a prospective glasse wherein englands bondage under the normane yoke, with the rise, growth, and continuation is clearly asserted, a subject not yet treated upon ... shewing how the law came to be in an unknown tongue, and from whence the judges and other inferior lawyers had their beginning, and in opposition to former law, how the termes of the yeer came to be kept : as also, the corruption of this law, bringing with it the fines and rents to the lord of the manor for all free- holds and copyhold land : being a collection from the most choice of modern historians : with some copyhold land : being a collection from the most choice of modern historians : with some brief observations upon scripture, as proving from thence that this law is contradictory to the nature of god's dealing with the sons of man, and contrary to the nature of freedome / by a lover of englishmens freedomes. lover of englishmens freedomes. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text r in the english short title catalog (wing w ). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing w estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) a prospective glasse wherein englands bondage under the normane yoke, with the rise, growth, and continuation is clearly asserted, a subject not yet treated upon ... shewing how the law came to be in an unknown tongue, and from whence the judges and other inferior lawyers had their beginning, and in opposition to former law, how the termes of the yeer came to be kept : as also, the corruption of this law, bringing with it the fines and rents to the lord of the manor for all free- holds and copyhold land : being a collection from the most choice of modern historians : with some copyhold land : being a collection from the most choice of modern historians : with some brief observations upon scripture, as proving from thence that this law is contradictory to the nature of god's dealing with the sons of man, and contrary to the nature of freedome / by a lover of englishmens freedomes. lover of englishmens freedomes. walker, henry, fl. - . [ ], p. printed at the authors charge, london : . attributed by wing to henry walker. reproduction of original in the cambridge university library. eng land tenure -- great britain. land tenure -- law and legislation -- great britain. a r (wing w ). civilwar no a prospective glasse wherein englands bondage under the normane yoke, with the rise, growth, and continuation is clearly asserted, a subject lover of englishmens freedomes c the rate of defects per , words puts this text in the c category of texts with between and defects per , words. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a prospective glasse : wherein englands bondage under the normane yoke , with the rise , growth , and continuation , is clearly asserted . a subject not yet treated upon , viz : shewing how the law came to be in an unknown tongue , and from whence the iudges , and other inferior lawyers had their beginning : and in opposition to former law , how the . termes of the yeer came to be kept . as also , the corruption of this law , bringing with it the fines and rents to the lord of the mannor for all free-holds and copyhold land . being a collection from the most choise of modern historians . with some brief observations upon scripture , as proving from thence , that this law is contradictory to the nature of gods dealing with the sons of men , and contrary to the nature of freedome . by a lover of english-mens freedomes . an evill custome be it for continuance never so ancient , is nought : else then the oldnesse of error . plato . london : printed at the authors charge . . to all the commoners of england . in all the dealings of god with the sons of men , when judgement and righteousnes is not executed between man and man , god then brings one punishment or other upon the land , that makes inquisition for blood that hath been spilt , wrongs that hath been done , wickednesse that hath been acted by unrighteous men . but yet the end of gods dealing thus with his creatures is love , as in ier. . , . a restoring of health , an healing of wounds : though ephraim is smitten , yet ephraim is loved , he is a dear son , a tender childe , there is health in the latter end . whosoever looks upon these times outwardly , may see a poore distressed kingdom , groaning under the heavie burdens , that lye upon it : and whosoever looks beyond the outward state of the kingdome , may see love , peace , and joy , spread into the hearts of creatures , discovered in severall ( yet ) glorious administrations . the occasion of bondages , troubles , that hath been , and yet is , in this nation , makes the members of this nation to enquire for freedome , to search and sift out the root , and foundations of bondages , of all sorts , some after this manner , some after that , as hath been evidently seen , in the petitions of many well affected people of england , which have been presented to the parliament at sundrie times . among the rest , i my self desired to know the foundation of some bondages , that have inslaved the nation for almost this six hundred yeers ; and by providence i found some recorded in records , which i now commend to the consideration of all honest hearted people , lest any should say , i speak against the persons of men : i desire them to understand , that i speak against the practise of men which is destructive to the wel being of the nation , be they nation or person whatsoever , it matters not to me , for honesty in a turk , or jew , heathen , or pagan , is as good , as honesty in those that are called christians : i could wish , that the nature of christianity was more looked upon , and the name of christianity lesse looked upon ; for it is the cunning sleight of the man of sin to make people think themselves happy , as having the name of christians , without looking any further unto the nature of christianitie : i am not ignorant how people have been looked upon as bearing the name of sectaries , or independants , and so for presbyterians , or episcopall , the envy of the name in one anothers hearts , hath bred abundance of heart-burnings one toward another ; my advice therefore is to all , to let names fall , let honesty and godlinesse be imbraced in any man ; and let oppression , arbitrary power , and cruelty be looked upon in any , as destructive to the well being of the nation : if we do so , we shall look upon things as being acted in the center of them , and so esteemed . i leave this following discourse , to all men to be looked upon by the eye of equity , and remain , a lover of freedome . not the respecting of persons whosoever , but in love to my countrey , for liberty , and freedome ; and a hating of tyranny , arbitrary power , and cruelty : i begin this ensuing discourse . in the making of way to this ensuing discourse it is requisite to shew ; for satisfaction to them that shall read this discourse , the party , by whom the bondages of this land came in , not in any way of disgrace to his person , but rather to discover the acts that he did , which rose from his oppressing minde and will . and first of the person . in the lives of the three norman kings of england , in pag. . there is a relation of william the conquerers birth , which is expressed in these words . robert duke of normandy , the sixth in discent from rollo , riding through fallis a town in normandy , espied certain damsels dancing near the way , among whom he fixed his eye upon a certain damsell , whose name was arlote , of mean parentage , a skiners daughter , whom he procured that night to be brought unto him , of whom he begat a son , who afterward was named william : by this relation it appears , that will : the conquerer was base son of robert duke of normandy , as may more fully appear , in the summary of english chronicles , in pag. . william duke of normandy , surnamed conquerer , base son of robert the sixth , duke of that dutchie . but lest any should think , that i make this discoverie on purpose to disgrace the conquerer , i say i do not , for i say no more then what chronicles do testifie of him . secondly , a bastard sometime hath been an instrument of deliverance to the people of god , as iephthah , iudg. . . the spirit of the lord came upon iephthah , ver. . the lord delivered his enemies into his hand : so that god made use of iephthah to work deliverance . thirdly , a bastard is not to be blamed , as being a bastard , for it is the parents , not the childe that must be blamed , or shamed . i shall say no more , touching william the conquerers birth , and reasons , why i do think that williams person is not to be despis●d of any , as being a base son to robert duke of normandy : but proceed further to shew by what means he came to be crowned king of england : in the summary of english chronicles , in pag. . declares unto us , that william the conquerer came to be crowned king of england , by conquest in these words . william duke of normandy , surnamed conquerer , base son to robert , the sixth , duke of that dutchie , and nephew unto king edward , began his reign over this realm of england , the th of october , in the yeer of our lord , . after the battell at hastings , duke william came to london , where with great joy he was received , both of the clergy and people ; and was proclaimed king , and crowned on christmas day , by aldred archbishop of york . it must be agreed on by all parties , that god gives the kingdoms of the earth to whomsoever he will : dan. . . . so god gave all kingdoms of the earth unto nebuchadnezzar ; but if nebuchadnezzar tyrannise over the people , then great kings should serve themselves of him : ier : . , . and so though assiria did reign , yet it must be brought lowe : even so though god did give this land into the hand of william the conquerer , yet he setting up of such laws as tend to the destruction of the poore , it is just with god to take the government out of the hands of his posterity , who uphold , and maintain those laws that were made to inslave the commoners of england . before i come to declare the bondages of this nation , that was brought upon them by william the conquerer , i shall speak of some remarkable things of edward the confessor , king of england before the conquest ; as i find recorded in the acts and monuments of the church , in pag. . they that write the history of st. edward the confessor , make mention of a dream , ( or revelation ) that should be shewed unto him in the time of his sicknes : how that because the peers and bishops of the land were not the servants of god , but of the devill , god would give this land into the hand of others , and the king desired that utterance might be given him , that he might declare it to the people , whereby they might repent : here note if true , as for my part i cannot gainsay it , see the mercy of god toward this land , as to forewarn them of the danger that should come upon them ; which not long after this kings death did come to passe , when william the conquerer overcame this land . this edward in that dark age , made such good and wholsome laws , which were so just , so equall , and so serving the publick profit , and weal of all estates , that mine authors say , that people did long rebell against their heads , ( and rulers ) to have the same laws again , being taken from them , could not obtain them . william the conquerer , at his coming in , did swear to use and practise the same good laws of edward , for the common laws of the realm ; afterward being established in the kingdome , he forswore himself , and placed his own laws in their room , much more worse and obscurer . also this king edward describeth the office of a king , in the acts and monuments of the church , in pa. . the king , because he is the vicar of the highest king , is appointed for this purpose , to rule the earthly kingdom , to set up good and wholsome laws , such as be approved ; such as be otherwise he ought to repeal them , and thrust them out of his realm ; he ought to do justice and judgement in his kingdom . three servants a king ought to have under him as vassals , fleshly lusts , avarice greedie desires ; whom if he keep under him , as servants , he shall reign well and honorably in his kingdome ; but william the conquerer , omitted these laws , contrary to his oath at his coronation , inserting and placing the most part of his laws in his own language to serve his purpose ; and which as yet to this present day , in the same normane language do remain . see here by this declaration the difference of the two kings , edward making good laws , and william changing of them , contrary to his oath at his coronation , making laws at his own pleasure , destructive to the peoples good and freedome . king edward , surnamed confessor , for his excellent holinesse , is untill this day , called , st. edward ; who so soon as he had gotten his fathers kingdom , of his free-will , released the kingdom of . thousand pound , called , dane gilt , which the english people , even from the very beginning of the reign of the danes was compelled to pay to their kings every yeer ; and this did king edward in a yeer when the earth yeelded not her fruit , the tribute being gathered by the treasurers , he commanded that the money should be restored to the owners again . here we may see , the love that this king had to the subjects , freely forgiving them the tribute that they had payed to other kings before him : and this god , saith he , hath chosen , in isa. . . to loose the bands of wickednesse , to undo the heavy burthens , to let the oppressed go free : this kingly act of edward the confessor , may serve for an example for all governors to follow . william the conquerer did contrary to king edward , for he sought how to inslave the people of england , by making inquirie what riches the people had , and then to tax them accordingly , as is declared in the summary of english chronicles , in pag. the . king william caused enquirie to be made , how many acres of ground were sufficient for one plough by the yeer , how many beasts to the tilling of one hide , how many cities , castles , farms , graunges , towns , rivers , marshes , and woods , what rent they payed by yeer , and how many knights ( or souldiers ) were in every county of the realm ; all which was put in writing , and remaineth at westminster , in the kings treasurie ; afterward he took six shillings of every plough , that is , of every hide of land throughout the realm ; and to this agrees the report , in the history of the lives of the . norman kings of england , in pag. . william the conquerer , caused the land to be described , in one generall roll , so that there was not one hide of land , but both the yeerly rent , and the owner thereof was therein set down , how many plough lands , what pastures , what fennes , or marshes , what woods , parks farms , and tenements was in every sheere , and what every man was worth ; also how many villens every man had , what beast or cattell , what fees , what other goods , what rent or commoditie , every mans possessions did yeeld : this book was called the roll of winton , because it was kept in the city of winchester ; by the english , it was called doomes-day book , either by reason of the generalitie thereof , or else instead of domus dei book , for that it was layed in the church of winchester , in a place called , domus dei ; according to this roll , taxations were imposed , sometimes two shillings , sometimes six shillings upon every hide of land , throughout the realm ; an hide containing twenty acres , besides ordinary provision for his house . one of the punishments that was threatned against the children of israel , was to be given into the hands of those their enemies whose tongue they could not understand . deut. . , , , . who should take the increase of the land : and surely so did william the conquerer squeese the fat of this land unto himself , from the commoners of england , as appears by this declaration of him . in the acts and monuments of the church , in pag. . it is reported of william the conquerer , that forasmuch as he obtained the kingdom by force and dent of sword , he changed the whole state of the governance of this common-wealth ; and to this agrees the history of the lives of the three normane kings of england , in pag. . many heavy taxations were imposed on the english , their ancient lords were removed , their ancient laws and pollicies of state were dashed to dust , all lay couched under the conquerers sword to be newly fashioned by him , as should be best fitting for his advantage . and in the . page of the same history , the stoutest of the nobility and gentlemen were spent either by war or banishment , or by voluntary avoidance out of the realm , all these he stript of their estates , and instead of them he placed his normanes , insomuch as scarce any family of the nobilitie of england was left to bear any office , or any authoritie , within the realm . and so likewise in the acts of the church , in pa. . he gave the normanes the chiefest possessions of the land ; he changed all the temporall laws of the realm . and so in the summary of english chronicles , in p. . the normanes accomplished their pleasure upon the english-men , that there was no nobleman of that nation left to bear rule over them , so that it was a reproach to be called an english-man . in the acts and monuments of the church , in pag. . that william the conquerer ordained laws at his own pleasure , profitable to himself , but grievous and hurtfull to the people ; abolishing the laws of king edward the confessor , whereunto notwithstanding he was sworn before to observe and maintain , and so in the acts of the church , in pag. . he changed all the temporall laws of the realm . and so likewise again in the acts and monuments of the church , in pag. . contrary to his oath at his coronation , he abolished the laws of edward the confessor , and placed the most part of his own laws in his own language to serve his purpose , which as yet to this present day in the same normane language do remain . further , to make the thing in hand clearer , i shall speak as it is declared in the lives of the three normane kings of england , in pa. . william the conquerer caused part of those laws which he established , to be written in the normane language , which was a barbarous and broken french , not well understood of the naturall french , and not at all of the vulgar english , the residue were not written at all , but left almost arbitrary , to be determined by reason and discretion at large . hereupon it followed partly through the ignorance of the people , and partly through malice of some officers of justice ▪ who many times are instruments of secret and particular ends , that many were extreamly tangled , many dangered , many rather made away , then justly executed . and in the . pag. of the same history of the lives of the three normane kings of england , william the conquerer , in the beginning of his reign , ordained that the laws of king edward should be observed , together with other laws that he did prescribe ; but afterward he commanded that nine men out of every county should be chosen , to make a true report what were the laws and customes of the realm , of these he changed the greatest part , and brought in the customes of normandy in their stead , commanding that causes should be pleaded , and all matters of form dispatcht in french . and in the summary of english chronicles , in pa. . there sprang up wicked customes , the more the people spake of equity , the more wrong was done ; the justicers were authors of all unrighteousnesse . in these words these things offer themselves to consideration . first , that the end of william the conquerers laws was for his own profit ; and that appears by the way that he took , in making of his laws in his own language , which was a barbarous and broken french , not well understood of the naturall french , and not at all of the vulgar english ; so that the people of england was under a law that they understood not , which must of necessitie be a sore and heavie yoke for the people to bear : from this will : the conquerer , arose the law in an unknown tongue , which to this day is a bondage to the english nation . for a nation to be under a law that they know not , is to be under a curse : so in deut. . , , . the lord shall bring a nation against thee as swift as the eagle flyeth , a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand : a nation of a fierce countenance , which shall not regard the person of the old , nor shew favour to the young . he shall eat the fruit of thy cattell , the fruit of thy land , untill thou be destroyed : all these things have come upon this land by the normanes in these words . in the acts of the church , he gave the normanes the chiefest possessions of the land , he changed all the temporall laws of the realm . secondly , the laws of william the conquerer , were , and are bondages to the english nation ; when as by policie he commanded that nine men out of every county should be chosen , to make a true report what were the laws and customes of the realm before the conquest , and then to change the greatest part , and bring in the customes of normandy in their stead , commanding that causes should be pleaded , and all matters of form dispatcht in french . by this it is apparent , from whom the pleading of causes by lawyers came up ; and surely if the thing be well considered , it is a grievous burden to the commoners of england , that must give away their money to the lawyers to plead their causes : by this the poore commoner of england payes dear for coming by that which is his own , when he hath occasion to deal with the lawyer . by this pleading of causes by lawyers , the poore commoner buyes his law at a very hi●h and excessive rate ; a poore man may work a quarter or half a yeer , to get as much money as the tryall of one suit at law will cost , and when the lawyer hath pleaded and gotten the money , the thing at last must be ended by arbitration . i find in the way two main things to be answered . the first is this : from what principall the lawyers and councellors as they now stand , did rise . to this i answer . from an arbitrary power , profitable to themselves , but grievous and hurtfull to the people ; and if the originall of their standing be looked into , it will so appear . for the conquerer making such laws , as that the commoners of england could not have the benefit of the law , but through the normane lawyers making merchandize of the law to the people , and so great gains came in to the lawyer , through this subtilty , and knowing well that by that craft they had their living , made laws that none should be a lawyer , but he that took his degrees at the universitie , or inns of court : so that it came to a custome , ( and yet is ) that parents set their children to school to study law , that thereby they might be rich ; and having learned the art to use the silver hook they became great : the parents nor the childe consider not at all the tyranny of the rice of that custome . and thus as a childe is bound to a mas●er to learn his trade , and to be a free man of that place in which he hath served the time of his indenture ; so the lawyers through the unjustnesse of their custome , served a time to come to be a lawyer , whose first rice was from the will of a tyrant . the originall of a servant serving a time to a master is to learn a trade , that so he may make the benefit of his ware ▪ even so the rice of a man being a lawyer , is that he may sell the law to his chapmen ( otherwise called clyants ) so that the law is bought and sold by the lawyer and the clyant . surely if this were looked into with an eye of reason , it would appear to be as unjust , ( namely , the practise of lawyers to ingroce the law into their own hands to make merchandize of it ) as the monopolizing pattentees . the second quaere that may be made , is how the lawyers appear to be bondages to the commoners of england . i answer in this , that if any one seek for the benefit of the law , he must fee his lawyer , or else he must loose his right : so that as in the time of christ , the jews could not have the benefit of their law but by the romane governors , and that appears about the tryall and condemning of christ , they must lead him away to pilate that he might condemne him , for they could not of themselves without pilate : even so the commoners of england cannot have the benefit of the law , but by feeing the normane custome-upholders . another quaere may be made . but how should any man come by that which is his own , but by the lawyers ? to this i answer . that it is the law , not the lawyers , that gives any man his right ; and if there were no lawyers , yet persons might come by their own by law . for i reason thus . that the lawyers themselves ought to plead according to law , and then if it be so , it must be considered , that the ground of the lawyers plea ought not to be from themselves , but from the law , and so consequently it must follow , that the lawyers themselves are in no other place but to get away money from the clyant ; who might , if things were equally carried , come by his right without them . in the history of the lives of the three normane kings of england , in pa. . saith thus : that william the conquerer ordained also his councell of state , his chancery , his exchequer , his courts of justice , which alway removed with his court : these places he furnished with officers , and assigned foure termes in the yeer , for the determining of controversies among the people ; whereas before all suits were summarily hea●d and determined in the gemote or monthly convention , in every hundred without formalities or delay . if it be looked upon in the courts of chancery and exchequer , the officers that are in those courts are such as stand by the normane customes ; and that appears in their customes of pleading causes for money , making merchandize of the law , and so consequently of other courts of law ; the benefit of making merchandize of the law is onely in the hands of judges , councellers , and lawyers and further , that the commoners of england may be kept in ignorance from knowing the law , that they may live under , and are judged by , all writs are issued forth in latin , and causes pleaded in latin . the second thing that presents it self unto consideration , is the foure termes in the yeer , to end controversies among the people ; and the custome of this is a great bondage to the commoner when he hath occasion to go for law : and the bondage consists in three things . first , the coming from all parts of the kingdom to westminster foure times a yeer , whereby the poore commoner is put to great charges and pains , to get all things ready for his journey , and many times are constrained to borrow money to bear their charges , the journey being long , and chargeable ; and for the experience of them that have had to come upon such designes to westminster from all parts of the kingdom , testifie by the filling of their purses at home , and their emptying of them by the way , and at london and westminster . secondly , this is not all : the laying out , and spending of their money in the long journeys from all parts of the kingdom to westminster ; but when they come thither , there are lawyers and councellors to fee , which is many times as much and more twice told , then the clyants expences in his journey . thus hath the normane customes brought heavie burdens upon us , and upon our fore-fathers in this thing : so that well may that speech of christ which he spake to the lawyers in his time , be justly applyed to the lawyers in our time : wo unto you also ye lawyers , for ye lade men with burdens grievous to be born . thirdly , this is a bondage again in this sence , by hindering the old custome before the conquest , ( which was ) to have every mans cause tryed in the hundred where he lived , without coming to westminster at all , and so had justice in the hundred once every moneth . from the things that have been spoken , these things do offer themselves to our consideration . first , that for persons so judged by laws in an unknown tongue , is an arbitrary power contrary to true reason , and honest plain dealing . secondly , for lawyers to have money for pleading of causes , is to make merchandize of the law to the people . thirdly , for the standing and custome of lawyers , as now they are , is a representative of slavery and bondage . fourthly , for pleading of causes in an unknown tongue , is to take away the key of knowledge : luk. . . from the people of their liberties , birth-rights , and laws ; and to keep them in blindnesse and ignorance . fiftly , for coming to westminster from all parts of the kingdom , is a spending of the commoners money , loosing of his time , and neglect of justice done to the commoner , as was in that short time once every moneth in every hundred before the conquest . according unto that equall rule , as ye would that men should do unto you , so do you unto them : for this is the law and the prophets ; is the practise of all arbitrary power whatsoever condemned . and surely if ever there was an arbitrary power in any thing , it was , and is in this , to make laws in an unknown tongue to govern and rule a people . the unjustnesse of this custome may more fully appear , if we look into the manner of gods giving of his laws , unto the sons and daughters of men ; if it be looked into in what manner god gave the law unto the children of israel , it will appear to be given in that tongue they could understand . deut. . , , . this law which i command thee this day , is not hid from thine eyes , neither is it far off . it is not in heaven , that thou shouldst say , who shall go up for us into heaven , and bring it unto us , and cause us to hear it , that we may do it ? neither is it beyond the sea , that thou shouldst say , who shall go over the sea for us , and bring it unto us , and cause us to hear it , that we may do it ? but the word is very neer thee , even in thy mouth , and in thy heart , to do it . god deals thus with creatures in his giving of laws unto them so plainly in that tongue , and manner of way that is known unto them , that they cannot say , we have not heard it , nor known it ; but it is very neer them , in their mouthes and hearts to do it ; so that they are left without excuse . rom. . . gods wayes are equall wayes ; and therefore he so gave the law unto the children of israel , that they were not to know it onely themselves , which heard the law delivered by the hand of moses , but they were to teach it unto their children , and to talk of them when they tarried at home , when they walked by the way , when they rose up , when they lay down , and to put them as frontlets between their eyes , and to write them upon the posts of their doores , and upon their gates , being publickly to be known , and declared unto all the nation . also this manner of making laws , or giving commandments to people in a known tongue , was practised even by heathen : this appears in esther . . then were the kings scribes called at that time in the third moneth ( that is , the moneth sivan ) on the three and twentieth day thereof , and it was written unto the iews , and to the lievtenants , and the deputies and rulers of the provinces which are from india unto ethiopia , an hundred twenty and seven provinces , unto every province according to the writing thereof , and to every people after their language , and to the iews according to their writing , and according to their language . so much equity was among the heathen , that in this thing they are our examples for us to follow their way , to make laws according to the language of the people that are to be guided by them . it is a signe and token of a disobedient servant , that goeth about to do things contrary to the way and minde of his master : even so is it a signe and token of the governors of this nation , that made laws in an unknown tongue , that the people of this land understand not ; to be disobedient stewards unto god . they are against the nature of god , and against the actings of god ; against his wayes by which he doth manifest himself unto the sons and daughters of men in these things . first , god is light , and in him there is no darknesse at all . joh. . . and whatsoever the dealings of god toward the creatures are , they are light , and make known to the creature the will of god , and how to know him . this is clear throughout all the scripture , from genesis to the revelation . david saith , psal. . . thy word is a lamp unto my feet , and a light unto my paths : that is , the law , the commandments of god was his rule that guided his steps . but when the law that should guide the nation is in an unknown tongue , it is neither lamp nor light for the peoples paths . this may fully appear , that the wayes of god are light to enlighten the people . god sent his son , whom he saith is light : in isa. . . a light to lighten the gentiles : luk. . . light to them that sit in darknesse : joh. . . the light of the world . luk. . . to give knowledge of salvation unto people for the remission of sins : that which makes princes , rulers and people to be like god , are works of light ; of which , one is to make a known law , in a known language , that the people might understand the law . it is one of the works of the devill , to blinde the eyes of the understanding . cor. . . and then consider what , and whose work it was to put it into the heart of william the conquerer to make laws in an unknown tongue ; and who it is that sits in the hearts of the judges , lawyers and councellors of this kingdome , who still hold up the custome of trying the causes of the people in an unknown tongue : i suppose it must be concluded it is the devill , by these reasons . first , because the works of the devill are works of darknesse , and not light ; the end shews the event . now the work to make laws in an unknown tongue for this nation to be guided by , is a work of darknesse , for the effect of it proves darknesse , and so brings darknesse , and keeps the people in darknesse , and so consequently is of the devill . do men gather grapes of thorns , and figs of thistles ? by their fruits ye shall know them . matth. . . secondly , the works of the devil are destroying works ; therfore he is said to be as a roaring lion , seeking whom he may devour : pet. . . and as the devil is said to be as a roaring lion , so likewise are tyranous princes compared to lions . prov. . . as a roaring lion , and a ranging bear ; so is a wicked ruler over the poore people . so that both devill and cruell princes are compared both to one thing : then it will follow , that those laws that are cruell , and hard yokes for the people to bear , are the works of the devill in all such rulers . now if this thing be examined , namely , the law in an unknown tongue , i am bold to say , that it will be found to be one of the greatest destructives to the well-being and freedome of the people , as ever was heard of in any nation . for , first , those people that are free commoners of england have been by that blinded , and their eyes closed , that they have not seen their priviledge in their free birth-rights . secondly , they have been constrained to come from all parts of the kingdome to westminster , and there commit the pleading and censure of their causes to such men as made merchandise of the law , and their causes as they pleased . thirdly , they have been kept , it may be , some , , , or . yeers in law , whereby the normane custome-upholders have greatly inriched themselves , by removing the suit out of one court into another , that many times it fals out that the lawyer is enriched , but the clyant undone . experience proves this to be a truth . again , if this thing be well considered , namely , the law in an unknown tongue , it is right opposite to the way of god . first , in the giving of his son to be salvation to the ends of the earth , isa. . to open the blinde eyes , this was christs work ; but the law in an unknown tongue doth not open the blinde eyes , but those that are blinde it keeps still in blindnesse : so in this it is opposite to christs work . secondly , christ was sent to proclaim liberty to the captives , isa. . . but the law in an unknown tongue proclaims no liberty , no glad tydings , no freedome to the oppressed ; but declares curse , bondage , and wo . deut. . , , , . ier. . , , . one of the priviledges that god promises to his people , isa. . . is , thou shalt not see a fierce people , a people of a deeper speech then thou canst perceive ; of a ridiculous or stammering tongue , that thou canst not understand . so that it is liberty and freedom to be under a law that the people can understand . nothing makes the government of england to be like the church of rome so much as this , to lead and govern people in an unknown tongue . for as the papists keep the people in ignorance concerning their spirituall estate , by an unknown tongue : even so the judges , lawyers , and councellers keep the people of england in ignorance in their civill or temporall estate , by an unknown tongue . further , the law in an unknown tongue is both against the way and end that god gave the law unto the children of israel , if we consider the way it was in that tongue they understood , deut . to that it is opposite , and it is opposite also to the end , which was , first , that it should be in all their mouthes & hearts , that they might continually talk of them . ly , that they might teach their children . ly , that it might be written upon the posts of their houses , and upon their gates . first , it is opposite that the law should be in all the peoples mouthes ; for it is that it should be in some of the peoples mouthes , namely , judges , councellors , lawyers , they onely are to know the law , and no other by this custome . secondly , the law was given to this end , that the children might know it , but the law in the unknown tongue to the contrary . for whereas the children of israel was to teach the law unto their children ; by this law in an unknown tongue the parents of the english children , are constrained to ask counsell of the lawyers : and so in this it is directly opposite . thirdly , the law was to write upon posts , and gates , that therby the people might know the law generally , being known so openly . but the law in an unknown tongue , causeth the law to be kept and shewed onely at westminster , the inns of court , and universities , and judges , councellors , and lawyers chambers . thus far to shew the tyranny of the law in an unknown tongue over the people of england . the second thing that presents it self to our consideration , is recorded in the history of the lives of the three normane kings of england , in pag. . that in all those lands that william the conquerer gave to any man , he reserved dominion in chief to himself ; for acknowledgement whereof a yeerly rent was payed unto him , and also a fine whensoever the tenement did allen or dye ; these were bound as clyants unto him by oath of fidelitie and homage : and if any dyed his heir being in minoritie , the king received the profits of the land , and had the custodie and disposing of the heirs body untill his age of . yeers . these words declare unto us two great bondages that have been in england ; the one is thrown down by this honourable court of parliament , called , the court of wards ; the other bondage remaineth still untaken away : of that i intend somewhat to speak . the bondage being looked upon with a single eye , will appear to be great two wayes . first , in the greatnes of it in extent . secondly , in the heavinesse of it upon the poore man . first , for the greatnesse of the extent of it , and that is over every one dwelling in a town ; except the lords of the mannor who is the yoke-master , and not a sufferer under the yoke . the heavinesse of it appears in these two things . first , when a man hath bought a piece of copyhold-land so called , when he hath payed for his copyhold-land of the owner thereof , yet notwithstanding must pay a fine to the lord of the mannor , or else he cannot enjoy it . this is a most grievous oppression upon the people . secondly , when the party either leaveth his living , then another fine is to be payed ; and also when the party dyeth , then a harriot , so called , is to be payed again . those who are countreymen , and deal in farmes and land , i suppose can testifie this by wofull experience ; and therefore i leave this to their consideration : onely i shall shew how the lord complaineth of such things in scripture . this oppression doth reach the poore widows that hath lost their husbands , and is left poore , comfortlesse and needie , their stay , their upholdes is dead , and yet notwithstanding must loose the best goods they have for an harriot to the lord of the mannor . this or such like kinde of oppression iob spake of , iob . . they take a pledge of the poore . and isa. . . turn aside the needie from judgement , and take away the right of the poore of my people , that widows may be their prey , and that they may rob the fatherlesse . what greater wrong can be done to any , then to take their goods , that which is properly the parties own ? among the children of israel was found such like grievous oppression : ier. . , , . for among my people are found wicked men : they lay wait as he that setteth snares , they set a trap , they catch men as a cage is full of birds , so are their houses full of deceit : therefore they are become great , and waxen rich . they are waxen fat , they shine , they overpasse the deeds of the wicked . the snares that are set by rulers to catch the people , are those grievous laws that are like snares , that the people by this means are brought into great bondages and slavery , under cruell masters . as witnesse when a man hath bought a piece of land before he can enjoy it , he must pay a fine to the lord of the mannor ; and if he come not in to take it up in the court , he then forfeits his land . what righteousnes is in such a law or custome , i finde very little or none at all ; but against righteousnes , justnes and equitie , to practise such arbitrary tyrannous customes , grievous for the people to bear . now then it is not to be looked upon , whether it be not right to pay fines or harriots to the lord of the mannor , according to that law or custome that is now in england for that purpose ▪ but it ought to be known whether that law that demandeth such unreasonable things , as fines and harriots to the lord of the mannor , be according to the rule of equitie . and then i suppose that if that be the quaere , it will be answered , that such a law is not according to the law of equity : for these reasons . first , that law that tendeth onely to that end to inslave the people in bondage under heavie burthens , cannot be concluded to be according to the law of equitie : for god saith that this pleaseth him . isa. . . to lo●se the bands of wickednesse , to undo the heavy burdens , to let the oppressed go free , and that ye break every yoke so that in this , obedience is better then sacrifice . for what doth it avail the people to have fasts set up , and humiliations observed by the great ones of the land , and have not their burdens and yokes taken off from them ? secondly , that law that tendeth ( to this end ) to oppresse the widow and the fatherlesse , cannot be concluded to be according to the law of equitie . god saith expresly in exod. . . ye shall not afflict any widow or fatherlesse childe . and in zach. . . god tels them that they should not oppresse the fatherles nor the widow . this was that which god alwayes exhorts the people unto by the mouthes of the prophets : zach. . . isa. . . isa. . . then if it be considered , that the widows are not to be opprest , the law of taking of harriots of widows must be concluded to be arbitrary power over the poore people . thus far to shew the arbitrarinesse of fines , and rents , and harriots that are payed to the lord of the mannor , i shall apply my self to give an exhortation to the commoners of england , that they may see the great works of god , that the lord hath shewed from time to time unto this nation since these troubles began , that they might have them in their remembrance . the exhortation . glorious and great things hath the lord the great iehovah shewed unto this nation since these troubles began ; and if well considered , they are the dealings of mercy toward us , even thoughts of love , and of peace and good will , if we consider the knowledge of our bondages that are now brought to light , that have of long time inslaved this nation for almost six hundred yeers , that were brought upon us by conquest , and from the wills of tyrants over the people , as the law in an unknown tongue , the standing of the societie of the lawyers , the pleading of causes in an unknown tongue in westminster-hall , the foure termes in the yeer , the feeing of lawyers , the being kept ignorant from knowing the law , and their birth-rights , the bondage of rents , and fines , and harriots to the lord of the mannor , the burden of tythes : all these things have , and are looked into to be tyrannous to the nation . and although the land hath suffered much since these wars began , yet wars could not be avoided , but they must needs be . for as the bondages of this nation came in by the sword , even so by the sword the liberties thereof must be gained : and that will appear , because the rulers of this land having brought the people into bondage , there was no way for their greatnesse to fall , but by the sword . this way in the eyes of god was good , and the sword hath prevented those actings of oppression even in the same members themselves ; if we do but minde it , as last summer , when they made an ordinance for to persecute men for conscience , then presently after was the rising in kent , and essex ; also when they would have brought home the king upon his termes , by a treaty , they were disappointed in that also . by these actings of god it is evident , that he will destroy those things that are of the flesh in noblemen , to hinder them in the gentry : to hinder them in others , to hinder them that he onely may be exalted . oh therefore look upon the work of god , rather then to look upon men according to dignities ; for as dignities are of the earth , so they must be brought lowe , even to the ground : so that men shall not be looked upon as in reference to dignities , but their actings shal be looked upon , whether they be good or evill , and so accordingly judged . therefore now in this time of searching , let every one endevour to know those things that are freedom and liberty , free from arbitrarinesse and ungodlinesse , that they may know that which is profitable to all the commonaltie of the kingdom , things good and wholsome to all the people of the kingdom . the end of my writing this discourse , is , first to give the commoners of england knowledge , from whom the bondages that have inslaved the nation proceeded . secondly , that the commoners of england may see how clear these bondages are against god , against his way , and against freedom and liberty . thirdly , that the commoners of england seeing of the unjustnesse of such customes , may look for customes of liberty and freedome , which is the desire of a commoner of england . for the further satisfaction of those that shall read and meditate upon this foregoing discourse , i shall quote some scriptures that speaks against the wayes of men , that make , follow , and uphold the customes before mentioned , that they are against the minde of god , as he hath declared in word ; and also threatneth punishments unto those that practise them . the unknown tongue for a people to be governed under , is a curse to the nation , and not profitable . deut. . , , . the lord shall bring a nation against thee from far , a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand . jer. . . lo , i will bring a nation upon you , it is a nation whose language thou knowest not , neither understandest what they say . cor. . . he that speaketh in an unknown tongue , edifieth himself . . now brethren , if i come unto you speaking with tongues , what shall i profit you , except i shall speak unto you either by revelation , or by knowledge , or by prophesying , or by d●ctrine . . and even things without life giving sound , whether pipe or harp , except they give a distinction in the sounds , how shall it be known what is piped or harped ? . for if the trumpet give an uncertain sound , who shall prepare himself to the battell ? so likewise you , except ye utter by the tongue words easie to be understood , how shall it be known what is spoken ? for ye speak in the air . . there are , it may be , so many kinds of voices in the world , and none of them are without signification . therefore if i know not the meaning of the voice , i shall be unto him that speaketh , a barbarian , and he shall be a barbarian to me . against gifts or unreasonable fees , that lawyers and others take of the clyant , whereby many times there is neglect of iustice . exod. . . and thou shalt take no gift , for the gift blindeth the eyes and perverteth the words of righteousnes . deut. . . isa. . . thy princes are rebellious , and companions of theeves : every one loveth gifts , and followeth after rewards . micah . . the heads thereof judge for reward , the priests thereof teach for hire , the prophets thereof divine for money . against oppression by the lord of mannors in taking of fines . they covet fields , and take them by force ; and houses , and take them away ▪ so they oppresse a man and his house , even a man and his family . amos . . hear ye this word , ye kine of bashan , that are in the mountain of samaria , which oppresse the poore , which crush the needie amos . . hear ye this , o ye that swallow up the needie , even to make the poore of the land to fail . exhortations to amend . jer. . . return ye now every one from his evill , and make your wayes and your doings good . zach. . . turn ye from your evill wayes , and from your evill works . isa. . . learn to do well , relieve the oppressed , judge the fatherlesse , plead for the widow . blessings promised upon amendment . if ye oppresse not the stranger , the fatherlesse and the widow , and shed no innocent blood : if ye throughly amend your wayes , and your doings ; if ye throughly execute judgement between a man and his neighbour , then will i cause you to dwell in the land that i gave to you . jer. . , , . when i say unto the wicked , thou shalt surely dye , if he turn from his sin , and do that which is lawfull and right ; if the wicked restore the pledge , give again that he had robbed , walk in the statutes of life ; he shall surely live , he shall not dye . ezek. . , . punishments threatned to them that do unjustly after admonition . prov. . . he that being often reproved , hardneth his neck , shall suddenly be destroyed , and that without remedie . prov. . , . they hated knowledge , and did not choose the fear of the lord , they would have none of my counsell : they despised all my reproof . therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way , and be filled with their own devices . the reason why i quote these scriptures is , that all oppressors of what sort soever may see , that god abhorreth all manner of arbitrary power and cruelty ; and if we look into the scriptures , we may see how the lord from time to time hath brought judgements upon them . i conclude with that in micah . . he hath shewed thee , o man , what is good ; and what doth the lord require of thee , but to do justly , to love mercy , and to walk humbly with thy god . finis . remarks on the proceedings of the commissioners for putting in execution the act past last sessions for establishing of a land-bank asgill, john, - . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; 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(eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) remarks on the proceedings of the commissioners for putting in execution the act past last sessions for establishing of a land-bank asgill, john, - . [ ], p. printed and sold by the booksellers of london and westminster, london : . reproduction of original in bodleian library. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng bank of england -- history. land banks -- england -- early works to . land banks -- early works to . - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - judith siefring sampled and proofread - judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion remarks on the proceedings of the commissioners for putting in execution the act past last sessions , for establishing of a land-bank . london , printed , and sold by the booksellers of london and westminster . . remarks , &c. amongst all the methods and contrivances ( since the present war ) to supply the government , that none should prove ineffectual or useless , except the fund given for establishing a land-bank , seems something strange when considered : for since we live in a countrey seated under the best of climates , productive of all the necessaries of life , whose native commodities are the foundation of the greatest trade and commerce under heaven , whereby numerous families daily arrive at great and plentitul fortunes : i say , for the proprietors of such a canaan as this , either not to know , or if known , not to be able to establish their interest , must argue the greatest stupidity , or the least industry imaginable . and it is plain to any intelligent man , how the extraordinary interest of money has been like a gangreen to many estates , and has reduced them to a very mean condition ; and the difficulty of mortgaging land is now so great , that besides the legal profits , ( if the summ to be borrowed be considerable ) the lender must have a present made him , before he will condescend to look at the title . this was a melancholly prospect to men of good understanding , and good estates , and therefore it needs not remain a mystery to so many , why the parliament should be so fond of a land bank , as to refuse this fund to the bank of england , and give it to them , since the former is the most beneficial thing to the landed-man that ever was projected , and the other profitable only to a few traders , who no doubt will confederate and unite their strength to oppose any contrivance which is likely to advance the interest of the landed-man , and to lessen their own ; for had the land-bank succeeded , it 's evident that the interest of money must in a litte time have been reduced to l. per cent. and land consequently have risen in purchase proportionable to the fall of money , which the monied and trading men could not endure to think of , much less to have it brought about ; for what could be more ungrateful than the thoughts of consuming double the time in their trade , to accumulate that wealth , which when purchased , will acquire but the same estate of inheritance , as what is gotten in half the time , at the rate as land and money goes at present : for now it 's every days experience , that a few years success in trade , renders monied-men masters of so much wealth , as enables them to purchase the most considerable estates in the kingdom ; so that at this rate in some few years , the traders will invade the antient gentry , and take away their place and nation . these , and such like considerations , were the cause why the land-bank met with so little encouragement , and so strong opposition , for when the gentlemen of the house of commons would by no means be induced to lay aside a proposition , so apparently advantagious to all landed-men in the kingdom , then an exchequer-bank was invented , either to hinder the other , or at least to protract time , and therefore the projectors of it did not desist from pressing that forward , 'till it was twice cast out by a division of the house ; and notwithstanding they were first beaten from their out-works , yet they had a reserve still , hoping that if a bill passed in favour of a land-bank , to get a mill-stone to be tyed about its neck that would not fail of sinking it , by providing that the exchequer might issue out their bills immediately for l. and for the rest if the bank did not raise it . and tho' this was readily consented to by the house of commons , that his majesty might have all reserves for raising the money , yet the consequence of this proved to be a dividing the interest as well as the money , and made those who were so fond of a bank under the exchequer management , to be very little concerned whether the other had success or not ; and then they who saw further into the mill-stone than others , gave it out in a modish whisper , that the bank would never come to any thing , which discouraged hundreds from subscribing , which no doubt was the intent of the parties . another difficulty was the requiring so vast a summ as l. before they could be a corporation ; for if the subscribing l. would have done , they would not have been obliged to ask nigh so large a premium as they did , which ( by the way ) was not so extravagant as their enemies represented it to be , considering the scarcity of money at that time , when most men valued a mill'd crown as if it had been an ancient medal of one of their ancestors ; neither did they themselves ( whatever they pretended , ) think it so , since they were of opinion , that had it been complyed with , the money could not have been raised ; but it is an easie matter to find a stick to beat a dog. all scruples , tho' never so dark and nice , must be laid hold of , and all the weak sophistry they were masters of , must now be furbished up to attack the land-bank ; but that imprudent and unreasonable demand ( as it was called ) was not so bold as welcome to some , who were glad of that or any other occasion to deny the land-bank ; and had their demands been but a fifth part of what they were , it 's likely they would have been thought unreasonable , for every mole-hill seemed a mountain , and they were lookt upon as such as intended to raise a rebellion rather than money : and it was something strange , to see such an indifferency to those who endeavoured to bring in such a mass of wealth ; but it could not be the money that was disliked , but the method of raising it ; for the grand debate was , whether these chimera's and idols of fancy , called e — bils must do it or not , which at last being resolved in the affirmative , l. per cent. for the first payment , which ( by the way ) is but s. per cent. for the whole summ ) is thought sufficient , and to spare , for such as shall subscribe their money to the land-bank , ( less than ever was offered when the base money was currant , which people parted with without any consideration of the security ) that one would think that proposal was rather made by way of mortification for their former extravagant demands , than the utmost that could be afforded on such an occasion . and it 's observable , when this gracions offer would not bring forth one penny , ( as it was not likely it should ) the commissioners were again sent for , and it was the opinion of most that were present , that heard the questions proposed to them , and the answer they gave , that there would be an agreement , when as the event shewed there was nothing less intended , and that they were sent for , imagining them illiterate enough to make illegal demands , as asking their premium upon the salt-fund , or to have guineas taken at above s. at last the gracious l. per cent. is again offered , with a ne plus ultra tacked to it , this method served to get time , and was like throwing out a barrel to a whale to play with , whilst the ship escapes ; for by this dallying the commissioners were diverted from thinking of any other means to raise the money , which without doubt was the thing feared by some . and i cannot omit one question that was asked , and not being answered to their satisfaction , ( as was pretended ) was then alledged the reason they could not comply with our proposals , and that was , what security we could give of raising the whole summ ? a very pretty question , and which would without doubt put the rogues to a non-plus , and ought to be answered poet bayes his way , after a little-pausing and scratching ones head , to say , i gad i won't tell you ; for if they should have drawn out four or five of the stoutest fellows amongst them , each worth or l. and sent for a publick notary immediately , and went forthwith to noverint universi , it 's ten to one they would not be satisfied , or thought the security sufficient . i dare say they would not have taken the two northern crowns , nor any other brace of princes in europe for security : and it was utterly impossible to comply with this demand , unless that question had been put in time , that the east-india company , ( who design'd to subscribe part of the money ) might have prevailed with the great mogul to give security to raise the summ : yet many people are of opinion , that the best security for the money , had been to have given such terms , as it had been the peoples interest to have subscribed it ; but every things runs counter when a thing is predestinated to ruine and destruction , the project was hatch'd under an unlucky planet , and was born like many other foolish things in nature , only that it might dye , and we ought to rejoice it fell so honourably , having so many great and powerful enemies against it . another reason is given why the land-bank was unfortunate , and that is , because it was conceiv'd in sin , and therefore that matter ought to be examined , for if so , it is no wonder it throve no better : and to prove this 't is alledged , that the parliament having incorporated a society of men , by the name of the governour and company of the bank of england , ( mark the exclusive particle the ) had debarred themselves of the power of setting up another bank , and therefore after the bank of england had advanced their money for the publick good , ( without any consideration for their own interest ) and have ever since their incorporation been so useful to the government , not only by lending their own money , but every bodies else they could lay hands on , to erect another bank in prejudice of such a one , and upon the breach of the publick faith too , must certainly be an ungrateful and wicked action . now if this be a crime , it is not the first that parliaments have been guilty of in that nature , having served the church of england the same sauce before , which all people must allow was by law establish'd , and was as much the church of england as the other is the bank of england , taking the word the in its utmost latitude . neither can it be denyed , but that the church of england has been as serviceable to the government as the bank , and is much better calculated for so being , than this or any other bank can possibly be . and in truth , the bank hath been rather serviceable to the subjects than the government , for if we reflect on the proceedings of the bank for this last six months , we must take the people to be in their minority , and to have chosen the bank for their guardians . it is well known , that the desire of living above our fortunes , has been an epidemical distemper to the people of this kingdom , and especially to the gentry : now the cure of this disease is totally owing to the bank , for their pious and paternal care ought never to be forgotten , in diligently enquiring into mens circumstances , when they came for their money , viz. what family they had ? what children ? what servants ? and what other necessary expences they were obliged to support , and supplyed them not according to their own extravagant demands , but with what was convenient for the necessaries , not for the luxury of life . now to do any thing against the interest of these our spiritual and temporal benefactors , must argue the highest ingratitude . but the bank may be contented to run the same fate with the church , since it was as much the intent of the legislators to have but one faith as one bank. but here it will be said by the directors of the bank , that although the consequence of the toleration will be setting up as many churches as there are different opinions amongst mankind , yet the directors of the church of england put all other churches under contribution , and receive tithes from all , like the city council , who must be fee'd though you make use of others . to this may be said , that the church have a legal right to tithes , and can force people to pay them , which the bank ( to their grief ) have not , to force people to deposite their money ; but if the payments of tithes had been as voluntary as putting money into the bank , it had been no more unlawful to establish a toleration than it is now . but here perhaps they will object , that if the church were really as ill used as the bank , yet that is an aggravation of the crime rather than an excuse , which is very true ; but i deny that either have been so ill used , or the publick faith broke to either ; for nothing passes in an act of parliment , but what is given by express words , or something necessarily implyed . i suppose the bank does not pretend that another bank is excluded by express words ; and it is the most unreasonable thing in nature to make the particle the such a monster , as to carry in its belly all the cash in the kingdom , and to be destructive to all future corporations and bodies politick . but i dare be bold to affirm , that if the parliament had suspected this particle to have imported but the th . part of what is by some suggested , they would have sent miles for a word , rather than have used it ; and therefore it can be no crime , in foro conscientiae , to set up another bank. and tho' the directors of the bank of england were not blameable , for using all their interest to hinder the act from passing , yet when ( notwithstanding all the opposition that could be made ) the act passed , and the king's affairs , and the affairs of all europe in a great measure depending upon the success of it , then , i say , to appear so vigorously against it , and to strain so hard as to bankrupt themselves , rather than the land-bank should rise , savoured rankly of malice and self-interest . neither can the directors of the bank of england be taken by any intelligent man to be such patriots as they would have the world suppose them to be ; but i will detain you no longer in the porch , but proceed to the objections made against the gentlemen that proposed and prosecuted the land-bank . first , that they undertook the raising l. at l. per cent. perpetual interest , redeemable by parliament . secondly , that contrary to their first proposals , they insisted upon an extravagant premium of l. thirdly , that they were not able to raise the money upon the premium they desired , nor could give any security to do it . fourthly , that they ruined the credit of the bank of england . i propose to answer these objections , and then to shew , first , that the bank of england , through their covetousness and want of understanding , ruin'd their own credit . secondly , if this fund had been given either to the bank of england , or the exchequer alone , it could not have been so easily raised as by a land-bank . thirdly , that there is no way to restore paper-credit but by a new bank. the first objection is , that they undertook the raising of l. at l. per cent. perpetual interest . to this i answer , that neither the gentlemen concern'd in the land-bank , or any person , or body of persons in england , did , or could undertake so great a summ ; but when methods were proposed in the house of commons for raising this money , they offered their opinions , that it might be raised by a land-bank , and that l. per cent. was sufficient encouragement , as the treasury and courtiers thought it might be best raised by an exchequer-bank , and others by different methods ; and if they were mistaken , ( as i shall endeavour to shew they were not ) it is what the treasury were in their exchequer-bank , and what any one else in probability would have been , considering the different circumstances of the kingdom when the proposals were made , and when the money was to be raised . second objection . that they insisted upon an extravagant premium of l. to this i answer , they were obliged to it . . by the discouragement and obstructions they met with in the house of commons , in the passing their bill . . the condition of the kingdom in relation to money and credit was very different when the proposals were made , and when the money was to be raised , and therefore they were obliged to enlarge their demands . first , the difficulties they met with in passing their bill were these , first , the members of the bank of england were excluded from subscribing . secondly , they were not to be incorporated upon a less summ than l. by which discouragement not one in ten would subscribe 'till they were assured of being a corporation , esteeming that priviledge to be half their bargain , and fearing the subscriptions might not amount to that summ ; whereas if the subscribers had been qualified to be a corporation upon the subscribing l. that summ had been subscribed in three days , by the commissioners themselves , and the members of exeter-exchange ; and if they had been once entituled to a corporation , there could be no doubt but the whole money would be subscribed afterwards , since it would be then a greater encouragement to come in at par than upon per cent. premium before . thirdly , when they offered a clause to their act , to naturalize such as would subscribe l. and had reasonable assurance from the forreigners upon the exchange , that such encouragement would bring in l. that clause being thrown out , the stock of the bank of england advanced , and their wagerers upon the exchange offered odds against the success of the land bank. fourthly , their bill was delayed so long by the opposition it found , that they could not get their commission passed before the th . of may , by which means it was left in the power of the treasury to refuse or take the fourth part of their subscriptions in clipt money , which was a particular hardship upon a great number of people , who avoided putting in their clipt money upon other funds , in hopes of subscribing it , and making their first payments with it in this bank ; and reasonably hoped since they paid to the recompence , to have their clipt money made good to them as well as to others . and i believe it has been every ones observation , that several gentlemen of the bank of england , and others , opposers of the land-bank , would often insult over them upon their success in the house of commons , and ask them what was become of their bank , tho' now they call them jacobites , and threaten to impeach them , for not doing what they themselves rendered impossible for them to do . the second reason i gave , was , the different circumstances of the kingdom when the proposals were made , and when the money was to be raised : as , . guineas were taken at s. and it was not known whether the parliament would bring them down or no. . paper-credit was good , and the bank of england and the goldsmiths paid their bills punctually , whereas at the time this money was to be raised , both refused . . tallies were equal , or better than money , whereas afterwards they were , , and per cent. discount , by which means people could make a much greater advantage of their money , and therefore would not subscribe it upon the same terms as they thought before reasonable . . it was hoped at first not above per cent. would be called in , whereas afterwards by the universal fall of credit , and want of money , no one thought of paying less than the whole summ subscribed . . there was an actual want of money in specie in the kingdom , seven millions in and out of the exchequer being rendered useless , by which means the commissioners saw it impossible to get the money subscribed , and paid in specie , and therefore designed to take tallies , good goldsmiths bills , and bank bills , and clipt money by weight at a high rate for subscriptions , and so asked l. praemium , believing it would cost them full as much to discount the several species aforesaid for money , which they propos'd to pay to the king. it is to be observed here , ( . ) if the l. desired , had been granted to the land-bank , their bargain had not been so great as the bank of england's ; for the bank of england having l. per ann. for l. they gave but years purchase for their fund ; besides , they had allowed them l. per ann. for their charges : whereas , if l. had been deducted out of this fund , the remainder had been l. which divided by , the interest they were to receive makes near years purchase ; and i believe the scarceness and goodness of money considered , when the bank of england was raised , and when the land-bank was to be raised , any one but themselves will believe that the latter deserved at least equal encouragement ; and it 's probable the parliament would have given it , if they had forseen the difficulties that have since happened . . that the comissioners did not ask the l. out of the salt-fund , but upon the exchequer in general , which could not be paid them but by the consent of the parliament , and so they left themselves to the parliament whether they deserved it or no. . at the time they asked those tallies on the exchequer in general , it would have cost l. per cent. to discount them , which reduced their demands to less than l. . if their terms had been complyed with , the greatest part of the subscriptions would have been made in clipt money and plate , which would have been coined to encrease our species of money , and it 's probable would save the nation next year near as much in the recompence for clipt money , and encouragement for bringing in the plate as the summ demanded . . the exchequer has not borrowed any money so cheap since . the third objection . that they were not able to raise the money upon the premium they asked , nor could they give any security to do it . this objection justifies them in asking the premium refused ; for it is very unjust to tax them for asking too much , and yet to confess it was not enough to induce people to subscribe the money . however , i offer these reasons that it would be subscribed . . they proposed they might open their books for private subscriptions , not doubting within three days they might bring hands for near the summ to be raised , which was not thought fit to be granted to them , it being objected it would be a disencouragement to the real subscriptions . . when they were sent for to attend the lords justices , and were asked , what security they could give of raising the whole summ ? they answered , that they computed the commissioners themselves , and the members of exeter-exchange , would subscribe l. that they believed they should be able to bring in as much more by their interest and dequaintance , and they thought it reasonable to suppose the whole kingdom would subscribe the rest . . that they thought the nature of the thing would admit of no other security than what they offered , since it could not be expected that any number of persons would enter into recognizances to raise the summ. . it was solely to their disadvantage if they did not subscribe to be a corporation , since by the failure they would only entitle themselves to per cent. in the exchequer , which no one would give l. for , and therefore it is to be presumed they would take such care for their own sakes , as not to lose per cent. of their money ; which if they did not , it would solely redound to the advantage of the projectors of the exchequer-bank , who would have the money that was subscribed to circulate their own bills . . when they became a corporation , it cannot be doubted but the whole money would be quickly subscribed , since then the advantage of subscribing would be much greater , ( as i said before ) and it was not in the power of the commissioners to hinder any one from subscribing that thought it his interest ; but admitting the subscriptions would have stopt when they were qualified to be a corporation , i believe most people are of opinion now , that l. would better serve his majesties occasions , than nothing , though the arithmetick of that time was , that half was less than none . the fourth objection is , that they ruin'd the credit of the bank of england : and here these worthy patriots make bold with the parliament , and say , they broke their faith with them , in setting up another bank. i answer , . there are no words in the act of parliament , that directly or indirectly exclude the parliament from setting up another bank : the act only incorporates a body of men to sue and be sued , which if it should amount to a prohibitory clause , excludes king and parliament ever hereafter to grant a corporation , since every corporation , single person , or number of persons in england , may lawfully do what these gentlemen pretend to have the monopoly of . . the land-bank was excluded from discounting bills of exchange , lending money upon pawns , dealing in bullion , &c. and every thing else , but lending upon land , and to the government , and therefore could possibly be no disadvantage to the bank of england , who do not pretend to lend upon land. . if the other bank had taken effect , it 's probable the bank of england would have had more cash left with them than before , since it would have been the interest of both banks to have agreed , and then without doubt they might have divided the goldsmiths profits between them , and so each bank have more deposites than the bank of england had before . . if the setting up a land-bank would be a disadvantage to the bank of england , it was no injustice to establish them , since the parliament gave no warrant to the contrary , and their bargain was great enough notwithstanding ; and greater than they thought was fit to be granted to the land-bank , who were to raise more than double the summ , in less time , when the difficulties were greater , and the coin better ; they had but l. per cent. excluded from many advantages the bank of england had , and were obliged besides to lend l. per annum , at l. s. d. per cent. interest . . if the establishing the land-bank did encrease the demands upon the bank of england , it was caused by the unreasonable opposition they gave to it ; which failing of the effect they proposed , gave them that disreputation that always attends those that are overcome , for the world had reason to believe they understood their own interest best ; and when they seemed to wind up their whole happiness in defeating the land-bank , and miscarried , it is not to be wondered if other people thought their condition to be worse then it was . that the covetousness and want of understanding of the bank of england was the occasion of their loss of credit ; to prove which i shall shew , . that they left undone those things which they ought to do . . they have done those things , which they ought not to do . . to the first , they ought to have foreseen , that after the th . of may the demands upon them would be greater than before , for admitting the world had as good an opinion of their credit as ever , yet the necessity of people must call upon them for money , for the whole silver species of england being sunk in a day , they might be assured all people would want money for their ordinary occasions ; and whatever opinion they had of their security , would call for it when they had demands , and therefore they ought to have made provisions to answer them . . they should have called in as many of their bills as they could , whereas they issued out bills till the th . of may , and how many since they stopt their payments is best known to themselves . . they might have bought guineas for tallies and clipt money , when tallies were par , and clipt money currant , and guineas playing between s. and s. which they were three weeks or a month. . they might have called in their l. per cent. either before or immediately after the th . of may , and not kept money in their pockets which they owed to other people . . when they could not pay all their demands , they might have allowed the difference which their creditors gave to discount their bills , since it is more reason the debtor should pay it than the creditor . . they might have allowed the interest they received , or at least legal interest , when they were not able to pay the principal . to the last they object , that they offered tallies to any that demanded them , which was the security they had . i answer , . it lyes upon them to prove , they ever offered any tallies payable within three months , but only such as it was worth l. per cent. to discount . . if they had offered such tallies , it had not been sufficient , since their creditors did not trust the exchequer , but them , and expected their money upon demand , as the bank is liable by law to pay it , or otherwise they would rather have put their money into the exchequer for tallies themselves , and have receiv'd the interest from the beginning , than let the bank receive the interest of their money till they call for it , and then give them but part of that security which they might have had at first , and upon such funds as the bank thought fit to spare , whereas themselves might have chosen their own funds . if these methods would not have fully answered their creditors , at least it would have given them the characters of honest men , and of doing all that they were able to do . next i am to prove the bank of england have done those things which they ought not to do . . they extended their credit beyond l. and by that means run in debt more than they were able to pay , whereas it is very evident the act of parliament designed to confine their credit to l. which their fund was answerable for , by obliging them not to issue out a greater summ upon it ; not imagining that they would evade the act , by issuing out notes , which bound not themselves , nor was any ways security to those that accepted them . for it is not to be conceiv'd the parliament designed they should borrow any money , but what they could give security for , and not under the shelter of an act of parliament deceive innocent people , who do not know a corporation is not bound , but under their common-seal . . when they had thus evaded the act , and were afraid to be called to account by the next parliament , to sweeten the contrey-gentlemen they promised to lend money upon land , to any one that offered them good-security , which i hope they have more modesty then to say they have performed , and by that means have justly raised the indignation of the nobility , and gentry against them , who hoped to be eased from the extortion of scriveners and usurers . . they undertook a foolish bargain , to return money for flanders , by which they have lost a summ best known to themselves , whereas it might have done better by the merchants , whose business it was , and who unstood it better . they alledge , they did it to serve the government , but i think it will be hard to satisfie the world , that they were contented to lose l. to save the king l. and therefore it will be rather accounted their folly than zeal . . within few days before the th . of may , they gave bills payable upon demand for clipt money , whereas it is probable , the same persons would have been contented to have taken them payable six months after , or else they need not have given them at all . . by their unreasonable opposition they gave to the land-bank , they rendered the raising of the summ proposed ineffectual , and consequently disabled themselves , by not receiving so much money as was appropriated to their own use out of that fund . . q ry . whether they did not address themselves to the treasury , to have their bills refused in the customs ? if so , it was a great diminution to their credit . . to finish their ruine , they lent l. to the king , when they paid but l. per cent. of their debts , and some say to hinder the land-bank propasals from being accepted . here i am aware i shall be answered , that they did it out of zeal to his majesty , and to serve the government ; this they think will justifie all their miscarriages , and protect them for acting against the rules of justice and prudence , therefore it ought to be examined . they have served the government , i grant it , but it was to serve themselves ; a miser would be as good a friend ; they have lent the government money , but upon as great interest as the parliament allowed , and greater than they could get elsewhere . they have lent other peoples money , and not their own , and at the same time refuse to pay those to whom it belongs ; whereas if their zeal for the government had been as great as they pretended , they would have raised money in their private capacities , and so lent what was their own , or at least given their creditors the interest they receiv'd , but instead of that they keep part of their principal money in their hands , and what they have already called in for , they pay l. per cent. to themselves , though they deny it to their creditors . i will put them two questions . . if a man robs another of his money , and lends it to the government , will it justifie this robbery ? . whether detaining a mans money from him , and lending it at interest , without giving the interest receiv'd , be not in foro conseientiae as bad as taking it from him ? i believe if the scene were changed from grocers-hall to lumbard-street , we shall all be of an opinion . i leave with a goldsmith l. he gives me his note payable upon demand , i go to him six months hence , and ask him for my money , he tells me the government was in great distress , and he lent them my money ; i tell him i gave him no such commission , but finding my self remediless , i ask him to allow me the interest he receives , he refuses it ; i then ask him to give me his bond , and legal interest , he refuses that ; i fancy if i should pull him by the nose , i should be justified by most of those gentlemen that are of another opinion , in the case of the bank of england . the next thing i have to prove , is , that if this had been given to the exchequer alone , or to the bank of england , it would not have been so easily raised as by a land-bank . and first for an exchequer-bank . . the projectors themselves propose l. always to lye still to circulate their bills , ( which is to be used to no other purpose whatsoever ) which must be wanting upon the salt-fund , to answer his majesties occasions , or else must be raised upon another ; and so l. must be raised extraordinary , whereas the land-bank asked but three . . if the demands upon the exchequer should exceed the l. which it's likely they would , ( every body knowing their stock ) the exchequer will be broke , and the credit of the government sunk ; whereas the land-bank may be able to answer all their bills ; or if they should not , the government will suffer no discredit by it . . if the exchequer should refuse payment , the creditor has no remedy , but upon l. per cent. which he will not value at l. whereas if the bank should refuse payment , he would have remedy for his whole money . note , if the exchequer-bank should have credit , interest upon land must be at or per cent. for it is not to be imagined any one will lend upon land at the usual interest , when he can have it upon demand , with l. s. running interest ; and therefore such a bank can't be of as great advantage as a bank that would raise the land , and lessen the interest of money ; for an exchequer-bank can be of no use to any one , but such as have the management of the l. which may be made use of to lend his majesty upon funds , and to circulate the tellers notes , which some say has been a common practice , since they have set up the trade of banking . . that the bank of england could not have raised this summ as well as the land-bank ; to illustrate which it must be examined , which way they could have proposed to raise it , and that must be either . by issuing out bills upon their credit . . or by opening their books for new subscriptions . as to the first : i suppose they will not pretend to say , that issuing out two millions and a half of bills more , payable upon demand , would enable them the better to answer those that were then out ; and if they had opened their books for new subscriptions , they must have let the new subscribers come in at par , with their original stock , or not ; and it is not likely they would do the former , since by the passing a bill in their favour , their original l. being then valued at l. might have been stock-jobbed to l. and the letting new subscriptions come in upon equal terms , must have reduced their stock to its original value ; for no man would buy it at more , if he could subscribe at par ; and if they had opened their books for subscriptions , according to the improved value , no one but would rather subscribe his money to a new fund , where he might come in upon equal terms , than adjoyn a real value with an imaginary one . . but admitting they would have so much self-denial to accept subscriptions at par , yet by the money they raise they must pay their bills that are out already , as well as the l. whereas the land-bank are to pay no more than they receive . . most people would rather subscribe to a new bank , than one that has lost its credit . therefore i infer , if it could not be raised by a land-bank , it could not be raised by this fund . the next thing i have to shew , is , that there is no way to restore paper-credit but by a new bank. i shall take it for granted , that paper will never go for money , but when i can have money for it upon demand ; for no man will part with ready money for a note , or take a note for money upon any other consideration , and therefore paper can never be restored , unless the bank of england and goldsmiths pay their notes , or else another fund is set up that can . . the bank of england if they were disposed to pay their debts , cannot possibly do it ; their money as it became due from the exchequer , is not enough to answer per cent. of their debts , and they can never have any credit till they can answer all demands , which must require greater summs then they have , or can possibly get . . if they had money enough to answer all demands , it is probable it would be all called from them ; for reputation is so nice a thing , that if it ▪ s once blown upon , 't is rarely recovered , especially in a matter that so nearly concerns us , as parting with our money ; for it will be a hard matter to induce me to trust one , that through indiscretion or design has deceived me . . it cannot be imagined that any one will bring in money to be deposited with them , for that is to pay in l. and get l. with a weeks trouble when i want it again . . the giving them a new fund , is enabling them to cheat more people , for by the monies that rise upon it , they must not only purchase their fund , but answer the bills that are out before ; and if their creditors should not be so good natur'd to stop their demands , they must their payments . as to the goldsmiths reviving credit , i suppose no man expects reformation from them , or that any thing will make them honest but a catch-pole : and of the exchequer-credit we have had an essay already , which with what i have said of it before , is sufficient , therefore i argue , that paper credit can be restored by no other means , than by a new bank , and setling a fresh fund of credit . ligeancia lugens, or, loyaltie lamenting the many great mischiefs and inconveniences which will fatally and inevitably follow the taking away of the royal pourveyances and tenures in capite and by knight-service, which being ancient and long before the conquest were not then, or are now, any slavery, publick or general grievence with some expedients humbly offered for the prevention thereof / by fabian philipps. philipps, fabian, - . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a wing p estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) ligeancia lugens, or, loyaltie lamenting the many great mischiefs and inconveniences which will fatally and inevitably follow the taking away of the royal pourveyances and tenures in capite and by knight-service, which being ancient and long before the conquest were not then, or are now, any slavery, publick or general grievence with some expedients humbly offered for the prevention thereof / by fabian philipps. philipps, fabian, - . 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marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng land tenure -- law and legislation -- england -- early works to . feudalism -- england -- early works to . great britain -- politics and government -- - . - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - john latta sampled and proofread - john latta text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion ligeancia lugens , or loyaltie lamenting the many great mischiefs and inconveniencies which will fatally and inevitably follow the taking away of the royal pourveyances , and tenures in capite and by knight-service , which being ancient and long before the conquest , were not then , or are now any slavery , publick or general grievance . with some expedients humbly offered for the prevention thereof . by fabian philipps . london , printed by j. m. for andrew crook , and are to be sold at his shop at the green-dragon in st paul's church-yard . . ligeancia lugens , or loyaltie lamenting : the many great mischiefs and inconveniences which will fatally and inevitably follow the taking away of tenures in capite and by knight-service , which being antient and long before the conquest , were not then or are now any slavery publique or general grievance . the king will upon occasion of warr want the obligations and service of his nobility and gentry which hold in capite . their homage , which is the seminary and root of the oath of allegiance . the education of the heirs of persons disaffected which hold in capite , when they shall be in ward or minority . his tenants will be the more enabled to alienate their lands to his enemies , or such as are disaffected , which common persons in their leases one to another do usually prevent and prohibit . provision for maintenance , education and portions for younger children , care of payment of debts , preservation of the wards estate , woods , and evidences , will be neglected . finding of offices after the death of the ancestors , extents of mannors and lands , a light to titles and discents of lands , and recovery and making out of deeds and evidences laid aside . genealogies and pedigrees darkened , and descents not at all to be proved . contention concerning the rights of guardianship encreased and multiplyed . the mothers of fatherless children in their minority made the guardians , & permitted to sacrifice the children of the first husband to the spoil and interest of a father in law and his second children . or make them to be a prey to the kindred of the mothers side , who will neither be so kinde or carefull as those of the fathers . or to trustees , executors , or administrators , who are too many of them dayly experimented to be false to their trusts , and may be as bad in their guardianships . there will not be so good a means as formerly for the preservation of the wards estate from false or forged wills , fraudulent conveyances , and other incumbrances . nor for preventing of the heires of tenants in capite to be disinherited by heirs by second ven●ers , forged conveyances or wills , frewardness of an aged father or cunning of a stepmother . in socage and that ignoble or plow-tenure there will not be that ready defence for the kingdom as in capite and by knight-service . all the antient baronies which are annexed to antient earldomes and baronies , and the newly created baronies being by law and the signification of the words , a complexum of honorary possessions belonging to earls and barons , aswell as of the honour and title residing in their persons , cannot now be properly called baronies , and he that was a baron before will in a strict interpretation of the feudal laws , from whence they had their beginning , be no more nor no better then a soke-man . alter and disparage the fundamental and ancient constitution of peerage , by making them to hold in socage , which no baronies in the christian world ever did , or can be found to do . the antient earls and barons who hold as tenants in capite and per baroniam , as the earl of arundell , who holdeth by the service of eighty four knights fees , and the earl of oxford by thirty , & many others may be greatly prejudiced . the nobility and gentry of england will by the taking away of their mesne tenures by knight-service be disabled to serve their prince as formerly , or bring any men into the field . the subjection and rights of the bishop of the isle of man , who holdeth immediately of the earl of derby , will be taken away . the profits of the kings annum ▪ diem & vastum will be lost or greatly disturbed , and his and the nobilities and gentries escheates , which as to a third part of that which is holden in capite or knight service could not before have been conveyed away , will be in no better condition . our original magna charta ( which is holden in capite ) and all the confirmations of the english liberties , franchises of the city of london , and many other cities and boroughs which before h. . did use to send burgesses to parliament will be enervated . destroy or weaken the antient charters of the city of london , for what ( except their court of wards or orphans ) concerns their customs and husting courts . put into fresh disputes the question of precedency betwixt england and spain , which belongeth to england , in regard it holdeth of none but god , and hath scotland , ireland , and the isle of man holding in capite of it . not well agree with the honour of england and the monarchy and superiority thereof to have the isles of garnesey and jersey , which are a part of normandie , to hold of the king by feif roturier , or the principality of wales and the isles of wight and man to hold in socage . damnifie all the nobility and gentry in their mesne tenures , in which they have a propriety which our magna charta , and a greater then that , twice written by the finger of god himself , do without a crime forfeiting it , or a just consideration or recompence for it , ( which a relaxation of their own tenures and services will not amount unto ) forbid to be taken away . prejudice the families of cornwall , hilton and venables , who are called barons , as holding per baroniam , though not sitting in parliament . bring a dis-repute upon the esquires and gentry of england , whose original was from tenures by knight-service . take away a great part of the root and foundation of the equestris ordo which was derived out of tenures in capite . blast and enervate the degree of baronets . take away the cause of the eminent degree of banneretts . make our heretofore famous nation in feats of arms and chivalrie to be but as an agreste genus hominum , or a race of rusticks like the arcadians . take away or weaken all the mannors and court barons in england , which were derived or had their original from tenures in capite . turn tenures in capite , which from the duty of homage and acknowledgment of soveraignty were so called , into a tenure , which by only acknowledging a fealty for particular lands which they hold is but à latere , and no more then what one man holding by a lease for years is by law bound to do to another . release the aid of the maritime counties and ports in case of warr and invasion . extinguish the duties which every hundred upon the sea coasts do owe in that which which was called the petty watches . discharge the mises or payments which in wales and cheshire are due to the kings of england at their coronations . indamage the king in his other r●galities , as in the cinque ports , finding fifty ships upon occasion of warr , and many reservations of honor and profit upon tenures in capite , knight service , and socage in capite , which if revived and well looked after would almost raise an army and furnish a great part of the provisions thereof . the king upon occasion of warr shall never be able to erect his standard , but will be left to hire and provide an army out of the rascal●ity , faithless , unobliged , rude , deboisht , necessitous , and common sort of people . if a warr should break forth before a rent-day or excise money can be gathered , will never want misfortunes and distresses , and the king thereby failing of an assistance at land may loose also the help of his navy at sea. may have his money and his rents seised , as his late majesties magazines and rents were in the beginning of the late warrs . can have no manner of assurance in a sedition or commotion of the people that men will for a small pay adventure their lives and limbs for many times no better a reward then the lamentable comforts of an hospital , and the small charities and allowance usually bestowed upon maimed souldie●s . destroy the hopes of the bishops ever sitting again in the house of peers as a third estate , or if restored to those their just rights , so weaken the ground and foundation of that most antient constitution , as they may again be in danger to be divested of them , which the inconveniences of prescriptions interrupted , and customs altered , may perswade us to take heed of . disable the king and his successors from recovering forreign rights , succouring allyes , and making an offensive or diversive warr. shake or dislocate , if not take away that great fundamental law and ancient constitution of the baronage and peerage of england , and their rights of sitting in the house of peers in parliament , who sit there as tenants in capite and per baroniam , and are summoned thither in fide & homagio , in the faith and homage by which they are obliged , which proviso's not always arriving to their ends or intentions , or a saving of the rights of peerage , of sitting in the house of peers in parliament , will not be able to insure or give them a certainty to be left in as good a condition as they were before . disfranchise the counties palatine of lancaster , chester , durham , and the isle of ely , which relate unto palaces of kings , ( not plows , ) and are no where in the christian world to be found holden by any other tenure then in capite . make our nobility and gentry to hold their lands by no better tenures then the roturiers or paysants of france do theirs ; and in socage , which , as sir henry spelman saith , ignobilibus & rusticis competit nullo feudali privilegio ornatum & feudi nomen sub recenti seculo perperam & abusu rerum auspicatum ; belongs only to rusticks and ignoble men , and being not intituled to any feudal priviledge hath of late times improperly and by abuse gained the name of fee. loosen the foundation of such ancient earldoms and baronies as have been said to consist of a certain number of knights fees holden of them . hazard the avitas consuetudines , ancient rights and customs belonging to tenants in capite and by knight-service . take away , or lessen , as to the future , the fame and honour of the nobility and gentry of the english nation , which in feats of chivalrie ( not socagerie ) extended as far as the roman eagles ever flew , and had no other bounds then the utmost parts of the earth . render them in tenure , and that which at first made them by their virtue and imployment , superiors in degree , aswell as in their lands and revenues to the common sort of people , to be in that particular but as their equals . will not be consistent with the honour of england , to have tenures in capite and by knight-service retained in ireland , and scotland , and not in england ; and to lessen the honour and strength of the english nobility and gentry in england , by reducing their mesne tenures into free and common socage , whilst the better and more noble tenures in capite and by knight-service shall be enjoyed in those inferior and dependent kingdoms . or if taken away in ireland , and reduced into free and common socage , will in all probability meet with as many inconveniences as the like may do in england , and lose the kings of england that service which by reason of the tenures in capite was always in a readiness , and made use of by their progenitors upon all occasions of war and necessity , as well in england as ireland . and if the like shall be done in scotland , where the people , too much accustomed to infidelity and a rhodomontading , where they are not resisted , are best if not only to be governed by their dependencies upon their superiors and benefactors , and holding their lands by military and knight-service , ( as that kingdome it self doth in capite of england , as it was stoutly asserted by our king edward the first and his baronage of england ; ) there will happen such a dissolution or distemper of that body politique as will exceed all or any imagination before hand , and the inferior sort of people will by such an alteration of their tenures be like hunger bitten bears , let loose to as bad if not a worse kind of levelling then our phanaticks would not long ago have cut out for the three kingdoms of england , scotland , and ireland , now happily conjoyned under their rightful king and soveraign . will greatly derogate from the honour of the english nation , and make them who excelled in their laws and constitutions all or most of the nations and kingdoms of the christian world , and had more of right reason in them ; to be as a reproach to other nations , and seperated from the use of those ancient and regal rights , customs , powers and regalities which all monarchies in christendom do use , and will be as inconsistent with the honour of england as it would be to have their kings , in a complaisance of a troublesome and unquiet part of the people , not to be crowned nor annointed , not to use a scepter , or have a sword born before them , not to make knights , or not to do it in the ancient and usual manner , which the kings of other nations and kingdoms have ever done and enjoyed ; or to have the earls of england ( as if they were only comites parochiales , governors of villages , mentioned by goldastus , or dijck graven ; or men of small honour in holland , appointed to look to their sea-banks ) not to wear their circulos aureos , coronets of gold. will not accord well with the rules of justice to take away knights fees or tenures by knight-service from the mesne lords without a fitting recompence . but break the publique faith and contracts of those that hold of the king or them . the recompence of l. per annum , will not be adequate to the loss of the tenures in capite and by knight-service , which nothing but the kingdome of england it self can balance ; and which the king of france , or the king of spain , in their several dominions , would not for an yearly revenue of many hundred thousand pounds part with , but would think it no bad bargain to be re purchased after the same or a greater rate . it will be as unsafe as unusual , to turn into a rent that which was intended for the defence of the kingdome . and to charge all mens lands with recompence to be made for it , will be against justice , equity , and reason , and make nineteen parts in twenty of the people , to bear the burden of the twentieth . or if by excise upon ale & beer , will do the like , & lay the burden of the rich upon the poor , & extend it to children , servants , day-labourers , coblers , apple-women , and all manner of the lowest ranks of people , which are as unlikely to be tenants in capite as all the colledges in the universities , and hospitals of england are , whose expences will be also enlarged by it . will be a seminary and complication of grievances . may be afterward legally taken away by petitions to parliaments , or illegally ( which god forbid , ) by an insurrection or mutiny of the common people as in naples , france , &c. will not be an honourable revenue , nor ever be well setled without the help of garrisons , troops of horse , and companies of foot. the people will be double charged by the brewers and ale-men , and inforced to pay l. per annum , for l. per annum . and whether excise , or not excise , the king , when the tenures shall be taken away , and ship-money shall be denied him , because as mr. st john argued in the case of ship money , he had the tenures in capite allowed for the defence of the kingdome . or the miseries of an actuall war shall overwhelm or oppress him , shall be told as his royal father was by that part of the parliament which sate at vvestminster in . that he ought not to put in execution his commissions of array , because his tenures in capite were for the defence of the kingdome . and that by several statutes and acts of parliament in the raign of king e. . it shall be said that he is restrained not to imprest hoblers , which were as our dragoons , or archers , or foot-men , who are thereby not to go out of their counties but in case of necessity and coming in of forreign enemies . or shall have need to succour his allies , make a diversive war , or embroyl an enemy , shall be answered , that they are quit of all services but the holding their lands of him , by doing of fealty , which they will be apt to interpret according to their interest , the humor of their faction or party , or as their designs or better hopes in a change shall direct them . must be enforced for the safety of his people , if the tenures shall be taken away , to raise and maintain a standing army . and a standing army , and standing assesments to maintain it , will be certainly more prejudicial and chargeable to all the people in general , then that which without any ground or reason , the tenures in capite have lately been supposed to be to any in particular . it will derogate from the honour of the king , who is pater patriae , not to be trusted with the protection of orphans , so much as the dutch , who have a court of orphans . or as the city of london , who by ancient custom have an absolute court of wards , called a court of orphans , which may by overthrowing the kings court of wards come under the like fortune . be a means to defraud creditors and purchasers , who cannot for want of offices or inquisitions found after the death of tenants in capite and by knight-service , so well as formerly know how the debtors lands are setled , or what is in fee simple to charge the heir . be against the peoples oaths of supremacy to desire the diminishing or taking away the kings rights or jurisdiction . take away his power and means of protecting and defending them , and to perform his coronation oath , and when the assistance and help of tenures in capite have like sea walls and banks , proved not strong enough to withstand and keep out the floods of sedition , it cannot now surely be for the good and safety of the people either to weaken as much as may be , the strength which was before in them , or to have none at all . draw a curse upon the posterities of those that hold under those tenures and shall endeavor , contrary to the faith and promise of their ancestors , to subvert them . make the common people insolent , and teach them hereafter to find fault with every thing that fits not their interest or humor , and by such a largeness of liberty , having before surfeited upon lesser , to be like the waves of the sea and its deep , tossed and beating one against another by the winds of those inticements or factions which for their own wicked ends shall blow upon them . and by such an easiness of granting away so great a part of the just and legal power of the king , nobility , and better part of the people , over the most rude and not easie , without it , to be either governed or perswaded , invite them to take up their not long ago designs and projects of taking away copy-holds , which they lately , as foolishly as falsly , called norman slaveries , and of enforcing their lords to take two years purchase for them ; and that landlords might be st●nted and ordered to take what the factiously well-affected tenants should call reasonable in the leasing and renting of their lands . carry along with it and abolish the royal pourveyances , which being in use amongst the people of israel , were never in that glorious and ever commended raign of king solomon , nor in that long after pious order and government of the good nehemiah , found to be a grievance , nor taken to be so amongst the greeks , poles , romans , ancient brittains , franks , and germans , those great assertors of liberties , or the most of the nations of europe , ( not cast unhappily into common-wealths , where they only dream of freedom , but cannot find it ; ) but were used in the west-indies long before the spanish curtesies and care of their conversion , had ingrossed their gold , destroyed the most of their natives , and made the relidue their slaves ; and in china , and most parts of the habitable world. and being a jus gentium , and a part of right reason so universally allowed and practised , were as oblations or recompences for tolls or pre-emption , or for some other confiderations , chearfully paid to our kings of england , & so butted and bounded with good laws , and so easie , as the tenants did neither care to provide against it in their leases , or reckon to their landlords those little and seldome payments and charges which were occasioned by them . and by throwing the purveyance into the same bill or intended act of parliament , for taking away the tenures in capite and by knight-service , hath since caused the king to pay three times or more then formerly he did , as d per pound for butter , where it was before but three pence ; twelve shillings a hundred for eggs , where it was before but three shillings ; and eighteen pence a mile for a cart to carry his goods or provision , when it was before but two pence a mile in summer , and six pence in winter ; twelve pounds for a beef or an oxe , which before was willingly and without any oppression of the counties , served in at fifty shillings . render the one hundred and fifty thousand pounds per annum of excise ▪ money for the intended recompence for the profit and honour of his tenures , court of wards , and pourveyance , to be no more ( if it could clearly come up to that summ ) then thirty seven thousand and five hundred pounds , but if with allowances and charges in the collecting , and arrears and bad payments , or otherwise , it should amount ( as it is likely ) to no more then one hundred thousand pounds per annum , the clear of that to the king , three parts in four of his prizes enhaunced being deducted , is like to be but twenty and five thousand pounds per annum . which when the excise ( wherein the king himself shall now pay a taxe or excise for his beer and ale ) and other assessments shall every day more and more make dear the markets , and that the people shall , to make themselves more then savers , stretch the price of their commodities , and make an addition to the former years rates and demands , for all sorts of victuals and provision of livelihood , or that the king or his pourveyors shall over and above that be , for want of ready money , enforced to pay a treble or more interest for buying upon time or days of payment ; will also within the compass of seven years vanish into a cypher . and if the excise , for the burden and grievance thereof , should also be taken away , the king having no provision made in the act for taking away his tenures in capite and by knight-service and of his pourveyance , ( ●or the intended recompence of that part of the excise therein mentioned ) to resort back again in such a case to the former profit of his tenures and ease of pourveyance . will then not only have given away those two great flowers of his crown for nothing , but be as much a looser in what he shall over and above pay for his houshold provision , cart taking , and other necessaries , as hee shall pay a greater rate then his former pourveyances came unto , which in l. per ann . which may well be conjectured to be the least which will be expended in that kinde ) will , considering three parts in four of the prizes enhanced , amount to no less a detriment then one hundred seventy five thousand pounds per annum , besides what must be added to that loss for what shall be paid more then formerly for timber and materials for the navy , and repair of the kings houses , castles and forts , and by the peoples every year more and more raising their priaees upon him . and then the bargain or exchange betwixt the king and the people for the tenures in capite and by knight-service , and his pourveyances , besides the giving away so great a part of his prerogative and soveraignty will arrive to no more then this . the king shall remit the yearly revenue of eighty eight thousand & seventy pounds per annum , ( defalcations for exhibitions and allowances for fees , dyet , and other necessaries and charges first deducted ) which was made by the court of wards in the year , besides thirteen thousand two hundred eighty eight pounds profit for those kinde of tenures which in that year was collected and brought into the exchequer , which will make a total of one hundred one thousand three hundred fifty eight pounds per annum . or if but eighty one thousand two hundred eighty eight pounds , all charges cleared and deducted , as it came unto in anno . which was º car. primi , both which was easily paid by the nobility , gentry , and richest and most able part of the people , for or in respect of their lands holden in capite , which were never purchased but frankly given for their service , homage , and incidents thereunto apperteining . and release the ease and benefit of his pourveyances , which did not in all the fifty two counties of england and wales , by the estimate of what was allowed towards it in kent , being thereby charged only with twelve hundred pounds per annum , or thereabouts , put the people of england to above forty thousand pounds per annum charges ; which totalled and summed up together with the profits of the tenures in capite in an. . being º car. will make one hundred forty ▪ one thousand three hundred pounds , or one hundred and twenty thousand two hundred eighty eight pounds , all necessary charges satisfied as it was in º car. primi . shall give away that one hundred forty one thousand three hundred pounds , or one hundred and twenty thousand two hundred and eighty pounds per annum , and loose one hundred and fifty thousand pounds per annum in the buying of his houshold provisions ( besides what more shall be put upon him by a further enhaunce of prizes ) for to gaine one hundred thousand pounds for that moyety of the excise of ale and beer , to be paid out of the sighes , dayly complaints and lamentations of the poorest sort of the subjects , and the discontents and mournings of nineteen parts in twenty of all the people , who by the payment of that excise will be made to bear the burdens of others , to acquit less then a twentieth part of them , of those no ruining payments not often happening to be charged upon them by reason of those kinde of tenures ; or for nothing , if that excise should be taken away . prejudice the king in his honor ( which saul , when he entreated samuel not to dishonor him before the people , understood to be of some concernment ) and his estate , in not affording his pourveyors a pre-emption in the buying provision for his royal family , tables and attendants , which all the acts of parliament made concerning the regulating of pourveyances never denyed . the princes of germany are allowed in their smaller dominions , the caterers of every nobleman frequenting the markets , the servants of every lord of a mannor in england do enjoy , and the common civilities of mankinde , and but ordinary respect of inferiors to their superiors do easily perswade . will not agree or keep company with that honor and reverence which by the laws of god and nature , nations , and right reason , will be due , and ought to be paid to a king and father of his country , nor with the gratitude of those who often enough come with their buckets to the well or fountains or his mercy , or are not seldom craving and obtaining favors of him , to refuse him those small retorns or acknowledgments for his bounties , nor prudence to shew him the way to be selfish or sparing in his kindeness to them . shame our promises and protestations made unto him at his retorne from that misery wherein the sins and madness of a factious part of his subjects had cast him , of sacrificing their lives , fortunes and estates , and all that they had for him , that had rescued them from an utter destruction ; and yet when hee had told them of his wants , and how much it troubled him to see his people to come as they did flocking to see him at whitehall , that hee had not wherewithall to entertain them or make them eat , make such hast to take away his antient rights of pourveyance , or dayly and necessary support of him , his queen , children and servants , and for entertainment of embassadors of forreign princes which for three days untill they have their audience , which is so sumptuous and extraordinary as it costs him at the least three or four hundred pounds a day . when as the ill-nurtured and unmannerly dutch ( gnawing a pickled herring and an onion in one hand and a piece of ruggen bread in the other ) can in their slovenly and small moralities to their prince of orange allow him and his court ( which after the griping & high rate of their excise goes a good part of the way to as much as what the king saved by his pourveyances ) a freedom from payment of excise upon all provisions , and the like to the queen of bohemia , and embassadors of forreign princes all the year , and to their army & every common soldier when they are in the field or leaguer or upon a march , to the ships of merchants aswell as those of warr in their victualling , and to the english company of merchants of the staple there residing , and deny not the universitie of leyden a freedom of having their provision of wine and beer laid in excise-free . when the lord mayor of london hath an allowance or tolls out of oats and sea-coals which are brought to be sold to london of stallage and pickage in the markets and faires , out of cattel brought to be sold in smith-field , and many other things towards the charge of his extraordinary house-keeping in the yeare or time of his majorality , which the simplest and poorest citizen never grumbles at , but acknowledgeth it to be for the honor of their city , hath every company or corporation of trades bringing him forty shillings in retribution of a dinner and a cheap silver spoon , every citizen contributing to the charge of triumphal arches in entertainment of their prince upon extraordinary occasions , every company bearing the charge of the livery men and chief of their company in their pageants on the lord mayors days , and every little borough-town in the country can be well content to help one another in the charges which are put upon it when the king shall in his progress receive any entertainment from them . such a great provision as is necessarily to be made for the kings houshold and his multitude of servants and attendants , will , when much of his provision shall not be sent ( as formerly to his court which did prevent it ) sweep and take away the best sorts of provision from the markets , and as experience hath already told us , make scarce and dear all that can be brought to the market near the kings residence or his occasions . teach the people , whose measure and rule of conscience is to ask high rates , and take as much as by any pretence , tales , falshoods or devices they can get , and more of the king , nobility and gentry then common people , to heighten their prices , and get thereby unjustly of the king more then all their subsidies or assessments shall come to , and render him in no better a case or condition ( as to prices or good husbandry ) in buying his necessary provision ( as they say ) by the peny , then a landlord that lets a farm of l. per ann. to his tenant , and takes his rent in wheat , malt , oats , wood , beef , mutton , veal and poultry , at such rates as he shall exact of him . every clown or carter , every mans servant or kitching-maid shall in matters of market and provision be at liberty to buy a salmon , phesants , partridges , or bustards , and the like , ( fitter for the king then their masters ) out of his pourveyors hands , and do by him as a trim over-monied citizens wife did by a gorget of l. price , ( now too low a price for those kinde of gentlewomen ) which she bought in anno . in the beginning of our pretended religious but irreligious warr out of the queens hand , and being afterwards sent to with a proffer of some advantage , could finde neither manners nor duty to perswade her to part with it . and the e will be then but few araunahs , who when david and his servants came to buy his threshing-floor for to build an altar , bowed himself before the king on his face upon the ground , and answered , let my lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him ; behold , here be oxen for burnt-sacrifice . but every nabal will be ready to answer our david and his pourveyors or servants , who is david , and who is the son of jesse ? or as one of that kindred did lately to the kings harbinger a : windsor at the solemnities of the feast of the garter , when hee could say the king had quitted his tenures & pourveyance , and was now no more to him then another man , he was at liberty to let his lodgings to any one would give him sixpence more ; though the poor persian ( so much celebrated in history ) who rather then he would offer nothing to his prince in his progress by his cottage , could run to the next water and bring as much of it as he could carry in hish and for a present , would , if he were now alive , in a horror and detestation of so great a bestiality and such a monstrum horrendum , take his heels and run quite away from such an ingratitude or inhumanity . disable the brewers , who complaining heavily of the excise-men or tormenters ( as they call them ) will by the mysteries of their trade lay the burden as much as they can upon their customers , & will not be able to give as much as formerly to the maltsters , nor the maltsters to those that sell the barley , but all of them shifting of the burden one upon another will be a cause of the enhancing of the rates of beer and ale , vitiating or making of it worse , and by false gaugings , expilations and tricks of excise men lesser measures used by the retailers , and every ones labouring to ease themselves as much as they can , and using too many devices to make themselves savers , or to increase their gain by the pretences of it , will not fail to bring a huge trouble , much damage , and many inconveniencies upon the people , and the poorer part of them . will very much in the matter of pourveyances ( which oliver and his conventions were content not to molest ) now thrown into that bargain , diminish the magnificence and grandeur of the kings hospitality , which the surplusage of his tables , plenty in his kitchings and cellars , and every where else to be found in all the places and offices of his court , did not only cause an admiration to strangers , but yield a comfort and relief to many sorts of neighbor-inhabitants , streets and villages adjacent , and a great support of the poor , who in the raign of king henry the third , were ( besides the dayly crumms , fragments , and reliques of his houshold provision ) not infrequently fed and treated by that king ; who , as our publique records can tell us , did several times send out warrants and writs to provide victuals ad alendos pauperes in westminster-hall , for as many poor as it could containe , being a better kinde of expence then those vaine , unnecessary and costly treatments which our young gallants and some tradesmen do now too often make their gentlewomen and mistresses in hide park and spring garden , to shew them how little at present they value money and how much they may want it hereafter . and at the same time can think every publique duty to be a grievance and every little too much which they contribute to their prince . who ( if pourveyances shall be taken away ) will not be able to hinder or keep off those many inconveniencies which will obstruct his house keeping & hospitality , nor those many hardships , disgraces and ruines which will fall upon many of his servants and attendants , who ( like the priests in the desolation of the temple ) bewailing the former glory and present necessities of their masters court and house , may weep between the gate and the more retired places thereof , and wish that a queen of sheba ( as shee that came once out of the south to see king solomon ) may never come to view their princes court , the manner of his servants sitting at their tables and eating of their meat , the attendance of his ministers and their apparrell . take away not only the honor but the publique benefits and feudall rights of the tenures in capite , by knight-service and per baroniam , which are justly and highly esteemed in all kingdoms and principalities which are so happy as to live under monarchy the best of governments , and deprive our selves of those nerves and sinews which fix and consolidate the fidelity , peace and welfare of monarchies , and the best part also of those feudal laws , wherein are contained many of the laws and rights of kingdoms , marquisates , earldoms , baronies , and their dependencies . tenures in libero & communi soccagio per fidelitatem tantùm pro omnibus servitiis , in free and common socage by fealty only for all services so universally extended as to make all the english tenures to be in that condition , will be dangerous rather then profitable to the king and people , whose good and safety consists in a due obedience of the people to their prince , and not in that which may invite and incourage sedition and rebellion , & is fitter to be trusted to a kingdom of angells ( which was once not without a lucifer ( a pretender to great light ) & his rebelling partie then to a people ( many of whom being not fully cured of a disobedience more then ordinarily acted to the ruine of their king and his three kingdoms , are now in a full career of all manner of vice and wickedness , running over all the laws of god and man , and wholly given up to their pride and luxury , and an interest and care to maintain them . they that could then mis-interpret scripture , abuse the plain and genuine sense and meaning of all our laws , clearly exprest and fully to be understood , and make an ill use of a not to be ( as they thought ) dissolved parliament , rebell and fight against their king , multiply grievances under colour of remedying them , destroy him and endeavour to do the like to his children and successors , and all the loyal nobility and gentry , which according to their allegiance and tenures of their lands made hast to his standard and defence , will now think they have gotten better fig-leaves , either to cover any thing they shall attempt against their king and soveraign , or for abiding with gilead beyond jordan , and not coming to help or assist him , in regard that for all manner of services they are only to do him fealty , which they may disguise according to their several humors and interests . will unhinge the government and take away the tyes and obligations which were betwixt the king and his subjects , the nobility and better part of the people , and the more common and inferior sort of them , untie their bonds of obedience , and let them loose to a liberty of ruining and undoing themselvs by not obeying their soveraign , which is not to be hazarded upon the hopes of tenures in corde , when the impression and remembrance of benefits are as frail and little immortal as gratitudes , or the love and kindness of many friends or children which hardly survives dayes or moneths or a few years , and at the most do not outlive the first receivers , but do most commonly within a few dayes , if not hours after , wax faint and languish ; and though they did at the first really mean and intend the thankfulness they promised , can as quickly as the scots did by the late kings extraordinary favours and concessions , even to the giving away almost all that hee had in scotland , or as some of their brethren in england did in their undertakings to make him a glorious king , forget what they promised or should do ; and having got power into their hands , be most rigid and severe in the exercise and imployment of it and their liberties against those which granted them . make the head of our english body politique not to be as a head in the body natural , strongly fixed and resting upon those many bones , joints , arteries , muscles and veins which in that line of communication , do serve and attend the motions and directions of the head and principall part for the well being of the whole body ; but to be set in such an unfixed , unsafe , and unusuall order , as it shall neither be able to protect it self or those who depend upon it , and have no other ligaments but fealtie , and the too often broken oaths of allegiance & supremacy , which can never attain to those great obligations of homage and service of warr ; which being annexed to the land it self , had besides the bond of loyaltie another also of gratitude attending upon it , and as a threefold cord not easily to be broken , must of necessity farr surmount that so small a one as fealtie , which being little more then our modern ill used dayly complements , will prove such a small something , as when interest , profit , humors or factions shall either altogether or apart stand in the way of them or any of them , will be made to be little more then nothing . mutilate and lame our ancient best regulated and unparalleled monarchy , and make it to be as paralitick on the right side , and wanting the natural and right use of its right arm and legg ; and applying no better a remedy then a plaister of excise , drawn from the rebelling & necessitous example of a neighbor republique or democratie , put the power and ability of serving the king in his warrs , of helping him to preserve the salus populi or good of the people , and performing the oaths and duty of allegiance , ( a great part whereof was before in the nobility and gentry , who were the best educated , more knowing and virtuous part of the people , and better understanding the order and affairs of government and the loyaltie which at all times and upon all occasions did belong unto it ) into the hands and humor of the ignorant , mis-understanding , rude and giddy plebeians or common people . deprive the king and people of those strengths , ready ayds and assistance of the tenants in capite and by knight service ( who were as so many little and inoffensive garrisons & forts in every county to defend it ) to make head against the sudden invasion of an enemy , put him to a stand , and prevent ( which was evidenced by the late use and terrors of olivers county troops ) the over-running or gaining of whole territories or taking of places of strength , untill greater neighbor forces or an army be imbodyed , or to be as so many brigades or auxiliaries well horsed and furnished ( with their tenants ) to attend their king in a diversive warr , as they were in anno . in that unfortunately suspended expedition or inrode into scotland against those rebellious covenanters against the laws of god as well as those of their soveraign . decay and impoverish the kings revenue , and bring him into a want of money , which made his late majesty the martyr's great and extraordinary virtues , piety and prudence , too weak to defend himself or resist the torrent of sedition and rebellion , which like an inundation of many waters rushed in upon him . exchange the antient and noble guards of england and its never failing defence , as the earthen walls and bulwarks thereof , by an obligation of tenure and homage annexed to the lands of those which hold in capite and by knight-service , for a standing guard or army of hirelings , or men whose fortunes are worn on their backs as their clothes , or by their sides as their swords , which upon any necessity or mischance happening to the king , may , for want of pay ( as the german ruyters or lancekneghts ) or by insolence or presumption of their numbers or strength ( as the praetorian bands amongst the later romans ) or the turkish mutinous janisaries ; or by being inconstant and faithless , as the cosacks and tartars usually are to the poles ; ruine and forsake him , or by an humor of making remonstrances and intermedling in state matters , innovating of laws , changes of government , and sacrificing to the ignorance of their own mechanick brains and new found destructive politicks , destroy the people & their liberties , as our late colonels and captains of the new edition , and the agitators and self-canonized saints did attempt to do when they would make themselves to be so much concerned in the good of the people as to set up a law of the sword and a committee of safety to make no man to have any safety or property but themselves , and called every thing providence which proceeded from their own unparallel'd villainies . renverse and overturn many of the fundamental laws and constitutions of the kingdom , and throw it with the heels upwards into very many evils and confusions , which our selves as well as posterity may repent but not know how to remedie . perpetuate a moyety of the excise upon ale , beer , perry and sider , and make the groans and burden thereof to be as an inheritance for the people , & by the example and custom thereof be by degrees a means to introduce the whole excise , which in the oliverian usurpation was laid upon them ; and though it may not happen in the life time of a gracious prince , father of his country , and preserver of his peoples rights and liberties , may afterwards , like nessus's poisoned shirt upon the back of our hercules and former government , canker , eat up and destroy all their labours and industry . will cut off our sampsons locks , and bereave him of his strength , break in pieces the shield and spear of his mighty men of warr , and when all things antimonarchical should be rooted out , will be a fruitfull plantation and product of the greatest of antimonarchicks , and be that which our english monarchie never yet saw or allowed ; and if gods mercy prevent not , may be as good a guest as a canker or snake in the bosom of it . all which and more evils and inconveniences then can at present be either fore-seen or enumerated , and will ( as to very many of them ) as certainly follow the taking away of tenures in capite and by knight-service , as effects do usually their causes , cromwell the protector of his own villainies as well as our miseries ) very well understood , when , in order to the destruction of the king and his family , the ruine of all the nobility and gentry , and the rooting up of monarchy , and every thing which did but resemble or help to support it ; he did all he could to take away tenures in capite and by knight-service . and having a constant and standing army of thirty thousand horse and foot allowed to him and his successors by his instrument of government , or rod of scorpions , and a revenue of nineteen hundred thousand pounds to maintain himself in his intended unlimited monarchy , and to keep the people in slavery , cozening , cheating , and ruining all loyal and honest men under the hypocrisie and pretence of intentional godliness , and two hundred thousand pounds per annum for the provision of his house and servants , found himself no way indammaged by destroying tenures in capite or by knight-service , or concerned to retain or keep them . which being the most noble sort of tenures , most antient , free , and priviledged , will if they shall be truly and judiciously put in parallel and balance with those of the original and proper tenures in socage , who as coloni & adscriptitii , tied to their husbandry and plowes , did ( as sr edward cook saith ) arare & herciare , plow and harrow their lords lands , and do many other servile works ; or with such a socage as those many tenants hold their lands by , which hold by a certain small rent of sir anthony weldens heir for castle-guard to the ruined rochester castle in kent , to pay s. d. nomine poenae for every tide which after the time limited for payment shall run under rochester bridg. or with copy-hold tenures , ( which at the first being frankly given for years or life , and after by a continued charity turned to a customary inheritance ) were bound up to many inconveniences , as not to lease their lands or fell timber without their lords licence , and many forfeitures , payments and customes , some at fines incertain , at the will of the lord , after the death of their ancestor , and which upon a suit or appeal in the courts of justice or chancery are never mitigated or brought lower then two years present and improved value ; and where the fines are certain , do in many places pay as much or more , in some places where they pay less pay after the rate of five pence per acre , and in other eight pence per acre , or higher as the custome varies ; and pay herriots , not only upon the death of the last tenant but upon surrenders ; and in some places the widdows having no free bench ( as they call it ) or estate in the lands after their husbands ; and where they have that or dower , which is seldom in other places , do forfeit if they marry again ; or in some places , if they commit fornication or adultery in their widdow-hood ; and if the lords of mannors put the tenants out of their copyhold estates upon a forfeiture , they have by law no remedy but to petition to them , can have no writ of right-close to command their lords to do them right without delay according to the custome of the mannor , no writ of false judgment at the common law given in the lords court , but must sue to the lord by petition , nor can sue any writ of monstraverunt to command their lords , not to require of them other customs or services then they ought , must grinde at the lords mill and bake at his common oven , and not speak irreverently of them . or those kinde of tenures of lands in cumberland , northumberland , westmerland , and the north parts of england , which pay a thirty peny fine at every alienation , and a twenty peny fine upon the death of an ancestor or of their lord , according to the rate of the small yearly rents of their lands , which were at the first freely given for service in warr , and to repell the scottish incursions , now much insisted upon and called tenant-right . or lease-holders which are racked or pay fines , and a rent , as much as any will give for them under harsh and strict covenants , conditions , forfeitures , & nomine poenae's , without a standing army & assessments and a troop of horse ( as was done in olivers time ) to scout in every county , to awe , terrifie , abuse and sometimes rob the inhabitants . or the now so much desired tenure of free and common socage , ( many of which are under the payment of a tenth every year , of the value as they were first granted ) by fealty only for all services , with a standing army or assessments , though farr lesser , as it is hoped , instead of tenures in capite and by knight-service , will be more desirable and prove a greater freedom then either the old socage tenure , which in kent they did sometimes willingly exchange , to hold the same lands by knight-service , or the copy-holders or northern tenant-rightmen , or the free and common socage by fealtie only and no other services . none of which have or can justly claim as the tenants in capite and by knight-service do those antient and honourable rights , immunities and priviledges which justly belong unto them , nor their court barons and court leetes , with the priviledges of basse justice , doing justice to their tenants for small debts under forty shillings , correcting and overseeing the assize of bread and beer , weights and measures , corrupt victuals , punishment of breach of the peace , swearing constables , making by-lawes , power of administring the oath of allegiance , inquiries concerning victuallers , artificers , workmen , laborers , and excess of prizes of wines , &c. inquiries after seditions , treasons , &c. and presenting and certifying them or any other thing that might disturb the peace and welfare of their king and country , and by keeping the lesser wheels in order , did contribute much to that of the greater , and every one ( as litle and subordinate reguli and petty princes ) enjoying under their kings and soveraignes that which to this day ( as well as antiently ) have been called royalties , which being but pencil'd and drawn out of regal favours and permission , are in fide & homagio deduced from those tenures ; for all which free gifts , emoluments , immunities and priviledges , they had no other . burdens or duties incumbent upon tenures in capite and knight-service . then to go to warr well arrayed and furnished with the king or his lieutenant general ( which every subject if he had not lands freely given him is in duty bound to do ) or his mesne lord when warrs should happen , which in a common course of accidents may be but once or not at all in his life time , and then not to tarry with him above forty dayes or less according to their proportion of fee or lands holden at their own charge ( which is a greater favor then to go along with him all the time of his warrs ) and for all the time that they remain afterwards in the camp to be at the kings charge , and to have escuage assessed by parliament of their own tenants if they shall refuse to go also in person . their respit of homage was without personall attendance discharged once in four terms or a years space for smaller fees proportionable to the yearly value of their lands then three shillings four pence per ann. which they that held a knights fee yearly paid to their mesne lords for respite of suit of court. their releif when they dyed , leaving their heirs at full age , was for a whole knights fee but cs. ( lesse most commonly then a herriot or the price of their best horse or beast if they had holden in socage ) and when they were in ward paid nothing for it ; for a barony marks , and an earldom l. of a marquis marks , and a duke l. the primer seisin , which though due by law was never paid untill º or º car. primi , was like the clergies first-fruits , according to a small moderate value a years profit if in possession , and a moyety in reversion ; and so small a casualtie or revenue , as in the th year of the raign of his late majestie they did but amount unto l. s. d. ob . half farthing . and the charge to the officers of a general livery ( being like to an admittance of a tenant in a copy-hold estate , but a great deal cheaper ) where the lands were under value and found but at l. per ann. which most commonly was the highest rate of finding or valuation of it when it was l. per annum or something more , with all the fees and requisites thereunto did not exceed l. and the fine for a livery where there was a wardship , half a years profit after a small value , and so little as in car. the accompt for liveriess was but l. s. d. ob . farthing . and where a special livery under the great seal of england was sued out , with a pardon for alienations , intrusions , &c. did not with the lord chancellors , master of the rolls , and master of the wards , and all other fees included , make the charge amount to more then l. or l. where a livery was not sued out as it ought to be , the mesne rates and forfeitures ( which may be avoided ) were either pardoned or gently compounded , and of so small a consideration in the kings revenue by wardships , as in anno . and a time of peace , the account thereof amounted to no more then nine hundred ninety two pounds fifteen shillings two pence half-peny half-farthing . and where a minority happened , which in times of less luxury was but seldome , many were either knighted or married before they attained to their full age , and heirs females were not infrequently married long before their age of . there being not one with another , one in every seven that died leaving an heir in minority . which may the better be credited , for that , if report mistake not , a family of poynings or pointz , having from the reign of king h. . now almost six hundred years ago , not had an heir in minority . and it is certain enough that in twenty discents of the family of veeres , now earls of oxford , in the space of six hundred years and some thing more , and the warrs and troubles which happened in many of them , there have not been but six in minority when their fathers or ancestors died ; and the like or less may be found or instanced in many others . and for one that is left very young at his fathers death , there are commonly nineteen that are of greater age ; and for one betwixt five years old and ten , there are ten that are above the age of ten ; and for one that is betwixt that and fifteen , there are seven that are above it ; for that most commonly in such early marriages as these times affoard , which in great estates are not seldome the sons are at age , or a great part of it , before their fathers death , and do keep a better account of their fathers age then they do of their own . and then the marriages , which now generally bring ten times bigger portions then one hundred years ago , were most commonly granted to the mothers , or to the next and best friends , if they petitioned within a moneth after the death of the fathers or ancestors , and where there were considerable debts or many younger children , were not rated at above one years improved value , if the estates were not indebted or incumbred with younger childrens portions , and a great deal less if it were , as may easily occur to any that shall compare the fines for marriages ( appearing in sr miles fleetwood the receiver generals accounts of the court of wards ) with the value of the lands in wardship , where very small sums , as , , , or l. fines for marriages , may be found to be set upon an estate of or l. per annum . and most commonly compounded for to the use of the ward himself , and from heir male to heir male , although they were six or seven of the sons of the same father , for the same fine or compositi on , if the ward should dye , which , or the like favour as to lands , is not used by lords of mannors upon admission of tenants to copy-hold estates . the lands where there were no dowers or joyntures ( which ordinarily did take away a third part or more ) were leased for a small rent , not exceeding most commonly the tenth part , and very often according to the troubles , incumbrances and debts upon the estate , at the fifteenth or twentieth part , out of which the ward had an exhibition yearly allowed towards his education ; if of small age , after the rate of l. per cent. of the revenue of the lands , certified by the feodary ; or if at university or in travel beyond the seas , had a better allowance . the licences for marriage ( which is totally denyed in copy-hold estates , and would be therein gladly purchased ) were of so small profit to the king seldom happening or cheaply granted , and in that of great ladies not called for , as it came to no more in the th year of the raign of king charles the first , then l. s. d. and the licence to compound with copy-holders for their admittances in the times of the lords of the mannors , wardships , so easily and for a little granted , as in that they came but unto l. the fines upon the making of the leases or grants of the lands were small and more pro forma then otherwise at s. s. d. d , &c. and very small summs of money when they exceeded . and whatsoever charges or payments may happen by wardships , which all things duely considered are less then what is paid upon copy-hold estates , may by law and the favour of former kings , be for a great part escaped by conveying away in their life times or devising by will two parts in three of all their lands ( leaving a third part to descend