would be looked into and remembred Wherefore Mr. Speaker I desire some Committees should be appointed of the sufficientest and wisest men in the House to consider thereupon Sir John Wooley to the like effect FIrst saying Sir John Wooley's Speech That upon the cause of the danger the Realm was now in and of the remedy his Speech should consist which he likened to a natural Body which the more the principal Member was in danger the greater means should be used for the preservation thereof Roan being now made Admiral of France by the League should say he was a poor Admiral now but that he doubted not but shortly he should be able to bring such a Navy to Sea as should terrifie the Queen of England Also he shewed how the Princes of the Holy League had conspired the Overthrow of this Realm the Extirpation of Religion and the Confusion of her Majesty and her Royal Subjects And he exhorted the House now the season of the year grows on which called many of the Knights and Burgesses to be in their Countries besides the Sickness being in the Town so that many of that House knew not whether he lodged in a house infected or not that they would seek to dispatch and end the Parliament so soon as might be He also shewed how the Dunkirkers troubled our Fisher-men in small Barques upon the Sea-coasts and so moved that this matter might be committed to some of the sufficientest in the House He also exhorted the House to a speedy agreeing of a Subsidy which considering the dangers we were in and that it was for our own good as also for her Majesties he hoped no good Subject but would most willingly agree to it Also he shewed that the Wars which the King of Spain brought upon this Nation had cost her Majesty a Million of money but this he avouched that where it cost her Majesty one it cost the King of Spain three Sir John Fortescue THey that spake before me spake sufficiently of the Authors of ours Troubles and of the great danger which is now eminent upon us insomuch that it is come to this point now Non utrum imperare sed utrum vivere I will speak of nothing but that which concerns my Calling Her Majesty not onely being careful for the preservation of her own Realm but of her Neighbours also she hath not onely defended her own Subjects from being invaded but also hath aided Strangers which wanted money with whom otherwise it would have gone very ill by this time and also with our selves insomuch that the burthen of four Kingdoms hath rested upon her Majesty and maintained with her Purse England France Ireland and Scotland For how could the French King at his first coming to the Crown have held out against those Leaguers had not her Majesty assisted him with her men and money which hath cost her Majesty above 100000 l. for 't is well known the French King had not been able to withstand the Duke of Parma's coming into France had it not been for our English-men and money As for the Low Countries it stood her Majesty yearly ever since she undertook the defence of them in 150000 l. all which her Majesty bestowed for the good of this Realm to free us from War at home Besides when her Majesty came to the Crown she found it four Millions indebted her Navy when she came to view it she found it greatly decayed Yet all this she hath discharged and thanks be to God she is nothing indebted And now she is able to match any Prince in Europe which the Spaniards found when they came to invade us yea she hath with her Ships compassed the whole world whereby this Land is made famous through all Nations She did finde her Navy furnished onely with Iron Pieces but she hath furnished it with Artillery of Brass so that one of her Ships is not a Subjects but rather a petty Princes wealth As for her own private Expences they have been little in Building she hath consumed little or nothing and for her Apparel it is Royal and Princely becoming her Calling but not sumptuous or excessive the Charges of her house small yea never less in any Kings time and shortly by Gods grace she will free her Subjects from that trouble which hath come by the means of Purveyors Wherefore she trusteth that every good Subject will assist her Majesty with his Purse seeing it concerns his own good and the preservation of his estate for before any of us would lose the least member of his body we would bestow a great deal and stick for no cost or charges how much more ought we in this politick body whereof not onely a member but the whole body is in jeopardy if we do not make haste to the preservation of it And for these Subsidies which are granted to her Majesty now-a-days they are less by half than they were in the time of Henry the Eighth Now although her Majesty hath borrowed some money of her Subjects besides her Subsidies yet hath she truely repaid every one fully He desired the matter might be put to a Committee to consider of Mr. Francis Bacon Mr. Speaker THat which these honourable Personages have spoken of their Experience Sir Francis Bacon's Speech may it please you to give me leave likewise to deliver of my common knowledge The cause of assembling all Parliaments hath been hitherto for Laws or Moneys the one being the sinews of Peace the other of War To the one I am not privy but the other I should know I did take great contentment in her Majesties Speech the other day delivered by the Lord Keeper how that it was a thing not to be done suddenly or at one Parliament nor scarce a year would suffice to purge the Statute-book nor lessen it the Volume of Laws being so many in number that neither common people can half practise them nor the Lawyers sufficiently understand them than the which nothing would tend more to the praise of her Majesty The Romans they appointed ten men who were to correct or recall all former Laws and to set forth those twelve Tables so much of all men commended The Athenians likewise appointed six to that purpose And Lewis the the ninth King of France did the like in reforming his Laws On Tuesday Feb. 27. a Bill was read for transporting of Cloath the first time Mr. Morris Atturney of the Court of Wards MY Religion towards God Mr. Morris's Speech my Allegiance to her Majesty the many Oaths that I have taken for the maintaining of her Supremacy causeth me to offer to your considerations matters concerning the sacred Majesty of God the Prerogative and Supremacy of her Majesty the Priviledges of the Laws and the Liberties of us all After some touch upon the usage of Ecclesiastical Discipline by the Prelates he laid down these three things Lawless Inquisition injurious Subscription and binding Absolution to which he spake severally shewing the
Court and the said Crayford having been heard in the presence of William Vaughan what he could say concerning the said Information wherein he protested that he was guiltless and that his said Son had not in any sort received such direction from him as was informed It was therefore by the Court thought meet and so ordered That the examination and determining of the Controversies and Suits depending between the said Crayford and Vaughan should be referred to the Earl of Worcester the Lord Bishop of London and the Lord Cobham and that they the said Crayford and Vaughan should enter into good and sufficient Bonds each to other to stand to observe and perform such Award and Arbitrament as the said Lords shall make and set down between them On Saturday Decemb. 