Selected quad for the lemma: parliament_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
parliament_n	king_n	power_n	subject_a	2,513	5	7.6545	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44747	The pre-eminance and pedigree of Parlement whereunto is added a vindication of some passages reflecting upon the author in a book call'd The popish royall favorite, pen'd and published by Mr. Prynne wherein he stiles him no frend [sic] to Parlements and a malignant, pag. 42 : with a clearing of som occurences in Spain at His Majesties being there, cited by the said Master Prynne out of the vocal forest / by J.H., Esq., one of the clerks of His Maiesties most honourable Privy-Councel.	Howell, James, 1594?-1666.; Prynne, William, 1600-1669. Popish royall favourite.	1649 (1649)	Wing H3107; ESTC R28696	11,947	24

Claudius Caesar at which time as som well observe the Roman Ensigns and the Standard of Christ came in together It is well known what Laws the Roman had He had his Comitia which bore a resemblance with our Convention in Parlement the place of their meetings was called Praetorium and the Laws which they enacted Plebiscita The Saxon Conquest succeeded next which were the English ther being no name in Welsh or Irish for an Englishman but Saxon to this day They governed by Parlement though it were under other names as Michel Sinoth Michel Gemote and Witenage Mote Ther are Records above a thousand yeers old of these Parlements in the Raigns of King Ina Offa Ethelbert and the rest of the seven Kings during the Heptarchy The British Kings also who retain'd a great while som part of the Isle unconquered governed and made Laws by a kind of Parlementary way witness the famous Laws of Prince Howel called Howel Dha the good Prince Howel wherof ther are yet extant som Welsh Records Parlements were also used after the Heptarchy by King Kenulphus Alphred and others witness that renowned Parlement held at Grately by King Athelstan The third Conquest was by the Danes and they govern'd also by such general Assemblies as they do to this day witness that great and so much celebrated Parlement held by that mighty Monarch Canutus who was King of England Denmark Norway and other Regions 150 yeers before the compiling of Magna Charta and this the learned in the Laws do hold to be one of the specialest and most authentic peeces of Antiquity we have extant Edward the Confessor made all his Laws thus and he was a great Legis-lator which the Norman Conquerour who liking none of his sons made God Almighty his heir bequeathing unto him this Island for a Legacy did ratifie and establish and digested them into one entire methodical Systeme which being violated by Rufus who came to such a disastrous end as to be shot to death in lieu of a Buck for his sacriledges were restor'd by Henry the first and so they continued in force till King John whose raign is renowned for first confirming Magna Charta the foundation of our Liberties ever since Which may be compar'd to divers Outlandish Graffs set upon one English stock or to a Posie of sundry fragrant Flowers for the choisest of the British the Roman Saxon Danish and Norman Laws being cull'd and pick'd out and gathered as it were into one bundle out of them the foresaid grand Charter was extracted And the establishment of this great Charter was the work of a Parlement Nor are the Laws of this Island onely and the freedom of the Subject conserved by Parlement but al the best policed Countryes of Europ have the like The Germanes have their Diets the Danes and Swedes the Riicks Dachs the Spaniard calls his Parlement Las Cortes and the French have or should have at least their Assembly of three States though it be grown now in a manner obsolete because the Authority therof was by accident devolv'd to the King And very remarkable it is how this hapned forwhen the English had taken such large sooting in most parts of France having advanced as far as Orleans and driven their then King Charls the seventh to Bourges in Berry the Assembly of the three States in these pressures being not able to meet after the usual manner in full Parlement because the Country was unpassable the enemy having made such firm invasions up and down through the very bowels of the Kingdom that power which formerly was inherent in the Parlementary Assembly of making Laws of assessing the Subject with Taxes subsidiary levies and other impositions was transmitted to the King during the VVar which continuing many yeers that intrusted power by length of time grew as it were habitual in him and could never after be re-assumed and taken from him so that ever since his Edicts countervail Acts of Parlement And that which made the busines more seasable for the King was that the burthen fell most upon the Communalty the Clergy and Nobility not feeling the weight of it who were willing to see the Peasan pull'd down a little because not many yeers before in that notable Rebellion call'd La Iaquerie de Beauvoisin which was suppressed by Charls the wise the common people put themselves boldly in Arms against the Nobility and