to the heirs ) for payment of debts and preferment of wives and children , the heires of tenants in capite and men of any considerable estate very often marrying before the age of one and twenty years , and having all or the most part of the fathers estate , reserving some estate for life , and the mothers joynture or dower excepted setled upon them . which they may well be contented with , when as all the charges and burdens ( as some , do cal them ) which do happen upon those tenures , are lesser then the payment of the first-fruits of benefices and bishopricks to the clergy , with procurations , synodalls , & other necessary charges in the bishops visitations , lesser then that of tenths , according to the then true yearly value , reserved by king h. . and e. . upon their gifts , grants , sales and exchanges of abby lands , lesser then the payment of tythes , and lesser and more seldom then the easie payments and burdens upon copy-hold estates ; when as those that purchased any of those kinde of lands either charged with tythes or tenths , or the duties or incidents belonging to lands in capite and by knight-service , did buy them with those concomitants , which neither buyer nor seller were able to purchase or discharge ; and cannot pretend it to be a grievance , because they cannot enjoy them freer then they purchased or expected , no more then he that buyes a calf can complain it was not an oxe , then hee that bought a copy-hold estate after the rate of an estate of that nature , and did suite and service belonging unto it , can afterwards think himself to be ill used , or under any oppression , because it was not free-hold ; or hee that bought a lease can justly conceive himself to be injured by him that sold it , because he hath not the reversion or fee simple of it . and should ( if rightly examined and duly considered ) be no more a cause of complaint or grievance then the weakness in estate of a tenant overwhelmed with debts , and his disability to pay a cheap and easie rent of twenty pounds per annum , though it makes that rent to be a burden , which formerly ( and being not indebted ) he found to be none , can make it either to be a grievance or unreasonable or illegal , or the old age or sickness of a formerly lusty and healthfull man , which renders a small weight to be very heavy , which was at other times not at all troublesome to him , can make it in it self to be so much as he now takes it . nor are the supposed grievances and burdens of tenures in capite and knight-service , naturally , originally or intrinsecally to be found either in them or by them , but are often occasioned by the parties groundless complaints , and the troubles and burdens which they bring upon themselves , who like men very sick by distempers and diseases of their owne making and complaining heavily of their paines and anguish , can many times only tell that they are sick , and not as they would or should be , but not whence it came , or if they could are unwilling to remember the causes of it . for , the reason why they seem to be burdens and grievances , and heavier then formerly cannot be hid from those which shall but enquire and rightly and judiciously search into the causes of that which now lyes more upon some mens spirits , or imaginations , then need to be , if they would doe by themselves in the oeconomie and manage of their estates and affairs , as their more prudent and virtuous ancestors did , who when meadow ground was in h. . dayes now not much above yeares agoe , in the most fertile counties of england , at no greater a yearely value then d per acre by the yeare , and other lands of d. or d. an acre per annum , could keep greater houses or hospitalities by five or ten to one then they doe now , a greater retinue of servants and dependants , gave great quantities of lands in common , and estovers of wood to the poore or whole townshipps , live honorably if they were barons , and worshipfully if they were knights , and esquires , and serve their prince faithfully , did great acts of piety and charity , by building and endowing of churches , and stood as greater and lesser pillars in their severall counties , did not rack and skrew their tenants to the utmost that any would give for lands , with harsh and hard covenants and conditions , did grant mannors , annuities , and farms to gentlemen in fee , or for lives , to serve and go along with them and their prince upon occasion of wars , were not troubled at their tenures in capite and by knight-service , did not thinke those benefits to be any burdens , though great summs of money were somtimes paid as l. by a mother of an earle of oxford , and marks by a mother of in earle of clare , in the raigne of king h. . for their wardshipps , when marriage portions or dowries in money were but small , and their large and great revenues considered , were but as accumulations of many lesser wardshippe ; were not so much indebted as now , nor so much enforced to mortgage or sell lands , get friends , servants , or tradesmen to be bound for them ; to have their lands extended , or the persons of such of them as were under the degree of baronage , outlawed or arrested , were not up to the ears in shop-keepers or trades-mens books or items , but lived within the pale of virtue and fence of sobriety , and far better then they do now , when they do let errable land at or s. per acre , by the year ; pasture at or s. and meadow at s. or sometime l. the acre per an. were not driven out of their ancient and former love and reputation in their countries or neighbourhood , by letting the kitchin chimneys of their country houses fall down for want of making but ordinary fires in them ; but did in their several orbs and ranks live more honourably and worshipfully then now they do or can , when they are guilty of few of those great and good actions ; did not , as too many do , spend in the pursuit of vanities ten times more then their forefathers , who had long kept and enjoyed the same or greater estates ; nor sit up all night ▪ to come home drowsie and discredited in the morning , with the loss of or l. and sometimes or l. by gaming ; bestow or l. on a coach , and or l. upon a band ; spend more in gaming , drinking , and whoring , ( which their forefathers , though sometimes addicted thereunto , could get at cheaper rates then by maintaining a costly corinthian lais or a sumptuous cleopatra ) then would pay for the charge of a wardship , and lose more in a careless or not at all taking of their accounts , or looking to their estates & affairs then would twice over discharge it , nor did tamely permit their flatterers , sycophants , and promoters or concealers of their vices , to go a share in their estates and fortunes : too many of their eldest sons were not so mounted to the height of fashions as to spend more in powder , plays , coaches and ribbons ( the lesser circumstantials of their vain expences ) then their forefathers , when they were heirs apparent had allowed them for all necessaries , and a better kind of education , and expend more in peruks or periwigs , at or l. price , for every one , then would pay for the charges of suing out their fathers liveries ; too many of their wives and daughters did not racket with a troop of young gallants , or gentlemen of amours or dalliance ; nor discourse more of romances then the word of god , virtue and good examples , send their linnen for the attire of their heads and necks , when they are above one hundred miles from london , by the weekly posts , to be washed or starched by the exchange-women , hunt after the newest and most costly fashions , sacrifice to all the parts of pride , gluttony , prodigalities , and luxuries , drive a trade of black patches and painting , give , or l. for a yard of lace ; did not make it their designs to vie with every one they can perceive to wear jewels , diamond lockets , necklaces of pearl , or more costly apparel then themselves ; did not give insana pretia , extravagant and cheating prices , because such a mad great woman , or a neighbours purse-emptying wife had given the same , & 't would be a disparagement to come ( as they say ) behind them , or wear any thing at a lesser rate ; nor adventure and many times lose , or l. in an afteroonn or evening at cards , which is now become most of their huswifery ; their daughters did not in their hopes of getting princes to their husbands , or impossible great marriages , help to cast their fathers estates and purses into a consumption , and spend more money betwixt their age of and then would have made treble the marriage portions of their grandams , when l. or or l. was a good portion for a good knights well-bred daughter , when marks was in h . a good portion for a marriage betwixt thomas lord clifford and a daughter of the lord dacre ; when henry lord clifford having great and large revenues in the north parts of england and else where , did in h. . suppose it to be a good provision for his daughter elizabeth clifford to devise to her by his last will and testament one thousand pounds if shee married an earle , ( which in those dayes were men of no small revenues ) or an earles sonne and heire , marks if a baron , and marks if a knight , and that henry lord clifford his sonne did in the th . or th year of the raign of queen eliz. give by his will but l. to his daughter if shee married an earl or an earls son and heir , marks if a baron or his son and heire apparent , and marks if shee married a knight , and that or or l. is now but an ordinary portion to be given in marriage to rich yeomens sonnes , or the smaller sort of gentry or silkmen , mercers , or drapers , and a great deale too litle for those kind of haggard hawks ( for there be some though not so many as should be which live soberly and chastly , and are helpers to preserve and increase , not spend their husbands estates , aswell as their owne portions , ) who fly steeple high and cannot by any law or perswasion of scripture , reason , shame , or feare of poverty , imprisonment and ruine of their husbands & children , and their sighs & sorrows be brought to stoop or give way to any lower pitch , but are more destructive to a husband , who against his will and for that little quiet and content which he can get , must permit it , then the mischances of a rot of sheep , piracies or shipwracks , the sea breaking in upon their landes , ruine of sequestrations or suretyship , and if they might have their wills are able to bankrupt and exhaust the king of spain and all his west-indies . when too many of the young women will not like or love the men , unless they be as vain and expensive as themselvs ; and the men to please the women & be fashionable , must run a vie with them who shall soonest spend all they have , or can by any sinfull courses compass a support or maintenance for it . and the fathers most commonly so much indebted before they marry their eldest sons , as they must have their marriage portions to marry their daughters , and for or l. portion , make his daughter in law a joynture of or l. per annum , to free her from the trouble of over-loveing her husband , when as shee shall be after his death so well provided to get another . when two or three servants wages amount to as much as six heretofore , and a great deale more per annum then would have made a good gentlemans younger sonne an annuity , when great assessments beleaguer them on one side , and their own vices and prodigalities , and all manner of costly sins and vanities now so universally practised on the other side ; tradesmen use false weights and measures , and more then formerly tricks and mysteries of trade , adulterating their work and commodities , and raiseing the prices to three times more then heretofore , and by the prodigality and carelesness of not a few of the gentry , creep into their estates , and get too great a footing in it , by furnishing them with vanities , and the country men and farmers to maintain their growing pride , and excesse making all the haste they can to imitate them , do heighten the rates of all that they sell ; and when the foundations of our little world ( which was wont to be the best of the greater ) are broken up , and most part of the people eccentrick and running into excess and disorder ; when the apprentices and servants will do all they can to live like gentlemen , the mechanicks like merchants , the gentry as high as the nobility , the maids will be apparelled like their mistresses , & the mistresses as farr beyond their estates as their wits , vintners & woodmongers wives & poulterers daughters must have pearl neck-laces of great prizes , and all ranks and degrees of people would , ( as if they had been chosen kings & queens on twelfth nights , make it their business to be in their expences kings and queens all the year after ) do not only consume and waste the estates of very many of our gentry , and disable them to pay as formerly their necessary aids , contributions and oblations to their prince for the safety of themselves and their countries , but carry them and all that follow their example beyond an asiatica luxus , that forreign luxury of asia , which , as juvenal saith , — incubuit victumque ulciscitur orbem , conquered and undid the conquering rome and mistress of the word ; the abuse of peace and plenty , which the lydians by the policy of cyrus did ruine and subdue themselvs withall ; & that height of pride and plenty which in germany did help to procure their after wofull warrs and desolations . and making us to be almost as mad in our luxuries as the ridiculous sybarites , will suddenly ( if gods mercy and good laws prevent not ) make poor england ( which for twenty yeares last past hath been kicked , tost and torn like a foot-ball by the pocketing and plundering reformers and their ungodly warrs ) to be a burden to it self , and not able to support the excesses and pride of the people of it ; but trembling at the apprehension of gods long deferred judgments for the punishment of it , groan under the burden of those sins which do every day more and more hasten and draw them down upon us . and may perswade us when it is too late , that the saving in these last twenty yeares eighteen hundred thousand pounds which would have been paid to king charls the first , and his majesty that now is , by reason of wardships and tenures in capite and by knight-service , with many other great summs of money due to them out of their royal revenues , amounting to as much or a great deal more which the king in his largely extended act of oblivion is now pleased to remit and pardon , will not by a tenth part make the people of england savers for what was lost and expended in the warrs by ruines and plundrings , besides very near forty millions of sterling money spent in publick taxes and assessments to purchase an unhappy rebellion , and the sad effects and consequences of it . so that our complaints of tenures in capite and knight-service are from a non causa , by imagining that to be a cause which was not , for our supposed grievances , are but like those of hurt and wounded men by their own follies and distempers , which cannot endure the softest hand or most gentle touch of a friend . tenterden steeple was not the cause of goodwin sands , nor of shipwracks at sea , but the rage of the windes & seas , and the waves and billows cuffing each other . nor is our ever welcome youth , and lamented when it is lost , the cause of gouts , palsies , dropsies , hectick fevers , consumptions , and many times a worser disease , which the intemperances of young people with no little charge in the purchase of them have hired to be their attendants . but they are our more then ordinary pride and vices which have made our burdens twenty times exceed any payments or charges by wardships , which are ( when they happen ) sufficiently recompenced by the care and priviledges of the court of wards , preserving the wards wood and timber , binding in great bonds those which are trusted , to make true and just accompts , calling them ( if need be ) often to accompt , as in the duke of buckinghams case , once in every three years , and redressing wrongs done to them either in their real or personal estates . the hundred thousand pounds and above spent the last year in coaches and feathers extraordinary , and one hundred and fi●ty thousand pounds at the least spent this year in ribbons , must be no grievance , but a quarter of either of the summs spent in wardships , ( which in scotland in the raign of their king malcombe the second , which was before the conquest , was not unwillingly yielded to be the kings right , nè non suppeterent regiae majestatis facultates , to the end the king should have wherewithall to defend the kingdom ; which master st john in the case of ship money , and the parliament ( so called ) in an. , were content should be allowed the king for the same purpose ) must be intolerable . or like those which let their sacks of wool fall into the water , and finde them to be much heavier then they were , if our land be as the shaking of the olive-tree , and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done , and we cry , our leanness , our leanness , and finde a disability more then formerly to perform those duties & services which were never denyed to be due unto our prince in support of his royal dignity and the welfare and happiness of his people , the cause is allunde , comes another way , and ariseth from our unlucky reformations , publick taxes and assessments , to assist the ungodly attempts of those who designed and continued our intestine warrs , & from those grand impositions which most of the people have laid upon themselves in the purchase of pride and superfluities , which those who have made it to be so much their business may know how to free themselves of . and if the lands which are holden by such beneficiary tenures so antient , so honorable for the king , and safe for him and his people , and so legal & rational cum totius antiquitatis et multorum seculorum , concensu , from generation to generation , & through many generations well and thankfully approved , usage and custome of them shall be now taken to be burdens , the owners of those lands may easily save the labour and trouble of complaining , and free themselves of those undeservedly called burdens , by restoring of the lands according to the rules of right reason , law , and equity , to those or their heirs , which did at first freely give them , and had the faith and promise of those that received those no small favours cum onere to perform the services and duties which the law and a long and reasonable custome have charged upon them or those which afterwards purchased them . or if that will not be liked , and we must think we do nothing , unless ( not in a desart but a land of canaan ) we out-do the murmurings of the sadly punished israelites with quails in their mouthes , when all shall be done as some people would have it , and that tenures in capite and by knight-service , and the royal pourveyances shall be sacrificed to their desires or wishes , they will then make no better a bargain of it then those , who repining & grumbling at the charge of maintaining sea-walls and banks , have aftewards found by wofull experience , that it was farr less charge and damage then to have the sea break in upon their marshes and lands , drown and carry away their cattel , and be at a greater charge then formerly in making them up again and maintaining of them . or as those that found fault with the surplice did , when by their unquiet ignorances they opened the door to an army of fanaticks and locusts which did almost eat up every green thing in the fields of our religion . or as those murmurers , who thinking twenty shillings to be a heavie taxe for ship-money , guard of the seas , and defence of the kingdom , to be laid upon or l. per annum ( for that was all which was in a year or half a year laid upon the unhappy mr hamdens lands ) were afterwards for many yeares together enforced to pay the fifth part of their rents and revenues to help to destroy the king , laws , and religion , kill their debtors , husbands and children , and near relations . and then the next thing will be to desire that they might have the farr heavier burden of taxes and assessments taken off , which if tenures in capite & by knight-service shall be taken away , can no more be avoided then he that wilfully shuts out the light of the sun or the day , unless he will like democritus sit and grow wiser in the dark , can save the greater charges and expences of candles and other lights : and will at the last learn to believe , that when salus privatorum & omnia bona civiuin in salute patriae continentur , every private mans good and safety depends upon the kings and the weal publick , it will not be for the good and safety of the people to take away the lions meat , enforce him to seek his prey or take it himself , or to suffer the head to languish , in hope that the members or the rest of the body should be the better for it ; who when they are called to the council or parliament of the body natural , are to lay aside all their own interest and concernments , and every one doe what they can to cure and help the wants of it . and that if those lands which are holden in capite and by knight-service had been at the first purchased at the true and utmost value , and the charges now incumbent upon them , had been since imposed upon them , when other lands were free and not charged with them , there might be reason enough to call them burdens ; but being that they were not at the first purchased , but freely and frankly given upon those conditions which were by agreement promised to be performed by those that thankfully received them , and would be so now by the greatest maligners of them or inveighers against them , there can be no manner of reason , cause or ground to esteem them to be burdens , oppressions or norman servitudes ( as ordericus vitalis and mathew paris ; the later whereof wrote his history in the raign of king h. . since which time many indulgences have been granted to those kinde of tenures , have been pleased to mistake them ) when our magna charta and all our acts of parliament have in every age ranked them amongst the peoples liberties , and confirmed and made many an act of parliament to support those regalities . and when the parliament of imo car. i mi in their great care of their liberties , and the taking away of all that might but disturb them , did call them a principal flower of the crown , which being not used to be made-up or grow out of grievances . cannot be disparaged by those clamours and crys which have , more then needed , been made concerning the earl of downes concealed wardship , and the inconveniences arising thereby , which did not the tenth part of that prejudice to his revenue and estate , which his prodigality and other extravagancies afterwards brought upon it , and might how soever have been prevented , if his mother in law or any other of his friends ( upon the several requests of the master of the court of wards and the officers of that court ) would have petitioned and compounded for his wardship , and not have made those many traverses and denyals in those many suits of law and pursuits which were afterwards made to compell them to it . nor will that or any other which are pretended grievances be ever equal or come up to those farr exceeding real and certain grievances which too many of the fathers in law of england ( into whose hands and custody most of the wardships or guardianships are endeavored to be more then formerly put ) will , if those tenures shall be taken away , bring upon fatherless children , and will in a short time do more harm to the childrens estates of the first husband then ever yet happened by wardships to the king and mesne lords . which the case of one that twelve years ago had the revenue of an infant amounting unto above l. per annum charged with no more then l. debt , and a great personal estate committed to his trust , hath to this day paid none or a very small part of it , but keeps the rents and profits , allowing a small exhibition to the infant , to his own advantage . of another , that hath sold and wasted woods and timber of a minors , to the value of ten thousand pounds sterling . and many more sad & deplorable experiments , which abundantly induce to believe as well as lament them , & are not to be found in those well-ordered & easie way of the grants and dispositions of wardships which happened by tenures in capite & by knight-service . which may appear to be the better established , & upon greater grounds of law , right reason , justice and equity , when as many of the lords of manors and copy-hold estates who do now enjoy by those tenures many rights , seignories and commands , with view of frank-pledge , deodands , felons goods , wrecks , goods of out-lawed persons , and retorna brevium granted and imparted to their ancestors by the bounty and favor of his majesties royal progenitors , who did not think it to be a grievance to have abby or religious lands which were freely given or cheaply granted to them held in capite and by knight-service , though there were at the same time a tenth of the then true yearly value reserved , would not upon the pretence and clamours of some copy-holders concerning fines incertain , and the rigours and high demands put upon them by some lords of manors who have or copy-holders in some manors belonging unto them , and can ask s. d. per acre for some lands , and s. per acre for others to permit them to take their estates hereafter at a reasonable fine certain ; and whether poor or rich , indebted or not indebted , and charged with children or not , will seise their herriots , and take as much as they can get upon the admissions of the heir , or the out ▪ cries against the many costly and vexatious suits which have tired westminster-hall , and some parliaments concerning fines incertain , be well contented . that their power of rating and taking fines should be restrained , or that they should be ordered upon the admittances of their copy-hold tenants by act of parliament to permit their tenants without such fines as they usually take to surrender and alien two parts in three for the advancement of their wives , payment of debts or preferment of children , as the kings of england and mesne lords have limited themselves , or should be tyed upon the death of every tenant and admission of his heir , as king james was pleased to limit him and his heirs and successors . that upon consideration of circumstances , which may happen in assessing fines , either by reason of the broken estate of the deceased , want of provision for his wife , his great charge of children unprovided for , infirmity or tenderness of the heir , incertainty of the title , or greatness of incumberances upon the lands , there shall be ( as those or any other the bike considerations shall offer themselvs ) used that good discretion and conscience which shall be fit in mitigating or abating fines or rents to the relief of such necessities . or to release and quit all their royalties in their manors , nor would think it a good bargain to have no compensation or recompence at all for them , or no more then after the rate of what might communibus annis , one year with another , be made of them ; or that they could with justice and equity lay the burdens and payments of the copy-holders upon the free-holders and cotagers . which if they do not now take to be reasonable in their own cases , may certainly give every man to understand how little reason there will be to take away the dependencies and benefits by tenures in capite and knight-service holden of the king and mesne lords . or to abridge the king of that harmeless power never before denyed to any of his ancestors , to create tenures in capite and by knight service , or in grand serjeanty for the defence and honour of the kingdom , upon new grants of lands or favours ; especially when ●s his majesty that now is , did by his declaration of the thirtieth of november last , concerning the establishing and quieting the government in the kingdom of ireland , ( which hath been since very much liked and approved by the parliament of that nation ) insert a saving of the tenures of the mesne lords , and ordained tenures in capite and by knight-service upon the lands which shall be set out to the souldiery for their arrears . or that tenures in capite not by knight-service , with all petit serjeanties , ( which , as sir edward coke saith , is a tenure as of the crown , that is , as he is king ) and the profits and reservations upon them , which if well gathered would make some addition to the royal revenue , should by the pattern of olivers ( so called ) act of parliament be taken away when there are no wardships incident thereunto , and that aid to make the kings eldest son a knight , or marry his eldest daughter , should be taken away in the capite and knight-service tenures , and left to remain in the former socage tenures , or how little it will be for the good of the people if the intended act of parliament shall order the tenures in capite by socage to pay double their former quit rents or other rents or incidents belonging thereunto , or to pay for a relief double their petit serjeanties or other duties reserved . when as tenures in capite and by knight-service can certainly have no pretence of grievance in them , ( for they are only pretences and causeless clamours that have of late cast them into an odium or ill will of the common sort of people , or such as do not rightly understand them ) but may be made to be more pleasing unto them by this or the like expedient , if the marriage of the wards and rents of their lands during all the time of their minorities computed together shall be reduced to be never above one years improved value , which will be but the half of that which is now accounted to be a reasonable fine , and frequently paid by many copy-hold tenants , whose fines are certain , and would be most joyously paid by those which are by law to pay fines incertain at the will of their lords . that the arch-bishop of canterbury and those other few mesne lords , who by antient exemption and priviledge are to have the wardships of tenants holding of them by knight-service in their minorities , though they hold other lands in capite and by knight-service of the king , may be ordained to do the like favors . that all that hold in capite and by knight-service be freed from all assesments touching warr of their demesne lands holden in capite and by knight-service , as in all reason they ought , being a libertie or priviledge ( amongst others ) granted to them by the charter of king henry the first , the ( original of a great part of our magna charta ) in these words , militibus qui per loricas terras suas defendunt terras dominicarum carucarum suarum quietas ab omnibus geldis & ab omni opere proprio dono meo concedo , ut sicut tam magno gravamine alleviati , sunt in equis & armis , se bene instruant ut apti & parati sint ad servitium meum & ad defensionem regni mei ; that the knights which hold by knight-service , and defend their own lands by that tenure , shall be acquitted of all geldes and taxes of their demesn lands , and from all other works upon condition , that as they being freed from so great a burden , they be at all times ready with horses and arms , for the service of the king and defence of the kingdom : which being long after found out , produced , and read by stephen langton , to the earls and barons of england , and abbots and others of the clergy , assembled in st pauls church in london , in the great contest which was betwixt king john and his barons about their liberties , gavisi sunt gaudio magno valde ( saith matthew paris ) & juraverunt omnes in presentia dicti archi-episcopi quod viso tempore congruo pro hiis libertatibus , si necesse fuerit , decertabunt usque ad mortem ; they greatly rejoyced , and did in the presence of the said arch-bishop swear , that if need were they would contend even to death for those liberties : and is at this day so little misliked in france , as an ancient counsellor of estate of that kingdom , in the reigns of the great henry the fourth of france , and his son lewis the thirteenth , in his discourse of the means of establishing , preserving and aggrandising a kingdom , is of opinion that those fieffs , nobles , and tenures by knight service , ought to have an exemption , as they there have , of all manner of taxes and impositions , for that they are to hazard their lives pour la defence de l'estat , for the defence of the kingdom . if where lands are holden in socage of the king or any other person , and there be a wardship by reason of the said lands holden of the king in capite , or pour cause de garde of some other that holds in capite and is in minority , the lands which are found to be holden of the king or any other mesne lord in socage , being taken into consideration only as to the fine for the marriage , may not be put under any rent or lease to be made by that court , but be freed as they were frequently and anciently by writs sent to the escheators , now extant and appearing upon record . that primer seisins be taken away and no more paid . that the king shall in recompence thereof have and receive of every duke or earl that dieth seised of any lands or hereditaments in capite and by knight-service , the sum of two hundred pounds ; of every baron two hundred marks ; of every one else that holdeth by a knights fee , proportionably , according to the quantity of the fee which he holdeth , twenty pound for a reliefe . that incroachments upon wast grounds and high ways , which are holden in capite , shall be no cause of wardship or paying any other duties incident to that tenure , if it shall upon the first proof and notice be relinquished . that in case of neglecting to petition within a moneth after the death of the tenant in capite , or otherwise concealing any wardships , or not suing out of livery , if upon information brought , issue joyned , and witnesses examined , or at any time before hearing or tryal of the cause , the party offending or concerned shall pay the prosecutor his double costs , and satisfie the king the mesne rates , he shall be admitted to compound . that only escuage and service of warr ( except in the aforesaid cases of the arch-bishop of canterbury and some few others ) and all other incidents except wardships , due by their tenants which hold of them by knight-service , be reserved to mesne lords , & that the reliefs of five pounds for a whole knights fee , or proportionably according to the quantity of lands of that kinde of fee holden , shall be after the death of every such tenant twenty pounds , and proportionably as aforesaid . that to lessen the charges of escheators and juries for every single office or inquisition to be found or taken , after the death of every tenant in capite & by knight-service , the time of petitioning within a moneth after the death of the ancestor may be enlarged to three moneths , and the shire , town , city , or principal place of every county be appointed with certain days or times for the finding of offices , to the end that one and the same meeting , and one and the same jury , with one and the same charge , or by a contribution of all parties concerned may give a dispatch thereunto . that the unnecessary bonds formerly taken in the court of wards at s. d. or s. charge upon suing out of every diem clausis extremum , or writ to finde an office obliging the prosecution thereof , may be no more taken , when as the time limited for petitioning to compound for wardships , and the danger of not doing of it , will be ingagement sufficient . that grants , leases , and decrees of the court may not ( to the great charge of the people ) be unnecessarily as they have been at length inrolled with the auditors of that court , when as the same was done before by other officers , in other records of that court to which the auditors may have a free access , and at any time take extracts out of them . that a severe act of parliament be made against such as shall mis-use or waste any wards estate , lands , woods , and timber committed or granted to them , or any personal estate which belongeth unto them , or shall not give them fit education , or shall disparage them in their marriages , or marry them without any competent portion , or shall not within a moneth after the death of such ward , or coming to his age of one and twenty years make a true accompt and payment unto the said ward , or his heirs or executors , of all that shall be by them due and payable to him or them by reason of the said wardship , upon pain of forfeiture to the use of the said ward , his heirs or executors , besides the said moneys due and payable to the use of the said wards , double costs and damages expended or sustained therein . and that if any thing of grievance shall appear to have been in the compositions for royal pourveyances , or in cart taking , which that which was called a parliament did ( shortly after the death & murder of the king ) very much mistake , when in their declaration sent into all the parts of the world of the causes and reasons of their erecting a commonwealth , they were pleased to averr ( that which the people of england know how to wonder at , but not to make affidavit of ) that they exceeded all their taxes and assessments laid upon the people . and that if the manage of those antient customes should require some better order to be taken , there may be such a reiglement as may consist with his majesties honor and profit , and the ease and good of his people . or if a tryal and experiment be to be given the people , or those ( who like children will trouble a kinde and tender hearted parent with requests and importunities to give them stones instead of bread and scorpions for fishes ) of the inconveniences of taking away of antient land-marks , and good old lawes and customs , tryed and approved in this nation for more then one thousand years , and a great deal more in others , and the greater and more to be feared inconveniences of excises , losses , and damage to the royal revenue , and committing the tutelage , protection and ordering of the best families of the kingdom and their estates during their minorities to the prey and ill management of those that can get them , and will never so well execute those trusts as the king , who hath not , nor can ( as they ) have any private passions , interests or concernments to carry him out of the waies of justice . and that if such or the like regulations to be added by his majestie or his counsell will not be enough to perswade the people from being pelo's de se , or longing for their own ruines . the act of parliament intended to take away tenures in capite and by knight-service , may be with a reservation of escuage service in warr and homage , without the incidents of wardships , and be but as a probationer to continue untill three years , and the next ensuing parliament after that time expended , which may either continue the act or suffer it to expire . which with other regulations which may be made in separating from the right use any abuses which may be found to have crept into those seminaries of honor , that standing , more noble , and more obliged militia , that legal and antient constitution or the management thereof , and giving if need be some better rules and orders , may preserve unto the king and his successors that great part of his regal jurisdiction and power to defend himself and his people , and to the people that most antient and fundamental law which is attended by many other fundamentals , customes , rights , & usages in relation & affinity to it not to be parted withall , keep us from serò sapiunt phryges , the fate of those that would rather repent bitterly and too late , then yield to those counsels or admonitions which might have prevented it ; and from a worse complaint , by as much as the whole differs from a part , made by monsieur la noüe , that great captain and soldier of france , in the raigns of their francis the first , and our henry the eight , and edward the sixth , of the alienation and decay of the feiffes nobles and arrierebans , by granting them in mortmaine and to roturiers , or men ignoble , wherein he informs us , that francis the first and henry the second ( kings of france ) did do all they could to reduce them to their former order , and was of opinion that barbarians have better observed that policie in government then christians , and that the obligation of those military tenures sont bien estroites , are very binding , et avec lesquelles les roys de france par l'espace de sept cent ans ont faites choses memorables , and wherewith the kings of france have for seven hundred years atchieved great things . that the wings of our eagle may not be clipped , nor the paws of our lyon , which is to defend his kingdoms and people , lamed , lessened , or cut shorter , that the common and poorer sort of people may not ( as they do begin already ) complain that the nobility and gentry have to ease themselves bound heavy burdens upon them , that we may not ( as bodin relates of henry the second king of france ) fall into his mistake , who raising a great taxe upon the people whereby to free them from the ravage and insolencies of the hired soldiers , found it afterwards to be an increase of their grievances . that the people may not do by their fundamental lawes ( which they were but lately much in love with , and called their birth-rights ) as some young prodigals do by their fathers dearly gained lands , sell them for a mess of potage with coloquintida in it , which would be a greater folly then the hungry esau committed ; or as some young gentlemen do , when ( to get or save a little money ) they pull down their ancestors antient , great , and hospitable houses , and sell the timber , lead , and materials thereof , to put themselves in a more speedy way of ruine . that our king ( who in extent of his dominions and the antiquity of his royal blood and descent is superior to the most of kings and inferior to none ) may not be lesse then they in his tenures or the dependency of his people , but be girt with as much power and majestie as his glorious progenitors . that the mighty men and the men of warr may continue , that the ensigne of the people , nor the watchmen upon mount ephraim may not be taken away , that the vintage may not fail and the gatherings not come , that his servants may not ask ▪ where is the corn and the wine and not be known in the streets , but may ( as king solomons ) every man in his course lack nothing , that their children ( as it was of that wisest of kings servants , when nehemiah long after returned with the children of israel from captivity ) may be found in the registers , that the splendor & magnificence of the kings of englands courts ( farr surpassing those of france , spain , the emperors of germany , and all other christian princes ) may not be impaired or diminished , and that our pathes and the glory of our lebanon and excellency of sharon and the foundations of many generations may be restored . — casus cassandra canebat . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a -e spelmans glossar . . reg. . , . reg . , , . nchem. . . sigonius de repub. athen. lib. . . & . martin : cromerus , lib. . de regno poloniae . bignonius in notis ad lib. . marculfi . rosinus de antiquitat rom. lib. . . . lib. . cap. . ll wisigoth . lib. . tit . . ll ripuar . tit . . cujacius tit . . ad . cod . iustinian tacitus in vita ridley's view of the civil and ecclesiastical law. h. . cap. . reg. . v. . & . sam. . . claus. h. . socage . copy-hold . northern tenant-right . lease-holders . free socage . beraultus in commentar . & spelmans glossar . . & in verb. leta , . trin. . e. . in placit inter abbatem de leicester & abbatem de selby . notes for div a -e escuage . homage . relief . primer seisin . livery . mesne races . marriage . rents . licences to widdows holding in capite by knight service to marry . to compound with copy-holders . fines taken by the court of wards upon the grants of lands in minority . bodin . de repub . coke in praefat . . relat. instructions or directions of king james to be observed in the court of wards . coke . part : institut . . fitz herberts n b. . . e. . cap. . rot. parl. . r. . n. . mat. paris , . la noüe discours politicques . bodin . lib. , de repub. a discourse of the nature, use and advantages of trade proposing some considerations for the promotion and advancement thereof, by a registry of lands. preventing the exportation of coyn. lowering the interest of money. inviting foreign families into england. child, josiah, sir, - . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a wing c estc r this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) a discourse of the nature, use and advantages of trade proposing some considerations for the promotion and advancement thereof, by a registry of lands. preventing the exportation of coyn. lowering the interest of money. inviting foreign families into england. child, josiah, sir, - . [ ], , [ ] p. printed, and are to be sold by randal taylor, near stationers-hall, london : . by sir josiah child. the words "a registry .. into england." are bracketed together on title page. reproduction of the original in the british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng interest -- early works to . land titles -- registration and transfer -- england -- early works to . great britain -- commerce -- early works to . - tcp assigned for keying and markup - aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a discourse of the nature , use and advantages of trade . proposing some considerations for the promotion and advancement thereof , by a registry of lands . preventing the exportation of coyn. lowering the interest of money . inviting foreign families into england . from slender hints , men serious and discerning , may gain experience that is worth the learning . london : printed , and are to be sold by randal taylor , near stationers-hall , . a discourse of the nature , use and advantages of trade . when fallen man was driven out of paradice , the heavy charge imposed on him was , that in the sweat of his face he should eat his bread : and he who first was made of clay , must receive his nourishment and sustenance from the earth . his body must be daily coveting the necessaries of life ; and his mind as earnestly pursuing the vanities and superfluities thereof . thus thro' the whole course of humane life is mankind destined to labour and trouble , as the sparks fly upward ; and all his industrious efforts after the good things of this world , determined in vanity and vexation of spirit . 't is true , in the infancy of the world , men contented themselves with the natural produce of the earth ; and it sufficed them to injoy such fruits and benefits thereof , as that portion of land where their lot fell did properly afford them . but when the inhabitants of the earth began to increase and multiply ; those who had first gained the possession thereof , and assumed to themselves a distinct propriety and right therein , had excluded the succeeding race of men , from all other livelihood and subsistance , but what was subordinate to , and dependant on such proprietors , who having power and means to support them , did thereby claim a right of dominion over them . then men began to build cities , and constitute societies , and propose to themselves establish'd laws , and rules of government and commerce . and as men were more and more dispersed over the face of the earth , they discovered , that the productions thereof were various in some places and countries , from those of others . that some countries abounded in corn , cattel and woods : some in drugs , spices and balsoms : some in minerals , gems and precious stones ; and severally produced things of different kinds and natures . and hence man's restless mind became transported , with a fond desire of possessing and trying all things . and tho' an easie portion of natures bounties did suffice to answer the ends of life ; yet the treasures of the universe were not sufficient to satisfie the pride of life , or give content to the unaccountable desires of boundless imagination . what men could readily possess and injoy , were of little esteem , and soon became indifferent ; but things novel and of difficulty to be acquired , were accounted valuable ; even apes and peacocks , if but far fetch'd and dear bought , were thought creatures of ornament and diversion . and those commodities which one country did most readily part with , were as earnestly coveted and sought for by another . mens curiosities increased with their discoveries , and their inventions were wrackt , to find out arts and ways of building ships , wherewith to plow the ocean , and descry the remotest parts of the earth , and searching after the hidden treasures thereof . the use and nature of all those secrets , were industriously inquired into , and mens contrivances were set on work , to make those things desirable for ornament or luxury , which were no way needful for common use. kings and princes had their crowns and scepters beset with gold and precious stones ; their palaces and thrones supported and adorned with marble , ivory and cedar ; their chambers beautified with the choicest paintings and carvings ; their beds and furnitures inriched with the costliest tapestries and imbroideries , and their cloaths and linnen sweetned with the noblest perfumes ; their tables replenished with all those delicacies , that art and nature could contribute , to indulge and gratifie the nicest appetites . every subordinate degree of men in proportion to their abilities studied to imitate , if not outvie each other in profuseness : and those of the meanest condition , were only deficient in power , not in good will , to be as vain glorious and extravagant as the greatest . nevertheless , there are excellent ends in all the instances of natures varieties and productions thereof , differing in so many several countries , from each other ; and the indefatigable labour of men , in their anxious endeavours , to possess and injoy them . and all those excellent arts and inventions that have been studied , to improve and apply them , to the several purposes of curiosity and delight ; have created most infinite and profitable occasions of traffick and commerce : and the various measures and methods of making all things subservient to man's use or pleasure , are so many providential circumstances of susteining those millions of people , that might starve for want , had they not opportunities of ministring to those that abound in plenty . there is much of innocency and ingenuity in many arts and sciences ; in the various manufactures and painful imployments , whereby the greatest part of mankind support themselves , in the exercise of their several faculties ; their business keeps them free from passions ; they are generally sedate and composed in their minds ; and in their recesses from their labour , they eat their bread with chearfulness . since therefore man is placed in a sphere of activity , and either of choice or necessity , will always be contriving and acting something , more or less significant , to busie or profit himself withal . i hope it may not be improper , to offer some short reflections upon a subject matter , wherein the greatest part of mankind are so industriously concerned and imployed . now the great ends and use of trade and commerce , are for our mutual accommodation , whereby such occasional interchanges of one thing for another , become a just measure of property , betwixt man and man ; the chief inducements and motives thereto , being created from a desire of pleasure or profit . thus , when men are possessed of some things , wherewith they are satiated ; they either sell them for money , or exchange them for some other thing , without regard to any gain thereby , or any other end , but that of pleasing their own fancy . sometimes men part with such things as they can well spare , for what they have a greater need of , for their present accommodation ; but without any design of enriching themselves thereby ; but the principal part of trade , consists in such sort of commerce , in the disposal whereof , men propose to themselves some gainful advantage . and from the various opportunities of men's ministring to each others pleasures or necessities , is the great concern of trade , supported and maintained . and the principal advantage and foundation of trade in england , is raised from that wealth which is gained out of the produce of the earth . the proprietors whereof having a greater proportion of lands , then they alone can manage to advantage , are thereby induced to let out the same to tenants , who by contracts and stipulation with their landlord , do render some certain rent for what they hold and injoy . hence the painful husbandman becomes interested and concerned to imploy his utmost labour in the cultivation of the earth , and improving every species that may be gained thereout , and turning the same to profit . the surplus and benefit whereof beyond the rent reserved to be paid , being properly his own , and becomes a competent livelyhood to himself and family . and from this labour of the husbandman , are derived many other improvements of trade , in the disposal of those treasures which he hath raised out of the earth by his industry and pains . his corn gives trade and imployment to the miller , the baker , the maulster and the brewer ; besides his several other grains , and seeds , and fruits , and herbs , which imploy and support as many several callings : by his grass he increases and nourishes all sorts of cattle , and they support the butcher , the tanner , and many other trades ; his wooll gives trade to the clothiers ; his milk , and cheese , and butter supply the markets with necessary food ; his timber is imployed in building ; his clay in making brick and tile ; his mines of iron , lead , tin and coals , besides many other particulars , too tedious to be enumerated , give maintenance to an infinite variety of trades and manufactures , that in a wonderful manner depend upon , and are subordinate to each other ; all which are to be accounted as so many flourishing branches , derived out of this principal stock of good husbandry . thus we see how great a part of the people of this nation , who have no propriety in the soil thereof , yet by cultivating and improving the same to the best advantage , and applying the produce thereof , to be imployed in manufactures , and transferring the same from one to another in a way of traffick and commerce , obtain a distinct and peculiar interest in the general wealth of the nation , by the several benefits accruing to themselves , and greatly contribute to the weale-publick . as land therefore is so principal a fund of trade , it may not be improper to consider , whether it be not the interest of england , that the lands of ireland should be improved as much as may be , that out of the produce thereof , the great advantages of trade and commerce may be equally incouraged , and promoted there 〈◊〉 here . and that england and ireland should have one joynt interest , and by uniting the strength of both , they should become thereby considerably more powerful . for this is certain , that england has sustained no prejudice by uniting the dominions of wales to it ; nor is london the poorer , because several towns in england have fall'n into a great way of trade , and thereby grown rich ; for in the one case , the wealth and trade of england is greatly increased and advanced , by the addition of so much more land to it , and of so much more traffick and commerce that is gained out of the produce of it ; and so many more hands and purses are thereby rendred contributary on all emergent occasions , to the assistance and support of the publick government . and in the other case , london , as it is the metropolis , and the principal seat of majesty and government , of the administration of justice , and directing the laws and methods of trade , it is sure to partake in a plentiful measure of all the benefits and advantages that may arise from the increase of trade in any other places under the same dominion and government : but time and experience only can be able to remove and over-rule the mistaken prejudices , and private interests , that too unhappily obstruct at present so just an undertaking . another foundation of trade is created from the fishery of the seas , the particular advantages whereof , having been truly represented in several discourses set forth on that subject ; i shall only make mention of it in this place , and could wish that so certain and continual imployment for seamen , and so great an occasion of trade and commerce , may receive a publick and lasting establishment . and from these two fundamentals of trade , is derived the great opportunity of traffick from mutual commerce , where merchants buy commodities purely to sell again , or exchange the commodities of one nation , for those of another , for no other end , but that of their own private benefit and profit . by which medium of mutual commerce , the riches of our own country are not only communicated to infinite numbers of families at home , through whose hands our native productions and manufactures do pass , before they are finally disposed of , but the surplus , which is transported to the remotest parts of the habitable known world , does not only maintain a correspondence with mankind , and tends to the civilizing the unsociable tempers of many barbarous people , but accommodates our own nation with much of their treasures , and very much helps to support our navigation , wherein consists our greatest safety , strength and honor. from hence it is observable , how unprofitable the institution heretofore was of lazy monks and fryars in this nation ; how little of religion , and less of charity there was in such endowments , where the fat of the land was devoured by a generation of people , that were no way serviceable , or instrumental towards the publick good , whereof every man's experience cannot but be a self-conviction and whoever compares the state and condition of england , holland and france , since they have applyed themselves to trade and navigation with that of spain , or any other nation that is less conversant in merchandize , cannot but acquiesce in this truth , that nothing can so effectually maintain and support the power and glory of a nation , as traffick and commerce . the intent therefore of this discourse is not to instruct men in their particular way of trade , how to manage the same to the best advantage ; for every man 's own experience , is the best director for such purposes ; and every man 's private interest is the strongest persuasive to the promotion of his own concerns . i shall only propose three general considerations wherein foreign trade may be beneficial , or injurious to the nation . the chief design of this treatise being to represent several instances , whereby the great advantages of trade in this nation are obstructed and prevented , for want of such provisions in the law , as may be reasonably wished for , and endeavoured towards the promotion of so great a concern . and first , it must be allowed , that all sorts of commerce that incourages the manufacture , or at least , the disposal abroad of such commodities as are of our native growth , and are not necessary to be consumed at home , are of general benefit , and ought to be promoted secondly , all such commerce as brings in no more than is carried out , tho' it do not enrich the nation , yet it is beneficial , in respect to those families that gain a profitable livelihood by transferring so many commodities from one hand to another . thirdly , such commerce as in it self is unprofitable to the nation , yet if it procure to us collateral advantages that are profitable , it may be allowed ; but such commerce as serves purely to the support of luxury , and tends in all other respects to the impoverishment of the nation , is as much as may be to be restrained by law. trade , therefore having such peculiar excellencies , that it is a just and certain measure of acquiring a property in any thing , and is communicable to all , in proportion to their qualifications of industry and ingenuity . that it is a an universal method of transferring wealth from hand to hand , whereby millions of people are imployed and susteined ; and men's necessary occasions are thereby mutually supplyed , without the violent and inhumane contrivances of rapine and force ; and that it is the greatest security and preservation of our publick honour and welfare . it may not be improper to reflect on such impediments as have obstructed trade , and propose some considerations , whereby the same may more effectually be advanced . now as the produce of land is a principal foundation of trade ; and the good management of land gives the greater life and vigor to trade : so it must be consider'd , that money is the common standard and valuation of most commodities in traffick and commerce ; and if such money be wanting when commodities are exposed to sale , a great part of trade is prevented thereby ; the command of ready money giving more easie and quick dispatches and returns in trade , then can possibly be effected without it , wherefore it is our publick interest , that coin should be continually passing from one to another ; in the disposal whereof , there is always something of gain to both parties , having their ends in traffick , tho' in different respects . and since all men cannot imploy their money in trade , but that the impediments of birth in some that are above it ; of age in some that are past it ; of sex in others ; and in some that of sloth and idleness render them uncapable of disposing their money in a way of commerce ; it follows of consequence , that unless some proper incouragement be contrived for such to lend their money to others , that can and will trade therewith ; so much trade will be wanting in the nation , by how much money lies hoarded up in chests from those impediments . so that , notwithstanding the great advantages of trade , whereby all persons are under a possibility of improving their fortunes , in proportion to their parts and industry ; yet there will be a great deficiency in trade , where land cannot be safely transferred from one to another ; and money cannot as freely be laid out , or lent , without mens apprehensions of being cheated and defrauded . thus , a person being indebted , but not being able to sell or mortgage his land for payment of such debt , may under such circumstances , be compared to one of the wheels of a clock that is rusty , and thereby impedes the whole motion . as where a gentleman may owe l. to several tradesmen ? to pay which , he would gladly sell , or mortgage his estate ; and a third person , who has a l. lying by him dead , would readily lay it out in a purchase or mortgage , could he do it safely . in this case here are three evils : the person indebted would gladly pay , could he be able to raise the money ; but by reason of the disparagement and distrust that is upon him and his estate , he is forced to fence with his creditors for two or three years ; in the mean while , his creditors prosecute him with chargeable suits ; and having extended the gentleman's estate , he is forced to break up his house and abscond , his family ruined , his estate wasted and untenanted by mismanagement ; and so much trade as would have arisen from the produce thereof , wholly lost , and that estate which was worth l. at first , will not perhaps suffice at last , to pay the creditors their debts and charges . the creditors are likewise injured , for want of their present money ; which in two or three years time , in a course and circulation of trade , might have passed to some advantage , more or less , through the hands of a thousand persons . the monied man is no less injured , having so much money lie dead so long , without making any benefit thereby . so that , unless some provision in the law may be found out , to make men safe and easie in their purchases ; so much trade will be lost in the nation , as shall from time to time be obstructed ; where men cannot readily dispose of their estates to answer their conveniences ; since all sales and mortgages imply a necessary occasion of laying out so much money ; no man ever parting with land for money , on purpose to hoard it up ; tho' many hoard up money , for want of an opportunity to dispose of it . and here it may be considered , for promoting the credit , and securing those priviledges which land is justly intitled to ; whether publick taxes that are laid on land , might not much better be laid on the produce thereof , by way of excise , and by easing those few that are the proprietors of land , to lay it on those many that raise their estates out of the produce of land , since every burthen that is supported by few hands , feels much heavier than what is susteined by a land tax ; being like the digging and cutting up the roots of trees for fuel , which might more safely and conveniently be gained from the branches . for , suppose a tax were laid on iron , lead , tin , salt , wool , leather , tallow , corn , hay , and on plate , glass , brick , earthen ware , paper ; and many manufactures in this nation , which pay no customs or taxes . [ the burthen of such an excise would be susteined by so many persons , that it would be insensible ; and the price and credit of land being hereby supported , men would more readily bestow their money in the purchase , as well as their labour and pains in the improvement of it . another consideration may be concerning money , which is not only the just valuation of all commodities , but it is also valuable in it self , upon its certain and constant intrinsick worth ; and is to be accounted a part of the wealth of the nation . every occasion therefore , of exporting it in specie , without bringing in as profitable a return of money in a circulation of trade , tends to the impoverishment of the nation , and brings a manifest decay on trade ; money being as necessary for the carrying on of trade , as nerves and sinews are for the motion of the natural body . for , if there be a scarcity of money , there will be a deadness of trade ; even amidst the greatest plenty of commodities ; as may be seen in those countries , that have no other accommodation for disposing their commodities , but by exchanging and bartering one merchandize for another ; wherein there is much of difficulty and trouble , with little profit ; and is mostly undertaken for necessity sake . and it is an unhappy mischief , where the intrinsick value of our money , by exceeding of other countries , gives an incouragement to such exportations ; as if our money being three pence in the crown better than in other countries . a foreign merchant should export a thousand pounds of our coyn into france , and by new coyning it there , get five per cent. and then bring over a thousand pounds worth of wine , and having sold it here , he then exports another thousand pounds , and by new coyning it there , should get five per cent. more ; hereby two thousand pounds are exported , never to be retrieved ; and one hundred pounds are gained thereby , besides the profits in the commodity sold here ; so that , unless some provision may be made to prevent such advantages in exporting our coyn , a great part thereof , will inevitably be drawn into foreign parts . from whence it may be questioned , whether it be not of publick concern ; when a proper opportunity presents to new coyn all our money ; with such regard had to the allay of other countries , that it shall not be the interest of any to export it , for the sake of new coyning it elsewhere . it may likewise be considered , whether the advancement of trade is not greatly prevented , by the unaccountable humour of having so much plate in every family ; which if turned into coyn , would infinitely promote the general trade ; but while it remains in plate , is of no more publick benefit , then if it were buried in the bowels of the earth ; while so many other manufactures are neglected , that would otherwise be imployed to supply the use and ornament of plate . another consideration may be concerning the interest of money ; which with great reason and justice , ought to be limited to such a rate , as may be consistent with the circumstances of borrowers ; whereby they may be inabled to answer their own ends in borrowing , as well as the others gain in lending . as if it be , a country gentleman that borrows on a mortgage ; his end is , chiefly to prevent the present sale of his land , in hopes of some favourable opportunity , to pay the debt some other way ; and having occasion to borrow one thousand pounds , sets out threescore pounds per annum ; which he could have sold for so much money , and lays by the profits every year , to pay the interest . now , if he pays but four per cent. for interest ; perhaps , he may raise forty pounds per annum , clear of all charges , out of the sixty pounds per annum , wherewith to pay the interest ; but more than that , he cannot hope to clear out of threescore pounds per annum : nor if the lender had purchased the same estate , could he have made clear of all charges , more than forty pounds per annum ; so that , it is plain , that four per cent. is the full value of the increase of money , with respect to purchases and mortgages ; and consequently , if he pays two per cent. more than he can raise by the benefit of the money borrowed , he must run insensibly in debt ; and the cankered excess of usury shall devour the gentleman's estate in a competent time , at two thirds of the real value , be the gentleman never so painful and industrious to prevent it . it is therefore most clear , that no man can with a good conscience take more interest on any security by mortgage , then the profits of land will answer on a purchase . or if one thousand pounds were lent to a trader , unless he can have it at l. per cent. as it is lent in other countries , he can neither afford to buy so dear by l. per cent. nor sell so cheap as forreign merchants if he pays l. per cent. more for his money , and consequently , must either be beat out of his trade , or forgoe so much of his reasonable profits , as upon any contingent losses , may hazard his undoing , while the lender secures a certain exorbitant gain out of the unprofitable returns of the unsuccessful merchant : or if the trader by purchasing his money at too high an interest , do therefore inhance the price of his commodity , the generality of the people become the sufferers thereby . such a dead weight , and of so pernicious consequence , is the payment of l. per cent. more than the common interest in foreign countries ; that in bearing too hard upon the merchant , it overwhelms his trade , and destroys all that traffick in his ruine , which might have been carried on by him , and by his means , derived with good advantage to many others , or else inforces him to inhance the price of his commodities , to the oppression of the subject , which is a publick grievance , and ought in no sort to be indulged for the particular benefit of the selfish lender . nor will there be any severity or injustice in restraining the interest of money to l. per cent. since foreign nations that cannot pretend to have more plenty of money than england , do constantly lend at l. per cent. or under , as being convinced , that it is an adaequate interest for the use of money , where a proportionable share of the profit of such money , is as justly due to the borrower , imploying the same in trade , as to the lender for the usu-fruit thereof . live and let live , is an honest and usual saying in trade ; and if the unconscionable usurers , insatiable thirst after ungodly gain , will not permit him to say so . the law may with great justice compel him to do so ; for wherever common convenience or necessity requires any thing to be done for the publick welfare , every man owes a conformity thereto , and many be restrained by law from doing otherwise . upon this reason is grounded , the statute directing the price of bread and beer , to be limited from time to time according to the price of corn. and all ingrossers , regraters and forestallers are prohibited to trade in a way so injurious to the publick ; and one weight and one measure is required to be observed in buying and selling , to prevent the crying evils of extortion and oppression , whereby men are inhibited from making any private gain to themselves , that is inconsistent with the common convenience of the publick . there are many arguments that may be brought against the cursed vice of extortion , whereof excessive usury may be accounted a principal species ; but such as will not be convinced by these two plain instances of lending upon mortgages , or in trade , will be very deaf to any other perswasions with , but the compulsory obligation of law , which is well known to have had a good effect in reducing interest from eight to six per cent. for which benefit the nation might have waited long enough , if the usurer's conscience had still remained a law to himself . and since the general use of trade was never intended to be an occasion of inriching one man by the impoverishment of another , but to be a universal support to mankind , by a medium of traffick and commerce , to communicate and impart to each other , the conveniences of life , the law has frequently interposed to oblige perverse and refractory men to comply with such rules and measures in trade , as have been thought most conducing to the general good of a nation . nor will it excuse to say , men are not compelled to take up money at interest , and if they find they cannot afford to give l. per cent. for money , they may forbear to carry on a greater trade then their own money will enable them to undertake ; for the government having an interest in the promotion of trade , is consequently interested in the welfare of every person that may be instrumental thereto ; and is concerned to see them , not only accommodated , but as much as may be , incouraged in all things tending to the advancement of traffick and commerce . thus the law requires inn-keepers to accommodate travellers at a reasonable price ; and the like constraint is by law on butchers , brewers , bakers , and others , to sell their victuals at a reasonable price ; and yet these persons have as much , and as good a propriety in their respective commodities , as any man has in his money ; and it might as well be said , that men are not under a necessity to buy of the butcher , for that they may kill their own victuals , if they please : but money being as essential to trade as victuals are , to the support of life ; and the publick interest , being alike concerned in the circumstances of both cases ; they both fall under the same reason in the law , and are equally subjected to the same considerations and measures of justice . a further consideration for the improvement of trade , may be by a reasonable endeavour , to multiply our people ; for as land cannot yield its utmost increase , but through men's labour and pains ; nor can such increase be improved to the best advantage , but by the application of many hands : and since there are many parts of england uncultivated , that would maintain thousands of families in way of farming ; and ten times as many thousand families would be maintained in subserviency , out of the trade and manufacture that would necessarily arise from the produce of such farms . it follows then of consequence , that the nation is deficient in the want of so much wealth and plenty , as might be gained by the increase and assistance of so many thousand people . to effect which great advantages , the gentry of england may please to bethink themselves , how much it is there interest to reside in those countries where their estates lye ; and may , if they please , consider how much it is their duty by a tacite condition annexed to that estate , that is descended on them from their ancestors , by their example : authority , incouragement and assistance , to preserve good government and good husbandry among the many inferior people in their neighbourhood , by which means , and by repealing such rigorous laws , as drive our people beyond the seas ; and by putting the laws in execution against those many that live idly in and about london , and elsewhere , who subsist mostly by stealing , or cheating , or such like indirect courses , many such persons would be glad to forsake their present habitations , and wicked course of life , and returning to their own countries , betake themselves to a way of husbandry . another defect , is the imprisonment of men's persons for debt , which seldom or never procures the payment of what is owing , and yet many an unfortunate man , who by reason of his poverty , could no longer continue a master , might , if he had his liberty , become a useful servant , and thereby contribute something to the publick ; but while he continues in prison , he is not only unserviceable to himself and his creditors , but unprofitable and buthensome to his country , in respect of that charity that is thereby diverted from the sick and infirm , in relieving these walking ghosts , or men halfe buried alive , while the nation is deprived of the service and benefit of those thousands of people that labour under such hard circumstances , to which they are subjected by a barbarous inhumanity , indulging revenge , purely for revenge sake . but i rely not on either of these expedients , for i fear there is too much infatuation in the world , to expect any such conduct in the one case , and too little charity to expect so much good nature in the other . the most effectual remedy therefore may probably be this . to grant one general freedom and priviledge for all persons and their families , to come into this kingdom , and enjoy the benefit of our laws , equally with all other our native subjects , upon some solemn declaration to be by them subscribed , and to be inrolled , whereby they shall promise an entire submission and subjection to this government , and take the oath of allegiance , which would be a sufficient caution and ceremony to introduce them amongst us , without imposing any other test upon them ; that being principally intended and provided to secure us against those that were to be admitted to offices of trust , wherein they might have some influence on the government : but as to the trading part of the nation , it was never apprehended necessary to apply a caution so extraordinary towards such ; nor can it be prudential to create difficulties , that may obstruct the trade and welfare of the nation , where there is more of humour than necessity requiring it ; and perhaps it is not without great offence , that so mysterious and religious a duty should be made subservient to secular ends and purposes . from what has been thus represented , in as short a discourse as the subject matter could be well comprehended ; may be drawn these observations . that trade does contribute in a very great measure , to the honour , strength , wealth and preservation of our government . that the principal foundation of our trade , is derived out of the land and the sea. that the produce of the land and of the sea is improved by manufacture and merchandize . that the multiplicity of people increase manufacture and merchandize . that money is the principal medium , whereby people promote trade . that land which is a substantial valuable and lasting fund ; being made a safe and ready security , whereon money may be borrowed at a reasonable interest : a great part of the coyn that lies dead , would more freely be dispersed , in a circulation of traffick and commerce . finis . whereas his majestie by his gracious letters, bearing date the two and twentieth day of september last to us the lord lieutenant directed, taking notice, that the late commissioners for executing the acts of settlement & explanation, did not by virtue of their commission proceed to the adjudication of any the claims of the transplanted persons to the province of connaught ... by the lord lieutenant and council of ireland, essex. ireland. lord lieutenant ( - : essex) approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a wing i estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) whereas his majestie by his gracious letters, bearing date the two and twentieth day of september last to us the lord lieutenant directed, taking notice, that the late commissioners for executing the acts of settlement & explanation, did not by virtue of their commission proceed to the adjudication of any the claims of the transplanted persons to the province of connaught ... by the lord lieutenant and council of ireland, essex. ireland. lord lieutenant ( - : essex) essex, arthur capel, earl of, - . [ ] leaves. printed by benjamin tooke ... and are to be sold by joseph wilde ..., dublin : . title from first lines of text. statement of responsibility transposed from head of title. imprint from colophon. "given at the council chamber in dublin the th day of june, one thousand six hundred seventy six"--leaf [ ] broadside in [ ] leaves. reproduction of original in the society of antiquaries library, london. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng land titles -- registration and transfer -- ireland. ireland -- history -- - . ireland -- politics and government -- th century. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - robyn anspach sampled and proofread - robyn anspach text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion royal blazon or coat of arms diev et mon droit by the lord lieutenant and council of ireland . essex . whereas his majestie by his gracious letters , bearing date the two and twentieth day of september last to us the lord lieutenant directed , taking notice , that the late commissioners for executing the acts of settlement & explanation , did not by virtue of their commission proceed to the adjudication of any the claims of the transplanted persons in the province of connaught , or county of clare , or to the settlement of anytheir estates or interests , except only the interests of such protestants , who before the first day of september , purchased lands in connaught or clare from the said transplanted persons , so that the estates of the said transplanted persons which continued in their own hands , and were not within that time purchased by protestants , remain subject to much doubt & uncertainty , whereby the improvements of the said lands are very much hindred , and such of the said transplanted persons , as have been dispossessed of the lands set out unto them , have not yet been reprized for the same , according to his majesties declaration of the thirtieth of november in the year ( ) for the settlement of this kingdom of ireland , which hath been since confirmed by act of parliament in this kingdome ; for remedy whereof his majestie hath been graciously pleased by his said letters , to authorize us the lord lieutenant of this kingdom , to cause a commission to be issued under the great seal of this kingdome , directed to such commissioners , as we the lord lieutenant with the advice of the privie council in this kingdom , should think fit to nominiate and appoint , authorizing them or any three of them , to be his majesties commissioners , to hear and determine the claimes of all transplanted persons in the said province of connaught and county of clare , touching the decrees they had , or the lands set out to them in lieu of their former estates , except onely such lands as have been already disposed of , by his majesties late commissioners for executing the acts of settlement and explanation , and to state the quit-rents due to his majestie out of the said lands , and to exammine what irregularities have been in the setting out and disposal of the said lands , and to confirm the just part thereof , and to enquire of all lands forfeited to his majestie by the said acts in the said province and county , and to dispose of all or any such forfeited lands , as are or shall be found to be in his majesties disposall , towards the satisfaction and reprizall of such transplanted interests , as remaine yet unsatisfied or deficient , and to grant certificates thereof , in order to the passing letters patents therupon , in such manner , as certificats were granted by the late commissioners for executing the said acts of settlement & explanation , to any persons whose claims were adjudged before them , and to obserue such instractions , as we the lord lieutenant and council , shall think fit to give unto them , from time to time , for the better execution of the said commission , & his majestie by his said letters hath also authorized us the lord lieutenant , without any further warrant , to pass letters patents under the great seal of this kingdom , upon the said certificates , to the persons therein concerned , according to such estates , as shall be thereby adjudged to belong to them , in such manner and as fully to all intents and purposes , as letters patents have been usually passed upon certificates of his majesties late commissioners for executing the said acts of setlement & explanation , and his majesties hath also thereby further declared , that the said commissioners , and all officers and ministers to be employed by them , shall and may receive such fees and allowances to be payd by the parties whose claims shall be heard before them , as we the lord lieutenant and councill shall think fit to appoint , so as the same do not exceed one moyety of the several fees allowed to his majesties late commissioners , for putting in execution the said acts of settlement , and explanation , and their officers and ministers . and we the lord lieutenant and council in pursuance of his majesties said letters , having nominated and appointed sir robert booth knight , lord chief iustice of his majesties court of common pleas , sir charles meredith knight , chancellor of his majesties court of exchequer , thomas ratcliff esq henry henn esq one of the barons of his majesties court of exchequer , and sir richard reynell knight , one of the iustices of his majesties court of chiefplace , to be his majesties commissioners , for hearing and determining the claims of all transplanted persons in the said province of connaught and county of clare , and to execute all other the matters contained in his majesties said letters , and a commission being since past unto them under the great seal of this kingdome to that purpose . we have thought fit to give this publique notice thereof to all persons concerned in any of the said transplanted lands , and that the said commissioners will begin to sit pupliquely upon the execution of the said commission , on the one and twentieth day of august next , at the place where the late court of claimes sate in the kings inns , dublin . and we do hereby require all persons concerned in any of the said lands , that by themselves or their agents , they do put in their claims before the said commissioners at the office of their register in the kings-inns , dublin , before the said one and twentieth day of august next . and that they do with all convenient speed apply themselves to the said commissioners for the hearing and determining of their said claims , and prosecute the same with effect in such manner and at such time , as by his majesties said commissioners shall be directed , whereof publique notice will be given by the said commissioners , assoon as they shall have agreed upon the order and method of their proceedings . given at the council chamber in dublin the th day of iune , one thousand six hundred seventy six . ja : armachanus . art : granard . hen : midensis . r : coote . heugh : glenaully . rob : fitz-gerald . j : povey . jo : bysse . j : temple . wm : gore . ol : st. george . hans : hamilton . wm : flower . ran : clayton . god save the king dublin , printed by benjamin tooke , printer to the kings most excellent majestie ; and are to be sold by joseph wilde bookeseller in castlestreet . . by the king whereas some of the meaner sort of our people did of late assemble themselues in riotous and tumultuous maner within our countie of northampton england and wales. sovereign ( - : james i) approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a stc estc s ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) by the king whereas some of the meaner sort of our people did of late assemble themselues in riotous and tumultuous maner within our countie of northampton england and wales. sovereign ( - : james i) james i, king of england, - . sheet ([ ] p.). by robert barker, printer to the kings most excellent maiestie, imprinted at london : anno dom. . for suppressing riots against enclosures. other title information from first three lines of text. "giuen at our palace of westminster the thirtieth day of may, in the fifth yeere of our reigne of great britaine, france and ireland." reproduction of original in: society of antiquaries. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng inclosures -- england. land tenure -- england. great britain -- history -- james i, - . broadsides -- london (england) -- th century. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion ❧ by the king. whereas some of the meaner sort of our people did of late assemble themselues in riotous and tumultuous maner within our countie of northampton , sometimes in the night , and sometimes in the day , vnder pretence of laying open enclosed grounds of late yeeres taken in , to their dammage , as they say ; the repressing whereof we did first referre only to the due course of iustice , and the ordinary proceedings of the commissioners of the peace , and other our ministers in such cases : forasmuch as wee haue perceiued since , that lenitie hath bred in them , rather encouragement then obedience , and that they haue presumed to gather themselues in greater multitudes , as well in that countie , as in some others adioyning , we find it now very necessary to vse sharper remedies . wherefore , we will and command all lieutenants , deputy lieutenants , sheriffs , iustices of peace , maiors , bailiffes , headboroughs , constables , and all other our officers and ministers to whom it may appertaine , if the said persons shall continue so assembled , after proclamation made , or any such new assemblies bee gathered in those , or any other parts of our realme , immediatly to suppresse them by whatsoeuer meanes they may , be it by force of armes , if admonitions and other lawfull meanes doe not serue to reduce them to their dueties . for wee cannot but be iustly moued to such seueritie against those , who vniustly throw a slaunder vpon our gouernment , by taking that pretence for their disobedience : seeing it is manifest by acte of parliament , passed since our comming to this crowne , that we haue been careful to preuent such enclosures , and depopulations , & that it hath been an ordinary charge giuen by us to our iustices of assises , when they went to their circuits , to enquire of all vnlawfull depopulations and enclosures , and to take order to remedie the same , and to punish the offenders therein according to the due course of lawe . and it is well knowen to many , that we were now also in hand with some course to bee taken by aduise of our counsell for the performance thereof : from which our good purpose and intent , this their presumptuous and vndutifull proceeding , might rather giue us cause to desist , then increase in us any affection to relieue such disordered persons , so farre attempting against our crowne and dignitie , who chuse rather to trust to their owne pride and rashnes , then to the care and prouidence of their souereigne . willing and commanding all our said lieutenants , deputie lieutenants , shiriffes , and other our officers and ministers aboue mentioned , to attend diligently to the execution of this our pleasure , and all other our louing subiects to be obedient to them in the performance thereof , as they will answere the contrarie at their perill . giuen at our palace of westminster the thirtieth day of may , in the fifth yeere of our reigne of great britaine , france and ireland . god saue the king. ❧ imprinted at london by robert barker , printer to the kings most excellent maiestie . anno dom. . to the honourable, the knights, citizens, and burgesses of the commons house, now assembled in parliament. the humble petition of arundell penruddock, widdow, late wife of john penruddock, esquire, deceased penruddock, arundell. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text r in the english short title catalog (wing p a). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing p a estc r this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) to the honourable, the knights, citizens, and burgesses of the commons house, now assembled in parliament. the humble petition of arundell penruddock, widdow, late wife of john penruddock, esquire, deceased penruddock, arundell. sheet ([ ] p.) s.n., [london : ] imprint from wing. reproduction of the original at the harvard university library. eng england and wales. -- parliament. -- house of commons -- early works to . land titles -- england -- early works to . great britain -- history -- commonwealth and protectorate, - -- early works to . a r (wing p a). civilwar no to the honourable, the knights, citizens, and burgesses of the commons house, now assembled in parliament. the humble petition of arundell p penruddock, arundell a this text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion to the honourable , the knights , citizens , and burgesses of the commons house , now assembled in parliament . the humble petition of arundell penruddock , widdow , late wife of john penruddock , esquire , deceased . sheweth , that oliver cromwell the late pretended protector , having traiterously murdered the late king , by force broken the parliament , and banished his majesty out of his dominions , the petitioners husband , with many others of his majesties loyal subjects in the year . according to their bounden duty , and allegiance , and by virtue of his majesties commission , endeavoured by lawfull arms , the suppression of the forces of the said oliver cromwell , and the restitution of his majesty to his right and kingdomes . but the forces of the said oliver cromwell , under the command of colonel crook over-pouring the petitioners husband and his party , the petitioners husband and his party were taken and imprisoned . and afterwards the said pretended protector , did grant out a commission of oyer and terminer unto john glyn , william steele , serjeants at law , and john lisle , esquire , and others for the tryall of the petitioners husband , and the rest of his party , although contrary to articles made with them by colonel crooke , who afterwards perfidiously denyed them . that the said pretended commissioners , proceeding to execute that commission , caused the petitioners husband ( amongst others ) to be arraigned at exeter , at which try all the said , serjeant glyn , and the rest of the commissioners , refused to allow the petitioners husband any counsell although he took many particular exceptions to the indictment , both for the matter and form . they also declared to the people and jury that to raise forces for his majesty , against the said pretended protector , was treason , within the statute of . edw. . and that arms taken against him , were as against the king , within the meaning of that statute . whereupon , the petitioners husband was by a jury ( which sir john coppleston , the then sheriff ) had maliciously packed and returned for that purpose ) found guilty of treason , and judgement of death being passed upon him , by the said commissioners , he was afterwards beheaded by the command of the said sir john coppleston , to the unexpressible grief and irreparable losse of the disconsolate petitioner , and her fatherlesse children . that captain james dewy in the county of dorset , before conviction , seized upon the estate of the petitioners late husband , to the value of one thousand pound , and converted the same to his own and the pretended protectors use . all which proceedings of the said commissioners being against all right , and justice , and ( as the petitioner believes ) against the consciences and judgements of the commissioners themselves ( they being learned in the laws ) and the commission being onely set on foot to maintain the tyranny and usurpation of the said pretended protector against his sacred majesty . the petitioner in all humility , prayes that although she hath no remedy at law by any appeale , against the said commissioners , yet that the said arbitrary and malicious judgement , given by the said commissioners , contrary to the known laws , may be condemned and reversed . and to the end that the said commissioners may be made exemplary in this punishment , she humbly prayes , that the offence of the said commissioners may be excepted out of the general pardon and oblivion : and that her said husbands estate may be restored by the said dewy and others , who seized the same , to the petitioner and her children . and your petitioner shall ever pray , &c. arundell penruddock . a proposal for the erecting of county registers for free-hold lands shewing the great use and benefit of them. by e.b. esquire. bohun, edmund, - . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a wing a a estc r this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) a proposal for the erecting of county registers for free-hold lands shewing the great use and benefit of them. by e.b. esquire. bohun, edmund, - . [ ], p. printed for richard cumberland, at the angel in st. paul's church-yard; and sold by elizabeth whitlock, near stationers-hall, london : . e.b. = edmund bohun. reproduction of the original in the goldsmiths' library, university of london. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng land titles -- england -- early works to . land titles -- registration and transfer -- england -- early works to . - tcp assigned for keying and markup - aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images - ali jakobson sampled and proofread - ali jakobson text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a proposal for the erecting of county registers for free-hold lands . shewing the great use and benefit of them . by e. b. esquire . london , printed for richard cumberland , at the angel in st. paul's church-yard ; and sold by elizabeth whitlock , near stationers-hall , . a proposal for the erecting of county registers , &c. a motion being made in the house of commons in the reign of queen elizabeth , for leave to bring in a bill to prohibit vsury , a great states-man then in the house opposed it , and concluded his arguments for the continuance of it , with this memorable aphorism , let any man shew me a country without vsury , and i will shew him one without trade or riches . than which none of the mathematical principles are more certain , or self-evident . true it is in the mean time , that no sort of men are , or deserved to be more odious than the griping vsurer ; but then it is the abuse of the thing that makes him so . let him take a reasonable interest for his money , and treat the men he deals with fairly , and upon the square , and no man deserves more love than he . but this is so hard to be expected from that sort of men , that they are feared and suspected before they are guilty of any ill thing . the trust they give is too often abused , and that often makes them think of taking reprizals upon the rest of mankind that have not injured them ; and the distrust they shew is in some sort justified by the ill actions of needy and designing men , that appear what they are not , both for colour and substance , honesty and ability . this is it that makes banks and registers for lands so necessary , that the lender may have a certainty to receive his own again with profit , and the borrower , being delivered from the suspicion of fraud , or ill designs , may not pay for other mens perfidy and breach of trust . as to the several banks now erected i am not against them , they may have their use as to some men : but to turn all the riches of the nation into these channels , must of necessity ruin the nobility and gentry of this nation ; because they will possess at all times such a mass of treasure , that no one single man , how great soever , can defend himself against their united purse and interest . and when they have ruined a few to shew their power , they will become so terrible to the rest , that there will be no other remedy , but to petition them for mercy ; a virtue not often found in single persons , but much rarer in bodies of men ; who dividing or sharing the infamy of an ill action , account each man's share of it so small , that it is not worth regarding ; and the rather , because every individuum of the whole mass will pretend to have had no hand in it , and to be against what the whole doth , and then the poets question is easily admitted ; quid salvis infamia nummis ? who would not be infamous to be rich ? the way between these rocks on the right and left hand is , the opening county registers ; those of single mannors being too small , and those of the whole , or a great part of the nation , too big both for the government , and them that are to deal with them . in these latter banks a man is forced to put the title of his estate into the hands of unknown men before he can be trusted ; and then is trusted no farther , nor longer than they think fit ; because , like a bird , they have him in their talons , and can crush him when they please ; and if he once falls ( and who may not ? ) into the hands of these his masters , he cannot deliver himself , and no man else will dare to do it . but in a county register , the title as well as possession of the estate , remains in the proper owner till he willingly parts with it , or is by law , for good causes divested of it ; and he has only his own creditors to deal with , and if they become unreasonable , he may pay them off , and be take himself to others that will treat him better . all that can be alledged for the bank is , that this is but surmize of what may be , but has never happened . true it is , they are now like the rising sun , pleasant and easie to all ; but if they are once got up to the meridian heighth of power , and setled , then will their scorching heat be felt like the other , but much greater than the libyan ardors , which reach not far into the parched earth ; but these will penetrate to the bowels , and fire the intrails of those lands and owners , which lie under their torrid influence , till they become unhabitable as to their present possessors . yet in the present circumstances , what should miserable men do ? the griping vsurer hovers over them , just ready to seize upon them ; and these dolphins are gaping under them , to catch them in the descent ; and a prey they must fall , sooner or later , to one of them , if the mercy of our representatives in parliament do not deliver these persecuted men. the method i propose is none of my invention ; one mr. yarrington , about twenty years agone , first offered it to the consideration of the nation ; and since that time it has ever been debated : desired by all that had need of it , and opposed by the rest , upon very different grounds and reasons without doubt , but those alledged publickly , none of the best ; and in truth it has some inconveniences , which i shall mention perhaps in the close of this paper . but there is one reason arising from the present circumstances of the nation , that , i hope , is strong enough to surmount all the difficulties that are raised or pretended to ob●●ruct it ; men have struggled as long as they can , and if the nation will not take care of them , they will take the best care they can of themselves , which is the voice of these voluntary banks ; the mischief of which i have hinted at . these going on , will in length of time do all that the county registers would have done , but to the damage of the nation , especially of the gentry and landed men. the old methods , and law-maxims were well enough two or three hundred years agone , when we made no other use of our small ships but fishing and transporting our forces into france : when the elder son was a captain , and all the younger sons soldiers under him or some other great man. then lands pay no debts was a prudent provision for the preservation of families ; but it has ruined more in the last century than it has preserved ; for it they pay no debts they deserve no credit ; and cannot be useful in the way of trade , the much better way of imploying the younger children than that of sending them into the field to be returned back beggars and cripples for the remainder of their wretched lives . trade is now become the darling of mankind , and if the french leviathan did not make war necessary would have beat our swords into plow-shares , and our spears into pruning-hooks , the much more useful and humane instruments , which are attended with the blessing of god and man ; whilst the fruitless lawrels of the proudest victors have ever been deeply drenched in blood and tears , and at last blasted by the curses of both . but then trade and trust are such reciprocals , correlatives each to other , that they must stand and fall together : without trust there can be no trade , and without trade there will not be much wealth , the foundation of trust . were any thing to be imposed upon the rest of the nation , it were no wonder if it met with opposition , but all that is desired is a bare permission for such as please to register their free-hold lands , their quantity and quality , and the values and titles of them , that all mankind may know what incumbrances are upon them , and how far they may with safety rely upon them by way of mortgage or purchase , for the payment of the debts now upon them , and the support of the publick charges , the provision for younger children , and the promoting thereby the trade and commerce of the nation ; which seems not possible to be carried on without such an assistance , but be sure cannot so well be done without it . as some families , so perhaps some counties may not have an equal need or sence of this benefit : let but the south-eastern counties that border near upon london , essex , hertfordshire , cambridgeshire , suffolk , and norfolk , &c. have this liberty , and let the rest that desire it not , be left in statu quo , till they see how those that desire it fare , and then do as they think fit . having thus , by way of introduction , a little opened my way , i come now to the thing mainly intended , and to shew my thoughts upon it , with the reasons of them , that so others may the better judge of them . and first , the reasons why i prefer county registers before one general register in london ( which yet might perhaps do well enough for those counties that border near upon london ) is first , . for the dispersing the wealth , the vital blood of a state , proportionably alike to all the parts of the body politick ; that some may not be over-nourished , and others starved , but that this nutritive juice may be every where , and near at hand to serve all mens emergent necessities . . that the borrower and lender may the more easily transact their affairs and be known each to other ; which is a great foundation of that mutual trust and confidence that ought to be between them . . for the more easie knowledge of the quantity , quality and value of the lands that are to be the funds upon which the trust is built , these to many of the creditors will be known before-hand ; and as to the rest , with small expence , may be viewed and enquired into ; which is difficult to be done in remote and very distant counties , which much alters the value of lands . . for the more easie payment of interest whilst the trust continues , and of the principal when it is to be paid in , to me it seems but reasonable , the borrower and the lender should live like man and wife together , that they may have an eye upon each others demeanour , but with the liberty of taking out a bill of divorce in cause of jealousie on either side . . and to that purpose i would have it as easie for them to part as it was at first to meet ; if there is in the same county a center in which all the money and much of the lands may meet , where the borrower will seldom fail of what he wants , and the lender as rarely be long without a customer for his money : so that a man may pay a debt when he please , without any injury to his creditor : the want of which liberty has been the ruin of many a family , and therefore ought to be taken care of . . not only great , but small sums may be lodged here , which will be a means to bring many a family out of debt . i have known a good husband borrow an hundred pound of five several men , and pay them all off one after another , that could never have paid an hundred pound at one single payment . and this may easily be done in a county register , but is not possible to be done in a general one . the register . next the place , the person , or the register that is to be trusted , is of principal concern ; and , i think , he ought to be a gentleman of good education , and of an estate of two , three , or four hundred pound lands the year within the county , that he may be above the temptation or suspicion of doing mean and unworthy things ; and that he may have wherewith to answer it , if he shall knowingly be guilty of any fraud or cheat , that men may the more willingly trust him with the custody of their writings , and of these precious records . yet i think it were convenient , that he should not be a practising lawyer , but rather an understanding and right honest gentleman , that scorns to trick or be trick'd , and will do right to the poorest and the richest without any respect of persons : altho' there is not many such , yet some such may be found in every county . this person may at first be chosen by the body of the free-men of the county , having lands and tenements to the value of , , , or l. the year , it being too great a concern to be committed to the cottagers of a county , men that have not discretion to choose wisely ; nor very often will they be ruled by them that have : so that as the great concern is that of the great free-holders , they only ought to choose the man they will trust with their estates : and this register ought to be for life , if he be not found guilty of any thing that he shall deserve to be displaced for . but when the register is once established , then the election ought to be made only by those free-holders whose estates are registred , and not by them who have no interest in the person or office. for what reason is it another man , who has neither lands nor writings in the office , should intermedle with that he is not concerned in : and if any man should presume to give his vote not being qualified as above , not only his vote should go for nothing , but he deserves to be prosecuted and fined for invading the property of his neighbours ; nor is it possible too great a care should be taken in this affair . the election in all other things may be managed like that of the kinghts of the shire by the sheriff in the county court by majority of such voices ▪ and the election determined by the sheriff and principal gentry then assembled , and declared by a pair of indentures , one part to be filed in the high court of chancery , and the other in the county register , which is to be the registers commission . and if it be required , a poll and scrutiny admitted , than no doubt may be of the majority of voices . being thus elected , a very strict oath may be given him by the clerk of the peace , in the presence of the sheriff and gentry there present , for the true , impartial and faithful administration of the said office towards all concerned alike . being thus constituted , he may have the authority of a judge of record ; and nothing that is entred or signed by him to be disputed as to the fact in law or equity ; and , i think , he might be allowed to take recognizances for security of money , with the assistance , and in the presence of two or three persons of good worth and quality ; and to state accounts , and do all other acts commonly done by the masters in chancery ; one of which in extraordinary , it were convenient he should ever be reputed to be in the said county , by virtue of the act that appoints the office. the methods of the keeping and the entering the lands and tenements in this register , may be the same that is now used in fines and recoveries ; that is , with the same brevity and perspicuity , reciting the quantity , quality , value of the lands , and in whose occupation they then are , and in what towns they lie . and this may be done in a few words ; and in the close , what title the claiment hath , and what incumbrances there are upon it . and if no more be proved within six months after the said entry , then that to be the title and state of the lands so entered , and for the future no charge to be brought upon them but what shall be there entred , and in the order they are there entred , and no other . all the principal evidences also , or deeds relating to the lands so entred , may at first , at least , be left in the custody of the register till the title is by the act fixed , or transcripts of them to be declared by law , of equal authority with the originals ; and ever after , one deed signed and sealed by all the parties , that recourse may be had to it as often as there is occasion ; which will also be a means of preserving deeds , in case of fires or other such accidents . in case of non-payment , the register , after summoning the party concerned , to deliver the possession to the creditors , without any other suit in law or equity : which would much encrease the value of lands so entered , when the creditor is sure to recover his own again , with small charge , and no hazard . the register also to have power to receive both the use and principal in case of any difference between the lender and the borrower , after the methods of the king's bench , having first summoned the lender to shew cause why the money should not be paid in and the security discharged : and the money being so paid in , to lie in the office till the lender will take it out , or dispose of it otherwise ; the borrower in the mean time being as fully discharged both in law and equity , as if the lender had received the money and acquitted him . the register being thus to be trusted , ought to be accountable for all his servants and under officers , but not for fire , thieves or war , if he has taken the best care he can to secure what is deposited in his hands . or if it be thought too much to trust the register both with the money and the records of this register , then there may be a treasurer appointed for the money , and the other be only the keeper of the records ▪ but then the uniting them in one person comes the nearest to the nature of a bank , and no man that distrusts him will be under any necessity of putting or leaving his money in his hands : so that the trust , if any be , will be purely voluntary . there is nothing to be entred after the first entry but the mortgages ; sales or assignments made upon any estate , which ought always to have reference to the first entry , till the right of the whole or any part is assigned , and passed over to another , and then to begin de novo , as with a new proprietor . no mortgage , jointure , judgment , or recognizance to be taken or admitted in other order , but that of the time when they are entred into the register ; and to take place only upon the remainder after all the prior creditors are paid both use and principal . when any entry is to be made of lands or tenements , the same shall be drawn up by the council of the possessor in paper ; and then be transcribed fairly into the register's book , which shall be of vellum , or very good ment , fairly and strongly bound for continuance : and the party that makes the entry shall have a copy of it in vellum signed by the register , without any rasure or interlineation . and if afterwards any such thing appear in any copy , it shall be taken for false , if it differ from the entry in the book . this book ought to be in english , and written in a fair hand that is known to all men , that every man that can write and read may understand his own copy . the entry of any money lent , to be in some such short form as this : memorandum . the _____ day of _____ in the year of our lord j. s. of _____ in the county of _____ lent to d. g. the proprietor of the _____ sum of one hundred pounds , to be paid with interest at _____ per cent . the _____ day of this form to be used when the money is paid in the presence of the register ; but if otherwise , then the form to be , such an one acknowledged to have received of _____ to prevent any possibility of fraud , a copy of the entry shall be given both to the borrower and the lender , exactly compared and examined by the book , and interchangeably signed by both parties , and also by the register and his clerk ; the same to be indented . the register to have s. for every entry made in the said book , under , or of an hundred pounds the year , and one hundred pounds in money ; s. for two hundred pounds , and so onward ; the greatest sum to be s. and no more to be paid for any entry whatsoever . to have s. for every transcript to be taken out , besides the charge of the copy , for searching and permitting the same to be transcribed . but if there be only a search , and no transcript , then s. only to be paid . that liberty may be given to any mortgagee or lender to enter his right to any free-hold estate upon any mortgage entered before the passing of the act , though the owner of the land has not , or will not , enter or register his lands : and all mortgages that are thus entred in the first six months after the office is opened , to pass according to their dates , but to be preferred before any mortgage , of what date soever it is , that is not entred within the six months , except the mortgage prove , that at that time he was beyond the seas . to prevent surprizes , it may be fit that all the free-hold lands , entred into the register , be fixed upon the market-cross of the next market-town to the lands aforesaid , and also in the parish church ; and that lists of all persons that shall so register their lands , be every term hung up in minster-hall , so that all the world that can be any way concern'd in those lands may have knowledge of it . that it may be declared felony , without benefit of clergy , for any man to register as his own another man's lands ; and that no man be admitted , to register till he has by deeds , exhibited , proved his title , and those deeds to be left for ●●x months in the register . no debt or other incumbrance to be entred upon any lands in the register but in the presece of the owner , or of an attorney at law , authorized so to do by the warrant of the owner , under his hand and seal , attested by three witnesses , and signed and certified to be true , by the next justice of the peace , to the proprietor or owner of the land , and all this made good by the affidavit of the attorney sworn before the register , and filed in the said office. and the attorney that shall make any false entry to suffer as in case of felony . amongst the many objections made against these publick registers , one is , that it will expose the condition of every man's estate to all the world. this will in great part be prevented by the prudence of the register , whoso interest it will be to have the love of all those that are in the register , that it may grow , and with it his profit . and yet he may by law be bound not to expose the condition of any man's estate , but by his own consent , and to such only as are to purchase or lend money upon the same , and such part only as they are to be concerned with . the register ought also to have a competent allowance for all searches certificates , and letters by him written or made , for the satisfaction of any person that is to purchase or lend any money upon any estate that is entred in the said register . besides the fees that will be fit to be allowed to the register , it will be but reasonable , that some small fees should be allowed to clerks imployed to draw up copies , bonds , recognizances , affidavits , and other such-like writings , which will be of frequent use ; and these fees may be regulated by the justices of the peace in their quarter session , and tables signed by them and the register be hung up in the office , that every man may be certain what he is to pay . and also all rules of practice , bye-laws and orders , ought to be hung up , and the same method be used by and towards all that are to transact any thing in the said office. the best place to fix this office in , is the county-town , or some other great place to which the attorneys resort once in every month for the holding the sheriff's court ; and by consequence this affair may be then dispatched without making a journey to no other purpose . the larger the bounds of the office is , the less will the fees of the register be ; whereas , if his bounds are small , he must have the greater fees to make up a sum worth his while : and it is the cheapness and facility of procuring money , that is the benefit designed to the borrower , as certainty and security is to the lender . if we can gain these two points , the principal benefit of lands is gained , which is to make the a funds for carrying on the trade of the nation to the publick and private benefit . that in case of any misfeasance a complaint , bill or information may be filed against the register in the publick assizes for the county by the major part of the grand-jury for the said county ; at which the register shall ever be obliged to be present , and to which he shall immediately plead ▪ and the next following assizes the thing shall be heard and tried by the next grand-jury : the judge and the bench , who shall have a full and final power agreeing altogether ( for each of them is supposed to have a negative voice ) to discharge the said register from his employment , or to fine him as they think fit , without any appeal to any other court whatsoever . and no complaint shall be received against the register as concerning his office , but in the assizes of the same county . it may be presumed ill men will bear ill will against a person that is supposed to have power to force them to be honest , contrary to their inclination . and when the office is once setled , and appeareth to have any profit in it , then envy , covetousness , and all the other ill humours of men will work powerfully against him to get him out that some factious and popular man may get into the place ; against all which the utmost care is to be taken to secure an honest man without encouraging a knave ( if such an one should happen to get in ) to hope for impunity . the same free-holders may , if they think fit , choose a treasurer besides , the register , to take care of all moneys lodged for the said office , or paid into it ; and then the register will only be charged with the keeping the records of the said office. in this office all deeds and wills , relating to free-hold estates especially , might also be recorded for the preservation of them . all that is desired is but this , that all that will may have liberty to register their free-hold lands and tenements , to ascertain the titles and incumbrances that are upon them ; and not that any man that needs it not should be compelled so to do . and that any man that has entred his lands , may withdraw the same again as soon as he has discharged all the debts that were due upon it ; there being nothing designed but the security of purchasers and lenders . this would have these good effects : . it would make the titles of free-hold estates as certain as that of the copy-holds ; of which there is no certainty now by reason of latent deeds . . it would prevent frauds in buying and selling , borrowing and lending . the borrower could not impose upon the lender , because his estate would appear in the register as it was : nor could the lender impose any hard terms upon the borrower , because he would be able , in a short time , to pay him off , and transfer the debt to another man. . this would certainly lower the interest of money ; encrease trade and husbandry . and if liberty were given to transfer the copies , the money lent might be assigned from one man to another , as the bank bills are : so that in time it would be a kind of county-bank ; and money there lodged would be better secured than in any private man's house wheresoever . . the smallest summ , even to five pound , might have land security , and the poorest borrower , or lender , an easie , cheap , and speedy justice . there can nothing be so wisely contrived but it will be attended with some inconveniences ; and i will most readily grant this has many and great inconveniences which will follow upon the setling of it , the prospect of which hath hitherto prevented the obtaining this desired liberty . . this will prevent great numbers of law-suits , for which there will then be no occasion , frequent fines , procuration and continuation money ; which will bring great loss to the lawyers and money-scriveners , and to some of the most thriving usurers . . it will discover those men that have mortgaged their lands two , three , or more times over , and perhaps for more than they are worth . . it will reduce the greater usurers to moderation and fair dealings . i do therefore expect all these men will oppose it to the utmost , as it is their interest to do : for though they cannot take away the integrity of an honest man , yet great care is to be taken it may not be known which are such . for when knaves are once detected they are undone ; and by them the lawyer , money-scrivener , &c. get all their wealth . finis . to the kings most excellent majesty, in parliament. the humble petition of james percy percy, james, - ? approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a wing p bb estc r this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) to the kings most excellent majesty, in parliament. the humble petition of james percy percy, james, - ? [ ], - , [ ] p. s.n., [london : ?] caption title. imprint from wing. reproduction of the original at the harvard university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng percy, james, - ? -- early works to . england and wales. -- parliament -- early works to . land titles -- england -- early works to . inheritance and succession -- england -- early works to . - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion to the kings most excellent majesty , in parliament . the humble petition of james percy . sheweth , that this annexed petition fairly writ , was presented at the bar of the lords house the th . instant . that your petitioner is at a vast charge in keeping his witnesses in town , waiting for an order , and a day appointed , according to the prayer of the said petition . he therefore prays , that your majesty would be graciously pleased to call for the said petition , and cause it to be read ; and that a short day may be appointed , that a fair hearing may be had , to find out the truth , and that justice may be done accordingly : and let it not be said in england , that the innocent are punished , and the guilty go free : but call to mind how merciful god hath been , in restrring your majesty ; even so in pity restore your poor distressed subject . and he shall ever pray , &c. james percy . this petition was presented into his majesties sacred hand , the th of december . to lose such an opportunity as offered on thursday last , and now to trouble so good a king so oft , doubles your petitioner's sorrows . and that which adds to your petitioner's misery , is , that he cannot dispose of his witnesses , till a positive order be had ; for which he humbly prays . note these three following presidents . . the lord of newport begg'd the percies land of the king , for the duke of monmouth , when the duke was in france : but at the duke's return , percy the claimant waited upon the duke , to know his pleasure ; and told him , that my solicitor had betrayed me , for the percies lands were begg'd without the claimant's consent or knowledge . then the duke replied , mr. percy , you shall have a fair tryal at law : and moreover he did promise he would not stand upon priviledge : but when percy was ready for a tryal , then trumpt up priviledge . and mr. ross the duke's agent said , the duke could not set aside his priviledge : but the duke said , if percy proves himself heir , i have no right ; and forthwith sold his interest for an inconsiderable sum of money . . the lord ogle , that married the lady elizabeth percy , would have assumed the name of percy ; and put in a bill to be made an act to settle the lands upon him by act of parliament . . and it is reported that the lord of essex desired that some of those lands might be settled upon him by act of parliament . by this account the lands are yet unsettled : ergo then great reason it is , that the true heir-male of the percies bill should be made an act of parliament , to settle the name , title and estate together again , according to the first settlement confirmed by his ancestors . now your poor distressed and oppressed petitioner humbly and freely offers , for the obtaining of justice , and for the full satisfaction to the kings most excellent majesty , and the right honourable lords spiritual and temporal , and those honourable and worthy members of the house of commons in parliament assembled , ( if it be required and thought convenient , he being very unwilling to offer any thing that might give the least offence , but rather submit to their grave and mature wisdoms ) these proposals following . james percy the claimant and plaintiff , will pay into the hands of any trustees that shall be appointed to receive the money in trust for mr. john blakeston's costs , provided he likewise lay down the l. taken by surprize out of court before the tryal was ended . and mr. vtting's cost likewise shall be paid , for what sir john coppleston claims ; provided likewise that sir john coppleston pay the l. down , which he got when he ventured the breach of priviledge of parliament : provided the whole merits of the cause may have a fair hearing and determination before the lords : and if the plaintiff and claimant james percy , doth not prove himself to be the right true and next heir-male in blond of the percies of northumberland , then let them take all the money , and the plaintiff will freely acquit his claim for ever , and remain till death a loyal subject , and james percy . although his witnesses be dispers'd , a weeks time will bring them to town again , upon the sight of an order . for the claimant james percy ( by birth ) ought to enjoy the place , seat and priviledge of his ancestors , earls of northumberland ; but now he dares not appear , till an order be had . therefore he most humbly prays , that a fair hearing may be had , and that a true decision of his just cause and claim may be made , according to justice : so that the innocent may be preserved , and that the fraudulent practices not just may march off with shame : for heroick actions glorifies god , honours the king , and makes all the people shout for joy . god hath been pleased to make a true decision himself , which may be a president ; for he sent the claimant from his mothers womb with a crescent into the world , which is gods ensign of truth , and the very badge belonging to the percies earls of northumberland . in witness to this truth , i have set to my hand and seal , this d. of january , / . james percy . crescent from percy blazon by the king, a proclamation concerning the sale of fee-farm rents england and wales. sovereign ( - : charles ii) approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a wing c estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) by the king, a proclamation concerning the sale of fee-farm rents england and wales. sovereign ( - : charles ii) charles ii, king of england, - . broadside. printed by the assigns of john bill and christopher barker ..., in the savoy [i.e. london] : . "given at the court at whitehal the twentieth day of november, , in the two and twentieth year of our reign." reproduction of original in the society of antiquaries library, london. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng land tenure -- england. great britain -- history -- charles ii, - . - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - john pas sampled and proofread - john pas text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion by the king. a proclamation concerning the sale of fee-farm rents . charles r. whereas in and by a late act of parliament , entituled , an act for advancing the sale of fee-farm rents , and the instructions therein mentioned , it is amongst other things enacted , that the immediate tenant , liable to the payment of any rent , shall be preferred in the purchase of it , before any other ; so as such immediate tenant tender himself to the lord treasurer , or lords commissioners of the treasury , to contract within six moneths after the passing of any patent to trustees for sale thereof , and notice thereof published by his majesties proclamation , and perfect his contract , and pay on secure his money within six moneths after , at such rate as shall be agreed , not exceéding twenty years purchase : his majesty therefore having by his letters patents under his great seal of england , bearing date the eleventh day of this instant november , granted unto francis lord hawley , sir charles harbord knight , sir william haward knight , sir john talbot knight , sir robert steward knight , and william harbord esquire , their heirs and alligns , divers feé-farm rents , and other rents , and annual payments therein mentioned , as trustees for sale thereof , according to the said act ( all which rents in the said letters patents mentioned , are of the yearly value of forty shillings and upwards ) doth by this his proclamation give notice to all his loving subjects , whom it doth on may concern , that the rents in the said patent mentioned , shall forthwith be sold : and doth hereby require all and every person and persons , bodies politick and corporate , who by the said act are entituled as immediate tenants , to any preference in the purchase of any such rents , that they take care to proceed in their purchases , and perfect their contracts within the time limitted by the said act ; or in default thereof , the same shall be sold to such others as shall desire to deal and contract for them : and doth further by this his royal proclamation declare , that a former proclamation bearing date the fourteénth day of june last , whereby his majesty gave notice of several rents passed to the said trustees by his letters patents dated the thirteénth day of the same june , will ( as to the time of six moneths limitted by the said act ) expire on th fifteénth day of december next ; and that immediately after the said expiration , the rents contained in the said patent of the said thirteénth of june ( not by that time contracted for by the immediate tenants ) shall be exposed to sale to such others , as will desire to deal and contract for them . given at the court at whitehal the twentieth day of november , . in the two and twentieth year of our reign . god save the king . in the savoy : printed by the assigns of john bill and christopher barker , printers to the kings most excellent majesty . . tenenda non tollenda, or, the necessity of preserving tenures in capite and by knight-service which according to their first institution were, and are yet, a great part of the salus populi, and the safety and defence of the king, as well as of his people : together with a prospect of the very many mischiefs and inconveniences, which by the taking away or altering of those tenures, will inevitably happen to the king and his kingdomes / by fabian philipps ... philipps, fabian, - . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a wing p estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) tenenda non tollenda, or, the necessity of preserving tenures in capite and by knight-service which according to their first institution were, and are yet, a great part of the salus populi, and the safety and defence of the king, as well as of his people : together with a prospect of the very many mischiefs and inconveniences, which by the taking away or altering of those tenures, will inevitably happen to the king and his kingdomes / by fabian philipps ... philipps, fabian, - . [ ], p. printed by thomas leach, for the author, and are to be sold by abel roper ..., london : . reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng feudalism -- great britain. land tenure -- great britain. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - jonathan blaney sampled and proofread - jonathan blaney text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion tenenda non tollenda , or the necessity of preserving tenures in capite and by knight-service , vvhich according to their first institution were , and are yet , a great part of the salus populi , and the safety and defence of the king , as well as of his people . together with a prospect of the very many mischiefs and inconveniences , which by the taking away or altering of those tenures , will inevitably happen to the king and his kingdomes . by fabian philipps , esq claudian lib. . ne pereat tam priscus honos qui portus honorum . semper erat , nullo sarciri consule damnum . london , printed by thomas leach , for the author , and are to be sold by abel roper at the sign of the sun in fleetstreet , . to the right honourable sir edward hide knight , baron of hindon , and lord chancellor of england . my lord , every man who hath not been out of his wits or his own country , or like the poet epimenides , who is said to have slept more than twenty years . and hath but understood or experimented the many miseryes and confusions which our new reformers and modellers of government , ( who like unskilful architects , cannot amend a part of an house without overturning the whole fabrick upon the heads of the owners ) have treated the faction and ignorance of too many of the seduced people of this kingdom withal ; and sitting by the waters of babylon had not forgot jerusalem , or but remembred the happinesse of the condition we before enjoyed under a gratious and pious prince in an antient , and for many ages past , most happy monarchy , and with tears of joy welcommed it again in the return of his sacred majesty , and all our peace and plenty from a sad and long oppressing captivity , must needs think himself obliged not only to pray for the peace of our syon but to endeavour all he can to uphold the kings rights and jurisdictions . who being our lex viva , and guarding himself , us and our laws , is with them the sure support of us and all that is or can be of any concernment to us and our posterityes ; and therefore when we are taught by our laws , and the sage ▪ interpreters and expounders thereof , that every subject hath an interest in the king as the head of the we●le publick , and as the inferior members cannot estrange them selves from the actions or passions of the head , no lesse can any subject make himself a stranger to any thing which toucheth the king or their supreme head , and that not a few but very many knowing and able men are of opinion not ushered in by fancy or first notions , but well weighed and built with reason and good authorities that the exchanging of the tenures in capite and by knight service , for a constant yearly payment of l. will level the regality , and turn the soveraignty into a dangerous popularity , and take away or blunt the edge of the sword , by which his majesty is to defend his people ; i could not but conceive it to be my duty ( and a failer of my duty and oaths of allegiance and supremacy not to do it ) to offer to consideration the antiquity and right use of tenures in this and other kingdoms , that they are no slavery nor grievance , how from a project in the beginning of the raign of king james , it came to trouble several parliaments , the small benefits will come to the subjects by altering those tenures , and the many inconveniences and mischiefs which will inevitably follow , and that it is such a flower of the crown , as the power of an act of parliament , and consent of the king and his nobility , and people cannot take away , wherein , though i may well say it is a matter , as livy said of his undertaking to write the roman history immensi operis , and that the disquisition of it requiring greater abilities than i can lay any claim unto ; and the excellent order heretofore used , that all books of the law , or very much concerning it ▪ should be perused and allowed by the reverend judges of the law , before they should be printed and published , might have been enough to have made me either to desist , or have attended their approbation ; yet when the good intentions of many parliament men of the house of commons to make the king a constant revenue were so busy to prepare an act of parliament to dissolve those more useful and honourable tenures into a socage , which will never arrive to the salus populi they aim at . i have like some well-wishing roman to his countries good , in my cares , and fear least any thing should hurt , dislocate , or disturb , that well ordered and constituted government , under which our progenitors enjoyed so much honor , peace und plenty , hasted currente calamo , to a modest inquiry into the grounds and motives , for the dissolution of them , and the court of wards , and an examination of that to be prepared act in the general ( for as to the preamble , cl●uses or provisoes , they are not permitted to be seen before the act passeth ) the rogatio legum as it was amongst the romans , being not here in use in some cases as it may be wished it were , and when none else would publiquely endeavour to rescue them , have without any byasse or partiality as well as i could , represented what hath been the right use of them , and what may be the inconveniences if they should be changed or altered , and that they are not guilty of the charge which is supposed , but never will be proved against them . and confesse that it deserved a better advocate than my self , who having attempted to do it horis succ●s●vis & interturbationes rerum , am conscious to my self that much more might have been said for it , and that the matter was capable of a better form , and might have appeared in a better dresse , if my care to do something as fast as i could , had not for want of time hindred me from doing what i might . but i hope that your lordship who hath trod the pathes of affliction , and in the attendance and care of a persecuted monarchy , and an afflicted most gracious prince , who hath born the burthen of his own sorrows & troubles , as well as of a loyal party that suffered wi●h & for him and his royal father ▪ have in your travails and residence in many kingdoms and parts beyond the seas , viewed and seen the fundamentals and order of other kingdoms , the policies and good reiglements of some , and the errors and infirmities of others , will with your learned predecessor the chancellor fortescue in the raign of king henry the ●h . the more admire and love the laws and excellent constitutions of england , which as a quintessence of right reason , may seem to have been limbecked and drawn out of the best of laws , and choice of all which might be learned out of other nations , or the records or treasury of time , and find reason enough to be of the opinion of that well knowing statesman , that non minime erit regno accommodum , ut incolae ejus in artibus sint experti , & quod domus regia sit tanquam gymnasium supremum nobilitatis regni schola quoque strenuitatis probitatis & morum quibus regnum honoretur , & floret ac contra irruentes securatur , & hoc revera bonum accidisse non pottuisset regno illi , si nobilium fil●i orphani & pupilli per pauperes amicos parentum suorum nutrirentur , and greatly approve as he did of our tenures in capite , and by knight service ( which have heen since better ordered , and more deserve that , and a better commendation ) and to put forth your hand to rescue them , who have hitherto as great beams , peices of tymber , or pillars , helped to bear up and sustain the fabrick of our antient and monarchical government , and have no other fault , but that they are misunderstood and misrepresented to the vulgar , who by making causelesse complaints & multiplying them , have done of late by our laws and best constitutions , as the boys are used to do when they hunt squirrels with drums , shouts and noyses ; and that your lordship who is able to say much more for that institution and right use of tenures , will be pleased to accept of my good intentions , and pardon the imperfections of london . november . your lordships most humble servant fabian philipps . the contents . chap. i. of the antiquity and use of tenures in capite , and by knight service , in england , and other nations . page . chap. ii. the holding of lands in capite , and by knight service , is no slavery or bondage to the tenant or vassals . . chap. iii. tenures of lands in capite , and by knight service , are not so many in number as is supposed , nor were , or are any publique or general grievance . . chap. iv. how the design of altering tenures in capite , and by knight service , into socage tenures , and d●ssolving the court of wards and liveries , and the incidents , and revenue belonging thereunto , 〈◊〉 out of the forges of some private mens imagi●●●ions , to be afterwards agitated in parlia●●nt . . chap. v. the benefits or advantages which are expected ●y the people in putting down of the court of wards ●nd liveries , and changing the tenures in capi●e and by knight service , into free and common s●cage . . chap. vi. the great , and very many mischiefs and inconveniences which will happen to the king , and kingdom , by taking away tenures in capite , and knight service . . chap. vii . that tenures in capite , and knight service , holden of the king , and the homage and incidents thereunto appertaining , and the right of the mesne lords , cannot be dissolved , or taken away by any act of parliament . the conclusion . . errata's , or faults escaped in printing , by the hast of the presse . page line leave out and , p. l for be read by . p. l for or knights , r and knights , p. l leave out that . ib. r in capite and knight service . p. l for where r were . p. in the margent leave out the quotation note . p. l r. his enfant . p. l r. be the lesse free , p. , l . for was r. were . p. . l , r them , h. . . p. l for e r. e . p. ib. l . r person , e . . p . l . for of , r. or p. . l . r thought to . p. l. . leave out and. p. l. leave out was . p· l. for a● r. in p. l. for e. r e . p. l. for r. . p. l. leave out his . p. l. for episcopium , r episcopum . ib. l . r hold by . ib. l. , r nor could , . l for ●e r. to . p. l . r for it . p. ● l. leave out lawes after the. ib. l. leave out the. ib. l. for and r. for . p. l . r or by p. l. for and ● which . p. in the margent leave out litletons quotation , p. l. leave out an . p. l. r. grand and petit. p . in the margent for xi r ii. p. . against l in the margent put v. ib. against l . put vi. p. . l . for protections , r portions ▪ ib. in the margent against l , put vii . ib. against ● , put viii . p. l . for and , r shall . ib. in the margent against l , put ix . p. against l . put x. p. against l . put xi . ib. against l. put xii . ib. against l , put xiii . ib. against l . put xiv . p. r l. for amore r. more ▪ p. in the margent , for olbertus r. obertus . p. in margent for lovelaces r. lo●es . p. l. . leavo out in . p. l. . leave out they . p. l. . for enernate , r enervate . ib. l . for displaced r. displayed ▪ p. l. . leave out if not recompensed by some annual payment . p. l. . r. under the penalties of . ibib . l . leave out under the penalties . p. , l . r be a baron , ibib . leave out of holt. p. l. . for derived r. deemed . p. in the margent against l. put l. p. in the margent against l . put lxiv . p. ● against l put lxv . p. . against , put lxxii . p. . l . for know r knowing , p. . l , r which is , ib. , r and the● p. l , r or that . p. l . for it r them . ib. l leave out upon all . p. . l . leave out and. p. , l , r or to● p. . l for of , r if . p. . l , leave out would ruine● 〈◊〉 l , , r baronies would be ruined . cap. i. of the antiquity and use of tenures in capite and by knight service in england and other nations . the law of nature , & that secret and great director under god , and his holy spirit of all mens actions , for their safety , and self preservation , by the rules or instinct of right reason , and the beams of divine light and irradiations ; ( so far as those laws of nature are not contrary to positive and humane laws which are alwayes either actively or passively to be obeyed ) having in the beginning of time , and its delivery out of the chaos , made and allowed orders , and distinctions of man-kind , as they have been found to be more rich , wise , virtuous , powerful , and able , than others , & therfore the fitter to protect , defend , and do good unto such as wanted those abilities & endowments , and constituted & ordained the faith and just performances also of contracts , promises , and agreements , and the acknowledgements of benefits and favours received , being no strangers to those early dayes ; when the patriarch abraham had leave given him by abimelech king of gerar to dwell in the land where it pleased him , and that abimelech in the presence of phicol the chief captain of his host , who took himself to have some concernment in it , required an oath of him , that he would not deal falsly with him , nor with his sons son , but (a) according to the kindnesse that he had done unto him . and to the land in which he had sojourned ; and that abraham thereupon swore ( which somewhat resembles our oath of fealty or fidelity ) and took sheep and oxen ( for then pecus was instead of pecunia , which is derived a pecude ) and gave unto abimelech , and both of them made a covenant . it will ( though as in many other matters not tending to mans salvation , which are not expressed in the sacred story ; there is not so full and clear a light & evidence , as to intitle the holding of land by the service of going to war to so great a warrant or original , as that of a scripture direction or example . ) notwithstanding be no wild or improbable conjecture , that some such , or the like obligations , more than the affections , & good will , of the people , did lye upon them , or their estates , not to forsake their king and country in time of wars and distresse , the law of nature teaching the necessity of the members readinesse and combination to preserve the head & its well being , as well as their own estates and well beings , in that of their king or supreme governour , and every mans particular in the general , when as the antient inhabitants of the earth , or some of them at least , as appears by iacobs blessing to his sons upon his death-bed , became servants to tribute , and moses by the advice of iethro his father-in-law , did choose able men ou● of all israel , and made them heads over the people , and rulers , which were afterwards called captains of thousands , rulers of hundreds , fifties , and tens , to be as a standing and certain militia , and all the people young and old that had not rebelled with absalom , went out with david , rehoboham his grandchild ou● of the two tribes of iudah and benjamin , could muster an hundred and fourscore thousand chosen men which were warriors , to preserve their prince in war , and defend his , as well as their own estates , and that some such , or the like obligations , passed betwixt solomon and hyram king of tyre , when he gave him the twenty cities in the land of gallilee . and that from thence either by tradition , or travel of philosophers or wise men into those more knowing countries and regions of palestine or egypt , where gods chosen and peculiar people of israel , had a nearer communication with him , and his divine illuminations , or by those secret dictates , and the edicts statutes and decrees of the law of nature , whereby as the judicious and learned hooker saith , (b) humane actions are framed , and the chincks and crannyes , by which the wisdom of the almighty , that intellectual worker as plato and anaxagoras stiled him , is wont imperceptibly to diffuse & impart its impressions , into the customs and manners of men . that custom now about years agoe , used by romulus in his new established city or empire of rome , took its rise or beginning of appointing the plebeian or common people , to make choyce of whom they could out of the patricij , senators , or eminent men , to protect them in their causes or concernments , in recompence or lieu whereof , the clyents were to contribute , if need were , to the marriages of their daughters , redeem them or their sons , when they were taken (c) captives in war , as bearing a reverence or respect to their lords , or patroni ; (d) to the end , that they might be defended by them , & that they should reciprocally propter beneficium , the help & favour received from them , maintain and defend their dignity , and that duty or clientela was therefore not altogether improperly called homagium or homage , as a service pro beneficio prestandum , for a benefit had , or to be injoyed , & accipitur pro patrocinio & protectione , and taken to be as a patronage and protection , insomuch as upon the conquest or reducing of any province into their obedience , they did in clientelam se dare romanis , acknowledge a duty or homage , either to the senate , or certain of the nobility , or great men to be their patroni or protectors , quae necessitudo , or near relations , which were betwixt t●em , id serebat saith oldendorpius (e) ut clientes perpetua patronorum protectione defenderentur , ac vicissim eos omni obsequio colerent , brought it so to pass that the clyents enjoyed a constant protection of their patrons , or great men , and exhibited for it a duty and obedience unto them . from which kind of customes , and usages , tutandae vitae ac fortunarum omnium , for the defence of life and estate , (f) veluti scintillis quibusdam caepit initium benificiariae consuetudinis quae aucta est multum propter continuam bellorum molestiam , as from increasing sparkes or small beginnings that beneficial custom taking its original , which by continuance of wars and troubles was much increased ; another kind of clientela was introduced , ( though there be as craig saith , a (g) great difference betwixt clientela and vassalagium , ) qua vel dignitas vel praedium aliquod , alicui datur , ut et ipse istius posteri , et haeredes beneficii auctorem perpetuo agnoscant , et quasi pro patrono colant , ejusque caput existimationem et fortunas tueantur ; whereby either some dignity or lands were given to any one , to the end that he and his heirs should always acknowledge the giver to be the author of that benefit , reverence and esteem him as their patron and defend him , and his life reputation and fortunes . in resemblance whereof , or from the eommon principle of reason , that private or particular men , or their estates cannot be safe or in any good condition , where the publick is either afflicted , or ruined , was the use or way of tenures in capite , or knights service , found out and approved by kings and emperours , ut cum delectus edicitur in (h) militiam eant vel vicarium mittant , vel certum ce●sum domini aerario inferant , that when a muster was to be made , or a going to war , they should either go in person , or send one in their stead , or pay a certain ra●e in mony , and was so antient and universal , as whilst the germans would intitle themselves to be the first of nations , introducing it , the gaules or french were so unwilling to come behind them , as they indeavour out of caesars commentaries , to make themselves the right owners of it , where he saith , that eos qui opibus inter gallos valebant multos habuisse devotos quos secum ducerunt in bello soldarios sua lingua nuncupatos quorum haec erat conditio , ut omnibus in vita commodis cum ijs fruerentur quorum amicitiae se dedissent , quod si quid pervim accidisset , aut cundem casum ferrent ipsi , aut mortem sibi consciscerent ; the gauls which were rich or had good estates , had some which were devoted unto them , which followed them in the wars ▪ & in their language were called souldiers , and injoyed a livelyhood under them , and if any evil happened unto them , either endured it with them , or willingly ventured their lives with them , others attribute it to the saxons , ubi jus antiquissimum feudorum semper viguit et adhuc , saith the learned craig . religiose observatur , where the feudal laws were , and are yet most religiou●ly observed , and cliens and vasallus , in matters of f●wds and tenures , are not seldome in the civil law , and very good authors become to be as synonimes , and used one for the other . and the later grecians since the raign of constantine (i) porphyrogenneta in the east , and the roman emperors in the west , before , & since the raign of charlemain , or charles the great , were not without those necessary defences of themselves , and their people ; and such a general benefit , and ready and certain way of ayd and help , upon all emergencies in the like usage of other nations , making it to be as a law of nations . there hath been in all or most kingdoms and monarchies of the world , as well heathen , as christian , a dependency of the subject upon the prince or soveraign , and some duties to be performed by reason of their lands and estates , which they held under their protection , and in many of them , as amongst the germans , saxons , franks , and longobards , and several other nations descending from them ; tenures in capite , and knight service , were esteemed as a foundation and subsistency of the right and power of soveraignty and government , and being at the first (i) precariae ex domini solius arbitrio , upon courtesie at the will only of the prince or lord , were afterwards annales from year to year , after that feuda ceperunt esse vitalia , their estates or fees became to be for life , and after for inheritance . so as by the law of england , we have n●t properly allodium (k) ( saith coke ) that is , any subjects land which is not holden of some superior , and that tenures in capite , appear not to be of any new institution in the book of doomsday , or in edward the confessors dayes , an . . in king athelstans , an . . in king canutus his raign , in king ke●ulphus his raign , an . . or in king ina's raign , an . . in imitation whereof and the norman ( no slavish ) laws , and usages which as to tenures , by the opinion of william roville of alenzon , in his preface to the grand customier of normandy , were first brought into normandy out of england , by our edward the confessor , & the customs & policies of other people and kingdoms , prudent antiquity having in that manner so well provided by reservation of tenures , for the defence of the realm . william the conquerour sound no better means to continue and support the frame and government of this kingdom , then upon many of his gifts and grants of land , ( the most part of england being then by conquest in his demeasne ) to reserve the tenures and service of those , and their heirs ; to whom he gave it in capite , and by knight service ; and if thomas sprot (l) and other antient authors and traditions , mistake not in the number of them (m) ( for that there were very many is agreed by the red book in the exchequer , and divers authentiques ) created knights fees , which with their homage , incidents , and obligations , to serve in wars with the addition of those many other tenures by knights service , which the nobility , great men , and others , ( besides those great quantities of lands and tenements , which they and many as well as the king , and others our succeeding princes , gave colonis & hominibus inferioris notae , to the ordinary and inferior sort of people to hold in socage . burgage , and petit serjeantie ) reserved upon their guifts , and grants to their friends , followers , and tenants , who where to attend also their mesne lords in the service of their prince , could not be otherwise then a safety and constant kind of defence for ever after to this kingdom ; and by the learned (n) sir henry spelman said to be due , non solum jure positivo sed & gentium & quodammodo naturae , not only by positive law , but the law of nations , and in some sorts by the law of nature . especially when it was not to arise from any compulsary or incertain way , or involuntary contribution , or out of any personal or moveable estate , but to fix and go along with the land , as an easy and beneficial tye , and perpetuity upon it , and is so incorporate and inherent with it , as it hath upon the matter a co-existence , or being with it ; and glanvil and bracton are of opinion , that the king must have arms , as well as laws to govern by , and not depend ex aliorum arbitrio , it being a rule of law , that quando lex aliquid concedit , id concedit , sine quo res ipsa esse non potest , when the law granteth any thing , it granteth that also which is necessary and requisite to it . and therefore the old oath of fealty , which by edward the confessors laws was to be administred in the folcmotes , (o) or assemblyes of the people once in every year , fide et sacramento non fracto ad defendendum regnum contra alienigenas , et inimicos cum domino suo , rege , et terras , et honores , illius omni fidelitate cum eo servare , et quod illi ut , domino suo regi intra et extra regnum britanniae fideles esse volunt , by faith and oath , inviolable to defend the kingdome against all strangers , and the kings enemies , and the lands and dignity of the king , to preserve , and be faithful to him , as to their lord , as well within , as without the kingdom of britain , which was not then also held to be enough , unlesse also there were a tye and obligation upon the land , and therefore enacted that , debeant universi liberi homines secundum feodum suum , & secundum tenementa (p) sua arma habere , & illa semper prompta conservare ad tuitionem regni , & servicium dominorum su●rum juxta preceptum domini regis explendum & peragendum ; every free man according to the proportion of his fee and lands , should have his arms in readinesse for the defence of the kingdom , and service of their lords , as the king should command ; and it was by william the conqueror ordained , quod omnes liberi homines fide et sacramento (q) affirment , quod intra & extra universum regnum , willielmo regi domino suo fideles esse volunt terras & honores suos omni fidelitate ubique servare cum eo & contra inimicos & alieniginas defendere , that all free-men should take an oath , that as well within as without the realm of england , they should be faithful to their king and lord , and defend every where him and his lands , dignity , and estate , with all faithfulnesse against his enemies and foreiners ; et statuit & firmiter precepit , ut omnes , comites , barones , milites , & servientes , teneant se semper in armis & in equis ut decet & oportet , & quod sint semper prompti & parati ad servicium suum integrum explendum & peragendum cum semper opus adfuerit secundum quod debent de ●eodis & tenementis suis de jure facere , appointed and commanded , that all earls , barons , knights , and their servants , should be ready with their horse and arms , as they ought , to do , their service which they owed , and were to do for their fees and lands when need should require , and was beneficial to the vassal or tenant . cap. ii. the holding of lands in capite , and by knight service , is no slavery or bondage to the tenant or vassal . for his lands were a sufficient recompence for the service which he performed for them , and his lord besides the lands which he gave the tenant , gave him also a protection and help in lieu of the service which he received from him ; for though as (r) bodin observeth , vassallus dat fidem nec tamen accipit ▪ the tenant makes fealty to his lord , but receiveth none from him , there is betwixt them , mutua fides et tuendae salutis , et dignitatis utriusque obligatio contracta , a mutual and reciprocal obligation to defend one another . and when the donee had lands freely conferred upon him and his heires , upon that consideration , ( omnia feoda , as well in capite and knights service tenure , as copy-hold and more inferior tenures , being at first , ad arbitrium domini ) no man can rightly suppose that he would refuse the reservation of tenure and incidents unto it , or imagine it to be a servitude , or any thing else but an act of extraordinary favour arising from the donor , which by the civil law and customes of nations , chalenged such an hereditary gratitude and return of thankfulnesse as amongst many other priviledges thereupon accrued to the donor , if any of the heires of the lord of the fee happened to fall into distresse , the heires of the tenant , though never so many ages and descents after , were to releive them , (s) domini utilitatem proferre et incommoda propellere , et si cum poterit non liberaverit eum a morte feudo sive beneficio suo privabitur , such a donee or tenant was to advance the good of his lord , or benefactor , and hinder any damage might happen unto him and forfeit and be deprived of those lands , if he did not when he could rescue him from death , for feudum ut habeat , et dominum non juvet rationis non est , it is no reason that he should enjoy that land or benefit , and not help or assist him which gave it , and by our law , if such a tenant ceased to do his service ( if not hindred by any legal impediment ) by the space of two years upon a cessavit per biennium , brought by the lord , the land if no sufficient distresse was to be had was forfeited , if he appeared not upon the distresse , and paid the arreares . and such tenure carrying along with it an end and purpose in its original institution , not only of preservation and defence of the donor , but of the kingdome and protection also of the tenant , and the land which was bestowed upon him . and being a voluntary and beneficial paction submitted unto by the tennant ( insomuch as feudum , whether derived from the german word feec or warre or a fide prestanda , or a faedere , inter utrosque contracto is not seldom in the civil law called beneficium , ) may with reason enough be conceived to be cheerfully after undergone and approved of by the tennants and their heirs , receiving many privileges thereby as not payign any other aydes or tallages besides the service which their tenures enjoyned them , ( w ch . by a desuetude or necessity of the times is not now allowed them ) not to be excommunicated by the pope or clergy , which ( h. . (t) amongst other laws and customes observed in the time of his grandfather , h. . ) in the parliament at clarindon , claimed as a special priviledge belonging to him and those which held of him in capite , ( which in those days was worthily accounted amongst the greatest of exemptions ) and of creating like tenures to be holden of themselves with services of war wardship , marriage , and other incidents , to have their heirs in minority , not only protected in their persons and estates , which in tumultuous and unpeaceable times , was no small benefit , but to be gently and vertuously educated in bellicis artibus , feats and actions of arms taught to ride the great horse and manage him , and himself compleatly armed with shield and launce , married without disparagement in his own or a better rank and quality , his equitatura , or horse and arms could not be taken in execution unless he dishonourably absented himself when his service was required and then all that he had was subject to execution saving one horse which was to be left him propter dignitatem militiae , and have no usury ( which in those dayes especially until the reign of e. . by jews and a sort of foreiners called caursini was very oppressive and intollerable ) run upon them for their fathers debts whilst they were in wardship . besides many other great priviledges belonging to knights & gentry ( the original of many of whom was antiently by arms and military service ) allowed them by our laws of england , as wel as by the civil law and law of nations , as to bear arms , make images , and statues of their ancestors , and by the civil law a preheminence that more credence should be given by a judge to the oath of two gentlemen , produced as witnesses , (u) then to a multitude of ungentle persons , ought to be preferred to offices before the ignoble in ●u●io enim pres●mitur pro nobili●ate ad efficia regenda and honoured in the attire and apparrel of their bodies as to wear silks and purple colours and ex cons●e●udine non suspenduntur sed decapitantur are not when they are to suffer death for offences criminal , (w) used to be hanged but beheaded , with many other priviledges not here enumerated , which our common people of england in their abundance of freedom have too much forgotten . were so much respected here in the raign of h. . saith the eminently learned mr. selden as one was fined one hundred pounds ( which in those days of more honesty and less mony , was a great sum of mony ) for striking a (x) knight and another forty marks , because he was present when he was compelled to swear that he would not complain of the injury done unto him , the grand assize in a writ of right which is one of the highest trials by jury and oath in the law of england is to be chosen by knights and out of knights & a baron in a jury for or against him , may challenge the pannel if one knight at the least were not returned of the jury , if a ribaud or russian stroke a knight without cause he was to loose the hand that struck him , kings have knighted their eldest sons , and somtimes sent them to neighbour kings to receive that honour , and barons , and earls have taken it for an addition of honour , and not any lessening to be knighted . and had no cause at all to dislike such military tenures , which were not called vassalage , as common people may now mistake the word , but from vassus or cliens qui pro beneficio accepto fidem suam autori benificii obligat or from gesell , a german word which signifieth socius or commilito , a fellow souldier , the name and profession reason and cause of it being so honourable and worthy . or to deem them to be burthens which were at the first intended and taken to be as gifts and favours , which none of the sons of men , who are masters of any sense or reason do use to find fault with , but may well allow them to be very far distant from slavery , when as servitude is properly , (y) quum quod acquiritur servo acquiritur domino when that which is gained or acquired by the servant is justly and properly the lords , and a freeman is contra-distinguished by quod acquirit , sibi acquirit , in that which he gaineth is his own , or hath a property in it and that among the southern nations ( a more gentle and merciful bondage being paternd by that of abraham and his successors the patriarchs and allowed by the rules and government of god , ) dura erat servitus dominorum imperia gravia , service or the condition of servants was hard , and the severity of masters great , who had potestatem vitae & necis , power of life and death over their servants who having nothing which they could call their own , but their misery , were put to maintain their masters out of their labours and enduring vilissima et miserrima ministeria , all manner of slaveries , ab omni militia arcebantur were not suffered to know or have the use of arms , apud boreales tamen gentes justior suit semper servitus et clementior , but amongst the northern nations there was a more just and gentle usage of their servants for that they did devide their lands & conquests amongst their souldiers and servants pactionibus interpositis inter dominum et servientem de mutua tutela upon certain agreements betwixt them for mutual defence . which made our english as well as other nations abundantly contented with it as may appear by the acquiescence of them and the normans , under the norman and next succeeding kings , and of edward the confessors laws , and other english customes retaining them , the reckoning of it amongst their liberties , fighting for them , and adventuring their lives and all that they had at the making of (z) magna charta , and in the barons wars , wherein those great spirits , as mr. robert hill saith , so impatient of tyranny , did never so much as call in question that great and antient prerogative , of their kings or except against tenures , escuage , releifs , and other moderate and due incidents thereof . the care taken in the parliament of (a) h. . to prevent the deceiving of the lords of their wardships by fraudulent conveyances , or leases , of e. . in the making of the statute of quia (b) emptores terrarum , that the feoffees or purchasers of lands holden of mesne , lords should hold by such services and customes as rhe feoffor did hold the registring and survey of knights fees by h. . h. . e. . e. . and h. . escuage aydes and assessements in parliament and the marshals rolls in time of war and necessity . the esteem antiently held of the benefits and liberties accrewed by them insomuch as many have by leave of their lords changed their socage tenures into knights service , (c) and thought themselves enfranchised thereby . the value put upon them by the commons of england in the parliament of . h. . when they petitioned the king in that parliament , (d) that all feoffements of lands and tenements holden by knight service , and done by collusion expressed in the statute of marlbridge might upon proof thereof be utterly void . the opinion of chief justice fortescue in the raign of h. . in his book de laudibus legum angliae commending them as most necessary as well for the common-wealth , (e) as for those and their heirs who held their land by such tenures . the retaining of it by the germans who did as most of the northern nations , saith bodin , libertatem spirare , only busie themselves to gain and keep their liberty and from the time of their greatest freedom to rhis present , and now also , could never tell how to find any fault with them . their princes , electors of the empire , and the emperial cities , or hanse townes , who take thrmselves to be as free as their name of freedom or liberty doth import , not at this day disdaining or repining at them , & the switzers in their greatest thoughts of freedom , taking their holding of the empire in capite to be no abatement of it . the use of them by the antient earles and governours of holland , zealand , and west-freezland who having been very successful in their wars without the use of tenures in capite or knights service , but finding that ipsa virtus amara alioqui per se atque aspera praemiis excitanda videretur simul uti fisco , ac reipublicae consuler●tur , saith neostadius , that the hardship of vertue needed to be sweetened with some rewards , & that the old custom of the longobards in creating , and reserving tenures in capite , and by knights service , would be not only a saving of charges to their treasury , but a good , and benefit to their provinces or common-wealth , did create and erect such or the like tenures . and to this day by the scotish nation in a time , and at the instant of their late obtaining ( if they could be thankful for them ) of all manner of liberties and freedom ▪ do sufficiently evince them to be as far from slavery as they are always necessary . wherein , if the primitive purpose and institution of tenures in capite knight service and socage be rightly considered , every man may without any violence or argument used to his reason or judgment , if self-conceitedness and obstinacy doe not choke or disturb his int●l●●ctuals ; easily conclude , whether , if it were now 〈…〉 choice , he would not rather take land by a service or condition , only to go to warr with the king , or his mesne lord , when wars shall happen , which in a common course of accidents may happen , but once or not at all in his life time , & then not tarry with him above forty days or less , according to his proportion of fee or land holden , & to have escuage of his own tenants , if they shall refuse to go also in person with him , and to have his heir , if he chanced to die which in times of less luxury happened not so often , & but once perhaps in three or four descents , to be left in his minority to be better educated than he could have been in his life time , married without disparagement and himself as well as his own & childrens estates protected . or accept of a mannor freely granted him , to hold of the king , by an honourable service of grand serjeanty . then to hold in socage and be ●yed to do yearly and oftner some part of husbandry , or drudgery upon his lords land for nothing , or pay an annual rent , besi●●● many other servi●e payments & duties as for rent oats , rent timber , rent wood , mal● , rent ho●y , rent for fishing , & liberty to plow , at certain seasons and the like . and if they had been esteemed , or taken to be a bondage the (h) commons of eng. certainly in the parliament of r. . would not by their speaker have commended the feats of chivalry , & shewed to the king that thereby the people of england were of all nations renoumed , and how by the decay thereof the honour of the realm was , and would dayly decrease . or in (i) h. . petitioned the king , that upon seisure of the lands of such as be , or should be attainted , or grants of such lands by the king , the services therefore due to other lords might thereupon be reserved . the good and original benefit whereof derived to the tenant from the king , or mesne lord that first gave the lands , and the consideration , that by the taking of that a way , every one was in all justice & equity to be restored to his primitive propriety and that which was his own , and so to reduce the lands to the heirs of those that at first gave them restraining them might be in all probability the reason that not only capite , and knight service tenures , but copyhold & other tenures and estates also having as much or more pretence or fancy of servitude in them , were never so much as petitioned against in parliament to be utterly taken away . some instance whereof may be had in that of villinage which being the heaviest and most servile of all kind of tenures ( though some thousand families in this kingdom ( there being antiently some tenants in villenage belonging almost to every mannor ) by desue●ude & expiration of that course of tenures , now esteeming themselves nothing less were never in any parliament desired to be abolished . bracton & f●eta , & other antient authors in our english laws alleging it to be de jure gentium and that nihil detrahit liberta●i is not to be reckon'd a servitude , much less surely then are tenures in capite and knight service , which the learned grotius in the utmost that he could in his book de antiquitate reipublicae batavicae , alleage for the freedom and independency of the hollanders , though he could not deny but that the german emperours did claim them to hold in vassalage , or as a feiff o● the empire , will not allow to be any derogation from their liberty , (h) but concludes , quod etsi optinerent non eo desinerent hollandi esse liberi , cum ut proculus egregie demonstrat nec clientes liberi esse desinant , quia patronis dignitate pares non sunt , unde liberi feudi orta est appellatio , that if it should be granted it would make the hollanders not to be free , when as proculus very well demonstrateth clients ( or vassails ) did not cease to be free because they are not equall to their patrons in dignity , whence the name or term of franck fee was derived , and sr. henry spelman saith , quemadmodum igitur omnibus non licuit feudum dare , ita nec omnibus accipere , as it was not lawful for every one to give lands to hold of him , so it was not allowed to every one to take , prohibentur enim ignobiles servilisque conditionis homines ( et quidem juxta morem heroicis seculis receptum ) munera subire militaria , for ignoble and men of servile condition according to the usage of heroick times , were ●orbid to attempt military offices , and imployments , as may be evidenced also in those antient customes and usages of those grand & eminent commonwealths of rome , and athens , in the latter of which notwithstanding the opinion of those who deny the use of tenures by military service , to have been in greece before the time of constantine porphyrogenneta , it appears that solon had long before made a second classis or degree of such as could yearly dispend three hundred bushels of corn , & other liquid fruits , (l) & were able to find a horse of service & called them knights , soli igitur saith judicious spelman , nobiles feudorum susceptibiles erant quod prae●●usticis et ignobilibus longe agiliores habiti sunt ad tractanda arma regendamque militiam . and therefore the nobility and gentry were only capable of such fees or tenures in regard that they were more agile and fitter for the use of arms and military government and order , (m) and was therefore called by the french heritages nobles , et liberis et ing●nuis solummodo competunt , a noble inheritance , and only belonged to men that were free born and of ran●k and quality . and were●no longer ago than in anno dom. . in the argument of the case of 〈◊〉 ship-mony in the exchecquer chamber , so little thought to be a slavery to the people , or any unjust or illegal prerogative of the kings , as mr , oliver , st. john , ( none of the reverend and learned judges of england then contradicting it ) alleaged them to be for the defence of the realm , and that they were not ex provis●one hominis , not of mans provision , but ex provisione legis , ordained by law , and that the king was to have the benefit that accrewed by them with wardships primer seisins licences of alienation and reliefs , as well to defend his kingdom , as to educate his wards . nor can they be accounted to be a bondage or slavery ; unless we should fancy ( which would like a dream also vanish , when men shall awake into their better senses and reason ) that those ornaments in peace and strength in time of war , which have been for so many ages and centuries since king inas time , which was in an . now above years agoe ( and may have beene long before that ) ever accompted to be harmlesse and unblameable , and in king edgars time , by a charter made by him unto oswald bishop of worcester , said to be constitutione antiquorum temporum , of antient time before the date of that charter , were an oppression , that all rankes and sorts of the people should endure a slavery and not know nor feel it , nor any of the contemporary writers , antient or modern take notice of it , that the peers of this kingdom should be in slavery , and not know or believe it ; the the gentry of the kingdom should be as worshipful slaves , and not understand or perceive it ; and the commons of the kingdom what kind of slaves it should please any , without any cause , to stile them ; that honours , gifts , and rewards , protection , liberties , privileges , and favours , to live well and happily of free gift and without any money paid for the purchase , should be called a bondage , when as a tenure in socage , ut (n) in condemnatos ultrices manus ●●ttant , ut alios suspendio ali●s membr●rum detruncatione , vel alijs modis juxt● quantitatem delicti puniat ; to be an hangman or executioner of such as were condemned to suffer death or any loss of members according to the nature of their offences , could neither be parted with , or taken to be any thing but a benefit . and that a claim was made by one th●● held lands in the isle of silly , to be the exe●cutioner of felons which there was then usualy done by letting every one of them down in a basket , from a ste●p rock , with the provision only of two loaves of barly bread , and a pot of water to expect as they hung the mercy of the sea , when the tide should bring it in . and that those which held by the easy and no dishonourable tenures of being tenants in capite , and knight●service , should as mr. robert hill a learned and judicious antiquary in the beginning of the reign of king james well observeth , rack and lease their lands to their under tenants , at the highest rents and r●tes , and neither they nor their tenants call that a slavery which ( though none at all ) may seem to be a far greater burden than any ten●nt in capite , and by knight service which holdeth of the king , or any tenant that holdeth by knight service of a mesne lord endureth when as the one is always more like to have the bag and burden , which he must pay for , laid upon him in his bargain , then the other who is only to welcom a gift or favour , for which he payeth but a grateful acknowledgment . nor is there in that which is now so much complained of , and supposed to be a grievance , which , ( whatever it be , except that which may as to some particular cases happen to the best and most refined constitutions , and the management thereof ) hath only been by the fault of some people , who to be unfaithful , and deceive the king in his wardships , or other duties , have some times cast themselves into the trouble and extremityes which were justly put upon them for concealments of wardships , or making fraudulent conveyances to defeat the just rights of the king , or their superiour lords , or by some exorbitances , or multiplications of fees since the erecting of the court of wards and liveries by an act of parliament in h. . any malum in se , original innate or intrinsecal cause of evil or inconvenience in them , active or pr●xime meerly arising from the nature or constitution of tenures in capite and knight service . to be found upon the most severe examinations and inquiries which may be made of them , nor are they so large in their number as to extend or spread themselves into an universality of grievances , nor were or are any publick or extraordinary grievance . chap. iii. tenures of lands in capite and by knight service , are not so many in number as is supposed , nor were , or are any publick or general grievance . for the number of knights ▪ fees which were holden in capite and by knight service of the king , have by tract of time alienations purprestures , assarts , incroachments , deafforrestations , and concealments , been exceedingly lessened ▪ and decreased . which were said to be parcel of the knights fees created by william the conquerour , being granted afterwards by him or his successors to monasteries abbyes , priories , and religious houses , or parcelled into glebes or other endowments belonging to , cathedrals , churches , and chantries , or given away in mortmain , and very many quillets and parcels of land after the dissolution of the abbyes , and religious houses , not exceeding the yearly value of forty shillings . and now far exceeding that value granted in socage by king henry the eighth , besides many other great quantities of dissolved abbyes and religious lands granted to be holden in socage . much of the abbye lands retained in the crown or kings hands , as part of the royal patrimony , and many mannors and great quantities of land granted to divers of the nobility , gentry , and others , with reservations many times of tenures of but half a knights fee , when that which was granted would after the old rate or proportion of knights fees have been three or four knights fees or more , and somtimes as much or more then that ( no rule at all as touching the proportions of lands or tenures , being then in such an abundance of land and revenue as by the dissolution of the abbye● came into the kings hands or disposing 〈◊〉 all kept ) which might have made many knights fees were not seldom granted with a tenure , only of a twentieth or fortieth , and sometimes an hundreth part of a knights fee , whereby the knights fees which were granted to the religious houses being almost half of the number which william the conquerour is said at the first to have created , might well decrease into a smaller number and many of those which diverse of the nobility and great men held of the king , as those of ferrers , earl of darby and the earls of chester , those that came by marriage as by one of the daughters and heirs of 〈◊〉 earl of hereford , and essex , by escheat , as the earldome of clare , or by resumptions , dissolution of priors , alien● , knights , of st. john of hierusalem attainders , escheats or forfeitures , which in the barons wars were very many , or holden as of honors &c. merging and devolving into the royal revenue , did take of very many of the number , especially since the making of the act of parliament in ● . . cap. . that there should be no tenure in capite of the king by reason of lands coming to the hands of him or any of his progenitors , heirs , or successors , by attainders of treason , misprision of treason premunires , dissolution or surrender of religious houses , and not a few of the mesne lords and those which held also of the king did make as great an abatement in their tenures , by releasing and discharging their services before the making of the statute of quia emptores terrarum , granting lands in socage , franck almoigne , or by copy of court roll , and casting out a great part of their lands , as well as the kings of england did , not forrests , chases , & many vast commons which they laid out in charity , for the good of the poorer sort of people , infranchising of a great number of copyholders , selling & giving away many and great parcels of their demesne lands , disparking of many of their parks , & deviding them into many tenements to be holden in socage , endowing of churches , chantries , religious houses , & the like , the forrests , chases and commons of the kingdom making very near a tenth part in ten of the lands of the kingdom , and the socage lands , burgage , franck almoigne , and copyholds more than two parts in three of all the remainder of the lands of the kingdom . so as it is not therefore improbable but that there are now not above ten thousand , or at most , a fourth part of those . knights fees to be found . and that in antient and former times either by reason that great quantities of mannors and lands , as much sometimes as amounted to a third part of a shire or county were in the nobilities or great mens possessions , some of whom held of the king a or more mannors , and had as many knights fees holden of them , besides some castles , forrests , parks , and chases , or that the two escheators which were many times all that were in england , the one on this side , the other beyond trent , did not nor could not so carefully look to the death of the kings tenants , which the statute of e. . ca. . complaineth of or that the smaller sort of lands in capite , or mean mens estates were not so much looked after ( and yet the old records of the kingdome do speak a great deal of care , and looking after every part of the kings revenew , ) the not mentioning in deeds or conveyances of whom or how the land was holden , the more frequent use of feoffements with livery & seisin in former times ( which being not inrolled , hindred or obstructed , the vigilance of the escheators and feodaries , ) their sleepinesse in permitting where any one mannor or parcel was holden in capite , many other mannors or lands of the same tenure to be found in the same inquisition by an ignoramus of the tenure & services & the craft & industry of many , if not most men to evade and elude , as much as they can , the law or any acts of parliament , though when they are sometimes catched they dearly pay for it . or by some other cause or reason not yet appearing many of the said knights fees are lost and never to be discovered , the offices post mortem now extant in the tower of london , being in the last year of the reign of king h. . in the beginning of whose reign they first began to be regularly found , and recorded but — . in an . . e. — . in an . e. — . & of the succeeding kings untill the end of e. . when such tenures were most valued and respected , are in every year but few in number , sometimes less than , and many times not above , in the most plentiful years of those times . and of the knights fees & lands holden in capite and by knight service which are now to be discovered in the greatest diligence of escheators & their better looking unto them in this last century of years , where there hath been an escheator for the most part in every county to look to the tenures and wardships , there will not upon exact search thereof appear to be in an . jac. regis any more than . jac. — in car. regis primi — in car. regis primi — . custodies & wardships granted , under the great seal of england which in wardships of any bulk or concernment doe most commonly pass that way leaving those of ordinary and lesser value to passe only under the seal , of the court of wards and liveryes & in an . car. primi . not above — offices post mortem some of which did only entitle the king to a livery , are to be found filed & returned ; & in an . car. regis not above ; which may give us some estimate of the small number which now remains of that huge number which former ages & writers talked of , & that after that rate if there be knights fees holden in capite there is scarce a twentieth part falls one year with another to make any profit or advantage to the king , by wardships , marriage , reliefs , primer seisin &c. nor are there unless by some unluckiness or accidents commonly above one in every three or four discents in a family , holding in capite , which do die and leave their heirs in minority , & then also it is either more of less chargeable to the family , as the males shall be nearer unto , or more remote from their full age of , or the females to their age of , some of the supposed inconveniences being prevented by an earlier marriage of the inheritrixes , or the kings giving the honour of knighthood to some of the males in their minoritie , which dispenseth with the value of their marriages . and yet those tenures wardships , and incidents thereunto , though so antient , legal , and innocent in their use and institution , were not without the watchful eye and ●are of parliaments , to prevent or pluck up any grievances , which like weeds in the best of gardens , or per accidens , might annoy or blemish those fair flowers of the crown imperial , as that of h. — that the tenant , by knight service , being at his full age when his ancestor dyeth shall have his inheritance by the old relief according to the old custom of the fees the statute of merton in anno h. ca — . and e. ca — ● . the kings tenant being at full age shall pay according to the old custom that is to say five pounds for a knights fee or lesse according to proportion ca — and . the keeper of the lands of the heir within age shall not take of the lands of the heir but reasonable issues customs and services , without distruction and wast of his men and goods , shall keep up the houses , parks , warrens , ponds , mills , and other things pertaining to the lands , with the issues of the lands , and deliver the lands to the heir when he come●h of full age stored with plowes and all other things , at least as he recieved them ca — . a widdow shall have her marriage inheritance and tarry in the chief house of her husband forty days after her husbands death with reasonable estovers within which time her dower shall be assigned , if it were not assigned before , the wards shall not be married to villains or other , as burgesses where they be disparaged or within the age of fourteen years or such age as they cannot consent to mariage , and if they do and their friends complain thereof , the lord shall loose the wardship , and all the profits that thereof shall be taken , and they shall be converted to the use of the heirs , being within age after the disposition and provision of their friends for the shame done unto them , a writ of mortd'auncester shall be allowed to the heir with dammages against the lord that keepeth his lands after he is of full age . heirs within age shall not loose their inheritance by the neglect or wilfulnesse of their guardians , h. . cap and . the lord shall not after the age of fourteen years keep a female unmarried more than two years after , and if he do not by that time marry her she shall have an action to recover her inheritance , without giving any thing for her wardship or inheritance , e. ca. . a writ of novel disseisin shall be awarded against any escheator that by colour of his office shall disseise any of his freehold with double dammages , and to be grievously amerced westmr. . . e. cap. in aid to make the son of the lord a knight or to marry the daughter , there shall be taken but twenty shillings for a whole knights fee , and after that rate proportionably ibm . . if the guardian maketh a feoffement of the wards lands , he shall have a writ of novel disseisin , and upon recovery the seisin shall be delivered to the next friend , and the guardian shall loose the wardship . e. . ca. . usurpation of a church during the minority of the heir shall not prejudice him , e. . . admeasurement of dower shall be granted to a guardian , and the heir shall not be barred by the suite of the guardian , if there be collusion , e. . . next friends shall be permitted to sue if the heir be ●loyned , e. . . if part of the lands be sold the services shall be apportioned westmr. . . escheators shall commit no waste in wards lands , e. . if lands without cause be seised by the escheator , the issues and mesne profits shall be restored , e. . . where it is found by inquest that lands are not holden of the king , the escheator shall without delay return the possession stat de escheatoribus e. . escheators shall have sufficient in the places where they minister , to answer the king and his people if any shall complain , e . . e. . shall be chosen by the chancelour , treasurer , and chief baron taking unto them the chief justices of the one bench and the other if they be present and no escheator ▪ shall tarry in his office above a year e. . . a ward shall have an action of waste against his guardian , and escheators shall make no waste in the lands of the kings wards e. . aid to make the kings son a knight or to marry his daughter , shall be in no other manner then according to the statute thereof formerly made e. . traverses of offices found before escheators upon dyings seised or alienations without licence shall be tried in the kings bench e. . an escheator shall have no pec of wood , fish , or venison , out of the wards lands e. . an idempnitate nominis shall be granted of another mans lands seised by an escheator e . . no escheator shall be made unless he haue twenty pounds land per annum or more in fee and they shall execute their offices in proper person , the chancellor shall make escheators without any gift or brokage and shall make them of the most lawful men and sufficient r. . . an escheator or commissioner shall take no inquest , but by such persons as shall be retorned by the sheriff they shall retorn the offices found before them and the lands shall be let to farm to him that tendereth a traverse to the office h. . . inquisitions shall be taken by escheators in good towns and open places and they shall not take above forty shillings for finding an office under the penalty of forty pounds h. — . women at the age of fourteen years at the time of the death of their ancestors without question or difficulty shall have livery of their lands h. . . no office shall be retorned into any of the kings courts by any escheator , or commissioner , but which is found by a jury , and none to be an escheator who hath not forty markes per annum , above all reprises , the jurors to have land of the yearly value of forty shillings within the shire ▪ the forman of the jury shall keep the counter part of the inquisition and the escheator must receive the inquisition found by the iury as also the offices or inquisitions shall be received in the chancery and exchequer h. ca. . lands shall be l●t to farme to him that offereth to traverse the office before the offices or inquests retorned , or within three months after h. ca. . the respite of homage of lands not exceeding five pounds per annum , to be but eight pence the yearly value of lands not exceeding twenty pounds per annum to be taken as it is found in the inquisition , except it by examination otherwise appear to the master of the wards , surveyer , atturney , or receiver general , or three of them , or that it shall otherwise appear and be declared in any of the kings courts , no escheator shall sit virtute officii where the lands be five pounds per annum or above , the escheator shall take for finding of an office not exceeding five pounds per annum but six shillings , eight pence for his fee , and for the writing of the office three shillings four pence , for the charges of the jury three shillings and for the officers and ministers of any court that shall receive the same record two shillings upon pain of five pounds to the escheator for every time so offending , the master and court shall have power to moderate any fines or recognisances h . . the heir of lands not exceeding five pounds per annum may sue his general livery by warrant only out of the court of wards although there be no inquisition or office found or certified . the interest of every lesser tenant for term of years copy-holder or other person having interest in any lands found in any office or inquisition shall be saved though they be not found by office . the heir upon an aetate probanda shall have an oust●e le maines and the profits of his lands from the time that he comes to age and if any office be untruely found , a traverse shall be allowed or a monstrans de droit without being driven to any petition of right though the king be entitled by a double matter of record . a traverse to an office shall be allowed where a wrong tenure is found , an ignoramus ●ound of a tenure shall not be taken to be any tenure in capite and upon a traverse a scire facias shall be awarded against the kings patentee and e . ca. . and if there had been any certain or common grievances or so much as a likelyhood of any to have risen or happened by such tenures and benefits which many were the better for , and had no reason at all to find fault with & w ch . many more were striving to deserve of the kings of england & the nobility & great men of this kingdom , the parliaments that have been ever since the th . year of the reign of h. . would not have made so many acts of parliament for their establishment , or tending to their preservation , & if we should believe ( as it cannot be well denyed ) that parliaments have been sometimes mistaken and enacted that , which they have afterwards thought fit to repeal . yet it comes not within the virge or compass of any probability , that parliaments where all grievances are most commonly represented , should for almost four hundred years together in a succession of many kings & parliaments , enact or continue grievances instead of remedies , & neither find those tenures to be inconvenient , or not fit to be continued , or so much as complain of them , but as if they were blessings of a part of the well being of the nation , not at once but at several times , in several ages , and several generations , support and uphold them by after laws , & constitutions , as , that no freeman should from thence give nor sell any more of his lands , but so that of the residue of the lands the lord of the fee may have the services due unto him which belongeth to the fee , lands aliened in mortmaine shall accrew to the lord of the fee h. . ca. . & . the ward shall pay to the lord of the fee the value of his marriage , if he will not marry at the request of his lord for the marriage of him that is within age , say the statute & the makers thereof , of meer right pertaineth to the lord of the fee , . h. , cap. . the lord shall not pay a fine for distraining his tenant for services and ●ustomes , . h. , cap. . a fraudulent conveyance to defeat the lord of his ward shall be void , cap. . the king shall have primer seisin , neither the heir nor any other shall intrude into their inheritance before he hath received it out of the kings hands , as the same inheritance was wont to be taken out of his hands , and his ancestors in times past , if the lands be accustomed to be in the kings hands by knight service , or serjeanty , or right of patronage , . h. . cap. . if an heir marry within age without the consent of his guardian before he be past the age of fourteen years it shall be done according as is contained in the statute of merton , and of them that marry after that age without the consent of their guardian , the guardian shall have the double value of their marriage , such as have withdrawn their marriage shall pay the full value to the guardian for the trespass , and nevertheless the king shall have like amends ; and if the wards of malice or by evil council will not be married by their chief lords where they shall not be disparaged , then the lords may hold their lands and inheritance until they have accomplished the age of an heir male , that is to wit , of twenty one years and further until they have taken the value of the marriage , e. . . a tenaent shall have a writ of mesne to acquit him of his services , and if the mesne come not he shall loose the service of his tenant , e. . . priority of feoffment shall make a title for wardship , cap. . the chief lord shall have a cessavit against the tenant if he cease for two years to do his service writs of ravishment degard allowed to the lord , and the party offending , though he restore the ward unmarried , or pay for the marriage , shall nevertheless be punished by two years imprisonment , e. . . the feoffee shall hold his lands of the chief lord and not of the feoffor , e. . quia emptores terrarum , a saving to the king of the antient aydes due and accustomed , . e. . . the king shall have the wardship of his tenant which holdeth in chief & the marriage of the heir , primer seisin assignement of dower to the widdow , marriage of the women tenants deviding their lands in coparcinery holden of him , and they which hold of him in serjeanty shall pay a fine at the alienation , . e. . a free-man shall doe his homage to his lord , . e. . knights fees shall not pass in the kings grants without special words e. . . he shall be answered the mesne rates of lands coming to him by his tenants death . . e. . . & where sundry of the kings tenants holding of him immediately , as of his dutchy of lancaster , did by sundry recoveries , fines , and feoffments in use , defeat the king of wardships of body and lands . it was enacted that the king , and his heirs , shall have the wardship and custody of the body and lands of cestui que use , and if they be of full age , shall have relief , notwithstanding any such conveyance , and an exact provision made for writs to be granted upon the imbesiling of any such heir , rot. parl. e. . n. . & . the lord of cestui que use , no will being declared &c. shall have a writ of right of ward for the body and land , and the heir of cestuique use being of full age at the death of his auncestor shall pay a relief , h. . . av●wry may be made by ▪ the lord upon the land holden of him without naming his tenant h. . . and no grievance was thought be in them at the time of the making of the act of parliament of h. , . when as it was expresly provided by that act , that tenures in capite should be reserved to the king of all mannors , lands , and hereditaments belonging to monasteries & religious houses , which had lands , tenements , and hereditaments not exceeding the clear yearly value of two hundred pounds , which he should afterwards grant for an estate of inheritance ; nor did the parliament in the year of the raign of that king , retract that good opinion which was formerly had of them , when enacting that the king and his heirs and successors should be put in actual possession of all mannors , lands and hereditaments of any yearly value whatsoever belonging to monasteries , they saved to the king , his heirs and successors , all rents , services , and other duties , as if that act had never been made ; nor in the act of parliament of h. . cap. . for erection of the court of wards and liveries wherin it is acknowledged that tenures in capite and wardships , with their incidents , did of right belong to the king in the right of the imperial crown of this realm ; in the act of parliament of . h. . and an explanation thereof in and h. . . giving power to those that held lands in capite and by knights service , to devise two parts thereof reserving to the king wardship , primer seisin , and fines for alienation of the third part , and fines for alienations of the freehold , or inheritance of the two parts . the crown being secured of the tenure of the two parts by the statute of quia emptores terrarum . nor at the making of the statutes of h. . . & h. . . whereby the king might reserve tenures in socage or capite at his will and pleasure upon grants of lands not exceeding the value of forty shillings per annum , belonging to religious houses . and that the kings former right shall be saved notwithstanding any traverse , & a remedy for the rents of the mesne lords where the king hath the wardships , and e. . cap. , and those that held by such tenures besides the care of so many acts of parliament , were not unhappy also in that provision of the common law , where it was an article or inquiry in the eyre if any lord novas levavit consuetudines , had charged his tenant with any new customes , if any escheators or subescheators had made any wast in the wards lands , or seised lands which ought not to be seised . et omnes illi qui sentiunt se super hiis gravatos , & inde conqueri voluerint audiantur & fiat eis justitia . all that were grieved , were to be heard , (o) and have justice done them and the tenant had his remedy by a (p) writ of ne injuste vexes , where his lord did indebita exigere servitia . and least any thing should but come within the suspition of a grievance , or that the power of the court of wards and liveries , and the latitude which the act of parliament of h. . had given it , ( which was to be as fixed as the trust which was committed to it , should in the intervalls of parliaments or seldomest cases be any thing like to a burden or inconvenience , the disposing and granting of wardships was by king james his commission and instructions , under the great seal of england in (q) an . . to the end that the people might stand assured , that he desired nothing more , than that their children and their lands which should fall unto him by reason of wardships might after their decease be committed in their neerest and trustiest friends , or to such as they by will or otherwise commit the charge unto upon such valuable considerations as are just and reasonable , that the parents and ancestors may depart in greater peace in hope of his gracious favour ; their friends may see their children brought up in piety and learning , and may take such care as is fit for the preservation of their inheritance , if they will seek the same in time . ordered that no direction for the finding of any office be given for the wardship of the body and lands of any ward until the end of one moneth next after the death of the wards ancestor , but to the neerest and trustiest friends of the ward , or other person nominated by the ancestor in the wards behalf , who may in the mean time become suiters for the same , among whom choice may be made of the best and fittest . no composition , agreement , or promise of any wardship or lease of lands be made until the office be found , and then such of the friends to have preferment as tendred their petitions within the moneth , they yeilding a reasonable composition . the master attorney surveyor , and other the officers of the court of wards were to inform them selves as particularly as they might of the truth of the wards estate , as well of his inheritance , as of his goods and chattels , the estate of the deceased ancestors , and of all other due circumstances considerable , to the end the compositions might be such as might stand with ( the kings ) resonable profit , and the ability of the heirs estate . no escheat●r shall inforce any man to shew his evidence . that all leases of wards lands ( except in cases of concealment ) be made with litle or no fine , and for the best improved yearly rent that shall be offered , consideration being had of the cautions aforesaid , that no recusant be admitted to compound or be assignee of any wardship . that where it shall appear , that neither the king nor his progenitors , within the space of threescore years last past , enjoyed any benefit by wardship , livery , primer seizin , releif , respect of homage , fi●es , or mesne rates of any lands , the master and councel of the said court , were authorized to remit and release all benefit and profit that might accrew to the king thereby ; and in all cases where covenants were p●●formed to deliver bonds , which were taken concerning the same . and that upon consideration of circumstances , which may happen in assessing of fines for the marriages , of the wards and renting of their lands , either by reason of the broken estate of the deceased , want of provision for his wife , his great charge of children unprovided for , infirmity or tendernesse of the heir , incertainty of the title , or greatnesse of incumbrance upon the lands , they shall have liberty , as those or any other the like comsiderations shall offer themselves , to use that good discretion , and conscience which shall be sit in mitigating or abating fines or rents to the releif of such necessities . in pursuance whereof , and the course and usage of that court as well before as after the said instructions , wardships , nor any custody or lease of the wards or their lands were not granted , in any surprising or misinforming way , but by the care and deliberation of the master and councel of the court of wards and liveries , upon a full hearing and examination of all parties and pretenders , they to whom they were granted covenanting by indenture under their hands and seals with bonds of great penalties to perform the same , to educate the ward according to his degree and quality , preserve his lands and houses from waste , fell no coppice , woods , grant no copy-hold estates for lives , nor appoint any steward to keep the courts without licence , and to permit the feodary of the county where the land lieth yearly to survey , and superintend , the care thereof and had reasonable times of payment allowed them . and could not likely produce any grievances in the rates or assessing of fines for marriages , or for rents reserved during the minority of the wards , or for primer seisin or any other compositions , when as the kings of england since the raign of the unhappy r. . and the intermission of the eyres and those strict enquiries which were formerly made of the frauds , or concealment of the escheators or their deputies in the businesse of tenures , and wardships , and their neglect or not improving of them , ( most of those former officers and those that trucked with them not doing that right which they ought to their consciences and their kings and benefactors . have for some ages past been so willing to ease their people , or comply with their desires , as they have no● regarded a● all their own profit , or taken such a care as they might to retain ●hose just powers which were incident or necessary to their royal government ; but by leaving their bounty and kindnesse open to all the requests or designs of the people , have like tender hearted parents given away much of their own support and sustenance , to gratify the blandishments , or necessities , of their children , and not only enervated , but dismembred , and quitted many of their regal powers and just prerogatives in their grants of lands and liberties , and thereby too much exhausted and abandoned the care of their own revenue and treasure , as may easily appear to any that shall take but a view of those many regalities , franchises , and liberties , which ( being to be as a sacrum patrimonium , unalienable ) have heretofore either been too liberally granted by the kings progenitors , of which h. . was very sensible in his answer to the prior or master of the hospital of st. johns at jerusalem , (q) or not well looked after in those incroachments , and usurpations , which have been made upon them . or consider the very great cares and providence , as well as prudence , of former ages , in the managing , collecting , and improveing of the kings revenue in england , whether certain or casual . the strict inquiries , & orders , and the care of every thing which might make a profit , or prevent a damage which made some of the kings of england to be so litle wanting money ▪ as king canutus , as the abby book of ramsey hath recorded it , (r) was able out of his hanaper or travailing trunk , when he lodged at vassington in northamptonshire , to lend the bishop etheruus ( who s●bita pulsus occasione , had a great occasion to use it ) good store of money . and that in william the conquerours time , and in the height of his plenty and prosperity , no repairs of castles and houses were made but upon accompt by oath . inquiries were made by some of the succeeding kings and (s) their officers after windfalen trees & a few trees were not given , nor cheverons nor rafters allowed towards the repairing of a grange , or farm , without the warrant of the great seal of england judges commanded to look to the fines imposed in the eyre● or circuits , and in all the eyres & (t) circuits , a clark who kept particular rolles or duplicates of the judges rolles , or records of their proceedings was for the king especially appointed , and attended , and as smal a sum as d. accompted for a deodand . nor was any thing as far as humane vigilance , industry , or providence , might foresee , prevent , or remedy , suffered to be done or continue , that might endammage or lessen the royal revenue , which king henry the d. could so watch over as the court of exchequer hath sometimes seen him there sitting , and taking his own accompts . which kinds of wariness , and care , have been so much disused or neglected by many of his successors , as though by time and the course thereof , the alteration of the value of mony & coyne from twenty pence the ounce to five shillings & a peny , the ounce , of silver , the prizes & rates of provision and commodities to be bought with it almost yearly raised and inhaunced , and the more chargeable way of living which followed thereupon ; might have put them in mind to have given lesse , or demanded more , for what was justly their own , when as in the th . year of the reign of king edward the d. shillings per diem , was thought by the king and his councel to be a royal and sufficient expence for edward baliol king of scots & his train , whilst he tarried (u) at london , and s. per diem when he travailed . and in the reign of king h. . medow-ground in (w) leicestershire was valued but at eight pence an acre and that as appears by a remonstrance made in parliament in or about the th . year of the reign of that king , who was king in possession of france , as well as of england , now not above years agoe , he did right worshipfully as the record saith , maintain the charge of his houshold with sixteen thousand pounds sterling per annum , and could not then defray it with less than twenty four thousand pounds per annum , which now cannot well be done under ten times as much , when an annuity or pension of ten pounds or twenty marks per annum , which was then sufficient for the kings better sort of servants , is now scarce enough for a foot-man and the most ordinary sort of inferior servants . did notwithstanding not lessen their bounty , or raise the rents or rates of their revenues , but permitted their escheators in matters of tenures and wardships , to adhere unto their former courses , and find the value of the lands in their offices or inquisitions , at the old or small yearly values , the rule which the escheators took for the finding of the values of the lands upon inquisitions , being at the highest but the tenth part of the true yearly value ( which was the guide also for the rate of the primer seisins where they were to be taken ) & as much lower as the unwarrantable kindness of too many of those which were trusted , and should have looked better unto it could perswade them . the feodaries also upon their surveys seldom raising the yearly value to more than about a third part of such a gentle value as he should be entreated to adde to that which the jurors and escheators had friendly found it . so as somtimes a mannor of above one hundred pounds per annum was found but at thirteen shillings four pence per annum , and other times if mingled with other lands , of a great yearly value at no more than forty shillings per annum and no longer agoe than in the reign of king cha●les the first , above one thousand pound● per annum , hath been found to be but of the yearly va●ue of twenty marks . and an estate — consisting of very few mannors , and as few coppyholders , but most in f●rms and dem●snes upon an improved and almost racked ▪ rent worth six thousand pounds per annum , found at no greater yearly value than one hundred eighty three pounds eleven shillings , which is lesse than the thirtieth par● , ●hough the escheators with knights and gentlemen , and sometimes men of greater mark and quality were commissioners , the jurors made up somtimes of gentlemen , and most commonly of substantial freeholders , and all of them , such as might better have understood an oath , who takeing an ill custom to be warrant enough for a bad conscience , did when they were by the writ to enquire upon their oaths de vero annuo valore , of the true yearly value of the lands , th●nk that they did honestly and well enough to find it at a very small or low yearly value , because they were sure it was we●l worth so much . neither were the paym●nts o● 〈◊〉 of homage so troublesom , as to make a complaint of when as by an order made in eliz. by virtue of her privy seal by the lord burghley lord treasurer and the chancellour and barons of the exchecquer , which the lords and commons of england in primo jacobi , did pray and procure to be enacted by parliament . it was after such an easy and old fashioned rate or value of the lands , as it was but in every fifth term to be paid in the exchecquer by a rate and apportionment , and might have been saved by an actual doing of homage as was antiently used to be done upon their livery , and first coming to their lands and their respit of homage and howsoever may as well be taken to be a favour as they do of their mesne lords or one to another , in paying three shillings four pence per annum as a quit rent for respit of suit of court. and that it was therein and thereupon also enacted , that no processe ad faciendum homagium , or fidelitatem , scire facias capias or distresse , should issue out of the exchequer , but upon a good ground . and that the clerks of the treasurers remembrancer in the exchequer , shall pay all issues that any shall loose after he hath paid ordinary fine for respite of homage , and so may be proved by any of their acquittances . neither were the rates for licences of alienations burdensom when they were paid by the rich and improving and most commonly advantage taking purchasors or by the gainers by the settlement or alteration of lands or estates , and are in passing fines not usually above a thirtieth part , and so after an antient & un-improved small yearly value , as six thousand pounds per annum , hath within three years last past paid but a little above one hundred and twenty pounds for a composition or licence of alienation . which with other of the kings casual profits by a long remissenesse and usage of some ages past whilst the people to save their own purses , and favour one another choosing the open rode and track and following the precedents and too common use of under valuations , which hath ever been ; and is the great obstructor and diminisher of royal revenues , would as much as they could never forsake or go much out of it as is visible enough in the escuage● upon knights fees and valuatiōs in several ages & kings reigns in that of a tenth in h. . demanded in parliament to be paid out of all the ecclesiastical revenues after the full yearly value , where adjuncto magnae verb● offensionis , as (x) mathew paris tells us it was taken the worse in regard it was required to be taxed non secundum estimationem pristin●m sed secundum , ●stimationem no●am ad inquisitionem strictissimam not according to the former estimation or rates , but a n●w and most severe valuation , & was not at all granted . and in a parliament at bury , in ● h. . the clergy denyed to be rated by the laity or justa & alta taxatione by a just & high valuation . (y) sed tantum ut taxatio staret antiqua , but only that the old taxation might stand , nor was it much otherwise in the rates of fifteens and other proportions of taxes granted by parliaments , though somtimes ordered to be assessed upon oath the greatest tye and obligations that can be laid upon men and their consciences , wherein litle or more then a tenth or smal part was paid or collected of the true yearly value . but like a numerous family of children spending much , wanting much , and drawing all that they can from the kind and self-denying common parent , together with the bounty and munificence which kings and princes are not seldom necessitated unto in the way of government and care of the generality , would never be brought to any just valuation or improvement no more than that of customs for goods exported or imported at the rate of twelve pence in the pound , and for the subsidies given by parliament , whereupon no more was used to be paid than two (z) shillings , or two shillings eight pe●ce in the pound , for moveables , debts , defalked and s. in the pound , and most commonly not so much according to the yearly value of lands , rents , annuities or other yearly profits , after an easy and accustomed great undervaluation , no more than that of tenths and first fruits , or of taxations or valuations of benefices in the kings books at the tenth or fifth of the true yearly value , though every age , of one or two ages last past , and every thirty or twenty years in the age of century , in which we now live , have hugely raised the yearly value of lands every one striving who shall do it most in their own particular estates . and if there were not ( as there are ) so very many plain and evident demonstrations of it , may well be believed to be possible , when the publick , though made up of the private , is dayly gnawed , and preyed upon by the private , and every one lurches , and takes what he can from the publique , to add to his private , when the numberlesse number of the private , is more than the head or monarch , when the people are to assesse themselves , and will ease one another , when interest and partiality are the loadstones that attracts , and the cards and compasses which the most of men do sail by , every man is a well-wisher to the publique , but very few well-doers , every one pretends good unto it , but intend , if not all , yet a great deal more unto themselves , and do make it their businesse to be the kings cozens , though they are not of the blood-royal , and by the help of bad consciences , and no good affection to the publique , or common-weale , do think no more evil to be in such purloinings , than to fetch or take water from a great river , or stones , or gravel , from a vast and high mountain . and the nobility and gentry , and most of the land-lords in england , have for many years last past in the publick assessements , which were made to maintain the miseries and iniquityes of our latter times to their cost and grievance experimented , that where the tenants were to pay for their stock , they could so order it , as to lay the most of the burden upon the land-lords , upon pretences , that they had but a small stock of cattle when it was in their power not only to undervalue what they had , but to lessen or make it more , any fair or market-day before or after . wherby , and the effects which best discovers the truth and intention of all men , and their matters be their pretences never so plausible , much coloured or varnished over , the conclusion will necessarily follow the premises , that the outsides and noyse of great ayds and subsidyes , have been always a great deal more than the reality of them ; that the kings and queens of england have always had in their revenues fair blossomings or bloomes , but little more than the tenth of it hath come to be fruits or gatherings into their treasuries , witnesse , if there were nothing else to prove it , the great and more than treble or a better improvement which hath been lately made of them , since they came to be wrongfully possessed by private men ; and that the revenues of the kings and princes of england could never yet arrive to the fate of great rivers , which fertilizeing all the neighbouring shores , and carrying many a great burden and vessel , which dayly sail to and fro upon them , are notwithstanding so farre from emptying or impairing themselves , as the further they run , they are sure enough to be made greater by an addition of many little brooks , and great rivers which fall into them . but by a continual emptying and deflux , must of necessity sink it self into a great decay and deficiency , when as that which was accounted providence , and good husbandry in king h. . ( or h. . if (a) samuel daniel , and others be not mistaken ) to change his rent , provisions of corn & victuals , which in every county was paid in specie , into yearly rents or summs of money , because con●luebat ad regis curiam , multitud● colo●orum oblatis vomeribus , in signum deficientis agriculturae , a multitude of plow-men and husband-men , ( occasioned probably by the many vast demeasns , commons , woods , and forrests which then took up much of the lands of the kingdom ) came with their plow-shares to the court , to shew the king the decay of husbandry , saith the black book (b) of the exchequ●er ; when as a little before a measure of wheat , for bread for a hundred men , was valued by the kings officers but at one shilling , the carcasse of a fat oxe one shilling , of a sheep four pence , and for provender for twenty horses but four pence . and thought himself to have been on the surer side when he ordered six pence in every pound to be taken overplus or d'avantage , least the rate and value of money should diminish , is now not the hundreth part of the value of the old kind of rents and provisions ; and reducing also many incertain customs into a certainty of yearly rents , which being then some thing proportionable unto it , is not now the th . or th . part of what was then the value in the intention and estimation , as well of the kings , which were to receive it , as of the tenants who were to pay it ; and therefore notw●thstanding the great estates and revenues of some rebellious subjects which have sometimes been forfeited , & came as an accession & supplement to the wasting and dec●ying crown lands , much of them being either in mer●y or policy restored afterwards to the heirs of those which justly forfeited them . the languishing condition of the royal revenues were so little remedied , as the royal expences in defraying the more expencefull charges of their houshold , family , and princely retinue . after the new enhaunced rates and prizes , whilst they recelved their rents and other profits after the old , carrying so great a difference and disproportion . as there is betwixt one hundred four pounds seventeen shillings and six pence , paid by thomas earl of lancaster , in the reign of king e. . for tuns of clarret-wine , and one tunne of white , but litle exceeding eleaven shillings per tunn , and that which is now the price of the like quantity & between one hundred forty seven pounds seventeen shillings and eight pence for seven furres of variable miniver , or powdered ermin ; seven hoods of purple three hundred ninety five furres of budge for the liveries of barons , knights , and clerks . furrs of lamb for esquires bought at christmas as appears by the accompt of henry leicester the said earls cofferer . twenty four shillings for a fat stalled oxe , twenty pence for a mutton , two pence half penny for a goose , two pence for a capon , a penny for a hen , and twenty four eggs for a penny , which were the prizes assessed by the magistrates , and then thought to be equal for the buyer , as well as the seller , between the price of cloath , for two gowns for the clarks of the chamber , to the lord mayor of london now , and that which in the raign of h. . cost but two shillings per ▪ yard , and betwixt the price of a capon in the middle of the reign of queen elizabeth at six pence , and the rate of s d. or s. which is now the least will be taken for one . and that by reason of the gentry and all private mens racking and inhauncing the rents of their lands , letting it too often by the acre , and the strictest measure , and the most that will be bid for it , and the plenty of pride to an extremity of excesse , rather than a plenty of mony in the nation , the rates of victuals and provisions and manner of living , are increased to almost a third part more than what they were within this years last past . there must needs follow that tabes or consumption which is so apparent and visible in the royal revenue , which will be as little for the peoples good , who ( unless they can think it to be either goodness or wisdom in the members to make or suffer the head to be sick and languish ) are by subsidies & assessements to support it in its sicknesse or languishing condition , as it will be for the king to presse or perswade them to it . but least it should be objected , that as the well ordering , right use , and manage of the best things , is that only which blesseth and crowneth the intention , and first institution of them , and the ill is that which corrupteth and blasteth all that was hoped for , or expected by it , and that the innocency and necessary use of tenures in capit● and knight service may amount unro a grievance if the court of wards should either by the wickednesse , extortion , or avarice of the judges , or their ignorance , which is as bad as either , or their lenity or connivance to the officers , or those which are employed under them . intend more their own profit than the kings , and in stead of being a protection to wards , pillage and ruine them and their estates , or be like ( as they were not ) an assembly or congregation of men met together in the formality of a court where rapine , avarice , and injustice , under the vizard or hypocrisie of doing justice , strives who shall most advance their ends by a propension to what is unjust , and an aversion from all that may relieve the oppressed . it may be necessary to shew by whom or what manner of persons that court of wards and liveries was governed , and guided . which was not like that court of civil law , upon whose bench and tribunal in our late times of delirium and confusion , sate as judges two common lawyers hugh peters a a traytor to his king and country , sometimes a prompter at a play-house , and afterwards an extemporary preacher , together with an atturney at common law , a tradesman , & a country gentleman , who would not at any time think it safe , or becomming them in that their never the like practised in any age or time before antipodes or contrarieties ▪ to right reason , or the way of understanding , or doing justice , to mention any text or part of the civil law , though it was daily and learnedly pleaded before them by the advocates , but when any books or authorities of the civil law , were cited and urged , which their capacities could not reach , some of them like the woman in seneca , which did not complain of her own want of sight , but found fault with the darknesse of the house , could to throw by the trouble or any further consideration of what they did not understand , find no better a way than causelessely to rail at , and reproach the common law as well as the civil , and unadvisedly and publickly declare them to be but inventions to get mony . was not like the court to remove obstructions in the godly as they called it , but ungodly purchasers , where all the kings grants after . or thereabouts were adjudged as null , and not to be allowed , and all manner of obstructions laid in the way of loyal and distressed men , to clear and make an open passage for their own partie and such kind purchasers ▪ not like that of haberdashers-hall , where the just and innocent were sequesterd ( by the tender conscienced party as they stiled themselves ) for their allegiance to their king , following of the scripture , their consciences , and the known laws of the land were notwithstanding their many petitions , and importunities several years whilst their estates were sequestred and taken from them , kept in a starving condition , before they could be heard , to litle purpose , where sons and too well descended to be so unworthy , were invited to accuse their loyal & aged parents , whom the jewes would have rent their clothes to have seen , encouraged , and made to be sharers in the spoyl of their father . not like the committee ( or court improperly called ) at salters-hall for relief of creditors against their imprisoned debtors , where some of those judges and committees , if not wronged by printed complaints , were in good hopes to have made some preparations to sell the debtors lands to their friends or kindred at good penniworths . nor like the committee for plundring , rather than plundred ministers , who to take away all the benefices of england and wales , from the tribe of levi , and confer them upon the tribe of issachar , and their factious , and mechanique guifted brethren , and keep out the orthodox and learned clergy , could make their costly orders for the trial of them that were more learned then themselves , concerning the grace of god , and their utterance for preaching of the gospel with private and deceitful marks , and litle close couched or interposed letters , hid or put under or over some other letters , whereby to intimate to their subcommittees in the countries , that howsoever the men were without exception , and found to be so upon certificates and examination , they were to be delayed , and sent from post to pillar , and tired bo●h in their bodies and purses , and be sure never to be instituted and inducted . but was a court compos'd of grave , learned , knowing , and worthy masters of the wards , such as william marquesse of winchester , william lord burghley , and his son the earl of salisbury , and many other who made not the court , or any of the businesse thereof , to lacquy after their own interest . had for attorney generalls of that court , who sate as men of law and judges therein , and assistants to the masters of the wards richard onslow esq afterwards speaker of the house of commons , sr. nicholas bacon knight , afterwards a most learned lord keeper of the great seal of england , and a great councellor of estate to queen elizabeth , sr. henry hobart afterwards lord cheif justice of the court of common-pleas , sr. james ley knight and baronet , afterwards lord cheif justice of the court of kings bench , after that earl of marleborough , and lord treasurer of england , sr. henry calthrop knight , sr. rowland wandesford knight , and sr. orlando bridgeman kt. now lord chief justice of the court of common pleas , all very eminently learned lawyers , and of great estates , honour , honesty , and worth in their several generations , who upon any difficult or weighty matter of law , to be discussed in that court , did usually intreat the presence , and had the assistance of the lord cheif justices , lord cheif baron , or of any of the other learned judges of the land , whom they should please to invite unto them , where a variety of learning , grave deliberations , a great care of justice , and right reason most lively and clearly represented , have left to posterity as guides and directions for after ages ; those conclusions and resolutions , of cases of great learning and weight in that court , reported by the lord dier , cook , and other learned sages of the law. nor were the masters of the wards attorneys , auditors or escheators loosely tied by oaths , as some of the committee jurisdictions were , when they did swear only in general , faithfully according to their best skill and knowledge , to discharge the trust committed to them , and would not for favour or affection reward , or gift , or hopes of reward , or gift , break the same . or as little restraining them from acts of oppression or injustice , as the oath of the controlers for the sale of the kings and queens lands , ordered by that which called it self a parliament . july . the oath of the commissioners for managing the estates of delinquents & sequestrations at haberdashers-hall ; ordered by no better an authority the of april . or that , which by that , which would be called an act of parliament , of the of december . for establishing an high court of justice within the counties of norfforlk , suffolk , cambridge , and huntington , for the tryal of delinquents was only ordered was to be taken by those that were to be the judges , that they should well and truly according to the best of their skill and knowledge execute the several powers given unto them ; which bound them not from doing wrong , to those whom they made to bear the burdens of all the cruelties which they could possibly lay upon them . but were compassed and hedged in by oaths , (c) as warily restraining , as they were legal , for the master of the wards was by act of parliament enjoyned to swear to minister justice to rich ond poor , to the best of his cunning and power , to take no gift or reward in any case depending before him , (d) and to deliver with speed such as shall have to do before him . (e) the attorney was sworn truely to counsel the king , and the master of the court , and with all speed and diligence to endeavour the hearing and determination , indifferently of such matters and causes as shall depend before the master of the wards , and shall not take any gift or reward , in any matter or cause depending in the same court. (f) the auditors sworn to make a true allowance in their offices to every person , which shall be accomptant before them , and not to take or recieve of poor or rich any gift or reward in any matter or cause depending , or to be discussed in the court but such as shall be ordinarily appertaining to their offices , (g) and the escheators to treat all the people in their ●ayliwicks , truely and righteously to do right to every man aswell to poor as to rich , do no wrong to any man , neither for promise , love , nor hate , nor no mans right disturb , do nothing whereby right may be disturbed , letted , or delayed , and shall take their enquests , in open places , and not privy . and might better content the people , then when in former ages the wardships and their disposing were left to the care and order of the chancellour , as to thomas b●cket in h. . time , (h) or to hubert de burgh chief-justice and earl of kent , in the reign of h. . sometimes to the treasurers or chamberlains & most comonly , let to farm by escheators , & sometimes by under-sherifs or when the next wardships or escheats that should happen were before hand assigned towards the payment of some of the kings debts , as to william de valence earl of pembroke in the reign of e. . or that the wardships and escheats which should happen in ▪ or . counties were before hand granted to some particular man. and can never be so good or for the ease of the people as when the king by a constant and well ordered court shall be rescued from the importunityes and necessityes of great men , and preserved from the errors which an indulgence or munificence to so many cravers , petitioners , and pretenders , as do usually throng the courts , and presence of princes , might draw or perswade them unto and the wards and their friends , not put to seek remedies or just defences in their suits or concernments in other courts amongst a multitude and intermixture of causes of another nature , nor to procure an accesse for their petitions to their kings , or at their courts or residences , where a continual assembly of all the weighty cares and emergencies in government , will inevitably inforce or necessitate delayes , and notwithstanding the help of some costly mediators and intercessors , cannot nor ever could be easily got through , but may in such a fixed and peculiar court as that of the wards & liveri●● with a small expence of time , or attendance , and the assistance of certain allowed fees to proper and appointed offices , which cannot be any grievance where they shall be any thing within the bounds of reason or moderation , know how to find out and go to their proper remedies as readily as an apothecary can to his boxes of medicaments , or the physician to the experimented directions of his books or recipes , and were sure to be heard and have redresse in a court of justice , guided and governed by wise , and good men , who being as great as they were good , were fenced and compassed about with comprehensive and restraining oaths , enjoyning all manner of right , and forbidding the least of injustice , and wrong to be done unto the people . preserved the estates , inheritance , and evidences of the wards , guarded , and rescued the estates of lunatiques , and ideots , from those that would deceive them , helped the wards in the discovery , and recovery of their debts , and rights , rescued them from all wrongs , enjoyned , and prohibited other courts from any cognizance , or determination of their concernments , except when a will was to be proved , or an administration granted , or the like , to , or for the use , and benefit , of a ward , and committed the education of such , whose fathers dyed papists , so to protestants , as many , and amongst them some earls , and nobility , have by the direction of the king , and the care of that court , been put under the tuition of some bishops , and thereby become protestants , and their posterities fastened in that religion , most of which cares of that court , and benefits received by the people , could not be at all , or not so well had and enjoyed , when there was no court , which besides the pr●venting and punishing of stoln marriages , and many other benefits not here mentioned , may notwithstanding some deviations , and irregularities , which have been committed by some officers , and clarks , which may easily be remedied , be as useful as other of the great courts in westminster-hall , which were not dissolved or put down in the reign of king e. . because all the judges of the kings bench , common pleas , and exchequer , except john de metingham , and elias de beckingham were by judgment of parliament , (i) found guilty and grievously fined for briberies , extortions , oppressions , and other great misdemeanors , but to the great good and comfort of the people and nation , have as before those offences committed by some of their judges in the absence of the king in gasconie , ever since continued as great magazines of justice , and the asylums or sanctuaries of all that are distressed . so as no serpent , for ought ever appears , lurked under that green grasse , nor any crocodile nourished , or bathed himself in those wholesome waters , laid not his eggs in the sand of our estates or properties , assaulted not the innocent passenger , nor spoiled our flocks of sheep , or herds of cattle : and a marvail or wonder it may therefore be , that so good , so necessary , and so beneficial an institution , should have any innate , or original evil or grievance in it , and the quaerulous humour of the vulgar , who , like a herd of swine , do too often cry , when one of many of them is but justly pinched or wrung by the ear for his unjust trespassings , or as those irrational guards of the night do use to howl or bark because one of their kind half a mile off , torments himself in a moon-light night in barking at his own or any other shaddow , should never stuffe out , or enlarge their complaints , against that which was accounted to be no grievance in edward the confessors time , whose memory was , and is yet like the nard , or spices of the east , and his laws so venerable , as our english fore-fathers could in the loss and ruines of their country , hide them under his shrine at westminster , and thought themselves happy , when as with tears and importunities they obtained of william the conquerour to be restored to them , and left them as rich heir-looms , and a precious legacy to their posterity , who got the care and observation of them to be afterwards inserted into the coronation-oath of the succeeding kings of england . and could no way be suspected not to be highly contented with them , when as they were leges propriae , laws of their own country , & consuetudines antiquae in quibus vixerant patres ●orum (k) & ipsi in eis nati , & nutriti fuerunt ; and the antient customs in which their fore-fathers were born or bred up in , not collected or put together by incertain reports partial or doubtful , upon reasonlesse traditions , or hear-says of an afflicted trembling , or affrighted degenerate people , under the sense and miseries of a late forreign conquest , but per praeceptum regis wil●elmi electi sunt de singulis totius angliae comitatibus viri sapie●tiores quibus jurejurando injunctum fuit coram rege gulielmo ut quoad possent tramite neque ad dextram , neque ad sinistram , declinantes legum suarum & consuetudinum sancita patefacerent , nil praetermittentes nil addentes , nil praevaricando mutantes , orderly and judicially inquired and sought out by a fair and just election of twelve of the wisest men of every county in england , by virtue of king william the conquerours writs or commission to whom being brought into the kings presence , they were injoyned by oath , that as much as possibly they could ▪ they , should have a care to do right , and neither incline to the right hand , nor to the left , & without any omission , addition , collusion , or deceit should certifie their legal customs , which being done , and written out by the kings command , by the proper hand-writing of aldered arch-bishop of york , and hugh bishop of london , were by the king ratified by his proclamation , and made perpetual , per totum regnum angliae inviolabiliter tenendas sub paenis gravissimis , throughout all england under grievous penalties to be observed and kept ; and so approved by the people , as about years after , the citizens of london , ( as the continuation of florence wigorniensis mentioned by that learned knight sr. roger twisden in his preface to the laws of william the conquerour , published by the eminently learned mr. selden informs us ) (l) did importune maud the empresse , ut eis edwardi regis leges observare liceret quia optimae erant , that the laws of king edward might be observed , because they were the best . and when william the conquerour ordered the rents , and revenues of such as held of him , to be paid into the exchequer , it was non simpliciter nec haeres ab hereditate , (m) nec ut ab ipso haereditas tollitur , sed simul cum haereditate sub regis custodia constitutus temp●r● pupillaris aetatis , not to take away the inheritance , but to keep and educate him during his minority . for it could be no inconvenience to the publick welfare of the nation , to have the children of the best ranck and quality ( for such were then the tenants in capite and by knight service ) virtuously and nobly educated in arts and arms , whereby to be enabled to do their prince and country service , and their lands and estates in the interim , to be protected and defended from neighbour or other injuries . nor to be married to their own degree or a nobler quality , when as by the means of intermarriages betwixt the saxons & normans , as between (n) lucia the sister of morchar earl of northumberland , a saxon , and juo talbois a great norman baron , and betwixt ralph de waiet a saxon , by a british or welch woman , & emme the daughter of william fitz osbern earl of hereford , by which he was by the conquerour made earl of the east - angles . and many more which might be instanced , their mutual discontents and animosities calming into reconciliations and friendships , had the like effect , as the tye and kindness of the intermarriages had not long before in king ina's time , who himself marrying with guala a (o) british woman , & his lords and great men intermarrying with the welch , & scots , & their sons also marrying with their daughters , the nation became to be as gens una , one people , in a near consociation , and relation , and the norman h. . afterwards found it to be not unsuccessefull in his own marriage with matilda the daughter of malcolm king of scots , by the sister or niece of edgar atheling of the saxon royal line . it was no grievance when the charter of liberties ( which was the original of a great part of our after magna charta , ) was granted to the people of england by k. h. . who is therein said omnes malas consuetudines quibus anglia opprimebatur auferre , to abolish all the evil customs with which england was oppressed , when it would have been strange that tenures in capite , and by knight service should remain as a part of the kings just prerogative , and be so well liked of , and approved , consilio & consensu baronum , by advice and consent of the barons , if there had been any grievance originally or naturally in them . nor so much as a semblance of it in the reign of h. . (p) when a general inquisition was made per angliam cui quis in servitio seculari de jure obnoxius teneretur , thorough england what secular or temporal services due by law were not performed . and as little in the parliament at clarendon in the same kings reign , where in the presence of the king , bishops , earls , barons , and nobility , (q) facta fuit recognitio , sive recordatio , cujusdam partis consuetudinum , & libertatum antecessorum suorum , regis viz. henrici avi sui & aliorum quae observari deb●bant in regno & ab omnibus teneri , a recapitulation and rehearsal was made of some of the customs and liberties of their ancestors , and of the king , that is to say of king h. . and others which ought of all to be observed and kept in the kingdom , in which there was nothing against the feudal laws or tenures in capite , and by knights service , but many expressions , and allowances of them . and if otherwise it would have been something strange that the issue and posterity of those barons , should in king johns time adventure all that could be dear , or near unto them , to gain the liberties granted by h. . with some addition , and never grudge that king the same prerogative , when as hazarding the forfeiture of their own magna charta of heaven , to gain a magna charta on earth for their posterities . they had greatly over-powered their king , at running mede where their armies stood in procinctu & acie , facing one another , & pila (r) minantia pilis , threatning death and distruction to each other , or would so willingly have hung up their shields , and launces , and returned to their peace and obedience , by accepting of that magna charta , if they had not taken it to be as much for their own defence , & the good of the kingdom , as it was for his , nor so willingly afterwards in the reign of king henry the d. his son have clad themselves in steel , made a combination , and bou●d themselves by oath one to another never to submit to a peace , until they had a just performance of what his father had granted them , endured the popes then direful fulminations , and never rested until the king himself had confirmed that magna charta by a most solemn oath , in procession with the bishops who with lighted tapers in their hands ; anathematiz'd all the infringers thereof , if tenures in capite and the enableing their prince to defend them , had not been a part of their own liberties , nor could they be imagined to be otherwise , when as by an act of parliament also of that king the great charter was to be duely read in all counties of england , and writs , and letters were sent to all the sheriffs of england , commanding them by the oaths of twelve knights of every county , to enquire what were the antient rights and liberties of the people , no return was ever made that tenures in capite , and by knight service , either were or could be any obstructions to them or that , so often bloodily contested and too dearly purchased , magna charta , nor was it any publique grievance , when as in the parliament of h. in a great contest betwixt him and the baronage and great men of england , touching his ill government , and diverse exactions , and oppressions , the profits which he had by his tenures and escheats were said to have been sufficient to have kept him from a want of mony , and oppressing his subjects . nor in anno . h. . when the king upon those great complaints and stirres betwixt him , and the then robustious and sturdy barons of england occasioned by his misgovernment , which busied the people with catalogues of grievances , he by his writs or commissions appointed in every county of england ; (r) quatuour milites qui considerarent qu●t et quantis granaminibus simpliciores a fortioribus opprimuntur et inquirent diligenter d● singulis quaerelis et injurijs a quocunque factis , vel quibuscunque illatis a multis retroactis temporibus , et omnia inquisita sub sigillis suis inclusa secum coram baronagio ad tempus sibi per breve praefixum ; four knights , men of known worth and wisdom , loving and beloved of their countryes , to enquire what grievances or oppressions the smaller sort of people suffered by the greater , and also of all injuries and ●●ongs done by any person whatsoever , either lately or formerly , and to certifie it under their seals to the barronage , which what ever they were , or if ever or never recorded , ( for they have not for ought appears , been certified or recorded , ) no record or historian of that , or the after times , have said that tenures in capite and by knights service , were thereupon retorned to be oppressive , or so much as inconvenient . neither are to be found amongst any of those huge heaps of evils which mathew paris that sower and honest monk of st. albons ( who lived in those times and especially remarked them ) hath delivered to posterity . the reformers or conservators of the kingdom , in that kings reign , appointed by the baronage , never intimated any thing of their dislike of that honourable institution . it was not complained of upon the refusal of roger bigod earl of norfolk , marshall of england , humphry bohun earl of hereford and essex , constable of england and gilbert de clare earl of glocester , and hertford , great and mighty men and of princely estates , to go at the command of king e. . (s) unto his wars at gascony , upon pretence that the warning was to short , whereby the kings displeasure was so much incurred , (t) a● bohun and clare , to escape the seisure and forfeiture of their lands and to purchase his favour again were glad each of them to marry one of his daughters , without any dowry , and surrender their earldoms , honors , offices , and lands unto him , & take back estates thereof in tayle to them , and the heirs of their bodies upon their wives to be severally begotten , and bigot surrendring also to him his earledom , and marshals rod together with all his lands , (u) and taking back a grant of an estate for life in his honors and lands , the reversion to the king if he should not have any issue of his body begotten the king in parliament pardoned them , and john de ferrari●s , and other earls , barons , knights , and esquires , (w) and all other of their fellowship , confederacy , and bond and all that held twenty pounds land per annum , whether in chief of the king or other that were appointed at a certain day to pass over with him into flanders , their rancour and evil will and all other offences committed against him . were not in the roll of general grievances , which the arch-bishops , bishops , ea●ls , barons , and commons , sent him when he was at the sea side ready to take shipping into gascoigne , (x) concerning his taxes , and other impositions . neither any vestigia , or footsteps to be found of any grievance by them , in that grand search , or inquiry by the commissions of traile baston , in , or about the of e. . after intruders into other mens lands , exactions , and oppressions , or in the presentments in the eyres , when the justices thereof in several kings reigns , carefully travailed into the several counties and places of england , and found out , and returned the complaints , and oppressions of every county , and where the natives themselves , & the witnesses cannot be supposed to be so much their own enemies , as to conceal , the countries oppressions & the jurors were solemnly charged to present them upon their oaths , and if they should omit to do it , had the malice of their neighbours to watch & accuse their perjuries , and the severity of the judges , to punish any failings in their duty . or in the reformation which the lords ordainers , as they were afterwards called , in or about the fifth year of the raign of king e. . pretended to make in that unadvised commission , which he granted them for the government of the kingdome . no pretence , or so much as a murmur against them by the reformers in wat tylers and jack straws commotion , when they were so willing to overthrow and extirpate all the nobility and gentry , which should withstand their rude and unruly designs of making all bondmen free , and taking away villenage , and of making wat tyler , and several other of their party , kings in several counties , and to devise what laws they listed . or by jack cade , or captain mend-all as he falsely stiled himself when many a grievance was picked up to colour his rebellion in the reign of king h. . but could find nothing of that for a garnish of his roguery . or robert ket the tanner , in the reign of king e. . sitting in judgment amongst the rabble , under his tree ( as they called it ) of reformation , where tenures and wardships , being so obvious , and every where insisted , upon , they would not probably have omitted them out of the roll , or list of their complaints if there could have been but a supposition , or dream of any grievance in them , which being the more noble beneficial , and better sort of tenures may better deserve an approbation of the people , and parliaments of england , than tenures in villenage , which by an act of parliament in e. . . may be pleaded , and a villain seized though a libertate proba●d● , be depending . and it was enacted in the parliament of r. . . that if villaines fled into places infranchised and sued their lords , their lords should not be barred thereby , and by an act parliament in h. . . that a villain should not be admitted ▪ or put to be an apprentice in the city of london , and by an act of parliament in . h. . . if any bond-man purchase lands , and convey away the lands , the bond-man being ●estui que use of th●se lands , they shall be seised by the lord. nor did the act of parliament of e. . (y) which provided that none should be constrained to find men of armes , h●blers , nor archers , but by common assent , and grant made in parliament , mistake when it inserted a saving , and exception of all those that held by such services . neither did the commons in the parliament of r. . (z) upon the repeal in parliament , of the manumissions of bond-men , extorted from the king by wat tyler , and his rout , or men of reformation , think they did themselves , or those they represented , any hurt , when they cryed with one voyce , that the repeal was good , and that at their request the repeal was by whole assent confirmed . tenures in capite , and by knights service , were not complained of in the parliament of r. . though the commons in parliament had prayed , and were allowed , that euery man might complain of the oppression of what person or estate soever without incurring the pain of the statute of (a) gloucester ( which under great penalties prohibited , false newes and lies of the nobility and great men of the realm , chancellor , treasurer , justices of both benches , and other great officers of the bench ) made in the second year of the king. nor was there so much as an apprehension of any evil in them in the parliament of h. . where the commons pray that the act of parliament of the of e. . (b) that none shall be distrained to go out of their counties , but only for the cause of necessity of suddain coming of strange enemies into the realm , and the statute made in the th . year of the reign of the said king , that men of armes , hoblers and archers chosen to go in the kings service out of england ; shall be at the kings wages from the day that they do depart out of the counties where they were chosen , and also that the statute made in the th . year of the raign of the said king , that none be compelled to find men of arms hoblers nor archers , other than those which hold by such services , unlesse it be by common assent and grant made in parliament , be firmly holden and kept in all points , it was upon the granting of their desires , and an act of parliament made for that purpos● ( as the declaration of the lords and commons in parliament , against the kings commission of array , in an . mentioneth ) especially provided , that by force or colour of the said supplication , nor of any statute thereupon to be made , the lords nor any other that have lands or possessions in the counties of wales , or in the marches thereof , shall in no wise be excused of their services and devoires due of their said lands and possessions , nor of any other devoier , or things whereunto they or any of them be especially bound to the king , though that the same lords and others , have other lands and possessions within the realm of england ; nor that the lords , or other of what estate or condition soever they be , that hold by es●uage or other services due to the king , any lands and possessions within the said realm ▪ be no way excused to do their services and devoirs due of the said lands and possessions : nor that the lords , knights , esquires , nor other persons , of what estate or condition they be , which hold and have of the grant or confirmation of the king , lands , possessions , fees , annuities , pensions , or other yearly profits , be not excused to do their services to the king , in such manner as they are bound , because of the lands , possessions , fees , annuities , pensions ▪ or profits af●resaid . and might challenge their quietus est , or proclamation of acquittall , when there were no complaints made against them in the former ages when there were so many taxes laid upon knights fees , as ▪ shillings then a great sum of money , & as much almost as markes is now , upon every knights fee , imposed by king r. . toward his ransome s. d. upon every knights fee by king iohn , and another also of the same sum towards his expedition into wales , s. upon every knights fee towards his charges in normandy , & an escuage of s. upon every knights fee to be paid the one half at easter , and the other at michaelmas besides the escuage which he had upon the marriage of his sister isabel to the emperor frederick , two escuages imposed by h. . and an escuage upon the marriage of his daughter the lady margaret to alexander king of scots . s. of every knights fee by h. . the many services in person done by those which held in capite , and knights service , in forinseco servitio , in all the expeditions and wars in france , from the time of the norman conquest , to the end of the raign of e. . and at home in the wars betwixt england and wales , and betwixt england and the scots , where very many inhabitants of the counties of cumberland , westme●land , and northumberland , that held by cornage a kind of knight service , to blow a horn upon the invasion or incursion of the scots , and to help to repell them , and had their lands sometimes at the will of the lords conferred and given to the younger and more lusty sons who were able to undergo that service , could before king james his accession to the crown of england , the pacification of the english and scottish hostilities , & placing them under one obedience , scarce rest in their beds by reason of the scots sudain or nightly alarmes and depredations , driving or stealing their cattell , and spoiling all that they had . and in all the troubles of england before and since the barons wars upon any rebellions and inquietudes of the people , when those that held by knight ▪ service were frequently and hastily summoned to come to the king cum equis & armis , and the great charges , trouble , hazard , and expences , which the lords m●sne , were put unto , by assessements of escuage and otherwise ; and that immediately upon the death of the kings tenants in capite , & by knight service , the escheators did usually seise not only the lands of the greatest of the nobility , gentry , and meaner men ; but the stock and cattell upon their grounds , and the goods in their houses , insomuch as their executors were many times constrained to petition and obtain the kings writs and allowance , to have the stock and personal estate delivered unto them . and yet no complaints made at all against those tenures or necessary defences of the kingdome , nor against tenures by grand or petit serjeanty , in the thirty confirmations of our magna charta , upon as often breaches to be supposed of it . never complained off in the making of thirty six acts of parliament concerning wardships and tenures in the several times and ages from h. . to this present , nor at the making of the act of parliament in h. . for the erection of the court of wards . nor in so many thousand petitions which have been in . several parliaments , for almost four hundred years last past , or before h. . or ever since this nation could remember any thing either in our parliaments micel-gemots wittena-gemots conventus sapientum , or magna concilia , where all the grievances , and complaints of the people not to be remedied else where , came as to the pool of bethesda , for help and relief , and wherein if any in some one or more parliaments should so much neglect their duty , and the more than ordinary business and concernments of their kings , themselves , and countries with which they were intrusted , and to which their oaths of allegiance , if nothing else , must needs be their monitors , it cannot ( without a supposition and belief which will never be able to find entertainment in any rational mans understanding ) be imagined that the whole nation for so many ages , past and in so many assemblies , of those that should be the sons of wisdome , should be bound up under such a fate of stupidity or ignorance , as to represent those that were sick and not know of it , or that all or any of them should propter imbecillitatem , vel pernegligentiam , by a to be pitied weakness or negligence , not either seek or find the way to the ears or audience of so many worthy and just kings and princes as this kingdom hath been happy in , who would have been as willing to give a remedy as they could have been to seek it , if there had been any ground or cause for it , that so many petitions of small concernments , or of no greater consequence than for the paving of streets , killing of crows , not taking of young herns out of their nests without license of the owner of the ground , and the like , should get admittance , and cause acts of parliament to be made thereupon , and that of tenures in capite , if any grievance could at all be found in them , and of so long a continuance ( which usually makes light burthens to be heavy ) should be so dipped in a lethe or oblivion , as not at all to be remembred . which had nothing at all of grievance in their essence or being understood of them , in the making of the statute of (c) h. . against empson and dudley , by whom the kings subjects had been sore hurt , troubled , and greived , in causing untrue offices to be found , retorning of offices that never were found , and in changing offices that were found . no grievance perceived to be in them , in primo jacobi , (d) when in the statute concerning respites of homage there was a proviso , that in case it shall be thought fit , for the true knowledge and preservation of the tenures appertaining to the crown , and so ordered in the open court of exchequer , that proces should issue out of the said court against any , came not within the suspition or jealousy of a grievance , when in the parliament of . jacobi regis , sr. francis bacon then his majesties sollicitor , (e) in his speech , as one of the house of commons in parliament , to the lords in parliament , perswading them to joyn with the commons , to petition the king to obtain liberty to treat of a composition with his majesty for wards and tenures , acknowledged in the name of that parliament , that the tree of tenures was planted into the prerogative by the antient common law of england , fenced in and preserved by many statutes , and yeildeth to the king the fruit of a great revenue , and that is was a noble protection , that the young birds of the nobility and good families , should be gathered and clucked under the wings of the crown . nor in primo car. primi , (f) in the act of parliament touching the rating of officers fees in the exchequer , upon pleadings of licences or pardons for alienations , when the lords and commons in that parliament assembled , did declare that the kings tenures are a principal flower of the crown ( which being in england , the safety and protection of the people cannot be said or proved to be adorned by their sorrows and miseries ) and ought not to be concealed . and that in the petition of right , in car. primi . wherein all the grievances and burdens of the subjects , and breaches of laws and liberties , that any way concerned them or their posterities were enumerated , and remedies for the future establishment of the quiet , and happines of the people propounded and granted , tenures in capite , and knight service , with their incidents , were not reckoned or accounted as grievances , though all that troubled the people , were at that time so largly thought and beleived to be redrest as a publick joy , upon the kings granting of that petition of right , was commanded to be celebrated by the musique and ringing of bells in every parish church of the cities of london and westminster , which vied each with other who should proclaim and tell their joyes the loudest ; and the blaze of numberless bonfires , representing the flame of the peoples affection towards a most gracious soveraign , seemed to turn the sullen night into a morning or day which the sun beams had newly guilded , whilst alecto and her sister furies despairing in their hopes of kindling a sedition , and bringing the miseries of a civil war upon us , had thrown by their torches , and employed their hellish griefs in the tearing of their snakie lo●ks . were no sirtes or rocks to shipwrack or hurt the people , when sr. edward coke , who was so willing to have tenures in capite and knight service , to be changed into tenures by fealty only , as of some of the kings honors , and all their incidents , as wardships , primer seisin , licences of alienation , &c. taken away and recompenced by a greater yearly profit , then was , then had or received by them , and a rent to be inseperably annexed to the crown , with some necessary covenants and privisoes , as he hoped that so good a motion as had been made in the parliament of jacobi , tending as he thought to the honor and profit of the king and his crown for ever , and the quiet and freedome of his subjects , and their posterities would one way or other , by the grace of god , and authority of parliament , take effect and be established , could not but acknowledge between anno . car. regis primi , (g) and the th . year of his raign , that the objection that wardship was a badge of servitude ( which would be a grievance indeed , and of the greatest magnitude ) was groundless and without a foundation , for that the king by taking money for the marriage of the ward , doth it not as for a ransome , but taketh such moderate sums of money , as in respect of the quality , and state of the ward he or she , all circumstances considered , is able to pay , and in regard thereof , hath the protection of the court of wards during minority ; and giving tenures by knight service no worse a character , than the wisdome of antiquity , for his iustification therein , citeth a place out of the red book (h) in the exchequer , where it is said that mavult enim princeps domesticos , quam stipendiarios bellicis apponere casibus , the king had rather be served by his own subjects , than hirelings or stipendary souldiers . no scylla or charybdis taken to be in them , in the parl. of . car. prim . at the making of the act for the better raising and levying of souldiers for the present defence of the kingdomes of england and ireland , wherein it being said , that by the laws of this realm , none of his majesties subjects ought to be impressed , or compelled to goe out of his country , to serve as a souldier in the wars , they excepted cases of necessity of the sodain coming in of strange enemies into the kingdome , or where they be otherwise bound by the tenure of their lands or possessions ; in the remonstrance of the house of commons . december . and that unhappy amasse , and collection of complaints against the government , the tenures themselves were not so much as complained of , but the exceeding of the jurisdiction of the court of wards , (i) that thereby the estates of many families were weakned , some ruined by excessive fines , for composition for wardships exacted from them , which if in some few particulars , where the estate it self was weak , or incumbred with debts , or charge of children , connot rationally conclude or argue the fines to be excessive , no more than a common weight or burden which may easily be born or carried by any man in health , doth make it to be of a greater weight or burden , because another man by reason of sicknesse , or other disabilities , is not able to bear or stand under it , or that a reasonable or small rent , which tenants are to pay to their landlords , is therefore too much or unreasonable , because a poor or decayed tenant cannot so well bear or pay it as he was wont , (k) or as one that is thriving , or before hand might doe ; that all leases of above one hundred years were made to draw wardships contrary to law ( when as such or the like collusions , were by the statute of marlebridge prohibited ) and the parliament was mis-informed , for long leases under . years were not made by that court lyable to wardships , and that undue proceedings were used in the finding of offices to make jurors find for the king ( which was but to adjorne or bind them over to the bar of the court of wards , in case that there was any doubt of the law or evidence . or when the lords and commons in parliament the second day of june . by the nineteen propositions (l) which were ( as they alleaged ) for the establishment of the kings honour and safety , and the w●lfare and ●ecurity of his subjects and dominions , and being granted , would be a necessary and effectual means to remove those jealousies and differences which have unhappily fallen betwixt him and his people , and procure both his majesty and them a constant course of honour , peace , and happiness . did propose , petition , and advise , that the lord high constable of england , (m) lord chancellor , or lord keeper of the great seal of england , lord treasurer , lord privy seal , earl marshal , lord admiral warden of the cinque ports , cheif governour of ireland , chancellor of the exchequer , master of the wards , secretaries of state , two cheif justices , and cheif baron , may alwayes ( which shewed they had no desire for the present or the future to take away the tenures in capite and by knight service ) be chosen by approbation of both houses of parliament . did not conceive them to be any disease or gangreen in the body politique , at the making of the d. declaration of the lords & commons in parliament , dated the th . of january . concerning the commission of array , occasioned by a book then lately published , entituled his majesties answer to the declaration of both houses of parliament , concerning the said commission of array , printed and published by the care of mr. samuel brown , then and now a member of the house of commons , wherein many arguments being used ( and if they had been grievances , would not have become the parliament to have urged or pressed them as an argument ) against the kings , having power to raise men by his commissions of array , and were then so little denyed to be for the necessary defence of the king and his subjects , as they were rather taken by that parliament to be as the hands and arms of the bodie politique , worthy a continuance & perpetuity , and very well deserving the good opinion which the parliament then had of them in the expressions following . we deny that there is an impossibility of defence , without such power , viz. the commissions of array . and affirm that the (n) kingdom may be defended in time of danger , without issuing such commissions , or executing such power . for , we say , that the law hath provided several ways for provision of arms , and for defence of the kingdom in time of danger without such commissions . all the tenures that are of his majestie by barony , grand se●jeanty , knight service in capite , knight service , and other like tenures , were all originally instituted for the defence of the kingdom , in time of war and danger , as appears by the statute of e. . of mortmain , which saith , servitia quae ex hujus modi feodis d●bentur ad defensionem regni ab initio provisa fuerunt , vide chart. h. . irrotulat in libro rubro scac. coke instit. . bracton . . britton . h. . . coke . . coke . ● . instit. part . these tenures in the conquerours time were many , and since they are much increased ; and these are all bound to find men and arms , according to their tenures , for the defence of the kingdom . . as those tenures are for the defence of the kingdom , so the law hath given to his majestie diverse priviledges and prerogatives for the same end and purpose ; that with the profits of them , he should defend himself and his people in times of danger , of which his majestie is , and always hath been in actual possession since his accesse to the crown . for the defence of the kingdom , his majestie ha●h the profits o● wardships , l●veries , primer seisins , marriages , reliefs , fines for alienation , customs , mines , wrecks , treasure trove , escheats , forfeitures , and diverse others the like casual profits , that by these he may be enabled to defend the kingdom , and that he enjoying them , his subjects might enjoy their estates under his protection , free from taxes and impositions for defence . therefore it is declared e. . chap. . that all the profits arising of an aid then granted to the king by his people ; and of wards marriages , customes , escheats , and other profits riseing of the realm of england , should ●e spent upon the safeguard of the realm of england , & on the wars in scotland , france , and gascoigne , and no places elsewhere , during the wars . and the lords and commons in rich. time , ( knowing the law to ●e so ) did ▪ as appears ●y the parliament ●olls rich. ● . m. ) passe a ●etition , that the king would live o● his own revenues , and that the wards , marriages , reliefs , for●●itures , and other profits of the crown , might be kept to be spent in the wars for the defence of the kingdom . . if the said tenures and casual profits rising by his prerogative , will not serve for defence , but more help is necessary , by the fundamental lawes and constitutions of this kingdom , his majestie is intrusted with a power to summon parliaments as often as he pleases , for defence of himself , and his people , when his ordinary revenues will not serve the turn ; and there is no other legal way ( when the others are not sufficient ) but this , and this last hath been ever found by experience , the most sure and successefull way for supply in time of imminent danger , for defence of the kingdom , and to this the kings of this realm have in times of danger frequently had recourse . a main end why parliaments are called , is for defence of the kingdom , and that other supplies th●n th●se before mentioned , cannot be made without a parliament . nor was there any publique or general damage so much as supposed to be in them the first of february . when in the propositions sent by those lords & commons , which remain'd in parliament , to the king at oxford , to be treated upon by the earl of northumberland , william pierrepont esq sr. wil. armin & bulstrode whitlock , esq their commissioners . there was nothing desired or proposed for the taking away of the court of wards or changing of tenures , but did conclude that if that which then was desired of the king should be granted , the royalty & greatnes of his throne would be supported by the loyal , and bountyfull affections of his people , (*) & their liberties and priviledges , maintained by his majesties protection and justice . they were no part of the bills , or acts of parliament , sent to the king at oxford , in order to a peace in july . no part of the demands , or bills , or acts of parliament , proposed by the parliament in the treaty at vxbridge , betwixt them and the king , novemb. . and there was so litle of grievance or inconvenience , or none at all to be found in tenures in capite and by knight service , by reason of any accidents , for naturally or originally there can be none at all proved to be in them . as notwithstanding the vote of the house of commons in parliament , made the th day of september . which being less then an embrio , and no more then an opinion of the major part of that house , a recens assensio , velleity , desire or intention only , which our laws take no notice of ; was left to an after more mature deliberation , when an act of parliament should be brought in upon it , & have gone through all its necessary requisites , formalities , and debates , the parliament it self were so litle resolved , or beleiving any grievance to be in them , as the lords and commons by their ordinance of the first day of november . did ordain that the master and councel of that court , should proceed in all things belonging to the jurisdiction of that court according to law. and the house of commons shortly after , viz. the fourth day of november . being informed that by reason of a vote passed in that house the th . day of september . that the court of wards should be taken away , diverse wardships , liveries , primer seisins , and mesne rates , which theretofore fell and happened , were not compounded for as they ought to be ; it was declared that all of them which have happened , or shall fall or happen before the court of wards , shall be put down by the parliament , shall be answered to the common-wealth , and the master and councel of that court were required to proceed accordingly , so as it extended not to any whose auncestors being officers or souldiers have been slain or died in the service of the parliament . but the th . of february . upon occasion of a debate concerning the wardship of the son of sir christopher wray , who dyed as they said , in the service of the parliament , an ordinance was brought in and made by the lords and commons , for the taking away of tenures in capite , and by knight service , which saith one of their allowed mercuries , was first given to the crown for defence of the kingdom , but the parliament would take care for other supplies . but that ordinance notwithstanding was so little liked of , as that without the giving satisfaction which they promised to the nobility gentry and mesne lords for the losse of their tenures by knight service , and satisfaction to the most part of the officers of the court of wards , it was no more or not much thought of , but lay from that time in a slumber , untill the first of august . when the mighty mechanicques of the army driven on by their ignorant , and seditious agitators , who were but the engines of cromwell's lurking and horrid designs , had by their remonstrances , like wolves cloathed in sheep-skins , bleated , and seemed to thirst only after godly and purified reformations , and hewson the cobler , and pride the dr●yman , and others of the colledge of their n●w ●apientia , busying themselves in state , as well as parliament affairs , and thombing the scriptures , and the english translations of livy and plutarch at the wrong end , thought every one of themselves to be no less than a solon and lycurgus , admired agrarian laws , and other old exploded grievances , dreamed they were excellent politiques , and not knowing our good old laws , but suspecting them ( as well they might ) to be averse , and no well-wishers to their ungodly , and worse than machiavillian devices , did all they could to destroy them , root and branch , and at the same time , when ( in their new-england phrase , ) they held forth a more than ordinary care of the kings honour and dignity , and the freedom , rights and interests of the seduced people , proposed ( or commanded rather ) that the (*) ordinance for taking away the court of wards and liveryes be confirmed by act of parliament , provided his majesties revenues be not damnified therein , nor those that held offices in the same , left without reparation some other way . which howsoever it were , to the remaining and small part of that parliament , who durst not say it , but found themselves under a force which against many of their will● ▪ had undertaken to be their guard and safekeeping , a motive or spur enough to make them put that vote and ordinance against the court of wards and liveries in●o an act as they ▪ would call it , of parliament , after l. given & paid to the master of the court of wards , for the loss of his place l. to sr. roland wandesford , atturney general of that court l. to sr. benjamin rudiard , surveyer general , l. to charles fleetwood , late governour of the destroying committee of safety , for his supposed loss by the receiver generals place of that court , which he pretended he ought to enjoy by a sequestration from sr. will. fleetwood his brother , who was then attending his master the king at oxford , and to mr. bacon , l. for a pretended loss of his office , for the making and ingrossing of licences or pardons for alienation , all of them but sir roland wandesford , being members of parliament , it did without any mention made or remedy provided for those only supposed evils , in tenures in capite , and chivalry in the billsor intended acts of parliament , which were sent to the king the of march . when he was at holmby under a restraint fall asleep for many years after , and left all other to expect their satisfaction upon the parliaments promises , and further proceedings . and there was so little cause for putting that sentence in execution against them , in the judgment & opinion of some of the most knowing sort of the arraigners of antiquity , and the actions of their more understanding fore-fathers , as (p) mr. nathaniel bacon in his historical discourses of the uniformity of the government of england under the britain , saxon , danish , norman and other kings of this isle until the reign of king e. . published in anno . and in his part from king e. . until the end of the reign of queen elizabeth , printed in anno . in a design to make all , or most of the actions of those our kings and princes and the nobility and clergy in their several reigns , for at all of them ( like one of the ephori sitting in censure rather than judgement upon the spartan kings and government ) and the acts of parliament , made in the several reigns , of those kings , he aimed , and flung his fancies , clad in a sober stile and gravity , rather than any truth or reason , by pretending that they were made and contrived only under their influence to be arbitrary and oppressive to the freeborn people of this nation , for which he got several preferments under oliver the protector of our burdens & miseries . though if the records and journals of our parliaments may be credited ( as certainly they ought to be ) before him , most if not all of our acts of parliament were granted and assented unto by our kings upon the petitions of the commons , representing the people in parliament as ●alsoms and great remedies and redresses of all that they could complain of , deliverances from the oppressions , frauds , and deceipts of one another , and prevention of evils which might happen to them and their posterities , wherein our kings have almost in every parliament given away many , & diminished very much of their own just & legal rights and prerogatives by granting and confirming their liberties and estates with such an infranchisement and freedom as no nation or people under heaven now enjoyes . and when as heretofore in former parliaments they gave to their kings & princes ( & many times too unwillingly ) any aydes or subsidies , were sure besides the blessings which accrewed to them by many good laws and wholesome acts of parliament to gain a great deal more by their acts of grace and general pardons only , then the aids and subsidies did amount unto . unlesse it were in the reign of king h. . when the abby lands were granted unto him , & in the raign of king e . when the chanterie & remaining peices of those religious lands ( were given to him wherein only the founders and the religious to whom they properly belonged , were the only loosers ) and yet by reason of king h. . his endowments and erection of the bishoppricks of oxford , peterborough , chester , gloucester , and bristol , the colledge of christ-church in oxford , and the deanary of westminster , deanries and prebends of canterbury , winchester , worcester , chester , peterburgh , oxford , ely , gloucester , bristol , carlile , durham , rochester , and norwich , and his large gifts and grants to divers of the nobility , who had formerly been the founders , or great benefactors to many of the abbyes and prioryes , and also to other of his people , and the grants of e. . queen eliz. and king james considered , very little of those lands and revenues doe at this time continue in the crown . and our many acts of parliament against mortmaines without the kings licence , provisions by the pope , or any appeales to be made to him ▪ under the most severe penalties of premunire , the act of parliament taking away the popes supremacy , the fineing and putting the clergy of the provinces of canterbury and york , under premunires by king h. . an oath of renunciation of all fealty and appeales to the pope , an engagement to observe all lawes made against his power , (q) the losse of mannors or lordships out of the revenues of the arch-bishopprick of york , and of sundry great mannors and possessions taken from the sees of canterbury , ely , and london ; the demolishing and dissolution of religious houses , . parochial churches , ( being more than a third part of all the churches in england ) impropriated and gotten into the hands of the laity , many of the vicarages confined to the small and pittiful maintenance of some l. per annum , others , and some but l. per an. several acts of parliament made in the reigns of several other kings and princes , clipping the clergies power in making leases , or chargeing their benefices with cure , restraining their taking of farms , forbidding pluralityes , intermedling as commissioners in lay or temporal affairs , or to make constitutions in their synods or convocations without the kings assent , may declare how little power for some hundreds of years past , the clergy of england , have before or since the reformation , either encroached upon , or been able to get or keep . finds not in his mistaken censures and distortions of most of the acts of our kings and parliaments to make way in the deluded peoples minds for the erecting of olivers protean , and tyranical government . any fault with the erection of the court of wards and liveries , nor with tenures or wardships , but justifying them , sayes , that the relief paid by the tenant upon the death of his ancestor , was in memorial of the first lords favour in giving him the land , and was first setled in the saxons times , that the law of wardship may seem more antiently seated in this kingdom , than the normans times , that wardship was a fruit of the service of the tenant , and for the defence of the kingdom . which that parliament , or the following conventions , or assemblies , made no hast to overturn or take away , until oliver cromwel that hyaena , or wolf of the evening , having filled the kingdom with garrisons , & several regiments of horse and foot , amounting to . men , which were to be constantly maintained at the peoples charge , to keep them quiet in their slavery ; had upon the humble petition and advice of that which he called his parliament , acknowledging with all thankfulness the wonderful mercies of god in delivering them from that tyranny and bondage , (r) both in their spiritual and civil governments , which the late king and his party ( which in a fog or mist of sin and delusion they were pleased most injuriously to averre and charge upon them ) designed by a bloody war to bring them under ( when as then they were under none , and all but the gainers by the spoyles of those wars , have since had more burdens , grievances , and taxes entailed upon them , then ever was in any nation in christendome ) allowed him in a constant revenue for support of the government , and the safety and defence of the nations of england , scotland , and ireland , a yearly revenue of thirteen hundred thousand pounds , whereof ten hundred thousand pounds for the navy and army ; which far exceeded tha● which accrewed to the crown or kings of england by wardships , tenures , and ship-mony , which were but casual , and upon necessity , and but at some times or seldome , and alwayes less by more than eight parts in ten of those justly to be complained of awful and yearly asessements . procured the assembly or parliament so called in anno . to awake that sleeping ordinance , and dresse it into an act as he called it of parliament , wherein it was without any cause or grievance expres● , or satisfaction given , or promised to those that remained the loosers by it , enacted that the court of wards and liveries , and all wardships , primer seisins , and oustre le maines , and all other charges incident and arising for , or by reason of any such tenures , wardship , primer seisin , or oustre les maines , be taken away from the said th . day of february . ( though notwithstanding this pretended act , he could for his own profit continue and take the fines upon alienations ) and that all homages , licences , seisures , pardons for alienations , incident or arising for , or by reason of wardship , livery , primer seisin , or oustre le maines , and all other charges incident thereunto , be likewise ( according to the new mode of making retrospective acts of parliament ) taken away from the said th . day of february . and that all tenures in capite , and by knights service , of the late king , or any other person ( when as the parliament that made the ordinance for taking away tenures in capite , and by knight service , did as was said , promise that all the mesne lords , and others which held of the king , and had others held of them , should be recompenced for the loss of their tenures ) and all tenures by socage in cheif to be taken away and turned from the said four and twentieth day of february . into free and common socage . whereby in all probability , he did but cause those tenures in capite , and knight service , to be put down , to the end that he might take them up again at his pleasure , when he should have finished his wisht and devilish designs of making himself a king over a degenerate ( as to the generality of the people ) sinful and harassed nation , or in stead of them , to rule as he had begun , with his janisaries , and bashawes , or major generals . but whatever he or his over awed and flattering assemblies , would make a long & often deluded nation to believe concerning tenures in capite and chivalry , or that kind of fixed and constant part of the militia , it was not accompted in the holy scripture to be any grievance to the people of israel , that saul in the government of them , had in every tribe , and of every kindred many thousands of men of war of the most valiant in a standing militia , as of the children of ephraim , twenty thousand and eight hundred mighty men of valour , famous ( and such were our nobles & tenants in capite ) throughout the house of their fathers ; and of zebulun , such as went forth to battle , expert in war , and were not of double heart fifty thousand ; or that of the children of benjamin , the greatest part of three thousand kept the ward of sauls house . or that david , a king after gods own heart , did appoint the chief fathers and captains of thousands and hundreds , and their officers that served the king in any matter of the courses which came in and went out month by month throughout all the months of the year , and of every course twenty and four thousand ( which were as our knights fees or tenures in chivalry out of a select or more refined and fit part of the people , whose estates , as well as their persons , made them lyable unto it , for the general musters or trained bands did by many hundred thousands exceeding that number ) which were only as a landguard or ready help and defence upon all em●rgencyes , & although it be not there said that they held their lands by that , or any military service , yet a great resemblance and affinity may be discerned betwixt that , and the cause & reason of tenures in capite , which amongst that people was lesse requisite & necessary , for that they being alwayes marshald under captains of thousands , hundreds , fifties , & tens , were by some not expressed tye or obligation , or their grand obedience to the command of their kings and princes , which by a set law of the almighties own enacting , in all matters as well military as civil , had no lesse a punishment than death affixed to the transgressors thereof ) always ready to go up to battle with their king , against any neighbour nation or others , that did them injury , and leaves but this only difference betwixt our tenures in capite , and by knight service , and ( if they were not then in use amongst them , ) their fixed provisions for wars offensive or defensive , that theirs was a continual charge upon so many of the people in every year by turns or courses , and ours upon the princes , nobles , and many of the gentry , and better part of the people ( for all of the gentry had not the happiness to have lands originally given them to hold by such kind of tenures , or did not afterwards purchase them of the first proprietors of those beneficiary and noble kind of tenures ) when wars should happen , which being not often , or might not perhaps be commonly once in forty or more years , were not then also called out to war themselves but when the king went in person , or sent his lieutenant , and then were to tarry with him or send one in their stead at their own charges but for forty dayes . no wrong was done by solomon to the people of israel , (s) when he made the people that were left of the hittites , amorites , perezites , hevites , and the jebusites , and their children which were not of israel , to pay taxes and doe publique work . and the children of israel , no