hands much more ought the great heart of a King to disdaine it And surely my Lord it is a greater treason though it vndercreepe the law to teare from the Crowne the ornaments thereof And it is an infallible maxime that hee that loues not his Majesties estate loues not his person COVNS How came it then that the acte was not executed IVS. Because these against vvhom it was graunted perswaded the King to the contrary As the Duke of Ireland Suffolke the chief Iustice Trisilian others yea that which vvas lawfully done by the King and the great Councell of the kingdome was by the mastery which Ireland Suffolke and Tresilian had ouer the Kings affections broken and disavowed Those that devised to relieue the King not by any private invention but by generall Councell were by a private and partiall assemblie adjudged traytors and the most honest Iudges of the land enforced to subscribe to that judgment In so much that Iudge Belknap plainely told the Duke of Ireland and the Earle of Suffolke when hee was constrained to set to his hand plainely told these Lords that he wanted but a rope that he might therewith receiue a reward for his subscription And in this Councell of Nottingham vvas hatched the ruine of those which governed the King of the Iudges by them constrained of the Lords that loued the King and sought a reformation and of the King himselfe for though the King found by all the Shreeues of the shires that the people would not fight against the Lords whom they thought to bee most faithfull vnto the King when the Citizens of London made the same answere beeing at that time able to arme 50000◠men told the Major that they would never fight against the Kings friends and defenders of the Realme when the Lord Ralph Basset who was neere the K. told the King boldly that hee would not adventure to haue his head broken for the Duke of Irelands pleasure vvhen the Lord of London told the Earle of Suffolke in the Kings presence that he was not worthy to liue c. yet vvould the King in the defence of the destroyers of his estate lay ambushes to entrap the Lords when they came vpon his faith yea when all was pacified and that the King by his Proclamation had clear'd the Lords and promised to produce Ireland Suffolke the Archbishop of Yorke Tresilian Bramber to answer at the next Parliament these men confest that they durst not appeare and when Suffolke fled to Callice and the Duke of Ireland to Chester the King caused an army to be leavied in Lancashire for the safe conduct of the Duke of Ireland to his presence when as the Duke being encountered by the Lords ranne like a coward from his company fled into Holland After this vvas holden a Parliament which vvas called that vvrought vvonders In the eleuenth yeare of this King wherein the forenamed Lords the Duke of Ireland the rest were condemned and confiscate the Chiefe Iustice hang'd with many others the rest of the Iudges condemned banisht a 10 th and a 15 th given to the King COVNS But good Sir the King was first besieged in the Tower of London and the Lords came to the Parliament no man durst contradict them IVST Certainly in raising an army they committed treason and though it did appeare that they all loued the King for they did him no harme hauing him in their power yet our law doth construe all leavying of war without the kings commission and all force raised to be intended for the death destruction of the K. not attending the sequell And it is so judged vpon good reason for every vnlawfull and ill action is suppos'd to be accompanied with an ill intēt And besides those Lords vsed too great cruelty in procuring the sentence of death against diuers of the Kings servaunts who were bound to follow and obey their Master and Soveraigne Lord in that hee commaunded COVNS It is true and they were also greatly to blame to cause then so many seconds to be put to death seeing the principalls Ireland Suffolke and Yorke had escaped them And what reason had they to seeke to enforme the State by strong hand was not the Kinges estate as deere to himselfe as to them He that maketh a King know his errour manerly and priuate and giues him the best aduice hee is discharged before God and his owne conscience The Lords might haue retired themselues when they saw they could not prevaile and haue left the King to his owne wayes who had more to loose then they had IVST My Lord the taking of Armes cannot be excused in respect of the law but this might be said for the Lords that the K. being vnder yeres being wholly governed by their enimies the enimies of the kingdome because by those evill mens perswasiōs it was aduised how the Lords should haue bin murthered at a feast in London they were excusable during the kings minority to stand vpō their guards against their particular enemies But we will passe it ouer and go on with our parliaments that followed whereof that of Cambridge in the K s 12 th yeare was the next therein the K. had giuen him a 10 th a 15 th after which being 20. yeares of age rechāged saith H. Kinghton his Treasurer his Chancellor the Iustices of either bench the Clerk of the priuy seale others tooke the gouernment into his own hands Hee also tooke the Admirals place frō the Earle of Arundell in his roome hee placed the Earle of Huntingdon in the yeare following which was the 13 th yeare of the K. in the Parliament at Westminster there was giuen to the King vpon every sacke of wooll 14 s and 6 d in the pound vpon other marchandize COVNS But by your leaue the King was restrained this parliament that he might not dispose of but a third part of the money gathered IVST No my Lord by your fauour But true it is that part of this mony was by the Kings consent assigned towards the wars but yet left in the Lord Treasurers hands And my Lo it would be a great ease a great sauing to his Maiestie our Lord and Master if it pleased him to make his assignations vpon some part of his revenewes by which he might haue 1000◠vpon every 10000◠and saue himselfe a great deale of clamour For seeing of necessity the Nauy must be maintained that those poore men aswell Carpenters as ship keepers must be paid it were better for his Maiesty to giue an assignation to the treasurer of his nauy for the receiuing of so much as is called ordinary then to discontent those poore men who being made desperate beggers may perchance be corrupted by them that lye in waite to destroy the K s estate And if his Maiesty did the like in all other payments especially where the necessity of such as are to receiue cannot possible giues daies
this summe strangers not being inhabitants aboue 16 yeares 4 â— a head All that had Lands Fees and Annuities from 20 to 5â— and so double as they did for goods And the Cleargy gaue 6 the pound In the thirty seuenth yeare a Benevolence was taken not voluntary but rated by Commissioners which because one of the Aldermen refused to pay he was sent for a soldier into Scotland He had also another great subsedy of sixe shillings the pound of the Clergy and two shillings eight pence of the goods of the Laity and foure shillings the pound vpon Lands In the second yeare of Edward the sixt the Parliament gaue the King an ayde of twelue pence the pound of goods of his Natural subiects and two shillings the pound of strangers and this to continue for three yeares and by the statute of the second and third of Edward the sixt it may appeare the same Parliament did also giue a second ayde as followeth to wit of euery Ewe kept in seuerall pastures 3 of euery weather kept as aforesaid 2 â— of euery sheepe kept in the Common 1 â— ob The House gaue the King also 8 the pound of euery woollen cloath made for the sale throughout England for three yeares In the third and fourth of the King by reason of the troublesome gathering of the polymony vpon sheepe the taxe vpon cloath this acte of subsedy was repeal'd and other reliefe giuen the King and in the kings seauenth yeare hee had a subsedy and two fifteenes In the first yeare of Queene Mary tunnage and poundage were granted In the second yeare a subsedy was giuen to King Philip and to the Queene shee had also a third subsedy in Annis 4. 5. Now my Lord for the Parliaments of the late Queenes time in which there was nothing new neither head money nor sheepe money nor escuage nor any of these kindes of payments was required but onely the ordinary subsedies those as easily graunted as demaunded I shall not neede to trouble your Lordship with any of them neither can I informe your Lordship of all the passages and actes which haue passed for they are not extant nor printed COVNS No it were but time lost to speake of the latter and by those that are alreadie remembred we may iudge of the rest for those of the greatest importance are publique But I pray you deale freely with mee what you thinke would bee done for his Maiestie if hee should call a Parliament at this time or what would bee required at his Maiesties hands IVST The first thing that would be required would be the same that vvas required by the Commons in the thirtenth yeare of H. the 8 to wit that if any man of the commons house should speake more largely then of duety hee ought to doe all such offences to be pardoned and that to be of record COVNS So might euery Companion speake of the King what they list IVST No my Lord the reuerence vvhich a Vassall ovyeth to his Soueraigne is alvvaies intended for euery speech howsoeuer it must import the good of the King and his estate and so long it may bee easily pardoned othervvise not for in Queene Elizabeths time vvho gaue freedome of speech in all Parliaments vvhen Wentworth made those motions that were but supposed dangerous to the Queenes estate he was imprisoned in the Towre notwithstanding the priviledge of the house and there died COVNS What say you to the Scicilian vespers remembred in the last Parliament IVST I say hee repented him heartily that vsed that speech and indeede besides that it was seditious this example held not The French in Scicily vsurped that Kingdome they kept neither law nor faith they tooke away the inheritance of the Inhabitants they tooke from them their wiues and rauished their daughters committing all other insolencies that could bee imagined The Kings Maiesty is the Naturall Lord of England his Vassals of Scotland obey the English Lawes if they breake them