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An Apology for Socrates and
Negotium Posterorum.

AN

APOLOGY FOR SOCRATES

AND

NEGOTIUM POSTERORUM:

BY SIR JOHN ELIOT.

(1590—1632.)

NOW FOR THE FIRST TIME PRINTED I FROM THE
AUTHOR'S MSS. AT PORT ELIOT.

Edited, with Introduction and Additions from other MSS. at Port
Eliot, Notes and Illustrations, 6°r.

BY THE
REV. ALEXANDER B. GROSART, LL.D., F.S.A.,

ST. GEORGE'S, BLACKBURN, LANCASHIRE.

IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.

INTRODUCTION APOLOGY FOR SOCRATES NEGOTIUM POSTERORUM, t

PART I. — ADDITIONS AND NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. , \ *)/

PRINTED FOR EARL ST. GERMANS AND

V

PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY. * '\

1 88.1.

V.I

CHISWICK PRESS:— c. WHITTINGHAM AND co.

TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE.

CONTENTS OF VOL. I.

I. List of the distribution of the i oo copies

II. Introduction .......

III. An Apology for Socrates .....

IV. Negotium Posterorum, Part I. .

V. Additions from other MSS. at Port Eliot, Part I,

PAGE

i-iii

. xi-xxvi

1-30

. 31-1*6

1*7

INTRODUCTION.

AVING given in the Introduction to " The
Monarchic of Man " (2 vols. 4to. 1879), a
somewhat full Memoir of Sir John Eliot, I
must refer thither those who wish to know
the facts and circumstances of his illustrious Life; or the
Reader will be abundantly rewarded who masters the in-
evitable source of all after-writers, viz. " Sir John Eliot :
A Biography. 1590-1632. By John Forster. 2 vols.
London, 1864 (Longman)." Here and now, I have to
limit myself to (a) giving an account of the matter con-
tained in the present volumes ; (b) to explain the supple-
ment of the two great MSS. herein reproduced (for the
first time] from the other Port Eliot MSS. entrusted to
me by Earl St. Germans.

(a) An account of the matter contained in the present
volumes.

I. An Apology for Socrates (vol. i. pp. 1-30).
This MS. was among those that were found in his
chamber in the Tower after his death. " It was the

INTRODUCTION.

piece of writing," says FORSTER, " that seems last to have
occupied him " (ii. p. 668). I doubt this. It is much more
carefully and firmly written than his later MSS., and I
rather think preceded at least some of these. Be this as it
may, his Biographer truly observes on the occasion and pur-
pose of it : "If his friends could have doubted his de-
sign in raising and answering such a question \^'An recte
fecerlt Socrates quod accusatus non respondent ? "] in these
last hours, the words written within the paper removed all
doubt : " Upon a Judgment in ye Court of King's Bench
against ye privilege of Parl* on a nibll dicit. 5°. Car."
The Socrates as to whom inquiry was to be made, whether
he had acted rightly in not replying to his accusers, was
not an Athenian but an English philosopher. The name
was a mask, which there was no attempt to disguise or
conceal. The design was to ask from a later age, when
the writer should be no longer accessible to praise or blame,
the justice denied in his own. No immodest comparison,
we may be sure, was intended by the choice of a name so
illustrious. It was taken simply as that of a man who had
been the subject of an unjust accusation j who, on being
called to plead or defend himself, told his accusers that, so
far from having offended against the laws, he had done
nothing for which he did not think himself entitled to be
rewarded by them ; who took his sentence with uncom-
plaining calmness ; and to whose memory a succeeding time
offered late but repentant homage by decree of a statue to
himself and of ignominy to his accusers" (ii. p. 669).
It needed no common measure of conviction of what

INTRODUCTION. xiii

was the right thing to be and to do, for Sir John Eliot to
stand out as he did, and while others were released to abide
in prison. As no one could find better words wherewith
to tell the proud story, I gladly draw again here upon the
' Biography ', as thus : " There can be no doubt that in
the early months of 1632 a great v pressure had been put
upon Eliot by some of his friends to induce him to make
such concession on the point of good behaviour as might
render possible a compromise of his fine, and open some
way to his release. At this time, all who had shared his
imprisonment, whether by order of the king at the disso-
lution of parliament, or by sentence of the judges subse-
quently, were at large ; under various pleas and pretences,
some consideration having been extended to all. Even
Walter Long, who before had been let loose to attend his
wife's death-bed, and afterwards, upon his own petition, to
visit his " motherless, fatherless, friendless children," was at
length released. Very opportunely also, there had befallen
Heath's resignation of the attorney- generalship, and the
appointment to it of Noye ; who, having taken as strong
a part as either Selden or Eliot in the events that led to
the scene of the second of March, appears to have been
really anxious to promote the release of those quondam
fellow agitators. But, though Selden consented to go free
upon his personal guarantee to appear when called upon ;
though Valentine showed no indisposition at last, as Eliot
expressed it, to knock at the "back door of the court" ; and
though the hangers-on of the court, noticing the rumour
of an approaching parliament, were fain to speak of it as

xiv INrRODUCriON.

no unpleasant probability, " now that Noye and Selden are
come on our side, and the rest of the rebels will be glad of
mere conditions ; " the person who comprised in himself
that " rest of the rebels " still steadily refused every form
of compromise involving a concession to his judges. Also
believing that a parliament would come, he would suffer no
point of its privilege to be in his person surrendered or be-
trayed " (ii. pp. 669-70).

It was under these sad and trying conditions that the
' Apology ' was written. I for one do not wonder or blame
that through it there is an under-tone of pain from the in-
ability of his 'old associates ' to sympathize with his s noble
obstinacy'. "It was difficult," continues Forster, "to
bear such reproach, because impossible to answer it with-
out assuming in turn the censor's office, not merely against
renegades he despised, but against friends whom he es-
teemed ; and it was this which seems to have determined
him, in drawing up a final statement of his case, to divest
it in outward seeming of any directness of personal allu-
sion, by writing as if in defence of one who belonged to
another country and a distant time. But the mask was
not for concealment, and was worn so that any might up-
lift it " (ii. pp. 670-1). It must likewise be remembered
that there was actual need for semi-concealment of his
design, seeing that at any moment the king on some
sudden whim of vengefulness might sweep the Prisoner's
room of all his papers and with monkey-like maliciousness
and mischievousness seek occasion against him as pseudo-
warrant for still more inexorable treatment.

INTRODUCTION. xv

In the ' Biography ' successive quotations are made from
the * Apology ' — not, I am bound to say, always accurately
or so carefully as they might have been — but as the com-
plete Manuscript is now furnished in extenso, and in abso-
lute integrity, it seems inexpedient to give these in this
Introduction, even for the advantage of the connecting
words and notes. But I cannot withhold the close: "The
close is very affecting . Speaking of the sufferings, " the
passions " of Socrates, he checks himself. To him only
were known all the secrets of the prison in which the
Socrates of whom he wrote was immured. At the time he
was writing, an order from the Council had finally de-
barred future access from his friends; and the end, though
perhaps he knew it not, was very near. But less of him-
self than of his countrymen he was thinking then. " Should
I enumerate his passions, I should renew your griefs. I
should wound you, O Athenians ; I should pierce the soul
of your affections with his memory." He would not, there-
fore, tell them what their Socrates had suffered. What he
suffered in his fortune, what he suffered in his person, in
his liberty, in his life, he would not relate. " To be made
poor and naked ; to be imprisoned and restrained ; nay,
not to be at all, not to have the proper use of anything ;
not to have knowledge of society ; not to have being and
existence ; his faculties confiscate, his friends debarred his
presence ; himself deprived the world ; I will not tell you
all this suffered by your Socrates, and all suffered in your
service; for you, most excellent Athenians, for your
children, your posterity ; to preserve your rights and liber-

INTRODUCTION.

ties, that, as they were the inheritance of your fathers, from
you they might descend to your sons." But though he
sought not to move their sorrow for him of whom he
wrote, he craved their justice. Of defections from the law,
of contempt for authority and justice, of desertion of his
own innocence, of a betrayal of the public liberties, Socrates
had been accused. Was he guilty ? Or had he proved his
right to have preferred to die, with refusal to admit the
jurisdiction of his judges, rather than to live, with such
concession to an unlawful power as might have challenged
and obtained their pity ? The appeal was heard, and the
answer given, far sooner than Eliot might have looked for
in the gloom that surrounded him ; at the time apparently
more hopeless from some gleams of hope which had pre-
ceded it" (ii. pp. 682-3).*

I feel a not unbecoming pride that at long-last this
historically priceless and biographically infinitely pathetic
' Apology ' is for ever rescued from the hazards of a solitary
Manuscript. Had it come down to us in Greek out of the
prison-house of an Aristides — imprisoned, not banished — it
had been placed beside the ' Phaedo '. As it is, if it be
without the dulcet words and finely-wrought phrasing of
" the speech of the gods," it has a tranquil dignity, a fine
restraint, an exquisite truthfulness, ay, and a natural
brokenness of utterance that in my judgment ought hence-

* Throughout I give Forster's quotations in his text. Compari-
son with mine will show even in his most careful places how he tampers
with words and forms.

INTRODUCTION. xvii

forward to stamp it as one of the great possessions of our
History and Literature. That it should have been possible
for such a man as Charles I. so to deal with such a man
as Sir John Eliot, is of the mysteries of Providence, and is
a measure for us to-day of the broad-based liberties of ' this
England* — liberties that our ELIOTS and HAMPDENS and
PYMS and CROMWELLS magnanimously asserted and the
Nation won. They are recreant Englishmen who side
with the king — and such a king ! — against the kingdom.
They are the victims of a superstition, who hold for
monarchy in a Charles I. as if in an Alfred, in a
Charles II. as if in an Elizabeth, in George IV. as if in
William III. Our present titular ' monarchy ', with such
a Queen as Victoria (God bless her!), is the freest and
noblest existing sovereignty ; but supreme over all is " The
Monarchy of Man"; and no unworthy king, no fresh
Charles I., or II., or George IV. would be tolerated.
Nor would the revolution — in such case — cost what prior
have done. But may a long line of descent from Victoria
and Albert, ' worthily ' fill our England's mighty throne !

2. Negotium Posterorum (vol. i. pp. 31-126 : vol. ii.
pp. 1-109).

As JOHN FORSTER was the first literary Worker who" had
unreserved access to the Port Eliot MSS., so he had the
distinguished honour of being the first to sort and sift the
confused mass — long neglected — of the family Papers.
Under his personal direction the whole were classified and

c

xviii INTRODUCTION.

bound fittingly in noble tomes. They form such an array
of historical documents and memorials as might make any
Library famous. Long may they find an honoured place
in the great patriot-statesman's mansion !

While justly proud of all his researches among these MSS.,
the Biographer to the last used to discourse, garrulously yet
pleasantly, of his pre-eminent recovery (if discovery were
not his preferred word) of the ' Negotium Posterorum.'
One can excuse his ' magnifying' of his part in the supreme
' find.' Hitherto he had worked very much in the dark j
and lo ! a shaft of light flashed over the entire field.

I very willingly let him tell his own story of this in-
estimable Manuscript — now, like the 'Apology for Socrates,'
for the first time printed in extenso : — " A period of Eliot's
life [1625] has now arrived where guidance is happily
vouchsafed to us, which we may accept without a misgiving.
Among the papers at Port Eliot in his own handwriting,
and of which the authorship is as manifestly his, exists a
memoir of the first parliament of Charles the First.

"That this manuscript, possessing great historical im-
portance and an unrivalled personal interest, should have failed
to attract any kind of notice for more than two centuries,
which have yet been filled with a vivid interest for the sub-
ject it relates to, and with enquirers eager for any scrap of
authentic information concerning it, is one of those acci-
dents that not un frequently attend old family papers.

" Its appearance is not inviting ; it is on the face of it a
fragment, or intended portion of a larger work j and it bears
a Latin title, of which the meaning is not immediately per-

i

INTRODUCTION.

ceived. But upon examination it is found to be in itself
complete ; to contain a narrative of every incident and
debate in the Lower House, during its two sittings at
Westminster and Oxford ; and to include besides admirable
summaries of the leading speeches, Yeports of every speech
delivered [in the Parliament at Westminster and Oxford
of Charles I., i°] by Eliot himself.

" The object with which it was composed declares itself
beyond any question. It was designed, evidently, to stand
as a portion of a work that should relate to other genera-
tions the parliamentary labours and struggles in which
Eliot and his friends of that existing generation had been
engaged.

" Its plan would doubtless have embraced the parliaments
of James in which he sat, as well as those in which he
took part under Charles ; and the unfinished state in which
the manuscript of the " second " portion, as it is termed,
reaches us, might have suggested its date, even if internal
proofs did not determine it positively. At the close of the
first stormy session of the great parliament of 1628, during
the recess when Buckingham was murdered and Went-
worth went over to the Court, it appears to have been be-
gun ; though not likely to have been brought into the state
in which we find it, until the author's later imprisonment.
It probably then assumed the double character — of a me-
morial of the struggles by which the ancient liberty had
been reasserted, and of a monument to sufferings under-
gone in so wresting the petition of right from the king.
The fulfilment of the design was interrupted by death ;

xx INTRODUCTION.

and how far it had proceeded, even, cannot with certainty
be said. It is .quite probable that this second part com-
prises all that was ever written, as undoubtedly it is all now
remaining at Port Eliot ; though the fact of many books
and manuscripts having been lost or destroyed when the
mansion was repaired forty years ago leaves it doubtful
whether some of the Patriot's papers may not also then
have perished. More cannot be known ; but in what has
survived we have the record, not insufficient, however in-
complete, of the opening scenes of one of the greatest
conflicts in which the men of one generation ever engaged
to secure the happiness and freedom of generations that
were to follow. In the very title given to his manuscript
by Eliot, that idea appears. Not for ourselves we did these
things, made these sacrifices, underwent these toils and
sufferings ; but for you. It was not our own business we
were then transacting, but yours — Negotium Posterorum "
(vol. i. pp. 209-11).

At this point I intercalate two observations :
(#) An examination of Negotlum Posterorum as now re-
produced with all fidelity to the original MS., brings these
points before us — viz. that in vol. i. page 39 (following
the introductory paper, pp. 33-38) are these words —
Negotium Posterorum

Tomus Secundus, Liber Primus.
And again in vol ii. page i, is this : —

Negotium Posterorum

Tomus Secundus, Liber Secundus.
Studying these, it seems morally certain that a ' Tomus

INTRODUCTION.

Primus ' had been written by the author. No one would
now dream of either entitling a volume ' Tomus Secun-
dus ' with a f Tomus Primus ' non-existent, or of writing
' Tomus Secundus ' before { Tomus Primus.' I therefore
fear that it is beyond all doubt that a ' Tomus Primus '
has perished, and perished irrevocably.

But (b) other MSS. of Sir John Eliot at Port Eliot contain
at least portions of materials for such a ' Tomus Primus.'
They also contain the authorities utilized in ( Tomus
Secundus/ With respect to the latter, whilst we cannot
make up for the prodigious loss of ' Tomus Primus/ we
are able to elucidate and illustrate the events and circum-
stances of (strictly) a Jacobean parliament, and also to give
first-hand copies of Speeches delivered by Sir John Eliot ;
some with greater detail than in Negotium Posterorum, some
that were prepared but not delivered, and other relative
documents. Of these, in the sequel.

The Biographer quotes' largely from Negotium Postero-
rum. If I cannot accept absolutely his assurance that " the
Reader may rely with perfect confidence on the scrupu-
lous precision and accuracy with which all that is essential
in this remarkable manuscript ... is laid before him/'
it is because I deem integrity of wording to be the
' essential of essentials/ Nevertheless, regarded broadly,
Forster has made effective use of this MS. for his pirrpose.
I cannot but rejoice, however, that the historical student
has the great MS. now before him, as the author in-
tended it to reach him ; id est, not cut up into fragments
and snippets taken hither and thither, but in completeness.

XX11

INTRODUCTION.

To myself Negotium Posterorum has the solemnity of a
Greek play. Beginning with the sunny welcome to
Charles on the death of his mean and meagre, though
shrewd and (in a sense) learned father (James I.), and the
generous hopes of the foremost in the nation in and for
him, all too swiftly ominous shadows fall in black bands
and bars across the sunshine and the gladness. The Turks
(mirabile dictu /) were harassing the coasts and even har-
bours of England ; and there was terrible internal misery
and discontent. The stage is early seen to be too vast for
the poor Players on it. Buckingham is the Fate of the
young king — perchance his heaviest paternal heritage.
Following on the great sigh of relief to all England over
the shattering of the ' Spanish Marriage ' scheme, came
his ill-advised election of f Maria/ which all the glamour
of courtly poets never succeeded (or could succeed) in
transmuting into English ' Mary.' Then behind, above,
encompassing all, there is revealed an innate ineradicable
shiftiness and treachery to his spoken and written word, on
the part of the king, a constant playing fast and loose with
truth, a perpetual ' promising to the ear ' and falsification
in the act. And so the ' Debates ' in the House are
coloured by the atmosphere and lights and shadows in
which they are held. Anything more despicable, more
un-English than Charles's dealing in the matter of Bishop
Montagu — to name a lesser thing first — or in the central
difficulty of ' Subsidies ' — to accentuate a greater thing —
is inconceivable. There is a certain pathos of fatality in
his unvarying doing of the wrong thing and at the wrong

INTRODUCTION. xxiii

time even for the success of it. One is awed, indeed, before
the spectacle of a man so (mis)guided by a conscience per-
verted in its very core, whereby the poor and shallow
thing of shallowest natures, obstinacy, was mistaken for
august WILL. Than the account tff the interview between
Sir John Eliot and Buckingham (vol. i. pp. 111-112) I
know nothing holding in it elements for highest imagina-
tive-poetic treatment, if only the man were forthcoming.
The unhappy Duke's ( No ' to the patriot's pleading, marks
a turning-point in English history. There are other
dramatic possibilities — as of Sir John Eliot on the spur of
the moment facing ' the Favorite ' and by sheer force of
his own indignation compelling him to withdraw ; and
the like ( answering ' of the renegade Wentworth, as he
truckled and cajoled, bartering his magnificent dower of
intellect and many-sided power for poorest ' mess of pot-
tage.' The long patient insistence of ' the Commons,'
the firm holding to ' law and right,' the absolute determi-
nation to be true to the Nation's interests, and the fine
courtesy and reluctant severity with which ' grievances '
are presented, thrill one to-day, unless lukewarm water
and not living blood be in the veins. The Speeches of the
Leaders found in Negotium Posterorum take their place in
the successive crises of danger and forbearing opportunity,
like so many Choruses of old. I feel assured that* not a
few of these — as those of the fiery and brave-spoken Sir
Robert Philips — will come as a revelation to many. Then
— as already noted — Wentworth and the other ' op-
posites ' to the patriots, earlier and later burst upon us in

INTRODUCTION.

Negotium Posterorum with all the vividness and power of
actual life. Taken as a whole, however looked at, Nego-
tium Posterorum is a unique historical-biographical work.
From beginning to end, and with every abatement because
of its not unfrequently cumbrous and unskilful workman-
ship in phrasing, we read breathlessly and with the zest of
a vital Novel of Scott, or Charlotte Bronte, or George Eliot.

As a Supplement to the / Apology for Socrates,' and
' Negotium Posterorum ' I have added an Appendix to
each of these volumes, of important MSS. from the Port
Eliot Papers, nearly all hitherto unprinted, though quoted
from and referred to by Forster. The Reader will find it
special recompense to study these.

The Supplement Additions speak for themselves, but
there is one document now first fully printed, on which
a remark seems called for, viz., the great Speech given in
vol. i. (pp. 140-148). I have inadvertently stated (p. 140)
that this Speech does not appear in Negotium Posterorum.
It really does so, though in such an imperfect and broken
form as to be scarcely recognizable. If the Reader will
turn to our vol. ii. pp. 85-91, and compare the text
with that in our Supplement (i. 140-48) he will be
grateful for the latter. Sir John Eliot must himself
(and others as well) have attached unusual importance
to this Speech, inasmuch as not only have we the two
transcripts as printed by me, but another in Lansdowne
MSS. (491, fol. 155) and the printed version in Cottoni
Pojlhuma, which is blunderingly assigned to Sir Robert
Cotton. Singularly enough, Mr. Forster quotes from these

INTRODUCTION. xxv

latter the introductory sentences as not being among the
Eliot MSS. This is a mistake, as our text shows (vol. i. pp.
140-1) ; they are in their place in the transcript, carefully and
critically revised by Sir John Eliot. Mr. Samuel Rawson
Gardiner, in his " Buckingham and Charles I " (i. 289),
argues that this Speech was undelivered. But in Nego-
tium Posterorum, Sir John expressly tells us not only that
the Speech was delivered, but the effect it produced, as thus
— " this inflam'd the affection of the house, & pitcht it
whollie on the imitation of their ffathers" (vol. i. p. 91).
This is to me decisive. But it is (barely) possible that all
the " precedents " and details of the fuller Speech, were not
spoken. Intrinsically, the interest and weight of the
Speech is unaffected by delivery or non-delivery.

Having named the Historian Mr. Gardiner, I take the
opportunity to refer every Student of the period to his
most matterful and judicial volumes, commencing with his
" History of England from the Accession of James I. to
the Disgrace of Chief- Justice Coke, 1603-1616" (2 vols.
8vo. 1863), and still happily being continued. On all the
events and names embraced in the present volumes, Mr.
Gardiner will never be consulted in vain.

It would have needlessly extended my own Notes and
Illustrations to have annotated the many historical facts
and names that are recorded in Negotlum Posterorum. I
have identified most ; and for more Mr. Gardiner and Mr.
Forster must be read. I owe Mr. Gardiner hearty thanks
for his kindness in answering my (I fear) troublesomely
numerous questions.

d

INTRODUCTION.

I will only add that as in all my books I have striven
to be faithful in my reproduction of these difficult MSS.
I feel it to be an honour to have been entrusted by Lord
St. Germans with the task of love of giving to historical
students these MSS. and those that are to succeed (in other
two similar volumes), viz. De Jure Majestatis, with (pro-
bably) other additions of a valuable kind from his UNPUB-
LISHED CORRESPONDENCE, &c. &c. These additional
volumes are now in the press, and may be expected some
time this year. Henceforward, there will be no excuse for
ignorance of the life-story and life-work of the foremost of
the Worthies of our England.

ALEXANDER B. GROSART.

ST. GEORGE'S VESTRY,

BLACKBURN, LANCASHIRE.

I.

APOLOGIE FOR SOCRATES,

BEING A

VINDICATION

OF

SIR JOHN ELIOT

BY
HIMSELF.

NOTE.

See our Introduction for an account of the MS. volume preferved
at Port Eliot from which this remarkable * Apologia"" is derived. — G.

1

APOLOGIE FOR SOCRATES.

An refte fecerit Socrates, quod accufatus non refponderit.

[Orat.fuit. ad imitationem Max. Tirr. dissert, xxxix.]

STAND now heer (moft excellent Athe- Page i.
nians) as a rare Character, & example, both Apobgie for
of yr pietie, & Juftice : of yr Juftice, in
thefe tymes, that truth may have admifsion
to the publicke ear, & veiw, to the tribunall of yr Judg-
ments : of yr pietie, that an Apologie maie be heard
for SOCRATES, now dead, why liveinge he negle&ed it ;
that yu will yett receave for his memorie a defence, why
he defended not his innocence, & grant that vnmatcht
integritie of his, his integritie & fidelitie to yuwards, a
vindicacon from their enemies, an expiation from their
{launders, those fcandalous afpersions whereby Socrates, &
his dutie have been ftaind : & this to be done by me, the
weakeft of all others, yett soe farr acceptable, as it is done
for him : & that in this manner, in this sacred afsemblie,
the people soe seldome celebrat,/ & convented. it is a rare Page 2.

APOLOGIE FOR SOCRATES.

example of yr pietie ; & as to me an honor in the fruition
of this prfense j soe even to Socrates though dead, a hap-
pinefse, & favour ; & an admiracon vnto all men. I know
not whether yr obligacon in a iuft counterpoife & weight,
wilbe greater vpon Socrates, or me : on Socrates, that his
memorie is yett soe pretious in yr eyes, that through all
thefe mifts, and clouds wch have obfcur'd it, yu have ftill a
veiw, & profpect on that obiect : on me ; that I fhould be
thought worthie to fpeake before yr excellencies, to fpeake
in the caufe of Socrates, pardon me Socrates this high,
& great prefumption, to vndertake this worke, wch is only
ffitt for Hercules ; to put my moulder to that burden, that
sacred burden, of thy vertues, wch none but Atlas cann
fupport ; nothinge but his wifdome, qul et ctslestium &
subterranearum rerum habet cognitionem, as the antients/
Page 3. faind that Giant, pardon me Socrates this tranfcendent
bouldnefse, to tender my indeavours to that labour,
pardon me yu Athenians, that thus farr I intrude,
(though by yr leaves) vpon yr eares, & patience, all my
hope is that, in the caufe of Socrates his Genius will afsist
me, that to defend the innocence of Socrates, Socrates
Eloquence will attend me : that in the Apologie of his
a6tion, I shall have the secrett influence of his iudgment ;
& that I know would give yu fatiffaccon ; of wch some
hope I have, & wthout wch I should vtterlie difpaire. yett
this I muft petition from yr candor, that yr expe6lacon be
the leaft : that my weakenefse may be the obiecl: of that
facultie ; not that wonder of abilitie in Socrates : that soe
Socrates may be wthout priudice in his vertues, if the

APOLOGIE FOR SOCRATES. 5

ftreames be not anfwearable to that fountaine : & if ther
flow what may relifti of that spring, what that pure spirit
of Socrates/ may suggeft, that it may seem the more Page 4.
pretious in yr Judgments, the more acceptable being
vnlook't for.

I know the great difficultie of this worke, this apologie
for Socrates, & the ftrong oppofition it will have j that in
this, That Socrates did not anfwear the accufacon made ag*
him, ther are many enemies fuppof'd. firft a defection
from the Law, in declinninge of hir procefse. next, a con-
tempt of iuftice, in not fubmitting to authoritie, wher a
rule & iudgment did command it. then a defertion of
his innocence, in expofmg that to fcandall, wch yett noe
good man will fupport. & laft, a betray Inge of yr liberties,
that ineftimable iewell of yr rights, involv'd in the caufe
of Socrates : that Socrates by his filence, became a traitor
to his country, a traitor vnto yu, a traitor to himfelfe.
all thefe crimes are charg'd vpon this one acl: of Socrates,
or rather this neglect, that Socrates did not anfwear, wherein
the detraction of his enemyes, ye malice/ of his accufers, page 5.
the cuninge of the informers, the corruption of the iudges ;
melltus /item qui intendit, Anytus qui detulit, Lyco qui pro-
pofuit, & the reft, doe all concurr in this, to deprave this
worke of Socrates, to heighten it to thefe crimes ; to make
him guiltie of offence, whofe offence was only, not" to have
[been] guiltie ; & by the condemnacon of his virtue to raife
a iuftificacon for their vice.

to encounter all thefe powers, I know, is a worke of
difficultie : to anfweare all thefe crimes, to give satisfaccon

APOLOGIE FOR SOCRArES.

in thefe charges ; for their number, for their weight,
requires noe little labour : to vindicate the honor & repu-
tation of Socrates, in this danger, & necefsitie it is in, is a
tafke even fitt for Socrates j his Eloquence, & wifedome
were he liveinge, & his fpirit only, & genius, now he's dead,
one word of Socrates would suffice it ; one found, &
articulation of his voice ; thofe few sillables, his Innocence,

Page 6. haveinge the grace/ of that exprefsion wch his tongue would
give them, that mellifluous tongue of his ; that one word,
pafsing through his lips, would anfwear all obie&ions, his
defence were full in that : though the eares of all men were
sealed vp, & an obftruccon in their heareing, yett the aer
would regulate the motion of that sound to the figures of
his truth j it would be ther read written in the aer, &
(though mens affections did refufe it) the aer would ther
retaine it ; to the veiw, and wo under of pofteritie. But
Socrates being dead, that word has loft his vertue, to
wch the realitie gives power, the innocence of Socrates,
haveing influence on the word, would have made it soe
prevalent, & effective : but now that p'fe&ion beinge
wantinge, ther being noe paralell of that virtue, the fillables
want ther harmonic, they ftrike not that affection in the
hearers, by the concord & diapafion of their speeche, and

Page 7. therefore/ larger arguments muft be vfd, by p'ticulars to
prove it : by p'ticular anfweares, to the p'ticular obie&ions
that are made ; by p'ticular defences, to each p'ticular
charge ; & soe from a speciall apologie in dark crime to
implie his iuftificacon in the generall. This method I shall
follow wherein I muft crave yr favours to accompanie me,

APOLOGIE FOR SOCRATES.

yr attenfions to obferve ye tract & levell of my reafon : yr
patience to afford me tyme, & libertie, in this fubieft ; yr
wifedomes (moft excellent Athenians) to fupplie the defect
of my exprefsion, wher my mouth shall prove (as in this
cafe I fear it much) to[o] narrow for my hart, & yr
pardon for thofe errors I committ, wch my weaknefse, my
ignorance, want of memory, & confidence, will in part
extenuat & excufe : the glorie of this prfence,/ this rare page 8.
concourfe, and afsemblie of the people, beinge an obiecl: soe
excellent, that wth a ravifhing delight it captivats my
fence ; & in stead of intention on my worke takes me
wholie in wonder & admiration, but to p'pare & facilitat
the waie in this great iorney and adventure to wch yr favors
doe encourage me ; I muft praie yu to looke backe, to reflect
a litle, on the courfe, & proceedings firft wth Socrates :

the firft ftate, &meritt of hiscaufe, wch will give an illustra-
con to the reft, fomethinge may thence arife for the matter
ofapologie, wchl knowyr pietie will not barr me ; or if to me,
yett yu will not to Socrates denie it. his virtue mall not be
prcluded of y1 help, wch is the common rule of Jufticein all
cafes, to give a free scope, & libertie of argument, to admitt
all cercumftance of vfe -, much more then maie I prfume
it, at yr handes, whoe are moft iuft, yea like iuftice in the
abftract ; & in this cafe for Socrates ;/ whofe example yu page 9.
held soe pretious whileft he lived, & now his memory, being
dead. Socrates was accuf 'd to have spoken divers things
in Senat, divers things by waie of greivance, & complaint :
some things againft Melitus, who after was his iudge ; some
things ag* Anytus, who had the p'fecution of his caufe ;

APOLOGIE FOR SOCRATES.

some things againft Lyco, the informer, from whom the
delation did p'ceed, & others of yl leven ; but all fhrowding
under ye canopie of the State, all cafting themfelves wthin the
proteccon of y1 buckler, and ther fightinge wth our He&or, as
Troilus under Aiax; what fordifquficon hep'pounded againft
them, turninge it to fedicon in the goverment ; intitleing
ye goverment to all their enormities and exorbitance,^

Page 10. & tranflating the complaints/ againft themfelves, to ye
flaunder of the goverment. for this Socrates was ac-
cufed, & thus his charge was laid, thus to have spoken
againft yu, but wth refleccon on the ftate ; wto intencon to
have wounded the head in thofe ill members; through
their fides to have made a penetracon to the hart, & this
in publicke senate, in that sacred fanctuary of your liberties,
wher iuftice is soe religiouflie profeft, that noe faulte scapes
unpunifhed. In this Socr[ates] displead the priviledge of
ye Senat. that noe lefser court had iurifdicon in that caufe,
that from all antiquitie ther had been a conftant pofsefsion
of that right, wthout any violacon or impeach1, divers
reafons, & authorities he product, for the cleering of y*

Page ii. intereft./ that though all things had been true, as they
were given in the suggeftion, and Socrates had been faultie
(wch noe man can fufpect) though to the outward subftance
of his actions that inward forme, & finifter intention had
been added ; yett he was no wher punifhable, noe wher
queftionable but in that Court, by that iudgm* of the
Senate, the fentence of y1 place, wher noe delinquent could
inioye impunitie, foe long to be elfwhere obnoxious to a
queftion. for confirmacon of yi priviledge fower forts of

APOLOGIE FOR SOCRATES.

authorities were vf d,allpregnaunt in the pointe,all bindeinge
vpon Socrates, firft ye claimes and challenges of Senat,
layinge it as a ground & pofition of their birthright, next
the refolucons of the iudges, the ordinary/ iudges of the Page 12.
law, fuch as Melitus & the like, cohfentinge, & approving
of that right, then the allowance, and concefsion of all
princes who ftill doe acknowledge and confirme it. then
Lawes and ftatutes in the pointe, tyinge both Socrates and
others, to the ftrickt obfervance of y* intereft. and laftly a
prfident,and example, to demonftrat it. to wch add, the rea-
fons, for Socrates his faftie, and integritie, that however, in
foro ivdicij, he were free, yett in foro confcientite, he was
bound ; that the great iudgm* of Socrates did oblidge him
to infift vpon this priviledge, to prferve this publicke right ;
tellinge him ftill in private, in the Cabanet of his hart, that
it was the due of Senators, & by fubmifsion to the contrary/
he mould be confcious of their p'iudice; he fhould be guiltie Page 13.
of the violation of that priviledge ; of the violacon of his
duty, though others had otherwife determined it : & that in
future he mould (land obnoxious to the Senate for that a6l of
priudice and violacon ; & foe bydeclinningethe danger of that
tyme which might have reparacon in another, incurr the
cenfure of another wch could have reparacon in noe tyme.
But to make this more p'fpicuous, cleerly to ftate ye cafe,
I mail crave leave to inftance fome p'ticulars : for by the
groundes & inducements then in Socrates, we mall beft
iudg the fcope of his intentions, by the intention cheifely
mail we come to the true knowledge of his a6ts, wch may
be worthy of praife, or condemnacon, accordinge to the

io APOLOGIE FOR SOCRATES.