Gentry to lessen their power Add hereunto as an advantage to the work that the next succeeding King Lewis the eleventh was a close cunning Prince and could well tell how to play his game and draw water to his owne Mill For amongst all the rest he was said to be the first that put the Kings of France Hors de page out of their minority or from being Pages any more though therby he brought the poor Peasans to be worse than Lacquays VVith the fall or at least the discontinuance of that usuall Parlementary Assembly of the three States the liberty of the French Nation utterly fell the poor Roturier and Vineyard-man with the rest of the Yeomanry being reduced ever since to such an abject asinin condition that they serve but as sponges for the King to squeeze when he list Nevertheles as that King hath an advantage hereby one way to monarchize more absolutely and never to want money but to ballast his Purse when he will so ther is another mighty inconvenience ariseth to him and his whole Kingdom another way for this illegal peeling of the poor Peasan hath so dejected him and cowed his native courage so much by the sense of poverty which brings along with it a narrownes of soul that he is little useful for the VVar which puts the French King to make other Nations mercenary to him to fill up his Infantry Insomuch that the Kingdom of France may be not unfitly compared to a body that hath all its blood drawn up into the Arms Brest and Back and scarce any left from the Girdle downwards to cherish and bear up the lower parts and keep them from starving All this seriously considered ther cannot be a more proper and pregnant example than this of our next Neighbours to prove how infinitely necessary the Parlement is to assert to prop up and preserve the Public Liberty and National Rights of a people with the incolumity and welfare of a Countrey Nor doth the Subject onely reap benefit thus by Parlement but the Prince if it be well consider'd hath equall advantage therby It rendreth him a King of free and able men which is far more glorious than to be a King of Slaves Beggers and Bankrupts Men that by their freedom and competency of 〈◊〉 are kept still in heart to doe him service against any forrain force And it is a true maxim in all States that 't is lesse danger and dishonour for the Prince to be poor than his people Rich Subjects can make their King rich when they please if he gaine their hearts he

will quickly get their purses Parlement encreaseth love and good intelligence ' twixt him and his people it acquaints him with the reality of things and with the true state and diseases of his Kingdome it brings him to the knowledg of his better sort of Subjects and of their abilities which he may employ accordingly upon all occasions it provides for his Royall Issue payes his debts finds means to fill his Coffers And it is no ill observation The Parlementary-moneys the great Aid have prospered best with the Kings of England it exceedingly raiseth his repute abroad and enableth him to keep his foes in feare his Subjects in awe his Neighbours and Confederates in security the three main things which go to aggrandize a Prince and render him glorious In sum it is the Parlement that supports and bears up the honour of his Crown and settles his Throne in safety which is the chief end of all their consultations For whosoever is intrusted to be a Member of this High Court carrieth with him a double capacity he fits there as a Patriot and as a Subject As he is the one the Countrey is his object his duty being to vindicate the Publike Liberty to make wholsom Laws to put his hand to the pump and stop the leaks of the great vessell of the State to pry into and punish corruption and oppression to improve and advance trade to have the grievances of the place he serves for redressed and cast about how to find somthing that may tend to the advantage of it But he must not forget that he sits ther also as a S●●●●ct and according to that capacity he must apply himse●● to do his Soveraigns busines to provide not onely ●●r his publike but his personal wants to bear up the lustre and glory of his Court to consider what occasions of extraordinary expences he may have by encrease of Royall Issue or maintenance of any of them abroad to enable him to vindicate any affront or indignity that might be offered to his Person Crown or Dignity by any forrain State or Kingdom to consult what may enlarge his honour contentment and pleasure And as the French Tacitus Comines hath it the English Nation was used to be more forward and zealous in this particular than any other according to that ancient eloquent speech of a great Lawyers Domus Regis vigilia defendit omnium otium illius labor omnium deliciae illius industria omnium vacatio illius occupatio omnium salus illius periculum omnium honor illius objectum omnium Every one should stand Centinell to defend the Kings Houses his safety should be the danger of all his pleasures the industry of all his ease should be the labour of all his honour the object of all Out of these premisses this conclusion may be easily