they are punished without respect Yea his Maiesty put one of his Barons to a shamefull death for being consenting onely to the death of a Common Fencer And which of these euer did or durst commit any outrage in England but to say the trueth the opinion of packing the last was the cause of the contention and disorder that happened COVNS Why sir doe you not think it best to compound a Parliament of the Kings seruaunts and others that shall in all obey the kings desires IVST Certainely no for it hath neuer succeeded well neither on the kings part nor on the subiects as by the Parliament before-remembred your Lordshippe may gather for from such a composition doe arise all jealousies and all contentions It was practized in elder times to the great trouble of the kingdome and to the losse and ruine of many It was of latter time vsed by King Henry the eight but euery way to his disadvantage When the King leaues himselfe to his people they assure themselues that they are trusted and beloued of their king and there was neuer any assembly so barbarous as not to aunswere the loue and trust of their King Henry the sixt when his estate was in effect vtterly ouerthrowne vtterly impouerished at the humble request of his Treasurer made the same knowne to the House or otherwise vsing the Treasurers owne words Hee humbly desired the King to take his staffe that hee might saue his wardship COVNS But you know they will presently bee in hand with those impositions which the King hath laid by his owne royall prerogatiue IVST Perchance not my Lord but rather with those impositions that haue beene by some of your Lordships laide vpon the King which did not some of your Lordships feare more than you doe the impositions laid vpon the Subjects you would neuer disswade his Majestie from a Parliament For no man doubted but that his Majestie was advised to lay those impositions by his Councell and for particular things on which they were laid the aduice came from petty fellowes though now great ones belonging to the Custome-house Now my Lord what prejudice hath his Majestie his revenue beeing kept vp if the impositions that were laid by the aduice of a few be in Parliament laid by the generall Councell of the kingdome which takes off all grudging and complaint COVNS Yea Sir but that which is done by the King with the aduice of his priuate or priuy Councell is done by the Kings absolute power IVS. And by whose power is it done in Parliament but by the Kinges absolute power mistake it not my Lord The 3 estates doe but advise as the priuy Councel doth which advice if the king embrace it becomes the kings own acte in the one the kings law in the other for without the kings acceptation both the publicke priuate aduices bee but as empty egge-shels and what doth his Majestie loose if some of those things which concerns the poorer sort be made free
first so published that all men might plead it for their advantage but a Charter was left in deposito in the hands of the Archbishop of Canterbury for the time and so to his successours Stephen Langthon who was euer a Traytor to the King produced this Charter and shewed it to the Barons thereby encouraging them to make warre against the King Neither was it the old Charter simplie the Barons sought to haue cōfirmed but they presented vnto the King other articles and orders tending to the alteration of the whole common-wealth which when the King refused to signe the Barons presently put themselues into the field and in rebellious and outragious fashion sent the King word except he confirmed them they would not desist from making warre against him till he had satisfied them therein And in conclusion the king being betrayed of all his Nobility in effect was forced to graunt the Charter of Magna Charta and Charta de Forestis at such time as he was invironed with an Army in the meadowes of Staynes which Charters being procured by force Pope Innocent afterward disavowed threatned to curse the Barons if they submitted not themselues as they ought to their Soueraigne Lord which when the Lords refused to obey the King entertained an army of strangers for his own defence wherewith hauing mastered beaten the Barons they called in Lewes of France a most vnnaturall resolution to be their King Neither was Magna charta a law in the 19 th of Henry the 2◠but simply a Charter which hee confirmed in the 21 ◠of his reigne made it a law in the 25 th according to Littletons opinion Thus much for the beginning of the great Charter which had first an obscure birth from vsurpation and was secondly fostered shewed to the world by rebellion IVST I cannot deny but that all your Lordship hath said is true but seeing the Charters were afterwards so many times confirmed by Parliament made lawes that there is nothing in them vnequall or prejudicial to the King doth not your Honour thinke it reason they should be obserued COVNS Yes obserued they are in all that the state of a King can permit for no man is destroyed but by the lawes of the land no man disseized of his inheritance but by the lawes of the land imprisoned they are by the prerogatiue wherē the King hath cause to suspect their loyaltie for were it otherwise the King should neuer come to the knowledge of any conspiracy or treason against his Person or state and being imprisoned yet doth not any man suffer death but by the law of the land IVST But may it please your Lordship were not Cornewallis Sharpe Hoskins imprisoned being no suspition of treason there COVNS They were but it cost them nothing IVST And what got the King by it for in the conclusion besides the murmure of the people Cornewallis Sharpe Hoskins hauing greatly ouershot themselues and repented them a fine of 5 or 600 l was laid on his Maiesty for their offences for so much their diet cost his Maiestie COVNS I know who gaue the advice sure I am that it was none of mine But thus I say if you consult your memory you shall finde that those kings which did in their own times confirme the Magna Charta did not onely imprison but they caused of their Nobility and others to bee slaine without hearing or tryall IVST My good Lord if you will giue me leaue to speak freely I say that they are not well advised that perswade the King not to admit the Magna Charta with the former reseruations For as the King can neuer loose a farthing by it as I shall proue anon So except England were as Naples is and kept by Garrisons of another Nation it is impossible for a King of England to greaten and inrich himselfe by any way so assuredly as by the loue of his people For by one rebellion the King hath more losse then by a hundred yeares observance of Magna Charta For therein haue our Kings beene forced to compound with Roagues and Rebels and to pardon them yea the state of the King the Monarchie the Nobility haue beene endangered by them COVNS Well Sir let that passe why should not our kings raise mony as the kings of France doe by their letters and Edicts only for since the time of Lewes the 11 th of whom it is said that hee freed the French Kings of their wardship the French Kings haue seldome assembled the States for any contribution IVST I will tell you why the strength of England doth consist of the people and Yeomanry the Pesants of France haue no courage nor armes In France euery Village and Burrough hath a castle which the French call Chastean Villain euery good citty hath a good Cittadell the king hath the Regiments of his guards and his men at armes alwayes in pay yea the Nobility of France in whom the strength of France consists doe alwaies assist their King in those leavies because them selues being free they make the same leavies vpon their tennants But my Lord if you marke it France was neuer free in effect from ciuill warres and lately it was endangered either to be conquered by the Spaniard or to be cantonized by the rebellious French themselues since that freedome of Wardship But my good Lord to leaue this digression that wherein I would willingly satisfie your Lordship is that the kings of England haue neuer receiued losse by Parliament or preiudice COVNS No Sir you shall find that the subiects in Parliament haue decreed great things to the disadvantage and dishonour of our kings in former times IVST My good Lord to avoide confusion I will make a short repetition of them all and then your Lordship may obiect where you see cause And I doubt not but to giue your Lordship satisfaction In the sixt yeare of Henry the 3 rd there was no dispute the house gaue the King two shillings of euery plough land within England and in the end of the same yeare he had escuage paid him to wit for euery knights fee two markes in siluer In the fifth yeare of that King the Lords demaunded the confirmation of the Great Charter which the kings Councell for that time present excused alleadging that those priviledges were extorted by force during the Kings Minoritie and yet the King was pleased to send forth his writ to the Sheriffes of euery county requiring them to certifie what those liberties vvere and hovv vsed in exchange of the Lords demaund because they pressed him so violently the king required all the castles places which the Lords held of his had held in the time of his Father vvith those Manors Lordships vvhich they had heeretofore vvrested from the Crovvne vvhich at that time the King being provided of forces they durst not deny In the 14 th yeare he had the 15 th peny of all goods giuen him vpon condition to