Page 14. fpirit/ that did guide them, ffor the claimes and challenges

of the Senate they are numberlefTe, & manie ; and the con-
cefsions as frequent by the princes, repeated in all ages, at
the initiation of all meetings ; wher the peticon is ftill made
(not of grace, but right) for y1 immunitie in p'ticular, that

pet. prol. in if in that Senat any did offend they Jhould be only punijhed
in that place, that noe arreft Jhould be, or impeachment of
their p'fons, for matters and agitacons in that fphear ;
(much lefle a iudgm* & queftion for their lives) wch as the
proper right of Senators, the common right of Athens,
the antient birthright, & inheritance of yr fathers, thofe
famous fathers, and founders, of yr greatnefse (moft prudent,
and moft excellent Athenians) has been ftill granted, and
allowed ; soe as that number or order may afford, what

Page 15. tyme & approbacon/ maie creat, in the opinion of this

priviledge, Socrates had it heer, in thefe claimes, and recog-
nitions, to wch almoft all places, & all perfons might atteft.
but if vfe & cuftome, wch is in other things equevalent
to law, & creats a right ; be not in this cafe fufficient to
confirme it : if the familiaritie in that, like the common vfe
of oders, have dull'd the apprehenfion of our fenfe, we
haue varietie prfented in the allegations wch he made, out
of the antient Rhetra of yr lawes, wherein it is expreft
vpon the occafion of thofe tymes, that all great matters

1 1 R. 2. movd In fenate ought to be handled difcufsed and adiudged

onlie by courfe of senate and not in inferiour Courts, to wch right
& declaracon the prince confented and approved, as like-
wife afterwardes vpon an appeale of treafon in that Court ;
the lawiers, & men fkillfull in thofe ftuddies, being confulted

APOLOGIE FOR SOCRATES.

did confefse, that, moveinge in that place, it was not wthin

their notion, whin the compafse of their/ cognifance ; & there- Page 16.

vpon concluded that by the antlent cuftome it appertayned,

to the franchife & liberties ofthefenate to iudge of what was rot. process. &

moveinge in that orbe, & that noe other Courts had iuryfdic- Judlc' " R' 2

con in fuch cafes, wch Courts did only execute the ordinances &

eftablijhments of senate^ and not iudg the senate, or priviledges

thereof, to the like he urged a proteftacon of that Counfell

vpon an occafion of fome fear, that it was the antient and jg Ja[mes].

vndoubted birthright and inheritance of ye Athenians freelie

to treat, reafon £sf debate all matters, & bufinefses in Senate,

w ' out any impeachment, imprifonment , or moleftacon^ other

then the censure of that Court, wch (hews the right, claime,

and pofsefsion of the Senate, and that firft ground, and

foundacon on wch Socrates did build, the next was, the

refolucons of ye iudges, the iudges of ould tyme, whofe

wifedomes, & integrities prferr'd them, wher they were

concurringe in this pointe (and neuer/ any differd from page 17.

that sence, but such as were spoken by their ends, to be

vnworthy of thofe names, whofe retractions were after n. R. 2.

written in their bloodes) the refolucons of thofe elders,

thofe worthyly calld iudges, are the next authoritie he

brings ; whereof two are moft remarkable ; the firft on a

queftion of precedence, only a title of prioritie in that place,

whereon all thofe sages being confulted, all the iudges calld

to deliver their opinions, they anfweared ; that, it being 27. H. 6.

matter of the Senate, belonged wholy to yt priviledge, and ^' par no'

ought to be ther decided, iff not elfivher. & if not a privat

queftion of prcedence how much lefse the publicke bufmefse

APOLOGIE FOR SOCRATES.

of that howfe ? the second was vppon ye imprifonment of
a member, a member of that body, wher the iudges like-
wife being confulted, (after fad communicacon, & mature
31 H. 6. dellberacon had, as 'twas voucht from the words of the
rot. pa«- no. authoritie) anfweared that it belonged not to them to determine
Page 1 8. of thofe high/ priviledges ; for wch they afiignd two reafons
drawne from ye power & cuftome of that Counfell, that it
had not been vf'd afore tyme, and that the Senate was a
Court foe high, fcf mightie in its nature, that it could make
law, and, that wch was law, it could make to be none, where
both in the affirmative, & negative, it is cleer, for the
inducement of our Socrates, that what concernes either the
priviledge, or bufmefle of ye Senate (and in the bufinefse
the greateft priviledge is imported) muft haue decifion in
that place, & in no other ; in none that is inferior, his
next ground, and reafon, was drawne from the lawes and
ftatutes of this Country, thofe ould rules by wch Athens
has been happie in a long continuance of profperitie (& long
may it foe continue euen to the envie of hir enemyes, the
admiracon of hir frendes) thofe lawes, thofe inftruments of
Page 19. felicitie/ are the next ground of that silence in our Socrates,
wherein he finds not only reafon to excufe him, but
authoritie commanding him, not to attempt the contrary,
vpon the perill of his iudgment. & what might follow
the violacon of his duty, and what greater danger vnto
Socrates, then the hafard of his faith, that publicke faith,
and fidelitie he ought to his Country, to the Senate, to the
lawes, to yr moft sacred lawes, and liberties 6 Athenians ?
what greater danger vnto Socrates then a violacon of this

APOLOGIE FOR SOCRATES. 13

duty ? what greater obligation then his confcience? both wch

were necefsitated in this one a6t of Socrates, that to fecure

himfelfe in either, his silence was enforct, both for the

obligacon, and the danger. The lawes wch he infifted on

were two (& thefe likewife yu may see recorded in yr

Rhetra) the firft concludinge in termes pofitive, & definit,

that noe member of the Senate/ ought to be queftiori* d for any Page 2,0.

billy speakinge, reafoninge, or declaring In that place, wch is * ' "

a cleer illuftracon of the right, a cleer demonftration of

the priviledg, that, what ther was in agitation, was not

queftionable elfwher ; and therefore Socrates in his duty to

that priviledge, in obfervance of that right, could not before

his Judges, make anfweare to the fact, wch he was charg'd

foe to haue done in Senate, leaft he admitt their iurifdiccon,

contrary to that law. the second is more bindeinge, and

seemes to have been p' pared as a proper remedie for this

sore, this wound wch Socrates did suftaine : & therein the

p'vifion is not only, for the securitie of Socrates from

abroad, that he be not elfewher queflioned for matters

done in Senate ; but likewife, from wthin, that noe infor-

macon lie againft him, noe intelligence doe pafse, vppon the

secretts of his iudgmentes, & what overtures/ he makes in Page 21.

the afsembly of that Councell for the publicke service, and

advantage : that ther be noe difcovery made vpon him.

and this, as it bindes vp others, not to difcover Socrates j

foe it ingages Socrates, both for himfelfe, & others,

not to difcouer them, for it recites, that w her some to 2 H. 4 rot.

advance themfelves had given intelligence of certaine matters Parno< "•

?nov'd in Senat, before they were ther accorded, & foe

14 APOLOGIE FOR SOCRATES.

cauf'd a p'ticular dijlike againft their fellowes, & a
generall fiudice to the publicke prceedings of that Counfell.
therefore it enacts to prvent that evill in future, that
none Jhuld soe inform, & that noe faith or creditt should
be given them if they did. wherein (as the iuftice
of Melitus is apparant that receav'd the informacon
againft Socrates, and the integritie of Lyco y1 informed/

Page 22. him, and the office of Anytus that accufed him) the
dutie likewife of Socrates is expreft, that he might
not make difcovery of thofe pafsages, that he might
not open what had been in agitacon in the Senat,
and therefore could not anfwear, when his anfwear
muft implie the intelligenc of thofe fecretts. ther was
yett farther, another ground of Socrates, befides thefe
lawes, refolucons, claimes, and concefsions of all tymes
(wherein the right is evident) wch alfo proves the vfe, the
pofsefsion of that right ; & that is a Judgment in the
pointe, where ye contrary had been a6luat, wher an
attempt was made in priudice of this priviledge, the sup-

20 R. 2. port of ye liberties [of] the Senate. The cafe was this, a
private p'fon of this Cittie, for exhibiting a bill in Senat
wch pointed at the limit, & reformacon of some great ones,

Page 23. had afterwardes/ by the Judges a fentence lafa maieftatis
given againft him, but the Senat, in their next meetinge,
findeinge this sentence grounded vpon what had its motion
in that fphear, and that the partie had been queftion'd
wthout them ; they thervpon, (wthout entring into the
meritts of the caufe, wthout confideracon of the facl: whither
it had such guilt, but fimplie) for their priviledg pro

APOLOGIE FOR SOCRATES. 15

intereffe suo, as the Rhetra has it, for the prfervacon of their i H. 4. rot.

liberties, to maintaine that antient right, that in such cafes pa' no- I04t

none were questionable but by them, £ff in yt this vs done

wthout them, that it was made the turifdiccon of another,

vpon this error that sentence was reverfd, & a Judgment

made to fruftrat and annihil it, in confirmacon of the

priviledg of Senate, and this in a cafe of treafon, & for one

that was not a member/ of that Counfell, how much more Page 24.

then is that immunitie extendinge, that priviledg belonginge

vnto Socrates, and in a cafe more qualified, wherein lefse

danger is prtended ? Socrates on this conceaved himfelf

difcharg'd in pointe of right, & equitie ; naie he conceav'd

that right, to haue a ftrickt obligacon on his confcience, y*

from him ther mould come nothinge wch might priudice

it : & this was an interdiccon to his anfwear, a fuper-

fedeas to that act, and therefore Socrates made his Cataf-

trophe in filence, & w111 thefe reafons that silence was

induct, in wch whither Socrates were guiltie; guiltie of

thofe crimes wch are obiected to him ; guiltie of any ;

guiltie of all; whether that whole ftreame of malidicon

fall worthily on his memorie, now that Socrates is dead,/

or any drop might iuftlie light vpon him ; or the innocence, Page 25.

& integritie of our Socrates, on the Contrerry, should yett

be free from all, is now the queftion of this daie, the

obiedt of yr intentions, the subiect of my endeavrs wherein

(moft excellent Athenians) as you will grant yr attentions

vnto me, I muft againe peticon yr retentions for dead

Socr[ates] : that yr love, and affection to his virtues, may

cover the imperfections of his servant : he that now labours

16 APOLOGIE FOR SOCRATES.

againft foe many difficulties, both of perfons, and the tyme,
& the deceipts, & fallacies of either, yett to render truly
yr Socrates to yu, yu vnto yr Socrates, to this end, I fhall
now applie my felfe, to the p'ticulars charg'd againft him,
wth his defence in each p'ticular ; each p'ticular crime fhall
have p'ticular anfwears, & all I hope their fatiffaccon in

Page 26. the generall, that none/ shall be left doubtfull vpon Socrates,
noe fpot vnwasht that may be an afperfion to his beautie ;
noe color vnremovd that may ftaine his reputacon ; but
that his name, like his virtue fhall be cleer ; cleer from all
ftaines, all afperfions, & all ieoloufies : cleer in yr iudgment
(6 Athenians) : cleer in the iudgment & opinions of all
good men. ffor the firft that Socrates not anfwearinge,
made a defection from the law, in not conforming to the
pp'cefle, wch is a rule propof'd to all men, and not to be
declined, I might firft fay ther was noe fuch thinge in fact,
and therefore noe deliction in that pointe ; and this truth
were moft aparant. ffor noe pp'cess does require the exact
p'formance of a thinge. that might impofe an impofsi-
bilitie on the p'tie ; as the payment of a fumm to him

Page 27. that has it not ; the fatiffaction of a mul[c]t/ layd by the
wifedome of some Judges beyond the p'portion of the
fortune from whence it should be ifsuinge, and the like ;
wcb were an abfurditie in reafon ; & therefore noe lawe
commaunds impofsibilities : but a double way is beft for the
fulfillinge of that rule ; the authoritie of the p'cefse ftandes
in a dilemma ; either this muft be done, or that ; either
the thinge commanded, as the payment of the debt, the
fatiffaccon of the mulcl:, & the like ; or a submifsion of

APOLOGIE FOR SOCRATES. 17

the partie, a rendringe of ye perfon to the difcreation of
the law, either of wch is a full anfwear to the p'cefse, and
soe Socrates by his sufferance, & imprifonment made a
expiation of that guilt & is free from that defeccon. But
this reafon I intend not to infift on, as to[o] light an
argument for Socrfates] to[o] narrow for his caufe, wch
muft have the full comprhenfion of all law. & not reft/ on Page 28.
part nor be fupported by the formes, to become worthy of
his innocence. Socrates has iuftice it selfe to warrant him,
in his silence and retention : the generall authoritie of the
law, to anfwear the p'ticular procefse made againft him as
the Common right of Athens, yr liberties 6 Athenians, the
p'vifions of yr ffathers, the p'mulgations of yr elders, all
declaringe, all confirringe, all approveing that antient
priviledge of Senate. wch Senat does entertaine the well-
fare of this nacon ; & that priviledg the Senat. By this
priviledg, wch is prov'd in the firft arguments of our
Socrates, noe other Court has iurifdiccon in the bufmefse
of that place, noe other Judg has cognifance of fuch
caufes; if ther an offence be done (wch what credulitie
can thinke an offence fhould ther be perpetrat wher
all errors are reformed ?) if Socrates fhould offend in the
agitacons/ of that Counfell (and whoe cann once beleeve Page 29.
that Socfrates] was offendinge ? who cann imagine his
counfells should be faulty who had noe action, no inten-
tion not moft regular ?) if both Socrates and that Councell
mould be faulty, faulty in high degree, faulty in any mea-
fure, yett noe other Judg may queftion them ; noe other
Court has authoritie to iudg them : they are exempt by the

i8 APOLOGIE FOR SOCRATES.

prviledg of Senate, that sacred relique of antiquitie, y* pal-
ladium of this Cittie ; what offences are ther done, muft
ther likewife be complaind of; &, if they doe deferve it,

27- H. 6. they muft ther likewife be corrected, ther, fcf noe wher

31. H. 6. e/fe, fay thofe refolucons of ould tyme wch formerly were
R noted : ther^ not by them, as thofe Judges did confefse it.

Page 30. not in inferiour Courts, as thofe antient declaracons/ did
exprefTe it. But in the Senate muft thofe accons of the
Senat be determined, in that Counfell wch onely cann have
knowledg of thofe fecretes, whofe franchife & immunitie
it is, (confeft by all prioritie, & in all former practifes exhi-
bited) to be the only Judg vpon it selfe. & the reason is
evident in this cafe, for ther is noe Court superiour to the
Senate, naie ther is none that's equall ; none not inferior
vnto that ; & it is an axiome in the law, par In par em non
habet poteflatem ; & if not an equall on an equall, muchlefse
an inferior cann have that power on his fup'ior, wch is
contrary to all laws, the lawes of man, the lawes of God,
the lawes of nature : ffor (as the lawes of man have laid
that ground & principle) the lawes of God confirme it, wch
ftill command obedience to fup'iors, honor to elders ; &/

Page 31. the fenate to all other Courtes, (wch noe man will denie) is
both higher, & elder as the spring, & fountaine whence
their originalls are deducliit. to wch the lawes of nature
correfpond, as wee have it in the qualitie of a Child, wch
admitts noe power, or iurifdiccon on the ffather. There-
fore noe other Court cann have y* influence on the Senate,
nor Jurifdiccon on that priviledg, or on Socrates, as a
Senator ; but all law, all libertie, all right -, all prfident, and

APOLOGIE FOR SOCRATES. i9

example, all concefsion, and acknowledgment ; of all per-
fons, in all tymes, give them a free exemption, naie, by that
right, impofe a necefsitie on Socrates, not to fubmitt his
caufe, wch were to fubmitt that right ; & soe to make
Socrates, by the counterchange o£ action, turne his inno-
cence into guilt ; & wher he nowe ftandes innocent, to
become guiltie of this crime wch his traducers have objected,
wher then/ is that defection from the lawe, y* great crime Page 32.
in Socrates ? is it to have been conftant to that principle,
not to decline that rule ? • does it implie a difobedience to
the former, that the matter, & fubftance is reteyn'd ? is
the p'ceffe neglected, wher the law it felf is followed, when
an exact obfervance is p'form'd ? cann the lefser challenge
duty, & obedience contrary to the service and attendance
wch is commanded by the greater ? heer the greater did
command Socrates not to anfwear, not to make fubmifsion
of his caufe, the caufe & intereft of the Senat, yr intereft 6
Athenians, the right and title of yr fathers & not the caufe
of Socrates, but as he was a member of yr body; the
greater I say did command him not to anfwear, not to
make fubmifsion of his caufe, to the lefse, to the inferior
authoritie of the Judges, & soe not to obey their p'cesse.
Therefore/ in this he made noe defection from the law, nor page 33.
is faultie, & guiltie of that crime, in wch he {lands fufpected.
ffor the fecond offence wch is suppofed againft our Socrates,
the contempt of Juftice, in not submittinge -to authoritie
wher a iudgmen* & sentence did require it ; wher ther was
a definition in the pointe, a refolucon given by the iudges
of the lawes, that Socrates ought to anfwear ; ther to be

APOLOGIE FOR SOCRATES.

silent, as tis said, makes Socrates to be refractary, renders
him stubborne, & contemptuous againft the formes of
Juftice. & this is vrged as a crime of higher nature, an
offenc that's more tranfcendent (as a iudgm* is held greater
then a p'cess) and foe Socrates more faultie. to wch though
the fame anfwear might be made that was given vnto the
Page 34. other ; & the defence were/ p'fect, and compleat in the
same arguments, & reafons, yett we will deale more p'ticu-
larly heerein to worke ye cleerer fatiffaccon, to vindicate the
honor of our Socrates, to repell the whole fury of his
enemyes, to leave noe color for their slanders, noe priudice
on his innocence, ffor this therefore wee will firft, re-
move the fuppoficon they haue made, that a Judgment is
greater then a p'ceffe, & then their aggravation falls to
ground : then we will shew that in not anfwearinge to
that iudgm* ther was noe contempt of Juftice, y* Socrates
was not refractary to Juftice in not conforminge to thofe
iudges ; and for this wee will fetch our argumentes, partly
from the caufe, partly from the confideracon of the p'fons,
wch will prove that Socrates was not faultie. ffor the sup-
Page 35. poficon, that a Judgment is greater/ then a procefse ; that
the denunciation of a Court is of more authoritie then the
writt, take but this difference, this short diftin&ion to
refute it. the procefse is the authenticke act ot'h law ;
the Judgment but the word, & sentence of a man. the
writ is as the letter it self of Juftice, the denunciation of a
Court but the opinion of the iudges : whether then is
greater, the authoritie of the law, or the word, & sentence
of a man ? the opinion of a iudge, or ye letter it self of

APOLOGIE FOR SOCR4TES. ai

iuftice ? lett any man determine it, let the deciflon be by
them ; by thofe enemyes of Socrates, vpon thofe groundes
lett Socrates be iudg'd : nor appeale shall goe noe further
in this cafe, then to their confciences. lett them now
speake whether their aggravation be well laid, iudgments
maie err, men may be deceav'd & many fallacies are inci-
dent to/ opinion : but the law, & Juftice are ftill certaine, Page 36.
ther is noe variacon in their rules ; therefore the sentence of
the iudges cannot be more valid then the authoritie of the
law. But to leav this and to anfwear the contempt, to
shew that Socrates was not refractarie vnto Juftice, in not
conforminge to ye opinion of the iudges ; lett vs firft weigh
the caufe, how in the prfent right it bound him, & then
the confequence, what operacon, what effecl:es it might in-
duce ; weigh it as the publicke caufe of Athens, not the
privat intereft of Socrates, as the right, & title of the Senat,
not only as the queftion of our Socrates. & then it will
appeer what contempt he has committed, & how farr
Socrates is faultie. the caufe yu know was the priviledge
of the Senat. to the maintenance of y* priviledg,/ befides Page 37.
the Comon tye of all men, Socrates had a prop[er] obli-
gacon, both for the truft coinitted to him, & his p'ticular
duty to that place, if then Socrates by conforminge to the
iudges should have done any thing in priudice of that pri-
viledg, it muft have been a violacon of the generall, &
p'ticular obligacon wch he had, & \oe a forfeit of his duty,
now that the conforming to the iudges, had been a priudice
of that priviledg, as tis apparant in the refolucons, is moft a. H. 4.
pregnant in the Statutes, that were cited, wherein ther's 4. H. 8.

APOLOGIE FOR SOCRATES.

not only a declaracon of the right, but an iniunftion laid
on Soc [rates] that he shall not difcover the pafsages of ye
Senat ; & then he cannot anfwear to the queftion of thofe
things when the anfwear muft difcouer them, this for the/

Page 38. right, & the duty of our Socrates, the difcharge of wch
admitts of noe contempt, for good & evill have noe com-
petition ; the confequence yett is of farr greater obfervacon ;
more prefsing in the pointe, more bindeing vpon Socrates :
for by granting this, Socrates muft grant all ; bye sub-
mittinge the priviledge in this cafe, he for his part muft
submitt it in all others ; all bufmesse of the Senat he muft
yeeld to the iurifdiccon of the iu[d]ges if he admitt their
authoritie, vpon this : all fecretts of that Counfell wch shalbe
treafurd in his breaft, muft he open, if they haue this power,
& influence on his person ; fof the queftion only gives in-
telligence of the fact, & before examinacon ther can be noe
diftinccon made of the differenc of caufes ; all fecretts and
not fecretts are the fame before they are truly knowen, &
ther is noe knowledg but by triall, wch triall makes an open-

Page 39. inge and difcovery./ & thus all the secretts of the Senat
wch were involved on Socrates muft be fubiect to the
Judges ; the moft intimate counfells of that conclave
obnoxious to their cenfure. they wth the leaft prtenfe
might queftion them ; not takeing knowledge of their na-
ture ; & by that queftion Socrates muft difcover them ;
for what he had once admitted he could not afterwards
retract, wth what effect might follow it, what operacon it
would have, what danger to our Socrates, what danger to
the Senat, what danger to this State, I referr it to your

APOLOGIE FOR SOCRATES. 23

wifedome 6 Athenians, when yr whole felicity & happi-
nefse has dependance on that Counfell as the honor of
our Socrates on integrite ! can it be thought therefore a
contempt in Socrates againft Juftice to have infifted on
this priviledg ? can it be thought a guilt not to fubmitt
this right ? cann Socrates be faultie, to haue prferv'd his
duty to the Senat, his duty to his Country, the neglecl:
whereof did threaten soe/ much danger vnto either ? if this Page 40.
be a contempt, lett all men then be guilty ; to prferve the
publicke right, to fupport the common fafetie, lett all men,
foe, be guiltie of contempt, but further if ther had not
been this necefsitie of priviledg ; if nothing but ye im-
portance, as 'twas the caufe ot'h Senat, had been obvious
vnto Socrates, could Socrates wth the fafety of his iudgm*
have fubmitted it to Melitus, he who had said, who had
said publickly to Socrates, by way of overture in that
Court, that the Senat had noe priviledg, that it had noe
power of Judicature, that it only could make lawes, & had
noe proceedings but that way, noe power of execucon ?
could Socrates, wth the fafety of his Judgment, have made
fubmifsion of that right to him that soe litle vnderftood it ?
Socrates/ could not fubmitt the caufe ot'h senate, to such Page 41.
iudges, wch were not fitt to have been iudges vpon Socrates.
wch reafon of ye p'fons, if noe other were obiected, were in
this. caufe sufficient to excufe him, & to acquitt Socrates of
that guilt. To defcend then to the next, the next offence
of Socrates, wch is fuggefted in his charge, that Socrates in
not anfwearinge did defert the p'teccon of his innocence
& expof 'd himfelf to fcandall, by y* filence, & retention ;

24 APOLOGIE FOR SOCRATES.

litle on this will serve to avoid ye accufaccon. ffor firft in
generall his innocence is confeft ; & what more is needfull
for the iuftification of or Socrates ? what guilt cann be
fufpected wher his innocence is acknowledg'd ? if he be
innocent, how cann he then be faultie ? if faultie how
cann he then be innocent? the truth in this was to[o]
fubtile for his adverfaries, even through their mallice sally-
ing to defend him ; what they intended for a charge, muft

Page 42. be an ap[o] logic for Socrates,/ what they obiected as a crime,
muft be a pointe of meritt. 6 truth, great is the wonder
of thy virtue, even aboue all things thou art ftrong; becaufe
Socra[tes] did follow thee, thou wilt follow Socrates:
becaufe he was thy fervant, thou haft foe commanded it, that
his enemies mould ferve him ; & this falls in the generall
confefsion of his innocence ; but in p'ticular in this acl: of
Socrates, or rather this neglect wch is prtended in his caufe,
that Socrates not anfwearing made a defertion of his inno-
cence, confider firft what that innocence imports, & then
meafure it by the fact : yu mall ther finde, not an innocence
deferted, but moft religioufly maintained : Socrates suffer-
ing for his innocence, not doeing any lying to impeach it,
Socrates in his blood writting thefe Characters for pofteritie,
not expofing his vertue vnto fcandall. This yu mail fee if
yu confider but that principle, what that innocence importes,

Page 43. and then/ applie it to the fact, therein you shall finde that
Socrates is not guiltie. Innocence is not the opinion of the
many, the reputacon of one aft, the freedome from some
guilt, but a generall virtue and integretie, a fpotlefse fault-
lefse courfe, in the faithfull execution of all duties, the dif-

APOLOGIE FOR SOCRATES. 25

charge, and p'formance of all offices, in wch the greater ftill
muft be preferrd before the lefse. now in this duty of or
Socrates wher the publicke intereft was in queftion, noe
peculiar, noe private faculties of his owne, might be brought
in competition, if the reputacon of or Socrates had depended
on that act. wher the publicke right ot'h Senat was in
counterpoife, the fcales muft not be turn'd to the honor of
or Socrates againft ye publicke & greater interefts, of the
Senat ; nor could it be a prejudice to his virtue to move, in
ordine, to the publicke. Socrates was bound to prefer that
greater right, his virtue did/ oblidge him to the obfervance Page 44.
of y* duty, it was the innocence of Socrates not to decline
this office j not to decline the publicke good, for the advan-
tage of his private ; this will iuftifie or Socrates if it be truly
weighed againft the ftrength of all oppofers. But p'chance
it wilbe faid, all men are not capable of this ; all men have
not the apprehenfion of this duty ; but all men know the
informacon that was made, the ftrange crimination againft
Socrates ; & Socrates in their Judgment makes himself
guilty of them all, by refufing of his anfweare, & soe deferts
his innocence.

To this I muft reply that though all this were true, yett
it were noe reafon for the condemnacon of or Socrates,
for if all men should soe thinke, that Socrates were not
innocent, yet it must not move his virtue, rather to
feem, then be : it muft not be a fafciffaccon vnto Socrates,
that men doe thinke him innocent, Socr[ates] muft be soe,/
what ever men doe thinke him. heaven and his confciens Page 45.
muft give teftimonie for Socrates, thofe two muft iuftifie

£

a6 APOLOGIE FOR SOCRATES.

his innocence, though all the world condemne it. But
heer is noe such thing in fact that Socrates is soe doubted,
Socrates is not obnoxious to that danger in the true ftate
ot'h caufe; for as all men know how Socrates was charged,
all men knew the reafon why Socrates did not anfwear ;
that it was for fear ot'h publicke priviledg & prejudice,
not in ieloufie of himfelfe : that Socrates expof d his fortune,
and his p'fon to prferve the right ot'h Senat ; that Socrates
prized his fafety, not as the liberties of Athens ; that his
life was not soe tender as his innocence : therefore that
reason will not maintaine the charge, wch moft vniuftly
is foe laid, to accufe him as forfakinge what by all ftuddie,
& indeavour ; by expofmg of his fortune, by expofeing of
his p'fon, by his liberty, by his life, he laboured to preferve./
Page 46. could ther be greater innocence then heerin Socrates did
exprefle ? cann ther be such an argument for Socrates
as this innocence of his ? they were enough to anfwear all
accufers, all crimes, all charges, all obiections : herein
Socrates might flop the mouth of all detraction, & give
full fatiffaccon of his innocence ; an innocence, for the
admiracon of all others, the imitation of the Athenians :
Socrates may yett glorie in the act, & triumph on his
enemyes : he hath by this one virtue, by this fole innocence
overcome them. But yett they doe impute another crime
to Socrates & faylinge in the reft they would make him
traitor to yr liberties, to yu 6 Athenians, they would make
Socrates an enemy, in yr right & priviledg they would
render him a traitor, what he was moft affective to
conferve that they would make him moft effective to

APOLOGIE FOR SOCRATES. 27

deftroy. in not confenting to the iurifdiccon of the iudges,
they doe fuppofe him guiltie of enlarging/ their authoritie ; Page 47.
by denying it in one thinge to give it them in all ; to
force them to afsume it in the p'ticular of his caufe, & by
that afsumption to creat a prfedent-for the generall. this
charge is many waies unproved, & by varietie of inftru-
ment. thofe that are his enemies delate it to divide him
from yr favours : thofe that were his iudges vfe it in exten-
uacon of their sentence ; his accusers, his informers, & a
generacon worfe then thefe, his feeminge frendes, &
fociats, who prtend nothing but zeale, in the publicke
caufe, & intereft, but intend only their privat avarice and
corruptions ; thefe all, but, moft of all, thefe laft, diffufe
this fcandall againft Socrates, & to cover their envie vnto
him vfe the ptext & color of affection to yr fervice. to
thefe fome thing muft be faid in apologie for Socrates,
fomethinge to prferve him from yr priudice & diflike ;
not that their reafons doe deferve it, that it is vrg'd by the
weight & prefsure/ of their charge, but that his virtue does Page 48.
require it, that ther be noe place lefte to Scandall, that ther
be noe refidenc for detraccon vpon the accons of or
Socrates : that, as his perfon, his fame likewife may be
innocent, ffirft therefore to mew that the iudges were
not vrg'd to afsume that iurifdiccon vpon Socrates, but
that their act was voluntarie, & not necefsitated & enforc't,
wee muft a litle recapitulat the order of that caufe.
Socrates being charg'd for matter done in Senate pleades
the priviledg of that Counfell, & therefore proves his
caufe not fubiect to their cognifance. The Judges make

28 APOLOGIE FOR SOCRATES.

a refolucon againft this, & determine vpon Socrates, that
their is noe fuch right it'h Senat, noe such priviledg for
him. soe as in this they made a decifsion of that queftion
& conclufion of that right, wthout the help of Socrates,
naie contrary to his labour, & afsum'd that iurifdiccon to
themfelves : soe that what followes was but the confequent/

Page 49. of this ; the iudgment given on Socrates, but an effect of
that prejudice to the Senat. the priviledg being denied
in their firft act, that afsumption was their owne ; for the
next was meerly the fmgle cause of Socrates, wherein the
fact only was confiderable, the right wholy beinge de-
termined in the former ; and therein Socrates was not
guiltie of necefsitating their iudgment, but that priudice
was meerly of themfelves, a voluntary afsumption in that
cafe, an effected entrance & invafion of the priviledg of
the Senat.

But if it had been otherwife, that Socr[ates] enforct
them by fome necefsitie to this act (wch who cann thinke
that Socrates would doe, whofe doeing & fufferring had
soe contrary an intention by his pleading ?) at the firft
indeavoring to prvent it ; by his not pleading at the laft
giveing a newe occafion, (for whereas by anfwearing he
had reduc't their iudgment to the matter, wherein ftill the

Page 50. priviledg was involved,/ by not anfwearing he brought it to
his p'fon, soe as therein it was only a iudgm1 vpon Socrates
wch otherwife would have been a new conclufion vpon the
priviledg) & therefore who cann thinke that Socrates, both
doeing and suffering to that end, should soe enforce them
to the priudice of this priviledg ? But if it had been soe,

APOLOGIE FOR SOCRATES. 29

if by suppoficon we admitt it, does that p'ticular conclude
generally for all others ? will that inftance againft Socrates
creat a p'fect right it'h Judges ? examples are noe rules ;
noe errors their examples, but what becomes a prfident
muft have both vfe, & right ; right, for the foundacon, &
originall ; & vfe to {hew the fup'ftruccon & contynuance
non firmatur tractu temporis, fay their ould lawiers, quod de
lure ab initio non fubftfllt , & as the new, all right has being
b5 Jubfiftenc by vfe and acceptacon, therefore though
Socrates had enforc't that accon on the Judges, that act
would not conclude their iurifdiccon on all others, nor
could Socrates therein be/ guiltie of that crime of betrayinge Page 51.
of yr liberties, nor wthout impietie may be thought, as was
suggefted in the charge, a traitor to himfelfe, a traitor to
the Senat, a traitor to his Country. yu have heard how
much he did to prferve the publicke intereftes ; yu know
how much he suffered to prferve his innocence therein ;
mould I enumerat his pafsions I should renewe yr greifes ;
inftead of cureinge Socrates, I should wound yu 6 Athenians
I should peirce the soule of yr affections wth the memory of
yr Socrates, the memorie of his virtues, the memorie of
his meritt, his pietie and integritie to yu, his fenceritie &
fidelitie to the Senat, his love and charitie to all; in all
beyond all meafure of comparifon, vnmatcht, vnparalel'd,
vnexampled; to renew the memorie of thefe virtues I
should renew the affection of yr lofses & turne this apologie
for Socrates into a Common' Elege of the Athenians. I
will not therefore/ by the comm[em]eracon of his virtues Page 52.
caufe the renovacon of yr greifes, and as I pafse his merits,

30 APOLOGIE FOR SOCRArES.

soe I will doe his sufferings, I will not enumerat his pafsions
to tell yu what he suffered ; what he suffered in his ffortune,
what he suffered in his perfon, in his liberty, in his life :
to be made poore & naked ; to be imprifoned and re-
ftrain'd ; nay not to be at all ; not to hav[e] the proper
vfe of any thinge, not to have knowledg of Societie j not
to have beinge & exiftence : his faculties confifcat ; his
frendes debarred his prefence ; himfelfe deprived the world :
I will not tell yu of all this suffer'd by yr Socrates ; all this
sufferd for yr service, for you moft excellent Athenians,
for yr Children, yr pofteritie, to prferve yr rights and
liberties; that as they were the inheritanc[e] of yr fathers,
from yu likewife, they may againe devolve to them, I will
not revive this memorie of his pafsions for your service, leaft
Page 53. in them, I should revive yr memory/ of yor lofses, yr lofses
in yr Socrates, for whom yr iuftice, not yr sorrow now I
craue, to p'tect him from his enemyes, to prtect him in
his innocence, that vnmatcht innocence of Socrates againft
their fcandalls, and detractions, to determine vpon the accu-
fations yu have heard, whether Socrates be guiltie, guiltie
as is suggefted, of defeccon from the law, contempt of
authoritie, & Justice, defertion of his owne innocence,
betraying of yr liberties, in all wch as Socr[ates] was
charg'd, for Socrates we have anfweared, what I hope will
satiffie yor wifedomes, that Socrates was not faulty, for
whom I crave yr Judgments, as yr pardon for my selfe.

