lay grievously at stake and they must either be victorious or lose it In that Extremity they called for help upon S. David their Patron Armed with Confidence in that Saint they crossed Fields sowed with Leeks before they came to ingage and for distinction sake each Souldier took up a Leek The Welsh got the Victory and to perpetuate the Memory thereof as well as out of respect to the Saint they made a Law amongst themselves that on S. David's Day every Man should wear a Leek about his Head Which is religiously by them observed every Year the common people wearing but Garden Leeks and the better sort wrought ones The King himself out of Complacency to that People wears one upon that Day The Scots on their fide wear a blue Cross on the fore-part of their Hats upon S. Andrew's Day their Patron And the Irish a red Cross on one side of their Hats to the Memory of their old Patron S. Patrick CHAP. IV. I. Of the English Way of Travelling by Land either Horseback or in Coaches II. Of the general Post for Intercourse of Letters III. Of the English Coins Weights and Measures in relation to Trade IV. Of the great Trade of England in foreign Parts BEsides the Conveniency of Travelling by Water either by Sea or here and there upon Rivers I may say the English Nation is the best provided of any for Land-Travel as to Horses and Coaches And the Truth is there is not perhaps a Country so proper for 't 't is generally so open and level Travelling on Horseback is so common a Thing in England that the meanest sort of People use it as well as the rest Which sometimes fills the Roads with Riders not without frequent Disputes about giving the way which is unusual beyond Sea And as English Horses are the best for Expedition so 't is rare upon the Road to see an Englishman but upon the Gallop But for Persons that are tender or disabled England excels all other Nations in the Conveniency of Coaches but especially in that of Stage-Coaches a very commodious and easy Way of Travelling Here one may be transported without over-violent Motion and sheltered from the Injuries of the Air to most noted Places in England With so much speed that some of these Coaches will reach above 50 Miles in a Summer Day and at so easy Rates that it is in some Places less than a Shilling for every Five Miles As to the Post for Intercourse of Letters there is a general Office in the City of London from whence Letters and Pacquets are dispatched to all Parts and the Returns according to their respective Directions This Office now in Lombard-street London is managed in chief by the Post-master General who is constituted thereto by the King's Letters Patents under the Great Seal of England whose Place is counted to be worth 2000 l. a Year Under him he has a Deputy and other Officers to a great Number who give their actual attendance respectively in the Dispatch of Business Upon this General Post-Office depends 182 Deputy Post-Masters in England and Scotland most of which keep regular Offices in their Stages and Sub-Post Masters in their Branches So that there is no considerable Market-Town but has an easy and certain
Congregation and utter what comes next They use no Sacraments and consequently they are but half Christians Their Principle is for Equality amongst Men which of it self tends to Anarchy Therefore they shew respect to no Man tho they love it well enough from Men of other Principles They Thou all Men Kings and Coblers alike without any distinction and pull off their Hats to none They affect a singular Plainness in their Speech in their Garb and in their Dealings They are for plain Yea and Nay and not a word of an Oath tho imposed by the Magistrate A Ribbon a Loop or a Lace is a mortal Sin with them and this Plainness I should not much condemn if Pride did not lurk under it In their Dealings they have indeed got a good Name and â— hope it is not groundless though some unlucky men have endeavoured to check it by representing them as a crafty and subtle Generation These are the principal Sects that are now 〈◊〉 this Kingdom Besides the Roman Catholicks properly called Recusants whose Number and interest is much decayed since the Fall of King â—ames As for Ranters Adamites Familists Antinoâ—ians Sweet-Singers Muggletonians and I know not what else as they suddenly sprung up like â—â—shrooms so they are in a manner dwindled â—nto nothing And indeed their Opinions were â—oo blasphemous and senseless to hold out long â—ongst Men of any Sense In Conclusion 't is observable how the Difference of Sentiments in Matters of Religion â—â—ters the very Temper of Men of the same â—lation so that one would think they don't â—reath the same Air nor live in the same Cliâ—ate The Church of England Men as sober â—â—d reserved as they are comparatively to a â—eighbouring Nation yet they are far more â—ee sociable and open-hearted than the geâ—erality of the Dissenters Who looking upon â—emselves as the sober Part of the Nation 〈◊〉 on a Countenance accordingly I won't â—etch it so far as to call it starched stern auâ—â—re and morose but grave it is in the highâ—â— degree If those inâ—line to Jollity these â—e foâ— Melancholy If to Prodigality these â—e for Penuriousness If some of them be â—ilty of Libertinism 't is ten to one but some 〈◊〉 these prove guilty of the opposite Sin which the fouler of the two though the less contagious Lastly if the Churchmen in their way of Dealing buy of all Men without any distinction for Conscience sake these out of Brotherly kindness trade most amongst themselves So true it is that the very outward Profession of Religion works upon the inward Parts either for better or for worse This Observation may be further Illustrated by the late Conduct of the French a Nation which for many Ages has been lookt upon as aâ— Pattern of Civility and good Manners To see how a false Notion of Religion has turned in that Kingdom Men into very Brutes and Genteelness into Barbarity is almost past my Understanding The Popish Massacre of the French Protestants in the Reign of Charles IX as cruel and bloody as it was was nothing to the late refined Persecution In that Massacre those that suffered were presently dispatched and rid of their Sufferings but in this Persecution a present Death of the Persecuted was a Penance to the Persecutor For the Design of the Persecutors was not to take away the Lives of Protestants but all the Comforts of their Lives by Want and barbarous Usage spoiling anâ— plundering dark Prisons and loathsom Duâ—geons by parting the Husband and Wife anâ— robbing Parents of their dearest Children Anâ— all this to humour a fancy of a proud Monarch who never knew much of any Religion anâ— yet would have all his Subjects to be of hiâ— by fair or foul means right or wrong Wheâ— he thought he had pretty well robbed hâ—â— Neighbouring Princes this Giant-likâ— Monarch made War with God himself and weâ— about to undermine his Kingdom over Meâ— Consciences I have but one Reflection more upon our seâ—eral Ways of Worship Which is that the Dissenters serve God Slovenly the Church of England Decently and the Papists Gaudily Est in Medio Virtus CHAP. VI. Of the English Government in general ENGLAND if we except the late distracted Times before the Restauration of Charles II has been always governed by Sovereign Princes Before the Romans came in the Britains being divided into several Nations each of them was governed by its own Kings and particular Princes When Britain became a Member of the Roman Empire then the Britains were under the Roman Emperours Yet so that many of their Tribes had their own Kings who were suffered â—o govern by their own Law but then they â—ere Tributary Such Kings were Codigunus â—â—d Prasitagus mentioned by Tacitus Lucius â—he first Christian King and Coilus the Father 〈◊〉 Helena Mother of Constantine the Great â—nd 't is observable that the Policy of the Roâ—ans in suffering Kings in the Conquered Counâ—ies was to make them as Tacitus says Serâ—tutis Instrumenta that is instrumental to the â—oples Bondage After the Romans had quitted the Stage of Britain upon the Irruption of the Huns into Italy in the Empire of Honorius which hapned in the Fifth Century the Kingly Government returned to the Britains Who chose for their King Constantine Brother of Aldroinus King of Britany in France a Prince of the British Blood To whom succeeded Constantius his Son then Vortiger who usurped the Crown and to defend his Title against his Enemies first called in the Saxons These having got sure footing in this Kingdom never left the Britains quiet till they were possessed of the Whole And though they were overthrown in many Battels by King Vortimer the Son and immediate Successor of Vortiger and afterwards by King Arthur One of the Worlds Nine Worthies yet the Britains were soon after his Death so broken and weakened that they were forced at last to yield and to exchange this Part of Britain for the Mountains of Wales Thus the Britains left the Stage and the Saxons entred but still with a Regal Power By these the Country was divided into Seven Kingdoms the several Names and Extent whereoâ— you have in my First Part. But for the further satisfaction of the Reader I shall heâ—â— subjoyn the Names of the first Kings with thâ— Dates of their Accession to their respectivâ— Kingdoms The first King of Kent Hengist 455. The first King of South-Saxons Ella 488. The first King of West-Saxons Cerdic 522. The first King of East-Saxons Erchenwin 527. The first King of East-Angles Offa 575. The first King of Northumberland Ida 549. The first King of Mercia Criodda 582. This Heptarchy continued thus for several Ages separate and distinct till the prevailing Fortune of the West-Saxons united them all into one by the Name of England Which hapned Anno 819 in the Reign of King Egbert the last King of the West-Saxons and the first of England Who having vanquished all the rest of the Saxon Kings and added most of their
Ireland as a Name more sacred and replete with Majesty But the English never made a full and entire Conquest of that Kingdom till the latter end of Queen Elizabeths Reign upon the great Defection of the Irish Which ended in a total Overthrow of the Rebels then under the Conduct of Hugh O Neal Earl of Tiroen and the consequence of it according to the Rule That every Rebellion when 't is suppressed does make the Prince stronger and the Subjects weaker Which I hope will be the effect of the present Rebellion in that Kingdom But besides Great Britain and Ireland the King of England is possessed of Jersey Garnsey Alderney and Sark four Islands of good note especially the two first on the Coast of Normandy in France The same are holden in right of that Dukedom which was Conquered by Henry I of England and continued English till the Days of King John when Philip II of France surnamed Augustus seized on all the Estates the English had in France as Forfeitures Anno 1202. And since the French seized upon Normandy they have often attempted Jersey and Garnsey but always with repulse and loss So affectionate are the People to the English Government and jealous of the Priviledges they injoy under it which they could not hope for from the French In America the King of England is possessed of New-England Virginia Mary-Land New York Pensylvania Carolina and Hudsons-Bay Besides many noted Islands as New-found Land Jamaica Bermudos Barbados and amongst the Leeward Islands Nevis Antego Montserat Anguilla c. In Asia he has the Isle of Bombay near Goa which was Part of the present Queen Dowagers Portion besides Conveniencies for Traffick in India China and the Levant The same he has upon the Coast of Africk The King of England has a Claim besides to the Sovereignty of all the Seas round about Great Britain and Ireland and all the Isles adjacent even to the Shores of all the Neighbouring Nations Therefore all Foreiners Ships have anciently demanded Leave to Fish and to pass in these Seas and to this day lower their Top-Sails to all the Kings Ships of War Our Law faith the Sea is of the Liegeance of the King as well as the Land And accordingly Children born upon our four Seas as sometimes it does happen are accounted natural born Subjects of the King of England without being naturalized The King of England has moreover a Title to the Kingdom of France First Challenged by King Edward III as Son and Heir of Isabel the Daughter of King Philip the Fair and Sister of Lewis IX Philip V and Charles the Fair who reigned successively and died without Issue Male. To prosecute which Title he entred into France with an Army took upon him the Title of King of France and caused the Flower de luces to be quartered with the Lions of England which has been continued ever since amongst all his Successors The French opposing his Title by virtue of a pretended Salique Law disabling Women from the Succession to the Crown he overthrew in two great Battels with a small Force under the Conduct of the incomparable Edward the Black Prince his Son Duke of Aquitain Those were the Battels of Cressy and Poitiers the first being fought Anno 1343 in the Reign of Philip VI surnamed de Valois and that of Poitiers in the Reign of his Son King John who was taken Prisoner with Philip his Son and brought over into England But such is the Vicissitude of Humane Affairs that the English soon after lost all they had got in these Wars Calais excepted For Charles V of France the Son of John proved too hard for Richard II of England one of our unfortunate Kings the next Successor of King Edward III and his Grandson by Edward the Black Prince But Henry V his next Successor but one did so far pursue the Title of France that he won it after he had won the great Battle of Agincourt which happened Anno 1415. The Opportunity was great whether we consider the Weakness and distracted Condition of Charles VI then King of France or the very Distraction of the Kingdom at that time occasioned by the Faction of Burgundy against that of Orleans So that being sought to for Peace he granted it with these Conditions that upon his Marriage with the Lady Catharine Daughter to King Charles he should be made Regent of France during Charles his Life and after the Death of Charles the Crown of France and aâ—â— its Rights should remain to King Henry and his Heirs for ever which was agreed to â—n â—oth sides And though Henry did not live â—o possess the Kingdom yet his Son Henry VI â—ad the fortune to be Crowned King of France in Paris which he held during the life of his Uncle John of Bedford anâ— Humfrey of Gloâ—ester After whose Deaths he not only lost France to the French but England and his Life to the Yorkish Faction Thus Charles VII Son of Charles VI after 〈◊〉 long and bloody War recovered from the English then divided at Home all their Possessions in France except Calais Which last remained under the English till Queen Maries Reign and was taken from her by Henry II of France And ever since Things have remained much in the same Posture the Kings of England with the Title to France and the French Kings with the Possession Nay we have had two Kings of late so passionately inamoured with the present French King that far from attempting to take the least Flower of his Crown from him have promoted his Greatness and encouraged his Rapines and unjust Usurpations The Scope whereof at last appeared to be no less than the Inslaving this Nation with the Assistance of France and far from raising the Glory of the English to make them an Object of Scorn and Contempt to the World But now we are blest with a wise just and magnanimous King three Vertues that have been long absent from the Throne of England we may hope shortly to see France if not Conquered again at least so humbled and weakened that it shall not be in her power to insult and incroach upon her Neighbours as she has in our Time to the Ruin and Desolation of the best Part of Europe 'T was a notable if not Prophetick Answer which an Englishman made to a French Officer who after the English had lost France asked him in a scoffing manner When they would return thither Wheâ— your Sins says he â—â—re greater than ours As baâ— as this Nation 〈◊〉 been 't is apparent the French have far outdone us in their Pride and Lewdness Cruelties and Usurpations So that I hope from the Disposition of the present Affairs of Europe the Time is come for France to give an Account thereof to God and Man I come now to the King of England's Titles which run thus at present joyntly with Queen Mary William and Mary by the Grace of God King and Queen of England Scotland France and Ireland
Right of Patronage called Patronage Paramount Insomuch that if the mean Patron or the Ordinary or the Metropolitan present not in due time the Right of Presentation comes at at last to the King As for the Bishopricks the King only has the Patronage of them For none can be chosen Bishop but whom he nominates in his Conge d'Estire and a Bishop Elect cannot be Consecrated or take possession of the Revenues of the Bishoprick without the King 's special Writ or Assent In short as the King is the only Sovereign and Supream Head both in Church and State so there lies no Appeal from Him as from some other States and Kingdoms beyond Sea either to the Pope of Rome or to the Emperor But indeed the greatest and safest of the Kings Prerogatives is as the present King wrote in a late Letter to his Council of Scotland to Rule according to Law and with Moderation The Dispensing Power so much contended for in the late Reign by the Court-Party as a Branch of the Kings Prerogative and as vigorously opposed by some true Patriots is â—ow quite out of Doors by the Act of Settlement which makes it plainly Illegal And as to that divine Prerogative which the Kings of England claimed as a Thing de Jure divino I mean the Curing of the King 's Evil only by the King 's laying his hands on the Sick assisted with a short Form of Divine Service it is now laid aside as a Traditional Errour at least a Doctrine not fit to be trusted â—o So that the French King is at this time the only Monarch that pretends to this Miraculous Priviledge Our Historians derived it here from King Edward the Confessour who lived so holy a Life that as they say he received Power from above Intailed to his Royal Successors for ever to cure this stubborn Disease But now 'c is lookt upon as a Doctrine not so fit for Protestants as bigotted Papists to whom no Miracle is amiss I come now to the King's Power with relation to forein Parts Which I shall describe as near as I can first as Defensive secondly as Offensive In the first Sense England if well united is of all the States in Europe the least subject to an Invasion especially since the Conjunction of Scotland The whole Island is naturally so well senced with the Ocean and when Occasion requires so well garded by those moving Castles the King's Ships of War the strongest and best built in the whole World The Kingdom besides is so abundantly furnished with Men and Horses with Provisions and Ammunition and Mony the Sinews of War that nothing but our intestine Divisions can make us a Prey to the greatest Potentates of Europe tho united together As for the King's Power abroad not only our Neighbours but the most remote Places have sufficiently felt it and this at a time when Scotland and Ireland were usually at enmity with Him 'T is true since the Reign of Qâ— Elizabeth what with our Distractions at home and the Weakness or Effeminacy of some of one Kings England has either been Idle or taken up with Intestine Broils Only in Cromwel's Time we humbled the Hollanders scowred the Algerines kept the French and the Pope in aw and took Jamaica from Spain Our greatest Exploits were upon our own selves when being unhappily involved in Civil Wars for several Years together we destroy'd one another with a fatal Courage Then were computed about two hundred thousand Foot and fifty thousand Horse to be in Arms on both sides which had they been imploy'd abroad might have shaken the greatest part of Europe And here I cannot but with an aking heart apply the Words of Lucan Heu quantum potuit Coeli Pelagique parari Hoc quem Civiles fuderunt Sanguine Dextrae In English thus How much both Sea and Land might have been gained By their dear Bloud which Civil Wars have drained Of so martial Spirit the English are and their fear of Death so little that as Dr. Chamberlain has well observed no Neighbourâ—â—ation scarce durst ever abide Battle with â—hem either by Sea or Land upon equal Terms â—nd now we are ingaged in a just War both with Ireland and France under a Prince of â—o great Conduct and Courage incouraged by â—â—s Parliament assisted and faithfully served by the greatest General now in Europe I cannot but hope well from our Armies both by Seu and Land if our provoked God do not fight against us The next Thing that offers it self to our Consideration is the King of England's Court which for State Greatness and good Order besides the constant Concourse of Nobility and Gentry resorting thither when there is no Jealousy between the King and his People is one of the chief Courts of Europe It is as an Author says a Monarchy within a Monarchy consisting of Ecclesiastical Civil and Military Persons the two last under their proper Government To support the Grandure of this Court and the other Charges of the Crown in time of Peace the Kings of England have always had competent Revenues Which never were raised by any of those sordid Ways used in other Countries but consist chiefly in Domains or Lands belonging to the Crown in Customs and Excise Anciently the very Domains of the Crown and Fee-Farm Rents were so considerable that they were almost sufficient to discharge all the ordinary Expences of the Crown without any Tax or Impost upon the Subject Then there was scarce a County in England but the King had in it a Royal Castle a Forest and a Park to Receive and Divert Him in his Royal Progresses A piece of Grandure which no King else could boast of But upon the Restauration of King Charles the Crown Revenues being found much Impaired and the Crown Charges increasing upon the growing Greatness of our Neighbours the French and Dutch the Parliament settled upon the King a Yearly Revenue of Twelve Hundred Thousand Pounds by several Imposts besides the Domains and other Profits arising to the Crown in Tenths and First-Fruits in Reliefs Fines Amerciaments and Confiscations And the whole Revenue improved to that degree that in the late Reign it was judged to amount to near two Millions Which is a Fair Revenue in Time of Peace In Time of War the Parliament supplies the King according to his Occasions by such Taxes to be raised upon the Nation as they think most convenient CHAP. X. Of the Government of England by Regency Also of the Succession to the Crown THere are three Cases wherein the Kingdom of England is not immediately governed by the King but by a Substitute Regent And those are the Kings Minority Absence or Incapacity The King is by Law under Age when he is under twelve Years old And till he has attained to that Age the Kingdom is governed by a Regent Protector or Gardian appointed either by the King his Predecessor or for want of such Appointment by the Three States assembled in the Name of the Infant