they neuer so great as great as Gyants yet if they disswade the King from his ready and assured way of his subsistence they must devise how the K. may be else-where supplied for they otherwise runne into a dangerous fortune COVNS Hold you contented Sir the King needes no great disswasion IVST My Lord learne of me that there is none of you all that can pierce the King It is an essentiall property of a man truely wise not to open all the boxes of his bosome even to those that are neerest and deerest vnto him for when a man is discovered to the very bottome he is after the lesse esteemed I dare vndertake that when your Lordship hath served the King twice twelue yeares more you will finde that his Majestie hath reserved somewhat beyond all your capacities his Majestie hath great reason to put off the Parliament as his last refuge and in the meane time to make triall of all your loues to serue him for his Majestie hath had good experience how well you can serue your selues But when the King finds that the building of your owne fortunes and factions hath beene the diligent studies and the service of his Majestie but the exercises of your leisures Hee may then perchance cast himself vpon the general loue of his people of which I trust hee shall never bee deceiued and leaue as many of your Lordships as haue pilfered from the Crowne to their examination COVNS Well Sir I take no great pleasure in this dispute goe on I pray IVST In that Kinges 5 th yeare hee had also a subsedy which he got by holding the house together from Easter to Christmas and would not suffer them to depart He had also a subsedie in his ninth yeare In his eleventh yeare the Commons did againe presse the king to take all the temporalities of the Church-men into his hands which they proved sufficient to maintaine 150 Earles 1500 knights and 6400 Esquiers with a hundred hospitals but they not prevayling gaue the King a subsedy As for the notorious Prince Henry the fift I finde that he had given him in his second yeare 300000 markes and after that two other subsedies one in his fifth yeare another in his ninth without any disputes In the time of his successour Henry the sixt there where not many subsedies In his third yeare he had a subsedy of a Tunnage and Poundage And here saith Iohn Stom began those payments which wee call customes because the payment was continued whereas before that time it was granted but for a yeare two or three according to the Kings occasions Hee had also an ayde and gathering of money in his fourth yeare and the like in his tenth yeare and in his thirteenth yere a 15 th He had also a fifteenth for the conveying of the Queene out of France into England In the twenty eight yeare of that King was the acte of Resumption of all honours townes castles Signieuries villages Manors lands tenements rents reversions fees c. But because the wages of the Kings seruants were by the strictnes of the acte also restrained this acte of Resumption was expounded in the Parliament at Reading the 31 th yeare of the Kings reigne COVNS I perceiue that those acts of Resumption were ordinary in former times for King Stephen resumed the lands which in former times hee had giuen to make friends during the Ciuill warres And Henry the second resumed all without exception which King Stephen had not resumed for although King Stephen tooke backe a great deale yet hee suffered his trustiest seruants to enjoye his gift IVST Yes my Lord in after times also for this was not the last nor shall be the last I hope And judge you my Lord whether the Parliaments doe not only serue the King whatsoeuer is said to the contrary for as all King Henry the 6 gifts graunts were made voide by the Duke of Yorke when he was in possession of the kingdome by Parliament So in the time of K. H. when K. Edw was beaten out again the Parliament of Westminster made all his acts voyde made him all his followers traytors gaue the King many of their heads lands The Parliaments of England do alwaies serue the King in possession It seru'd Rich. the second to condemne the popular Lords It seru'd Bollingbrooke to depose Rich. When Edw. the 4. had the Scepter it made them all beggars that had followed H. the 6. And it did the like for H. when Edw. was driuen out The Parliaments are as the friendship of this world is which alwayes followeth prosperity For K. Edw. the 4 after that hee was possessed of the Crown he had in his 13 yeare a subsedy freely giuen him in the yeare following hee tooke a benevolence through England which arbitrary taking frō the people seru'd that ambitious traytor the Duke of Bucks After the Kings death was a plausible argument to perswade the multitude that they should not permit saith Sir Thomas Moore his line to raigne any longer vpon them COVNS Well Sir what say you to the Parliament of Richard the third his time IVST I finde but one and therein he made diuerse good Lawes For K. Henry the seuenth in the beginning of his third yeare hee had by Parliament an ayde granted vnto him towards the reliefe of the Duke of Brittaine then assailed by the French King And although the King did not enter into the warre but by the advice of the three estates who did willingly contribute Yet those Northerne men which loued Richard the third raised rebellion vnder colour of the mony impos'd murthered the Earle of Northumberland whom the King employed in that Collection By which your Lordship sees that it hath not beene for taxes and impositions alone that the ill disposed haue taken Armes but euen for those payments which haue beene appoynted by Parliament COVNS And what became of those Rebels IVST They were fairely hang'd and the mony levied notwithstanding in the Kings first yeare he gathered a marvailous great masse of mony by a benevolence taking patterne by this kind of levie from Edw. 4 th But the King caused it first to be moued in Parliament where it was allowed because the poorer sort were therein spared Yet it is true that the king vsed some arte for in his Letters hee declared that hee would measure euery mans affections by his gifts In the thirteenth yeare hee had also a subsedy whereupon the Cornish men tooke Armes as the Northerne men of the Bishoppricke had done in the third yeare of the King COVNS It is without example that euer the people haue rebelled for any thing granted by Parliament saue in this kings dayes IVST Your Lordship must consider that he was not ouer much belou'd for hee tooke many advantages vpon the people and the Nobility both COVNS And I pray you what say they now of the new impositions lately laide by the Kings Maiesty doe they say that
again the reuenue kept vp vpō that which is superfluous Is it a losse to the K. to be beloued of the Commons if it be revenue which the K. seekes is it not better to take it of those that laugh than of those that crie Yea if all bee content to pay vpon a moderation and chaunge of the Species Is it more honourable and more safe for the King that the Subject pay by perswasion then to haue them constrayned If they be contented to whip themselues for the King were it not better to giue them their rod into their owne hands than to commit them to the executioner Certainly it is farre more happy for a Soveraigne Prince that a Subject open his purse willingly than that the same bee opened by violence Besides that when impositions are laid by Parliament they are gathered by the authority of the lawe which as aforesaid rejecteth all complaints and stoppeth every mutinous mouth It shall ever be my praier that the King embrace the Councell of honour and safety let other Princes embrace that of force COVNS But good Sir it is his Prerogatiue which the K. stands vpon and it is the Prerogatiue of the kings that the Parliaments doe all diminish IVST If your Lordship would pardon mee I would say then that your Lordships objection against Parliaments is ridiculous In former Parliaments three thinges haue beene supposed dishonour of the King The first that the Subjects haue conditioned with the King when the King hath needed them to haue the great Charter confirmed the second that the Estates haue made Treasurers for the necessary and profitable disbursing of those summes by them given to the end that the kinges to whom they were giuen should expend them for their owne defence for the defence of the common-wealth The third that these haue prest the King to discharge some great Officers of the Crowne and to elect others As touching the first my Lord I would faine learne what disadvantage the Kings of this Land haue had by confirming the great Charter the breach of which haue served onely men of your Lordships ranke to assist their owne passions and to punish and imprison at their owne discretion the Kings poore Subjects Concerning their private hatred with the colour of the Kings service for the Kings Majestie takes no mans inheritance as I haue said before nor any mans life but by the Law of the land according to the Charter Neither doth his Majestie imprison any man matter of practice which concernes the preservation of his estate excepted but by the law of the land And yet hee vseth his prerogatiue as all the Kings of England haue ever vsed it for the supreame reason cause to practise many thinges without the aduice of the law As in insurrections and rebellions it vseth the marshall and not the common law without any breach of the Charter the intent of the Charter cōsidered truely Neither hath any Subject made complaint or beene grieued in that the Kings of this land for their own safties and preservation of their estates haue vsed their Prerogatiues the great Ensigne on which there is written soli Deo And my good Lord was not Buckingham in England and Byron in France condemned their Peeres vncall'd And withall was not Byron vtterly contrary to the customes priviledges of the French denyed an advocate to assist his defence for where lawes forecast cannot prouide remedies for future daungers Princes are forced to assist themselues by their prerogatiues But that which hath beene ever grievous and the cause of many troubles very dangerous is that your Lordships abusing the reasons of state doe punish and imprison the Kings Subiects at your pleasure It is you my Lords that when Subjects haue sometimes neede of the Kings prerogatiue doe then vse the strength of the law and when they require the lawe you afflict them with the prerogatiue and tread the great Charter which hath beene confirmed by 16. actes of Parliament vnder your feete as a torne parchment or wast paper COVNS Good Sir which of vs doe in this sort breake the great Charter perchance you meane that we haue aduised the King to lay the new impositions IVST No my Lord there is nothing in the great Charter against impositions and besides that necessity doth perswade them And if necessity doe in somewhat excuse a private man a fortiori it may then excuse a Prince Againe the Kinges Majestie hath profit and increase of revenue by the impositions But there are of your Lordships contrary to the direct letter of the Charter that imprison the Kinges Subjects and deny them the benefit of the law to the Kings disprofit And what do you otherwise thereby if the impositions