19. a Motion was made in the House for the avoiding of all further Controversies between William Crayford and William Vaughan Gent. That forasmuch as each of them took mutual exceptions one to the other touching the Bonds whereinto they had entered by order of the Court the said William Crayford alleadging that it sufficed not for William Vaughan alone to be bound because his Heirs or some other claiming by and from him might trouble and molest him and that the said Vaughan is insufficient And the said William Vaughan alleadging that if the said William Crayford were bound alone his Sons and Heirs might trouble and molest the said Vaughan without hazard of the Bond some further order might thereupon be taken It is therefore this day ordered by the Court That the said William Crayford and his eldest Son Edward Crayford shall enter into sufficient Bond unto the said William Vaughan without hazard of the Bond for themselves and their Heirs that they and every of them shall stand to the Award of the Earl of Worcester the Lord Bishop of London and the Lord Cobham or any two of them And that also the said William Vaughan shall enter into the like Bond with a sufficient Surety for himself and his Heirs to stand to the said Award of the Lords before-mentioned or any two of them so as the said Award be made before the Feast of Easter next following And moreover it is ordered by the Court That if they or either of them shall refuse to enter into Bond according to the said Order that the Lord Keeper notwithstanding the ending of the Parliament and though it be after the same shall commit them or either of them to close Prison for refusing there to remain until the party refusing be conformable to the said Order Dominus Custos Magni Sigilli continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque ad horam secundam post meridiem hujus instantis diei About which hour in the afternoon The Qu. comes to the House the Queens Majesty was personally present being accompanied with the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Sir Thomas Egerton Kt. Lord Keeper of the great Seal the Lord Buckhurst Lord Treasurer of England and with divers other Lords Spiritual and Temporal but what was there done is not mentioned in the Original Journal-book of the Upper House and therefore is supplied out of a very laborious and copious Journal of the House of Commons taken by Hayward Townsend Esq a Member thereof at this Parliament Her Majesty with divers Lords Spiritual and Temporal being set in the Upper House in their Parliament-Robes between two and three of the clock this afternoon the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons had notice thereof and thereupon repaired thither with John Crooke Esq their Speaker who being placed at the Rail or Bar at the lower end of the said Upper House after he had made three Reverences to her Majesty sitting under a rich Cloath of Estate spake to the effect following THat Laws were not first made with humane Pen The Speaker's Speech but by divine Ordinance that Politick Laws were made according to the evil condition of men and that all Laws serves not at all times no more than one Medicine for all Diseases and said if he were asked what was the first and chiefest thing to be considered of he would say Religion for Religion is all in all for Religion breeds Devotion Devotion breeds Zeal and Piety to God which breedeth Obedience and Duty to the Prince and Obedience to the Laws breedeth Faithfulness Honesty and Love the three necessary and onely things to be wished and observed in a well-govern'd Commonwealth And that her Majesty by planting true Religion had laid such a foundation upon which all those Vertues were planted and builded that they could not easily be rooted up or extirpated and therefore acknowledged that we ought and do acknowledge that we will praise God and her Majesty for it And then he descended to speak of Governments and Laws of Nations amongst which principally and above all he preferr'd the Laws of this Land which he said were so many and so wise that there was almost no offence but was met with in a Law notwithstanding her Majesty being desirous for the good of her Land to call a Parliament for redress of some Laws and for making of new Her dutiful and loyal Subjects having considered of them have made some new and amended some old which they humbly desire may be made Laws by her Royal Assent which giveth life unto them And so after thanks given for the Pardon by which we dread your Justice and admire your Mercy and a Prayer unto her Majesty That she would accept as the testimony of our Loves and Duties offered unto her with a free heart and willing spirit four entire Subsidies and eight Fifteenths and Tenths to be collected of our Lands and Livelihoods in speaking whereof he mistook and said Four entire Fifteenths and eight Subsidies which he was advised of by some of the Counsel that stood neer unto him and so he spake it right and craving pardon for his offence if either he had forgotten himself either in word or action he ended his Speech The L. Keeper returns the Queens Answer To which the Lord Keeper answered thus in effect AS touching her Majesties proceeding in the Laws for her Royal Assent that should be as God directed her sacred spirit Secondly For your presentation of four Subsidies and eight Fifteens and Tenths And thirdly Your humble thank-fulness for them and your self I will deliver her Majesties Commandment with what brevity I may that I be not tedious to my most gracious Soveraign First She saith your proceeding in the matter of her Prerogative she is perswaded that Subjects did never more dutifully do it and that she understood you did but obiter touch her Prerogative and no otherwise but by humble Petition and therefore the thanks that a Prince may give to her Subjects she willingly yieldeth But she now well perceiveth that private respects are privately masked under publick pretences Secondly Touching the presentation of your Subsidies she specially regardeth two things both the persons and
I mean upon the Motion the Gentlemen made yesterday to say something therein both for your satisfaction and performance of my duty and therefore this matter shall need no further to be moved With which the House rested well satisfied and so rose But it is to be noted That the Speaker said not one word in his Speech to her Majesty touching the matter which was greatly murmured at and spoken against amongst the Burgesses that the House should be so abused but nothing was done therein In the Afternoon About one of the clock divers Gentlemen met together in the House whither the Speaker came and after the Privy-Counsellors where after sitting some half an hour at past two they went up to the Upper House and staid there at the Gallery-door about half an hour and at length the door was opened And the Lords of the Upper House being all sat and her Majesty under a rich Cloath of Estate The Q. 〈…〉 the Speaker went to the usual place at the bar where after three Reverences made and the like done in their times by all the Commons the Speaker said to this effect THat Laws were not first made with humane Pen The Speakers Speech but by divine Ordinance that Politick Laws were made according to the evil conditions of men and that all Laws served not for all times no more than one Medicine for all Diseases If he were asked what was the first and chiefest thing to be considered of he would have said Religion If what is the second Religion If what is the third Religion So Religion is all in all for Religion breeds Devotion Devotion breeds Zeal and Piety to God which breedeth Obedience and Duty to the Prince and Observance of the Laws which breeds Faithfulness Honesty and Love three necessary and onely things to be wished and observed in a well-govern'd Commonwealth And that her Majesty by planting true Religion had laid such a foundation upon which all these three Vertues were so planted and builded that they could not easily be rooted up and extirpated and therefore we did acknowledge we ought and do acknowledge we will praise God and her Majesty for it And then he descended to speak of Governments and Laws of Nations amongst and above all which he principally preferr'd the Laws of this Realm which he said were so many and so wise that there was almost no offence but it was met with in a Law Notwithstanding her Majesty being desirous for the good of her Realm to call a Parliament for redress of some Laws and for making some new Her dutiful and loving Subjects having considered of them have made some new and amended some old which they most humbly desire may be made Laws by her most Royal Assent which giveth life unto them And so after thanks given for the Pardon by which we dread your Justice and admire your Mercy and a Prayer That she would accept as a testimony of our Loves and Duties offered unto her with a free heart and willing spirit four entire Subsidies and eight Fifteenths and Tenths to be collected of our Lands and Livelihoods in speaking whereof he mistook and said Four entire Fifteenths and eight Subsidies but he was remembred by some of the Counsel that stood neer about him and so spake right as aforesaid And also pardon craved for his offences if either he had forgotten himself in words or action he ended To which