Fee-simple make Leases and Grants and sue in her own Name without the King which is not in the power of any other Feme-covert or married Woman to do A Queen Dowager or Widow-Queen is still Respected as a Queen in her Widowhood and keeps a Court accordingly And though she should marry a private Gentleman as did Queen Catharine King Henry the Fifths Widow she does not lose her Dignity By the Sons and Daughters of England I mean the King's Children So called because all the Subjects of England have a special Interest i◠Them though their Education and the Disposing of Them is only in the King The Eldest Son commonly called the Prince of Wales is born Duke of Cornwal and afterwards created Prince of Wales Upon his Birth he is by Law of full Age to sue for the Livery of the said Dukedom as if he were full a Years of Age. But so much of the Lands 〈◊〉 Demesns of it have been Alienated that h◠Revenues are chiefly out of the Tin-Mines i◠Cornwall Which with all other Profits of the Dutchy amount yearly to the Sum of 140◠Pounds and the Prince's whole Revenues to about 20000 l. When King Edward I had compleated the Conquest of Wales He divided it into Seven Shires to which Henry VIII added five more out of the March Lands Over each of the Seven Shires King Edward placed a particular English Lieutenant and over the whole he designed a Vicegerent The Welch being disgusted at this He sent for his Queen then great with Child to Caernarvan where she was delivered of a Son Upon the News whereof the King assembled the Chief Men of that Nation and offered to name them a Governour born in Wales who could not speak one word of English and against whose Life they could take no just exception Such a one when they had all sworn to obey he named his young Son Edward Whereupon He created him Prince of Wales and since that time the Kings of England eldest Sons have been called Princes of Wales Whereas while Normandy was in the Power of the English which lasted till the Reign of King John they were stiled Dukes of Normandy The Investiture is performed by the Imposition of a Cap of Estate and a Coronet on the Princes Head as a Token of his Principality by delivering into his hand a Verge of Gold the Emblem of Government by putting a Gold Ring on his Finger in token that he must be a Husband to his Country and a Father to her Children and by giving him a Patent to hold the said Principality to Him and his Heirs Kings of England By which Words the Separation of it from the Crown is prohibited and the King keeps to himself an excellent Occasion of obliging unto Him his Son when he pleases In Imitation of which Custom John I King of Castille and Leon made his Son Henry Prince of the Asturias a Country so Craggy and Mountainous that it may not improperly be called the Wales of Spain And all the Spanish Princes ever since have been honoured with that Title The Mantle worn in Parliament by the Prince of Wales has for Distinctions sake one gard more than a Duke's his Coronet of Crosses and Flower de luces and his Cap of State indented His Arms differ from the Kings only by addition of a Label of three points And his peculiar Device is a Coronet beautified with three Ostrich Feathers inscribed with ICH DIEN that is I serve Alluding perhaps to that in the Gospel The Heir while he is a Child differs not from a Servant Which Device was born at the Battel of Cressy by John King of Bohemia serving there under the French King and there slain by Edward the Black Prince Since worn by the Princes of Wales and by the Vulgar called the Princes Arms. In short the King of England's Eldest Son has ever since been stiled Prince of Wales Duke of Aquitain and Cornwal and Earl of Chester and Flint these Earldoms being conferred upon him by Letters Patent As Eldest Son to the King of Scotland he is Duke of Rothsay and Seneschal of Scotland from his Birth Though he is a Subject yet the Law looks upon his Person as so Sacred that it is high Treason to imagine his Death or violate his Wife The Younger Sons of England depend altogether upon the King's Favour both for Titles of Honour and Revenues sutable to their Birch For they are not born Dukes or Earls but are so created according to the Kings Pleasure Neither have they as in France certain Appanages but only what Revenue the King pleases to bestow upon them They are indeed by Birth-right as well as the Prince of Wales Counsellors of State whereby they may fit themselves to manage the weighty Affairs of the Kingdom The Daughters are called Princesses And to violate them unmarried is High Treason The Title of Royal Highness is common to all the King's Children All Subjects ought to be uncovered in their Presence to kneel when they are admitted to kiss their hands and to be served on the Knee at Table unless the King be present Lastly all Persons of the Royal Bloud being a Lawful Issue have the Precedency of all others in England As for the King 's Natural or Illegitimate Sons and Daughters they are commonly created Dukes and Dutchesses and bear what Surname the King pleases to give them King Henry I. and Charles II. of blessed Memory are noted to have had the most of any CHAP. XII Of the Nine Great Officers of the Crown NEXT to the Royal Family the Great Officers of the Crown come of course to be Inquired into which are Nine in Number Viz. The Lord High Steward The Lord High Chancellor The Lord High Treasurer The Lord President of the Kings Council The Lord Privy Seal The Lord Great Chamberlain The Lord High Constable The Lord Earl Marshal The Lord High Admiral The Lord High Steward of England is the highest Officer under the King His Office not unlike that of the Mayre of the Pallace under the ancient Kings of France is to rule and govern the Kingdom under the King in Time of Peace and War during his Reign Which Power being thought too large and exorbitant for a Subject to have this Great Officer has been discontinned ever since Henry of Bullingbrock Son to John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster afterwards King of England under the Name of Henry IV. Only at a Coronation also for the Trial of a Peer or Peeress for Treason or Felony or some other great Crime the King makes a High Steward for that Time Who during his Stewardship is called His Grace and bears a white Staff in his hand which he openly breaks when the Business is over and so ends his Office By virtue of his Office at a Coronation he sits Judicially at the King's Pallace at Westminster Where he receives the Bills and Petitions of all such Noblemen and others who by reason of their Tenure or otherwise
claim to do Services at the King's Coronation and to receive the accustomed Fees and Allowances In the Procession on the Coronation-Day 't is he that carries the King's Crown The Right Honourable the Earl of Devonshire was honoured with this great Office in the last Coronation Upon the Trial of a Peer he sits under a Cloth of State and his Commission is to proceed secundum Legem Consuetudinem Angliae He is not Sworn nor the Lords who are the Tryers of the Peer arraigned and tho he call all the Judges of the Land to assist him yet he is the sole Judge Next to the Lord High Steward is the Lord High Chancellour who in Civil Affairs now there is no High Steward is the highest Person in the Kingdom next to the Royal Family as the Arch-bishop of Canterbury is in Ecclesiastical His Oath is to do Right to all manner of People rich and poor after the Laws and Customs of the Realm truly to counsel the King and keep secret the King's Counsel to stand for the Rights of the Crown c. The Great Seal of England is in his Custody He is the Judge of the Court of Chancery otherwise called the Court of Equity where he is to judge not according to the Rigour and Letter of the Law but with Equity and Conscience He also bestow's all Ecclesiastical Benefices in the King's Gift under 20 l. a Year in the King's Books Since the Reign of Henry VII this great Office has been commonly executed by Lawyers whereas formerly Bishops and other Clergy-men learned in the Civil Laws were usually intrusted with it The Lord High Chancellour holds his Place but durante Regis Beneplacito during the King's Pleasure And his Place is counted to be worth 8000 l. a Year Anciently he had sometimes a Vice-Chancellour commonly called Keeper of the Great Seal But of later Times they differ only in Name For the late Kings have always beflowed the Great Seal either with the Title of Lord Keeper or of Lord Chancellour but still with the same Power and Right of Precedence Only the Lord Chancellour receives a Patent from the King for his Office which the Lord Keeper do's not and by the Title of Chancellour he is lookt upon as in greater favour with the King But his present Majesty since his Accession to the Crown thought fit to have this Office managed by Commissioners and accordingly it has been hitherto managed by three Lords Commissioners The third Great Officer of the Crown is the Lord High Treasurer who has the Charge and Government of all the King's Revenue kept in the Exchequer He has the Gift of all Customers Comptrolers and Searchers in all the Ports of England and the Nomination of all Escheators in every County He has also the Check of all the Officers imploy'd in collecting all the Revenues of the Crown He has power either by himself or with others joyned in Commission with him to let Leases of all the Crown-Lands And it is he that gives Warrants to certain Persons of Quality to have their Wine Custom-free Anciently he received this Office and Dignity by the delivery of the golden Keys of the Treasury which is now done by delivery of a white Staff to him by the King His Oath do's not differ much from that of the Lord Chancellour and he holds his Place as he do's during his Majesties Pleasure His Place is also reckoned to be worth 8000 l. per ann But this great Office is now executed by four Persons called the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury Next is the Lord President of the King 's Privy Council an Officer as ancient as King John's Time made by the King's Letters Patent under the Great Seal durante Beneplacito His Office is to manage the Debates in Council to propose Matters from the King and report the Transactions to his Majesty In the late Reigns this Office was often supplied by the Chancellour Next to the Lord President is the Lord Privy Seal whose Office is of great Trust and Skill He is so called from the Privy Seal which is in his custody All Charters and Grants of the King and all Pardon 's signed by the King pass through his hands before they come to the Great Seal of England And hâ—â— ought not to put this Seal to any Grant withâ— out good Warrant under the King 's Privy Signet nor with Warrant if it be againsâ— Law or Custom until the King be first acquainted He manages also divers other Matters of less concernment which do not pass the Great Seal He is by his Place of the King 's Privy Council and takes his Oath accordingly besides a particular Oath as Lord Privy Seal Wheâ— there is a Court of Requests he is the chieâ— Judge of it His Place is also during the King's Pleasure 〈◊〉 and his Salary is 1500 l. per annum The sixth Great Officer of the Crown iâ— the Lord Great Chamberlain of England an Officer of State and of great Antiquity whose chief Business is on the Coronation-Day For it is his Office that Day to bring the King his Shirt Coyf and Wearing Cloaths before his Majesty rises and to carry at the Coronation the Coyf Gloves and Linnen to be used by the King upon that Occasion In the Church where the King is Crowned he undresses and attires his Majesty with Robes Royal and giveâ— Him the Gold which is offered by Him at the Altar Before and after Dinner he serves the King with Water to wash his hands For this Service he has 40 Ells of Criâ—â—son Velver for-his own Robes the King 's Beâ— and all the Furniture of his Bed-Chamber all the King's Night-Apparel and the Basoâ— and Towels used at Dinner for his Fees He has also Livery and Lodging in the King's Court certain â—ees from all Peers of the Realm at their Creation and from each Arch-Bishop or Bishop when they do their Hoâ—â—age or Fealty to the King To him belongs the Care of providing all Things in the House of Lords in Parliament-Time and therefore has an Apartment allowed him near the House of Lords This Office is Hereditary and belongs to the Earls of Lindsey The Lord High Constable is another great Officer but of too great Authority and Power to be continued and therefore is only created for the Solemnity of the King's Coronation The Duke of Ormond was High Constable in the last The next is the Earl Marshal of England an Officer of great Antiquity and anciently of great Power His proper Office is to summon the Nobility to the King's Coronation with such Directions for State and publick Appearance as becomes that Solemnity He also takes Cognizance of Matters of War and Arms out of the reach of the Common Law and in these Matters he is commonly guided by the Civil Law Neither can any obtain a Coat of Arms but he must first apply himself to the Earl Marshal to whom the Heralds Colledge is subordinate The last is the Lord
eldest Son is Frederick the Heir apparent born in the Year 1671 and the two others are Christiern and Carolus The Duke of Glocester is the only Son and Heir of their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Denmark He was born July 24th 1689 and on the 27th he was Christened at Hampton-Court by the Lord Bishop of London and named William the King and the Earl of Dorset Lord Chamberlain of His Majesties Houshold being Godfathers and the Lady Marchioness of Hallifax Godmother CHAP. XIX Of the Nobility of England THE English Nobility is divided into five Degrees Viz. Duke Marquess Earl Viscount and Baron And they are called the Peerage of England because they are all Peers the Barons as well as the rest They have also all of them the Title of Lord. All these Honours are given by the King who is the sole Fountain of Honour and whatever Title a Subject of England receives from any forein Prince is not only Insignificant here but Unwarrantable by Law All Noblemen at their Creation have two Ensigns which signify two Duties Their Heads are adorned in token that they are to assist their King and Country with good Counsel in time of Peace and they are girt with a Sword as being to support the King and defend the Kingdom with their Lives and Fortunes in time of War A Duke is created by Patent Cincture oâ— Sword Mantle of State Imposition of A Cap and Coronet of gold on his head and a Vergâ— of gold put into his hand A Marquess and aâ— Earl by Cincture of Sword a Mantle of State with a Cap and Coronet put upon him by the King himself and a Patent delivered into his hand Viscounts and Barons are made by Patent and these sometimes by Writ whereby they are called to sit in the House of Lords All the Peers have Coronets but with these Distinctions A Baron has six Pearls upon the Circle a Viscount the Circle of Pearls without number an Earl has the Pearls raised upon Points and Leaves low between a Marquess a Pearl and a Strawberry-leaf round of equal height and a Duke Leaves without Pearls Only the Dukes of the Royal Blood bear like the Prince of Wales a Coronet of Crosses and Flower de Luce. Which is the same with the King 's excepting the Arches Globe and Cross on the top of the King's Crown But the greatest Distinction amongst the Nobles is their Parliament Robes in their several Gards on their Mantles and short Cloaks about their Shoulders For a Baron has but two Gards a Viscount two and a half an Earl three a Marquess three and a half and a Duke four Besides that the Mantle of a Duke Marquess and Earl is faced with Ermine that of a Viscount and Baron with plain white Furr Dukes were at first so called a ducendo being anciently Generals and Leaders of Armies in time of War Marquesses from their Government of Marches and Frontire-Countries Earls in Latine Comites because they had the Government of Counties Viscounts in Latine Vice-Comites as being Assistants or Deputies in the Government of Counties Barons according to Bracton quasi Robur Belli the safety of the King and People in Time of War depending upon their Courage and Skill in Martial Affairs Anciently a Duke was made so for Term of Life then held by Lands and Fees till Dukes came to be Titular and Hereditary In those Times likewise there was no Earl but had a County or Shire for his Earldom who for the support of his State had the third Peny out of the Sheriffs Court issuing out of all Pleas of that County whereof he was Earl Also those Barons only were accounted Peers of the Realm that held of the King per integram Baroniam which consisted of 13 Knights Fees and one third part that is of 400 Marks each Knights Fee being 20 l. And whoever had so much was wont to be summoned to Parliament But then 100 Marks was as much as 2000 pounds at this day as may be guessed by comparing the Prices of Things 'T is true King Henry III after he had with much ado suppressed his Barons called by Writ unto Parliament only such great Men as had continued loyal or were like so to be Which Example being followed by his Successors they only were accounted Peers of the Realm that were so called by the King 's special Writ Till Barons came to be made by Patent as well as by Writ and at last most by Patent which makes it hereditary But there are Barons in England that have noâ— share in the Peerage as such viz. the Barons of the Exchequer and the Barons of the Cinque-Ports Such as these the Earls Palatines and the Eath of England Marches had anciently under them and such there are yet in Cheshire The chieâ— Burgesses of London were also called of oâ— Barons All Dukes Marquesses and Earls at this day have their respective Titles from some Shire or part of a Shire Town or City Castle Park or Village Except two Earls whereof one is Officiary and the other Nominal the first being the Earl Marshal of England and the last the Earl Rivers who takes his Denomination from an Illustrious Family Barons are so denominated from their chief Seat or a Castle belonging to the Family Which is not to be divided amongst Daughters if there be no Sons but must descend to the eldest Daughter None of these Honours can be lost but these two Ways Either by want of Issue male except where the Patent extends to Issue female as sometimes it does Or else by some heinous Crime and then it cannot be restored to the Bloud but by Act of Parliament A Duke has the Title of Grace given him and the other Peers that of Lordship on Honour Accordingly we commonly give to these the Epithet of Right Honourable All Dukes and Marquesses Sons are called Lords by the Courtesy of England and the Daughters Ladies I say by the Courtesy of England for the Law makes no such Distinction but looks upon all as Commoners that have no Right to sit in the House of Peers Of an Earl none but the eldest Son is called Lord though all the Daughters be Ladies And as for the Issue of Vicounts and Barons none of their Sons is Lord nor of the Daughters Lady A Dukes eldest Son is called Lord Marquess and the younger Sons by their Christen-names with the Title of Lord prefixt as Lord William Lord Thomas c. A Marquesses eldest Son is called Lord of a Place and the younger Sons as those of a Duke that is by their Christen-names with the Title of Lord prefixt as Lord William Lord Thomas An Earl's eldest Son is born as a Viscount and called Lord of a Place In point of Precedency this is the Rule Af-the Princes of the Bloud the first amongst the Nobility are the Dukes and these are thus followed Viz. Dukes Marquesses Dukes eldest Sons Earls Marquesses eldest Sons Dukes younger Sons Vicounts Earls
eldest Sons Marquesses younger Sons Barons Vicounts eldest Sons Earls younger Sons Barons eldest Sons Vicounts younger Sons Barons younger Sons But 't is to be observed that all Dukes that are not Princes of the Bloud are preceded by these four Great Officers of the Crown though they be but Barons viz. the Lord Chancellour the Lord Treasurer the Lord President of the Privy Council and the Lord Privy Seal I leave out the Lord High Steward of England because none of this Office is continued beyond the present Occasion As for the Lord Great Chamberlain of England the Lord High Constable the Lord Marshal the Lord High Admiral the Lord Steward of the King's Houshold and the Lord Chamberlain of the King's Houshold they sit above all of their Degree only The Nobility of England have at all times injoyed many considerable Priviledges Though neither Civil nor Common Law allow any Testimony to be valid but what is given upon Oath yet the Testimony of a Peer of England given in upon his Honour without any oath is esteemed valid And whereas the law allows any one of the Commonalty arraigned for Treason or Felony to challenge 35 of his Jury without shewing Cause and others by shewing Cause a Peer of the Realm cannot challenge any of his Jury or put any of them to their Oath the Law presuming that they being Peers of the Realm and judging upon their Honour cannot be guilty of Falshood Favour or Malice In Criminal Causes a Peer cannot be tried but by a Jury of the Peers of the Realm who are not as other Juries to be put to their Oath but their Verdict given in upon their Honour sufficeth All Peers of the Realm being lookt upon as the King 's constant Counsellors their Persons are at all Times priviledged from Arrests except in Criminal Cases Therefore a Peer cannot be Outlawed in any Civil Action and no Attachment lies against him The only Way for satisfaction from a Peer is by Execution taken forth upon his Lands and Goods and not by Attachment or Imprisonment of his Person So tender is the Law of the Honour Credit Reputation and Persons of Noblemen that there is a Statute on purpose called Scandalum Magnatum to punish all such as by false Reports â—ring any scandal upon them They are exempted from all Attendance at Leets or Sheriffs Turns where others are obliged to take the Oath of Allegiance And whereas for the suppressing of Riots the Sheriff may raise the Posse Comitatus yet he cannot command any Peer of the Realm to attend that Service In Civil Causes they are not to be Impanelled upon any Jury or Inquest de facto though in a Matter between two Peers and if a Peer be returned upon any such Jury there lies a special Writ for his Discharge They are upon no Case to be bound to their good Behaviour or put to swear they will not break the Peace but only to promise it upon their Honour which was ever counted so sacred as upon no terms to be violated Every Peer of the Realm summoned to Parliament may constitute in his lawful absence a Proxy to Vote for him which none of the Commons may do And any Peer in a Place of Trust is free to make a Deputy to act in his absence whilst he attends the Person of the King Where a Peer of the Realm is Defendant no Day of Grace is to be granted to the Plaintiff the Law presuming that a Peer of the Realm must always be ready to attend the Person of the King and the Service of the Commonwealth Therefore he ought not to be delayed any longer than the ordinary Use of the Court but tâ— have expedition of Justice In any Civil Trial where a Peer of the Realâ— is Plaintiff or Defendant there must be at leasâ— one Knight returned of the Jury Otherwisâ— the Array may be quashed by Challenge In all Cases wherein the Priviledge of the Clergy is allowed to other Men and in divers Cases where that Priviledge is taken away from them a Peer of the Realm upon his Request shall be for the first time adjudged as a Clerk Convict though he cannot read And that without burning in the Hand loss of Inheritance or Corruption of Bloud In case of Amerciaments of the Peers of the Realm upon Non-Suits or other Judgments a Duke is to be amerced but Ten Pounds and all others under Five This to be done by their Peers according to Magna Charta though it has been often done of late by the King's Justices A Peer of the Realm being sent for by the King to Court Parliament Council or Chancery has the Priviledge passing by the King's Park or Forest both coming and returning to Kill one or two Deer An Earl has 8 Tun of Wine Custom-free and the rest proportionably All Peers of the Realm have a Priviledge of Qualifying a certain Number of Chaplains to hold Plurality of Benefices with Cure of Souls But it must be with a Dispensation first obtained from the Archbishop and the same ratified under the Great Seal of England Thus a Duke may qualify six Chaplains a Marquess and Earl five a Viscount four and a Baron â—hree A Peer of the Realm has also the Priviledge â—f Retaining six Aliens whereas another may â—ot Retain above four These are the chief Priviledges belonging to â—e Nobility of England which are great and â—onsiderable And yet none of them ever had the Priviledge of the Grandees of Spain to be covered in the King's Presence except Henry Ratcliff Earl of Surrey 'T is true the Princes of the Bloud have often had the honour of being covered but then it was by the King 's gracious Command not by virtue of any constant Priviledge Neither are our Noblemen exempted as in France from Tailles and Contributions but always bear a share proportionable And in case of a Poll-Act they are usually thus Rated according to their several Degrees of Honour Viz. Â l. s. d. A Duke 50 00 00 A Marquess 40 00 00 An Earl 30 00 00 A Viscount 25 00 00 A Baron 20 00 00 Those of their Sons which have attained to 16 Years of Age are thus taxed As. Â l. s. d. The Eldest Son of A Duke 30 00 00 The Eldest Son of A Marquess 25 00 00 The Eldest Son of An Earl 20 00 00 The Eldest Son of A Viscount 17 00 00 The Eldest Son of A Baron 15 00 00 A Younger Son of A Duke 25 00 00 A Younger Son of A Marquess 20 00 00 A Younger Son of An Earl 15 00 00 A Younger Son of A Viscount 13 06 00 A Younger Son of A Baron 12 00 00 The Nobles to bear up their Rank have generally great and plentiful Estates some of them beyond those of several Princes beyond Sea And till the Civil Wars in the Reign of Charles I. they lived with suitable splendour and Magnisicence Keeping a plentiful Table and a numerous Attendance with several Officers delighting in