be in any sort grievous but Renovare dolores and withall digge out of the dust the long-buried memory of the Subjects former intentions with their Kings COVNS What meane you by that IVST I will tell your Lordshippe when I dare in the meane time it is enough for mee to put your Lordship in minde that all the estates in the world in the offence of the people haue either had profit or necessity to perswade them to adventure it of which if neither bee vrgent and yet the Subject exceedingly grieved your Lordship may conjecture that the House will bee humble suitors for a redresse And if it bee a Maxime in policie to please the people in all thinges indifferent and neuer suffer them to bee beaten but for the Kinges benefit for there are no blowes forgotten with the smart but those then I say to make them vassals to vassals is but to batter downe those mastering buildings erected by King Henry the seaventh and fortified by his Sonne by which the people and Gentlemen of England were brought to depend vpon the King alone Yea my good Lord our late deare Soveraigne kept them vp and to their advantage as well repaired as ever Prince did Defend mee and spend me saith the Irish churle COVNS Then you thinke that this violent breach of the Charter will be the cause of seeking the confirmation of it in the next Parliament which otherwise could neuer haue bin moued IVST I knowe not my good Lord perchance not for if the House presse the King to graunt vnto them all that is theirs by the lawe they cannot in justice refuse the King all that is his by the lawe And where will bee the issue of such a contention I dare not divine but sure I am that it will tend to the preiudice both of the K and subiect COVN If they dispute not their owne liberties why should they then dispute the Kings liberties which wee call his prerogatiue IVST Among so many so diverse spirits no man can foretell what may be propounded but howsoeuer if the matter be not slightly handled on the Kings behalfe these disputes will soone dissolue for the King hath so little neede of his prerogatiue and so great advantage by the lawes as
Prerogatiue of Parlaments in ENGLAND Proued in a Dialogue pro contra betweene a Councellour of State and a Iustice of Peace Written by the worthy much lacked and lamented Sir W. R.K t. deceased Dedicated to the Kings Maiesty and to the House of Parlament now assembled Preserued to be now happily in these distracted Times Published and Printed at Hamburgh 1628. To the KING Most gracious Soueraigne THose that are supprest and helpelesse are commonly silent wishing that the common ill in al sort might be with their particular misfortunes which disposition as it is vncharitable in all men so would it be in me more dogge-like then man-like to bite the stone that strooke me to wit the borrowed authoritie of my Soueragne misinformed seeing their armes and hands that flang it are most of them already rotten For I must confesse it euer that they are debts and not discontentments that your Maiesty hath laid vpon me the debts and obligation of a friendlesse aduersity farre more payable in all Kinds then those of the prosperous All which nor the least of them though I cannot discharge I may yet endeauour it And notwithstanding my restraint hath retrenched all wayes as well the wayes of labour and will as of all other imployments yet hath is left with me my cogitations then which I haue nothing else to offer on the Altar of my Loue. Of those most gracious Soueraigne I haue vsed some part in the following dispute betweene a Counsellour of Estate and a Iustice of Peace the one disswading the other perswading the calling of a Parliament In all which since the Norman Conquest at the least so many as Histories haue gathered I haue in some things in the following Dialogue presented your Maiestie with the contentions and successes Some things there are and those of the greatest which because they ought first to be resolued on I thought fit to range them in the front of the rest to the end your Maiestie may be pleased to examine your owne great and Princely heart of their acceptance or refusall The first is that supposition that your Maiesties Subiects giue nothing but with adiunction of their own interests interlacing in one and the same act your Maiesties reliefe and their owne liberties not that your Maiesties pietie was euer suspected but because the best Princes are euer the least iealous your Maiestie iudging others by your selfe who haue abused your Maiesties trust The fear'd continuance of the like abuse may perswade the prouision But this caution how euer it seemeth at first sight your Maiesty shall perceiue by many examples following but friuolous The bonds of Subiects to their Kings should alwayes be wrought out of Iron the bonds of Kings vnto Subiects but with Cobwebs This it is most renowned Soueraigne that this trafficke of assurances hath beene often vrged of which if the Conditions had beene easie our Kings haue as easily kept them if hard and preiudiciall either to their honours or estates the Creditours haue beene paid their debts with their owne presumption For all binding of a King by Law vpon the aduantage of his necessitie makes the breach it selfe lawfull in a King His Charters and all other instruments being no other then the suruiuing witnesses of vnconstrained will Princeps non subijcitur nisi sua voluntate libera mero moto certa Scientia Necessary words in all the grants of a King witnessing that the same grants were giuen freely and knowingly The second resolution will rest in your Maiesty leauing the new impositions all Monopolies and other grieuances of the people to the consideration of the House Prouided that your Maiesties reuenue be not abated which if your Maiesty shall refuse it is thought that the disputes will last long and the issues will be doubtfull And on the contrary if your Maiesty vouchsafe it it may perchance be stiled a yeelding which seemeth by the sound to braue the Regalty But most excellent Prince what other is it to th' eares of the wise but as the sound of a trumpet hauing blasted forth a false Alarme becomes but common ayre Shall the head yeeld to the feet certainly it ought when they are grieued for wisdome will rather regard the commodity then obiect the disgrace seeing if the feet lye in fetters the head cannot be freed and where the feet feele but their owne paines the head doth not onely suffer by participation but withall by consideration of the euill Certainly the point of honour well weighed hath nothing in it to euen the ballance for by your Maiesties fauour your Maiesty doth not yeeld either to any person or to any power but to a dispute onely in which the Proposition and Minor proue nothing without a conclusion which no other person or power can make but a Maiesty yea this in Henry the third his time was called a wisedome incomparable For the King raised againe recouers his authority For being in that extremity as hee was driuen with the Queene and his Children Cum Abbatibus Prioribus saris homilibus hospitia quaerere prandia For the rest may it please your Maiesty to consider that there can nothing befall your Maiesty in matters of affaires more vnfortunately then the summons of a Parliament with ill successe A dishonour so perswasiue and aduenturous as it will not onely finde arguments but it will take the leading of all enemies that shall offer themselues against your Maiesties estate Le labourin de la paurete ne saict poinct de breuct of which dangerous disease in Princes the remedy doth chiefly consist in the loue of the people which how it may be had and held no man knowes better then your Maiesty how to loose it all men know and know that it is lost by nothing more then by the defence of others in wrong doing The onely motiues of mischances that euer came to Kings of this Land since the Conquest It is onely loue most renowned Soueraigne must prepare the way for your Maiesties following desires It is loue which obeyes which suffers which giues which stickes at nothing which Loue as well of your Maiesties people as the loue of God to your Maiesty that it may alwayes hold shall be the continuall prayers of your Maiesties most humble vassall Walter Ralegh A DIALOGVE BETWEENE A COVNSELLOVR OF STATE AND A IVSTICE OF PEACE COVNSELLOVR NOW Sir what thinke you of M S Iohns tryall in Star-Chamber I know that the bruite ranne that he was hardly dealt withall because he was imprisoned in the Towre seeing his disswasion from granting a Benevolence to the King was warranted by the Law IVSTICE Surely Sir it was made manifest at the hearing that M.S. Iohn was rather in loue with his owne letter he confessed hee had seene your Lordships letter before hee wrote his to the Maior of Marleborough and in your Lordships letter there was not a word whereto the Statutes by M t S t Iohn alleadged had reference for those Statutes did