the Lord Keeper answered thus in effect First AS touching her Majesties proceeding in the Laws for her Royal Assent The L. Keepers Speech in answer that should be as God should direct her sacred spirit Secondly For your presentation of four entire Subsidies and eight Fifteens and Tenths And thirdly Your humble thank-fulness for the pardon for them and your self I will deliver her Majesties Commandment with what brevity I may that I be not tedious to my most gracious Soveraign First She saith touching your proceeding in the matter of her Prerogative that she is perswaded Subjects did never more dutifully and that she understood you did but obiter touch her Prerogative and not otherwise but by humble Petition and therefore that thanks that a Prince may give to her Subjects she willingly yieldeth But she now well perceiveth that private respects are privately masked under publick pretences Secondly Touching the presentation of your Subsidies she specially regardeth two things both the persons and the manner For the first he fell into commendations of the Commonalty for the second the manner which was speedy not by perswasion or perswasive inducements but freely and of duty with great contentment In the thing which we have granted her Majesty greatly commendeth your confidence and judgments and though it be not proportionable to her occasions yet she most thank fully receiveth the same as a loving and thank-ful Prince And said that no Prince was ever more unwilling to exact or receive any thing from the Subject than she our most gracious Soveraign for we all know she never was a greedy Grasper nor straight-handed keeper And therefore she commanded me to say That you had done and so she taketh it dutifully plentifully and thank-fully For your self Mr. Speaker her Majesty commanded me to say That you have proceeded with such wisdom and discretion that it is much to your commendation and that none before had deserved more And so he ended after an Admonition given to the Justices of Peace That they would not deserve the Epethites of prowling Justices Justices of Quarrels who counted Champerty good Chevesance suing Justices who did suck and consume the Wealth and Good of the Commonwealth and also to those who do lie if not all the year yet at least three quarters of the year at London After this Speech ended the Clerk of the Crown read the Titles of several Acts. To the general Acts which were allowed the Clerk of the Parliament answered Le Roygne le veult To the private Acts to be passed Soit come il est desiré To the general Acts not passed Le Roygne s'adviserá And so to the other To the Subsidies and Pardon as in the last Parliament Which done The Lord Keeper said Parl. dissolved It is her Majesties pleasure that this Parliament shall be dissolved and she giveth license to all Knights Citizens and Burgesses to depart at their pleasure And so God save the Queen And all the Commons said aloud AMEN Nomina Militum Comitat. Civium Civitatum Burgensium Villar sive Burgorum ac Baronum quinque Portuum veniend ad Parliamentum summonit apud Civitatem Westm septimo die Octobris Anno Regni Eliz. Reginae 43o. 1601. Bedfordshire Com. Bedford Oliverus St. John Ar. Edwardus Radcliffe Miles Villa Bedford Humfridus Winch Ar. Thomas Fanshawe Ar. Buckinghamshire Com. Buckingham Francis Fortescue Ar. Alexander Hamden Ar. Villa Buckingham Christopherus Hatton Ar. Robertus Newdegate Ar. Burgus Wiccombe Richard Blunt Ar. Henry Fleetwood Ar. Burgus de Alisbbury Johannes Lilly Ar.
in the high places of the West-Saxons we read of a Parliament holden and since the Conquest they have been holden by all your Royal Predecessors Kings of England and Queens of England In the times of the West-Saxons a Parliament was held by the Noble Queen Ina by these words I Ina Queen of the West-Saxons The Antiquity of Parliaments in this Island have caused all my Fatherhood Aldermen and wise Commons with the Godly-men of my Kingdome to consult of weighty matters c. Which words do plainly shew the parts of this Court still observed to this day For in Queen Ina is Your Majesties most Royal Person represented The Fatherhood in antient time were those whom we call Bishops and still we call them Reverend Fathers an antient and free part of our State By Aldermen was meant your Noblemen for so honourable was the word Alderman in antient time that the Nobility only were called Aldermen By wisest Commons is signified your Knights and Burgesses and so is your Majesties Writ De discretioribus magis sufficientibus By Godliest men is meant your Convocation-house it consisteth of such as are devoted to Religion and as godliest men do consult of weightiest matters so is your Highness Writ at this day Pro quibusdam arduis urgentissimis negotiis nos statum defensionem Regni nostri Ecclesiae tangentibus Your Highness Wisdome and exceeding Judgment with all careful Providence needed not our Councels yet so urgent Causes there were of this Parliament so importunate Considerations as that we may say for we cannot judge if ever Parliament was so Needful as now or ever so Honourable as this If I may be bold to say it I must presume to say that which hath been often said but what is well said cannot be too often spoken This sweet Council of ours I would compare to that sweet Commonwealth of the little Bees Sic enim parvis componere magna solebam The little Bees have but one Governour whom they all serve he is their King Quia latrea habet latiora he is placed in the midst of their habitations ut in tutissima turri they forage abroad sucking honey from every flower to bring to their King Ignavum Fucos pecus à Principibus arcent the Drones they drive out of their Hives non habentes aculeos and whoso assails their King in him immittunt aculeos tamen Rex ipse est sine aculeo Your Majesty is that Princely Governour and Noble Queen whom we all serve being protected under the shadow of your wings we live and wish you may ever sit upon your Throne over us and whosoever shall not say Amen for them we pray ut convertantur nè pereant ut confundantur nè noceant Vnder your happy Government we live upon Honey we suck upon every sweet Flower but where the Bee sucketh Honey there also the Spider draweth Poyson some such there be but such Drones and Dore-Bees we will expel the Hive and serve your Majesty and withstand any Enemy that shall assault You our Lands or Goods Our lives are prostrate at your feet to be commanded yea and thanked be God and honour be to your Majesty for it such is the power and force of your Subjects that of their own strengths they are able to encounter your greatest Enemies and though we be such yet have we a Prince that is Sine aculeo so full of that Clemency is your Majesty I come now to your Laws The Laws we have conferred upon this Session of so honourable a Parliament are of two natures the one such as have life but are ready to die except your Majesty breathe life into them again the other are Laws that never had life but being void of life do come to your Majesty to seek life The first sort are those Laws that had continuance until this Parliament and are now to receive new life or are to die for ever The other that I term capable of life are those which are newly made but have no essence until your Majesty giveth them life Two Laws there are but I must give the honour where it is due for they come from the noble wise Lords of the Vpper House the most honourable and beneficial Laws that could be desired the one a Confirmation of all Letters-Patents from your Majesties most noble Father of all Ecclesiastical Livings which that King of most renowned Memory took from those superstitious Monasteries and Priories and translated them to the erecting of many foundations of Cathedral Churches and Colledges thereby greatly furthering the maintenance of Learning and true Religion The other Law to suppress the obstinant Recusate and the dangerous Sectary both very pernicious to your Royal Government Lastly your most loving and obedient Subjects the Commons of the Lower House most humbly and with dutiful thanks stand bound unto your gracious goodness for your general and large Pardon granted unto them wherein many great Offences are pardoned but it extendeth onely to Offences done before the Parliament I have many ways since the beginning of this Parliament by ignorance and insufficiency