Opinion of the Yeomanry that occupy Lands than of Tradesmen or Artificers And accordingly Yeomen are capable of bearing some Offices as of Constable and Church-Warden to serve upon Juries to be Train-Souldiers to vote in the Election of Knights of the Shire to serve in Parliament c. And by the Statutes of England certain Immunities are given to Freeholders and Land-men tho they are not Gentlemen Next to Freeholders are the Copy-holders who are much of the same nature I mean those Copy-holders that hold Copy-holds certain Which is a kind of Inheritance in many Places called Customary because the Tenant dying and the Hold being void the next of Bloud paying the Customary Fine as two Shillings for an Acre or such like may not be denied his Admission They are called Copy-holders from the Copy of Court-Roll of the Mannor within which they hold their Land by which Copy only they hold it For this is all a Copy-holder has to shew for his Title which he takes from the Steward of the Lord of the Mannor's Court. But as England is one of the most trading Countries in Europe so the greatest Body of its Commonalty is that of Traders or Men that live by Buying and Selling. The most eminent whereof are those we call Merchants who trade only by Whole-sale These are the Men who by their Stock and Industry have found the Way not only to Inrich themselves but to make the whole Nation thrive and flourish by a perpetual Circulation of Trade by exporting home-bred and importing forein Commodities by incouraging thereby Navigation and by procuring comfortable Imployment to a vast Number of Artificers Tradesmen and â—â—etailers In short such is the benign Influence of Trade and Commerce by their means all over the Nation that there is scarce any part of it but feels the Benefit thereof And for this great Advantage to the Publick as well as their private Wealth they have got a proportionable esteem and respect from the rest of the Nation Insomuch that whereas Trading formerly rendred a Gentleman ignoble now an ignoble Person makes himself by Merchandizing as good as a Gentleman and many Gentlemen Born some of them Younger Sons of Noblemen take upon them this Profession without any prejudice or blemish to their Birth Nay the Law of England that ever had but a slight Opinion of Traders is so far Obliterated in this Point by Custom and Interest that whereas by Law a Ward come to Age may bring his Action of Disparagement against his Gardian for offering any such in Marriage now 't is common for Gentlemens and Merchants Sons and Daughters to Intermarry The truth is Gentility with competent Means is an excellent Compound but without it 't is but a wretched Condition as the World goes now And who would not rather be a substantial honest Trader so as to stand upon his own Legs and make some figure in the World than for want of Imployment to starve with a point of Honour or live a borrowed Life in this Age especially where Poverty is so little pitied and grown so contemptible Poverty says an Author the general Scare-crow of Mankind the fear of which keeps Men in perpetual Morion and makes them run headlong into the greatest Dangers Per Mare Pauperiem fugiunt per Saxa per Ignes Poverty a lingering kind of Death that having once seized upon ones Spirits dejects and stupifies him takes away the edge of his Senses weakens his Memory discomposes his Mind and makes him almost uncapable of any Thing Poverty in a Word that turns Men into ridicule as Juvenal has it in these Words Nil habet Paupertas durius in se Quam quod Ridiculos homines facit In France indeed where if a Gentleman born betakes himself to Trade forfeits his Gentility the Gentry stand so much upon their Honour that it is very rare to see a French Gentleman turn to Merchandizing But there they have greater Opportunities for preferring themselves according to their quality especially by the Way of Arms. And so jealous is the whole Body of them of this their Gentility that rather than have it exposed in any of their Members by naked and hungry Poverty their Way is to help one another to the utmost of their Power and which is very commendable they seldom fail to give a Gentleman though never so needy the Respect due to his Birth But it is something surprizing they should so much decline Merchandizing their King Lewis le Grand not to mention his other Commodities being the greatest Salt-Merchant in the Known World But to return to our Commonalty it may be said to comprehend three Parts in four of the Nation the Generality of them Imployed in Husbandry Trade and Navigation some in a higher others in a lesser Degree And such is the Happiness of this People in general that none injoy greater Priviledges or are more secure by Law from Oppression They are subject to no Taxes or Laws but what they contrive themselves by their Representatives in Parliament And in point of Trials none of them can be Tried but by a Jury of his Peers that is by Twelve Men Commoners like himself Nor can he be Condemned but by the Laws of the Land In short the Government is so very favourable to the Common People of England that unless the Laws be invaded which are the Bulwark of the Government they need not fear to be any Way oppressed CHAP. XXII Of the Clergy of England and first of the Bishops THE Clergy of England is like the Laity divided into several Ranks or Degrees For as the Laity consists of Nobility Gentry and Commonalty so the Clergy is divided into Bishops Dignitaries and Inferious Clergy The Bishops are those who take upon them the Government of the Church of England according to Law every one in his Diocese And as England consists of 26 Dioceses or Bishopricks so there are accordingly 26 Bishops or Diocesans Besides the Bishoprick of the Isle of Man which is a distinct Bishoprick Their Office being Pastoral their Business is to feed their Flocks with the wholsom Doctrine of the Church and so to oversee the Inferiour Clergy that by their Lives and Doctrine the People may Keep the Truth and live according to the Rules of Christianity And as each of them has a Canonical Authority over all the Priests of his Diocese so they have all in chief the Power of Ordination Which however is never performed but by the Bishop joyntly with some other Priests They are also Impowred to grant Institutions to Benefices upon Presentations of other Patrons to command Induction to be given to order the collecting and preserving of the Profits of vacant Benefices for the Successors Use They are bound to defend the Church-Liberties and once in three Years to Visit each his Diocese In this triennial Visitation they Inquire of the Manners Carriages and Offences of Ministers Church-Wardens and the rest of the Parishioners principally of Offenders against Justice
the Fee He is free to consent to Marriage and may by Will dispose of Goods and Chattels At the Age of 15 he ought to be Sworn to his Allegiance to the King at 21 he is said to be of full Age. Then he is free to make any Contracts and to pass by Will both Goods and Lands which in other Countries may not be done till the Age of 25 called Annus Consistentiae A Daughter at the Age of 7 Years may consent to Marriage but at 12 she is free to retract or confirm it If she confirms it then the Marriage is good and she may make a Will of Goods and Chattels At 21 she may Contract or Alienate her Lands by Will or otherwise Servants in England are either tied to a certain Number of Years or only by the Year these being free to quit their Service at such a Warning as is agreed upon between the Master or the Mistris and the Servant By those that are tied to a certain Number of Years I mean Apprentices the usual Time for their Apprentiship being 7 Years This is the most Servile Condition in England considering the Lash they ly under together with their long and strict Confinement under Articles And whereas other Servants receive Wages for their Service these commonly do pay a Sum of Mony to their Masters for their Prenticeship The Condition of other Servants is much easier all over England For besides that few undergo the Hardship that Prentices do they may be free at the Years end giving 3 Months Warning and if a Servant do not like one Master he may go to another where perhaps he may find more favour or advantage But before a Person ventures upon such a Servant 't is civil first to get his former Masters Leave and prudential to have from him a testimony of his faithfulness and diligence Now there are so many Degrees of Serâ—ants in England that if some live meanly there are others who live genteely and some of these so splendidly as to keep Servants of their own In great Families where a Person of quality makes a proper Figure and has a sutable Attendance there is a necessary Subordination of Servants so that the Inferiour Servants may be at the beck of their Superiour Officers to answer the several parts of their respective Duties Thus a great Man lives like a Prince and Keeps a Court of his own In general it may be said no Country is more favourable than England to Servants who generally live here with more ease and less Subjection and have larger Salaries than any where else The truth is if we consider the nature of a Servant how by going to Service he devests himself of what is dearest to Mankind his Liberty and Subjects his Will to another who sometimes proves magget-headed cruel or tyrannical I think it but reasonable to have a tender Regard for good Servants For this amongst other Things was that great Man of Spain Cardinal Ximenes so noted in his time who proved so bountiful and so generous a Master to his Servants that History to this day does admire him for it As for stubborn and unruly Servants the Law of England gives Masters and Mistresses Power to correct them and Resistance in a Servant is punished with severe Penalty But for a Servant to Kill his Master or Mistris is so high a Crime that it is counted Petty Treason or a Crime next to High Treason Since Christianity prevailed here England admits of no forein Slaves In forein Plantations indeed the English as other Nations buy and sell Negro's as Slaves But a forein Slave brought over into England is upon Landing ipso facto free from Slavery though not from ordinary Service 'T is true there has been a sort of Tenure here called a Tenure in Villenage and the Tenant Villain who was in effect a Bond-man to the Lord of the Land For the Lord might take Redemption of him to marry his Daughter and to make him free He might put him out of his Lands and Tenements Goods and Chattels at his Will and might beat and chastise but not maim him Now such Villains are out of date though the Law concerning them stands unrepealed to this day Servorum Nativorum says Spelman apud nos sublata est Conditio quas ideo possidebant Terras vel Praedia hodie libere tenent sub antiquae Servitutis Consuetudinibus And Sir Edward Coke out of Fortescue has this Note Impius Crudelis judicandus qui Libertati non favet for which he gives this as the Reason of it Anglia Jura in omni Casu dant favorem Libertati the Laws of England in all Cases stand for Liberty The End of the Second Part. THE THIRD PART OF THE New State OF ENGLAND Under Their MAJESTIES K. William and Q. Mary CONTAINING A Description of the several Courts of Judicature Viz. The highest Court of Parliament Privy Council and all other Courts with a Catalogue of the present Officers in Church and State London Printed in the Year 1691. THE NEW STATE OF ENGLAND PART III. Of the Courts of Judicature CHAP. I. Of the Parliament of England THE High Court of Parliament being the Great Council of England the Supreme Court of Judicature and One of the most August Assemblies the World is the Court that I am to speak in the first place It came to be called Parliament from the French Parlement and this from their Verb Parler to speak or talk together The same is taken in a two-fold Sense First as it includes the Legislative Power of England as when we say an Act of Parliament In which Acceptation it includes the King Lords and Commons each of which have a Negative Voice in making Laws so that without their joynt Consent no Law can by either abrogated or made Secondly in a Vulgar Sense as when we say the King and Parliament or the King has called a Parliament by which is meant the Two Houses viz. the House of Lords and the House of Commons This Court is a Body Corporate consisting according to the first Acceptation of the Word of the Three Estates of the Realm And though the Name Parliament by which it is now called be not probably older than the Conquest by William Duke of Normandy yet 't is made plain by ancient Records and Precedents that the former Kings of England even in the Saxons-time had from time to time great National Councils much of the same nature as our Parliaments In the Saxons Time says Lambard the great Council of the Nation consisted of the King Lords and Commons It is most apparent says Prinn by all the old Precedents before the Conquest that all our ancienâ— Councils were nothing else but Parliaments called by different Names in several Ages till at lasâ— that of Parliament was fixed upon them and that our Kings Nobles Senators Aldermen Wisemen Knights and Commons were usuall present and voted there as Members and Judge The same is averred
dissolved and can act no more without a new Power The usual Time for the House to receive the Reports is after the House is full And 't is commonly the first Thing they go then upon unless there be Bills Ingrossed which are to take place and publick Bills before private The Reporter must first acquaint the House That he is to make a Report from such a Committee to whom such a Bill was Committed Then standing in his place he reads each of the Amendments with the Coherence in the Bill opens withal the Alterations and shews the Reasons of the Committee for such Amendments until he has gone through all When that is done if his Seat be not next the Floor he must come from his Place to the Bar and so come up to the Table where he delivers both the Bill and Amendments to the Clerk to be read Whilst he stands by the Clerk the Clerk reads twice the Amendments only that are to be Inserted and then he delivers the Bill with the Amendments to the Speaker Whereupon any Member may speak against all or any of the Amendments and desire the Coherence to be read But he is to make all his Objections at once to all the Amendments without speaking again Note that in the House of Lords the Judges and other Assistants there of the long Robe are sometimes Joyned to the Lords Committees though they have no Voice in the House But whereas in the House they sit covered by the Leave of the Peers at a Committee they are always uncovered A Grand Committee called a Committee of the whole House is the House it self resolved into a freedom of Debate from the Rules of the House to the Nature of a Committee and therefore 't is commonly called a Committee of the whole House These Grand Committees are used when any great Business is in hand that requires much Debate as Bills to impose a Tax or raise Mony from the People Which Bills particularly do always begin in the House of Commons as their Representatives In these Committees every Member is free to speak to one Question as often as he shall see Cause which is not permitted in the House and to answer other Mens Reasons and Arguments So that it is a more open Way and such as leads most to the Truth the Proceeding more honourable and advantagious both to King and Parliament When the House inclines to resolve it self into a Committee it is done by a Question Which being carried in the Affirmative the Speaker leaves the Chair and thereupon the Committee makes choice of a Chair-man If a Dispute arises about the Choice the Speaker is called back to his Chair and after the Choice is cleared he leaves it The Chair-man sits in the Clerks Place at the Table and writes the Votes of the Committee the gathering whereof is according to the Rules of the House When the Committee has gone through the Matter in hand the Chair-man having read all the Votes puts the Question That the same be Reported to the House If that be Resolved he is to leave the Chair and the Speaker being called again to the Chair the Chair-man is to Report what has been resolved at the Committee standing in his usual Place From whence if it be not in the Seat next the Floor he is to go down to the Bar and so to bring up his Report to the Table In case the Committee cannot perfect the Business at that sitting Leave is to be asked That the Committee may Sit at another time on that Business But if the Matter has been throughly Debated and is judged fit to be Resolved in the House the Speaker is called to the Chair for that purpose In other Things the Proceedings are the same as in the House And so much for the Committees I proceed now to the Manner of Adjourning Proroguing or Dissolving the Parliament which is done at the Kings Pleasure and that in the House of Lords with the same Appearance and Solemnity as I have already described An Adjournment and Prorogation are to some convenient time appointed by the King himself but with this Difference that an Adjournment do's not conclude the Session which a Prorogation do's So that by an Adjournment all Things debated in both Houses remain in statu quo and at the next Meeting may be brought to an Issue Whereas a Prorogation makes a Session and then such Bills as passed either House or both Houses and had not the Royal Assent must at the next Assembly begin anew before they can be brought to perfection Upon an Adjournment or Prorogation the King do's usually make a Speech to both Houses of Parliament And he ought to be there in Person or by Representation as on the Day of their first sitting Now the Kings Person may be represented by Commission under the Great Seal to certain Lords in Parliament authorizing them to begin adjourn prorogue c. But 't is Observable that each House has also a Power to Adjourn themselves which when they do 't is at the most but for a few Days A Dissolution is that whereby the House of Commons becomes Vacant in order to a new Election Now a Parliament may be Dissolved by the King at any time whether they be actually sitting or not But if a Parliament do sit and be Dissolved without any Act of Parliament passed or Judgment given 't is no Session of Parliament but a Convention The King being the Head of the Parliament if his Death happens when there is a Parliament 't is ipso facto Dissolved 'T was a Custom of old after every Session of Parliament for the Sheriff to Proclaim by the Kings Command the several Acts passed in that Session that none might pretend Ignorance And yet without that Proclamation the Law supposes every one has noticeby his Representative of what is transacted in Parliament But that Custom has been laid aside since Printing came to be of common Use The Parliament ought to sit by Law at least once in three Years Thus I have laid open the Supream Court of England which without the Kings Concurrence can legally do nothing that 's binding to the Nation but with it can do any thing For whatever is done by this Consent is called firm stable and sanctum and is taken for Law Thus the King and Parliament may abrogate old Laws and make new settle the Succession to the Crown Define of doubtful Rights whereof no Law is made Appoint Taxes and Subsidies Establish Forms of Religion Naturalize Aliens Legitimate Bastards Adjudge an Infant or Minor to be of full Age Attaint a Man of Treason after his Death Condemn or Absolve them who are put upon their Trial Give the most free Pardons Restore in Bloud and Name c. And the Consent of the Parliament is taken to be the Consent of every Englishman being there present in Person or by Procuration King John having resigned up the Crown of England to the Pope and
submitted to take it at his hand again at a yearly Tribute the Pope in the Reign of Edward III. demanded his Rent and all the Arrears Upon which issued this Resolve of the Parliament that neither the King nor any other could put the Realm nor the People thereof into a forein Subjection without their Assent This was a high Resolution in Law in one of the highest Points of Law concerning the Kings Claim of an absolute Power when the Pope was in his height However this intimates that with their joynt Consent the Crown may be disposed of But how transcendent soever be the Power and Authority of the King and Parliament yet it do's not extend so far as to bar restrain or make void subsequent Parliaments and tho divers Parliaments have attempted â—t yet they could never effect it For the â—atter Parliament hath still a Power to abrogate suspend qualify explain or make void the former in the Whole or any Part thereof notwithstanding any Words of Restraint Prohibition or Penalty in the former it being a Maxim in the Law of Parliament Quod Leges posteriores priores contrarias abrogant 'T was therefore but in vain that the late King James pretended so to settle that Liberty of Conscience which he ushered in by his Declaration as to make it a Law unalterable like the Laws of the Medes and Persians It was but a Blind for Dissenters to bring them into his Snare and tho he had really designed it he must have been at least Immortal to secure it One of the fundamental and principal Ends of Parliaments was to Redress Grievances and ease the People of Oppressions The chief Care whereof is in the House of Commons as being the Grand Inquest of the Realm summoned from all Parts to present publick Grievances to be redressed and publick Delinquents punished as corrupted Counsellours Judges and Magistrates Therefore Parliaments are a great Check to Men in Authority and consequently abhorred by Delinquents Who must expect one time or other to be called to a strict and impartial Account and be punished according to their Demerits Remember said the Lord Bacon to his Friend Sr. Lionel Cranfield when he was made Lord Treasurer that a Parliament will come In this Case the House of Commons the Parliament sitting Impeaches and the House of Lords are the Judges the Commons Inform Present and Manage the Evidence the Lords upon a full Trial give Judgment upon it And such is the Priviledge of the House of Commons in this particular that they may Impeach the highest Lord in the Kingdom either Spiritual or Temporal and he is not to have the benefit of the Habeas Corpus Act that is he cannot come out upon Bail till his Trial be over or the Parliament Dissolved which last some of the late Judges have declared for But the Lords cannot proceed against a Commoner except upon a Complaint of the Commons In a Case of Misdemeanour both the Lords Spiritual and Temporal are Judges and the Kings Assent to the Judgment is not necessary But if the Crime be Capital the Lords Spiritual tho as Barons they might sit as Judges yet they absent themselves during the Trial because by the Decrees of the Church they may not be Judges of Life and Death For by an Ordinance made at the Council at Westminster in 21 Hen. 2. all Clergymen were forbidden agitare Judicium Sanguinis upon pain to be deprived both of Dignities and Orders When a Peer is Impeached of High Treason a Court is usually erected for his Trial in Westminster-Hall and the King makes a Lord Steward which commonly is the Lord Chancellour to sit as Judge thereof The Trial being over the Lords Temporal resorting to their House give Judgment upon it by Voting the Party arraigned upon their Honours Guilty or not Guilty and he is either Condemned or Acquitted by the Plurality of Voices If found Guilty he receives Sentence accordingly by the Mouth of the Lord High Steward The House of Lords is also in Civil Causes â—he highest Court of Judicature consisting of â—ll the Lords Spiritual and Temporal as Judges â—sisted with the most eminent Lawyers both 〈◊〉 Common and Civil Law And from this Court there lies no Appeal only the cause or â—ome Point or other of it may be brought again before the Lords upon a new Parliament In Case of Recovery of Damages or Restitution the Parties are to have their Remedy the Parliament being ended in the Chancery and not in any inferiour Court at the Common Law But the Lords in Parliament may direct how it shall be levied In short by the ancient Laws and Constitutions of this Kingdom it belongs to the House of Peers to interpret Acts of Parliament in Time of Parliament in any Cause that shall be brought before Them I conclude with the Priviledges of Parliament which are great in both Houses and fit for so honourable a Court. First as to the Persons of the Commoners they are Priviledged from Suits Arrests Imprisonments except in Case of Treason and Felony also from Attendance on Trials in inferiour Courts serving on Juries and the like Their necessary Servants that tend upon them during the Parliament are also Priviledged from Arrest except in the aforesaid Cases Which Priviledge is their due eundo morando redeundo that is not only for that time the Parliament sits but also during 40 Days before and 40 Days after the Parliament finished And that not only for the Persons of Members and their necessary Servants but also in some Cases for their Goods and Estates during that Time Moreover this Priviledge do's likewise extend to such Officers as attend the Parliament as the Clerks the Sergeant at Arms the Porter of the Door and the like But if one was Arrested before he was chosen Burgess he is not to have the Priviledge of the House Many are the Precedents which shew the Resentments of this House against such as have offered to act contrary to these Priviledges and their severe Proceedings against some of them either for serving a Subpoena upon or Arresting a Member of this House or refusing to deliver a Member arrested for Debt the Parliament sitting For common Reason will have it that the King and his whole Realm having an Interest in the Body of every one of its Members all private Interest should yield to the Publick so that no Man should be withdrawn from the Service of the House And so much has been the Priviledge of the House insisted on that it has been a Question Whether any Member of the House could consent to be sued during the Session because the Priviledge is not so much the Person 's the House's And therefore when any Person has been brought to the Bar for any Offence of this nature the Speaker has usually charged the Person in the name of the whole House as a Breach of the Priviledge of this House Also for offering to threaten or to give abusive Language to any Member