%* A blank leaf follows. On verfo in Eliot's writing is « Defence
for Socrates.' — G.

NEGOTIUM POSTERORUM

OR

SIR JOHN ELIOT'S

MEMORIALS

OF
THE PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS

DURING

THE FIRST PARLIAMENT AT LONDON
AND OXFORD

OF

CHARLES IST.

ETC. ETC. ETC.

NOTE.

See our Introdu£Hon for a defcription of the holograph MS. of
the prefent remarkable work of Sir John Eliot j than which few
more hiftorically valuable have been preferved. In an Appendix
other Eliot MSS. at Port Eliot have been for the firft time utilized,
to fupplement and illuftrate. — G.

NEGOTIUM POSTERORUM.

TRANGERS have obferved the felicities of page i.
England by hir Parliamts. that & the con-
trary, is apparant in the examples of hir
kings ; of whom [thofe] whofe actions had
concurrence w01 that Councell, were alwaies happie &
succesfull; thofe that contefted or neglected it, unpros-
perous & vnfortunat. of the firft forte in the old times,
were thofe victorious & brave princes E[dward] I.
E[dward] 3. H[enry] 5., that soe farr extended the honor
of their nation in the admiration of all others, as even the
name of Englifhmen could doe wonders of it felf, taking
& giving kingdomes as the fubjects of their wills, of the
latter, were thofe characters of misfortune E[dward] 2,
R[ichard] 2. H[enry] 6., whofe raignes were all inglorious
& diftracted [&] fatall [in] their Ends, but above all, for
a demonftration in this pointe, is that inftance before thefe,
of H[enry] 3 ; who in his younger times/ affecting the Page 2.
fals reafons of his favorits, in opposition of the parl in-
volved his crowne & Kingdome in fuch miferie & dif-

F

34 NEGOriUM POSfERORUM.

honors, as few times els can paralell. princes have feldome
fufferd; but vpon the apprehenfion of thofe errors, &
retracting of that courfe in his reconciliation & conjunction
wh that great counfell of his people (thofe flies of Court
reiected) he againe recoverd the loft honor vnto both,
reftord their antient happinefs, livd & enioyed it in a fweet
calmenefs & tranquilitie, & dying left it as an inheritance
to his fonne, who on that ground directed the fuper-
ftructure of his greatnefs. H[enry] 4. E[dward] 4.
H[enry] 7. who raifd their ffbrtunes by the falls of thofe
before them, made their errors their inftructions, & by
complying wh the parl. what they had gott wh hafard,
Page 3. wh fecuritie they retaynd./ H[enry] 8. though otherwife
rough & violent, did nothing in preiudice of that Court,
or if it were attempted in fome perticular by his minifters,
(as the moft righteous times are not without obliquities)
it was foone retracted by himfelfe, who maintained his
confidence wth his people ; & he was not without reputa-
tion wh his neighbours, nor this nation in difhonor vnder
him. that hopefull prince his sonne E[dward] 6. in the
fhort time he livd, having the fame affiance, lessened not in
the expectation of the world, but that glorious ftarr, his
sifter, of moft ever-famous memorie QJueen] El[isabeth]
(for thother is not obfervable on this part either for hir
cuncelles or successes, hir marriage & alliance leading con-
trary), that princess who was glorious above all, — all
that went before her, — in whom all their vertues & foe
their honors were contracted, (for the sweetness & pietie
of hir brother ; the magnanimitie of hir ffather ; the

NEGOriUM POSrERORUM. 35

wifdome of hir grandfather ; the fFortune &/ valor of the Page 4.
reft, were all compleat in hir, whom Mars & Apollo did
present for a wonder to the world); this excellent Minerva
was the daughter of that Metis, that great Councell of the
parl.was the nurse of all hir actions ; & fuch an Emu-
lation was of Love between that Senat & this QJueen], as
it is questionable whether had more affection, the parl. in
obfervance vnto hir, or she in indulgence to the parl.
what were the effects of this hir ftories do delineat : peace
& prosperitie at home, honor & reputation abroad ; a love
& obfervation in hir friends, confternation in hir enemyes,
admiration even in all ; the Ambitious pride of Spaine
broken by hir powers ; the diffracted ffrench revnited by
hir artes ; the diftreft Hollanders supported by hir succors ;
the seditious Sc[otch] reduc'd to the obedience of their
prince ; all violence & iniurie repeld ; all vsurpation &/
oppression counter-wrought ; the weake assisted ; the Page 5.
necessitous releivd ; men & monie into divers parts sent
out, as if England had beene the magazine of them all, &
she the Queftor that had the dispenfation of these treafures ;
or rather the Pretor & Judge of all their controverfies.
who wth this magnificence abroad did not impaire at home,
but being good to all, was moft iuft & pious to hir fub-
iects ; who by a free possession of their liberties, increafed
in wealth & plentie, & not wthstanding that infinite of
expence for support of all thofe charges, the riches of hir
checker did improve.

this fhewes the importance of the parl3 & the happinefs
of the State ; & how all the Engl[ifh] Kings have beene

36 NEGOriUM POSTERORUM.

fortunat by that Councell, none without it. therfore in
the description of the parl. wilbe beft scene the state &

Page 6. condition of the Kingdome : in that wilbe emergent/ the
difeafes wch it suffers; sometimes propounded in their
fervor or extremitie for a present cure & help ; sometimes
in the inclination & beginning, before they are come to
heigth for the prevention of the danger ; sometimes by
way of prophecie discovered as they are but in Embrione
& conception ; both their originalls & degrees come often,
ther mob agitation & debate, alwaies their acts & confe-
quences, & now & then their reafons. I speak thus of
their reafons becaufe it is not alwaies that the true caufe is
feene. the fame effect may flow from divers principles &
intentions, often wh ftates & men allud pretenditur, aliud
In mente eft ; ther are as the civilians have obfervd cauftf
fuaforta, caufez iuftificee, & both concurring in great actions ;

Page 7. for wch/ dissimulation is defined to be politic particula
imago, & this makes thefe reafons more obfcure, wch yet
in parl come sometimes to discussion j wher thofe mifteries
& secrets are vnlockt ; & as the dangers, soe the fafties are
ther treated of, wh all their incidents & concommitants,
connexions, adiunctions, & dependancies ; what in religion,
or abilitie has relation to the Kingdome, the knowledge of
it moves in the agitations of the parl wch agitations therfore
wilbe a good mirror of the times, ffor this, however
inglorious it may feeme, I have dispofd my thoughts in
the service of my Countrie, to compose the ftorie of that
Councell from the end of Q_[ueen] El[isabeth]. what was
the condition of the kingdome when hir government did

NEGOriUM POSTERORUM. 37

leave it, is well knowne to all men ; what it is now, this
Labor will express,/ & somewhat of the reason, as it is in- Pa§e 8-
fmuated by the acts wilbe emergent in this worke, not els
wher soe discernable, if either my penne or prospect doe
not faile me. manie will thmke (& that perhaps not
lightly) the scope of this too narrow, for a hiftorie ; but
Wee that take it otherwife, defire their favor in our
Cenfure, vntill they againe confider it : Let them pervfe
the passages, obferve the varietie of ther treaties, note ther
resolutions & effects, read & digest them, & then infer
the Judgment ; in wch we are confident they will finde
somewhat of delight, & the reft not much vnprofitable.

But before we imbarque in this storie of the parl3 it will
not be vnnecessarie, in our waie to take some short survey
of that bodie ; how it is composd [&] by what authentic
it subfifts : for noe little prejudice may be done it, in the
opinion it receaves modo habendij for the accession of hir Page 9.
powers, what ever act & exercife it have had. if it be new
by concession of late times, the times that change their
reafons may have some color likewife to change the refolu-
tion of that grant : if the continuance have beene longer, &
yet the grant appeers, (though it be much to impeach the
prescription of a kingdome wch for manie ages recites [pre-
cedents], one being admitted for the privat interestes of men)
it may be some pretext that the favor of one prince should
not conclude the generation of succefsors : but if the
inftitution be more antiont & without the introduction of
such grant ; or that that grant of one be still confirmed by
all, then all are in the faith & obligation, & the authoritie

38 NEGOriUM POSrERORUM.

of that counfell is much more, as it subfifts by right & not
by favor.

Page 10. I know the vulgar & common tradition/ does refute that

parls. had beginning wth thofe charters wch were made by
H[enry] 3. & that he that granted thofe liberties to the
people gave being vnto parl8. vpon wch foundation many
arguments are laid to impaire the worth of either ; the
weakness of that king, the greatness of his barons, the
tumults of that time, wch made a necessitie of thofe grantes
that were not taken, but extorted : but truth shall speake
for both, how iniurious is this slander ; how much more
antient & authentick their defcent.

NEGOTIUM POSTERORUM,

TOMUS SECUNDUS, LIBER PRIMUS.

NEGOTIUM POSTERORUM,

f ING] J[AMES] being dead & wth him the page i.
fearfull securitie & degenerat vices of a long
corrupted peace in hope & expectation laid
aside, wth the new K[ing] a new spirit of life
& comfort possest all men, as if the ould Genius of the
kingdome, having wth Endimion slept an age, were now
awak't againe, moving in all the partes & members of the
bodie, to the quickening & agitation of the whole, the
blood wch was the vehicle of this spirit, by divers veines was
carried from the ffountaine of those hopes, the virtues of
K[ing] C[harles], to that sea of Love & dutie in the harts
& affections of the people, in some the consideration of his
pietie, his religious practise & devotion, his choise & con-
ftant preservation of that iewell in the mids't of those pres-
tigious artes of Spaine, & his publick professions, being from
thence returnd, did cause that ioye & hope : others
were movd by the innate sweetnes of his nature, the
calme habit & composition of his minde : his exact gover-
ment in the oeconomie, the order of his house, the rule of

G

NEGOriUM POSTERORUM.

his affaires, the disposition of his servantes, being Prince,
Page 2. all in a great care, & providence, to the/ expression of his
honor, & yet noe thrift neglected, of wch, besides the order
& direction, he was an example in himself: his publicke in-
dustrie, & studies to improve his knowledg in the State, &
to advance that business, were an indication vnto others.
his diligence & attendance at all Councells, forwardness in
all business wch might render satiffaction to the subiectes, as
the much long'd for dissolution of those treaties, the vntying
of those knotts, the cutting of those Gordian yokes in wch
they were held by Spaine & the preparations thervpon for
revenge of all their iniuries, & reparation of his frindes,
wch works were taken for a present of his virtue & a pro-
mise for the future of greater hopes to come : his exercise
& recreations were not left [out] but some deduc'd their
reasons ev'n from them, both for his choife & temper ; &
all having in somethinges their perswasion, some in all
thinges to whom the change alone seem'd fortunat, & this
againe indeard by reflection on the contraries ; when it was
thought what infelicities had beene sufferd, infelicities
abroad, infelicities at home, in the consumption of the
honor, consumption of the treasures of the kingdome ; the
martiall powers neglected, the reputation of their wisdome
Page 3. in contempt,/ Mars & Apollo forsaking them in that inex-
tricable laborinth of those treaties, whereby religion was
corrupted, iuftice perverted ; & all this through facilitie &
confidence, or a toomuch Love of peace : the change wch
was now presumed in these, by the new change of persons
wrought a new change of harts ; all mens affections were

NEGOriUM POSrERORUM. 43

transferd from doubt & ielosie into hope, & all their fears
& sorrows did resolve themselves to ioye. ffor confirma-
tion of all these, as that wch was to be the assurance of
them all, & of all els that might import the happinefs of
the kingdome, a Parliament was intimated, the Summons
& formalities dispatch't, the obiections of the Commons
being prepar'd wth more then vsual diligenc, the emula-
tion for the service being greater : the members chosen
forthwth repaired to London to make their attendance at
the time ; noe man would be wanting : Love & ambition
gave them wings ; he that was firft seem'd happieft ; zeale
& afFe&ion did so worke, as that circumstance was thought
an advantage in the dutie. To heighten the celebration
of this meeting, the Qj^ueen] was then expected/ out of Page 4.
ffrance. The desposorio's being past & the Ambassadors wth
their new mistris on their iorney, the roiall navie did attend
hir transportation on the Seas, the K[ing] himself past
downe to Canterburie to receave hir, wher the enterviewe
& nuptialls being perform'd in a state answearable to their
worths, they made their repaire to London, & in that firft
conjunction begott both Love and admiration, this defer'd
awhile the openinge of the Parliament, (but the feftivitie of
the time, was a compensation for that want,) wch by pro-
rogation was continued vntill the eighteenth daie of June,
all men in the meane time being full of ioy and comfort,
when, as a Crowne to all, that Solemnitie was added.

To the first ceremonies & entrance the D[uke] of Chevr'es
& his Ladie Were admitted, wth the Ambassadors &
others of the ffrench, who in honor & attendance of the

44 NEGOriUM POSTERORUM.

QJueen], had accompanied hir from ffrance. a place they
had in the Lords house belowe the corner of the State, the
QJueen] being likewise present, all the Lords in their for-
malities & orders, & the Commons in great ioye & expec-/
Page 5- tation, when the K[ing] applying his speech vnto the time,
& both the time & that vnto himself, thus gives a short charac-
ter of either, & in that renders the occasion of the assembly.
My Lords & gentlemen, my naturall disabilitie to
speake houlds good correspondence wtt this time wch
being designd for action, discourses will not fit it ; nor
is it needfull in the business of this meetinge that my
exhortations should be long, it being begunne before, in
my ffathers daies, when both I & you were severallie
ingag'd, I as yr intercessor vnto him, yu by yr advise
& declaration for the worke ; it would be now a dis-
honor to vs both not to give it perfection by our help
& such supplie of necessaries as the importance does
require. I speake not this in diffidence of yr readi-
ness, but as an expresion of my sence vpon the
publick interest. I know yr Zeale & affection to
religion, & that matchless fidelitie to yr K[ing] wch is
the antient honor of this nation, for my part I seeke
Page 6. nothing/ for my self but in the common happinefs, for

wch I shalbe as readie to dispose my privat faculties, as
I doubt not of yr willingness to ayd me ; by wch con-
currence both power & reputation wilbe gainde, & a
presage & prediction to our hopes,
both the sence & shortness of this expression were well
Likt, as meeting w01 the inclination of the time, wch wearied

NEGOriUM POSrERORUM. 45

wth the long orations of K[ing] J[ames] that did inherit
but the winde, was much mov'd at this brevitie & plainness,
more like to truth then art, that it drew a great applause
to follow it, answearable to the opinion wch it wrought, that
wto the manners of their Ancestors, they should resume their
ffbrtunes, & in this turne & revolution, meet the ould
world againe. Some time being given, vpon the conclu-
sion of this speech, as the State & admiration did require,
the BP of Lincolne then Lo. Keeper, taking his directions
from the K[ing] thus seconds him, in more words, but as
a paraphrase onlie on that text.

My Lords & gentlemen, yu have heard his Maties
speech, of wch I may say, as of the like it was, that ther/
was multum In parvo, & though it contained somuch Page 7.
as ther is little lefte for me, yet it deserves that
censure wch Plinie gives of Homer, vpon the aboun-
dant expression of his works, that ther was noe word
in vaine. all was said in that word of the ingage-
ment wch concern'd the business of this time : for vpon
that ingagement of the Last Parliament to K[ing]
J[ames] he was induc'd to dissolve the treaties then
wth Spaine ; that necessarily did enforce him to a warr ;
for the warr ther must be varietie of preparation ; to
that end he contracted a league wft other princes,
added some forces to the States, levied an armie for
Count Manffeilt, arm'd his owne ships for Sea, & of
them provides a navie, wch now we may call invincible,
in all to scatter the forces of his enemies in the whole
circumference of their dominions, by wch he became

4-6 NEGOriUM POSTERORUM.

ingag'd to the expectation of the world, & as a legacie
by his bequest & yrs left that ingagement to his Sonne,

Page 8. who now desires to/ follow it for yr honors & his owne.

in the preparations that are past, all the subsidies &
fifteenths wch formerlie yu haue given, are spent, &
much more of the revenew, for wch now yr further
ayd is crav'd & wthout wch the work cannot proceed,
wherin three circumstances onlie I will add.

the first for time, wch is the great commander in all
actions; for actions command not time, but time
them, & therfor that supplie that comes too late proves
noe supplie at all. Europe is now ftir'd like the
poole of Bethesda by the Angell, for the recoverie of
the honor & happiness of this nation, & if we slip the
opportunitie, some other may prevent vs ; wherfor it
is desir'd we should give this meeting to this business,
the second circumstance is the manner, wch time does
vse in action, as the wings about hir feet, wherin if
yu finde the vsuall waie too slacke, fear not in an occa-
sion of such consequence to resort to others fitter, all
are subventions wch are granted by this bodie, nor can

Page 9. it be vnparliamentary/ wch is resolv'd by Parliament,

the third circumstance & last, is the end &
issue of this action, wch carries wth it the ffame &
reputation of our K[ing]. for as princes sowe in
actions, soe they shall reap in glorie, & the hope &
glorie of our Soveraigne (wch is all that kings possess)
he has now putt on vs, not, in desperation, as Caesar
wtb the Romans iacta est alea : but in confidence as

NEGOriUM POSrERORUM. 47

his owne motto has it, amor clvlum regis munimen-
turn. Kings and subiects relata simul sunt natura, as
the Civilians have observ'd, & noe sooner shall his Matle
be knowne a victorious prince, but yu shalbe esteemd
a valiant faith full people. & soe to address yu to this
worke, yu are now to cruise a Speaker & on tewfday
next to present him to his Matie.

this ceremonie being ended, the Commons, according to
the direction that was given, retir'd to their house for the
election of their Speaker, wher a proposition being made by
some privie Councellors of the K[ing], members of that
house, for Sarient/ Crew, it was foorthwth by the rest & Page 10.
after some formalities vsuall more then necessary of pre-
tended vnwillingness in him, & importunitie in the others,
wth much art & rhetoricke on both sides, he was led into
the chaire, wch in obedience he assum'd, not yet in accep-
tation as his right, the nomination of this man was held a
good omen to the worke. his former carriage in that place &
the success therof after somanie nullities, & breaches, making
againe as twere a new marriage & conjunction betweene
the K[ing] & people, gaue such satisfaction in all hope, as
all men were affected wth the choise. nor wanted ther in
him either fitness or abilitie. he was a great master of the
Lawe, & in his studies, religion had a share to a great name
& reputation, his life & practice answear'd it. & his elo-
cution was most apt for the imploiment he sustain'd ; for
he could express him self on all occasions of the timepukhre
£ff ornate as Ouintilian makes his orator, pro dignltate rerum,
ad vtilltatem temporum, cum voluptate audientium, nature &

48 NEGOTIUM POSTERORUM.

art concurring to make him equall to the place ; who vpon
Page ii. twefdaie after being prsented/ to the K[ing] & ther making
an apologie for himself, wth a praier to be excusd, but not
granted or allowd of, he thus submits to the burden of the
service, & as his first fruits ofFerd vp this oration.

Since it is yr Maties pleasure to command, it is my
dutie to obey

tuum 6 Rex magne quod optes

explorare labor , mihi iussa capesserefas est.

I know a sparrow falls not to the ground wthout
god's providence, &, as the rivers of waters, soe the
harts of kings are in his hands, impellit quo voluerit ;
& I am the more incouraged by the former experience
of the mercie & goodness of god, who at our last
meeting, made those of one house to be of one minde,
& united the head & members of one bodie in one
hart, wch produced that P arliamentum foelix, crown-
ing wth honor, the memorie of the last publick act of
yr dear ffather to all posteritie, who then was pleased
to aske & follow the advise of his great Councell in
Page 12. dissolving the two treaties ; parted wth/ some fruitfull

leaves from the florishing garland of his Crowne, for
the ease & benefit of his subiects, & gaue his roiall
assent to as manie good lawes as past at anie one time
since the Great Charter, in wch we then discernd yr
princelie care of the publicke, yr readiness to remove all
rubbs that might hinder, & yr hand allwaies at hand to
helpe & further our desires, kbeneficlum postulat officium.

NEGOriUM POSTERORUM. 49

And now that God hath put into yr hart in yr happie en-
trance to tread the true path of a Parliamentary waie,
in comparison wherof all other courses are out of the
waie, yu have to yr owne honor & our comfort
shaken hands wth yr subiects, & made yr face to shine
in the eyes of yr people. Solomon, the wisest of Kings,
calls that land blessed whose K[ing] is the sonne of
Nobles 5 & blessed are those subiects whose soveraigne
trained vp in true religion, & by lineall defcent of in-
heritance, the vndoubted heir of the crowne j in the
prime of His strength is invested in his roiall birthright
by an immediat patent/ from God wth the applauses of Page 13.
his people, it is God's method wth his dearest children
to mixe crosses wth comforts : but as a woman in
travell forgets hir sorrowes for ioye that a man child is
borne, soe or greife occasion 'd by the departure of our
late Soveraigne is swallowed vp wth ioye to see vpon
his sun-sett, his owne sonne arising to succeed him,
of whose happie & religious raigne & goverment we
have a great expectation. God in his eternall coun-
cell had set the bounds of y1 ffather's daies, wch he
could not pass, & the great hufbandman best knew the
time when his corne was ripe, & readie to be gatherd
into his granarj. it is he that made yu, wch were, as
yesterday our hopefull prince & the pledge of our
future peace, to become our Soveraigne Lord &
K[ing] & set yu on yr ffather's throne to iudge the
Israel of God. the good Hezekiah was 25 years ould
when he begann to raigne, & soe now writes yr Matie.

H

50 NEGOriUM POSTERORUM.

he did [walk] vprightlie in the sight of the Lord,
Page 14. sanctified the house of God, had in hart to make/ a

Covenant wth the Lord ; & God magnified him in the
sight of all nations, & in euerie danger gave him de-
liverance ; & y1 Matie shall become mightie wth Jotham
while yu direct yr waie before the Lord yr God ; yu
haue a faith full & loyall people, that fear & love yu,
& amor civlum regls munimentum. yu haue a wise &
vnderstanding Councell to advise ; yr imperiall diadem
shines the brighter in that it is inamel'd & compast
wth a bewtifull border of the antient & fundamentall
lawes of this kingdome, wch as synewes, hould the
bodie of the Common wealth together, & are suitable
to the nature of the people, & safeft for the Soveraigne.
the Arke of true religion is w^ yu to waft yu over the
waters of all the dangers of this life, &, when yu are
ould & full of daies, to land yu in the safe harbor of
heaven. David being to goe the waie of all the world,
gave a charge to Solomon his sonne to walke in the
waies of God, that he might prosper in all he did ; &
it is our singular com fortes to hear that it was the
Page 15. advise/ of yr dear ffather to yu at his dying, to mayn-

taine the religion professed, in this we have long
inioyd the blessing of peace, & gone foorth in the dance
of them that be ioyfull. in this is the truth & power
of God, the other a mist of man's invention, & a
misterie of iniquitie. God whom we worship accord-
ing to his word, bowing downe his ears to our ernest
praiers, brought yu back from forraigne parts, in a rare

NEGOriUM POSrERORUM. 51

adventure, full of perill, delivered yu from the dangers
of the deepe, covered yu vnder the wings of his im-
mediat protection, suffred noe man to doe.yu harme,
& wrought a marvelous light out of a fearfull dark-
ness, worthie to be written wth a penne of iron &
pointe of a diamond in all true English harts, we
then for sorrow hangd or harpes vpon the willowes,
& could not singe the songs of Syon while yu were in
a strange land, it is lodgd in the register of God's
speciall mercies to this nation, & yr Matie may heer-
after say

forsan et haec olim meminisse Svabit/

yr Matie hath the memorie of the distressed Pallitinat, Page 16.
wch in our distress in the times of persecution was a
sanctuarie & asylum, & everie good hart is sensible of
the dishonor to our nation to see & suffer a confederat
prince of our owne religion, an immediat match wth a
branch of the roiall blood, invaded & deforced of his
antient patrimonie & inheritance in that time when
ther was treatie of peace, & when our roiall navie
floted on forraigne seas & was to others a wall of brass
& tower of defence. Now that the scepter & sword
is come into yr owne hands, extend it to hould vp
them that be helpless, that soe yu may be a happie in-
strument to close vp the breaches, & raise vp the ruines
of that desolat countrie. qui non propellit iniuriam
cum possitjfacit. Egypt was destroied for being a staffe
of reed to the house of Israeli ; & Meros was cursed

52 NEGOriUM POSTERORUM.

for not comming to help the Lord in battaile against
the mightie. Lucius a Brittanie K[ing] was the first

Page 17. of all Europe whose roiall/ diadem was brightned wtb

the heavenlie beames of christianitie ; & yu that are
rex totius Britannia, liniallie defcended from the roiall
stemme of both roses, & in whose person is an vnion
of both kingdomes, shall add happinefs to yr crowne
& state, by pulling downe the pride of that Anti-
christian Hierarchic, & in abandoning by publick
edict, reallie executed, that wicked generation of
Jesuites & Seminarie preistes, who are the sonns of
Bichrie that blow the coales of contention, incendiaries
that lie in waite to fett combustion ; blood & powder
are the badges of their wicked profession. yr Matie
noe doubt in yr deepe wisdome doth discerne them, &
in due time will curbe them, & noe longer suffer such
Locusts to eat vp the good fruits of the Land, & to
abuse the simple, least the church & commonwealth
suffer, but send them home to their owne cells not to
returne againe. But that I may not take away time,
that is soe pretious, especiallie at this time, from yr Maties/

Page 1 8. soe manie & weightie affaires, nor hinder publicke

business, I hasten to conclusion, & according to the
dutie of my place, by speciall charge & commission
from the Commons house, wth the warrant of antient
& approved presidents, I humblie present vnto yr Matie
our wonted & accustomed petitions.

I that yu would gratiouslie give allowance of our
antient immunitie for our selves & such servants &

NEGOriUM POSrERORUM. 53

attendants as are capable of this priviledg, both eundo
et redeundoy & during the time of pur sitting, to be
free from arrestes & troubles, whereby we may the
better attend the publicke service.

2 that yr Matie' would vouchsafe vnto vs libertie of
free speech, according to our antient priviledg, that
by a free debate of the reasons on both sides, truth
may the better be discerned, & matters at last by
common consent happilie concluded. & I doubt not
but we shall confine our selves wthin the limits &
compass of dutie & obedience.

3 in regard/ the subiect maybe such & of soe great Page 19.
moment & consequence, as shall minister iust cause

of immediat resort for advise & redress, to the oracle
of your owne mouth ; that yr Matie would be pleased
vpon all needfull occasions, vpon our humble suite, & at
yr fitt tyme, to permitt vs access to yr roiall presence.

4 Laftlie, that yr Matie would be gratiouslie pleased
to entertaine vs in yr gratious & good opinion & of
all our proceedinges to make a benigne interpretation.

Ther onlie remaynes that I wch by the free choise
of the house, & yr Maties gratious approbation, am,
though vnworthie, a speaker for others, may be per-
mitted to become an humble suitor for my self to yr
excellent Matie, that yu would be pleased to cover my
errors & defectes wth the vaile of gratious construction ;
& to extend to me yr most humble servant, the first
of all others that in publicke needs & craves it, yr free
& gratious pardon.

54 NEGOriUM POSTERORUM.

Page 20. this oration of the Speakers had this answer by/ the

Keeper according to the formalitie of the time, the
interim was little, yet awhile hee seemd to studie the recol-
lection of some notes he then had taken : but that trouble
was not much, nor needed it at -all, wch being done, he
thus deliver'd what formerlie was agreed on.