deduced that The principal Founntain whence the King derives his happines and safety is his Parlement It is that great Conduit-Pipe which conveighs unto him his peoples bounty and gratitude the truest Looking-Glasse wherein he discerns their loves now the Subjects love hath bin alwayes accounted the prime Cittadel of a Prince In his Parlement he appears as the Sun in the Meridian in the altitude of his glory in his highest State Royal as the Law tels us Therfore whosoever is avers or disaffected to this Soveraign Law making Court cannot have his heart well planted within him He can be neither good Subject nor good Patriot and therfore unworthy to breathe English air or have any benefit advantage or protection from the Laws Sectio Secunda BY that which hath been spoken which is the language of my heart I hope no indifferent judicious Reader will doubt of the cordiall affection of the high respects and due reverence I bear to Parlement as being the wholsomest constitution and done by the highest and happiest reach of policy that ever was established in this Island to perpetuate the happines therof Therfore I must tell that Gentleman who was Author of a Book entituled The Popish Royall Favorite lately Printed and exposed to the world that he offers me very hard measure nay he doth me apparent wrong to tearm me therin No frend to Parlement and a Malignant A character which as I deserve it not so I disdain it For the first part of his charge I would have him know that I am as much a frend and as real an affectionate humble servant votary to the Parlement as possibly he can be and will live and die with these affections about me And I could wish that he were Secretary of my thoughts a while or if I may take the boldnes to apply that comparison His late Majestie used in a famous speech to one of his Parlements I could wish ther were a Crystall VVindow in my Brest through which the world might espie the inward motions and palpitations of my heart then would he be certified of the sincerity of this protestation For the second part of his charge to be a Malignant I must confesse to have som Malignity that lurks within me much against my will but it is no malignity of mind it is amongst the humours not in my intellectuals And I beleeve there is no naturall man let him have his humours never so well ballanced but hath som of this malignity reigning within him For as long as we are composed of the four Elements whence these humours are derived and with whom they symbolize in qualities which Elements the Philosophers hold to be in a restlesse contention amongst themselves and the Stoick thought that the world subsisted by this innate mutuall strife as long I say as the four humours in imitation of their principles the Elements are in perpetuall reluctancy and combate for praedominancy ther must be some malignity lodg'd within us as adusted choler and the like whereof I had late experience in a dangerous fit of sicknes it pleased God to lay upon me which the Physitians told me proceeded from the malignant hypocondriacal effects of melancholy having been so long in this Saturnine black condition of close imprisonment and buried a live between the VVals of this fatal Fleet These kinds of malignities I confes are very rife in me and they are not onely incident but connaturall to every man according to his complexion And were it not for this incessant strugling and enmity amongst the humours for mastery which produceth such malignant effects in us our souls would be loth ever to depart from our bodies or to abandon this mansion of clay Now what malignity my Accuser means I know not if he means malignity of spirit as som antipathy or ill impression upon the mind arising from disaffection hatred or rancor with a desire of some destructive revenge he is mightily deceiv'd in me I malign or hate no Creature that ever God made but the Devill who is the Author of all malignity and therfore is most commonly called in French le Malin Asprit the malignant spirit

would grant none unlesse some Capitulations were stipulated in favour of the Romish Catholics in England the same in substance were agreed on with France Well when the dispensation came which was negotiated solely by the King of Spains Ministers because His Majesty would have as little to do as might be with Rome Pope Gregory the fifteenth who died a little after sent His Majesty a Letter which was delivered by the Nuncio wherof an answer was sent a while after Which Letters were imprinted and exposed to the view of the world because His Majesty would not have people whisper that the busines was carried in a clandestine manner And truly besides this I do not know of any Letter or Message or Complement that ever pass'd 'twixt His Majesty and the Pope afore or after som addresses peradventure might be made to the Cardinals to whom the drawing of those matrimonial dispatches was referred to quicken the work but this was only by way of civil negotiation Now touching that Responsory Letter from His Majesty it was not other than a Complement in the severest interpretation and