condemne the gathering of money from the Subject vnder title of a free gift whereas a fift a sixt a tenth c. was set downe and required But my good Lord though diuers Shires haue giuen to his Maiestie some more some lesse what is this to the Kings debt COVNS We know it well enough but we haue many other projects IVST It is true my good Lord but your Lordship will find that when by these you haue drawn many petty summs frō the subjects those sometimes spent as fast as they are gathered his Maiesty being nothing enabled thereby when you shal be forced to demand your great aide the countrey will excuse it selfe in regard of their former payments COVNS What meane you by the great aide IVST I meane the aide of Parliament COVNS By Parliament I would faine know the man that durst perswade the King vnto it for if it should succeed ill in what case were he IVST You say well for your selfe my Lord and perchance you that are louers of your selues vnder pardon do follow the advice of the late Duke of Alva who was euer opposite to all resolutions in businesse of importance for if the things enterprized succeeded wel the advice neuer came in question If ill whereto great vndertakings are commōly subiect he then made his advantage by remembring his countrey councell But my good Lord these reserued Polititians are not the best seruants for hee that is bound to adventure his life for his Master is also bound to adventure his advice Keep not backe councell saith Ecclesiasticus when it may doe good COVNS But Sir I speake it not in other respect then I think it dangerous for the King to assemble the three estates for thereby haue our former kings alwaies lost somwhat of their prerogatiues And because that you shall not thinke that I speake it at randome I will begin with elder times wherein the first contention began betwixt the Kings of this land and their subiects in Parliament IVST Your Lordship shall doe me a singular fauour COVNS You know that the Kings of England had no formal Parliament till about the 18 th yeare of Henry the first for in his 17 yeare for the marriage of his daughter the King raised a tax vpon euery hide of land by the advice of his privy councell alone But you may remember how the subiects soone after the establishment of this Parliament beganne to stand vpon termes with the King and drew from him by strong hand and the sword the great Charter IVST Your Lordship sayes well they drew from the King the great Charter by the sword and hereof the Parliament cannot be accused but the Lords COVNS You say well but it was after the establishment of the Parliament by colour of it that they had so great daring for before that time they could not endure to heare of S Edwards lawes but resisted the confirmation in all they could although by those lawes the Subjects of this Iland were no lesse free then any of all Europe IVST My good Lord the reason is manifest for while the Normans other of the French that followed the Conquerour made spoyle of the English they would not endure that any thing but the will of the Conquerour should stand for Law but after a discent or two when themselues were become English found themselues beaten with their own rods they then began to sauour the difference betweene subjection slauery insist vpon the law Meum Tuum to be able to say vnto themselues hoc fac vives yea that the conquering English in Ireland did the like your Lordship knowes it better than I. COVNS I thinke you guesse aright And to the end the subiect may know that being a faithfull seruant to his Prince he might enioy his own life and paying to his Prince what belongs to a Soueraigne the remainder was his own to dispose Henry the first to content his Vassals gaue them the great Charter and the Charter of Forrests IVST What reasō then had K. Iohn to deny the cōfirmatiō COVNS He did not but he on the cōtrary confirmed both the Charters with additions required the Pope whom he had thē made his superior to strengthē him with a goldē bul IVST But your honour knowes that it was not long after that he repented himselfe COVNS It is true he had reason so to do for the Barons refused to follow him into France as they ought to haue done and to say true this great Charter vpon which you insist so much was not originally granted Regally and freely for Henry the first did vsurpe the kingdome and therefore the better to assure himselfe against Robert his eldest brother hee flattered his Nobility and people with those Charters Yea King Iohn that confirmed them had the like respect for Arthur Duke of Britaine was the vndoubted heire of the crowne vpon whom Iohn vsurped And so to conclude these Charters had their originall from Kings de facto but not de iure IVST But King Iohn confirmed the Charter after the death of his Nephew Arthur when he was then Rex de iure also COVNS It is true for he durst doe no other standing accursed whereby few or none obeyed him for his Nobility refused to follow him into Scotland and he had so grieued the people by pulling downe all the Parke pales before harvest to the end his deere might spoyle the Corne And by seizing the temporalities of so many Bishoprickes into his hands and chiefly for practizing the death of the Duke of Brittaine his Nephew as also hauing lost Normandy to the French so as the hearts of all men were turned from him IVST Nay by your fauour my Lord. King Iohn restored K. Edwards Lawes after his absolution and wrote his letters in the 15 ◠of his reigne to all Sheriffes countermaunding all former oppressions yea this he did notwithstanding the Lords refused to follow him into France COVNS Pardon me he did not restore King Edwards Lawes then nor yet confirmed the Charters but he promised vpon his absolution to doe both but after his returne out of France in his 16 th yeare he denyed it because without such a promise he had not obtained restitution his promise being constrained and not voluntary IVST But what thinke you was hee not bound in honour to performe it COVNS Certainely no for it was determined the case of King Francis the first of France that all promises by him made whilst he was in the hands of Charles the fifth his enemie were voide by reason the Iudge of honour which tells vs he durst doe no other IVST But King Iohn was not in prison COVNS Yet for all that restraint is imprisonment yea feare it selfe is imprisonment and the King was subject to both I know there is nothing more kingly in a King than the performance of his word but yet of a word freely and voluntarily giuen Neither was the Charter of Henry the
good Lord that a subsidy was then denied the reasons are delivered in Enlish histories indeed the King not long before had spent much treasure in ayding the Duke of Britaine to no purpose for hee drew ouer the King but to drawe on good conditions for himselfe as the Earle of March his father in law now did As the English Barons did invite Lewes of France not long before as in elder times all the kings and states had done and in late yeares the Leaguers of France entertayned the Spaniards and the French Protestants and Netherlands Queene Elizabeth not with any purpose to greaten those that ayde them but to purchase to themselues an advantageous peace But what say the histories to this deniall they say with a world of payments there mentioned that the King had drawne the Nobility drie And besides that whereas not long before great summes of mony were giuen and the same appointed to be kept in foure castles and not to be expended but by the aduice of the Peeres it was beleeved that the same treasure was yet vnspent COVNS Good Sir you haue said enough judge you whether it were not a dishonour to the King to be so tyed as not to expend his treasure but by other mens aduice as it were by their licence IVST Surely my Lord the King was well aduised to take the mony vpon any condition they were fooles that propounded the restraint for it doth not appeare that the King tooke any great heed to those ouerseers Kings are bound by their piety and by no other obligation In Queene Maries time when it was thought that shee was with child it was propounded in Parliament that the rule of the Realme should bee giuen to king Philip during the minority of the hoped Prince or Princesse and the king offered his assurance in great summes of money to relinquish the government at such time as the Prince or Princesse should bee of age At which motion when all else were silent in the house Lord Dueres who was none of the wisest asked who shall sue the kinges bondes which ended the dispute for what bonde is betweene a king and his vassals then the bond of the kinges faith But my good Lord the king notwithstanding the deniall at that time was with gifts from perticular parsons otherwise supplyed for proceeding of his iourney for that time into France he tooke with him 30 caskes filled with silver and coyne which was a great treasure in those dayes And lastly notwithstanding the first denyall in the Kings absence hee had Escuage graunted him to wit 20 s of euery Knights Fee COVNS What say you then to the 28◠yeare of that King in which when the King demaunded reliefe the states would not consent except the same former order had bin taken for the appointing of 4 overseers for the treasure As also that the Lord chief Iustice the Lord Chancellor should be chosē by the states with some Barōs of the exchequor other officers IVS My good Lord admit the King had yeelded their demaunds then whatsoever had beene ordained by those magistrates to the dislike of the Common wealth the people had beene without remedie whereas while the King made them they had their appeale and other remedies But those demaunds vanished and in the end the King had escuage giuen him without any of their conditions It is an excellent vertue in a King to haue patience and to giue way to the fury of mens passions The whale when he is stroken by the fisherman growes into that fury that he cannot be resisted but will overthrowe all the ships and barkes that come in to his way but when he hath tumbled a while hee is drawne to the shore with a twind thred COVNS What say you then to the Parliament in the 29 th of that King IVST I say that the commons being vnable to pay the king relieues himselfe vpon the richer sort and soe it likewise happened in the 33 of that king in which hee was relieued chiefely by the Citty of London But my good Lord in the Parliament in London in the 38 yeare he had giuen him the tenth of all the revenues of the Church for three yeares and 3 markes of every knights Fee throughout the kingdome vpō his promise oath vpon the obscruing of magna Charta but in the end of the same yeare the king being thē in France he was denyed the aydes which he required What is this to the danger of a Parliament especially at this time they had reason to refuse they had giuen so great a some in the beginning of the same yeare And again because it was known that the King had but pretended warre with the king of Castile with whome he had secretly contracted an alliance and concluded a marriage betwixt his sonne Edward and the Lady Elenor. These false fires doe but freight Children and it commonly falles out that when the cause giuen is knowne to be false the necessity pretended is thought to be fained Royall dealing hath euermore Royall successe and as the King was denied in the eight thirtyeth yeare so was he denyed in the nine thirtieth yeare because the Nobility and the people saw that the King was abused by the Pope it plainly who aswell in despite to Manfred bastard son to the Emperour Fredericke the second as to cozen the King and to wast him would needes bestowe on the King the kingdome of Sicilie to recouer which the King sent all the treasure he could borrow or scrape to the Pope and withall gaue him letters of credence for to take vp what he could in Italy the King binding himselfe for the payment Now my good Lord the wisdome of Princes is seen in nothing more then in their enterprises So how vnpleasing it was to the State of England to consume the treasure of the land in the conquest of Sicily so farre of and otherwise for that the English had lost Normandy vnder their noses and so many goodly parts of France of their owne proper inheritances the reason of the deniall is as well to be considered as the denyall CONS Was not the King also denyed a subsidie in the fourty first of his raigne IVST No my Lord for although the King required mony as before for the impossible conquest of Sicily yet the house offered to giue 52000 markes which whether hee refused or accepted is vncertaine whilst the King dreamed of Sicily the Welsh inuaded spoyled the borders of England for in the Parliament of London when the King vrged the house for the prosecuting the cōquest of Sicily the Lords vtterly disliking the attempt vrged the prosecuting of the Welshmen which Parlament being proroged did again assemble at Oxford was called the madde Parlamēt which was no other thē an assembly of rebels for the Royall assent of the K. which giues life to all lawes form'd by the three estates was not a Royal assent when both