Mr Speaker his Matie hath heard yuwth approbation,
both pleading for yr self, & for yr countrie, wherin
it far'd wth yu as formerlie wth Gubertus, for if yu
had pleaded ill, wch you were not wont to doe, yet
that could not have preiudic'd the opinion of yr
service, wch former merites have indeard j but other-
wise, as yu have, making knowne yr abilitie by yr
eloquence, it confirmes the reputation wch yu had in
the iudgment of his Matie, from whom I am com-
manded in part to make yu answer, yr speech was
like that perfect bodie of the world, soe orbicular &
round, that ther seem'd noe angle in it, but in such a
symetrie compos'd, as humors well digested in the
bodie, that ther is noe predominance, but in the equall
Page 21. temper of them all, they make one pure/ complexion :

yet in that rotunditie, as the latter Mathematicians
have observd, some stops & pointes ther may be
found ; that perfit bodie has some veines though
shadowed artificiallie by the skinne, by wch we may
see the blood & spirit conveyd to the severall partes &
members in their spheares, & by those stops & pointes
take the commensuration of the whole, wch I shall
doe in touching some perticulars. Somewhat of

NEGOriUM POSTERORUM. 55

yr self yu spake & the last parliament ; somewhat of
his Maties entrance to his raigne & therin of his
beginning wth a Parliament, of his descent & blood, of
his succession, of his hopes, of his deliverance out of
Spaine ; somewhat yu spake likewise of religion, & the
recommendation of that iewell to the K[ing] by the
pietie of his ffather at his dyinge ; somewhat of the
common Lawe as the principle of this goverment;
somewhat for the releiving of our frinds ; & somewhat
for the repressing of our enemyes, the restraint of
preistes & Jesuites ; & lastlie of those vsuall petitions
for freedome of/ persons, libertie of speech, access vpon Page 22.
occasion, & benigne interpretation of proceedings ; to
wch I will answear breiflie in this order & methode I
propound them.

ffirst concerning yr self, who say little but doe
much, having once offred to his Matie the sacrifice
of yr lips, & that not being accepted, then, what is
better, the offering of obedience, wch these first fruites
doe witness, being the oblation of yr hart, fcelix
faustumq sit, as was the issue of that Parliament wch
concluded wth K[ing] J[ames] & may be well stil'd
happie, making a reconciliation betweene his Matie &
his subiectes, & a breach & dissolution of those treaties
betwixt his enemies & him. the hope & expectation
thervpon is yet auspitious to our labors, & the comfort
then diffusd from that garland of the Crowne, the
king's prerogative, in the flowers that then descended,
the bills of grace, cannot but yet affect vs, espetiallie

56 NEGOriUM POSTERORUM.

if we take it from the true rise and ground, the labors
& endeavors of his Matie, then heer afsifting vs, who

Page 23. acted not a/ little in that sceane ; this may assure vs

much of his future love to Parliamentes, his entrance
& initiation being such : he being then to that Parlia-
ment (made soe happie) as the Sowle in the bodie of
a man, the life & glorie of it, when he receavd such
pleasure in this Councell as makes him still to love
it. ffbr his entrance into goverment, his blood, his
succession, & his hopes, & that deliverance out of
Spaine, all speake him the sonne of hope & wonder,
for what can give more to the satiffaction of his
people then this first act of meeting & conference]
heer wth them ? what can add more to the promise
of his hopes, then the virtue & nobilitie of the stocke,
wherin he is more eminent then anie prince in
chriftendome, having deum in vtroq parente, as tis
said, on both sides, being extracted from a long
descent of kings, how has his succession, in point of
restitution to the kingdome, made vp that breach wch
sorrow had enforc't vpon the loss of his deer ffather,
wch could not have beene done, by any but by him,

Page 24. nor by him if he had beene but the/ sonne onlie of his

bodie ! those abilities of his ffathers wch are regnant
in his sowle, of wch we have had experience, are a
sufficient warrant for our hopes ; & those hopes we
have confirmd by his miraculous deliverie out of
Spaine, wch prove him aswell the adopted sonne of
God, as the naturallie begotten of K[ing] J[ames]

NEGOTIUM POSrERORUM. 57

divinitie concurring wth his wisdome, & giving that
wifdom to him wch could not be circumvented by
their pollicie : a noli me tangere, I may terme him, one
whom noe humane wit can deale wth. ffor religion,
wherin, to the naturall zeale & pietie of his Matie
ther hath beene added such a spurr, by the charge &
blessing of his ffather, we need not doubt his tender
care therof, that principle being implanted in his hart j
but as we have enioy'd vnder the sun shine of the
gospell a long & rare felicitie, soe we shall still
retayne it vnder his princelie providence & see our
Jerusalem in prosperitie all his life long, touching
the common law, wch worthilie you commended, as
the fittest temper for this goverment, his Matie is
soe indulgent to that rule,/ as he recommends it to Page 25.
their studies who are professors of it, to follow the
antient maximes, not resting on new cases, wch are the
fancies but of men ; but to fetch their knowledg from
the principles wch were grounded first on reason, & had
their derivation from God's lawes, in wch they should
want noe favor from hisMatie,who was most afFectionat
to the ould, willing of reformation in the new, betweene
wch ther is this differenc, besides their originall & the
time, that the conclusions of the latter are peremptorie
& sever, drawne from slight premises & inducements,
wheras the others alwaies have strong premisses to in-
duce them, and yet such sweet conclusions as fweyd
by love, «iot force, ffor the Pallatinat, & the resti-
tution of our frendes, Mr Speaker, yu cannot imagine
i

58 NEGOTIUM POSTERORUM.

how it contentes his Matie to see yr care therin, by
wch the naturall sympathie is exprest betweene the
head & bodie. yu as the bodie, concurring wth his
Matie the head, in sence & participation of their

Page 26. miseries, who are cheif members of/ the kingdome ;

nor can it be wher such affections meet that ye actes
of Egipt, of Meros should be copied ; far be it
henc, for the honor of this nation, that it should
now desert hir frindes, having beene formerlie soe
helpfull vnto strangers : & for his Matie, I am to tell
yu this, that he desires not to live otherwise then in
glorie, & that cannot be wthout restitution of the
Pallatinat, wch as it wilbe the whole indeavor of his
matie must likewise have yr aydes to second, & supplie
him. ffor the abandoning of those sonns of Bichri
the preistes & Jesuites, wcb yu move for, his Matie
both approves your religion & devotion, & acknow-
ledges wth S* Augustine, that the poorest man on
earth has as great interest in religion as the greatest
prince or potentat : but, as princes were made keepers
of both tables, soe he desires to be trusted wth this suite,
wch in fitt time he will either grant, or better it ; wherin,
as his ffather said before him, he would be as carefull &
sincear, as he praied God to be mercifull to him. Lastly

Page 27. Mr Speaker, for thofe petitions yu exhibited of/ freedome

from arrestes, libertie of speech, access vpon occasion,
and favorable construction of yractions, wchare the fower
corner stones of that noble building of yr house, his
Matie grants them all wthout anie bound or limitation

NEGOriUM POSTERORUM. 59

more then yr owne wisdoms & modesties shall impose,
not doubting, but if anie shall abuse this libertie wch is
granted, yu wilbe more readie to punishe & correct
him, then his Matie to require it.

these speeches had divers censures wth the hearers j first
by comparison & in generall, wherin it was noted that
the Lawiers expressions were divine, the divines more
historicall & lawlike. then in the BP was observd both
for composition, & deliverie, [that] studie & affectation, wch
the other did decline, who seemd more naturall, not less
eloquent, either had thofe ignicull sententiarum & flosculi
ingeniorum for his ornament ; by ye BP they were rendred
to all satietie & fulness as bewtie set to sale, wheras the
other made them like Starrs shining in the night, admirabili
quadam illuminatione sed umbram babens & recessum. in
perticular of the BPS ther were two thinges much observd,
but w* different affection & acceptance ; the one/ was, his page 28.
insinuation to new waies, & the fallacie therin vs'd, to
intimat, that all that is done by Parliament is parliamen-
tarie, wch had an ill relishe & resent, the other was that
passage in his answear for the priviledges, terming them
the corner stones o'th house j w0*1 having that expression in
that presence was well lik't, it being thervpon presumed in
the opinion of the hearers, that their future eftimation
should have answeard it. but that difcourfe being formall,
& noe more, had not such influence on the act. states, as
divines, vse glosses on their texts, but for the inftant,
fatiffaction was pretended, & both houses thervpon pre-
par'd them to their business.

60 NEGOriUM POSrERORUM.

The Commons begann wth an Act for observation of the
Sabboth, & to prevent the abuses of that daie, wch being
read, for the honor of religion & to that end having the
first precedence given it ; further to express the devotion
of the house expecting all blessings from above ; the next
thing that followd it was the desire of a Communion that
all the members of that bodie might ioyne & in that worke
of pietie, the better to vnite them in themselves, & recon-

Page 29. cile them to their head ; & this/ religious motion was
forth wth seconded by another for a day of preparation to
that worke & a generall humiliation to be made, by a
publicke fast i'th kingdome, for wch foure reasons were
assigned. I. the miseries of the church abroad. 2. the
plague & mortalitie at home. 3. the ffleet & preparation
then in hand. 4. the expectation of the Parliament ; to
implore a blessing vpon thefe j to deprecat the calamities
of the others ; wch reasons were approved & the desires
resolv'd on. the Communion was appointed for the
Sundaie sennight after, & a Committee nam'd to see that
all performd it. the privat fast & preparation was to pre-
cede it on the Saturdaie. preachers were design'd for
both ; and it was ordered for the generall fast o'th
kingdome that a petition should be fram'd to move his
Matle therin. wch actes of pietie being resolv'd, they
defcended to the ordinarie bufmefs of the house, &, as the
manner is, in the firft place appointed a Comtee for their
priviledges, that being thought most necessarie to precede,
by wch their powers & being did subsift. the intention of

Page 30. that Comtee wch is standing & not tranfient, has/ a generall

NEGOriUM POSTERORUM. 61

reflection on their rights, & on all actes of prejudice that
impeach them, to examine, to discuss them for the ease
and information of the house, that ther they may be
punisht, or prevented : but the ordinarie agitations wch it
has, are for elections & returnes, to rectifie the obliquities
therin, wch are in all times manie, in some more, wherof
ther wanted not a large proportion even in that, amongst
others of that kinde, the Comtee being setled, a petition
was exhibited to the house against the returne for yorkshire.
the partie complaininge was Sr John Savill, his cheife
opposit then returnd, Sr Thomas Wentworth, whofe con-
testation in the countrie had beene great, as their former
emulation in that place, nor wanted they a reputation
good in either, nor meritt, if well exercis'd to support it.
I mention heer but that perticular of Wentworth, because
the whole businefs turnd on him, his colleague in that
service being but passive in the worke, & soe involvd wto
him, as what was accidentall to the one was necessarilie
contingent to the other, for the qualitie & meritt of their
cause, the same virtue/ & the same fortune being to both. Page 31.
for the present the petition was refer'd to the Comtee to be
first heard & treated of. after this & some others of that
kinde, wch had like reference from the house, an vnexpected
motion was delivered to decline the whole proceedings of
that meeting, & to petition for an adiornment to the
K[ing]. the reason pretended was the sickness, wch had a
great infection & increase : but most men did suppose that
but the color & pretext, & something more w^in it, w0*1
ielosie the sequell did confirme.

NEGOTIUM POSTERORUM.

it had it's originall from the north, & by some other
northerne spirits was seconded, who after practisd all the
artifice of delaie to deferr the question of their knightes,
& since have beene declared soe affected to themselves, &
to their owne advancements, that all confideration of
iustice & the publicke they postpon'd. this proposition
being on foote was soe farr prest and followd, vpon the
reasons & argumentes given against it, as the elect of york-
shire came in perticular to oppose the business propounded
by the K[ing] & for that vrg'd the accompt that was
Page 32. behinde for the subsidies & fifteenths given in the/ former
Parliament, saying it was more necessarie that that accompt
were rendred, then to require new aydes j to wch it was
replied, that nothing did lett the accompt, but that satiffac-
tion might be had, & for the new demand, the time, the
world, themselves might iudge how farr necessarie it was,
& exceeding the termes of that comparison, for the
adiornment twas obiected to be contrarie to the order of
the houfe, wch in the fast implied a resolution of their
fitting, to wch end was desird the publicke praiers o'th
church to implore a blessing on their labors, wch if they
then declin'd, that act of devotion was in vaine, & the
practise and profession were incongruous, the danger of
the sickness was confest, & that ballanc't wth the danger of
the enemyes, vpon wch David's example was induc'd for a
direction in the case, that shewd it better, to fall into the
righteous hands of God, then into the wicked hands of
men. other reasons were added vnto these, as, it being the
first meetinge wth the K[ing], the expectation great vpon

NEGOriUM POSrERORUM. 63

it, the reputation of much importance that should follow
it, wch wth the former, soe sweyd the sence o'th house, as,
though noe names were vs'd to turne/ it, seeking onlie an Page 33.
alteration of the place, not of the time & bufmess ; yet
the motion was reiected as improper, & by some held
ominous & portentous, thefe were the agitations of that
daie, & the initiation of the business, the next (after the
bill o'th Sabboth read againe, when it receav'd commit-
ment) motion was made for the grand Comtee of the
GREIVANCES, vpon wch ther did arise a new trouble &
dispute, but before we proceed to that, I thinke it not
vnnecessarie that we a little heer insist vpon that vse &
naming of Comtees, wch being opend heer we shall the
better know it els wher, & soe difcerne more eafilie, both
in the execution & designe, the scope & intention of those
orders, ther are three grand Comtees consisting of the
whole house, onlie the speaker leaving the formalitie of his
chaire, wch are permanent & standing, & vsually ap-
pointed in the beginning of the Parliamentes, for religion,
greivances, & Courts of Justice j these have their severall
weeklie daies assigned them, & take generall cognisance of
all matters,/ examine all complaints, send for all persons & Pase 34-
recordes ; all corruptions & injustices of Courtes, exactions
of their Ministers, oppressions of the people, abuses &
enormities in the church are respectivlie the subiectes of
their treaties, thefe they difcusse & handle for the know-
ledg of the facts ; & if they finde them faultie, worthie
a publicke judgment, thenc they are reported to the
house, wch thervpon proceeds to censure & determine

64 NEGOriUM POSTERORUM.

them, privat Comtees, wch are transient, & selected, of
some few proportionable to the cause, have in their sphears
& compass an equall power & interest, those that are for
bills on the second reading are defignd, the first being onlie
formall, when seldome, or never they are spoken to, but
in pointe of reiection & deniall, & that rarelie, if ther be
color for the intention, though ther be imperfections in
the draught : but at the second reading all obiections doe
come in(.) the perticulars both of the forme & matter,
are then argued & debated, & thervpon it passes to Com-
mitment, wher by answear & replie the difcussion may be
freer in the counterchange of reason & opinion (wch is not
Page 35. admittable in the house, wher to avoyd conteftation/ &
diforder, wch replies & contradictions might induce, & to
preserve the gravitie, noe man may speake in one daie, &
to one bufmess, above once, though he would change
opinion, (wch in Comtees is allowable) & therfore vpon the
second readings of these bills they have such reference &
commitment, that ther they may the more punctuallie be
considered, & soe come to the exacter reformation &
amendment. In generall, all Comtee8 are for preparation &
dispatch : the Judgment & conclufion is the house's ; to
facilitat that Court in the multiplicitie of hir labors, these
are the Argus & Briarius ; these Comtees are the sentinells
vpon all affaires & interestes, & these dissolve the difficul-
ties wch their greatness or numbers doe import. Accord-
ing to these customes & reasons of the former, in this
Parliament it was mov'd likewise for the Comtee of the
Greivances, as we before observed it. divers oppositions

NEGOriUM POSTERORUM. 65

it receav'd for divers interestes & respectes, publicke &
privat, wherin contraries did meet. Some did dislike it
for accident & circumstance, others simplie & absolutlie
for it self; that it might have reflection on their errors
who were/ conscious of a guilt made these others being Page 36.
obnoxious to the publicke. others that thought it not
seasonable at that time to begin the question of those
greivances, wch could not then be perfitted, for the more
certayne punishment of the offenders would have their
cause reservd. others were movd in apprehension of the
sickness, to decline that service, for the dismission of
petitioners, some had -in contemplation the new entrance
of the K[ing] whose raigne had not afforded opportunitie
for oppressing, & should not therfore be dishonord wth
an asperfion of complaint, others remembred the ould
greivances exhibited to K[ing] J[ames] in his last Parlia-
ment, to wch ther had beene noe answear, & advisd onlie
to petition then for that, but none of these reasons could
prevaile to compose the affection of the house, wch to that
Comtee for the greivances added likewife a desire of the
other for religion, & therin vrg'd the great danger &
necessitie vpon the practise of the Jesuits, the insinuation
of the prieftes, the exercise of the masse, in despight, ir
not derifion, of the lawes ; & the confidence/ & increase of Page 37.
papistes thervpon ; wch plague & infection of the sowles,
was farr more to be feared then all the plagues & infections
of the bodie. this, wtt the new occasion, stir'd a new
sence i'th house & raisd the argumentes wch did follow it
to a more heigth & quickness, for allay wherof this Catho-

66 NEGOriUM POSrERORUM.

licon, being prepar'd by that great artist S1 Ben. Ruddiard,
was readilie presented to the occafion, & in this forme
applied.

Mr. Speaker to say this is the first Parliament of
the K[ing] is noe great matter : but that the first
Parliament of the K[ing] should have a temperat
proceeding & propitious success is a matter of ex-
traordinarie consideration & consequenc ; for it is
commonlie scene that the same influenc wch governs
in the beginning of an action infuseth it self through-
out, & continues to the end, as in this perticular of
Parliamentes we have had too deer experience, cer-
tainlie the disagreement betwixt the K[ing] who is
wth God, & his people, begun & continued by mutuall
distasts in Parliament, have beene the cause almost of
Page 38. all that/ we can call amiss in this State, it was the

K [ing] wch now is, who first gave the happie turne in
the last, wherin I may trulie say, ther descended more
grace from the Crowne to the subiect then in any
Parliament some hundreds of years before ; & I may
rehears, though not obiect, that wee also did our
duties. if his Matie when he was prince, & had but
a mediating intereft did vs so manie good offices, soe
manie gratious favors, what may we expect now that
he is K[ing] & hath absolut power in his owne
hands ? we may well trust him whom we have soe
well tried, especiallie seeing he gives vs dailie new
argumentes of his goodnefs & wisdome. how pub-
licklie & frequentlie he avowes and Justifies, his owne.

NEGOriUM POSTERORUM. 67

the true religion, wth discountenance to the fals ?
how effectuallie this devotion of his workes vpon his
life, insomuch as I may stricktlie say ther can hardlie
be found a privat man of his years soe free from all
ill ? w°h as it is more rare & difficult in the/ person of Page 39.
a K[ing] soe is it more exemplar & extensive in the
operation, & noe doubt, being a blessing in it self,
will call downe more blessings from heaven vpon this
kingdom for his sake, ffor his wisdome, we see that
in his perticular actions he is naturallie regular &
orderlie, wch however some retir'd abstruse spirites
may accompt but a formalitie ; yet wise men
know how much it conduceth to wealth, to great-
ness, to goverment ; order being indeed the verie
soule of outward things, befides his breeding hath
given him an advantage above all the kings in
christendome ; for he hath beene abroad, & hath
treated wth a wise & subtile nation in a business soe
great, as himself was the subiect of it, wch hath not
onlie open'd & enlarg'd but quicken'd & sharpned
his naturall abilities, & made him vnderstand his owne
kingdome the better; for to know a man's owne
countrie alone is but a solitarie kind of knowledg in
respect/ of knowing it by comparison wth others, but Page 40.
that wch is of most vse & application to vs is that he
hath beene bred in Parliamentes, wch hath made him
not onlie to know but to favor the waies of his owne
subiecte«, wherof it becomes vs alwaies to have a
gratefull remembrance. vpon these foundations

68 NEGOriUM POSTERORUM.

Mr. Speaker, I will humblie move this honorable
house in that wherin I hope we are all come hither
prepared & mov'd in our selves, that is to carrie our
selves in this first session wth sweetness, wth dutie, wth
confidence in & towardes his Matie, forwch noe doubt,
we shall respectivlie receave such grace, such favor,
such satiffaction as the dangerousness of the time &
therfor the shortness of it can possiblie allowe.
towards the happie effecting wherof I doe further
move, that we may fall vpon such things onlie, as are
necessarie, cleer & of dispatch ; & that those busi-
nesses wch have in them either perplexitie, difficultie,
Page 41. or asperitie, if the house be not pleas'd/ altogether to

omitt them, yet they may be onlie touch't by way of
claime or greivance & soe remitted to the next session,
when we shall have fitter opportunitie & better leasure
to debate them. Last of all to take ofF the least
scruple of prejudice wch misinterpretation may cast
vpon me, I doe heer solemnlie protest, that, as heer-
tofore I did never speake with K[ing], prince or
favorit, of Parliament business, soe wth our prestnt
K[ing], I never had the honor to speake fourtie words
of any purpose what soever ; insomuch as what I have
said, I have spoken it out of the sinceritie of myne
owne hart, wthout anie other end but the good of the
Commonwealth, wherof this assemblie is the abridg-
ment.

this oration in much gravitie delivered, wth the length
& expectation that it carried, had somuch of the effect, as

NEGOriUM POSrERORUM. 69

it reduc'd to temper the affection that was stir'd. all mens
intentions still went wlhit to observe the conclusions it would
make, a great reputation was implied both in the learn-
inge & wisdome of the man ; & as he was/ in vse & estima- Page 42.
tion wth some great ones, more was expected from him then
from others, wch made the satiffaction to seeme less, & those
that were more criticall to adiudge his composition more
studied then exact, all men difcernd in him noe want of
affection to be eloquent : but his expression was thought
languid as the conclusion was enapt j generalls being fitter
for discourse then in counfell or debate, yet soe farr this
prevaild, or els the time by that, as the resolution was de-
fer'd to a further confideration & dispute, & soe the present
heat declined. wch is obfervable in that house, as their
whole storie gives it, that wher ever that mention does
breake of the fears or dangers in religion, & the increase of
poperie, their affections are much stir'd, & what ever is
obnoxious in the State, it then is reckoned as an incident
to that : for soe it followd vpon the agitation of that mo-
tion, first the danger of religion was observ'd in some
generall notes of preiudice ; then by induction it was provd
in the enumeration of perticulars ; to that was vrg'd the
infelicities of the kingdome since that difease came in. this/
had an aggravation by a syneresis & comparifon wth the Page 43.
daies of QJueen] Elpzabeth], to that was added the new
greivances & oppressions, whollie infer'd & raisd since the
connivence wth the papistes : the monopolies that had
beene, the impositions that then were, all were reduc'd to
this ; wch I mention but to shew the apprehension in that

70 NEGOriUM POSTERORUM.

pointe, & the affection of that house in matter of re-
ligion.

the next daie was begunne wth a conference of both
houses vpon the petition for the fast, at the conference
the Commons did present a draught of the petition & their
reasons, wth a motion to the Lords for their concurrenc
in the worke, who by that reverend ffather of the church,
the Archbishop of Canterburie, returnd this answear &
replie. that they approved both their intention & their
reasons, & were therein readie to assift them ; but wto all,
out of a text in Joel, gave them such a caution & advise
against privat vndertakings of that kinde, as vpon their re-
turne vnto their house, the former daie was altered & some
Page 44. time given for expectation in that pointe. after/ this the
dispute of religion was resum'd, wherin some introduction
being made, it was thus followd for preparation & advise.

*#* religion is the touchftone of all actions, the
triall by wch they are knowne, vpon wch all pollicie,
all wisdome, all excellenc must be grounded, & what
rests not on this center can have noe perfection or
assurance : for what the power of man is wth out God,
or what w111 out religion, may be expected from his
favor, his owne wordes & stories doe sufficientlie
declare, religion onlie it is that fortifies all pollicie,
that crownes all wisdome, that is the grace of excel-
lenc; the glorie of all power, the strength of all
goverment is religion ; for though pollicie might
secure a kingdome against forraigners (& soe I praise
God this kingdom may alwaies stand secure) & wis-

NEGOriUM POSTERORUM. 71

dome provide all necessaries for the rule & goverment
at home ; yet, if religion season not the affections of
the people, the danger is asmuch in our owne Achi-
topheles as of Moab & all the armies of/ Philistims. Page 45.
religion it is that keeps the subiect in obedience, as
being taught by God to honor his vicegerentes. a
religando it is cal'd, as the common obligation amongst
men, the tye of all frindship & societie, the band of
all office & relation, writing everie dutie in the con-
science, wch is the stricktest of all lawes. both the
excellence & necessitie heerof the heathens knew, that
knew not true religion, & therfore in their polliticks
they had it alwaies for a maxime : a shame it were
for vs to be therin less intelligent then they, & if we
trulie know it we cannot but be affectionat in this
case.

two things are considerable therin, the puritie, the
vnitie therof ; the first respecting onlie God, theother
both God & man ; for wher ther is division in religion
as it does wrong divinitie it makes distractions amongft
men, & soe dissolves all ties & obligations, civill &
naturall, the observation of heaven being more power-
full then either pollicie or blood, ffor the puritie of
religion in this place I need not speake, seeing how
bewtifull the/ memories of our ffathers are therin made Page 46.
by their indeavors. ffor the vnitie I wishe posteritie
might say we had preserved for them that wch was left
%to vs; but a difease once enterd, though it be past
prevention, must have cure, & as the danger or infec-

7z NEGOriUM POSrERORUM.

tion becomes greater, the greater care & diligence
must oppose it.

what divifions, what factions, naie what fractions in
religion this kingdome does now suffer, I need not re-
capitulat. what diverfions, what transactions, what
alienations have beene made noe man can be ignorant,
how manie members, in that pointe, have been dis-
sected from this bodie, I meane the bodie of the land,
wch representativlie we are, soe as the bodie it self,
though healthie, cannot but seeme lame ? how have
those members studied to be incorporat wth others ?
how have they threatend vs, their owne, not onlie by
presumption but in greatness, & given vs far more
then they have taken ? blessed be that hand that has
deliverd vs, blessed this daie that gives vs hope, wherin
the danger & infection may be stai'd ; for wth out pre-
Page 47. sent remedie/ the disease will scarce be curable.

to effect this the cause must first be sought from
whenc this sickness springs, & that wilbe best found
in the survey of the lawes, for certainlie it lies in the
lawe, or execution ; either ther is some defect or im-
perfection in the lawes, or their life, the execution is
remitted : for if the lawes be perfect, how can division
enter but by a breach of them ? if the execution be
obferv'd how can the lawes be broken ? therfore in this
does rest the cause, & heer must be the remedie. to
that end now my motion shall encline for a review
o'th lawes & a speciall confideration in that pointe,
that if ye divifion have gott in by imperfection of the

NEGOriUM POSrERORUM. 73

lawes they may be amended ; if by defect that may be
supplied ; if, as I most doe fear it, through neglect, &
want of execution, the power may be enforc't wth
some great mulct & penaltie on the minifters, who for
that wilbe more vigilant & we therby secure,
this speach gave occafion for £ generall confideration/ of Page 48.
the lawes, wherin it was confest ther was a sufficiencie
& fulness, but the want of execution did impaire it, &
both detract from the power & reputation of the lawes.
in this divers perticulars were instanc't, some to prevent,
some to corrupt the lawes. in some ther was observed to
befraus legis,a. cousenage of the lawe, &that former waies
effected, first, by dependanc on great men, wch were a
terror to informers, & wthout them noe delinquentes could
be found, secondlie, by changing names & appellations,
practisd both by papistes preistes & Jesuites, who by the
often shift of places, soe did avoid indictmentes. thirdlie
by procuring information against themselves, wch they
could press or stop & soe preventing others in the like
manner, as a superseded* for the peace, fowerthlie, by
certioraries removing the indictmentes from the Countries,
soe as noe prosecutor should be found, & soe noe more
proceeding. & in others ther was noted to befraus contra
legemy an abuse & cousenage of the Kpng] for what the
lawe allowd him. & of this likewise ther were fower waies
defcribd. first by removing of their goods into priviledg'd &
free/ places, soe as noe forfeiture could be served, then by Page 49-
begging of such forfeitures by those about the K[ing], who
intended not the punishment, but favor of the paoistes.

74 NEGOriUM POSrERORUM.

thirdlie by letters procur'd in their behalf for stop & prohi-
bition of proceedings. & lastlie by the pardons, wch too
frequentlie were gran ted, not onlie to recusants but tojesuites.
all wch did hinder the execution of the lawes & renderd them
fruitless, in that pointe, & were designd for causes of that
difease & sickness, examples were cited of all thefe to warrant
their reasons & opinions, wherof it was thought necessarie ther
should be a true information to the K[ing], & an address &
petition to reforme them, for a preparation to that worke the
clarke was appointed to bring in all the petitions of thatkinde,
wch formerlie had beene made, at the next sitting, vnto wch
the further consideration was refer Jd. the next daie, some
Comtees of both houses having attended on the [King]
reported his answear to the petition for the fast, w1* was,
that as he lik't their method in beginning w'h devotion,
soe he did hope ther proceedings would be answearable,
Page 50. that he approved of the desire/ & after consultation wth the
Bishops, would give it execution. fFrom this againe, some
few bills being read & that of the Saboth, vpon the third
reading, past for lawe, the Commons resum'd againe the
consideration of religion, & in that part began wher they
had left it last, the former petitions were then read, wch
had beene exhibited in 18 & 21 Ja[mes] wth the protesta-
tion of the prince made then vpon the sence of his de-
liverance out of Spaine. from wch & the disputes that
had beene past ther was a Comtee then appointed to frame
a new petition to the K[ing], the Lords about this time
having resolvd vpon their fast by message did intimat their
time & place to the Commons, who thervpon determin'd

NEGOriUM POSTERORUM. 75

for themselves likewife to have the same daie appointed, &
to strengthen in this service their correspondence by the
place, one church being not capable of both houses, as the
Lords did take the Abby, they chose the parishe church at
Westminster, in wch their communions were before, & now
their firft of fastes. thefe pointes of religion thus dispos'd,
wch by/ a former order of the house were to have cleer Page 51.
precedence before all things, the proposition was admitted
for supplie. some art ther was to extenuat the proportion,
& therfor it was begun by a gentleman of the Countrie,
who, vnexpected to the Courtiers, falling on that subiect
& pitching on a perticular of one subsidie & fifteenth, all
their rhetoricke & labor could hardlie thence remove it,
but the inclination of the house still resorted to that
principle, againe heer Sr Ben. Rudyard was imploied,
who but at such times, & in such services, did speake,
never but premeditated, wch had more shew of memorie
then affection, & made his words less powerfull then ob-
fervd. he did deduce his reason for the enlargment of
the ayd from the occafions & necessities of the State,
these he enforc't by the domesticke charge of the K[ing],
the funerall of his ffather, the entertaynement of Ambas-
sadors, the forraigne expences & ingagmentes to Denmarke,
Manffeilt, & the States, befides/ his owne preparations then Page 52
for warr ; all wch he said requird a vast supplie of treasure
& that must have it's magazine on the people, noe par-
ticular summe he inftanc't, w°h made his reasons less suc-
cesfull, 3? soe, in that respect his labor was in vaine. yet
divers others followed him, & in divers waies & motions.

76 NEGOTIUM POSTERORUM.

some would have an addition of fifteenths, others of sub-
sidies, & ther were that preft for both : but in little they
prevaild. the pitch being sett at first was not soe easilie
exceeded ; yet the quindecim thought greivous to the
poore, changd the proposition in that part. wch was con-
cluded in the whole for two subfidies alone, to endear
both the proportion & the gift, divers circumstances were
observd of force & aggravation, first the time, it being
then but the beginning of a Parliament, wheras supplie
was antientlie a worke of the conclusion, then that the
grant it self intended was of that value, as not fower Kings
of England ever had the like, then that the condition of
Page 53. the people, though the manie violation[s]/ of their rights,
in the generall liberties of the kingdom, the perticular
priviledges of that house, their burdens, their oppressions,
which noe times els could parallell, spoke them less able ;
& that complaint postposd, shew'd them more affectionat.
then that ther was noe ingagment to induce it, as manie
had supposed vpon the declaration of the last parliament of
K [ing] J [ames], that promise being made for supportation
of a warr, & yet ther being noe knowledg of an enemye.
againe the former grant was spoken of, for wch ther had
beene noe reckoninge ; & theron, by way of question
twas digrest, to confider what accompt was answearable for
the manie thousand men, that had perisht & beene lost, in
the Pallatinat, & wth Manffeilt ; the millions of treasure
that was spent, wthout success, in profit or honor to the
kingdome, wch was noted not to be England's ffate, when
God & it were frindes j & for that the glories of Q_[ueen]

NEGOriUM POSTERORUM. 77

Elpzabeth] were inftanc't, who wth less supplies and aydes,
encreasd hir self at home, wasted hir enemies abroad,/
consum'd Spaine, raifd the Low Countries, revived ffrance. Page 54,
vpon all wch it was desir'd, that ther might be a petition to
the K[ing], to move him to consideration of those things,
& to reforme the goverment, then at his entrance &
beginning by the like counfell & advise ; wch petition &
remonstrance would tell him from those reafons, how
affectionat was that grant. & it was added by him that
foe deduc'd it, that he was soe farr from augmentation, as
he would have noe man heard to move it. this being
rendred by Sr Robert Philips wth a great life & eloquence
movd much in the apprehension of the house, both for the
setling of that question, & this reflection on the times,
the present povertie was felt in the generall necessities of
the Countrie. the cause of that was knowne to be the
greivances and oppressions, the loss of men, loss of
honor, loss of monie, the late infortunities of K[ing]
J[ames] were too obvious & vndoubted, as the contrarie
felicities of (^[ueen] El[izabeth] soe as all men of them-
selves sawe the present want of Councell, & some resolvd,
in time, more specially to complaine it. ther was in this
gentleman/ a naturall grace of oratorie, a moving & Page 55.
Nestorean waie of rhetoricke, a choise store he had &
elegance of wordes, readiness & dexteritie in fancie & con-
ception ; a voice & pronunciation of much sweetness.
the whole expression, profluens & canora ; but, as some
iudgd pf Cicero, by some thought in him to be tumens
& exultans. a redundancie & exuberance he had, & an

78 NEGOTIUM POSrERORUM.

affected cadence & deliverie. but vpon all occafions, at all
times, ex re nata, he was rendred, wch made his argumentes,
as more genuine & perticular, soe more acceptable, & per-
swafive : for in that place alwaies premeditation is an
error, all speech of composition & exactness, being sup-
posed, ex ore non a pectcre, & those children of the mouth
onlie are not somuch affecting as the true issues of the
hart, this spell was a charme vpon the Courtiers to sup-
press their further craving : yet something was added by
the rest for the improvement of this gift, that the re-
cusantes should pay double, wch after some small letts was
likewise accorded & concluded on, wherof the acceptation
Page 56. & success shall be noted in their orders./ that great worke
being done, an accompt was represented from the Arch-
bishop of Canterburie of his proceedings wth Mountague
vpon the reference of that house in the last parliament of
K[ing] J[ames] wch was, that, having convented him
before him, and tould him of the troubles he had caus'd,
& what disturbance was growen in the church & in the
Parliament by his booke ; he gave him this advice, Be oc-
cafion of noe scandall ; goe home, reveiwe yr booke, it
may be some things have slip't yu, wch vpon second cogita-
tions yu will reforme. if anie thing be said toomuch, take it
away; if anie thing too little add vnto it ; if anie thing be ob-
fcure explaine it but doe not wedd yrself to yr owne opinion ;
& remember we must give accompt of our ministerie to
Christ : wth wch admonition being dismift, it was said, he
heard noe more of him for a long time after, till, one daie
going to attend vpon the K[ing] he came suddanlie vpon

NEGOriUM POSTERORUM. 79

him, & presented him, in cursu, as it were, his second
booke ; for wch being shortlie question'd, as the place &
time permitted, of that bouldness & neglect, he made a
slight answear & departed, this carriage/ and report were Page 57-
diverslie interpreted & receavd. some did wonder at the
insolence of Mountague, th^t he dar'd soe affront the
dignitie of that ffather ; for it was held noe less, instead of
a retraction for the former, to present a second booke in
confirmation of the other for wch he had beene question'd,
& to publishe it wth[out] the knowledg of the Archbishop,
others did thinke it strange, the lenitie of the Archbishop,
that he would pass vnpunished such an indignitie to his
place, his person likewise being iniur'd in the fact, but
those that look't more narrowlie conceav'd one reason
for both these, & both that bouldness in the one, &
remisness of the other by command, againe the admonition
given, though grave, was neither represive, nor directing,
being but made in generalls, & that by way of supposition
& hypothesis, wch hardlie answear'd the expectation that
was had. but this also was imagined the same power of
influence had wrought. K[ing] J[ames] was knowne
then secretlie to support him. the Archbishop did confess
that he was twice wth/ the K[ing] sent for in that business, Page 58.
wch being opend, few men did after doubt by whom that
sceane was made, yet it seemd strange to some that
K[ing] J[ames] should soe affect him. his doctrines
being oppos'd to the decisions made at Dort, & that Synod
being soe honor' d by the K[ing], of wch he assum'd the
patronage, & somuch gloried in it. this man being op-

80 NEGOriUM POSrERORUM.

posit, ex diametro, to that, & his bookes likewise casting
divers aspersions on the K [ing] as will hearafter be obfervd,
manie did wonder how these things could agree, wth, as a
secret rested vpon a higher principle, but this report
being made, the house againe resumd the cognisance of
that matter to themselves, & referd the examinations of
the bookes to the Comtee for religion, this past the first
daie of Julie, the fourth the king's Sollicitor did exhibit an
answear to the greivances formerlie complain'd of to
K[ing] J[ames] wch because they doe express much of
reason of that time, & the inclination of the State, we will
perticularlie heer insert them, as we have done the
greivances elswher, noting onlie but the heades that were
Page 59. complain'd of for the better illustration of their answears./

1. against the patent for the plantation of new England,
ans. it shalbe free for all the Kings subiectes to performe

their fishing voyages, vpon that coast, yeilding a reason-
able recompence to the patentees for their wood and
timber, & if anie thing in the patent be against lawe it
shalbe amended.