to perform that which I should have done offended your Majesty I most humbly crave to be partaker of your most gracious Pardon The Lord Keeper then received Instructions from the Queen and afterwards replied unto the Speaker The former part of this Speech was an Answer almost verbatim to the Speaker's Oration very excellently and exactly done and those things which followed were to this or the like purpose The Lord Keeper HE said The Lord Keeper replies That her Majesty most graciously did accept of the Service and Devotions of this Parliament commending them that they had employed their time so well and spent it on necessary Affairs save onely that in some things they had spent more time than needed but she perceived some men did it more for their satisfaction than the necessity of the thing deserved She misliked also that such irreverence was shewed towards Privy-Counsellors who were not to be accounted as common Knights and Burgesses of the House Gently rebukes them for some Miscarriages that are Counsellors but during the Parliament whereas the other are standing Counsellors and for their wisdom and great service are called to the Council of State Then he said That the Queens Majesty had heard that some men in the case of great necessity and grant of Aid had seemed to regard their Country and made their necessity more than it was forgetting the urgent necessity of the time and dangers that were now eminent That her Majesty would not have the People feared with Reports of great dangers Gives them Cautions but rather to be encouraged with boldness against the Enemies of the State And therefore that she straightly charged and commanded that the mustred Companies in every County should be supplied if they were decayed and that their Provisions of Armour and Ammunition should be better than heretofore it hath been used
as to the Queen as for two parts of the Profits to be answered her and so all Sales hereafter to be made by any Recusant convicted the Sale being bona side The sixth They shall be disabled to be Justices of the Peace Mayors or Sheriffs The ninth Children being ten years until they be sixteen to be disposed at the appointment of four Privy Counsellors the Justices of Assize the Bishop of the Diocess Justice of the Peace And if the third part of the Land suffice not for maintenance the rest to be levied of the Parents Goods The eleventh Recusants that be Copyholders to forfeit two parts to the Lord of the Mannor if the Lord be no Recusant and if he be then to the Queen The thirteenth Protesting that he doth not come to Church under colour of any Dispensation or other allowance from the Pope but for Conscience and Religion Sir Robert Cecill AS I remember Cecill's Speech I have been of this House these five Parliaments and I have not determined to say any thing in these Assemblies further than my Cogitations should concur with my Conscience in saying bare I and No. Give me leave I pray you to rehearse an old Saying and it is in Latine Nec te Collaudes nec te Vituperes ipse For me to do the one were exceeding Arrogancy and to do the other I confess I hope you will pardon me The occasion of this Parliament which I take to be by that which we received from the honourable and learned Speech of the Lord Keeper as of and from her Majesty to us in the Higher House is for the cause of Religion and the maintenance thereof amongst us the preservation of her Majesties most Royal Person and the good of this Realm our Country All which because they be things of most dear and nearest price and at this present in exceeding great and eminent danger it is behoveful to consult of most speedy remedies which in parcels should proceed from the most wise heads The Enemy to these is the King of Spain whose malice and ambition is such that together with the Pope that Antichrist of Rome for I may well couple them together the one being always accompanied with Envy and Prosperity the other with unsatiable desire makes them by all means seek the subversion of this State But concerning the first the Cause of God and his Religion which her Majesty professed before she came on this Royal Seat which she hath defended and maintained and for which cause God hath so blessed her Government ever since her coming to the Crown yea while the Crown was scarce warm on her head she abolished the Authority of Rome and did set up God's Truth amongst us and to her great Renown made this little Land to be a Sanctuary for all the persecuted Saints of God whereby the People perceived her Magnanimity Zeal and Judgment Magnanimity in understanding so great an Enterprize Zeal in professing the same not of shew but in sincerity Judgment in defending it and preventing all the Popes designes He set forth his Bulls and Missives against her Majesty thereby most unnaturally depriving her of her most natural Right Duty and Loyalty which her Subjects should owe unto her c. Here he touched the many dangers which her Majesty had been in which as it caused him to fear to think so it did cause him to tremble to speak concerning the danger of our Country and so the loss of our Lives Liberties Wives Children and all other Priviledges Let me not trouble you with things passed so long and perhaps beyond my reach but of things passed of late years and since 88 when as we were so secure and never thought the King of Spain would have set up his Rest for England then sent he his Navy termed Invincible and had almost been upon the backs of us before we were aware yea we were so slack in Provision that it was too late to make resistance had not God preserved us his attempt against us by seeking to win the Low Countries and to obtain Ireland which being but trifles and partly devices which I mean not to trouble you with He hath now of late gone about to win France wherein he hath greatly prevailed as in Lorain and in other parts as you have heard but especially in Britain having most part of the Port-towns in his possession whither he still sends Supplies dayly and re-enforceth them every four or five months which Port is always open and his men and forces never wanting This Province he especially desireth for it lieth most fitly to annoy us whither he may send Forces continually and there have his Navy ready to annoy us the which he could not otherwise so easily do unless he had the Wind in a bag Besides having this Province he will keep us from Traffique to Rochel and Bourdeaux as he doth in the Streights from Tripoly and St. Jean de luze and so hinder us from carrying forth or bringing in into this Land any Commodities whereby this Realm might be inriched and her Majesties Impost ever increased being one of the greatest Revenues of her Crown He hath also gone about with them of Stode and the King of Poland one of his own Faction and who by reason he cannot do in that Kingdom what he listeth he may easily command him to impede or hinder our Traffique in those Eastern parts which if he could bring to pass you see how hurtful it would be to this Land But to descend yet more lower and into these latter Actions he hath seen it is but a folly to endeavour to make a wooden-bridge to pass into England therefore he hath found out a more sure way and stronger passage unto it by Land and that by Scotland which though it be not talked of at the Exchange nor preached of at Paul's Cross yet it is most true and in Scotland as common as the High-way that he hath procured to him many of the Nobility there It is true he hath sent thither no Navy and if he had endeavoured it her Majesty would not have suffered him yet do she what she can some paltry Fly-boat may escape her Majesties good Ships and carry Gold enough in her to make them Traytors and stir them to Sedition These things her Majesty understood before and advertised that King thereof but he not so well conceiving thereof hath by the effect proved the other true And unless I be deceived the last Letter that came from thence the other night sheweth that King is gone to make a Road into the North and to bring Back the Lord Bothwell and the Lord Huntley The King of Spain's malice thus dayly increaseth against us and seeketh also to stir up Sedition amongst us by his Instruments the number also of Papists dayly increaseth or at leastwise be more manifested My advice is That you would consult which ways to withstand such eminent dangers which the greater they be the sooner they