servants for his work , but men of war , and chief of his captains of his chariots and horsemen . jehoshaphat did not any evil in the fight of the lord , when as notwithstanding that the fear of the lord had fallen upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about judah , (t) so that they made no war against him and the philistines ( the old enemies of judah and israel ) brought him presents , and tribute silver , and he waxed exceedingly great , and built in judah castles and cities of store , placed forces in all the fenced cities of judah , set garrisons in the land of judah , he understood it whilst the lord was with him , & he walked in the first ways of his father david , to be a salus populi to have the men of war mighty men of valour in jerusalem eleaven hundred and threescore thousand men which waited upon the kings besides those whom he put in the fenced cities . it was no imposition upon the people of israel , (w) neither is it in holy writ made to be any error in government , that saul ( whom our kings & nobility in the creation of military tenures did but imitate ) when he saw any strong man , or any valiant man took him unto him . or that david after he was king , hearing of the fame of the hebronites , sought for them , and when there were found among them at jazer of gilead jerijah the chief , x and two thousand and seven hundred mighty men of valour made them rulers over the reubenites , and it seems were also but of some part of them , for that in the next chapter the ruler whom he appointed over the reubenites the gadites , and the half tribe of manasseth was eliezer the son of zichri , & over the half tribe of manasseth in gilead , iddo the son of zechariah . nor did nehemiah that great and good example of magistracy put any grievance upon the people , when as in the re-building of ierusalem , and to repell the enemies and hinderers thereof , ( there being as much necessity to defend a city or commonwealth , after it is built or established , as it can be in the building , framing or repairing , of it ) he ordered the one half of the servants to work , and the other to hold the spears , the shields , bows , and habergeons , (y) and every one of the builders had his sword girded by his side , and the nobles were appointed when the trumpeter should sound that stood by nehemiah , because they were separated one from another to resort thither unto him upon occasion of ●ight or danger , and did after their work finished , cause the rulers of the people to dwell at jerusalem , and out of the rest of the people by lot , to bring one of every tribe to inhabit and dwell in there , such as were valiant , or mighty men of valour , and had for overseers the principal and most eminent men , and zabdiel the son of one of the mighty men . david did not turn aside from god , nor bind heavy burdens upon the people , because he had mighty men about him , and that joshebbassebet the tachmonite sate ( like a constable or marshal of england ) chief amongst the captains , nor did solomon bruise the broken reeds , (z) because he had many princes and great officers under him , as benajah , the son of jehoiada , ( who served his father david , and was captain over his guard ) was over the host , azariah the son of nathan , over the officers , ( like as in england , a lord great chamberlain or lord chamberlain of the kings houshold ) zabud the son of nathan , principal officer , and a●ishar ( as a treasurer , or comptrouler ) over the houshold , none of which could take it for any injury to enjoy those great offices and places during the kings pleasure , but would have esteemed it to have been a greater favour if they had a grant for life , and most of all , and not to be complained of , to have it to them , and to their heirs , or after generations , for that all good things and blessings by a natural propension and custom , amongst the sons of men , are very desireable to be continued and transmitted to posterity , and the sacred volumes have told us , that it is a reward of wisdom , and vertue , to stand before princes . nor was it any dishonour to the men of judah , and people of israel , that the queen of sheba wondring even to astonishment at the attendance of solomons servants , (a) and ministers , and his cup bearers , or butlers , as the margin reads it , pronounced them happy that stood continually before him . or to the subjects of ahasuerus , who reigned from india , (b) to ethiopia , over an hundred and seventeen provinces , that besides his seven chamberlains , or officers of honour , he had the seven princes of persia , and media , which saw the kings face , and sate the first in the kingdom . nor any to our heretofore happy nation , enjoying in a long series , and tract of time , an envied peace and plenty , under famous and glorious kings and princes , that they did give places , castles , mannors , and lands , of great yearly values , to certain great and well-deserving men , and their heirs , to serve in great imployments , solemnities , and managements of state-affairs , to the honour of their soveraigns , and the good , & safety of the people , in the offices of great chamberlain , high steward , constable , or marshal of england , chief butler of england , and the like . for when the guift of the land it self was a great kindness , it must needs be a greater to have an honourable office & imployment annexed to it , & that an act of bounty done by a prince , in giving the land , should oblige the claim or receiving a far greater , in the executing of that office or attendance , which belonged to it . and could have nothing of affinity to a burden , when as besides the original guift of the lands , which were very considerable , and to be valued , many of those personal services by grand serjeanty , were not unprofitable or without the addition , or accession of other bounties and priviledges , as the guift to the lord great chamberlain of forty yards of crimson velvet , for his robes , upon the coronation day , the bed and furniture that the king lay in the night before , the silver bason and ewer , when he washed his hands , with the towels , and linnens , &c. the earl marshal to have the granting of the marshals , and ushers , in the courts of exchecquer , and common pleas , with many other guifts and priviledges , and dymock who holds some of his lands by the service of being the kings champion , and to come upon the coronation day into westminster-hall , on horse-back , compleatly armed , and defie , or bid battel to any that shall deny him to be rightful king of england , is to have the kings best horse , and were not in the least any charge to the people , or laid upon them as cromwel did the stipends of his mock lords or officers of his imaginary magnificence , to be paid out of the publick purse or taxes , as were the self created lords of his counsel , who had l. per an . for advising him how to fool the people , & build up himself by the wickedness of some , and ruines of all the rest , or as the lord so called pickering , or chamberlain of his houshold , and the quondam would be lord philip jones , who was called the comptrouler of his household , had to buy them white staves to cause the people to make way and gape upon them . no prejudice to the common-wealth that the beauchamps earls of warwick , did hold land by right of inheritance to be panterer at the kings coronation , and to bear the sword before him the duke of lancaster , before that dutchy came again into the possession of the kings of england , to bear before him the sword called curtana , or the earls of derby as kings of the isle of man , to bear before the king at his coronation the sword called lancaster , which henry the th . did wear when he returned from exile into england , or for the earl of arundel to be chief butler of england , the day of the coronation . no disfranchisement to the city of london that some citizens of london chosen forth by the city served in the hall at the kings coronation assistants to the lord chief butler , whilst the king sits at dinner the day of his coronation , (c) and when he enters into his chamber after dinner , and calls for wine , the lord mayor of london is to bring him a cup of gold with wine , and have the cup afterwards given to him , together with the cup that containes water to allay the wine , and that after the king hath drunck , the said lord mayor , and the aldermen of london , are to have their table to dine at , on the left hand of the king in the hall. or to the barons of the cinque ports , who claim & are allowed to bear at the kings coronation a canopy ●f cloth of gold over him , with four staves , and four bells at the four corners , every staff having four of those barons to bear it . also to dine and sit at the table next to the king on his right hand , in the hall the day of his coronation : and for their fees to have the said canopy of gold , with the bells and staves . or that at the coronation of eli●nor , wife to king henry the third marchiones de marchia walliae videlicet joannes filius alani radulphus de m●r●uo mari joannes de monmouth , et walterus de clifford nomine marchiae jus marchiae esse dicebant hastas argenteas inveniendi et las deferendi ad sustentandum pannum sericum quadratum purpureum , in coronatione regum et reginarum angliae ; the lords marchers of wales , videl . iohn fitz alan , rafe de mortimer , (d) iohn de monmouth , and walter de clifford , in behalf of the marches , did claim and alleage it to be their right , to provide silver spears or launces , and with them to bear or carry a four square canopy of purple silk over the kings and queens of england at their coronation . for those tenures in grand serjeanty , were ever ( as in all reason they deserved to be ) accompted to be so honourable as some have made it their sir-name , as the noble earls of ormond in ireland , descended from an antient and worthy english family have done , who carry in their coat of armes , or part of their now marks of honour , or bearing the symbols , or remembrance of the office of cheif butler in ireland , which with the prisage which is a part of it , hath by king e. the d. been granted to the ancestors of the now marquesse , & earl of ormond by inheritance , and a knightly and good family of the chamberlaines in england , do account it no dishonour to have been descended from th● earls of tankervile , who were chamberlains to our king h. . in normandy . and some branches of the noble family of the grey's of wilton , being antient barons of england , holding the mannor of waddon in buckinghamshire of the king , per servitium custodiendi unum gerfalconem domini regis , by the service of keeping a gerfalcon of the kings , do use or bear as a badge or marque of honour in their armes a gerfaulcon , & the mannor of wymondley , in the county of hertford , being holden of the king by grand serjeanty , of giving to the king the first cup of wine or beer upon the day of his coronation , the family of " argentons , being by the marriage of a daughter and heir of the lord fitz tece , become at the conquest the possessors of it , have thought it honourable saith camden , to bear in their shields in memory thereof three cups argent in a feild gules . no oppression to the people of england to be kept safe in their peace and plenty , from the incursions of foreign enemies , (w) when william the conquerour fortified dover , a strong and principal bulwark betwixt england and france , with whom we had then continual wars or jealousies , and gave to iohn fines , then a noble man of great prowesse and fidelity , the custody of that , and the rest of the cinque-ports , with knights fees , willing him ( as that learned antiquary mr. lambard tells us ) to (x) communicate some parts of that gift to such other valiant and trusty persons as he should best like of , for the more sure conservation of that most noble and precious fort and castle , who thereupon imparting liberally out of those lands to eight worthy knights , viz. william of albrance , fulbert of dover , william arsick , geffery peverel , william mainemouth , robert porthe , robert crevequer , and adam fitz-williams , bound them and their heirs by tenure of their lands received of the king to maintain souldiers amongst them , which were so devided by months of the years , as five and twenty of them were continually to watch , and ward within the castle , for their several parts of time , and all the rest ready upon necessity , each of which eight knights had their several charges in several towers and bulwarks , and were contented ( as well they might ) at their own dispence to maintain and repair the same . of whom diverse of the towers and bulwarks do yet , or did but in queen elizabeths reign bear their names . no inconvenience or mischief to the publique that the castle and (y) barony of abergavenny in monmouthshire , was holden by john hastings per hom●g●●m wardam & maritagium cum accide●it & s● guerra fuerit inter regem angliae & principem walliae deberet custodire patriam de over went sumptibus proprijs meliori modo quo poterit pro commodo suo & utilitate regis & defensione regni angliae , by homage , ward , and marriage , when it should happen , and if war should be between the king of england and the prince of wales was to guard at his own charges the country called over went , the best way that he could for his profit , and benefit of the king , and defence of the kingdom of england . no cause of complaint to the town , or antiently called city of leicester , for that veteri instituto by antient custom , they were to furnish the king with twelve burgesses or townsmen , (r) when he went to war , and i● per mare in hostes ibat mittebant quatuor equos usque londinum ad arma comportanda vel alia quae opus essent , he went by sea were to send four horses as far as london , to carry his arms or other necessaries . nor to the town of warwick to be enjoyned by tenure , to send (s) twelve of their burgesses or towns-men with their king to war , and qui monitus non ibat centum solidos regi emendabat , he which was summoned and did not go , was to forfeit & pay one hundred shillings to the king , and cum contra hostes per mare ibat rex , quatuor botesuenas , vel quatuor libras denariorum mittebant , when the king should bo by sea against his enemies , should furnish four boat-swains or marriners , or send four pounds in money . no harm done to give lands at seaton , which sr. richard rockslye knight did hold by serjeanty to be (t) vantrarius regis the kings fore-footman when he went into gascoigne , donec per usus fuit parisolutarum precij d untill he had worn out a pair of shoes of four pence , then the price of a pair of shooes for a worthy man not s. . or s. as they are now . or lands to another to furnish duos a●migeros , two esquires to march in his vant-guard , upon occasion of war with the welch . or that the princes of wales , ab antiquis temporibus very antiently , did hold that principality and part of brittain of the kings of england , in capite , by military or knight service , and that , upon that ground only as he was a leige man and subject of england , leoline prince of wales was for raising of war against his superior lord imprisoned , and hanged or beheaded by king e. . and the principality of wales as an escheat annexed to the crown of england . and as litle when any held of the king in capite by some other service and not in chivalry and by knight service , as the town of shrewsbury to cause towns-men apud (u) angliae reges excubare cum in illa urbe agerent ; to watch and ward about the kings person ( which the affrighted cromwel with his guilty and terrified conscience would have been well content with ) totidemque concomitare cum venatum prodirent , and as many to attend him whilst he rode on hunting , or when richard pigot of stanford in the county of hereford , or his ancestors had two yard land given him there by the king to hold in capite per servitium conducendi thesaurum domini regis , ( which sir edward coke calleth firmamentum pacis , et robur belli , the foundation of peace , and strength of war ) de hereford usque ad london quotiescunque opus fueries sumptibus domini regis et in redeundo sumptibus suis propriis , et etiam summonendi episcopium hereford ad portas manerij dicti episcopi de bromyard si contingat dominum regem praedictum episcopum implacitare ; by the service of conducting the kings treasure from hereford to london as oft as there should be occasion , at the kings charge in going thither , and at his own , in his retorn , and to summon the bishop of hereford at the gates or door of his manour of bromyard , when it should happen that the king should implead him . never troubled the heart of roger the kings taylor , when the king gave him a good quantity of land in halingbury in the county of essex , tenendum per serjeantiam solvendi ad scaccarium domini regis unum acum argenteum quolibet anno in cras●ino sancti martini , to hold the serjeanty of paying yearly at the exchequer upon the morrow of st. martin a silver needle . nor did the donees , or those who had those lands of so free a gift or bounty esteem them to be any burden , could it be heavy or troublesome to their heirs or those that should succeed them in those lands , whenas our kings did successively give away so great a part of the lands of england as were holden in capite and by knight service , either to follow or serve them in the wars for their own defence as well as theirs , or for their attendance ( wh●rein they received more honour than their princes gained by it ) at their coronations , or other great solemnities by grand serjeanty or by petit serjeanty , to present them at some times of the year with a rose , or a hawk , or a pair of spurs , or an arrow , to keep them a hawk or hounds , provide necessaries in their progresse for their houshold expences ▪ sumpter horses in their journey to some particular place , straw for their bed , and rushes for their chamber , as if they gave away all to receive almost nothing for it , and so willingly as be put themselves to some trouble to devise what kind of grateful acknowledgments should be made them in a perpetuity , or as far as they could reach to a supposed or hoped for eternity , & that many of their tenures where there were not necessaryes in war or peace reserved , do seem to be but so far for pleasure and merryment , as they did not care what was reserved , so it was but something , as to hold the kings head at sea when he should sail betwixt dover and vvhitsand , or hold the cord by which the sail was tyed , when the queen ( not to shoot with guns and canons , as some of the covenanters for the late kings good could find the way to do at his deer wife the queen mother that now is ) should pass the seas into france , cum multis aliis , with many other sortes and kinds , not here to be enumerated without the trouble of a volume , which those honester times having a better opinion of gratitude , and not thinking it to be so crazy or mortal as now every one finds it to be , did liberally create and bestow . no wrong was done to them that had lands given to them and their heirs by a mesne lord , before the statute of quia emptores terrarum , as our forefathers the saxons , long before the conquest believed ; when as byrhtrick a saxon of great note and eminency in kent , holding lands of aelsrick a mesne lord , did by his last will and testament in the first place , give to his natural lord a bracelet of fourscore marks of gold , one hatchet of half as much , four horses , two of them trapped , two swords trimmed , two hawks , and all his hounds ; and to the lady his wife , one bracelet of thirty marks of gold , and one horse to intreat that his testament ( wherein he devised great quantities of land to divers persons , and to charitable uses , and the lords consent was very necessary ) stand may , and prayed his dear leefe lord that he do not suffer that any man his testament do turn aside . nor to the county of hertford , or places adjacent , when leofranus abbot of st. albans , gave in edward the confessors reign , unto turnot , waldef , and thurman , three knights , the mannor of flamsteed in the county of hertford , to be holden by the service , ut regionem vicinam contra latrones defend●rent , to the end that they should defend the neighbour-hood against thieves . and no hurt to the common-wealth , when as the nobility and great men of england , imitating the bounty and munificence of their kings and princes , for the enabling themselves to serve their king & country , did bountifully give much of their own estates ▪ & demes●s to divers of their friends & (y) followers to hold of them by knight service , or some honourable & seldom services about their persons or estates ; as the earls of oxford , arundel ; norfolk , hereford , & essex , hertford , & gloucester , leicester , chester , lancaster , northumberland , & other antient earls , did when they severally gave to those who had so litle wrong done them by their kindness , as they have for many ages , and doe yet continue men of worship and great estates in their counties , as many as knights fees , many times more , and seldome less , to be holden of them by knight service , which at the now value of lands , reckoning every knights fee as sr. edward cooke doth , if at l. per annum , which is the lowest value , would be l. per annum , & at l. per an . which is the most probable medium rate , will amount unto no less than l. per annum . that harden castle in cheshire , with the lands thereunto belonging , of a great yearly value in the county of chester , was given by an earl of chester , to be holden of the earl and his heirs , per senescalciam comitum cestriae , (a) by the service of being stewards to the earls of chester . or that the castle and mannor of tunbridge , and the mannors of vielston , (b) horsmund , melyton , and pettis in the county of kent , were holden by richard de clare , earl of gloucester and hertford , of the arch-bishop of canterbury , by agreement and composition made betwixt the said earl and boniface arch-bishop of canterbury , in the raign of king h. . by the service of four knights fees , and to be high stewards , and high butlers to the arch-bishops of that see at their consecration , taking for their service in the stewardship , seven competent robes of scarlet , thirty gallons of wine , thirty pound of wax for his light livery , of hay and oates for eighty horse for two nights , the dishes and salt which should stand before the arch-bishop in that feast , and at their departure , the dyet of three dayes at the cost of the arch-bishop , at four of his then next mannors wheresover they would ; so that the said earls repaired thither but with fifty horse , and taking also for the office of butlership , other seven like robes , twenty gallons of wine , fifty pound of wax like livery , for sixty horses for two nights , the cup wherewith the arch-bishop should be served , all the empty hogsheads of drink , and for six tun of wine , so many as should be drunk under the bar ; all which services were accordingly performed by gilbert de clare , earl of gloucester and hertford , at the in●hronization of robert winchelsey arch-bishop of canterbury ; and by the same earl to arch-bishop reignolds ; by hugh audley , afterwards earl of gloucester , to john stratford arch-bishop of canterbury ; by the earl of stafford , to whom the lordship of tunbridge at length came , to simon sudbury arch-bishop of that see ; and by edward duke of buckingham , to william warham arch-bishop of canterbury , and executed the stewardship in his own person , and the butlership by his deputy sr. thomas burgher knight . no disparagement to the knightly family of the mordants , in the county of essex , that they hold the mannor of winslowes in hempsteed , in the said county , of the earls of oxford , by the service of a knights fee , and to be his champion , and to come to the castle of hedingbam the day of the earls mariage , riding in compleat harness to defie or bid battel to any that should deny him to be earl of oxford , and to see what order was kept in the hall there , which robert mordant esq performed in his own person the th . day of december , in the th . year of the raign of queen eliz. being the day of edward earl of oxford's marriage , though it was not there solemnized . or to sr. giles allington , the auncestor of the now lord allington , to hold his mannors called carbonnels and lymberies in horsed in the county of cambridge , by the service of a knights fee and a half , and to attend upon the earl the day of his marriage , and to hold his stirrop when he goeth to horseback , which service he performed in person at white-hall the th . day of december in the th . year of the raign of queen eliz. being the marriage day of the said edward earl of oxford , in the presence of the earls of bedford , huntington , and leicester , the lord william howard , lord chamberlain of the queens houshold , and the lord burleigh &c. those dreams or fancies of grievances by tenures in capite and knight service , were never presented in those thousands of court leets , or law daies , which twice in every year now for almost years since the conquest , and very long before , made it a great part of their businesse to enquire upon oath of grievances , extortions , and oppressions . nor in those yearly grand enquests to the like purpose , which have been twice in every year , for many hundreds of years past , by the oath of the most sufficient knights , gentlemen and free-holders , of the county of middlesex . it neither was , nor is , nor can by any reasonable intendment , be taken to be a grieveance , to do , or perform that which by the laws of god , nature , and nations , the laws , reasonable customs , and the fundamental laws of england , hath so often , and through all times and ages , and the memory of man and records , which are monumenta veritatis , & vetustatis , ever been allowed , repeated , and confirmed in parliament , without the least of any contradiction , or repeal , and is but upon necessity and occasion to defend the king , themselves , their country , friends , and neighbours , and to do that which every gentleman , and such as are e meliori luto , of the more refined clay , and better born , & bred than the vulgus , or common sort of people would be willing to do & as that learned french lawyer b●issonius well observeth , (c) qu' en la necessite de guerre toutes l●s gentilz hommes sont tenus de prendre les a●mes p●ur la necessite du roy , that in necessity of war , every gentleman is bound to take arms , and go to the wars , (d) for the defence of the king , which by our laws of england , is so to be encouraged , as it is treason to kill any man that goeth to aid the king in his wars , and is no more than what the oaths of allegiance , and supremacy doth bind every englishman unto , though they should tarry in the camp more than forty days , (e) or not have escuage , or any allowance of their charges from their own tenants , and is but that duty which deborah and baruch believed that every subject was bound to perform , when they cursed meroz ( not as some of our pulpit incendiaries did when they traiterously inverted the text , to encourage the people to fight against their king ) in that they came not forth to battel to help the lord against the mighty , and the loyal uriah would not forget , when the king himself could not perswade him to go into his own house , to eat , and to drink , and lye with his wife , when the ark , and judah and israel abide in tents , (f) and his lord joab , and the servants of his lord were incamped in the open field , and which the good old barzillai , in the rebellion of absolom against his king and father david , thought was incumbent upon him , when he could not bring his loyal mind to think it to be enough to provide the king of sustenance , while he lay at mahanami , unlesse when he himself was fourscore years old , and could not taste what he eat or drank ; he also should come down from rogelim , and go as he did with his son chimham , over jordan , with the king to conduct him , and would not accept of the kings offer or reward , to live with him at jerusalem ( which those that hold in england their lands and goodly revenues by those beneficial tenures in capite , of a free guift , and in perpetuity may be said to do and have more also then was offered barzillai for the remainder of an old and worn-out life , (g) but sayes why should the king recompence it with such a reward . and is but the performance of the original contracts made betwixt the kind donors , and the thankful tenants , and the observing of faith and promises , which is the ingens vinculum , and next unto the divine providence , the grand support of the world , and the quiet repose and peace of all mankind , makes a certainty in all their actions , and leads to the mountain of holinesse , and the hill of eternal rest and blessednesse . no grinding of the face of the poor , which ( if it were any as it can never be evinced to be ) could not commonly , or ordinarily be in the case of such tenures , when as those which are any way concerned in it , are men of good estates and revenues , and would be loth to be under any other notion to pay a reasonabe escuage assessed in parliament , when they went not themselves , or sent any in their stead , and where their tenants went not in person to defend their lords as well as their king , to have as much assessed upon them , and by no other than a parliament , wherein the commons of england had their representatives of their own election . neither were the kings of england , or the mesne lords in the case of those tenures any egiptian task-masters , when those that held under them , had such benefits and bounties of free guift , and if they have been since transferred , and aliened , that part of it , viz. the tenures , and a gratefull acknowledgement of the favour of the first givers were neither sold or paid for in the purchase , but the services were by act and operation of law , and the statute of quia emptores terrarum , reserved to the first donors , by an expresse covenant in the deeds of purchase to be performed to the lords of whom they were holden , and it is a maxime in law , quod nemo plus juris in alium transferre potest quam in ipso est , that no man can grant or transferre a greater right than he hath , or is in him . and are if a right consideration of things shall not be , as it hath been too much in the times of our late frenzies , and distractions , adjudged a premunire , or committing high treason . more noble tenures than that of soccage , by how much a rustick and plowmans life , and demeanor , was ever in all ages , and amongst all nations , which had any civility , and understanding , justly accompted to be so far inferior to the equestris ordo , gentlemen , or men of more noble imployments . as that those and not the military tenures were truly accompted to be a kind of slavery , according as they were in their original institution , before the favour obtained of the king and mesne lords , to reduce their drudgeries , to easy and small quit rents , and to be but litle better than joshuas gibeonites , hewers of wood , and drawers of water , or solomons perezites , and jebusites , to be imployed as his servants and work-men . and as now they are , or expect to be in that which they would imagine to be their better condition , holding in free and common soccage , by fealty only for all services , and being not to be excused from aydes , to make the kings eldest son a knight , or for the marriage of his daughter , or to pay a years value of their lands , and sometimes double the rent which is to be payed at the death of every tenant , and may amount to a great deal more than the ordinary , low , and favourable rate of five pounds for a releif for every knights fee , shillings for a half , and shillings for a quarter of a knights fee , and lesser according to the smaller proportions of the lands which they hold ; would in all likelyhood if they might but enjoy the antient , and long agoe discontinued priveledge , which the tenures by knight service , in capite , (h) were to enjoy by the charter or magna charta of king h. . of not having lands of that kind of tenure which was in their own demeasne charged with any other assessements or services than what they were obliged unto by their tenures . and was no more than what was before the common justice and right reason of this nation , be now very well content to exchange their free as they call it socage lands , which was antiently understood to be no other than feudum ignobile et plebeium , an ignoble and plebeian fee or estate , (i) and as sr. henry spelman saith , nobili opponitur , et ignobilibus , et rusticis competit nullo feudali privilegio ornatum , et feudi nomen sub recenti seculo perperam , et abusu rerum auspicatum est , is opposed or contra distinguished to the more noble tenures , and being not entituled to any feudal priviledge , belongs only to ignoble and rusticks , and hath of late times improperly and by abuse gained the name of fee , for lands holden in capite , and by knight service ; so as they might be free from all assessements and charges of war , under which burden the owners of lands holden by any kind of tenures have for these last twenty years heavily groaned , and if mr. prynne had not publiquely and truly said it did mu●●is parasangis , by many and very many degrees out goe all that was pretended to be a grievance , by the court of wards , and tenures in capite , and by knight service , which all things rightly considered , are a more free , beneficial , franck , and noble kind of tenure , the mariages of the heirs in minority only excepted , which not often happening are notwithstanding abundantly recompenced by the freenesse of the gift , seldom services and other immunityes . then socage , which those many tenants which hold by a certain rent of sir anthony weldens heir for castle-guard to the ruined rochester castle in kent , to pay s. d. nomine paenae , by way of penalty for every tide , which after the time limited for payment , shall run under rochester bridge , and the rent and arrears refused , though tendred the next day , do not find to be the best of tenures , or so good as that of knight service , & in capite . which is better than that which the tenants in cumberland and other northern partes do claim by a kind of inheritance and tenant right , (k) wherein they can be well contented to pay their lord a thirty peny ●ine at every alienation , and a twenty peny upon the death of an ancestor , or the death of their lord according to the rate of the small yearly rent which they pay to their lords , (l) better then all or most kind of estates or tenures , and better than that at will , which many are well apaied with , and better than those of copyholders , (m) who if the lords of manours put them out of their estates , have no remedy but by petition to them . can have no writ of right-close to command their lords to do them right without delay according to the custom of the manour . no writ of false judgement at the common law upon judgments given in the lords court , but to sue to the lord by petition , nor can sue any writ of monstraverunt to command their lords not to require of them other customs or services than they ought to do . are to pay upon their admission an uncertain fine at the will of the lord , who , if they be unreasonable , the most they can be compelled unto by any court or rule of justice , is a reasonable fine , commonly adjudged or estimated at two years value , and either certain or uncertain , are to be paid at the death or alienation of every tenant ( which doe as in socage happen more often and constantly than that of escuage and knight service ) and have many payments , forfeitures , restraints , and dependencyes attending that kind of estate and inheritance , as in some places the heir to forfeit his land , if after three solemn proclamations in three several courts he comes not in , payes his fine and prayes to be admitted , or shall without any reasonable cause of absence wilfully refuse to appear after summons at his lords court baron , or to be sworn of the homage , or denie himself to be a coppy-holder , payeth not his fine when it is assessed , or sues a replevin against his lord distraining for rent-service , payes not his rent , or permits or commits voluntary wast , by plucking down an antient built house , and building up a new in the place , or cutting timber without licence , may be fined or amerced , if he speak unreverently of his lord , or behave himself contemptuously towards him , is at his death to pay his best beast , or if he hath none , the best peice of his housholdstuffe for a herriot , and in some places for it varies according to several customes , is to give the lord a certain sum of mony every month during wars , to bear his charges , cannot be sworn of the homage , or bring a plaint in the nature of an assize , untill he be admitted tenant to his land , the wife shall not have her bench or life in her husbands copyhold estate , if she marry without licence of the lord , and in some places , if she will redeem it , must come riding into the court upon a ●lack ram , or as in the manner of south peve●ton in somersetshire , being (n) an an●ient d●mesne , where a widdow convicted of fornication , shall as an escheat to the lord of the mannor , forfeit all her lands and goods , and the tenant is by a peculiar custom in some places before he can inforce his lord to admit any one to his coppyhold to make a prosf●r thereof to the next of the blood , or to his neighbours ab orientesole , inhabiting eastward of him , who giving as much as another , is to have it , and many more inconveniencies , and unpleasing customes , not here remembred , which they who in the raign of h. . and e. . or when bracton and fleta wrote , were but tenants at the will of the lord , and by an accustomed and continued charity , fixed and setled upon them and their heirs , are now become to be the owners of a profitable and well to be liked inheritance , secundum consuetudinem manerij , according to the custome of the mannor , could never by any manner of reason or justice , require a better usage , o● find the way to complain of , untill our late horrid and irrational confusions , when injustice accused iustice , oppression complained of right● , and the wickedest o● gains , was called the refined godlinesse , and when they got so much incouragement , as in the height of a grand and superlative ingratitude , to cry aloud and clamour against their lords who were nothing else but their , good and great benefactors , and would make as many as they could , beleive that their coppyhold estates which were great acts of charity in the time of the saxons , were now nothing lesse than norman slaveries . are better also than estates for lives or years , which are not ( unless in case of a seldome happening minority , which is otherwise recompenced ) so happy in their conditions , as tenures in capite , and by knight service , but are more clogged and incumbred with covenants or operation of law , then knight service , as the tenant to be punished with treble dammage , and a forfeiture of locum vastatum , the place wasted , for wast committed or permitted to be done , in but cutting down an apple tree in an orchard , or a few willows or other trees that grow about the house , or plowing up land that was not arrable , cannot assigne his term , or make a lease of part of it , or cut down timber of wood without leave of his lord , is stinted to his fewel or firewood , and to have so many loads only to burn , is not to carry any dung of the ground , is to forfeit his lease , if he pay not his rent , if demanded at the time appointed , and many times strict nomine penaes for every day after in which it shall be unpaid , must carry so many loads of wood or coal , every year for his land-lord , pay quarters of wheat ; rent capons , a boar , or brawn , a mutton or fat calf , and the like , renewing thereby again the old kind of socage , by their own covenants , or for their own conveniency , agreeing to find so many men furnished with pikes ▪ or musquets , in the service of their land-lords , in the time of wars , which was not long agoe done in ireland , by some tenants of the late lord conway , which is no lesse then a military tenure , wardships , and marriage only expected . and whether for lives or years doe live under as many other harsh and uncomfortable covenants and conditions , as the warinesse , distrust , or griping of their land-lords , will put or enforce upon them , which he that hath not the property of the land which he renteth , and knows it to be none of his own , is to endure the more patiently , because if he will not take it , or hold it , so , another will be glad to do it , and that covenants and obligations which were at first but voluntatis , at the tenants will and pleasure , before they were entered into , do afterwards as the civil law saith , become to be necessitatis , and cannot be avoyded . so as tenures in capite and knight service , being more beneficial , and most commonly less troublesome and incumbred , than either socage , or copyhold tenures , or estates for lives , or years , which are more than two parts of three of the lands of the kingdom , and are yet well enough endured , purchased , and daily sought for , and when all is said that can be truly , and rationally alleadged for any good that is in them , that in capite , and by knight service , being the most noble and best of tenures , will weigh heavier in the ballance of any reasonable , impartial , or knowing mans understanding ; it cannot be imagined from which of the many points of the compasse , or card of the vulgar , and unruly apprehensions the wind , or heri●an of the complaints can come which are made against them , unless any should be so bruitish as to think the payments of rent to their land-lords , or the performing of their oaths when they make fealty , or their covenants , promises , or contracts , are a grievance . and therefore until upon any account of truth , or reason , a just , and more than ordinary care of the king , shall be reckoned to be a curse , favour a fault , protection a persecution , benefits shall be taken for burdens , blessings , for bondage , performance of promises , a sin , and compelling of them an injury , and gratitude and due acknowledgement for subsistance , lively-hood and liberty , be made a cause of complaint , & every thing that gives the people not a liberty to undoe , cheat and ruine one another , be called ( though it never deserved it ) a grievance , it must and may well remain a wonder never to be satisfied , how tenures in capite , and by knight service , which until these distempered times , had no complaint made of them , nor could ever be proved to be any publique , or general mischief or inconveniences , ( for seldom , or as to some particulars , there may be in the best of institutions , or the most eminent , or excellent of sublunary things● , or actions , something of trouble or molestation , ) should after so long an approbation of so many ages past , without any reason given , other then by a bargain for increase , or making a constant revenue to lessen the majesty and just power of our kings , which the parliament will certainly endeavour all they can to uphold , be now so unlucky , as to be put and inclosed in the skin of a bear , baited under the notion of a grievance , and cryed down by a few , and not many of the people , as many other legal and beneficial constitutions have lately been , by the vote and humour only of the common-people , or a ruining reformation , which as to that particular was first occasioned by . chap. iv. how the design of altering tenures in capite , and knight service into socage tenures , and dissolving the court of wards , and liveries , and the incidents and revenue belonging thereunto , came out of the forges of some private mens imaginations , to be afterwards agitated in parliament . old sir henry vane the father of young sir henry vane , who helped to steal away the palladium of our happinesse , and under the colour of sacrificing to minerva , or a needlesse reformation , was instrumental in bringing the trojan horse into our senate , & like the crafty sinon taught the people , weary of their own happiness , how to unlock him , and to murder one another , and massacre our religion , laws , and liberties . and sir john savil whose son the lord savil , afterwards earl of sussex , ( was too busie and active in the hatching of our late wars , and troubles ) and some other men of design and invention perceiving about the first or second year of the reign of king iames , that his revenue and treasure by his over bounty to his people of scotland , and their necessitous importunities and cravings , which is too much appropriate to that nation , were greatly exhausted , did to s●rue themselves into some profitable actions , and imployments , upon a pretence of raising the king a constant revenue , of two hundred thousand pounds per annum , propose the dissolving of the court of wards and liveries , and the changing of tenures in capite , and by knight service , into free and common socage , the only attempt and businesse whereof , bringing some of them out of their countries , and colder stations , into the warmth of several after court preferments , which like the opening of pandoras box , proved afterwards to be very unhappy & fatal to the most of all the kingdom , but themselves , and those that afterwards traded in the miseries and ruine of it . it was in that parliament after a large debate , resolved , saith justice iones , in his argument of the ship-money , by the whole parliament , that such an act to take away the prerogative of tenures in capite , would be void , because it is inherent in the crown , & it being again in the seventh year & the eighteenth year of the reign of that king , earnestly afterwards moved , & desired to be purchased of him , and the king ready to grant it , & recomending it to the parliament , it was then found upon advice & consultation with all the judges of england , to be of prejudicial consequence to the subject , as well as impossible , in regard that all lands as well as persons in the kingdom , being to acknowledge a superiority , if the old tenures should be put down , a new of a like nature might be again created , and the recompence given for it still continue in the crown , as may be instanced in the dane-gelt , which continued here in england , till the reign of king h. . long after this nation was freed from the danes , and the alcavalas or cruzadas in spain , being a kind of taxes there used and if new tenures should not be created , the old perhaps might be again assumed ▪ and with good reason was then denyed when king james was heard to tell his son , the late king charles , that such an yearly revenue as was offered in lieu of those tenures , might make him a rich prince , but never a great , and when so many troops , and brigades of evils do march in the rear or company of that design , which was so per se and non par●il , as the necessity of robert duke of normandies , raising of money , for want whereof he pawned that dutchy for ten thousand pounds , sterling , to enable him in his voyage to jerusalem , to recover the holy land , the imprisonment & troubles of k. richard . in his return from thence , and his ransom of one hundred thousand marks , of (o) silver , raised by twenty shillings upon every knights fee the fourth part of the revenues of the clergy , as well as the laity , with the tenth of their goods , and the chalices and treasure ( which may tell us how litle money , and more honesty england was then able to furnish ) of all the churches , taken as well here as in the territories beyond the seas , to make up the sum , & those necessities which king john had upon him , & the great want of mony which his son king h. . endured in the barons wars when he was forced after sale of lands and jewels , to pawn gascoigne , after that , his imperial crown and jewels to supply his wants , & having neither credit to borrow , nor any more things to pawn , (p) could not deny his wants , the gaging of the jewels and ornaments of st. edwards shrine , and in the end as sir robert cotton , if he were the author of the short view of the long life , and reign of that king observeth , not having means to defray the dyet of his court , was constrained to break up house , and ( as mathew paris saith ) with his queen and children cum abbatibus , & prioribus satis humiliter hospitia & prandia quaerere , to demand entertainment and dyet at some abbies , and priories , and confessed to the abbot of peterburgh , when he came to borrow money of him , majorem el●emosinam f●re sibi juvamen pecuniare quam alicui ostiatim mendicanti (q) that it would be a greater act of charity to lend or give him money then to one that begs from door to door . could never perswade them to any such remedies , worse then their diseases , nor did the unruly barons of king h. . when they had him or his father k. john , at the most disadvantages ever demand it of them or any english man , untill the beginning of the reign of king james , & the broaching of this project , ever adventure to ask , or give such demands any room or entertainment in their imaginations , and is more then the athenians and romans ever aimed at , who in all their popular and restlesse turmoils , seditions , and agitations by the people or their tribunes , concerning the agrarian laws , and making and changing of many other laws , and several forms of government , did never seek to take away or root out those long lasting monuments of benefits , and the acknowledgements and returns of gratitude , which ought to be made of them . more then the people of france in those hard conditions which they would have put upon the daulphine of france , afterwards charles the fifth of france , in the troubles and imprisonment of his father king john in england , in the raign of our king edward the third , and the strange and insolent behaviour of the citizens of paris towards him , when the provost or mayor , put his own hood half blew & half red upon his head , & compelling him to wear his livery , did all that day wear the daulphines , being of a brown black , embrodered with gold in token of his dictatorship did ever demand , nor did in those great afflictions & wants which were upon charles the seventh , when he was reproached by his subjects , and the english had so much of france in their possession in the raign of our king h. . and king h. . who by their numerous armies , and the gallantry of their nobility and tenants in capite , and by knight service , were masters of the field , as well as of that crown , (r) as he was in disgrace called the king of berry , being a small province , wherein he made what shift he could to defend himself , & when his table failed him , so that he eat no more in publick , but sparingly in his chamber , attended by his domestical servants , & had pawned the county of gyan for mony , ever require to be discharged of their homages and tenures , and the duties and incidents which belonged to them . neither did the justices or domineering officers of state in arragon in their height and extravagancy of power , which ( for some time , until by its own weight , their tyranny , or the subtile & politique patience of their kings , it came to be dissolved into the royal & proper rights of that crown & government ) they excercised over their kings , ever make that to be any part of it , nor did the wants of john king of arragon , when he had pawned the county of roussilion to lewis the eleventh king of france , nor of ferdinand the second , emperor , when within these forty years in those devouring and destroying wars of germany , when the pale horse of death , and the red of destruction , rid up to the bridles in blood , he pawned lusatia and silesia to the duke of saxony , and the upper palatinate to the duke of bavaria , beget any such motion of the people , or condiscention of their princes . and that unhappy project and design , had in all probability no more disquieted our old albion , or brittain , sitting upon a rock mediis tranquilla in undis , in the midst of all our late storms and tempests , which had broken the bag of eolus , & getting loose , vied with the raging waves of a distempered sea , who should be most destructive , and play the bedlam . had not a necessity of the parliament in an. . and their want of mony to maintain their wars , put them again in mind of that way of raising mony , all other that could be almost thought upon as far as the mony , which should be spared by one meal in every family in a week , having been before put in execution ( so dangerous and of fatal consequence , are sometimes but the attempts or beginning of designs ) and then as the vote tells us , the house of commons having received the report from the grand committee , which was ordered to consider of raising of monyes for supply of the whole kingdom , after some debate thereupon , ordered that the court of wards and liveries , with the primer seisins , oustres les maines , and all other profits arising by the said court , should be fully taken away , and be made null and voyd . and that the sum of one hundred thousand pounds per annum , should be raised in this kingdom , instead of the revenue thereof , to be disposed for the good of this kingdom , and that the proceedings of the said court , should continue statu quo prius , untill an ordinance for taking away the said court , and paying the yearly sum of l. be brought in , and past both houses . which might well have been forborn , when no general or extraordinary , and not otherwise to be prevented evils , but only want of mony for ought yet appears , did , or could perswade them unto it for a subversion of so grand a fundamental of the government , regality , and laws , will never be able to avoid the dangerous consequences which will inevitably follow thereupon , and though it should be done by act of parliament , will but produce and usher in many numberlesse mischiefs and inconveniences to the king , kingdom , nobility , gentry , and the most substantial and considerable part of the people . and will never be recompenced by the benefits hoped for , or which may happen by the intended dissolution of that court , and alteration of those tenures , which in the prospect or event will appear , if so many to be no more than these . chap. v. the benefits or advantages which are expected by the people in the putting down of the court of wardes and liveryes and changeing the tenures in capite and by knight service into free and common socage . by taking away the service of warre without the kingdom , when the king or his lieutenant goeth to warre for forty dayes bearing the charge of a man and horse , and the payment of escuage to be assessed by parliment , if he neither go nor send one in his place . respites of homage , petit serjeanties , fines for alienation , wardships , and payments of fines for the marriage of the heirs in minority , a rent for the lands in the interim , reliefs , primer seisins , oustre les maines , mesne rates , liveries , and assignment of widdow dower . the troublesome and powerfull process of the exchequer , costly and long pleadings of their evidences , to avoid seisures for not sueing out licences of alienation , thereby enforcing them to procure pardons and to plead them . costly attendance upon escheators , and feodaries , finding of offices or inquisitions post mortem , producing and finding ( if the party hath a mind to it ) of their evidences , compositions , chargeable passing , and obtaining grants of the custody of the body , and lands , of wards . trouble and charge of writs of diem clausit extremum quae plura & mel●us inquirendum , processe of privy seals , messengers , informations , bills , & demurrers , ( as the case may happen , ) answers , traverses , replications , rejoynders , commissions , examinations , & depositions of witnesses , orders , hearings decrees , injunctions , ( all which are but to help to recover or defend the wards rights , and if not in that court , would be with as much or more cost and trouble as in other courts ) extents , seisures , accompts before auditors , surcharges , and exceptions , fees to auditors , and their clarks . concealment of wardships , vexatio●s & chargeable hunting after them , and the cunning search and inquisition which is made after them by the escheators , feodaries , or informers , busie and malicious adversaries , ( which is not often , and but where the parties endeavour to deceive the king , and the court , and evade the law ) and the extremities put upon them by granting it , and the mesne rates , to the fierce discoverers , or such as seek profit out of other mens troubles and afflictions . restraints from felling of timber without licence of the court , begetting the charges of motions , & the attending upon the court and their many officers . a constant and certain yearly revenue of eighty thousand pounds per annum , or so much more as the revenue shall fall short of twenty thousand pounds per annum , which the alienation office now yields to be added to it , will be duely answered and paid , to his majesty which will with all charges & expences deducted as is alleaged , be as much as was yearly gained to the crown by the court of wards and liveries , or any dependances thereof , against which if there shall be opposed , and put into the other end of the ballance , these inconveniences following they will weigh very much the heavier . chap vi. the great and very many mischiefs , and inconveniences , which will happen to the king and kingdom , by the taking away of tenures in capite , and knight service . for that lands in socage will if the mothers be alive , during the minority of the heirs , most commonly fall until the age of fourteen years , into their guardianships , who as all women which have an estate considerable , either real or personal , in their own right or their childrens , do more then nine in every ten , ( unle●● , which seldome happens , they shall be such good women and loving , as for their love to their children , and dead husband , to deny themselves their expected content by a second husband , ) by the temptations and flatteries of younger brothers , or men of decayed estates , transire ad secundas nuptias , marry again , all too often within the first year , which the civil law reserved for the time of their mourning , or retirednesse from worldly pleasures , and do too commonly bring the childrens estate to be as a sawce to the hungry enough appetite of a father in law , who being many times as good a guardian to the children , as the woolf or fox is to the lambs , will be sure if he do not spend both the mothers and childrens estates , and bring them to beggery , to be gnawing and put many a lurch and trick upon them . which might be the reason that the prudent romans were so little willing that the mothers of any children should after their husbands death be the guardians of them , as they had a custome that the mothers themselves should be in perpetua tutela in a perpetual wardship or guardianship , for cicero would have it that mulieres propter infirmitatem consilii , (s) women though of full age should by reason of their unfitnesse to govern or give counsail be , in tutorum potestate , have tutors assigned them , and the judicious cato declared it openly , in publicae concione in a publique speech concerning the oppian law that , (t) majores nostri nullam nè privatam quidem rem agere faeminas ●ine auctore v●luerùnt , their ancestors did not permit women to meddle not so much as in private affairs without a director or overseer , and vlpian tells us that , lege atilia sancitum ut mulieribus et pupillis tutores non habentibus a prae●ore et majore parte tribunorum darentur , (u) it was enacted by the atilian law , that the praetor or lord chief justice , and the greater part of the tribunes should appoint guardians to such women and children as had none . and if the mothers should either make themselvs , or be allowed by the magistrate , as one way or the other it will be most likely to be , the guardians before the heirs age of . or if at , the children should be left , as they must , to chuse their guardians themselves the fear and awe of the mothers , or their second husbands inticements and kindnesse but for that instant , will in all probability induce them to chuse no other , & so whether before the age of or after , it is likely to be no otherwise but that where the mothers are living & marryed again , the self-seeking and purloyning father in lawes of the kingdom will be the guardians , and where there are a second brood of children which will not be seldom , the estates of the children of the first husband shall be sacrificed by the mothers consent or permission to the benefit of the second children , whose father making much of the mother or flattering her , finds it to be no hard matter to make her as willing to it as himself , and if she would hinder or doth not like , it can but steal her sighs and weep and lament in a corner , for that which she may wish wer otherwise , but cannot help it when she is , sub potestate viri , under the power of a second husband . and if not granted to the mother or her second husband , but to the friends of that side which cannot inherit , which where the mother is not an heir must of necessity be to her kindred , it will not then also escape another common , often , and sadly experimented fault or evil , that the affections and care which doth usually assist and incourage honest and fair dealings , will not be so much in the kindred on the mothers side , which is but taken out of their family and transplanted into that of the fathers , ( where the mother her self is to forget her fathers house and kindred , ) nor equal that affection , care , and obligation , which is on the part of the fathers kindred to preserve that family which weares their name as well as their blood. and whether the guardian in socage shall be tutor testamentarius , ordained by the fathers last will and testament , or a pretore datus appointed by a judge will not arrive to any better fate or condition than that where there be executors or administrators in personal estates or trustees in real or personal , for children and minors , or for payment of debts , who can many times neglect and forget the dying requests of parents , on their death beds , to to be careful of their children , and their own imprecations , that god should do so and so to their own children , if they should not perform the trusts , and let out their consciences hackney to the devil , to find ways to deceive and wrong them , of whom and many other such guardianships and faithlesse performances of trusts , our courts of law and equity do dayly heare more complaints of fraudes and cosenings , than they can either easily find out or remedy . which with that also of father in laws do in a woful experience exceed ten to one all that hath been but only surmised of the court of wards , which being a standing court where there are no interest● , but a care only of the kings and the peoples just rights , and their oaths cannot be so predominant or inchanting , as the interests , advantages or designs of single persons ; and it is not now to learn that the mischiefs done to infants and their estates are more where they be in socage then in tenures in capite and by knight service , that there is a great difference between accompts that are to be made to a court and impartial auditors , and where the guardians will accompt when or where they list , and give no security for true accompts , and discharge of their trust , and without it are not to be trusted , for that many times they faile in their estates and are impoverished , and the evils that have happened to the heir of hele or of davenport , where some of the souldiery which were formerly tradesmen have in the usurpations of authorities made themselves to be more then like the master of the wards , and tossed and tumbled their estates and marriages at their pleasure , and complaints , are obvious where an heir by the unconscionablenesse of socage , guardians have by the spoyl and wast of their woods and estates ▪ been damnified ten or twenty thousand pounds . the kings tenants will be enabled to alienate their lands to such as may be open enemies , or ill affected to his person , succession , or government . which will leave him a lesser power over his subjects , in relation to his ●enants and those that hold of him , then every gentleman and lord of a mannor hath in england over his coppy-holders , or such as hold of them by leases for lives or years . which every land-lord finds , aswel as believes , to be so necessary as citizens and burgers , and all manner of land-lords , doe both in litle and great estates and leases , especially provide against letting , setting , or assigning without their license first had in writing , unless it be sometimes to wives or children , which in the kings case , in matter of free-hold , was in h. . allowed his tenants , so as they left a full third part to descend to the heir . the education of the heirs in minority of recusants , or persons disaffected to the king , or his government , or to the orthodox religion . provisions for protections for younger children , and care of payment of debts , preservation of the wards estate , woods and evidences will be neglected . the finding of offices or inquisitions , post mortem , of the auncestor , and the true extent and quantities of the mannors and lands , and many times the finding or mentioning of deeds or evidences in the offices , which in antient aswell as latter times , have given a great light and help to titles and descents of land , and the recovery and making out of deeds or evidences lost , will now be laid aside , and all things left in the darkness of ignorance and incertainty . genealogies and pedigrees , which by such offices have only since the beginning of the raign of king h. . been deduced and brought into great certainties , will now be left like those of the welch , to beleive one ap after another , and ap john , ap jenkin , ap david , and whatsoever the wild traditions and boastings of our new men or upstarts and our bards , or undertaking ignorant painters ▪ to draw money out of their credulous customers purses , shall be pleased to fancy , and shall not be so happy ▪ as the jews in their return out of their captivity ▪ who were not to seek for the registers of their genealogies , but be like the dull thracians , who are said to have so short a memory as not to count above the number of or , or being like a house with the windowes or lights only backward ; or as a people with their eyes only in their backs , and in the time to come , not be able to give an account of our ancestors further then our grand-fathers . and no other course or way being yet found to preserve the memory or right of armes , or certainty of descents of our nobility and gentry , the people ( which the more peysant and mechanick part will be glad of ) will be left to fool and make one another believe their own rhodomantadoes and delusions . cause increase and multiply contention betwixt the kindred and near relations of the orphans and minors , in striving who shall have the manage and protection of their lands and estate , or as too often happens , most cleanly or hypocritically deceive or ruine them , or make an interest or advantage for themselves , friends , or kindred by their marriages , which in these last twenty years , and the practise of counterfeit religion and honesty , calling every successfull knavery a providence of the almighty , ( who not only hates , but will punish it ; ) can take l. or or more at a time to make mat●hes , where they pretend great friendships , and in an age of all manner of cheating and cunning devices to maintain pride , is become the beneficial imployment of many that would be thought to be gentlemen , or people of great respect or worship ; and if a trades-man or citizen , whose riches and influence have of late been too much upon all men or their estates in the kingdome ( more especially those that are prodigal or vitious ) should get a guardian-ship , may doe as the dutch are now complained of , who out of their weis camer , chamber , or court of orphans , can send their monyes to trade as far as the east-indies , not for the childrens , but for their own advantage , and in the mean time make delayes and pretences enough not to pay them their money , insomuch as a young girle whose parents dyed when she was but three years old , was of late so out of patience with petitioning and attendance , untill she was . as shee had almost clawed out the gref●●er● or registers eyes , and in the chase of such controversies , which upon pretences of nearer of kin , weakness of estate in some , or bad life and conversation , and unfitness in other , may aswel be lengthened and made to be very chargeable , as those are concerning executors or administrators , which doe too often make the infants money and estates the lamentable paymasters . whereas in the court of wards , controversies or competitions for wardships , were by reason of the instructions and rules by which they walked , easily and quietly determined in an hour or litle more time spent , summarily and upon petition , only in the council chamber of that court. there will not be that ready help or care which was used to be , for the preservation of the wards estate from false or forged wills , fraudulent or forged conveyances , unjust entries , and pretended titles , and other incumbrances . nor for tenants in tayl and their heirs , whose deeds being found in the offices , did many times prevent their disherision by heirs , by second venter , and forged conveyances or wills. creditors cannot for want of such offices sound , know how the debtors lands are setled , or what is in fee-simple to charge the heir . an heir may now be disinherited by the frowardness of an aged father , instigated by the cunning and practise of a step-mother , whereas a third part could not have before been conveyed or given from him . in socage tenures there will be nothing for the defence and safety of his majesties kingdome , person , and people , when every man shall be holding his plow , or be supposed to hold by it , but the moyety of the excise of ale and beer , to the value of one hundred thousand pounds per annum . the kingdom will upon occasion of war or invasion , lose the ready defence , and personal service of the nobility , who held per baroniam , or as tenants in capite , and of many worthy and able men , knights , esquires , gentry , and other sufficient freeholders , and men of good estate and reputation , well educated and fitted for war , and compleatly armed on horse-back , & not like to be run-aways or treacherous which hold the remainder , and yet to be discovered knights fees , or any part thereof in an ordinary course of defence for forty days service ( which in those times , and after the manner and way of war , and the militia then used , was time enough to determine all or a great part of the unhappy controversies of war ) by , and out of so many several estates , than at twenty pounds per annum , since improved to two or three hundred pounds per annum , with not a few of their tenants , friends , servants , and attendants , going along with them , and may call or summon them to go with· him out of the kingdom in case of a diversive war , or otherwise , which by the statutes of e. . e. . e. . & h. . & car. he cannot do to hoblers , archers , footmen , or the train bands , but in case of necessity , and suddain comming of foreign enemies into the realm , and would have been sure of a gallant army of horse , which being the more active and ready part of an army , fittest for charge or retreat , forage or traversing a country , is by the french whose nobless in war are presently on horse-back , and make it their ioy and subsistence , to appear in the defence of their king and country , found to be a great part of the successe in war as well as the persians have done , who hath many times overcome the turk by the strength of horse , as the hungarians and poles have often done ; and the germans and italians , did heretofore make great use of their nobility in wars , and made their armies to consist most of horse , for that they presumed quod in equestri militia praevalerent nobiles , that the nobility would do best , and prevail when they served on horseback , (w) for as the great estates of england ; were held by knight service , so it was most performed on horseback , and such as found or furnished out horses in war , were to be men of gentility and value and did in person go with their prince or their lieutenant ) and until h. . time , gentlemen which every high constable and mechanique , (x) now thinks it to be too little to usurp the title of ) were not distinguished by any title of addition , but by their forinsecum servitium , which was knight service , and in kent where they claimed gavelkind , were never put under that kind of partition . it must needs be very prejudicial to the king who is to protect his people , and to his people , who are to be protected by him , when as the king that hath none or very few inland , castles , citadels , or places of strength , as holland , flanders , france , italy , germany , & most nations have to retard the march of an enemy landed , untill he can summon or call together his subjects and forces , and cannot at once , or upon a suddain , be able to raise so many men as may be able to incounter , or vanquish him in the field . shall have no legions , or standing parts of an army , as oliver and his son richard had paid at the charge of the publique to rally and unite at pleasure , redresse rebellions , repel and oppose an enemy , and if need be , visit him at home , and make his country rather than his own , sedem belli , the stage of war , to indure the spoyles , plundrings , insolencies , and free quartering of souldiers . but shall when the floods shall rore and lift up their voice , his enemies compasse him in on every side , and there be none to help him , be as a prince disarmed , and left to intreat and expect the good will of his people , or the care which they will be pleased to take for themselves in the first place , & for him at leasure & hoping that they will not devide into parties of factions call or summon a parliament , which will take up forty days or six weeks , and give the enemy all that while the mastery of the field , and time enough to make up all his advantages , and in the mean time must not so much as require aid of them who have had their lands freely given them , or of those who hold offices or annuities under him , for the performance of their homages , oaths , fealties , contracts , promises , and grateful acknowledgments , and when the parliament are met , must tarry until the majority of opinions shall agree how and in what manner he shall be helped , which will not if it should be agreed upon the second or third day , but useth not to be in so many weeks , be speedily furnished when the mony must be first raised ( which in the late necessity of disbanding and paying of souldiers , could not be finished in two or three months ) and the men after leavied , armed , and cloathed , which where the enemy , shall in the mean time have gained some forts , passages , or counties , will not be so ready a way , or help at hand , as the use of tenures , in capite which like so many garrisons invisibly dispersed , but no way oppressing their several neighbourhoods are upon the score of gratitude as well as loyalty quickly called out and imbodied , which made the kingdom have the lesse use of forts & castles , & to be able in the raign of king stephen by agreement betwixt him and henry the second to demolish at once castles . will loose also his homage of his tenants in capite , and by knight service , being the seminary and root of the oath of allegiance , and the genus or original of fealty , which saith sir edward coke is a part of homage , (y) and is so much saith sir henry spelman , (z) a part of homage , as a release of fealty is a discharge of homage , which ( the oaths of allegiance and fealty , & the duty of them being now by the delusions of satan too much disused , and strangely metamorphosed into factions ) will though the oaths of allegiance and fealty should faile , remain fixed and radicated in the tenures of lands in capite and by knight service , and when they concurre , do altogether if rightly observed , make a threefold cord which will not easyly be broken , and were therefore by as careful as wise antiquity invented to fasten subjects to their duty , any one of which cannot now with any safety to the king or his kingdom and people , be separated or disjointed , more especially that of homage , for that former ages understood the obligation of self preservation and interest to be more binding than oaths as salmuthius in his learned and accurate comment upon pancirollus well noteth , (a) ut amore humani ingenii pro illis habeant maximam curam , in quibus suam vident esse positam substantiam , that men most commonly take most care of that , wherein their lands and estates are concerned , which that antient committee-man and old sequestrator the devil well understood when he got an order or permission to ruine the righteous , job in his estate , and our last twenty years can inform us how impotent and unable oaths of allegiance and supremacy , protestations , national covenants , with hands lifted up to heaven , calling god to witnesse loyalties , hot and fiery zeals , and pretences of religion , setting up of christ , and his interest , and walking with god in the more ( as it was wrongfully called ) refi●●ed way of his worship , to resist or stand in the way of interest , dangers , hazards , self-seeking , and self-having , in this world , but nothing at all in the better . which the reserving of fealty , or its being always to be taken upon tenures in socage , and as well upon leases for years , as estates of freehold and inheritance will not remedy , when as sir henry spelman hath well observed , fealty , though it be taken upon oath is not so obligatory as homage though it be not taken upon oath , for that the words of homage are devenio homo vester ab hac die in posterum , de vita , de membro , & de terreno honore verus , & fidelis vobis ero , & fidem vobis portabo ob terras quas a vobis teneo , i become from this day forward , your man of life , member and earthly honour , and shall be faithful and bear faith unto you , for the lands which i hold of you . and is not so awful & binding as that which was used in the british or saxon times , or shortly after the conquest , viz. ad defendendum regnum contra alienigenas , & contra inimicos , una cum domino suo rege , & terras , & honores , cum omni fidelitate , cum eo servare , & quod illi intra & extra regnum fidelis esse voluit , & intra & extra regnum defendere . that is , to defend the kingdom against foreigners , and enemies , within and without the kingdom , and with the king to defend his lands and honours , with all fidelity , and would be faithful to the king within and without the kingdom , & that that which is prescribed by the statute of e. . ( in which also the form and words of the homage is declared and expressed ) ever since used , viz. quod vobis ero fidelis et legalis , et fidem vobis feram de tenementis quae de vobis teneo , et legaliter vobis faciam , consuetudines et servitus quae vobis facere debeo , ad terminos assignatos ut deus me adjuvet , that i shall be faithful and loyal , and faith bear to you for the tenements which i hold of you , and shall lawfully doe and perform to you all customes and services which i ought to doe at the tearms assigned ▪ so god me help , is far lesse obliging and comprehensive , (b) and so litle in the opinion of the tenants or fealty makers , as sufficit plerunque ; as sr. henry spelman saith , si pactos redditus , exoluerit sectamque curiae domini , ex more praestiterit domini autem non milit at nec armis cingitur ; they most commonly think it extendeth but to pay the rents agreed upon , and doe the accustomed suit and service to their lords court. which in the civil law , form of an oath of fealty , used in the parts beyond the seas in this manner , viz. ego juro ad sancta dei evangelia quod a modo in antea ero fidelis ei ut vassallus domino nec id quod mihi sub nomine fidelitatis commiserit pandam alii ad ejus detrimentum me sciente , i swear upon the holy evangelists , that from henceforth i shall be faithfull to him ( id est the lord ) as a vassal to his lord , nor shall willingly discover to another any secret which under the name of fealty he shall commit unto me , was taken and found to be so slender a tye or obligation , as alia de novo super fidelitatis juramento inventa forma et utentium consuetudine quae hodie . when obertus de orto wrote his books de feudis in omni curia videtur obtinere , a new form of the oath of fidelity was found and invented , and is used saith he almost in every court , and approved by those that used it , scilicet ego titius juro super haec sancta dei evangelia quod ab hac hora in antea usque ad ultimum diem vitae meae ero fidelis tibi caio domino meo contra omnem hominem ( & where it is to a mesne lord ) excepto imperatore vel rege , i titius doe swear that from this hour to the last day of my life i shall be faithful to thee caius my lord against all men , except the emperour or the king , which saith the great cujacius by reason that the genuine sence or meaning of the words would not be so well understood by ignorant men , haec adijci solet , other clauses & words were used to be added ( which amounted to as much as the duty of one that doth homage for lands holden by knights service ) which cujacius thought to be necessary enough , quod plaerique fidem sibi promitti satis non habent nisi et fidei partes muniaque specialiter enumerentur veleo maxime si quid contra ea fecerint ut non possint negare se commisisse in jusjurandum et feudum amisisse , for that they did not think it to be enough to have fealty & promises made unto them , unless the duties and parts thereof should be especially enumerated , to the end more especially that i● they should doe any thing contrary therunto , they should not be able to deny that they had broken their oath , and forfeited their fee and lands , so litle were they satisfied with the slight , or general words formerly used in the oathes of fealty , though in more just and honest times , about the reign of charles the great emperour , the word fidelis , or a fealty , did contain in it ( howsoever not expressed ) a promise , de tuenda vita et honore domini et si quid aliud specialiter jurejurando exprimi solet , to defend the life and honour of the lord and every thing else , which was specially expressed in the oath ; so great a care was taken to make the first intentions and promises of those that had those fees given them to come up and be answerable to the good will and expectations of those that gave them . and therefore it may prove to be of evil consequence , if any of our new socage men should like the snakes thinking themselves the younger by casting off their skins , fancy in their old or the next factious humour they shall meet with , that they are only to pay their rent and doe the services belonging to their lands , but are not bound to pay that principal part of their natural , as well as sworn allegiance , to take armes to defend the king and the kingdome , more especially when they shall hold their lands , in libero et communi socagio , et pro omnibus servitiis per fidelitatem tantum , in free and common socage by fealty for all services , which may be more than a litle prejudicial to the kingdome and the salus populi , safety of the people so much fought for , as was pretended to exchange the men of armes and such as are fit for war , as the tenures in capite doe truly and not feignedly import , for those that shall claim exemption from wars , and are by all nations understood to be the unfittest for it ; when those that by tenure of their lands and by reason of their homage and fealty , were alwayes ready and bound to doe it , and those that by a fealty not actually or but seldome taken , will suppose themselves not to be bound at all unto it , but being most disloyal , will as some thousands of phanatiques have lately done , imagine themselves to be most faithful , and where the knight service men were to forfeit their lands so holden , if they did not doe their service within two years , or pay escuage assessed by parliament , if they went not when they were summoned , or sent another in their stead , the new or old socage men shall be under no manner of penalty of forfeiture at all . which may seem to be the cause that england , and all other civilized and well constituted nations & kingdoms , did put that value upon homage ( of which there is some likeness & of fealty ▪ also in that of the princes & mighty men of israel , and all the sons likewise of king david submitting themselvs at his command unto solomon , & giving the hand under solomon as the margent renders , (d) ( like that oath of abrahams steward ) as they understood it to be of the essence of soveraignty , the great assistant and preserver of it , and the bond of obedience fixed and radicated in the interest of mens estates , kept in and guarded by their fear of loosing them . and made our kings so highly prize the homages of their subjects , and conceive them to be the liaisons , or fastenings that kept their crowns fast upon their heads , as king h. . when he had unadvisedly made his son henry king in his life time , caused the english nobility to do homage unto him , and r. . returning out of captivity , had found that his brother iohn had almost stollen into his throne , caused himself to be crowned the second time , and took the homages of his nobility ; and our kings have been heretofore so careful , as alwayes at their coronation , to take the homages of their nobility ; and after a vacancy of a bishoprick , not to restore the temporalties , until the succeeding bishop shall have done his homage . and appears to be no lesse valued by foreign princes , when as phillip king of france would , and did to his cost , refuse to receive the homage of our king e. . by proxie , but compelled him to do it in his own person , for the dutchy of aquitain , and an arch-duke of austria , was constrained in person to do his homage to the king of france , between the hands of his chancellor , for flan-flanders , and the now emperor of germany hath lately and most industriously travailed through many of his dominions and kingdoms , to receive the personal homages of the princes and nobility thereof , and not omitted to go to gratz , and carinthia , to have it as formally , as really done unto him . and was such a jewel in their crowns , as they could sometimes to pacifie the greatest of their troubles by the seditions and rebellions of their subjects , find no greater or fitter a pawn or security to assure the performance of their promises and agreements , than an absolving their subjects from their homage and obedience ( which were as synonimes , or of one and the same signification ) in case of breach of promises , as our king henry the d. did in his necessities to richard marshal earl of pembroke , (e) that he should be freed from his homage si rex pactum suum violaret , if the king should break his agreement , and as the antient earls of brabant , are said to have done in their reversals , or grants to their subjects , if they should infringe their liberties or privileges . which the seditious party that deposed king richard the d. knew so well to be a grand obligation or tye , which kings had upon their subjects , as they put themselves to the trouble of inventing a new trick of treason solemnly in the name of the three estates of the kingdom , viz. lords spiritual and temporal , and the commons , to renounce their homages , fealties , and allegiance , and all bonds , charges , and services belonging thereunto , which would have been to as little purpose , as it was contradictory to all the rules of right , reason , and justice , if they had not forced the distressed & imprisoned king by a publick instrument upon oath to absolve all his subjects a juramento fidelitatis & homagiis omnique vinculo ligeanciae , (f) from their oaths of fealty and homage , and all bonds of allegiances , and to swear and promise never to revoke it , and is so precious inestimable , of so high a nature , so useful , and of so great a value , as nothing but the kingdom it self can be equivalent unto it . and our nobility did so esteem of the homage and service of their tenants , and build as is were their grandeur and power upon it , as they did antiently grant one to another homagium & servicium of such and such tenants . maud the empresse gave to earl alberick de vere servicium decem militum , the service of ten knights . an earl of leicester gave to bygod earl of norfolk , ten knights fees , which after the manner of those times , may with reason enough be conceived to be only the homage and service of so many , for the purchase of the office of lord high steward of england , and john earl of oxford in the reign of h. . did at his castle of hedingham in essex , actually receive the homages of many worthy knights and gentlemen that held of him . may very much prejudice in their dignities and honors , as well as estates , the antient earls and barons of this king●om , by taking away tenures in capite & changeing them , and knight service tenures into socage , when as the earls of arundel , do hold the castle and rape of arundel , which is the honor and earldom it self by the service of . knights fees , the earldom of oxford is holden by the service of knights fees , and that by a modus tenendi parliamentum , so beleived to be true , that king john caused it when he sent our english laws into ireland to be exemplified , and sent thither under the great seal of england , it is said that every earldom consisteth of knights fees , and every barony of knights fees , and a third part of a knights fee , and were of such a value and esteem , as they were wont heretofore to bring actions and assizes for them , and their homage and services . and so litle lesse in france , as the wealth of that great and populous kingdom , is not as may be rationally supposed enough to purchase of the nobility and gentry of that kingdom , the transmutation of their fiefs nobles into the roturier or feifs ignobles , nor are the princes or nobility of germany likely to be perswaded out of their antient rights and tenures into that of the boors or common sort of people . the nobility and gentry of england , when their military tenures and dependencies shall be taken from them , will not upon necessities of war and danger , according to the tenures of their lands , their homages , and oaths of allegiance , and their natural and legal allegiance , be able to succour or he●p their prince and father of their country , their defender and common parent , as they have heretofore done , when as they stoutly and valiantly helped to guard their standard , and lions but for want of those which held lands of them , and the tenures by knight service , will be forced to abide with gilead beyond jordan , and not be able to imitate their noble ancestors , (g) nor each or any of them bring to his service three bannerets , sixty one knights , and one hundred fifty four archers on horseback , (h) as thomas de bello campo earl of warwick , did to e. . in anno . of his raign at the seige of caleis , or as the earl of kildare did to king e. . in the th . year of his raign , when he besieged calice , (i) when he brought one banneret , six knights , thirty ▪ esquires , nineteen hoblers , twenty four archers on horseback , and thirty two archers on foot . it will take away the subjection of the bishop of the isle of man , who holdeth of the earl of derby as king of the isle of man , and not of the king of england , and therefore cometh not to parliament . take away from the king , nobility , and gentry , who have lands holden by knight service , all escheats of such as die without heirs , or forfeit or be convicted of felony , and the kings annum diem & vastum , year , day , and wast , where the lands are holden of mesne lords , the escheats of those that held of kings , imediately being so considerable as the castle of barnard in cumberland , and the counties of northumberland , and huntington , which the kings of scotland sometimes held of england , came again to the crown by them , and the power which king edward . had to make baliol king of scots , and to determine the competition for that kingdom , was by reason it was held of him , the earldoms of flanders , and artois were seised by francis the . as forfeited , being fiefs of the crown of france , & flanders , and many other provinces , forced to submit themselves upon some controversies , to the umpirage of france , of whom they held . enervate at least , if not spoil our original & first magna charta , which was grante by h. . tenendum de se & heredibus suis , and all our liberties , and the many after confirmations of that magna charta , will be to seek for a support , if it shall be turned into socage , & the lib●rties also of the city of london , & all other antient cities , and boroughs , and such as antiently and before h. . did use to send burgesses unto parliament . alter if not destroy the charter of k. r. . granted to the city of london for their hustings court , to be free of toll & lastage through all england , and all sea-ports , with many other priviledges , which were granted to be held of the king and his heirs , and the same with many other immunities granted & confirmed by king john , with a tenure reserved to him and his heirs , for where no tenure is reserved nor expressed , though it should be said , absque aliquo inde reddendo , it shall be intended for the king and the law will create a new tenure by knight service in capite . (k) a socage tenure for cities and boroughs , which have no ploughs , or intermedle not with husbandry , will be improper when as there is not any fictio juris , or supposition ●in law , which doth not sequi rationem , so follow reason , or allude unto it , as to preserve the reason or cause which it either doth , or would signify , but doth not suppose things improper , or which are either heterogeneous , or quite contrary . put into fresh disputes the question of precedency , betwixt spain & england , which being much insisted upon by the spaniard , at the treaty of peace betwixt the two kingdoms , in anno . of q. eliz. at calice occasioned by the contests of the embassadour of spain , and sir henry nevil , embassadour for england , it was argued or adjudged that england besides the arguments urged on its behalf , viz. antiquity of christian religion , more authority ecclesiastical , more absolute authority political , eminency of royal dignity , and nobility of blood , ought to have precedency , in regard that it was superiour to the kingdoms of scotland and ireland , and the isle of man , which held of i● , that spain had no kingdom held in fee of it , but was it self feudatory to france , and inthral'd by oath of subjection to charles the fifth king of france , in anno . holds a great part of the netherlands of france , arragon , both the indies , sicily , granado , and navarre , sardinia , corsica , and the canary islands of the pope , portugal payeth an annual tribute to him ; and naples yearly presents him with a white spanish genner , and a certain tribute . lessen , and take away the honour of the king , in having the principality of wales , kingdom of ireland , isle of man , isles of wight , gernesey , and jersey , holding of england as their superiour in capite . enervate or ruine the counties palatine of chester , lancaster , durham , and isle of ely , if the tenures should be levelled into socage . very much damnifie all the nobility and gentry of england , who hold as they have antiently divers mannors and lands , or offices by grand serjeanty , as for the earls of chester , which belongeth to the princes of wales , and the eldest son of the king , to carry before the king at his coronation the sword called curtana , to be earl marshal of england , and to lead the kings host to be lord great chamberlain of england , which is claimed by the earl of oxford , to carry the sword called lancaster before the king at his coronation due to the earl of derby as kings of the isle of man , to be grand faulconner or master of the hawks claimed by the earl of carnarvon , and the kings champion at his coronation claimed by the family of the dymocks in lincolnshire , and very many others holding by divers other grand serjeanties . prejudice the families of cornwal , hilton , and venables , who though not priviledged and allowed to sit as peers in parliament , are by an antient custome and prescription allowed to use the title of baron of burford , baron hilton , and baron of kinderton , because they hold their lands per baron●am . disparage the esquires and gentry of england , the first sort of which being as antiently as the dayes of the emperour julian , called scutarii , of their bearing of shields in the wars , (l) and the other as our excellently learned mr. selden teacheth us , called gentlemen , a gente , or the stock out of which they were derived , or because they were ex origine gentis of noble kind distinguished from them whom horace termeth sine gente , or that they had servile auncestors , had by their fears and prowess in war not only gained great reputation , but lands given to them and their heirs for their reward , support , and maintenance , from which custome and usage amongst the roma●s , sa●th pasquier , (m) the french in imitation of the gaules did call those esquires & gen●●●men , quilz vi●●ent estre pourv●uz de tels benefices , whom they did see so provided with those benefices or rewards , et pour autant quilz veterent ceux cy n' estre chargez d' aucune redevance pecu●iare à raison de leurs terres benificiales envers le prince et outre plus qu'a l' occasion d'icelles ils devoient prendre les armes pour la protection et d●ffense de royaume le peuple commenca de fonder le seul et unique degrè de noblesse sur telle maniere de gens , ●or that they did see that they were not charged with any assessement in money to the prince by reason of the tenures of their lands , and that therefore they were upon all occasions to take armes for the protection and defence of the realm . the people took them to be a degree of nobility , as appeareth by the stature of e. . touching such as ought to be knights and came not to receive that order . take away a great part of the root and foundation of the equestris ordo , and antient and honourable degree of knighthood in england , which was derived and took its beginning from the service of their lands which were military , for the cheif gentlemen or free-holdes of every county , in regard they usually held by knights service , saith the learned selden , (n) were called chivalers , in the statute of w. . touching coroners , and was so honourable a title as the name of chivaler was antiently given to every temporal baron , whether he were dubbed a knight or no. blast and enernate that also of our not long agoe instituted order of baronetts , which are , though there be no tenure expressed in their patents , held by service in war , and a more noble tenure then socage . take away the cause and original of that antiently very eminent degree of banneret , when as such as hold lands in capite , and by knight service , and had many tenants also holding of them by knight service , were able in a more then ordinary manner to do their king and country service , by bringing their own banner in the feild , which was to be displaced by the king or his leivetenant . make our heretofore famous english nation in matters of armes and feats of chivalry , to be as a pastoritium , or agreste genus hominum , to be rusticks and plowmen , which the followers of romulus , which were many of them but rubul●i et opiliones , sheppheards and heardsmen , did not take to be a degree worthy the founders of that great empire of rome , nor could be content with any les● then that of their patricij or equites , sena●ors or knights ; and was therefore called feudum n●bile et cognoscitur mul●is privilegiis inhaerentibus , viz. gardia , fidelitas , homagium , curia , consuetudin●s , jurisdictio in vassallos , banni , et retrobann● privilegium , jus columbarij jus molendini , &c. a noble fee which hath many priviledges belonging to it , viz. wardship , fealty , homage , a court , customes , jurisdiction over tenants , priviledge of ban , and arriere ban , calling them to war in defence of their prince , a right to have a dove-house and a mill , the two latter of which others could not heretofore build or enjoy without the kings licence , equibus liquet ingentem maneriorum nostrorum multitudinem normannis , (o) enim abunde auctam videmus ex privilegiis ad feuda militaria olim spectantibus originem sumpsisse , by which it is manifest that our great number of mannors came to be abundantly increased by the normans , and took their begining from the priviledges belonging to knights fees ; take away all the mannors and court barons of the kingdome , (p) which being before the statute of quia emptores terrarum , created by the lords , who parcelled out the lands , which the king had before given them to several friends or tenants to be held of them and their heirs by knight service , and some other part in socage , to plow their lands and carry their hay , &c. and to do suit to the courts ( of which the free-holders are said to be the homage ) holden for their mannor in whose jurisdiction the lands do lye , and are no small part of the legal and necessary priviledges and power of the gentry or lords of mannors over their tenants , which were as sr. edward coke saith given them for the defence of the kingdome , (q) and doe not only very much conduce to the well ordering of their tenants , but to the universal peace and welfare of the nation , in their inferior orbes and motions subordinate to the higher . were all at the first derived out of knight service , as evidently appears by edward the confessors laws , wherein it was ordained that barones qui suam habent curiam de suis hominibus , (r) which have their court consisting of their men and tenants , et qui sacham et socam habent id est curiam et jurisdictionem super vassallis suis , (s) have a court and jurisdiction over their tenants , are to doe right to their tenants , and by the fall of those many thousand mannors , & court barons in the kingdoms , which will at the same time dye and perish with the tenures in capite , and by knight service . extinguish the copyhold estates , which belong unto them , which by the destruction of the mannors , and court barons , will also fall , for as there can be no court baron without freeholders , so no customary court without copiholders . and once lost , or but altered , cannot be created again , for that now a subject cannot make a mannor , which must be part in demesnes , and part in services , to hold of him by services and suit of court , which is to be by a long continuance of time a tempore cujus contrarij memoria hominum non existit , and if there be no court the customary tenants , or copiholders cannot enter their plaints , make surrenders , and be admitted . turn the tenures in capite , which are only so called from the duty of homage , and the acknowledgement of soveraignity , and headship in the king , into a tenure in socage , which is so far from acknowledgeing the king to be chief , or to ingage , as the other doth their lands , to do him service as it is but a tenure , as it were a latere , & is no more then what one neighbour may acknowledge to hold or doe to another , for his rent , or money be a lease for a life , or one or more years , or as tenant at will , and levels and makes rather an equality , then any respect of persons , which if ever or at all reasonable , or fit to be done , is in a democratical or popular way of government , but will be unexampled , and is not at all to be in monarchy , & may make many of the people which are not yet recovered out of a gainful lunacy , to beleive they were in the right when they supposed themselves to be the soveraigns . ireland , which in the subverting olivers time , was to have their swords by the like tenure , turned into plow-shares , though their warres and taxes were never intended to leave them , was to pay but l. per annum , to turn their better tenures & conditions into worse , will if they be not come again to their wits expect the like prejudicial bergain . bring many inconveniences and mischiefs to the nobility and gentry of scotland , if their tenures in capite , and knight service , and those which are holden of them as mesn lords , shall as ours , be taken away with their services and dependencies , licences of alienation , benefits of investitures , infeodations , and the like , it being amongst others as a reason given for wardships in that kingdom , in the laws of scotland , in the reign of their malcombe the . ( which was before the conquerours entring into england , ne non suppeterent regiae majestatis facultates , to the end that the king should have where-withall to defend the kingdom . and a letting loose of a fierce and unruly people , who are best of all kept in awe & order by a natural & long & well enough liked subjection to their mesne lords and superiours , into a liberty which cannot be done without a disjointing and over-turning all the estates of the nobility and gentry of that kingdom , and may like our late english levellers , either endeavour to do it , or bring themselves and the whole nation , to ruine by a renversing of the fundamental laws , and that antient order and constitution of that kingdom , wherein the estates and livelyhood of all the nobility and gentry , and better part of the people are hugely concerned . and besides a great damage to the king in his revenues , and profits arising out of such tenures , if not recompenced by some annual payment . will howsoever take away that antient homage and acknowledgement of superiority , which from that kingdom to this of england , cannot be denyed to be due , and to have been actually and antiently done , and presidented , and not in one , but several ages , fidem & obsequium ut vassallos angliae regibus , & superioribus dominis jurejurando promisisse , to have done their homage and fealty as vassals to our english kings , and bound themselves by oath thereunto , as namely , to alfred , edgar , athelstane , william the conqueror , william rufus , maud the empresse , henry the second , and edward the first , the later of whom with all the baronage of england , in a letter to the pope , did upon the search of many evidences and records stoutly assert it . will be no small damage and disturbance to the kings other regalities , and prerogatives , and in the tenures of the cinque ports , who are to provide fifty ships for the guarding of the seas , and the town of maldon in essex one , the town of lewis in sussex , as the book of doomsday informeth , where king edward the confessor had burgesses in dominio & eorum consuetudo erat , si rex ad mare custodiendum sine se suos mittere voluisset , de omnibus hominibus cujuscunque terrae fuissent colligebant s●lidos & hos habebant qui in manibus arma custodie●ant , had burgesses in his deme●ne of the king , and when he sent any of his men to guard the seas , they were to gather s. a man , which was to be given to those that manned the ships , & in colchester where the custom then was , that upon any expedition of the kings by sea or land , every house was to pay six pence ad victum soldariorum regis , towards the quarter or livelyhood of the kings souldiers , and likewise prejudice him in his grand and petit serjeanties , and many thousand other reservations of honour and profit , by and upon tenures in capite , and knight service , which revived and called out of their cells , wherein those that are to do and pay them , are content they should sleep , and take their rest for ever , would go near to make and maintain an army with men and provisions . the king when the tenures in capite shall be taken away , shall never be able to errect his standard and to call thereunto all that hold lands , fees , annuities , and offices of him , to come to his assistance , according to the duty of their tenures , and the acts of parliament of h. . chap. . and . h. . chap. . of forfeiting the lands and offices holden of him under the penalties , which was the only means which the late king his father had to protect as much as he could himself , and his subjects or to manifest the justice of his cause , in that war which was forced upon him , and was very useful and necessary heretofore for the defence of the kings of england , and their people , and proved to be no otherwise in the bellum (t) standardi , so called in the reign of king stephen , where some of the barons of england , and some of the english gentry , gathered themselves to the royal standard , and repelled and beat the king of scotland , and in several kings reigns afterwards repulsed the scotch , and welch hostilities , and invasions , and at floddon field in king h. ths . time , when the duke of norfolk and his son the earl of surrey , and diverse of the nobility and gentry which accompanied them vanquished , and slew the king of scots . the benefit whereof the commons of england had so often experimented as in diverse parliaments they petitioned (u) the king and lords to cause the lord marchers , and other great men , to repair into their counties , and defend the borders , and was so necessary in france , to assemble together the bans , and arrierebans which were but as our tenants in capite , as it helped king charles the th . of france , to recover that kingdom again out of the hands and possession of our two henries , the . and . kings of england . and if any rebellion or conspiracy shall hereafter happen . when — cum (w) saepe coorta seditio saevitque animis ignobile vulgus . fury , and rage of war shall burn , and the ignoble to the worst side turn . must be left to hire his souldiers or assistance , out of the rascallity , debauched , and ruder sort of people , and such as know neither how to fight , or be faithful , if his treasory or yearly income , upon such an increased revenue , can do it , when as without the necessity of his subjects , preserving their own lands and estates by performing the duties and service of their tenures , the money which the late king could have procured , could never have brought any considerable number of men to his standard , of whose fidelity , being hirelings , and such of the vulgar and ignoble part of the people , as had neither courage virtue or estate , or such as for a litle more pay , would either have deserted or betrayed him , nor could he be so certain , and assured as he was in the aid and assistance of that of the nobility and gentry , and better part of the people , virtuously educated , and descended from worthy ancestors , furnished out , and ready to attend him , with the haz●r● of all their esta●●s and fo●●u●es , and whose great sou●s ●ct●d by a nobler principle , made them scorn to stoop to any unworthy actions , basen●sse or villany , which caused our brave king h. . after the batte● at agencourt , in a muster , or leavy , which he was to make of souldiers to passe with him into france , publiquely to proclaim , that none should presume to go with him ( for then they needed no other impressing but the obligation of their tenures and glory and honour of serving their prince , and country ) but such as were gentlemen , and had tunicas armo●um , did bear arms , except such as had served him at the battel of agencourt , though they had none . for if a war , which will be sure to loose no opportunities ; but pick & cull its advantages , should break out before the rent day , or the monyes can be gathered , he cannot likely want distresses or misfortunes either for himself or his people , when they shall not have wherewith to hire an army ; and failing of a necessary defence and assistance at land , for want of his tenures in capite , and knight service , shall also loose the help of his ships and navy at sea. and if the king or any of his successors should be so happy as to have money in their treasury , which as the course and charge of war is now , must be no small sums to hire , provide , and continue an army , it may be seized on as his revenues , and all the money in the exchequer , and much of his plate and houshold stuffe were in the late wars , and if he could be so well before hand as to have any magazines , may have that as easily taken from him as his magazines at hull , and the tower of london were , when his tenures per baroniam , and in capite , and by knight service were not . can have no manner of assurance , that when any sedition or commotion of the people shall be bred or increased by the practise of some great men , or inticements of any of the clergy , and a bellum flagrans , or a war as suddain and unexpected as it shall be dangerous , shall breake out not only in one , but several parts of the nation , that the people or most vulgar and common sort of hirelings will especially in a frenzy or humour of sedition be hired or drawn to fight for him by a small and inconsiderable pay , and the support of an hospital when their wounds shall bring them into it , or a small allowance which the statute allows wounded souldiers until they be cured , or maimed souldiers which are incurable , shall be so very disproportionate to their danger and hazards . when the hireing also of common souldiers upon a suddain and in case of necessity , will ( if he could get them ) be more chargeable and difficult then when he was to be served and defended in his wars by men of worth and quality , under the ingagement of their lands and tenures , which made our former kings , besides those aids and safeguards by tenures of lands , to stipend and pension certain of their nobility and gentry whom they found most proper and fit to serve them by indenture , with so many men at armes or souldiers , as for instance , thomas beauchamp earl of warwick , retained in e. . by indenture to serve the king in his wars beyond seas for one whole year with men at arms , of which number himself to be one , archers , bannerets , knights , and esquires , a tryal or proof whereof would easily have manifested the difference betwixt the one way & the other , (x) if when the late king in his march or expedition against the covenanting scots in an. . had such a gallant army as he had of his english nobility & gentry , had disbanded them & taken as well as he could in their rooms only milites gregarij , or tirones , common and mercenary souldiers ; and may expose him in any distresse , when his mony or hirelings shall fail him , to that disloyal and rebellious late opinion too much entertained and taken in by newtrals double dealing or time serving people , that where the king cannot protect them , their oaths and consciences gives them a liberty to make the best bergain they can for themselves , take away also the foundation of the house of peers in parliament , whom the laws and records of the kingdom , do prove to sit there only as tenants in capite , and per baroniam , which well might be the grand foundation of so noble a senate , when as amongst the romans , their senators were lecti in senatum ex equestri ordine , (y) chosen into the senate out of the degree of knighthood , and even by brutus in his consulship , and great endeavours to restore that people to their liberty , was so approved , as that many ages after , perseus macedoniae rex apud livium lib , (z) . equites romanos appellat principes juventutis & seminarium senatus , calleth in livy the roman knights , the princes or flower of the youth ▪ and the nursery of the senate , (a) and saith that inde lectos in patrum numerum , they where thence chosen to be senators , and ex veteri instituto , the custom was as isiodore saith ▪ that when the senators sons came to be of age , (b) they were not to be admitted into the senate , until they were knighted . and alexander severus the emperor , (c) would not assumere libertos in equestrem ordinem , ordain or make yeomen , or such as were n●wly 〈◊〉 to be knights , or give 〈◊〉 ( as he did ) lands to hold by knight 〈◊〉 , dicens · quod seminarium 〈◊〉 equestrem ●sse locum , that it was the seminary for the senate , amongst the germans , who were as jealous to keep their honor , as they were their liberties nobiles vocati ritter id est servator , (d) noblemen were termed ritters , which signifieth a saviour or defender , quod virtute & fortitudine servent patriam , because by their vertue and manhood , they defended their country , amongst whom the degree of knighthood is worthily reckoned to be honoris species exercitium nobile & proprium nobilium , a degree or part of honor , a noble exercise , and proper breeding for nobility , hinc militum nomen in jure feudali pro nobili usurpatur , and thence a knight was in the feudal laws taken and used for a nobleman , and though hector boethius calleth equites barons , (e) speaking of those that paid for wardship and releifs to malcolme the king of scots , yet sir henry spelman is cleerly of opinion , (f) that miles quem ea tempestate baronem vocabant non a militari cingulo quo equites creabantur sed a militari feudo quo al●●s possessor & libere tenens nuncupatus est nomen sumpsit that a knight , which in those ●imes they called a baron , was not so called from the military belt or girdle by which they were created , but took his title or denomination from the knights fee , of which he was otherwise ca●led possessor , or free tenant , had jus annulorum amongst the romans a right to wear rings , and was gradus ad senatorium , a step or means to be a senator . for nobilium ordo pro seminario munerum praecipuorum habetur , quia liberaliter educati sapientiores esse censentur saith besoldus the degree of nobilitie hath been accompted to be the foundation or original of the greatest offices or places , for that being liberally and more then ordinaryly educated , they were judged to be the wisest , and therefore comites or earls being antiently in the reign of the emperour charlemain , ( which was in anno christi , . ) if not long before , praefecti provinciarum , & qui provincias , administrabant , the governours of countries , and provinces under their emperours and kings , were with dukes also and barons not only in france , in those times , but in germany also , afterwards inserted or put into the matricula , (g) or roll of the states of the empire , & in comitijs jus suffragij habuerunt , and had voice or judicature in their dyets , or greatest assemblies , which corresponds with that more antient custom amongst the hebrewes , (h) in gods once peculiar commonwealth , where the princes of the twelve tribes , summo magistratui in consilijs assidebant , did assist the chief magistrate in their great counsels and arumaeus as well as many other , is of opinion that it was libertatis pars , a great part of the peoples liberties , & fo● their good , that deliberatio o●dinum consili● & authoritate quorum periculo , (i) res agitur suscipitur & qui apud principem in m●gna g●●cia su●● , in those great counsels resolves should be made by those who should be in●●ressed , or pertakers in any dangers or misfortunes , which should happen thereupon (k) & jure comitiorum una & perpetua privativa est mediata subjectio qua qui infectus est nec comitiorum particeps esse potest . that it is a rule or law in such assemblies , that those that sit there , or have voice and suffrage in it , are to hold immediately of the empire , and the reasons of the first institution of the parliament of france , composed of the nobility by the antient kings of france , and king pepin was as pasquier , that learned advocate of france , observeth in partem solicitudinis , to assist their kings , for the better management of the affairs of government , who did thereby communicate les affaires publiques a leurs premiers et grandes seigneurs come si avec la monarchie ils eussent voulu entre mesler l'ordre d'vne aristocratie et governement de plusi●urs personnages d'honne●r , (l) the publique affairs to their chief and greatest lords , to the end , to intermingle , and blend with monarchy , the order and manner of an aristocratie , and government , by many personages of honour , et ne se mettre en hain des grand●s seigneurs & potentats , and not to draw upon them the envy of their great and mighty men , (m) et ●estans les grands seigneurs ●insi lo●s unis se composa un corps general de toutes les princes et governeurs par l' advis desquels se viudereient non seulement les differents qui se presenteroient entre le roy et eux mais entre le roy et ses subjects , and the great lords being so united , composed , and made one general body of all the princes and governours of provinces , by whose advice and council , not only the differences which should happen betwixt the king and them , but between the king and his subjects , might be determined , et estoit l' usance de nos anciens roys telle qu' es lieux ou la necessite les sumomioit se uvidojent ordinairement les affaires par assemblees generales des barons , and it was the usage of the antient french kings in all cases of necessity , most commonly to consult of their affairs in the general assemblies of their barons , and accordingly by the directions of reason , or of that and the more antient governments amongst the greekes , in their great council of amphiction , or of the romans in their senate , our saxon kings did in anno . which was almost one hundred years before the raign of the emperour charlem●in , call to their assemblies , and great councels for the enacting of laws , (n) and redressing of griveances , their regni scientissimos et aldermannos aldermen , earls , or governours of provinces & the wisest & most knowing of the kingdome , & there●ore after the conquest , king john did at the request of the barons , not to call to his parliaments the barones minores , the men of lesser estates , which ho●d also in capite , promise under his great seal , ut archiepiscopos , abbares , comites et majores barones angliae sigillatem per literas summoniri faceret , that he would severally summon to parliaments the arch-bishops , abbotts , earls , and greater barons of england , and that the lesser barons were summoned or sat in parliament , falsum esse ipsa ratio suadet , saith the no less judicious than learned sr. henry spelman , (o) reason it self will not allow for a truth , when as there was as he observeth ingens multitudo , a great number , et plus minus quos nullo tecto convocari poterat , and no less then which no one house was able to contain , quemadmodum itaque saith he nequ● barones ipsi consiliavè majores neque minores quempiam in curiis suis ad judicia ferenda de rebus sui dominij admittant nisi vassallos suos qui de ipsis immediate tenent hoc est milites suos et tenentes libere ita in summa curia totius regni nulli olim ad judicia , et consilia administranda personaliter accersendi erant· nisi qui proximi essent a rege ipsique arctioris fidei & homagii vinculo conjuncti hoc est immediate vassalli sui ; as therefore neither the greater nor lesser barons do admit any in their courts to advise them , or meddle with matters of judicature concerning things belonging to their estate or jurisdiction , but their tenants , and such as hold immediately of them , that is , freeholders , and such as hold by knight service ; so in the great court of all the kingdome , none were antiently personally called to give judgement and adv●se therein , but such as were near to the king , and bound and obliged to him by a greater bond and tye of faith and homage , that is to say , his immediate vassals , barones nempe cujuscunque generis qui de ipsi tenuere in capite ut videndum est in breve de summonitione ( wherein they are summoned in fide & homagio quibus tenentur , in the faith and homage by which they held ) & partim in charta libertatum regis johannis , and barons of any kind whatsoever which held of him in capite , as may appear by the writs of summons to parliament , & the charter of king john. hence the barons of england are in our laws said to be nati consiliarij , born counsellors of state , and baro signifying capitalem vassallum majorem qui tenetur principi homagij vinculo seu potius baronagij hoc est de agendo vel essendo baronem suum quod hominem seu clientem praestantiorem significat , a baron who is a chief or capital vassal , is bound to his prince by the bond of homage , or rather baronage , which is to be his baron or man , or more considerable clyent , and makes a threefold dvision of barons , who by bracton are called potentes sub rege , great or mighty men under the king , & barones hoc est robur belli , and barons , which is as much to say , as the strength of war , into feudal or by prescription , . qui a priscis feodalibus baronibus oriundi suam prescriptione tuentur dignitatem , which being discended from antient feudal barons , do continue their dignity by prescription , . rescriptitios qui brevi regio evocantur ad parliamentum , (p) which are called to parliament by the kings writs , & . diplomaticos , which are by letters patents and creation , and that barones isti feodales nomen & dignitatem suam ratione fundi obtinuerunt , those feudal barons doe hold their dignity by reason of their lands and tenures , and that episcopi suas sortiuntur baronias sola fundorum investitura , bishops are barons , only by investiture of their baronies lands and temporalties ; and the most excellently learned mr. selden , who was well known to be no stranger to the old and most choice records and antiquities of the kingdome , doth not doubt but that the bishops and abbots did sit in parliament and were summoned thither only as barons by their tenures per baroniam , (q) and in his epistle to (r) mr. augustine vincent concerning his corrections of yorkes catalogue of nobility doth most learnedly prove it by many instances besides that in ●he case of thomas becket arch-bishop of canterbury in ▪ h. . and the claime made and allowed in parliament in r. . by all the bishop , abbots , and priors , of the province of canterbury which used to sit in parliament , that de jure et consuetu●ine regni angliae , all bishops , abbots , priors , and other prelates whatsoever per baroniam domini regis tenentes , (s) holding of the king by barony were peers of the parliament which agreeth with the opinion of stamford that the b●shops , ne ont lieu en parlement eins in resp●ct de lour possessions annexes a lour , (t) dignities have no pla●e in parliament but in respect of their possessions annexed to their dignities , and that mr. camden saith that divers abbots and other spiritual men , formerly summonned by writ to parliament , were afterwards omitted because they held not by barony , (u) and that it was mentioned and allowed to be good law in a parliament of king e. . que toutes les religieuses que teignent per barony soient tenus de vener au parlement , that all the religious which hold by barony are to be summoned to parliament . and as to the temporal barons , doth besides what he alleageth of the thanes or barons of england in the saxon times , that they held by personal service of the king , and that their honorary possessions were called taine-lands , and in the norman times after denoted by baronies , and the eminent and noted case of the earls of arundel claiming , and allowed to be earls of arundel by reason of their holding , or tenure of arundel castle , and sir john talbots being lord lisle ratione dominij et manerij de kingston lisle doth by e. , fo . . . e. . fo . . & other good authorityes conclude , that the tenure of a barony is the main & principal cause of the dignity that temporal barons by tenure were called by several writs to assist the king cum equis & armis , with horse and armes , and the spiritual being about were called , ad habendum servicium suum , and that the greatest number of barons during all that time were by tenure , that the most part of the barons by tenure and writ untill the middle of the raign of king r. . and those that were called by writ , were such as had baronyes in possession , that the honorary possessions of earls were called honors , and reckoned as part of their earldoms which were holden in capite , the chief castle or seat of the earls or barons were called caput comitatus seu baroniae , the head or chief of the earldom or barony , and that in this sence comitatus integer is used for a whole earldom in the grand charter , and bracton and servicium quarte partis comitatus for the fourth part of an earldom , that hugh de vere earl of oxford , magnavile earl of essex and divers other antient earles were cingulo comitatus & gladio comitatus cincti girt with the girdle or sword of their earldoms , which he conceiveth to be an investiture . all which may by the records of this kingdom be plentyfully illustrated by very many instances , and by the rolls of the constables and marshals of england in which upon the march of the army of king e. . . towards scotland in the year of that king , humfridus de bohun , comes hereford & essex constabularius angliae recognovit per os nicho●ai de segrave baneretti sui & locum suum tenentis se acquietari per servitium suum per corpus suum in exercitu presenti scotiae pro constabularia in comitatu hereford , (w) humfry de bohun earl of hereford and essex constable of england , declared by sir nicholas segrave his baneret and lieutenant , that he was to be acquitted for the constabulary in the county of hereford ( where it seems some manors or lands in that county were annexed to the said office or held by grand serjeanty ) by the service of himself in the army for scotland , i tem idem comes recognovit per eundem nicholaum servitium trium feodorum militum faciendum in dicto exercitu pro comitatu essex per dominos iohannem de ferrariis henricum de bohun et gilbe●tum de lindsey milites , also the said earl acknowledgeth by the said sir segrave●●e ●●e service of three knights fees to be performed in the said army for the earldom of essex ( which shews also that then those antient earldoms of england were no other then by tenure and feudal ) by john de ferrers , henry de bohun , and gilbert de lindsey knights ; and in the same constables roll and at the same time walter de langton bishop of c●ventry and li●chfield , recognovit et offert servitium duorum feudorum militum pro baronia sua faciendum per dominos robertum peverel , et robertum de watervile , milites , acknowledged and offered the service of two knights fees , to be performed for his baronie , by sir robert peverel , and sir robert watervile knights , & mr. selden is a●so of opinion that to hold of the king in capite , & to have possessions as a barony , & to be a baron and sit with the rest of the barons in parliament , are according to the laws of those times synonimies . and upon this and no other ground or foundation is built that as noble and illustrious as it is antient pairage of the pairs of france , all of whom even the earldom of flanders now in the hands of the king of spain do hold in capite or soveraignty of the french king , and that great and eminent electoral colledge in germany and the mighty ▪ princes thereof are no other than tenants in capite and holding their vast terrytories of the empire by grand serjeanry , and have feuda antiqua concessa & acquisita generi & familiae connexam habentes principatibus et territoriis suis dignitatem electoralem , and have an antient fee ( or territory ) granted and acquired to their issue and family , (x) and a dignity electoral annexed to their principalityes and territoryes . and it cannot with any reason or authority be said or beleived that the late charles king of sweden could by the treaty or pacification at munster have been made a prince of the empire , or have had place or voice in their diets , if he had not had the bishopprick of breme and other lands and provinces as fiefs of the empire in his possession , to have made him a member thereof , and that the prince elector palatine who by reason of that territory justly claimeth the vicariat of the empire , had never been made the eighth elector if he had not had part of the palatinate which he now enjoys . for certainly if the care and wisdom of our progenitors or ancestors , could not think it fitting to compose that high court of judicature of strangers , or grant them an inheritance in it , which had no lands or possessions ( to make them a concernment , and to be more careful of the good of the kingdom ) as oliver or dick of the addresses would have done their mungrel scotch , that had no lands at all in england , but a stock of knavery , but would rather bring in such as had the best estates , and holden by the most noble and serviceable tenures , in order to the defence of their king , and country , and were the most honourable , wise , and understanding , then such as had been servants , or of a low extraction & race of mankind , & by their folly and whimsies had not long agoe tossed and tumbled about poor england like a foot-ball , which may call to our remembrance that opinion or a lage of the antients , that jupiter subd●xit servis dimidium mentis , that god would not allow ●ervants or men litle better , or rudely and ignorantly educated , any more then to be half witted , some of our late levellers at the same time making a difference betwixt the antient great estates , of the peers and barons of england , and that lesser which they now enjoy to be an objection against the house of peers , in parliament , for that now as they mistakenly surmised they could not as formerly be a banck or ballance betwixt the king and the people . and howsoever that the temporal barons as well those which were since the middle of the reign o● r. . created by patent to be unum baronum angliae , as in sir john beauchamps patent to be baron of holt , or as many later to have lo●um , vo●em , et sedem , in parliamento , to have voice and place in the parliament , as those that hold per baroniam , and that those that hold per baroniam , and were barons by tenure , do not come to parliament but when they are summoned by the kings writ , ( as the bishops also do not ) and as in the earl of bristols case was adjudged in the late kings time , are to have their writs of summons ex debito justitiae , as of right due unto them , yet a first , second , or third summons , which is only and properly to give notice when and where the parliament beginneth cannot as mr. william prynne hath learnedly proved , (y) any way make or intitle any man which shall be so summoned to be a peer or baron , that is not a baron by prescription , or was not created , nor doth that clause in the patents of creation , doe or operate any more then that such new created barons , who are also tenants in capite , and as all the other barons doe ought to do their homage , shall be one of the barons in parliament , & have voyce and place there , deny that they that sit there by tenure and per baroniam , doe not sit there and enjoy their honors and dignities as tenants in capite , and per baroniam , or that those that come in by patent amongst them , doe enjoy their places as incorporated and admitted amongst them , and not as tenants in capite , and being added to them , do help to continue the society or court , though they be not of one and the same original or constitution , as preb●nd added ●o a cathedral church , may make them to be of the old constitution , but takes it not away , and as the grant of king h. . to the abbot of tavestock , quod sit unus de spiritualibus et religiosis dominis parliamenti , could not have altered his former and better condition if he had held any lands per baroniam ; and though the creations by patents , may well enough sustain the priviledges of those that sit and were introduced by it , yet the greater number , or as many of the earls and barons as hold per baroniam , such as the earls of arundel and oxford , lords berkley , mowbray , abergaveny , fitz walter , audley , de la ware , and that great number which were before r. . and were not created by letters patents , and had not the clause of locum vocem et sedem in parliamento , will lose their peerage , and right of sitting in parliament , if the other doe not when as their patents giving them , sedem vocem et locum in parliamento , doe but entitle them to be of that house whereof the other earls and barons were , and to be but as the former barons were which hold per baroniam , and in capite ; as if a lord of a mannor could create a man to be one of his coppy-holders , he should be no otherwise then as a coppy-holder of that mannor , and those patent lords doe by their patents hold their honor and dignities in capite , though it be not expressed in their pa●ents , and should pay as great a releif as the other earls and barons doe by tenure , for no man can sit there but as a tenant in capite , and acknowledging his soveraign , unless a coordination should be supposed and that dangerous doctrine again incouraged , nor can these by creation sit if the house should be dissolved , by the change of the others tenures , for that they were but adjuncts and associates of them . which was so well understood by sir edw. coke to be a shaking , if not an over-turning of the foundation of that high and most honourable court , or judicatorie , as in the parliament of the ●h . year of king james , in the proposition which was then on foot to change the tenures in capite and by knight service , into free and common socage , (z) he and some of the old parliament men advised a proviso to be inserted in that intended act of parliament , that the bishops notwithstanding that their baronies should be holden in socage , should continue lords of parliament , and in our late times in that great inundation of mistaken liberty , when the outrage of the vulgar and common people , greedily pursued the dictates of their ignorance and fancie , and that after the house of lords had been shut up , and voted to be uselesse and dangerous , the persons of the barons of england , which the law , and the reasonable and antient , as well as modern customes of england , did never allow to be arrested , were arrested and haled to prison . in the seeking a remedy wherof some of the baronage pleading their priviledge , it was in easter term , . in the kings or upper bench , in the argument of the countess of rivers case , argued , and urged that all tenures as well as the house of lords were taken away , so that the court holding that the priviledge was not allowable , for that she never had reference to the parliament , or to do any publique service the cause was adjourned . wherefore seeing that the custom of a court is the law of a court , and the interrupton of a custom , (b) prescription , or franchise , very dangerous , and cessante causa tollitur effectus , the cause or foundation taken away , the effect or building faileth , that a lord of a mannor is not able to create a mannor , or make a lease-holder , or tenant of one mannor , to enjoy the same priviledges which he did formerly , & be incorporate & a tenant in another mannor , a house with a common appendent , or which was before belonging unto it , once pulled down , though built up again , looseth its common and prescription , or if a coppy-hold estate come to the lord by forfeiture , (c) escheat , or otherwise , if he make a lease , or otherwise , it is no more grantable by copy of court roll , or make a feoffment upon condition , and after enter for the condition broken , it shall not be regranted by copy . (d) and if a man hath libertyes by prescription , & take letters patents of them , the matter of the record drowns or takes away the prescription as was held in h. . tit . precription br. . &c. or if as in the acts of parliament for the dissolution of the monasteries , the king shall be before the tenures be ordained to be in free and common soccage , made or derived to be in the actual se●sin and possession of all the lands . there will be cause and reason enough to make a stand or a pause , and inquire further into it . for if the subversion of tenures in capite , and by knight service , will not totally , or at once , ruine and dissolve the house of peers in parliament , or put upon it a new constitution , it will not be good certainly to leave that house , and most high and honourable court , and all its just rights and privileges , which hath already so much suffered by the assaults and batteries of faction and vulgar frenzies , to an after question of moote point , whether or no it be not dissolved or put upon a new foundation . and must needs be very dangerous , when as one of the three estates under the king ( which is supream and not coordinate ) viz. the bishops , and lords spiritual being lopt off , the second which is the lords temporal , shall be but either suspected , or doubted to have a being , and the third which is the house of commons , shall up●● the next advantage , or distemper of that pa●●y which lately gained so much by ● supposing it to be the soveraign , b●●ancied ●o be above both it and the king , who as the head is above them both , and too much gratifie that late illegal and unwa●rentable opinion , and practice of the soveraignty of the house of commons in parliament , or that they alone are the parliament of england . destroy the hopes and rights of the bishops , being the third estate in parliament , of ever being restored or admitted again into it , from which after a force and a protesta●ion solemnly made against it , & twelve of them imprisoned for making of it , they were by an act of parliament in an . . car. regis primi , prohibiting them as well as all other clergy men to intermeddle in any temporal affairs or proceedings , excluded the house , had all their estates afterwards by an ordinance of the lords and commons without being cited or heard , and without the kings consent , and after his going from the parliament , and in the midst of a war , and hostilities betwixt them , confiscated and taken from them , & by the taking away of tenures per baroniam , being the only cause and reason of their sitting there , and constituting them a third estate , will now after his majesties happy restoration , when the waves and rage of the people are so calmed and ceased , as the halcyon is preparing to build her nest , be more then ever made to be altogether impossible . hinder and restrain our princes from recovery of foreign rights , a necessary inlarging their dominions , making an offensive war , or pursuing a flying or like to be recruited enemy , which in keeping a kingdom in peace and plenty , or maintaining the commerce thereof , will be according to the rules of policy and good government , as necessary as that of davids revenging upon the ammonites , the affronts done to his embassadors , the wars of our edward the third , or h. . in france , of the great gustavus king of sweden in germany , or the now king of denmarks , and marquesse of brandenburghes , wars upon charles late king of sweden . and when any of those occasions or necessities shall offer themselves , or inforce a forinsecum serviciu● , or service in foreign wars , shall have none but auxiliaries & hirelings to go along with them , when as several acts of parliament do prohibit the enforcing hoblers , which were a kind of light horsemen , archers , trained bands , and common souldiers , to go out of their countries , unlesse it be in cases of necessity , which the common people know not how to judge of , and the little parliament so called in the beginning of the year . upon the invasion of an army of ●acti●us scots , and a letter produced by the king that they had written for aid to the french k●ng , did not rightly apprehend , for it is not to be doubted , but that the cheerful and ready aids upon all occasions given to the kings of england by the tenants in capit● , and knight service , and the nobility and gentry , and their tenants friend● , and followers , taking arms , and fo●lowing the royal standard , was a great cause ●f their conquests in france , and warlike atchivement in that and other parts of the world , often beating back the incursions of the scotch and welch , and de●ending the borders . the taking away of th● knights fees or tenures by knight service from the nobility and gentry without any recompence , if they would be content to part with them or to accept it . will be an act of great injustice , regula quippe feudalis et firma est quod dominus nec in totum nec pro parte minuere adimereve jus vassallo quesitum possit sine culpa eoque non convicto , (e) for it is a fixed and constant rule in the feudal law , that the lord cannot neither in the whole nor in part without a forfeiture or conviction of his tenant , diminish or take away the vassals right , and it would be against right , reason , and equity not to give a recompence in ca●se of pulling down or fireing a house in a necessity of war to prevent an enemy , but much more against it and our magna charta in case of no necessity to sacrifice without a just recompence given for it , the estates and rights of some to pacifie the fears of others , and disturb and incumber the estates of all or a great many to free the estates of a few , which would be a● unjust , as for the lords of mannors to make by-laws , forbidding the services of their tenants , and without any forfeitures or convictions , grant or sell away their lands or copy-hold inheritances ▪ to strangers , or dedicate the profits thereof to the publick wherein the owners or proprietors shall get none or very little share in it , or such as will be impreceptible , and appeared to be so much against law and reason , as when in the dissolution of the abbyes and monasteryes , the nobility and great men who had been founders of many of them , or given a great part of the lands thereof ; were to be the losers of that which should have reverted or come unto them if they could not consist with the first intentions ; king h. . did take a care to gratifie many of them with great quantityes and portions thereof , and to some granted intire priories and nunneries of their ancestors founding , as to john earl of oxford the priory of colne , and nunery of hedingham in essex and the like to many others which might be here remembred the publique faith ( which was wont to have so much care taken of it when she borrowed money to make our unhappy warres and contentions ) of so much of the nation as hold by the tenures in capite and knight service , and of all the other parts of the people who by oaths of supremacy , protestations and covenant were not to prejudice the king , nor by their covenant , any other in their rights and liberties will now be broken , which when livy a heathen writer and one that very well understood affairs of state , upon the making of a law at rome to pacify a mutiny , that the prisoners for debt should not be bound or fettered as the manner then was , could say that ingens vinculum fidei , a great obligation or bond of faith amongst men was that day broken , he would have without doubt said more were he now a●ive as to our breach of faith amongst men , but a great deal more ( if he had been christian ) as to god almighty . (f) take away not only the honor , but the publick benefits of those tenures and feudal rights which are so highly and justly esteemed in all other kingdoms and principalityes which are so happy as to live under monarchy the best of governments , as they can give them no other character then that , jura regnorum ducatuum marchionatuum adeoque totius imperij leges fundamental●s ac nervi quibus monarchiae romanae cum ipso senescente mundo languescentis lutei pedes colligantur in●iis continentur , (g) therein are contained the laws and rights of kingdoms , dukedoms , ma●quisates , the fundamental laws of the empire , and the nerves and sinews by which the empire , languishing in the old age of the world hath been sustained , and that feuda feudorumque jura ●●delitatem & ●idem publica●● pacem & incolumnatem communis patriae firmant ●irmissimum militiae contra communes reipublicae hostes ne●vum ac praesidium su●ministrat adeoque fulc●a germanico romani imperi● 〈◊〉 desiderant , feuds and the rights th●●●of do six and consolidate the fidelity , publique faith , peace and wellfare of the common-wealth , and administreth the greatest help and strength in war against the common enemy , and is worthy to be called the prop of the german and roman empire . make our nobility and gentry , who have by their chivalry and high attempts by sea and land , rendred them second to none , and published the fame and glory of their actions , as far , and farther than ever the roman eagles flew , to be like the roturiers or paysants o● france , and a reproach or hissing to all natioas , or like davids embassadors , when the children of ammon had misused them , and shaved the one half of their beards , and cut off their garments in the middle , (h) even to their buttocks , and to be put behind all but the dutch and switzers , the former of which , do trade under taxes , & excise & the latter are but the mercenaries and hirelings of the french and spanish kings in their wars and hostilities , and ran●king us with them , and those little and despicable commonwealths of luca , and geneva , cast us into the giddy , and at last woeful presidents and consequences of the unquiet headed argentinians , lindorians , citizens of siena , genoa , and florence , who by ruining and rooting up the nobility and gentry , and making three rancks and degrees of their citizens , some great , some mean , and the rest of the vulgar , the two last putting out the first , cast themselves into a circle of blood and misery , out of which nothing but their former government was able to refcue them . occasion the losse and ruine of purchasers , and mony-lenders & enlarge their complaints of double & treble feoffments & mortgages which ( by the disuse of the court of wards , and finding of offices after the death of tenants in capite , and by knight service , have been more than formerly and wherein some of our late reformers were known more to have exercised their wits than their consciences ) conceal'd , & dormant , and fraudulent assurances carried in the pockets of some to pick the pockets of others , which by reason of the tenures in capite , and finding of offices wherein the evidences being produduced , and many times found , did not only find but declare what estate the deceased was seised of , and if the truth did not then appear , which could hardly be hid , when as the jury were commanded by the writ of diem clausit extremum , to inquir● upon their oaths of what estate the last ancestor dyed seised of , and that the vigilancy and cares of the feodaries and escheators who were also to be present to attend them , would cause them to be the more careful and if the fraud of the heir should be able to make its way , or escape thorough them , the estate found in the office would after prove to be an evidence against them , and either overthrow or perplex the knavery of such wicked designs . the recompence of l. per annum if it could be raised without injustice , or the breach of the laws of god , nature , and nations , and our oftentimes confirmed magna charta , and the inforcing of men in every to bear burdens which nothing at all appertains to them , will not be adaequate to the losse of a great part of the kings revenue which did serve for the maintenance of his crown and dignity , and to exempt and ease the subjects of extraordinary taxes and assessements , which the necessity of princes for the good and defence of the kingdom must otherwise bring upon them ; nor to the want of tenures in capite and by knight service , & the services & incidents belonging unto them ( being a certain and never failing defence of himself and the kingdom ) castle-guard licence of alienations giving him notice and continuing him safe in the change of his tenants ( being so necessary to government as some have been grievously fined for alienating their lands in capite without it ) mariage & dependancy of the heirs which hold of him , livery and reliefs , grand serjeantyes , and a great part of the honour and priviledges which all other neighbour kings ond princes are neither desired to part with , nor can he perswaded so much to lessen themselves and their regalities . for gold and silver and precious stones or any thing lesse than the whole kingdom of england it self is not of value or to be compared to the honour of a king , and the homage and duty of his subjects , the gratitude , faith and promises of their ancestors which should descend to them with the lands holden by those tenures , whenas omnes habent causam a primo et ex tun● , non ut ex nunc , are bounden to the cause which obliged their first ancestor and progenitor , and are to consider that it is now , () as it was then , a most ready means and help which did and doth naturally and kindly arise for the defence of themselves and the kingdom , for as it is not the weight of an inestimable dyamond or ruby that makes either of them to be better than a flint or any other stone , but the lustre , vertue , and scarcenesse of them ; and that a greater poise or weight of a man makes not a solomon an alexander sir-named the great , or an aristotle , but that all men and things are to be esteemed according to the vertues and excellencyes which are in them , so it will not be the yearly profit in money which was made of the wardships primer seisins , liveryes , and incidents which belong to those tenures , but the homage dutie gratitude and necessary attendance in war , not only of those that held immediatly of the king , but those that were the mediate tenants , and came also with the immediate , the grand and mutual tye betwixt the king and his people and the regality , prerogative , intrinsical , and true worth and value of them , when there should be any use of those necessary defences of the king and his kingdom , in making a diversive war , or succouring his friends and allies , which are not seldom or were in more heroick times justly accounted to be as outworks , ante murales , or bulwarks of the kingdom , & that the rate which is now offered for those tenures , are but like a tender , or offer to give the weight in gold for an incomparable , not to be got again and unvaluable meddal , or for aarons brest-plate , moses rod , or the scepters of princes , if they could have been purchased at all , and by weight . it will be as unsafe as unusual to take money or turn into a rent that which in its first institution , and a happy , long and right use which was made of it , was only intended for a defence of the kingdom , when the king is not likely to be any ●aver by it , and shall not gain l. per annum ( his own income by licences of alienation deducted ) for the clear profit of the court of wards which the lord cottington when he was master of that court , did but a year before the troubles make as much by it , besides the many great and royal prerogatives which he shall lose to gain more mischiefs and inconveniencyes to himself & his people , then at the present can be instanced or numbred . the giving the king a recompence by an yearly rate amounting to one hundred thousand pounds per annum to be charged upon all mens lands , tenements and hereditaments holden in capite , or socage by copy-hold , leases for lives , or tenants at will , or for yeares will be against right , reason , justice and equity , as well as unwarranted by any hitherto law or custom of england to make parts of ( for so much if not more will probably be the odds ) that were not liable to wardships , or any imagined inconveniences which might happen thereby , not only to bear their proportionable part of the general assessements for war but a share also in the burden of others where it could never be laid upon them and wherein they , or the major part of them by more than two in three have no lands in fee simple , fee taile , or by leases for years or any longer term nor are never like to be purchasers of any lands at all and if they had mony to do it are not likely to buy inheritances , & if inheritances , not capite or knight service lands , when there is by more than parts in of socage or copy-hold lands to be purchased , were not , nor are like to be in any danger of wardships , or under any fear or apprehensions , of it and render the capite land three or four years purchase dearer than it was wont to be , and the socage lands three or four years purchase the cheaper , only to free the nobility , gentry and men of greatest riches and estates in the kingdom , which are subject to those small burdens which are only said to be in tenures in capite and by knight service . or if laid upon the moyety of the excise upon ale , beer , syder and coffee &c. or any other native or inland commodity will fall upon those that have no land as well as those which have , as upon citizens mechanicks , children , servants , and the like , and heaviest u●on the poorer sort of people , and be a burden which the lowly cobler and reverend applewomen , the botcher and stockingmenders , in their pittiful subterraneous tenements , and the poor women which in the streets do cry fruits and fish by a double retail , and pay twelve pence a week for the loan of twenty shillings , and pawn a petticoat for security , the chimney sweepers , brooom-men and beggars cannot escape . will be no good way of raising mony , nor an honourable revenue , and though it might become the dutch in their grand necessities of war where they have but few gentlemen , will not be for the honor of england , and the nobility and gentry of england , to have their provisions of war and defence arise out of so low a businesse as a●e and beer , and make the brewers and ale-house-keepers , to be as it were the tenants in capite , and to supply the knight service in the exchange , of that which is but pretended to be a greivance for a most certain and undeniable greivance , and for one greivance if it could be proved to be one for a seminary and complication of greivances and to take away wardships from the estates of ▪ in every . of the people when they should happen and make in every to be every day in every yeare in wardship to an excise upon a considerable part of their dayly dyer and sustenance . that small sum of l. per an . may upon any discontent of the people , by reason of the payment of that excise , be petitioned against or taken away by parliament , or by some insurrection or mutiny of the common people , which naples , and france , & this kingdom , can tell us , do sometimes happen , and the wisdom of kings and princes do use to suspect and provide against , or if some other unlucky difference ( which god avert ) should happen betwixt the king and his people , may fall into the case or example of the customs , and poundage , and tonnage , in the beginning of the raign of his late majesty , which being stopped by the parliament , and declared against , did put him into un●it necessities , and made those unhappy controversies and misunderstandings betwixt him and many of the shorter parliaments , which disabled him from aiding his friends and allyes , and was the beginning of our never enough to be lamented national calamities and reproaches ; and proved to be the ruine and disturbance also of a great part of christendome . such an imposed or continued excise , will by the arts and deceipts of the brewers and ale men , and those that gather and pay it in the first place , be as all excises commonly are , double charged upon the people , who instead of l. per an . laid upon their beer & ale , will by the abuse which will be committed therein , as to quantity and quality , lay and charge another l. per an . upon the people , and the brewer in every d. or d. excise to be laid upon every barrel of six shillings beer , will be sure to make his beer so , as he shall get double , if not more than that excise amounts unto . and as it could never have been at first setled without the awe and help of garrisons , troops of horse , and companies of foot , in every county and city , and the souldiers assistance to enforce and gather it from those that would not pay it , or were not able , so in all probability , it will be now again never be brought into a constant yearly revenue , without a constant & formerly used way of keeping a standing army at the charge of sixty or ninety thousand pounds per mensem , or the month , which will be more troublesome and chargeable than escheators , and as many feodaries , who may be men of wisdom integrity , & good estates in their countries ; for there will be a great difference between the charge or yearly revenue of the court of wards , which is made up of many small parts , and favourable and easy rents , fines and compositions , quietly gathered and paid in by the justice and order of a court of wards , & honest and responsable officers , and l. per annum being to be collected by this excise at the charge of as much for every month in the year , from the ruder and most ignorant part of the people , who will ( not tributorum causam quaerere sed quaeri ) sooner murmure and complain of taxes or tributes , than rationally enquire into the causes of them , and by a weeping & woful arithmeticque of the poor , and inferior sort of people in every county be reckoned to be no great part or peice of husbandry to purchase off l. per annum , yearly charges to free those that held in capite , at the rate of l. ( or rather l. per annum , ) which is to be paid out of the excise , and pay l. per mensem , or . or l. per mensem besides for collecting of it , besides the free quarterings , and other insolencies of the common souldiers . and by making that part of the excise perpetual give the people to understand that the next occasion given or made , may introduce a perpetuity of excise upon all other things , which to have been introduced , but upon a temporary and not like to be long lasting necessity , would before olivers sadle had been put upon the peoples backs , have put them into multitudes of complaints ; and in the raign of king james , and that of our late blessed martir king charles , before he was driven from his throne , would have been but only in the advising of it more capital and offensive , than that which was charged upon the late earl of strafford , and made more in one single fault or crime , than all the accumulations of crimes against him could arrive unto , and was so dreadful to this nation , and before hand hated , as they were afraid of every thing that tended that way ; so as in a parliament in the raign of king james , some of the house of commons having been informed that the king had imployed a gentleman into holland to inquire concerning the manner & manage of their excise ( which as afterwards appeared upon examination , was but for curiosity and learning sake ) were so troubled at it , as the gentleman hardly escaped a vote , whether he should not be most severely punished . and whether excise or not excise , will if those tenures in capite , and by knight service , which have hitherto been as the life and land-guards of the king and his people should be taken away , some other wayes of means are to be found out to supply it , for the people being sworn by their oaths of allegiance and supremacy , to assist and defend the king and all his rights and jurisdictions , if they would not defend him , and take a care of those oaths , will likely be willing enough to defend themselves in defending him ; or if they should not , their representatives in parliament , would as they have for this twenty years last past , not only assesse them , but make them find men , horses and arms , for the defence of the kingdom , which hath hitherto been a costly knight service , and so far exceeding forty days service at their own charges , as they have besides the outrages , free quarterings , and plunder of souldiers , and losse of their debts by the ruine and death of their debtors , born the trouble of forty six moneths continual assessements far exceeding the escuage and all the taxes in years before laid upon our fore-fathers , and the question will then be of no great difficulty , whether will be the better , the old way or the new ? and when the king shall be as he ought to be the judge of dangers or necessities , and want the assistance of his subjects , and it cannot when the tenures in capite and by knight service shall be taken away , be pretended , as it was in the case of the ship-money that his tenures and wardships , were to defend him and the kingdom in cases of danger and invasion , untill a parliamens could be assembled . or shall as his late royal father was in the later end of the year . when the long shut up janus temple had by the salij or priests of mars been against his will broken open , and the miseries or troubles of war overwhelmed him and his loyal people , and the plowers made furrowes upon his back , being hindred from putting his commissions of array in execution , be told by the parliaments declaration , that his tenures in capite , and their incidents , ( and not his commission of array , ) were the allowed and ordinary means for his defence , until more could be obtained from the parliament , and shall have no military tenures but only l. per annum , or if that should fa●l him . or he shall need to transport an army into an enemies country , to keep off , or hinder an invasion , succour or back his allies , whilst they imbroil or weaken his common enemies , shall be told that he may not impresse any men or souldiers , to go out of their countries , unlesse he can do it by order of parliament , or perswade them that there is a great necessity . whether he will not when the people shall cry unto him as the woman that had in the siege of samaria , boyled her child & eat of it , help my lord o king , shall not be able to doe any more , then answer , as he did , whence shall i help thee , reg , . , . and finds himself as his noble progenitor king ed. the . publiquely declared in a writ of error , wherein blanch , the wife of thomas wake , of lidal , was complainant that he was ratione dignitatis in exhibitione justitiae quibuscunque de regno debitor & ad statut● progenitorum facta , (i) observanda vinculo juramenti astrictus , by reason of his kingly dignity , a debtor to every one of his kingdom , in the doing of justice , and bound by his oath to observe the laws of his progenitors , in the care of himself and his people , whom he is by his coronation oath bound to defend and protect , and of the salus populi , ne quid detrimenti respublica capiat , for the safety of his people , and to the end that the commonwealth may receive no damage , be inforced as it were to raise and keep a standing army always , in readinesse with garrisons , to protect both himself and his people . and then it may be easily experimented whether is the better , to have some that ought to bear the charges and burdens of their tenures , if they will enjoy their lands , or to have the whole nation groan and lament under the burden of maintaining a standing army and garrisons , by publique assessements , or to have the nobility and gentry of england , and five or ten thousand men , and all those that hold of them , to attend them , and be always in readinesse by the obligation of their tenures , without any charge to the publique , or thirty thousand unruly souldiers to be yearly or for ever maintained at the charge of the people . an instance whereof we need not go further to look for , then in holland and zeland , whenas the emperour charles the fifth , liveing out of the country and governing them by regents or deputies , & fearing least that nation in re militari longo usu bellorum exercita , being by long experience become warlike , and holding their lands by knight service , simul ingenio soli quod natura depressum ac uliginosum tum incilibus passim fossis lac●busque ac paludibus intercissum haud san● faciles invasuro aditus confisa ad turbas ac seditionum praemia converteret , together with the nature of the soyl , which was flat and moorish , and cut into many ditches , lakes , and litle islands , would not easily give him entrance if he should be put to invade them , or send forces to suppress any rebellion , or that they confiding in such their strengths , might prove seditious , and abuse the benefits and intention of their tenures , (k) did in a policy perhaps , such as cyrus is said to make use against the lydians , by giving way to their vices and luxury ; release ( if cornelius neostadius be not mistaken ) to them some of their military services ( for to this day the emperors of germany , as their countryman the learned grotius confesseth , (l) doe claim the benefit of those antient feudal rights ) ea tamen lege ut fundi clientelares publicis sunctionibus quibus hactenus immunes fuissent in posterum non secus atque patrimoniales obnoxij existerent , upon condition that those lands so holden should not as hitherto be free from publique charges and taxes , but hereafter should doe as others did . which hath done both sides no good , for those dutch afterwards falling into discontents with some of their feirce and over rigid governours , did by necessity and for want of their tenures and antient domestick military aydes betake themselves to foreign forces as they could hire them , and have by force and continual warrs in that country , which hath for more then sixty years been a cockpit for all christendome , and the hireling souldiers of it not only brought great miseries and neighbour warrs upon themselves and all christendome , but so tired the kings of spain his successors , and wasted the wealth and profit of his west-indies , as he hath been enforced to make a peace with them , and allow them to be a free state as they call it , and a republique . are themselves become of a very active and warlike nation , so lourdish and unwarlike , as they are only found to be men of trade , fishing , and navigation , filling their country with many strong fortified walled cities , towns , citadels , and garrisons , and living under the shelter of a constant , well paid , and disciplined army , doe by the cunning of an universal trade and commerce with almost all the world , and out doing all nations herein , carry the e●cise on their backs , and make the states & richer part ( but not the multitude or poorer ) the better for it , and yet sometimes doe find the want of their former tenures , and the readiness of their aydes as in the late warrs of denmark , where they were concerned to adventure through many dangers to ayde the danes against the swedes , found their design more out of order then it would otherwise have been , for that the seamen where they doe not use to impresse , would not be perswaded to goe at all without a greater pay then ordinary , and whether that discharge of the emperor charles the th . did absolve them from their clientelage or holding of the empire or no ? it is well known that they keep all or most of the incidents belonging to tenures in capite , as their laudemia's or reliefs , investitures , fines for alienation , and the like , and living under those great burthens , and otherwise intollerable taxes , contributions , and excises , which are made only tollerable by their hostilities and depraedations exercised upon spain and its dominions , do notwithstanding almost in every frontier town in the winter time , make their inhabitants hold by a kind of service as to their own defence , in the alotment of every house or street , to break dayly a proportion of ice in times of frost in their town ditches . the assessements for horse and foot arms , and charge and pay of armies , and so much as for ribbons and trophies as they are now called ( which in the time of our military tenures , the people were not at all or so much troubled with , will swell and be the greater , when so many as were to be contributary in a more especial manner , shall be exempted from that , and put under the general assessement , which will make the burthen to be the heavier , and will be as little for the ease of the people , as if all the many hospitals and almes-houses in england , which were built and endowed at the great charge of the founders , with large and perpetual annual revenues in many parishes and places in england , and the great number of charities and charitable uses , which since the protestant religion established in england , have by wills and testaments been given to the poor , should be taken away and put to other uses , as those loving and tender hearted statesmen , the late committee of slavery rather than safety , or the rump assembly , were about to do and put into some godly treasury , and they that must pay a great deal more in their rates and assessements for the poor , left to make affidavits , that the remedy was taken away , and a disease put in the place of it . the king who is pater patriae , the great and careful parent and father of his people , and who by god almighty is trusted with the welfare , protection , and defence , of them , shall only have that part of the court of wards , and kind of prerogative left unto him to provide and take care for lunatiques and ideots shall not now enjoy that antient and well performed trust of protecting the fatherless , nor have that power in looking to orphanes , and their estates in their minorities , as the dutch and states of holland have , who ( though the people under the jurisdiction of that republique , do hold neither by knight service of it , nor can be well said to hold in soccage , or as fie●● roturier , where they have so little land , but by navigation rather and commerce ) have their wees kamer , or court of orphanes , do not think it fitting to trust them and their estates to the mothers , ( although they have thereby a custom and pacta antenuptialia , (m) a joyntenancy and power of dispose to their own kindred ) nor the kindred on either side to make their profit by them , and sub amici fallere nomen , under a colour of love and kindnesse , either ruine them , or leave them to ruine themselves , by selling them and others good bargains . and shall not have so much privilege as the city of london hath , who by antient custome have an absolute court of wards in the city , though it passe under the name of the court of orphanes , as may appear by their antient customs , viz. the mayor and aldermen that are for the time , (n) by custom of the city shall have the wardships and mariages of all the orphans of the said city after the death of their ancestors , although the same ancestors do hold in the city of any other lord by what service soever . ought to inquire of all the lands and tenements , goods and chattels , within the said city , appertaining to such orphans , and safely keep them to the use and profit of such orphans , or otherwise commit the same orphans , together with their lands and tenements , goods and chattels , to others their friends by su●ficient surety found of record in the chamber of guild-hall , to maintain conveniently the said orphans during their nonage , and their lands and tenem●nts to repair , and their said goods and chattels safely to keep , and thereof to render a good and loyal accompt before the said mayor and aldermen , to the profit of the same infants when they shall come to their age , or when they shall be put to a mistery , or shall marry by the advice of the said mayor and aldermen . and that in all cases except that it be otherwise ordained and disposed for the same orphans , or for their lands and tenements , goods and chattels , by the expresse words contained in the testaments of their ancestors . and no such orphans ought to be married without the assent of the said mayor and aldermen , and also where lands or tenements , goods and chattels , within the city , are devised to an infant within age living with his father , and that such an infant is no orphan , yet by usage of the said city , the said lands and tenements , goods and chattels , shall be in custody of the mayor and aldermen , as well as of orphans to maintain and keep them to the use and profit of the same infant , except that the father of the infant , or some other of his friends , will find sufficient surety or record to maintain and keep the said lands and tenements , goods and chattels , to the use and profit of the said infant , and thereof to render a good and loyal accompt as is aforesaid . and may if the kings court of wards shall be dissolved , and the tenures in capite taken away , be indangered or petitioned against , which within these last twenty years , hath been a notable engine and peice of artillery of the factious , who made great use of petitions , & many a causeless complaint to overturn any antient useful constitution of the kingdom , & well approved rights and liberties of the people in general or of some men in particular . will renverse and overturn many of the fundamental laws and constitutions of the kingdom , & throw them with their heels upwards into a ditch of all manner of evils and confusion , which will so increase and fall upon them and us , as no after endeavours by any new bills or acts of parliament will be able to rescue them , and being once dead or destroyed , will not meet with any that either can or will be able to call them like lazarus out of the grave , or their winding sheets . it will be against the peoples oaths of supremacy to desire , to purchase of , or diminish the kings rights and jurisdictions . and against their own safety to weaken the hands and power of their prince , that should protect and defend them , and commit the trust of protecting and defending the oppressed poor to the oppressing rich , the chickens to the kites , & the harmless lambs to the cunning foxes , or greedy wolves ; the weak and the innocent to such as shall endeavour to hurt them , and charge and burden themselves and their posterities , with a rent and excise for mischiefs and inconveniences enough in perpetuity . take away that power and ready means of protecting and defending them , and that which should enable him to procure according to his coronation oath to the church of god and the clergy , and people , firm peace and unity in god according to his power and to administer indifferent and upright justice , by forsaking a certain & willing way of defence , for a constrained or incertain , & by taking away the best , for so much of it , of all defences , for that which in the very birth of it , is justly feared to be the worst . draw a curse rather than any expected blessing or happinesse upon all such tenures in capite and by knight service , as by seeking to purchase their homages , and obedience to their prince , and a better and long experimented , and prosperous way of defence of themselves & posterity , shall seek or endeavour to break the reiterated oaths and contracts of all their ancestors , to be but a part & for a short time of the general defence , of the kingdom like a life-guard , at hand to skirmish and make head against an enemy , untill a parliament can be called , and have time to consult of the means , or the whole nation summoned for help and imbodied , & will be a perjury more sinful , then that of the children of israel , to the deceitful and turn-coat gibeonites , and may be more severely punished by god almighty , upon the hereafter withering estates of those men , and their generations , who shall not only break their own oaths , and faith , but the oaths and faith also of their more grateful ancestors who would never have done it . will make our common people , which were wont like the lesser wheels , in a well ordered watch to be governed by the greater or superior , to run themselves into as many blessings as they did in these last twenty years , when they wrested the sword out of their kings hands ( and by the power of those two great devils interest & reformation in the abuse , and not right use of the words , which may well wear the name of those devils which were called legion ) to cut murder , pillage and rob the honest and loyal part of the the people , & lasciviendo in quaerelas & quaestiones , playing the wantons in their complaints , and evil practices , which they found to be so beaten a track or rode of prosperity , to the journeys end of their wickedness , complain of every thing that likes not their fancies , or ignorance , and from wardships and tenures , return again in their ingratitude to god and man , to their late design of taking away tithes , & coppyholds , by enforcing the lords to take a year or two years purchase for the rights of their mannors , & copyhold estates , & from thence to the act of parliament , intended in our reformers late deformations , to abate rents where the landlords were not so well affected as the tenants , to make or maintaine war against their soveraign . and if there had nothing been said or written , as we hope there is sufficient to justify the innocency or right use of tenures in capite and by knight service , it had been enough ( as it was to the vertuous seneca , to be persecuted and put to death by nero , who loved all ill and hated all good ) that cromwel , that minotaure , to whom in his lab●rinth of subtilties , hypocrisy , and abused scripture , our lawes and liberties were daily sacrificed by the flattering addresses of a company of knaves or fooles , very well know after he had cut down the royal oak , and blasted all the lofty pines and firres in druina's forrest , procured an act for renouncing and disannulling the title of our now most graciovs soveraign , and his brothers to the crown of england , and their fathers dominions , and all other which should pretend any title or claim , from , by , or under them , or any of them , how much it concerned his most wicked purposes of establishing that which should be called a common-wealth , under his and his posterities protectorship , and most arbitrary and tyrannical government , by a perpetual standing army of . horse and foot , an intollerable excise , and monthly assessements to pay them & set up the other , or tother house instead of a house of peers , made up for the most part of mechanicks transformed into colonels and major generalls , and some other who might have been better englishmen then to have been catched in the trap of ambition , or titles made the wrong way ; by which he might check the growing factions in the house of commons , and destroy their pretended soveraignity , tax and rack the estates of all men , and more then a grand seignior or turk ever durst adventure upon ; command as he should please the bodies and souls of the people , take away every surculus or little sprigs that might grow out of the remaining sap of that mighty tree , and every thing that might either contribute to it , or remain but as reliques of the regal estate and peoples happiness , did by an ordinance as he called it of himself and his council the th . of april . not only ordain an union betwixt the two kingdoms , but that all the nation of scotland should be discharged of all fealty , homage , and allegiance which is or should be pretended to be due to his majesty that now is , and that neither he nor any of his royal brothers , or any deriving from the late king should hold name , title , and dignity of king of scotland , and that all herritors , proprietors , and possessors of lands in scotland , should hold their lands of their respective lords by and under their accustomed yearly boones and annual services , without rendring any duty or vassallage , and discharged them of all military services , and well knowing that their old customes being taken away , the court-barons would also fail , did by another ordinance erect new court-barons for them . and having made store of slaves in that kingdome , made all the hast he could to compleat his wickednesse in this , and did the th . day of september . procure his houses of parliament or good will and pleasure , rather to doe as much for england , and take away all tenures in capite & by knight service , and all homages , and reliefs , & not only do all he could to destroy the heirs thereof , but cut the nerves & let out the blood of a most noble & antient monarchy . but if there could be any hopes in the exchange of those innocent as useful tenures in capite , and knight service , of bettering the condition of the commonwealth and people , increasing their liberties and content , and to maintain and keep them in a most happy peace and plenty , ( which will never be done if the sword and scepter of the king shall only be like the ensignes and ornaments of regality , and made only to represent a majestie ) there will another difficulty stand in the way and meet the design of doing it by act of parliament ) and offer this question to consideration ; whether an act of parliament , and the consent of the house of peers , & the desire of all the commons and people of england , which must be understood to be signified by their representatives , and the roy le veult , the king giving life and breath , and being to it can in the great power and respect which ever hath been by the law , and justly ought to be always attributed unto it . take away tenures in capite , and by knight service , grand and petit sejeanties , homage , and all other incidents belonging unto them , or the right which the nobility , and gentry , and mesne lords have to enjoy their tenures by knight service , & the incidents thereunto belonging . which howsoever that in many other things it hath been said , that consensus tollit errorem , & conventi● vincit legem , consents and agreements are more binding then law , will by the laws of god , and nature , and nations , and the laws of this kingdom , and the opinion of some eminent and learned sages and lawyers thereof , be resolved in the negative , viz. chap. vii . that tenures in capite , and by knight service , holden of the king , and the homage and incidents thereunto appertaining , and the right of the mesne lords cannot be dissolved or taken away by any act of parliament . for that gods law , and the law of nature , and nations , have taken care not only to preserve the rights of soveraignity , and the means and order of government , but the rights & property of every particular subject , & do prohibit all injustice , & it is a maxime , or aphorism undeniable that laws made against the word of god , & the laws of nature or which are impossible , or contra bonos more 's , right reason , or natural equity , will be void in themselves , be the seal or stamp of authority never so eminent . and therefore , if as the law hath often determined , that the kings charters are void , and not pleadable by law , when they are repugnant to the laws , acts of parliament , maxims , and reasonable customs of the realm , that it is not in the kings power by his charter or last will and testament , to grant away the crown of england , to another prince , or potentate , as it was resolved in the case of the supposed grant of king edward the confessor , to william duke of normandy , and that grant of king john to the pope , to hold england , and ireland of him , and that notwithstanding the grant made by william the conquerour , to hugh lupus , of the earldom of chester , tenendum per gladium , and ita libere , as the king himself did hold england , the earldom of chester , was holden of the king , that the grant of king h. . to the monks of st. bartholomews in london , that the prior & the monks should be as free in their church , (o) as the king was in his crown , was adjudged to be void , for that the prior , and the monks were but subjects , and that by the law , the king may no more denude himself of his royal superiority over his subjects , then his subjects can renounce or avoid their subjection to their king , and the reason why such or the like grants of the king by his charter are void , is not in regard it was granted without the consent of the people in parliament , but that it was in disherison of his crown , and disabling himself to govern ; or if he should by his grant exempt a man from paying his debts , or maintenance of hise wife and children , the joyning of the lords and commons with him in an act of parliament would not make such a law to be binding or obligatory . and therefore the king cannot saith dier release or grant a tenure in capite to any subject , dier . when king edward the d. granted to the black prince his son the grant of the dutchy of cornwal , all wards , marriages , and reliefs , non obstante , the kings prerogative , it was adjudged that the prince could not seise a ward which held of the kings ward , (p) because it belonged to the king by his prerogative . and in r. . robert de hauley esquire , being arrested and pursued upon an action of debt , in westminster abby , where he took sanctuary , (q) was in the tumult slain at the high altar when the priest was singing high masse ; and the offence and breach of priviledge ( as it was then pretended to be ) complained of in parliament by the arch-bishop of canterbury , and the rest of the prelates and clergy , and prayed that due satisfaction and amends might be made of so horrible a fact ; it was opposed by the lords and commons , and they vouched records , and called to witness the justices and others that were learned in rhe lawes of the land , that in the church of england , it hath not been accustomed , nor ought to have immunity for debt or trespass or other cause whatsoever , except for crime only ; and certain doctors of divinity , canon and civil lawes being thereupon sworn and examined before the king himself to speak the plain truth , said upon mature and sound deliberation , that in case of debt , accompt , or trespass , where a man is not to lose life or member , no man ought to have immunity in holy church , and said further ( in the highest expressions those times could afford ) that god saving his perfection , the pope saving his holiness , nor any king or prince can grant such a priviledge , and that if the king should grant such a priviledge , the church is and ought to be favoured and nourished ought not to axcept of it , whereof offence or occasion of offence may arise , for it is a sin and occasion of offence ( saith the record ) to delay a man willingly from his debt , or the just recovery of the same ; and if an act of the commons alone , or of the lords alone or of both together , cannot amount to an act of parliament , the king himself cannot grant away his regality , or power , or means of governing by his charter , or any act which he can singly doe , his concurrence with both the lords and commons can no more make an act to confirme that which should not be done or granted , then his own grant or charter could have done , or than if he and the house of commons only had made an act ; as it appeareth by the ordinance which the lords ordainers , so from thence called , did obtain from edward . whereby he delegated much of his regal authority unto them , which was afterwards complained of in parliament , made void , and the authors or lords ordainers punished ; for it hath been clearly asserted by eminent and learned judges and sages of the law , as the lord cheif justice hobart , sr. francis bacon , and sr. jonh davis , attorney general to king james in ireland , that the superlative power of parliaments above all but the king , is in some things for restrained , as it cannot enact things against right reason , or common right , or against the lawes of god or nature , that a man shall be judge in his own case , as that the king shall have no subsidies whereby to defend himself and his people , that children shall not obey their parents , and the like . and that tenures in capite , and by knight service , are of so transcendent a nature , and so radically in the crown and fundamental lawes , (r) as no act of parliament can take it away or alter it , and are so inseperable as sr. john davis saith that in a parliament holden in england in the latter end of the raign of king james , it was resolved by the house of commons , that the wit of man could not frame an act of parliament whereby all tenures of the crown might be extinguished . and judge hutton , who in the case of the ship-money , would allow the king no more prerogative then what could not be denyed him , did publicquely deliver it for law which in that great and learned assembly of judges and lawyers was not contradicted , that tenures in capite , are so inseperable in the crown , as the parliament will not nor cannot sever them , and the king cannot release them . and such is the care for the defence of the kingdome which belongeth inseperably to the king as head or supream protector , so as if any act of parliament should enact that he should not defend the kingdome , or that he should have no aides from his subjects to defend the realm , such acts would not bind , but would be void , because they would be against all natural reason . and judge crooke also doth in his argument against the ship-money , wherein he concurred with justice hutton , alleage that if a statute were made that a king should not defend the kingdome , it were void being against law and reason . and when a parliament is called by the kings writ to preserve his kingdom , and magna charta so little intends that any future parliament should alter or take away any liberties granted or confirmed thereby , or any fundamental laws , which are incorporate with the essence of government , as it hath been by several confirmations of it enacted , that all laws hereafter to be made to the contrary , shall be null and void , and with good reason as to the king and mesne lords , in the changing of their tenures into socage , when as ex contractu obligatio , and ex obligatione actio , should as well hold in those benificial pactions , which were in the creation of those tenures betwixt the king , lords , and tenants , as in bonds bills , and assumpsits , or any other contracts whatsoever . and is so great a part of right reason , in the opinion of forreigners , and according to the law of nature and nations , as in the german empire , ( though it hath heretofore lost much of its power and authority , (s) by the greatnesse of some of the princes , and the many liberties and priviledges granted to cities & towns ) its remaining prerogatives notwithstanding are said to be jura majestatis & instar puncti divisionem non recipientia adeoque imperatoris personae cohaerent ut nec volens ijs se abdicare aut alium in consortium vocare possit , (t) so inseperable as they are capable of no division , and do so adhere unto the emperors person , as he cannot if he would renounce or transferre them over to any other . and bodi● that understood france very well , (u) saith , that si princeps publica praedia , cum imperio aut jurisdictione & eo modo fruenda concesserit quo ipse fruetur , etiam si tabulis jura majestatis excepta non fuerunt ipso jure tamen excepta judicantur , if the king shall grant any of his lands , to hold as freely , and with as much power and jurisdiction as he himself enjoyed it , the jura majestatis , or regalities are always adjudged and taken to be excepted though there be no reservation or exception in the letters patents . (w) and the parliament of paris were so careful of the kings rights , in governing as when francis the first , had granted to the queen his mother , a commission to pardon and restore condemned persons , it declared that such a grant quum sine majestatis diminutione communicari non possit , seeing it could not be granted without diminution of his royal authority , was void , & thereupon the queen mother intermedled no more therein . the conclusion . when all therefore which can be but pretended against tenures in capite , and by knight service , shall be put together , and said , and done they will come to no more then this . the general assessements for men and horses , and necessaries for war , whether men will or no , are a service incumbent upon every mans estate , though they bought and purchased their lands , & the knight service which is now complained of , is but where their lands were given them for that purpose , and ex pacto & voluntate , by agreement . for it hath allwayes been accompted to be no less than reason , that qui sentit commodum sentire debet et onus , the rose and the prickle must goe together , and he that hath the profit may be well contented to doe something for it , especially when it is no more then what he did agree to doe , and beleived it to be a favour . and if they now take those lands to be a burden , may if they please give themselves an ease by retorning of them to those that gave it . and should not be murmured at , or complained of , when as those that live near the sea , doe live under a charge or imposition which is annual , and sometimes very great upon all . and in holland are commanded and ordered yearly by the dijck graven , or magistrates appointed for that purpose , to repair and amend their sea walles ; or as it is also in england , by direction of law and commissions of sewers , and doe but in that though their lands were dearly paid for , and not freely given , as those doe which hold their lands by knight service , and defend themselves by defending others . and it will ever be a rule and maxime in loyalty , as well as in law and right reason , that by the lawes of god , nature , and nations , as well as of england , there is and ought to be a natural allegiance to the king , that oaths of allegiance and supremacy doe enjoyn every subject to defend his prince , and his just rights and jurisdictions ; and that the safety of every man in particular , and his own discretion should advise him to it , unless they will think it to be wisdome in the citizens of constantinople , who in the seige thereof would rather keep their money and riches for the turks to plunder , then help themselves or their emperour with it , & make thereby themselves & their posterity slaves to the enemy of christendome then put it to the right use of defending their prince , themselves , and posterities . and will all resolve in this , a defence of the king & his people will be eternally necessary , an ordinary , a speedy , a ready , a willing , and the most ingageing & obliging way , will be better then that which shall be extra-ordinary a far off , and to seek , or be enforced . and the most ready means for a defence and at hand , must needs be the most proper and beneficial , for upon that ground kings have their treasuries , armories , and arsenals , which republicques are content to imitate ; our constables and justices of peace in england , being as standing officers and guardians of the peace , are more for the safety of the people , when they are made before hand , to be ready upon any breach of peace , then if they were to seek , or to be made afterwards , and i● would be no dimunition of the strength or defence of the kingdome to have the nobility and gentry of england by the tenure of their lands as it were listed , and undertaking upon all occasions to serve their prince and defend their country , for the smallest understandings can find the way to determine that it will be better and more easie for the subject to have the king and their country served by a knight service , in acknowledgment of great estates only given them for that purpose , than to have or men provided by the subjects by a constant pole money and assessement upon them and their heirs , for a ready guard and assistance for the defence and safeguard of the country as well as of the king , which the danes after their late so great misfortunes and miseries by the incursions & furious attempts of the swedes , have learnt to be wisdome , & have therefore lately bound themselves and their posterities to maintain a guard of or men to be paid by a pole or assessement . and unless the divine light of reason , and that which hitherto hath been called wisdome , have altered their courses and resolved that which is retrograde and quite contrary to be the better , the most safe and natural way will be as it ever hath been to have our men at arms to be natives rather than forreigners , such as are of the better sort , and bred and educated in feats of armes , rather then such as have neither skill nor courage , and such as have lands and estates of their own to make a concernment , rather than such as have none . better to have the nobility and gentry who are bred and trained up in war , and understand the necessity and causes of a war to be ingaged in the defence of the kingdom , than the vulgus who are often called , and too often experimented , and best know how they came to deserve it mobile & imperitum vulgus , a beast of many heads , and without a superiour or governours , are ●it only to attempt again the building of babel , wherein if they were all of one language , they would for want of agreement or wit , either totally miscarry in the building , or make it to be an unimitablepeice of deformity . for it was certainly no fault in abraham that he had servants born in his own house to arm in a case of necessity to rescue his brother lot ; (y) nor in david that he had servants to passe before him to war. or when he well understood that the children of israel when they had no king , (z) and every one followed his own imaginations , were often delivered into the hands of the midianites , philistims , & many of the nations round about them , and that deborah & baruch , having undertaken to releive them were enforced to pronounce a curse against thos● that came not to help the lord against the mighty , when reuben had great devisions , & did abide amongst the sheep-folds , dan remained in ships , and ashur continued by the sea-shore . and that he had tasted of the fickleness & infidelity of the men of judah & israel in the rebellion of absalom , did though they were afterwards so kind unto him , as to wrangle with the men of judah for bringing him home to his kingdom , and not giving them a share in the honor of it , not think it to be repugnant to the good and safety of the people to settle a strong & well formed militia , and to have a life-guard of valiant men to attend by months , and courses the safety of his person , and his peaceable government , which must needs be better than to be left to the humor of the people to go or not to goe with their prince to war , as the wind of their interest , or faction shall blow them , which may make such kind of aids in the greatest of necessities to be hardly compassed . and the delectus of the roman souldiers in their growing greatnesse , and most virtuous condition of that state or commonwealth before their course and custom of patronage , & clyentelage had taken root and gained approbation , and their often mutinies and refuseing nomina dare to list or inroll themselves , unless usury might be lessoned , and lawes cut out to their fancies , hath told us how like egiptian reeds such a away of raising men to defend the king , themselves and the kingdome will be to those that shall most trust or leane upon it . so that then the gorgons head and the bugg-beare of the tenures in capite and knight service being only the marriages and puting the wards estates under a rent , whilst they shall be in minority if rationally considered with allowance of the seldome happening of it or but once in three or four descents , and two yeares value being allowed upon the death of every tenant in socage or coppy-hold estates , at the admission of every one of their heirs , will with their reliefs and herriots , possibly make the accompt of the mony and charge of the wardship to be something equal , if not a great deal lesse . which howsoever may be removed or made to be more familiar and better understood or born , if the tenants in capite and by knight service , shall be exempted from all other taxes or assessements for war , but what belongs to their service , as by law they antiently were and ought to be ; the wards nor their estate during that time , being never heretofore charged with any such assessements , as our late tax-masters have laid upon the people , when as the fifth , and many times the third part of the wards yearly rents , besides a fifth part of the value of their real estate , and a twentieth of the personal , and revenew enforced & taken from them to maintain iniquity , would have saved more mony than the wardships cost . or if that will not still the causelesse out-cry , that the licence of alienation ( which as well as in capite & by knight service , are by the custom of many manors to be paid in socage ) and the homages , grand and petit serjeanties , reliefs , primer seisins , and liveries , and all other incidents belonging to the tenures in capite and by knight service , be reserved and continued to the king and mesne lords , and the mariages of the wards be put to a just apportionment and rate ( not to boxing or bidding with every pretender , or such as shall be procured on purpose , and was thought by the sons of rapine to be a parcel of godliness ) according to two years present value of the estate , and a moderate rate or rent for the lands . and if that they do not like to sue or be sued in that court , may do it either in the exchequer or chancery , and try which of those courts they shall like the better . there being no reason to be shown why wardships rents , and marriage money should not be paid as quietly , or without the noise or clamour of oppressioon by some orderly course to be taken in the collecting of it , as the first fruits of arch-bishoppricks , bishoppricks , and all the clergyes benefices , which was at first derived from the popes usurpations , and afterwards setled in the crown , or as the tenths of all the monasteryes and religious lands which by act of parliament were setled in the crown for the support and maintenance thereof . and now all the lines are come in , and meet in one center , we may aske the days that are past , and demand of the sons of novelty how it should happen , or where the invisible cause or reason lurketh , that a people , at least too many of them , not long agoe covenanting , whether his late majesty would or no , to preserve his honor , rights and iurisd●ctions , and calling god to witness that they had no intention to diminish them , should presse or perswade the king to part with the vitals of his regalitie , or let out the blood thereof to take in water instead of it , which that learned john earl of bristol , who in his many travails and embassies to forrein princes , had observed the several strengths , policyes , and defects of governments of all the kings and princes of christendom , (x) could think no otherwise of that high and just prerogative of kings then that , to discharge the tenures in capite would be consequently to discharge them of their service to the crown . when as their can be neither cause nor reason to make any such demands , and that all the lords of mannors in england who may already find the inconveniences of making too many small sized freeholders , and i wish the kingdom may not feel it in the elections of parliament men , and knights of the shire , as well as it doth already by the faction and ignorance of such as choose burgesses in towns and corporations who many times choose without eyes , ears , or understanding , would not be well content to have the many perplexed and tedious suits at law betwixt them and their troublesome tenants about customs and fines incertain , which in every year do vex and trouble the courts in westminster hall , or that which the late feavorish fancies of some would call norman slaveryes should be either a cause that they must be forced or over intreated to part with their copy-hold estates , herryots , fines for alienations , and all other incidents thereunto belonging , or that it would be a good bargain to have no compensation or recompence at all for them , or no more than after the rate of what might communibus annis one year with another be made of them . whenas to have the intended recompence for the court of wards paid as is now proposed by a part of the excise or curses of the people , or to have the poor bear the burden of the rich or those to bear the burden of it which are not at all concerned in any such purchase or alteration , and will be an act which can have no more justice or equity in it , then that the payment of first-fruits which is merely ecclesiastical should be distributed and charged for ever upon the layety , and the other part of the people as well as the clergy . that the tenths which the layety and some of the clergy do now contentedly pay should be communicated and laid upon all the kingdom in general in a perpetuity . that the draining or maintaining the banks and sluces and misfortunes many times of the fenns in lincolnshire and other particular places should be charged upon the esta●es of all the men in england that could not be concerned either in profit , losse , or d●nger . or that in the enclosing of commons or in deafforrestations , the commoners should have their , compensation paid by all men in city town ▪ and country , for that which was not 〈…〉 nor was ever like to be any gain or a●va●tage to them . or that the losses of merchants by shipw●acks , pirates , or letters of reprisal , should be repaired and born by all the rest of the people that went no partnership or gain with them ; or which way the people of england should think it to be for their good or safety , that as it was in the dayes of saul , there should not be a sword or spear in israel , that the lords of england , whose great auncestors helped to maintain all our liberties , being in parliament in the th . year of king h. . pressed by the bishops to enact that children born before matrimony , when their parents after married should be legitimate , answered nolumus mutare leges angliae , we will not change the lawes of england , should not take the overturning so many of the fundamental lawes and liberties of the kingdome , to be the ruine or destruction of it , to be of a greater concernment . and that the king will not think it to be a most christian as well as an heroick answer of john king of france , (y) when he was a prisoner in england , to our king e. . and was denied his liberty unless he would amongst other things doe homage for the realm of france , and acknowledge to hold it of england , that he must not speak to him of that which he neither ought nor would doe to alienate a right inalienable , that he was resolved at what price soever , to leave it to his children as he had received it from his auncestors , that affliction might well ingage his person , but not the inviolable right of the crown , where he had the honour to be born , over which neither prison nor death had any power , and especially in him who should hold his life well employed sacrificing it for the immortal preservation of france . and that the people of england should not rather imitate the wisdome as well as goodness of the elders of israel , when as benhadad not content with ahabs homage , had demanded unreasonable things of him , (z) say unto the king , hearken not unto him nor consent . but remember that it was their fore-fathers , which in a parliament of king e. . holden in the th . year of his raign , declared that they could not assent to any thing in parliament , that tended to the disherison of the king , and his crown , to which they were sworn , that in a parliament holden in the th . year of the raign of king richard the d. the lords and commons did pray the king that the prerogative of him and his crown may be kept , and that all things done , or attempted to the contrary , may be redressed , and that the king might be as free , as any of his progenitors were , which the king granting , gave to it the force and power of an act of parlaiment . and consider that the innovation of laws , or change of customs are dangerous , and as st augustine saith , non tam utilitate ( if there were any profit in them ) prosunt quam novit●●e perturbant , do more hurt than good by their novelty , that it will be unsafe to take away or dig up foundations , that where the inconveniences in the old laws are not apparant , and the conveniences to come by the new not infallible or not likely to deceive our expectation of them , it will be perilous to change our laws , more perilous when they be many , and most of all , when they be fundamental . that the more power and might is in the king , to defend us , the better will be the ends which by the means is intended , and that therefore in the parliament of e. . the prelates , earls , barons , and the commonaltie of the realm , did acknowledge that to the king it belonged of his royal signory , streightly to defend force of armour , and all other force against the peace , and to punish them which shall do contrary , according to the laws and usages of the realm ; and thereunto were bound to ayd their soveraign lord at all seasons when need shall be , that to make a captain of a cripple , or a constable , which should keep the peace in a parish , and be ready to repell any violence which should be offered to the inhabitan●s , to be blind or bed-rid , would not answer the end , or b● for the safety of those that expect it from him . and that his majesties opinion expressed in his message or declaration from breda , before his return into england , is and ever will be a maxime composed of very great reason and truth that his majesties just rights are the best preserver of the peoples liberties . and may believe before it be too late that to take away tenures in capite , and introduce the inconveniences before mentioned , will be but as a prologue , or usher to levelling , and the gate or entrance , to the agrarian devices , and the supposed saints taking possession of the estates of those which they call the wicked . and that the laying by of tenures in capite , and their services , and making use of mercenary and mechanick souldiers , may help us to as many miseries and follies , as we have pertaked of in our late troubles , from our servants , make them to become our masters , and by inureing them to insolencies against others , teach them how to domineer over the people , which shall be their pay-masters , after that over parliaments garbling and purging the house , pulling out , and putting in whom they please , turn legislators , and remonstrance ▪ makers from their head quarters , make themselves not the repairers of breaches , but the makers and causers of them , ingrosse , all the places and imployments of the kingdom , throw down laws and government , create out of themselves and their own party , mayors , generals , to tyranize awe the people , and abuse their laws , and liberties , and play the fools at coffee-houses , with disputing and discoursing of rotas , and balloting boxes , and which of their whimsies , and ignorant contrivances would best make a government committ perjuries in abundance , and make their oaths more changeable , and lesse to be trusted then the wind or weather , or a lillies almanack and make it their only businesse to enslave and insult over the people , and metamorphose them into as many shapes of baseness , perjuries , hipocrisies , dissembling and wickednesse , as poverty hope of gain , or to get or preserve estates , ( though it be but to have poliphemus his curtesie to be last of all ruined ) fear or flattery , or an accursed ambition to raise an estate out of other mens miseries , could perswade or draw them unto . that the taking away of tenures in capite & by knight service , is not desired by any universal or general petition at all of the people , that not one in every of those that are concerned , & hold by those tenures , nor one in every of those that hold by other tenures , and are not concerned , do desire it . that the injudicial and inconsiderate desires of a very few of the common people , who doe sometimes ( as they have many times done in our late troubles , and too late repented it ) out-do children in asking stones instead of bread , and serpents for fishes , are not to be hearkened unto , that the surfets upon liberty , are many times very dangerous , & may prove as fatal & unhappy , though granted or asked with the best of intentions , as that of giving great sums of money to the scots , in the begining of our unhappy wars , & calling their invasion a brotherly assistance , or that of giving liberty to the long parliament , not to dissolve without their consent . that if augustus caesar , when by his great prudence he had put the broken peices of the roman republick , which was civilibus discordiis lacerata , wofully torn with civil discords into a well composed monarchy , and blest the empire & a great part of the world with an universal peace , could find no better a way to fix and make it lasting , then to put many of the souldiers under a gratitude and concernment to love and cherish it by giving them lands for life or inheritance to engage them to their former duties when occasion should happen , which saved the charge and trouble on all sides , as well to the conquered as the conquering in maintaining roman legions made up of a medley or gallimausry of all manner of nations . it cannot now be good when the long lasting monarchy of england hath been lately and lamentably torn into peeces to make up a common-wealth , could never be agreed upon to alter or take away a course of constant and ordinary defence which hath been for so many ages past the happy support of this antient monarchy . and that it could not have been any bad or likely to be unsuccessefull policy , but a means of an establishment of our late souldiers and controullers had in the allowance of their cheap purchases been tyed to tenures by knight service for the defence of the kingdom , as the late king of sweden was to hold of the empire by the treaty of munster . and if that bracton who was a lord chief justice in the reign of king h. . was of opinion that by a pa●tition of earldoms and baronies , (a) deficeret regnum quod ex comitatibus & baronijs dicitur esse constitutum , would ruine the kingdom which is constituted of earldoms and baronies , he would now certainly foresee greater mischiefs and inconveniencies in the taking away of tenures in capite and by knight service , or changeing them into tenures in socage . that by the civil law , that universal and great rule of reason , (b) imperatoriam majestatem non solum armis decoratam sed etiam legibus oportet esse armatam ut utrumque tempus et bell●rum et pacis recte possit gubernari , the imperial majesty or power ought not only to be adorned & strengthened with armes & the power thereof , but with lawes , to the end that as well in time of war as peace , he may rightly govern . and that therefore we may well tremble and shake at the name of innovations , and desiring to find the way again into the old paths of peace , plenty , and security . have cause enough to say as the learned grotius did concerning holland , ( only changing the word respublica , into a better of a kingdom ) that multum debem●s majoribus nostris qui acceptam a primis conditoribus rempublicam per se egregiam nostro vero ingenio nostrisque studiis aptissimam pace servatam bello recuperatam nobis reliquere , we owe much to our ancestors , who having received the common-wealth , which is excellent in it self , and fited to our customes and manners from those which first founded it , and left us to enjoy in peace , what they had recovered in war , & nostrum est si nec ingrati nec imprudentes esse volumus rempublicam constanter tueri quam ratio suadet probant experimenta & commendat antiquitas . and if we would not be ingratefull or unjust wee ought to defend that kingdome and government which reason perswadeth us unto , experiments approve , & antiquity commendeth . collapsa ruent subductis tecta columnis . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a -e hollands case in coke● reports . fortescue de laudibus legum angl●ae . notes for div a -e (a) genes . . . (b) hooker ecclesiastic . polit. lib. . (c) gellius lib. . cap. . (d) bud●us in annotat. ad pandect . (e) oldendorpius . (f) oldendorpius . (g) craig . de feudis ▪ (h) cujacius de seudis . lib. . (i) gerardus niger in cujacio lib. de feudis . (i) craig , de origine f●udor●m , d●eg . . (k) c●ke . parte inst●t . so . . b. (l) spelmans gloss . p. ● . (m) selden tit . hon. p. , . (n) spelman ▪ gloss . (o) ll. ed. confessor . cap. . (p) lambert fo . ● ▪ (q) spelman : gloss in verbo fidelitatis ▪ notes for div a -e (r) bodin cap. . (s) besoldus discurs . polit. p. ▪ spelman gloss . p. , . alber. gentilis p. . (t) mat. paris , . (u) barto●u● de testibus . (w) sr. john , fer●e glory of generosity . . (x) selden tit . ●on . . . ro● . mag● h. . e. bracton chap. de appell de mayhems . (y) selden tit . hon . ca. . . (z) m. s. mr. rob. hill concerning tenures . (a) h. . stat. marl●bridge . (b) e. . quia emptores &c. (c) somner de gavelkind . (d) rot. parl. h. . (e) fortescue de laudibus legum angliae ca. . cornel neos●ad ▪ de feudi juris scripti hollandici , west frisicique successione ca. . . et . (h) rot. parl. r. ▪ n. . (i) rot. parl. h. . n. . (h) hugo gotius de antiquitate reipublicae batavicae edit an . . . l. no● dubito ss . de captivis . (l) sigonius de ●ntiquo jure civi●●n rom. . . et de repub. athen. . . plutarch in vita solonis . (m) perionius de rom. et g●ae● . magistrat . (n) ●●kam ●ap . quae per solam consuetudinem &c. & coke part . in●●it . cap. . 〈◊〉 . . notes for div a -e (o) capi●●a itin●ris in vet . magn . charta . & coke . part institutes tit . c●r . ward . (p) glanvil lib cap. & register & coke magna charta cap. . (q) instructions king j●mes in anno . (q) daniel . (r) lib. caenobij d● ramsey sect. . et spelmans glossar . in ver●● fiscus . (s) claus. ● . h. . (t) pla●it . 〈◊〉 e. . rot. . (u) e. par . parl. in & . (w) h. ● . escaet . (x) mat. paris . (y) mat. paris ● (z) parl. car. primi . (a) daniels history . (b) in lib. nigro scaccarij & spelmans gl●ssar in verbo firma . (c) master of the wards oath . (d) h. . (e) attorney of the wards oath . (f) auditors oath ▪ (g) escheators oath . (h) math paris . (i) spelmans glossar . et daniel . (k) chronic leichfeldense . (l) continuation floren. wigor● et sr. roger twisden in pr●fat . ad leges willielmi . (m) m. s. cottoniana . (n) york & vincent catalogue of english nobility . (o) m. s. inter l. l. regis edwardi . (p) mat pa●is . & . (q) mat. paris . (r) mat. paris . (r) mat. paris . (s) pat. . e. . (t) walsingham ypodigm● n●uster . . (u) claus. . e. ● (w) parl e. (x) daniels histo●y . (y) e. . . (z) rot parl. r. . . & . (a) rot parl. . r. ▪ n. . (b) declarat . lords and commons , in collect. parliament declarations , ▪ & . (c) h. . cap. . coke . part institutes . (d) jacobi ▪ . (e) sr. francis bacons speech in parliament in . jacobi , touching a composition to be made for tenures in capite . (f) ca● primi● . (g) coke . part institutes tit . court of wards (h) coke . institutes & lib. ru● . scac. (i) exact collections of the king and parlament declaratio●s . (k) exact collect●ons of the king and parliament declarations . . (l) exact collection of the k●n●s and pa●●●am●nts d●●l●rations . (m) exact collection of the kings and parliaments declarations and messages . . (n) exact . collect. of the k●ngs and parliament declarations . . (*) propositions sent by the parliament to the king at oxford of feb●uary . (*) proposals agreed upon by the council of the army to be tendred to the commissioners of the parliament residing with the army august . (p) nat. bacons historical discourses of the kings of england . . . & in part . (q) na● . bacons historical discourses of the kings of england ▪ . (r) petition of advice of the commons of england assembled in parliament in an , ● ▪ chronic. . , , , . chonic . . . deut. . , (s) chroni● . . . . (t) chron ▪ . . ▪ . palip . . . , , , , , , , , , ; lib. . . (w) sam. . . x chronic. . , . (y) nehemiah . , , , , . v. . . (z) sam. . . (a) reg. . , . (b) esther . . . (c) cromptons iurisdiction of couts . (d) lib. rub . in scac. et camden brit ▪ . (w) camden brit. . (x) lambard perambulation of kent ▪ (y) camden brit. . (r) camden brit. . in ●● . (s) camden brit. . (t) ro. ●in . e. . coke● part instit. . (u) camden brit. . (y) camden brit. . (a) camden brit. . (b) lambards perambulation of kent . (c) barn. brisson . in basilic . lib. . tit . . (d) e. . ● . . e. . ●● . (e) iudges . . (f) sam ▪ . (g) sam. . , . . & . (h) charta h. . et regis iohannis et . h. . cap . (i) spelmans glossar , . (k) littleton cap. . (l) fitz herbert n. b. . b. . & . (m) mich. e. . . (n) h ▪ l. . e. . coram rege . notes for div a -e (o) sam. daniel . (p) rot. claus . . h. . cl●us . . et . h. . (q) mat. paris . (r) john de serres history of france . notes for div a -e (s) cicero o●tat . pro mu●ena . (t) cato apu●d livium . (u) ulpian tit . . & sigonius de antiquo jure civium rom. lib. cap. . (w) nolden de ●●etu nobilium , . (x) waterhouse discourse of arms and armories . (y) coke . part i●stit . . (z) spelmans glossar . in verb● homagij ▪ (a) salmut●ius in pancirollum . (b) spelmans glossar . ●● . 〈◊〉 olbertus 〈◊〉 orto , lib . ●e feudis , & cujacius anno● . in eundem lib. , , . (d) chro●ic● . v . (e) mat. paris , . (f) rot. parl. h. . m. . (g) dugdale illustration of warwickshire , . (h) dugdale illustration of warwickshire . (i) spelmans glossar in verbo hobellarij . (k) coke . report , leonard lovelaces case . (l) selden tit . hon●● . (m) pasquier de rocherches de france li-se●ond . (n) selden ti● . honor cap , et ▪ (o) spelmans glossar . (p) spelmans glossar in verbo f●●dum nobile . (q) coke . part institutes ● (r) spelmans glossar (s) ll edwa●di r●gis . . (t) ethelredus abbas rienal●ensis . (u) rot. parl. . r. . m. . ● . h ▪ . m. . (w) virgill eneid . (x) dugdale illustration of wariekshire . (y) sigonius de antiquo jure rom. (z) livy lib. . (a) sigoni●s . de antiquo jure rom. . (b) perionius de senatu rom. lib. . (c) lampridius in vita severi . (d) nolden de statu nobilium . & . (e) hector boethius , hist. scot. lib. . (f) spelmans glossar . . (g) besoldus de comitibus & baronibus imperij . germani . (h) num. . joshua . jeremiah . (i) arumaeus de comitiis . (k) arumaeus de comitijs . (l) pasquier des recherches de la france liure . . & ● . (m) pasquier es reche●ches de la france livre . , , et . (n) lambard d● prisc●s anglerum legibus . (o) sr. henry spelmans glossar in diatriba de baronibus , et● ● . (p) spelmans glossar . (q) seldens epistle to mr. vincent concerning his book against york . (r) . h. . in dors● m. & pat h. . selden tit . honor . (s) stamford lib. ▪ cap. . (t) camden brit. . . (u) seldens t●t . honor . (w) in rotuli● humfridi de bohun comitis hereford & essex de recognitione servitiorum domini regis angliae pro guerrae sua sc●tie an. . e. . (x) rusdorff . vindiciae causae pala●inae , . (y) mr. pryn ▪ plea for the house of peers . (z) coke ●h . part iu●●●tutes ●it court of wards . cremer versus burnet in banco regis pas. . (b) coke . report abbot de s●●ata marcellas case . (c) coke rep. . (d) coke . reports higgens case . (e) rusdor●f p●l●tinae● · ● · (f) lindimannus in dedic●● exercitat , ●eudi & roth usal in synops ; ad l●ctorem . §. . (g) calvin in 〈◊〉 d●d●cator . juris prudent ▪ fudal . (h) sam. ▪ , . () per coll●g . bononiens . inter consil. francisci carti consilium . et rusdorff . in vindicits causae palatinae . (i) . e. . coram rege . (k) jus●●n . lib . (l) cornelius neostadius de ●eud success . apud hollandie . (m) peckius de pactis antenuptialibus . (n) customs and usages in london in an old m●nuscript in french in guild-hall . notes for div a -e (o) h. . (p) . assise plit . . (q) rot parl r. . , , & . (r) case of imposi●ions ▪ (s) conringius de germanici imperii republic . (t) arumae●● de comitijs roma●i germanici imperij ca. . § , . & . . (u) bodin de republica lib. . . (w) bodin ibm● ● . (y) genesis , v. . (z) reg. . v. . & . (x) motives of the ea●l of bristol for adhereing to his 〈◊〉 m●jesty . (y) john de serres history of france . (z) reg. . . (a) bracton lib. . cap. . (b) insti●ur . justiniani in proaemio . to the supreme authority of england, the high court of parliament assembled at westminster the humble petition of richard truelove and henry truelove, of the town of ipswich, on the behalfs [sic] of themselves and others, heirs at law to thomas causton, late of thundersley in the county of essex, gent. a martyr truelove, richard. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text r in the english short title catalog (thomason .f. [ ]). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing t thomason .f. [ ] estc r this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; : f [ ]) to the supreme authority of england, the high court of parliament assembled at westminster the humble petition of richard truelove and henry truelove, of the town of ipswich, on the behalfs [sic] of themselves and others, heirs at law to thomas causton, late of thundersley in the county of essex, gent. a martyr truelove, richard. truelove, henry. england and wales. parliament. sheet ([ ] p.) s.n., [london : ] imprint from wing. annotation on thomason copy: "june ". reproduction of the original in the british library. eng caustun, thomas, d. -- early works to . land tenure -- great britain -- early works to . inheritance and succession -- great britain -- early works to . great britain -- history -- commonwealth and protectorate, - -- early works to . a r (thomason .f. [ ]). civilwar no to the supreme authority of england, the high court of parliament assembled at westminster; the humble petition of richard truelove and henr truelove, richard a this text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images - robyn anspach sampled and proofread - robyn anspach text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion to the supreme authority of england , the high court of parliament assembled at westminster ; the humble petition of richard truelove and henry truelove , of the town of ipswich , on the behalfs of themselves and others , heirs at law to thomas causton , late of thundersley in the county of essex , gent. a martyr : in all humility shewing , that the said thomas causton was in his life time scised in fee of divers freehold and copyhold lands , tenements and hereditaments , in essex and elsewhere . that the said thomas causton , o novembr . o and o phil. & mar. surrendred all his copyhold lands in tillingham , to the use of william his son , which lands have ever since been enjoyed by the said william , his heirs and assigns . that afterwards the said thomas causton , in those times of persecution in the days of queen mary , was burnt as an heretick , for his faithful adhering to the protestant religion , as is recorded in the book of martyrs , fol. . and thereupon all other his lands , tenements and hereditaments , were seized into the then crown , and have been , and to this day are held and enjoyed , either by leassees from the late kings and queens , or by such who without any title enjoy them , to the great prejudice of your petitioners . that william the son of thomas causton , dyed without issue , and the said copyhold lands surrendred after his decease , desended on elizabeth his onely sister , who then was the onely heir of the said william , and of the said thomas their father . that the said elizabeth married william truelove your petitioners grandfather , who enjoyed the said copyhold lands , and ought likewise to have enjoyed all other the lands and tenements , freehold and copyhold of the said thomas causton , which ought to descend on your petitioners . that your petitioners have faithfully served and adhered to this parliament , ever since the beginning of these troubles , both in their persons and estates . and now they are humble suiters unto your honors , that for the glory of god , the honor of the parliament , and encouragement to true professors of religion , your honors will please to restore to them the lawful and rightful inheritance of their ancestors , so wrongfully detained from them ; and that to this purpose , your honors will refer the examination of the premises , to the right honorable , the councel of state , or such other committee as your honors shall please , and that in the mean time none of the said lands may be sold . and your petioners shall daily pray for your honors , &c by the king it is a thing notorious that many of the meanest sort of our people in diuers parts of our kingdome ... haue presumed lately to assemble themselues riotously in multitudes ... england and wales. sovereign ( - : james i) approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a stc estc s ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) by the king it is a thing notorious that many of the meanest sort of our people in diuers parts of our kingdome ... haue presumed lately to assemble themselues riotously in multitudes ... england and wales. sovereign ( - : james i) james i, king of england, - . leaves. by robert barker, printer to the kings most excellent maiestie, imprinted at london : anno dom. . for suppressing riots against enclosures. other title information from first lines of text. "giuen at our mannour of greenewich the xxviij. day of iune, in the fifth yeere of our reigne of great britaine, france and ireland." reproduction of original in: society of antiquaries. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng inclosures -- england. land tenure -- england. great britain -- history -- james i, - . broadsides -- london (england) -- th century. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images - emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread - emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion ❧ by the king. it is a thing notorious that many of the meanest sort of our people in diuers parts of our kingdome , either by secret combination , wrought by some wicked instruments , or by ill example of the first beginners , haue presumed lately to assemble themselues riotously in multitudes , and being armed with sundry weapons , haue layd open in forcible maner a great quantitie of seuerall mens possessions , some newly enclosed , and others of longer continuance , making their pretence that some townes haue been depopulated , and diuers families vndone by meanes of such enclosures . in which seditious courses they haue persisted not onely after many prohibitions by our ministers in the seuerall counties , but after particular proclamations published by our royal authoritie , & which is more , when so many meanes of lenitie and gentlenesse were offered to reclaime them , as no prince would haue vsed , but such a one as was both confident in the loyall affections of his subiects in generall , and compassionate towards the simplicitie of such offenders : many of them stood out most obstinately , and in open fielde rebelliously resisted such forces as in our name , and by our authoritie came to represse them , whereupon insued by necessitie in the end that some blood was drawen as well by martiall execution , as by ciuil iustice . vpon this accident it seemeth good vnto vs to declare to the world , and specially to our louing subiects , as well that which concerneth our affections ( which vpon seueral respects are diuided betweene comfort and griefe ) as that which concerneth also our princely intentions , which likewise are bent vpon the contrary obiects and courses of grace and iustice . for first of all we finde cause of comfort in our selues in regard of the clearenesse of our conscience ( to whome god hath committed the care and supreme gouernment of our people ) from giuing cause or colour of such complaint ; the matter whereof is such , as wee take our selues more interessed therein then any our subiects can bee : for as wee cannot but know , that the glorie and strength of all kings consisteth in the multitude of subiects , so may wee not forget that it is a speciall and peculiar preheminence of those countreyes , ouer which god hath placed vs , that they do excell in breeding and nourishing of able and seruiceable people , both for warre and peace , which wee doe iustly esteeme aboue all treasure and commodities , which our said dominions do otherwise so plentifully yeeld vnto vs. neither in this particular case of depopulation , can any man make doubt but it must bee farre from our inclination to suffer any tolleration of that which may bee any occasion to decay or diminish our people , if wee did consider nothing else , but that vse and application which wee may make ( as other princes do ) both of the bodies of our people to carrie armes for defence of our crown , and of their goods and substance to supply our wants vpon all iust & resonable occasions , so as we may by many reasons sufficiently iustifie our care herein towards god & the world ( forasmuch as apperteineth to our kingly office ) seeing the said inclosures ( lawfull or vnlawfull ) were all or the most part made before we had taken the scepter of this gouernment into our possession . whereunto we may adde ( as wholy cleansing and washing our hands from the tolleration of these grieuances ) the continuall and strict charges and commandements giuen by vs to our iudges and iustices , for , the care and reformation of those things which may bee in any wise grieuous to our people in their seuerall countreyes , although in this point there is some defence alledged by our subordinate ministers , and specially by the iustices of assise , that our people haue beene wanting to themselues in the due and ordinary meanes which they ought to take , by presentment of such as are or haue beene guilty of these oppressions . but as wee take comfort that the causes of these complaints haue not proceeded from our gouernment , hauing contrariwise ( before these seditious courses first brake forth ) taken into our princely consideration this matter of depopulating and decaying of townes and families ( whereof we are more sensible , then any other ) with resolution to cure whatsoeuer is amisse , by iust and orderly remedies : so are wee grieued to behold what the disloyalty and obstinacy of this rebellious people hath forced vs vnto , who being naturally inclined to spare shedding of blood , could haue wished that the humble and voluntary submission and repentance of all those offenders , might both haue preuented the losse of the life of any one of them , and the example of iustice vpon some might haue preuented the losse of more . and seeing it was of such necessity , that some in regard of their intollerable obstinacy in so pernicious treason should perish , rather then the sparkes of such a fire in our kingdome should be left vnquenched , that it may yet serue to put others in mind of their duetie , and saue them from the like ruine and destruction , for such and so traiterous attemps hereafter : in all which considerations , for that which may concerne our own royall intention , as wee would haue all men know and conceiue , that neither the pretence of any wrongs receiued , nor our great mislike of depopulation in generall , can in any wise stay vs any longer , from a seuere and iust prosecution of such as shall take vpon them to be their owne iudges and reformers , either in this or any other pretended grieuance : so on the other side , we are not minded that the offences of a few ( though iustly prouoking our royall indignation ) shall alter our gracious disposition to giue reliefe in this case , where it apperteineth , were it for none other cause , then in respect of so many others our good and louing subiects , which might haue alledged like cause of griefe , and neuerthelesse haue contained themselues in their due obedience . and therefore wee doe first declare and publish our princely resolution , that if any of our subiects shall heereafter vpon pretences of the same or like grieuances , either persist in the vnlawfull and rebellious act already begun , or renewe and breake forth into the like , in any parts of our kingdome ; we will prefer the safetie , quiet , and protection of our subiects in generall , and of the body of our state , before the compassion of any such offenders , bee they more or lesse , and howsoeuer misled : and must forget our naturall clemency by pursuing them with all seuerity for their so hainous treasons , as well by our armes as lawes , knowing well , that we are bound ( as the head of the politike body of our realme ) to follow the course which the best phisitians vse in dangerous diseases , which is , by a sharpe remedy applyed to a small and infected part , to saue the whole from dissolution and destruction . to which ende we doe accordingly charge and command all our lieutenants , deputie lieutenants , sheriffes , iustices of peace , and all other magistrates of iustice vnder vs , and all other our louing subiects to whom it shall any wayes appertaine , to doe and imploy their vttermost indeauours and forces for the keeping of our subiects in peace and obedience , for preuention of all such riotous and rebellious assemblies , and destroying them , ( if any doe remaine , or shall happen to arise ) by force of armes , and by execution ( euen to present death ) of such as shall make resistance . on the other side we doe notifie and declare to all our louing subiects , that we are resolued , not out of any apprehension or regard of these tumults and disorders ( which wee know well to be only dangerous to those that attempt them , and which experience may teach them , that they are in a momēt to be dispersed ) nor to satisfie disobedient people , be they rich or poore : but meerely out of loue of iustice , christian compassion of other of our subiects , who being likewise touched with this griefe , auoyded the like offences , as also out of our princely care and prouidence to preserue our people from decay or diminution , to cause the abuses of depopulations and vnlawfull inclosures to be further looked into , and by peaceable and orderly meanes to establish such a reformation thereof , as shall bee needfull for the iust reliefe of those that haue iust cause to complaine , and therin neglect no remedy , which either the lawes of our realme doe prescribe , or our owne royall authority , with the aduice of our councell can supply . for which purpose wee haue already assembled our iudges , and giuen them in charge straightly , to make it one of their principall cares aswell to discouer the said offences , as to consider how farre they may be touched in law , and in what course , and accordingly to proceede against them with all seueritie . and yet because the execution thereof requireth some time , though no more then must of necessitie bee employed therein , if any turbulent or seditious spirits by their impatience , or through their desire to satisfie their owne wicked humors , by moouing common troubles shall seeke to preuent the course of iustice by any such vnlawfull attempts , as haue beene lately vsed , and abusing our gracious disposition shall take the presumption to be reformers of the said inconuenience by any force , because they perceiue hereby how much we mislike of it : wee doe once againe denounce vnto them the same seuere punishment , which belongeth to rebels in the highest degree , and doe require all and euery our magistrates , officers and ministers of iustice ( according to their place of authoritie ) and all our loyall subiects according to their duety of assistance ( laying aside all slackenes or fond pittie ) to see it duely put in execution : as on the other side we doe promise , and are resolued graciously to lend our eares to humble and iust complaints , and to affoord our people iustice and fauour both in this and all occasions fit for a king to doe for his good subiects in generall and in particular . giuen at our mannour of greenewich the xxviij . day of iune , in the fifth yeere of our reigne of great britaine , france and ireland . god saue the king. ❧ imprinted at london by robert barker , printer to the kings most excellent maiestie . anno dom. . de successionibus apud anglos, or, a treatise of hereditary descents shewing the rise, progress and successive alterations thereof : and also the laws of descent as they are now in use. hale, matthew, sir, - . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a wing h estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) de successionibus apud anglos, or, a treatise of hereditary descents shewing the rise, progress and successive alterations thereof : and also the laws of descent as they are now in use. hale, matthew, sir, - . shower, bartholomew, sir, - . [ ], p., folded leaf. printed and are to be sold by a. baldwin ..., london : . first edition. attributed to sir matthew hale. cf. bm, nuc pre- . dedication and "to the reader" signed: b.s. [i.e. sir bartholomew shower]. "a scheme of pedigrees ...": p. [ ] at end. chapter of the author's the history and analysis of the common law of england, which was first published in . reproduction of original in the university of illinois (urbana-champaign campus). library. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng inheritance and succession -- england. land tenure -- england. primogeniture -- england. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - john pas sampled and proofread - john pas text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion de successionibus apud anglos : or , a treatise of hereditary descents , shewing the rise , progress and successive alterations thereof . and also the laws of descent as they are now in use . london printed and are to be sold by a. baldwin in warwick-lane , . to sir s. e. knight . this treatise is most humbly dedicated by his most obliged and most obedient servant , b. s. to the reader . this little treatise of hereditary descents being recommended to my perusal , i willingly embraced the opportunity of shewing my esteem of the great learning of the author , and my love for the publick in sending it abroad . and i was the i am unwilling to detain you any longer than only to tell you , that tho' in this treatise there is nothing but what most practicers do know already ; yet the method i beleive will render it useful in some sort to those of the greatest learning . b. s. de successionibus apud anglos . my design in the following discourse is to treat of the hereditary transmission of lands from ancestor to heir , and the certainty thereof , and what growth this doctrine has had in succession of time , till it arrived to the state and prefection which now it hath . and touching hereditary transmission , or succession commonly with us called descents , i shall hold this order in my discourse , ( viz. ) st , to give some account touching the ancient laws , both jewish , greek and roman , concerning this matter . ly , to observe some things , wherein it may appear , how the particular customs , or municipal laws of other countries , varied from those other laws . ly , to give some account of the rules and laws of descents , or hereditary transmissions as they stood , and at this day stand in england , with the successive alterations , that process of time , and the wisdom of our ancestors , and customs grown up , tacitely , gradually and successively , have made therein . and first touching the succession or descent of inheritance , as also of goods , among the jews , mr. selden in his book de successionibus apud hebraeos , hath given us an excellent account , as well out of the holy text , as out of the comments of rabbins , or jewish lawyers , which i briefly comprise , in the , , , and chapters of that book , the sum whereof , for so much as concerns my purpose , is this . . that in the descending line , the descent or succession , was unto all the sons , only the eldest had a double portion , ( viz. ) if there were three sons , the eldest had two fourths , and each other son one fourth part . . the nephew , or son of the son , dying in the fathers life , and so in infinitum , succeeded in the partition of his father , as if his father had been in possession of it . . the daughter did not succeed in the inheritance of the father , as long as there was sons , or descendants from the. but if one son had died in the life of his father , having daughters and without sons , his daughters succeeded in his part , as if he had been possessed . . in case there were no sons but daughters , the daughters equally succeeded their father without any prelation of the eldest , to two parts , or a double portion . . but if the son had an inheritance , and died without issue , having a father , and brothers , the inheritance of the son descended , not to his brothers unless in case of the next brother taking to wife the deceased's wife , to raise children for the brother deceased , but in such case the father inherited his son entirely . . but if the father were dead , it came to the brothers , as it were as heirs to the father , in the same manner , as if the inheritance had been actually possessed by him ; and therefore , the fathers other sons , and their descendants in infinitum succeeded , but yet equally , and without any double portion to the eldest , because ( though in truth the brothers succeeded as it were in right of representation from the father ; yet ) the father dying before his son , the descent was de facto , immediately from the brother to the brother , where the law gave not a double portion ; and in case the father had no sons , or descendants from them , then it descended to all the sisters . . if the son died without issue , and his father or any descendants from him were extant , it went not to the grandfather , or his other descendants . but if the father were dead without issue , it descended to the grandfather , and if he were dead , then to his sons and their descendants , and for want of them , then to his daughters or their descendants , as if the grandfather himself had been actually possessed , and had died . and so , mutatis mutandis , to the proavus , abavus , atavus , &c. but the inheritance of the son , never retorted to the mother , or to any of her ancestors , but she and they were totally excluded . . the double portion that was therefore jus primogenituroe never took place , but in that person that was the primogenitus of him , from whom the inheritance immediately descended , or in him that represented him . if a. had two sons , b. and c. and b. the eldest , had two sons , d. and e. and died , b. should have had a double portion , ( viz. ) two thirds and c. only one third . and if b. had died in the life time of a. and then a. died , d. and e. should have had the two thirds , or double portion , which had belonged to b. if he had survived his father , and this double portion should have been divided between d. and e. thus , viz. d. should have had two thirds of the two thirds that came to them , and e. the other third part thereof . among the graecians , the laws of descents , in some sort , resembled those of the jews . in some things they differed vide petyts leges atticae , tit. . de testamentis & haereditario jure , where the text of their law runs thus , omnes legitimi filii haereditatem paternam ex aequo inter se haeriscunto . siquis intestatus moritur , relictis filiabus , qui eas in vxores ducent haeredes sunto . si nullae supersint , hi ab intestato haereditatem cernunto . et primo quidem fratres defuncti germani & legitimi fratrum filii hoereditatem simul adeunto . si nulli fratres aut fratrum filii supersint , iis geniti eadem lege haereditatem cernunto : masculi autem iis geniti , etiamsi remotiori cognationis sint gradu , proeferuntor . si nulli supersint paterni proximi ad sobrinorum usque filios , materni defuncti propinqui simili lege haereditatem adeunto . si è neutra cognatione supersint intra definitum gradum , proprior cognatus paternus adito notho nothaeve . superstite legitima filia , nothus hoereditatem patris ne adito . this law is very obscure , but the sence seems to be briefly this , that all the sons equally inherit the father ; but if he have no sons , then the husbands of the daughters ; if he have no children , then his brothers , and his brothers children ; and if none , then his next kindred of the part of his father , preferring the males before the females ; and if none of the fathers line , ad sobrinorum usque filios , then to descend to the mothers line . vide petyt's gloss . in hanc legem . among the romans it appears , that the laws of succession did successively vary , for the laws of the twelve tables excluded the females from inheriting , and had many other straitnesses which were successively remedied by claudius , and after him by hadrianus , in senatus-consulto tertulliano , and after him by justinian , in the third book of his institutes , de haereditatibus quoe ab intestato deferuntur , and the two ensuing titles . and again , all this further explained , and setled by the novel constitutions of the same justinian , stiled authenticoe novelloe , de haereditatibus ab intestato venientibus , & agnatorum jure sublato ; therefore omitting the large inquiry into the successive changes of the roman law in this particular , i shall only set down how , according to the constitution , the roman law stands setled therein . the descents , or successions from any person , are of three kinds , viz. . descending . . ascending . . collateral , viz. in agnatos à parte patris , in cognatos à parte matris . st , in the descending line , these rules are directed . . the descending line , whether male or female , whether immediately or remote , takes place , and prevents the descent or succession ascending , or collateral , in infinitum . . the remote descendants of the descending line , succeed in stirpem , that is , to succeed into that right , which his parents should have had . . that this descent or succession is equal in all the descendants , without preference of the male before the female . so that , if the common ancestor had three sons and three daughters , each had a sixth part , and if one died in the life of the father , having three sons and three daughters , that sixth part , that had belonged to the person dead , should have been equally divided , between his or her six children , and so in infinitum , in the descending line . ly , in the ascending line , there are these rules . . if the son die without issue , or any descending from him , leaving a father and mother , both of them shall equally succeed to the son , and prevent all others of the collateral line , except brothers and sisters , as shall be said , or if only a father , or only a mother , he or she alone shall succeed . ly , but if the deceased had a father , mother , brother and sister , ex utriusque parentibus conjuncti ; they shall all equally succeed the son , by equal parts , without preference of the male. . in the collateral line . . if the descendant die without father , mother , son or daughter , or any descending from them in the right descending line , the brothers and sisters ex utriusque parentibus conjuncti , and the immediate children of them , shall succeed equally , withoutpreference of either sex , and the children from them , shall succeed in stirpes . as if there be a brother and sister , and the sister dies in the life of the descendant , leaving one or more children . all such children shall succeed in the moiety , that should have come to their deceased mother , had she survived . . but if there be no brothers or sisters , ex utriusque parentibus conjuncti ; nor any of their immediate children , then the brothers and sisters of the half-blood , and their immediate children , succeed in stirpes , to the deceased , without any prerogative to the male. . but if there be no brothers or sisters of the whole , or half-blood , nor any of their immediate children , ( for their grand-children are not provided for by law ) then the next kindred are called to the inheritance . . but if the next be in equal degree , whether on the part of the father , as agnati ; or on the part of the mother , as cognati , then they are equally called to the inheritance , and equally succeed in capita , and not in stirpes . thus far of these settled laws of the jews , greeks and romans . but the particular , or municipal laws , and customs of almost every country , derogate from these laws , and direct successions in a much different way . for instance , by the customs of lombardy ( according to which , the rule of the feuds , both in their descents , and other things , are much directed ) their descents are in a much different manner . lib. . feud . tit. . if a feud be granted to one brother , who dies without issue , it descends not to his brother ' , unless especially so provided in the first infeudation . — if the donee dies , having issue sons and daughters , it descends only to the sons . whereas , by the roman law , it descends both to the sons and daughters . the brother also succeeds not , to the brother , unless specially so provided , ibid. tit. . the ascendants succeed not , but only the descendants , neither doth a daughter succeed , nisi ex parte , vel nisi sit feudum foemininum . if we come nearer home , to the normandy laws , there are two kind of lands partable , or not partable ; the lands that are partable , are all vavasories , burgages , and such like , which are much of the nature of our soccage lands . these descend to all the sons , or to all the brothers . lands not partable are fiefs and dignities ; these descend to the eldest son , and not to all the sons , and if there be no sons , then to all the daughters partable . for want of sons and nephews , it descends to the daughters , if no sons or daughters ; or descendants from them , it descends to the brothers ; and for want of brothers , to the sisters , observing , as before , the difference between lands partable and not partable , and accordingly the descent runs to the posterity of the brothers , unto the seventh degree . and if there be no brothers or sisters , or any descendants from them , within the seventh degree , it descends to the father ; and if the father be dead , to the uncles and aunts , ut supra , to brothers and sisters ; and if there be none , then to the grand-father . so that , according to their law , the father is postpon'd to the brother and sister , and their issues , but is preferred before the uncle ; tho' by the jewish law , the father be preferred before the brother ; by the roman law succeeds together with the brother ; and by the english law , takes not immediately by descent , but the fathers brother . if lands descend from the part of the father , they never resort by descent , to the line of the mother ; but in cases of purchases by the son , who dies without issue ; for want of heirs of the part of the father , it descends to the heir of the part of the mother , according to the law of england . the son of the eldest son , dying in the life of the father , is preferred , before the younger son surviving the father , as the law stands here now , but it hath some interruption . . in an equality of degree , in collateral descents , the male line is preferred , before the female . . although by the civil law , fratres utriusque parentis conjuncti , praeseruntur fratribus consanguineis tantum , vel uterinis ; yet it should seem , by the custom of normandy , that fratres consanguinei , viz. ex eodem patre , sed diversa matre , shall take by descent , together with the brothers , ex utroque conjuncti , upon the death of any of such brothers . but this seems to be a mistake , for it seems the half-blood , hinders the descent between brothers or sisters . . leprosie was among them , an impediment of succession , but then it seems , it must be solemnly adjudged to be a leprosie , by the sentence of the church . upon this and much more that might be observed , upon the customs of several countries , the rules of succession , or hereditary transmission , have been various in several countries , according to various laws , customs and usuages . and now , after this brief survey of the laws and customs of other countries , i come to the laws and usuages of england in relation to descents , and the growth that those customs have successively had , and whereunto they are now arrived . . touching the hereditary succession , it seems , that according to the ancient british laws ; their eldest sons inherited their earldoms , and baronies , for they had great dignities , and jurisdictions annexed to them , and were in nature of principalities . but their ordinary freeholds descended to all the sons ; and this custom they carried with them into wales , whither they were driven . this appears by the statute walliae ed. . aliter usitatum est in wallia quam in anglia quoad successionem haereditatis , eò quòd haereditas partibilis est inter haeredes masculos , & à tempore cujus non extiterit memoria partibilis extitit . dominus rex non vult quòd consuetudo illa abrogetur , sed quòd haereditates remaneant partibiles inter consimiles haeredes , sicut esse consueverunt , & fiat partitio illius sicut fieri consuevit ; hoc excepto , quòd bastardi non habeant de caetero haereditates , & etiam quòd non habeant purpartes cum legitimis , nec sine legitimis . upon which three things are observable . first , that at this time , the hereditary succession of the eldest son , was then known to be the common , and usual law in england . ly , that the succession of all the sons , was the ancient customary law among the british in wales , which is here continued . ly , that before this time , bastards were admitted to inherit in wales , as well as the legitimate , which usuage is here abrogated . and although we have but few evidences , touching the british laws , before their expulsion into wales , yet this usage seems sufficiently to evidence , that this was the antient british law. ly , as to the times of the saxons and danes , their laws collected by brampton , and by mr. lambard , speak not much concerning the course of descents . yet it seems , that commonly the descents of their ordinary lands , ( at least except barronies and royal inheritances ) descended also to all the sons . among the laws of canutus , there is this law , lambard fol. , tit. de intestato mortuis . sive quis incuria , sive morte repentina fuerit intestato mortuus , dominus tamen nullam rerum suarum partem ( praeter eam quae jure debetur hereoti nomine ) sibi assumito . verùm eas judicio suo vxori , liberis , & cognatione proximis , justè ( pro suo cuique jure ) distribuito . upon which we may observe these things . st , that the wise had a share , as well of lands for her dower , as goods . ly , that in reference to hereditary succession , there then seemed to be little difference , between lands and feuds , for here is no distinction . ly , that there was a kind of settled right of succession , with reference to proximity and remoteness , pro suo cuique jure . ly , that in reference to children , they seemed all to succeed alike , without any distinction between the males and females . ly , that yet the ancestor might dispose by his will , as well of lands as goods , which usage seems to have obtained , unto the time of h. . as appears hereafter by glanvil . . it seems , that until the conquest , the descent of lands was , at least to all the sons alike , and , for ought appears also , to all the daughters , and that there was no difference in the hereditary transmission of lands and goods at least , in reference to the children . this appears , by those laws of king edward , confirmed by the conquerer and recited in lambard fol. . and also by mr. selden upon eadmerus , lege . tit. de intestatorum bonis . siquis intestatus obierit , liberi ejus haereditatem equaliter dividant . but this equal division of inheritances among the children , was found to be very inconvenient . for first , it weakned the strength of the kingdom , for by frequent parcelling , and subdividing of inheritances in process of time , inheritances were so crumbled , that there were few persons of able estates , left to undergo publick charges or offices . ly , it did by degrees , bring the inhabitants to a low kind of country living , and families were broken , and the younger sons , which had they not had these little parcells of land to apply themselves to , would have betaken themselves either to trades , or military , or civil , or ecclesiastical imployments , neglected those opportunities , and applied themselves to their small dividends of land , whereby they neglected opportunities of greater advantage , to enrich themselves and the kingdom . and therefore , william the conqueror ( having by his accession to the crown , gotten the possessions and demeans of the crown ; and also , very many and great possessions of them that opposed him , or adhered to harold ) ; disposeth of these lands , or great part of them to his countrymen , and others that adhered to him , and retained certain honorary tenures , either by baronage , or in knights service , or by grand serjeantry , for the defence of the kingdom . and possibly also , as the desire of many owners , changed their tenures into knights service . which introduction of new tenures , was not nevertheless without consent of parliament , as appears by the additional laws before mentioned , that king william by the advice of parliament made mention of by mr. selden , upon eadmerus pag. , among which this was one , ( viz. ) statuimus etiam & firmiter praecipimus ut omnes . comites , barones , milites . & servientes , & universi liberi homines totius regni nostri , habeant , & teneant se semper in armis , & in equis , ut decet & oportet . et quod sint semper prompti , & bene parati ad servicium suum integrum nobis explendendum , & peragendum , cum semper opus affuerit , secundum quod nobis de feodis debent , & tenementis suis de jure facere . et sicut illis statuimus , per commune consilium totius regni nostri & illis dedimus & concessimus in feodo jure haereditario . whereby it appears , that there were two kinds of military provisions , one that was set upon all freeholders , by common consent of parliament , which was usually called assiza armorum , and another that was conventional , and by tenure upon the infeudation of the tenant , which was called knights service , and sometimes royal , and sometimes foreign service , and sometimes servicium loricae . and hence it came to pass , that ( not only according to the custom of normandy , but also according to the custom of other countries . ) these honorary fees , or infeudations became descendable to the eldest , and not to all the males . and hence it is , that in kent , where the custom of descent to all the males , generally prevails ; they pretend , a concession of all their customs by the conqueror , to obtain their submission to his government , according to the romantick story of their moving wood. yet , even in kent it self , these ancient tenures or fees , that are anciently held by knights service , are descendable to the eldest son , as mr. lambard hath observed to my hand , in pag. . out of the th of h. . fitz tit. prescription , h. . . and the statute of h. . cap. . but yet , even in kent it self , if gavelkind land , escheat , or come to the crown by attainder , or dissolution of monasteries , and be granted to be held in knights service , or per baroniam , the customary descent is not changed , neither can be , but by act of parliament , for it is a custom fixed to the land. but those honorary fees , made in ancient times , so shortly after the conquest , did silently , and suddainly assume the rule of descent to the eldest , and accordingly held it ; and so , ( although possibly there were no act of parliament of those elder times , that altered the ancient course of descents , from all the sons to the eldest , or at least none that we know of ; yet , ) the use of the neighbour country , might introduce the same usage here , as to these honorary possessions . and because these honorary inseudations were many , and scattered almost through all the kingdom in a little time , they introduced a a parity in the succession of lands of other tenures , as soccage or vavasories . so that without question , by little and little almost generally in all counties of england ( except kent , who were most tenacious of their own customs , in which they gloried , and some particular fees , and places where a contrary usage prevailed ) the generality of descents or successions by little and little , as well of soccage lands , as of knights service , went to the eldest son , according to the declaration of king edward the first , in the statute of wales abovementioned , as will more fully appear by what follows . in the time of h. . lambard fol. . we find in his th law , that it should seem , that the whole land did not yet descend to the eldest son , but began a little to look that way . primum patris feudum primogenitus filius habeat . as to collateral descents , the law determined thus , lambard ut supra . siquis sine liberis decesserit , pater out mater ejus in haereditatem succedat ; vel frater vel soror si pater & mater desint ; si nec hos hàbeat , soror patris vel matris , & deinceps in quintum geniculum ; qui cum propinquiores in parentela , fiunt , haereditario jure succedant ; & dum virilis sexus extiterit , & haereditas abinde fit , foeminina non haereditetur . by this it seems . . the eldest son ( though he had jus primogeniturae , the principal fee of his father , yet ) he carried not all the land. . that for want of children the father or mother , inherited , before the brother or sister . . that for want of children , father , mother , brothers and sisters , the lands decended to the uncles and aunts , to the fifth degree . . that in succession collateral proximity of kindred was preferred . . that the male was preferred before the female ; that is , the father's line was preferred before the mothers , unless the land descended from the mother , and then the mothers line was to be preferred . how this law was observed in the intervals , between henry the first , and henry the second , we can give no account . but the next period that we come to , is henry the d . glanvil in his seventh book , gives us some account how the law stood in his time , wherein , notwithstanding it will appear , there was some incertainty in the business of descents , or hereditary successions , though it was much better polited than formerly . the rules then of succession were either in reference to goods or lands . as to goods , one third part went to the wife , another third part to the children , the other third part to the testator's disposal ; but if he had no wife , a moiety went to the children , the other moiety to his disposal , glan . lib. . c. . but as to the succession of lands , the rules were these : st , if the lands were knights service , they generally went to the eldest son ; and in case of no son , to all the daughters ; and in case of no children , to the eldest brother . ly , if the lands were socage , it descended to all the sons , si fuerit socagium & id antiquitus divisum , only the chief house was to be allotted to the pourparty of the eldest , and a compensation made to the rest in lieu thereof . si vero non fuerit antiquitus divisum , tunc primogenitus , secundum quorundam consuetudinem totam haereditatem obtinebit , secundum autem quorundam consuetudinem postnatus silius haeres est , glanvil lib. . cap. . so that although custom directed variously the descent , either to the eldest , youngest , or all the sons ; yet , it seems at this time jus commune , or common right spoke for the eldest son to be heir , no custom intervening . ly , as the son , or daughter , so their children in infinitum are preferred in the descent before the collateral line , or uncles . ly , but if a man have two sons , and the eldest dies in the life time of the father , having a son or daughter , and then the father dies ; it was then controverted , whether the son , or the nephew should succeed the father , though the better opinion seemed to be for the nephew , ibid. cap. . ly , a bastard could not inherit , ibid. cap. and although by the common and civil law , if a. hath a son born of b. before marriage , and after a. marries b. this son be legitimate and hereditable : yet according to the law of england then used , as well as after , he was not hereditable , glan . lib. . cap. . ly , in case the purchaser die without issue , the lands descended to the brother , and for want of brothers to the sisters , and for want of them to the children of the brothers or sisters , and for want of them to the uncles , and so onwards according to the rules of descents at this day ; and the father and mother were not immediately to inherit the son , but the brothers or uncles , and their children , glan . lib. . cap. . and it seems , that in all things else the rule of descent , in reference to the collateral line , held much the same as now : as namely , if land descended of the part of the father , it should not resort to the part of the mother , & è converso ; but in case of purchase , for want of heirs of the part of the father , it resorted to the line of the mother , and the nearer and worthier blood was preferred , so that if there were any of the part of the father , though never so far distant , it hindered the descent to the line of the mother , though much nearer . there were in those times as it seems two impediments of descent , or hereditary succession which now do not at all obtain . . leprosie , if so adjudged by the sentence of the church , this indeed i find not in glanvil , but i find it pleaded , and allowed in the time of king jolin , and the land adjudged to the sister , p. . johannis . . there was another curiosity , and it is wonderful to see how much , and how long it prevailed , for we find it in use in glanvil , that wrote in king hen. d's time ; in bracton , that wrote in hen. d's time ; in fleta , that wrote in the time of ed. . and in the broken year ed. . fitz. avowry . nemo potest esse tenens & dominus & homagium repellit perquisitum . and therefore , if the eldest brother had enfeoffed the second reserving homage , and had received homage , and then the second had died without issue , it should have descended to the youngest , and not to the eldest brother ; quia homagium epellit perquisitum , tee for this that i may mention it once for all , glan . lib. . cap. . bra. lib. . cap. . fleta lib. . cap. . and so it has been for ought i can find ever since ed. . and indeed it is antiquated rather than altered , and the fancy upon which it is grounded hath appeared trivial ; for if the eldest brother enfeoff the second reserving homage , the second dying without issue , it will descend to the eldest as heir , and the seignioury is extinct . indeed it might have been some reason to have examined , whether he might not have waved the descent , in case his services had been more beneficial than the land ; but there could be little reason for this to exclude him from succession . i shall mention no more of this nor the former impediment , ( viz. ) leprosie , for they are both vanished , and antiquated long since , and neither the one nor the other is at this day any impediment of descent . and now passing over the time of king john , and richard the first , because i find nothing of moment in that time relating to the title in question , unless the usurpation of king john upon his eldest brothers son , which he would fain have justified , by introducing a law of preferring the younger son before the nephew , descended from the eldest brother : but this pretention could no ways justifie his usurpation , as hath been shewn in the time of henry the second . we have the tractate of bracton lib. . cap. , . and lib. . the truth is , there is so little variance as to the points of descents , between the law as it was taken when bracton wrote , and the law as it was afterwards taken in edward the first 's time , when britton and fleta wrote , that there is very little difference between them as may easily appear , especially by comparing of bract. ubi supra and fleta lib. . chapter the th , liber the th , chapters the st and d , that the latter seems to be in effect an abstract of the former , therefore i shall set down what in substance both say , and thereby it will appear , that the rules of descents in the times of henry the d , and edward the st , were very much one . st , the law seems settled now unquestionably , that the eldest son was in common right heir , not only in cases of knights service land , but also of soccage lands , unless there was a special custom to the contrary , as in kent and some other places , and so that point of the common law is fully settled . ly , that all the descendants in infinitum , from any person that had been heir ( if he had been living ) were inheritable : as the descendants of the son , of the brother , of the uncle , & c. ly , that the eldest son dying in the life time of the father , his son or issue was to have the preference as heir to the father before the younger brother , and so the doubt in glanvil's time was settled , glan . lib. . cap. . cum quis autem moriatur habens filium postnatum & ex primogenito filio praemorturo nepotem , magna quidem juris dubitatio solet esse , uter illorum praeferendus sit alij in illa successione ; scilicet utrum filius an nepos . ly , the father , or grandfather could not by law inherit immediately his son. ly , leprosie , though it were an exception to the plaintiff , because he ought not to converse in the courts of law , yet we no where find , that it was an impediment of descent . so that upon the whole matter for any thing i can observe in them , the rules of descent then stood settled in all points as they are at this day , except those few matters which yet in process of time soon settled as they now stand , ( viz. ) . that impediments of the hinderance of descent , from him that did homage , to him that received it , seems to have yet been in use , at least till the ed. . and in fleta's time , for he puts the case and admits it . whereas they both agree that half-blood to him who is the purchaser , is an impediment of the descent ; yet in case of a descent from a common ancestor , half-blood is no impediment . for instance ; a. hath issue b. a son , and c. a daughter by one venter , and d. a son by another venter , if b. purchase in fee , and die without issue , it shall descend to the sister , and not to the brother of the half-blood : but if the land had descended from a. to b. and he had entred and died without issue ; it was a doubt in the time of bracton and britton , whether it should go to the younger son , or the daughter , but though it were then a doubt , yet the law hath since that time been settled , that in both cases it descends to the daughter , seseina sacit stirpem & primum gradum , & possessio fratris de feodo simplici facit sororem esse haeredem . upon the whole matter it seems , that abating these small inconsiderable variances , the states and rules of descents as they stood , in the time of henry the third , or at least of edward the first , were reduced to their full complement and perfection , and vary nothing considerably , from what they are at this day , and have continued ever since that time . i shall therefore set down the state , and rules of descents in fee-simple as they stand at this day , without medling with particular limitations and entails , which vary the course of descents in some cases from the common rules of descents in hereditary succession , and herein we shall see what the law hath been , and continued touching the same ever since bracton , who wrote in henry the third's time , now above four hundred years since , and by that we shall see what alterations succession of time hath made therein . and now to give a short scheme of the rules of descents , or hereditary successions of the lands of subjects , as the law stands at this day , and hath stood settled here for above four hundred years . all possible hereditary succession may be distinguished into these three kinds : st , descending , as from father to son , or daughter , to nephew , or niece . ly , collateral , as from brother to brother , or sister and brothers children . ly , ascending , either direct , as from son to father , or grand-father which is not admitted by the laws of england ; or in the transversal line , as to the uncle or aunt , great uncle , or great aunt , and because this line again divides it self into the line of the father and mother , this transversal ascending succession is either in the line of the father , grandfather , & c. or in the line of the mother , grandmother , & c. the former are called agnati , the latter cognati , i shall therefore set down a scheme of pedigrees , to explain the nature of descents , or hereditary successions . pedigree . this pedigree with its application will give a plain account of all hereditary succession , under their several cases and limitations , as will appear by these ensuing rules , take our mark or epocha from the father . rule , in descents the law preferrs the worthiest blood ; and upon this account . st , in all descents immediately the male is preferred before the female , whether in successions , descending , ascending or collateral ; therefore the son inherits and excludes the daughter , the brother is preferred before the sister , the uncle before the aunt . ly , in all descents immediate , the descendants from males are preferred before the descendants from females ; and hence it is , that the daughter of the eldest son , is preferred in descent from the father , before the son of the youngest son , the daughter of the eldest brother or uncle is preferred before the son of the younger ; the uncle , nay the great uncle , or great grand-fathers brother shall inherit before the uncle of the mothers side . rule , that in descents , the next of blood is preferred before the remote , though equally worthy ; and upon this account . st , the sister of the whole blood , is preferred in descents before the brother of the half blood , because more strictly joyned to the brother of the whole blood , ( viz. by the father and mother ) than the brother , though otherwise more worthy of the half blood. ly , because the son , or daughter is nearer than the brother , the brother or sister than the uncle , the son or daughter shall inherit before the brother or sister , and they before the uncle . ly , that yet the father or grand-father , or mother or grand-mother in a direct ascending line , shall never succeed immediately , the son or grand-child : but the fathers brother shall be preferred before the father , and the grand-fathers brother , shall be preferred before the grand-father , and yet upon a strict account , the father is nearer of blood to the son than the uncle , yea than the brother ; for the brother is therefore of the blood of the brother , because both derive from the same parent , the common fountain of both their blood. and upon this account , the father is at this day preferred in the administration of his sons goods , before his sons brother of the whole blood , and a remainder limited proximo de sanguine shall vest in the uncle . rule , that all the descendants from such a person , as by the law of england , might have been heir to another , hold the same right by representation , as that common root , from whom they are descended . and therefore , st , they are in law in the same right of proximity and worthiness of blood , as their root that might have been heir , was in case he had been living : and hence it is , that the son or grand-child , whether son or daughter of the eldest son , succeeds before the youngest son. the son or grand-child of the eldest brother , succeeds before the youngest brother , and so in all degrees of succession by the right of representation , the right of proximity , is transferred from the root to the branches , and gives them the same preference as next , or worthiest of blood. ly , this right transferred by representation , is infinite and unlimited in the degrees of those that descend from the representer ; the filius , the nepos , pronepos , abnepos , and so in infinitum , enjoy the same privilege of representation , as those from whom they derive their pedigree , as well in descents lineal as transversal ; and therefore the abnepos , or abneptis of the eldest brother , whether it be son or daughter , shall be preferred before the youngest brother , because , though the female be less worthy than the male ; yet she stands in right of representation of the eldest brother , who was more worthy than the youngest . ly , and upon this account it is , that if a man hath two daughters , and the eldest die in the life of the father , leaving six daughters , and then the father dies , the youngest daughter shall have an equal share to all the rest , because they stand in representation of their mother , who should have had but a moiety . th rule , that by the laws of england , without a special custom to the contrary , the eldest son or brother , or uncle excludes the younger , and the males in an equal degree do not all inherit : but the daughters whether by the same , or divers venters do inherit together , the father and all the sisters do inherit , the brother by the same venter . th rule , that the last actual seizin in any ancestor , makes him as it were the root of the descent equal to many intents , as if he had been a purchaser ; and therefore , he that cannot according to the rules of descent derive his succession to him , who was last actually seized , though he might have derived his succession to some precedent ancestor shall not inherit . and hence it is , that where lands descend to the eldest son from the father , and the son enters and dies without issue , his sister of the whole blood shall inherit as heir to the brother , and not the younger son of the half blood , because he cannot be heir to the brother of the half blood. but if the eldest son had survived the father , and died before entry , the youngest son should inherit as heir to the father and not the sister , because he is heir to father , that was last actually seized . and hence it is , that though the uncle is preferred before the father in descent to the son ; yet if the uncle enter after the death of the son , and die without issue , the father shall inherit the uncle , quia seisina sacit stirpem . th rule , that whosoever derives a title to any land , must be of the blood of him that first purchased it . and this is the reason why , if the son purchase lands and dies without issue , it shall descend to the heirs of the part of his father , and if he hath none , then to the heirs of the part of his mother , because tho' the son hath both the blood of the father and of the mother in him , yet he is of the blood of the mother , and the consanguinei of the mother are consanguinei cognati of the son. and of the other side , if the father had purchased the land , and it had descended to the son , and the son had died without issue , without any heir of the part of his father , it should never have descended in the line of his mother , but escheated , for though the consanguinei of the mother were consanguinei to the son , yet they were not of consanguinity to the father , who was the purchaser . but if there had been none of the blood of the grandfather , yet it might have resorted to the line of the grandmother , because her consanguinei were as well of the blood of the father as the mothers consanguinity is of the blood of the son. and consequently also , if the grandfather had purchased lands , and it had descended from him to the father , and from him to the son , if the son had entered and died without issue , his fathers brothers or sisters , or their descendants , or for want of them , his grandfathers brothers or sisters , or their descendants , or for want of them , his great grandfathers brothers or sisters , or their descendants , or for want of them his great grandmothers , brothers or sisters , or their descendants might have inherited ; for the consanguinity of the great grandmother , was of the consanguinity of the grandfather , but none of the line of the mother or grandmother , ( viz. ) the grandfathers wife should have inherited , for that they were not of the blood of the first purchaser . and the same rule è converso holds in purchases in the line of the mother or grandmother , they shall always keep in the same line , wherein the first purchaser settled them . but it is not necessary , that he that inherits be always heir to the purchaser , but it sufficeth if he be of his blood , and heir to him who was last seised . the father purchaseth lands , and it descends to his son who dies without issue , it shall never descend to the heir of the part of the sons mother ; but if the sons grandmother hath a brother , and the sons great grandmother hath a brother , and there is no other kindred , it shall descend to the grandmothers brother ; and yet , if the father had died without issue , his grandmothers brother should have been preferred before his mothers brother , because the former was heir of the part of his father , though by a female , and the latter was heir of the part of his mother . but where the son is once seised , and dies without issue , his grandmothers brother is to him heir of the part of his father , and being nearer than his great grandmothers brother , is preferred in descent . but this is always intended , so long as the line of the descent is not broken , for if the son alien those lands , and then repurchase them again in fee ; now the rules of descent hold as if he had been the original purchaser , and that it had never been in the line of the father or mother . th rule , in succession , as well in the line descending , transversal or ascending , the line that is first derived from a male root , hath always the preference . a. hath issue two sons , b. and c. b. hath issue a son and a daughter , d. and e. d. the son hath issue a daughter , f. and e. the daughter hath issue a son , g. ● . nor any of his descendants shall not inherit so long as there are any descendants from d. and e. and e. the daughter , nor none of her descendants shall inherit , so long as there are descendants from d. the son , whether they be male or female . in descents , collateral as brothers and sisters , the same instance applied evideceth the conclusion . but in successions in the line ascending , there must be a fuller explanation , because it is darker and more obscure ; i shall therefore set forth the whole method of transversal , ascending , descents in these ensuing rules . st rule , if the son purchaseth lands in fee-simple , and dies without issue , those of the male line ascending usque in infinitum shall be preferred in the descent according to their proximity of degree to the son. therefore the fathers brothers or sisters , or their descendants shall be preferred before the brothers of the grandfather and their descendants . and again , if the father had no brothers nor sisters , the grandfathers brothers and their descendants , and for want of brothers , the grandfathers sisters , and their descendants should be preferred before the brothers of the great grandfather . for although by the law of england the father nor grandfather cannot immediately inherit the son , yet the direction of the descent to the collateral line ascending , is as much as if the father or grandfather had been by law inheritable , and therefore as in case the father had been inheritable , he should have inherited the son before the grandfather , and the grandfather before the great grandfather , and consequently if the father had inherited and died without issue , his eldest brother and his descendants should have inherited before the younger brother , and his descendants , and if he had no brothers but sisters , his sisters and their descendants should inherit before his uncles , or the grandfathers brothers , and their descendants , so though the law of england exclude the father from inheriting , it substitutes , and directs the descent as it should have been , if the father had inherited , viz. le ts in those first that are in the next degree to him . d rule is this , that the line of the part of the mother shall never inherit , as long as there are any though never so remote of the line of the part of the father ; and therefore , though the mother hath a brother , yet if the atavus or atavia of the father hath a brother or sister , he and she shall be preferred and exclude the mothers brother though he is much nearer . d rule , but yet farther . the male line of the part of the father descending , shall in oeternum exclude the female line of the part of the father ascending , and therefore in the case proposed , the son purchasing lands and dying without issue , the sister of the father , grandfather or great grandfather , and so in infinitum shall be preferred before the fathers mothers brother , though the fathers mothers brother be a male , and the fathers grandfathers sister be a female , and more remote , because it is in the male line , which is more worthy than the female line , though even the female line be of the blood of the father . th rule , but as in the male line ascending , the more near is preferred in the descent , before the remote ; so in the female line descending , so it be of the blood of the father , the more near is preferred before the remote . the son therefore purchaseth lands and dies without issue , the father , grandfather , and great grandfather , and so upward , all the male line are dead without brother or sister , or any descending from them , but the fathers mother hath a sister or brother , and also the father's grandmother hath a brother , and likewise the fathers great grand-mother hath a brother ; it is true , all these are of the blood of the father , and the very remotest of these shall exclude the sons mothers brother ; and it is likewise true , that the great grand-mothers blood hath passed through more males of the fathers blood , than the blood of the grand-mother , or mother of the father , but in this case the fathers mothers sister shall be preferred before the fathers grand-mothers brother , or great grand-mothers brother , because they are all in the female line , viz. cognati , and the fathers mothers sister is the nearest , and therefore shall have the preference , as well as in the male line ascending the fathers brother or sister , shall be preferred before the grand-fathers brother . th rule , and yet in the last case , where the son purchaseth lands and dies without issue , and without heir of the part of his grand-father , the land should bescend to his grand-mothers brother or sister , as heir of the part of the father ; yet , if the father had purchased this land and died , and it descended to his son who died without issue , the lands should not have descended to his fathers mothers brother or sister , for the reason given in the eighth rule , but for want of brothers or sisters of the grand-father , great grand-father , and so upward in the male ascending line , it should descend to the fathers grand-mothers brother or sister , which is heir of the part of the father , who should be preferred before the fathers mothers brother , which was in truth the heir of the part of the mother of the purchaser , though the next heir of the part of the father of him that last died seized . and therefore , as if the father who was the purchaser had died without issue , the heirs of the part of his father , whether of the male or female line , should have been preferred before the heir of the part of the mother ; so the son that stands now in the place of his father , and inherits to him primarily in his fathers line dying without issue , the same devolution and hereditary succession , should have been as if his father had immediately died without issue , which should have been to his grandmothers brother as heir of the part of the father , though by the female line , and not to his mothers brother , which was only heir of the part of his mother , and not to take till his fathers fine , as well female as male was spent . th rule , if the son purchase lands and dies without issue , and it descends to any heir of the part of the father , and then the line of the father ( after entry and possession ) fail , it shall never resort to the line of the mother , tho' in the first instance , or first descent from the son , it might have descended to the heir of the part of the mother : for now by this descent and seisin , it is lodged in the fathers line , to whom the heir of the part of the mother can never derive a title as heir , but it shall rather escheat . but if the heir of the part of the father had not entered , but then that line had failed , it might have descended to the heir of the part of the mother , as heir to the son , to whom immediately for want of heirs of the part of the father it might have descended . th rule , and upon the same reason , if it had once descended to the heir of the part of the father of the grand-fathers line , and that heir had entered , it should never descend to the heir of the part of the father of the grand-mothers line , because the line of the grand-mother was not of blood or consanguinity to the line of the grandfathers side . th rule , if for default of heirs of the purchaser of the part of the father , the lands descend to the line of the mother , the heirs of the mother on the part of her fathers side , shall be preferred in succession before her heirs of the part of her mothers side , because they are the more worthy . a great part of these differences are easily to be collected out of the resolutions in the case of clare versus brooke , alias cobham . and thus the law stands in point of descents , or hereditary succession in england at this day , and for above four hundred years past . finis . a scheme of pedigrees : and also , the degrees of parentage and consanguínity . adgnati ex parts patris . cousins on the part of the father , the more worthy in descents , tho' farther remote . recta linea : the right line . cognati ex parte matris . cousins on the part of the mother , the less worthy in descents , tho' nearer of kin. linea transversalis seu collateralis the side line . linea transver salis , seu collateralis the side line .   abpatruus magnus . the great uncles grand-father on the fathers side . tritavus . the great grand-fathers great grand-father . tritavia . the great grand-fathers great grand-mother . abavunculus . the great uncles grand-father on the mothers side .   abamita magna . the great uncles grand-mother on the fathers side . attavus . the great grand-fathers grand-father . attavia . the great grand-fathers grand-mother . abmatertera magna . the great uncles grand-mother on the mothers side . propatruus magnus . the great uncles father on the fathers side . abavus . the great grand-fathers father . abavia . the great grand-fathers mother . proavunculus magnus . the great uncles father on the mothers side . proamita magna . the great uncles mother on the fathers side . proavus . the great grand-father . proavia . the great grand-mother . promatertera magna . the great uncles mother on the mothers side . patruus magnus . the great uncle on the fathers side . avus . the grand-father . avia . the grand-mother . avunculus magnus . the great uncle on the mothers side . amita magna . the great aunt on the fathers side . pater . father . mater . mother . matertera magna . the great aunt on the mothers side . patruus . the uncle or fathers brothers . linea recta ascendens . amita . the aunt or fathers sister . the right line ascending . matertera . the aunt or mothers sister . frater . a brother . propositus . linea recta descendent . the right line descending . frater , a brother . semi germanus frater , brother of one father and several mothers . uterinus frater , brother of one mother and several fathers . soror , sister . soror . sister . soror , sister . patrueles à patruo . sons or daughters , cousin germans on the fathers side . filius . son. filia . daughter . avunculini ab avunculo . sons or daughters , cousin germans on the mothers side .     amitini ab amita . sons or daughters , cousin germans on the fathers side . nepos linealis , the lineal nephew . neptis linealis . the lineal neece . materterini à matertera . sons or daughters , cousin germans on the mothers side .   pronepos linealis . the lineal nephew or neeces son. proneptis linealis . the lineal nephew or neeces daughter .   horum . of these . filius . the son. filia . the daughter right cousin germans . abnepos linealis . the grand-son of the lineal nephew or neece . abneptis linealis . the grand-daughter of the lineal nephew or neece . horum . of these . filius . the son. filia . the daughter , right cousin germans . eorum . of these . nepos collateralis . the collateral nephew . neptis collateralis . the collaral niece . atnepos linealis . the great grand-son of the lineal nephew or neece . atneptis linealis . the great grand-daughter of the lineal nephew or neece . eorum . of these . nepos collateralis . the collateral nephew . neptis collateralis . the collateral neece .   eorundem . of these . pronepos collateralis . the collateral nephews son. proneptis collateralis . the collateral nephews daughter . trinepos linealis . the great great grand-son of the lineal nephew or neece . trineptis linealis . the great great grand-daughter of the lineal nephew or neece . eorundem . of these . pronepos collateralis . the collateral nephews son. proneptis collateralis . the collateral nephews daughter . et sic in infinitum . et sic infinitum .   et sic in infinitum . et sic in infinitum . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a -e adgnati , quasi 〈◊〉 patre congeniti . cognati 〈…〉 parte 〈◊〉 〈…〉 patre an . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , quasi 〈…〉 . avunculus . the uncle or mothers brother . avunculus quasi 〈◊〉 minor . amita , quasi à 〈◊〉 tertia . matertera quasi m●●ltera . frater , quasi 〈◊〉 alter . semi germani fratres , quasi ex 〈◊〉 patre & separalibus ma●●ribus nati . 〈◊〉 , quasi 〈◊〉 orta ●liversa . uterini 〈…〉 utero . fra●tes 〈◊〉 separalibus patribus ●●lius , filia . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. ab amore ●arantum . nepos , quasi 〈◊〉 post . an humble request, to the ministers of both universities, and to all lawyers in every inns-a-court to consider of the scriptures and points of law herein mentioned, and to give a rational and christian answer, whereby the difference may be composed in peace, between the poor men of england, who have begun to digge, plow, and build upon the common land, claiming it their own, by right of creation. and the lords of mannours that trouble them, who have no other claiming to commons, then the kings will, or from the power of the conquest, and if neither minister nor lawyer, will undertake a reconciliation in this case, for the beauty of our common-wealth. then we appeale, to the stones, timber, and dust of the earth you tread upon, to hold forth the light of this business, questioning not, but that power that dwells every where, will cause light to spring out of darkness, and freedom out of bondage. by gerard winstanley. winstanley, gerrard, b. . this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text r in the english short title catalog (wing w ). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing w estc r this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) an humble request, to the ministers of both universities, and to all lawyers in every inns-a-court to consider of the scriptures and points of law herein mentioned, and to give a rational and christian answer, whereby the difference may be composed in peace, between the poor men of england, who have begun to digge, plow, and build upon the common land, claiming it their own, by right of creation. and the lords of mannours that trouble them, who have no other claiming to commons, then the kings will, or from the power of the conquest, and if neither minister nor lawyer, will undertake a reconciliation in this case, for the beauty of our common-wealth. then we appeale, to the stones, timber, and dust of the earth you tread upon, to hold forth the light of this business, questioning not, but that power that dwells every where, will cause light to spring out of darkness, and freedom out of bondage. by gerard winstanley. winstanley, gerrard, b. . [ ], p. printed j.c. and are to be sold at the two bibles, at the west end of pauls church-yard, london : . reproduction of original in the victoria and albert museum, forster collection, london, england. eng christian life -- early works to . land settlement -- england -- early works to . land tenure -- england -- early works to . a r (wing w ). civilwar no an humble request, to the ministers of both universities, and to all lawyers in every inns-a-court. to consider of the scriptures and points winstanley, gerrard b the rate of defects per , words puts this text in the b category of texts with fewer than defects per , words. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images - elspeth healey sampled and proofread - elspeth healey text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion an humble request ▪ to the ministers of both universities , and to all lawyers in every inns-a-court . to consider of the scriptures and points of law herein mentioned , and to give a rational and christian answer , whereby the difference may be composed in peace , between the poor men of england , who have begun to digge , plow , and build upon the common land , claiming it their own , by right of creation . and the lords of mannours that trouble them , who have no other claiming to commons , then the kings will , or from the power of the conquest , and if neither minister nor lawyer , will undertake a reconciliation in this case , for the beauty of our common-wealth . then we appeale , to the stones , timber , and dust of the earth you tread upon , to hold forth the light of this business , questioning not , but that power that dwells every where , will cause light to spring out of darkness , and freedom out of bondage . by gerard winstanley . cor. . . i speak to your shame ; is it so , that there is not a wise man among you , no not one , that shall be able to judge between his brethren ? london , printed by j. c. and are to be sold at the two bibles , at the west end of pauls church-yard , . to the reader , the occasion of the publication of this request to the ministers and lawyers was this : upon a discourse between parson plat , lord of the mannor of cobham , and gerard winstanley , about the matter of digging upon the commons in his lordship . mr. plat did promise and engage himself with loving expressions , and words savouring of much moderation , tenderness and reason , that if gerard winstanley could prove by scriptures , the lawfulnesse of the work , that is , that the earth was made to be a common treasury , and ought to remain so to whole mankind , without respect of persons : that he would never hereafter molest the diggers , but quietly suffer them to build and plant the commons in his lordship : and that he would bring in his estate , and become one in that community . this which here followes is a copy of those scriptures i delivered to him , which he had not then time to read over ; but upon discourse at the same time , upon the same scriptures , he did not gain-say , but by his words of gentleness declared a condescension , to the light of that universall freedom , held forth thereby to mankind . for the present i offer this to the consideration of all rational and christian-spirited men , to judge in the case ; and according as mr. plat gives answer , i shall be as ready to declare and publish . for the present farewell . per me , gerard winstanley . to the ministers of both vniversities , and the lawyers of every inns-a-court . gentlemen , brethren , and englishmen , you all heare of the difference between lords of m●nnours , and the poor people of england . the poor people say , the common land is their due , by right of creation , and by the lawes of a common-wealth . and being encouraged herefrom , do build houses , and plant them corn for their livelihood , upon the commons and wast land , that they may live like men , in their right of creation ; and that they may enjoy the benefit of a free common-wealth , as they are englishmen . the lords of mannours say , it is not their creation-right ; thereupon beat them , pull down their houses , and much abuse them , pushing the poor with their hornes of power , like unrational beasts . and though the difference rise higher and higher between them , both in point of conscience , and point of law yet hitherto , there does not any appear to reconcile the difference , but gentlemen , let it not be said hereafter among posterity but that there were some wise men among you , that were not blinded by passion , covetousness , and self-interest ; but that you would adventure to speak for righteousness , and that took the cause of the poor into your hands . this difference between lords of mannours and the poor , about the common land , is the greatest controversie that hath rise up this . yeares past . if reason and righteousness which is the foundation of scriptures , and just lawes do give it us : let us have our freedom quietly ; if neither reason nor righteousness give us this freedom , we will lie still , and never trouble you more . therefore i leave these following scriptures and considerations to you , and rest , a fellow-commoner of england , and true friend to freedom , gerard winstanley ▪ april th . . the whole earth : by the law of creation , is the common treasury of free livelyhood , to whole mankind . and those lords of mannors , and others , that deny any part of mankind , this creation-freedome in the earth , are sinners in the highest degree , and are upholders of the fall & curse of mankind . to prove this by scripture . it is plaine , that the scriptures consists of three parts . first , they declare the righteous law of creation , wherein god gives to all mankind , equall freedome , without respect of persons . secondly , they declare the fall of mankind from this righteous law ; and the various unrighteous actings of mankind , under his falne estate , or power of darknesse , by whom he is taken prisoner . thirdly , they declare the restoration of mankind to his creation-rigteousnesse : by whom he is restored : and the actings and conversation of mankind upon his resurrection from under that dark , or faln estate . i le begin with the first , and take notice how the scriptures gives an universal freedome in the earth to whole mankind . in genesis , god said , let us make man : by man , in the singular number implies , mankind . and let them have dominion : by them , in the plurall number , implies , whole mankind in all his branches . againe : he created man ; that is : mankind . male and female , created he them . and bid them , in the plurall number ; increase , and multiply , and replenish the earth : and after mankind , in his varietie of branches , did increase and fill the earth . then the creating power , or god , gives commands more . first , to subdue the earth . and this implies , plowing , diging , and all kind of manuring . so then observe . that bare and simple working in the earth , according to the freedome of the creation , though it be in the sweat of mans browes , is not the curse . but for one part of mankind , to be a task-master , and to live idle ; and by the beast-like power of the sword , does force another part of mankind to worke as a servant and slave . this is the power of the curse , which makes mankind eat his bread in sorrow by the sweat of his browes . the second command from god , was this , to mankind . that he should have dominion over the fish , fowle , beasts , hearbs , plants . and this implies ; that whole mankind , spread abroad in variety of bodies , and yet but the unity of one creation , mankind is the lord of the earth : as david saith ; the earth is the lords : that is , mankinds . but there is not the least tittle spoken , that one part of mankind should subdue , and rule in oppression over another , for this came in after the fall , and is the beastly power that hath beene suffered to reigne , for a time , times , and dividing of time . when mankind lives in the unity of the one spirit of righteousnesse ; he lives in the light , and the light lives in him ; which is christ in him , the light of the father , or the restoring power . but when mankind lives in division , contention , and covetousnesse , one part of mankind hedging themselves into the earth by force and sword , ( as experience shewes , the strongest sword , rules over the weakest ) and thereby shutting out another part of mankind , making them slaves . now mankind lives under the power of the fall , in darknesse , and darknesse lives in him . and this darknesse is the devill , or sonne of bondage , which causes all division and sorrow . this same creation-right , or common freedome in the earth among brethren , was confirmed by covenant from god , to noah , and his seed , without limitation or respect of persons . so that , we see when that almighty power did work a restoration in the earth , he gave the earth still to be in common ; shutting out none , from enjoying the benefit of his creation : but when mankind began to quarrell about the earth ; and some would have all , and shut out others , forcing them to be servants ; this was mans fall , it is the ruling of the curse , and is the cause of all divisions , wars , and pluckings up . this same creation-right , or universall freedome in the earth , was confirmed by covenant to abraham , and his seed , not limiting , or restraining any part . now in this covenant to abraham , god points out the work of restoration by christ , the restoring power , who shall be the joy and blessing of all nations . so that in the work of restoration , god brings mankind to this universall freedome in the earth , without respect of persons , according to the righteous law of the first creation of all things . in the next place , the scriptures declare the fall of mankind from this righteous law of creation . and the fall of man , is declared in these words : mankind being in honour , abideth not ; that is : he being made the lords of the earth , and had dominion over the fish , fowle , and beasts , and was free in himselfe ; yet he abode not in that honour . for one part of mankind , seeking to enslave another part , setting up one to be a king , or lord , casting another at his foot-stoole , the stronger part hedging himselfe into the earth , by armies and selfe-will lawes , and thereby hedged out others , did hereby become like the beasts that perishes . and how is that ? even as the beasts , that pushes one another with their hornes , so does mankind ; so that mankind , in their actings each to other , is become a beast : and this beastly power was to reigne for a time , times , and dividing of times . therefore , whosoever upholds this beastly power , and yet saies they are the sons of christ , or restoring power , they lie , they deceive themselves , and the truth is not in them . the scriptures likewise declares the actings of mankind under the fall , or in darknesse . cain rose up in discontent , and killed his brother abel . the quarrell rise about the earth ; for abels industry made the earth more fruitfull then cain ; thereupon cain would take away abels labour from him by force . these two brothers did type out , or fore-run all the acting betweene man and man , from that time to this ; being a plaine declaration of that darknesse , into which mankind is falne . moses law of equity , was but the moderation , or the curbing in of the fall of mankind : for his law was not the restorer : but , saith he , there is one comes after me , mightier then i , and him ye shall heare , which is christ , the restoring spirit . all the wars and divisions in israels time , and since : and all buying and selling of land , and the fruits of the earth , which is the art of cheating one another , is but the actings of mankind in darknesse , under the power of the fall ; for , both kings , rulers , and all people , have had their checks from god , for their unrighteous walking , or cruelty against abels plain-hearted spirit . and all the great combustions that hath been , and yet is , in the world , is but politick , covetous , murdering cain ; holding abel , or the honest plaine dealing heart under him ; or the son of bondage , persecuting the son of freedome . now in the third particular . the scriptures declares the restoration of mankind , to his creation-righteousnesse ; or that the sonne of righteousnesse shall rise up , and expell the darknesse . and there are degrees of this first the scriptures declares promises of restoration ; as in these words : the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpents head . abraham's seed shall be the joy and blessing of all nations . the bright appearing of christ , the restoring power , shall destroy anti-christ , or that darknesse in man , called the mystery of iniquity , that rules in , and enslaved mankind . and in the latter dayes , they shall be all taught of god , and the spirit of truth , shall lead them into all truth . and such like . now these , and such like promises , declares the restoring of mankind to his originall righteousnesse , and that they shall be brought to be of one heart , and of one mind ; and that they shall be freely willing to let each other enjoy their creation-rights , without restraining , or molesting one another ; but every one doing as they would be done by . secondly , the scriptures declares prophecies , foretelling the restoration , in such words as these . the swords shall be beaten into plow-shares , and spears into pruning-hooks , and nations shal learn war no more ; but the lion and the lamb shall feed together : the wast places shall be builded , and the desolate land shall be tilled , whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by . this shewes , that the commons , heaths , and waste land , that hath lain barren , by reason of the unrighteousnesse of kings , and lords of mannors , that would not suffer the enslaved poore to till , and manure it , shall in the day of christs power , be manunured , and be made fruitfull , that there may be no beggery nor misery among mankind , but that every body may freely enjoy their creation rights . thirdly , the scriptures declares the resurrection of the spirit of freedome within man-kind . as in these words ; the whole creation groaneth and travelleth in pain , waiting for a restoration . and oh wretched man that i am , who shall deliver me from this body of sinne : that is , who will deliver mee from my covetousnesse , pride , envy , uncleannesse , selfe-love , and this great power of darkness in me , that hinders me , that i cannot doe to others , as i would have them doe to me : and that enslaves mee within , so that i cannot quietly suffer others to enjoy their creation rights in the earth . the apostles were hated , slandered , persecuted , and bore all patiently , rather then strive againe , that they might hold forth the righteous law of creation : this shewes the resurrection of the spirit of love in them . jesus christ was slandred , beaten , reviled , and at last put to death , for no cause ; yet hee reviled not againe , but suffered all patiently , that he might honour his father . the spirit of righteousness ; this shewes the resurrection of the spirit from under darknesse , and a growing up of freedome and light . this spirit of love , patience , humility , and righteousnesse , is called the light of the world , and the salt of the earth , which brings mankind into a moderate , meeke , loving , and seasonable condition : it is the restoring spirit , teaching all men to doe as they would be done by . he that hath this spirit , will never strive to be a lord of mannor , or a divider of land ; for he will quietly suffer every one to enjoy the freedome of his creation . this spirit destroyes all enmitie : this is the gospel : this is christ , appearing to be the joy of all nations , which the ministers of christ must preach if they be faithfull to christ . this is the spirit of poverty , that hath been a servant in the world a long time , but now is appearing and rising up to draw all men after him . this poore man is hee , that saves man-kinde from utter ruine , and yet he is despised by ignorance . this poore man spread abroad in sonnes and daughters , shall inherit the earth : this is he that will give man-kind a full freedome in the earth , and take off all bondages , therefore he is called the blessing of the earth . but the power of covetousnesse , which is the divider of land , is called the curse of the earth , and murtherer . jesus christ bid the young man sell all that hee had , and give to the poore : this speech extends to all men , as well as to that selfe-conceited young man . when christ appeares in glory , in the day of his power , hee will make crooked wayes streight , and ruffe wayes smooth , throw downe the mountaines , and fill up the valleyes . this declares the universall restoration of man-kind to the law of righteousness , from whence he fell ; for when once the law of love and truth is written in the heart of man-kinde , they will never quarrell one with another about the earth , who shall have it , and who not , for it is the birth-right and inheritance of all . for saith christ , though the gentles seeke dominion and lordship one over another , yet saith christ , it shall not be so among you who are my followers . now these of the parliament , armie , clergy , lawyers , and people of england that professes to follow christ : and yet exercises lord-ship over their brethren , not suffering their brethren quietly to live by them on the earth ; they doe deceive themselves , and are hypocrites . therefore woe , woe , woe , to you rich men ( and lords of mannors ) howle and weepe . the oppressor shall fall : and he that takes the sword , and rules by it over brethren , shall perish by it . he that hedges himselfe into the earth , and hedges out his brother , not suffering his brother to enjoy the benefit of his creation ; that man is a thiefe , and a murtherer , and an enemie to christ . and here i conclude , that these fore-mentioned scriptures being but a gleaning of the bible , gives a full warrant to all poore men , to build them houses , and plant corne upon the commons and unnurtured land , for their comfortable livelihood , as they are part of man-kind , being the right of their creation . and whosoever denies or hinders them of this freedome , doth deny god , christ , and scriptures , and overthrows true and pure undefiled religion . true religion , and undefiled , is to let every one quietly have earth to manure , that they may live in freedome by their labours ; for it is earth that every one seekes after , that they may liue in peace , let them say what they will . the practise of the gentry is to have the earth to themselves : it is that the armie fights for : it is that the clergy preaches for ; for if you deny him tithes , or a maintenance , you shall not heare of him . nay , is it not the bottome of all national lawes , to dispose of the earth : and does not this appear to be true , by the practise of lords of mannors and the gentrie , that cannot be at rest for vexing and fretting , because poore men begins to see their creation-freedome , and begins to build upon , and plant the commons . and men that in other cases are mild and seemingly loving , are like lions and devils , ready to kill and destroy these poore diggers ; and not only the gentry , but the clergy generally are mad against this worke : well , the power of darknesse , and the fall , rules in these men ; for if the restoring spirit , christ , were in them , they would doe as they would be done by . and seeing the scriptures confirms this creation right to whole man-kind , then in the next place it followes , that all the title and power , which lords of mannors have to the common land , whereby they beate the people off from this their freedome , is no other but the will of kings , who were conquerours , and ruled successively by swordly power , inslaving the creation man-kind in england . first then consider , that king chasles and his lawes was the successor of the person and power of william the conquerour ; for he did not rule by the law of creation , suffering every one to enjoy their creation-right on the earth : but by the lawes of a conquest , which intitles some to the earth , and shuts out others . secondly , that k. charles , and that kingly lordly conquering government , is cast out of england , by the victory of the armie over him , and by words and acts of parliament . if they doe not againe lose this their honour and peace too , by their selfe-love and covetousnesse , suffering the enemie to cheate them by policy , and thereby being in kingly power again , who could not overcome them in the field . and seeing kingly and lordly power is declared against both by army and parliament , the people wants nothing now but possession of the common-wealths freedome ; for our freedome must not lye within the clasps of a booke , in words that may be read ; nor in the bare title of a victory : but it must be freedome really enjoyed , or else it will do us no good . the first parliament law , which encourages the poore commoners of england , to plant the commons and wast land , is this ; wherein they declare england to be a free common-wealth : this law breakes in pieces the kingly yoake , and the lawes of the conquerour , and gives a common freedome to every english-man , to have a comfortable livelihood in this their own land , or else it cannot be a common-wealth . secondly , the parliament did make this law , presently after the kings head was cut off ; that they would establish all the old ancient fundamentall lawes , wherein the lives , liberties , persons and estates of the people of england without exception , were concerned . by this they give a common freedome to every english-man to have and enjoy the land for their comfortable livelihood by their labours , without restraint of any . for the ancient fundamentall law is salus populi , the safety , peace , and preservation of the whole body of the people , excepting none . and this fundamentall law , called salus populi , was that which gave life and strength to the parliament and army to take up armes against the king ; for they had not the least letter of any written law for their warrant at that time , all the lawes being for the king , and none against him . now if there be any ancient lawes of the conquerour unrepealed , whereby the people are hindered of a quiet enjoyment of a common-wealths freedome , they are all blotted out and abolished by this act of parliament , which hath declared therefore the poor people , being part of our commonwealth , and being impoverished by the kingly lordly & power , which is now cast out , are freed from the oppressions of all those lawes , whereby their lives , liberties , persons and creation-rights , were ens●aved : and salus populi , is the fundamentall law , that gives that life and strength and courage to build upon and plant the common land , for their comfortable livelihood . this is the commonwealths law , and the commonwealths freedom . . thirdly , the parliament have made an act to free the people , from yielding obedience to the king , and to all that hold claiming under the king . this law likewise throwes down the power of the conquest , and makes englishmen free in their land , that they may live comfortably in their english commonwealth , and quietly enjoy their land now , which they could not , while the conquering kingly and lordly power ruled . . fourthly , the parliament hath made an engagement , to maintain this present commonwealths government , against king and house of lords . this likewise is but a confirmation of the first , to make england a free commonwealth . and that all englishmen may enjoy the comfortable livelihood in the land , as brethren , without restraint ; for if i have not freedom to live in peace , and enjoy food and rayment by my labors freely , it is no commonwealth at all . now in the purchasing of this declared freedom , the common people of england , have spent their estates , as well as the gentry , partly by their free hearts in lending money to the parliament , partly by taxes , partly by free quarter , and partly by plunder in times of warre . by all which our proprieties are wasted , and the fruit of our labours laid down and accepted of , both by parliament and army , to be a price to purchase salus populi , the peoples creation-freedom , out of the oppressing power of kingly power . therefore in reason and justice , i conceive , that if the poor people do build houses , and plant corne upon the commons of england , for a livelihood , they are protected and warranted both by scriptures , and the lawes of the present commonwealth : and we expect the officers of the law , will be as faithful to us , to put us in possession , as our law-books are to declare our common freedom , and whereas some justices do say , that for poor men to dig and plant upon the commons , they do bring themselves within the statute , to be punished for vagrants , idle or wandring rogues : to this i answer . . that the justice cannot call these men vagrants , or wandring rogues ; for by the letter of the law , it is no vagrancie to dig and work ; but when men are idle , wanderers , begging up and down , these the law lookes upon as punishable . but the diggers they set themselves to work , according to the law of creation , as they are englishmen , upon the commons of england , claiming the priviledges of the commonwealth , according to the lawes of a common-wealth , that they may not beg , nor be forced to steale through want , and so be hanged by the kingly and lordly law . . secondly , their digging upon the commons for a livelihood , is no riot , though some justices would make it ; for they do not fight against any . and their meeting together , is no unlawfull or riotous meeting , unlesse the gathering together of many people in one field , to dig , plow , or reap , be a riot , or an unlawfull meeting . these lawes against riots , or unlawfull meetings , as they call it , was the law of the fearfull kingly conqueror , lest the common people by their often meeting should understand their creation-freedom , and so should joyn together , to conquer and cast out him that had conquered them . yet the gentry and lords of mannors , who are part of the kingly and lordly power , they have met divers times in troops , and have beaten and abused the diggers , and pull'd down their houses . yet we do not heare that the clergy , lawyers , or justices , who would be counted the dispensers of righteous justice , do speak against them for rioters , but against the poor labouring men still , checking the labourers for idleness , and protecting the gentry that never work at all : therefore if idle persons , who wander up and down idly , be punishable by the statutes ; then judge whether it be not the idle gentry , rather then the laborious poor man . these things i leave to the consideration of all rationall men to judge of , they being the foundation , whereupon our work of community in the earth , according to the law of creation , being reason and justice is builded . and i desire any rational man , minister or lawyer , to answer these , either to confirm us , or else to raise up this foundation of scriptures and law , not by take him jaylor , which is the language of the beast ; but by reason which is the voice of the man . though this work of digging upon the commons , have many enemies , yet i am assured of the righteousnesse of the work , and it shall take root in one place or other , before many yeares passe over englands head , i can set no time , but i wait for the consolation of israel to arise up , and break forth in others , as i have a taste of him in my self . the voice of the dragon is , kill him , pull down his house , beat him , arrest him , take him jaylor , imprison him , he is a rogue . but the voice of the lamb is , love your enemies , let him live , the earth is his creation-right as well as mine : therefore let us do as we would be done unto . ministers and lawyers , will you all stand looking on , and see the lords of mannors exercise kingly power over the poor men that claime their creation-right in the earth , and be silent ? you would be called dispensers of justice : here is a point of justice for you to decide : this is the point upon which you shall either stand or fall , be saved or damned ; for you are put upon the tryal . the week before easter , parson plat , minister of horsley , being the lord of the mannor of cobham , where the diggers were at work . and thomas sutton , the impropriator of cobham , came in person , and brought divers men , whom they hired to pull down a poor mans house , that was built upon the commons , and kikt and struck the poor mans wife , so that she miscarried of her child , and by the blowes and abuses they gave her , she kept her bed a week . and at this time i went to mr. plat , and spoke with him , about our freedom in the commons , he answered me , if i could make it good by scriptures , he would never trouble us more , but let us build and plant : nay he said , he would cast in all his estate , and become one with the diggers . the next week after i carried him this writing afore printed , being munday in easter week , and upon our discourse , he seemed to consent to many things , and was very moderate , and promised me to read it over , and to give me an answer : moreover he promised me , that if the diggers would not cut the wood upon the common , he would not pull down their houses : and the diggers resolved for peace sake , to let the wood alone till people did understand their freedom a little more . and upon fryday in easter week , he came and brought his answer , which was this . he came accompanied with about . men , and had hired . or . of them , to fire down the diggers houses : some that stood by said , do not fire them , the wood will do some good ; his answer was , no , no , fire them to the ground , that these heathens , who know not god , may not build them again ; for if you let the wood alone , they will build again . thereupon at the command of this parson plat , they set fire to six houses , and burned them down , and burned likewise some of their housholdstuffe , and wearing clothes , throwing their beds , stooles , and housholdstuffe , up and down the common , not pittying the cries of many little children , and their frighted mothers , which are parishioners borne in the parish . and yet some of these hired men , lives not in the parish , and some are strangers newly come into the parish : and so were bewitched by the covetous make bate priests , to do this heathenish turkish act . the poor diggers being thus suddainly cast out of their houses by fire , both they , their wives and children were forced to lie upon the open common all night : yet the rage of parson plat and his company rested not here , but in the night time , some of them came again upon the commons , while the diggers were quiet , and some of them in bed , and said , we have authority from our master , that is mr. plat , to kill you , and burn the rest of your goods , if you will not be gone : thereupon sir anthony vincents servant , called davy , struck at one , and cut some of their chaires and other goods to peeces , frighting the women and children again . and some of the diggers asked them , why they would do thus cruelly by them , they answered , because you do not know god , nor will not come to church . surely if the god of these men , by their going to church , teach both their preacher and they , to do such cruel deedes ; we will neither come to church , nor serve their god . mr. plat in his sermons can say , live in peace with all men , and love your enemies : therefore if the diggers were enemies , he ought to love them in action ; but it is a true badge of an hypocrite , to say , and not to do . let every mans actions be tryed , and see who serves god , they or the diggers . mr. plat and the gentlemen , ( so would be called ) that were with him , were full of rage , and gnashed their tongues with vexation ; but the diggers are patient , chearfull , quiet in spirit , loving to those that have burned their houses . therefore the poor diggers have got the crown , and weare it , and the priests and gentry have lost their crown : the poor have striven with them . moneths , with love and patience : the gentlemen have answered them all the time with fury ; they would have the earth and all freedom , but they will not suffer the poor to have either earth or freedom , but what they hire of them . but though the devill be let loose to swell against us , in these gentry that rule over us , by kingly power , or law of norman conquest , notwithstanding , they have taken the engagement , to cast out kingly power : yet his time to be chained up drawes nigh : and then we are assured this righteous work of earthly community , shall have a most glorious resurrection out of his ashes . nay farther , if this satisfies not mr. plat , but he & tho : sutton , of cobham , have hired three men , to attend both night and day , to beat the diggers , and to pull down their tents or houses , if they make any more ; and if they make caves in the earth , they threaten to murther them there , so that they will not suffer the poor diggers to live , neither above nor below ground : if they beg , they whip them by their law for vagrants , if they steal they hang them ; and if they set themselves to plant the common for a livelihood , that they may neither beg nor steale , and whereby england is inriched , yet they will not suffer them to do this neither : and so hereby these gentlemen , take away both creation-right , and common-wealths right from the poor diggers ; for they command the poor enslaved tenants and neighbors likewise not to suffer any of the diggers to have any lodging in their houses , nor to sell them any meat for their money . and thus the fury of parson plat , exceedes the fury of any other lord of mannor . the chief setters on to burn these houses , and to abuse the diggers , was parson plat , sir anthony vincent his tenants and servants , were most of them there ; likewise thomas sutton and william star , these are they that say the commons belong to the poor , and yet these rich men are agrieved to see the poor make use of the commons : the actors in this turkish designe , were furious beyond the fury of the beasts ; but many of those that came were threatned by vincent his chief men , to be turned out of their livings , if they came not , so that this is not an act of the tenants by free consent , but the gentlemen hired others to do it . these men do so powerfully act the image of the beast , that they will neither buy nor sell with any freely , nor let any have land houses , or work under them but such as have the mark of the beast ; that is , such as are filled with fear of them , and are obedient to their beastly power . and some of them say , they do god good service , if they can destroy or kill the diggers . thus the scriptures are fulfilled . rev. . . and now they cry out the diggers are routed , and they rang bells for joy ; but stay gentlemen , your selves are routed , and you have lost your crown , and the poor diggers have won the crown of glory . for first you have not routed them by law , for you durst not suffer the diggers plead their own cause , so that it never came to any tryal ; and you have no law to warrant your lordly power in beating of the diggers , but the will of kingly swordly power , which is self-will , and club-law . secondly , you have not routed the diggers by dispute ; for your impatient , covetous , and proud swelling heart , would not suffer you to plead rationally with them . neither thirdly , have you routed them by scriptures ; but the diggers have routed you by your own law ; by reason , by scriptures , and patient suffering all your abuses and now your name shall rot , and your own power shall destroy you . when the scribes and pharisees of old , ( these lords of mannors ancestors ) had put jesus christ to death , they rejoyced , and sent gifts one to another , and made merry , and in such like words , said they had routed him . and so now these english pharisees , because they have acted the power of the beast , and to the eye of the beast , seeme to stand uppermost for a time , they say they have routed the diggers . but they are mistaken , for the diggers keep the field of patience , quietness , joy and sweet rest in their hearts , and are filled with love to their enemies ; but the gentlemen are so impatient , they cannot rest for fretting , jearing , rayling , and gnashing their tongues with vexation . they wil not suffer the diggers to look to the corne which is planted upon the commons , being about eleven acres : neither will they look to it themselves , but let the cattle spoile it , that they may say , see , their labor comes to nothing . are not these men the curse of england , that wil not suffer others to live by the● , and will rather spoile corne in these dear times , then let the poor enjoy their own righteous labors upon the commons ? this work of digging , being freedom , or the appearance of christ in the earth , hath tried the priests and professors to the uttermost , and hath ripped up the bottom of their religion , and proves it meere witchcraft , and cosonage ; for self love and covetousnesse is their god , or ruling power . they have chosen the sword , and they refuse love ; when the lamb turnes into the lion , they will remember what they have done , and mourne . and thus i have faithfully declared all the businesses , and though the power of their covetousnesse , self-loving flesh , hath for the present trod our weak flesh down ; yet the strength of our inward man , hath overcome them ; and is the lord god almighty , above that power that rules in them . we have declared our testimony , and now let freedom and bondage strive who shall rule in mankind : the weapons of the sonnes of bondage being carnall , as fire , club , and sword ; the weapons of the sonnes of freedom being spiritual , a● love , patience , and righteousnesse . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a e- gen. . . ver. . & ver. psal. . . dan. . . jam. . . cor. . . gen. . . jer. . . gen. . . psal. . rev. . . . rev. . . dan. . . gen. . . deut. . & cha. . gen. . . gal. . . jam. . . isa. . . gen. . . gal. . . thes. . . heb. . . joh. . . joh. . . mat. . . isa. . . & chap. . ezek. . . . joel . . psal. . . zachar. . rom. . . rom. . . math . . rev. . . dan. . . eph. . . psal. . , . luk. . , . matth. . . jam. . . isa. . . matth. . . exod. . . . to the kings most excellent maiestie. the humble petition of two sisters the church and common-wealth: for the restoring of their ancient commons and liberties, which late inclosure with depopulation, vncharitably hath taken away: containing seuen reasons as euidences for the same. trigge, francis, ?- . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; 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(eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) to the kings most excellent maiestie. the humble petition of two sisters the church and common-wealth: for the restoring of their ancient commons and liberties, which late inclosure with depopulation, vncharitably hath taken away: containing seuen reasons as euidences for the same. trigge, francis, ?- . [ ] p. [f. kingston] impensis georgii bishop, londini : . dedication signed: francis trigge. printer's name from stc. against enclosures--stc. running title reads: the humble petition of two sisters. signatures: a-g h⁴ (-a , h ). reproduction of the original in the bodleian library. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic 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haley pierson text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion to the kings most excellent maiestie . the hvmble petition of two sisters ; the chvrch and common-wealth : for the restoring of their ancient commons and liberties , which late inclosure with depopulation , vncharitably hath taken away : containing seuen reasons as euidences for the same . prov . . . in the multitude of the people is the honour of a king , and for the want of people , commeth the destruction of the prince . londini , impensis georgii bishop . . tenez le vray exlibris bibliothecoe domesticoe richardi towneley de tonmeley in agro lancastrensi armigeri anno aetatis . domin 〈…〉 to the most high and mightie prince iames , by the grace of god , king of england , scotland , france and ireland , defender of the faith , &c. that saying of queene hester to the most famous king ahashuerosh , ( most dread soueraigne ) doth , as it were , enforce me , to make this my humble petition to your highnesse : if we were sold to bee bondslaues , or handmaides ( saith shee ) i would haue held my tongue , although the aduersary could neuer recompence the king this losse : but let my life be giuen me at my request , and my peoples . there is a mightie thorne sprung vp of late , in diuers places of this realme , like to that cruell haman ; which doeth not onely goe about to impouerish your maiesties subiects , but quite to roote them out : i meane inclosure of fields and commons ; whereas the lords of manours , and freeholders will haue all their landes which haue heeretofore lien open , and in common , ( so that the poore might enter common with them ) now laid together in seuerall . and hereby the poore cannot enioy their ancient commons and liberties . and this cankred thorne also deuoureth gods people , which is his inheritance , as the psalme teacheth vs , aske ofme , ( saith god ) & i will giue thee the people for thine inheritance , &c. and the vttermost parts of the earth for thy possession . inclosers to maintaine their owne inheritances , doe make no conscience to impaire this inheritance . where god hath beene praised with many mouthes , there now shreeking owles , and other vncleane birds make their nestes . it dishonoreth also your maiesty , and weakeneth your highnesse power . for , in the multitude of people is the honour of a king , saith salomon , and for want of people commeth the destruction of the prince . but this inclosure where it commeth , dispeoples townes , as common experience lamentably teacheth . and whereas your maiestie might haue had great choice of souldiers , and able men for seruice in warre ( if neede required ) now there is almost none to be had , but a sheepheard and his dogge . this inclosure also hurteth the commonwealth : for where no oxen are , there the cribbe is emptie , ( saith salomon ) but much increase commeth by the strength of the oxe . but inclosure decareth tellage , and turneth good arable land to pasture . these inclosers thinke that the gaine of their pastures , eaten with sheepe , commeth more easily to them than being tilled ; and therefore they will neither plowe nor sowe themselues , nor let their land to such as would till it : and so by this meanes they bring a dearth upon this land , which is one of gods plagues . yea , the cities and townes corporate are maintained by the countrey : for the plowe maintaines all trades , as mercers , grocers , tanners , shooemakers , glouers , smiths , taylors , ioyners , carpenters &c. but since inclosure began , all these artificers prooue by experience , that they cannot haue such vtterance and returne for their wares as heretofore : because that husbandmen were wont to maintaine many seruants , which did yeerely buy their wares of them ; which multitude of seruants inclosure needes not . oh inclosure then , to be hated of all gods children , which deuoureth their fathers inheritance ! and to be detested of all your maiesties faithfull subiects , which dishonoureth your highnes , by diminishing the people of your land , and procureth your maiesties destruction ( as saith salomon ) and to be abhorred of all true harted english men , which bringeth afamine , one of gods plagues vpon this our common wealth . nay , which goeth about to impouerish our grand mothers and most famous cities . i knowe , inclosers can vrge many plausible reasons for themselues , but their reasons are humane , and not grounded on the word of god. these dangerous and desperate effects so apparantly spreading both into the hart of gods church , and of the common-wealth , inforceth me , humbly to present this my petition to your most sacred maiestie , with these reasons against inclosure . least by holding my peace , and suffering the lords inheritance to be impaired , i should be condemned at that day as an vniust steward : and seeing your maiesties power to be diminished , and not giuing warning , i should be reputed a faithlesse subiect to your highnesse : and perceiuing the common wealth hereby to be damnified and halfe beggered , i should be esteemed an vnnaturall childe , to this my most louing mother . i am also incouraged with confidence of your gracious acceptance of this my humble suite , with that ( mashall ) your maiesties godly and golden saying , to your princely sonne , that hee should bee the poore mans king. the cure of this canker , and the rooting out of this thorne , will make glad your poore subiects hearts . for as we reade , salomons subiects were as many in number as the sand of the sea , eating drinking and making merrie ; and at this marke shoulde christian kings aime , that their subiects should doe the like . but inclosure diminisheth the number of gods people , killeth their hearts , and abridgeth both their mirth and maintenance : and your maiestie being a second salomon in this our israel , i most humblie craue your gracious and tender care heereof , in your sacred session and high court of parliament ; for that all your afflicted subiects , are ready to crie with the prophet . it is high time for thee lord to lay to thine hand , for they haue destroied thy law , which is christian charitie . the lord iesus blesse your maiestie with a long and prosperous raigne , to the glorie of his name , encrease of his church , and benefit of this common-wealth , for his glorious names sake . amen . your maiesties most humble subiect , francis trigge . to the reader . good christian reader , if any thing in this treatise , seeme to thee ouer bitter or sharpe , i humbly beseech thee to consider with thy selfe , that , that purgation which galen the prince of physitions commonly vsed , was called hiera-picra , that is , holy-bitter ; and such also are iesus christs medicines , which he applieth to our sicke soules : and that this is a canker that i goe about to cure , & therfore as chirurgerie teacheth , lenitiues will doe no good , but rather increase the venome thereof . nay i beseech thee consider , that i deale with the root of all euill , couetousnesse ; and with that noisome pestilence that raigneth now in our age , as it did in the daies of ieremie : and therefore i had need of a sharpe hatchet , to cut vp that root , and of some forcible mithridate to preserue frō that plague : of whose effects and infection and cure , ieremy writes thus : i will giue their wiues to others , and their fields to heires ; for euery one of them , euen from the least to the greatest , is giuen to couetousnesse ; and from the prophet to the priest , euery one dealeth falsly . here first are the effects of this noisome plague of couetousnesse , that their wiues were giuen to others and their fields to heires : here is also the infection or cause of these effects , because they are all giuen to couetousnes & they all deale falsely . it is reported that we haue tasted those former fruits & effects , for there died of the late plague many moe men than women : and is it not likely that the same effects sprong from the same roote ? and if this be true , then let vs all beware of couetousnesse and falsehoode in our dealing . but the true cure of this plague which followes in the prophet , is taught vs by the contrary . for they haue cured the hurt of the daughters of my people , ( saith the prophet ) with sweete words , saying peace peace when as there was no peace . gods ministers must cure this plague not with oyle : but with sharpe wine , they must not here speake faire , if they meane to doe any good , but thunder . and therefore those nice eares that cannot abide their thunder , shall die of this plague , and perish in their sinnes . lastly , if through humaine frailtie , any faults haue escaped ( as who is it that erres not ? ) remember that lesson which nature teacheth ; that of all liuing creatures man doth most often twinckle with his eyes , to teach him not to be a rigorous censurer of his brethren . ponder wisely , iudge charitable , pardon curteously , and if thou be sicke of this disease , repent speedily . for god shakes his rodde ouer thy head euen now , and the day of the lord draweth nigh . thine in the lord f. t. a briefe of the contents of this treatise . it decaieth tillage . it dispeopleth townes . it is against the common-wealth of the iewes . it is against the state of christs church . it is against christian charitie . it is against the church and common-wealth , and auncient liberties and customes of england . inclosure with depopulation is a sinne whereof god shall make especiall inquiry at the day of iudgement . an hvmble petition of the church and common wealth , with reasons out of gods word , against late inclosure and depopulation of townes . a preoccupation of an obiection . whereas this present treatise tendeth to the staying and decaying of inclosure ; it is to be obserued and noted ( most dread soueraigne ) that héere first i speake against late inclosure , not condemning the inclosure of essex , hartfordshire , deuonshire , and such like woodland countries ; wherein the beginning , if the woods had not béen inclosed , they could not haue béene preserued ; and so as it may séeme , the inclosures there of necessitie haue euer since beene continued : for there , euerie lordship is charitably diuided amōgst the tenants , and tillage also in most of their closes is maintained , & townes nothing d●speopled : although those woodland and inclosed countries bee not so populous as other countries are . but i condemne our couetous & new deuised ●●closurs , which cōuert champian and fruitfull soiles , being good arrable ground , to pasture ; casting halfe a cornefield to a sheepes pasture . and so thereby diminish gods people , and depopulate townes . secondly , i ioine depopulation of towns , and this new kind of inclosure together : because the one of them doth follow the other commonly , euen as necessarilie as the shadow doth the body : for although in some places where this inclosure is put in practise ( as our inclosers can cunningly affirme ) that all the houses remaine that haue been : yet there be not so many people in them as hath beene : because that tillage , by meanes of their inclosure is decaied , which required many moe seruants to accomplish it , then their pastures will doe to looke to them . and thirdly , whereas inclosers distinguish , and say , that it is not inclosure , but the couetous minds of men , that pulleth downe townes . to this i answere , that inclosure is the meanes to pull them downe ; and depopulations follow inclosure , as an accident inseparable ( as the logicians call it . ) for marke it who list , where this inclosure hath set in foot , they shall sée houses fallen downe , and lie in the dust : and shall i not héere rather beléeue mine eyes than their faire spéeches ? the first reason against this inclosure is , it decaies tillage . the heathen euer made great account of tillage . cicero writeth thus of husbandrie : that of all things whereby any gaine is gotten , there is nothing more excellent than tillage , nothing more commodious , nothing more pleasant , and nothing more fit for a gentleman . o that our gentlemen were of his mind . the noble men of rome take the names of corne , as ( fabij of beanes , and ) ( cicerones ) of a kinde of pease , and ( pisones of baking . they which were married , had a garland of corne carried before them . ) amongst the romanes also , him whom they called ( bonum colonum ) a good plowman , they seemed to praise exceedingly . nay , he that did not till his land well , the censors punished him . such censors were to bée wished amongst vs , to make vs till our land . it was also by law enacted amongst them , that hee that came to take an amercement , or penaltie , should not take an oxe before a sheepe . nay , that a man stealing by night , corne that was sowen , should be put to death with greater seueritie , then an homicide . they cal glory adoriam of ador , which signifies corne . plinie also writes thus of the fruitfulnesse of the earth : what was the cause that the earth was so fruitfull then ? because ( saith he ) that then the earth was tilled with the hands of emperors . and it is not amisse to thinke , that the earth did reioice then , of her coulter , and share , being crowned , and of her plowman being a triumphant emperor . they were then as carefull of plowing their lands , as of waging their warres , and they did as diligently order their fields , as their camps . the like cause may bée assigned of the barrennesse of the earth in our daies . god plagues our contempt of tillage , with penurie and scarcitie . gentlemen now a daies , thinke scorne of the plough . tillage was the first worke , that was imposed vpon man , after that he was banished out of paradise . and god sent man out of the garden of eden ( langabath ) to serue , to waite vpon , to till the earth . and shall the best of vs all then thinke scorne of tillage ? also this was that gracious promise made vnto noah after the flood , that heereafter , seede time and haruest , cold and heat , sommer and winter , day and night shall not cease , so long as the earth remaineth . but if all men should follow inclosers steps , why then in all townes we should haue no tillage ( or very little ) but all shéepe . is not this to contradict the ordinance of god ? but tillage is troublesome vnto them , and the other is a more gaineful and easie way , as they doe imagine , and therefore they passe not for that . let all such great sheepe-maisters , that are decaiers of tillage take héede , which will haue no seede furrowes , nor haruests , nor greatly passe not for them : they contradict hoerein gods ordinance , as this place prooues . and after we read of noah ( as of an obedient subiect to god héerein ) thus . and noah began to be ( ish haadhmah ) that is , a man wholy giuing himselfe , to labour in the earth , and he planted a vineyard . to plant a vineyard , is correspondent in some countries , to our sowing of corne , and an acre of mines yeeldes better increase , then an acre of our corne , as i haue heard . isaak also as heire of noah , did follow his steps , and though a straunger in aegypt , yet we read of him thus . and isaak did sowe corne in that countrie , and he found in that yeere an hundred measures , and god blessed him . shall isaak sowe , being a stranger in aegypt , and not wée at home ? did hée finde an hundred measures for one ? for so munster saith , that the chalde paraphrast doth erpound this . and shall we say , that we can finde no commoditie by tillage ? and it followes , god blessed him , a blessing of god followes tillage . they shall not thriue that decay it , as erperience teacheth . god appeated to gedeon as he was threshing , and appointed him iudge ouer israel : and doth not this commend threshing ? elizeus also whom god did chuse to bee a prophet in eliah his roome , was a great maintainer of tillage : for thus we reade . and eliah departed thence , and found elishah the sonne of shaphat : who was plowing with twelue yoke of oxen before him , and he was with the twelue . and was not elizeus a great husbandman who had twelue yoke of oxen , and no doubt many plowes going together in his field , and many plowmen , among whom after hée deuided those two oxen , which he killed ? and doe not all these , so beloued of god , and giuing themselues so greatly to tillage , commend it vnto vs ? shall we prefer pasture , and neglect this ? master camden writes , that in england were the stately palaces of lady ceres , meaning great barnes of corne . now we may see in some places , some such great barnes still , and inclosers makes them stande emptie . i know , whereas . quarters of corne hath béene yéerely growing : since inclosure hath beene practised , there groweth not now . and againe he writes , that england for corne was the onely storehouse of all the west empire : and that out of england yeerely the romanes transported . shippes , bigger then barkes , laden with corne to relieue their souldiers , that lay on the borders in germany . in those daies england was able to relieue other countries with corne : but sometime now she is glad to buie corne of other countries her selfe . inclosers haue partlie brought this to passe , who had rather haue their wooll-houses filled with wooll , then their barnes with corne . o dishonorable children to their mother ! the preacher also in his booke writes verie excellently in the commendation of tillage . if in a countrie ( saith hée ) thou seest the oppression of the poore , and the defrawding of iudgment and iustice , be not afraide at the matter , for hee that is higher then the highest , regardeth , and there be higher then they . and the aboundance of the earth is ouer all , the king also consists of the field that is tilled . salomon giueth an item to all that deale hardly with the poore : how that the god of heauen beholdeth : nay ( shomer as it is in the hebrew , that is ) marketh and keepeth in memorie all their dealings . and that the tillage of the earth surpasseth all , and that euen the king thereby is maintained : by the foode that it ministreth , to strengthen his people ; and by the multitude of valiant souldiers it affordeth for his warres . for as plinie writes , most strong and valiant souldiers are made of husbandmen , and come foorth of the countrie , and which thinke no harme . and shall wée deale hardly with those , that must fight and aduenture their liues for vs ? and shall wée not maintaine tillage , the honorable mother of chiualrie ? lechem in hebrew signifies bread , and lacham to fight : they therfore which destroy bread , destroy chiualry . nay , how can any christian truly say the lords prayer , and pray , giue vs this day our daily bread ▪ that decaieth tillage ? will he pray for bread , and not vse the ordinary meanes to haue bread , which is tillage ? this is plainely to tempt god. will he haue god feede vs miraculously , with manna , as hee did israel in the wildernes ? in canaan god will haue plowing and sowing vsed : and therefore after the children of israel came into the lande of canaan , manna ceased . that historie also of the plague in king dauids daies , must teach vs some thing : and therein , that is especially to be marked , to build an altar , in the threshing floore of araunah . it should seeme that god loues threshing flooers , and there hée will be praised . but inclosure decaieth tillage , and therefore god is not praised in our threshing fl●oers . this may be a cause of the plague amongst vs euen now . let vs erect altars in the threshing flooers of araunah , and the plague shall cease : inclosers doe thinke that there are too manie men in this lande , and that they may decaie townes by their inclosure , and that it is no great matter to ●e●aie a towne but god s●●th their thoughts , and now he beginneth to diminish the people of this land : hee may diminish them , as well as they ; and he beginneth at the very head first . couetousnesse which is the roote of all euill , which our sauiour describes in the gospel , and s. paul to timothie ; and pride , which god hates and resists , which esay also paints out vnto vs in his third chapter at large ; & the taking gods name in vaine , for filthy lu●re . for which god wil not hold vs guiltles , &c. and because deceite and guile goe not out of our streetes ; and for that by our wicked liues gods word is euill spoken of : these no doubt may séeme to bée the causes of the plague amongst vs , god giue all men eies , to see their sinnes and to amend them that the plague may cease ; and especially citizens and such as inhabit in townes corporate , amongst whom these sinnes commonly raigne . a second reason against this inclosure is , that it dispeopleth townes . the people are called gods inheritance , aske of me & will giue thee the heathen for thine inheritance & the ends of the earth for thy possession . and again , behold ( saith dauid ) childrē are the inheritance of the lord , & a reward the fruite of the wombe . he putteth behold before this his doctrine as though it were a strange thing and yet most true . secondly he addeth that children are a reward : inclosers manie times lacke this reward , they loue the earth so wel that god wil not blesse them with many sonnes : nay dauid addeth , like as the arrowes in the hand of the gyant , so are the children of young men . such arrowes in the hands of gyants , and many rich farmers hauing tall and strong men to their sonnes , wée might haue séene : but now , where this late inclosure hath set in foote , either there are no families left , or else they are so pinched by great rents , and pined with want and penurie , that they are rather like prisoners , then arrows in the hand of a gyant . thus inclosure where it commeth dispeoples townes , and impares the lords inheritance . therefore all his stewards and ministers ought to inueigh against this sinne , and all his children ought to condemne it . againe dauid speaking of the reprobate and wicked giueth them this cognisance . haue they no vnderstanding , or will they not know , or vnderstand ( as it is in the hebrew ) all they that worke wickednes , who eate vp my people , as if they would eate bread ? they haue not called vpon god. here first we may note , the obstinacie of these sinners , and depopulators ; they will not know , they will not be perswaded , they will maintaine and defend their inclosures , and depopulations , say , what one can against them , yea and that out of gods booke , they will writhe all things to maintaine their couetousnes . secondly the grieuousnesse of this sinne with god , and the small account that men make of it . they make no account , nor no more conscience to depopulate townes , and to consume men , then to eate bread . they thinke that they may do it lawfully . but god tels all such héere by the prophet dauid , that though they beare a shew of religion , vet they haue not called vpon god , that is , they are plainely atheists . for by a figure called synecdoche , the part is put for the whole , ano inuoration of the name of god , is put for all his religion . as gen. . . . cor. . . acts . . nay , dauid in another psalm toucheth narrowly these inclosers and depopulators of townes , speaking thus to god. thou hast brought a vine out of aegypt ( saiih he ) thou hast cast out the heathen , and planted it . no doubt dauid heare spake typically of the vine christs church , which god hath in our daies brought out of the popes spirituall aegypt , as saint iohn termes it : and that he hath cast out those spirituall heathen that trampled with their feete , the holy citie , . moneths . for what did they else in poperie , but trample in gods church with their féete ? their bodies were present in the church , but not their vnderstanding , and therefore their hearts were away . for where vnderstanding is not , there the heart cannot properly be said to be . and therfore their vnderstanding was away , because gods worde was read to them in a strange tongue ; and also they praied in a strange tongue . except i know the power of the voice of him that speaketh , i shall bee to him a barbarian , saith saint paul. and may not these be properly called heathen , whom saint paul calleth barbarians ? and may not these be said , to trample in the holie citie , when their bodies onely were present and their hearte were away ? god hath brought a vine out of aegypt , and hath expelled the heathen out of his holy citie , and planted this vine in their place . he swept before the face of this vine , with the winde of his spirit , and the béesome os his worde , clensing all the dust and sand of mans deuises , giuing to it puritie of doctrine , it filled the land . this vine spred her branches thorow the whole lande and that speedily . the papists maruell : they neuer dreamed , that this vine would haue spred her branches so far , and wide . nay the hilles were couered with the shadow of it . manie noble men , verie religiously and zealouslie professed this religion , and dranke the comfortable wine of this vine . but héere now followes the mischiefe , héere followes sathan jesus christs enemie . but why ( saith dauid ) hast thou pluct vp her hedge , that euery one that goeth by the way , hath a snatch ( as we say ) at this vine ? the wild boare of the wood hath destroied it , and the wilde beasts of the field , haue eaten it vp . and the vineyard , which thy right hand hath planted , and the young vine which thou madest so strong for thine owne selfe , it is burnt with fire and cut downe . what doth all this meane ? but that this vine , by couetous and cruell landlords is lopped and diminished , and burnt with the fire of couetousnes . euen that vine , which god himselfe planted so miraculously , and had made so strong in faith , to goe out of poperie , and not to feare the diuell . this beloued vine , and this strong vine , haue our wilde boares deuoured , and our fierie couetousnesse hath burnt vp ; for doe wée thinke that dauid speakes of any materiall fire or vine ? will god take this at their handes ? doe they thinke , that he makes not high account , of euery christian soule ? and doe they not know , that he will be praised with many mouthes ? and that christ , when he sawe the multitude went vp to the hill to preach ? and that hee knoweth , how manie haue béene in townes , in time of poperie ? and shall wée now in the light of the gospell , impare his shéepe ? dare wée doe it ? surely hée will reuenge it . and let all such depopulators know , that they are but trauellers by the way . they shall not long continue héere with their hedges . ioab a bloudie warrier and souldier could say , god forbid , that i should deuoure or destroy the inheritance of the lord : and shall professors of the gospell , be guiltie of this sinne , and depopulate townes ? it was one of gods blessings which he promised to abraham , that he would greatly multiply his seede , as the starres of heauen , and as the sand which is vpon the sea shore . and doe we thinke , that they shall be blessed , which goe about to depriue him of this blessing ? and esay likewise thus prophesieth of christs church , i will power my spirit vpon thy seede , and my blessing vpon thy buddes , and they shall grow as amongst the grasse , and as the willowes by the riuers of waters .. by how many types here , doth the prophet expresse vnto vs christs church ? of seede , of buddes growing amongst grasse , and of willowes ? and doe not all these , insinuate vnto vs a multitude ? they are not christs friends but his enemies , that doe not nourish and cherish this his seede , in the besome of their hearts , that doe not comfort these his buddes , with the curtesie of their spéeches , and which doe not water , these his willowes , with the continuall streame of their liberalities . this was the cause why salomon desired wisdome of god. thou hast made me king ouer a great people , like to the dust of the earth . giue me now wisedome , and knowledge , &c. salomon was but a type of jesus christ : if that his subiectes were like to the dust of the earth ; what shall jesus christs subiects be likened vnto ? i reade in a booke of the suruey of france , made by bodinus , in the daies of king henry the second , besides burgundie there were numbred in france . thousand villages with steeples . and in another suruey of france , made in the raigne of charles the ninth , it was found that the number of the inhabitants there , were aboue . millions of men . did the french thus glory in their multitudes of people ; and shall not we much more in england , séeke to maintaine ours ? and here i cannot but take away some stumbling blockes : for these inclosers perchaunce will flatter themselues and say , that it is but a small village that they haue dispeopled , or a small farme or cottage that they haue decaied or pulled downe ; and what doe you make so much to doe thereof ? but let all such know , that little zoar saued lot : and nazareth that obscure citie whereof nathaniell said , can any good come out of nazareth , it nursed our sauiour jesus , and gaue him a name which from his crosse to this day is honorable . and saint paul teacheth vs plainely , that god hath chosen the weake things of this world , to confound the mightie things ; and vile things , and things which are despised , hath god chosen . and dare any contemne or make light account of that , nay destroy that which god hath chosen and maketh great account of ? out of that little village or poore cottage which he hath decaied ( whosoeuer hée is ) might haue come one as good as himselfe . what may i say then of great husband townes where many rich farmers , and cottages are decaied ? would any of vs willingly haue the little finger of his hand cut off ? no more no doubt , will jesus christ suffer one poore cottage , ( which is as it were his little finger ) to bée cut off , vnpunished without repentance . there was a statute made of late , for the maintainance of tillage , and reedifying farmes decaied : it is to bée feared that god hath obserued how diligent some were to sée the poore whipped , by a statute made at the same time : and how slacke in the execution of that other act of reedifying & plowing . another stumbling blocke is , that some will say they must néedes maintaine their states . and this cloake couers all their pride , and couetousnes . but let all such know that reason thus ; must they impare the lords inheritance to maintaine their estates , euen they whom the lord himselfe hath aduanced ? they had better to be as poore as lazarus in state and condition : nay , they had better neuer haue béene borne , then to exault themselues to impare his inheritance . oh let these men of all others take héede of this ingratitude . let the example of king saul terrifie them , who being made of a poore acorne , a mightie oake , and of a seeker of his fathers asses , the first king of israel , yet afterwards for his vnthankefulnes and disobedience , he and all his posteritie was quite reiected of god for euer from the kingdome . let jesus christs example teach and moue them , who to doe vs good did not respect his estate , being equall with god ( as saint paul teacheth vs , ) but humbled himselfe , and became as a seruant . he washed his apostles feete , and became obedient to the death of the crosse . and what is the greatest of our estates in comparison of his ? surely euen like a little mould-hill to a mountaine . and shall we thinke much , to impaire our estates to doe our brethren good ? nay shall we hurt them to maintaine it ? nay shall we dishonour god ? oh not christs disciples , but mammons worldlings ! there were as many noble men and gentlemen in england heretofore , as are now , and of as great estate : and how did they maintaine themselues ? they did not in the popes darke kingdome depopulate townes , and shall we in the light of the gospell ? can we maintaine our estates by no way else , but by imparing the lords inheritance ? let that be farre from vs. if inclosers would be content with the auncient apparrell , and houses and dyet of their ancestors , as they are not ashamed of their lands ; they néede neuer raise rents , nor improue their lands . they which stand so much on this point , that they must maintaine their estates , know not what humilitie is . all christs disciples must be humble . and humilitie is to descend a degree or two from our estate , and not to seeke to maintaine it : surely that is a spice of pride . the daunger and grieuousnes of this sinne makes me in all humilitie to write thus . it is to be feared that god may now complaine as he did in the daies of ieremie : can a virgin forget her ornament , or a bride her attire ? yet my people haue forgotten me , daies without number , who haue adorned and maintained them . why do you as it were now at last , begin to make your waies good againe , to purchase my loue ? yea euen heerein , thou declarest , that thy waies are euill . for in thy wings are found the blood of soules , of poore innocents . thou hast not found them with mattockes in their hands , such as are mentioned in gre●us , where theeues are said with mat●od●●s to digge thorow walles , and to 〈◊〉 into houses by night , but about all 〈…〉 ( saith the prophet ) no doubt wi 〈…〉 ter instruments , euen to pu●● 〈◊〉 houses and townes . and yet th 〈…〉 because i am guiltlesse , surely 〈…〉 shall turne from me . behold i wi 〈…〉 with thee into iudgement , because the● saiest , thou hast not sinned . incl●s●●s are as guiltie of these sinnes , as were those jewes . for after their inclosure , they will goe about to make good their waies , and they will giue some poore widowes , cowegates in their closes , as it were to purchase gods fauour , whereas ( as those jewes had ) they haue the blood of poore innocent soules in their wings and worships . nay , and they haue also in their hands not mattockes , but greater instruments then those , euen to pull downe farmes and townes . and yet neuerthelesse they saie ( as the jewes did ) that they are not guiltie . therefore ( saith god ) i will enter into iudgement with them . and this may séeme to be another cause , of the p●ague amongst vs at this day . we sinne in wordly cares , and in excesse in our diet , whereof our blessed sauiour biddes vs take héede : we excéede in our stately buildings , which the prophet esay and ieremie plainely reprooue : we sinne in vanitie of apparell , which the prophet zephanie condemnes ; and we account these no sins : wée say that we are guiltles and therefore doth god enter with vs into iudgement : whereas it is the first lesson that the apostle saint peter giues vs which liue in the end of the world , that we should be sober , and kéepe ( no doubt ) that holie meane in all our worldly cares ; in our diet , in our apparell , in our buildings , and in the furniture of our houses , and to conclude , in all things . but that which followes in the prophet , shall proue them guiltie and condemue them . why labourest thou so much ( saith the prophet ) to change thy waies , and to make them seeme good ? thou shalt be confounded of aegypt , as thou art also confounded of ashur ; that is , as the dead paganes condemne thee , so shall the blind egyptians and papists condemne thee also . and héere first ; did the paganes deale so hardly with their tenants ? pharaoh the egyptian , may teach all inclosers and landlords , christian charitie , and the communicating of their lands and commodities to their tenants . behold ( saith ioseph ) i haue bought you this day , and your land for pharaoh , and foure parts shall be yours , for the seede of your field , and for your meate , and for them of your household , & for your children to eate . here first we may note , that this egyptiā king , would haue tillage maintained : then , that although he had purchased their land , yet he dealt courteously with his tenants , and had a care , both of the seede of their land , and of their families : and shall not christians much more haue this care of their brethren , whose land comes by inheritance ? he gaue them seede , and yet he required but a fift part for his rent : oh easie rent ! this shall condemne one day our couetous rents , and cruell exactions at our brethrens hands . this mercifull pharaoh was blessed of god : but his couetous successor , that laid heauie burdens on gods people , and said as inclosers say now , the people are too much idle , they must haue more worke imposed vpon them , was drowned in the sea : let them chuse now , whether of these they will followe . such a good landlord also was iob , not in iewrie , but in the land of hus. if my land rise against mee ( saith hee ) and the furrowes thereof weepe and waile : and if that i haue eaten of the heart thereof without money , or haue made the soules of the masters thereof pant : then let thistles growe in stead of wheate , and cockle in stead of barly : héere wée may first note that iob neuer eate the strength or heart of his land , but hée paied for the plowing of it , contrarie to many landlords amongst us , who will let their lands at great rents , and will make their tenants plow with them ( gratis ) and for nothing . secondly , that he cals his tenants masters of his land : but many amongst us make their tenants by their excessiue payments , as good as bondslaues . they did not so much as once pant or blow in the tilling of it , they plowed it ioyfully , and at their ease . but many tenants now adaies , doe not onely pant at their plowes , but sigh , caring how they may pay their rents . iob also did neuer eate his morsell alone ; if he had but one dish , the poore had euer some part thereof : and shall inclosers thinke much to yeeld unto them some part of their grasse ? shall they shut them out of their fields , whom hee admitted daily to his table ? and if perchance they thinke that this was uery much , and that euery one is not bound to doe so : let them marke well that saint iohn in his epistle doth charge euery christian to doe more than this : if that thou hast the worlds good , and see thy brother want ( saith hée ) and shuttest vp thy verie entrals , or bowels from him , how dwelleth the loue of god in thee ? if thy brother beg of thée , wilt thou denie him ? nay , by this place thou art plainely commaunded , if thou seest him want , though hée holde his peace , and craue nothing of thée , to help him ; and that not in opening thy purse to giue him money , but in opening thy verie bowels vnto him ; and in doing to him , as thou wouldest haue done to thine owne selfe . then if so be that his ●owe lacke grasse , wilt thou not let her common in thy pastures ? if he lacke an house , wilt thou not prouide one for him ? nay saint iohn teacheth thée plainley héere , to doe more for him then all these ; euen to receiue him , not into thy fields , or house , but ( if it were possible ) into thine owne bowels : and this was that common salutation among the jewes ( like unto our good morrow ) your soule liueth in me , as appeareth by the salutation of anna to elie , and the salutation of gedeon to the angell , which is as much as to say i wish to you euen as to my owne soule ; for so it is in the hebrew tert . oh that this salutation were pronounced dayly , not in mouth onely , but in our dealings practised amongst vs christians , which no doubt ought to be ; as both saint paul and peter , doe commaund all christians . fulfill my ioy ( saith saint paul ) that ye be like minded , or of one minde together : and saint peter , finally be yee all of one minde . such a mercifull man was mordoche the jew , of whom we reade thus , and mordoche the iew was second to ahashuerus , and great amongst the iewes , and accepted ( ratsu ) such a one as his brethren would haue wished , who procured the wealth of his people , and spake peaceably to all his seede , who though háe were lately aduanced , to dignitie and worship , yet vsed not these meanes , to maintaine his estate . oh that inclosers who professe the name of the gospell , would imitate this jew ! as for the blinde egyptians , that is the papists , how they haue excelled inclosers in the workes of charitie , euery towne almost tells thée : which townes they haue left to their successors , like the winges of a doue which is couered with siluer : and inclosers plucke away these golden fethers from them , and leaue them not so good as they found them . thus inclosers may plainely sée , how that not only dead assur , but blinde egypt also doth confound them . but these inclosers alledge that saying of the gospell , is it not lawfull for me to doe with mine owne as i list ? they must remember , that parable represents vnto vs that great landlord of all landlords , the king of heauen ; he may say so only , and none else . they must also remember that saying of the psalme : and he gaue them the lands of the heathen , and they tooke the labour of the people in possession , that they might keepe his statutes and obserue his lawes . god hath giuen them the earth in deed : but vpon this condition , that they should kéepe his lawes , and his lawe is christian charitie . the third reason is , that this inclosure is against the common wealth of the iewes . god said to abraham , get thee out of thy countrey , and from thy kindred , & from thy fathers house , vnto the land that i will shew thee , and i will make thee a great nation , and will blesse thee , and will make thy name great , and thou shalt be a blessing . all christians must be abrahams sonnes , and account this commaundement of god spoken vnto them , and goe out ( by their loues , affections , studies & cares ) of their father adams house , that is , the wor●● ; and liue héere in this world , as their father abraham did , like poore pilgrims and trauailers : and then shall god blesse them , and make them a blessing , euen the very members of jesus christ : who also when as he was in this world , followed those very steps of abraham , and liued here as a trauailer or pilgrime , and not as a citizen , or as an inhabiter . but how contrarie is this doctrine to the practise , and very spéeches of these inclosers , who say , is it not lawfull for vs to vse the earth to the most aduantage ? this is their maxime and principle : but abraham and saint paul doe tell them , that they should vse it as though they vsed it not . that they should vse it as wise trauailers doe their innes in their iourneis , who séeke not for gaine or superfluitie there ; who care for no more then will serue their turnes . let the inhabitants of the earth séeke to make their most aduantage thereof : but all christians who dwell therein as pilgrims , séeke for no more then will serue their turnes ; let them goe out of their countries in hart and affection , with abraham their father , and be hebrues , that is , passengers with him , as the hebrue word signifies ; and not canaanites , that is , marchants , whose trade is in this life . thus much abraham , the father of the faithfull iewes , and the bery name of the hebrues doth teach them a lesson worth the learning ; for this is the sinne of our age , that we are too much in loue with this earth , more than our forefathers , nay more than pagans haue béene . the jewes whose fields lay together , did not inclose them : as the field of boaz , which lay altogether and yet was not inclosed , plainely proues . their orchards and vineyards were walled about ; their common fields were bounded with stones or mountaines : but our righteousnesse must exceede theirs , and therefore we ought not to inclose . among the jewes also , euery yeere the poore might gleane in their fields , and they were commaunded not to rake them too cleane , but to leaue somthing for the poore , and not to gather in the outsides of their fields , but to leaue them also for the poore . boaz did very notably fulfill this lawe . nay , euery seuenth yeere what grew in their corne-fields of it owne accord , they were commaunded to saue , and to suffer the poore to gather and reape it . and doth not this plainly commend and commaund tillage ? the poore must haue some thing left them euery yeere for to gleane , and they must haue euery seuenth yeere all the whole croppe that grew of it owne accord . and were not the jewes then bound to sowe their fields , so that the poore in iewry had good and plentifull gleanings left them euery yeere , and the whole croppe of rich mens lands euery seuenth yeere ? but inclosers will cut short all this , for neither will they sowe any thing at all , and so bar them of their gleaning and reaping ; or if they sow any small quantitie , they will rake so cleane , that the poore shall get very little that commeth to gleane after their rakers . the prophet ieremie doth prophesie of the returne of the jewes from babylon out of captiuitie , and vnder the type of them , of christs church thus . o virgine israel , thou shalt be adorned with the timbrell , and thou shalt goe forth with the dance of them that be ioyfull : thou shalt yet plant vines on the mountaines of samaria and the planters that plant them , shall make them common . as christs church hath a common father , and a common sauiour , and common sacraments , and a common countrey , and a common inheritance in heauen : so on earth she should also haue a brotherly communitie in her earthly affaires ; and she should make her grapes cōmon . this did the jewes in the shadow ; and shall not christians doe thus much more in the cléere sunne-shine of the gospell ? the fourth reason ; this inclosure is against the estate of christs church and kingdome . esay thus prophesieth of it : violence and hard dealing shall no more be heard of in the land , neither desolation nor destruction within thy borders , but thou shalt call saluation thy wals ( of a word deriued of the name of jesus ) and praise , thy gates . our wals should taste of the loue of jesus , and should be like him ; they shuld all be built of frée stones , and not of flint stones ; and all our gates should be praise ; we should neuer set foote out of doore , but we should be merry and ioyfull : and are inclosers tenants of this kingdome ? is not their hard dealing and violence almost in all places complained of ? are not their desolations and pulling downe of farmes apparant in euery mans eyes ? are the wals and dwelling houses of their tenants built of frée stone , and not rather of flint stone ? doe their rents taste of jesus christ , and not rather of worldly couetousnesse ? are the doores of their tenants houses praise , and not rather lamentation , sighing and mourning ? add againe , he describes vnto vs the estate of christs church , thus : the wolfe shall dwell with the lambe , &c. and , the cow and the beare shall feede , their yong ones shall lye together , &c. this communitie of dwelling , inclosers do somtimes take away in christs church : for they will haue no man almost dwell néere them . we may sée many of their houses built alone , like hauens nests , no birds building néere them : but especially this community of féeding , they like not of . they will eate their pastures by themselues , they will haue none to enter common with them . geminianus a very learned man , agreeing herein with the prophet esay , writes thus very excellently ; good men euer loue a common and sociable life , and they flie singularities or solitarinesse by the example of bees : for bees , as ambrose writes , doe chuse vnto them a common mansion or dwelling , and they are all shut vp with one doore , and they all labour together ; their meate is common , as also their worke ; as they worke together so also they eate together . their occupation ( as i may so tearme it ) is common , and their gaine is common , and their swarming is common . and hath god giuen bées these excellent vertues in vaine , or for themselues only , and not rather to teach men christian charity , and humane society ? such angrie creatures doe thus loue , and liue in common together , and shal not much more men , to whom god hath giuen no stings ? nay christians , to whom he hath giuen that louing and sociable doue of his holy spirit ? the prophet micah also thus describes vnto vs the estate of all gods people in his church . but they shall sit euery man vnder his vine , and vnder his figge tree , and none shall make them afraid : for the mouth of the lord hath spoken it . where the hebrewe word ( charadh ) signifies to mooue one with thought , and care . all shall liue merily in christs church ; they shall neuer feare thought nor care , much lesse taste of it . and doe not inclosers , not onely make their tenants feare thought and care , but also fill their heads with it ? england hath béen famous throughout all christendome by the name of merie england : but couetous inclosers haue taken this ioy and mirth away ; so that it may be now called sighing or sorrowfull england . in england we haue euer had thrée states , lords spirituall , temporall , and the commons . and these commons are diuided againe into gentlemen , yeomen , and husbandmen . but in other countreyes there is no yeomanrie , but only in england . in france all are gentlemen , or pesants : in denmarke all are noblemen , or rustici , as they tearme them : and in high & lowe germanie there are the nobilitie , and the boores. so that , gentlemen which are inclosers , ouerthrowing the yeomanrie , and decaying the communalty , doe blotte out the ancient glory of england : for , no doubt , by the strength and hands of these two , haue béen heretofore euer obtained , our admirable conquests , and most famous victories throughout all christendome . so that now these inclosers doe goe about to make england as barbarous , and as weake in this respect , as other nations . nay let them take héed that they prooue not themselues egyptians : for not the countrey , but the conditions & maners , are wont to giue names . as we may learne out of the prophet esay , whereas he calles the noblemen of iewrie princes of sodome ; and the people , the people of gomorah : though neither they nor their ancestors were borne there . so i feare we haue some landlords of aegypt in england : for ( mitsraijm ) the name of aegypt , in our language is as much to say , as an afflicter , or one that makes another sorrowfull : and are not these inclosers egyptians then , which pinch , and vexe their brethren ? let them take heede ; the name agrées vnto them : let them feare the punishment ; god is the same god still . he that heard the grones , and sighes of his people in aegypt , and came downe to deliuer them , will no doubt doe the same in england . i haue heard of an olde prophesie , that horne and thorne shall make england forlorne . inclosers verifie this by their shéepe and hedges at this day . they kill poore mens hearts , by taking from them their auncient commons , to make shéepe pasture of ; and by imposing vpon them great rents , and by decaying tillage ; so that now they are forlorne hauing no ioy to liue in the world . and according to these shadowes , saint iohn describeth to vs the truth of christs church : but if that we walke in light ( saith he ) as he is in light , we haue fellowship one with another , and the blood of iesus christ his sonne cleanseth vs from all our sinnes . here is , euen to force vs to the communicating of our vile earth one to another , the communicating of jesus christs most pretious blood : as though they which would not maintaine this christian communion and fellowship among themselues , should not be partakers of that . they are not children of god , but children of the diuell , that walke not in this light : they are not of gods familie and church , but of sathans synagogue , that haue not this fellowship among themselues . and saint paul commaunds timothie , and in him all ministers , to teach rich men the same lesson ; charge them that be rich in this world that they be not high minded , &c. but to be very ready to giue and to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , making common their talents among their brethren : but inclosers doe not so . to conclude this point : esay in his prophesie , may séeme to teach , and touch vs also very narrowly , that haue liued vnder the gratious raigne of quéene elizabeth , and doe now liue vnder the happie and religious gouernment of king iames : for he also prophesied in the daies of godly ezechias , to whom both these may be compared . and god there complaines , that when as he had planted a most plesant vine in iewrie , and had hedged it from the hands of the enemie , and had picked out of it stones , that is , many vnprofitable members and traytors , and when he had planted a wine-presse in it , that is , a famous schoole of the prophets which should yéeld vnto them the most pleasant wine , and also had built in the middest of it a stately tower of defence , euen a most godly and mightie prince and magistrate : yet for all these benefits , when as he looked for swéete grapes at their hands , they brought forth sower grapes . and hath he not bestowed all these former benefits and blessings vpon vs in england ? he is very vnthankfull , or starke blind that will not acknowledge this : and yet for all these benefits these inclosers ( with those vnkinde jewes ) yéelde sower grapes . and what these sower grapes are , the prophet esay after most manifestly sheweth vs. woe vnto them ( saith he ) that ioyne house to house , and lay field to field , till there be no place , that you may be placed by your selues in the middest of the earth . is not this the marke that inclosers doe aime at , to be placed alone by themselues on the earth ? but to such stragling shéepe , from the holy fellowship of the lords flocke , the prophet here , cryeth woe . and are not these plainely the grapes that inclosers doe yéelde , to ioyne field to field ? and these , they account gainefull and pleasant grapes . oh men desperately sicke , whose mouthes are thus out of taste ; and doe they thinke that god will take these grapes at their hands ? what talke they of the goodnesse of their land , that it is worth this , or that ? let them praise god that they enioy it . if he had not hedged it about ; not long since , the cruell spaniard had deuoured vs all . oh , remembring this , let them offer swéete and most pleasant grapes vnto the lord , that is , deale as mercifully with their poore tenants as is possible . all the mercy which they can shew , is nothing to that mercie , which god hath shewed to them already ; nay , to that he must shew to them hereafter , or else they shal be damned . and let them take héede ; for with what measure they doe now meate , shall be measured to them againe : as it was done to that rich man , who , as he would not giue a crum or droppe here on earth , so he could not haue one crumme or droppe of comfort then graunted him in hell : though he could cry father abraham neuer so loud , his vncharitable and vnmercifull faith could doe him no good ; no more shall theirs profit them : let all men marke this well ; it is written for our learning . and let them marke well what measure of mercie they now giue ; and let them be sure , that they giue measure enough : for , without all doubt , at that day , they shall receiue the same againe . and i pronounce vnto them , that , doe what they can , they shall stand neede of it all . let them not flatter themselues in doing some small trifles , and in giuing the paring of their nailes , and those things which they may well spare : for as saint peter tels vs , at that day the iust man shall scarcely be saued : and then what case shall vnmercifull men be in ? the fifth reason is , that this inclosure is against christian charitie . saint paul saith , charitie seeketh not her owne things , but euery man also the things of other men . but these inclosers respect onely their owne commodities , and therefore it is against charitie . it was the voyce of cain , and not of sheth , nor of gods church , am i my brothers keeper ? and euen at this day they are of cains petegrée , and not of gods familie , that haue no care of the wealth and welfare of their brethren . this inclosure is also against the loue which jesus christ commaunded and shewed towards vs ; yee know the grace of our lord iesus christ ( saith saint paul ) that he being rich , for your sakes became poore , that you through his pouertie might be made rich . and i giue you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my counsell , and mine aduise herein . this is also that law of our sauiour christ , which he so straitely commaunds all his , to loue one another , as he hath loued them , and that with a repetition . this is saint pauls aduise ; for our brethrens sakes , euen to become poore to doe them good . but inclosers doe not thus , they séeke their owne wealth and riches , therefore they contradict both our sauiours law , and saint pauls aduise . the most comfortable words of our blessed sauiour , euen the first and most ioyfull message that he sent to his apostles after his resurrection were these , goe to my brethren and say vnto them , i ascend vnto my father and to your father , to my god and to your god. oh ioyfull newes ! shall we not beleeue this ? and if we doe , shall we not account indéede all christians now our brethren ? euen our most néere and déere brethren ? which brotherhoode our sa-sauiour jesus so dearely bought , euen by his most precious death ; and shall we not deale with them as with our brethren ? but dauid in the person of our sauiour christ complaines , that he is become a stranger to his brethren , and an aliant to his mothers children . and is not jesus christ , in his members amongst vs , in this state euen now ? and may he not séeme to make the same complaint ? whosoeuer lets a farme , or sels any thing to his brother , doth he not deale with him , as with a stranger ? doth he not make him pay for it to the vttermost ? nay , sometimes more then it is worth ? a turke might haue it as cheape at our hands as a christian . and may not jesus christ then iustly say , that he is become a stranger to his brethren ? surely as great a stranger , in his members to christians , as he was in his owne person to the jewes . for as they gaue him vineger and gall to drinke ; so many now giue to their brethren ; and especially inclosers giue this drinke to their poore tenants . and here we may note that excellent propertie of true charitie that she is alwaies hard to her selfe , that she may be bountifull to others . so was the widow of sareptah , that she might féede elias ; and so was that widow in the gospell , which our sauiour so highly commends ; that she might giue some thing into the treasurie of god , she gaue all her liuing , and punished her selfe . so was that samaritan and that stranger amongst the jewes ( whose example all that will be accounted neighbours our sauiour commaunds to follow ) to that wounded man. he set him on his owne beast : he went a foote himselfe , and tooke paines that he might ride . so were all the church of macedonia , as saint paul sheweth , in their extreame pouertie rich in liberalitie to the poore , they pinched themselues , that they might be liberall to them . doe inclosers follow these examples ? doe they pinch themselues that they may doe their brethren good ? shall not all these examples , of jewes , widowes , strangers , and macedonians mooue them ? they doe quite contrarie ; and they thinke , that they may doe it lawfully ; that is , they may seeke their owne commoditie howsoeuer that their brethren fare : surely this is not charitie . all gods creatures may seeme to teach vs this lesson , as virgils verses auouch . the sheepe beareth not his fleece , nor the oxe his yoake for himselfe , nor the bées hord vp their honey , but all for our vse . nay , those exceilent creatures ; the sunne , the moone , and stars , how continually doe they runne their courses , for our commoditie ? and shall not we take paines and pinch our selues to doe our brethren good ? and will not inclosers learne this lesson being taught it by so many schoole-masters ? i am verely perswaded that god hath sent of late vnseasonable weather , especially in the hay-haruest , to teach inclosers what an acre of their inclosed pasture ground ( which they doe make so great a reckoning of ) is worth . for the hay-haruest , which yeeldes meate for their sheepe , hath beene lately vnseasonable and wet : but the corne haruests which yéeldes meate for his sheepe ( the poore ) the lord hath blessed : or else no doubt , if the corne haruest had bin as wet as the hay haruest was , there would haue béen a great dearth of corne , to the vndooing of the poore . but our most louing god , to declare the loue that he beares to his owne shéepe : & the small care in comparison , that he hath of their shéepe ; hath as it were plagued the hay-haruest of their sheep , and blessed the corne-haruest of his own sheepe ; for nothing chanceth in vaine . and therefore whereas inclosers doe vrge , the goodnesse of the ground , and the benefit of inclosure , and that an acre of their inclosed medow and pasture , is worth thus much ; they must consider , y t vnles god send seasonable weather , it may prooue almost worth nothing : they must learne to let god haue a chief part of their rents reserued to him . vnlesse he keepe for vs the appointed weekes of the haruest , as ieremic teacheth , what is all our land and labour taken about it worth ? no doubt our ancestors had consideration hereof , in letting their lands ; which were so easily rented , that the tenant might haue the rent what weather soeuer god sent : and this was christian charitie . but this charitie is now vanished out of the world : the incloser will haue his great rent , hée will not abate one penie what weather soeuer come . one writes that the poore hus●andman is more cruelly dealt withall than the as●e ; whom his master , if that the weather or the way proue not conuenient and good , will ease of his burden . but husbandmen , come faire come foule weather , are nothing pitied ; they must beare still their accustomed burdens , be they neuer so great . this practise of christian charitie was vsed in the primitiue church . and the multitude of them which beleeued ( saith s. luke ) were of one heart , and of one soule ; neither any of them said or accompted , that that which he possessed , was his own ; but they had all things common . common like christians , not like anabaptists : common in vse , not in propertie . for ananias possession was his owne , to haue either kept or sold it , as peter told him . so was also all other mens possessions and goods , but no man accompted it as his owne . lodouicus viues , a very learned man , thus describes christian charitie : to loue , saith hée , is the happiest and the best thing in the world : and therefore god and angels are most happie and blessed , who loue most . and to hate is the worst and most miserable thin in the world : and for this cause the denils are most miserable . and after , lest any man should coine to himselfe a counterfeite christian charitie ; this true charitie makes all thinges equall ; where that flourisheth , no man desireth to be preferred before another , no man will desire to take away any thing from him that he loueth , when as he accompts that he himselfe hath whatsoeuer his friend hath : no man will goe to law with him , whom he loues : none will thinke that he can receiue any iniurie at his hands , and therefore neuer thinkes on reuenge : no man will enuie him , whom he loues ; nor any man is glad of the harmes of him that is his friend , nor is agrieued at his welfare . but contrariwise , according to the saying of the apostle ; he reioyceth with them that reioyce , and weepes with them that weepe , & that not fa●nedly or counterfeitly . but from his very heart . because loue makes all things common , and atcompts that his owne which is his whom he loueth . thus lodouicus viues describes christian charitie . and how farre off are inclosers from this ? saint paul saith , that if he had all knowledge , and all faith , euen to remooue mountaines , yet without this charitie he were nothing before god : and what are inclosers then , that are destitute of all these gifts , and lacke this charitie ? let them marke this well , that this i●well charitie , one day before the maiestie of god , shall be more worth than all their golde , and great rents and reuenues . this is the charitie of all the saints in heauen . for although there be differences of ioyes , yet the saints which haue lesser ioyes , accoūt those ioyes , through charity , also theirs , which their brethren doe enioy . now is fulfilled that prayer of dauid , it is time for thee lord to put to thy hand , for ( hephiru ) they haue abrogated , they haue made no account of thy lawe . and what is christs law but charitie ? and that not any charitie , but such a charitie as he hath shewed towards vs ; & as lodou●cus vi●es here hath described to vs. but it is time for god to put to his hand , for this charity is vanished , is abrogated , is made no account of , many thinke that it concernes them not . but the very pagans haue had this charitie , and , but that they wanted the eye of faith , they haue mounted vp herein ( like blinde hawkes ) farre higher than some christians , especially than inclosers . cymon the athenian commaunded all hedges and pales to be taken away from his grounds , that both citizens and strangers whosoeuer , that stood in neede , might haue more free accesse into them , to gather ap●les and corne . and photion the athenian said , that a man had as good pull downe churches and altars , as take mercie from amongst men . and iulius caesar was wont to say , that then he waxed rich , when as he did any man good . and wil inclosers come behind any of these ? will they inclose ? cymon the athenian would not doe it . will they not deale charitably in letting of their farmes to their brethren ? phocion tels them , that they had as good pull downe churches doe they account the money in their coffers their treasures ? caesar , that proud romane emperour shall condemne them ; he thought not so , but rather that which he had bestowed liberally . traiane the emperour was accompted the ioy of mankinde , because that he neuer sent any man sad home . oh that all landlords were traianes ! they should bee more ; for it is more to bee a christian , than to be a traiane ; and saint paul wills all christians to walke worthy of their vocation . the name of a christian is the honorablest and bountifullest name in the worlde . christians take their names , of the anointing the holy ghost . and what then can be more honourable and bountifull ? octauius caesar ●ccompted that day lost , wherein he had done good to no man. oh that all landlords would spend their daies thus , in deuising the good of the townes , whereof they are landlords , and not in the impouerishing of them ! then we should haue a flourishing church , and a rich common-wealth . p●olome also king of aegypt was wont to say , that he had rather make others rich , than be rich himselfe . oh that inclosers were of this minde curius also the romane hauing a great deale of golde offered him of the samnites , ●had rather , saith he , haue the possessors of the gold mine , than their gold . o wise curius he had rather haue the hearts of the samnites , than their heapes of golde . oh that inclosers were in this point but as wise as he ! the day will come when the prayers of tenants , shall doe their landlords more good than their great payments now . for that saying of our sauiour shall stand good , whēas they with their chests full of gold and siluer shall perish ; make you friends of your vnrighteous māmō ; that when as you shall depart hence and faile in your account , they may receiue you into euerlasting tabernacles . and our sauiour addes an emphasis or a memorandum ( as we say ) to this his sentence ; ( and i say vnto you ) as though he should say , marke this well , all you rich men , whom god hath enriched with his talents : herein follow that same vniust steward , and make you friends of the poore ; that when you shall depart hence , & god shall call you to an account of your stewardships ( as y e great rich man did his steward , and shall faile therin , the best of you al , euen as he did ) the poore may receiue you into euerlasting tabernacles . make the poore as waters to cast your bread on , as y t preacher counselleth you : that you may find it again , whē as you shal stand in need , after many daies : and as stones to powre your oyle vpon ; as did iacob the patriarch ; that when you shall die , you may sleepe quietly as hée did being aliue ; and sée that ladder jesus christ reaching from earth to heauen . for that strange fact of iacob containes in it some great mysterie . and may not that ladder signifie faith , & this powring oile on the stone , mercie ? so that we must ioyne to the ladder of faith , the oyle of mercie if we meane to ascend vp to heauen . or if that stone signifie jesus christ , are not the poore his members ? and doe not they which shew mercie vnto them , powre their oile on jesus christs feet , as mary did in the gospel , & as it were on stones ? such an heire of iacob , was dauid , who of himselfe writes thus ; know yee that the lord ( hiphlah ) hath as a wonderfull and pretious thing chosen to himselfe ( chasidh ) the mercifull man. and he concludes , i will lay me downe in peace and take my rest , as though mercifull men onely , and they that power their oyle on stones , as iacob did , should take their rest , and sléepe sweetely . for that sentence also shall stand good , wherein consistes one maine point ( next faith ) of our saluation : blessed are the mercifull , for they shall obtaine mercy ; and iudgement mercilesse shall be to him that hath shewed no mercy , as s. iames teacheth vs. but inclosers , i thinke , neuer remember that day : if they did , they would prefer prayers before payments , and the harts of their tenants , with that courteous romane curius , before their heapes of golde and siluer . o blind couetousnesse ! o blinde inclosers ! more blinde than grecians , more blinde than romanes , nay , more vncharitable and cruell than very infidels . nature teacheth , that the wilde figge tree , if it be planted neere vnto the figge tree , that it will make it more fruitfull : and shall not these heathen or pagans , who are wilde figge trées in comparison of vs christians , make vs excell in good works ? shall their figges be sweeter than ours ? o degenerate and wilde christians ! god by his prophet ieremie ( saith , goe to the isles of chittim , and behold ; and send vnto kedar , and take diligent heede , and see whether there be such things . our most gratious god , compares his people of the jewes , with the paganes : and will he not much more compare vs christians with them ? and is it not a shame for vs to be ouercome of them in charitie towards our brethren ? surely , if we be , in the day of iudgement they shall condemne vs. the sixt reason : this inclosure is against the church and common-wealth , and auncient customes and liberties of england , gods ministers may make that complaint of inclosers , that iacob made of laban : thou hast now changed my wages ten times : so haue they changed the auncient liuings of gods ministers . but in all their exchanges it hath fallen out , as it doth commonly in casting of mettals : that which hath comne in the second place , hath not béen so good as was the former . their summes of money which they doe now alowe , are not so good in value , as were heretofore tithes in kinde : and againe , the money due is not so easily obtained at their hands . and thus they doe not onely mussell the mouthes of gods oxen , which doe tread out his corne , but also impouerish them yéerely more & more by this their inclosure ; and yet for all this , they will be accounted laban , that is , they will séeme white and religious . hierome , of couetous patrons , and laie-men which studie to get into their hands ecclesiasticall liuings , writes thus : they which serue at the altar , let them be partakers of the altar : therefore because priests were wont to pray for all them , whose almes and oblations they doe receiue , with what face dare laie men , either themselues eate , or grant to others , the oblations which christians doe offer for their sinnes , when as it becommeth not them to pray for the people ? for this cause , ( o glorious father ) we ought to excommunicate those presumptuous persons for euer ; that others might be afraid , and that these things might be no more done in the church . o grieuous sinne , which hierome saith , is to be excommunicated for euer ! and here first , the poore husbandmen and cottagers , may complaine vnto your maiestie of the payments of the subsidie inflicted vpon them ; that whereas there hath béene rich farmers in euery towne to pay it , now those townes inclosed being dispeopled , and those rich farmers which were wont to pay it , being fled away , the payments thereof are imposed on poore men : who being but tenants , and hauing but a small flocke of cattell ( and perchance a great familie to maintaine ) are enforced to be three pound men in the subsidie booke ; whereas the lord of the mannor , or frée-holder ; being their landlords , liuing in other places , hauing fiue hundred or a thousand shéepe , in the said lordship ( which they haue inclosed and improued ) and perchance fiftie or a hundred cattell , will pay nothing towards the payment of the same . pleading for themselues , that by law , they are to be assessed and bound to pay but in one place , which for the most part is where they inhabit . and so they vsing and enioying the profits and commodities of the farmes which they haue decayed ; and also eating with their cattel , the chiefe commoditie of the field ; will beare no part of that dutie with their poore tenants , which makes them repine and murmur . nay ( that which is the last refuge ) if the townes inclosed be so poore , that they are not able to pay the subsidie ; they will vse meanes to mitigate the same , and so make some townes néere adioyning , helpe to beare out the burden of those townes , that they haue decayed and dispeopled by their inclosure . secondly , the poore also may complaine of inclosers for taking away their common : for herein they are , first impious against god , and iniurious to their auncestors , and distoyall to the kings prerogatiue royall . for first , god himselfe may séeme to haue giuen some commons , as appeares in holland , and in the marsh in lincolneshire , and holdernes in yorkeshire , and in kent , where many miles of ground haue béen added by the sea. secondly , some people of godly disposition , and great possessions , dying without issue , haue giuen large commons in diuers places , as in yorkeshire , a great common called walling fenne . and lastly , kings haue giuen commons also . william conqueror gaue commons and other liberties : so that lords of mannors did not appoint them , and therefore at their pleasures may not take them away . and they were giuen as it should seeme , vpon these considerations : first , to maintaine the poore men that fought for him : for all were not gentlemen in that great armie of the conqueror . and as gentlemē had lordships bestowed vpon them for their seruice , so no doubt , the poore had cōmons giuen to them also for the same cause : that a poore man prouiding onely meate for his cowe against winter , was assured to haue her kept and fedde on the commons all the summer for nothing ; and so might be the better imployed about his maiesties warres , so often as néede did require : whereas now in many places , the poore man is forced to pay very dearely for the summer common or pasture for his cowe ( ouer and besides his house rent ) which in times past he had belonging to his house for his said rents . and so the care for the prouision for his family being great , makes many not to be so forward to warres , as they both would and ought to be . boterus benesius , writing of the estate of the whole world , and strength of england , which consistes on the poore husbandman , cottager , and common souldier , reports thus ; although ( saith he ) the english men are able to bring into the field . launces , and a great number of light horse , yet the horsemen of england haue neuer wonne to themselues such credit and praise in war , as the footemen haue done . king edward the third , who made so many voyages into france , and obtained there so many victories ; to declare in which of his forces he most trusted , forsooke his horsemen , and went on foote amongst his common souldiers . but contrariwise the frenchmen , because they will not haue their common people giue themselues ouermuch to warlike affaires ( lest they should forsake and contemne their handicrafts and occupations , and so , by being souldiers , waxe proude ; to which thing the frenchmen are very much inclined ) put all their strength of their warres in horsemen , which for the most part consists of noble men . the common souldier heretofore hath béen for warres , the glory of england , as this author affirmes ; & by him england hath won so many great victories , and obtained such great glory and fame ; and shall he now be despised ? nay shall he in some places be rooted out ? what is this else , but to put out samsons eyes , the strength and glory of our land , and to cut off his haire ? to doe this , is not to be true israelites , but vncircumcised philistimes . what will our riches do vs good , if we lacke men to kéepe them ? as the body cannot consist without legges & armes , so neither the common-wealth without husbandmen , labourers , & souldiers . surely , they which will not maintaine these armes and legs , which must fight and runne for them , are euill members of this common-wealth . if the legges of our bodies be weake , how will we complaine ? or if our armes be out of ioint , what speed will we make to haue them put into the ioint again ? and shall we not nourish bountifully these legges ? shall we suffer these armes to be out of ioint ? and here as gods word may séeme to be the most strong ligament , so in some sort these commons may seeme to bee the sinewes of the common-wealth : for , as our armes are ioyned to our bodies by sinewes and ligaments , so no doubt these armes were tied in the beginning to the common-wealth by their commons bestowed vpon them . for benefits are the strongest bonds to binde men withall , as the heathen haue taught . secondly , it may seeme they were ordained for common workes : for so haue churches béen repaired , and bridges built , and high waies made & maintained . they would lay a péece of their common , to be so wen , or for meadow , and with the profit thereof being solde , performe any common worke ; and by that meanes , such like workes cost the poore of the towne very little . and hereof ( as appeares nowe ) comes the ridges and furrowes in ancient commons , which proueth that for such purposes they haue béene sowne . and the like good would come to the common-wealth , if that they were vsed so still . whereas now in many places , where these commons are takē away by inclosure , euery penie comes out of the poore mans purse ; and hauing no common stocke , hardly any common worke can be brought to passe , as in times past hath beene . lastly , a part of these commons were the kings high waies ; which name plainely argues , that kings were the authors of thē , as of all other commons . and those which are leading from one market towne to another , ought to be two hundred foote broade , ( as appeareth by a statute of winchester . made in . ed. . ) which were large and safe , that your maiestie might passe the countrey in progresse with your traine ; and your subiects trauell without danger . but now inclosers haue so pinched them in , by their ditches and hedges , allowing but . for the way , that your maiestie cannot passe in their waies and lanes , vnlesse they throwe open their hedges againe for that time , as experience lately hath prooued . neither can your poore subiects trauel with their weake beasts without danger , the waies being thereby made straite and narrow , and therefore deepe and dangerous ; neither without danger of their liues , both by forestalling of théeues , and also by opening the dangerous gates . the poore cottager had his common allowed him also ( as should séeme ) for his paines taken in mending of these high waies , which now inclosers haue quite spoyled , by pinching them in : but the burthen doth remaine on poore mens backs still ; and they are forced to doe their common daies , as before , and yet their common is taken from them . but lords of mannours , and frée-holders , who haue their commons , and should also worke their common daies , and for euery plow-land they holde , either in tillage , or pasture , should find one cart or draught , to leade stones and rubbish towards the repairing of high waies ; doe now of late , in many places ( where tillage is conuerted to pasture ) where heretofore , there hath beene thirtie draughts or carts in a towne , which did performe their common daies , skant finde tenne : and he that hath decayed fower or fiue draughts , skant sends one to kéepe his common daies . and hereof it comes , that high waies in many places , are not so well maintained , as heretofore they haue béene . nay , if these commons had béene appointed by the lords of mannors , then as mens natures in all ages haue béene diuers , so these commons would also , in some places haue béene better , and in other some worse : but in all places , according to the proportion of the towne , they are very liberall and bountiful : declaring themselues to be beames comming from the same sunne ; i meane from the rich liberalitie of the kings maiestie . there was a tenure in england called bassa tenura , now called copie hold : and these had their fréedomes according to the custome of the mannor . there was another tenure called tenure of villenage , and these had neither libertie of commons , nor of their very bodies , and seede . and this may bee an euident argument , that kings gaue these commons : for those which had offended his maiestie most greeuously , he made them villens , and depriued them of the auncient liberties , which all his other people enioyed . so that as this villenage , was by the king inflicted vpon some : so no doubt the former liberties and priuileges also , were by kings giuen and bestowed . but inclosers now , for no cause of disobedience , but for their owne priuate lucres , take from their tenants , that which kings did not , but vpon great offences committed against their person . there is an auncient law , ( in regarde that tenants complained of the lords of mannors for inclosing as should séeme of their commons ) by which it was enacted that lords should leaue sufficient common for their tenants , with sufficient egresse and regresse : and , that being performed , they might ( as should séeme ) make their commoditie of the rest . but if that their egresse and regresse were any thing hindred by the deforceors , or that they had not sufficient pasture ; that thē they should recouer their seison by the view of jewrors ; so that by their discretions and othes , they shall haue sufficient common and pasture with egresse and regresse , and the dissesors should bée amerced and render damages . this auncient statute plainely proues , that lords in euery towne , should leaue to their tenants sufficient common . and therefore doe they not breake the meaning of this law , which inclose , leauing no common at all ? these inclosers take vpon them , as though they were , not lords of mannours , but rather kings ; and doe make , as it were , a new commonwealth , and a new forme of gouernment in townes wherein they are lords . they will haue no common left at all . and wheras there hath béene common leas and meadow ( which hath béen without memory of man yéerly letten , and the profit thereof hath béen imployed towards the repaire of the church , and such other good and christian vses ) they will now take them away as waste due to themselues , except there can be good euidence in writing to shew for the same . they alter & change the ancient high waies ; so that trauellers and strangers sometimes without danger , cannot come to their townes . they will haue no common neat-heards , nor hog-heards , nor pinder in their townes , by which poore men haue liued , & had a stay and maintenance , both for themselues , and families , though impotent , and not able for other works . philarchus testifieth , that the beanes of aegypt , were first sowen in aegypt , and that if so be they were sowen in any other countrey , they would grow in none but there . but after in a certaine fenne of epirus , nigh vnto a riuer of thesposia , called thyramnis , in the daies of king alexander pyrrhus , two yeeres together they grewe , and brought foorth their fruit very pleasantly : but when as king alexander set a guard to keepe and watch them , that none should take of them , nor come into the fenne , the fenne was dried vp , neither brought they foorth any more fruit . in edipso also there appeared a certaine cold water running out of a spring , not farre from the sea , by the which they that were sicke were very much holpen . insomuch that many out of farre countreyes , came thither to drinke of that water . but whenas the captaines and gouernors of king antiochus , began to pinch them of this water , and commaunded to giue them of another water to drinke , quite contrarie from the other , the spring by and by dryed vp . in troas it was lawfull for any man to fetch salem tragosoeum ( troy salt ) but when as king lisimachus made them pay for it , straightway the sault vanished away : but afterwards , hee wondering at that strange alteration , hee made the place free agame , and the sault also increased againe . athenaeus lib. . cap. . reports all these histories . and doe we not thinke then , that god mislikes these couetous men , that for their owne priuate lucre and gaine , doe take commons from men ? nay , if he plagued them , that thus dealt with pagans , who were his enemies ; doe we thinke that he will allowe of them that deale so hardly with christians and with his owne children ? t●llie by the light of nature could say , iustice vsed things common , as common ; and things priuate as her owne : and shall not we much more doe so ? but the men of our age , account it wisedome to looke narrowly into commons ; and if men cannot shew good euidence for them , they take them away . the earth is subiect to our vanities , against her will , as saint paul teacheth vs. and what is she now then , doe we thinke , at our vncharitable ditches and hedges , made to the hurt of our brethren ? and what these vanities are , salomon may seeme to teach vs , eccles . . . . . . nay , god himselfe may séeme by his secret prouidence ( which no doubt doth gouerne all things : who , contrarie to the manner of the jewes fields , hath entermingled our lands together ) to haue forbidden this our inclosure . no man almost can inclose in champian countries , with out great exchange : and doe we thinke that this intermingling our lands thus together , was done in vaine ? god also by that miraculous moouing of the ground at kinnastone in herefordshiere , may séeme to haue condemned inclosure : no doubt it taught some thing . the ground mooued from his own place , carying sheepe & sheepe-coats with it , and trees and high waies : it ouerthrew kingston chappell , and changed tillage into pasture . howsoeuer some here will giue their naturall causes , or make no account hereof ; héere was plainely the hand of god , and his extraordinary working for our learning : this thing chaunced not in vaine . and the like strange alteration vpon the earth , is wrought by inclosers . they change auncient and accustomed high waies , they turne tillage into pasture , they carrie sheepe and shéepeheards with them . and churches nowe in many places , thorough depopulation , may become chappels ; inclosers haue so greatly diminished gods people . nay , the caterpillers which god sent , not many yéeres since , on thornes and hedges , which did eate off all the leaues of them in summer , may they not séeme to condemne inclosers ? god hath by many miracles condemned the sinnes of our age . as our couetousnesse by a childe that was borne with a golden tooth . and why may he not condemne this our couetous inclosing , and exchanging the auncient customes and vses of the earth , euen by this miraculous and strange mouing thereof ? sir thomas moore a great common-wealths man , and very expert in the lawes of england , writes thus of inclosure . your sheepe i say which were wont to be milde and gentle , and to be fed with so small cost , now as it is reported haue begun to be so wild & rauenous of late , that they eate vp euen men , and that they make waste and depopulate townes . for , in what parts of your realme growes finer wooll , and therefore of better price , there noblemen and gentlemen , yea and some abbots ( holy men i assure you ) not being content with the yearely rents and commodities , which were wont to be payed out of farmes vnto their ancestors ; and not content , themselues to liue idlely and pleasantly , and to doe no good to the common wealth , vnlesse also that they should hinder and hurt it ; that they may leaue nothing but reape all commodities into their owne hands : they inclose all their pastures , they pull downe houses , they ouerthrow townes , leauing the church onely for to croowe vp their sheepe in . and as though your forrests and parkes had not spoyled ground enough amongst you , these holy men turne into a wildernes all dwelling houses , and whatsoeuer heretofore hath beene tilled . and therefore one insatiable glutton and most pestilent plague to his countrey , ioyneth fields together , that he may inclose within one hedge some thousand acres . the husbandmen are either thrust out of their inheritances , or else being by craft beguiled , or by force oppressed , or depriued of them , or else wearied with iniuries and compelled to sell them . therefore howsoeuer these wretches doe flit , men , women , husbands , wiues , blinde men , and widowes , fathers with their young children , with a greater , than a rich family ( for husbandrie stands in neede of many ) they flit i say from their knowne and accustomed dwellings , and they can finde no place where to put in their heades ; they sell all their stuffe when as they must needes be thrust out , ( which is not worth much if that they could tarry and get a good chapman for it ) they sell it i say almost for nothing . and when as by wandring a while they haue spent that , what must they needs doe then , but either steale , and iustly be hanged for their labours , or else wander vp and downe and begge , and then also are cast into prison as vagrant persons , seeing no man will set them a worke , when as they doe most willingly offer their seruices ? for now there is nothing to be done about husbandrie , wherein they haue beene brought vp all their liues , when as there is nothing sowen . for now one sheepeheard , and one neat-heard is sufficient to looke to that ground with cattell , to the tillage whereof , that it might beare corne , many mens hands and labours were required . and by this meanes it commeth to passe , that in many places corne waxeth very deare . we may note here first , how that sir thomas more , being a papist , yet touched this sinne , euen in abbots , and that in the darkenes of poperie : and shall not we condemne it in the light of the gospell ? secondly , he affirmes that it makes beggers , and that it makes théeues , and causeth a dearth of corne in our land , nay , it pulleth downe townes . if in his daies it wrought these mischiefes , when as it began but to set in foote into this common-wealth : what hath it done since , which hath growne to the very heart thereof ? nay , what will it doe in the ende , if it procéede as it hath begun , if some stay and remedie be not had ? it will no doubt begger and quite decay the common-wealth of england . how many farmes now , stand emptie since inclosers began ; or onely with some seruants in them ; which dare giue nothing not knowing their maisters pleasure ? so hospitalitie is quite thereby decayed . how many poore men lacke worke , as threshers ; and poore women , as spinners ; and doe complaine for lacke of their accustomed workes ? and how many poore mens children are inforced to begge or else liue idely , which heretofore where tillage was maintained were taken into seruice , to driue the plough , or to keepe cattell , & thereby in time grew to be good members in the common-wealth , which inclosers néed not . the seauenth reason ; this inclosure with depopulation is a sin whereof god shall make speciall inquirie at the day of iudgement . it is written in the booke of genesis , that the earth was full of crueltie , and that that was the principall cause of the drowning thereof ; and it is to be feared that this shall be the cause of the burning thereof : as appeareth in the . of math. verse . . the prophet dauid thus manifestly prophesieth of christs comming to iudgement . the lord shall arise , and haue mercie vpon syon , for the áppointed time is come ; for all thy seruants haue great pleasure in her stones , and it pitieth them to see her in the dust . and all nations shall feare thy name o lord , and all the kingdomes of the earth thy glorie : for the lord doth builde syon and he will be seene in his glorie . he hath had respect vnto the prayer of ( hangareger ) as it is in the hebrew ; that is , of the poore afflicted ; and he hath not despised their supplication . this shall be written ( ledhor acharon ) for the last generation of the world . and the people created shall praise the lord. here we may marke first , that this psalm prophesies of our daies , and that this lesson concernes vs. the time is now come for god to arise to iudgement , and to haue mercie vpon syon . and then , is it not written for vs that liue in the ende of the world ? oh that we would marke it ! the lesson is this ; that all gods seruants rather delight in the stones of syon , that is , in the lords shéepe and faithfull seruants , more than in their flockes of sheepe , or in their braue walles and high towres ; and it pitieth them to see these stones troden vnder foote and lye in the dust , and to be made no account off : and that in the sun-shine of the gospell , when all nations shall feare the name of the lord , and all the kings of the earth his glory , by the preaching of his word . but god doth build syon , and will be seene in his glorie . there be some as should seeme that haue pulled downe syon , and gods church , and these his stones : but god himselfe will build it vp againe ( saith the prophet ) and will be seene in his glory . let all depopulators of townes themselues build vp the lords syon and farmes againe , least if that they suffer god to build them , when as he comes in his glorie , that his building be too costly for them , and cost them not some hundreth pounds of money , which now perchance they are loth to disburse , but the damnation of their soules . for god hath a regard vnto the prayer ( hangaregar ) that is , of the poore afflicted that is trampled vnder foote and made no account of , but is as a broome , ( as that word signifieth ) and hath not despised their supplications . the iust men should florish in gods house like to palme trees : and we haue made them like broome , euen béesomes to swéepe and make cleane our houses . and doe we thinke , that god will not reuenge this ? who sées not such broomes almost in euery place , that is , many good farmes pulled downe , and lye in the dust , to swéepe and beutifie , and build , a new braue and stately house ? let all such as make the lords palmes , their broome béesomes to swepe their houses with all , take héede : at the day of iudgement , god shall search out diligently for all such , and without spéedy repentance and planting his palmes againe shall cast them into hell . this is written for the last generation as arias montanus translates it : and doth it not concerne vs ? and a people ( nicrah ) created , shall praise the lord. this word nicrah also , that is , a people created , doth most manifestly portray out vnto vs our daies . the church of god was not seene , was as no body , was in the wildernes : and now god hath as it were created it againe , and brought it into light : and this people shall praise the lord. nay , to confound popery , all gods people are created againe to good works : there is no naturall faculties remaining in them to doe good as the papists teach . the people created shall praise the lord. god ceased his creation of natural things the seauenth day as we reade in genesis . and therefore the prophet dauid no doubt meanes another spirituall creation and the regeneration of our soules : and to this place ( for all scripture hath a most pleasant and sweete harmonie in it selfe ( if any one doe marke it ) doth saint paul allude , when as he saith we are created in iesus christ to good works . and esay also prophesieth in the ende of the world of such couetous worldlings . the earth also saith he , playeth the hypocrite , because of the inhabitants thereof , for they haue transgressed the lawes , they haue changed the ordinances , and customes , and they haue broken the euerlasting couenant : here is plainely set downe , why the earth doth not now of late , yéelde her accustomed increase : because the inhabitantes thereof , haue changed the ordinances of their ancestors and haue broken the law of nature in not louing their like : nay , the euerlasting couenant of god , in not louing their brethren , as iesus christ our most blessed sauiour hath loued vs. but if that inclosers will here attribute the barrenuesse of the earth to other causes : yet let them marke what goeth before . behold ( saith the prophet ) the lord will make emptie the earth ( bokek ) and hee will vnhedge and vnwall it . the nature of which word , mercerus declareth vnto vs thus . videtur ex locis in quibus inuenitur , significare dissipare seu effringere quod clausum & munitum erat , vt omnium iniu●ijs pateat : it seemes by the places wherein it is found , to signifie to disperse and breake vp that which was inclosed and fenced , that it may now lie open to the iniuries of all things . and doth not this most manifestly touch inclosers and their hedges ? nay esay addeth ( vangiua paneha ) he shall make crooked her face : no doubt that was straight before . for ( ngaua ) signifies to peruert or make a straight thing seeme crooked . and may not this note also their straight chaine lines drawen on the face of the earth ? for otherwise the fare of the earth cannot bee made crooked . and that the . chapter of esay concernes vs that liue in the ende of the world , and not the jewes onely but as types of vs , these circumstances may seeme to prooue . first because the prophet speaketh of the earth , and not of the land of jewry . then , that he saith , that the earth shall deceiue the expectation of the tillers thereof , which i thinke was neuer more truely verified , than now in our daies . then also because the prophet teacheth , that they shall breake in those daies the euerlasting couenant of god made to vs in jesus christ ; which couenant wee haue broken , in not obseruing christian charitie , which is the onely lawe thereof . nay besides all these , the prophet addeth , the lord god of israell shall be praised in the isles of the sea . and againe , from the vttermost parts of the earth , we haue heard praises , euen glory to that iust . and who is that iust , but iesus christ ? whom steuen also honoureth with that title , and by that name describes vnto vs. the prophet also saith , that the earth shall reele too and fro like a drunken man. and what is this else , but that which saint luke teacheth vs , that in the ende of the world men shall be at their wits ends , not knowing what shall come to passe in the world ? and lastly , the bl●shing of the sunne and moone , when the lord of hosts shall raigne in sion , and in ierusalem , and glory shall be before his auncients : what doe all these meane , but the comming of the true sunne to iudgement ? and the glorie of the newe moone , that is of the church triumphant , at whose presence , our sunne and moone shall blush ? and what meanes the raigning of god in sion , and in ierusalem , but that we all , both jewes and gentiles shall be one sheepefold vnder one shéepheard iesus christ ? and glory before his ancients , which they shall euer see : what is it else , but eternall glory ? sibylla also séemes herein to agrée with the prophet esay , and to point at our hedges now in the ende of the world ; who speaking of the day of iudgement , and of the daies before it , writes thus : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . doth not the plainely héere name hedges ? yea , and that which inclosers voe hope for , that the ground so inclosed shall not yéeld more fruits ? sibylla also prophesies most truly of jesus christ , and of his crosse , and of his comming to iudgement , in those her most famous arrostick verses , which she made concerning him , as no man can deny : and doe we thinke that the rest of her prophesies , especially the remnant of those her acrosticks , concerning the state of the world before the day of iudgement , not to be as true ? in those her verses of the condition and state of the world before that day , she writes thus : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . and here first let vs marke that she saith , that the earth by sweating , shall giue a token of the iudgement . let couetous landlords and inclosers , which ouerburthen their tenants take héede , that they be not the causes of this her sweating : for otherwise , the earth properly cannot be said , to sweate of her own nature , being of constitution the briest element ; nay drier than any dogge , which as both philosophie and experience teacheth , doth neuer sweate . and after she prophesieth thus : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . and secondly , whereas she saith , that the world shall be a thorne or briar , as castalio translates it : doth she not plainely signifie men , who shall become like to thornes and briars , which shall pricke mens handes that deale with them , and shall catch vnto themselues all that they can get , and shall euen pul mens coates from their backs ? for as concerning materiall briars and thornes , the world was neuer so cleansed of them as at this day ; which euery man is carefull to roote vp for hurting their shéepe . but those other spirituall briars which sibylla meaneth , growe in many places very plentifullie . but let all such briars take héede , that they be not burned in hell fire . nay , to let sibylla passe , doth not our sauiour himselfe prophesie of the daies of the sonne of man , before the ende of the world ? and doth he not plainely teach vs , that they shall bee like the daies of noah , and of lot , before the destruction of the olde world , and the burning of sodome ? how that they shall eate and drinke , and marry , and build , and plant in those daies ? and the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which saint mathew vseth , teacheth vs ; that not the vse , but the extraordinary abuse of all these things is héere signified . and those words , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which s. luke vseth , plainely prooue that according to these particulars , and not a generall securitie onely ( as some would faine haue it ) is meant by all these . and are not our hedges now extraordinary ? now liued all our ancestors without them ? and our sauiour in this his doctrine , may séeme to agrée with the prophet ioell ; who of the day of iudgement , and of the estate of the world at that day most manifestly prophesieth thus . the earth shall be as the garden of eden before him , but behinde him it shall be a desolate wildernes . what doth th●● garden signifie , but that the earth then shall haue great cost bestowed vpon her ; and shall be hedged in as we vse to doe our gardens if the lord when he comes shall destroy the garden , let the gardiners take heede ; for their destruction shall be without all doubt the greater . let them willingly throwe open their gardens and closes againe , that god doe not throw them into hell . and that this prophesie of ioel concernes vs & our daies , and not onely the comming of the assirians against the jewes . first , that cōmandement in the first verse of this second chapter seemeth very euidently to proue , where the prophet saith , blow vp the trumpet in syon . syon is taken vsually for christs church as we reade . esa . . v. . ps . . . and the trumpet signifies the preaching of the gospel , as appeareth by those senē angels which did blow their trumpets from jesus christs ascension to his comming to iudgement . no doubt as syon is not heere to be ment literally : so neither the trumpets . but that which ioel here saith , blow vp the trumpet in syon for the day of the lord is at hand , is all one with that which our sauiour saith in the gospell , the gospell shall be preached , and then shall the ende come . nay , saint peter in the acts applieth some part of ioels prophesie to christs first comming , as the sending downe of the holy ghost vpon the apostles ; & some part thereof to the day of iudgement , when as the sunne shall be darkned and the moone turned to blood . and shall we say , that this prophesie concernes not vs ? nay we in our fasts apply the turning to the lord with fasting & wéeping vnto our daies , which is as as it were the medicine : and shall we not apply the sinne and sore which ioel there toucheth , and that garden of eden also to our daies ? nay , saint paul telleth vs plainely that all things chanced to the iewes typically , and are written for our learning , on whom the ends of the world are come . and will any man say then , that this prophesie of ioel concernes vs not ? shall we not learne something thereby ? and also the same reason may be alleaged concerning the . chap. of esay , which hereafter i also alleage . and here let all the lords watchmen giue these inclosers and gardiners warning before , while it is called to day , least they repent to late with diues in hell . so their blood shall be vpon their owne heads , for surely gods word is truth . and as the land shall be most assuredly a garden before the face of the lord at that day , so there shall be some gardiners . the gospell also condemnes this inclosure . our sauiour prophesieth , that in the ende of the world , the charitie of many shall waxe colde , which argueth a precedent heate . and may not these inclosers fulfill this prophesie , who haue some charitie in them ; but not the charitie of their ancestors ? but he that continues to the ende in the faith of the gospell working through feruent and christian charitie ( such charitie as christ himselfe shewed towards vs and also commanded ) he shall be saued , saith our sauiour , and none else . therefore let inclosers take héede which haue not this charitie . saint paul also prophesieth thus of the latter times ; that in the last daies shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , that is , dogged times : for as gellius notes , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , is referred to the most keene and fierce nature of dogges : and he willeth timothie to know this , as a thing most certaine . and doth not this touch inclosers , who catch and snatch all they can from their brethren for their owne lucre sake ? but although this had béene enough to haue declared them vnto vs , yet that which followes paints them vnto vs liuely : for many shall be ( saith saint paul ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , that is , louers of themselues , and louers of money . by what two marks , could he haue expressed inclosers more manifestly ? these two loues raignes in them , but the loue of their brethren is quite banished out of their harts . nay , these inclosers are ( as it followes also in the apostle ) disobedient to their parents : in not obeying after their deaths , their charitable customes which they commaunded , and in their liues obserued . so did not the rechabites . the apostle saint peter of the day of iudgement writeth thus : the end of all things is at hand , be yee therefore sober , and pray ; ( not on the day time only , but euen with our blessed sauiour in the night ) but aboue all things haue feruent loue among you ; for christian charitie ( as an effect of faith ) shall couer a multitude of sinnes . for the faithful , and mercifull mens sinnes are couered and not mentioned , as appeareth in the gospel . but to goe on with our apostle ; let euery man as he hath receiued the gift , so minister the same as good stewards of the manyfold graces of god. why should saint peter here make mention of stewards but that as sh 〈…〉 séeme he did foresée in the spirit , that some at the ende of the world , should forget themselues to be stewards ; and deale here with the earth , and earthly things , as though they were chiefe lords of them : whereas saint peter telleth them heere p●a●ely , that they are but péere stewards . and dauid himselfe though a king acknowledged the same : that the earth is the lords and all that therein is . nay , cyrus that great persian monark confesseth , that the lord god of heauen hath giuen him all the kingdomes of the earth , as to a frée-holder , or steward . let all landlords learne this lesson , and remember it wel , against the the day of judgement ; and deale like stewards , and not like lords , with gods people . god no doubt shall make enquirie at that day how they haue dealt with them . but to conclude that of this sinne of depopulation of townes , shall be especiall inquirie made at the day of iudgement . the prophet esay speaking of that day writes thus : behold the day of the lord commeth , cruell with wrath and fierce anger , to lay the earth waste . and he shall destroy her sinners out of her . what should the prophet meane by those ( chatteah ) her sinners but these inclosers , who are too much in loue with the earth ? nay saith god , i will cause the arrogancie of the proud to cease ( gaauath ngaritsim ) the pride of these terrible men , that no man durst speake against , or speake vnto . and i will make a man ( saith god ) more precious than fine gold , euen a man aboue the wedge of the gold of ophir . there shall be some at that day of iudgement , as appeareth by this place , that shall make no account of men , which shal depopulate townes . god telleth all such , that he will make a man , euen one man ( whereas they haue thought it a light matter , to depopulate townes and to roote out many men ) more pretious , than a wedge of gold . and what is all their wooll-money to a wedge of gold ? one man is more worth than a wedge of gold , much more then , than all their wooll-money ; god himselfe hath spoken it . wherefore if inclosers and depopulators of townes , meane to be saued at the day of iudgement : let them willingly cast open their closes againe , and reedifie the farmes , they haue decayed . it makes no matter for the charge of hedging ( which they shall loose ) that they haue beene at . and let them banish their shéepe out of their pastures , and let them fill the lords townes and shéepefolds , with his sheepe againe , and that spéedily , least the lord comming to judgement doe condemne them , as cruell and couetous tyrants . fnd let them now preferre euen one man , before a wedge of gold , least hereafter god doe teach them this lesson in hell , when it shall be too late for them to learne . and here i most humbly desire in the lord , that all gods children would beware , that they be not giltie of that woe which esay proclaimeth . woe to them that speake good of euill , and euill of good , which put darknes for light , and light for darknesse , that put bitter for sweete , and sweete for bitter . and that all gods faithfull seruants , would remoue that great sinne farre from them , which ieremy layed to the charge of the iewes : that they would not bend their tongues like bowes , to maintaine lies : but that they would ( that which saint iames teacheth them ) lay a part all filthinesse , and superflu●tie of wickednesse : that is , that they would not sinne , when they néede not sinne . but that they would receiue with meekenesse the word that is grafted in them which is able to saue their soules . the lord jesus open the eyes and turne the hearts of all inclosers , that they may let the gréeuousnesse of this the●● sinne , and repent with spéede , while it is called to day : ( least with those 〈◊〉 and c 〈…〉 tous tyrants which esay speaketh of , they he visited of god , that is , haue 〈◊〉 workes looked into , and be 〈…〉 ely punished at the day of judgement ) for his glorious name sake : to whom with the father and the holy ghost be all praise honor and glory now and for euer amen . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a -e hest . . . verse . . psal . . . . cor. . pro. . . prov. . . eze. . . i know where ther hath beene before inclosure . communicāts : but now there be scant . . kin. . psal . . . notes for div a -e ier. . . vers . . notes for div a -e exo. . . cicero lib. offi● . plin. lib. . cap. . ibidem . gen. . . gen. . . gen. . . gen. . . munster in eundem locum . iud. ▪ . . king. . . camden britan. p. . eccles . . . plin. lib. . cap. . math. . . mat. . . exod. . ios . . . . sam. . . psal . . vers . . phinehas stoode vp and executed iudgement and the plague was staied . luk. . . . tim. . . ia. . . esa . 〈◊〉 . . . &c. exod. . . psal . . . . sam. . . . tim. . . tit. 〈◊〉 psal . . . psal . . . . . cor. . . psal . . . psal . . . reu. . . . cor. . . gen. . . mat. . . psal . . . . pet. . . act. . . . cor. . mat. . . . sam. . . gen. . . esa . . . . chr. . . mundus imper . rex . gall . gen. . luk. . . ioh. . . . cor. . . luk. . . . sam. . . . sam. . . phil. . . . math. . . ier. . . exod. . . as it is in the hebrew . luk. . . esa . . . ier. . . zeph. . . . pet. . . verse . gen. . . exod. . . exod. . . iob. . . job . . . ioh. . . mat. . . . sam. . . judg. . . phil. . . . pet. . . hest . . . apo. . . psal . . . matth. . . psal . . . joh. . . gen. . . rom. . . . cor. . . gen. . . zach. . numb . . . esay . . . pro. . . iosh . . . deut. . matth. . exo . . leuit. . . deut. . leuit. . iere. . . ephes . . . esa . . . i●shu●gatha . gemin . lib. . cap. . mat. . . micah . . . esa . . . psal . . . exod. . . . . ioh. . . . tim. . esa . . esa . . . . sam. . . . king. . . . vers . . math. . . luk. . . rom. . . . pet. . . . cor. . phil. . . gen. . . . cor. . . . cor. . . ioh. . . ioh. . . . cor. . ioh. . . psal . . . mat. . . . king. . . luk. . . luk. . . . cor. . . sic vos non vobis vellera fertis oues , &c. ioh. . . mat. . . ier. . . act. . . act. . . introduct . adsapient . rom. . . . cor. . . cor. . . psal . . . ioh. . . act. . . ephes . . . . pet. . . . ioh. . . luk. . . eccle. . . gen. . . . ephe. . . ioh. . . psal . . . vers . . mat. . . iam. . . ier. . . gen. . . cor. . . hier. part . . tract . . epist . . ad damas . alludit ad illud . iohanis . . orans pre fraire peccatore dat vitam . mund. imp. rex . angl. iud. . . ioh. . . . sam. . . psal . . . . hen. . . edw. . . matth. . . offic. lib. . rom. . . & . stow anno dom. . anno e 〈…〉 z. . ruland . de dente auree . lib. . v. topia . gen. . psal . . . raisu . psal . . . apoc. . . ephe. . . gen. . . iohn . . . psal . . . ephe. . . esa . . . eccl. . . ioh. . . ose . . . . esa . . . mercer . in lex . pagn . . tim. . . act. . . luc. . mal. . . mat. . ioh. . . sibyll . orac. lib. . in english thus , the earth shall be equally common to all , without any walles or hedges . neither being diuided 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , then , ( that is , in the daies before the iudgement ) shall it yeelde more fruits . sibyll . orac. lib. . in english thus : when as the earth in sweating , shall be a signe of the iudgement , &c. in english thus : all the whole world shall be vntilled , and shall be turned into a briar or thorne . and may not héere the first worde , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , vntilled , séeme to touch inclosers that will not till the earth ? luc. . . mat. . . luc. . . ioel. . . ioel. . . apoc. . . apoc. . . mat. . . act. . . ioel. . . . cor. . . heb. . . luc. . . ezec . . ioh. . . mat. . . gal. . . . ioh. . ioh. . . . cor. . . gellius lib. . cap. . . tit. . . ier. . . . pet. . . luc . . . pet . mat. . , , . . pet. . psal . . . esd . . . esa . . . ioh. . . esa . . . ier. . . iam. . . ephes . . psal . . . hebr. . . esa . . . a scripture-vvord against inclosure, viz. such as doe un-people townes, and un-corne fields as also against all such that daub over this black sinne with untempered morter / by john moore ... moore, john, ?- . this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text r in the english short title catalog (wing m ). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing m estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) a scripture-vvord against inclosure, viz. such as doe un-people townes, and un-corne fields as also against all such that daub over this black sinne with untempered morter / by john moore ... moore, john, ?- . [ ], p. printed for anthony williamson ..., london : . reproduction of original in the cambridge university library. eng inclosures -- great britain. land tenure. a r (wing m ). civilwar no a scripture-vvord against inclosure, viz. such as doe un-people townes, and un-corne fields as also against all such that daub over this bla moore, john b the rate of defects per , words puts this text in the b category of texts with fewer than defects per , words. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images - jonathan blaney sampled and proofread - jonathan blaney text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a scripture-vvord against inclosure ; viz : such as doe un-people townes , and un-corne fields . as also , against all such , that daub over this black sinne with untempered morter . by john moore , minister of the church at knaptoft in leicester-shire . isaiah . . woe unto them that call evill good ; and good , evill : that put darknesse for light , and light for darknesse ; that put bitter for sweet , and sweet for bitter . london , printed for anthony williamson , at the queens armes in s. pauls church-yard , . to his highnesse the lord protectour of england , scotland , and ireland , and his most honourable councell . may it please your highnesse , in this discourse i plead the cause of the publique and poore of your true-hearted county of leicester , and the counties adjacent . else ( had it been any thing of private interest ) my hand and heart would have trembled to have put any thing into your hands , to turn off your eye but a few minutes , from the wonderfull weighty affaires of these three nations ; which are all incumbents upon your highnesse and councell . the onely wise , great , good god support you with his owne wisdome , counsell , and strength . though the main of my businesse is for soules , even to get out of them selfe , world , sinne and devil , and to get in god , christ , grace and the gospel : yet i have borrowed some weeks ( which by double pains , i blesse god i have repayed ) to wait upon parliaments formerly , and now upon your highnesse and councel with petitions , to prevent the ruine of my countrey ( which is dear unto me ) so endeavoured & indangered by self-ish men truly delineated in these papers : whatsoever specious pretences may be made to the contrary of regulated inclosure , and of a may-be inclosure , without ruine either of publick or poor . in these inland countyes wofull experience tells us , it is not so . and that inclosure is now making , is likely to be in time as desolating as any , if not speedily prevented by your highnesse and councell . such incolsurists in the very making of them , having no respect to the publique , or right in law , or the consciences of men . as in the severall petitions from leicester-shire now before you it appears : which petitions your highnesse ( our hearts rejoyce in you , and blesse god for you ) without delay heard , and referred to your councell : which also they have read and committed to the lord viscount lisle , sir gilbert pickering , mr. strickland , and charles wolsley or any two of them , who are speedily to speake with the parties that attend the businesse , and to consider of the matter therein contained , and to offer to the councell what they shall conceive fit to be done thereupon . and as your leicester-shire petitioners have petitioned your highnesse , and councell-men upon earth ; so they daily petition the high god of heaven to incline your hearts to relieve the oppressed of these inland counties . and truly god hath set it upon my spirit , that you are ( hester . . ) come to the rule of this nation for such a time as this . and my soul wrestles with my god that you may still be serviceable to god , and his church , the publique and the poore , till you goe away hence and shall be seen no more , and then be gathered to our christ , who then shall say , mat. . , . &c. come ye blessed of my father , receive a kingdome prepared for you from the beginning of the world . i was hungry and you gave me meat , thirsty and you gave me drinke , naked and you cloathed me , &c. amen saith the soul of him who is as your highnesse most humble servant , so also the churches , the publiques , and the poors , john moore . an advertisement of three things , to such reader , who as he loves god , loves his neighbour also . first , if thou chance to meet with a book , called [ a vindication of regulated inclosure : ] thou hast very little reason to believe much in it . the man speaks of what may be , and not of what usually is . he hath fancyes , notions and dreams of innocent inclosure both from depopulation and decay of tillage . and for the townes he names to be free , they are grosly guilty either of the one , or of the other , or of both . secondly , whereas that book tells thee , that such desolations are vitia personarum non rei , it is the fault of the persons and not of the thing . i must confesse with him they are vicious persons indeed that produce such inclosure . what better issue can we look for from such parents ? inclosure , making of hedges and ditches , is not a sinne , but such inclosure that is destructive to publique , and poore is a crying sinne . lastly , i complaine not of inclosure in kent or essex , where they have other callings and trades to maintaine their country by , or of places neer the sea or city , but of inclosure in the inland countreys , which takes away tillage , the onely trade generall they have to live on ; and whereby they are so beneficiall to the rest of the nation , in times of scarcity . pray with me , god speed the plough . thy friend , if thou be so to the publique and the poore , john moore . a scripture-word against inclosure , &c. amos , ch. . ver. , . thus saith the lord , for three transgressions of israel , and for foure , i will not turn away the punishment thereof , because they sold the righteous for silver , and the poor for a payre of shooes . that pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor , and turn aside the way of the meek . the lord assist me his poor under sheepherd with his own holy spirit , that i may deale as faithfully and plainly with england , as amos an honest-hearted heardsman , and god's prophet dealt with israel . for england ( especially leicester-shire , and the counties round about ) stands now as guilty in the sight of god of the sinnes in the text , as israel did then : and therefore the lord may justly say to us , for three transgressions , and for four , i will not turn away the punishment thereof , because &c. the text contains israels sinne , and israels punishment . i shall first open the sinnes of israel , and then tell me if england be not as guilty as israel ; and if so , why should not she partake of the same punishment ? i entreat therefore , as i open the sinnes of israel , bear in your minde the inclosure in the middle of england . first then , what is meant by three transgressions , and for four ? in plain tearms is meant , adding of sinne to sinne , isa. . . and transgression to transgression . and so tremellius expounds three and four transgressions , that is saith he , for very many . a finite number is put for an indefinite . and then god seemed to speak thus , if israel had had a moderation in sinning , i would have turoed away their punishment , i would have been moderate in punishing ; but since to three sinnes they have added four , and to many they daily adde more , i am determined to perfect my judgements upon them , and to be avenged on them once for all . if we take three and four for seven : know we seven is eminently in scripture put for a multitude . so sam. . . ( saith hannab ) the barren hath born seven , that is , many , and is become a mother of many children . seven devils were cast out of the woman , luke . . that is , a multitude . the just falleth seven times a day , prov. . that is , often : so the sense is , they multiply their sinnes , and i will multiply my judgments . lastly , we may expound for three transgressions , and for four ; by the twelfth verse of this chapter . whereas here he complains of three transgressions , and foure ; so there he complains , i am pressed under you as a cart is pressed with sheaves : now this is a plain countrey-comparison : when we load a cart , we begin with a few sheaves at the first , with two , or three , or four ; and so goe on to lay on more sheaves one after another , till we over-load , and are ready to presse the cart into pieces . so israel layd on one sheaf after another , one sinne after another , still burthening god with their sinnes , that he seems to groan under the burthen of them , as one that is weary to bear them any longer . isaiah . . they make him sigh . ab , i will ease me of my adversaries , and avenge me of mine enemies . i can hold my hands no longer for their multiplied transgressions . they sold the righteous for silver , and the poor for a payre of shooes . if we put that of our prophet ( amos , . ) to these words of selling the righteous that they may buy the poore for silver , &c. they buy and sell the righteous poor for silver , that is , for the gain and profit , use them they doe as they use their beasts , keep them or put them off for their advantage . so long as serviceable , drudge them , rack their rents , buy them to get by them , and then sell them ; yea , away with them out of house and harbour , town and field , take away their calling , and livelyhood that should maintain themselves , wives , and children , &c. when lesser gain comes in by them ; they sell them or buy them upon that account as may serve their turns ( judas-like ) to fill the bagge , and make no more account of them than a payre of shooes , yea old shooes that they cast to the dunghill . that pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poore . that pant after the dust of the earth , that is , ( saith mr. caryll ) exceedingly desire and long for it . as david describes his holy desires , psal. . . as the hart panteth after the water-brooks , so panteth my soul after thee o god : that is , i extremely desire thy presence and communion with thee : even as the hart being hunted and heated desireth the waters . thus they panted after the dust of the earth , that is , after those things which are but as the dust of the earth , or whose originall and matter is but the dust of the earth , gold , of silver . these are but the refined dust of the earth . but whose dust did they pant after ? it was the dust upon the head of the poor . if they did but see a poor man to have gotten a little about him , though onely enough to keep life and soule together , to preserve himself and his family from starving , or begging , they presently panted after it : they were passionately desirous of it : they cast about how to get it . they who are inflamed with covetousnesse are busie to finde out , and having found out , are greedy to pursue all advantages and occasions to enrich themselves though it be with the ruine of the poor . they are glad to get something even from them , who ( according to common speech ) have nothing . they scrap't from them who have but scraps to live on . thus sweetly hath that heavenly man interpreted these words to our hand . and turn aside the way of the meek . that is , first they turn aside the way of justice and equity , which is the means of recovering their right . they cannot have that justice and right done them , which is due unto them . by reason of the greatnesse of the estates and power of these men , they stop the current of justice and equity , whereby these meek ones should be delivered from their oppressours . secondly , they turn aside the way of the meek , that is , they take away the way of their livelyhood . we use commonly to aske this question , how doth such a man live ? and 't is answered , he lives in a very good way , he hath such a way of living , such a trade , calling , or profession , that 's his way . thus to turn aside the way of the meek , is to put them besides the way of getting their bread , and maintaining themselves , wives , and children with necessary provisions . to take away the calling they live by , is a turning aside the way of the meek to all purposes . thirdly , they turn aside the way of the meek . why ? what is the way of the meek ? the psalmist tells us , psal. . . it is gods way , the meek he will teach his way . now these great ones either first force them to make shipwrack of faith and a good conscience , or else undoe them if they will not consent unto them in their unjust and uncharitable designes . and so of necessity these meek ones must be undone either in the inward , or outward man . or else secondly , they become tempters unto these meek ones by their often alluring perswasions and ill egging , or else by their ill examples to turn them out of gods way . thus having explained the text , i come to shew , that england ( especially leicester-shire , and the counties adjacent ) is as guilty of the sinnes in the text now , as israel was then : yea , especially in that aggregated sinne of inclosure , viz : such as doth un-people towns , and un-corn fields , which i chiefly intend in this present discourse . and that principally , because there are so many ready to make helmets to save this great goliah sinne , harmlesse ; making this great sinne a little sinne , and so at last no sinne at all . for indeed , all the workmen of this occupation rise up together , crying , great is the diana of inclosure , because by this craft we have our wealth , acts . . and therefore to defend it they prate much , and print something : yet i never heard of any so audaciously impious as to preach the lawfulnesse of such inclosure . but i shall shew that this inclosure is not a single sinne , but will admit for the aggravation of it all those sinnes , and black circumstances in the text : and then we may conclude , it is a transgression for which the lord will not turn away the punishment thereof . now then it is my businesse to rip up such inclosure , and to manifest how many sins lye within the bowells of this monster , &c. and for the proof i shall bring herein , it is undeniable . such inclosure shall be discovered by his bloody hands , and in the very fact be found guilty . if the lord protector his highnesse ; and most honourable councel should impannel a jury of all the honest hearts in leicester-shire , and north-hampton-shire , and counties adjacent , they must bring therein a verdict against such inclosure , guilty of depopulation and decay of tillage generally , very few if any at all excepted . our proof is de facto : it is so . behold it with your eyes . oh wofull experience ! and that inclosure is now about in leicester-shire is like to be as sordid and base as any of the former , if not worse : for , depopulation comes by degrees ; in the next generation , if not present . behold what desolation of houses and tillage of farmers , cottagers , men-servants , mayd-servants , &c. which all lived by the plow . but i hasten for the conviction of such inclosure to be guilty as asoresaid . and for such conviction i shall follow the method of the text , as those sinnes lye in order there : for three transgressions of israel and for four , i will not turn away the punishment thereof . first , it cannot be denyed that if such as make such inclosure be guilty of all the sinnes in the text , then they are guilty of three transgressions and of foure , ( that is , as hath been opened ) they adde sinne to sinne , they accumulate very many sinnes , they commit a multitude of sinnes : to three sinnes they adde foure , they presse god as a cart is pressed with sheaves , amos . laying on one sheafe after another , burthening god with their sinnes , and make him serve with their sinnes . but the former is true , therefore they are guilty of three transgressions and of four . we shall prove the former true in the ensuing particulars of the text . they sold the righteous for silver . that is , if we put to this selling of the righteous for silver , the buying of the poore for silver , amos . . they make chaffer and merchandize of them for gain and profit : they use them as they doe their beasts , keep them or put them off for advantage : they buy them , and sell them , as may best serve their turns to get by them . but what is that they thus buy and sell the righteous for ? for silver , that is , for advantage , profit , gain . oh base ! and then why such inclosure made i pray you ? is it not for silver , advantage , gain ? doth not silver , filthy lucre lye at the bottome ? doe they not call such inclosure an improvement of their lands ? we shall gaine by it , we shall treble our rents . hence those heathenish speeches of theirs . may i not make the best of mine own ? may i not doe what i list with mine own ? who shall hinder us ? and they say of their estate● , as he in psal. . . of his tongue , our estates are ours , who is lord over us ? i answer , whereas thou talkest of thine own : that although thou art a civill owner , yet thou art a spirituall vsurper . thou must look whether thou hast right in the court of conscience , as well as in the court of law . whether thou hast right in the consistory of god , as well as in the common pleas of men . what , mayest thou doe with thine own what thou listest ? no : thou must doe what god would have thee to doe with it . he is thy soveraigne lord of whom thou holdest all in chief . thou art but his steward , and he hath committed to thee all these talents of thy estate , and one day thou must give an account of thy stewardship , viz : whether thou hast improved these talents , ( not to thy own ) but to thy heavenly masters advantage , even to the glory of his name , the good of all with whom thou livest , especially of the saints , and to thy own poor soules advantage . what , mayest thou doe with thy own what thou listest ? no : he that is lord over thee , and hath made thee rich , tim. . . and hath given thee all things richly to enjoy , hath layd a charge upon thee ( in the , , & verses ) what thou shouldest doe with all he hath given thee , even to doe good , to be rich in good works , ready to distribute , willing to communicate , laying up unto thy selfe a sure foundation against the time to come , that thou mayest lay hold on eternall life . oh! what a sandy-foundation doe these build on for eternall life , who walk contrary to this charge ? &c. what , mayest thou doe with thine own what thou listest , and improve it to thine own advantage ? no : hear that complaint , phil. . . all seek their own , not the things that are jesus christs . i tell thee jesus christ must share with thee in land , house , food , clothing , ( mat . . to the end of the chap : ) that is , in his members : or else , depart from me ye cursed must be your eternall doome . but may i not improve mine owne estate to my best advantage ? no : thou must have a care of thy brothers also , phil. . . look not every man on his own things , but every man also on the things of others , even that they may thrive as thy self . but yet i have not touched this sin in this particular to the quick . thou must then ask this question , may i not improve mine own to the hurt and damage of others ? but here i know thou wilt startle , and say , whose hurt ? whose damage ? i will make it appear , thou raisest thy own estate upon the ruine both of publick & poor . first , on the ruine of the publicke , thou takest away tillage , which is the generall trade we live on in leicester-shire , and the counties adjacent : by which trade or tillage and husbandry we have been as beneficiall to the rest of the common-wealth of england as any countyes whatsoever . we have fed them not onely with our wheat , corn , and mault , not onely in plentifull years , but also in times of famine and dearth , we being the onely magazine for corn in the middle of the nation ; but also we have fed them with fat mutton , and swines flesh , yea also with victualling our ships by our pease and beans that come by the plow . as our open-fields breed abundance of sheep , so the plow provides abundance of the aforesaid provisions to feed them fat ; yea , at such times when no fat flesh is to be had elsewhere in the nation . if the tillage of these inland countyes be turned into grazing , the rest of the nation must be in a starving condition whensoever the lord shall slack his hand of this abundance of corn , he seems of late years to have rained from heaven amongst us . thus are we as beneficiall by our trade of tillage to other countyes , as they to us by other manufactures which are so commodious , they lying neer to the sea and city which we are so farre from . yea , to shew the intolerablenesse of such inclosure : behold it takes away the general trade that all the inhabitants of these counties live on , except some great ones and trades-men in market-towns , &c. can any deny but that the farmer lives of the plow , the cottagers live of the plow , and the children of both brought up to the trade of the plow , and doe not the children of the poor become men-servants and mayd-servants to the plow-man ? doth not that antient , honest , venerable , and profitable trade of husbandry maintain all these ? yea , and all these lived as happily , plentifully , and richly of this trade of tillage in these countyes before so much inclosure , as any in other countyes whatsoever , or of what other trade soever they were of . what must become of these thousands and ten thousands if such inclosure be not speedily stopped ? as every honest heart prayes god speed the plow , so every every good minister will have a word to uphold it , and every good magistrate make use of his power ●o save it from ruine . what now , mayest thou doe what what listest with thine owne , and advance thine own nest on high thus upon the ruine of the publique ? why art thou not content with thine own ? since especially thy lands in common are worth as much and more than ever thy fore-fathers purchased them at , or thou of late hast purchased thine at . if they that sold thy lands in common had had thy evil conscience to have improved them upon the ruines of the publique and poor , thou and thy fore-fathers must have paid twice as much , if not thrice as much more for them . but now these covetous wretches have got the trick of it to buy lands in common , and presently improve them , and so double if not treble their money upon a publick account . these cruell ones care not how many they ruine so they may be rich , nor how many they make beggars so they may be gentlemen ; let them answer me this one question , viz : how so many thousand families can subsist , when their livelyhood is taken away , to wit , their trade of tillage ? and how shall so many thousands of children be disposed of from starving , vagrancy or thieving , since so much inclosure hath caused so many tradesmen already they cannot live one by another ? but it will be objected , some books have been printed of late that prove inclosure both lawfull and laudable . surely my heart bleeds within me to see some hands at such books of whom i hoped better things , that they should daub ore this black sinne with such untempered morter . oh how men will scrabble for gain ! they would not have a spade called a spade . they would not ( though they are such ) be called oppressours , unjust , unconscionable , uncharitable , unmercifull . and surely such books are stuffed so full of levity and untruths , that the authors of them deserve rather to be pitied than answered . i but these books say there may be an innocent inclosure . what then ? the petitioner : to parliament formerly , and the petitioners now to his highnesse and councell seek a redresse against such inclosure that doth depopulate townes and decay tillage . and such the authors of these books hold to be hatefull to god and man . yes , but they say there may be an inclosure without decay of tillage or depopulation . surely they may make men as soon believe there is no sun in the firmament as that usually depopulation & decay of tillage will not follow inclosure in our inland countyes . we see it with our eyes : it is so . de facto , it is so . and we see the inclosure that they are so now about will be as sordid or more then any formerly . they having not so much as one covenant amongst them to uphold tillage . and then we know what followes in his time , even an utter depopulation . it matters not what they pretend in their books , provision for the poore , &c. in one place they speake of fourteene acres given to the poore , what will this doe when they have taken away their whole trade of maintenance for themselves and familyes ? yet but they say they doe not intend depopulation and decay of tillage . if in charity i could believe them , yet i must answer , it is finis operis , though not operantis : it is the end of the worke , though not of the work-man , as every where appeares . it is true indeed , infant inclosure may be somewhat in his nonage free from depopulation , but never from decay of tillage . yet i know not where gray-headed inclosure is free from depopulation as well as decay of tillage . if anywhere it is rare indeed . for they would never inclose to keep farmers , tenants , cottagers , servants , teames &c. yea , but the books tell of some townes free from both depopulation and decay of tillage . they scrabble up a few townes that are innocent ( as they say ) which are just none at all in comparison of those many hundreds are guilty of both . and these few they are forced to fish out of the county of leicester , warwicke , northampton , &c. let 's see what truth is in this . for i know two or three of these places , because they are neer unto me . they bragge of the innocency of ashby magna , which hath been inclosed above fifty yeares . the truth of this businesse stands thus , the lord of that place gave most of his tenants leases for three lives , and one and twenty years after , which are not yet expired . and therefore the time of depopulation of that towne is not yet come . but they name misterton and poultney as innocent also . i wonder they dare doe so , since in regard of depopulation there is no house at all lest in either of them but the ministers . and the closes now are called by the towns name that were antiently there . and as for decay of tillage in those places they have not been plowed in the memory of man , except some part of them of late : and the tenants that rent them must plow them now but for four years onely . how dare they print such falshoods ? and as little credit i heare and believe is to be given to the innocency of the rest of the townes named . i have one word to speak to men that have not put off humanity , naturall compassion towards their own flesh , and to christians that love much , because god hath forgiven them much . which is this . if you did but hear what complaining and lamentation is made of farmers that rented land turned out of those inclosed places , and of poor cottagers together with them , that the one cannot get no not at any excessive rate a little land to plow , whereby he might keep his teame and cattell , that himself and family might be employed in husbandry , to get a poor living by , but is constrained to sell all these to all their utter undoings : that the other cannot get a house anywhere to harbour himselfe and his poore babes . surely , it would make all ministers and others , yea ministers above others , to ride and run , spend their pains and estate to petition , entreat , begge , wait , and never cease to be importunate for reliefe for these oppressed fellow-creatures , and many of them fellow citizens of heaven together with us . behold now the oppressions of townes in open fields and market-towns ! for when these inclosures have made farmers , cottagers ; and cottagers , beggars ; no way of livelihood being left them : these poor with their families are forced into market-townes , and open-fielded townes , hoping they may finde some employment there to preserve them and theirs from perishing . whereupon , these open-fielded places are so loaden with poor , that the inhabitants are not able to relieve them . i but these book-men for inclosure say they pay more taxes . and truly well they may , when they lay such burthens upon open fields that they are not able to bear them ; not onely all those poore the inclosure have beggered , but all carriages the state hath need of , free quarter , attendance at the assizes and sessions , &c. the inclosures got the gaine , and have the ease ; and poor open fields pay the shot , and endure all the drudgery . what enemies to the publique are these inclosures ? observe how few or no service-able men or horses in these places , for the defenee of the nation when need is : whereas before they were inclosed there were twenty , thirty , fourty , &c. of both kindes , now scarce one or two . yes , but one of the last book-men for inclosure tells us they are jaded tyred horses . oh impudence ! let the whole countrey speake , whether four or five of these open-fielded townes ( yea sometimes one of them alone ) are not able to raise a whole troop of gallant horses , and to set valiant men on their backs too , in so formidable a manner , that they were able to make the stoutest troop to quake that opposed the parliament formerly , and his highnesse the lord protectour of late : yea , which they have done too , under both governments . whereas such inclosed places can ( i believe ) scarcely raise one troop either for men or horses , &c. oh! let not these valiant spirited men for the publique in leicester-shire , and their forces be trampled in the dirt by such inclosure , to raise a few private persons upon the ruine of the strength of the nation . surely if a jericho was again to be besieged , there would be found good store of rams hornes , though but few persons to winde them in these inclosed places . but these book-men for inclosure say , that the common fields cause many law suits &c. i shall ( god willing ) answer all as i passe through this text of scripture . first , there are offenders both within hedges and without too , and loving hearts will passe by an offence . secondly , in common fields they live like loving neighbours together for the most part , till the spirit of inclosure enter into some rich churles heart , who doe not onely pry out but feign occasions too to goe to law with their neighbours , and no reconcilement to be made till they consent to inclosure . for this is the trick they fall together by the eares with their honest neighbours , that they bring their designe about . yea , but there is so much stealing and filching by the poore . but thank inclosure for that , which hath filled openfield towns so full of poore they cannot live one by another , for , poverty is a provoking argument to steale . and therefore agur prayes , prov. . . give me not poverty , and why so ? the ninth verse tells us , lest i be poore and steale . and thus inclosure makes thieves , and then they cry out of thieves . because they sold the righteous for silver , and the poore for a payre of shooes . the righteous : who are those ? not to stand upon the divers acceptations of the word [ righteous , ] i le shew what is meant by a righteous man , viz : the evangelicall righteous man is one , who , as he hath the righteousnesse of jesus christ imputed unto him , so he hath in some measure the righteousnesse of christ imparted unto him , desiring and endeavouring to keep the commandements of god , and the faith of jesus , rev. . . he is one that loves god above all , and his neighbour as himself , mat. . , , . he is one , joh. . who as he loveth god , loveth his neighbour also . oh! how pretious are these righteous ones in heaven ? they are the lords people , his portion , the lot of his inheritance , deut. . . they are the lords owne , his very jewells : all the rest of a town are but the rubbish amongst whom these his jewells lye and live for a while . and to speak the truth ( for truth must be spoken however it be taken ) if the lord had not had two of these righteous ones , or three of these iewels , that as they love god they love their neighbour also , in many townes of these inland counties , what desolations had there been made ere this time by such inclosure ? these inclosurists sell the righteous for silver . what care they for gods jewells , his portion , his inheritance , so they may improve their own inheritance ? what cared judas for jesus christ the righteous , so he might get thirty pieces of silver by him ? what care these men for the tender consciences of any of these righteous ones , that dare not consent to such inclosure ? they will make them make shipwrack of faith and a good conscience , or else estates and liberties and all must be ruined by multiplicities of triviall law suites in common law and chancery , threatning they will not leave them a shift to their backs , nor a cow to their payle . i could here give you a large catalogue of the unjust vexations of such righteous ones , but because some of their vexers pretend to religion , i will spare them , one of these two evills are incident to such as dare not in conscience consent to such inclosure , viz. either to be undone in the inward , or el●e in the outward man , choose them which . if they goe against conscience in the inward man ; if they will keep a good conscience in the outward man , and here let the inclosurists of catthorpe in leicester-shire tremble , to have no respect to the conscience of one of these righteous men ( their owne consciences i believe judging him such a one ) nor to his vow to his god made upon good ground in the sight both of god and good men , nor to his right in law , according to a petition that is now depending before his highnesse and his most honourable councell , in which there is made a good progress and good hopes ( praised be god ) of a happy issue . it matters not what one of the book-men for inclosure truely prattles to the contrary . he makes but a jeer of a good conscience in his book . and as for his right in law , because it is but a little to their great deale , they may alter the propriety of it as they list , without his consent , and set hedges and ditches upon his common whether he will or no . i wonder who made these men dividers of his common from theirs , when he hath a right and propriety in every foot of common in all their fields . is there not the same right in law to a little as a great deale ? &c. and the poore for a paire of shooes . the poore . well may they sell the poore for a paire of shooes , when they sell the righteous for silver . when judas sold his master that righteous one for silver ( let ministers remember judas was a disciple ) no wonder if he cared not for the poore . but these inclosurists have the poore much in their mouthes , and how they provide for the poore . my exhortation to them is joh. . . my little children let us net love in word neither in tongue , but in deed and in truth . saint james shewes us that a few words will not warm , nor feede , nor cloath poore people , james . . if one of you say unto them , depart in peace , be you warmed , and filled , notwithstanding you give them not these things which are needfull to the body , what doth it profit ? alas , what will all their good words profit the poore , when they doe not only not give them those things which are needfull for the body , but take away at once all things that are needfull for the body , even the trade of tillage which should warme , cloath , feede them and their families . but these book-men for inclosure have articles , yea , and acres for the poore too . what would these men be thought charitable men ? let iudas be thought so too . for he would have the oyntment sold for three hundred pence , and given to the poore , john . . truth is , former inclosurists have been very specious and pretending for the poore in their promises , articles , acres , when they were hot upon their businesse of inclosure , to stop the mouthes of poore and country from clamours ; and these inclosures of the last edition which they are now about are but sordid in respect of the former in that kinde . but wofull experience tells us , a short time forced all the tenants and cottagers out of most of those places into the open fielded towns to seek for a livelyhood where they can finde it , to the great oppressions of those townes . that pant after the dust of the earth upon the head of the poore . pant , that is , exceedingly desire it , and long for it . after the dust of the earth , that is , after those things which are but as the dust of the earth , and whose originall and matter is but the dust of the earth . oh the excessive desire ( after such inclosure and the gain that comes by it ) execeding the bounds of piety , equity , charity , and humanity it self , as you have heard ! improvement of estate is this mans bayte . and if any thing goe about to hinder that , he is like a lyon stirred up at the sight of his prey , and makes no conscience of devouring men , women , and children that stand in his way . the serpent feeds upon the dust of the earth : it feeds upon base and low things , vile and venomous : so doe covetous , mercilesse men . as the serpent licks the dust of the earth ; so doe they lick the dust of the earth , they feed upon blood , upon oppression ; they pant after the dust of the earth , they pant after the estate and means that poor men have in town or field , and feed upon it , to satisfie ( if it were possible ) their greedy appetites in sucking the estates and crushing the bones of the poore . the prophet habakkuk hath a woe for these , hab. . v. . woe to him that encreaseth that which is not his ( to wit , in the court of conscience aswell as in the court of the law ) and ladeth himself with thick clay . lutum scite pictum , with gold and silver , the finest dust and pieces of the earth , whereby all the rest of the commodities of the earth are valued . this dust of the earth , this thick clay doth but load and burthen their soules and consciences , and makes them drive heavily heaven-ward , gods glory ward , and their own salvation-ward . this thick clay doth them no more good than that gold and silver and embroydered cloath of arras a sumpter-horse is burthen'd with all day , and at night is turned with the rest of the jades with a gauled and bruised back into the stable . oh take heed of a gauled conscience loaded and bruised with such hedges and ditches as hedge out publique and poor ; lest at the night of death thou be turned with the rest of the jades of worldlings , dives-like , into the devils stable . vpon the head of the poore . they pant after the dust of the earth , but upon whose head ? upon the head of the poore . these beasts will be sure to goe over where the hedge is lowest . in any towne where there is any rich men publique spirited , and have bowels toward the poore , there these greedy gripes dare not meddle with their matches , and cannot force them to such inclosure , because they are able to defend themselves . but on the contrary in any towne where there are mercifull men , publique spirited men &c. that dare not in conscience consent to such inclosure , if these be men but of meane estates , these mercilesse wretches joyne purses , and make no more conscience to trample upon these righteous poor , yea , upon their consciences , estates , liberties , and whole families , then they doe to trample upon the mire in the streets . and turne aside the way of the meek . these incl●surists turne aside the way of the meek these three wayes . first , they turne aside the way of justice and equity which is the meanes of keeping and recovering their right . a great purse will make a good cause though it be starke naught . what say these mammonists when any crosse them in such inclosure , their word is , i 'le undoe him if he will not yeild . and how is that ? by suites in law and chancery . and have not these men been as good as their words ? i could here tell sad stories . but i intend to name no man in this present discourse . secondly , they turne aside the way of the meeke when they take away the way of their livelyhood . now tillage is the way , the calling , the profession which most of the inhabitants of inland counties live of , as we have proved . thirdly , they turne aside the way of the meeke : why ? what is the way of the meek ? the psalmist tells us ( psal. . . ) it is gods way . the meeke he will teach his way . they endeavour to turne them out of the way of faith and a good conscience , in perswading them if that will not doe , and compelling them to doe against conscience , or undoe . but i conclude with the wise mans exhortation , prov . , . rob not the poor because he is poore , neither oppresse the afflicted in the gate . for the lord will plead their cause , and spoyle the soule of those that spoyled their . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a e- chari parē tes , chari liberi , chari quoque amici , sed omnes omnium charitates comprehendit patria . tullius de officiis . notes for div a e- viz : by such inclosure that doth un-people towns , and uncorn fields . for it will parallel the sinne in the text . tremellius upon this prophesie , id est , propter quam . plurimae numero finitus pro indefinito , &c. vid. the clear-spirited expositor upon holy writ mr. caryll upon job , c. . ver. . to the parliament of england scotland and ireland. the humble petition of henry harbotle, on the behalf of himself and above of the poor tenants within the barony of langley in the county of northumberland. harbotle, henry. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text r in the english short title catalog (thomason .f. [ ]). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing h thomason .f. [ ] estc r this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; : f [ ]) to the parliament of england scotland and ireland. the humble petition of henry harbotle, on the behalf of himself and above of the poor tenants within the barony of langley in the county of northumberland. harbotle, henry. sheet ([ ] p.) s.n., [london : ] imprint from wing. annotation on thomason copy: "jan: ". reproduction of the original in the british library. eng land tenure -- england -- northumberland -- early works to . northumberland (england) -- history -- th century -- early works to . a r (thomason .f. [ ]). civilwar no to the parliament of england scotland and ireland. the humble petition of henry harbotle, on the behalf of himself and above of the poor harbotle, henry. a this text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion to the parliament of england scotland and ireland . the humble petition of henry harbotle , on the behalf of himself and above of the poor tenants within the barony of langley in the county of northumberland . sheweth , that your petitioners being tenants of , and within the said barony , of right ought to hold , and their ancestors time out of mind have held their respective tenements in fee by copy of court-roll of the said barony , as may appear , not onely by records and their copies in the time of henry the eight ( ready to be produced ) but also by survey taken . eliz. upon the attainder of thomas earl of northumberland , lord of the said barony ; upon whose attainder the said barony came to the crown ; under whom your pettioners said ancestors , quietly held and enjoyed their said estates , paying onely the rents reserved upon their said copies . and were upon every discent or alienation by the stewards of the said barony ( who held by patent from the crown ) admitted tenants according to the custome of the said barony , until the iac. in which year one iohn murray esquire , one of the bed-chamber to king iames ( having before gotten the said barony setled upon feoffees for his use , and knowing that by the title of the crown he could not destroy the petitioners custome of copy-hold ) exhibited his bill of complaint before the lord verulam in chancery against your petitioners said ancestors , and therein most falsly declared , that he was at the time of the exhibiting his said bill , by vertue of a conveyance from the co-heirs of the said earl , seized of the said barony in his demeasne as of fee ; and that the tenants thereof were only tenants at the wills of the lords of the said barony , and not by copy of inheritance ; upon which suggestions , and others as false ( too long to be here inserted ) obtained a most unjust decree against some of your petitioners yet alive ; and the ancestors of the rest , for destroying their said copyhold of inheritance : and thereupon most barbarously and cruelly persecuted your said petitioners and ancestors ( by tying some of them neck and heels together , and throwing them naked into the snow , and imprisoning a great many in the fleet here at london , and others in several prisons far remote from their friends or habitation , where they suffered most inhumane cruelties ) untill some of them had submitted to the loss of their customes , by accepting of leases from him ; which was no sooner done , but he then waved the title of the coheirs ; and desires his feoffees to surrender their right back to the crown , which they did ; and then within two months after their surrender he takes from king iames an estate in feesimple in his own name to him and his heirs for ever , making no further use of the former pretended titles of the coheirs ; and afterwards disposes of his title to sir edward ratcliff baronet ( a man of the like cruelty ; and whose religion is such , that he openly professeth it is as lawfull to kill a protestant as a veal-calf , or a dog . ) for whose recusancie and delinquencie , his estate was by act of parliament appointed to be sold , and the said barony , being parcel of his estate , was by the trustees in that behalf accordingly sold to one george hurd , a person intrusted by and for sir edward ratcliff . others there are of your petitioners , who never submitted to the said decree ; yet have enjoyed their lands according to their said ancient custome paying onely their old rents . your petitioners for recovery of their just and ancient right made their claim within the time limited by the act for sale of the said lands , before the committee for removing obstructions ; but in regard it did not appear unto them that the aforesaid decree was reversed ; they did conceave themselves bound up thereby , and no way capable to allow of your petitioners said claim , and there upon dismissed it . that your petitioners are so impoverished by the late war , frequent plundring of the moss-troopers , and cruel exactions of their lords ; that they are no way able to wage law , or prosecute a bill of review of the said decree , although admitted in forma pauperis : fourty of your petitioners at least , being not able to make up shillings in ready mony . and therefore your petitioners most humbly beseech your honours , to take their sad condition into your pious consideration , and in regard of their aforesaid poverty , that they may receive from your honors , who are the fountain of iustice in this commonwealth ; such iustice as shall upon the examination of their case , appear to be agreeable with the ancient laws of this nation , and the equity of their cause . jan : and they shall pray , &c. a treatise, shewing how usefull, safe, reasonable and beneficial, the inrolling & registring of all conveyances of lands, may be to the inhabitants of this kingdom by a person of great learning and judgment. hale, matthew, sir, - . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a wing h estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) a treatise, shewing how usefull, safe, reasonable and beneficial, the inrolling & registring of all conveyances of lands, may be to the inhabitants of this kingdom by a person of great learning and judgment. hale, matthew, sir, - . [ ], p. printed for mat. wotton ..., london : . reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng land titles -- registration and transfer -- england. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread - emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a treatise , shewing how usefull , safe , reasonable and beneficial , the inrolling & registring of all conveyances of lands , may be to the inhabitants of this kingdom . by a person of great learning and judgment . london , printed for mat. wotton , at the three daggers near the inner-temple-gate in fleetstreet , . a treatise concerning inrollment of deeds . in the business in agitation touching inrolling of deeds , these things considerable . . the mischief propounded , to be remedied . . the remedy to be applyed . the mischiefs at present to be remedied are , . the great deceit committed by persons by secret judgments , mortgages , conveyances , and settlements ; whereby purchasers are oftentimes deceived , and creditors defeated . and this the more considerable in england , because indeed the great inland-trade we have , is the trade of buying and selling of lands , and the great security that is ordinarily given to creditors and lenders of money is by security of land. . the multitude of chargeable and difficult suits in law , occasioned by preconveyances , secret mortgages and other incumbrances , which probably would be avoided and lessened , if all mens estates lay open to the view of others . the remedy propounded is , by an office of inrollment , or registry of conveyances . in this , as in all other applications of remedies to any mischiefs , these things must be considered . . how and by what means the remedy may be commensurate to the mischief ? . whether the remedy or the application thereof in such manner as it may be commensurate to the mischief , be feasible or not ? . admit it be , then what inconveniencies may otherwise be introduced by the application of the remedy . . if the inconveniencies introduced by it be greater than the benefit it gives , the remedy is to rejected . . it the inconveniencies thereby occasioned be over-weighed by the benefit , then it may be entertained . but with due consideration or provision that those inconveniencies introduced by the remedy , may with as much prudence as may be , be obviated , prevented , removed , or very much allayed by suitable provisions against them . the first of these considerations , namely the application of the remedy in a due commensurateness , to the mischief , must needs be by taking care that there be no room or inlet for any such deceit by secret conveyances or incumbrances of estates : for if any one leak be left unstopt , the vessel will sink as well as if more were open . and if any one device be left unprovided for , thither will fraudulent persons betake themselves , and get out of the remedy intended . therefore , . all judgments , statutes , and recognizances , must lye open to view , either by inrolling or registring them , because those charge lands . . all trusts touching estates must be inrolled or registred , for now by the power of courts of equity , these do charge lands , and sometimes in the hands of the fourth or fifth purchasor , if there be proof of notice . . all mortgages , as well forfeited as not forfeited , defeazances in nature of mortgages , must be inrolled . . all powers of revocation and limitting of new uses , powers of letting or charging estates , must be registred or inrolled ; for these may alter the title of lands , and are sometimes contained in distinct deeds , from the deed whereby the estate is setled . . all declarations of uses and trusts upon fines , recoveries , and other assurances . . all grants of rents , commons , profits , all conditions and reservations of rents . . all leases , for years or lives , made by any person either with rent , or without it . . in brief , all feoffments , grants , releases , confirmations , wills , forfeitures , escheats , commons , or whatsoever other estate or interest in them . for if any of these be not inrolled or registred , or some way rendred open to the view of every person , a man may be cheated or deceived . and what is odds , whether a man be deceived by a secret mortgage or judgment ? or by a secret lease for lives or years , or by a secret settlement , or devise or will ? and all these must be secret to him that hath no ready means to discover them : the remedy whereof is designed in this publick registry . and yet further , if the remedy be intended as large as the disease , this registry must not only look forward , but it must look backward , ( viz. ) that all estates and incumbrances now in being , as well as those that shall be hereafter , must be laid open to the view , otherewise the provision is not commensurate , there being in all probability a stock of latent incumbrances and charges upon lands , which may serve at least to deceive and cheat this present age , and the next also . therefore unless there be some notification of present incumbrances as well as future , we but lay up a security , that it may be of use an hundred years hence , and leave the present and intervening ages in as bad , if not worse condition , than we find them . therefore a remedy commensurate to the mischief must needs provide for the registring all estates and interests , and charges of lands , and that as well for the time past , as time to come ; otherwise the plaister is too narrow for the sore . . the second consideration is , whether this be possible to be done ? indeed it is a fine thing in the theory and speculation , and a man that fixeth his thoughts upon the good that might come by such an expedient , without troubling himself with the difficulties that lie in the way to it , may drive it on very earnestly ; but he that shall consider the difficulty of it , will easily see that it is but a notion and speculation , and cannot be effected or reduced into practice , at least not without immense confusion . the difficulties that attend this design , are either such as relate to the inrolling of estates now in being ; or secondly , the inrolling of estates hereafter to made or granted ; or thirdly , such difficulties as relate to both . . the difficulties that attend the inrolling of estates now in being , or past , these seem insuperable . in order to the discovery hereof , we must suppose , that either every man shall be at liberty to inroll or register his estate , or it must be under this penalty , that if he fail herein , he must lose his estate . if we suppose the former , then every man is still at liberty , as he was before , and nothing is effected by it . if the latter , ( viz ) that he shall lose if he do not inroll the estate he hath , or which is all one , it shall be in the power of him that inrolls a subsequent title to make the former , not inrolled , void ; then either that inrollment or registry must be barely of his claim , or some abstract of his title ; or he must inroll the tenor of the deed , or evidence by which he claims . if we shall suppose the former , then these things will be considerable . first , what if he doth in some things mistake his claim ? it may be , he thinks he has an estate in fee-simple , when it is but in tail , it may be an estate absolute , when it is conditional ; certainly he that claims by an abstract , had need of a very good counsel at his elbow , to give him sound and uncontroulable advice , in drawing it up ; otherwise he that hath a good title may lose it for want of a right abstract of his title by which he claims . surely therefore every man that hath a good title , and can possibly come by the deed or evidence by which he claims it , will inroll his deed at large , for fear he should omit any thing essential to his title . secondly , or else it is intended , that though he mistake his title , yet if he enter as much as he thinks fit , it shall be sufficient to preserve his estate . and if this be intended , the whole design of registring and inrolling will end in a publick deceit and insecurity , when perchance in the event , the estate or interest claimed , doth materially and substantially vary from what is registred . thirdly , again , if such an uncertain claim shall be allowed , not made good by deeds or evidences , this office will breed more disturbance in many estates , than any imaginable deceits or frauds besides can equal : for any man shall at a venture make what claims , and set up what pretences he pleases to any mans estate in england , and shall be admitted to enrol them in the registry , and the person injured shall be either remediless , or driven to more suits and expences , to vindicate his title , than now he is necessitated unto , to discover a fraud in a seller . it remains therefore necessary , that whosoever will inrole any thing in being , he must produce some authentick deed , or other record , to warrant what he would have inrolled , and then there must be inrolled at least so much of the deed , or evidence that concerns , first , the parties , grantor and grantee . secondly , the things granted . thirdly , the estate granted . fourthly , all those parts of the deed , or evidence , that have any influence upon the estate : as rent reserved , conditions , powers of revocation , of alteration , of leasing , the trust , &c. and those other things that have an influence upon the estate ; and without all this done and truly done , the purchaser or lender , is as much in the dark as before , and cheated under the credit of a publick office erected to prevent it . this being the state of the business in relation to inrolling of things past ; there follows next , those difficulties that render the design either impossible or fruitless . . many persons that have titles , have them by livery without deed , or cannot bring the deed to the office to be registred , or inrolled , because the deed it self is not , nor by law cannot be in their custody , at least de facto is not in their custody : as they that claim remainders where the custody of the deed belongs to others , those that claim by wills , either concealed , or in the hands of executors , and many have lost their deeds in the late troubles , and to compel possessors , especially purchasors of lands , to discover the deeds , which possibly they have for the security of their title , or to discover the defects of their own assurances to make others mens title appear ; and this under a penalty or action were an unreasonable thing , and would create a general insecurity of purchasors . if ( . eliz. ) a. conveyed his land to b. and . ja. . b. conveyed it to c. and . car. . c. conveyed it to d. and . ca. . d. conveyed it to e. must all these conveyances be inrolled or only the last ? if all must be inrolled , then if any one mans conveyance be omitted , suppose it from a. to b. then the omission of the inrollment thereof , will give a title to a. or his heir , to make a claim to this land , if only that from the last seller , then is the purchaser in the dark still , what estates were in the antecedent owners , and how derived , and so the design ineffectual to the end proposed . . if all the mean conveyances of mens estate , should be inrolled , westminster-hall would not hold the inrollments , and the charge thereof would be above two millions of money ; nay , if we should suppose the present estates of the present owners of lands in any one considerable county , were to be inrolled , the charge would be intollerable , and the bulk it self would be utterly useless : suppose in london , . houses , and each house to have but two titles , that is , that of the owners of the inheritance , and that of the present lessee , ( tho' some have many more concurrent and coincident titles to recompence those that may have possibly less ) this would bring to the inrollment office . deeds , the inrollment of every deed at least s. would produce pound and about . volumes of velum books , which would take up the imployment of many clerks , and when the work was done , the volumes too vast and numerous to be made use of ; and what would be done then with the many leases of western mannors , which yet have many under titles derived under them ? . but how shall these deeds come to be inrolled ? he that made them perchance is dead , or at lest will not come to acknowledge it , and if every man that brings a deed should have it inrolled without acknowledging it by him that made it , any forged deed may be inrolled , and men in a little while , may lose their estates , by the countenance that a forged deed shall receive , by being inrolled among the publick records of the office ; for the officer can never examine the truth or reality of the deed , or if he could , it would not be reasonable that mens estates should depend upon the judgment of any ignorant clerk , or officer . . as for the inrollment of all conveyances and deeds for the time to come , this labours under great difficulties also , though not so many and so great , as the inrollment of things past ; because here the persons that make the deeds may possibly come to acknowledge them before some persons publickly intrusted , as two justices of the peace , or the master of the office ; yet this has also great difficulties . . many mens estates are by will , where the proprietors of the estates have not the custody of the will to produce . . how shall the officer before whom the will is produced , if it be produced , know whether the will be true or forced , or revoked ? since the devisor is now dead , that made it ; and surely it can't be intended that every man that makes his will of land shall inroll it in his life-time , since he may often change , revoke , and alter it . . although it is a very great inconvenience and fit to be remedied by act of parliament , that many times in courts of equity , trusts are averred without and contrary to deed , yet certainly so long as that usage is allowed , all trusts of estates cannot be inrolled because they be oftentimes in averment and proof without writing , and so do oftentimes the uses of fines , which as yet have influence into the estates of most men , and yet as the law now stands are averrable without deed. . the charge of inrollment of all incumbrances and estates of land , even for the future will , in the space of few years , grow vast , and the registry or inrollment-office will grow so voluminary in seven or eight years in most countries , that they will become useless and unmanageable to the ends propounded , as would easily appear upon a medium or estimate of the estates , conveyces , leases , judgments , and other incumbrances that grow up in one county , in one year . . these difficulties that are common both to inrollment of things past , and to come , are principally these : . the place where this registry shall be kept , if in london ; all men must come up thither to inroll their deeds , which will be intollerable : if in the countries where the lands lye , then london being the great center of buying and selling , a man that deals here at london , must be forced to send into cornwall or northamberland , to search the registry there . again , what shall be done , where one conveyance comprizeth lands in several counties ? or where a man , having lands in several countries , acknowledgeth a judgment or statute , shall this be registred in every county ? and if it shall , how shall the commissioners know all the counties where his land lieth ? and how shall the deed in one county be transmitt●ed to another , or must it be acknowledged in every several county , and by the party there inrolled ? . again , how shall judgments that charge lands or statutes , merchant , or the staple , be authentickly registred in every county ? and what warrant shall be sufficient for it , especially since there be so many courts of record in england , wherein judgments given , will charge lands in other counties , as in the courts at westminster , the courts of grand-sessions , &c. so that as to estates and incumbrances already before this time created , the propounded register seems utterly impossible and unpractical : as to estates and incumbrances for the time to come , tho' more practical , yet very difficult , cumbersome and chargeable , and scarce applicable to the end designed , if it be compulsary upon all to do it . . as to the inconveniencies , i shall mention some , and of those , some applicable to both proposals , both of registring things past , and to come , tho' far greater in relation to the time past . . whereas many men perchance , for many years have quietly enjoyed their estates ; although perchance some little defects there might be in their evidences , as for want of some ceremonies , circumstances or words : now by inrolling of these deeds , all these defects will be exposed to the view , observation and search , and discovery of others ; whereby busie projectors will be picking holes in the titles and estates of many men , which are now quiet and at rest . this will discover the flaws and defects of all mens assurances , and multiply suits and questions . . whereas it many times moves great distempers in families , when children shall see and know how their parents dispose their estates among them in their life-time . this course will force the father to enroll all his settlements , whereby all his intentions will be discovered in his life-time , which may breed great unquietness and animosity ; or otherwise , it will put it in the power of the heir if the deed be not inrolled , to sell the land , and so defeat all his younger brothers and sisters . . whereas some are desirous that the greatness of their estates may not be known , to expose them to envy and detraction ; others are desirous that the weakness of their estates may not be known ; to expose them to contempt or question . this registring of men's estates and interests , disappoints both , even where there is no occasion for a purchasor to be concerned , nor any design of fraud in either . . it is worth enquiry , whether the prospect of this business is not so much to remedy old inconveniencies , as to introduce new , by erection of new offices and new officers , salaries , fees , which will b●ing in an excessive charge upon the people , and is always accompanied with further exactions ; sometimes for expedition , sometimes for preference of one man's inrollment before another , which will certainly be found together with great delays , especially where the business of the office is like to be very great . upon the whole matter , i think that the compulsion of every man to inroll or register his writings and evidences of his land , whether past , or future , under any penalty , is unpractical , and utterly inconvenient and dangerous to men's estates . and now if it be objected , that these difficulties and inconveniencies be but imaginable , or easily superable by prudent provisions , and all the inconveniencies objected , may be in like manner remedied , since we daily see in copyhold mannors , and in some great precincts , as for instance , in taunton mannor , all men's estates are inrolled , or so registred , that it prevents all possible fraud by pre-conveyances , and hath brought great quiet and security to men's estates , without the least sence of any of the objected difficulties or inconveniencies . i answer . . that the cases are not alike inrollments of copies of court-roll , or within a private mannor serves but a small precinct , but the thing in proposal intended for a great kingdom . . there it hath been long since begun , and so hath been carryed down in succession of time , and rendered familiar , and custom and usage hath accommodated the practice : but if it were now to be begun , and take in , especially all former estates , it would be very difficult to be put in ure , even in a considerable mannor or burrough ; much more in a great kingdom . it is true , that if all conveyances of lands were for the time to come registred , it would in process of time do much good , and prevent many suits and frauds , tho' perchance the present age may not find the advantage of it . and certainly , it was the great design of the statute of the . h. . of inrollments to have brought up that method of assurances , and had it been pursued , it had before this time been brought to great perfection , and done much of that good which is now intended by it . but to make the design at this day practical and useful , these things must be observed . . in reference to deeds of all sorts . . in reference to wills. . in reference to judgments , statutes and recognizances . . therefore in relation to deeds , these things are necessary to make the design practical and useful . . that it be enacted that no estate pass from man to man ( by act executed in life-time , other than by last will ) for above years , without deed . that no use or trust of any estate be raised , but by deed expressing the same . . that to prevent the extream length of covenants in deeds , there be thought of certain words that may carry in them the strength of covenants or warranty's ; as for instance , [ dedi , or give , ] to include a warranty and covenant against all men , and also for further assurance , [ grant ] to include a warranty and covenant against the party , and all claiming under him , and for further assurance within seven years , [ deliver ] to include a warranty and covenant against the party and his ancestors , and all claiming under that , and for further assurance , within seven years ; and divers instances of this kind might be contrived by short words to include large sentences : thus it was done by the statute of bigamis , and this would shorten deeds , and abridge their charge of enrolling . . that all deeds to be inrolled be acknowledged before a judge of westminster-hall , master of the chancery , as now ; or before two justices of the peace in the county , and they to have power to examine feme coverts to prevent the charge of travel , and of commissions to take acknowledgments . . that all such deeds as are to be inrolled , be inrolled either in the courts at westminster , or in the counties , before the clerk of the peace of that county where the landlies , or in cities , according to the stat. of . h. . this will prevent the needless multiplying of new offices , and the gaping of people after them , and perform the business according to the known and settled usage already established by law , without introducing novelties more than need . . that if the land lye in several counties , the inrollment at the courts at westminster to suffice : if inrolled in one county , it may be sufficient for the rest , only a short abstract or certificate thereof to be sent at the desire of the party to the clerk of the peace , of the other counties , subscribed by him , to be entred with the clerk of the peace of the other counties where the land slie . . that no deed be inrolled after 〈◊〉 months , from the time of the caption . . that the relation of the inrollment of deeds to bind or prevent mean incumbranbrances , relate only to the time of the caption at farthest . . that twice in every year at least , there be transmitted from the office of inrollments in chancery , abstracts or certificates of inrollments to the several clerks of the peace of those respective counties where the lands lie , under seal , and so from the clerks of the peace of the several counties , to the clerk of the inrollments in chancery , that they may be reciprocally entred : this to be done under a pecuniary penalty , but not to invalid the inrollments . . that some settled easie fees may be established by act of parliament , for the caption , inrollment , and certificates . . that no penalty lye upon any party for not inrolling his deeds , farther then by law is established already , but only by act of parliament , a considerable advantage to him that inrolls . this will invite men to do it voluntarily , and in a little time will carry the greatest course of assurance in this method , without any grievance or inconvenience . . that the advantages propounded be such as these : . that whatsoever estate , reversion , remainder , or contingent remainder , or uses , a man may barr , by fine or common recovery , with single or double voucher , he may barr by a deed enrolled ; except as to the point of nonclaimes , provision for infants and ideots . . that a deed inrolled may supply the defect of livery and seisin , and attournment : but not as to forfeiture of the estate of him that makes it . this is partly done already by law. . that uses may be as well created and executed upon a deed inrolled , as upon a fine or feoffment , or release . it is true , that by those advantages , and some others that may be added , most of the assurances in england will run this way ; and thereby , . the offices of clerks of the peace , and inrollments in chancery , will grow to be great and beneficial offices . . the offices relating to fines and recoveries , will sink very low , as the prothonotaries , the chyrographers , custos brevium , clerk of the king's silver , clerk of the inrollments , and the practice of many clerks that usually deal in fines and recoveries . . the king's fines upon originals , and the commissioners for the composition of post-fines , will decay in time ; which will be a loss to the king ; the keeper of the great seal , the master of the rolls , and cursitors , and lords of liberties . but to this i say , . the swelling of these offices may be corrected to the publick benefit , by making the rates of their fees lower . . the offices , that will by this means be impaired , may be considered , if it be thought fit , by some allowances out of the offices of inrolments , though the officers of the court of wards found no such provision for them : and if some counties were allotted to the common-pleas for inrollments , that might easily be applied , and distributed so as to countervail the loss . . the loss of fines , and post-fines , may be abundantly recompenced by a very small allowance upon every deed inrolled ; and yet the subject be a gainer by it . and as these small difficulties may be easily recovered , so these great conveniencies would ensue . . no man would be compelled to inroll his deeds , and yet every man might take the advantage of it that pleased . . the old course of fines and recoveries , not taken away , but left for every man to use that would , though a cheaper and readier course of assurances be substituted . . whereas now no fine , or recovery can be had in vacation time , whereby many men , before they can settle their lands by this means , entailes and feme coverts may be barred , and settle their estates as they have occasion . . it would take away the charges of travel to london , by persons living remote ; the charges of commissions , dedimus potestatem , warrants of attorney , and all those incident charges of fines and recoveries : so that a man that is necessitated to sell his land , though it be but an acre , cannot do it , by fine or recovery , under fifty shillings , may be able , by this means , to perfect his assurance for ten shillings . . it will , in few years , carry the whole track and current of assurances in a way that may be open to all men , and yet without compulsion to any . . it will prevent those many defects in assurances by fines and recovery ; which consisting of so many parts , and passing through so many hands , are subject oftentimes to be reversed : it may be , for the loss or mistake of an original writ , or some defect . and thus far for inrolling of deeds . touching judgments and statutes . the statute of . eliz. hath provided in a good measure for the inrolling of statutes : but as for judgments it is a business of great difficulty how to inroll them especially because it cannot . . be readily known where the party lives , or where his land lies by the ministers of that court where the judgment is given , and so it will be difficult to transmit the same into the countries where the land lies . . if that were all known , yet it might be hard that a copy of a judgment , in paper , should be a sufficient warrant to enter it with the clerk of the peace in the county . but all the way that seems to be practical in this kind , were for the clerks of the several great courts , to extract out of the rolls , the abstracts of the recognizances and judgments , for four or five years past , or more ; and also for the time to come , as they are entred , and to digest them in alphabet , accorcording to the surname of him that acknowledgeth them , &c. and so to preserve them for publick inspection , this might be easily done , and a sallary or fee setled by act of parliament for the respective offices employed therein . only there are these inconveniences which must be remedied . . the retrospect of a judgment to the beginginning of a term , though acknowledged , it may be , long after . . the late inrollment of judgments confessed , so that there is little appears of record , but only in private remembrancers . . the keeping of paper recognizances acknowledged in courts for many days and some months , without inrolling them as they ought , and yet by relation to the time of the caption , many times over-reach men's purchases and securities : these might be remedied by the orders of several courts without an act of parliament , if strictly enjoyned and observed , though a short act would easily make the remedy universal . . and lastly , touching wills , the difficulty will be very great to put them into better order , than they are at present , abating some few things . for the devisor himself must not inroll his will , for the reasons before given , and especially for that it is alterable every hour , and many times made in extremity , when there can be no authentick officer to receive or attest it . and when he is dead , the will comes to the hands of the executors , and it may be controvertible , and if the entry then of it by an executor , or one that pretends to it , should render it authentick , it may prejudice the just right of others . and on the other side , oftentimes the devisee of lands hath not the custody of the will , and it would be unreasonable that the executor's neglect should prejudice the devisee's interest . i know not how the case of wills can be made much safer or better than it is , at least unless the insinuation thereof were under the examination of temporal courts ; but that perchance would be thought too great a charge . only it were well , if some greater solemnity were required by law in wills , whereby lands are devised ; for ever since the stat. of . h. . more questions , not only of law , touching the construction of wills , but also of fact , arise , than in any five general titles or concerns of lands besides . as , whether a will were made or not ? whether revoked or not ? whether the party that made it were of a disposing memory , or not ? which multiplies suits , and makes great uncertainties . but an act may be necessary to prefix a time and order for claims to burned houses in london , and a judicatory settled for the determining thereof summarily ; because otherwise , possibly latent incumbrances may arise upon those that have been at great charges in building . but it were far better , that there might be an act to quiet the enjoyment of those that have built according to the decrees , and under the rules already decreed , because their charge hath made the improvement , and saved it from the forfeiture which would otherwise have happened ; therefore no reason their possession should be disturbed . and besides , all persons that had any pretence of claim , either have made it , and their claims examined by a publick judicatory , or might have done in so long a space , which they have neglected , and it hath been their own faults . therefore this case touching the burned houses being particular , in a particular precinct , and thus circumstantiated , will not make any parallel case to universal registers . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a -e trusts . liberty . penalty . mistakes . abstracts . ●eed at ●●rge . ●●aims en●●ed . suits increased . remainders . wills. purchasors . mean conveyances . acknowledgment . wills. trusts . see act of fraud and perjuries . ubi . several counties . judgments . &c. compulsion . suite ; mu●tiplied . ●harges ●●d mis●●iefs . ●gainst ●ompul●●●n . . h. . act of frauds . words to mean more . stat. of bigamis . feme coverts . offices . inrollment at westminster . time when . relations . ●ecuniary ●enalty . ●ees . common recoverie and fines uses on deed enroll'd . common-pleas . vacation time . cheapness . . eliz. stat. fraud . london burnt . proposal, by doctor hugh chamberlen for a land credit presented to the parliament by the committee to whom it was referred to be considered. chamberlen, hugh. approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). b wing c estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. b ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) proposal, by doctor hugh chamberlen for a land credit presented to the parliament by the committee to whom it was referred to be considered. chamberlen, hugh. scotland. parliament. sheet ([ ] p.) s.n., [edinburgh : ?] caption title. imperfect: right side cropped, with loss of text. reproduction of original in: national library of scotland. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng land banks -- scotland -- early works to . agricultural credit -- scotland -- early works to . broadsides -- scotland -- th century. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - john pas sampled and proofread - john pas text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion proposal , by doctor hugh chamberlen , for a land credit , presented to the parliament , by the committee , to whom it was referred to be considered . primo , that by an act of parliament , the sum of lib. sterling , should be struck , and made current in talleys or notes , of different denominations . secundo , that an office , consisting of privat persons , should be appointed by the parliament , for lending these talleys out at percent , upon the best land securitie . tertio , that the principal sums borrowed in these talleys , shall never be repayed , only the lands of such who borrow , shall be burdened with the said per cent interest , for the space of years . quarto . that four of the said five per cent interest , payed yearly in talleys shall be destroyed by the office , so that at the end of years or thereby , there shall not be one talley in the kingdom . quinto . that one per cent of the said five of interest , should be imployed for defraying the necessary charge of the office ; or , otherwise , as the parliament shall think convenient . an example of this proposal : if lib. sterling in talleys , be lent out at five per cent interest , then this interest will extend to lib. sterling yearly , of which lib. sterling . the sum of lib : sterling being of the said five per cent shall be payed in talleys and yearly destroyed by the office , but the remaining lib. being one of the said percent , shall go for defraying the necessary charges of the office. the heretors who borrow the said lib. sterling , shall continue paying punctually the said per cent interest for the same , during the space of years , at the end of which term their land shall be free , and the principal shall never be returned , for by destroying the foresaid lib. sterling yearly of the talleys , all shall be returned in the foresaid space of years , because multiplyed by ● makes . which is the compleat sum of the talleys . the honourable estates of parliament , may be pleased here to observe that the doctor does not limit this proposal to a certain definit sum , nor to a certain limited time ; for the parliament , if they think it proper , may condescend upon any sum , greater , or lesser , to be repayed within any term of years . a brief narrative of the nature & advantages of the land-bank as proposed by dr. hugh chamberlen, the first author of founding a bank on an annual revenue. chamberlen, hugh. approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a wing c estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) a brief narrative of the nature & advantages of the land-bank as proposed by dr. hugh chamberlen, the first author of founding a bank on an annual revenue. chamberlen, hugh. sheet ([ ] p.) printed by t. sowle ..., london : [ ] date of publication from wing. reproduction of original in columbia university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng land banks -- great britain. agricultural credit. broadsides -- england -- th century. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a brief narrative of the nature , & advantages of the land-bank ▪ as proposed by dr. hugh chamberlen , the first author of founding a bank on an annual revenue . this land-bank , or general office for land-credit , on the terms herein after mentioned , lends l. for years , at the interest of s. or one quarter of one , per cent ▪ per annum . the loan is by bills of credit founded upon land beyond possibility of loss ; and made current in payments , by proper expedients , to serve all the general uses and offices of money ; a sufficient fund of money being also provided , to answer such particular cases as may possibly require the usual species of money . an hundred years interest of l. at s. per cent ▪ per annum , amounts to l. and being added to the principal , makes l. in the total . now because l. is too great a sum to be left to one payment , at the end of years ; and because it is far easier to the borrower to pay it yearly by small sums ; the sum total of , is divided into equal parts , and made yearly payable for years , above all reprises , taxes , deductions , or defalcations whatsoever . this far exceeds the advantages by all other banks , if the greatness of the sum raised , the lowness of the interest , and the easie payments , be considered . add to which , the security given , and the manner of it ; which is thus , ( viz. ) l. per annum in land , is made over for years , as a caution , pledge , or penalty , for securing the payment of l. per annum , for years : and during the whole term , the grantor is always in possession ; and is free from any fear of being outed , or foreclosed : the nature , design , and constitution of this office , being to assist and support , and not to oppress and ruine the landed-man . of this l. principal money to be lent , l. is to be paid at several terms , to be disposed at the will of the subscriber ; and the other l. is to be employed in a ioynt stock of trade , for the common benefit of the subscribers , and as they shall direct : which producing but l. per cent - per annum profit , will exonerate the land in effect , and make it no more than a collateral security ; and puts l. yearly besides into the subscribers purse . note , that this low interest of s. per cent - per annum , is to support the whole charge of the office intirely ; and to be the only reward of the contriver , who for above years last past , at great loss of time , and many thousands of pounds to his damage and expence , hath indefatigably and strenuously , and against great discouragements , constantly endeavoured to settle such an office. every subscriber for payment of l. per annum to this office for such annuity , is also to pay or advance to the office , of the current coin of the nation , at several terms , l. and this money is not given , nor adventured , but exchanged for bills , as one of the means for assisting the currency of the bills , till their true value be known . and there will be expedients for such as cannot , unassisted , comply with the raising of ready money . the manner of paying-in this l. in money , is to be thus , vizt . l. when the estate is settled ; l. at the end of the first year , l. at the end of the second year , and l. at the end of the third year . and the manner of receiving out the bills of credit , is to be thus : vizt . l. when the estate is settled ; being at the same time the l. in money is paid in , as aforesaid : l. at the end of the first year , l. at the end of the second year , l. at the end of the third year , and l. at the end of the fourth year : which is l. in bills , including the l. bills exchanged for so much money ; which money , together with l. more in bills , is paid to the treasurer of the joynt-stock in trade . the first years rent of this l. yearly rent-charge , is to be paid at the end of the second year , after settling the estate . none are to subscribe less than l. per annum for the payment of l. nor more than l . for the payment of l. nor that but till securities shall be subscribed for payment of l for after that , probably some restraints in subscriptions may be necessary , in order to render the uses and advantages of this office more universal and diffusive ; and tho' here a remark be obvious , that the subscribers of the first l. may have a priviledge and enlargement , that their followers cannot receive without cramping the design , and prejudicing one another ; yet the office , and all its appendant benefits , being dormant , till l. be subscribed , it is very consistent with reason , that those have at first a more enlarged scope for subscribing , whose completion alone qualifies others , and without which none could be admitted to any thing . the instance here given is of l. per annum rent-charge , secured to the office , from whence any less or greater rent-charge may without much difficulty be computed , to which computation this rule may help , vizt . two thirds of the security-rents , or l. per annum , ( for so much rent is two thirds of l. per annum ) being multiplied by years , which is two thirds of years , the term settled by way of security for years , the product is a sum raised or valued on that estate . and this sum is thus to be disposed and proportioned , vizt . one half to the subscriber in bills , three tenths for his share in a joynt-stock of trade , and the remaining one fifth pays the interest of s. per cent ▪ per annum , as before , to support this office , and all its contingencies . the rule for advancing of money is one tenth of the said product , or one fifth of the sum received in bills by the subscribers ; or again , ten times the yearly rent . but although l. per annum is generally required to secure the payment of l. per annum , because that sum multiplied by years , the term made over for security of years payment , produces l for securing but l. really to be raised , which gives more than a double value to every bill : yet where rent-charges or chief rents , on the one hand ; or lease-hold , or houses on the other hand , can be proper securities to the bank ; more or less of them , than just one third of the rent-charge , is to be taken ; so as to bring them to as near a proportion as may be , with the settlements of lands in general ; that so the value of the tickets may be duly secured . this office is undertaken under the power and protection of the laws in being ; and since it is not , nor imports , more than a legal , equal , and a fair management , and transacting of a well-regulated credit ; founded by voluntary and legal settlements of estates of particular persons ; it can no more be violated , or broken in upon , than propriety it self , which our laws have made sacred . there are two sheets lately printed , that give a more full and large account of this matter : and the doctor himself is ready further to explain and vindicate this design to any so desiring , at his house in essex-street , every monday , wednesday and friday in the evening ; at which place subscriptions are also taken . the dr. means to open his office , in order to the general good and service of the english crown and n●tion , as soon as conveniently may be , after s●bscriptions are made for securing the payments of . l. per annum to the said office in manner as before . the annuities or rent-charges , are to be made payable in the bills of credit , delivered out by the office : yet , so as that money may be also accepted , when offered by the subscribers for their ease and convenience . the bills that yearly come in for rent , are to be cancelled , with all exactness : so that at the end of the term of . years , there shall be none of them in being ; but all sh●ll be cancelled and destroy'd . and on this secret , the certain real value and security of the bills is inde●eazably founded : for the rent-charges will , first or last , take in , at the full value they were at first issued out , every individual bill . and when they are wanted , they must be sought and procured from what hand so●ver possesses them ; and consequently they may pass pro interim with all manner of safety from hand to hand ; as carrying with them , and having legally and inseparably adhering to them , and int●insick real s●llid value , of more than double what each bill pretends to or imports ; and must all of necessity , within the limited terme , be called for by the land , to pay the rents to t●is office. the safety of the bills being thus securely provided for , in the certainty of a mo●e than double value in land , which is beyond contradiction , the best of funds , there can be little or no doubt of their currency . but further , besides a very great fund of money provided to assist their circulation ; every subscriber is obliged in interest to contribute his utmost to the currency of them . for should not this office succeed , by what other means can any man hope to raise fourscore years value for a rent-charge of years , where he is still master of his land ; and where the income of the trade will probably more than twice pay his rent-charge ? but what recommends this undertaking far above all others , is — the great and just expectations of extraordinary gain : and the impossibility of any loss . the gain is by the great sum advanced ; and by the great joynt-stock in trade . the impossibility of loss , is first , in that the rent-charges will certainly call them all in : which gives them a real value , and makes them safe : and next , it is readily agreed on all hands , and is indeed obvious in it self , that if the bills run two or three years , they can never cease to be current ; and if they stop in that time , or indeed at any time , this bank or office is in a condition to make intire satisfaction to all . for if the whole of the subscribers , or any great part of them , will call in all the money upon their bills , to such a value as this office cannot readily comply with , in the species of money : then will the office restore to all or any such person or persons his or their estate or estates ; and the ready money by them paid-in at setling such estates ; in case of repayment to the office of all the bills of credit issued thereupon . and this makes any loss by this undertaking to be quite impossible ; which is what cannot be made out conce●ning any other bank whatever , now in being , or framing , either in this kingdom or in any other part of the world. but divers gentlemen who have great estates in money , taking umbrage at this design ; and apprehending the consequences thereof , may too far affect them , in depressing money , as it raises land : the doctor further proposes , that this bank or office may one or more of these three ways , besides others which time will show , be of use to moneyed-men , viz. . such as have their running cash payable on demand , shall have two pence per cent - per diem , allowed them , unless publick notice be given to the contrary . . such as will leave their money for six or twelve months certain , and after till two months notice , on either side , shall have . per c●●● till a year's notice to the contrary be given . . such as subscribe , and pay ready money into the joynt-stock of trade , shall be admitted to proportional dividends ( with other subscribers ) of the profit to arise thereby : and by this expedient , may persons ignorant , and else uncapable of trade , receive the benefit of it , without the trouble . and lastly , for the more general good , an expedient is found , whereby such as have valuable leases of more than thirty years to come , shall also find their proportional account in this undertaking ; to their great benefit : their convenience and accomodation being so stated and adjusted , as , in most cases , to consist with the general rule and basis of the bank. august the th . . london , printed by t. sowle , in white ▪ hart-court in gracious-street ; ( where also may be had several small treatises of banks . ) tuesday, september . . ordered by the parliament, that all masters and governors of hospitals be, and are hereby prohibited to grant or renew any leases of any lands, tenements, or hereditaments belonging unto any of the said respective hospitals, until this house take further order england and wales. parliament. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text r in the english short title catalog (thomason .f. [ ]). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a thomason .f. [ ] estc r this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; : f [ ]) tuesday, september . . ordered by the parliament, that all masters and governors of hospitals be, and are hereby prohibited to grant or renew any leases of any lands, tenements, or hereditaments belonging unto any of the said respective hospitals, until this house take further order england and wales. parliament. sheet ([ ] p.) printed by john field, printer to the parliament. and are to be sold at the seven stars in fleetstreet, over against dunstans church, london : . title from caption and first lines of text. order to print signed: tho. st nicholas, clerk of the parliament. annotation on thomason copy: "sept. ". reproduction of the original in the british library. eng hospitals -- england -- early works to . land use -- law and legislation -- england -- early works to . a r (thomason .f. [ ]). civilwar no tuesday, september . . ordered by the parliament, that all masters and governors of hospitals be, and are hereby prohibited to grant o england and wales. parliament. a this text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - john pas sampled and proofread - john pas text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion tuesday , september . . ordered by the parliament , that all masters and governors of hospitals be , and are hereby prohibited to grant or renew any leases of any lands , tenements , or hereditaments belonging unto any of the said respective hospitals , until this house take further order . tuesday , september . . ordered by the parliament , that this order be forthwith printed and published . tho. st nicholas , clerk of the parliament . tuesday , september . . ordered , that it be referred to the councel of state to take care that this order be sent to the sheriffs and justices of the peace of the respective counties within this commonwealth , to give notice thereof to the respective masters and governors of the respective hospitals within the said respective counties . tho. st nicholas , clerk of the parliament . london , printed by john field , printer to the parliament . and are to be sold at the seven stars in fleestreet , over against dunstans church , . the relation betweene the lord of a mannor and the coppy-holder his tenant. delivered in the learned readings of the late excellent and famous lawyer, char. calthrope of the honorable society of lincolnes-inne esq; whereby it doth appeare for what causes a coppy-holder may forfeite his coppy-hold estate, and for what not; and like wise what lord can grant a coppy, and to whom. published for the good of the lords of mannors, and their tenants calthrope, charles, sir, d. . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a stc estc s this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) the relation betweene the lord of a mannor and the coppy-holder his tenant. delivered in the learned readings of the late excellent and famous lawyer, char. calthrope of the honorable society of lincolnes-inne esq; whereby it doth appeare for what causes a coppy-holder may forfeite his coppy-hold estate, and for what not; and like wise what lord can grant a coppy, and to whom. published for the good of the lords of mannors, and their tenants calthrope, charles, sir, d. . [ ], , [ ] p. printed [by j. okes] for william cooke and are to be sold at his shop neere furnivals inne gate in holborne, london : . printer's name from stc. in this edition, b r line has: uilenage. reproduction of the original in the university of michigan. law library. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng copyhold -- early works to . land tenure -- law and legislation -- great britain -- early works to . - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - jonathan blaney sampled and proofread - jonathan blaney text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the relation betweene the lord of a mannor and the coppy-holder his tenant . delivered in the learned readings of the late excellent and famous lawyer , char. calthrope of the honorable society of lincolnes-inne esq whereby it doth appeare for what causes a coppy-holder may forfeite his coppy-hold estate , and for what not ; and likewise what lord can grant a coppy , and to whom . published for the good of the lords of mannors , and their tenants . non magis promaenibus quam pro servandis legibus liber : cives pugnare debent , siquidem sine maenibus respublica potest consistere : sine legibus non potest . london : printed for william cooke and are to be sold at his shop neere furnivals inne gate in holborne . . coppy-holds the first lecture . the great injuries which are offered , and small remedies which are used in cases of coppy-holds , which as it seemeth , doe grow by the obscure knowledge what law & custome judgeth in these matters of coppy-hold : moveth mee to shew some part of my travailes in these poynts , not thereby to animate coppy-hold tenants which would by too much advancing their tenure , pretend only to be tenants by custome , and not tenants at will , nor to encourage any coppy-hold lord , which could by too much abasing these tenures , pretend to have such coppy-holders onely tenants at will , and not regard their customes , but to proove unto you , that as their title and name sheweth they are tenants at will , and tenants by custome in their land , and they consist both of their lords will and custome of the mannour in their degrees . and that this will and custome be contained within the limits of law and reason , according to such rules as shall be hereafter declared . first i will shew what a coppy-hold is , then whereof it doth consist , and what estimation the same is of , by the antiquity of time , and by the lawes and statutes of this realme . master littleton in his first booke of teuures , defineth a tenant by coppy of court role , and to be where a man is seised of a mannour , in which is a custome that hath been used time out of minde , that certaine tenants of the same mannour have used , to have certaine lands and tenements to hold to them ▪ and their heires , in fee simple , fee taile , or for life at the will of the lord after the custome of the mannonr : and that they have no other evidence but the roles of the court , by which difinition , and by certaine other observations of the law it may bee gathered , that a coppy-hold doth consist of these sixe principall grounds , or circumstances . ( viz. ) first , there must be a mannour , for the maintenance of coppy-hold . secondly , a custome for the allowing of the same . thirdly , there must be a court holden for the proofe of the coppy-holders . fourthly , there must be a lord to give the coppy-hold . fiftly , there must be a tenant of capacity to take the tenement . lastly , the thing to bee granted which must bee such as is grantable , and may bee held of the lord according to the tenure . but first before i speake of these circumstances , i will briefly declare unto you the dignity and estimation of coppy-holders , by the antiquity , and allowance of time , and by the lawes and statutes of this realme . it appeareth by a certaine booke intituled de priscis anglor : legibus : translated out of saxon tongue by master lambert of lincolns inne ; that coppy-holds were long before the conquest , and then called by the name of ( bookeland ) as you may see in the beginning of the booke , in the treatise de rerum & verborum explicatione ; and by master bracton an ancient writer of the lawes of england , who in his booke vvriteth divers presidents and records of king henry ; of allowance , copi-holders or customary tenants that do their due services , the lords might not expell them ; according to the opinion of the latter judges , in the time of edward the . and edward the third : and it appeareth by master fitz-herberts abridgements , they were preferred by a speciall writ for that purpose , and the lord thereby compelled to do right . and in the time of henry the fourth , tenants by the virge , which are the same in nature , as copy-holders be , were allowed by the name of sokemaines in franktenure ; as in the time of henry . were allowed , and of the king , for defence of their estates . so that in every kings time copy-holders have had their allowances according to their natures , unto this time present , wherein our justices are of opinion , as the said grave sages have beene in times past . now i will further proceede in some perticuler use of these tenures , according to the lawes and statutes of this realme : and because i finde none that doth so much deface the estimation of copy-holders , as master fitz herbert doth in his writ derecto clauso . i will begin with his words and judgement in the same , and proceed to other authorities . master fitz-herbert , saith that this terme coppi-holders is but a new terme , newly found out , & that in old time they were called tenants in uilenage , or base tenure ; and this saith he , doth appeare in the old tenures , for no coppy-holders are there spoken of , although there were at that time such tenants . but then saith , they were called tennats in vilenage and saith , as appeareth . henry . if a false judgement be given against them , in the lords court , they shall have no remedy , but sue to their lord by petition , because to hold by coppy of court role , which is as hee saith base tenure , is to hold in villenage , which said opinion of fitz-herbert , have beene by divers wrested , to make no diuersity betweene tenure in villenage , and tenure , by coppy of court role or base tenure , wherein whatsoever interpretation may be made , master fitz herberts meaning is very plaine , and the booke of the old tenures , is to be farre otherwise understood : as also i suppose , all other authorities in our law doe make and appoint difference betweene the tenures . and first touching the booke of the old tenures it is plaine , that the booke maketh a plaine distinction betweene tenure in villenage , and tenure in fee base , which is understood this tenure by coppy-hold , and calleth it a fee although a base fee , and maketh diverse distinctions betweene them , and sayth , that the tenants in villenage must doe all such things as their lord will command them . but otherwise , it is of the tenants in base fee. and this it seemeth the sayd booke of olde tenure ; to be by mr. fitzherbert mis-recited , which i am the bolder to affirme , saving the due reverence to his learning : because one mr. thornton of lincolns inne , a man very learned in his late reading there upon the statute of forger facts : speaking of forging court roles , did playnly affirme the booke of the olde tenures to be mistaken by mr. fitzherbert in this poynt . and besides , for the further credite of coppy-holds , we ought to consider the great authority of mr. littleton , who amongst the rest of his tenures , doth make a divided chapter thereof , differing from his tenement in villenage , shewing there the suites and plaints of coppy-holders , saying that they haue an estate of inheritance according to the custome : and delivereth his owne opinion , that if a coppy-holder doing his services bee compelled by the lord , he shall haue an action of transgression . and sayth , that danby and brian . ed. . were of the same minde , according to which is bracton , and the sayd presidents of hen. . and the writ vsed in tempore , r. . besides many other reasons at the common-law , &c. prooving that by use and circumstance things may alter and change their originall nature . as for example , the service of socage tenure was at the beginning , ( as mr. littleton sayth ) to till the lords land , &c. and yet now by consent of the lord , and by continuance of time are turned into money , and other services in lieu thereof . even so may be sayd of coppy-holds , as long as the tenants themselves be free , though their tenure were at beginning never so bound and base : yet by course of time , they may gayne more liberty and freedome , and grow to more estimation and account . an other reason and rule there is at the common-law , to this intent , that some things there were which in the beginning were but voluntary , and yet in the end by continuance became compulsary , as appeareth ass . praescript . bract. that a man that did at the first of his owne meere benevolence repayre a high way or a bridge by often using , was afterwards compelled volens nolens . even so it may be sayd of the coppy-holders , who at the first held but at the free will of the lord ; yet now by usage and continuall granting time out of minde , they haue gotten an estate after the custome , that doing their services , and behaving themselues well , they cannot by law or reason be put from them . thus much for the allowance of coppy-holders by the common-law , now let us consider the reputation of them by the statutes and parliament law. it appeareth by the statute of . rich. . . & . hen. . . that a coppy-holder that may dispend twenty sixe shillings eight pence by the yeare shall be empanelled on a iury , as hee that may dispend twenty shillings by the yeare of free lands . and by the statute of the . ed. . cap. . the interest of coppy-holders are reserved , being found by office after the death of the kings tenants , as well as other estates at the common-law , and so doth the statute of monasteries . . hen. . cap. . & . edw. . cap. . preserue coppy-holds from dissolving . and it will seeme that coppy-holders are for the common-wealth , and therefore to bee maintayned , for that some haue beene erected and established by parliament , which were not de visible by coppy before , as appeareth by the statutes hen. . . . ed. . what shall be sayd , a mannour and a mannour as will mayntaine a coppy-hold . a mannour consisteth in two parts ( viz. ) demeasnes and services , and neyther of these two parts hath the name of a mannour without the other : for as a messuage or lands cannot be called demeasnes without tenements thereunto belonging , to pay rents and do services , but doth still beare the name of messuage or lands : so on the other part , though a man have tenements to pay him rents , and doe him services , and no messuage or lands whereupon to keepe his court , and to receiue his rents and services , this cannot be called a mannour , but onely a signiory in grosse . fitz. na . brev . s . . & . . demeanes are so called , for that the lord himselfe occupieth and manureth them in son maine demeasne . but all lands that have been in the lords owne hands , bee not called demeanes , for all free-holds and coppy-holds were in his owne hands at the beginning . but demeanes is that which is now , and time our of minde have beene in the lords hands , or occupation of his bay liffe or servants : and that also which auncient coppy-hold may be to some purpose called demeasnes , because in every surrender in manus domini , and every grant extra manus domini , the lord hath a medling with it , and may thereupon keepe his court , and for the most part cut downe timber , and such like : and that it is also called demeasnes , which now is in the lords hands by any new escheate or forfeiture . and also the lands which are in the hands of the coppy-holders , is such a demeasne as with other services will make a mannour , though the lord hath none other demeanes there in his owne hands , nor in the hands of his bayliffe , or servants services , as with a demeasne shal make a mannour to maintaine : coppy-holds is where a man holdeth lands or tenements freely to suite to the court of the lord of the mannour within the sayd fee : but yet euery kind of service will not make a mannour , for services are of two kinds , viz. that is by tenure and by covenant ; service by tenure is also of two sorts , as if a man at this day giveth his land in tayle , or leaseth it for life or yeares , saving the reversion : here is a service of fealty incident to this tenure , betweene the doner or the lessor , and the donee or the lessee . and yet though this be a service by tenure , yet is it no such service as will make a mannour . for if a man at this day be seised of twenty acres of land , and enfeffeth nineteene severall persons of nineteene of these acres , saving the twentieth to himselfe , and reserveth of every of his fcofees suite of the court and other services to be done to this court , to be held on the twentieth acre , though the feofments be by deed indented , or in tayle or of lives , yet all is voyde , and avayleth not to make a mannour . but it maketh onely a tenure in grosse , for a tenure may by divers meanes be created at this day ; but a mannour by no way , by a common person . plow . com. . . a mannour must be by prescription , and the services by continuance , time out of minde . but although a man at this day cannot make a mannour , yet hee may in some sort enlarge a mannour by adding more services unto it . . ass . a man seised of a mannour did give parcell of the same to hold of him by suite to his mill within the same mannour , for this service the lord may distrayne , and it is their held to be accounted parcell of the mannour . in like manner , a man may by reserving upon a gift , intayle , or lease for life : services ingrosse , increase the services of an ancient mannour . signior grant le demeasnes & services del son mannour de norkelsey &c. extend en auter towne per le melior opinion des iustices de common banck le grantee , &c. keepe a court there , and so a mannour to be created at this day . what shall be sayd , a mannour or a tenure in his proper nature or common-law , and what in respect of usage or custome to maintaine coppy-holders . it is to bee noted , that although a mannour of his proper ought to consist of demeanes and services , yet in some cases that may bee a manour , and maintaine coppy-holders , and a court baron , by usage and custome , which otherwise by common law is no manour , nor cannot so be called , &c. a man seized of a manour , whereunto bee divers free tenants , divers coppy-holders , and divers speciall customary tenants , and the customary tenants , do hold to give atendance on the free holders at the lords court. all the free tenants dye saving one , the lord doth bargain and sell the manour to an estranger ▪ this is now in respect of the free tenements , a tenure , and no manour , in respect of the coppy-holders , both a manour , and tenure , and in respect of the customary tenements , neither manour , nor tenure . if divers do hold lands , to dine with the lord every sunday in the yeare ; this maketh neither good tenure , nor manour . but if they hold to wait on the lord every sunday at dinner , and to dine with him ; this maketh a good service , but no good tenure . if divers doe hold lands by coppy of the mannour of d. and so have done time out of minde , and by the like time there hath beene no free holders to the said mannour , although this be no mannour in his proper nature , yet by usage it is a good mannour to maintaine coppy-holds . a man seised of a mannour , which time out of minde hath beene called by the name of the manour of s. and doth demise the same by the name of the mannour of s. this is good . if a man seised of a mannour , whereto be six free holders , and six villaines regardants : the sixe free holders dye having issue sixe daughters , the villaines enterrary with them , yet the same is a mannour , and the villaines thereto regardant . if a man seised of a mannour , whereto hee hath leet , and wrecke of the sea by prescription , all the tenancyes escheate , yet the leete and the wrecke still remaine , and it is a mannour to that purpose . if divers doe hold lands by prescription to finde the lords mans meat , and hounds meat , when hee commeth to hunt the fox in the said lands ; this maketh a good tenure , but no good mannour : if divers do hold lands to doe suit and service at the lords court , this is most properly such service as maketh a mannour : but if it be to doe suit and service at the lords couri , when it pleaseth themselves , this is neither mannour nor tenure . if divers doe hold lands to repaire a high way within a mile compasse , without the bounds of the lord of the mannour , this makes a good tenure , but no mannour . but to repayre or mend the wayes within the precinct of the mannour , is good to enlarge the mannour . if divers doe hold lands to pray for the prosperous estate of the lord and his heires ; this maketh a tenure , but no good mannour . if divers doe hold lands of the lord to wayte upon him at twenty dayes warning , twenty miles distant from the mannour , this maketh a good service , but no good tenure . but if it be to wayte upon the lord within the sayd mannour , by certayne space , this maketh both a good tenure , and a good mannour . if divers holde lands to beate or kill the lords tenants that shall doe trespasse on the lords demeasnes , this is neyther good tenure nor good mannour . but if it be to beate and kill the kings enemies , that shall doe so , this maketh both a good tenure , and a good mannour . if divers hold lands by prescription to do service to the lord , to his court of the sayd mannour , twenty miles distant at a place certaine . this is both a good tenure and a good mannour . but if it be to do service to his court at another mannour , this without prescription , cannot be severance from the first mannour . if divers doe hold to come to the lords court , and there to doe nothing , this maketh neither good tenure nor good mannour . but to come to the court , though not to be of the homage ; yet to offer amersements , or make certificates , or any other service to the lord , this maketh a good tenure and a mannour . if any do hold lands to do divine service before the lord and his tenants in the court-house , before the beginning of every court , this maketh both a good tenure and a good mannour . what shall be sayd , a good custome to be able to maintaine coppy-holds . a custome to make a coppy-hold , must be of necessity in the same mannour , where the sayd coppy-holds are so granted , viz. that the same lands are , and time out of minde haue beene onely demised and demisable by coppy of court role : for otherwise the lord cannot grant it by coppy , because hee cannot beginne a custome at this day . but if it have beene by like time granted by coppy , though sithence it came to the lords hands ; yet if the lord never demise the same by free deede nor otherwise , but by coppy , then he may well grant agayne the same by coppy , for it is neyther the person of the lord , nor the occupation of the land , that eyther maketh or marreth the coppy-hold . but onely the usage and manner of demising the same , for the prescription of a coppy-holder consisteth neither in the land , nor in the occupier , but onely in the usage of the demising . the division of cvstomes . viz. customes . prescriptions . vsage , and limitation . these foure though they be in some confounded together , and indeede are of great affinity ; yet there be divers differences in their severall natures betweene them . custome is where by continuance of time , a right is obtayned concerning divers persons in common . prescription is where by continuance of time one particular person obtayneth right against an other . vsage is by continuance of time the efficient cause of them both . limitation is where a right may be obtained , by reason of a non claime , by the space of a certaine number of yeares , differing in the accoumpt of time , from custome and prescription . but what measure of time shall make a custome ; divers have differed in opinion ; some judging the same to bee according to the computation of yeares , from the time of k. ed. . untill the statute of m. . which appointeth the limitation in a writ of right : the accompt of which time unto the said statute , from the said k. time is . yeares , others have thought a hundred years maketh a prescription , because in old time an hundred yeares was accompted a fee simple . but the true measure thereof according to master littletons rule , is where a custome , or usage , or other things have beene used , so long as mans memory cannot remember the contrary . that is , when such matter is pleaded , that no man then in life , hath not heard any thing , nor know any proofe to the contrary . and by this it appeareth that customes , and prescriptions , resteth onely in the memory of man , & limitation consisteth onely of a certaine time , which hath a certain beginning and of certaine ending , and is not directed by mans memory , wherein is ment limitation of time , and not limitation of estates . if lands have been demised by coppy by the space of . yeares , and yet there be some alive , that remembreth the same occupied by indenture , this is not a good coppy-hold . and if lands have beene demised by coppy but yeares , and there is none alive that can remember the same to bee otherwise demised : this is a good coppy-hold , for the number of yeares makes not the matter , but the memory of man. and it is not . . or yeares that maketh a coppyhold or a custome , though it makes a limitation . but such certaine number of yeares makes onely a likely-hood , or presumption of a prescription ; that is , that it commonly happeneth not that any mans memory alive , can remember alone such a number of yeares . but if any chance to be alive , that remembreth the contrary , then such prescription must give place to such proofe . custome hath certaine speciall vertues in it selfe ; which for the more estimation thereof , i will shortly shew according to certaine precepts and principals allowed by al lawes , both by the law of god , the law of of nature , and the law of nations , and by the private law of every countrey : as by the law of god it is said : si quis videtur contentiosus esse nos eiusmode consuetudinē non habemus , nec ecclesia dei , which proveth that the scripture , and the church of god do atribute some what to good customes , though not to evill : and by the law of nature , consuetudo est altera natura . and by the law of nations , consuetudo est optima legum interpres . and by the lawes of this realme , princes at their coronation are sworne , as well to keepe the custome of this land , as the lawes of this land , which law doth attribute so much to custome , that sometimes it is admitted to derogate from the custome law , for consuetudo bona de clausausitata et approbata , privat communem legem . whereof cvstome doth consist . custome although it doth chiefly consist of continuance of time and usage , yet it doth further require seven other necessary properties , accident for the maintenance of a good custome : which are these . first , it must be reasonable , as it appeareth . ed. . . secondly , it must be certaine , as appeareth . ed. . . ed. . . dum fuit infra aetatem . . . ed. . . . h. . thirdly , it must bee according to common right . . ed. . . fourthly , it must bee on good consideration . . hen. . . . ed. . fiftly , it must bee compulsary : . ed. . avow . sixtly , it must be without prejudice to the king. . hen. . custome fits. hen. . . ed. . prescription . . seventhly , it must bee to his profit that claimeth the same . . ed. . prescription . et . usage is the efficient cause , both of custome and prescription ; for without usage , there can bee neither custome or prescription , for even as the minde is to man , so is usage to custome . and as you see there bee divers varietyes of mindes in men , so are there many varieties of customes as you see varieties of countries , and yet all men perfect , and all customes perfect : some say that have their mindes affected according to the constitution of their bodies : and so have countries their customes , according to the constitution of the place ; as in kent , and in north wales , because those countries have beene most subject to forraigne invasions , that euery man there , may bee of power for resistance . the inheritance for the most part descend in gavell kind ( viz. ) to every brother alike , and in other middle parts of the realme for whom government . least equalty is best . the inheritance wholy descendeth to the eldest brother : and in borough english which is in divers boroughs , because their substance commonly is lands , and in such townes , lands may bee the better preserved then goods , therefore their youngest sonnes shal onely have their lands , and as it is in those great parts of the realme , so it is in divers private parts and mannours , and divers private and special customes . as some mannours have coppy-hold of inheritance , some for life , or liues : in some manour the copy-holders surender in one manner , and in some in an other sort : in some the fine is arbitrable : and in some certaine , et sic in similibus . the usage of every custome doth not rest to be yearely , daily , or continually used , but as the equality , and the nature of the thing whereof the custome is , doth require , as custome harryots when they fall , of shacts and foldage , in their season of common estovers in their time , and for coppy-holders , whose fines are certaine , yet at one time to pay a greater fine then at an other , and all these are good customes , though they cannot bee used at all times , for customes may bee sometimes used , sometimes not used , sometimes altered , and sometimes not , and therefore in custome you may see there is ( user , non user ) abuser and interuser . user is , when according to time and occasion a custome is used . non user is when for want of time and occasionor , through negligence , or forgetfulnesse a custome is not used . abuser is that , which user doth nourish , a custome and non abuser tolerate a custome , so doth abuser destroy a custome , and yet in some cases , a custome may bee sometimes used in one sort , and sometimes in an other . and yet a good custome , if there bee good considerations of the exchanging thereof all times , and this i call enteruser . if there be a coppy-hold , of an ancient demeasne , and this land is forfeited to the lord by waste , and thereupon a seisure awarded thereof , and yet the lord doth suffer the tennant still to occupy it , by the space of . yeares , without receiving any rent for the same , and after grants the said land to the tennant by coppy . this grant is good and a good user of the coppy hold . but if after the said seasure awarded , an estranger had entred and disseised him of his land , and made a feofment in fee thereof ; and after the lord re-entreth , and grants the same againe by coppy unto the first tenant , this grant is not good , by reason of the user of this land. if the lord have used at the admission of his coppy-hold tenants , sometime to take for a fine two-pence , or sometimes fourepence for an acre , somtimes twelve pence an acre , this user is so uncertaine , that it maketh the fine arbitrable at the lords will. if the lord of a mannour have used time out of minde , to admit his coppy-hold tenants without fine , this usage shall binde the lord , as well as a fine certaine . if the lord have used to have certaine work-dayes of his tenants , and that hath not been used by the space of twenty yeares last past ; yet that non-user is no discharge to the tenants , so that there be any in life that can remember the same . if the tenants have used when they sow their lands , to pay the lord rent-corne , and when it lyeth in pasture , to pay their rents in money , this is a good inter-user . if the tenants have used to pay to their lord every fourth yeare a double rent , and every sixt yeare an halfe rent , this is a good inter-user . if the tenants have used to have common of pasture in their lords woods , for their horse-cattle , and they put in their neate-cattle , and destroy the woods , this is an abuser . but yet it is but fineable , and no forfeiture of the common , which they might have rightfully used : no more then if they have common for a certaine number of beasts in the lords soyle ; and they will exceed the number ; this abuse by their surcharging , is onely fineable , and no forfeiture . if a man have a market to be used one day in a weeke , the non-user thereof is not forfeiture . and if a man have a market to be used on the fryday , and hee keepeth the same fryday and munday , the mis-user of the munday is no forfeiture of the fryday . if a man have a faire to be used two day and he keepes it three dayes , this abuser is a forfeiture . if a man have a faire for one day , and hee will keepe it two dayes , and that is presented in the exchequer : if the party being called by processe , do clayme both dayes by patent , upon sight whereof it appeares he ought to have but one day by his patent , and the other by prescription , though the prescription be found against him , and that day lost , yet he shall enjoy the other day . if a man prescribe to have a faire yearely upon bartholmew day , and if the same doc fall out on the sunday , then to keepe the same the next day following , this is a good prescription . if the king doe grant to the citizens of norwich the franchises and liberties that london hath , and the franchises and liberties that southampton hath : if the citizens of norwich doe abuse one of these liberties that london hath ; this is a forfeiture of all those liberties that london hath , and of no other . but if the king doth incorporate a towne , and giue them by the same pattent speciall franchises and liberties , the abuser of the one of these , is a forfeiture of them all . that every cvstome must be reasonable ; and what shall be sayd , a reasonable custome . every good custome is grounded upon good reason , and that shal bee sayd in reason a good custome , that in reason is a good law ; for law and custome be of that affinity , as both doth allow like reason , and both doth forbid like inconveniences . and the finall effect of both to discusse and to discerne every mans true right , and to give to every man that which is his owne . for although custome in some cases differ from law , and doth admit execution of some acts without some ceremonies and circumstances as be required by the law : yet the end and effect of custome is to maintayne the like reason that law doth , and to avoyde the like inconveniences . and therefore if a lord will prescribe to have such a custome within his mannour , that if the beasts of any of his tenants do him any transgresse upon any of his demeasnes , and there be taken damagefezant , that then hee may detayne them untill the owner shall satisfie him for his harmes , as himselfe shall require . this is no reasonable custome that he should be his owne judge . but to prescribe , that if any of the coppy-holders beasts transgresse , &c. that the same be presented at his court , that there should be a forfeiture of his coppy-hold , this may be called a reasonable custome . if tenants of a mannour will prescribe to hold without paying any rents or services for their coppy-holds , this is no good custome . but prescribe to hold by fealty for all manner of services , is good and reasonable if the lord will prescribe never to hold a court , but when it pleaseth himselfe , this is not good . but to prescribe never to hold a court for the speciall good of any one tenant , except the same tenant will pay him a fine for the same , is good and allowable . that every cvstome ought to be certaine ; and what shal be sayd , a custome certayne . there is nothing more required in all lawes and customes , then certainty ; for incertainty in all cases maketh confusion , and therefore law and custome doth also agree in this poynt , that without some kinde of certainty , neyther law nor custome can be good : for in divers cases , where one thing may be taken to divers intents , and the circumstances of the case such as to which intent the thing was done , cannot be certainly judged , there the same thing so doubtfully done , shall to all purposes be judged voyde . and incertainty of customes and customary causes , grows chiefly three manner of wayes . that is to say , sometimes of incertainty of the persons : sometime the incertainty of the things , and sometimes the incertainty of the cause : and in some of these cases , though there be at the first a semblance of incertainety ; yet by circumstances and contingents , the incertainties may be turned into certainties . as if the lord of the mannour will prescribe , that whensoever any of his coppy-holders dye without heires , that one other of the coppy-holders of the same mannour shall till the land for the yeare following ; and therefore this is no good custome , because the intent neyther is , nor can be certaine , which of the tenants shall performe this service . but if the custome be , that if a coppy-holder dye without heire , that then the eldest tenant of that name , of the sayd mannour , shall have this land ; this is a good custome , and contayneth in it selfe sufficient certainty . if a coppy-holder doe surrender two acres of land into the lords hand , the one to the use of i. s. and the other to the use of i. n. and doth not name in certainty who shal have the one acre , and who shall have the other , the limitation of this use is voyd , for this incertainty . if a coppy-hold be surrendred to the use of i. s. and his heires , untill hee shall marry a. g. and after the sayd marriage , then to the use of them two in taile speciall , if after they doe marry , then is the surrender to them in taile , and till then , to him in fee. if the lord will prescribe to have of his coppy-holders in the time of peace two-pence an acre of rent , and in the time of warre foure pence an acre of rent , this is good prescription , because there is a good consideration of the cause of this incertainety : but to pay unto the lord two-pence an acre rent when hee will , and fourepence an acre rent when hee will , this is no good prescription , because there is neyther good reason nor consideration heereof , nor can it ever be reduced into any certainety . that cvstome mvst bee according to common right : and what shall be said such a custome , and what not . customes and prescriptions , must be according to common right , that is to prescribe , that is to have such things as is their right , and reasonto have , and not by custome of prescription to claim things by way of extortion , or thereby to exact fines of other things of his tenant without good cause , or consideration . if the lord will prescribe to have of every of his coppy-holders , for every court that shall bee kept upon the mannour a certaine sum of money ; this is no prescription according to common right ; because he ought for justice sake to doe it gratis . and so it is if the shriefe will prescribe to have a certaine fee , for keeping his turne , this is not a good prescription . but if the lord will prescribe to have a certaine fee of his tennants for any extraordinary court purchased , onely for the benefit of one tennant , as for one tennant to take his coppy-hold , or such like , this is a good prescription according to the common right . if the lord will have of any of his tenants that shall commit a pound breach , a hundred shillings for a fine , this is good prescription , but to challenge of every stranger that shall commit a pound breach a hundred shillings , this is no good prescription . if the lord will prescribe that every of his coppyholders within his mannour that shall marry his daughter without licence shall pay a fine to the lord ; this is no good prescription according to common right . that a cvstome must be upon a good consideration , and what shall bee said such a custome , and what not . consideration is a great effect in all lawes and customes , and hath as great an an operation , as any one thing belonging to the law , for in most causes it onely guideth and directeth rights , properties , uses , and estates , sometimes according to the limitation , and sometimes contrary to the limitation , as well in cases of custome , as in cases of common law ; for consideration is the beginning of all custome , the ground of all uses , the reason of all rights , and the cause of all duties : for without consideration no custome can have continuance ; nothing is wrought by any conveyance , no interest transferred , no right remooved , no propertie changed , nor duty accrewed . as if the lord of a mannour will prescribe , that whosoever passeth the kings high way , which lyeth through his mannour , shall pay to the lord of the mannour twelve-pence for his passage . this prescription is not upon good consideration : but if hee prescribe to have a penny of every one that passeth over such a bridge , which the lord of the mannour doth use to repaire , this is good prescription upon good consideration . if the lord will prescribe to have a fine at the marriage of his copy-hold tenants , in which the custome doth not admit the husband to bee tenant by curtesie , nor the wife to be tenant in dowre , or have her widdowes estate ; the prescription of such a fine is not good : but in such mannour where the custome doth admit such particular estates , there a prescription for a fine at the marriage of his coppy-holders , is upon good consideration . if a coppy-hold surrender his land to the use of i. s. so long as i s. shall serve him in such an office ; if i s. refuse to serve , his estate doth cease . if a coppy-holder doth surrender his land to the use of a stranger , in consideration that the same stranger shall marry his daughter before such a day ▪ if the marriage succeeds not , the stranger takes nothing by the surrenderer : but if the surrender bee in consideration , that the stranger shall pay such summe of money , at such a day , though the money bee not payed , yet the surrenderer standeth good . if the coppy-holder in consideration of twentie pounds to bee payd by i. s. doth make a surrender of his lands to n. r. this surrender is to the use of i. s. because of the consideration , expressed in the coppy , and not to the use of n. r. but if in the coppy the use be expressed to n. r. and no consideration mentioned , the use expressed shall stand against any consideration to be averred . that a cvstome mvst be compulsary ; and what shall be said such a custome , and what not . custome or law must be compulsary ; and not at the liberty of a man , whether he will performe it or not ; for then it were of no force ; for all customes and lawes have their effect in two poynts . that is , in bidding that which is just , and in forbidding the contrary : so that lawes and customes are refrainers of liberties , and do demaund execution of justice ; not that every man should have , or doe what they would ; but that which by justice they ought , whereunto by duty of law and custome , hee is compellable ; for otherwise it were voluntary in him , which were to the infringing of the law and good order : as the poets , oderunt peccare boni virtutis amore , oderunt peccare mali formidine poenae . if the lord will prescribe that every of his tenants shall give him ten shillings a moneth , to beare charges in time of warre ; this is no good prescription . but to prescribe that they ought to pay ten shillings , a moneth , &c. this is good . for payment is compulsary , but gift is voluntary . if a coppy-holder doe surrender his land to the use of s. so that the sayd i. s. do pay him twenty pounds at such a day . if i. s. please to pay the same , this is an absolute surrender and not conditionall , because the compulsary . but many customes there are which at the beginning were voluntary , and now by continuance are growne compulsary . according to the civill law. quae initio fuerunt voluntatis , ex post fact fuerint necessitatis ; which also agreeth with the common-law in many cases , as i have partly touched before . that a cvstome mvst be without preiudice to the king , and by what prescription the king shall be bound , and what not . the king hath that prerogative over his subjects , that hee is not tyed to time as a common person is , for though a common person may loose his right by non claime within a certaine time , the kings right is still to be preserued , for nullum tempus occurrit regi . yet in speciall cases where the king is not intituled agaynst such prescription by matter of record , there such customes shall bind the king. as for example , if a coppy-holder prescribeth that he holdeth of the king by coppy , this is good , and by fine certaine , and not arbitrable : to have waife and strayes , and wrecke ( but not cattalla feloni fugitorum , ) and vtlagatorum without charters . the kings advowson shall never fall into lapse for not presenting within sixe moneths . that a cvstome ovght to consist of perdurablenesse of estate , and of an able capacity . to those former parts whereupon i have declared a good custome to consist , may be added to eyther parts , viz. that he which will claime by custome , must have a sufficient and perdurable estate to prescribe ; and also in his owne right , or in some others , a sufficient ability or capacity to prescribe . touching the first , it is to be understood that hee which will prescribe , must have a certaine and indefeazable estate , and not otherwise . as if a tenant at will , or at sufferance , after hee hath occupied the land for ten yeares , will prescribe to have the same for ten yeares , this is not good . but a tenant at will after the custome , although he came in at the first by the lords will , yet doing and paying that which hee ought , hee may prescribe to hold the land whether the lord will or no : and although a coppy-holder may prescribe in this forme against his lord , yet against an estranger , for a common or such like kind of profit , hee cannot prescribe , b●t in the right of the lord : neyther yet can a tenant for life , or for yeares , prescribe in the right of their owne estate onely , because it lacketh continuance to make a custome or prescription ( except ) in some cases of necessity , the lord of a mannour , or of a patronage for yeares or life , may grant a coppy in perpetuity or presentation for a longer time then the estate of the grantor doth continue , and this is admitted , causa necessitatis , and not iure prescriptionis . to the second , capacity must be in himselfe that doth prescribe ; which ability and capacity must consist in the person of him that doth prescribe : for as prescription may be sometimes in respect of estate , mannour , lands , or offices ; so may prescription sometimes be in respect of person , which person is not to be understood of a private person ; but of a body politicke , not that many persons may prescribe , except the same be incorporate ; and to prescribe in respect of their incorporate capacity , and not in respect of their private capacity . as if the inhabitants of dale will prescribe to have common in the soyle of s. this is no good prescription ; for that they be not incorporate , they must prescribe that h. lord of the mannour of dale , for him and his tenans within the said mannour , have used to have common within the sai soyle : so is it for coppy-holds , for they must prescribe in the name of their lord , in such a case . if a man prescribe that hee and his ancestors have had such an annuity , this is not good : but if a bishop doe prescribe that hee and his predecessors have had such an annuity this is good . the pleading of prescription must bee used in forme of law , as other matters that be pleadable , and forme must be used ( likewise ) in pleading of coppy-holds , and other customary titles for avoyding of confusion and discord , as well as in other cases of the common law , the forme of pleading prescription doth differ as the quality of the thing , whereof prescription is made , and somtimes doth differ , as the persons doe differ which make the prescription : as if a coppy-holder makes his title to his land by prescription ; he must plead that the same land is , and hath bene time out of minde demised and demiseable , by the coppy of court role ; according to the custome of the mannour wherof it is holden . if two men as yonger brethren will make their title to land in gavell-kinde , they must say , that the same land is of the tenure and nature of gavell-kinde , which time out of minde , have bin parted and partable between heires males . so if the yongest sonne maketh his title to land in borough english , he must plead , that time out of minde , the custome of the said mannour hath bin , that when , or at what time soever , a coppy holder dyeth seised of any coppy-hold lands in the same mannour , having divers sonnes , that the same hath used iure hereditario , to descend unto the youngest sonne , &c. and as the forme doth differ in the things wherof the prescription is commonly made ; so doth it differ as the persons do differ , which prescribe as a private person shall prescribe in him and his ancestors , whose estate he hath . an incorporate person in him and his predecessors . a lord of a mannour in him and them which were lord of that mannour . a sheriffe , in him and those which have beene sheriffes of the same county . a steward of a mannour in him and those which have beene stewards there . a free holder in him and them which have beene stewards to the said lord. a coppy-holder shall prescribe against an estranger , that the lord of the mannour , for him and his tennants at will , have used the like , &c. what necessity a court baron is of , whereof it doth consist , how it is defined , and what shall bee said a sufficient court role to make a coppy-hold . every mauour hath a court baron incident to it , of common right , and common necessity , and this court baron consisteth of foure speciall parts viz. the lord , the steward , the tennants , and the bayliffe . a court baron is defined to bee an assemblie of these partes together , within the said mannour , to take councell , care , and enquire of causes concerning the same mannour : to see justice duely executed , the acts and ordinances there done to bee recorded in the roles of the same court , which roles are the evidence of all ordinances dutyes , customes , and conveyances , the lord and tennants of the said mannour , and are to bee entred by the steward or an officer indifferent betweene the lord and his tennants , and the same roles to remaine with the lord , thereby to know his tennants , his rents , and his fines , his customes , and his services . and the particular grant of every coppy-hold , to bee coppyed out of the roles , the coppyes thereof to bee delivered to every particular tennant , neither can they make any other title to their said tennements , but by their said coppy . if the lord of the mannour having coppy-hold lands surrendred into his hands , will in the presence of his tennants out of the court , grant the same to an other , and the steward entreth the same into the court booke , and maketh thereof a coppy to the grantee , and the lord dye before the next court , this is no good coppy to hold the land. but if the same surrender , and grant bee presented at the next court , in the life of the lord , and the grantee admitted tenant , and a coppy made to him , this is good coppy . if the lord of a mannour having ancient coppy-hold in his hands , will by a deed of feofment , or by a fine grant this land to one to hold at the will of the lord , according to the custome , yet this cannot make a good coppy-hold . if the lord in open court doth grant a coppy-hold land , and the steward maketh no entry thereof