such formalities pass 'twixt the Crown of England and the great Turk and divers Heathen Princes The Pope writ first and no man can deny but by all moral rules and in common humane civility His Majesty was bound to answer it specially considering how punctual they are in those Countries to correspond in this kind how exact they are in repaying visits and the performance of such Ceremonies And had this compliance bin omitted it might have made very ill impressions as the posture of things stood then for it had prejudiced the great work in hand I mean the Match which was then in the heat and hight of agitation His Majesties person was ther engag'd and so it was no time to give the least offence They that are never so little vers'd in business abroad do know that ther must be addresses compliances and formalities of this nature according to the Italian Proverb That one must somtimes light a candle to the Devil us'd in the carriage of matters of State as this great business was wheron the eyes of all Christendom were so greedily fix'd A business which was like to bring with it such an universall good as the restitution of the Palatinate the quenching of those hideous fiers in Germany and the establishing of a peace through all the Christian World I hope none will take offence that in this particular which comes within the compas of my knowledg being upon the Stage when this Scene was acted I do this right to the King my Master in displaying the Truth and putting her forth in her own colours a rare thing in these dayes TOuching the Vocal Forest an allegorical Discourse that goes abroad under my name a good while before the beginning of this Parlement which this Gentleman cites and that very faithfully I understand ther be som that mutter at certain passages therin by putting ill glosses upon the Text and taking with the left hand what I offer with the right Nor is it a wonder for Trees which lye open and stand exposed to all weathers to be nipt But I desire this favour which in common justice I am sure in the Court of Chancery cannot be denied me it being the priviledg of evry Author and a received maxim through the World Cujus est condere ejus est interpretari I say I crave this favour to have leave to expound my own Text and I doubt not then but to rectifie any one in his opinion of me and that in lieu of the Plums which I give him from those Trees he will not throw the stones at me Moreover I desire those that are over critical Censurers of that Peece to know that as in Divinity it is a rule Scriptura parabolica non est argumentativa so it is in all other kind of knowledg Parables wherof that Discourse is composed though pressed never so hard prove nothi●g Ther is another Rule also That Parables must be gently used like a Nurses Brest which if you press too hard you shall have bloud in stead of milk But as the Author of the Vocal Forest thinks he hath done neither his Countrey nor the Common-wealth of Learning any prejudice therby That maiden fancy having received so good entertainment and respect abroad as to bee translated into divers Languages and to gain the public approbation of som famous Universities So hee makes this humble protest unto all the World that though the design of that discourse was partly Satyrical which peradventure induc'd the Author to shrowd it of purpose under the shadows of Trees and wher should Satyres be but amongst Trees yet it never entred into his imagination to let fall from him the least thing that might give any offence to the High and Honorable Court of Parlement wherof he had the honor to be once a Member and hopes he may be thought worthy again And were he guilty of such an offence or piacle rather he thinks he should never forgive himself though he were appointed his own Judge If ther occur any passage therin that may admit a hard construction let the Reader observe That the Author doth not positively assert or passe a judgement on any thing in that Discourse which consists principally of concise cursory narrations of the choisest Occurrences and Criticisms of State according as the pulse of time did beat then And matters of State as al● other sublunary things are subject to alterations contingencies and change which makes the opinions an● minds of men vary accordingly not one among● twenty is the same man to day as he was four yeer● ago in point of judgement which turns and alter● according to the circumstance and successe of things And it is a true saying whereof we find common experience Posterior dies est prioris Magister The da● following is the former dayes Schoolmaster Then another Aphorism The wisdome of one day is foolis●nes to another and 't will be so as long as ther is man left in the World I will conclude with this modest request to that Gentleman of the long Robe That having unpassionately perus'd what I have written in this small Discourse in penning wherof my conscience guided my quill all along as well as my hand he would please to be so charitable and just as to reverse that harsh sentence upon me To be no Frend to Parlements and a Malignant FINIS