Committees in the Bill concerning Coopers brought in the Bill again as not dealt in by the Committee for lack of convenient time The Bill for restraint of new buildings converting of great houses into several Tenements and for restraint of Inmates and Inclosures neer unto the Cities of London and Westminster with one Amendment to the said Bill was sent up to the Lords by Mr. Treasurer Sir John Woolley and others with a Remembrance to move their Lordships for sending down of the Bill for grant of three entire Subsidies and six Fifteenths and Tenths granted by the Temporalty to the end Mr. Speaker may this afternoon present the same unto her Majesty according to the former accustomed usage of this House Mr. Serjeant Owen Mr. Atturney-General and Mr. Powle brought down from the Lords an Act entituled An Act for the Queens most gracious general and free Pardon Divers other Bills were this day read This Afternoon the Parliament was dissolved 39 Eliz. A Journal of such things as passed in the Vpper House of Parliament in the Parliament that held Anno xxxix o Eliz. Reginae and began October 24. in the same year and ended February 9. following ANno Dom. 1597. Regni Eliz. Reginae 39. die Lunae 24. Mensis Octob. Inchoatum est Parliament Westmonasterii in Domo consuet quo die Regina diversi Domini tam Spiritual quam Temporal viz. Archiepiscopus Cant. Tho. Egerton Miles Dominus Custos Magni Sigilli Dominus Burleigh Dominus Thesaurarius Angliae Marchio Winton Comes Sussex Magnus Marescall Comes Nottingham Magnus Scenescall eight other Earls one Viscount fifteen Bishops and twenty three Barons were present whose Name are particularly set down in the Journal-book Dicto 24. die Octob. viz. primo die hujus Parliamenti Oct. 24. introduct est Breve quo Archiepiscopus Ebor. praesenti Parliamento interesse summonibatur admissus est ad suum praeheminenciae sedendi locum salvo jure alieno Consimilima Brevia introduct sunt 4 Comitibus 10 Episcopis 5 Baronibus The Lord Keeper by the Queens commandment delivered to both Houses the Causes that moved her majesty to summons this Parliament The Lord Keeper's Speech THE Queens most excellent Majesty Lord Keeper's Speech my most gracious and dread Soveraign hath commanded me to declare unto you my Lords and others here present the Causes which have moved her Highness to summons this Parliament at this time which before I can express I must confess truely that the Royal presence of her Majesty the view of your Lordships and this honourable Assembly together with the consideration of the weightiness of the service and of my own weakness doth much appale me and cause me to fear Wherefore if either through fear I forget or through the many wants and imperfections which I have I fail to perform that duty which is required I do most humbly crave pardon of her Majesty and beseech your Lordships to bear with me The great Princely Care which her Highness now hath An. 1597. as heretofore she hath ever had to preserve her Kingdoms in Peace and safe from all forreign Attempts hath caused her at this present to assemble this honourable and great Council of her Realm to advise of the best and most needful means whereby to continue this her peaceable and happy Government and to withstand the malice of her mighty and implacable Enemy which hitherto by the space of many years through her provident and Princely wisdom hath been performed to the great and inestimable benefit of her Subjects as that the simplest amongst them could not but see and the wisest but admire their happiness therein the whole Realm enjoying Peace in all security when our Neighbour-Countries have been torn in pieces and tormented with cruel and bloody Wars This her Majesty is pleased to ascribe to the mighty power and infinite mercy of the Almighty And therefore it shall well become us all most thank-fully upon the knees of our hearts to acknowledge no less unto his holy Name who of his infinite goodness still preserve her Highness and send her many years more over us in all happiness to reign In this her blessed Government her Highness chief care and regard of all hath been of the honour and service of the Almighty God that true Religion might be planted and entertained in the hearts of her People through all the parts of her Realms and as well in that behalf as for the peace and benefit of her Subjects she hath from time to time established many good Laws to meet with the Disorders and to punish the offences of wicked and ungodly men that continuing in their bad ways they may not be hardened and go forward in their wickedness for Mora in peccato dat incrementum sceleri And whereas the number of the Laws already made are very great some also of them being obsolete andworn out of use others idle and vain serving to no purpose some again over-heavy and too severe for the offence others too loose and slack for the faults they are to punish and many of them so full of difficulties to be understood that they cause many controversies and much trouble amongst the Subjects You are to enter into a due consideration of the said Laws and where you finde superfluity to prune and cut off where defect to supply and were ambiguity to explain that they be not burthen-some but profitable to the Common-wealth Which being a service of importance and very needful to be required yet as nothing is to be regarded if due means be not had to withstand the malice and force of those professed Enemies which seeks the destruction of the whole State This before all and above all is to be thought of and with most endeavour and care to be provided for for in vain are Laws made and to little purpose will they serve be they never so good if such prevail as go about to make a Conquest of the Kingdom and destruction of the People Wars heretofore were wont to be made either out of Ambition to enlarge Deminions or out of Revenge to requite Injuries but this against us is not so In this the holy Religion of God is sought to be rooted out the whole Realm to be subdued and the precious life of her excellent Majesty to be taken away which hitherto by the powerful hand and great goodness of the Almighty have been preserved maugre the Devil the Pope the Spanish Tyrant and all the misohievous designes of all her Enemies Wherefore it is high time that this be looked into and that no way be left unsought nor means unused that may serve for defence thereof Her Majesty hath not spared to disburse a mass of Treasure and to sell her Land for the maintenance of her Armies by Sea and Land whereby with such small helps as from her Subjects hath been yielded she hath defended and kept safe her Dominions from all such forcible attempts as have been made which
being still to be performed by infinite Charge her Majesty notwithstanding hears of nothing more unwillingly than of Aids and Subsidies to be received from her People though what she doth receive she doth carefully bestow and infinitely more of her own The Taxations at this day howsoever they seem are nothing so great as heretofore in the Reigns of former Kings they have been In the times of Edw. 3. and the two next before him and those three which succeeded next after him the payments of the Commons then did far exceed any that have been since her Majesties Reign which is of Record in the Histories of those times to be seen but never cause so great to employ great sums of money as now Now therefore you are to consider how to provide needful and convenient Aid in some measure to maintain and support her Majesties Charge which at present she is at and is to continue at for the defence of the Realm He cannot be well advised which in this case will not be forward to contribute and bestow whatsoever he hath for if with the Common-wealth it goes not well well it cannot be with any private or particular person That being in danger he that would seek then to lay up Treasure and inrich himself should be like to him that would busie himself to beautifie his house when the City wherein he dwelleth is on fire or to him that decketh up his Cabin when the Ship wherein he saileth is ready to sink To spare in that case is to spare for those which seek to devour all and to give is to give to our selves Her Majesties part being onely carefully to bestow what is delivered into her hands wherein men performing