2. against the incorporation of gouldwire-drawers.

ans. the patent is in the clarke of the Parliament his hands, &
is not vs'dj &his Matle is well pleas'd that it be recal'd by
course of lawe, if they will not voluntarilie surrender it.

3. agst the patent of concealments granted to Sr John

Townshend.

ans. the patent is delivered to the dark of the Parliament,
& it is not vsed ; &• if it be thought fit to be revok't by
bill, his Matie will pass it.

NEGOriUM POSrERORUM. 81

4. agst licences cal'd breifes.

ans. his Matie hath commanded none to be granted/ but Page 60.
vpon certificat in open Sessions, & that such certifi-
cats shall not be made, but vpon iust cause, & that
the same be alwaies one.

5. agst the patent of apothecaries^

ans. if anie thing in these letters patentes be amiss in the
manner & forme, his matie leaves it to the Parliament
to be reformd by bill : but because it concernes the life
& health of his subiectes, he doth not think it fit,
it should be left wthout goverment in the meane time.

6. agst Sr John Mildrams patent of the light of winter

towness.

ans. this light is vsefull & necessarie, but if the tax be too
great, he wisheth it may be moderated, wch he refers to
the advice of both the Houses.

7. agst Sr Symon Harvie.

ans. the particular abuses have been examined & the com-
positions wch were the ground of the mifdeameanoure
are set at large.

8. agst grantes of the Cuftodie of Jailes to other/ then Page 61.

SherifFes.

ans. the sheriffes shall according to lawe have the custodie
of Jailes in those places wch are in the king's hands,
& all grantes to the contrarie are left to the lawe.

9. agst the patent of Surveyorship of hew-castell-coales.
ans. this patent hath had noe continuance from his Matie,

& the validitie of it is left at the lawe
I o. agst ye multitude of popish & seditious bookes.

M

82 NEGOriUM POSrERORUM.

ans. a proclamation was latelie made to reforme the abuses
in this kinde, which shalbe renew'd.

1 1 . agst the proclamation for buildings.

ans. ther hath much good come by the reformation of
buildings, & such pointes as were formerlie found in-
convenient are now qualified & altered, and his Matie
is resolved to goe forward w01 the work.

12. agstDr. Anian./

Page 62. ans. when they of the colledg doe complaine to his Matie,
his Matie will take care of them.

13. concerning the instructions of the Courtes of wardes.
ans, his Matie will recall the last inftructions & will estab-
lish new according to the[ir] desire.

14. agst the marchant adventurers, (wch part of the petition

consisting of divers articles, they had these severall
answears).

ans. i. the trade of cloth is quickned & noe
complaint since the last year.

2. the maine causes of the decay are remov'd.
dyed & drest clothes may be vented by anie other
to all places, except those limitted to the marchant
adventurers ; new manufactures by anie other to
anie place. & if white clothes be not bought by the
adventurers anie other shall have leave to buy them.

3. the imposition laid by the Marchant adventurers
is abated & limitted to a shorter time, & after-
wards to be laid by.

4. his matie will write to his Ambassadors wth the
Archdutchess & States concerning the burdens
laid vpon cloth in those partes.

NEGOriUM POSTERORUM. 83

5. his Matie hath not time to examine the/ preter- Page 63.
mitted Customes, but leaves it to the next
Session.

6. the ffees of the custome house shalbe regulated
& tables appointed.

15. concerninge the complaint of the Levant Marchantes.
ans. the imposition is not new, nor more then was in

Q_[ueen] Elpsabeths] time. & the Venetians offer
to bear it, soe as they may bring in their commodities,
wch they will doe in English bottoms, wch takes away
the pretence of overcharge.

1 6. agst the patent of Pennie & Gennie.

ans. this patent is delivered into the handes of the clarke
of the Parliament, & is left to the lawes.

17. agst the abuse of alnage.

ans. the abuses of the deputie alnage rs are directed to be re-
formed by speciall limitations.

1 8 concerning perpetuana's & searges.

ans. the rates vpon the searges & perpetuana's have beene
complaind of by the westerne marchantes & are
moderated to their content.

19. agst the abuses of prisage./

ans. prisage shall not be taken but according to the rule of Page 64.
iustice.1

20. concerning cloth workers.

ans. his Matie leaves it to the Parliament to consider what
is to be done therin.

21. concerning tobacco.

ans. his Matie hath prohibited all foraigne tobacco & none is to
be imported but of the growth of his owne dominions.

NEGOriUM POSrERORUM.

22. concerning the East Land Marchantes.

ans. the marchantes doe give way that anie other may
bring in necessaries for shipping & timber.

23. concerning the impositions vpon currance.

ans. the Venetians are contented to bear this charge soe
they may have the importation, & they will bring none
but in English bottoms.

divers exceptions were made at manie of these answears,
& little satisfaction vpon all ; but the occasion & complaint
being of former time, this was accepted for the present,
though the hope & expectation w°h was had, from thence
foorth did decline.

The sickness was then risen to a great infection &
mortalitie, noe part of the citie did stand free./

Page 65. divers fell dead downe in the streetes. all companies &

places were suspected, wch made all men willing to remove,
& those of the Parliament more readie to shorten & ex-
pedit their business, to that end the petition for religion
was then speeded, & imparted in a conference to the Lords,
who therin concurring as the mutuall act of both, it was
in this forme presented to the K[ing].
Most gratious Souvraigne

It being infalliblie true that nothing can more esta-
blish yr throne & assure the peace & prosperitie of yr people
then the vnitie & sinceritie of religion ; we yr Matles most
humble & loiall subiectes the Lords spirituall & temporall,
& Commons in this present Parliament assembled, obferv-
ing that of late ther is an apparant mischievous increase of
Papistes in yr dominions, hould our selves bound in con-

NEGOriUM POSTERORUM. 85

cience & dutie to represent the same to yr Sacred Matie,
togeather wth the dangerous consequences, & what we con-
ceave to be the principall causes therof, & what may be the
remedies./

the dangers appeer in theise perticulars. Page 66.

1. their desperat ends, being the subversion both of the

Church & State ; & the restlessness of their spirites
to attaine those endes ; the doctrine of their teachers
& leaders perfuading them that therein they shall doe
God good service.

2. their evident & strick't dependancie vpon such forraigne

princes as noe waie affect the good of yr Matie & this
State.

3. the opening a way of popularitie to the ambition of

anie wch shall adventure to make him self head of soe
great a partie.
the principall causes of the increase of papistes are these.

1 . the want of due execution of the lawes against Jesuites,

seminarie preistes, & popish recusantes, occasioned
partlie by connivence of the State, partlie by some
defectes in the lawes themselves, & partlie by the
manifould abuses of officers.

2. the interposing of fforraigne princes by their Ambas-

sadors & agentes in favor of them.

3. their great concurse to the Citie, & their/ frequent con- Page 67,

venticles & conference ther.

4. their open & vsuall resort to the houses & chappells of

fforraigne Ambassadors.

5. the education of their children in Seminaries & houses

86 NEGOriUM POSTERORUM.

of their religion in fforraigne partes, wch of late haue
been greatlie multiplied & inlarged for entertayning
of the English.

6. that in some places of this yr Realme your people are

not sufficientlie instructed in the knowledg of true
religion.

7. the licentious printing & dispersing of popish & seditious

bookes.

8. the imploiment of men ill affected in religion in places

of goverment, who doe, shall, or may countenance
the popish partie.

The remedies against this contagious & dangerous
disease we conceave to be theise ensuing.

1 . that the youth of this kingdom be carefullj educated by

able & religious schoolmaifters, & they be enioyned
dilligentlie to cathechise & inftruct their schollers in
the groundes & principles of religion. & wheras by
manie complaintes from divers partes of this kingdom
Page gs. it doth plainlie appeer that sundrie popish/ school-

mafters dissembling their religion, have craftilie crept
in, & obtayned the places of teaching in divers coun-
tries, & therby infected & perverted their schollers, &
soe fitted them to be transported to the popish semi-
naries beyond te Seas, that therfore ther be great
care in the choice & admitting of Schoolmafters, &
that the Ordinaries make diligent enquirie of their
demeanors, & proceed to the removing of such as
shalbe faultie or iustlie suspected.

2. that the Antient discipline of the two Vniversities be

NEGOriUM POSrERORUM. 87

restored, being the ffamous nurceries of litterature &
virtue.

3. that speciall care be taken to enlarge the preaching of

the word of God through all the partes of yr Maties
dominions as being the most powerfull means for the
planting of true religion, &" rooting out of the contrarie.
to wch end, amongst other things, may it please yr
Matie to advise the Bishops by ffatherlie intreatment
& tender vsage, to reduce to the peaceable & orderlie
service of the church such able ministers as have/ beene page 69.
formerlie silenced, that ther may be a profitable vse of
their ministrie in these need full & dangerous times.
& that non-residencie, pluralities, & commenda's may
be moderated : wher we cannot forbear most humblie
to thanke yr Matie for diminishing the number of yr
owne chaplaines, nothing doubting of yr like princelie
care for the well bestowing of yr benefices, both to
the comfort of yr people & to the encouragement of
the Vniversities, being full of grave and able ministers
vnfurnished of livings.

4. that ther may be straight provision made against the

transportation of Englishe children to the Seminaries
beyond the Seas, & for recalling of them, who are
ther alreadie placed, & for punishing of such your
subiectes as are mayntainers of those Seminaries or of
schollers ther, considering that besides the seducing of
yr people, great summs of monie are yeerlie expended
vpon them to the impoverishing of this kingdome./

5. that noe popish recusant be permitted to come wthin Page 70.

88 NEGOriUM POSTERORUM.

the Court vnless yr matie be pleased to call him vpon
speciall occasion, agreeable to the statute 3° Ja. cap 5-
& wheras yr matie for preventing of manie apparant
mischeifes both to yr Matie & this State, have in yr
princelie wisdome taken order, that none of yr naturall
subiectes not professing the said true religion by lawe
eftablished, be admitted to the service of yr most
roiall consort the QJueen], we give yr Matie most
humble thanks, & desire that yr order therin may be
constantlie observd.

6. that all the lawes now standing in force against Jesuits,
Seminarie preistes, and others, having taken orders
by authoritie derived from the Sea of Rome, be put
in due execution. & to the intent they may not
pretend to be surprised, that a speedie & certaine daie
be prefix't by yr Maties proclamation for their de-
parture out of this realme, & all other your dominions,
Page 71. & not/ to returne vpon the sevearest penalties of the

lawes now in force against them. & that yr Matles
subiectes may be therby also admonished not to
receave entertaine comfort or conceale anie of them
vpon the penalties wch may be lawfullie inflicted. &
that all such preistes, Jesuites & popish recufantes
convicted wch are or shalbe imprisoned for recusancie,
or anie other cause, may be strictlie restrained, that
none may have conference wth them, therby to avoyd
the contagion of their corrupt religion. & that none
that shal be iustly suspected of poperie be suffered to
be keeper of anie of yr Matles prisons.

NEGOriUM POSrERORUM. 89

7 . That yr Matie be pleased tcl take such order as to yr
princelie wisdome shall seeme expedient, that no
naturall borne subiect or stranger Bishop, or anie
other by authoritie derived from the Sea of Rome,
conferr anie ecclesiasticke v orders, or exercise anie
ecclesiasticall function what soever towardes or vpon
any of yr Maties naturall subiectes wthin anie [of] your
dominions./

8. that yr Matles learned councell may receave order & Page 72.

commandment to consider of all former grantes of
recusantes landes, that such may be avoyded as are
made to they[se] recusantes vse or trust, or out of
wch they[se] recusants receave benefit, wch are either
void or voidable by lawe.

9. that yr matie be likewise pleased straightly to command

all iudges & ministers of Justice, both ecclesiasticall &
temporall, to see the lawes of this realme against
popishe recusantes, to be dulie executed, & namelie,
that the censure of excommunication be declared &
certified against them. & that they be not obsolved
but vpon publicke satiffaction by yeelding to con-
formitie.

10. that yr matle be pleased to remove from all places of

authoritie & goverment all such persons as are either
popish recusantes or, according to direction of former
Actes of State, iustlie to be suspected.

11. that present order be taken for difarming of all such

popish recusantes legallie convicted/ or iustlie suspected, Page 73.
according to the lawes in that behalf, & the orders

90 NEGOriUM POSTERORUM.

taken by his late Maties privie councell vpon reason of
state.

12. that yr matie be also pleased in regard of the great resort

of recusantes to & about London, to command that
forthwth vpon paine of yr indignation & severe execu-
tion of the lawes, they retire themselves to their
severall countries, ther to remayne confined wthin five
miles of their dwelling places.

13. & wheras yr Matie hath commanded & taken order
that none of yr naturall subiectes should repaire to the
hearing of Mass, or other superstitious service, at the
chappell, or house of forraigne Ambassadors, or anie
other place whatsoever, we give yr matle most humble
thankes ; & desire that yr commandment & order
therin may constantlie be observed ; & that the
offenders therin be punished according to the
lawe.

14. that all such insolencies as anie popishly affected have
Page 74. latelie committed, or shall/ heerafter committ, to the

dishonor of our religion, or to the wronge of the true
professors therof, be exemplarilie punished.

15. that the statute of primo El[isabeth] for the paying

of twelve pence everie Sunday by such as shalbe ab-
sent from divine service in the church wthout lawfull
excuse, may be put in due execution, the rather
for that the penaltie is given to the poore by the
lawe, and therfore not to be dispensed wth.

1 6. Lastlie that yr Matie be pleased to extend yr princelie

care also over the Kingdome of Ireland, that the like

NEGOriUM POSrERORUM. 91

courses may be ther taken for restoring & establishing
of true religion.

And thus moft gratious Soveraigne according to
our dutie & zeale to God & religion, to yr matie & yr
saftie, to the church & commonwealth, & their peace
& prosperity, we have made a plaine & faithfull di-
claration of the present estate ; the causes, & reme-
dies of this increasing disease of poperie/ humblie Page 75.
offering the same to yr Maties princlj care and wis-
dome. the answear of yr Maties ffather our late Sove-
raigne of famous memorie vpon the like petition, did
give vs comfort & expectation of a reformation in
these things ; but yr Maties manie gratious promises,
wch wth much ioye & thankfulnefs we doe remember,
doe give vs confident assurance of the continuall per-
formance thereof. In wch comfort and confidence
reposing our selves, we most humblie pray for yr
Maties long continuance in all princelie felicitie.
this petition was presented by a Comtee of both houses
consisting of the number of of the lords &

of the Commons, who in all such speciall meet-
ings & Comtees alwaies observe that differenc, that what
euer the number be of Lords their proportion is still double
it, wch is a fundamentall order of their house, not wth out
wisdome in the institution soe appointed, not wth out profit
practised on all occafions, &, as it was at other times, soe
followd now in this, the petition being delivered had noe
answea^ for the present, but a benigne/ gratious accepta- Page 76.
tion, the rest, as it was requisit for the state & matie of the

NEGOriUM POSrERORUM.

prince, & for the weight and importance of the cause, that
some time of consideration should be given it ; being re-
ferd to hope & expectation, all men were therin satiffied
that the worke was soe accomplisht, & for success some
men presum'd the best.

the next thing wch remayn'd was the bill for the two
subfidies that were given, wch likewise being past the
house of Commons, & that intimated to the K[ing], it
produced a message from his matie, wch shortlie after followd
it, that gave a generall hope & confidence of a speedie
conclusion & recess.

the message was delivered by the Lo. Keeper, the
K[ing] being then retir'd to Hampton Court from the
danger of the infection ; & it came as addrest to both
houses, that his matie receav'd great satiffaction & con-
tentment in their guift, both for the forme & matter, it
comming as an ernest of their loves, that he tooke into
confideration their safties, yea more then his owne in
respect of the danger of the sickness still increasing ; &
that, when he should hear the Commons were readie,
though he would not hasten them in anie thing, he would
not defer one minute for anie reason to putt an end to/
Page 77. that sitting by his presence or otherwise, this message &
the time wrought soe effectuallie wth all men as what they
desird, [that] they easilie did beleeve, & thervpon dispos'd
themselves presentlie to retire.

their grant they sawe accepted, & all thinges left to the
difcretion of the house, the business then depending was
not much, new they presumd would not be receavd ; those

NEGOTIUM POSTERORUM. 93

few questions that remaynd were of noe great importance
& most of them but formall, soe as they now conceavd
noe necessitie of their presence, & that their non-attend-
ance was dispensable, in this confidence the greatest part
went off, hardlie were the Commons a fourth part of their
number, & those that staid, resolv'd, wth all the hast they
could, to followe those were gone, to that end they tooke a
survey of their business, in the first ranck they plac'd the
bill of tonnage & poundage, wch then remaynd imperfect,
& to this they gave the first confideration for dispatch, &
soe a second reading, it was drawne in the vsuall forme,
as formerlie it had beene in the daies of K[ing] J[ames]
for the like terme of life, & in such latitude as to him ; at
wch some exceptions were then made, & motions for
change & alteration, vpon wch/ it was referd for the better Page 78.
difcussion & debate to the grand Comtee of the house, into
wch, the Speaker leaving his chaire, they presentlie resolvd
themselves, some did obiect, in that, the exactions of the
officers, & the inequalitie of the customes then requird, &
vrg'd theron a necessitie for the marchantes to have a new
booke of rates, to settle & compose it, wch could not be pre-
par'd in soe short a time & sitting, others alledgd the
pretermitted cuftomes, grounded vpon the misconstruction
of that lawe, wcb ought to be examind likewise, & the
lawes that then remayn'd were thought to be incapable of
that worke. therfore on these reafons they inferd a desire
for a limitation in the act, & that it might but continue
for one year, against w011 time, these difficulties being re-
solvd, they might againe renew it wth a larger extenfion

94 NEGOriUM POSrERORUM.

& continuance, others to this added the question of im-
positions in the generall & cravd a special! care not to have
that excluded, the elder times were mentioned to note the
former grantes, wherin though ther were collected a great
varietie & difference, yet all were wthin the limitation of

Page 79. some years : sometimes for one, sometimes for two,/ but
seldome above three, & that in ye best raignes & gover-
mentes & to the wiseft princes ; never for life till towardes
the end of H[enry] 6. in whose beginninges also it had had
other limitations & restraintes, & for the time a less extent
& latitude, vpon wch likewise it was concluded, for a pre-
sent alteration in that pointe. the King's Councell opposd
this wth much solicitation & indeavor, & vrg'd the distast
it might occasion having somanie descentes held constant
in that forme ; all the raigne of K[ing J[ames], all the
raigne of Q^[ueen] El[isabeth] & soe to Q_[ueen] M[ary]
E[dward] 6. H[enry] 8. H[enry] 7, & beginning in that
raigne, not the most deserving of all others, of H [enry] 6.
the hopes & merittes of the K[ing] were compard wth all
his ancestors & it was prest as a prejudice therin if the
grant should then be limitted, having beene absolut to the
others. It was consented that a proviso should be added
for the saving of those rightes : but in other things it was
cravd wholie to be free, that the K[ing] might not thinke
himself lessend in estimation, this argument was much
forc't for the perswasion of the house, as after it was
doubted to be elswher made their preiudice : but it pre-
vail'd not against those other considerations that were rais'd,

Page 80. vpon/ wch it was concluded for a limitation & restraint.

NEGOriUM POSrERORUM. 95

the bill thus past that house had it's transition to the
Lords, wher it receavd like favor & dispatch but was not
made a lawe, wanting the Roy le vuit, wch being denied it,
shewd what muft be look't for.

the next to this was the great question that was followd
of the election made for yorkshire. it had from the first
day o'th sitting beene in continuall agitation till that time,
divers examinations & debates it had receavd in the Comtee,
severall reportes & motions in the house, a great disturbance
it had beene to the whole business of either ; a fierce spirit,
it raisd almost in all the members, some in affection to
the parties, who had drawne an inclination to their side, if
it may be supposd in the integritie of that Court ; & others
in dislike of the practise that was vs'd. that by sharp argu-
mentes, it had manie times beene handled, wch from the
cause had now & then some sallies on the persons, & ther
begatt distasts. the case, in short, was this, ther being a
great emulation in the Countrie for that choise, a great
concurse followd/ it at the Countie Court in yorke. the Page 8z,
confusion being great, through the multitude of voices,
ther was noe way of iudgment by the crie, & the venie was
more vncertayne. the poll, wch is the touchstone in such
cases, was the onlie means of triall ; wch being demanded
by Savill & his frinds, granted by the Sheriff, & follow'd
in a part, was after interrupted & left off, & the iudgment
& decision made wthout it. this was the case in breife,
vpon wch it was obiected that the Sheriff was wholie
Wentworth's, that he neglected in his favor, that dutie
of his place to have proceeded in the poll, when he dif-

96 NEGOriUM POSrERORUM.

cernd & sawe Savill was like to carrie it ; that being
demanded it at first, wth much difficultie he admitted it, &
pretended it a curtesie not a due. that contrarie to all right,
having assum'd the iudgment to himself, he pronounc't the
choise for Wentworth, wheras the other had more voices,
double as was pretended, this suggestion & complaint,
was fortified by certificat from the Countrie, vnder the
hands of a hundred & fiftie of the freeholders & seven
witnesses, viva voce, did attest it. infinit had beene the
Page 82. practifes/ of the others to decline this cause & question,
divers delaies were vs'd to prevent it by the time, all the
artes wch Northerne pollicie could invent to gaine advantage
in the carriage, wch by the other were opposd wth noe less
care & diligence, who, knowing those paths of subtiltie,
followd the hunter in his trayne, & being more beaten to
the waie, in his owne trap enfnar'd him. at the first hear-
ing 'twas pretended by the Elect, that the complaint was
onlie of the Sheriffe, & he therfore must iuftifie his fact,
to that end was desir'd a time for his apparance to make
his apologie & defence, that being granted [a] fortnight
was spent therin for expectation of his comming, who
affecting not the service, made noe hast, being at length
con vented, he answeard negatively to some things, dilatorilie
to others, vncertainlie to all, that little truth could be
gatherd from his words, less content & satiffaction from
him self, he utterly denied Savin's pretence of voices, &
on the contrarie affirmd, that in his iudgment theother
had farr more, ffbr the difficultie in granting of the
poll, he excusd it by a reason of the time, & said it was

NEGOriUM POSTERORUM. 97

past eleven before the demand was made, ffor the inter-
ruption he confest it was done as was alledg'd, five & thirtie/
being number'd it was proceeded in noe further: but the Page 83.
occafion he imputed vnto Savill, & that for two reasons,
first wheras for the more perfitt carraage of the poll, the
freehoulders wch were present at the reading of the writ,
were all drawne into the caftell yard, & ther inclosd be-
tweene the gates, those that were sworne & numbred
being let out at the posterne, wch was done to avoid confu-
sion and disorder & the abuse of such as might at severall
times present themselves, & soe diverslie be reckon'd ;
Savill in this proceeding breaking open one of the Gates
let in divers of his partie, that were newlie come & heard
not the reading of the writ, who, as he thought had no
interest in the election, but were a disturbance to the course
and due order they were in. the second reason was that
Savill raifing a report amongst the freeholders that the poll
would last divers daies, gave therby such a difhartninge to
the companie, as the gates before being open'd manie did
depart for fear of long attendance ; wch being knowne, he
conceav'd it to be an interruption to the worke, vpon that
left off the poll, & as in a case of much clearnefs as he
thought on the behalf of Wentworth, both by the veiw &
hearing/ he assumd the iudgment to him self; for confir- Page 84.
mation of all wch he desir'd a new libertie for proofes. this
againe made another protraction and delaye, wch was an
advantage of some hope, the charge of ye prosecutor in
attendance made some satiffaction in the pointe. the dailie
increase o'th sicknefs shortned the expectation of the

o

98 NEGOriUM POSTERORUM.

sitting, all the imploimentes of the parliament were
contracted for dispatch, wch promisd more then vsuall hast
& brevitie, & therein was implied a possibilitie to preserve
them, a high affection was difcernable in the pointe ; &
for this onlie was that prodigious motion the first daie.
somuch corrupted are some harts in the sence of their per-
ticulars as for their privat humors all publicke interefts
are postposd. this delay being granted, brought forth
nothing but another ; when that libertie was expir'd, noe
witnesses appeering for the Sheriff, the Elect then interposes
for himself, libertie on his part was then requird also for
defence, & a 'new time for witnesses, pretending great con-
fidence in his right ; and alledging, that the Sheriff, being
faultie in his proofs, ought not to prejudice his cause, but
Page 85. as theother had, soe to him belongd a hearing./ much
trouble this occasion'd in the deliberation of the house,
some did obiect the cleerness of the proofe wch the other
side had produced being affirmatlie & perticular. & that
the poll being demanded in due time & interrupted by the
Sheriff, though the maior part of voices might be doubt-
full, was enough to avoid the election & returne, though
it concluded not another; & therfore they might wth
saftie pass to iudgment. others to the interruption did
alledge that the excuse was infufficient j for noe man was
compellable to be present at the election, all had free
libertie to depart, againe noe power might be supposd to
force an interruption on a Sheriff, who had the whole
power o'th Countie ; therfore in that respect ther was
noe reason to delay. Wentworth to this makes a protes-

NEGOriUM POSrERORUM. 99

tation for himself, but by more heard then credited, that
he affected not delaie in contemplation of himself, but de-
fir'd onlie legallie to be heard, & that for the honor of the
house, he vrg'd therfore, after a large narration of his cause,
that it might be either granted or denied : if granted, that
he might haue counsell to defend it ; if otherwife, that
by witnesses he might prove it, wch being the common
rule of Justice, he expected in that Court & should/ therin Page 86.
accordinglie applie himselfe. this being seconded & en-
forc't, drew on an order for that time, that he should state
his case in writing, deliver it to his adversarie, & he at the
next sitting to give his answear thervpon. this though
desir'd, was noe satiffaction vnto Wentworth, who came
vnwillinglie soe neer the determination of the question, &
that but to prevent the present decision wch he feard. he
would faine haue kept at distance vpon the points of ex-
amination & defence : delaie and procrafti nation was his
hope ; manie things by that might occurr to worke his
safetie ; divers are the intervenients of time, the remotness
of his witnefses was a faire pretext for this, if that occasion
had beene granted him : but now that opportunitie de-
pending vpon the difcreation of his adversarie, his hopes
therin were lessen'd and what he had movd himself, him-
self againe repented, but the direction must be followd, &
the case set downe in writing, wch being given to Savill,
he foorthwth resorted to the house, & ther desir'd in some
few things a hearing, being admitted, he made a short
apologie for himself vpon the trouble of that cause, that
it had soe long/ beene an interruption to their business. Page 87.

NEGOriUM POSrERORUM.

that though he had small time for consideration of the case,
as it was then in writing, it being deliverd him but late
the night before ; yet he did then accept it for conclusion
of the worke, & to prevent their further trouble in the
businefs. two things onlie he desir'd, that the paper wch
was given him wth out name, might by his adversarie be
subscribdj & that he might avowe, vpon his reputation
in that house, somuch as concernd his knowledg to be
true, & that the rest he thought soe. this begot new
difficulties in Wentworth, who then suspected the issue of
his artes ; nothing he firft doubted less then admission
of his case, supposing the ielosie of his adversarie would
haue made him fight at distance; but he that was his
countriman and his equall, seeing the advantage readilie,
closd presentlie vpon him in that grant & by concession
of the case, surprisd & soe difarmd him. then againe he
would haue flowen off to delaie & desird his witnesses
might be heard to prove the pluralitie of voices, wch was
denied him by the other, but the question being stated
by himself, and that depending meerlie vpon the demand
& interruption of the poll, the other was impertinent,
wherfor his protestation was requird, wch though vn-
Page 88, willinglie/ was made, & the house went on to iudgment.
v nothing did differ in this case from what was pretended
by the SherifFe. the interruption obiected vnto Savill was
but vpon the rumor he gaue out, or for [from ?] the open-
ing of the gate, the demand supposd vnseasonable appeer'd
otherwise by the proofes, & was implicitlie confest by the
practise of the Sheriff, wheron some opinions being given

NEGOriUM POSrERORUM. 101

that did declare against him, a new motion interpos'd for
his councell to be heard, & soe diverted that course of re-
solution, much opposition was in this, the question being
of fact ; a great contestation it begott, even to the division
of the house ; vpon wch it being overrul'd, & the debate
resum'd againe, a new interruption it receavd by a new
motion for himfelf once more to be heard before they went
to iudgment. great labor was for this, & as great care to
stop it, intending but delaie. against him was obiected the
long time he had had from the beginning of the Parliament,
the often hearing he receavd att the Comtee, in the house,
wher his whole defence was knowne. that before he was
wth drawne to give waie to the debate, as in all such cases
it was vsuall, he had a full libertie to express himself, & his
whole apologie was heard ; / nothing could be added but Page 89.
protractation, w** would be a further iniurie to the house,
& therfor was not to be admitted or receavd. vpon this it
was soe resolvd, & the debate proceeded ; when contrarie
to the fundamentall orders of the house, by wch noe man
may be present, at the agitation of his own cause, Went-
worth came in confidentlie to his place, & gaue occafion to
him that was then speaking to make this sallie on that fact,
& from the question then in hand to reflect vpon the privi-
ledg, wch thus was done for the preservation of that iewell.
Mr Speaker, the violation of our rightes may be well
excusd by others, when they suffer violation by our
selves, when our owne members practise it, when
they shall doe it in contempt, in the heigth of scorne
& iniurie, strangers and forreigners may be pardon'd,

NEGOriUM POSrERORVM.

who have ignorance to plead for them ; all their
attempts & actions being not soe preiudiciall as our
owne.

if we admitt the dishonor of our selves, how then
shall others value vs ? & if we admitt a dishonor by-
Page 90. our members, how/ shall we avoid it in ourselves ? a
greater dishonor and contempt this house has noe time
suffred, then what does now affront it. to be excluded
by a fundamentall order of the house, soe well knowne
to all men, & that soe latelie vrg'd by him that now
does breake it j to be debarrd on question, by a perti-
cular act & rule, & yet to intrude against it, what is
it less then to bid defiance to yr power, & a farewell
to yr priviledge ? should I compare it, it could have
no paralell but that Roman's againft whom Cicero does
inveigh, in senatum ventt, he comes into this Senat,
but wth a will to ruine it ; for soe I must interpret
the intention of that act, that would deftroie the
priviledge. but did I say it was a member did it ?
I must retract that error in the place, or be fals to
the opinion wch I have -9 for either by the election he
pretends, or for this act & insolence, I cannot hould
him worthie of that name, & soe, (involving both
questions vnder one) as a full determination of his
Page 91. case, let/ vs from hence expell him.

this made him presentlie remov'd, & quickned the reso-
lution of the house ; wch for the interruption held the
obiection to be frivilous ; & for the demand, it was observd
that the Sheriffe's act confirmed it, besides the proofes that

NEGOriUM POSTERORUM. 103

were produced, being affirmative, in the pointe •, soe as the
whole act of the Sheriff was condemned & thervpon the
election adiudgd void ; wch after somuch trouble & labor it
had had, was the decision of that case, it may be wondred
why we haue so farr travaiW in this question, & in soe
small a matter made soe perticular a relation ; but it being
the occasion of greater things to come, wee thought it not
vnnecessarie the more carefullie to express it, that the
power & influence may be scene of such small Starrs, &
planets, from whenc great workes, as Tacitus has observd,
often receave originall. yet in the case it self, besides the
art and carriage, the reason and decision are most profit-
able ; for they doe shew what is the dutie in like cases, &
how the vse directes it, that the poll in such elections being
requir'd wthin the howers/ the statute does direct, wch is, page 92.
from the reading of the writ, at anie time before eleven
(for the printed books are falsified in that wch in figures
make it ix, putting the * before the x, wheras the roll and
originall has it otherwise, the i being following of the x)
the poll soe demanded, noe pretence or interruption may
excuse it : that all that come while the election is continu-
ing though not present at the reading of the writ, haue
their free votes & suffrage, wch shews the libertie of the
Commons in the act of such elections, and the great care
of Parliament to iustifie and preserve it, in wch, yet, noe
man is compellable to attend, the maior part of Courtiers
in this question banded maynlie against Wentworth,
wherofhe retaind a memorie; and others, that for pure
reason did oppose him, he forgott not. the effect &

104 NEGOTIUM POSrERORUM.

operation folio wd after of the sence he then contracted,
wch from that sparke did rise to a great flame and burning,
ther was in that gentleman a good choise of partes, naturall
and acquisit, & noe less opinion of them, a strong elo-
quence he had, & a comprehension of much reason, his
arguments were weightie & acute, & his defcriptions ex-
Page 93. quisit. when he would move his hearers/ wth the appre-
hension of his sence, he had both acumina dictorum, & ictus
senfiarum to effect them, his abilities were great both in
iudgment & perswasion, & as great a reputation did attend
them, but those manie and great virtues, as Livie saies of
Hanniball, as great vices paraleld, or rather they were in
him as Cicero notes in Cataline, slgna virtutum, formes of
virtue onlie, not the matter ; for they seldome were
directed to good ends, & when they had that color, some
other secret mov'd them, his covetousness & ambition
were both violent, as were his waies to serve them, neq; in
pecunia, neq? in gloria concupiscenda, as Crassus is render'd
by Paterculus, aut modum novii. aut capiebat terminum. &
those affections rais'd him to somuch pride and choler, as
anie opposition did transport him, wch render'd him less
powerfull to his adversaries wher the advantage was fol-
low'd and perceav'd.