In the eleuenth yeare hee had given him by parliament a notable relief the one halfe of the woolls throughout England and of the Cleargy all their wools after which in the end of the yeare hee had granted in his parliament at Westminster forty shillings vpon every sacke of wool and for every thirty wool fels forty shillings for every last of leatherne as much and for all other merchandizes after the same rate The king promising that this yeares gathering ended he would thenceforth content himselfe with the old custome he had ouer and aboue this great ayde the eight part of all goods of all citizens and Burgesses and of others as of forreigne Marchants such as liued not of the gaine of breeding of sheepe and cattell the fifteenth of their goods Nay my Lord this was not all though more then euer was granted to any king for the same parliament bestowed on the king the ninth sheafe of all the corne within the lande the ninth fleece and the ninth lambe for two yeares next following now what thinke your Lordship of this parliament COVNS I say they were honest men IVST And I say the people are as loving to their king now as euer they were if they bee honestly and wisely dealt withall and so his Majestie hath found them in his last two parliaments if his Majestie had not beene betrayed by those whom he most trusted COVNS But I pray you Sir who shall a king trust if he may not trust those whom he hath so greatly advanced IVST I will tell your Lordship whom the king may trust COVNS Who are they IVST His owne reason and his owne excellent judgement which haue not deceived him in any thing wherein his Majestie hath beene pleased to exercise them Take councell of thine heart saith the booke of Wisedome for there is none more faithfull vnto thee then it COVNS It is true but his Majestie found that those wanted no judgement whom hee trusted and how could his Majestie divine of their honesties IVST Will you pardon mee if I speake freely for if I speake out of loue which as Salomon saith covereth all trespasses The trueth is that his Majestie would never beleeue any man that spake against them and they knew it well enough which gaue them boldnesse to do what they did COVNS What was that IVST Even my good Lord to ruine the kings estate so farre as the state of so great a king may be ruin'd by men ambitious and greedy without proportion It had beene a braue increase of revenue my Lord to haue raysed 50000′ land of the kings to 20000′ revenue and to raise the revenue of wards to 20000′ more 40000′ added to the rest of his Majesties estate had so enabled his Majestie as hee could never haue wanted And my good Lord it had beene an honest service to the king to haue added 7000′ lands of the Lord Cobhams woods and goods being worth 30000′ more COVNS I know not the reason why it was not done IVST Neither doth your Lordship perchance knowe the reason why the 10000′ offer'd by Swinnerton for a fine of the French wines was by the then Lord Treasurer conferr'd on Devonshire and his Mistris COVNS What moued the Treasurer to reject crosse that raising of the kings lands IVST The reason my good Lord is manifest for had the land beene raised then had the king knowne when hee had given or exchanged land what hee had giuen or exchanged COVNS What hurt had that beene to the Treasurer whose office is truely to informe the King of the value of all that he giveth IVST So hee did when it did not concerne himselfe nor his particular for hee could neuer admit any one peece of a good Manour to passe in my Lord Aubignes booke of 1000′ land till hee himselfe had bought then all the remaining flowers of the Crowne were culled out Now had the Treasurer suffer'd the Kings lands to haue been raised how could his Lordshippe haue made choice of the old rents as well in that book of my Lord Aubigne as in exchange of Theobalds for which hee tooke Hatfield in it which the greatest subject or favorite Queene Elizabeth had never durst haue named vnto her by way of gift or exchange Nay my Lord so many other goodly Mannors haue passed from his Majestie as the very heart of the kingdome mourneth to remember it and the eyes of the kingdome shedde teares continually at the beholding it yea the soule of the kingdome is heavy vnto death with the consideration thereof that so magnanimous a Prince should suffer himselfe to be so abused COVNS But Sir you knowe that Cobhams lands were entayled vpon his Cosens IVST Yea my Lord but during the liues and races of George Brooke his children it had beene the kings that is to say for euer in effect but to wrest the king and to draw the inheritance vpon himselfe he perswaded his Majestie to relinquish his interest for a petty summe of money and that there might be no counterworking he sent Brooke 6000 l to make friends vvhereof himselfe had 2000 l backe againe Buckhurst and Barwicke had the other 4000 l and the Treasurer and his heires the masse of land for euer COVNS What then I pray you came to the king by this great confiscation IVST My Lord the kings Majestie by all those goodly possessiōs vvoods goods looseth 500 l by the yere which he giueth in pension to Cobham to maintaine him in prison COV Certainly even in conscience they should haue reserved so much of the land in the Crowne as to haue giuen Cobham meate and apparell not made themselues so great gainers and the King 500 l per annum looser by the bargaine but it 's past Consilium non est eorum quae fieri nequeunt IVST Take the rest of the sentence my Lord Sed consilium versatur in iis quae sunt in nostra potestate It is yet my good Lord in potestate Regis to right himselfe But this is not all my Lord And I feare mee knowing your Lordships loue to the King it would put you in a feaver to heare all I will therefore goe on vvith my parliaments COVNS I pray doe so and amongst the rest I pray you what say you to the Parliament holden at London in the fifteenth yeare of King Edward the third IVST I say there was nothing concluded therein to the prejudice of the King It is true that a litle before the sitting of the house the King displaced his Chancellour and his Treasurer and most of all his judges and officers of the exchequer and committed many of them to prison because they did not supplie him with mony being beyond the seas for the rest the states assembled besought the King that the lawes of the two Charters might bee obserued and that the great officers of the Crowne might bee chosen by parliament COVNS But what successe had these petitions IVST The Charters were observed as before
Kings stay in Ireland hee had a 10 th and a 15 th graunted COVNS And good reason for the King had in his army 4000 horse and 30000 foote IVST That by your fauour was the Kings sanity for great armies do rather devour themselues then destroy enimies Such an army whereof the fourth part would haue conquered all Ireland was in respect of Ireland such an army as Xerxes led into Greece in this twentith yeare wherein hee had a tenth of the Cleargy was the great conspiracy of the Kings vnkle the Duke of Glocester and of Moubrey Arundell Nottingham and Warwick the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Abbotte of VVestminster and others who in the 21 â— yeare of the King were all redeemed by parliament what thinkes your Lordship was not this assembly of the 3 states for the kings estate wherein hee so prevailed that hee not onely overthrew those popular Lords but besides the English Chronicle sayth the king so wrought and brought things about that hee obtained the power of both houses to be graunted to certaine persons to 15 Noblemen and Gentlmen or to seauen of them COVNS Sir whether the king wrought well or ill I cannot judge but our Chronicles say that many things were done in this parliament to the displeasure of no small number of people to wit for that diverse rightfull heires were disinherited of their lands liuings with which wrongfull doings the people were much offended so that the King with those that were about him and chiefe in counsell came into great infamy and slander IVST My good Lord if your Lordship will pardon mee I am of opinion that those Parliaments wherein the kings of this land haue satisfied the people as they haue beene euer prosperous so where the king hath restrained the house the contrary hath happened for the K â— atchiuements in this parliament were the ready preparations to his ruine COV You meane by the general discontetmet that followed and because the King did not proceede legally with Glocester and others Why Sir this was not the first time that the Kings of England haue done things without the Counsell of the land yea contrary to the lawe IVST It is true my Lord in some particulars as euen at this time the Duke of Glocester was made away at Callice by strong hand without any lawfull triall for hee was a man so beloued of the people and so allied hauing the Dukes of Lancaster and Yorke his brethren the Duke of Aumarle and the Duke of Hereford his Nephewes