constant Attendance upon the King As for Home Concerns whether publick oâ— private both the Secretaries do equally receive and dispatch whatever is brought to them But for forein Affairs each has his distinct Province receiving all Letters and Addresse from and making all Dispatches to the severaâ— Princes and States in his Province They keep each of them his Office called the Secretaries Office at Whitehall Where they have also Lodgings for their own Accommodation and those that attend upon it whâ— a liberal Diet at the Kings Charge or Board wages in lieu of it Their settled Allowancâ— is little less than 2000 l. a Year to each 〈◊〉 them besides Perquisites The Secretaries and Clerks they imploy uâ—der them are wholly at their own choice anâ— have no Dependance upon any other Lastly they have the Custody of the Signet one of the Kings Seals To which belongs the Signet-Office where four Clerks wait Monthly by turns preparing such Things as are to pass the Signet in order to the Privy Seal or Great Seal He that is in waiting is always to attend the Court wheresoever it removes and to prepare such Bills or Letters for the King to sign not being Matter of Law as by Warrant from the King or Secretaries of State or Lords of the Council he is directed to prepare And to this Office all Grants prepared by themselves or the Kings Learned Council at Law for the Kings hand are returned when signed and there transcribed again The Transcription is carried to one of the Principal Secretaties of State to be sealed with the Signet This done it is directed to the Lord Privy Seal and is his Warrant for issuing out a Privy Seal upon it But then it must be first transcribed by the Clerks of the Seal who are also four in Number and when it has the Privy Seal affixt 't is sufficient for the Payment of any Monies out of the Exchequer and for several other Uses If the Grant requires the passing the Great Seal as several Grants do the Privy Seal is a Warrant to the Lord Chancellour or the Lords Commissioners to pass it as the Signet was to the Lord Privy Seal But here also a new Transcription must be made of the Grant The Reason why a Grant must go through so many Hands and Seals before it can be perfected is that it may be duly considered and all Objections cleared before it take its effect The Paper-Office at Whitehall is also depending on the Secretaries of State Where all the Papers and Dispatches that pass through their Offices as Matters of State and Council Letters Intelligences and Negotiations of forein Ministers here or of the Kings Ministers abroad are from time to time transmitted and there remain disposed by way of Library The Keeper whereof has a yearly Salary of 160 l. payable out of the Exchequer To conclude the Lords of the Privy Council have always been of such high value and esteem that if a Man did but strike another in a Privy Counsellors House or elsewhere in his presence he was fined for the same To conspire the Death of any of them was Felony in any of the Kings Servants and to kill one of them was High Treason A Privy Counsellour though but a Gentleman has precedence of all Knights Baronets and younger Sons of all Barons and Viscounts And a Secretary of State has this special Honour that if he be a Baron he takes place as such of all other Barons So honourable an Imployment it is that in the late Reign the Earl of Sunderland was both principal Secretary of State and Lord President of the Privy Council CHAP. III. Of the High Court of Chancery otherwise called the Court of Equity I come now to the Courts of Judicature held at Westminster viz. the Courts of Chancery Kings Bench Common Plâ—as Exchequer and Dutchy of Lancaster whereof the three first are held at Westminster Hall the Common-Pleas near the Gate the Chancery and Kings Bench at the further end of the Hall All the fore-mentioned Courts are opened four times a Year called the four Terms Viz. Easter Trinity Michaelmas and Hilary Term. Easter-Term begins always the 17th Day after Easter and lasteth 27 Days Trinity or Midsummer Term begins the fifth Day after Trinity Sunday and lasteth 20 Days Michaelmas-Term begins the 23th of October and lasteth 37 Days And Hilary-Term so called from S. Hilary a Bishop beginneth the 23 of January and lasteth 21 Days Next to the Parliament of England and the Kings Privy Council by whose Influences the Nation is chiefly governed under the King the High Court of Chancery is the chief and the most ancient Court of Judicature Otherwise called the Court of Equity in opposition to other inferiour Courts the Judges whereof are tied to the Letter of the Law Whereas this is a Court of Mercy in which the Rigour of the Law is tempered with Equity And therefore the Kings of England would have this Court Superiour to the other Tribunals as well as for being the Original of all other Courts and the Fountain of all our Proceedings in Law For as Sir Edward Coke says this Court is Officina Justitiae out of which all Original Writs and all Commissions which pass under the Great Seal go forth which Great Seal is Clavis Regni the Key of the Kingdom and for those ends this Court is always open In the Chancery are two Courts one Ordinary and the other Extraordinary In the first the Proceedings are in Latine Secundum Legem Consuetudinem Angliae according to the Laws and Statutes of the Realm In the second by English Bill Secundum aequum bonum according to Equity The Manner of Proceeding is much like that in the Courts of the Civil Law the Actions by Bill or Plaint the Witnesses examined in private and the Decrees in English or Latin not in French No Jury of twelve Men but all Sentences given by the Judge of the Court. The Judge is the Lord Chancellour or Lord Keeper of the Great Seal the highest Dignity that a Lay-man is capable of in England and held of the King durante Beneplacito But now this Office is executed by three Lords Commissioners Next to whom there are twelve Assistants called Masters of the Chancery who are Civilians Their Salary is each 100 Pound paid out of the Exchequer quarterly besides Robe-mony Three of these at a time sit in the Chancery Court in Term-time and two out of Term when the Chancellour sits to hear Causes at his own House Who often refers to them the further hearing of Causes c. These Masters have a publick Office where one or more of them do constantly attend to take Affidavits c. The chief of them is the Master of the Rolls whose Place is both very honourable and beneficial The same is in the King's Gift either Life or during his Majesties Pleasure And he is called Master of the Rolls as having the Custody of all Charters Patents
Writs These are in the Gift of the Lord Chief Justice and hold for Life As also The four Exigenters whose Office is to make all Exigents and Proclamations in all Actions where Process of Outlawry does ly Now an Exigent is a Writ so called because it requires the Parties Appearance to answer the Law and lies against a Transgressor of the Law that can't be found nor any of his Goods within the County Whereupon he is Summoned by the Sheriff at five several County Courts and if he appear not he is Outlawed that is excluded from the Protection of the Law Which looks upon him as unworthy of it that acts in contempt of the Law Lastly there are four Criers and a Porter belonging to this Court CHAP. VI. Of the Courts of Exchequer and Dutchy of Lancaster THese two I joyn together because they both concern the King's Revenue and take Cognizance of all Causes arising from it The Judges of this Court are called Barons of the Exchequer ever since Barons of the Realm used to sit here as Judges though in latter times Men learned in the Law have usually filled up this Station They are commonly four that sit in this Tribunal as in the two former Courts the principal whereof is stiled Lord Chief Baron But 't is to be observed that the Lord Treasurer and the Chancellour of the Exchequer may sit here as Principal though they seldom do it The Lord Chief Baron is created by Letters Patents to hold this Dignity Quamdiu se bene gesserit which the Law intends for Life so that he is better fixed than either of the Chief Justices His Place is of great Honour and Profit In Matter of Law Information and Plea he answers the Bar and gives Order for Judgement thereupon He alone in the Term-time doth sit upon Nisi prius that come out of the King's Remembrancer's Office or out of the Office of the Clerk of the Pleas which can not be dispatched in the Mornings for want of time He takes Recognizances for the King's Debts for Appearances and Observing of Orders He takes the Presentation of all Officers in Court under himself and of the Mayor of London and sees the King's Remembrancer to give them their Oaths He also takes the Declaration of certain Receivers Accounts of the Lands of the late Augmentation made before him by the Auditors of the Shires and gives two Parcel-makers Places by vertue of his Office In his absence his Place is supplied by the other three Barons his Assistants according to their Seniority These Judges and those of the two former Courts of King's Bench and Common Pleas make up the Number of Twelve who all sit in on their Tribunals in Robes and square Caps Next to the four Barons of this Court is first the Cursitor who administers the Oath to the Sheriffs Under-Sheriffs Bayliffs Searchers Surveyors c. of the Custom-House Then the King's Remembrancer in whose Office are entred the States of all Accompts whatsoever concerning the King's Revenue except Sheriffs and Bayliffs Accounts Here also are taken all Securities either by Bonds or Recognizances to the King for the faithful Performance of those Persons imployed in the Collecting of his Majesties Revenue and for the Payment of his Debts And all Proceedings upon the said Bonds or Recognizances or any other Bonds taken in the Kings Name by Officers thereunto appointed under the Great Seal of England besides all Proceedings upon any Statute by Information for Custom Excises or any other Penal Law concerning the Kings Revenue are transmitted hither for the Recovery thereof and properly belong to this Office From whence accordingly issue forth Process to cause all Accountants to come in and account And as the Exchequer do's consist of two Courts the one of Law and the other of Equity all Proceedings touching the same are in this Office with many other Things relating to the Kings Revenue To this Office being in the Kings Gift belong eight sworn Clerks whereof the two first are called Secondaries The Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer who makes Process against all Sheriffs Receivers Bayliffs c. for their Accompts and into whose Office all Charters and Letters Patents upon which any Rents are reserved to the King are transcribed and sent by the Clerk of the Pettibag Out of this Office Process is made to levy the Kings Fee-Farm Rents c. This Office is likewise in the Kings Gift and there are several Clerks belonging to it the two first being distinguished from the rest by the Name of Secondaries The Remembrancer of the First-fruits and Tenths who takes all Compositions for the same and makes Process against such as do not pay them He has two Clerks under him The Clerk of the Pipe who receives into his Office all Accompts which pass the Remembrancer's Office He makes Leases of the Kings Lands and extended Lands when he is ordered so to do by the Lord Treasurer and Chancellor of the Exchequer or the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury He has under him 8 sworn Clerks by whom all Accounts of Sheriffs and Bayliffs are made up and when the Accounts are even he gives the Accomptants their Quieâ—us est All Tallies which vouch the Payments contained in such Accounts are examined and allowed by the chief Clerk in the Pipe called the Secondary The Comptroller of the Pipe who writes out the Summons twice every Year to the high Sheriffs to levy the Debts charged in the great Roll of the Pipe He also writes in his Roll all that is in the great Roll and nothing entered in this can be discharged without his privity The Forein Opposer whose Office is to oppose all Sheriffs upon the Schedules of the Green Wax This Office is kept in Grays-Inn The Clerk of the Pleas in whose Office all the Exchequer Officers and other Debtors to the King are to plead and be impleaded as at the Common Law The Reason why it is done here is because their Attendance is required in this Court. And therefore here are four sworn Attorneys The Clerk of the Estreats who receives every Term the Estreats or Extracts out of the Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer's Office and â—rites them out to be levied for the King He â—lso makes Scheduâ—es of such Sums as are to be â—ischarged A Clerk of the Parcels and another of the â—ichils Two Auditors of the Imprest who Audit the great Accompts of the Kings Custoâ—s Wardrobe â—int First-fruits and Tenths Naval and Miâ—tary Expences Moneys Imprested c. Seven Auditors of the Revenue who Audit all Accompts of the Kings Lands Revenue and all Taxes granted by the Parliament There are also several Receivers of the Kings Revenues arising from Lands and Rents whose Accompts are yearly made up by the Auditors To which add a Receiver of the First-Fruits Revenue As for the Tenths the Bishops are Collectors of them and account yearly for the same But there are two other considerable Officers not to be omitted viz. the Deputy Chamberlains In whose
the Letter T. for a Thief or M. for Manslayer Then he is delivered to the Bishops Officer to be kept in the Bishops Prison from whence after a certain time he is delivered by a Jury of Clerks But if he be taken and found Guilty again and his Mark discovered then 't is his Lot to be hanged But he whom the Jury pronounces Not Guilty is Acquitted forthwith and Discharged paying the Jaylor his Fees And as to those Prisoners who stand not Indited but were only sent to Prison upon Suspicion the Way is to Proclaim 'em first in this manner A. B. Prisoner stands here at the Bar If any Man can say any thing against him let him now speak for the Prisoner stands at his Deliverance If upon this no Evidence appears against him he is set free paying the Jaylor his Fees Which Way of Deliverance is called Deliverance by Proclamation CHAP. X. Of the Court Martial and Court of Admiralty THE Court Martial otherwise called Court of Chivalry is the Fountain of Martial Law and is only held in Time of War for Martial Discipline The proper Judges of this Court are the Lord High Constable and the Earl Marshal of England which last is also to see Execution â—tone The Court of Admiralty is about Maritime Concerns and the Judge thereof is commonly 〈◊〉 Dr. of the Civil Law For the Sea being out of the reach of the Common Law the Proceeding of this Court in all Civil Matters is according to the Civil Law And whereas the Sea by its Flux and Reâ—ux advances and runs-back twice a Day which makes the Bounds of the Sea and Land â—ovable every Day It is agreed upon that 〈◊〉 far as the Low-Water Mark is observed is within the Counties Jurisdiction and Causes â—ence arising are Determinable by the Common Law But upon a full Tide the Admiral has â—urisdiction as long as the Sea-flows over â—ll Matters done between the Low-Water Mark and the Land So that here is as Dr. Chamberlain says Divisum Imperium between the Common Law and the Court of Admiralty Besides the Civil Law which this Court proceeds by great Use is made here of the Maritime Laws of Rhodes and Oleron two Islands the former whereof is in the Mediterranean not far from the Continent of Asia the other in the Ocean near the Mouth of the Garonne in the Bay of Aquitain The Rhodian Laws were compiled by the Inhabitants of Rhodes a People anciently very powerful at Sea and whose Maritime Laws were esteemed so just and equitable that the very Romans so skilful in making of good Laws referred all Debates and Controversies in Sea-Affairs to the Judgment of the Rhodian Laws Those of Oleron called le Rolle d' Oleron were made by Order of King Richard I theâ— possessed of Aquitain and being at Oleron Which proved such excellent Laws for Sea-Matters that they came to be almost aâ— much respected and made use of in these Western Parts as the Rhodian Laws in the Levant To which King Edward III added very excellent Constitutions concerning Maritime Affairs still in force In Imitation whereof several other Sea-faring Nations have done the like for their respective Sea-Trade As to Criminal Matters especially about Piracy the Proceeding in this Court of Admiralty was according to the Civil Law till the Reign of Henry VIII When two Statute were made for Criminal Matters to be trieâ— by Witnesses and a Jury by the Kings special Commission to the Lord Admiral where 〈◊〉 some Judges of the Realm are ever Commissioners The Writs and Decrees of this Court run in â—he Name of the Lord High Admiral or Lords commissioners executing that Office and are â—irected to all Vice-Admirals Justices of â—ace Mayors Sheriffs Bayliffs Constablesâ—â—arshals and other Officers and Ministers as â—ell within Liberties as without To this Court belongs a Register and a Marâ—al The Marshal attends the Court and carâ—es a Silver Oar before the Judge whereon â—e the Kings Arms and the Lord High Adâ—irals Here the Lord Admiral has his Advocate â—d Proctor by whom all other Advocates and â—â—octors are presented and admitted by the â—â—dge All the Places and Offices belonging 〈◊〉 this Court are in the Gift of the Lord â—â—igh Admiral and now of the Lords Comâ—issioners The Court is held in the Afternoon in the common Hall at Drs. Commons But the Adâ—iralty-Session for the Trial of Malefators and Crimes committed at Sea is still â—eld at the ancient Place viz. S. Margaret's â—ll in Southwark CAHP. XI Of the Court of Marshalsea the Courts of Conscience the Court of Requests disused the Forest-Courts and Pie-powder Courts THE first is the Court or Seat of the Knight Marshal of the Kings House where he judges of Debts for which the Party has been Arrested within the Kings Verge and sent to the Marshalsea Which iâ— a Prison in Southwark where this Court iâ— kept King Charles I. erected a Court by Letters Parents under the Great Seal by the Name oâ— Curia Hospitij Domini Regis c. which takes Cognizance more at large of all Causes thaâ— the Marshalsea could of which the Knight Marshal or his Deputy are Judges The Courts of Conscience are inferiour Courtâ— established and settled by Parliament in many Parts of the Realm for the Relief of poâ—â— People whose Debt do's not amount to forty Shillings So that by any of these Courts the Creditor may recover his Debt and the Debtor pay it at an easy rate As for the Court of Requests 't was a Court of Equity much of the same nature with the Chancery but inferiour to it Called Court â—f Requests as being principally Instituted for the help of such Petitioners as in conscionable cases dealt by Supplication with the King This Court followed the King and was not â—xt in any Place But in process of time it â—sumed so great a Power and grew so burdenâ—â— and grievous to the Subject that it was â—ken away together with the Star-Chamber 〈◊〉 Statute made in the Reign of Charles I. For the Conservation of the Kings Forests â—â—d to prevent all Abuses therein there are â—ree Courts established one called the Juâ—ice of Eyres Seat another the Swainmote and â—â—e third the Court of Attachment The first is or should be by ancient Cuâ—â—m held every third Year by the Justices Eyre of the Forest journeying up and down 〈◊〉 the purpose aforesaid Swainmote is another Court as incident to a forest as a Pie-powder Court to a Fair. By â—e Charter of the Forest it is held thrice a â—ear before the Verderors as Judges What â—hings are Inquirable in the same you may 〈◊〉 in Cromp. Jurisd fol. 150. The lower Court is called the Attachment because the Verderors of the Forest have thereâ— no other Authority but to receive the Attchments of Offenders against Vert and Veniâ—n taken by the rest of the Officers and to Inrol â—â—em that they may be presented and punishâ—â— at the next Justice-Seat Now the Attachments are made three
manner of Ways 1. by â—oods and Chattels 2. by the Body Pledges â—â—d Mainprise 3. by the Body only This â—ourt is kept every 40 Days Pie-powder Court is a Court held in Fairs to yield Justice to Buyers and Sellers and for Redress of all Disorders committed in them These Courts are so called from the French Pie a foot and poudreux dusty the Fairs being kept most usually in Summer to which the Country people use to come with dusty feet A Pie-powder Court is held de hora in horam every hour and such is the Dispatch made here that Justice ought to be summarily administred within three ebbing and three flowing of the Sea CHAP. XII Of the Ecclesiastical Courts and first of the Convocation TO consult of Church-Matters and make Ecclesiastical Laws now and then the Convocation meets and that in time of Parliament Which Convocation is a National Synod or general Assembly of the Clergy convoked after this manner Some time before the Parliament sits the King by the Advice of his Privy Council sends his Writ to the Arch-bishop of each Province for Summoning all Bishops Deans Arch-Deacons c. assigning them the Time and Place in the said Writ Upon which the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury directs his Letters authentically sealed to the Bishop of London as his Dean Provincial wherein he cites him peremptorily and willeth him to cite in like manner all the Bishops Deans Arch-Deacons Gathedral and Collegiate Churches and all the Clergy of his Province to the Place and Day prefixt in the Writ But he directeth withal that one Proctor be sent for every Cathedral or Collegiate Church and two for the Body of the Inferiour Clergy of each Diocese All which the Bishop of London takes accordingly care of willing the Parties concerned person 〈◊〉 to appear and in the mean time to cerâ—ify to the Arch-Bishop the Names of every one so warned in a Schedule annexed to the Letter Certificatory Upon which the other Bishops of the Province proceed the Cathedral and Collegiate Churches and the inferiour Clergy of each Diocese make choice of their Proctors Which done and certified to the Bishop of London he returneth all at the Day And the same Method is used in the Province of York The Chappel of Henry VII annexed to Westminster Abbey is the usual Place where the Convocation of the Clergy in the Province of Canterbury meets Whilst the Arch-Bishop of York holds at York a Convocation of all his Province in like manner Thus by constant Correspondence these two Provinces tho so â—r distant from each other do debate and â—onclude of the same Matters The Convocation is like the Parliament disided into two Houses the higher and the â—wer And all Members have by Statute the â—â—me Priviledges for themselves and menial â—ervants as the Members of Parliament have The higher House in the Province of Canterbury which is by much the larger of the two consists of 22 Bishops whereof the Arch-Bishop is President Who sits in a Chair at the upper end of a great Table and the Bishops on each side of the same Table all in their Scarlet Robes and Hoods the Arch-Bishops Hoods furred with Ermin and the Bishops with Minever The lower House consists of all the Deans Arch-deacons one Proctor for every Chapter and two Proctors for all the Clergy of the Diocese Which make in all 166 Persons viz. 22 Deans 24 Prebendaries 54 Archdeacons and 44 Clerks representing the Diocesan Clergy The first Business of each House upon their Meeting is to chuse each a Prolocutor or Speaker The Prolocutor of the lower House being chosen he is presented to the upper House by two of the Members whereof one makes a Speech and the elect Person another both in Latine To which the Arch Bishop answers in Latine and in the Name of all the Lords approves of the Person The Matters debated by both Houses are only such as the King by Commission do'â— expresly allow viz. Church and Religion Matters first proposed in the Upper and thâ—â— communicated to the Lower House And the major Vote in each House prevails Sometimes there have been Royal Aids granted to the King by the Clergy in Convocation Anciently this Assembly might without 〈◊〉 now with the Royal Assent make Canon touching Religion binding not only them selves but all the Laity without Consent oâ— Ratification of the Lords and Commons iâ— Parliament Neither did the Parliament meddle in the making of Canons or in Doctrinal Matters till the Civil Wars in the Reign of Charles I. Only when thereto required they by their Civil Sanctions did confirm the Results and Consultations of the Clergy whereby the People might be the more easily induced to obey the Ordinances of their Spiritual Governours To conclude the Laws and Constitutions whereby the Church of England is governed are first general Canons made by general Councils with the Opinion of the orthodox Fathers and the grave Decrees of several holy Bishops of Rome which have been admitted from time to time by the Kings of England Then our own Constitutions made anciently in several Provincial Synods both by the Popes Legates Otho and Othobon and by several Arch-Bishops of Canterbury all which are of force in England so far as they are not repugnant to the Laws and Customs of England or the Kings Prerogative Next to those Constitutions this Church is also governed by Canons made in Convocations of latter times as in the first Year of the Reign of King James I and confirmed by his Authority Also by some Statutes of Parliament â—ouching Church-Affairs and by divers Immeâ—orial Customs But where all these fail the Civil Law takes place CHAP. XIII Of the Court of Arches the Court of Audience the Prerogative-Court the Court of Delegates the Court of Peculiars c. FROM the Church Legislative I come to the Executive Power for which there have been several Courts provided Amongst which is the Court of Arches the chief and most ancient Consistory that belongeth to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury for the debating of Spiritual Causes So called from the arched Church and Tower of S. Mary le Bow in Cheapside London where this Court is wont to be held The Judge whereof is called Dean of the Arches or the Official of the Court of Arches because with this Officialty is commonly joyned a peculiar Jurisdiction of 13 Parishes in London termed a Deanry being exempt from the Bishop of Londons Jurisdiction and belonging to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury All Appeals in Church-Matters within the Province of Canterbury are directed to this Court. In which the Judge sits alone without Assessors hearing and determining all Causes without any Jury The Advocates allowed to plead in this Court are all to be Doctors of the Civil Law Who upon their Petition to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and his Fiat obtained are admitted by the Judge of this Court but must not practise the first Year Both the Judge and the Advocates always wear their Scarlet Robes with
HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE XXX RR IE MAINTIENDRAI THE NEW STATE OF ENGLAND BRITANNIA I Sturt Sculp in ye Old Change THE New State OF ENGLAND Under Their MAJESTIES K. William and Q. Mary In THREE PARTS CONTAINING I. A Geographical Description of England in General and of every County in Particular with Usefull and Curious Remarks II. An Account of the Inhabitants their Original Genius Customs Laws Religion and Government of Their Present Majesties Their Court Power Revenues c. III. A Description of the several Courts of Judicature Viz. the High Court of Parliament Privy Council and all other Courts With a Catalogue of the present Officers in Church and State By G. M. LONDON Printed by H.C. for Ionathan Robinson at the Golden Lion in St. Paul's Church-yard 1691. To the Most Honourable THOMAS Marquess of CAERMARTHEN Earl of DANBY Viscount LATIMER Baron OSBORN OF KIVETON Lord President of His Majesties Most Honourable PRIVY-COUNCIL And Knight of the most Noble Order of the Garter This New State of England is humbly Dedicated by the Author TO THE READER 'T IS the late Revolution that has given birth to this new Piece of Work a New Face of Things required a New State of England And of all the Changes this Kingdom has gone through as this was the most sudden so it is the most wonderfull To see Popery in so few days crowing upon the Throne and groaning under its Ruins but t'other day upon the Pinnacle and now stunned with its sudden Fall is such a Change as may deserve the Admiration of this and future Ages In short such is our present Settlement upon Their Majesties happy Accession to the Crown that the Popish Party may assoon see a Protestant Pope of Rome as a Popish King of England Now to make this Work the more acceptable and usefull to the Publick I have divided it into three several Parts In the First you have a particular Description of ENGLAND in its several Counties of every County-Town with the Distance and the common Road to it from London the Metropolis and of all other Places of note in each County Here you have particularly a List of the Market-Towns in every Shire with the Days pointed when their Markets are kept also an account of most other Remarkable Things either of Nature or Art Besides the Honours or Noblemens Titles from Counties Cities Towns Mannors c. And the Number of Men each City or Borough sends to serve in Parliament I conclude this Part with a particular Description of London Oxford and Camidge London as the Capital City of England the Seat of its Monarchs and the Center of Trade Oxford and Cambridge as being the two famous Vniversities of the Land and the glorious Seats of the Muses The Second Part treats of the INHABITANTS of England their Complexion Temper Genius Language c. Of the English Way of Living Commerce Laws Religion and Government Of the King of England and the Royal Family particularly of the present King WILLIAM and Queen MARY with a brief Relation of their Accession to the Crown and the Vnreasonableness of the Disaffected Party under their Government Of Their Majesties Court Forces and Revenues Of the Queen Dowager the Prince and the Princess of Denmark Of the Nobility Gentry and Commonalty Of the Episcopal Dignify'd and Inferiour Clergy And lastly of Women Children and Servants All of them with their respective Priviledges The Third and last Part is about the COURTS of JUDICATURE Viz. The High Court of Parliament with a large Account of their Proceedings Orders Debates Passing of Bills and Acts c. Of the Privy-Council and there particularly of the Principal Secretaries of State Of the Chancery Kings-Bench Common Pleas Exchequer Dutchy of Lancaster and all other Courts To which is annexed a Catalogue of the chief Persons of the Realm both in Church and State Magistrates and Officers Civil and Military Who being subject to Change though the Offices continue the same I thought it improper to mix Certainties and Vncertainties together Therefore I chose rather to place the Officers together by themselves as I have done here than to have them dispersed where I speak of their Offices And from this Method you will reap this Conveniency that by Interleaving of the Catalogue only you may fill up Vacancies as they become void Thus you have as it were a Scheme of the whole Drift of this Book The Foundation whereof is that Ingenious Piece De Republica Anglorum written in Latin by Sir Thomas Smith Improved as you see and fitted to the present Times The Matter of it self is of a general Vse both for English and Foreiners and the Variety so great that it cannot but be Pleasant and Vsefull to the Reader THE TABLE For the First PART This Table contains the Names of the Towns and Cities Hills Islands Meers and Rivers and other Curiosities mentioned in the first Part of this Book And for such as desire only to know what County any of them lies in the Table it self will give them that Satisfaction without any further Trouble it being so contrived that it is in a manner a Geographical Dictionary for England A ABberforth in Yorks 259 Abbey-holm in Cumb 49 Abbey of Westminster 317 Abbots-bury in Dors 67 Abergavenny in Mon. 148 149 Advantages of England 7 Agmundesham in Buck. 30 Ailesbury in Buck. 30 31 Air of England 13 Alborough in Suffolk 204 208 Aldborough in Yorks 273 Aldermen of London 324 Alford in Lincolns 136 140 Alfreton in Derbysh 57 Alisford in Hampsh 95 Almondbury in Yorks 264 Alnewick in Northumb 168 170 Alney-Isle in Gloc. 87 Alston-Moor in Cumb. 49 Altrincham in Chesh 39 Ambleside in Westm 238 Amersbury in Wilts 246 247 Ampthill in Bedf. 27 28 Andover in Hamps 95 96 Antiquity of Oxf. and Cambr. 350 Appleby in Westm 238 Appledore in Kent 112 Are a Yorks River 256 Arrow a River of Heref. 103 Artillery Company in London 329 Arun a Sussex River 224 Arundel in Sussex 225 227 Ashbourn in Derbysh 57 Ashburton in Devonsh 61 Ashby in Leicest 131 Ashford in Kent 112 Aspley in Bedf. 28 Atherston in Warw. 234 235 Attlebury in Norf. 153 Auburn in Wiltsh 246 Aukland in the Bishoprick of Durham 76 77 Aulcester in Warw. 234 Avon the Name of several Rivers 85 92 c. Axebridge in Somers 192 194 Axholm an Isle in Lincolns 139 Axminster in Dev. 61 B BAkewell in Derbysh 57 Baldock in Hartf 100 Bampton in Oxf. 178 179 Banbury in Oxf. 178 179 Banquetting House at Whitehall 316 Barkin in Essex 81 BARKSHIRE 22 Barnesly in Yorks 259 Barnet in Hartf 100 102 Barnstaple in Dev. 61 63 Barnwel in Linc. 136 Barristers in Lond. 304 Barton in Linc. 136 139 Barwick in Northumb. 168 Basingstoke in Hamps 95 96 Bath in Somers 189 Battel in Sussex 225 228 Battersea in Surrey 221 Bautrey in Yorks 259 Beaconfield in Buck. 30 32 Beckles in Suffolk 204 209 Bedal in Yorks 273 Bedford 26
afford excellent Fish and wild Fowl in great plenty A noted Place in former time for its wonderfull rich Abbey which continued in its glory till its Dissolution by King Henry VIII This County which formerly was Part of the Kingdom of Mercia and its Inhabitants Part of the Iceni as the Romans called them is now in the Diocese of Lincoln Out of it are elected besides the two Knights of the Shire but two Parliament Men and these out of Huntington Kent KENT in Latin Cantium so called as being seated in a Canton or Corner of the Kingdom is a large rich and pleasant Country â—â—ying between the Thames and the Narrow Seas So that it is invironed on all sides with the Sea except Westward where it borders both upon Surrey and Sussex It contains in Length from East to West 60 Miles in Breadth from North to South 30. The Whole divided into five Lathes called Sutton Aylesford Scray St. Augustine and Shepway Lathes and these into 67 Hundreds wherein 408 Parishes and 30 Market Towns Which is an Argument of its Populousness But the Air is neither so serene nor so healthful here as in other Counties especially near the Sea and Marshes which makes this Country so noted for its Kentish Agues Now that you may know in few words the Nature of this Country both as to its Air and Soil I shall bring in the Remark made upon it which is that there are 3 Ridges of Hills in Kent one called Health without Wealth the second Health and Wealth and the third Wealth without Health Others as to the Soil give this different Character of it The Weald for Wood East Kent for Corn Rumney for Meadow Tenham for an Orchard Shepey and Reculver for Wheat Thanet for Barley and Hedcorn for Capons In general this may be said of Kent that it is a Country very good for Corn and fit for Pasturage according to the several Plots and Parts thereof and wondrous full of fruitful and well-ordered Orchards from whence the City of London is supplied with most sorts of Fruit but chiefly with Pippins and Cherries which are counted the best in England On the Cliffs between Deal and Dover there grows a great store of Samphire The same is well watered with Rivers For besides the Thames that washes its North Parts here is the Medway which in a manner parts it in the middle the Stower that runs by Canterbury the Tun through Tunbridge and the Rother upon which Appledore is seated not to mention the lesser Streams Of all the Counties in England this was the first Kingdom of the Heptarchy and had a particular King to it self which no other County ever had Neither was it conquered by the Normans the Kentish Men yielding upon Articles and having their ancient Franchises and Customs confirmed to 'em by William the Conqueror One of which is the Cavelkind whereby they are not so bound by Copy-hold as in other Parts of England Lands of this nature being equally divided here among the male Children and for want of Males among the Females By the same Law they are at age at 15 years old and they may sell or make over the Land without the consent of the Lord. Also the Son tho of a convicted Father for Felony or Murder succeeds him in such Kind of Lands The Kentish Men besides have this to glory in that they were the first Christians of this Island And this is the only County at this time that has two Cities or Episcopal Sees namely Canterbury and Rochester Canterbury the chief Place of this County is 46 miles East of London Viz. from London to Dartford 12 to Rochester 11 more from thence to Sittingborn 10 and to Canterbury 13 more A City of great Antiquity if it was built as some Authors aver 900 years before Christ 'T is seated on the River Stower noted for breeding the best Trouts in the South East Parts of England and is counted in the Lath of S. Augustine The Buildings of it but mean and the Wall which encompasses it in a decayed condition The greatest Ornament of all is the Cathedral wherein ly interred the Bodies of eight Kings For this City had been the Seat of the Kings of Kent till given by Ethelbert the first Christian King of this Country to Augustine the first Archbishop thereof and his Successors Whereupon the King removed his Seat to Reculver a Town by the Sea-side In this Cathedral is also interred the Body of Thomas Becket once Archbishop hereof that famous Saint so reverenced by the Romanists In this City and its Suburbs are reckoned 14 Parish Churches besides a Meeting-place under the Cathedral for the Walloonâ— that dwell in this City who are very numerous and drive a considerable Trade of the Stuffs they make here It has two Markets a Week Wednesdays and Saturdays the latter of which is the most considerable But to the honour this City has had of being the Regal Seat of the first Kings of Kent and of being to this day the See of the Primate of England let us add the Coronation of King John and Queen Izabel his Wife the Marriages of Henry II. and Edward I and the Interments of Edward the black Prince King Henry the Fourth and Queen Joan his Wife all which was performed in this Place The other Market-Towns are Eltham Mund. Wrotham Tue. Lenham Tue. Westram Wedn. S. Mary Cray Wedn. Goldburst Wedn. Gravesend Wedn. Sat. Feversham Wedn. Sat. Dover Wedn. Sat. Sandwich Wedn. Sat. Wye Thu. Rumney Thu. Lyd Thu. Folkstone Thu. Maidstone Thu. Bromley Thu. Rochester Frid. Tunbridge Frid. Tenderden Frid. Woolwich Frid. Smarden Frid. Malinge Sat. Milton Sat. Cranbrook Sat. Hythe Sat. Ashford Sat. Sevenoke Sat. Dartford Sat. Appledore Among which Rockester requires the preeminence as a Bishops See and the second for Antiquity in all the Island It is seated upon the Medway over which it has a stately Stone-bridge one of the fairest in England It consists most of one principal Street which extends it self a long way the Houses being but ordinary as they are inhabited for the most part but by Trades-men and Inn-keepers Yet besides the Honour it has of being a Bishops See it is dignify'd with the Title of an Earldom in the Person of the Right Honourable Laurence Hyde Earl of Rochester Viscount Hyde c. Which Title was formerly enjoy'd by three Wilmots And before them there was a Viscount of this Place Sir Robert Carr being created Viscount of Rochester Anno 1611. and afterwards Earl of Somerset Adjoyning to this City is Chatham also seated on the Banks of Medway A long Thorough-fare Town well inhabited by Seamen and Shipwrights as being the principal Station of the Royal Navy and having a good Dock and Store-houses for the building and equipping of his Majesties Ships Maidstone is seated also on the Medway but near the head of it This is the Town where the County-Goal Sessions and Assizes are kept being conveniently seated for
a suitable Garrison to it it may be looked upon as one of the strongest Holds in the Kingdom and the most capable of Defence 'T is a Borough-Town and a County of it self dignify'd with the Title of an Earldom in the person of the Right Honourrble William Pierpont the present Earl of Kingston upon Hull Viscount Newark c. From Hull there runs a Promontory which shoots its self forth a great way into the Sea A Promontory called by Ptolomy Ocellum and by us Holderness in which are divers Towns Honoured with the Title of an Earldom 1. In the person of John Ramsey Viscount Hardington in Scotland Created Earl of Holderness and Baron of Kingston upon Thames by King James I. Anno 1620. 2. In the person of the late Prince Rupert Count Palatine of the Rhine Created Duke of Cumberland and Earl of Holderness by King Charles I. in the Year 1643. 3. In the person of the Right Honourable Coniers D'Arcie the present Earl of Holderness advanced to that Dignity by King Charles II. Beverly a few miles North of Hull is seatâ—d on the Western Bank of the River Hull which gives passage for Boats and Barges â—own into the Humber 'T is a large Borough-Town containing two Parish-Churches â—nd well-inhabited both by Gentry and Tradesmen Of some note for being the Burial-Place of Sir John of Beverly Archbishop of York â—ho being weary of the World resigned up his Bishoprick and here ended his Days 〈◊〉 a holy Life about the Year 721. Heydon stands few miles East of Hull upon 〈◊〉 small River near its fall into the Humber 'T is an ancient Borough-Town formerly of great account and injoying a good Trade â—ill the Rise of its neighbour Hull occasioned â—ts Decay Howden a good large Town but unhealthfull is seated near the Confluence of the Ouse â—nd Derwent It gives name to a small Territory from hence called Owdenshire North-West from this Territory is another called Derwentwater lying betwixt the Ouse and the Derwent Honoured with the Title of an Earldom in the person of the Right Honourable Francis Ratcliff created Earl of Derâ—entwater by King James II. Pocklington a small Town stands North â—nd by East from Howden upon a small River that falls into the Derwent Kilham North-East from Pocklington is a long Town driâ—y seated on the Woulds but in a good Soil for Corn. Burlington or Bridlington noted for its famous Bay from hence called Burlington-Bay stands high about a mile from the Sea But â—y the Sea-side is the Key called Burlington-Key where the Ships in the Harbour are supplied with such Provisions as they stand in need of The Town of some note besides for giving the Title of an Earl to the Right Honourable Richard Boyle Baron Clifford of Landsborough Youghal and Bandon Viscount of Kynalmeaky and Dungarvan and Earl of Cork in Ireland Created Earl of Burlington by King Charles II. Anno 1664. Within two miles from Burlington North-Eastward is that noted Promontory or Foreland called Flamborough-Head from Flamborough a small Town in it In the West-Riding upon the River Dun you will find Sheffield Rotheram and Duncaster Upon the Calder Halifax and Wakefield Near or upon the Are Skipton Bradforth Leeds Pontefract and Snathe Upon the Warfe Otley Wetherby and Tadcaster Betwixt the Are and Warfe Sherburn Upon the Ouse Selby On the Nyd Ripley and Knasborough Upon the Youre Rippon and Boroughbridge And on the Rible Settle Sheffield upon the Dun is a good large Town whose Houses are built of Stone It s Market is great for several Commodities but Corn especially which is much bought up here for the supply of some Parts of Derbyshire Nottinghamshire and the West of Yorkshire A Town that trades much besides by reason of the Iron Mines in these Parts in Iron Wares and Edge-tools especially Knives and Blades Whereof so ancient an Author as Chaucer takes notice speaking of a Person that had a Sheafield Whittle by his side Here is still to be seen the Rains of a Castle one of the five which were seated on this River all within ten miles distance Lastly this Town with divers others belongs to the Wapentake of Strafford Which gives the Title of an Earl to the Right Honourable William Wentworth the present Earl of Strafford Rotheram has a fine Stone-Bridge over the River Dun and its Houses are also built of Stone A Place of some note for giving birth to Thomas of Rotheram Archbishop of York who founded here a Colledge with three Schools for the instructing of Youth in Grammar Musick and Writing but long since laid aside Duncaster a great Thorough-fare in the Northern Road is so called from a Castle that stood here on the River Dun but not â—ong since ruinated In the Year 759. this Town was reduced to ashes and lay for some time in its Ruins But it was raised up again with a fair Church and Steeple And it is now a goodly Town well accommodated with Inns for Travellers and driving a good Trade of knit Wastcoats Peticoats Gloves and Stockings But we must not omit that of late years it became of more remark by giving the Title of Viscount to James Hay Baron of Sauley Created by King James I. Viscount of Duncaster and Earl of Carlisle Which from him passed to his Son and Heir James Hay but he dying without Issue-male the Title fell with him In the Reign of King Charles II. it was improved by that King to the Title of an Earldom which he conferred with the Title of Duke of Monmouth upon the late James Fitz-Roy Anno 1663. Halifax anciently called Horton stands betwixt the Calder and a small River that falâ— into it 'T is a good large Town with Stone built Houses but seated in a barren Soil upon a steep descent of a Hill It is said to contain at least 10000 Inhabitants and yeâ— but one Parish-Church which Defect is indeed supplied by divers Chappels of Ease The Inhabitants noted for their Industry iâ— making of Cloth and other Manufactures but chiefly for the strict Law they have within themselves for the present Punishmenâ— of Cloth-stealers To which the Proverb alludes as it refers to Beggars and vagranâ— People From Hell Hull and Hallifax goâ— Lord deliver us The Town not further considerable till it attained the honour of giving the Title first of Viscount secondly oâ— Earl and lastly of Marquess to the Righâ— Honourable George Savil the present Marquelâ— of Halifax To all which degrees of Honour he was successively advanced by King Charles II. About 6 miles from Halifax near the Calder and on a steep Hill is seated Almondbury the ancient Cambodunum A Place of great repute when the English-Saxons first began their Regal Government For it was then the Royal Seat and had in it a Cathedral built by Paulinus the Apostle of these Parts Here was also a Fort and Castle long since reduced to ruins Wakefield on the Calder is a large Stone-built Town of good Antiquity Over the River
the very first Inabitants of all it may be made a Question and such as can scarce be solved Therefore that wise Roman Historian Tacitus puts it off with an Ignoramus Qui Mortales says he Initio coluerint parum compertum est As to the Original of the Britains themselves Caesar proves them to be derived from the Gauls by their Agreeableness in their Making Speech Manners Laws and Customs A rude and illiterate Nation whose Learning such as it was was all lockt up in the breasts of the Druids their Priests who communicated what they knew to none but those of their own Order and by that means kept the People much like the Papists of our Days in continual Ignorance of their sacred Mysteries The Romans began the Conquest of this People under the Emperor Claudius about the middle of the first Century and compleated it in the time of Domitian as far at least as the Frythes of Edenburgh and Dunbarton in Scotland unwilling to venture further where there was nothing to be got but blows cold and hunger For as to Julius Caesar he rather discovered than conquered England and his three next Successors Augustus Tiberius and Caligula made no Attempt upon it So that we cannot properly reckon the Conquest of England but from the Empire oâ— Claudius Uncle to Caligula Thus the Britains continued subject to the Romans about 400 Years after Christ till the Reign of Honorius When Italy being invaded by the Goths the Romans abandoned Britain to defend their own Country After the Romans were departed under whose Protection and easy Government the Britains lived comfortably they soon became a Prey to the Picts and Saxons but chiefly tâ— the Saxons who never left off teazing of thâ— Britains till these quitted the Stage and retired beyond the Severn into Wales Thus England came to be wholly possessed by a new Nation that is an aggregate Body of many People amongst the Germans who came hither to try their fortune After the Saxons came the Danes the next considerable and the most cruel Actors on the Stage of England Who in the time of Egbert the Saxon Monarch that is in the Ninth Century first invaded this Country and so exercised the patience of his Posterity till at last they overpowred them and got the Kingdom to themselves But then the Saxons and Danes lived together mixed in Marriages and Alliance and so made one Nation consisting of Saxons and Danes At last in the eleventh Century the Normans a Northern People of France came in with their Duke William Who in one Battel got his pretended Right to the Crown of England and from a single Victory the Title of Conquerour Now the Normans mixing as they did with the Body of this Nation we may say that the English Bloud at this day is a Mixture chiefly of Saxon Dane and Norman not without a Tincture of British and Romish Blood And as the Country is temperate and moist so the English have naturally the advantage of 〈◊〉 clear Complexion not Sindged as in hot Climates nor Weather-beaten as in cold Regions The generality of a comely Stature graceful Countenance well-featured grayyed and brown-haired But for Talness and Strength the Western People exceed all the â—est The Women generally more handsom than in other Places and without Sophistications sufficiently indowed with natural beauties In an absolute Woman say the Italians are required the Parts of a Dutch-Woman from the Waste downwards of a French-Woman from the Waste up to the Shoulders and over them an English Pace Therefore an English-Woman makes one of the six Things wherein England excels comprehended in this Latine Verse Anglia Mons Pons Fons Ecclesia Foemina Lana That is to say For Mountains Bridges Rivers Churches fair Women and Wool England is past Compare In short there is no Country in Europe where Youth is generally so charming Men so proper and well proportioned and Women so beautiful The Truth is this Happiness is not only to be attributed to the Clemency of the Air. Their easy Life undeâ—â—â—e best of Governments which saves them from the Drudgery and Hardship of other Nations has a great hand in it And the Experience of a Neighbouring People shew's us sufficiently there 's nothing more destructive of good Complexion than that Monster of Slavery A fit Subject therefore for that Sex which is so tender of Beauty to chew upon The English Temper is naturally sutable to their Climate They are neither so fiery aâ— the French nor so cold as the Northern People better tempered for Counsel than thâ— first for Execution than the last A happy temper besides for all sorts of Learning The generality of them reserved and wary not apt to communicate but with their best and serious Acquaintances And as their Friendship is not easily gained so when once got 't is not easily lost The Mischief is that by their different Interests both in Civil Matters and Points of Religion they are apt to be divided into Factions which takes off very much from their Happiness After so great a Deliverance as they were lately blessed with who would have thought that there should be now a Party tho inconsiderable which repineth at it And that a Protestant Party who like the Israelites have a lingering Mind after the Onions of Egypt Brought as they are out of Captivity by the wounderful hand of Providence into a happy state of Liberty they grumble and weary of their happiness seem willing to exchange their Moses for a Pharaoh Were none but they concerned in the Change 't is pity but they should have it and be crushed into Common Sense They put me in mind of those silly Women in Moscovy which according to Olearius fancy their Husbands love them best that whip 'em most For Courage I cannot but say this for the English That Death the King of Terrours is â—o where so affronted as it is amongst them Whether I look upon those that die privately in their Beds or publickly upon a Scaffold or Gibet I see so much Unconcernedness that 't is a wonder how a Nation that lives in so much case should value their Lives so little In point of Fighting 't is true they are not altogether so hasty as the French to fight out a single Quarâ—el But 't is not so much for want of Courage as out of respect to the Laws which are severe upon those that break the Peace For upon a publick Account when Men fight with Authority no Nation shew's more forwardness As they are a free People their Spirits are accordingly averse from Slavery and as greedy of Glory Their Fore fathers Exploits which by oral Tradition and reading of Histories they are generally pretty well acquainted with adds much to their Courage But especially the Notion of their Conquest of France is so universally spread all over the Nation and their Antipathy against the French so great and universal that one may reasonably expect a good Success from their first Attempt