Ther were two other cases of this nature, that had their
determination about that time : one of Sr William Cope,
who having beene a member of the former Parliament, in
time of prorogation was arrested & taken in execution,
Page 94. & after, by habeas corpus going abroad, againe elected/ &
return'd a burgess for Banburie. the question in this was

NEGOTIUM POSrERORUM. 105

double, whither he were wthin the priviledg of Parliament
in time of prorogation, & soe the arrest then void ; &
whither, being new chosen while he was in execution, the
obiection should be good, both waies it was negativlie
resolv'd. for the first, that the vpro rogation gives not pri-
viledg, as an adiornment, further then the sixteene daies
after for regress, for the second, that he being in execu-
tion was not eligible, bicause his enlargment would by lawe
deprive the creditor of his debt, whervpon ther issued a
warrant from the house for a new election to be made,
the other case was of Mr Basset in Devonshire, who
had two yeers beene a prisoner vpon originall & meane
process arrefted for soe great a summe as noe man dar'd to
bayle him, & being chosen a burgess for that Parliament
was admitted & set free. I mention these cases to shew
their different iudgmentes, & the rules of proceeding in
that house, wch, as they are exact to preserve the publicke
interestes, are curious also & instructive for the privat.
Justice in all being the ground on wch they build, though
the first stone & foundation be their priviledge./ Mount- Page 95,
ague at this time was attending, & cald to examination in
the house, wher for the Justification of himself, he alledged
a warrant of K[ing] J[ames] for the first booke he
printed, that being sent for by the Archbishop, the K[ing]
then tould him likewise, he should chuse whether he
would goe to him or noe. that for his second booke, he
had the like warrant & authentic, that vpon the veiwe
of his tenetes & opinions therin, the K[ing] swore, if that
were to be a papist soe was he ; whervpon he recommended

p

106 NEGOriUM POSrERORUM.

it to Dr. White, who by his censure did approve it, as was
extant wth the worke. this confession being more con-
fident then ingenuous begott new ielosies in the house ;
for his ould patron being dead, it could not be imagin'd he
should assume that bouldness of him self, divers did
wonder at it, who had fil'd their sails wth hope, & yet, dif-
cernd not that the windes were turnd against them : but
the more wise observ'd it as a constellation that was omi-
nous, & therfore the more carefullie did studie to prevent
it in the effectes. his bookes to this end were considered,
wch had large matter of exception, besides the doctrines
Page 96. they implied/ (for the dispute of them, as noe fitt subiect
for the Parliament, the wisdome of the Commons did de-
cline) besides his innovations in the doctrine, wch for another
censure was reserved, divers of scandall were deduc'd, to
the diihonor of the K[ing], the disturbance of the State,
both for the church & goverment, & in derogation of the
Parliament, for contempt of the priviledge & iurifdiction
of that house, & in prejudice of the whole, instances were
cited in all these. & first for dishonor to the K[ing],
his vphoulding the opinions of Arminius was observ'd,
which the K[ing] labord somuch to suppress; wch labor
was apparent in three maine actes & principles ;

first, by his writings, in wch he termes Arminius an
enemie to God, & Bertius his scholler, for his booke, de
apostasia sanctorum, an hereticke ; secondlie, by procuring
the Synod at Dort, & favoring & approving their decrees,
at wch his owne divines assisted ; thirdlie, by sending the
articles of the Church of England into Ireland, vnder the

NEGOriUM POSrERORUM. 107

great scale & teste & to the 38th of iustifying faith, wher it

is said that it cannot be lost, adding for explanation (totallie

& finallie) wch was intended in the sence & meaning/ of page 97.

the article, by all wch he indeavor'd the suppressing of those

doctrines wch the writings of Arminius would bring in,

therfore the contrarie, wch by Mountague was affected, in-

fer'd a dishonor to the K[ing].

the second pointe of disturbanc in the church & state
in fower particulars was collected, first his sowing of
ielosies betweene the K[ing] & his good subiectes, terming
the puritans (whom he defin'd) to be a potent prevailing
faction in the kingdome. secondlie his slighting those
famous divines, who have beene great lightes in the church,
Calvine,- Beza, Perkins, Whitakers, thirdlie, his laboring to
discountenanc the ministrie of God's word, terming the
Lectures, by way of Ironic & scorne, propheticall determi-
nations & conventicles ; preaching prating, & the like,
fourthlie, his giving incouragment to Poperie, & a perswa-
fion thervnto, affirming Rome to be a true church, & the
spous of Christ, all wch was noted to intend sedition &
disturbanc. the third generall of derogation to the Parlia-
ment, & the Jurisdiction of that house, was thus infer'd.
first, that being vnder examination & complaint ther for
his former booke, he publisht the second in/ defenc & Page 98.
maintenance of the same. & then that in that second he
did scandall & revile those that did prosecute on the first,
who in that respect were in the protection of that house,
& could not therin be calumniated wthout violation of the
priviledge. these observations produced these motions &

zo8 NEGOriUM POSTERORUM.

desires, first that ther might be a charge prepar'd against
him, out of the matter then propounded to be tranfmitted
to the Lords, then, that he might, in the meane time be
committed for his contempt & iniurie to the house, & soe
remayne a prisoner wth the Sariant vntill his further punish-
ment, these opinions, though most agreeing wth the house,
had yet some opposition & resistance, it was first obiected
against the authoritie of the house, that one Parliament
had not cognisance of another, nor were the offences to a
former questionable, much less punishable in a latter : but
the vanitie of that argument was discoverd by the cleer
light of reason & authoritie 3 the whole course of Parlia-
ment spake against it, the practise of all times, the examples
of all Courtes. divers presidents were cited for illustration
Page 99. in the point/ wch soone compos'd that question, others
that had an inclination to that partie (for even wth Christ
ther was one Judas in the fellowship) obiected the nature
of the cause & by making it seeme doctrinall would exclude
the iurifdiction of that Court j & for the doctrines like-
wise labord to insinuat a defenc, for that they were not by
anie publicke act condemnd in the censure of the church :
but these assoone were reiected & cast off by differenc &
distinction of the fact, in that the pointes infifted on were
but civill, for the honor of the K[ing], the priviledg of the
Parliament, the peace & quiet of the State, the virtue &
tranquilitie of the church, wch it was said, by ffleta were
appropriat to the secular Courtes & magistrats. these
reasons were a satisfaction to that doubt, but further it
was added, that the articles being oppos'd wch were con-

NEGOriUM POSTERORUM. 109

firm'd by Parliament, the Parliament ought in dutie to
maintaine them, vpon wch it was wth out difficultie resolvd
both for the Commitment & the charge, & Mountague
being cald in, kneeling at the barr, had, for his contempt, a
censure of commitment/ ther pronunc't. Some by waie of Page 100.
caution had propounded a cunctation in that act, for the
honor of the house, least, contrarie to their meaning, it
should prove, for a punishment, a preferment : but that
reason was thought lighter then the rest ; wch the effect &
consequenc prov'd true, & was not punicke, as twas
thought, but reall & by a right inspection of the time ;
nor that by revelation but by Judgment truelie taken from
the meridian of the State, wch had that infortunitie wth
others, to make men most obnoxious most secure, and
those that were most hatefull to the publicke, to be most
honor'd & esteem'd.

Hitherto all things had succeeded to the intentions of
that house, noe interruptions had beene raisd by the in-
fluenc of State, those few publicke things then treated of,
had a free way of preparation, though some intimations
had beene given that their conclusions would not answeare
it, but those had less in credit, then of truth, and the satiffac-
tion was presumed to be equall to the hope, from the con-
fidence of Mountague & that businefs, some seedes of
ielosie/ were emergent, but noe more, all things els had a page lolt
sure shew & promise, the bill of tonnage & pondage was
at rest in the custodie of the Lords, & noe knowledg, but
by divination could be had, how it would speed after
w01 the K[ing], the best was still expected as hope did

no NEGOriUM POSTERORUM.

make construction, wch alwaies has an inclination vnto
flatterie.

But heer a checke came in, as distractive as vnlook't for.
the D[uke of Buckingham] who was the Eolus of that
time, had cast an alteration in the aer ; the windes were
turnd, & all the former happinefs must be shadow'd wth
some new clouds & vapors he had rais'd. he comes from
the K[ing], who was then at Hampton Court, wth a pre-
tended order for a new motion of supply, this in all hast
must be performd & his privado's were all sent for to re-
ceave instruction in the pointe. this was about twelve a
clock at night, at his owne house, wher, by reason of the
suddainnefs & vnseasonableness of the time, manie were
not present, nor such as had much Judgment, they com-
monlie being most attendant on such persons, who are/
Page 102. most obnoxious to their humors, these did confent in all,
who studied not to counfell but to please ; & soe what
affections he had brought, they did both heigthen & con-
firme. but in the morning when it was come to others,
whose qualitie was more knowing and ingenuous, they, as
they apprehended it to be fatall & prodigious, soe gave
it demonstration to the D[uke]. & wth all their power
oppos'd it, adding to argumentes, entreaties for the preven-
tion of that evill, wch did impplie apparantlie dishonor to the
K [ing] , [&] danger to him. of this number (not to deprive
anie man of his due) was Sr Humphry May, then Chan-
celor of the Dutchie, who, having travaild wth much in-
dustrie in that service, but in vaine, came in great hast to
a gentleman whom he thought more powerfull wth the

NEGOriUM POSTERORUM.

D[uke] & knew to be affectionat to the publicke, & him

he importund to a new attempt & triall for staie or

diversion of that worke. it was at Westminster wher he

mett him, & neer the time of the sitting of the Commons.

the D[uke] was then at Yor)c house, the entercourse/

'twas obiected, would be long, noe certaine period could Page 103.

be prescribd for conference, wch in soe great a difficultie

was not likelie to be short ; soe as the proposition to the

Parliament might be made before the discourse were ended,

& the travaile by that means fruitless and vnnecessarie.

but to remove this doubt the chancelor vndertooke to stop

the motion till he came, onlie he wisht him to hasten his

returne, & in his talke to intimat that staie vnto the

D[uke]. vpon this he makes his passage & address, &

comming to York house, findes the D [uke] wth his Ladie

yet in bed ; but notice being given of his comming, the

Dutchess rose & w1hdrew into her cabanett, & soe he was

foorthwth admitted & lett in. the first thing mention'd

was the occasion, & the fear that was contracted from

that ground, the next was the honor of the K[ing] &

respect vnto his saftie, from both wch were deduc'd argu-

mentes of disswasion. ffbr the king's honor was remem-

berd, the acceptation that was made of the two subsidies

wch were past, & the satiffaction then profest, wch the new

proposition would impeach, either in truth or wisdome, &/

againe the small number of the Commons that remaynd, page 104.

the rest being gone vpon the confidenc of that overture,

would render it as an ambuscado & surprise ; wch at noe

time could be honorable towardes subiectes, less in the en-

NEGOriUM POSrERORUM.

trance of the Soveraigne. the rule for that was noted, vt
initla proveniant fama In ceterls est. the necessitie like-
wise of that honor was observed, wthout wch noe prince was
great, hardlie anie fortunat. & on these grounds a larger
superstructure was imposd as occasionallie the conferenc
did require, ffbr his owne saftie, manie things were said,
some more fitt for vse, then for memorie & report, the
generall disopinion was obiected, wch it would worke to him,
not to have opposed it, whose power was knowne to all
men; & that the command comming by him self, would
render it as his act, of wch imputation what the confequence
might be nothing but divinitie could iudge, men that are
much in favor being obnoxious to much en vie. To these,
answears were returned though weake, yet such as implied
noe yeelding, that the acceptation wch was made of the
Page 105. subsidies then granted, was but in respect of/ the affection
to the K[ing], not for satiffaction to his business, that
the absence of the Commons was their owne fault & error,
& their neglect muft not preiudice the State, that the
honor of the K[ing] stood vpon the expectation of the
ffleet, whose designe would vanishe if it were not speedilie
set foorth. monie ther was wanting for that worke, &
therin the king's honor was ingag'd, wch must outweigh all
considerations for himself, this resolution being felt, was
a new waie attempted, to trie if that might weaken it, &
to that end was obiected the improbabilitie of success ; &
if it did succeed, the greater loss might follow it, by aliena-
tion of the affections of the subiectes, who being pleasd
were a fountaine of supplie, wthout wch those streames

NEGOriUM POSTERORUM. 113

would soone drie vp. but nothing could prevaile, ther
being divers argumentes spent in that, yet the proposition
must proceed, wthout consideration of success, wherin was
lodg'd this proiect, meerlie to be denied, this secret that
treatie did discover, wch drew on/ others that supported it Page 106.
of greater weight & moment, shewing a conversion of the
tide for the present, it gave that gentleman some wonder
wth astonishment, who w<h the scale of privacie clos'd vp
those passages in silence, yet therin grounded his observa-
tions for the future that noe respect of persons made him
desert his countrie.

this labor, not mispent, had taken vp much time, two
houres, at least, went into the treatie & discourse, wch wth
the entercourse had soe wasted the forenoone as ther re-
mayn'd but little at his comming backe to Westminster ;
wher the like difficultie had beene to retard the proposition
for that time, it being putt (not as other messages from the
K[ing] into the mouth of his councellors and great officers,
wherof ther are neuer wanting in the Commons house too
manie ; but) by a speciall choise, to the difcreation of
another, as an indication of his preferment then at hand,
who was great, in his opinion, wth that honor & imploi-
ment, & labor'd, as a woman does wth child, in desire to
bring it foorth. the success being ther/ imparted, the Page 107.
motion did proceed, for wch ther wanted not some fitness
in that instrument, the man so chosen was Sr John Coke,
raisd from a lowe condition to that title by the D[uke].
to him he had beene recommended by that ould courtier
Sr ffoulke Grevill, vnder whom he had had his education

Q

ii4 NEGOriUM POSrERORUM.

as a scholler, & soe was his service & imploiment ; but
his conversation being wth bookes, & that to teach not
studie them, men & business were subiectes wch he knew
not, & his expressions were more proper for a schoole, then
for a State & councell. this choise, thus fitted, thus made
his entrance to that sceane, that the K[ing] not doubting
their affections in that meeting, & taking gratiouslie for a
testimonie therof the guift wch was resolved on, as a wel-
come pledge of the love, not onlie of that representative
bodie of the kingdome, but of the whole (though he tooke
notice of their anticipation in that businefs, & that they
fell into it wthout the intervention of anie ministers of
State, wch he did impute to their forwardness in his
service, & confidence in his favor) in correspondence
Page 108. therof/ had commanded him to give the house a true in-
formation of his estate, & to laie before them the necessi-
ties he was in. that ther had lately beene disburst for Ire-
land to confirme the peace of that kingdome — 32OOO11,
for the Navie (the present preparations not computed —
37OOO11 & for the office of the ordinance & fforts —
47OOO11, for the support of the regimentes in the Lowe
Countries — QQOOO11, for the charge of Count Manffeilts
armie — 62000'' & because from that last business had
growne some doubtes, he was to give a more perticular
accompt therin. his late Matle loving peace, & hating warr,
when he sawe how ill he had beene vs'd, that the power of
the contrarie partie had almost overpowrd christendome, &
his owne people discontented at his seeming backwardness
in that cause ; considering the three subsidies & fifteenths

NEGOriUM POSTERORUM. 115

that were granted him, though a roiall guift, would onlie
enable him for awhile to secure his owne, & that in the
end, he should growe, from a lingring ague, to a burning
feaver, & by suffring his enemies to enioye that wch they
had gotten, make them more able by degrees to frett vpon
the other/ German princes, whenc it would ensue, that Page 109.
like Vlisses wth Polypheme, he should onlie have the favor
to be the last devour'd, he negotiated & concluded a strong
confederacie wth the K. K. of ffrance & Denmarke, the
state of Venice, the D[uke] of Savoy, & the Low Coun-
tries, wch first appeerd in the armie beyond the Alpes, and
wth Count Manffeilt. some faultes he said, were to be
confest in those troopes at Dover, wch could not be excus'd,
but Manffeilt complaind that the men were chosen such as
would be kept vnder noe goverment. & if it were obiected
why a stranger should lead those troopes ; it was to be
considered, that the whole armie did consift of English,
fFrench, & Dutch, & if an Englishman had commanded it
the fFrench would have been discontented, & soe the English
if a {Frenchman; & if manie commanders had beene made,
precedenc would have bred some difficulties ; therfore he
that was indifferent was thought to be the fittest. & if a
further obiection be taken from the event, it must be
likewise confidered that noe success is man's, & he that
measures/ things by that is noe equall iudge. he said also it Page no.
was true, that the change of the designe caused some delaie,
& impeachment of that good efFect wch was hoped ; yet it
was not altogeather vn profitable, for the apparanc of that
armie kept divers princes of Germanic from diclaring them

n6 NEGOTIUM POSTERORUM.

selves for the enemye. this was in generall as he said,
towardes the accompt of the three subsidies & fifteenths.
& further his matie had commanded him to give an accompt
of that wch would be spent vpon the preparation then in
hand, the charge of the ffleet in the office of the Navie —
2OOOOO11, in the office of the ordinance — 48ooou, for the
landmen it would be — 45OOO11 wherof the two subsidies
then given would amount to but — i6ooooh. but this not
all. the Kpng] of Denmarke was to have — 4OOOO11 to
draw him into Germanic, befides a monthlie entertain-
ment of — 2OOOO11 & asmuch to Count Manffeilt, wch could
not be supported wth out help of Parliament, or els some
new waie ; the ordinarie revenew being exhausted &
ouercharg'd wth other expences both of necessitie & honor.
Page in. that the K[ing]/ when he was prince borrowed — 2OOOO11
for these provisions, the Lord Admirall hath ingag'd his
estate, other ministers haue furnisht above — 5ooooh.
shall it be said that these men are left to be vndone for
their readinefs to the publicke services ? shall we proclaime
our owne povertie by loofing all that is beftowed vpon this
enterprise, bicause we cannot goe through wth it ? what
shall we say to the honor of the Kpng] ? but that is not
all, even the establishment of his matie in his roiall throne;
the peace of chriftendome, the state of religion, depend
vpon this ffleet. the adversaries deliuer verie insolent
speeches ever since the taking of Breda, the ffrench en-
cline to civill warr j they brandle in Italic, & faint as their
forefathers were wont to doe after the heat of the first
enterprise, our German forces haue kept the Catholick

NEGOriUM POSTERORUM. 117

league from assembling to the ruine of the protestantes.
what have we to revnite the princes, to encourage the
ffrench, to support the States, to oppose the Catholicke
League, but the reputation of Manffeilt's armie, & the ex-
pectation of our ffleet? shall/ it- be said that being forsaken Page 112.
of his subiects the K[ing] hath beene enforc't to abandon
religion ? to seeke a dishonorable peace ? it is impossible
for these things to subsift but by monie, or credit, thus
spake that worthie, & then concluded wth this motion, that
either they would presentlie make an addition of suppKe,
or pass some ingagement to the K[ing], that at the next
meeting they would doe it ; wch might give him credit in
the interim, & soe the expedition to goe on. this motion
had noe second, but by Beecher a councell clarke & servant
of that time ; but his reason & authoritie being not great,
& all the other Courtiers difaffecting it, being in briefe
oppos'd by a worthie gentleman of Lincolnshire Sr Thomas
Grantham, who was never wanting to the service of his
countrie, it forthwth died & perisht, though from the dust
thereof more troubles did spring vp. the frame & com-
position of that bodie, was thought as preposterous as the
sowle ; the immense calculations & accomptes, & the far
fetch't & impertinent relations ; the positions and con-
clufions that were laid, all held artificiall & prestigious.
his/ supposition of their forsaking of the K[ing] & the Page 117
King's abandoning religion, was deemd both scandalous &
offensive ; as was that mention of new waies, wch the
more was noted, bicause it had happen 'd once before, &
therfore was not thought to be accidentall or by chance :

n8 NEGOriUM POSTERORUM.

but exceptions were declined, through the wisdome of that
time, wch, in the dying of that motion had satisfaction &
content, ther was noe deniall, nor noe question, it being
never brought soe farr, wch had almost a miracle wthin it ;
for ther were hardlie then threescore in the house, & of
those, countrimen not the most, anie support or agitation
it had had must have needs driven it to a concession, or the
contrarie ; but, as we noted, the Courtiers much difliking
it, some as it came not in perticular by them, or that they
were not preconsulted for the worke ; others for the danger
& prejudice it imported ; the rest for the suddenness &
strangeness of the thing, that like a lightinge brake vpon
them, having noe precogitation of the meteor ; all gene-
Page 114. rallie abhorring it, as a constellation that was ominous,/ it
vanisht through it's owne lightnefs & futilitie, causing a
reluctation in their hartes, wch nothing but divinitie could
move, this vnexpected issue to the D[uke] caus'd a new
trouble & diforder. all his privado's were condemn Jd, as
remiss & negligent in the service, his frindes were all
complain'd of, thus to haue fail'd his hopes, everie man
was blam'd but him that was most faultie. what he in-
tended in his corrupt reason, or affection, to that he would
have had even the heavens themselves confenting. soe
vnhappie are such persons, through the distractions of their
greatness, that success the[y] thinke to follw the Via
Lactea of their fancies, & that the rule of that, naie of the
world it self, should be by the proportion of their willes. &
rather then faile them, if the superiors be not flexible, the
infernall powers shalbe studied, wth their artes. this was

NEGOriUM POSrERORUM. 119

the infelicitie of this man, & at this time it first open'd &
difcover'd, though not cleerlie but by shadows, being dis-
orderd in their purpose, wch almoft noe man yet did know,
he condemns both his ffortune & his frindes : but for
himself nothing was/ less resolvd on, then that wch was Page 115.
most necessarie. noe retraction of the course, that wch
had beene, because it was done by him, muft be both
iuftified & maintain'd, & that Justification must appeer in
the approbation of the worke by a future prosecution that
was worse.

the house being delivered from the fear, wch it had con-
tracted from that motion, & the consequence that might
followe it, forthwth resolv'd to think of nothing but recess,
& the next daie intimated their readiness to the Lords,
who having dealt in little at this meeting, & having noe
business at that time, dispatcht a present messenger to
the K[ing], from whom they receavd this answear, that
though his necessities were great, yet the consideration of
their safties should dispose him to dismiss them for that
time, though they must shortlie meet againe.

that shortlie, was not then rightlie vnderftood. noe man
did doubt that wch the word intended, most men did re-
fer it to the Winter or the Spring, the conventions of that
Councell/ being seldome neerer, or more frequent : but an Page 116.
effect it was of the powerfull influenc of the D[uke] wch
not long after was more perspicuous & apparant. both by
that latter clause of the answear, & the rest, all men did
know that their sitting was not long, & therfor sought to
state their business in some order, the cheife care was for

NEGOriUM POSTERORUM.

preservation of the statutes wch stood vpon continuance to
that time, for this a short act was fram'd, that the roiall
assent, should not (as was supposd by some, though presi-
dents spake the contrarie) give a determination to that ses-
sion; but that it should continue by adiornment, & all things
stand in the condition that they left them, soe to be resum'd
againe at the next time of meeting, this done, & the act
of confirmation being past for three subsidies then granted
by the clergie, ther being a little time remayning, it was
spent vpon a petition from the prisoners in the ffleet. they
had beene suitors to the Lords, in respect of the great
danger of the sickness, to have libertie by order from the
Parliament, by habeas corpus to goe abroad, the Lords
Page 117. imparted/ this motion to the Commons, the Commons
thervpon taking consideration at this leasure, vpon these
reasons thus resolv'd it to be repugnant to the lawe. first
that it was against the intention of the writt, wch com-
manding the keeper to bring his prisoner to a Judge, im-
plies the neerest waie he has, not as the abuse went, to let
him travell wher he list, to hunte & hawke the whole va-
cation in his countrie, & at terme againe to resort vnto his
prison, then that it was legallie an escape, & soe the cre-
ditors should be prejudiced ; for wch ther were divers iudg-
mentes cited, & some cases demonstrative in the pointe, as
56 H[enry] 6. when in confideration of the state, ther being
speciall service at that time for some minifter then im-
prison'd, & the like libertie was defird, the Judges, vpon
consultation, did denie it. & before that, it was noted,
that all kinde of ease or remove from one prison to another,

NEGOriUM POSrERORUM.

was wholie refused, wthout consent & liking of the credi-
tors, for this, therfore, it being soe contrarie to the lawe,
& in favor of abuse, howeuer pittie did move in contem-
plation of the men, yet their dangers being not equall to
the danger of the/ kingdome, w.ch would folio we the exin- Page 118.
anition of the lawes, it was thought fit, not in that per-
ticular to admitt it, or that admission, at the least, not to be
made by Parliament ; wch opinion being signified to the
Lords, they in like manner did resolve it, & soe all instance
[insistence ?] ceast. this was the ninth of Julie being
Saturdaie. on moundaie ther was a message to the Com-
mons from the Lords to intimat their receipt of a Com-
mission of adiornment, & another for the roiall assent to
the passage of some lawes, for wch their presenc was desird
in the Lords house, as it was alwaies in such cases, to hear
them read, vpon this some short disputes arising in con-
sideration of their priviledg, they resolv'd them, wth what
brevitie they might & soe made ther passage to that end.
the first difficultie was for presenting the bill of subsidie ;
the vsuall manner being, that that having past the Lords,
should be returned againe as the peculiar of the Commons,
& when they attended, either for dissolution or adiornment,
as their free act, to be presented by their Speaker : this
being then not done, rais'd some ielosie in the pointe, least
it might draw a preiudice in the future, both on their affec-
ting & those acts : but being then annext to the Commis-
sion /or a:-sent, wth theother lawes to pass, & that Com-
mission/ resting properlie wth the Lords, it was conceav'd Page 119.
that ceremonie could not be, but the Speaker must supplie

R

NEGOriUM POSTERORUM.

it, in an expression at the place, & ther receave & deliver
it in their names, the next was the confideration of the
adiornment wherin likewise some little doubt ther was for
their interest in that pointe, wch having alwaies beene their
owne sole act & worke, in admitting it by commission from
the K[ing], it was then thought an innovation of the right,
wcb might induce a president against them, & soe retrench
their libertie for the future. & for this purpose the diffe-
rence was observd betweene adiornment & prorogation,
as prorogation & dissolution have their odds, that the two
latter, in theirkindes, were in the prerogative of theK[ing],
the adiornment, in the priviledge onlie of the hovse. ther-
fore a message in that case was dispatch't for accommodation
wth the Lords ; who thervpon agreed to read onlie in their
presence the Commission for assent, & in theother to leave
them wholie to themselves, all things thus settled & com-
pos'd, the Commons did address themfelves to hear the
Page i zo. Commission of assent, &/ being present wth the Lords, &
the Speaker ther receaving the bill of subsidie in his handes,
as it was hanging wth the others to the Commission that
must pass them, vsing some rhetoricke in the diclaration
of their right, & by their affection in the guift making an
insinuation to the K[ing] in the name of all the Commons,
he presented it ; wch had acceptance by the Keeper, & this
anfwear thervpon. that the K[ing] apprehended it as a
good testimonie of their loves, & in correspondency of that
would enlarge his favor to his subiectes. that in their peitie
& religion, he would meet them ; & for their petition
therin given him, the answear should be reall & not ver-

NEGOriUM POSrERORUM.

ball, that they should shortlie haue a perticular satiffaction

in that pointe, & in the meane time, he would command a

strick't execution of the lawes. wherevpon the roiall assent

being read for the enacting of some bills, wherof the

subsidie was not least in estimation & accompt ; & the

king's pleasure intimated for an adiornment vnto Oxford,

the attendanc did dissolve, & the Commons returnd vnto

their house, noe less affected wth trouble, then admiration,

the suddainness of the time, being but the first of August,

& that the eleventh of/ Julie, wch was an exposition of that Page zai.

mifterie, that formerlie was mistaken, & an explication of

the meaning of that word shortlie, & much more ; this,

with the strangeness of the place, both vnexpected & vn-

look't for, seem'd as a prodigie to all men. the vnaptnefs

of the season for such a concourse & assemblie, wch was

scarcelie safe at anie time but moft dangerous then, in that

the epedemicall infection of the plague being soe vniversallie

disperst, that all persons were suspected & in ielosie, men,

if they could, even flying from themselves ; the houses,

streets & waies, naie euen the feilds & hedges, almost in all

places neer London & about it (besides the miserable cala-

mities of the citie) presenting dailie new spectacles of mor-

talitie. the place also was noted, as something ominous

& portentous, for the success it gave to the like meetinge

in foretimes, it rais'd a contemplation of the miseries wch

followd that vnfortunat convention in the daies of H[enry] 6.

wth the reasons & intentions that had mov'd it j & from the

resemblance of the causes was deduc'd a like supposition of

the effects, wch/ gaue a fear to all men, who in their hartes Page \M

114- NEGOriUM POSrERORUM.

deplor'd the vnhappinefs of those princes that expose them-
felves to the corruption of their ministers, to sharpen that
humor & dislike, at that time happened also the infection
of that place, it was entred into some few houses of the
towne, & some of the Colledges were infected, most of
the schollers were retir'd, & that was an aggravation to
the danger ; wch being apprehended to the full, became an
aggravation of the fear, by wch that fact (though a Justice
in the K[ing]) was thought an iniurie in his servantes. but
obedience was resolv'd on, & through all the difficulties of
the time, the king's pleasure was prefer'd. the Lords vpon
the departure of the Commons from their house, r^ad th?r
the Commission for adiornment (somuch they differ from
theothers in order, or observation) who having likewise the
writt brought downe to them, refus'd to read or open it.
but as their owne act, not varying in the circumstance, pro-
nounc'd it by ther Speaker, that the Howse adiorn'd it self,
& soe dissolved that meeting.

Page 123. The report of this flew presentlie to all partes/ & affected

all men wth wonder at the strangenefs. London was then
the constant seat of Parliamentes, wch noe wher els had
beene for divers ages past, that in the vulgar sence they
were incorporat to that place, the time likewise seem'd a
miracle to those who had retir'd themfelves, being members
of that bodie, & heard the acceptation of their subfidies in
the message from the K[ing] the complement that was in
it, for respect vnto their safties, endeard by high expressions
of comparison, was also in their memories, the incongruitie
wtb that, in this alteration & adiornment, wrought much

NEGOriUM POSTERORUM. 125

anxietie in their thoughtes, &, as farr as fear could carrie
it, made a depression of their hopes, this all men had for
their entertainment in the countrie during that short recess,
some had but opportunitie, whose habitations were remote,
to make onlie a visit to their "families & at first sight to
leave them, hardlie anie one had leasure for their fit accom-
modation & provisions, but suffered some inconvenience
or defect, their trauell on the waies, their danger in the
Inns, & the little saftie could be/ promisd at the period, Page 114.
tooke off all pleasure from the iorney ; & the occasion that
did move it was more distastfull then the rest, the satis-
faction had at London was not much, the promise then farr
less, ther in the matter of religion, though ther were a faire
answear in the generall yet Mountague was protected, & to
that end made chaplaine to the K[ing]. in other things
the answear to the greivances was but slight, & such as im-
ported small fruite to the subiect. the bill of tonnage &
pondage was reiected & yet those levies made ; wch was held
an indication of more love to the waies of power then right,
the lawes that had their approbation were not manie & the
choise of them not great, that against recusantes was not
past, & in all, their number was but seven, whereof the
subsidies of the laitie & clergie made vp two, soe as the rest
imported little to publicke happiness, as their following titles
may express.

1 . An Act for punishing of divers abuses committed

on the Lord's daie.

2. An Act to enable the K[ing] to make leases in

the Dutchie of Cornwall.

NEGOriUM POSrERORUM.

Page 125. 3. An Act for ease in obteining licences of aliena-

tion.

4. An Act for restraint of Alehouses & victualing

houses.

5. An Act for confirmation of the subsidies granted

by the clergie.

6. An Act for two entire subsidies granted by the

temporaltie.

7. An Act, that the session should not then determin

by the roiall assent to other Actes.

that for religion, for soe it was pretended ; onlie did
provide against bul baitings, enterludes, & the like vnlaw-
full pastimes on the Sundaie. & therin alfo, wth a mixture
of civill considerations & respectes.

that for the Dutchie had aspect but to the profit of the
K[ing], though wth some shadowe & pretence of advantage
to the tenantes. that for alienations onlie lookt at some
small decrease of fees, & had reference but to few, &
rarelie of vse to them, that for restraint of Alehouses was,
in effect, but what had beene before, for the repressing of
tiplings & disorders, wch both before & then were more de-
cried then punished, as reformation is less easie then com-
plaint. the rest need not comment to explaine them,
Page 126. sence wthout/ reason, making demonstration of the subsi-
dies; & for the other, if it had wanted mid wives, much
trouble had beene sav'd, wch afterwardes did followe that
prodigious birth, at Oxford.