the great Earles of Arundell and VVarwicke with diuerse other of his part in the conspiracy as the King durst not trie him according to the law for at the tryall of Arundell and VVarwicke the king was forced to entertaine a petty army about him And though the Duke was greatly lamented yet it cannot be denyed but that he was then a traytor to the King And was it not so my Lord with the Duke of Guise your Lordship doth remember the spurgald proverbe that necessitie hath no law and my good Lord it is the practice of doing wrong and of generall wrongs done that brings danger and not where kings are prest in this or that particular for there is great difference betweene naturall cruelty and accidentall And therefore it was Machiauels advice that all that a king did in that kind he shall do at once and by his mercies afterwards make the world know that his cruelty was not affected And my Lord take this for a generall rule that the immortall policy of a state cannot admit any law or priuiledge whatsoeuer but in some particular or other the same is necessarily broken yea in an Aristocratia or popular estate which vaunts so much of equality and common right more outrage hath beene committed then in any Christian Monarchy COVNS But whence came this hatred between the Duke and the King his Nephew IVST My Lord the Dukes constraining the King when he was young stucke in the kings heart and now the Dukes proud speech to the King when hee had rendred Brest formerly ingaged to the Duke of Brittaine kindled againe these coales that were not altogether extinguished for he vsed these words Your grace ought to put your body in great paine to winne a strong hold or towne by feares of armes ere you take vpon you to sell or deliuer any towne gotten by the manhood and strong hand and policy of your noble progenitours VVhereat sayth the story the King chaunged his countenance c and to say trueth it was a proud and maisterly speech of the Duke besides that inclusiuely hee taxed him of sloath and cowardize as if he had neuer put himselfe to the adventure of winning such a place vndutifull wordes of a subiect do often take deeper roote then the memory of ill deedes do The Duke of Biron found it when the King had him at advantage Yea the late Earle of Essex told Queene Elizabeth that her conditions was as crooked as her carkasse but it cost him his head which his insurrection had not cost him but for that speech who will say vnto a King saith Iob thou art wicked Certainly it is the same thing to say vnto a Lady thou art crooked and perchance more as to say vnto a King that he is wicked and to say that hee is a coward or to vse any other wordes of disgrace it is one and the same errour COVN But what say you for Arundell a braue and valiant man who had the Kings pardon of his contempt during his minority IVST My good Lord the Parliament which you say disputes the Kings prerogatiue did quite contrary and destroyed the kings charter and pardon formerly giuen to Arundell And my good Lord do you remember that at the Parliament that wrought wonders when these Lords compounded that parliament as the King did this they were so mercilesse towards all that they thought their enemies as the Earle of Arundell most insolently suffered the Qu to kneele vnto him three houres for the sauing of one of her servants and that scorne of his manebat alto mente repostum And to say the truth it is more barbarous vnpardonable then any act that ever hee did to permit the wife of his Soueraigne to kneele to him being the Kings vassaile For if he had saued the Lords seruant freely at her first request as it is like enough that the Qu would also haue saued him Miseris succurrens paria obtinebis aliquando For your Lordship sees that the Earle of Warwicke who was as farre in the treason as any of the rest was pardoned It was also at this parliament that the Duke of Hereford accused Mowbray Duke of Norfolke and that the Duke of Hereford sonne to the Duke of Lancaster was banished to the Kings confusion as your Lordship well knowes COVNS I know it well and God knowes that the K. had then a silly and weake Counsell about him that perswaded him to banish a Prince
they are justly or injustly laide IVST To impose vpon all things brought into the Kingdome is very auncient which imposing when it hath beene continued a certaine time is then called Customes because the subjects are accustomed to pay it yet the great taxe vpon wine is still called Impost because it was imposed after the ordinary rate of payment had lasted many yeares But we doe now a dayes vnderstand those things to bee impositions which are raised by the commaund of Princes without the aduice of the common-wealth though as I take it much of that which is now called custome was at the first imposed by Prerogatiue royall Now whether it be time or consent that makes them just I cannot define were they just because new and not justified yet by time or vnjust because they want a generall consent yet is this rule of Aristotle verified in respect of his Majestie Minus timent homines iniustum pati à principe quem cultorem dei putant Yea my Lord they are also the more willingly borne because all the world knowes they are no new Invention of the Kings And if those that advised his Maiestie to impose them had raised his lands as it was offered them to 20000 l more then it was and his wards to asmuch as aforesaid they had done him farre more acceptable seruice But they had their own ends in refusing the one and accepting the other If the land had beene raised they could not haue selected the best of it for themselues If the impositions had not been laide some of them could not haue their silkes others peeces in farme which indeed grieued the subiect tenne times more then that which his Maiestie enjoyeth But certainly they made a great advantage that were the advisers for if any tumult had followed his Maiesty ready way had beene to haue deliuered them ouer to the people COVNS But thinke you that the King would haue deliuered them if any troubles had followed IVST I know not my Lord it was Machiavels counsell to Caesar Borgia to doe it and K. H. the 8 deliuered vp Empson and Dudley yea the same King when the great Cardinall Woolsey who gouerned the King and all his estate had by requiring the sixt part of euery mans goods for the King raised a rebellion the King I say disavowed him absolutely that had not the Dukes of Norfolke and Suffolke appeased the people the Cardinall had sung no more Masse for these are the words of our Story The King then came to Westminster to the Cardinals palace and assembled there a great Councell in which he protested that his minde was neuer to aske any thing of his Commons which might sound to the breach of his Lawes Wherefore hee then willed them to know by whose meanes they were so strictly giuen foorth Now my Lord how the Cardinall would haue shifted himselfe by saying I had the opinion of the Iudges had not the rebellion beene appeal'd I greatly doubt COVNS But good Sir you blanch my question and answere mee by examples I aske you whether or no in any such tumult the people pretending against any one or two great Officers the King should deliuer them or defend them IVST My good Lord the people haue not stayde for the kings deliuery neither in England nor in France Your Lordship knowes how the Chauncellour Treasurer and Chiefe Iustice with many others at seuerall times haue bin vsed by the Rebels And the Marshals Constables and Treasurers in France haue beene cut in pieces in Charles the sixt his time Now to your Lordships question I say that where any man shall giue a King perilous advice as may either cause a rebellion or draw the peoples loue from the King I say that a King shal be advised to banish him But if the King doe absolutely commaund his seruant to doe any thing displeasing to the Common-wealth and to his own peril there is the King bound in honour to defend him But my good Lord for conclusion there is no man in England that will lay any invention either grieuous or against law vpon the Kings Maiesty And therefore your Lordships must share it amongst you COVNS For my part I had no hand in it I thinke Ingram was he that propounded it to the Treasurer IVST Alas my good Lord euery poore wayter in the Custome-house or euery promoter might haue done it there is no invention in these things To lay impositions and sell the Kings lands are poore and common devices It is true that Ingram and his fellowes are odious men and therefore his Maiestie pleas'd the people greatly to put him from the Coffership It is better for a Prince to vse such a kinde of men then to countenance them hang-men are necessary in a Commonwealth yet in the Nether-lands none but a hangmans sonne will marry a hang-mans daughter Now my Lord the last gathering which Henry the seuenth made was in his twentieth yeare wherein hee had another benevolence both of the Cleargy and Laity a part of which taken of the poorer sort hee ordained by his Testament that it should bee restored And for King Henry the eight although hee was left in a most plentifull estate yet he wonderfully prest his people with great payments for in the beginning of his time it was infinite that hee spent in Masking and Tilting Banquetting and other vanities before hee was entered into the most consuming expence of the most fond and fruitlesse warre that euer King vndertooke In his fourth yeare hee had one of the greatest subsedies that euer was granted for besides two fifteenes and two dismes hee vsed Dauids Lawe of Capitation or head-money and had of euery Duke ten markes of euery Earle fiue pounds of euery Lord foure pounds of euery Knight foure markes euery man rated at 8 ◠in goods 4 markes and so after the rate yea euery man that was valued but at 40 paide 12 ◠and euery man and woman aboue 15 yeares 4 ◠Hee had also in his sixt yeare diuers subsedies granted him In his fourteenth there was a tenth demaunded of euery mans goods but it was moderated In the Parliament following the Clergie gaue the King the halfe of their spirituall liuings for one yeare of the Laity there was demanded 800000 ' which could not be levied in England but it was a marveilous great gift that the king had giuen him at that time In the Kings seuenteenth yeare was the Rebellion before spoken of wherein King disavowed the Cardinall In his seuenteenth yeare hee had the tenth and fifteenth giuen by Parliament which were before that time paide to the Pope And before that also the monyes that the King borrowed in his fifteenth yeare were forgiuen him by Parliament in his seuenteenth yeare In his 35 yeare a subsedy was granted of 4 ◠the pound of euery man worth in goods from 20◠to 5 ◠from 5 ◠to 10 l and vpwards of euery pound 2. And all strangers denisens and others doubled