their duties there is no cause at all to fear for the War is just it is in defence of the Religion of God of our most gracious Soveraign of our Native Country of our Wives Children Liberties Lands Lives and whatsoever we have Wherefore not mistrusting your forwardness that I may not offend in too much enlarging this point as a poor Remembrancer to her Majesty I shortly say to your Lordships Quod justum necessarium est nothing can be more just than this War nothing ought to seem more necessary than carefully to provide due Maintenance for the same And to you of the House of Commons that you may orderly proceed and wisely consult of these weighty Causes delivered unto you her Majesties pleasure is You should according to your accustomed manner go down to the Lower House and there make choice of some grave learned and wise man amongst you to be your Speaker who shall be for understanding sufficient and for discretion fit as your mouth to signifie your minds and to make your Petitions known unto her Highness and him upon Thursday next to present in this place The Lord Burgh was absent being the Lord Deputy of Ireland The Lord De-la-ware was absent because he made question of his place intending to make suit to the Parliament concerning the same Dominus Custos Magni Sigilli ex mandato Dominae Reginae continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem Jovis prox futur viz. 27º diem Octobris On Thursday Octob. 27. the Queens Majesty the Archbishop of Canterbury Sir Thomas Edgerton Kt. Lord Keeper of the Great Seal the Lord Burleigh Lord Treasurer the Marquiss of Winton the Earl of Sussex great Mareschal the Earl of Nottingham Mag. Seneschall six Earls one Viscount thirteen Bishops the Lord Hunsdon Chamberlain and twenty two other Barons present Mr. Serjeant Yelverton Serj. Yelverton chosen Speaker being chosen Speaker of the Lower House was by divers Knights Citizens and Burgesses brought into the Upper House and by the hands of Sir William Knolls Controuler of her Majesties Houshold and Sir John Fortescue Chancellor of the Exchequer presented to her Majesty who by a Speech full of Gravity and Modesty signifying the accomplishment of the duty of the House in making an Election but he excusing himself by pretence of many disabilities and imperfections Excuses himself and wishing earnestly that he were of sufficiency to perform the duty of that Place made humble suit to her Majesty that he might be discharged and that the Lower House might proceed to a new Election Which Excuse was not allowed by her Majesty Is allowed commended by the Queen as the Lord Keeper delivered by answer and the Choice of the said Mr. Yelverton being by her Majesty very well approved and his Sufficiency much commended He then proceeded in another Speech according to the manner to undertake that Charge and Place and to present unto her Majesty on the behalf of the Lower House certain humble Petitions viz. For Access unto her Majesty Petitions for the House in the usual form For the using and enjoying of such Liberties and Priviledges as in former times had been granted and allowed by her Majesties Progenitors and her self Whereunto her Majesty making answer by the Lord Keeper did yield her gracious assent Which are granted with admonition that the said Liberties and Priviledges should be discreetly and wisely used as was meet Dominus Custos Magni Sigilli ex mandato Dominae Reginae continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem quintum mensis Novembris On Saturday 5 Novembris introductum est Breve Thomae Dom. Grey de Wilton quo praesenti Parliamento interesse summonebatur Nov. 5. admissus est ad suum praeheminenciae sedendi in Parliamento loco salvo jure alieno The Petition of the Lord De-la-ware presented to this House for restitution of the same place in the Parliament which his Ancestors had in the Rank and Order of the Barons and referred to Committees viz. to the Lord Treasurer the Earl of Nottingham Lord Admiral the Earl of Shrewsbury Lord Bishop of London Lord Bishop of Winton Lord Zouche Lord Stafford Lord Windsor Lord Sheffield Lord North Lord St. John of Bletsoe Lord Buckhurst Lord Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas Lord Chief Baron and Edward Coke Esq the Queens Atturney who appointed to meet at the Council-chamber at the Court at Whitehall on Sunday Nov. 6. at two of the clock in the afternoon Munday Nov. 7. An Act for the speedy satisfaction of her Majesty against Accomptants secunda vice lect and committed to the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury the Lord Treasurer the Lord Admiral three Earls three Bishops three Barons the Lord Chief Justice of England Mr. Baron Ewens and Mr. Atturney General to attend their Lordships and appointed to meet at the little Council-chamber in Whitehall to morrow at four a clock in the afternoon Introductum est Breve Com. Derby quo praesenti Parliamento interesse summonebatur c. On Thursday Nov. 10. the Lord Treasurer made Report to the House what had been done by the Committees upon the Petition of the Lord De-la-ware and how it was resolved by them upon hearing and debating the matter with certain learned Counsel in the
to meet on Tuesday in the Afternoon in the Exchequer-Chamber A Bill against Transportation of Monies was brought in On which Mr. Davis made a long Speech The Effect whereof was A Bill against Transporting of Coyn. That by Transportation of Money the Realm is Impoverished for that Twenty Shillings English is Twenty Three Shillings Flemish and as much good Silver in the first as the last And so he said They gained Three Pence in every Pound and the like he said was in Commodities Mr. Secretary Cecil spake Secretary Cecil touching the Subsidy touching the Subsidy as Followeth VVhen it was the good Pleasure of the House to give Order to the Committees to consider the common danger of the Realm in which not only every Member of this House but every Man in the Kingdom is Interessed It liked the Committees after their resolution to choose one amongst all to give an Account of their Proceedings and that is my self I do know it were the safest way for a mans memory to deliver the last Resolution Reports to the whole House what was Cone at the Committee without any precedent Argument for rare is the Assembly in which there is not some variety of Opinions I need not recite the Form of the Committee by reason of so good Attendance being little inferior to our Assembly at this present yet if it be true that Forma doth dare essentiam it will be somewhat necessary for me to deliver the manner of our Proceeding and the Circumstance rather than hazard the Interpretation of such a Resolution The Day was Saturday last the Place this House the Time about four houres And I am of Opinion That if we had all agreed upon the manner as we did speedily upon the matter all had been dispatched in an hour It seemed by the ready Consent of the Committee That they came not one to look on another like Sheep one to accompany another but the Matter was Debated by some and at last Consented unto by all Our Contention bred Difference our Difference cause of Argument both how to ease the State and make this Subsidy less burthensome which shall be recited Some were of Opinion that the Three Pound Men should be spared because it was to be consider'd they had but small portions and they did give almost Secundum sanguinem Others were of Opinion that the Four Pound men should give double and the rest upward should be higher Cessed Others vvere of other Opinions Again it was moved Whether this Subsidy should go in the name of a Benevolence or Contribution Or whether in the Name of a Fourth Subsidy but vvas said to be subject to great Mistaking because it vvould be said to be a great Innovation But at last most Voices Resolved It should have the old Name of a Subsidy because Subsidium and Auxilium are all one The most Voices Concluded There should be no Exception of the Three Pound men because according to their Rate some vvere Assessed under value besides separation might breed Emulation Suspition of Partiality and Confusion The Time vvas Resolved upon and that in respect of Expedition to be by the First of February and the vvhole Realm when each man comes into his Country will be better satisfied when they shall know vve have spared no man nor made no