upon France when Opportunity shall serve For desperate Attempts no Nation like the English either by Sea or Land If they be bent upon Fighting they go to it undaunted without telling the Number or valuing the Strength of their Enemies With this bold and undaunted Courage not common with other Nations they have sometimes outdone the very Romans themselves and for this I appeal particularly to the History of France where with a hand-full of Men they have routed and defeated the bravest Armies 'T is true they were at last expelled from thence buâ— their Expulsion was not so much the Fruit oâ— the French Valour as the Effect of our Divisions So redoubted they were afterwards iâ— France that in the Wars between Charles VIII and the Duke of Bretagne the Duke to strikâ— a Terrour amongst the French apparelled 150â— of his own Subjects in the Arms and Cross 〈◊〉 England But it proved as the Ass when 〈◊〉 had on the Lions Skin For a further Proof of the English Valour I might recount their Victories of old over the Irish Scots Cypriots and Turks And Spain it self has sufficiently experienced both by Sea and Land the English Valour to its cost but by Sea especially Witness the Battel Anno 1588. where Q. Elizabeth with a few Ships vanquished the Spanish Fleet which for the greatness of it was called Invincible Sir Francis Drake the Year before that had with four Ships only took from the Spaniard one Million and 189200 Ducats in one Voyage And afterwards with 25 Ships he awed the Ocean sacked S. Jago S. Dominico and Carthagena carrying away with him besides Treasure 240 Pieces of Ordnance Sr. Richard Greenvile Captain of one of the Queens Ships called the Revenge with 180 Souldiers whereof 90 were disabled with Sickness maintained a Sea-fight for 24 hours against an incredible Number of the Spanish Galleons sunk four of the greatest and killed several thousands of their Men. Till at last her Powder being spent to the last Barrel she yielded upon honourable Terms yet was never brought into Spain To this I shall add the famous Adventure of John Oxenham an Englishman one of the Followers of Sr. Francis Drake in the West Indies Where being landed in a small Barque with 70 of his Companions a little above Nombre de Dios in the Isthmus of Panama he drew his Barque on Land covered it with Boughs and marched over the Land with his Company guided by Negroes till he came to a River There he cut down Wood to make him a Pinnace wherewith he entred the South Sea and went to the Isle of Pearls About which Island in few days he surprized two Spanish Ships with an incredible Treasure of Gold and Silver and so returned in safety to the Land An Adventure not to be forgotten and recorded by Spanish Writers with much admiration so bold was the Attempt so strange the Success and so prodigious the Booty These Things I thought fit to record now this is a Time for Action We have a great Enemy to incounter with the Irish but only great by their Numbers 'T is but fighting with Cyphers But with the French there is both Laurels and Booty to be got And if the English Souldiery will but seriously reflect how much this Nation has been in the late Reigns abused and undermined by Them whose Masters they were formerly I doubt not but with Gods Blessing and their natural Courage under the Conduct of a magnanimous King and of a great General they will right themselves and be a glorious Instrument for the setling the Peace of Europe upon a sure and lasting Foundation The Character of Pride which Scaliger gives the English Nation * Scaliger de Re Poetica Lib. 3. Cap. 16. when he calls them Inflatos Contemptores is a Character common to most Nations but to none so well adapted as to his own For the French like the Romans of old look upon most other Nations as barbarous and count themselves the most accomplished I confess they have great many good Qualifications but this presumptuous Conceit spoils all And all Things being considered if the English have a little Pride it is perhaps the best grounded of any Nation Cruelty and Barbarity which the same Author charges 'em with when he calls them Inhospitales Immanes is a meer Phantasm of his own 'T is true the English are not so fawning as the French upon Strangers because they can make better shift without them but I hope they don't want common Civility They have indeed some thing of a natural Antipathy against the French as there is to this day betwixt the French and the Spaniards Yet when the French Protestants fled to them for Refuge in the late Persecution the strength of their Charity overcame their Nature They laid aside their inbred Prejudices and forthwith made it their business to relieve them as Brethren who suffered for their Religion How moderate they have been towards the plotting Papists I leave the World to judge Had the Huguenots of France plotted against the Government there as the Papists have done here ever since the Reformation what do you think could have expiated their Crime Nothing but a quick and general Massacre such as they suffered under Charles IX without the least Provocation The late Experience tells us what Spirit of Cruelty has possessed the French when upon the Kings Protestant Subjects utmost Submission to him in Civil Matters and his most solemn and sacred Ingagements to preserve their Liberties this very Prince whom they had lifted upon the Throne with the expence of their Bloud contrary to Equity and the Laws of the Land to his Oaths and Promises and to the Rules of Gratitude and Humanity let them loose to the Cruelty of his Apostolick Dragoons by whom they were crushed persecuted and used beyond the Barbarity of the very Heathens themselves But in England as obnoxious as the Catholicks are to the Government â—â—d liable to the lash of the Law still they are tole â—â—ted and connived at almost beyond measure Were Scaliger alive what could he say to all this How could he answer the late cruel Burnings and Devastations the French made in Germany contrary to the Rules of War and the very Practice of the most barbarous Nations And what could he say to their genteel Way of Poysoning wherein they have been of late so dexterous and the English so dull But to clear further the English from that foul Imputation of Cruelty and Barbarity if we look upon their Plantations abroad who more courteous and gentle than this Nation If we inspect their Proceedings against Malefactors no Nation in the World shews so much humanity or proceeds with more equity The barbarous Use of Racks apt to extort Confession right or wrong is absolutely laid aside amongst us Nothing but the Prisoners unforced Confession or the Deposition of Witnesses upon Oath made out with good Circumstances will take a Mans Life away The Breaking on the Wheel
is the Fort St. George belonging to the East-India Company where they have a President of all the Factories on that Coast and of the Bay of Bengala As to the Royal African Company King Charles II was pleased by his Letters Patents to grant them a Liberty of Trading all along the Western Coasts of Africk from Cape Vert as far as the Cape of good Hope with prohibition of Trading there to all his other Subjects At Cape-Coast is the Residence of the chief Agent of the Company where they have a strong Place or Fort. I pass by the other Companies though some of them very considerable and the great Trade of the West-Indies generally managed by Merchants not Incorporated Only I shall add that every Company has the Priviledge to govern themselves by setled Acts and Orders under such Governours Deputies Assistants and Agents as they think fit to chuse among themselves And this way has been found to be so profitable and beneficial by Exporting the native Commodities thereof by setting the Poor on Work by building of many brave Ships and by Importing hither of forein Commodities both for Use and Ornament that the Benefit accruing thereby to these Nations cannot be expressed The principal Commodities exported from hence into forein Countries are Woollen Cloths of all sorts broad and narrow the English being now the best Cloth-Workers in the World To which add Sattins Tabies Velvets Plushes and infinite other Manufactures some of which make very good Returns from the foreign Plantations Abundance of Tin Lead Alum Copper Iron Fullers Earth Salt and Sea-Coal of most sorts of Grains but Wheat especially of Skins and Leather of Trane Oyl and Tallow Hops and Beer Saffron and Licorish besides great Plenty of Sea-fish is yearly transported over Sea to forein Conntries From whence the Merchants make good Returns and bring a great deal of Treasure and rich Commodities to the Inriching of themselves the unspeakable benefit of the Nation and the Credit of the English in general Who are as industrious and active as fair Dealers and great Undertakers as any Nation in the World For though the Hollanders perhaps do drive a greater Trade 't is neither for want of Stock nor for want of Industry on the side of the English The Hollanders being squeezed as they are within the narrow Bounds of their Country find little or no Land to purchase with the Returns of their Trade This puts 'em upon a kind of Necessity of improving still their Stock and of sending back those Riches a floating upon the Sea which they cannot fix on the Land Whereas our English Merchants having the Opportunity of Injoying the Fruits of their Industry in a spacious delicate fruitful Country by purchasing Estates for themselves and Families are apt to yield to the Temptation and to exchange the hurry of Trade for the pleasures of a Country-life CHAP. V. Of the English Laws and Religion THE Laws of England are of several Sorts and severally used according to the Subject First there is the Common Law that is the Common Customs of the Nation which have by length of time obtained the force of Laws This is the Summary of the Laws of the Saxons and Danes first reduced into one Body by King Edward the Elder about the Year 900. Which for some time being lost were revived by King Edward the Confessor and by Posterity named his Laws To these William the Conquerour having added some of the good Customs of Normandy he caused them all to be written in his own Norman Dialect which being no where vulgarly used varies no more than the Latine Therefore to this day all Reports Pleadings and Law-Exercises Declarations upon Original Writs and all Records are written in the old Norman But where the Common Law falls short the Statute Law makes it up Which are the Laws made from time to time by King and Parliament The Civil Law which is counted the Law of Nations is peculiarly made use of in all Ecclesiastical Courts in the Court of Admiralty in That of the Earl Marshal in Treaties with forein Princes and lastly in the Two Universities of the Land The Canon-Law otherwise called the Ecclesiastical Laws takes place in Things that meerly relate to Religion This Law comprehends the Canons of many ancient General Councils of many National and Provincial English Synods divers Decrees of the Bishops of Rome and Judgments of ancient Fathers received by the Church of England and incorporated into the Body of the Canon Law By which she did ever proceed in the Exercise of her Jurisdiction and do's still by virtue of an Act in the Reign of Henry VIII so far as the said Canons and Constitutions are not repugnant to the Holy Scripture to the Kings Prerogative or the Laws of this Realm But whereas Temporal Laws inflict Punishment upon the Body these properly concern the Soul of Man And as they differ in several Ends so they differ in several Proceedings The Martial Law reaches none but Souldiers and Mariners and is not to be used but in time of actual War But the late King who ran headlong to Arbitrary Power made nothing of violating this and most other Laws The Forest-Law concerns the Forests and in flicts Punishment on those that trespass upon them By virtue of this Law the Will is reputed for the Fact so that if a Man be taken hunting a Deer he may be Arrested as if he had taken it Lastly there are Municipal Laws commonly called Peculiar or By Laws proper to Corporations These are the Laws which the Magistrates of a Town or City by virtue of the King's Charter have a Power to make for the benefit and advantage of their Corporation Provided always that the same be not repugnant to the Laws of the Land These By-Laws properly bind none but the Inhabitants of the Place unless they be for publick Good or to avoid a publick Inconvenience In which Case they bind Strangers Thus much in general as to the Laws of England The chief Particulars will come in of course when I come to treat of the Government The Religion of England as it is established by Law is the best Reformed Religion and the most agreeable to the primitive Times of Christianity But before I come to shew the Occasion Time and Methods of its Reformation it will not be improper to give a brief historical Account how the Christian Faith came to be planted in this Island to set forth its Progress Decay and Restauration then its Corruption with Rome and at last its Reformation That Christianity was planted here in the Apostles Times long before King Lucius is plainly demonstrated by the Antiquity of the British Churches writ some Years since by Dr. Stillingfleet the present Bishop of Worcester Where he learnedly disproves the Tradition concerning Joseph of Arimathea supposed by many to have been the first Planter of the Gospel here as an Invention of the Monks of Glassenbury to serve their Interests by advancing
not to be made up by new Creations but be suffered to diminish as appears by their Patent And yet the very Founder King James I transgressed the first his Rule by creating 203. Charles his next Successor made 455. But King Charles II outdid them both by creating near upon 900 during his Reign At this time there are reckoned above 700 living Sir Nicholas Bacon of Suffolk was the first Baronet created whose Successor is therefore stiled Primus Baronettorum Angliae No Honour is ever to be created between Barons and Baronets As for the other two Degrees of Knighthood they are but Personal and not Hereditary so that the Honour dies with the Person Knighted and descends not to his Son Knights of the Bath are so called from their Bathing the Night before the Creation within the Lists of the Bath The first of this sort were made by Henry IV but now they are usually made at the Coronation of a King or Queen or Creation of a Prince of Wales They wear a Scarlet Ribbon Belt-wise and take place of Knights Batchelours but come after Baronets There are but a few Knights of this Order Knights Batchelours are the lowest sort of Knights and the most common Anciently this Degree was in greater esteem than it is at the present when it was only conferred upon Sword-men for their military Service who from the Gilt Spurs usually put upon them were called in Latine Equites Aurati Whereas now a days this Honour is also bestowed upon Gown-men viz. Lawyers and Physicians And all the Ceremony used in their Creation is their Kneeling down before the King and His Majesties lightly touching them on the shoulder with a naked Sword Anciently there was another Sort of Knights now disused I mean the Knights Bannerets who were Knighted in the Field This Order was accounted very honourable had the precedency of the Knights of the Bath and bore their Arms with Supporters which was not allowed to any under this Degree Next to Knights are the Esquires so called from the French Escuyer this from the Latine Scutiger which Name was given of old to him that attended a Knight in time of War and carried his Shield Whereas Esquire with us is a meer Title of Dignity next to and below a Knight and signifies a Gentleman or one that beareth Arms as a Testimony of his Nobility and Gentry They who by right claim this Title now are all the younger Sons of Noblemen and by the Common Law of England their very eldest Sons are Esquires and no more Next are the Esquires of the King's Body the eldest Sons of Noblemens younger Sons Knights eldest Sons and their elder Sons for ever Next Esquires created by the King by putting about their Necks a Collar of S's and bestowing on them a pair of Silver Spurs Those that are reputed or lookt upon as equal to Esquires tho none of them be really so are several Magistrates and Officers in the King's Court as Judges Sergeants at Law Sheriffs Mayors Justices of the Peace Counsellors at Law and the principal Commanders of an Army So Heads of Houses in the Universities Doctors of Law Physick and Musick usually take place next to Knights and before ordinary Gentlemen Lastly Gentlemen are properly such as are descended of a good Family bearing a Coat of Arms without any particular Title And these we call Gentlemen born But Use has so far stretched the signification of this Word both high and low that every Nobleman nay the King himself may be called a Gentleman And on the other side any one that without a Coat of Arms has either a liberal or genteel Education that looks Gentleman-like whether he be so or not and has wherewithall to live freely and handsomely is by the Courtesy of England usually called a Gentleman Others by their Offices are lookt upon as such particularly most of the King 's Menial Servants and the principal Officers in Noble-mens Families c. The Military Profession which has been always counted Noble seems to give the very meanest Professors of it a Title to this Quality But it is more particularly adapted to two distinct Bodies of the King's Guards the one called Gentlemen Pensioners who gard his Person within Doors and the other the Gentlemâ—n of the Guard by whom is meant his Body of Horse Guards who gard the Kings Person on horseback without Doors As in Germany all Noblemens so in England all Gentlemens Arms descend to all the Sons alike Only the eldest Son bears Arms without difference which the younger may not Besides above 700 Knights Baronets and the few Knights of the Bath there are reckoned to this day above 1400 ordinary Knights and 6000 Esquires and Gentlemen whose younger Brothers in all may make up at least 12000 all over England And the Land in the Possession of them all has been computed to amount at least to four Millions yearly The Law of England which is so Favourable to the Nobility has not a proportionable Regard for the Gentry For whether they be Knights Esquires or Gentlemen they are all reckoned by law even Noblemens Sons amongst the Commons of England So that the eldest Son of a Duke though by the Courtesy of England stiled an Earl shall be Arraigned if charged with a Crime by the Title of Esquire only and tried by a Jury of Common Free-holders In Parliament he can sit only in the House of Commons if elected unless he be called by the King 's Writ to the House of Lords Knights are distinguished in England by the Title of Sir prefixt to their Christen names And Gentlemen have no other Title but that of Master when spoken of and that of Sir when spoken to But if one writes to an Esquire the Direction ought to be thus as To Thomas Whitfield Esquire The Epithet of Honourable is usually given to any Knight Esquire or Gentleman distinguished by some eminent and personal Worth CHAP. XXI Of the Commonalty of England BY the Commonalty I mean Yeomen Merchants Artificers Tradesmen Mariners and all others getting their Livelyhood after a Mechanick Way Yeomen are such amongst the Commonalty who having Land of their own to a good value Keep it in their own hands husband it themselves and live with their Families upon it They are therefore by the Law called Freeholders because they hold Lands or Tenements Inheritable by a perpetual Right to them and their Heirs for ever Their Number is great in England and many of them have Estates fit for Gentlemen Forty or Fifty pounds a Year is veâ—â—â—ordinary 100 or 200 l. a Year in some Counties is not rare in Kent there are those who have 1000 l. and some more per Annum Which is not easy to be found amongst Men of this Rank any where else in Europe And whereas Husbandry is commonly lookt upon as the most innocent Life and the freest from the Corruption and Cheats that attend other Professions therefore the Law of England has a better