the feare of imparing the one to wit the prerogatiue is so impossible and the burthen of the other to wit the lawe so waighty as but by a branch of the Kings prerogatiue namely of his remission and pardon the subiect is no way able to vndergoe it This my Lord is no matter of flourish that I haue said but it is the truth and vnanswerable COVNS But to execute the lawes very severely would be very grievous IVST Why my Lord are the Lawes grievous which our selues haue required of our Kings and are the prerogatiues also which our Kings haue reserued to themselues also grieuous how caÌ„ such a people then be well pleased And if your Lordship confesse that the lawes giue too much why does your Lordship vrge the prerogatiue that giues more Nay I will be bold to say it that except the Lawes were better obserued the prerogatiue of a religious Prince hath manifold lesse perils then the letter of the Lawe hath Now my Lord for the second third to wit for the appointing of Treasurers and remouing of Counsellers our Kings haue evermore laught them to scorne that haue prest either of these after the Parliament dissolued tooke the money of the Treasurers of the Parliament and recalled restored the officers discharged or else they haue bin contented that so me such persons should be remoued at the request of the whole kingdome which they themselues out of their noble natures would not seeme willing to remoue COVNS Well Sir would you notwithstanding all these arguments advise his Maiesty to call a Parlament IVST It belongs to your Lordships who enioy the Kings favour are chosen for your able wisdome to advise the K. It were a strange boldnesse in a poore and priuate person to advise Kings attended with so vnderstanding a Councell But belike your Lordships haue conceiued some other way how money may be gotten otherwise If any trouble should happen your Lordship knowes that then there were nothing so daungerous for a King as to be without money a Parliament cannot assemble in haste but present dangers require hasty remedies It wil be no time then to discontent the subjects by vsing any vnordinary wayes COVNS Well Sir all this notwithstanding wee dare not advise the king to call a parliament for if it should succeede ill wee that advise should fall into the kings disgrace And if the king be driuen into any extremity wee can say to the K. that because we found it extreamely vnpleasing to his Maiestie to heare of a Parliament we thought it no good manners to make such a motion IVST My Lord to the first let me tell you that there was never any iust Prince that hath taken any advantage of the successe of Councels which haue beene founded on reason To feare that were to feare the losse of the bell more then the losse of the steeple and were also the way to beate all men from the studies of the Kings seruice But for the second where you say you can excuse your selues vpon the Kinges owne protesting against a parliament the king vpon better consideration may encounter that finenesse of yours COVNS How I pray you IVST Even by declaring himselfe to be indifferent by calling your Lordships together and by delivering vnto you that he heares how his loving subiects in generall are willing to supply him if it please him to call a Parliament for that was the common answere to all the Sheriffes in England when the late benevolence was commaunded In which respect and because you come short in all your proiects and because it is a thing most daungerous for a King to be without treasure he requires such of you as either mislike or rather feare a parliament to set downe your reasons in writing which you either misliked or feared it And such as wish and desire it to set downe answeres to your obiections And so shall the King prevent the calling or not calling on his Maiesty as some of your great Councellers haue done in many other things shrinking vp their shoulders and saying the K. will haue it so COVNS Wel Sir it growes late and I will bid you farewell only you shall take well with you this advice of mine thst in all that you haue said against our greatest those men in the end shal be your Iudges in their owne cause you that trouble your selfe with reformation are like to be well rewarded for hereof you may assure your selfe that wee will never allow of any invention how profitable soeuer vnlesse it proceede or seeme to proceede from our selues IVST If then my Lord wee may presume to say that Princes may be vnhappy in any thing certainly they are vnhappy in nothing more then in suffering themselues to be so inclosed Againe if we may beleeu Pliny who tels vs that t' is an ill signe of prosperity in any kingdome or state where such as deserue well find no other recompence then the contentment of their owne consciences a farre worse signe is it where the justly accused shall take revenge of the just accuser But my good Lord there is this hope remaining that seeing he hath beene abused by them he trusted most hee will not for the future dishonour of his iudgment so well informed by his owne experience as to expose such of his vassals as haue had no other motiues to serue him then simply the loue of his person and his estate to their revenge who haue only beene moued by the loue of their owne fortunes and their glory COVNS But good Sir the King hath not beene deceiued by all IVST No my Lord neither haue all beene trusted neither doth the world accuse all but beleeue that there be among your Lordships very just and worthy men aswell of the Nobility as others but those though most honoured in the Common-wealth yet haue they not beene most imployed your Lordship knowes it well enough that 3 or 4 of your Lordships haue thought your hands strong enough to beare vp alone the weightiest affaires in the Common-wealth and strong enough all the land haue found them to beate downe whom they pleased COVNS I vnderstand you but how shall it appeare that they haue onely sought themselues IVST There needes no perspectiue glasse to discerne it for neither in the treaties of peace and warre in matters of revenue and matters of trade any thing hath happened either of loue or of judgment No my Lord there is not any one action of theirs eminent great or small the greatnesse of themselues only excepted COVNS It is all one your papers can neither answere nor reply we can Besides you tell the King no newes in delivering these complaints for hee knowes as much as can be told him IVST For the first my Lord whereas he hath once the reasons of things deliuered him your Lordships shall neede to be well advised in their answeres there is no sophistrie wil serue the turne where the Iudge the vnderstaÌ„ding are both supreame For the 2 d to say that his Maiesty knowes cares not that my Lord were but to despaire all his faithfull subiects But by your fauour my Lord wee see it is contrary wee find now that there is no such singular power as there hath beene justice is described with a ballance in her hand holding it even and it hangs as even now as ever it did in any kings dayes for singular authority begets but generall oppression COVNS Howsoeuer it be that 's nothing to you that haue no interest in the kings fauour nor perchance in his opinion concerning such a one the misliking or but misconceiuing of any one hard word phrase or sentence will giue argumeÌ„t to the K. either to coÌ„demn or reiect the whole discourse And howsoever his Mâ— may neglect your informations you may be sure that others at whom you point wil not neglect their revenges you will therefore confesse it when it is too late that you are exceeding sory that you haue not followed my aduice RemeÌ„ber Cardinall Woolsey who lost all men for the Kings service and when their malice whom hee grieved had out-liued the Kings affection you know what became of him as well as I. IVST Yea my Lord I know it well that malice hath a longer life than either loue or thankfulnesse hath for as we alwaies take more care to put off paine than to enjoy pleasure because the one hath no intermission with the other we are often satisfied so it is in the smart of injury and the memory of good turnes Wrongs are written in marble Benefits are sometimes acknowledged rarely requited But my Lord wee shall doe the K. great wrong to judge him by common rules or ordinary examples for seeing his Majesty hath greatly enriched and advanced those that haue but pretended his service no man needes to doubt of his goodnesse towards those that shal performe any thing worthy reward Nay the not taking knowledge of those of his owne vassals that haue done him wrong is more to be lamented than the relinquishing of those that doe him right is to be suspected I am therefore my good Lo held to my resolutioÌ„ by these a besides the former The 1 that God would neuer haue blest him with so many yeres in so many actioÌ„s yea in all his actions had he paid his honest servants with evill for good The 2 d where your Lordship tells me that I will be 〈◊〉 for not following your aduice I pray your Lordship to belieue that I am no way subiect to the common sorrowing 〈◊〉 worldly men this Maxime of Plato beeing true Dolores aex amore animi orga corpus noscuntur But for my body my mind values it at nothing COVNS What is it then you hope for or seeke IVST Neither riches nor honour nor thankes but I only seeke to satisfie his Majestie which I would haue bin glad to haue done in matters of more importance that I haue liu'd and will die an honest man EINIS The Authours Epitaph made by himselfe EVen such is Time which takes in trust Our Youth and Ioy 's and all wee haue And payes vs but with age and dust Which in the darke and silent graue When wee haue wandred all our wayes Shuts vp the story of our daies And from which Earth and Graue and Dust The Lord shall raise mee vp I trust Humanum est erraâ—eâ— Hen. 5. Hen. 6. Edw. 6. M. R. Eliz. R. Q. E.