Distinction It vvas said by a Member of this House Sir Francis Hastings That he knew some poor People Pawn their Pots and Pans to pay the Subsidy It may be you dwell vvhere you see and hear I dwell where I hear and believe And this I know That neither Pots nor Pans nor Dish nor Spoon should be spared when Danger is at our Elbowes But he that spake this in my Conscience spake not to hinder the Subsidy or the greatness of our Guift but to shew the Poverty of some Assessed and by sparing others But by no means I would have the Three Pound men Exempted because I would have the King of Spain know how willing we are to sell all in Defence of Gods Religion our Prince and Country I have read when Hannibal resolved to sack Rome he dwelt in the Cities Adjoyning and never feared or doubted of his Enterprize until word was brought him That the Maidens Ladies and VVidows of Rome sold their Ear-rings Jewels and all their Necessaries to maintain War against him I do take my self in Duty bound to acquaint this House with the Modesty of the Committee at the Proposition That when first this House never stuck to Commit they never stuck in understanding the Reasons to grant it And I do perswade my self that the Bonus Genius of this House did not wish a more Resolved Unity than we had Unity in Resolution And of this Great Committee it may be said De Majoribus Principes Consultant De minoribus omnes Thus by your Commandments I have undergone this Charge and will be ready to do the like Duty whensoever you shall command me Then after Consultation of the great Occasions The Subsidy put to the Question and voted without any Opposition it was put to the Question Whether the double Tenths and Fifteens should be Paid by the First of February and the Subsidy by the last of February viz. for this Fourth Subsidy before the Third began And that the First Payment of the First Three Subsidies should be brought in by the Tenth of June viz. half a Subsidy And all said Yea and not one No. Then was a Motion made by Sir Robert Wroth Sir Robert Wroth's Proposition rejected That this new Subsidy might be drawn in a Bill by it self to which should be Annexed A preamble of the great Necessity the willingness of the Subject and that it might be no Precedent But that could not be yeilded unto Then Mr. Speaker asked the House If they would appoint Committees to draw the Bill So they appointed the Queens Council and all the Serjeants at Law of the House and no more Mr. Francis Moore Moved Mr. Francis Moores Motion That that which was done might be compleatly done and the Subsidy gathered by Commission and not by the old Roll for Peradventure some were dead others fallen to Poverty others Richer and so ought to be enhaunced c. And withal he said The granting of the Subsidy seemed to be the Alpha and Omega of this Parliament Mr. Wingfeild Moved the House That seeing the Subsidy was granted and they yet had done nothing It would please her Majesty not to Dissolve the Parliament until some Acts were passed Mr. Wingfeild's Motion Mr. Serjeant Harris said Serjeant Harris That he that spake Intempestivè spake Injocundè And the Motion of the Gentleman that last spake is not now to be Discussed We are to speak touching the Subsidy Mr. Francis Bacon after the Repetition of the Sum of what was done Yesterday Mr. Bacon That the Three Pound men might not be excluded he concludes it was Dulcis tractus pari Jugo And therefore
with a Dozen of Penal Statutes I think it is well known that the Honourable that sit about the Chair and all the rest of Her Majesty's Privy-Council have and do hold the same Place and this toucheth Them as well as Inferiour Justices And therefore I humbly pray He may answer it at the Bar and that it may not be put off with Silence Mr. Hide said Every Man agrees this Bill hath good Matter Mr. Hide for the Bill and we all consent to the Substance though dissent to the Form Some have more Wit some more Understanding than others If they of meaner Capacity and Judgment speak Impertinently let not us in a Spleen straight ways cry Away with the Bill But let us give it the same Favour that we give to Bills of far inferiour Nature and of less Moment That is a Commitment So the Bill was committed to the former Committees The Bill committed the Place of Meeting appointed the Exchequer-Chamber and to Morrow in the Afternoon the Time Mr. Doyley said Mr. Speaker I would move but one Question Mr. Doyley moves against the Slanderers of Justices that is What shall be done against those two general Slanderers of Justices of the Peace Mr. Mountague Junior said The words Luxuriant Authority Mr. Mountague seconds and the heavy Yoke of a Justice of Peace are words dangerous and hurtful and prejudicial to Her Majesty's Honour And therefore I think fit they should both be called to the Bar to answer it Mr. Glascock said I protest again Mr. Speaker Mr. Glascock's Protestation I spake it only of those Justices that make it their Living to gain by their poor Neighbours Sir Francis Hastings said If all things spoken should rest within the Walls of this House Sir Francis Hastings against them I could well be content to be Silent But when this Scandal which I wish might be so Reformed it might be made an Example shall be blazed abroad as a general Slanderous Imputation of Justices and the Stirrers up thereof not punished this perhaps would touch the Credit of those whose Credit I think cannot well be Tainted He that sits against me pointing at Mr. Bond is my Country-Man and I am sorry he should thus lose his Way But my Conscience tells me Amicus Socrates amicus Plato sed magis amicus veritas Two dangerous and seditious Speeches have been made by him But I hope the House will not conceive so basely of Justices of the Peace or their Authority who deserve well of Queen and Country because it comes from him I say no more I know what it is Howsoever it is a Luxurious Speech and not to be suffer'd In speaking against the Bill he shewed the little good Will he had to the Passage of the Bill He likened his Speech to Paphnutius's Speech who spake in a General-Council to defend Religion but this Man speaketh to Oppugne it Have we now lived Forty Three Years under Her Majesty's Happy and Religious Government and shall we now dispute Whether it is fit to come to the Church Parry desired no more who in that Place Pointing to the Right Side of the Chair so soon as the Bill touching Seminaries was brought in called it a Bloody Bill a Tyrannical Bill a Bill of Confiscation of Goods I pray how far stretcheth this Grande Jugum But to a poor Twelve Pence The Speech was Insolent and in regard to Her Majesty's Honour I wish it might be answer'd There Pointing to the Bar. And the House said No No No. Mr. Bond said Mr. Bond 's Apology for himself I would be loth that any Speech of mine should offer any offence being spoken in the behalf of the Country for which I Serve I know their grievous Complaints against the Execution of Laws by Justices The word Luxuriant as I used it I wish may be Construed in this Sense All Penal Laws refer their Execution to Justices of the Peace In that Respect because the Authority of Justices of the Peace seemed to me to be too Powerful over the Subject in that Respect I thought it Luxuriari But I think far otherwise of these Church-Neglecters Mr. Martin said Luxuriari is to abound and therefore the Poet saith Luxuriatur agris And I wish all those that would slander Her Majesties Government by Colour of their Authority in Oppressing the Subjects that they may Perish A Bill against Drunkards and common haunters of Ale-houses and Taverns upon Ingrossment it was Read and Passed A Bill for Reformation of Abuses committed A Bill against Abuses in Inns c. in Inns Taverns Ale-Houses and Victualling-Houses was Read To which Sir Walter Rawleigh said Sir Walter Rawleigh against it That if a Man had a Mannor which might inquire for the Defaults of Ale-selling by full measure This Privilege was now lost by this Bill Another there was a dissability for ever after of being an Inn-Keeper How dangerous this might be to the Inheritance of those that had Inns some at One Hundred Pounds per annum and how dangerous to the Inn-keepers that might by negligence of a Servant suffer he left that to the discretion of the House Mr. Browne of Grays-Inn shewed That Sixteen Hundred Quarters of Malt was saved by this course taken in Somerset-shire that Mr. Phillips could testifie who is now Knight of the Shire And that in Wells the Lord Chief Justice of England affirmed That Fifty Quarters of Malt and Fifty Quarters of Barley were saved in one Year Mr. Serjeant Harris said If two False Witnesses come before a Justice and swear against a Man for a little short Measure he is without Remedy and every Punishment ought to be Secundum qualitatem delicti And for so small a Matter Disability is too great a Punishment A Bill to avoid the Double Payment of Debts upon Shop-Books was Read Mr. Browne of Grays Inn found indeed a considerable Fault in this bill by reason of the Generality which was Debts and not set Debts upon Shop-Books So it was found to be true and the Bill was like to be cast out for the House would not have had it mended Sir Robert Wroth said I have been of this House these Forty Years and ever knew that a Bill before Passage might be Amended So it was in the Bill for Tillage the Last Parliament Wherefore I would wish That it might rest until to Morrow and then to be Amended And all cryed I I I. On Thursday Decemb. 