matter of admiration 'T is pretty to see the Temper of these Men and those they have infected all made up of Contradictions They hate their Friends and love their Enemies They deride Popery and yet do their utmost to bring it in None more averse than they from Slavery but leave no Stone unturned to work it into these Kingdoms Whose Condition is like that of a Sick Person that longs for Health and yet is greedy to catch at any Thing that pleases his Fancy let it prove never so fatal The Truth is 't is nothing else in the bottom but a malignant Humour that causes Inflammation and strikes up to the Brain lately a catching but now thanks be to God a vanishing Disease I conclude with the Parish-Church Officers which are indeed Lay-men but as they have a peculiar Relation to the Church they may be counted to be half-Clergy-men The Church-Wardens amongst these are the principal Whose Office is to see that the Church be in good Repair and want nothing for Divine Service c. That the Church-yard be well inclosed and an exact Terrier of the Glebe-Land be Kept They are also to sue for any Thing Kept from the Church that is of right belonging to it to inquire after admonish and present to the Bishop scandalous Livers and to collect the Charity of the Parishioners The Bishops Orders they are both to declare and to execute They serve commonly two Years in that Station and Easter-Week is the time for their Election Usually they are elected by the Parson and the Parishioners where it is so agreed If not the Parson chuses one and the Parishioners the other In some great Parishes there are joyned Sidesmen to the Church-Wardens to assist them in the Inquiries into the Lives of inordinate Livers and in presenting Offenders at Visitations Next is the Clerk whose Office is to serve at Church the Priest and Church-Wardens He ought to be at least 20 Years old and a Man of good Life and Conversation that can read write and sing Psalms the tuning whereof is part of his Office He is commonly chosen by the Parson only In many Parishes there is also one Sexton or more So we call those that attend the Parishioners at Church and let them into their Pews Which in Cathedral and Collegiate Churches is commonly performed by the Vergers so called from a Silver Verge which they carry in their hands To take care of the Parish-Concerns both Civil and Ecclesiastical a great Power is by Law committed to the Vestry-men So called from the Vestry a Room adjoyning to the Church for the Use of the Parson and Parish-Officers They are a select Number of the chief Parishioners in every Parish within the City of London and Suburbs and elsewhere who yearly chuse Officers for the Parish as Church-Wardens Constables Scavengers Collectors for the Poor c. The Beadle's is a standing Office CHAP. XXV Of Women ALL Women in England are either Noble or Ignoble The first are so by Descent Creation or Marriage By Descent as when a Lady holds an Estate by a noble Title For Titles of Honour sometimes for want of Males do descend to Females But only to one of them because they are Things in their own nature intire and not to be divided amongst many as the Lands and Tenements are which descend in equal Proportion to all the Daughters By Creation some Women have been made at the King's pleasure Baronesses Countesses and Dutchesses But the greatest Part of the English Noblewomen are so only by Marriage all Women being counted Noble that are married to any Peer of the Realm And so as the Law says Uxor fulget Radiis Mariti Yet if afterwards they marry to Men not Noble they lose by Law their former Dignity and follow their latter Husbands Condition though by the Courtesy of England they are still lookt upon and respected as Noble and called by the Name of the former Husband But Women Noble by Descent or Birth-right or by Creation retain by Law their Nobility tho they Marry afterwards to Husbands under their Degree 'T is observable that any Noble-woman by Birth being married to a Baron takes place but as Baroness though she be a Duke's Daughter But if she marry to one under the Degree of a Nobleman as to a Knight or Gentleman the Courtesy of England gives her place according to her Birth and not her Husbands Condition A Noble-woman marrying to an Ignoble Man adds no Honour to him Her Honour is all hers and he has no share in it though by Marriage he becomes Master of all her Goods and Chattels But her Dignities with the Lands descend to her next Heir Noble-women in the Eye of the Law are Peers of the Realm and accordingly they injoy most of the Priviledges of Peers But it is thought they cannot maintain an Action upon the Statute De Scandalo Magnatum As happy as the Condition of married Women is generally all over England yet the Laws of this Kingdom are in the main very severe upon them For when a Woman marries she gives her self over and what she brings with her to the power of her Husband Whatever she is possessed of the Husband becomes the Proprietor of it and her very necessary Apparel is not hers in Propriety If she has any Tenure it is all in Capite that is she holds it of and by her Husband who is the Head of his Wife And all the Chattels personal she had at the Marriage are so much her Husbands that he dying before her they shall not return to his Wife but go with his other Goods and Chattels to the Husband's Executor or Administrator Except the Paraphernalia that is those Goods which a Wife besides her Dower or Joynture is after her Husbands Death allowed to have as Furniture for her Chamber wearing Apparel and Jewels if she be of quality which are not to be put into her Husband's Inventory especially in the Province of York The Wife can make no Contract without her Husband's Consent and without it she cannot set sell give away or alienate any Thing So great is her Subjection to her Husband's Will that in the Sense of the Law she has no Will of her own Therefore when a Man and his Wife commit a Felony together the Wife can neither be Principal nor Accessory the Law supposing she was forced thereunto in regard of the Subjection and Obedience she ows to her Husband In short by the Law of England a Wife is so much in the Power of her Husband that she is no better than a Child or the best of Servants For she can call nothing her own more than a Child whom his Father suffers to call many Things his own yet can dispose of nothing And when she offends 't is in her Husband's Power to correct her as a Servant Therefore if she wrong another by her Tongue on by Trespass her Husband must answer for her Fault and make Satisfaction But a
Woman upon Marriage does not only lose the Power over her Person Will and Goods but she must part with her very Name and ever after use her Husband's Surname contrary to the Custom of some other Countries One Thing more there is yet which evidences the great Subjection of a Wife to her Husband And that is the Punishment inflicted upon a Woman that has Killed her Husband which is to be Burnt alive the Offence being counted Petty-Treason by Law that is as great a Crime as the Killing of his Father or Master Yet in some things the Law is very favourable to the female Sex of England As for Example if a Wife bring forth a Child begotten before Marriage by another Man than her present Husband her Husband is bound to own the Child and that Child shall be his Heir at Law So literally we take the Saying Pater est quem Nuptiae demonstrant If a Husband be a long time absent from his Wife though it be for some Years and his Wife bring forth a Child during his Absence he must father that Child in case he lived all the while in this Island or to speak the Words of the Law inter quatuor Maria. And if that Child be her first-born Son and her Husband's Estate Intailed or left without Will that Child shall be Heir to it Another Priviledge of English-Women is that the Wife having no Joynture settled before Marriage may challenge after her Husband's Death the third part of his yearly Rents of Land during her Life and within the City of London a third Part of all her Husband's Moveables for ever If there be many Children the rest comes to the eldest if not to the next Heir at Law And if she do not approve of the Division she may claim the Right of being Indowed with the best of the Land to a third part But if the Law be so favourable in some Cases to married Women Custom or rather the good Nature of Englishmen makes their Condition much happier Whose Respect and Tenderness for them is generally so great that every where they give 'em the Precedency and put them the least of any Nation upon Drudgery and Hardship Women are not here mewed up as in Italy and Spain and that mischievous Passion of Jealousy has got so little footing here that the Nation is little troubled with its troublesom Influences or fatal Consequences In short married Women have here more Liberty than any where else Their chief Care is of the House and Houshold according to the ancient Custom of the Greek Wives which is indeed the proper Office of a Wife as the Husband 's is to mind his Concerns abroad And such is generally their Carriage to their Husbands and their mutual Tenderness for them that where the Law gives them nothing the dying Husband often leaves all behind him to the Disposal of his Wife Except in London where a peculiar Order is taken by the City agreeable to the Civil Law A Knight's Wife is by the Courtesy of England counted and called a Lady If her Husband die before her and she take afterwards 〈◊〉 Husband of a lower estate still she shall be â—alled Lady with the surname of her first husband and not of the second Which is by â—he Courtesy of England and according to â—adies of a higher Rank as I have before obâ—erved In point of real Estate 't is Observable that â—f the Wife be an Heiress and bring to her Husband an Estate in Land that Land descends â—o her eldest Son and if she has no Sons â—ut only Daughters it is divided amongst â—hem But if she dies without Issue the â—and goes immediately to the next Heir at Law Only the Husband shall enjoy the Proâ—â—es thereof during his Life if so be that he â—â—d a Child alive of her Body that had been heard once to cry And this also is called the Courtesy of England As to what I said before touching real and personal Estates in case of Matrimony the same is to be understood in the sense of the Common Law where there is no private Contract For whatever Contract or Covenants were made before the Marriage betwixt the husband and the Wife either by themselves â—y their Parents or Friends they take place â—nd are of force to be Kept according to the Validity thereof Lastly the Wife in England is accounted 〈◊〉 much one with her Husband that she cannot be produced as Witness for or against her Husband And so strong is the Tie that joyns them together that they may not be wholly Separated by any Agreement between themselves but only by a Judicial Sentence Now there is a twofold Separation both called by the name of Divorce The one in case of Adultery a Mensa Thoro Which is nothing else but a living asunder without a liberty-to Remarry whilst either Party is alive Whereas the other is a Vinculo Matrimonii from the Bond of Matrimony whereby each Party is free to Remarry And this is allowed upon a Nullity of the Marriage or upon some essential Impediment as Consanguinity or Affinity within the Degrees forbidden Precontract Impotency or such like Of which Divines reckon fourteen according to these Verses Error Conditio Votum Cognatio Crimen Cultus Disparitas Vis Ordo Ligamen Honestas Si sis Affinis si forte Coire nequibis Si Parochi duplicis desit praesentia Testis Raptave sit Mulier c. But sometimes in case of Adultery this plenary Divorce has been allowed of in private Cases by Act of Parliament CHAP. XXVI Of Children and Servants FRom the Condition of Women in England I come now to that of Children and Servants As to the first a Father in England has a more absolute Authority over his Children than is usual in our Neighbour Countries Here a Father may give all his Estate Unintailed from his Children and all to one Child the Consideration whereof is apt to keep his Children in aw and within the bounds of filial Obedience But commonly the eldest Son inherits all Lands and the younger Children Goods and Chattels by which is meant the Personal Estate Among the Nobility and Gentry the eldest Son 's Wife's Portion does usually go for the Portions of his Sisters and the younger Sons are put out to some Profession The Reason why the eldest Son is so well provided beyond the rest of the Children is that he may be the better able to bear up the Honour of the Family which in course â—alls to the share of the Eldest For when all is done Titular Honour without Means is commonly lookt upon but as an empty Shadow But if there be no Son the Lands as well as Goods are equally divided among the Daughters A Son at the Age of 14 his Father being dead may chuse his Gardian and may claim his Land holden in Socage that is such Lands as Tenants hold by or for certain inferiour Services of Husbandry to be performed to the Lord of
by many Records anâ— Precedents touching this Matter in the Appendix to Petyt's Miscellanea Parliamentaria Which does not quadrate with the Opinion of those who have affirmed that there was never any Parliament in England according to the present Constitution thereof till the Reign of Henry III that is betwixt four and five hundred Years since and that the grand Council consisted only of the great Men of the Nation till that King was pleased to call the Commons to sit also in Parliament The Power of Convening or Calling a Parliament is solely in the King But if the King be under Age or not Compos Mentis or Absent out of the Realm upon some Expedition 't is lodged in the Protector or Regent who then summons the Parliament but still in the King's Name The Summons ought to be at least 40 Days before the Day appointed for the Meeting and it is done by Writ in Law-Latin expressing that it is with the Advice of the Privy Council Which Writ is a kind of short Letter directed and sent by the Lord Chancellour or Commissioners of the Chancery to every Lord Spiritual and Temporal to appear at a certain Time and Place to treat and give their Advice in some important Affairs concerning the Church and State c. And as for the House of Commons Writs are sent to all the Sheriffs commanding them to summon the People to elect two Knights for each County two Citizens for each City and one or two Burgesses for each Borough according to Statute Charter or Custom And whereas there are some Cities and Towns that are Counties of themselves or that have each within it self the Priviledge of a County the Writ is directed to them as it is to Sheriffs of other Counties At every County after the Delivery of the Parliament Writ to the Sheriffs Proclamation is made in the full County of the Day and Place appointed for the Parliament to sit and for all Freeholders to attend such a Time and Place for the Election of the Knights for that County But the Sheriff ought to give a convenient Time for the Day of Election and sufficient Warning to those that have Voices that they may be present Otherwise the Election is not good if for want of due Notice part of the Electors be absent Now by an Act in the Reign of Henry VI it was Ordained that none should have any Suffrage in the Election of the Knights of the Shire but such as were Freeholders did reside in the County and had a yearly Revenue at least to the Value of 40 Shillings which before the Discovery of the Gold and Silver in America was as much as 30 l. now And the Sheriff has Power by the said Act to examine upon Oath every such Chuser how much he may expend by the Year if he doubt the value of it If any Man keep a Houshold in one County and remain in Service with another Family in another County yet he may be at the Chusing of Knights of the Shire where he Keeps his Family for it shall be said in Law a Dwelling in that County The Election ought to be in full County between 8 and 9 of the Clock according to Statute And no Election says the Lord Coke can be made of any Knight of the Shire but between 8 and 11 of the Clock in the Forenoon But if the Election be begun within the Time and cannot be determined within those Hours the Election may be proceeded upon Before Election can be made or Voices given the Precept directed to the Sheriff ought to be read and published And if the Party or Freeholders demand the Poll the Sheriff ought not to deny the Scrutiny for he cannot discern who be Freeholders by the View In short of so many as stand for Competitors the two that have most Voices are declared to be duly elected for the insuing Parliament Plurality of Voices does likewise carry it for Citizens that stand for Cities and Burgesses for Boroughs Where in some Places none but Freeholders have a Right of Election in others all Housholders have a share in it And though no Alien can be a Parliament Man yet if he be a Housholder his Voice is good as in the Election of the Members for the City of Westminster A Burgess elected for two several Boroughs as it sometimes happens must wave one Election when he comes to the House and chuse for which Place of the two he will serve so as a Writ may issue for a new Election that the Number may be full All Elections ought to be freely and indifferently made notwithstanding any Prayer or Command to the contrary Or else the Parliament is not as it should be free 'T is true the Elections can never be so free as not to be liable to the Temptations of private Interest or the Influence of Feasting two unavoidable Evils Yet it does not follow but that a Parliament may be called Free when the Court has no hand in the Elections by such unlawful Methods as were used in the late Reign by Closetting by fair Promises and foul Threats The Returns concerning the Parties chosen are made in the Crown-Office by the Sheriffs Mayors or Bayliffs whom the Writs were sent to and to whom it belongs to manage the Elections Upon a false Return which happens but too frequently the Sheriff who made the Return is liable to the Forfeiture of 100 l. to the King and 100 l. more to the Party injured and to be Imprisoned for a Year without Bail or Mainprize And every Mayor or Magistrate of a Town so offending is to pay 40 l. to the King and as much to the Party This Action to be within 3 Months after the Parliament commenced by the Party injured or by any other Man who will In the mean time the Party returned remains a Member of the House till his Election be declared void by the same For denying the Poll when required also for advising and abetting the same the guilty Party has been adjudged by the House to stand Committed to the Sergeant during Pleasure to pay all due Fees to defray the Charge of Witnesses to be Assessed by four of the Committee to acknowledge his Offence upon his Knees at the Bar and read a Submission This was the Case of Thomson Sheriff of York and his Abettor Alderman Henlow in the Reign of Charles I. The Persons to be Elected as the fittest to answer the true Interest of the Nation ought to be Sober Understanding Well-principled and Well-affected to the establish'd Government by Law If Men of Estates it is so much the better such Men being supposed to be less Corruptible But this is left to the Peoples Choice 'T is true that by Law such as stand for Knights of the Shire ought to be Knights Esquires or Gentlemen fit to be made Knights By the Statute none ought to be chosen a Burgess of a Town in which he do's not inhabit But the Usage of
Commissions Deeds and Recognizances which being made up in Rolls of Parchment gave Occasion for that Name From whence the verâ— House where the same are Kept is also called 〈◊〉 Rolls which being founded at first for the converted Jews was after their Expulsion out of England annext for ever to the Office of Master of the Rolls Here are kept all the Rolls since the beginning of Richard the Third's Reign and the former Rolls in the Tower In this House the Master of the Rolls may Jure Offâ—cii and by vertue of a Commission hear Causes with two Masters and without the Chancellour He has in his Gift those considerable Offices of the Six Clerks in Chancery the Examiners Offices three Clerks of the Petty-bag and the six Clerks of the Rolls Chappel where the Rolls are kept In Parliament-time when he sits in the House of Lords he sits upon the Second Woolsack next to the Lord Chief Justice of Engand Next in degree to the Twelve Masters in Chancery are the Six Clerks aforesaid who keep their several Offices at a Place called the Six Clerks Office in Chancery-Lane and constantly Keep Commons together in Term-time Their Business is for the English part of this Court to inroll Commissions Pardons Patents Warrants c. that are passed the Great Seal They are also Attorneys for Plaintiffs and Defendants in Causes depending in this Court Under these are Sixty other Clerks viz. ten to each amongst which some get four or five hundred Pounds a Year and some more These also have their Under-Clerks who dispatch with them the Business of this Office For the Latine Part there is the Cursitors Office Kept near Lincolns Inn. Of these there are 24 whereof one Principal and two Assistants Their Business is to make out Original Writs for which purpose each of them has certain Counties and Cities allotted to him into which he makes out such Original Writs as are required These Clerks are a Corporation of themselves who execute their Offices by themselves or Deputies There are several Officers besides belonging to the Chancery As the Clerk of the Crown Who either by himself or Deputy is continually to attend the Lord Chancellour or Lord Keeper for special Marters of State and has a Place in the House of Lords He makes all Commissions of Peace of Oyer and Terminer Goal-Delivery and upon the Death or Removal of any Members of Parliament sitting makes all Writs for New Elections There is also a Protonotary whose Office is chiefly to dispatch Commissions for Embassies A Register of the Court of Chancery and two Registers for the Rolls The Clerk of the Hamper or Hanaper Who receives all the Mony due to the King for the Seals of Charters Patents Commissions and Writs In Term-time and at all times of Sealing he attends the Chancery-Court with all Sealed Charters Patents c. put up in Leathern Bags Instead of which Hampers were probably used in our Fore-fathers time and the Clerk called from thence Clerk of the Hamper Those Bags are delivered by the Clerk to the Comptroller of the Hamper Three Clerks of the Petty-Bag whose Office is to make all Patents for Customers Comptrollers all Conge d'Eslires first Summons of Nobility Clergy Knights Citizens and Burgesses to Parliament c. The six Clerks of the Rolls Chappel which togetheâ— with the Clerks of the Petty-bag are under the Master of the Rolls And so are the Two Eâ—â—caminers whose Office is to examine the Witnesses on their Oaths in any Suit on both sides A Clerk of the Patents another of the Reports and a Clerk or Secretary of the Presentation of Spiritual Benefices There is besides a Subpoena Office to issue out Writs or Summons for Persons to appear in Chancery Another Office for filing all Affidavits in the Court of Chancery Besides the Alienation Office to which are carried all Writs of Covenant and Entry whereupon Fines are levied and Recoveries suffered to have Fines for Alienation set and paid thereupon This Office is executed by 3 Commissioners who set those Fines The Warden of the Fleet or Keeper of the Fleet-Prison is a considerable Office His Business is to take care of the Prisoners there who are commonly such as are sent thither from this Court for Contempt to the King or his Laws though there are others upon the Account of Debts c. There is also a Sergeant at Arms whose Office is to bear a gilt Mace before the Lord Chancellour or Keeper Lastly whereas other Courts of Justice are never open but in Term-time this is at all times open For if a Man be wrongfully Imprisoned in the Vacation the Lord Chancellour may grant a Habeas Corpus and do him Justice according to Law as well in Vacation as in Term-time Which is not in the Power either of the King's Bench or Common-Pleas to do in the Vacation This Court likewise may grant Prohibitions at any time either in Term or Vacation CHAP. IV. Of the Court of Kings Bench. THis Court is called the Kings Bench because in it are handled all Pleas of the Crown as all manner of Treasons Felonies Misprision of Treason c. But it has Power besides to examine and correct all Errours in fait and in Law of all the Judges and Justices of the Realm in their Judgements and Proceeding in Courts of Record and this not only in Pleas of the Crown but in all Pleas real personal and mixt the Court of Exchequer excepted This Court has also Power to correct other Errours and Misdemeanors extrajudicial tending to the Breach of the Peace or Oppression of the Subject It grants Prohibitions to Courts Temporal and Ecclesiastical to Keep them within their proper Jurisdiction and may bail any Person for any Offence whatsoever If a Freeman in City Borough or Town Corporate be Disfranchised unjustly this Court may relieve the Party although he has no Priviledge in it This Court moreover has power to hold Plea by Bill for Debt Detinue Covenant Promise and all other personal Actions against any that is in the Marshals Custody or any Officer Minister or Clerk of the Court. For if they should be sued in any other Court they would be allowed the Priviledge of this in respect of their necessary Attendance here and lest there should be a failure of Justice they shall be Impleaded here by Bill though these Actions be common Pleas. Likewise the Officers Ministers and Clerks of this Court priviledged by Law may Implead others by Bill here in the foresaid Actions In short the Jurisdiction of this Court is general and extends all over England 'T is more uncontrolable than any other Court because the Law presumes the King to be there in person For anciently the Kings of England sat sometimes in this Court and that on a high Bench his Judges at his Feet on a low Bench. From whence some think this Court came to be called the King's Bench. However the Judicature always belonged to the Judges and in the King's