ILLUSTRATIVE ADDITIONS

FROM

SIR JOHN ELIOT'S UNPUBLISHED MSS.

AT PORT ELIOT.

SUPPLEMENT.

PROPOSE to redeem my promise (in the
' Introduction ' and elsewhere) to give from
other MSS. at Port Eliot such Speeches of
Sir John Eliot as in the earlier, were doubtless
worked into the lost Negotium Posterorum ' Tomus Primus,'
and in the later, fill vp the summaries and notices of Negotium
Posterorum 'Tomus Secundus.' The MSS. are numerous
and weighty ; for the Patriot was as industrious in col-
lecting and transcribing authorities and ' precedents ' and his
reading was as wide as his friend Sir Robert Cotton's. I ne-
cessarily confine myself to such as are still of quick and per-
sonal interest. I proceed from the commencement of the
precious volume on and on to the close, following the
pencil-marked folios of Mr. Forster, who arranged them
for the binder.

First of all we have Sir John Eliot's first speech in the
House of Commons, 'Anno 21°. Jacob, reg.' Parlia-
ment met on the I2th of February, 1623-4, but was ad-

s

i3o SUPPLEMENT.

journed to the iQth. On the 2yth business began in the
Commons. Three, or at most four days thereafter Sir
John Eliot made the first speech of the Session. There
were time-servers and Facers-both-ways who would have
kept silence on the King's recent misdoings, even have en-
tered into compacts with Buckingham. Eliot would not be
muzzled, nor have 'understandings.' " He must therefore,"
says Forster, "raise his voice for those favours their ancestors
had enjoyed ; and it is memorable that he should thus have
spoken his first speech in the House elaborately to defend
those parliamentary immunities and rights for which after-
wards he suffered death" (vol. i. p. 135).

Folios 2-6.

A speach in " Mr Spr.

A^ a™! Jacob Wee cannot but remember the antient opinions held of
res- those assemblies, and how happie theire effects haue beene

vnto this kingdome ; how like a Sanctuarie they haue beene
ever to ye subiects, how like a magazine to the princes :
the princes heer for the most part granting such lawes and
reformacons as were covenable for the necessities and wel-
fare of theire Subiects, and the Subiects, to reciprocat the
affeccons of theire princes, often making there retribucons
larger then was expected : but in the two last Conventions,
at one of wch I was present, and to the other a wellwisher,
wherein ye necessities of the Kinge and Countrie mutuallie
sought for the interchaing of helpe and assistance from
each other ; The home and forayne occasions of the
Kinge and State requiring Supplie and aide from the
Countrie : the wants and greevances of the Countrie

SUPPLEMENT. 131

vrging releif and remedie from the Kinge. When on both
sides there was most expected, most needed, and the King
most gratiouslie began to offer himselfe to the Subiects in
all things befitting a mercifull and pious prince, and the
Subiects againe returninge theire thanckfullness wth extra-
ordinary demonstrations to the Kinge : in these I say (oh
that I could not saie in these last meetings) miserie crept
into the place of happiness and by ielosies and distraccons
tooke from vs the benefitt of those Counsells, wch hope had
made equall to the wisedome of or Elders.

Vpon these I knowe not what opinions wee should now
retaine, whether the meetings be the same they were, and
only differ in the effects, or that the times haue chang'd the
reason and soe brought it to a new forme, wch how it may
agree wth the safetie and honor of this State & Countrie as
I am ignorant, I should be glad to learne. It was the
character of a wiseman in the last age, vpon this point,
that the greatest vnhappines could befall this kingdome
was that or Parliaments should become imperfect ; and
that the dissent here betweene the Prince and people was
the most dangerous ; wch how it hath of late beene quan-
qud animus meminisse horret, as that wherein the Soule of
this kingdome hath already too much suffered ; yet give
me leave I beseech you a little to review it, that wee may
then studie an easier way for orselues. faciunt aliena peri-
cula cantos ; and its a cheape way of learninge vpon the
costs of other men.

Somethings wee shall finde in the Kinge, some things
in our selues, that may occasion these breaches : if either

SUPPLEMENT.

thorough diffidence in his Matie, ielosie amongst or selues,
or vnsecresie in our businesse, wee goe a troubled way : for
the distrust of a Soueraigne is euer as disadvantagable, as
the hate of an Enemie, and where wee are not confident
of our selues what can wee expect from others ; it cannot
be, but inconveniencies will follow where they are not
prevented, therefore, I shall earnestly desire before you di-
scend into any pticuler disputes, y1 you will a littell reflect
vpon this generall, what hath beene, and from thence con-
sider what may now be done.

In the former of the two last vnfortunate assemblies, as
I remember, there was an aspersion of vndertaking cast
vpon the service of some members of the howse, from
whence there grew a ielosie in the rest, that the whole busi-
nes, was compounded by those principalls, whoe had before
hand given the Kinge assurance of what he desired : this
ielosie being entred into a parte, like a canckrous vlcer spread
wth the sharpness of it's owne corrupt humor, and by infec-
tion went soe farr as it diseased the body : the bodie being
once sick & ill affected could not presently finde a remedy,
or remove the cause, but by continuance of the greif had
the symptomes more dangerous then the disease : for from
the roote of that ielosie sprange vp opposition & contestation
in debates : opposition brancht it selfe to faction : faction
(or rather fraction I might call itt) offten budded and put
forth personall quarrells not only to the publique prejudice
but detracting from the honor and gravitie of this soe great
and graue a Senate : and all this moved by the acre and
breath of that vnknowne & vaine report of vndertakers :

SUPPLEMENT 133

whereas I verilie beleeue there was noe such thinge in ye
King's hart by secrett practise wth a few to vndermyne the
rest, nor would those few for themselues assume somuch
power aboue others to vndertake for all; but that or
ielosie in this case was the advantage of the ill affected,
who made it the instrument of theire designes to dissolve
that meetinge, that they might follow their owne proiects
& inventions then on foote, which (as wee haue since felt)
trencht more vpon the priviledges & liberties of this king-
dome then the vttermost vndertaking in Parliament can
ever doe.

In the last meetinge it were presumption in me that have
nothing thence but on creditt, to make soe neere a search or
censure only of the effect : you will pardon me to complayne
whoe lost some hopes in that publique adventure.

I feare (Mr Spr.) the rocks were not naturall on wch you
then stroke but cast in the waie by some subtill arte to
prevent the passage of yr duties to the Kinge : neither can
I thinke the intercourse was more easie for his Matles love to
you ; but that by oblique windes, & tides his Graces were
sometimes diverted, or preiudicate : this I am most confi-
dent of, both concerning his Matle and the howse, that
never king w111 more gracious resolutions for the comfort &
benefitt of his Subiects CalPd a Parliam* ; nor subiects
wth more sinceare affections came devoted to theire Prince,
but in this doubtless there was some misprision, and be-
tweene his Matle and the howse stood some fals glasses,
that reflected not the trew sence of the obiect, but wto
colors and illusions wrought deceipte.

SUPPLEMENT.

The greatest doubts (as I conceive) the kinge had of
the Parliamts concerned his prerogative ; his Matie being
perswaded that theire liberties did intrench vppon him. the
feares the Parliaments had of the Kinge were that by his
prerogative he sought to retrench & block vp the antient
priviledges & liberties of the house, this made the insis-
tance stronge on both sides, the Kinge mayntayneing his
royall power : the howse pretendinge for their priviledges,
whereas, being well distinguish'! both might freely haue
enioyde theire owne wthout impeachment of the others
right : ffor the Kings prerogative noe man may dispute
against it, it being an inseperable adiunct to regalitie, and
exampled in the first, and greatest monarck, the Kinge of
Kinges, who reserves to himselfe beyond his lawes a power
to save wch Seneca calls proprium regis, & we his preroga-
tive.

ffor the priviledges of Parliam*. they have beene such &
soe esteemed, as neither detract from the honor of the
kinge nor lessen his authoritie, but conduce to the libertie
of this place, that wee may heere freely treate and discourse
for the publique good of the kingedome, wch I take to be
a maine bass and prop whereby it doth subsist : for as
the Parliamts haue beene ever held to be the cheife sup-
port and piller of the kingedome soe is this priviledge of the
Parliamts by wch opinions are plainelie delivered, difficulties
beaten out, & truth resolued vpon ; whereas otherwise men
fearinge to displease will blanch those propositions that
may haue question ; and silence theire vnderstandings in
matters of most importe. & in this the protestacon last

SUPPLEMENT. 135

made, gives me greate satisfaccon as proceeding from Excel-
lent deliberations, and advise. & the reasons being well
weighed (besides the habit & longe vse of this place wch
hath still been held wth greate regarde to the honor, & dig-
nitie of the head ye kinge) the reasons I say may induce
the allowance and consent : the business is the Kings, the
kingdome is the Kings, the resolucons rest wholie in ye
Kinge, and wee are only called hither by the Kinge, either
vpon the generall affaires of the kingedome or the speciall
propositions of his Matie and therein but to deliberat and
consult, not to conclude, wch onlie does facilitat his Mats.
resolutions, & ease him in the consideracon, leaving the
end still to himself ; and in this can it be thought there is
any diminucon or derogation to regalitie ?

It was held an incomparable wisedome in H : 3 : when
after many agitacons & turnes of State wherein he had
involved himselfe by other waies, that he at last applied
himselfe to ye Parliam*, and made that his Councellor ; and
therein he lost neither authoritie, nor reputacon, for both
his estate & dignitie were before ingaged to such low con-
dicions, as I feare to speake of, and by this he, not onlie
recovered that againe, but gain'd somuch vpon the affec-
tions of his people, and in the opinion of others : as there
was nothing wanting to him either with Strangers or at
home of what hee could desire in the harts of his subiects
he had soe much as they voluntarilie offered more then he
did need : in the account of others he was after held soe
singuler, as his goverment was a patterne. What he re-
fered to the Parliament was not lost to himselfe ; but all

136 SUPPLEMENT.

the wisedome and iudgment exprest then became meerely
his: Our whole storie seemes.but a continued instance of
this by the Acts of Parliament ever expressing the wise-
dome and excellencies of our Kinges, for whose soever be
the labour, the honor still reflects on them, & the reputa-
tion onlie beares their names.

And the advantages otherwise wch the Kinges of this
land have receaved by Parliaments, are such as they should
not be forgotten : for, besides ye infinite subventions and
contributions graunted here, the fines and mulcts imposed
vpon greate officers and delinquents (I am sorry I should
bring these two soe neere to geither) theire fines I say, yi
haue beene questioned in this place haue often enlarged
the treasures of our Kings, and it was a practise much
vsed in former times, when officers and greate men were
swolne w^ corruption, to have them purged in parliament,
that they hate and envie : might be taken from the Prince,
and yet hee receive the benefitt of theire punishment ; and
the subiects haue beene soe much affected to see these
spunges of the Common Wealth squeizd into the Kings
cofers, that as it were in congratulation they have offered
for themselves when nothing hath beene wanting; and
this my thinkes should indeare the creditt of our Parlia-
ments that they intrench not vpon, but extend the power
and honor of the Soweraigne.

The Parliament is but the representative bodie of the
kingdome, by contraction drawne into this center, like
the sunne taken through a glasse, to enforce the strength
and heate of his reflection, and to this forme and station

SUPPLEMENT. ,37

it is not of it self it is thus mov'd & occasioned : Corpus
iacet inerte & cessaturum si nemo moveat, say the Philo-
sophers, the bodie is dull and vnapt when it hath not a
spirit to move it j is not this spirit in the hart [of] the King
that hath called vs hither ? are not his graces the Beames
wch through his perspective the Parliament, are to be
derived to the life and benefitt of his subiects. how
then can it be imagined wee should attempt against him
by whome wee are ? the reason of Simpathie and partici-
pacon aswell in pollicie as nature houlds inviolable, and
what preiudice, or iniurie the King shall suffer wee must
feele : he is to vs as wee are to the countrie, our verie selfe ;
he is in the representive part, our principall part by the
Judgment of all antient and modern Philosophers ; for the
controversie hath onlie beene betweene the head and hart,
and he is both, he is vinculum per quod resp. coharety
(as Seneca calls him) et spiritus vitalls quern htsc tot millia
trahunt. he is in the metaphor the breath of our nostrills,
& the bond by wch wee are tied one to another : then can
it not be wee should attempt against, or in any thing
neglect the honor of him, whoe is soe much our owne ;
& the mistakes that have beene this waie heertofore
I beleeve have beene grounded more vpon misreport
then the deserts of any from those states, whoe I know
make it their speciall propositions by all their labours
and indeauours to exalt and magnifie the Kinge, in
whome consists the glorie and honor of the kingdome.
it is that spotted fame that casts those ielosies, & that often
through the vntimelie deliverie or report, of those things

i38 SUPPLEMENT.

wcb are here conceived, before they are brought foorth,
for in the dispute all things are doubtfull and vncertaine
wch in the resolution conclude happilie and well, and being
soe taken before theire times, they may easilie fall into
misprision and soe cause theire authors to be suspected,
and thus I feare some have beene heretofore traduct,
whose meanings were as farr from danger as outward
happiness hath beene since from them. I speake it not in
pittie of theire sufferings if they have deserved it ; but in
sorrowe for this place that had not creditt enough to iudge
oft it selfe.

To prevent those inconveniences should be now our
labour, that wee be not broken or interrupted in the success
of or indeavours. & for the first, our owne private ielosies,
& destractions, as the fault seemes to be meerlie in our
selves soe must the remedy, wch may be done by some
generall tie or obligacon here of truth, and secrecie
amongst or selues, that in noe counsell else is wanting ; but
in this ffbr the latter, the cure is in the Kinge, & that
might be as easilie effected, if either his Matle would reiect
the Whispers of our enemies, or not beleeve them : for
t'is those that feare or Parliaments that traduce them, &
in the report deforme the priviledges of this place according
to theire owne intentions, of himselfe his Matie cannot
misconceive vs, he is wise et omnls sapiens est bonust as
saies the master of wisedome, therefore I haue noe doubt,
but of himself his Matie will allowe vs all the priviledges,
and liberties that may advance our counsells ; and to this
end I could wish that wee might now speciallie peticon

SUPPLEMENT 139

him, and wth some remonstrance in this point, humblie
desire the continuation of those favors that our ancestors
haue inioyed, wch I doubt not when his Matie shall truelie
weigh vs and our loyalties, and compare vs wth the former
times, but he wilbe pleased to grant : wch as it will begett
confidence soe will it add diligence to our indeavours, both
for the generall good, and his Mats most perticuler satis-
facon, wthout which the same hasards follow vs that before
have beene to others, and our assurance is soe little, that
after much travell and time it may be said of vs, as it was
of the sailor, whoe being taken from his harbour and wth
contrarie windes and seas much tost in a longe storme,
was inforced to putt back againe, non multum ille navi-
gavit, sed multum lactatus est. the trouble, and daunger is
like to be more then the profitt of the iorney."

Our next Speech — in the same Session — is extremely
noticeable, though it related merely to a private bill. " A
suit," the Biographer informs us, t( called ' Duncombe's
case/ had caused great excitement in the courts. The law
of England appeared to have settled that the rights of a son
born in wedlock, though the mother was so living at the
time that the husband could not for a period of more than
two years have had access to her, were indefeasible ; and a
bill had been introduced for disinherision of this supposed
but spurious son. Eliot supported it with his utmost
warmth and vivacity of manner" (ibid. p. 151). This
Speech follows next in the Port Eliot volume ; but as
Forster has printed it, I refer the reader to vol. i., pp.

i4o SUPPLEMENT.

151-3. Similarly with the next Speech on the case of the
Lord Treasurer Middlesex ; it will be found (substantially)
in vol. i., pp. 162-4.

Following these Speeches of his own, are two by the
BISHOP OF LINCOLN (Williams), and one by SIR THOMAS
CREWE. It is of singular interest to compare these € re-
ports/ made in Sir John Eliot's own hand, with the
summary and notices introduced into Negotium Poster orum.
They prove with what conscientious painstaking he sought
to get at authentic materials for his great book. This
holds equally of the 'precedents' and facts of all his
Speeches. It is touching and impressive to discover evi-
dence upon evidence that before he delivered his opinion or
judgment he spared no cost to know at once fact and law.
There is a plethora of extracts from all manner of recon-
dite sources; and on these he based his arguments and
appeals and counsels. It is not, therefore, to be wondered
at, that feeling the solid rock beneath him, he stood im-
movable as that rock itself when he had come to a delibe-
rate decision.

One very important Speech by Eliot in the Parliament
at Oxford, ( August, 1 625,' does not appear in Negotium
Posterorum. It must here find a place in ex ten so. In the
MS. it is carefully written by a third hand, but is shown
by the marginal notes to have been read and revised
throughout by himself.

Foi. 19-24. « Mr Speaker.

A speech in Althoughe the constant wisedome of this house of

SUPPLEMENT. i4I

Commons did well and worthily appeare in censureinge Parliament die
that ill aduised Member the last day for trenchinge soe farr ^fust^0l625'
into their auncient liberties ; And might incourage each Caroli Regis./
worthie servant of the publique here to offer freely vpp
his councell and opinion. Yet since these walles cannot
conceale from the eares of capcious guilty and revengfull
men without, the councell and debates within, I will
indeuor as my cleare minde is free from any personall dis-
taste of any one, foe to oppose the honest thoughtes of
my hart, and dischardge the best care of my trust ; As noe
person shall iustly taxe my innocent and publique minde,
except his conscience shall make him guilty of such
crimes, as worthily haue in Parliament impeached others
in elder times : I will therefore wth as much of brevity as I
can, sett downe howe those disorders haue by degrees
sprunge vpp in or owne Memories. How the wisedome
of the best and wisest Ages did of old redresse the like.
And lastly what modest and dutifull way I would wishe to
be followed by our selues in this soe happie springe of or
hopefull Master, ffor Mr Speaker wee are not to iudge,
but to present, the redresse is aboue Ad Querimoniam
vulgi. Now Mr Speaker soe longe as those attended about Noua Qrdina:
our Souraigne Master nowe with God as had serued the late .An°: 5 Ed: 2:
Queene of happie memorie, Debtes of the Crowne were
not soe greate, Comissions and Grantes not soe oft com-
playned of in Parliament, Trade florished, Pentions not soe
many though more then in the late Queenes time (ffor
they exceeded not 1 8,ooo'bs. now more then sixscore thou-
sand poundes. ) All thinges of moment carried by publique

14* SUPPLEMENT.

debate at the Councell table. Noe Honors: sett to sale or
places of judicature, lawes against Priestes and Recusantes
unexecuted, Resorte of Papists to Ambassadors houses barred
and punished. His Matie both by dayly direction to all his
ministers, and by his owne Penn declaringe his dislike of
that Profession. Noe waste expences in fruitles Ambas-
sadges. Nor any transcendent power in any one minister
for matters of state. The Councell Table holdinge vpp ye
fitt and auncient dignity.

Soe longe as my Lord of Somersett stood in state of
Grace, And had by his Mate fauor, the Trust both of the
Signett and Privie Scale, he oft would glory iustly, there
passed neither to himselfe or his freindes any large Grantes
of his highnes lands or Pentions, ffor that wch himselfe had,
he paide 20,000". towards the Mariadge Portion of the Kings
Daughter ; His care was to passe noe Monopoly or illegall
Grant, as some members in this House cann wittnes by
his chardge vnto them, Nor giueinge way to the sale of
honors. as a breache vppon the Nobility ; for such was his
owne words, refuseinge Sr John Ropers Offise (then ten-
Propositions of dred to procure him to be made a Baron). The Matche
Gun^anS18 by w^ Spame tnen °^ere^- anc* wth condicon to require noe
1615. further Tolleracon in Religion then Ambassadors are here

allowed, discouringe theire doble dealeinge and the dangers,
He diswaded his Matie from And left him soe farr in dis-
trust of the faithe of that Kinge and his Instrument Gun-
domar then here resideinge, that his Matie did terme him
longe time after a J uglinge Jacke : Thus stood the effect of
his power w**1 his Matie when the clouds of his misfortunes
fell vppon him.

SUPPLEMENT. 143

What the future Aduices leadd in wee may well re-
member, The Treaty of Mariadge wth Spaine was againe
renewed, Gondomar declared an honest man. Popery
hartened by the admission of those vnhard of before con-
dicons of conniuancy. The 'forces of his Matle in the Artie: betweene
Pallatinat wthdrawne vpon Spanishe faith improued here spa^ne^
and beleeued, by wcb his highnes children haue lost theire Hinezoza.
Patrimony And more money spent in fruitles Ambassadges
then would haue mainteined an Army fitt to haue re-
couered that Countrey. Our old and fast Allies dishartened Princes of
by that tedious and dangerous Treaty, And the Kinge Germany-
our now master exposed to soe great a perill as noe wise
and faithfull Councell would euer haue aduised. Errors Itin. Carol!
in gouermen* lye more in misfortune by weake Councells H?spamam?
then in Princes free actions.

The losse of the County of Pontiff in ffraunce was layde RotPari. A°.i°.
to Bishopp Wickhams Chardge in the first of Rich : the Q^*',, Ljn.
Second for perswaideinge the King to forbeare sendinge coUibr.
ayde when it was required.

The losse of the Duchie of Mayn a capitall crime in Rot. Pari. 28
Parliament layde to De la Poole : 28. H. 6. in single and Gascdign in
vnwisely treateinge of a Marriadge in ffraunce. A Spanish Bibiiothec.

rr* i r» i • Lincoln. Oxonn

Treaty lost the Palatmat. An-loyt Mayn.

What Gouncell hath procured soe great power to the
Spanish Agent neuer before, to effect freedome to soe
many Preests as hath byn of late, and to become a Sollicitor
almost in euery Tribunall, for the ill affectted Subiectf of
the State, is worthe Inquirie.

What Graunts of Imposicons before crossed haue lately parl.A°. Jacob i
byn complayned of in Parliament, as that of Alehouses, Regis'

144 SUPPLEMENT.

Gouldthridde, pretermitted Custome and many more. The
Rot. Pari. A°. least of wch would haue byn 30™°. Edri : 3. adiudged in

Parliament a heynous Crime, as well as those of Lions

and Latimer.

Rot. Parlia: A°. The Duke of Suffolke in Henry the 6. time, for pro-
2,8 H. 6. in Art. curinge such and other Grantf in derogacon of the Coinon

contra Ducem °

Suff. Lawe, was mdged by Parliament. The guift of Honors,

kept as the most sacred Treasure of the State, now sett to
sale.

Parliaments haue byn Suitors to the Kinge to bestowe

Pari. A°. Ed. 3. those Graces as in the times of Ed : 3. Hen : 4. and Hen :

Pari.A°.Hen.4. the. 6. more nowe leadd in by that waie only then all the

merritts of ye best deservours haue gott this last 500 yeares,

soe tender was the care of elder times, that it is an Article

Rot. Pad. A°. 28 of Hen. 6. in Parliament against De la Poole Duke

28°. H. 6. Qf Suffolke, that he had procured for himselfe and some fewe

others, such Titles of Honor And thos soe irreguler that

Par. A°. Hen. 6. ne was tne ^rst tnat euer was Earle Marquis and Duke of

one, and the self same Place.

ciaus. A°. 23 Edward the first restrained the nomber in Policy that

Ed. pnmi. would haue challenged a right by Tenure. And how this

disproporcon may suite wth profitt to the State, wee cannot

tell : Great Desertf haue now noe other Recompence

then costly Reward^ from the Kinge, for we now are

taught the vild Price of that wch was once inestimable.

Pari. A°. 25 Ed. If worthie persons haue byn advanced frely to places of

*• greatest Trust I shalbe gladd. Spencer was condempned in

the 15 Ed. 2. for displaceinge good servants about the

Kinge, and puttinge in his freinds and followers. Not

SUPPLEMENT. 145

leaveinge way either in the Church or Comonwealth
to any before a fine was paide to him or his dependant^.

The like in parte was layd by Parliament on De la Pari. a°. 28. H:
Poole. 6-

It cannot be but a sadd heareiiige vnto vs all what my
Lo : Treasurer the last day told vs, his Mats great Debts,
highe Ingagemts and presente wantes. the noice whereof I
wishe may euer rest inclosed wft in thes walles, for what of
Incouragem* it maybe to our enemies and of disharteninge
to our freinds, I cannot tell. The daunger of thes if any
that haue bin the Cause is greate and fearefull.

It was noe small motiue to Parliam* of H: 3 to banishe ciausa°.44:H:
the King's halfe Brothers for pcuringe to themselues soe 3 regist- st alb:
lardge proportion of the Crowne lands to the Kinges want.

Gaueston & Spencer for doeinge the like for themselues par^ ao. 3: Ed:
& followers in Ed: 2. time, both exiled. And the Lady 2-

J Parl: a°: 15 Ed.

Vesey for procuringe the like for her Brother Beaumont 2.

were banished the Court.

Michael de la Poole was condempned : 10. Rich : 2.
in Parliam*. amongst other Crimes for procuringe landes &
Pentions from the Kinge, And turneinge the Subsidies to
other endes then the Grant intended.

His Grandchild William Duke of Suffolke for ye like pari:a°:28: H.
vnderwent the like censure : 28 : H. 6. 6>

The greate Bishopp of Winchester Wickham 50 : Ed : parh 2°: 50:
the 3. was put vppon the Kinges mercy by Parliament for Edi 3-
wasteinge in time of peace the Revenues of the Crowne
and guifts of the people to the yearely oppression of the
Comonwealth.

i46

SUPPLEMENT:.

Ex Articl:
contra Ducem
Somers: A°. 3.
Ed. 6.

Cronicon sr.
Albani.

Gul. Gisborne
Math: Paris.

Histo: Rams:
monaster: Rot.
claus. 26. H. 3.

Hist: feria
Conses.

Ex libro origi-
nal! in coll:
Lincoln Oxonii.

Offences of this nature were vrged to the ruininge of
the last Duke of Somersett in Ed : the 6th: time ; More
fearefull Examples may be found to[o] frequent in Recorde.
Such Improvidence and ill Councell leadd He : 3 into
soe greate a straite as after he had pawned some pts of his
foraigne Teritories, broke vpp his house, And sought his
diett at Abbies and Religious houses, ingaged not only his
owne Jewells, but thos of the shrine of St Edward at
Westmr. was in the ende notwthstanding constrayned to
lay to pawne as some of his Successors after ded vppon
the Like improvidence Magna Corona Anglla the Crowne
of England.

To drawe you out to life the Image of a former Kingf
extremities, I will tell you what I found since this Assembly
at Oxforde written by a reverend man Twice Chauncello1"
of this Place : his name was Gascoyne, a man that sawe the
Tragedy of De la Poole : he tells you that the Reuenues
of the Crowne were soe rent away by ill Councell, that
the Kinge was inforced to Hue De Talus et quindenls
populi, That the Kinge was growne in debt ^ulnquies
Centena milia libras, That his greate fauorite in treateinge
a foraigne Marriadge had lost his Master a foraigne
Duchie, That to worke his ends he had caused the Kinge
to adiorne the Parliament In villis et remotts partibus
regm : where Propter defectum hospltn et victualium fewe
should attende ; And by shiftinge that Assembly from
place to place to in force, I will vse the Authors words,
illos paucos qui remanebant de comunitate regm concedere
Regl quamuis pessima. And when the Parliament

SUPPLEMENT. 147

endeuoured by any Act of Resumption the iust and

frequent way to repaire the languisheinge estate of the

Crowne (for all fro Hen: 3: but one vntill the sixt yeare

of Hen: the 8th: haue vsed it). This greate man tould

the Kinge it was ad dedecus Regis, and forced him from

it, At which the Cornons answered Although vexata

laboribus et expensis quod nunquam concederent taxam

Regi. vntill by authoritie of Parliament : resumeret actu-

allter omn'ia pertinentia Corona Angllce : And that it was

maius ad dedecus Regis to leaue soe many poore men in

intollerable want, to whome ye Kinge stood then indebted,

Yet nought could all good Councell worke vntill by

Parliam*. that badd great man was banished, wch noe sooner

done, An Acte of Resumption followed the Inrolement parl: 28: H: 6.

of the Act of his Exilement.

It was a speedinge Article against the Bishopp of ciaus 44 H. 3.
Winchester and his Brother in the time of H: the 3. that Re/lstr Rams:
they had ingrossed the person of the Kinge from his other Parl: 3°: et 5°:;
Lords : it was not forgotten against Gaueston and Spencer
in Ed: 2: time.

The vnhappie Ministers of Rich: 2. H: 6. and the last pari:23:Rich:
Ed: felt the weight to their Ruyne : the like Errors I hope 2-

. . . Tfc ,• Parl: 28: Hen:

wee shall not complame in rarliament againe of such. 6.

I am glad we haue neither iust Cause or vndutifull ^rt* ,ontla, <-

Soms'. 3 Ed. 6.

disposicons to appoint the Kinge a Councell to redresse Claus 42 H:3>
those Errors by Parliament as those of 42. H: ?. Wee Parl: 5 Hen' 4-

, . J TT TT 7 Par1' 28: Hen:

doe not desire, as 5. H: 4. or 29: H. 6 the remouemge 6.
from about the Kinge of evill Councellors.

Wee doe not request a choice by name as 14 : Ed: 3: Parl: 14: Ed. 3.

148 SUPPLEMENT.

Pari:3. 5. n. 3: 5; TI. of Rich: the: 2: 8. H: 4 or 31. H: 6 : Nor to

Pari: 8: H: 4. swere the in Parliam* as: 35 : of Ed: the first: 9: Ed: 2:

Pad- 3I' Ed-6' °r 5* ^ich: 2: ^r t0 tyne them out theire directions of

primi. Rule as 43: H: 3. and 8. of H: 6:

° : 3' Promse n s 42

Claus43:Hen: Seacturum omnia per assensum Magnatum de Concilia
Parl: 8: H: 6. suo e^ecto et s'me e0^ assens^ nlbll ; Wee only in loyall
Claus 4z H: 3. duty offer vpp our humble desires that since his Matie
hath wth aduised Judgement elected soe wise religious
and worthie seruantes to attend him in that highe Im-
ployment, He wilbe pleased to aduise wth them to-
geither a way of Remedy for those disasters in State,
leadd in by longe security and happie Peace And not wtb
younge and single Councell. The Successe hereof wee
neede not doubt when wee looke backe to the euer
readines of his sacred Matie to give vs our desires. And his
noble Constancy euer to make good his neuer violated
worde vnto vs, vnles by our refusall nowe of some
moderate some to assist his Matle. in this his first and I
hope succesfull Action, wee open him the vntroden way,
as yet of harshe deniall.

Oxoniae in Parliamento
die Augusti."

Equally important with this, is a Speech on 'Supply'
penned wholly in Sir John Eliot's own handwriting, as
follows : —

Foi. 25-27. " I have observed in ye passages of this day ye divers motions

SUPPLEMENT. 149

that have beene made & ye excellencie of their intendm*9.
I have cald to mind ye proceedings heer of former times. I
have remembered the affections & indeavrs. of or prede-
cessrs, I have wth myself revolv'd (& w*. in soe short a time
occasionally I must doe), cast vp w*. successes w1 issues they
have had, & from thenc drawne, a consideration to or selves
what we may now expect, w* course we may best hould,
for from thenc ther may be a coniecture made vnto or
psent hopes, the effect & consequence of all acts being
impli'd in ye iudgm1 of their entranc & prosecution, wherin
ye latter times I doubt have faild either through pPcipitation
& to[o] much hast or by impatience & importunitie pre-
venting their owne desires in the to[o] affectionat & ernest
desire of them, as it's noted of ye Samians in ye like case
for pssing vpon Meander cut iustisstmo vivorum volenti esse
non licuit, as saith that storie, they vrgd their suit soe
violently vpon him as they gave him not time to answear
or grant it, being willing. In all things time & order are of
best advantage, the one the measure the other the weight
of all proceedings, & the greatest priudice or hindrance in
business that can happen comes by anticipation or disorder,
for if ther be not time nothing can be done : wthout order &
direction ther can be made noe vse of time, & this I
beleeve we have heertofore scene verified in our selvs
(whither by act soe contriv'd or incidentally followlg our
owne oversights I will not iudge) but the effects doe shew
it y* we sufferd, sufferd in the last, sufferd in ye forifi par-
liamts. I will not enumerat all or sufferings that way but
make an intimation for yr memories how they times have

150 SUPPLEMENT.

slipt vs, how they overpast vs, before we could conclude,
nay beefore we could almost begin the business we came
for. The business we came for did I say ? noe ; I am then
mistaken, that we dispatch't betimes, if not to[o] soone, the
business it is we should come for I mean, ye countries
business, ye publicke care, ye common good, ye generall
affairs of K. & Km, not ye satisfaction of anie privat ends
or hopes : these have overslip't vs, these have past beside vs,
though not wthout mention yet wthout effect.