3. A Bill for the Repairing and Amending of Two Bridges over the River of Eden in the County of Cumberland adjoyning to the Walls of the City of Carlisle was Read the second Time and Committed The Place appointed for Meeting was the Checquer-Chamber to Morrow in the Afternoon A Bill for Curriours A Bill for Strengthening the North-Parts and for Building of a Peer at New-Haven Read the second Time and Committed The Committee to Meet in the Exchecquer-Chamber to Morrow in the Afternoon A Bill to
toleration of such offences shall be suffered Next That ye inquire what Places and persons are fit to be suppressed and looked unto Ordinary-tables Tippling-houses some even Brothel-houses or worse in which both of Muttons Veals and Lambs there is continually made an unmeasurable expence But consider who are the men that devour the Substance of the Land which should sustain us all what kind of men be they even your discoursers which do introduce Novelties and slander the State the most pestilent seditious and dangerous Members of the Land In rooting out these men you shall shew the best part of your duties to God and her Majesty which her Majesty expressly chargeth you to take special heed of I am also to remember you what good Laws were lately made for the punishment of vagrant Rogues and sturdy Beggars To relieve poor Souldiers and for the provision of poor Souldiers the neglect of which duty in not seeing these good Laws executed will draw Gods curse and displeasure upon us And therefore order by you ought to be taken that those which be poor be relieved and idle persons suppressed which do mispend the good gifts of God plentifully bestowed upon us That you look the poverty of Souldiers be relieved according to their quality and degree and that twenty pounds by the year be not given to some when others far poorer have but forty shillings by the year And therefore look that those Laws that were last made be not last but first put in execution These be matters and crimes which if they be not amended the Commonwealth and State may still stand and languish though not perish But there is another matter of great importance which if it be not looked unto will overthrow even the body of the State it self which none can or will deny unless he be given over to a senseless stupidity It is not unknown what Plots have been and are laid against the Queens Person whom God preserve and the body of the State by those we call Jesuits unnatural Vipers ready to eat out the belly of their Mother who being now grown to some strength and head do proceed with more violence and greater malice in their actions than ever heretofore They have made unto them an Archpriest and Ruler About Jesuits and secular Priests their practices the principal Agent against God the Queen Religion and the State because they might execute their dangerous Enterprizes and Designes with a kind of conjoyned Unity They do not stick to determine even in the height of their pride great yea even the greatest matters In this the Secular Priest is no Agent neither dangerous in that degree to the State for as there be degrees of Offences so are there degrees of Offenders But I excuse not the Secular Priest and therefore therein I pray you mistake me not for what Writings and Books have been extant and are given out of their Quarrels and Controversies and I warn you to take heed of them There be three Workers in the subversion of the State First the Jesuit secondly the secular Priest and thirdly a kinde of Parson of our own Religion yet as he thinketh of a more pure spirit disliking onely the government of the Church and State These her Majesties pleasure is That you should be more diligent to search out than you have been and to observe who entertains these in their houses which be of the Catholick Roman Religion Those that incur the danger of the Law let them now look for execution howsoever offences heretofore have been tolerated by Magistrates not doing of their duties Many are Justices of the Peace but what do they but maintain Quarrels Stirs Controversies and Dissention betwixt their Neighbours We have two evident Examples the one in Gloucestershire the other that was moved this morning viz. in Sir Thomas Throgmorton's Case The thirst after this Authority Concerning Justices of the Peace proceedeth from nothing but an ambitious humour of gaining of Reputation amongst their Neighbours that still when they come home they may be presented with Presents and that they may sit high on the Bench in the Quarter-Sessions that they may maintain and buy Titles Is there any more fervent than others in the business of the Commonwealth he straight hath given him the Epethite of a busie Jack but I know there be many good and I wish their number were increased but who be they even the poorer and meanest Justices by one of which more good cometh to the Commonwealth than by a hundred of greater condition and degree And thus much I had in commandment to say to Justices of Peace to Commanders to Constables and other inferiour Officers To you who be Justices of Assize there yet remaineth by her Majesties express commandment a further Charge and Admonition to be delivered That you see the great offences which heretofore have not been to be hereafter punished And her Majesty said she hath chosen you to be Justices for your wisdom and integrity and she hath divided you by two's in several Circuits to ride twice every year that the one might be aiding and assisting to the other not onely to try a Nisi prius or decide some petty Cause but with special care and diligent observance to look into the disorders of your Circuits suppose for the purpose in Norfolk although truely I think that County is best govern'd and I would say more if he which rideth that Circuit were absent To examine Justices touching Misdemeanours to inform her Majesty how many Ale-houses they have pulled down how many Priests they have taken and who harbour them and of all these matters to give an account to her Majesty at your return that she taking notice from you the good Justices may be rewarded and the evil removed Your not doing of this breedeth nothing but impunity which is dangerous in the State and the very root of Sedition and Rebellion And Clemency of this nature is Crudelis Clementia but the other Securitas Salutaris Her Majesty commanded me to say unto you that she would have you spend more time in understanding the faults and grievances in every of your Circuits than you have heretofore done for she saith that she hath not been informed of any more than of one onely This you may well do and she commandeth it to be done the times being so peaceful which I hope will continue And as God hath blessed her Majesty these Forty four years amongst us so I hope God will yet lengthen her days for the continuance of which we ought all to pray for FINIS AN Alphabetical TABLE Of the most material BILLS DEBATES and other Matters Contained in this BOOK A ACcomptants a bill for satisfaction against them p. 83 Ale complained of by Mr. Johnson that 't is as strong as Wine and will burn like Sack p. 181 Ale-houses a bill to suppress their multitude p. 135 No man to frequent any within two miles of his own dwelling p. 196