Hoods lined with Taffety if they be of Oxford or white Minever Furr if of Cambridge and all round black Velvet Caps Besides the Advocates here are also ten Proctors to manage other Mens Causes Who wear Hoods lined with Lambs-Skin if not Graduates but if Graduates Hoods proper to the Degree According to the Statutes of this Court all Arguments made by Advocates and Petitions by the Proctors are to be made in Latine All Process of this Court runs in the Name of the Judge To this Court belong two principal Officers that attend it Viz. an Actuary who sets down the Judges Decrees registers the Court Acts and sends them in Books to the Registry Then a Register whose Office is by himself â—or Deputy to receive all Libels or Bills Allegations and Exhibits of Witnesses to file all Sentences and keep the Records of the Court. Next to which is the Beadle an inferiour Officer who carries a Mace before the Judge â—nd calls the Persons that are cited to appear All Places and Offices belonging to this Court are in the Arch-Bishops Gift The Audience Court is a Court of equal Authority with the Arches tho inferiour both in Antiquity and Dignity The Original of this Court was thus The Arch-Bishop of Canterbury heard many Causes extrajudicially at home in his own Pallace but before he would finally determine any thing he did usually commit them to be discussed by certain Men learned in the Civil and Canon Laws who thereupon were called his Auditors till at last those Causes were committed to One thence named Causarum Negotiorumque Audientiae Cantuariensis Auditor seu Officialis And with this Office was joyned heretofore the Arch-Bishops Chancery which properly meddles not with any point of contentious Jurisdiction or deciding of Causes between Party and Party but only of Office as the Granting the Custody of the Spiritualities during the Vacation of Bishopricks Institution to Benefices Dispensing with Banes of Matrimony c. But this is now distinguished from the Audience The Prerogative Court is the Court wherein all Wills are proved and all Administrations taken that belong to the Arch Bishop by his Prerogative that is where the Deceased had Goods of any considerable value out of the Diocese wherein he died And that Value is usually 5 l. except it be otherwise by Composition between the Arch-Bishop and the Bishop as in the Diocese of London where it is 10 l. If any Contention arise between Two or more touching any such Will or Administration the Cause is properly debated and decided in this Court The Judge whereof is termed Judex Curiae Praerogativae Cantuariensis the Judge of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury Who is attended in the Court by a Register or his Deputy whose Office is to set down the Decrees and Acts of the Court to Keep the Records all Original Wills and Testaments of Parties deceased that have left Bona Not abilia c. His Office is commonly called the Prerogative Office now Kept in the Deans Court near St. Paul's Church-yard where for a moderate Fee one may have a Copy of any such Testament And Under the Register are Six Clerks severally appointed for such and such Counties This Court formerly held in the Consistory of St. Pauls is now Kept in the Common-Hall at Drs. Commons next Day after the Arches in the Afternoon All Places belonging to this Court are in his Grace's Gift The Archbishop of York has also the like Court which is termed his Exchequer but far inferiour to this in Power and Profit He has also an Audience Court For Civil Affairs that concern the Church the highest Court is the Court of Delegates A Court which consists of Commissioners delegated or appointed by the King's Commission to sit upon an Appeal to Him in the Court of Chancery and is granted in three Cases First when a Sentence is given in any Ecclesiastical Cause by the Archbishop or his Official Secondly when any Sentence is given in any Ecclesiastical Cause in Places exempt Thirdly when Sentence is given in the Admiralty in Suits Civil and Marine by order of the Civil Law The Judges are appointed by the Lord Chancellour under the Great Seal of England pro illa vice and upon every Cause or Business there is a new Commission and new Judges according to the nature of the Cause As sometimes Bishops common-Common-Law Judges Noblemen Knights and Civilians sometimes Bishops and Civilians at other times Common Law Judges and Civilians and sometimes Civilians only This Court is Kept in the same Place as the former the next Day after the Prerogative-Court in the Afternoon Here the Citations and Decrees run in the King's Name and to this Court belongs a standing Register From this Court lies no Appeal in common Course But the King may and sometimes does grant a Commission of Review under the Great Seal The Court of Peculiars is about certain Parishes that have Jurisdiction within themselves for Probate of Wills c. being exempt from the Ordinary and the Bishops Courts 'T is an ancient Priviledge of the See of Canterbury that wheresoever any Mannors or Advowsons do belong to it they forthwith become exempt from the Ordinary and are reputed Peculiars And there are reckoned in his Province no less than 57 such Peculiars So the King's Chappel is a Royal Peculiar exempt from all Spiritual Jurisdiction and reserved to the Visitation and immediate Government of the King himself who is supreme Ordinary Besides these Courts serving for the whole Province every Bishop has his Court held in the Cathedral of his Diocese Over which he hath a Chancellour anciently termed the Church-Lawyer who being skilled in the Civil and Canon Law sits there as Judge But if his Diocese be large he has in some more remote Place a Commissary whose Authority is only in some certain Places of the Diocese and certain Causes limited to him by the Bishop in his Commission These are called Consistory Courts Every Arch-Deacon besides has his Court and Jurisdiction where smaller Differences arising within his Limits are pleaded The Dean and Chapter of every Cathedral or Collegiate Church have also a Court wherein they take Cognizance of Causes happening in Places belonging to the Cathedral The proper Matters belonging to Ecclesiastical Courts are Ordinations Institution of Clerks to Benefices Celebration of Divine Service Tythes Oblations Obventions Mortuaries Dilapidations Reparation of Churches Rights of Matrimony Divorces general Bastardy Probate of Wills Administrations Pensions Procurations Commutation of Penance c. the Cognizance whereof does not belong to the Common Law Also Apostacy from Christianity Simony Heresy Schisms Blasphemy Fornication Incests Adulteries The Manner of Trials here is different from those at Common Law as thus First goes forth a Citation then a Bill and Answer after that they proceed to Proofs Witnesses and Presumption the Matter being argued pro and con and the Canon and Civil Laws quoted Upon which the definitive Sentence of the Judge passeth without any Jury
were not fit to live in the World In England where they are charitably lookt upon as reconciled to God upon their penitent Departure out of this World their Friends are allowed to inter them decently where they think fit He therefore that has Friends to look to his Burial go's to the Place of Execution his Coffin in the Cart with him a good Memento Mori And after he has hanged about a quarter of an hour he is cut down laid in his Coffin and conveyed in a Coach to the Place from whence he is designed to be buried But Apostates Hereticks and Extorsioners all perjured Persons and such as die Excommunicate also any one that is Felo de se or that has wittingly made himself away all such are by Law denied Christian Burial And so are for the most part Men that die for High Treason and Robbers guilty of Murder For Petty Larceny or small Theft that is under the ancient value of 12 d. the Punishment since Edward III. is by Whipping and in the late Reigns has been often by Transportation into the West-Indies where they live for some Years a slavish Life But if the Ofsender be found by the Jury to have fled for the same he forfeits all his Goods For Misprision of High-Treason that is for neglecting or concealing it the Offender's Punishment is Forfeiture of the Profits of his Lands during Life and of all his Goods besides Imprisonment for Life Perjury whereby Mens Estates Reputation and Lives ly at stake is commonly punished only with the Pillory never with Death though it has cost the Lives of many 'T is true a Perjurer Convict is by Law incapable of being a Witness or Administrator or of bearing any publick Office And in the strictness of the Law he ought to be burnt in the forehead with a P his Goods to be Confiscated and his Trees growing upon his Ground rooted up But all this is counted too little by those Nations where wilful Perjury is punished with Death At least it seems but equitable which is the Practice of Spain that the Perjurer should suffer the same Punishment which he intended for another by his Perjury Forgery Blasphemy Cheating Libelling False Weights and Measures Forestalling the Market Offences in Baking and Brewing are also punished with standing in the Pillory But sometimes the Offender is Sentenced besides to have one or both Ears nailed to the Pillory and cut off or his Tongue there bored through with a hot Iron For Striking in the Kings Court so as to draw Bloud the Criminal is to have his right Hand cut off in a most solemn manner And for Striking in Westminster-Hall whilst the Courts of Justice are there sitting the Offender is imprisoned during Life and all his Estate forfeited For one found in a Praemunire that is one who incurs the same Punishment which was inflicted on those who transgressed the Statute of Rich. II. commonly called the Statute of Praemunire which Statute was properly made against such as avouched the Popes pretended Right of bestowing by Provision most of the best Livings in England by Mandates the Punishment is Forfeiture of all his Estate to be put out of the King's Protection and Imprisoned during the King's Pleasure Vagabonds and the like who can give no good account of themselves are punished by setting their Legs in the Stocks for certain hours And Scolding Women that are always teazing their Neighbours by being set in a Cucking Stool placed over some deep Water and duck'd therein three several times to cool their heat and choler Other Misdemeanours are commonly punished with Imprisonment or Fines and sometimes with both Those are the Corporal Punishments commonly used in England for Criminals that happen to fail into the hands of Justice But there are also Spiritual Punishments such as concern the Soul especially and are in the power of the Spiritual Courts 'T is true they are but seldom put into practice but let us see however what the Law is in this point First for refusing to appear in the Ecclesiastical Court upon Summons or for not obeying the Orders of the Court the Party Delinquent is admonished If he slight the Admonition then comes upon him Minor Excommunicatio the Lesser Excommunication whereby he is Excommunicated or excluded from the Church if not from the Church at least from the Communion of the Lords Supper And by this lesser Excommunication he is disinabled to be Plaintiff in a Law-suit c. Which Power of Excommunication the Bishop may delegate to any grave Priest with the Chancellour But for Heresy Incest Adultery Perjury and other grievous Crimes Excommunicatio major or the greater Excommunication is used and pronounced by the Bishop himself in person Now this is not only an Exclusion from the Company of Christians in Spiritual Duties but also in Temporal Concerns For a Person so excommunicated cannot in any Civil or Ecclesiastical Court be Plantiff or Witness And if he continue 40 Days Excommunicated without acknowledging and giving satisfaction for his Offence the Chancery grants the King 's Writ against him De Excommunicato capiendo to take him up and cast him into Prison without Bail where he is to ly till he has fully satisfied for his Offence Then comes the Anathema but this is only inflicted upon an obstinate Heretick Whereby he is declared a publick Enemy of God cursed and delivered over to eternal Damnation And this is to be â—one by the Bishop himself in Person assisted by the Dean and Chapter or twelve other grave Priests Sometimes the Delinquent is compelled to make a publick Confession of his Fault and to bewail it in the Church before the whole Congregation Now this is called a publick Penance and the Manner of it is thus The Delinquent is to stand in the Church-porch upon a Sunday bare-headed and bare-footed in a white Sheet and with a white Rod in his hand Having there bewailed himself and begged every one that passes by to pray for him he enters the Church falling down and Kissing the Ground Then he is placed in the middle of the Church in a conspicuous Place over against the Minister Who makes a Discourse upon the foulness of his Crime and having received his humble Acknowledgement of the same and his solemn Promise with God's help and assistance to watch more carefully for the time to come against the Temptations of the World the Flesh and the Devil pronounces in Christ's Name the Absolution The Penitent on his side humbly beseeches the Congregation to pardon him and receive him into their holy Communion and in testimony thereof to vouchsafe out of their Christian Charity to say with him aloud the Lord's Prayer Which seems to be the Way used by the Primitive Churches But when the Crime is not notorious and publick the foresaid Pennance may by the Canons of the Church be commuted at the Parties Request into a Pecuniary Mulct for the Poor of the Parish or some pious Uses Provided that
Pounds Next to the Consecration of a Bishop follow his Installation by virtue of a Mandate from thâ— Arch-Bishop to the Arch-Deacon of his Prevince This is performed in the Cathedral Church upon any Day between the hours of nine and eleven in the presence of a publick Notary Wheâ— the Bishop elect or his Proxy which is most â—sual is introduced into the Cathedral by thâ— Arch-Deacon or his Proxy There he declaies iâ— the first place his Assent to the King's Supremacy and swears that unless he be otherwise Dispeâ—sed with he will be Resident according to thâ— Custom of that Cathedral and observe the Customs of the said Church and cause others to observe the same Whereupon the Arch-Deacon with the Petty-Canons and Officers of thâ— Church accompany the Bishop up to the Quinâ— and there place him in a Seat prepared for him between the Altar and the right side of the Quine Then the Arch-Deacon pronounces these Wordâ— in Latine Ego Authoritate mihi commissa Induco Inthronizo Reverendum in Christo Patrem Dominâ—â— N. N. Episcopum Dominus custodiat suum Introâ—tum Exitum ex hec nunc in saeculum c. Upon which Te Deum is sung and the Bishop in thâ— mean while conducted from his own Place 〈◊〉 the Dean's Seat where in Token of his takiâ— Possession he stands till Ye Deum and some â—ther Prayers be ended After Prayers the Bishop is conducted inâ— the Chapter-house and there placed on a hiâ— Seat Where the Arch-Deacon together with 〈◊〉 the Prebends and Officers of the Church coâ— before him and acknowledge Canonical Obeâ—ence to him Finally the publick Notary is 〈◊〉 the Arch-Deacon required to make an Insâ—â—ment declaring the whole Matter of Fact iâ— this Affair Afterwards the new Bishop is introduced into be Kings Presence to do his Homage for his â—emporalities or Barony Which he does by â—eeling down before the King sitting in a Chair â—f State by putting his Hands between his Maâ—sties Hands and by taking a Solemn Oath to â—e true and faithful to Him and that he holds is Temporalities of him After this he Compounds for the first Fruits â—f his Bishoprick that is agrees for his first â—ears Profits to be paid to the King within two â—ears or more if the King please When a Bishop is Translated from one Bishopick to another all the Difference there is in the â—ranslation from the manner of making a Biâ—op is that there is no Consecration And â—hen a Bishop is made Archbishop the Diffeâ—â—ce is only in the Commission which is directed 〈◊〉 King to four Bishops or more to Confirm 〈◊〉 Now there is this Difference between an Archishop and a Bishop that whereas a Bishops Caâ—â—ical Authority reaches no further than the â—unds of his Diocese the Archbishops Power â—tends it self over all his Province so that he 〈◊〉 Ordinary to all the Bishops thereof Accorâ—ingly the Bishop Visits only his Diocese but 〈◊〉 Archbishop Visits the whole Province The â—ishop can Convocate only a Diocesan but the â—rehbishop may Convocate a Provincial Synod The Bishop with other Priests does Ordain a â—riest but the Archbishop with other Bishops â—â—es Consecrate a Bishop 'T is Observable that several Bishops of Engâ—nd having large Bishopricks it was provided 〈◊〉 a Statute made in the Reign of Henry VIII â—at they should have a Power to Nominate â—me to the King to be with his Approbation Suffragan or Assistant Bishops in case that anâ— of them desired it for the better Government of his Diocese or easing himself of some part oâ— his Burden The Sees of those Suffragan Bishopâ— were only to be at Dover for the Diocese oâ— Canterbury at Nottingham and Hull for thaâ— of York For the Diocese of London at Coâ—chester of Durham at Berwick of Winchester in the Isle of Wight at Southampton and Guilford For the Diocese of Lincoln at Bedford Leicester Huntington and Grantham of Norwich at Theâ—ford and Ipswich of Salisbury at Shaftsbury Melton and Marlborough of Bath and Wells at Taunton of Hereford at Bridgenorth of Coventry and Lichfield at Shrewsbury of Ely at Cambridge of Exeter at S. Germans of Carlisle at Perith. Now for any one of the foresaid Places appointed for Suffragan Bishops Sees the respective Bishop of the Diocese presented two able Men whereof the King chose one These Suffragan Bishops had the Name Title and Dignity of Bishop and as other Bishops were Consecrated by the Archbishop of the Province They executed each of them such Power Jurisdiction and Authority and received such Profits as were limited in their Commissions by the Bishops or Diocesans whose Suffragans they were In these Bishops absence when they were either residing at Court to advise the King or imployed upon Embassies abroad the Suffragans usually supply'd their Places Whâ—â— in publick Assemblies took place next after the Temporal Peers of the Realm But since the Diocesan Bishops grew less Courtiers and more Residentiary the Suffragan Bishops began to be laid aside so that there have been none for many Years in the Church of England I come now to the Prerogatives Priviledges Bower Revenues and great Deeds of Bishops All the Bishops of England are Barons and Peers of the Realm and sit as such in the House of Lords They are the Spiritual Lords lookt upon as the Fathers or Gardians of the Church and therefore commonly stiled Right Reverend Fathers in God And as 't is usual in England for well-bred Children to ask their Parents Blessing Morning and Evening with one Knee upon the Ground so the true Sons of the Church looking upon the Bishops as their Spiritual Fathers commonly begin their Addresses to them by asking their Blessing in the same respectful manner Besides the Priviledges injoy'd by Bishops as Peers and therefore common with those of the Temporal Lords they have some peculiar Prerogatives and those of a high nature 'T is undeâ—iable that all Jurisdiction in England is inseparably annexed to the Crown And yet the Bishops Courts tho held by the King's Authority are not counted to be properly the King's Courts Therefore the Bishops send forth Writs in their own Names Teste the Bishop and not in the King's Name as all the King's Courts properly so called do And whereas in other Courts there are several Judges to each a Bishop in his Court judges and passes Sentence alone by himself A Bishop besides has this transcendent Priviledge that he may as the King does depute his Authority to another as to a Bishop Suffragan his Chancellour or Commissary Which â—one of the King's Judges can do Bishops in whatsoever Christian State they come their Episcopal Dignity and Degree is acknowledged and may as Bishops confer Orders c. Whereas no Temporal Lord is in Law acknowledged such out of the Prince's Dominions who conferred his Honour The Law of England attributes so much to the Word of a Bishop that not only in the Trial of Bastardy the Bishops Certificate shall suffice but also
in Trial of Heresy which toucheth a Mans Life If a Clergy-man Kills his Bishops or Ordinary the Law looks upon it as a Parricide and 't is Petty-Treason by Law Every Bishop may by Statute Law qualify six Chaplains which is as many as a Duke But if the Bishops Priviledges be so great the Archbishops are much greater especially his Grace of Canterbury's Who is the first Peer of the Realm and next to the Royal Family precedes not only all Dukes but all the great Officers of the Crown Though he holds his Place from the King yet in the King's Writs to him he is stiled Dei Gratia Archiepiscopo Cantuariensi and whereas other Bishops write Divina Permissione he writes himself Divina Providentia When he is Invested in the Archbishoprick he is said to be Inthroned It belongs properly to him to Crown the King and he had formerly the Power of appointing the Lent Preachers which is now in the Lord High Chamberlain The Bishop of London is accounted his Pravincial Dean the Bishop of Winchester his Chancellour and the Bishop of Rochester his Chaplain He has the Probate of all Wills in his Province and the Power of granting Letters of Administration where the Party at the time of his Death had 5 l. worth or above out of the Diocese wherein he died or 10 l. within the Diocese of London For all such as die Intestate within his Province he has Power to make Wills and to administer their Goods to the Kindred or to pious uses according to his Discretion In all Cases heretofore sued for in the Court of Rome he has Power to grant Licences and Dispensations either by himself or his Deputy called the Master of Faculties Provided the same be not repugnant to the Law of God or the King's Prerogative As to allow a Clerk to hold a Benefice in Commendam or Trust to allow a Son contrary to the Canons to succeed his Father immediately in a Benefice a Beneficed Clerk upon some Occasions to be Non-resident for some time a Clerk rightly qualified to hold two Benefices with Cure of Souls and a Lay-man to hold a Prebend c. whilst by Study he is preparing himself for the service of the Church He may also bestow one Dignity or Prebend in any Cathedral Church within his Province upon every Creation of a new Bishop And the new-created Bishop is also to provide a sufficient Benefice for one of the Archbishops Chaplains or to maintain him till it be effected He has the Prerogative with two other Bishops to Consecrate a new made Bishop to appoint Coadjutors to infirm Bishops to confirm the Election of Bishops within his Province to call Provincial Synods according to the King 's Writ directed to him to be Moderator in the Synods or Convocations and there to give his Suffrage last of all 'T is both his Power and Duty to Visit the whole Province and during the Vacancy of any Bishoprick within the same to appoint a Guardian of the Spiritualities So that to him belong all the Episcopal Rights and Ecclesiastical Jurisdictions of the Diocese as Visitations Institutions c. To decide all Differences in Ecclesiastical Matters he holds several Courts of Judicature for which I refer you to my Third Part. Lastly he may retain and qualify 8 Chaplains which is two more than any Duke is allowed The Archbishop of York has also the Precedence of all Dukes that are not of the Royal Bloud and of all great Officers of State except only the Lord Chancellour He is also stiled Primate of England and Metropolitan of his Province and has many of those Prerogatives and Priviledges which the Archbishop of Canterbury has within his own Province Each of the Archbishops is honoured as Dukes are with the Title of His Grace And whereas the Inferiour Bishops are stiled Right Reverend the Archbishops are in a Superlative manner stiled Most Reverend As to the Revenues of the English Bishops the best Bishopricks are those of Canterbury Durham and Winchester which yield a plentiful Income Amongst the rest some have but a Competency and others are not much better some worse than many Parsonages And yet I must say this to the eternal Praise of the Episcopal Order that they have done great Things for the Publick out of their Revenues For most of the great publick Works now â—â—maining in England acknowledge their Being eather to the sole Cost and Charge or to the liberal Contributions of Bishops I mean not only Pallaces and Castles but Churches Colledges Schools Hospitals Alms-houses a great Number whereof have been founded and built by Bishops Nay that famous and chargeable Structure of London-Bridge stands to this day obliged to the liberal Contributions of an Archbishop In former Reigns when the Clergy were judged to be the fittest Persons to execute most of the chief Offices and Places of the Realm such Benefits and Advantages accrued thereby to this Kingdom that there are few Things of any great Consequence to the Welfare thereof but the Bishops and Prelates were the chief Actors therein The excellent Laws says an Author made by several of the Saxon Kings from whom we have our Common Laws and our Priviledges mentioned in Magna Charta were all made by the Persuasions and Advice of Bishops named in our Histories And 't was a Bishop of London at whose Request William the Conqueror granted to this City so large Priviledges that in a grateful Remembrance thereof the Lord Mayor and Aldermen did before the late dreadful Fire upon some solemn Days of their Resort to S. Paul's Church use to go in Procession about the Grave-stone where that Bishop lay interred The Union of the two Houses of York and Lancaster whereby a long and cruel Civil War was ended was by the Advice and Counsel of Bishop Morton then a Privy Counsellour And the happy Union of England and Scotland was brought to pass by the long Foresight of the Reverend Bishop Fox a Privy Counsellour in advising Henry VII to match his eldest Daughter to Scotland and his Younger to France But above all the Converting England to Christianity the Reforming of it when corrupted and the Defence of the Reformation against all Romish Writers is principally if not solely owing to Bishops and Prelates CHAP. XXIII Of the Dignify'd Clergy AS amongst the Laity the Gentry Keeps a middle Rank betwixt the Nobility and the Commonalty so amongst the Clergy of England there is a middle Station between the Episcopal Order and the inferiour Clergy Which Station is properly that of the Dignify'd Clergy as Deans Arch-Deacons and Prebendaries the Subject of this Chapter For a Supply of able and fit Persons to make Bishops or to assist Bishops a certain Number of eminent Divines both for their Piety and Learning were thought fit by our Fore-fathers to be placed in a Collegiate manner at every Cathedral or Episcopal See out of which Seminaries fit Persons from time to time might be chosen to govern the