How these things have beene governed & directed I will
not now beginn a search or scrutinie but wth what modestie
I may wthout dishonor to soe great a Counsell assume the
occasion to or selves, oure owne. facilities, or owne creduli-
ty es that deceavd vs, & from them I wilbe build [=bold] to
derive some observations for the future, for ye time we are
now in, how we may sort it, how we may manage it to or
best advantage & the common good. And first, I will make
one generall proposition wch I shall afterwards reduce into
some particulers, & that is for supplie, supplie I mean for
the Country, supplie in governm*., supplie in Justice, supplie
in reformation, supplie in aid of or long neglected grei-
vances. that these things may beginn or labors, that we
may settle them, that we prepare it, that we present it,
naie I will goe farther, that we attend & take our answears
before we admitt in other things either treatie or debate.
But me thinks I hear some Courtier saying to me yu goe
now to[o] farr, yu exceed yr limitts, its not a parliamentarie
course yu propose, yu have noe psident for it ; I crave him
pardon y* speaks or thinks it ; if I err 'tis out of love not out

SUPPLEMENT. 151

of flattery, & though I am not warranted, yet I am induc't
by former practises, if changing the persons doe not change
the case. Did we not the last parliam*. freelie give y* session
to the King vpon the promise, & assurance of his word to
have ye next for vs ? did we k not in the parl. before doe
the like, & in both exprest asmuch faith & love, as could
be expected from poore subts ? did we not in 1 8 of King
Jam[es] grant two subsidies wch were presently confirmed
& past wthout a Session ? have we not of or parts ended wth
trust enough these times to endear the creditt of or Sove-
raigne ? may we not iustly challeng it as meritt now in y1
respect to have his Matie. beginn wth vs ? or is it not the
same in reason as fit vs to beginn wth him ? Surelie it is ;
the business is the same, & though ther were noe law of
retaliation, this would perswade & move it that w* is the
Countries is ye King's good, for those that will distinguishe
or divide them, I dare be bould to saie are neither good
schollers, nor good statesmen. We then have broken
presidents for the K. let it not seeme strange we should
now desire ye K. may doe the like for vs : let vs receave
some fruite of all or confidenc and hope, that we may
send it as a satisfaction to or countries, & as I know twill
affect ym, it shall harten me to straine my self heerafter
wholy into the King's desires, this being granted now ; wch
generall I shall therfore desire yu to take into yr memory
& considerations, as that wch may prepare, naie that wch
must assure our passage to the rest.

and that according to this we may the better husband or
times, & business, I will heere descend into some perticulers

SUPPLEMENT.

wch I conceave next fit for yr resolutions, wherin part I
will take from that that has past now, part from ye memorie
of or last consultations, part I will add as it shalbe neces-
sary, in all submittinge to yr greater iudgmt3 either to be
altered or reformed. And first I will propose the con-
sideration of the King's estate, as that wch is most ne-
cessary, equallie necessary both for him & vs ; necessary in
point of honor, necessary in point of saftie, that ther may
be a sufficient means to comport the State, and dignitie of
soe great a Matle & to supplie him on all occasions wth
power & strength to amate & check his enemyes, & to
protect his frinds. Yu know in this how much we have
sufferd for the late times, through whose occasion I speake
not, what piudice we have had, what losses we have sus-
tained, losses abroad, losses at home, losses to or frinds,
losses to or selves, how ye King's treasures have been ex-
hausted, how his revenewes are impaird, how his reputation's
lessened : in w* strait or most gratious Soveraigne was left
to his estate, who has power to speake it, who has hart to
thinke it wthout an in ward bleeding of his sowle for soe
much wrong of Matle. soe long time vnpunishd ? thesau-
rus reglus anlma relp : ye treasure of ye K. is ye life of ye
sub1, hurt y* yu wound ye Km. cutt of ye King's revenews yu
cutt of ye principall means of yr owne safties, & not onlie
disable him to defend yu but enforce that wchyu conceave [an]
offenc, ye extraordinary resort to his subts for supplies, & the
more then ordinary waies of raising them. This in forifi
times has not beene thought a consideration vnworthie of
the parls. neither have our Kings taken it to be dishonor-

SUPPLEMENT. 153

able to remitt that care to them, but as their easiest, &
safest waies have wth the labors of ye parls. mTd their owne
coffers, wch how it has beene practis'd heer, how it has
been vsd in other parts, what resumptions of lands, w*
accounts of officers, what infinit restitutions have beene by
that means made to the Crownes, when it shalbe needfull
vpon the more perticular debate heerof I shalbe bould to"
tell yu, & what I may conceave fitt for redresse, &
remedy.

in ye second place, I will propose ye account of or subsi-
dies & fifteenths granted 21°. vfh I conceave soe necessary
to be exactly taken, as we suffer much already for ye honor
& wisdome of this place, & in ye generall misfortunes that
have happend that it has beene soe long delaid : I confesse
ther was an entraie made to it heer last parl. a shew of
prosecution continued at Oxford, some mention of ye ac-
countants but wthout effect ; some generall answears were
taken, as of ye treasurer & part of ye counsell of warr, but
for ye rest & the perticulers they were not prest but left as
things forgotten. What is this but to make a parl: ridicu-
lous, to ptend integritie & zeale for ye Common Cause &
to desert it, to draw ye iudgmts of ye howse into noe regard :
consists the virtue only in shew or words ? is it a discharge
of or duties in this place to seeme affectionat, & carefull not
to be soe ? doe these walls comprehend or duties, & must
they not extend wth out them ? pardon me I beseech yu
pardon me in speaking freely, I shall as freelie doe the ser-
vice yu command me : it stands not wth our honor, it stands
not wth our gravities in this place to be noted careless or

x

154 SUPPLEMENT.

vncertaine, & I beseech yu once againe it may not seeme in
this.

ye reasons at this time for pressing this account are more
then ordinarie, & the weight & greatness of it I beleeve is
much mistaken, for to me its noe small fear that the former
omissions have occasiond much of that piudice in our
affaires that has happend since ; & the extent & reach of
ye acc° now, I take to be soe large as it involves the con-
sideration of or last adventure, & the search of the causes
of our vnhappiness therin : for as I vnderstand it both
from ye memorie of our intentions in passing the act wth
such conditions & from ye word & letter of ye act it self
not only the monies, but the service in wch it is imploid
should be accompted for, & therin not the Trers & Coun:
of Warr alone but all others who by office or command
should be interest therin were to be examined of ther car-
riage doeings & proceedings & to receave such iudgmts from
ye parl. as their cause meritts, & now I beseech yu cast yr
eyes about, veiw the state we are in, consider ye losses we have
receaved, weigh the wreckt & ruind honor of or nation
(or ye incomparable hopes of or most excellent Soveraigne
check t' in their first designe) search the preparation,
examine ye goeing foorth, let yr wisdomes travell through
the whole action, to know ye faultie, to discerne ye fault,
& I psume, though no man vndertake it you'le finde ye
antient Genius of this kingdome will rise vp to be an
accuser, is this a light & easie matter of ace* ? is ye repu-
tation & glorie of or nation of a small valew ? are ye walls
& bulwarks of or Km. of no esteeme ? were ye numberless

SUPPLEMENT. 155

lives of or lost men not to be regarded ? I know it cannot
soe harbour in an Englishe thought : our honor is ruin'd,
our ships are suncke, our men perisht, not by ye sword,
not by an enemy, not by chance, but apparantly discernd
before-hand out of strong pdictions, by those we trust, by
that ptended care & thrift that vshers all our misfortunes.
I could lose my self in this complaint, ye miseries, ye cala-
mities wch or western parts have both scene & fealt, strike
soe strong an apprehension on me. but ye perticulers are
to manie to be instanct now: in their times y* will appear
quite fully as incidents to that acc°, wch if we therfore
slight or overcast, maie then our sufferings evermore cor-
rect vs.

but perchance it wilbe said this concerns vs not, our
monie was long since spent in other actions, nothing re-
maynd to this: to prevent the objection I will make this
answear, I know nothing soe prosperous or good in those
former actions that may extenuate much less excuse the
faults of this, & this I am sure falls wthin ye compass of
those ends to wch our money was given, for besides ye
generall of Warr, in wch it is included, it's in point con-
taind in ye fowrth perticuler, ye setting forth of ye Navie,
naie it is the verie perticuler it self that was intended, &
I am sure our monie advanct, if not concluded this pre-
paration wch makes it a proper sub1 of ye acc°. & I hope
in conclusion will make it profitable, both for his Matie &
vs.

vpon these perticulers therfore I will contract my mo-
tion, this of ye acc°, that of ye Kings estate, wherin I

156 SUPPLEMENT.

shall desire ther may be a settled order for their handling,
daies prefix't to take them into consideration, Committees
therto specially appointed, from wch nothing may divert
them, that by such seasonable & timelie beginning we
may have a happie period & conclusion, & by such order
preserve our times free from interruption, & produce,
something worthy the expectation of the Countrie & our
owne labors ; and the generall [ ] wch I at first proposd

I would not have forgotten, that vntill these be perfitted &
such other matters as shalbe necessary for the supplie of
the Countrie, noe mentions, noe overtures, noe motions
for others to be taken, but that the common cause may
have a full precedence, wch out of our affectionat & pious
care, to secure ye waies in wch we are to walke, to prevent
those preventions vnder wch we have heertofore soe much
sufferd, to preserve the mutuall honor & interests of my
prince, & countrie, I most humbly move."

A second speech on ' Supply ' in the same session, made
on Rudyard's motion on the King's inauguration-day, is
again in a third hand, but has corrections, interlineations,
and further additions by Eliot. Here it is : —

v , Q VPON THE PROPOSITION FOR SUPPLY.

roJ. 20-33

noteTby s?B. " This daye was begunne wth a happie auspice, and I hope

R. to be the wee shall giue itt as happie a conclusion, though our debates

Kings birth- _ . . T . . .

day. may be w some vanetie or opinions, yett 1 doubt nott but

SUPPLEMENT. 157

our resolucons wilbe one, and what difference soever ther
may be in pticulars, we shall concurr wholie in the generall
for the good of the Kinge and Kingdome, & to that direct
or motions as to their Center, where we shall fix in or
periods and rest, the gent, that at first wth the advantage of
the tyme, did induce this prposition for supplie made a fine
insinuation by discourse of the state and affaires of Chris-
tendom, inferringe from thence out of their relacon to vs
the dangers wee are in, and soe pressinge the necessitie of
our ayde, that therby the Kinge might be enabled to resist
them, wherein (as his ptestacon was that the feares wch he
ptended were not panicke,)'! shall add this to in horror of
that gentelman y* I hope they are not panicke as artifices to
move vs from the fixt station of our reasons ; but wth
satisfaction vnto him and the whole world besides, we shall
soe observe & note them, as things worthy consideracon &
respect, yett not of such necessitie & hast, as should decline
the gravitie of parliam* & the due course of our proceed-
ings : but y*. wee may therein still reteyne the preservation
of our orders, & exampled dignitie and wisedome of our
Ancesto".

A speciall respect in this proposition that is made, must
be to the abilitie of the subte, what power he has to answere
the occasions of the K : for I remember a storie of
Themistocles that when for the service of the Athenians
he required certeyne monies of the Andrians whoe were
then tributaries to that state, he was answered that they
were denied to furnish him by the two great Goddesses of
their Countrie povertye and impossibilitie that then sweyd

i58 SUPPLEMENT.

them, & such powers haue noe resistance; and if there should
be the like diuinities wth vs, certainlye our excuse were as
lawfull if we now refuse as they did. but to know this we
must first looke vppon the condition of the kingdome &
the state : that being knowne in truthe, & compard wth the
occasions that are extant, will best give a direction to our
iudgments: therfore wth this we will beginne, wch must
shew vs, through that perspective the power & abilitie we
are in, wch can only crowne our purposes what ever wee
intend, & wth out wch all the <pmises wee make wilbe of
none effect. This wee may consider in two pticulars of
estate of will, (for though the latter be not properlie an
abilitie but a disposicon), yet because its that wch must give
motion to the other, I shall soe call it here & therein give
you some fewe observacons out of the reasons of these
times, and from the examples of the Elder, for the first the
abilitie of estate, I will not speake much singlie by it selfe
but as it shall happen by mixture wth the other, for though
manye things might be urged vppon the psent condicon of
the subte of dilation to this pointe, yet I am confident their
shall neuer want abilitie in England and Englishmen, to
supplie their Kinge wth aydes necessarye or fitt for the
advantage and support. of all his iust occasions. In that
of will then, how the people stand disposed, how they are
affected ther are many things observable for or affayres
abroad, for our affayres att home, abroad in our late expe-
dicon vnto Gales, what encouragment, what hart, what
affection can it giue to that, that is required ? the oppres-
sions, the corruptions, the exactions, the extorsions are soe

SUPPLEMENT. 159

infinite as almost noe pte is free, naie hardlie a man but has
some cause drawen from those abuses wch doth both dis-
harten and disable him, honors made marchantable, iudi-
ciall places sold, & yet the rule^acknowledged venders \ven-
deris\ qua emerls gentiii lus esse. Cicero in one of his orations
against Verres tells a storie how the <pvinces on a tyme
were petitionrs to the Senate that the lawe de pecuniis repe-
tundis might be repealed againe, by wch. all the corruptions
of their officers were made punishable, the Senate (as
he observes it) when they saw the scope of their petition
begann to wonder att the thing and desir'd to know the
reason whye the repeale was sought of that wch was onlie
in favour of themselues, but when they heard their answere
they were satisfied that though twas true the law was soe
intended yett the successe was otherwise, and whereas
before their officers not feareinge to be questioned made
their exaccons simplie for themselues and for the satisfaction
of their owne & private families and fortunes, now beinge
held in terror by this lawe they were enforct to make them
frends at Court to pcure them advocates, to procure them
patrons for defence, if their cause should come in questiond.
naie to corrupt the Judges soe as they that before made
onlye single exactions for themselues, now did double their
oppressions to that height that the spoile of the ^vinces
seemed to be devided amongst many, which likewise multi-
plie the iniuries wth the occasions, & by that gaue them y*
reason of complainte. what applicacon might this now
haue to vs ? how does this sorte wth the experience of
these tymes ? were not the truth and dignitie of that

160 SUPPLEMENT.

author wthout question, it might bee taken rather for a
prophisey of ours, then for a storye of that age : the discrip-
tion is soe like to the practises wth vs, that it seemes to be
a meere Character of our sufferings : its too visible what
oppressions haue been made, not onlye oppressions of the
subiecte but oppressions on the Kinge, his Treasures are
exhausted, his revenewes are consumed, aswell as the
Treasures and faculties of the subte. wherein many handes
are excersised, diuers haue their gleanings but the harvest
and great gatheringe comes to one, who must ptect the
rest and for his countenance drawes all others to him as his
Tributaries whoe are enforc't by that not only to pillage
for themselues, but him, and to the ^portion of his avarice
and ambicon wch makes the abuse, & iniurie the greater,
this cannot but disharten, this cannot but discourage all
men well affected, all men well dispos'd to the advancment
and happines of the K : and wtbout some reformacon in
these things I know not what willes or what abilities men
cann haue to giue a new supplie ; yett that it may not be
mistaken if ther should be an insistance vppon this to stope
the ^position for the psent, I will vouch two denialls in
like causes from the psidents of our Ancestors. in ould
times wherein yett they concluded wth a grant, and though
in the beginninge of the parliamts, as now, for like reasons
they refus'd yett in the same sittings they consented when
vppon remostrance of their burdens & necessities to the
Kinge they had satisfaccon in their greivances wch were soe
like to ours, in all things but the time as I hardlie cann
distinguish them. The first psident was in 16 H : 3.

SUPPLEMENT. 161

when the comons beinge required to make a supplie vnto
the Kingeexcusd themselues, because saies the record the[y]
saw all things disordered by those that were about him, but
when vppon their advise he had resum'd the lands of the
crowne that were vnnecessarilie giuen away, when he had
giuen way to the question of his ministers and not spared
that great officer of his Court H. de Burgo a favorite never
to be paraleld but now haueinge been the only minion both
to ye Kinge then liveinge and to his father wch was dead,
when they had seenn as another author sayes those spunges
of the Comonwealth squezed into the Kings coffers, though
they had formerlie denied it, they then did grant an ayd &
in the same sittinge wch they had refus'd, haveinge for the
Kings good some satisfaccon in what they did desire, they
at length consented, and in such measure & ^portion as
the Kinge himselfe confest it was more then was enough.
The second psident was in xmo. R. 2. wherein I shall
desire you to observe the likeness of some pticulars, for the
placeinge and displaceinge of great officers, in wch ther was
the Tre : changd twise, the Chancellor thrise and soe of
others wthin the space of two yeares, and how many shiffts,
changes, and rechanges cann this kingdome now instance
in like tyme to parable wth that ?, 21* ther had beenn
monies formerlie granted & not accounted for, and you
know soe it is yet wth vs. 3ly there were new aides
required wtha declaracon of the Kings occasions and estate,
and this likewise agrees wth our condition, yett then for those
and other exceptions made against the E : of Suffolke de
la Poole the minion of that tyme of whome they said, y1 he

Y

x62 SUPPLEMENT.

had misadvis'd the K : misimploy'd his Treasures, inter-
verted his revenewes : the supplie demanded was refus'd
vntill vppon the petition of the Comons he was remov'd
both from his offices and the Courte, and a comission
likewise granted for the rectifieinge of the Kings estate, wch
because it imports an excellent intention and purpose of that
pliam1. (though it had not the successe and fruite it meritted)
I will be bold breiflye to observe the heads & grounds it had,
vppon wch you shall make yor owne inference and Judgm*.
it beginns thus. Whereas or Softaigne Lord the Kinge
pceaveth by the greivous complaints of his Lordes and
Comons that his .pfitts rents and revenewes of his Realme,
by the singuler and insufficient Counsell and euill goftm1.
of &c. be soe much wthdrawen, wasted, aliened, given,
granted, destroyed and evill dispended, that he is soe much
impoverished and voyd of Treasure arid goods, and the sub-
stance of the crowne soe much diminished that his estate
may not wholye be susteyned as apperteyneth &c : the
Kinge of his free will at the request of the Lt: and
Comons, hath ordeyned &c. to examine as well the estate
and gouW. of his house as also all the rents revenewes and
pfitts &e. and all mannor of guifts. grantes alienations, and
confirmacons &c of lands tenemts rents &c. bargained or
sould to the piudice of him and his crowne. and of all
Jewell [s] and goods wch were his grand fathers at the tyme
of his death and wher the[y] be become &c.

If now there were a such a Comission heer wth vs to
examine the revenewes of the Kinge, to veiwe that antient
garden, & those sweet flowers o'th Crowne, & wher they

SUPPLEMENT. 163

are now become, & how the inclosure being let downe,
its made a common pasture. Searching for the treasures
& iewells that were lefte bye that ever blessed princes of
neuer dyinge memorie Queen^ Eliz (or those iewells the
pride and glorie of this kingdome wch haue made it soe
farr shining beyond others, would they were heer wthin
the compass of these walles to be veiwd & scene by vs, to
be examined in this place, their very name and memorie
transports me, (but I must recall my self to the labor of
this day) if I saye such a Comission were now extant to
those that faithfullie would execute itt, what advantage
would it render to the K: that would remove all need to
presse supplies from vs. But I must retorne to the obser-
vacons wch I left, this Comission beinge then granted and
that fauorit removed, the pliam1 consented to the ayd, and
in the same sittinge they refused it, vppon this reasonable
satisfaccon (wch tended only to the Kings good & benefit)
they at last granted & accorded it and left yl. example to
posteritie, that alwayes to complie is not the dutie of a
Councellor. But vppon these observations of the Elder
to draw a conclusion for this tyme, w* shall we now doe ?
shall wee refuse the ayd that is required, or delay it vntill
there shalbe satisfaccon given in such things as we reason-
ablie doe desire? noe I would not doubt the Justice of his
Matie therein, but reteyne a confidence of him equall to
his goodnesse, and that confidence I doubt not wilbe more
pValent then pswasions fidelem si putaveris, fades, saith
Seneca, that confidence of ours will make him I hope the
more confident of vs, and for the concurrence easier in all

SUPPLEMENT.

matters & affaires, in the assurance of wch let vs now doe
as our ffathers did before vs, present our greivances & com-
plaints that the satisfaction given in them may prepare the
affections of the people, & in the meane time soe farr
yeeld to the proposition for supplie that we make a promise
of the ayd wch is vrgd for by the King ; but for the act, that
may haue leasure to attend the dispach of the rest of our
affayres, to wh I hope this gliam* is auspitious, as in the
begining this day was pphisied to the pliam* : from both wch
I desire may be derived a full streame of happines and
felicitie both to the King & Kingdome."

The memorials of the 3d. Parliament begin with a great
Speech of the Patriot on its opening, of Religion and
Liberty. Here it is : —

Fol. 36-38. " It has been well propounded for a generall overture to

our worke, that the manie points of consideration in this
P. are to be the matters of relig. & our lib. whose neces-
sities require a present aid & succor, & whose safties com-
prehend all our happiness & hopes.

What dangers they sustaine, what fears are now vpon
them, may be collected from the former apprehensions of
this place, or from the present reasons of the time, in wch
from new occasions, new impressions are contracted, &
by addition of new causes, an addition of new fears. In
rell : the countenancing & favoring of papists, the imploi-
ment & preferm* of their Sectaries, the allowanc & admis-
sion of their preists, the neglect & remission of the lawes,

SUPPLEMENT 165

all publickly, all frequently, all confidentlie in practise :
naie, & almost all their [blank in MS.] actuated, & asmuch
as borrowd & subordinat greatness might effect, the trulie
pious & religious discountenanc't, their preferm13. hindred,
their imploiments stop't, their ministries opposd & by new
lawes & inquisitions questiond & disturbd : what argumts
are these ? what demonstration doe these make, but of a
plott & practise for the subversion of the truth ?

In the lib : the invasions have beene made vpon that
sacred relicke of our ancestors; the attempts vpon our
goods, the attempts vpon our persons ; our monies taken,
our wares & marchandises seisd ; loanes, benevolences,
contributions, impositions levied, & exacted : our bodies
hurried & imprisond, & the power & execution of the
Lawes vilified and contemnd ; naie (but that such actions
could not pass wthout the knowledge of his Matie in whose
intention lives nothing but truth & goodness, & whose
virtue, I am confident, has not beene consenting to the
rest, in any pointe, as to a willing violation of the lawes,
but as otherwise it might be represented, & informed ;
but that such actions, I say, could not pass wthout the
knowledg of his Mate : whose iustice is a sanctuarie to all his
loyall sub*8) I am doubtfull the attempt had yet gone further
to a higher pointe of enterprise, & we had hardly kept
the securitie of our lives, but that wcb is more then lives,
more then the lives & liberties of thousands, then all our
goods, all our interests & faculties, the life, the libertie of
the p. the privilidges & immunities of this h. wch are
the basses & support of all the rest what prejudice has it

166 SUPPLEMENT.

sufferd ? how has it beene attempted ? how violentlie,
how impetuouslie assaulted ? yu cannot but remember it,
yu cannot but observe it that it yet shakes wth the shocke
it has indurd. What doe these inferr ? what construction
doe these make ? are they not plaine argumts of danger ?
doe they not by induction conclude reasons of fear &
ielosie? I presume in a truth soe evident & cleer, noe
contradiction can be made but all mens harts confess it.

nor are these dangers single, or consisting in termes
seperat & divided that in the preiudice & danger of rell :
we might retaine the saftie & securitie of our lib : or (on
the contrary) in the danger & preiudice of our lib : ther
might be a saftie & securitie in rell : if soe, part of the fear
might be extenuated, & the dangers would seeme less, wch
are now somuch augmented by coniunction, & mutuall
necessities betweene them, that ther cannot be a securitie
in either, wthout the confederation of them both, noe srs ;
such are their interests, & relations, such reciprocall depen-
dencies they have, & wth such helps & advantages to each
other, that, on the other side, in opposition to the danger,
this ground & position we may laie, That wthout a change
& innovation in our lib : ther is noe fear of an innovation
in rell: & w^out an innovation in rell: ther is no fear of
change or innovation in our lib : (I speake wth submission al-
wayes to the divine power & providence whose secrets none
can penetrat) but in probability I say from the argumts & de-
ductions of reason, (& I hope to shew it cleerlie) That an
innovation in our pollicie cannot be introduc't but by an
adverse strength & partie in relligion : nor can rell : have

SUPPLEMENT. 167

that wound to meet soe strong a partie of hir enemies
while the antient pollicie is mayntaind, that is while our
lawes & liberties are in force :

the reason of the former, Nature it self presents vs, & we
shall not neede more evidenc then that noe man is naturally
an enemie to himself, those that are borne in libertie doe
all desire to live soe ; but the antiente lib : of this kingdome
what comparison may they have ? the freedome of this
nation, the felicities it has had in the glorie & honor of the
pr : in the quiet & tranquilitie of the people ; the generall
& common happiness wch soe long we have enioy'd vnder
our owld lawes & liberties, who could be drawen to leave
them ? what ignorance would disert them to submitt
to the fears & incertainties of a change ? none ; I may
bouldly say trier's none of a sound hart or iudgment, naie
that wilbe guided but by sence; none, but some rotten
members, men of seduc't & captiv'd vnderstandinges, who
to the quailes & manna sent from heaven, prefer the flesh-
potts & garlicke of the Egiptians, none but that false partie
in rell, wch to their Ro. idoll will sacrifice all other inte-
rests & respects : none but such as have swallowd downe
that Sote the Leaven of the Jesuits, can be possest wth
this ignorance or stupiditie ; soe to forgett their pr. soe to
forgett their Country, soe to forgett themselves, and wthout
such a fals partie of our selves, such an intestine faction
wthin vs, noe forraigne power can doe vs preiudice (besides
the strength & valor of our nation, in that defeat, we
having nature & G. to aide vs. the frame & constitution
of this state, therin answearing to the ground & center that

i68 SUPPLEMENT.

it stands on, the Earth, wch a little winde wthin it makes to
t[r]emble but noe outward storm or violence can move ;
soe as (I say) but for a false partie in rell: our lib: are safe,
ffor the other part of the position that I made, that the
safetie of rell : depends vpon the saftie of our liberties, the
reason is apparant in the force & letter of our lawes, wch
first in the generall provide against all formes of innova-
tion ; & also in perticuler take care to prevent the prac-
tise of our enemies, by exclusion of their instrumts, by
restraining of their proselites, by abolishing their cere-
monies, their sorceries ; soe as while these lawes continue,
while they retaine their power & operation in that pointe
likewise we are safe, that ther cannot be an innovation in
rell: wthout a change likewise in the pollicie. if this truth
were not perspicuous, we have examples to confirme it,
wherin yr owne experiences can help me. if yu consult yr
memories but for the storie of these times, for a few years
past, since wee first enterd into those vnhappie treaties wth
the Spa : (that vniversall patron of the Cath:) since we
have vsd a remission of the lawes, a lessening & extenua-
tion of their rigor ; since their sharpness, their severitie
has declin'd, and their life & execution has been measur'd
by that gentle Lesbian rule ; how have our enemies pre-
vaild ? how infinitly have they multiplied ? what an in-
crease of poperie has' ther beene ? what bouldness what con-
fidence has' it gotten ? the consideration of it strikes such a
terror to my hart, that, my thinks, I have an apprehension
at this instant, that while we are heer in deliberation, con-
sulting of the lawes, by wch we might repress them, they

SUPPLEMENT. 169

are in act, laboring wth their instruments for the vnder-
mining of those lawes by wch we doe consult. Such is
growne their their bouldness such increases they have had
by the remission of the lawes, what then a defection would
induce, what would be the consequence of that a faction,
we may easilie conclude, adeo manifestum est (as Tacitus
saies in the like case) ne$ perire, neq; salvas esse nisi vna
posse, they are like Hippocrates twinns, borne vnder such
a constellation, that the same passions doe affect them, &
their inclinations are common & alike both vnto health, &
sickness, soe as in the conjuncture 'tis apparant what
great danger wee are in. Nor does the termination of
our danger rest in this, in this double danger of rell : &
our lib : (though in that it be too much & from wch I be-
seech the L. deliver vs) but it yet goes further & takes in a
third concommitant, the danger of the K. the danger of
the St. wcb (as their is a mutuall involution of the others)
is soe involved in them, that ther cannot be a prejudice to
either, but this likewise must participat. ffor as a defection
in our lawes prepares the way, & opens to a defection in
rell : soe a defection in rell : would soone induce in the
partisans therof a defection of their loyalties : the verie
obiect of their faith1 & principle of their motions being
obedience to the papacie, & the doctrines of the Jesuits, &
both these leading (as their owne authorities confess it) to
advance the Spa : greatness ;

to erect that temporall Monarchic to the pretended lati-
tude & extension of wch they assume for their spirituall, &
to make it (answearable to the title they have given it)

i7o SUPPLEMENT.

Catholicke & Vniversall soe that to the danger of rell :
& our lib: from the same reasons & necessities is added
likewise the danger and dissaftie to the state.

from here then ( ) yu may see the truth of that

suggestion so often framd against vs, that our labors & agi-
tations of these points, in the instances, & insistances we
have made for rell : & the lib : we have studied onlie an op-
position to the K & the scandall ofthegoverm* : here yu
may see likewise the truth of that assertion, wch so farr pre-
vailes against vs, that the lib : of the Kingdome are a
diminution to regalitie : when the verie contraries are evi-
dent, that into the regall saftie the lib : of the Kingdome
have a large power & influence : & that ther cannot be a
more advantage to the K. or honor to the goverm*. then
the care & agitation of these points, naie further, this
inferenc I will add, for a note & character of the oppo-
sits, that he that is not affectionat to these a frinde both to
our rell : & our lib : what ever outward shewes or pretences
may be vsd is secretlie & in hart noe frinde but enemie,
(& when occasion is wilbe so ready to declare him) both
to the K. & St.

this treble consideration of the State, of rell : of our lib :
has' now calld me vp, the strickt' conjuncture is betweene
them, & the necessities they are in : the importance of
this pointe to have them rightlie apprihended, & the light
it will diffuse, wch may have some reflection on his Mr :
the prevention it may give to the detractions of our ene-
mies, & the difficulties it may remove from the course of
our proceedings (that noe false pretensions doe disturbe vs

SUPPLEMENT.

171

for order or precedenc, wherin, I fear, we have had noe
small preiudice heertofore) these considerations, I say, have
beene my occasion at this time, this indeavor flowing from
the intention of my dutie, my dutie toy1" Service, my duty
to my Countrie, my dutie [to] my Sover, my dutie vnto
God ; that generall obligation bindes vs all, in a cause of
this necessitie has' exacted this expression, in w011, I hope,
I cannot be mistaken.

& therfore I shall conclude wth this motion or desire, in
respect of the great importance of the work ; ther being
such apparant dangers in rell : & our lib : & those soe
trenching by reflection on the St. their conjuncture &
dependance being such that the same dangers & necessities
are common to them all, I shall desire (I say) that on those
two principles we may pitch of rell. & our lib : that these
may be the subiect of or treaties, & that heerin our cares
may be equally divided, wthout anie preiudical affectation
of either, & that by a firme & settled order of the house
nothing may retard or interrupt vs but that in a constant
& strickt* course we may keepe our intentions on these
points, till they are well establishtY'

Subsidiary to this is a rough holograph draft of another
Speech on the proposition of the Courtiers for a Fund. It
thus runs : —

" The greatness & necessitie of this worke maks me thinke Foi. 34-3?.
it necessarie to vse some now towardf it : for not only
the evills of guilt & punishment are before vs all things

SUPPLEMENT.

threatning wth miserie & affliction, all things crying for
that iustice from above : but even the evills of or humilia-
tion themselves, & our former solemnities I fear in those
acts of humiliation, have beene evell wch requires some
caution by the way, that we turne not our pieties to
impiety, religion is the cheife virtue of a man, devotion of
relligion, praier & fasting are the cheife characters of de-
votion, let these be corrupted in their vse, the devotion is
corrupt : if the devotion be once taynted the religion is
impure ; it then becomes but an outward forme of godli-
ness denying the power. & as its concluded in the text a
religion that's in vaine, for such religion in this place, or at
these times I impeach noe man let their owne consciences
accuse them ; of such devotion I make no iudgment vpon
others, but leave them to the searcher of all harts ther only
for caution I address that if we have beene guiltie in this
kinde let vs now heer repent it. let vs remember that re-
pentance is not in words, 'tis not by saying Lord, Lord
we shall enter into heaven, but doing the will of our
ffather wch is in heaven ; & that doing is not by vndoing of
our Countries, 'tis not that ffathers will that we should
betray that mother ; 'tis not a privat contract to the pub-
licke breath & preiudice. but a sinceritie in all a through
out integritie & perfection that our words & works be
answearable, for y* our actions correspond not to our words,
noe iustice can perswade vs that successes shalbe better
then our harts, wch when such neer kindred differ, strangers
may be at odds. & the prevention of this evill is the cheife
reason that I move for. nor is it without cause that this

SUPPLEMENT 173

motion does proceed, if we reflect vpon the former passages
of this place may might be thence collected to support the
proprietie of this caution but the desire is better to reforme
errors, then remember them, my affections strike for the
happiness of this meeting, that must be had from god, 'tis
his blessing though our crowne : Let vs fear him there-
fore in all sinceritie expect it, & if by vaine shadowes will
delude vs, let vs distinguishe between true substances &
those shews, 'tis religion not the name of religion that
must guide vs, that in the truth, therof we may wth all
vnitie be concordant not turning it into subtiltie & art
playing wth god as wth the powers of men, but in the sin-
ceritye of our sowles doing that worke we come for wch I
most humbly move & pray for that blessing from above."

[See continuation of the Port Eliot MSS. in the Supplement to Vol. II.
page in.]

END OF VOL. I.

CHISWICK PRESS:— c. WHITTINGHAM AND co. TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE.

192 4

DA Eliot, (Sir) John

396 An apology for Socrates and

E£A2 Negotium posterorum

1881

v.l

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