in the court roles , this is not good , though it bee never so publicke done , nor no collaterall proofe can make it good . but if the tenant have no coppy made unto him out of the role , or if hee loose his coppy , yet the roles is still a sufficient tytle for his coppy-hold , if the roles bee also lost , yet it seemeth that by proofe hee can make this good . if ordinances or by lawes bee newly made , and recorded in the roles of the court , if the court roles bee lost , the by lawes be set at liberty , yet if there be any ancient customes or priviledges by prescriptions not entred in the roles , &c. though the roles be lost , yet they remaine good . who shall be said such a lord of a mannour as hath power to grant a coppy-hold . a lord to grant or allow a coppy-hold , must be such a one , as by littletons definition is seised of a mannour , so that he must be in possession at the time of the grant , for although hee have good right and title , yet if he be not in possession of the mannour , it will not serve : and on the other side , if hee bee in possession of the mannour , though hee have neither right nor title thereunto , yet in many cases the grant and allowance of such a coppy , is good as donus de facto , sed non deiure . and in some cases a coppy-hold shall be adjudged good , according to the largenesse of the state of the lord that granted the same , and in some cases shall continue good for a longer time then the estate of granter was at the time of the grant . but that is to be understood in case of necessity , otherwise it will not be allowed . if a man seised of a mannour , in which are divers coppy-holds demisable for lives , is deseased , and the desessor granteth a coppy-hold , being voide , for three lives ; this is not good to binde the desseased , otherwise it is of a coppy-hold of inheritance , because it is necessary to admit the next heire . if a man have a title to enter into a mannour for a condition broken , and he granteth a coppy-hold of the same manour ( being void ) at a court baron , this is a good grant , for the keeping of the court amounteth to an entre in the mannour . a man seised of a mannour for life , whereunto bee coppy-hold inheritance belonging , and one coppy-holder surrendereth to the use of a stranger in fee , the lord may grant this in fee , and this grant shall binde him in the reversion , but the coppy-holds being demisable for lives , it is otherwise , for then hee cannot upon surrender grant the same , longer then the life of the grantor . but if the lord of a mannour for yeares , or during the minority of a ward , of which the coppy-holds are demisable for three lives successively , and not servingly , in this case if the coppyholder dyeth , the lord may grant the same , being voide for three lives , at his pleasure , and this shall binde him in the reversion , or the heire at his full age . who shall be said such a tenant as may be a coppy-holder . although there seemeth some shew of difference betweene coppy-holders , and customary tenants , yet differ not they so much in nature , as in name , for although some bee called coppy-holders , some customary , some tenants by the virg , some base tenants , some bound tenants , and some by one name , and some by another ; yet doe they all agree in substance and kinde of tenure , though differ in some ceremonies and kinde of serving , and therefore the name is not the matter , but the tenure . hee shall bee said a person sufficient to be a coppy-holder , who is of himselfe able , or by an other to doe the service of a coppy-holder ; as an infant may be a coppy-holder for his gardein , and prochein any may doe the service ; so may a feme covert , and her husband shall doe the service : but a lunaticke , or ideot cannot bee a coppy-holder , because they cannot doe the service themselves , nor depute any other : and the lord shall retaine the coppy-hold of an ideot , and not the queene . a bond-man or aliene borne may bee a coppy-holder , and the king or lord cannot seise the same . but a man cannot bee a coppy-holder unto a mannour , whereof hee himselfe is lord , although hee bee but dominus pro termino annorum , or in iureuxoris . what shall be said such lands or other things as demisable by coppy , and may be holden by coppy . it may bee said of coppy-hold lands , as is afore said of the tenants ; they may differ in name , but not in nature : as some called coppy-hold lands , some customary lands , some bound lands , some base lands , some ancient lands , some demeasne lands , some encrease lands , some mollendes , some waste lands , some warke lands , some loose lands , and some vierge lands . and although coppy-hold lands be specially so called , because it is holden by copdy of court role ; customary lands because of some speciall custome ; bond lands because of the bond , tenure , base lands because of base tenure , ancient lands because of the old demise , demeasne lands because of its new demise , and late being the lords owne mannour ; increased lands , because it is late purchased , and laid to the mannour : mollands , because it is holden by easie rents , or no rents at all , waste land , because it hath beene lately approved out of the waste of the mannour , worke lands , such as hath common appendant belonging to it , lose land , because it is holden by uncertainty , rents and verge land , because it is holden by the veirge : yet al the said lands are holden in one general kinde , that is by custome and continuance of time , and their diversity of their names doth not alter the nature of their tenure . it seemeth by littleton , that onely lands and tenements are demisable by coppy : and therefore if the lord of a mannour will grant the rent charge , or the office of stewardship , or baylewicke of his mannour by coppy , or a common in grosse by coppy , these bee not good grants , because they tye not in tenure , and also because the custome doth not extend unto them , but common appendent to a tennant of coppy-hold lands may bee demised with the tenant by coppy . demeane lands which within time of memory have beene occupied by the l●rd himselfe , or his farmour , is not good to ●e granted by coppy , because of the newne● of the grant , yet by continuance of time it may be good coppy-hold , when the memory of the contrary is worne away , as hath beene said before . neither can the lord that granted such a coppy , put out his coppy-holder during his life that granted the same , because hee should not bee received to disable his owne grant . if a coppy-holder doe surrender his coppy-hold into the lords hands , meerely to the use of the lord , i doubt whether the lord may grant this againe by coppy , as hee may where it comes unto him by forfeiture , or by escheat , because it is made percell in demeasne by his owne acceptance and not by the act of the law , quaere . note that neither the statute of west . . de bonis conditionalibus , nor any other statute , that hath not coppy holds named in it , doth extend to coppy-hold lands , as the statute staple . . ed. . nor the statute of heresie . hen. . nor the statute of will . henry the eight , nor the statute of limitation , made the same yeare as is how taken contra to master brooke in nov . ●se . but though a gift in taile of a coppy-holder , be not conteined in the same statute of william the second : yet i thinke in such mannour , were time out of minde they have used to make gifts in taile of coppy-hold lands , there such gifts bee good at this day , and they may make protestation in the nature of avy writ , as apeareth by littleton . what shall be said a good surrender . as in the conveing of free lands there is required some ceremony and publick notice , so is there in the assuring of coppy-holds necessary some publicke fact to bee done therein , which is the surrender . in which ceremonie there is contained two effects , the one what is surrenered and to whose use , the other that it be done with the lords good will , and for that cause it is surrendered into his hands . and although of the meanes a mannour of this surrender there bee divers kinds , as within some mannors to surrender by the hand of another coppy-holder , and in some other to surrender into the stewards hands , in some to the bayliffes hands , and some by giving a yard to the steward , in some by giving his hand , or his glove , which bee outward signes of his intent : yet in all these kindes the words of surrender must not bee divers , but one or to one effect , and must bee either words of surrender expressed , or words of surrender implyed , and therefore if a coppy-holder will bargaine and sell his land to i. s. and this is found by the homage , and i. s. praieth to bee admittted tenant , yet the heire of the coppy-holder shall avoide the admission , because of the insufficency of the surrender , taking by the words of bargaine and sale , and not by words of surrender , opi . sur. dier . eliz. lou ill dit . & relees ne vault avrer come unsurrender . if a coppy-holder commeth into the court , and desireth his lord to admit his sonne to bee tenant in his fathers place , this seemeth a good surrender to the use of the sonne . if a coppy-holder will in the presence of other coppy-holders of the same mannour , say that hee is content to surrender his coppy-hold lands to the use of i. s. this is no good surrender : but if hee saith hee doth surrender into the hands of the lord to the use of i. s. if the lord will thereunto agree , this is a good surrender , whether the lord will or not . if the tenant will resigne his interest in the court , into the lords hands , therewithall for the lord to doe his will , this is a good surrender if it be accepted . if a coppy-holder will say he will bee no longer the lords tenant , though these words bee recorded , yet this is no good surrender . if a coppy-holper for life take a new estate for life by coppy , this is a surrender of his first estate . but if a coppy-holder for life will take a lease of the same by indenture for life , this is not a good surrender of the coppy-hold : quaere . if a coppy-holder commeth to the lord , and telleth him , that for the preferment of his sonne in marriage , with such a mans daughter ; his will is to give his land presently to his sonne , and desireth the lord that he would be contented therewith , this is no good surrender . but if he had said these words in the lords court , and the same recorded , or found by homage as a surrender , and so presented , then this had beene a good surrender without any other words of surrender . that a coppy-holder must bee admitted tenant , and what shall bee said a good admittance of a coppy-holder . if a coppy-hold descend unto a married woman , and her husband take the profits thereof , and suffer a court day to passe without admittance of his wife , and then the wife dyes , the husband shall not be tenant by the curtesie , but in the . eliz. dyer . . it seemeth that the contrary should be the better opinion . an entry before admittance is no forfeiture , without an especiall custome pleaded , but the heire may make a forfeiture for non payment of the rent , as the custome was there pleaded before admittance . if a coppy-hold be surrendred unto the use of a stranger upon condition , and the condition be broken , the party that made the surrender may reenter and bee a coppy-holder to all intents , without any new admission , for he did depart with the land but upon a condition . also if a surrender of a coppy-hold bee made to the use of a stranger for life , and the lord makes a grant thereof , to the same stranger in fee , this shall not binde the heire of the tenant , but that hee may enter after the death of the grantee , for hee tooke the land by the surrender , and not by the grant made by the lord : for the lord is but an instrument for the conveyance of the land , for if i make a surrender unto the lord ea intentione , that hee shall grant over unto such a man , if the lord will not grant the same , i may then reenter , but the stranger hath no meanes to enforce the lord to grant the same over unto him , but hee may maintaine trespas against the the lord , if hee doth suffer mee to reenter , and this is the opinion at this day . the lord of a mannour hath that prerogative in his coppy-holders , that no stranger can bee his tenant thereof , without his speciall assent , and admission , and for that cause a coppy-holder shall not bee lyable to any executions of statutes , or recognizances , neither shall be cassets , in debt or formidon , neither are conteyned in any the statutes afore named , for if it were , then should the lord be forced to have a coppy-holder whether hee would or no , which is against the nature of a coppyhold . and therefore a stranger can never enter , though a surrender made to his use bee accepted , except hee bee admitted tenant , but otherwise of the heire , for hee may eater and take the profits before the admittance after the death of his father . admittance may be three manner of waies , an expresse admission , by the words entred into the court role , viz. unde admissus est tenens , or by acceptance , or implication , as if the lordwill accept the rent by the hands of a stranger , third by admitting one copy-holder , in some cases the lord shall admit another by implication to some purposes , and to these three may bee added a fourth , which is by the entry of the sonne , after the death of his father , and the tenant in dower after the death of her husband , which is lawfull without admission , till the next court , and then they must pray to bee admitted , &c. if a coppy-holder doe surrender his land to the use of i. s. and the lord doth grant the same to i. s. accordingly , and thereupon hee enters , yet hee is no good coppy-holder , till hee bee admitted : but if i. s. appeareth at the lords court , and passeth on the lords homage , or the lord accepts his rent or his fine for the same coppy-hold , now is hee become a good coppy-holder without any further admission . if a coppy-holder surrendreth his land to the use of i. s. for life , the remainder to the use of r. n. for life , and the lord granteth the same accordingly , and admitteth i. s. it seemeth this is a good admission to r. n. that is in the remainder . a coppy-holder in fee dyeth seised , his heire may make a surrender to the use of a stranger , without admission : quaere . but if a coppy-holder surrender to the use of i. s. this i. s. cannot surrender to the use of a stranger , without being first admitted him selfe . if a coppy-holder surrender all use of the joyntly , and they are admitted , if the one of them dyeth , the surviver needeth not t● bee admitted againe for the moytie : but if a coppy-holder having issue two daughters , and they are admitted , and then the one of them dieth , the other must needs be admitted for the other moyty , for hee takes the same by discent . l'heire dun coppy-holder part prender profits avera accion de travers et ferra , post fratris sufficicum deveant admittance . eliz. . et part faire lesses per ans . denby et bullock . what shal be said a forfeiture of a coppy-hold . the tenant by coppy standeth bound by his tenure to the lord , that if hee doth any thing to the lords dis-inheritance ; or in some cases if he doth transgresse the duty of a good tenant , he shall forfeit his coppy-hold : but because all offences are not equall , so likewise there are degrees of punnishment ; for there is a difference betweene offences done wittingly and willingly , and faults ignorantly and unwillingly committed . and therfore some offences are forfeitures ipso facto , some are onely forfeitures when they are presented and not before , and some are onely fineable . forfeitures ipso facto are offences that lye in mis-fesans ; & be apparent forfeitures , when they are presented only , are offences that lye in non fesans , and is not apparent nor affirmatively to bee proved without presentment . offences finable , are offences of contempt , and not of dis-inheritance . as if a coppy-holder will in the presence , and sitting of the court baron , say 〈…〉 extort and exact un-due 〈…〉 his tenants , or such 〈…〉 , this is onely fineable . but 〈…〉 and there say , being called forth to bee sworne of his homage , that hee is none of the lords tenant , this makes a forfeyture of his coppy-hold . but if hee will there say , that hee will shortly demise away that hee will bee no longer of any of the lords coppy-holders , this is neither cause of forfeyture , not fine . if a coppy-holder sendente curia doe strike an other coppy-holder , or any other stranger , this is onely finable , and maketh no forfeyture . if the steward sheweth forth a court role to proove that i. s. is a coppy-holder and this not withstanding hee will in the court say , that hee is a free holder and sheweth forth a free deed and claime thereby , and teareth in peeces the court role , and publisheth the free deed , this a cause of fine and forfeyture . but if the said tenant will there upon some colourable doubt , and question which may arise , whether hee bee a free holder or a coppy-holder say to the steward , because hee knowes not whether the rent that hee should pay , bee free rent , or coppy-hold rent , he will pay it with protestation that the rent may be recorded as it shall fall out , and with like protestation offer and do his service , though in truth hee bee a coppy-holder , yet this deserveth neither fine or forfeyture . if a coppy-holder cannot pay his rent , and will not doe his service , this offence is on the negative , and maketh no forfeyture till it be presented . tenant per coppie ne poet facere wast ne couper bois per vender mes pro reperacontantum hen . . . ed. . . . . but if a coppy-holder doth alien his land by free deed , or will commit waste , or demise his coppy-hold contrary to the custome , or will sue a replevin against the lord , for a distr . lawfully taken for his rent or service due , or disclaime in the land being summoned to the lords court , or will there claime it as his free hold , or will in any other court untitle any other lord unto it , or bee attainted of treason or felonie , or continue out-lawd , or excommunicate , during the lords court , or refuseth to goe with his lord or other commissionours for that purpose in the service of the prince , to suppres rebells , riots , or unlawfull assemblies . all these offences be apparent mis-fesance and forfeiture ipso facto without any presentment . but if a coppy-holder being of the grand inquest at the assizes or sessions , shall indit his lord of any manner of offence committed against the prince or lawes of this realme , or shall upon proces compulsary give evidence against his lord , which is in any cause betweene his lord and an other common person , or betweene the prince and his lord without compulsary proces , or shall make any bodily arest of his lord by the commandment of the shriefe or other lawfull authority , or shall bring any action or suit against his lord in any of the queens courts ( except a replevin case aforesaid ) all these last recited , be cause of neither fines or forfeitures of any coppy-hold . also a coppy-holder not claiming his coppy-hold after the death of his ancestor within a yeare and a day , at the court , if any bee , it is a forfeiture for ever per. opin catline , slowelle case . ct c. il pesse dee bone custome in plusors mannors . if coppyholders being on a jury will not finde the waste committed , or will not present things presentable , this is a forfeituer of their tenures , if they be coppy-holders ; by the opinion of catlin , dier , and bracton . . eliz. dier . . pe . . . et . eliz. . b. . hen. . . b. if a coppy-holder will not be sworne to present such offences as are forfeitures , this is a forfeiture of his estate ; so if he alien , or make coppy-hold free , for tenne pound , the lord may enter , for they are willfull acts , for which the lord may enter without presentment , but for negligent offences , as for not doing of services , or not acceptance of a coppy-hold after the death of his ancestor , the lord cannot seise without presentment of the homage . and if an infant within the yeare after the death of his ancestor , will not after the court holden and proclamation made , pray to bee admitted , it is no forfeiture , unlesse the custome of the mannour be , that an infant ought to forfeit his estate by such negligence , for it is but a claime at common law , which bars not an infant , which hath not discretion . betweene hautrey and buckshire and one of his coppy-holders . . eliz. rot . if thirteene coppy-holders bee sworne in a base court , and twelve agree to give verdict , the thirteenth will not ; it is not a forfeiture , for it is a good verdict without his assent , and perhaps it is not agreeing to his conscience , and therefore it is not properly a not doing , or deniall to doe his duty . quaere , if there be . and . agree , and the twelfth will not , for it is not a full jury . pasche . . eliz. co. bank. ve . . ed. . verdict . ou . . . ed. . ibid. . hen. . . sherne . what office or power entirely , or dividedly the lord steward , free-holders , coppy-holders , and the bayliffs , have in the court baron . although the lord , the steward , the free-holders , the coppy-holders , and the bayliffes of every mannour , have an intermixt and joynt office , and authority in some cases , and to some purposes : yet to other purposes their office is distinct and divided , and every of them doth occupy severall places , persons , and parts . the lord is chiefe to command and appoynt to the steward , to direct and record the free holder , affirre and judge the coppy-holders to enfirme and present , the bayliffe to attend and execute , &c. and all these together make a perfect execution of justice and judgements in a court baron , and without all these a court baron cannot be holden in his proper nature , in respect of all causes belonging to the perfect jurisdiction of a court baron . and yet a court baron may be held by use and custome , for some coppyhold causes , though it want one of the said parties ( viz ) the free holders , and there in coppy-hold cases the steward doth supply the place of a judge : but no other of the parts aforesaid , except the free holders , can be missed , or spared in a court baron . but to make some more particular demonstration of their distinct authorities and offices : and first the lord as hee is chiefe in place , so is hee in authority , and occupieth three severall romes , the one of a chancelour in cases of equity , the other of a justice in a matter of right , the third of himselfe in cases proper and particular to himselfe . the steward doth occupie the parts of severall persons , that is to say , judge and order in cases of coppy-hold , and also a minister , and register to enter things into the court roles , and in both these to bee indifferent betweene the lord and his tenants . the free holders doe likewise fulfill two parts , that is , to effect , & judge amercemetns , and also to returne and certifie judgements . the coppy-holders also doe hold two severall roomes , viz. to enforme offences committed against the lord within that mannour , and to present such things as shall be given charge by the steward . the bayliffe doth also occupie two parts , that is to say , to execute the proces and commandments of the court , and also to returne into the court the execution of the same proces . . ed. . bract. no. case . . pli . . the under-steward in court , without authority of the l. or of the high-steward , may demise copy-hold , & it is a good grant , for it is in full court ; but contrary it is if it bee out of court. quaere , if the high steward without authority may demise out of court. finis lecturae calthrop . a coppy-holder being indebted , doth surrender to his creditor , upon trust that hee shall have the land to satisfie himselfe of the debt , and then to be surrendred backe againe unto him ; and after the debt levied , the creditor wil not surrender , whereby according to the custome of the mannour , the tenant pursues an english bill to the lord in his court , by which the trust is prooved by deposition ; the lord seiseth the land to the use of the first coppy-holder until &c. and wray was of opinion , that hee may well so doe , for he hath no other remedy , for the lord cannot imprison him , as the lord chancelour of england may doe ; and that the custome of deposition is good , though some doe doubt : but gawdy agrees , but hee saith that the lord cannot retaine and keepe the land , and if hee should so doe , the other shall have a subpena ; whereunto wray agreeth , that hee cannot retaine the land but seise it and grant it over , which without seising hee cannot doe , . eliz. b. upon the motion of cooke , who said that . hen. . . and fitz. b. ● . are according to their opinions : for a coppy-holder shal not have a writ of error , not false judgement , upon a judgement against him in court of the lord ; but hee shall sue by bill , and thereupon the lord shall reseise the land , upon false judgement given by the steward , and shall make restitution . if one recover a debt by plaint in court baron , those of the court have not power to make execution to the plaintiffe of the defendants goods ; but they may distraine the defendant , and after the judgement retaine the distres in their hands in safegard , untill the defendant hath satisfied the plaintiffe of that wherein hee is condemned by the court , . hen. . . see the booke of entrees fol. . . hen. . . in replevin the defendant said , that one edward besall brought a writ of droit close against the plaintiffe , and one other in the lords court in ancient demeasne , and declared in nature of assize , and it was found against the plaintiffe , and damages were taxed ; whereby the defendant being then under-bayliffe , by the stewards commandement , takes the beasts for execution of the damages , and takes and sells them , and delivers the monies to the plaintiffe in assize ; this is a good plea , and yet this is but a court baron . and fol . by hull ; a man recovers ancient demeasne-lands , and damages in a court of ancient demeasne , the bay liffe may take the beasts of him against whom the recovery is &c. for execution of damages in every parcell of the land holden of the mannour , although that land bee frank-fee , and it is not denyed . assise . . agrees with . hen. . mes kitch . . where it is used to make execution by levari facias , that is a good custome . . ed. . custome . upon a recovery in court baron , the defendants cattle were delivered in execution . where a tenant by coppy may plead a speciall custome , which is onely proper to him and his predecessors before him . ninth eliz. taverner was sued by the lord cromwel , for that he had committed waste upon his coppy-hold ; he pleads by the advice of manwood , that he and those who before him had the house wherein hee dwelt , had such a custome by prescription , that they might fell timber trees , &c. and many arguments were against that custome , in as much as other tenants of that mannour had not such a custome , but were punishable , and had forfeited their lands for such waste ; also that custome was against common right , and not reasonable ; and after long deliberation of the judges , it was adjudged , that a tenant may plead a particular custome , as if one prescribe to have a way in the lords land , &c. and . of eliz. one prescribed that he & those of that tenement his predecessors , had used to have common of estovers in another mannour , notwithstanding that the other tenants have not such a custome , and it was good by the advice of all the justices . where the tenant may cut downe trees , destroy houses by custome , and such like customes , &c. fourth ed . justice dalisons reports , sanders and divers justices ; tenant by coppy of court role may prescribe to have wood growing upon the land. montague , there is such a custome , and so used in the counties of mid. northland and other places . browne , it hath beene heere agreed of late , that tenant by the custome may prescribe to suffer their houses to fall , and to destroy their houses ; so also here , wherby this is a good custome . montague , i have heard a fable , that a tenant by the custome may digge in the one part of his house , and burne the other part , by the custome : but if you will agree that the tenant by custome shall have the land against the lords will , to him and his heires by the custome ; why then may they not by the custome cut downe wood ? sanders , i agree to none of your cases . montague , surely in the chancery it will bee over-ruled against you without doubt , and it is necessary that an act of parliament bee made upon it . where and how tenant by coppy , may make a ioynture to his wife of the same land. a stranger brings a writ of right against the husband and wife , in the same court where the land is by plea , and the husband and wife doe appeare , and the demandant doth count against them , and the husband and wife doe defend , and say that they have more right then the demander , and offer to try it by battell ; and the demander and tenants doe imparle , at which day the demander appeares , and the husband and wife make default , whereby finall judgement is given against them ; and at the same court the recoverer surrenders the same land into the lords hands , to the use of the husband and wife , and the heiros of their two bobodyes begotten ; and it was said that this assurance hath beene vsed . ed. . dalisons reports . pell et hikden : trin. . eliz. rot . on the kings bench : tenant in tayle , the remainder in fee , tenant in tayle surrenders to the use of i. s. in fee ; i. s. suffers a recovery , and vouches the tenant in tayle , who vouches the common vouchee , and by speciall verdict it was found that there was never any recovery before in that manner , and it is not yet adjudged . gaw●y and clinch , that the recovery can not be a barre , for warranty can not be anexed to an estate at will ; also he shall not recover in value , because of the estate at will. fenner and popham chiefe justice to the contrary , and that warranty may be annexed to coppy-hold land , though it bee an estate at will of the lord ; but as it is an estate in fee , performing the services and duties , the law will account them tenants in fee : also recovery in value , being but a fiction in law , le common vouchee shall bee accounted to have the land in value of the coppy-hold , within the mannour : and the vouchee . hen. . br. recovery in value . that such a recovery is used in ancient demeasne upon a writ of right , and voucher over , and that of a free-hold there ; yet enquire of such a recovery upon a plaint , there of land of base tenure , for that cannot bee warranted , &c. but in the common bench , in trespasse brought by comb , against pears and turner . mich. . et . eliz. rot. . bromeley brittain hall in essex : tenant in tayle of a coppy-hold suffers a recovery with voucher , where no recovery was before ; the lesser enter , by the court , that cannot be , but he shall have a formdone in discender ; for the recovery in court baron cannot availe , because a warranty cannot bee anexed to an estate which is at the will of the lord. also there can bee no recovery in value , first because there can be no recovery in value of lands out of the mannour , and the coppy-land is at the lords wil : secondly coppy-hold land is granted by coppy only ; and if by the recovery the tenant may have it , the course and custome of the seignory would be destroyed , which shall not bee : thirdly the lord shall loose his fine , and fealty also ; for the coppy is admissus est tenens , &c. et dat. duo de fine pro tali ingressu , &c. et fecit fidelitatem . fourthly et fiftly , ph. et mar. a coppy-holder surrenders to the use of his wife for life , the remainder to the right heires of the husband and wife ; the wife dyes , the husband survives : the question is , who shall hold the land ; and it was said that if the husband had no issue by that wife , then his heire shall have it . certaine coppy-hold cases reported in a cer taine booke . but it was said there , that if the wife had issue by another h●sband , it was there doubted . but it was holden by the better opinion in dier , that the husband and his heires shall have the land ; yet if the husband had first two sonnes , the heires of the husband , and the heires of the wife , shall have the land in common , after the decease of the wife , and for proofe thereof hee puts this case : if land bee given for life , the remaynder to two men and their heires , they cannot have one heire in the case : if the tenant for life dye before them in remainder they shall bee j●●●etennants , and the heire of the surviver shall have all : but if none in remainder bee in life , when the tenant for life dyes , then the heires of them in the remainder shall hold in common . thirty seventh henry the eighth a coppy-holder to the intent to make an assurance to his wife , suffers another to bring a writ of right in the coppy court , and they joyne the battell , and at the day the husband and wife make default , and finall judgement was given ; and after the recoverer surrenders the same land into the lords hands , to the use of the husband and wife and their heires ; and a good assurance pur cur. a coppy-holder makes a lease at will to another , who commits waste , which is a cause of forfeiture ; the lessor brings an action upon the case against the lessee : by walsh , weston and dier , the lord may enter , and have trespasse against the lessors his tenant ; and therefore it is reason that hee shall bee recompenced : but the lord shall have a speciall writ of travers , and not vi and armis , because the entry was lawfull . . et . eliz. ibid. the lord dacres enters upon his coppy-holder , and leaseth it to a stranger for yeares ; the lessee enters , and was ejected by the coppy-holder , and hee brings a writ of electione firme : the coppy-holder pleads that the lands are demiseable per custome ; and so they were at issue ; and hee shewed in evidence a coppy made . henry the eighth , by which a tenant had surrendred the lands , to have and to hold , &c. whose estate hee had , and by another tenant rendring the yearely rents , customes , and services ; and also hee produced certaine witnesses who proved the land to bee coppie by the space of . yeares . the plaintiffe , to destroy the title of that evidence , shewed certaine rentals that they were free lands , &c. . et . henry . and not coppy ; and also another rentall to that intent , in . henry . which prooved that those lands were leassee for twenty yeares : per cur. this evidence doth not disproove the coppy-hold , for it was not within the time of memory ; but if hee had shewed the indenture of leasse made within . yeares or . yeares , so that a man might remember it , then it had beene good , although the statute of limitation extends not unto it , by the justices , such evidence as prooves it to be within time of memory , is good . also by them , if those lands bee in the hands of the lord by forfeiture , escheat , or surrender , yet the custome remaineth ; for he may demise them againe , and the custome shall bee revived ; but by some men , if by escheat it bee in the lords hands , the custome is extinct . . et . eliz. ibidem . addington lord of harlow in essex , would encrease the fines of his coppy-hold tenants , which were prooved to bee certaine : and it was holden that hee could not increase them , and it shall be a good prescription to say , alwaies ready to pay such a summe and no more . . . eliz. . eliz. it was mooved by manwood sergeant , if a coppy-holder in fee in right of his wife doe surrender , the wife being not examined by the steward , but by some of the tenants , the custome permitting it , the husband dyes : whether the wife shall sue by plaint in nature of a cui in vita , or may enter ? and by him shee may enter , because it is no discontinuance , for that it is a surrender to the lord who hath the reversion , for if a tenant in tayle enfeoffe him in the reversion ; it is no discontinuance ; but if she had been examined , she should have bin barred for ever . and dier , if a coppy-holder in tayle surrender to the lord to the use of a stranger , the issue may bring a plaint in nature of a formdone in discender , and purge the discontinuance , for it is within the statute de donis conditionalibus , lit fo. . com . hen. br. tit . tenant per copie . and by manwood , no negative prescription may prevaile against a statute : and the common law is no other but an ancient usage throughout all the realme ; and a prime custome may encounter with it , but not with a statute . and by dier , if after the surrender the lord admit the wife againe , yet shee shall be in by her husband in construction of the law. coppy-hold of inheritance discends unto two sisters by two venters , none of them making entry , and before the court and admission one of them dyes , her heire shall have the moyty , and not the other sister , by dier chiefe justice in the chancery . also if a coppy-holder in taile surrender to another in fee , who is admitted , this is a discontinuance , and so the husband of his wifes coppy-hold : and h● said , that a remitter shall be of a copy-hold , as it shal be of a freehold and inheritance at the common law. . et . eliz. in the duch●● it was in question ; whether a coppy-hold may be entayled or not ? and by wray chiefe justice , and manwood chiefe baron ; the tayle was not fee simple at the common law , if it did not appeare by the custome , and that may bee prooved by the court roles , or by some other proofe that there is a recovery by plaint of formedon , or the lands had descended according to land in tayle , as possessio fratris shall not be of it , or that that the daughter shall not inherit , before the sonne which is unckle to the same . egerton was of counsell with this case , which was betweene sherington and an other . . eliz. hanchet and rosse concerning land of dicot in stepping hackney , a coppy-holder of inheritance dies , the lord grants the wardship of the land , during the minority of the heire , to the wife being sole ; shee takes a husband and dyes : it was demanded whether the husband should have it or not ? and it seemed not , but if it had beene a thing in which he had intrest to his owne use , that he should have it , as a lease for yeares , the executor shall have it without admittance of the lord , so the husband shall have a lease for yeares made to his wife , without admission . by all the justices . . eliz. if a coppy-holder in fee take an estate in tayle by charter-hold , or take a lease for yeares by indenture , his coppy-hold is confounded . . et . eliz. by harpour and others ; a lessee for yeares of a mannour may make coppyes , ( if the custome be so ) to a man and his heires secundum consuetudinem , &c. for if the coppy-holder in fee dye , his heire is in by descent , and ought to be admitted , or els he shall compell the lord to admit him , for for it is of necessity . but coppies for life or yeeres it is otherwise , for by the death of the tenant , there is not any that can compell the lord to make him a new copy if he will not , but hee may retaine the land in his owne hands , and therefore the grants of such coppyes as are expired , made by a lessee for yeares , are void . . eliz. first , land demiseable , by coppy in the time of richard the second , is perfect coppy-hold ; so if it bee demised by coppy . or yeares . secondly , if the lord purchase the coppihold of his tenant money , this is clearly a surrender , and an extinguishment of the coppy , and it is not demiseable by coppy after : but if the lord enter for forfeiture without presentment found , that is demiseable by coppy againe . thirdly , if the lord bring trespas against a coppy-holder , who pleads that it is free hold , this is a forfeiture , and the lord may enter . fourthly , the lord cannot seise , because his coppy-holder was sworne to give evidence against him , for this is no forfeiture . fiftly , if a coppy-holder disseise his lord of other land , that is not a forfeiture of the coppy-hold . sixtly , if a coppy-holder dye without heire , and the lord enter by escheat , this is demiseable by coppy againe ; but if the lord afterwards doe make a feoffment , or suffer a recovery , and after doe repurchase it , it is not demiseable ; but if the lord reverse the judgement upon recovery by error , attaint , or deceit , and hath restitution , then it is demiseable by coppy againe . a disseisin doth not extinguish the custome , nor acts done by the disseisor . seventhly , if a coppy-holder suffer a recovery by prescript at common law by collusion , or make a feofment , or bargaine and sale , and the lord enters and makes a lease for yeares thereof ; the land is not demiseable by coppy againe . eighthly , if a coppy-holder surrender his land , to the intent that a stranger shall have the rent out of it by coppy ; it is no good coppy-hold rent . ninthly , if there bee two joyn-tenants in common of a mannour ; and a coppy-holder surrenders to the use of one , this is not coppy-hold land. tenthly , if the husband and wife bee joynt-coppy-holders of the purchase of the husband during coverture , and the husband is attainted of felony and dyeth , this is not a forfeiture of any part of the coppy-hold ; but if the purchase was made before the coverture , then it is a forfeiture of the moyty . eleventh , if two coppy-holders exchange by licence , and after the part of the one is recovered by an elder title , he may enter in the land which the other hath in exchange . twelvth , if two coperceners coppy-holders make partition , and the one is impleaded and doth loose by just title , and the recoverer enters into the land , shee cannot enter upon her sister , because she did not pray in aide for the rate . a feme covert joynt coppy-holder with another in fee , may surrender her moyty to the use of her husband and it is good . thirteenth , the kings steward without ny patent of his office seiseth divers coppy-holds , and afterwards the lord treasurer and those of the exchequer doe lease the same land for yeares ; and thereupon it was moved , whether coppies made by the steward without patent were good ? and the lord dier thought they were good copyes ; but in the exchequer the barons were of another opinion . fourteenth , a man seised of a mannour , to which coppy-holders for yeares and others are belonging , hee deviseth by testament the same mannour to a ceraine person for payment of his debts , during which time divers coppyes expire , and the devisees grant new coppyes , and afterwards during the terme , the devisees grant in reversion , and a particular tenant surrenders in court to the use of the grantee , and after the wife of the devisor recovers in dower part of the mannour , and hath execution of those coppy-holds assigned by the sheriffe for her dower : and it was mooved , whether the wife shall avoid those coppyes made by the devisees ? and browne justice was of opinion that no ; to which weston agreed , for they said , that those are ordinary things , and which must bee done of necessity by force of the custome , and not any deede or new charge created by the devisees , who are but officers to execute the custome which of necessity must bee done , for they cannot bee made by any others who have the possession of the mannour ; for it hath beene adjudged , that such coppyes and ordinary things , as presentment to a church made by a disseisor , or by a lessee for life or yeares shall stand good , and shall not bee avoided by reason of the necessity : but other charges created by the heire after the death of the huband , as a lease for yeares rent charge in which there is no such necssity , the tenant in dowre shall discharge them , and although the wife shall bee adjudged in by her husband , yet shee shall not have those things which chance before assignment of her dower . if a wardship fall , or an avoidance of a church , or a villaine regardant hath purchased , and the heire enters , or presents , these things the heire shall have , and not the tenant in dowre , and it may be that the wife will never sue for her dower , or peradventure she shall have other mannours assigned her for the same . and as to the reason , that it is not a thing of necessity to grant coppies in reversion , yet they were of opinion that because the custome doth allow it , it is custome ley , and therefore it may bee put in execution : for the custome is annexed unto the land , and not unto the interest of the lord. but wray said , that of estates that are to coppyholders and their heires according to the custome of the mannour , if such a coppy-holder dye without heire , the custome is determined . if such a lessor for life or yeares of the same mannour grant new coppyes , they are not good , and so there is a diversity . a man cannot devise that his friends shall make coppyes or hold courts , for none shall make coppye : but he that is lord of the mannour , and hath an interest . the lord of the mannour shall have the government of the coppy-hold during the infancy of his tenant : executors shall have a lease for yeares of coppy-hold land without any new admittance . the husband of a wife that is coppy-holder for yeares , shall not bee newly admitted after the death of the wife , nor bee tenant by the courtesie . where inheritance of a coppy-hold descends , the heire may enter without admittance ; but it was a doubt whether he should have an action of traverse against a stranger before admittance ; for before admittance he is not properly tenant ; if such an heire will not come to the next court , the lord may make proces against him . a coppy-holder shall have traverse against his lord , paying his services and customes . if erronious judgement be given against a coppy-holder in the lords court , the lord in his court may reverse it , for it is not amendable in any other place or court. if the lesse of a coppy-hold commit waste and the lord seiseth for forfeiture ; the coppy-holder shall not have an action of waste against his lessee , as if tenant for life make a lease for yeares , which lessee maketh waste , and the lessor recovers , the tenant for life shall not have an action of the case , but is without remedy ; for it was his folly that hee would not have a collatterall covenant of the lessee that he should doe no waste . a coppy-hold is not forfeit for heresie , by the last of . hen. . a coppy-holder is not ter-tenant , but is tenant at the lords will ; and a coppi-hold is not bound by the statute of wills nor of tines , nor of limitations a coppy-hold shall not be extended by a statute , marchant or staple . the husband and wife being seised of a mannour to them and the heires of the husband ; hee grants a rent charge out of it , and dyes , the coppy-holder surrenders , the wife makes another coppie and dyes , the grantee shall distraine upon the coppy-hold . if the lord of a mannour hath a great waste , and grants a rent charge out of the same , and the coppy-holders have common in the waste , and they put in their cattell , the grantee shall distraine them , if they cannot make prescription . if a coppy-holder surrender to the use of another and the lord will not admit him , nor make a grant unto him , the surrender is void . if there be two joynt coppy-holders , and the one commits a forfeiture , he shall forfeit but the moyty . lessee for yeares ofa coppy-hold shall have an eiectione firme ; by plowden and others . if there be a lease for yeares of a mannour , and one coppy-holder purchase the reversion in , fee , this is a destruction of the coppy-hold , and the lessee of the mannour may put him out , and occupy during his terme . . eliz. adjudged . a coppy-holder purchaseth the mannour to him and another in fee , the companion may occupy the coppy-hold joyntlyp resently . eliz. nota , it was agreed in the common bench. . eliz. that the bay liffe of a hundred or of a base court , may take goods upon levari facias , to give execution to the plaintife , as well as the sheriffe ; yet they agreed that divers bookes are against it . . hen. . . two joint copy-holders in fee make a partition , that is good , and no forfeiture , nor alienation . . eliz. agreed in duchie chamber . if a coppy-holder surrender , and then the lord doth acknowledge a statute marchant , and after the lord grants it by coppy , the coppy-hold is liable , for at the time of the knowledgment it was annexed to the free hold ; but if a coppy-holder acknowledge a statute , that is not liable . if a man enter with force upon a coppyholder , he shall not have forceable entrey , nor indictment , but the lord shall have it , and upon restitution to the lord the coppy-holder shall enter . the lord grants to a coppy-holder his trees growing , or that shall be growing upon the land , he may fell trees now growing , and no forfeiture , by reason of the dispensation , but he cannot cut the trees which shall grow in time to come . if the disseisor of a mannour make coppyes for life , and the disseisee enter , he shall defeat them , but of coppy-holds in fee before disseisin , and a new ●●●nt of them upon surrender in time of disseisin , it is otherwise per plowden . popham in case ramsey vers . arthurs . . eliz. a coppy-holder may prescribe to have common in the lords land. if a coppy-holder surrender to the use of another , and the lord grant it to cesty que use , making no mention of the surrender , yet it is good , per plowden in batlands case . if there be a mannour consisting of demeasnes , free hold and customary tenements ; if the lord grant certaine of the coppy-holds in fee , the grantee may keepe court , and do homage , and the coppy-holders by their othes may make presentments of their customes , or of the death of any tenant , and the grantee may make in court a new estate by coppy , as if it should bee a perfect mannour ; mes the stile shall not be , curia manerij , but curia halimoti , id est , convocatio tenentium , for when they are assembled , they may enforme the lord of their customes and duties . it was otherwise adjudged in the com bench . eliz. between dodington and chaffin for parcell of the mannour of m. it was adjudged in the common bench . eliz. that where sir peter carew bein solely seised of the mannour of m. in the county of devonshire for life ; granted a coppie in reversion according to the custome of the mannour , and dyed before the praticular coppy-holder , this is a good coppy in reversion against the lord , in whose hands soever the signory should come . finis . errata . fol. . line . for preferred , reade preserved , l. . for and read ayde : & in the beginning of the l. for as read and. fol. . l. . for compelied read expell . d , l. . for transgression re . trespasse , f . l. . for bract re . brooke f , l . re . shall be accounted as able to be , l. . for coppyholders re . coppyhold , l. . for divisable re . demisable , l. . for tenements re . tenants , f. . l. . for tenements re . tenants , l. . leave our ( it ) f. . l. . for offer re . affeere , f. . l. . re . a particular right , f. . l. . for m. . re . westm . f. . l. . for eiusmodi re . talem , last li. for clausa . re . causa , f. . l. . for accident re . incident , f. l. . for commonly is lands , re . commonly is in lands , l. . for custome haryots , re . custome of harryots , l. . for of common aestovers re . common of aestovers , f. . l. . for deceased , re . disseised , l. . for is uncertaine , re . is so uncertaine , f. . l. . for both to discusse , re . both be to discusse , f. . l. . for transgresse , re . trespasse in divers places , l. . for or services , re . doing services , l. . for prescribe , re . to prescribe . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a -e statutes and parliament lawes . in the case of mounson on aston . by the report of denham of lincolnsinne notes for div a -e the division of customes . notes for div a -e . notes for div a -e . henry . avowry . hen. . behon . ●om . little. pla●● . et yaxley . h. . b . r. . . hen. . . d. st. . . ed. . . notes for div a -e infant itin covert lunatte nemy . eliz. dier notes for div a -e by s●rgeant wal●●●●ly . eliz. . . hen. , dicr . . there in trespas by hagger against felston . notes for div a -e mis-fesans . non-fesans . fineable . notes for div a -e in mons●●r 〈…〉 in court baron , may defeat an entayle b regis . coment . . adjudged in the common bench , that a recovery cannot binde an entaile . notes for div a -e a coppy-holder brings an action upon the case against lessee for wast and good . the lord cannot increase a fine which is certaine . a treatise of gavelkind, both name and thing. shewing the true etymologie and derivation of the one, the nature, antiquity, and original of the other. with sundry emergent observations, both pleasant and profitable to be known of kentish-men and others, especially such as are studious, either of the ancient custome, or the common law of this kingdome. by (a well-willer to both) william somner. somner, william, - . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a wing s thomason e _ estc r this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; :e [ ]) a treatise of gavelkind, both name and thing. shewing the true etymologie and derivation of the one, the nature, antiquity, and original of the other. with sundry emergent observations, both pleasant and profitable to be known of kentish-men and others, especially such as are studious, either of the ancient custome, or the common law of this kingdome. by (a well-willer to both) william somner. somner, william, - . [ ], , [ ] p. printed by r. and w. leybourn for the authour, and are to be sold by john crooke at the ship, and daniel white at the seven stars in st. pauls church-yard, london : . the first leaf is blank. in this issue, preliminaries include: "the preface", the last page having lines of text; the verso contains postscript. annotation on thomason copy: "nouemb: st "; " . nouember"; the imprint date has been crossed out. reproduction of the original in the british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng land tenure -- england -- kent -- early works to . feudal law -- england -- kent -- early works to . gavelkind -- early works to . kent (england) -- history -- early works to . - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - john latta sampled and proofread - john latta text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a treatise of gavelkind , both name and thing . shewing the true etymologie and derivation of the one , the nature , antiquity , and original of the other . with sundry emergent observations , both pleasant and profitable to be known of kentish-men and others , especially such as are studious , either of the ancient custome , or the common law of this kingdome . by ( a well-willer to both ) william somner . virg. . georg. foelix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas . cranz . lib. . metrop . . nemo sibi blandiatur de auctoritate veterum , quibus etsi fabulae displicuerunt , non tamen habebant unde falsitatem earum coarguere possent . sed nostrâ aetate crebrescentibus literarum monumentis , inexcusabilis torpor est in fabulis scientes , prudentesque permanere . london , printed by r. and w. leybourn , for the authour , and are to be sold by john crooke at the ship , and daniel white at the seven stars in st. pauls church-yard . . the preface . courteous reader , it is now full eighteen years since , by solemne promise , i became ingaged to my countrey-men , upon their good acceptance of certain of my labours , in behalf of our city , wherewith i then presented them , to proceed to the same , or some other such like undertaking for the county ; a thing , which as i then really intended , so have i not since wanted that encouragement for it from the better sort ( expressed by their courteous acceptation of those my former labours ) which i could expect . but being soon after ( proh dolor ! ) overtaken by that impetuous storm ( of civil war ) not yet quite blown over , causing the distraction , and threatening the destruction of this once renowned kingdome , i was necessitated to betake my self to other thoughts , chiefly how i might secure my self against the fury , in warding off the danger , of the present storm ; being not able , i confesse , to reach to that high pitch of sedulity and magnanimity , both in this kind to which the grecian socrates is said to have atteined , whose thoughts were ever running on his book ; insomuch , as but the very next night before he was to suffer death , ( regardlesse of his so neer approaching danger , able to indispose the mind , discourage the industry , and shake the constancie of any common spirit ) he was desirous to learn musick , because ( saith the story ) he would die still learning somewhat . being therefore thus diverted , and utterly for the time discomposed for the performance of my promise , i hope not onely to be excused of my country-men for ( what had not else been hitherto delayed ) my county-undertaking , but also to obtein of them yet further respit , in hope of a better opportunity , for the discharge of that debt . for my more easie purchasing whereof at their hands , and that they and others may perceive , that i have not been altogether idle all this while ; pitching in my thoughts upon our kentish custome of gavelkynd , and being not unfurnished of matter in the progresse of my studies gleaned and gathered from old records , enabling me , with the help of that little skill i have atteined in the saxon tongue ( to the study whereof i was encouraged by my precious friend and ever-honoured mecoenas , dr. casaubon , as is elswhere by himself truly averred ) to some more than vulgar discourse thereof ; as a specimen and earnest of my further intentions for the county , i betook my self at spare hours to the perusal , resolving on the publication , of those collected notes and notions , disposing them so , that as they have to satisfaction informed me in the points proposed , so they may be of like use to others , willing to bestow their pains , and lay aside all prejudice in the perusal of them . kent , i considered , had been far and neer long celebrated for her gavelkynd , though not so known either at home or abroad , whether in point of etymologie , or properties , ( that especially of partition , rendring it so incomparably famous throughout the kingdome ) as truth would . to wipe off therefore that dust of errour , which time especially ( that parent of corruption ) hath contracted to it , i have in the present discourse laboured chiefly to assert w●…t i conceive to be the true sence and de●…vation of the term , for the understanding of the a name ; whence the properties , that especially here instanced , do proceed , for the better judging of the nature of it , according to that end propounded to my self in all my researches , which is to know things , not so much in their present as primitive state , more in their causes than effects ▪ tun● enim ( saith the ( b ) philosopher ) unum quodque scire arbitramur , cum ejus cau●as & principia cognoscimus . by the processe and prosecution of the argument , having a fair and pertinent inducement , if not to treat , yet at least to touch upon , and ●●k● notice , as of the saxons bo●land and folcland , so of the feudists fe●d●m and allodium , ( a pair of vocables , the l●tter , that have long and much perplexed many prime mens fancies to disq●i●● and find out their true and proper deriva●ion● , to the occasion of great varieties in the point , each man abounding in his own , and that , for the most part , a different and singular sence ) i thought it not amisse to make one in the number of such etymologists , and although with singularity , i confesse , and dissent from all the rest , yet perhaps so much to the purpose ( absit jactantia dictis ! ) as , if not to hit the mark , yet at least to come so neer it as few before have done . alike singular , as both here , and before in the derivation of gavelkynd , so afterwards i may be found in that of socage , yet i trust with so much truth , and that so fully evidenced , as will serve , i hope , to render me with the sober and ingenuous , worthy , if not of thanks , yet of excuse and pardon , if they differ in opinion from me . here also ( good reader ) be advertised , that whereas , by occasion of our discourse in the third proposition , concerning the partition-property in gavelkynd , i had obiter , or incidently , made some mention of the writ , de rationabili parte bonorum , sometime ( by means of that partition mentioned in the old kentish custumal ) obteining , and now again ( if the endeavours of some may take effect ) reviving in this county ; it came afterwards into my mind to think it would not be impertinent to the present discourse , somewhat further to enlarge in that particular : that by enquiry made into the antiquity , and tracing the progresse of the partition intended by this writ from its first birth until its full growth , we might be the better able to give judgment , & make the more probable conjecture of the present validity or invalidity thereof . my discoveries therefore being made and communicated to some judicious friends , not without their acceptation and my encouragement for publication , i have adventured to add them at the end of that third proposition , pag. . as for my thwarting the common opinion , concerning our composition with the norman conquerour , and the consequents of it , i offer no apologie here , as having already made it in the proper place , and that , i also trust , so fully , as i may well expect to be excused of it here . in sum , loving truth ( the end of all science ) for it self , and altogether unbyassed with any by-respects , whether of vain glory , singularity , or the like , i have made it my constant endeavour in what is here proposed and published , that truth alone ( than which saith the philosopher , nothing is sweeter , nothing more precious ) might triumph over falshood , antiquity over novelty . if hereby i have done either of them any right , or any friends any pleasure , as the chiefest reward i expect for all , i shall desire that such a measure of respect may be vouchsafed , as to those old records from whence the chief materials in this structure have been taken , so to that ancient learning which hath contributed fitting tools wherewith to work the same materials , and fit them for that use , as may secure and rescue both ( uncapable of other recompence ) from that scorn , neglect and contempt in the dayes of so much novelty so freely cast upon them , since by falling into some hands , so good an improvement may be made of them for the publike . i may perchance ( at first sight , at least ) be thought too bold with the common lawyers , too busie in their common-wealth , too much medling in matters of their peculiar science ; yet no otherwise , i hope , than that they and their friends may be willing to excuse me . i am one that honour their profession , and have here done or said nothing out of opposition ; my intent being onely in my way to do them service , and their profession right , by holding forth to publike view some antiquities tending at once to the satisfaction of the one , and illustration of the other . for which purpose i have by me some other things in a readinesse for the publike , and which shall not ( god willing ) much longer be retarded , in case these my present endeavours ( as my past have done ) meet with any proportionable encouragement , and the times permit , by the continuance of our counties peace , ( peace , i say , that mother of arts : ) which with an enlargement and establishment of that blessing throughout the three kingdomes , is a chief subject ( courteous reader ) in the daily devotions of thine humble servant , william somner . the postscript . the reader is here further to be advertised , that both this preface and the following treatise were first written more than twelve years agone , have lien by the authour ever since , and had not now come forth , but upon the encouragement of some worthy and judicious friends . if therefore any thimg ( whether for language or otherwise ) in either the one or the other , seem improper , uncouth , or unsuitable to the present times , his patience and pardon is humbly craved and expected . to expedite such ( in their perusal of this work ) as are ignorant , but studious , of the saxon language , the authour ( although he have but lately set forth a saxon dictionary ) hath thought it very fit here to prefix the saxon alphabet and abbreviations . a b c d e f g h i k l m n o p q r s t u w x y z. a b c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 h 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 k l m n o p q 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 u 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 x y z. th th that and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 errata . pag. . lin . . and customary . lin . . yeelded it . p. . l. . bians . p. . l. . after consuetudo . l. . snave . l. . shorham . p. . l. . oale-gavel . p. . l. . clyve . l. . chartham . p. . l. . of it in that composition . p. . l. . rents and services . p. . l. . find it in . l. . to the tenant , better . l. . fremfeld . p. . l. . not alienable . p. . l. . gam●lle●um . l. . hervicus . p. . l. . rather say . l. . ma●am . l. . firmam . l. . construe . p. . l. . counties . p. . l. . the which word . p. . l. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . l. . of former times . p. . l. . herlewinum . p. . l. . of times . p. . l. . aequ ▪ valentem . p. . l. . reteined . p. . l. ult . construe it thus . p. . l. . salvo . p. . l. . drofmannus . p. . l. . demesne . p. . l. . those and succeeding . p. . in marg . l. . ff . si ag . p. . l. . and as it is . p. . l. . priori . ibid. in marg . burgor . apud scotos . some literal and such like other smaller faults there are , besides mis-pointings : which being as easily amended as observed , are therefore here pretermitted . gavelkynd . among the many singularities of kent , that of so much note , both at home and abroad , commonly called gavelkynd , may seem to bear away the bell from all the rest , as being indeed a property of that eminent singularity in the kentishmens possessions , so generally in a manner , from great antiquity , over-spreading that county , as england at this day cannot shew her fellow in that particular ; yet so unhappy the whilest are both kentish-men and others , in the right understanding both of name and thing , that although it be the daily subject of every mans discourse , even of all professions , yet remains it hitherto , both in the one respect and in the other , so obscure , and in so much want of further illustration to make it known , as if never yet by any seriously considered of . purposing therefore to contribute my best assistance towards a right and full discovery ; in order thereunto , and for my more methodical proceding , i shall branch out my discourse into these five following heads or propositions : viz. . the true etymologie and derivation of the name , including a plain confutation of that which is commonly received . . the nature of gavelkynd ▪ land in point of partition . . the antiquity of gavelkynd ▪ custome , in point especially of partition , and why more general in kent than elswhere . . whether gavelkynd be properly a tenure , or a custome ; and if a custome , whether inherent in the land or not . . whether before the statute of wills ( and hen. . ) gavelkynd ▪ land in kent were deviseable , or not . proposition i. the true etymologie and derivation of the name , including a plain confutation of that which is commonly received . to begin with the first : ( the true etymologie and derivation of the name , &c. ) by the common and received opinion of these dayes , obvious and easie to be found , both in the writings and discourses of kentish-men and others , this custome ( as commonly called ) owes its name and original to the nature of the land in point of descent . to consult ( for instance ) a few of the multitude of printed opinions looking that way , collected from the most eminent of our modern and late writers , as well antiquaries as lawyers , and intending to steer a retrograde course in this re-search , i shall begin with one of the latest , sir edward coke , who in his notes , or illustrations upon littleton , tit . villenage , sect. . verb. en gavelkinde , glosseth the text thus : gave all kynd : for ( saith he ) this custome giveth to all the sons alike . not long before him , another learned knight and famous antiquary , taking the word to expound in his glossary of antiquated words , saith , that it is termed gavelkynd , either , quasi debitum vel tributum soboli , pueris , generi , i. e. as it were of right belonging and given ( intimated in the two first syllables , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : ) to the issue , children , or kynd , ( signified by the last , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : ) or else secondly ( saith he ) from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , i. e. given to all the next in kindred . verstegan ( to ascend in our g●adation one step higher ) c●nsureth the word of corruption , saying , that it is corruptly termed gavelkynd , for give all kynd , which after him is as much to say , as , give each child his part . from whom mr. cambden differs as little in time , as in opinion , when he saith it is called gavelkynd , that is , saith he , give all kynne . before all these , mr. lambard , ( the first that undertook the etymologie , and whom , beside the former , * judge dodderidge , * dr. cowell , the authour of the new terms of law , and many more , longo agmine , a●e known to follow ) in his explication of saxon words prefixed to his archaion , verb. terra ex scripto , is clear for the derivation of the word from the saxon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : credo ( saith he ) ut terra illa gavelkyn , quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , idest , omnibus cognatione proximis data , dicatur . but afterwards , ( as if upon second thoughts altered in his opinion ) he coupleth this derivation with a second , and so at length is found to share his opinion of the words original between two conjectures , grounded both upon the nature of the land ; the one in point of descent , the other of rent and services . in reference to the former of which , he saith , that , therefore the land was called either gavelkyn , in meaning , give all kyn , because it was given to all the next in one line of kinred ; or , give all kynd , that is , to all the male children : for kind ( saith he ) in dutch signifieth yet a male child . and in relation to the latter , he saith , that , it is well known , that as knights-service land required the presence of the tenant in warfare , and battell abroad : so this land ( being of socage tenure ) commanded his attendance at the plough , and other the lords affairs of husbandry at home : the one by manhood defending the lords life and person , the other by industry maintaining with rent , corn and victual his estate and family . this rent ( as there he adds ) ni a customary payment of works , the saxons called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and thereof ( as i think ) they named the land that yeeldod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , that is to say , land letten for rent , or of the kind to yeild rent , &c. the authour ( i confesse ) modestly leaves it free to the reader to receive either of these conjectures , or to refuse both , as it shall best like him : but the former of the two , being primâ facie , of a more plausible sound and allusion than the other , ( an advantage very considerable with most men , whose guidance notwithstanding is not alwayes to be followed : ) and that having gotten the start of her fellow in time , hath not fail'd to keep it ever since , having proved the more acceptable of the twain , and by this time found so many followers , and those , like the first authour , of so great credit , as that whosoever shall contradict the one , or dispute the other , can do neither without exceeding prejudice ; so difficult a lesson it is with some to unlearn , a whose minds are as hardly weaned from an opinion which their fancie hath once approved , as others are from an habit or a custome , which if inveterate and long ▪ setled , though ▪ corrupt and vicious , is very hardly left off , and laid aside . yet , as the common law b determines of a custome , that if the rise , the original thereof can so be traced , as it can appear that it first began within time of memory , it is no custome , nor shall obtain or prevail as a custome ; so in case , by tracing the present derivation to the well-head , i shall shew , together with the time , the errour of its first original , not to be salv'd by long tract of time , ( for , quod ab initio non valuit , tractu temporis non convalescit : ) i trust i shall not fail , nor fall short of what mine endeavours drive at in this matter ; the weaning ( i mean ) of sober and judicious minds from an opinion so erroneous and ungrounded as this , i doubt not , upon trial , shall appear to be , though thus long continued , and in it self specious and plausible enough . however , being convinced in mine own judgement of the errour , that i may not seem to swallow it for company , to the prejudice of truth , for that ( i say ) if for no other reason , i have resolved to protest against it : and yet , not to seem singularly affected without a cause , i shall not do it by a bare denial or dissent , as he that thought it sufficient for bellarmines confutation to give him the lie , but by representing withall my inducements thereunto , i hope to put the matter out of doubt , that i have studied the readers satisfaction herein as well ●s my own , by a learned mans c example , who●e words in a like case , as very apposite in this , i shall here borrow for the close of my apologie : etsi m● non lateat , ( saith he ) quàm lubrica , plenaque discrim●nis res sit , quae per tot secula , tot homines eruditi uno consens● proba●unt , rejicere velle , rationes tamen eas in medium adducere visum est , quibus adductis hanc interpretationem damnare ausus sum . nor is this ( i take it ) magno conatu nugas agere ; the discovery and refutation of popular errours having been a task for many worthy pens , in cases of as small concerment as this perhaps may seem to be ▪ to the matter then . whether the name of gavelkynd was at first imposed with , or in respect to the nature of the land , in point of descent , or not , is indeed the matter in question . the common opinion ( i confesse ) affirms it , wherewith joyning issue in the negative , i shall endeavour to refute it by a double proposition ; one negative , shewing that this is a wrong , and mistaken ; the other positive , or affirmative , declaring what is the right and genuine construction of the term . as for the former , though it carry with it a seeming allusion to gavelkynd in sound , yet if we look advisedly into the true nature of it , we may , and peradventure must , conclude the etymologie from giveall cyn , give-all-kynd , or the like , unnatural at the least , and far fetcht , if not violently forc'd . for first , admitting kind to signifie a male-child in the dutch or belgick tongue , as it doth not more than a female , being a word common to children of either sex ( knecht indeed with them , as cniht with our ancestours , the english-saxons , is of that d signification : ) yet is not this kind of land so restrained in point of descent onely to the males , but that ( as in the case of land descendible at the common law ) the females in their default , that is , where the males are wanting , are capable of succession to it , and in the same way of partition with the males . nay , is any of the sons dead in the fathers life time , leaving a daughter behind him , such daughter shall divide with her uncles in this land . what then ? shall we admit kynd to signifie the issue , be it male or female ? as indeed it doth either , coming of the saxon , or old english , cennan , or cennian , parere , to bring forth , whence with them the word or participle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , for the first-begotten , or first-born , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , for the onely begotten , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , terrigena , one that is born , or bred of the earth ; yet is not this land so tied to the issue , but that in default thereof , i. e. where that is wanting , such as be in the transversal or collateral line ( as in other lands descendible at the common law ) may and do inherit it : as ( for instance ) when one brother dieth without issue , all the other brethren may and do inherit , as doth their respective issue too , in case of their default , jure repraesentationis , but with this restriction in the nephews case succeeding with their uncle , viz. that the descent is then in stirpes , not in capita . neverthelesse , it goeth not as the irish e gavelkynd , to all the males of the same linage , ( for in this , as in other inheritances , propinquior excludit f propinquum ) nor yet neither to all the next in one line of kinred , as they pretend that are for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , taking cyn to signifie kindred , as indeed it doth , for then brothers and sisters both , being alike neer in degree , should equally inherit , ( a thing it seems allowed by the old german custome , witnesse what we have from g tacitus ; haeredes successoresque sui cuique liberi , &c. not restraining the succession to the male ▪ issue , as neither doth the h civil law : ) whereas we know , that as by the i feudal customes abroad , where males are , the females are excluded from succession , so by the common law of k england , women ( or females ) shall not partake with males , according to that rule laid down in the statute called praerogativa regis , cap. . foeminae non participabunt cum masculis , which ( by the way ) is understood onely of such as are in equal degree . but doth ●yn or kynd here intend and denote a mans issue , the gavelkynders children ? what may we say then to a conveyance of land in gavelkynd to a guild , or corporation , aggregate of many , suppose an hospital ; ( as an instance of that nature shall be produced l by and by : ) they are a dead hand , how then is the etymologie in that case justified ? where 's the kynd , the parties issue here , to make good the derivation ? but since , by occasion , mention is made of such a gift , or conveyance , to strangers from the proper issue or heirs , let me thus far further adde , that in case it be called gavelkynd , from debitum vel tributum soboli , i. e. due , or given to the issue , as some are of opinion , how comes it then to passe , that , as before the statute of wills , gavelkynd ▪ land might by deed , or other lawful conveyance ( and that domin● , in this case inconsulto , and invito too , contrary to the nature of what with the feudists is properly termed m fe● : ) be freely given , or sold away from the heir by the custom to a meer stranger , ( contrary to the old common law of n england , except in some few cases , as in frankalmoigne , or in marriage with a mans daughter , a reasonable part might be given , with some limitations and distinctions between land of inheritance and purchase : ) as now since the statute of wills , ( if not before , as some of late seek to perswade us , a matter which i shall reserve o al●iori indagini : ) it may be , and daily is by devise of will and testament ; how is the next heirs right to this land preserved , when there is that freedome of giving , or devising it away ? or how can this liberty & that etymologie consist ? yet further , doth not mr. lambard somewhere p say , that no gavelkynd partition could be challenged , but onely where the custome of division had prevailed , and that gavelkynd was not tried by the manner of socage-services , but onely by the touch of some former partition ? if ●o , no land then could properly be called gavelkynd , wherein this custome of partition had not yet obteined : what shall then be thought of those new created tenures in gavelkynd , whereof until the statute of q quia emptores terrarum , examples are very obvious and frequent in the old records both of the cathedral at canterbury , and of the neighbour abbey of st. augustines , and elswhere , affording many ancient grants of land in gavelkynd ? to what original shall the name there be referred ? to any customable partition ? nothing lesse : for where can that be found in gavelkynd-land of novel tenure , for want of that competencie of precursory time of them necessarily presupposed ( to frame the custome in ) who conceive the name taken from such accustomable partition ? moreover , if partition were the thing that gave name to gavelkynd , then should all partible land wheresoever be so called : but there is in parts abroad ( out of kent ) partible land not called gavelkynd . ergo , &c. for the assumption see the stat. . hen. . cap. . purposely made to change the customary descent of the land of osweldbeck soke or lordship in nottingham-shire . and what doth r bracton intimate lesse in his sicut de gavelkynd , vel alibi ubi terra ●st partibbilis ratione terrae ? adde hereunto ▪ that the word , as to the main part of it ▪ gavel , frequently occurs in the old records of some manours out of kent , sometimes simply , but for the most in composition ; for example , gavel-erth , gavelate , gavel-lond , gavel-man , gavel-swine , gavel-wood , gavel-rod , &c. ( of which more anon . ) and shall the same thing , ( contrary to that rule of law , ● . . ff . de rerum permutatione ) diverso jure censeri ? for i suppose none will render it there ( being out of kent , and where no gavelkynd partition taketh place ) gife-eal ▪ nor will this derivation any better stand with gavel , where it helps to the composition of some words here used in kent , in former times at least , besides that of gavelkynd , such as are all or most part of those afore-remembred , to which i may adde gavel-rip , gavel-ote , gavel-sester , gavel-bred , gavel-bord , gavel-timber , gavel-corn , gavel-re●ter , &c. whereof also i shall intreat further by and by . is it then ( lastly ) to be supposed ▪ that the lands meer descent in this kind to all the heirs alike , supposing a plurality of heirs , was all the regard those ancestours of ours had to sway and regulate their judgement by , to whom the name , the term , doth owe its first original ? was that in probability ground enough to satisfie them of the congruity and sutablenesse of the name to and with the nature of the thing named , as names we know should † be ? vix credo . i doubt it for my part . in brief then , to recollect what hath been said : . if females are capable of this succession as well as males , where the male issue faileth . . if collateral kinred are capable thereof as well as those in the descendent line , where such heirs are wanting , ( in both which kinds gavelkynd land differs not from that at the common law : ) . if corporations may hold land in gavelkynd . . if such land may be passed away to meer strangers from the right heirs . . if none may properly be called gavelkynd-land , where an accustomable partition hath not made way for it . . if there be partible land elswhere ( out of kent ) that is not called gavelkynd . . if gavel ( the fore-part of the word ) found in some records of land out of kent , and of others in kent , will not bear the derivation of it from gife-eal , without absurdity . . and lastly , if names are to be imposed with respect to the nature of what is ſ named , then is gavelkynd , after these mens premised derivation , in some sort a very scant , narrow , and partial , in other a most incongruous and improper term to expresse the nature of the land by . surely , there was somewhat more peculiar to gavelkynd-land , and of more note and eminencie in it , better serving to distinguish it from other kind of land , than this derivation of theirs seems to intimate , and which first gave occasion to the imposition of that name upon it , which leads me to my other , the positive , or affirmative proposition , asserting the true sense and construction of the term , and shewing whence it was at first imposed , and afterwards continued . wherein i must confesse , mr. lambard was as happy to go right in the latter of his two conjectures , as he was before unluckie to misse of the right in his former , yet in this passively unhappy though , that the former , through the advantages afore-mentioned , wholly took , and was accepted of all , whilest the latter was received and embraced of none : but no great marvel , since , whilest some , through ignorance could not judge of , others haply for company , would not question so plausible a derivation . but to the purpose . to such as are any thing vers'd ▪ in saxon monuments , gafol is a word very obvious , but varied sometimes in the dialect , as being written now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , anon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . i shall give you a few instances where it occurrs , and in what sense . tribute mentioned in the of st. matthews gospel , verses , and , as also in the of the same evangelist , verses & , is in the saxon translation of the gospels , turned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in the chapter of the same gospel , at the verse , it serveth to expresse what there in our modern english translation is called , in some books , advantage , in other , usury , agreeable to that in the saxon psalter , psal . . vers . . where usura in the latine , in the marginal version or reading of the word , is rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 occurring in the first of king withreds laws of sir henry spelmans edition , in the first volume of the councils , pag. . is of that ▪ learned knight expounded to us by redditus vel pensiones , as it is again in his latine version of pope agatho's decretal epistle , pag. . of the same councils , by redditus . in an old sanction of king edgars , recited by mr. selden in his notes upon aedmerus , pag. . what is there in the latine read solitus census , in the interlineary saxon version we find rendered there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . hereunto i might adde heaps of instances taken from the saxon laws , the mare clausum ▪ and elswhere , but i forbear to exspatiate : and to be short , gafol is a word , which , as gablum in doomsday-book , the skilful in the saxon tongue , with sir hen. spelman elswhere , turn by what gabella is expounded abroad , viz. vectigal , portorium , tributum , exactio , census , in latine , but in english , with verstegan , tribute , tax , or custome , to which with ſ mr. lambard , and t sr. edw. coke , let me adde , rent : witnesse , besides the former quotations , what occurrs in an ancient will or deed u of one athelwird , the donor of certain land at ickham in kent to the cathedral at canterbury , in the year of mans redemption . where you may read : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 † 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. and anon after again : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. the former of which passages , under favour of the skilful in that language , i shall render thus in our modern english : after his dayes , ( or death ) eadrith , if he live , shall enjoy ( or use ) it , yeilding that rent which is imposed on it ▪ that is , v. pounds , and every year ( or yearly ) one dayes farm ( or victual ) unto the covent , that is , xl ( measures called ) sextaries of ale , &c. and the latter thus : with the same ( or like ) rent that herein is appointed . let me adde what in another like record , both for time and place , occurrs thus ▪ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . that is , and after both their dayes ( or deaths ) let eadsith the arch-bishop , if he survive them , have ( or take ) these lands , or else his successour for the time being , unlesse some friend of theirs , by ( or with ) the arch-bishops favour , may continue to hold that land at ( or upon ) the accustomed rent , ur upon what other contract ( or condition ) may be had ( or made ) with the arch-bishop then living , ( or , for the time being . ) i shall adde but one instance more from the grant of bocking ( a known place in essex ) to the same cathedral ▪ by one ethelrich , in the year of christ . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . that is : and i also give those two hides ( of land ) that eadrith renteth ( or hireth ) yearly for half a pound . so that to me it seems clear , that ponere terram ad gablum , is as much as to hire , or let out land by or for rent or farm , and by consequence , terra ad gablum posita , taken in its proper and genuine acception , is land hired , or letten out to farm , or for rent . in the latitude of the word it comprehends besides ▪ all censual , or tributary land , as also what we call customary land , ( in that sense wherein consuetudines , customes , denote x services ) and so takes in all rent-service land , which with our saxon ancestours , who called the rent or service paid or done for such land , y 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , was , by a transposition of the syllables , called and known by the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or the like : z 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . i. e. except the churle ( or countrey-man ) that occupieth censual land , as one would say now , except the country fermor , or the like . he seems by this to be properly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , i. e. one that had no land of his own , such a one as had , being called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , i. e. terrae propriet●rius , a landed man , as the word is ( i take it ) to be rendred , not viator , a way-faring man , or the like , as some a have guessed . but to keep us to our gafol , within and under which term and notion , not onely the generality of rent and customary , whether payments or services , was comprehended and comprised , simply ; but what we at this day call rent-corn , rent-honey , rent-barley , and the like , the special and particular rents and services , i mean , by the custome of some manors yeilded by the tenants to the lords thereof , though now for the most part turned into moneys , were in elder times , in composition , called corn-gavel , hunig-gavel , bere-gafol , &c. without impertinencie i hope , i shall here present the reader with a list of as many of them , as with much content to my self , i have ransacked old records to find out for this purpose , with an assay of mine own at their several expositions , and they are divisible into two sorts , the one beginning , the other ending with gavel . both of them follow . gavel-corne . gavel-erth . gavel-rip . gavel-med . gavel-ote . gavel-dung . gavel-rod . gavel-tymber . gavel-refter . gavel-bord . gavel-swine . gavel-wood . gavel-sester . gavel-werk . gavel-noht . gavel-fother . gavel-bred . wood - gavel . work - gavel . swine - gavel . corne - gavel . peny - gavel . malt - gavel . les - gavel . leaf - gavel . hunig - gavel . were - gavel . twy - gavel . bere - gavel . for - gavel . in the list of the rents and services reckoned up in a lieger-book of the church of canterbury , as charged upon that churches manour of adesham in kent , this in particular thus occurrs : item de gavel-corn . sum . doubtlesse it is the same with that in a composition made between the abbot and covent of st. augustines at canterbury , and their tenants of minster and hengrove in thanet , anno . hen. . called corn-gavel , and there thus described : et quod quatuor swillingae & dimidia , & quarta pars unius swillingae residuae tenebantur & tenentur de praedictis abbate & conventu per fidelitatem & relevium , & per redditum & servitium vocatum corn-gavel , viz. reddendo eisdem abbati & conventu● , & successoribus suis annuatim , in festo s. michaelis archangeli , de qualibet swillinga earundem . swillingar . quindecim quarteria & quinque buschellos ordei palmalis , & quarteria & buschellos avenarum , & de praedicta medietate & quarta parte unius swillingae secundum ratam portionis ordei & avenarum illas medietatem & quartam partem contingentis , defeernd . & cariand . ad costas & expensas praedictorum tenentium usque ad granarium dictorum abbatis & conventus infra monasterium s. augustini praedictum , vel per servitium reddendi pro qualibet acra dictarum quatuor swillingarum in ●od . festo s. michaelis octo denarios , & pro dictis medietate & quarta parte unius swilling● secundum ratam portionis illas medietatem & quartam partem unius swillingae de praedictis ordeo & avena contingentis , in casu quo praedicti tenentes praedictum or deum & avenam in eod●m festo in formâ praedictâ non solverint . thus the composition , whereby it is apparent what gavel-corn signifies , namely ( as before was intimated ) rent-corn . in an accompt-roll of the arch-bishop of canterburies manour of reculver in kent , anno . edw. . this service , under the title of arura , occurrs thus : item respondet de xxxv . acris de consuetudine arandi gavelherthe . in an old customal * of gillingham manour in kent , of about that age , i read thus : item sunt ibi quinque juga , quodlibet arabit unam dimidiam acram ad semen frumenti , & seminabit , & herciabit , & dimidiam acram ad semen ordei , & herciabit , & unam virgatam ad avenam & herciabit & warectabit , dimidiam acram ad ordeum , & nihil recipient , & vocatur istud opus gavelerth . this then ( it seems ) is a certain tillage-service , like the arura in bracton , fol. . b. due by the tenant holding his land upon terms of plowing , &c. a certain quantity ( more or lesse ) of his lords demesnes , not alwayes performed in kind , but bought out and redeemed sometimes with money . et de . sol . de . acris de gavelerth relaxato hoc anno , quoth an old rental sans date of the arch-bishops foresaid manour of reculver . it was of some affinity , as with the french poictovines biaus , so also with that which mr. lambard calling benerth , expoundeth by service which the tenant doth with his cart and plough . with his plough indeed , and also with his harrow , but not ( that i find ) with his cart , it being a meer tillageservice , as gavelerth is , & alwayes performed precariò , as the frenchman saith , precairement , upon request and summons , ( in aid , and for the help and ease , when need was , of other tenants bound to do the like de gablo , i. e. as i conceive , ex debito , and without summons : ) and with allowance of ( more than regularly was afforded in the other a service ) a coredy , i. e. diet , or victual , ( fometime called benebred ) during the employment . glanvils precarias carucarum forinsecarum , lib. . cap. . may hence be understood . matthew paris in his history of england , pag. . of the last edition , making mention of a breve inauditum , ( as he there cals it ) i. e. an unheard of writ , issued by hen. . recites this as a part of it : similiter inquiratur de carucis precariis , which by the learned authour of the glossary , at the end of the work , is thus illustrated : erant & precariae ( saith he , speaking of several sorts of ploughs ) quas scilicet in necessitate aliqua eminentiori , colonus uaus à proximo b precario mutuabatur . hence the phrase in many old custumals and rentals of plowing this or that quantity of the lords land by his tenant , de prece , de precaria , ad precariam , and the like . in precariis carucacum & in auxilio herciandi vj. sol . viij . den . saith an old accompt-roll c of saltwood manour . the meaning of such passages in records of that kind as this : arant preces semel ad conredium d curiae , &c. and the like may hence be pick'd out . it took name ( this of benerth ) i conceive , of the saxon bene , postulatio , as mr. lambard , and before him jornadensis , translating the saxon laws , turn the word occurring in the title of the eighth of king ina's laws , as sir hen. spelman doth by rogatis , concil . tom . . pag. . whence ( probably ) fleta , lib. . cap. . speaking of those ploughs , calls them carucas rogatas . a certain service ( the same , i take it , with bractons messura , fol. . b. ) undergone by the tenants of some manours tied to reap their lords corn for him , which if redeemed , or taken in money , was usually termed rip-silver . of the former , in the custumal e of westwell manour in kent , i read : de consuetudiue metendi xl . acras & dimid . de gavel-rip in autumpno xl . s. vj. d. and in another like record , i meet with the latter thus explained to our hand : de sulinga de witstable xvj . de ripsilver , quia homines de witstable solebant antiquitus metere apud bertonam . and as in tillage-service , certain tenants were bound to it de gablo , others de prece ; and thence the one service called gavelerth , the other benerth ; so for reaping also , there were some that held by gavelrip-service , other by bedrip-service , ( the old glossary at the end of hen. . laws hath it benripe : ) that done de gablo , without any bidding or summons , and for the most part without coredy ; this de prece , upon bidding or summons , and regularly with coredy : in villa de ickham ( saith the old custumal of that manour of christ-church ) sunt xvj . cotarii , quorum quilibet habet v. acras , & hae sunt earum consuetudines : ducunt brasium , &c. & quilibet tres preces , i. e. ( saith the old marginal glosse there ) quando rogantur per servientem curiae , debent metere , sive aliud facere quod expedit domino per tres dies , & si noluerint facere , possint artari , &c. as i gave you some instances before of gavelrip , so i might also of bedrip ▪ but , for brevity sake , i will onely refer you to that in sir hen. spelmans glossary , verbo bidripa , which being barely mentioned there without exposition , may hence be understood . and as bene in benerth is of a saxon original , so likewise bede here in bedrip ; and indeed they are univocal , drawn ( this ) from the saxon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , petere , rogare , and applied to this service upon the same ground that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , to a crier , beadle , summoner , bailiffe , so called from his office , which is to warn , summon , give notice , &c. as these tenants were to be warned , summoned , in a word , bidden , to come and perform this service : et de cxcix . operibus magnae precariae provenien . de omnib . tenentibus domini , tam liberis , quàm nativis , infra dominium domini , quorum quilibet domum habens de quo fumus exiit , inveniet unum hominem ad magnam precariam , si ad hoc summonitus fuerit , &c. as it is in accompt f of the manour of harwe , now called harrow in middlesex , anno . rich. . a service of much affinity with the former . in an accompt-roll * of terring manour in sussex , anno . edw. . it occurs thus : consuetudo metendi quae vocatur gavelrip , follows consuetudo falcandi quae vocatur gavelmed . and anon after : et pro una septimana dum falcatur stipula quae vocatur gavelmed . it needs no further opening . a certain proportion of rent-oats served in sometime in kind , other while by composition redeemed with money . as to the former , ( its payment in kind ) i read thus in an g old custumal , ( sans date ) of southmalling manour in sussex : borga de wellingham . operarii . omnes isti operarii de w. debent reddere annuatim de qualibet virgata unum quarterium avenae , quod dicitur gavelote in xlma. in an accompt-roll of the same manour , i find a charge sutable : idem respondet de octo quarteriis , quatuor bush . avenae receptis de gabulo custumariorum de wellingham . and for the redeeming it with money , an old h accompt , ( sans date ) of the abbey of st. augustines manours of swane and borewaremersh in rumney mersh , furnish us with an instance of it thus : et de avena de gablo vendita iij. s. like to that in old i accompt-roll of gillingham manour by rochester : et de x. s. vj. d. de quinque quarteriis , duob . bush . de gavelote de redditu venditis . a service ( like to that spoken of by littleton , under the title of villenage ) to carry the lords dung out of the site of the manour , unto the land of his lord , &c. whereof in an k accompt-roll of storham manour in sussex , of about edw. . time , under the title of consuetudines & servitia de omnibus borghis extra boscum praeter suthram , i read in the accomptants charge as followeth : idem respondet de consuetudine extrahendi fimum debita per custumarios tenentes xxvij . virgatas , dimid . & j. ferling . in borgh de gote , middelham , astone , northlington , & wellingham in una septiman● post festum s. michaelis cum auxilio molmannorum , quod servitium vocatur gaveldung . see the grand custumier of normandy , cap. . in fine . what service this was , the place it self where it occurs sufficiently explaines unto us , and that is an old l extent of the manour of terring in sussex , anno . edw. . where under the title of virgatarii operarii de wadeherst , we have it thus : in borga de wadeherst sunt xv . virgatae , dimid , & j. firling terrae nativae , quarum quaelibet debet claudere unam perticatam sepis circa curiam de malling , & debet pro pollis & claustura quam facere solebat ad natalem beati johannis baptistae annuatim reddere j. d. ob . quod dicitur gavelrod & burghard , &c. certain rent-timber to be used in repairing the lords mansion-house , or some apperteining edifice , and as some records do specifie it , rafters . whence in an m accompt-roll of norbourne manour in east kent , anno . edw. . as a part of the accomptants charge there , i read thus : et de c c. refters de gavel-tymber , de redditu , quilibet de longitudine xiij . ped . de quibus proveniunt de tenemento de borewaresyle c. & de tenemento de monynden c. another like roll of the same manour calls it gavel refter . and much of the same nature was the next called gavel-bord , whereof in the last cited roll mention is thus made . et de c c c. gavelbordis de redditu , quilibet de longitudine iij. ped . dimid . unde , &c. these rents and services were wont to be charged upon their wealdish tenants , such as occupied their wood-lands . and so was the next . and by an inversion of the syllables , swine-gavel . a wealdish service ( i say ) signifying rent-hogs , or rent-swine , so called when paid in kind , ( et de vij . s. x. d de iij. porcis de gablo venditis ad parocum de maghefeld , &c. as it is in a roll n of accompts of mayfield manour in sussex , anno . edw. . ) otherwise swine-paneges , and swine-money , and the like , when namely they were redemed with the peny , or with money , which was usually paid at paroc-time , that is , when the lord , or his bailiffe and tenants met upon the place in the weald , to hold a paroc , a court-like kind of meeting , ( whereof i have by me a record of some kept about edw. . time ) not much unlike the forest swaine-mote , where ( inter alia ) and accompt was taken of this service in particular , and generally of what hogs or swine had been taken in to feed and fatten the year past , or the last pawnage or masting-time , and rent accordingly paid and received for the same . hence i take it ( from paroc , i mean , ) the name of that place by bleane-wood near canterbury , which we at this day call the paddock , for the paroc . sometimes written and called wood-lode , wald lode , and other while , by an inversion of the syllables , wood-gavel : a custome or service incident to some tenants , to carry home their lords wood for him . an old o accompt-roll ( sans date ) of the arch-bishop of canterburies manours , in south-malling , hath this mention of it in the accomptants charge : et de xviij . s. iij. d. ob . de fine cariandi gavelwood de consuetudine . it often occurs in like records of divers other manours , under that diversity of names . a certain measure of rent-ale . among the articles to be charged upon the stewards and bailives of the church of canterburies manours infra cantiam , according to which they were to be accomptable , this was wont to be one : de gavelsester cujuslibet bracini braciati infra libertatem maneriorum , viz. unam lagenam & dimidium cervisiae . another old record calls it tolsester in these words : de tolsester cervis . hoc est de quolibet bracino per annum unam lagenam de cervis . as it is in an old book of the same cathedral , amongst the rents of assise of halton manour in being undoubtedly the same , in lieu whereof the abbot of abbington was wont of custome to receive that peny mentioned by mr. selden , in his learned dissertation annexed unto fleta , newly published , cap. . num . . and there ( by some mistake , haply of the printer ) termed colcester peny , for tolsester peny . nor differs it ( i take it ) from what in the glossary at the end of hen. . laws is called oate-gavel . a service charged upon tenants , for example ; in charing manour in kent , an old p rental whereof of edw. . time hath it thus : grenehelle eadmundus filius thomae de grenehelle de uno jugo debet , &c. — arabit unam acram . pedes , & metet unam acram , dimid . & . pedes , de gavelwerk . this admitting also of a transposition of the syllables , is somtimes found written werk-gavel , in barbarous latine , werkgabulum , as in an q accompt-roll of the arch-bishops manour of tunebrugge ( now called tunbridge ) of hen. . time , and signified rent-work , which was of two sorts , the one personal , by the tenants person , which they called manuopera ; the other by his carriages , thence termed carropera , and they both met ( i take it ) in villeins called gaigneurs . in an old custumal of our cathedral at canterburies manour of clyne in kent , i find them thus coupled : de gavelnoht vel gavelfother de ostreland . the latter seemeth to expound the former , shewing them both to import what at this day we call rentfodder : the latter word in which composition cometh ( as i suppose ) of the teutonick voeder , or the german futer , which we at this day pronounce fodder . of the feudists it is called fodrum , to whom i refer such as desire a further explanation of the term , wherein the learned hotoman ( i take it ) is more copious than the rest , in his commentary de verbis feudalibus , in voce . let them also have recourse to our learned glossarist , in verbo fodrum . in the custumal of the same churches manour of chatham in kent , it occurs thus : allocantur per annum pro gavelbred ad herdemet . iij. sum . dimid . it is the same ( i take it ) which i find elswhere thus expressed : in pane ad gavelbred , de consuetudine arantium & metentium , ij . sum . so an accompt-roll r of charing manour in edw. . time . nor is it probably any other than what in the custumal ſ of west-farlegh manour in kent is termed averbred . allocantur per annum pro averbred , iij. s. ij . d. it seems to be a proportion of food or victual allowed to the baser sort of tenants , such as the custumarii , cotarii , villani , and the like ( the gaigneurs ) towards their coredy , or sustentation , during their employments in the villein-services of their lords , such as those reckoned up by the authour of the mirroir , chap. . sect . . where he saith : et ascuns per villeins customes d' arrer , ower , charrier , sarclir , fauchir , scier , tasser , batre , ou tielx autres manners d' services , which were not alwayes attended with such allowance ; whence my authour goes on , adding , & ascun foits sans reprise d' manger . and thus far of the particular rents and services , whose names begin with gavel , to which i might adde that of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , occurring in the laws of king ina , cap. . now to proceed to those ending with it . of which the first four , ( wood-gavel , werk-gavel , swine-gavel , corn-gavel ) having their several expositions in their proper places , viz. in the former list of services , whose names begin with gavel , i passe from them to the rest of like termination . in the conquerours , and some succeeding kings charters , made to st. augustines abbey at canterbury , the present service occurrs by the name of gabulum denariorum , the tithe whereof here excepted from these , was elswhere granted unto other monks , whereof see mr. seldens history of tithes , pag. , , . it was a rent usually reserved and paid in money , witnesse the mention and description of it without composition , between the abbat and covent of st. augustines and the men of thanet , whereof before in gavel-corn , and speaketh thus : — tenentur de praedictis abbate & coventu & praedecessoribus suis per fidelitatem & relevium , & per redditum & servitium vocatum peny gavel , viz. reddendo annuatim eisdem abbati & coventui & eorum successoribus de qualibet swillinga dictarum xlij . swillingarum in festo s. martini in hyeme decem & novem solidos & octo denarios , & de praedicta quarta parte unius swillingae in eodem festo annuatim quatuor solidos & undecim denarios , & pro qualibit acra dictarum xxxviij . acrarum terrae de swilling-land in eodem festo secundùm ratam portionis redditus easdem xxxviij . acras terrae contingentes , &c. in the custumal of the church of canterburies manour of mepham in kent , amongst the rest of the rents services there , this occurs for one : de xxj sum . iiij . bush . de maltgavel , &c. it signifies rent-malt , and is the same ( i take it ) that in another like record ( an old rental of eastry manour in kent ) is called malt shot , and thus expressed there . de malt shot termino circumcisionis domini xx . d. but so called , i trow , when compounded for in money ; otherwise , upon the same ground , malt-peny , as the old customal of the same manour frequently nameth it . so called , peradventure , in relation to some greater rent or service arising and paid out of the same land , that this , at some other part or season of the year ( i guesse hereat by an old t customal of charing manour , where indeed i found it so : ) and so les-gavel , quasi lesle-rent , or lesle-service . i take it to be the same that in the customals and rentals of some other manours , i find written lesyeld , and lesgeld ; unlesse it be mistaken for the next , leaf-gavel , thus occurring in an old accompt-roll of the church of canterbury : et de xii . l. iij. d. ob . de annuo redditu assis cum leafgabulo ad terminum s. martini ; which i conceive to be the same with what in a like record of hathewolden ( now halden ) manour in kent , is called lef-silver : et de xviij . d. de lef-silver in hathewoldum . the old custumal of tenham manour in kent , calling it lyefyield , thus explains it : tenentes de waldis non possunt arare terras suas ab equinoctio autumpnali usque festum beati martini sine licentia . et ideo , reddunt annuatim dimidiam marcam ad festum s. martini , sive fuerit pessona , sive non . et vocatur lyes-yeld . whereby it seems to be a tribute paid by certain wealdish tenants , for liberty to plow their grounds during a certain season of the year , viz. tempore pessonae , which , because of some prejudice that might thereby redound to the lord in his pawnage , was not permitted without his leave . gabulum mellis , as the old u rentals of chistlet manour in kent seem to term what some ancient accompt-rolls x of otteford and other manours call hunigaved , both one and t'other signifying rent-honey . item de weregavel vj. d. aliquando tamen plus , aliquando minus . thus in the y custumal of the canterbury cathedrals manour of leisdowne in the isle of shepey . it seems to be a rent paid in respect of wears or kiddels , to catch fish withall , pitch'd and plac'd by the sea-coasts , and , until magna charta forbade it , in some rivers too , whereof see further in sir hen. spelmans glossary , verbo kidellus ; and in sir edw. cokes institutes , part . pag. . and elswhere . in an z accompt-roll of the manour of reculver in kent , anno . edw. . this service , in the charge there , thus occurrs : idem respondet de & dimid . ped . clausur . hayag . fac . circa manerium , ex consuetudine , unde de twygavel . i meet with it elswhere also , but with explanation no where . taking liberty of conjecture , i conceive it to be some double kinde of service by the twy preposed , as elswhere twysket ( an imposition upon the tenants of aldington manour by romney mersh , for maintaining the sea-coasts there , and other like defences against inundations : ) is termed duplum , as thus : computus de duplo wallae , quod vocatur twysket . so the accompt-roll of that manour in the sixth year of st. edmunds archbishoprick . is termed of our learned glossarist , verb. berewica , by tributum hordeaceum : elswhere , viz. verb. gabella , by redditus hordeaceus . you shall finde in the th . of king ina's laws , in mr. lambards archaion . if it were not rent-barley , i should take it for the drincelean , occurring , as in the last chapter of the leges presbyterorum northumbrensium , in sir hen. spelmans councils , pag. . so also in the th of king cnutes laws in the archaion , and in this latter place rendred in the old version in brampton , ( just as oryncelan , mistaken for drincelan , in the old glossary at the end of hen. . laws ) by retributio potus . if so , it seems to be the same with what was afterwards called scot-ale , whereof you may read in matth. paris , the charter of the forest , bracton , the mirroir , and elswhere . king hen. . in his charter to the citizens of canterbury , acquits them of it : ita quod ( saith he ) vicecomes meus cantuar. vel aliquis alius ballivus scotalam non faciet . it 's sometimes called potura , and was a contribution by the men and tenants towards a potation , i. e. a drinking , or ( as some yet speak ) an ale , provided to entertain the lord or his bailiffe withall , coming to keep court , or the like , raised by a proportion or rate ( more or lesse ) according to the better or meaner condition . in an old a custumal of southmalling manour in sussex , in that part of it intituled , bortha de feld , i read as followeth : item si dominus archiepiscopus fecerit scotall . infra boscum , quilibet terram tenens dabit ibi pro se & uxore sua iij. ob . & vidua vel kotarius j. d. in the b extent of the manour of terring ( to give you another instance ) anno . edw. . this scotale service is thus remembred : lewes . memorandum quod praedicti tenentes debent de consuetudine inter eas facere scotalium de xvj . d. & ob . ita quod de singulis sex denar . detur j. d. ob . ad potandum bedello domini archiepiscopi super praedictum feodum . bracton saith , it is sometimes called filctale ( sol . . b. ) which our learned glossarist , in voce ; correcting , reads fildale , and is in some sort followed by sir edw. coke , institut . part . pag. . with the varia lectio before bracton , i should rather read it gildale , and then indeed , as it comes neerer the other scot-ale , so with that better answers to our present bere-gafol ; gild , gafol and scot , being as it were synonyma , and univocal . observed to be alwayes paid by the tenant per avail to the mesne lord , not to the chief , and thence called in some old records and deeds , foris-gabulum , quasi extra ( vel praeter ) gabulum quod domino capitali debetur : just like the french mans surcens . will you have an example ? john then the son of richard at horsfald , by his c deed , dated anno . gives to warin of stablegate , a parcel of land , to be holden to him and his heirs , or to whomsoever he shall give , sell , or assigne it , ( a clause without which , by the account of those elder times , land was not alienated from the proper d heirs : ) paying to the prior and covent of christ-church canterbury ( lords , it seems , of the fee ) certain annal rent and hens , and to the feossor and his heirs j. d. yearly , de forgabulo , &c. some other instances of this kind might be added , but i must contract , passing over metegavel , whereof mention is made in the old glossary , at the end of hen. . laws , and there in latine rendred cibi gablum . now a word or two of gavelet . this , i must tell you , was no rent or service , but betokeneth a rent or service with-held , denied or deteined , causing the tenements forfeiture to the lord ; whence those words of fleta , reciting the statute de gavelleto : et ex tunc vocentur tenementa illa ( not forschoke , as in tottells edition of the statute , followed by cowell in his interpreter , but ) forisfacta . see fleta , pag. . it is taken ( i confesse ) of some for a synonymy with gavelkynd , and to import land letten for rent , or the like ; and per me licet ; the acception shall passe for me , as warrantable enough from the latitude of the term ; but in the sence wherein the statute ( . edw. . ) and other ancient records ( all that i have ever view'd ) do take it up , it seems to carry no other meaning than the deteinment of rent or service , whence that of e sir edw. coke : gaveletum ( saith he ; i adventure to correct it so , as supposing it corruptly printed gavelletum ) is as much to say , as to cease , or let to pay the rent . breve de gavelleto in london est breve de cessavit in biennium , &c. pro redditu ibidem , quia tenementa fuerunt indistringibilia . thus he . in the kentish eyre of hervicres de stanton , recorded in a manuscript of st. austins at canterbury , among the pleas there concerning the abbat and covent , pag. . it occurrs thus : et postea per quandam consuetudinem quae vocatur gavelate usitatam in comitatu isto de terris & tenementis de gavelkinde , pro redditibus & servitiis quae à retro fuerint de eisdem per plures annos devenerunt eaedem terrae in manus cujusdam abbatis , &c. i have often met with the word in old accompts of the arch-bishops manours , from which i could present you with a cloud of instances , but for brevity sake , i shall trouble you but with one , and that taken from a f roll of ringemere in sussex , in edw. . time . item ( saith the roll ) de defectu redditus cujusdam curtilagii jacentis gavellate quod fuit aliciae hammerii , per annum in manu domini iiij . d. the sence , i trow , which i gave you of gavelet , is by this time sufficiently asserted , which , if compared with the term it self , will appear very natural , being derived and compounded of gavel and let , or late ; a word ( this latter ) fetch'd at first ( if i mistake not ) from the teutonick laeten , signifying , as we are taught by kilianus in his etymologick dictionary , linquere , relinquere , omittere , dimittere , just ( i take it ) as our old saxon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seems to do . the germans have it lassen , the french laisser , we at this day let. the termination is found in some other words now antiquated and obsolete as well as this : for example , in hereslit , which by the common opinion of expositours , sounds as much as armorum depositio , or exercitus desertio , coming from her , ( saith lindenbrog in his glossary ) exercitus , and lassen , deserere . sir hen. spelman ( i confesse ) as to this latter syllable , is of another mind , writing it slit , and slite , and construing it by fissura , diruptio , separatio , and so will have hereslit to signifie diruptionem exercitus . for my part , under favour , i conceive , that between the latter syllable in hereslit , and the latter syllables in laghslite , manslihte , theofslihte , and the like , there is this difference to be observed , that namely in the former , hereslit , the latter syllable is lit , ( the s . being here a note of the g genitive case , and perteining to the former syllable : ) signifying desertio , derelictio ; in the other , slihte , slyhte , or slite , betokening , ruptio , violatio , &c. as rent and service in general was understood by gable , gavel , &c. simply , and particular rents and services denoted by an application of it to particulars , as in the former compounds , so the man , the tenant that paid the one , and performed the other , was sutably called of old , as in the th . and th , of king ina's laws , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , more of late , gavelman : whence ( for example ) that passage in an h accompt-roll of terring manour in sussex , anno . edw. . et de iij. s. vj. d. de incremento redditus de simone theodulsi , de una virgata & dimid . cum uno messuagio in salwenton — traditis eidem simoni hoc anno in servitium de gavel-man , quantum gavelman debet de tanto tenemento . he was one of those ( i conceive ) that in a fore-cited extent of the same manour , are thus differenced and distinguished from other sorts of villeins : villani de terring qui vocantur gavelmanni . by an endorsement upon an old i custumal of charing manour , i find that otteford manour had its gavelmanni . and amongst the then tenants of charing manour , and the services charged upon them in that custumal , i read of some there termed in one place gavelikendeyes , in another gavelmanni . the term , i conceive , may properly be given and applied to our kentish tenants in gavelkynd . one thing more i have to note , before i leave gable , gavel , &c. viz. that where it comes into mention ( as it often doth , in the reddendum of deeds , or feoffments ) with mala , it there properly signifies , and is strictly to be taken for services or customes ; as on the other side , mala , there as properly betokens rent , or ferm , which being chiefly two-fold , was distinguished into white-rents ( redditus albi , blanc ferm ) and black-rents , ( redditus nigri , black maile : ) that , paid regularly in pecuniis , in silver , and therefore called white ; this , black , because , for the most part paid in pecude , or the like , say k some : if i might add an expression , i should rather in blado , or , if that be not full enough , in annona , comprehending all sorts of provision , wherewith the lords table was furnished , and himself and family fed . and consequently , where i meet with a tenant holding per gablum & malum , as there were many such of old , and i could instance in some , as in charing , monkton , reculver , broke , and other manours in kent , i should , if i were to play the expositour , render it per servitium & fermam , velredditum . the tenure continues to this day in scotland , whence they l conserve firmarius by a mail-payer , a mailer , or mailman . the word ( as i conceive ) is originally british , coming of their mael , which in the welsh vocab ▪ is in latine rendred luerum , emolumentum , quaestus , as maelio , the verb , lucrari , quaestum facere . the saxons used it in the same sence as with the latines , vectigal , stipendium ; whence this in the chronicle of abbingdon , anno ▪ m l. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . which the latine chronicle of flor. of worcester , and others give thus : . rex eadwardus absolvit anglos à gravi vectigali , &c. hence also thus in the same chro. mlv. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . . ( according to the same latine histories ) classis algari comitis leogecestram devecta , stipendium , quod eis promiserat , ibi expectavit . by this time , the reader is satisfied ( i hope ) touching the true construction of gavel , gafol , gable , or however else he shall chance to find it written , both as the word is taken simply , and as it is used besides in composition , in each importing cens , i. e. rent , either in money , provision , or works . and being thus far advanced in the dispatch of our positive proposition ( what is the true sence of gavelkynd ) i must now desire the reader , in the next place to observe and consider with me , that , as there are divers sorts of land to be found , both in this county and elswhere , by the nature of their tenure not censive , or censual , nor of the kind to pay or yeild gavel ( that is , such rent , or rent-service , whether in money , provision , or works , as ariseth from ignoble , base , and plebeian tenures , in which onely gavel is conversant ) to those of whom such lands are holden , those namely holden in alodio , in frankalmoigne , ( or mortmaine , as called m also abroad , because yeilding the lord no profit , as being in a dead hand ) in knights-service , in frank fee , and the like ; so is there also , such as that holden in socage , or burgage tenures , or the like , ( though free ) which contrariwise is censual , liable to rent , in some one or more of the kinds premised . to distinguish therefore , if not generally what land is , from what is not , of gafol gilden nature , or of the kind to yeild or pay cens , yet specially to put a difference between ( what alone is properly and anciently called n fee ) knight-service land and it , under which double head is comprised the generality of our whole countries lands , answering , as to that dichotomy of chivalry and socage tenures , whereunto all the land in england in the hands of common persons is o referred , so also to that known distinction of their lands in normandy ( from whence , as some p surmise , we received our gavelkynd , whereof more hereafter ) unto fief de haubert , and fief de roturier ( that is the noblemans fee , and the husbandman or ploughmans fee : ) for distinction sake , i say , of censual or rented land , or rent-service land , from what , like fee properly so called , being holden per liberum servitium armorum , yeilded no cens , rent , or service , whether in money , provision , or works ; the former of the twain was called gavelkynd , that is , ( as mr. lambard rightly in the second of his fore-mentioned conjectures ) of the kind , or nature to pay or yeild rent , or land holden , not properly in fee ; but as the feudists are wont in this case to distinguish contractu censuali , as being letten out with , or under condition , to pay cens or rent , or with a reservation of cens or rent , like unto those in the charters of the conquerour , and ( his son ) hen. . the one to battell , the other to reading abbeys , expresly called terrae censuales , and there opposed to fee , witnesse this provision occurring in each charter : terras censuales nec ad feudum donet , nec milites , nisi in sacra veste christi faciat , nec de possessionibus ecclesiae quisquam teneat aliquid feudaliter absolutum , sed ad censum annuum & servitium abbati & monachis debitum . see clement reyners apostolatus benedictinor ▪ in anglia , tract . . pag. , & . it is no simple word ( gavelkynd ) but a compound of gavel and kynd : the latter syllable whereof ( to proceed on to that ) cometh and is contracted of the saxon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a word frequently occurring in the saxon sermon set forth and published by mr. fox in his acts and monuments , and again of late by mr. lisle , as an appendix to another saxon piece , a treatise of the old and new testament ; in the version or translation of the word they both concur , rendring it in our modern english q nature . to give an instance or two : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , i. e. after true nature . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , i. e. it is naturally , and the like . i● will peradventure be objected , that mr. lambard , in his perambulation , pag. . meeting with the word several times in the saxon will of byrhtric of mepham , in this often repeated passage there : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , alwayes translates it , ( after the old latine version in textus roffensis ) within that kinred , and in a marginal note against it , calleth it , a kynd of gift in tayle . but , for reply , if i may have leave freely to deliver my sence , that version is not good : for , under favour , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there importeth not ( as that translation would ) kinred , but rather kynd , nature , sort , quality or condition , and consequently 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there , if rightly , is thus ( i take it ) and not otherwise , to be englished , viz in that kind , or , after that nature , or , upon the same terms , or , with the same condition , having relation ( if you mark it ) to the tie upon the next precedent legacies , gifts or devises of other land , charged either with alms , or with rent , in way of alms , payable thereout by the legataries or devisees , for the devisor or testator his souls health . had it been otherwise , ted books ) the following passage in a charter recorded in a lieger of the often alleaged cathedral at canterbury of certain land ( all which the party had ) in southwe●k , given to that church by norman le wautier , in the year of christ ▪ which thus speaketh : et quia praedicta terra de libero catallo , & proprio perquisito meo fuit , & non de aliqua hereditate parentum meorum , ideo de●minde & s. thomam martyrem , & sanctos cantuariensis ecclesiae , & conventum monachorum ejusdem , heredem ▪ u meum legitimum inscribo , & hac mea carta in perpetuum constituo . to which many more such like might easily be added from the same promptuarium . the f●udists in this case distinguish between feudum novum & antiquum , as may be seen in vulteius , de feudis , lib. . cap. . num . . in the next place , the reader may please to observe with me , that as x britton distinguisheth of a double tenure in mortmaine , the one called almoigne , or aumone , simply , the other frankalmoigne , describing the former to be a gift in alms , but not free alms , because ( saith he ) a certain service is reteined or reserved to the feoffor , cap. . fol. . ● . so this in hand is no alienation in frankalmoigne : the f●offers ( it seems ) not intending to give the land in that absolute manner ; but , in token of seigniory , to reserve something of service to themselves , phrase ▪ their gift , not in puram eleemosynam , or in liberam eleemosynam , ( one of which words , viz. either pura or libera , is ( some say , others say y both ) essential to the making it a tenure in frankalmoigne , and to the excusing it from service ) with which the next following words ( and to gavelkynd ) could not have consisted ; pure alms , or frankalmoigne , excluding the return of all but divine services and burthens ; they phrase it not therefore , i say , in puram , or liberam ele●mosynam , but onely in perpetuam ele●mosynam , and to gavelkynd ; by the former of these words , investing the hospital with an estate in perpetuity ; by the latter , and the reddendo following , saving and reserving to themselves a quit-rent , as it were , in signum dominii ; that is , they reserved to themselves the service , and granted to the hospital the usum fructum : or they granted the utile dominium to the hospital , and reserved the directum to themselves . so that whereas bracton and z others make mention of a tenure in feodo quoad servitia , & non in dominico , referring to the chief lord ; and of another in feodo & dominico , & non in servitio , relating to the free-holder , the former may here be referred to the feoffors , the latter to the feoffees in this deed . but this parergon . and now to wind up all ( concerning this first proposition ) and not to enlarge with any further instances ( wherein i might be infinite ) for asserting this truth of our gavelkynds derivation : gavelkynd , we see , is the lands right name , whose etymologie was never wrested to gife-eal-cyn , whose signification of censual , rented , land , or rent-service land , was never questioned till that within our fathers memories , one and all , by a kind of errour , jure veluti successionis , transmitted to them , run a head in a wrong and mistaken derivation . proposition ii. the nature of gavelkynd-land in point of partition . disallowing then gavelkynd ( as to the name of it ) to be derivative from partition , our next enquiry shall be , if ( on the contrary ) partition ow it self to gavelkynd , or to what other cause . before i further enter into which research , or offer any resolution to the quaere , give me leave to preface it with certain rules , grounds and principles , in this case fit to be premised . you are then desired to take notice , that here in england , we acknowledge no land ( no inheritance ) partible or divisible , but what is so either ( first by law , as in the case of females , succeeding for lack of males , whether in knight-service land or socage , which in this point differ not , or what ( secondly ) is so by custome , as in our present case of gavelkynd , and such like ? no parceners of land ( i say ) in point of inheritance or succession , but either according to the course of the common law , or by custome , as termed by littleton , and our more modern books , the same in effect with what of elder time , in bractons a language , are called , ratione personarum , ratione rei vel terrae . in the next place , let me adjoyn what in this point of partition is delivered by those two ancient and famous sages of our law , glanvill , and bracton , whereof the former b speaketh thus : cum quis ergo hereditatem habens moriatur , si unicum filium heredem habuerit , indistinctè verum est , quod filius ille patri suo succedit in toto . si plures reliquerit fili●s , tunc distinguitur utrum ille fuerit miles , sive per feodum militare tenens , aut liber sokemannus : quia si miles fuerit vel per militiam tenens , secundùm jus regni angliae primogenitus filius patri succedit in totum , ita quod nullus fratrum suorum partem inde de jure petere potest . si verò fuerit liber sokemannus , tunc quidem dividetur hereditas inter omnes filios quotquot sunt per partes aequales ▪ c si fuerit socagium , & id antiquitus divisum : salvo tamen capitali messuagio primogenito filio pro dignit●te a●sneciae suae ; ita tamen quod in aliis rebus satisfaci●t aliis ad valentiam . si vero non fuerit antiquitus divisum , tunc primo ▪ genitus , secundum quorundam consuetudinem , totam hereditatem obtinebit ; secundùm autem quorundam consuetudinem , postnatus filius heres est . item si filiam tantùm unam reliquerit quis heredem , tunc id obtinet indistinctè quod ●e filio dictum est . sin autem plures filias , tunc quidem indistinctè inter ipsas dividetur hereditas , sive fuerit miles , sive sokemannus pater earum , salvo tamen primogenitae filiae capitali messuagio sub formâ praescript● , &c. thus glanvill , harmoniously followed , and almost verbatim of d bracton , whose words on this argument are these : si liber sockmannus moriatur pluribus relictis haeredibus , & participibus , si haereditas partibilis ●it & ab antiquo divisa , haeredes ( quotquot erunt ) habeant partes suas aequales , & si unicum fuerit messuagium , illud integre remaneat primogenito , ita tamen quod alii habeant ad valentiam de communi . si autem non fuerit hereditas divisa ab antiquo , tunc tota remaneat primogenito . si autem fuerit sockagium villanum , tunc consuetudo loci erit observanda . est enim consuetudo in quibusdam partibus , quod postnatus praefertur primogenito , & è contrario , &c. hereunto let me subjoyn in the third and last place , that common principle amongst us , and obvious in our books , viz. that prescription in gavelkynd-land , as it is not e needful , so neither is it good . the reason is , whereof i pray take notice with me , that ( as mr. lambard hath it ) the custom of gavelkynd is general , spreading it self throughcut the whole shire , into all lands subject by ancient tenure unto the same , such places onely excepted , where it is altered by act of parliament , and therefore . edw. . . and . hen. . . it is said , that the custome of gavelkynd is ( as it were ) a common law in kent . having thus premised , i shall now make it my endeavour to shape such a resolution or answer to the propounded quaere , as may consist with these principles . and briefly , my answer here is negative , viz. that partition doth not owe it self barely to gavelkynd , either ex vi termini , by reason or force of that denomination , or ratione rei , from the nature or condition of the land ; that property alone of the lands being gavelkynd , or so called , not sufficing to render it partible . first , as for the name , the term , that that will in no wise bear it , is ( i conceive ) a thing sufficiently cleared in our discourse upon the first proposition , wherein the term is vindicated from that mistaken construction , by the errour of latter times obtruded on it , nor can such a derivation any way consist with the premised principles , partition in gavelkynd-land , from the term or denomination of it , being reducible to none of the there assigned causes of partition . as inconsistent also with those causes and grounds of partition ( that dichotomy or bipartite distinction of partible land into , that by law , and that by custome ) is the attributing that property of partition in gavelkynd , to the nature or condition of the land , there being no mention of any such third sort of partible land to be found in our books . if it be replied , yes surely ; for bracton is expresse for a partition ratione re● vel terrae , in the places above quoted , that especially where he saith ( as fol. . a. ) sicut de gavelkind , vel alibi ubi terra partibilis est ratione terrae . such indeed are his words , and withall 't is not to be denied , that such is the nature and condition of gavelkynd-land , being not onely subject and liable to what the civilians in their phrase are wont to call , judicium , or actio familiae herciscundae ; de communi f dividundo , the feudists , adaequatio , paragium , we in our language term it coparce●ary , land-shifting , and the like ; but withall so subject to it , as that partition doth alwayes accompany land of that nature ▪ and is indeed as inseparable from it as the contrary from knight-service land . whence then is it ? before i answer , observe first with me for an answer to these passages in bracton , that as before each of them , in one g place , we have his si haere●itas partibilis sit , & ab antiquo divisa , so likewise after them , in another h place , his tenementum partibile inter plures cohaeredes — & sempe● solet dividi ab antiquo . whereby ( conferring place with place , for reconciling bracton to himself ) we may plainly understand what is meant by those two me●ne or intervening passages in bracton , namely , that not the bare nature of the land , but ancient customes joyn● concurrence with it , is intended , and of him implied in each place , though not expressed , to render the land or inheritance partible . the like help , under favour , must be allowed glanvill , to reconcile his , sciendum autem quod si quis liberum habens socagium plures habuerit filios qui omnes ad hereditatem equaliter pro equalibus proportionibus sunt admittendi , lib. . cap. . fol. . a. to his , si vero fuerit liber sokemannus , tunc quidem dividetur hereditas inter omnes filios , quotquot sunt per partes equales , si fuerit socagium & id antiquitus divisum , eod . lib. cap. . fol. . a. briefly , were it so that gavelkind-land were partible by vertue either of the name or nature of it , without accession and concurrence of custome , then all lands as soon as granted out in gavelkynd , whereof examples are obvious , and till the i statute of quia emptores terrarum , frequent , were ipso facto partible , contrary to that common and received ground , whereof before , that none are such , i. e. partible with us , ( except that descending for want of males to females ) but what are so by custome . as then not to the name , so neither to the nature of gavelkynd-land alone , is such partition owing . and is it then to custome or prescription ? for the latter , 't is clearly repugnant to what is before laid down by way of grounds or principles , it being a known rule in our law , and obvious in our books , that prescription in our kentish gavelkynd , as it is not wanted , so neither is it admitted to come in plea. what say we then to custome ? surely , since neither to the name or nature of the land , nor to prescription , nor yet ( neither ) to the common law so diametrically opposite to it ; to that , i mean to custome , it is , or i know not else to what , that this partition mainly owes it self . agreeable whereto is that of k mr. lambard , where he saith , that no gavelkynd partition could be challenged , but onely where the custome of division had prevailed , and that , gavelkynd was not tried by the manner of the socage services , but onely by the touch of some former partition . but if so , then an objection here meets us resolved into a question thus , what shall then be said to gavelkynd land of novel tenure , upon the grant of lands , ●ill then happily holden in demesne , to one or more persons in gavelkynd , as was usual before that statute of quia emptores terrarum , and until when a man might create in his land what tenure he pleased , granting out ( as l bracton hath it ) in socage , what he held in knight-service , and è converso ? what , i say , shall we resolve concerning the point of partition here ? since no particular custome or usage of partition had ever took place , to give to such division either foundation or precedent . we are here ( me thinks ) threatned with a dilemma : for either the land was not partible , and why then called gavelkynd ? or , if partible , yet not by custome , being but newly turn'd from some other ▪ tenure into gavelkynd , and wanting both time and ( the daughter of it ) usage , ( the m essentials of a custome ) to render it partible that way . here then is work for an oedipus , but the resolution of the main doubt , to which i will now more closely apply my stile , will at once clear both . truth is then , that 't is neither from custome alone , nor yet from the nature of gavelkynd-land alone , that this partition springs , but partly from the one , partly from the other , and so from both together . it must be granted that gavelkynd land , ex sui naturâ , is partible thus far , and in this sence , that by an inherent quality , it is capable of partition by custome ; that indeed may and doth render it partible , as knight-service land properly it cannot , by reason of a repugnancie thereto in the nature thereof : but in this respect it differs not from socage land in general , which by the nature of it , is capable of partition , and by custome may be , and in many places extra cantium is partible , where the plea ( i take it ) ought to run , quod terra illa à toto tempore , &c. partibilis fuit , & partita , agreeable with that of glanvill , si fuerit socagium , & id antiquitùs divisum , which bracton seemeth somewhat more fully to explain by his , si haereditas partibilis sit , & ab antiquo divisa . now then , reddendo singula singulis , that such land is partibilis , i ▪ e. partible , ( the former part of plea ) is , in kent , from gavelkynd , elswhere , ( in particular manours at least ) from socage ; that it is , or rather was antiquitùs partita , i. e. anciently parted ( the pleas latter part ) is from custome or prescription : partition in the mean while in our gavelkynd , being but a single property or branch thereof induced by custome ; the term in its full latitude comprehending all other properties accompanying land of that nature and tenure , such as dower of the moyety , suffering for felony without forfeiture of estate , and the rest conteined in the kentish custumal , as properly depending of gavelkynd as partition doth , and in respect whereof the land may as well be called gavelkynd , as because of partition . but admitting socage-land to be generally , by the nature of it , consuetudine mediante , capable of partition , as well a gavelkynd , how comes it then to passe ( will some say ) that this partition-property is more appropriate to it than socage-land in general , and that they so much differ in their terms ? from the agreement of the kentish-men with the conquerour , ●aith the common opinion . i shall answer that anon . in the mean time , said we not but now , that custome is the thing whereto we ow this partition ? and if so , why then seek we any further after its original ? customes , we know , cease to be customes , when once they can be traced to their first beginnings , it being the main essential part of a custome to be of an unknown rise . but be it so , that custome carries such a stroke here , what kind of custome is it , or how shall we find such a custome for it , as may consist with gavelkynd-land of novel tenure , whereof before so often ? hic la●or , hoc opus est , here 's the point indeed . why , in short it is no other than a custome generally spreading it self throughout the whole countrey in land of that nature . what elswhere , i mean in other shires and counties , they properly call by the name of socage , whether free or base , we here in kent are wont to call by the name of gavelkynd : or if you please ( in n mr. lambards expression ) all socage ▪ service here properly so called , is clothed with the apparel of gavelkynd , and under it , in a large acception , is understood all such land within the county , as is not knights-fee , or knights-service land , the term serving here , as that of socage elswhere , to contradistinguish i● from knight-service land , as fief roturier , or rather ●nheritence roturier ( all other being improperly and corruptly called fief , or fee , that is not holden militiae gratiâ , the ground of all o fees ) is used in normandy to difference that from fief de haubert , or noble fief . now into all land of this kind , by a general or universal custome of the whole county , hath this property of partition been introduced ; insomuch , as what land was granted out in gavelkynd , by such as before held it in d●mesne or the like ; as , for want of time and usage , it had no particular custome introductive of that property of partition , so neither did it want the same , the generality of the custome extending it self to all censual land , or land letten out for cens , and sufficing to render it partible , as occasion should be offered , though but newly dimised . to this purpose p mr. lambard : although ( saith he ) i● were so that the land were never departed in deed , yet if it remain partible in nature , it may be departed whensoever occasion shall be ministred . granted out , i say , and holden in terms for cens , conceiving a necessity of that or the like expression in the habend●m , or other part of the grant , to make it capable of this and the other properties incident to gavelkynd , not intending here the very numerical word or term ( gavelkynd ) but that or some other of equivalent sence and signification with it , for example , reddendo such or such a sum de gablo , de censu , and the like ( whereof , for illustration sake , expect some copies of old grants in the q appendix to this discourse . ) these indeed , & such as these , were the more usual expressions in elder grants , that of tenendum in gavelkynd , & the like , being sought of me in vain before h. . dayes , nor afore-time doth the term occurr in any writing or monument whatsoever , save onely in this passage in spot ( st. austins monk and chronicler at canterbury ) who ●aith , that anno . ( abbas ) tradidit terram de dene in gavelkende blakemanno & athelredo ●iliis brithm●●i . but from hen. . dayes downwards , it is obvious in many grants of land recorded and extant in the liegers of christ-church canterbury , the la●e abbey of st. austins there , and many other of the kentish religious houses , until about the time of that r s●at●te , quia emptores terrarum , which forbidding the letting out of land by any man to be holden of himself , and consequently cutting off all new tenures , and the creation thereof , stopped the current of all such grants of land in gavelkynd for the future . that such an expression , as tenendum in ( or ad ) gavelkynd , or the like , was necessary to render the granted land partible , after the custome of gavelkynd , without the help of prescription requisite in partible land elswhere out of kent , may in part appear by a record of a controversie happening now full years agone , between one burga , sometime the wife of peter de bending plaintiffe , and the prior and covent of christ-church canterbury , deforciant or defendant , touching the moiety of the manor of well , by them granted to her said husband ad feodi firmam , challenged by her ſ tanquam francus bancus suus , which controversie was debated and decided in eire , and is recorded in the liegers of that church , from whence i shall present the reader with a copy of it , not unworthy his perusal in the fore-remembred appendix , scriptura . neverthelesse , it will here i think be necessary , that we distinguish times : for what at first in kent was only partible , because of the tenure in gavelkynd , i perswade my self was afterwards , in tract of time , partible , and did communicate with gavelkynd-land in that property , by being socage land , though not expressely holden in gavelkynd , it sufficing at length to shew ( as t mr. lambard hath it ) the custome at large , and to say , that the land lieth in kent , and that all the lands there be of the nature of gavelkynd . by what means this was wrought , or by what degrees our socage land arrived at this universality of partiblenesse , is not so easily discovered ▪ that the sundry favours of gavelkynd ▪ custome should iutice many to creep into it , and by one and one ( upon occasion of the intestine troubles that ensued the deprivation of king richard the second ) to shroud and cover themselves under the safety and shadow of the priviledges that do wait upon it ; is an opinion of some , whereunto i cannot subscribe , as conceiving no tenures in gavelkynd to be so late as rich . dayes , which this opinion would infer ; with what consistencie with the u statute of quia emptores terrarum , made so long before , and prohibiting the creation of new tenures , i cannot see . but to let the manner passe , the thing ( the over-spreading the countrey in processe of time with this tenure ) is very obvious and apparent , witnesse an ancient statute ( made anno . hen. . cap. ) taking knowledge , that there were not at that day within the shire above xl . persons , which had lands to the yearly value of xx . pounds , without the tenure of gavelkynde ; and the greater part of this county , or well nigh all , was then within this tenure . to proceed , ascribing this property of partition in gavelkynd-land to the custome of the countrey , what shall be said then to the partible land ( more or lesse ) abroad in other counties ● is such gavelkynd-land , and so to be called , or not ? or is it from gavelkynd that such partition there obteins ? i conceive not . for first , our kentish gavelkynd custome , considered collectively , with respect to all its branches , is not to be restrained to this one particular property , but ( as before is intimated ) consists of many other as singular properties besides , and which may as well challenge a share and right in the customes name , as may that of partition , such as is dower of the moyety , not to forfeit lands for felony , and the like ; and though in point of partition it may be like ours in kent , yet in other properties incident to our gavelkynd , it might , and no doubt but doth differ from it . besides , that such partible land elswhere should be called gavelkynd , will not stand with out premised grounds , excluding ▪ prescription in gavelkynd land , whereas in such places abroad , though haply not in whole counties , yet in particular manours , i conceive it 's necessary , even in their gavellonds , whereof i find mention made in several manours out of kent , as some in kent , to shew , quod terra illa à toto tempore , &c. partibilis fuit & partita , the accustomable actual partition of it being there as necessary to be pleaded and proved , as its capability of such a property . add hereunto , that if all partible land were gavelkynd ( rendred such by partition alone ) then were x bractons , sicut de gavelkynd vel alibi ubi terra est partibilis ratione terrae , an improper expression . we are told that this custome of gavelkynd partition takes place , ( hath done at least ) in other countries , or counties besides kent , and littleton instanceth in north-wales . but what custome , i pray ? a custome indeed , like to that in the scottish y socage land , of partition ; that 's true , and testimonies of it are obvious , such as , besides that of littleton , statutum walliae , the welch history , and some acts of z parliament . but still , i say , no gavelkynd-custome , taken in its true , plenary and compleat acception , comprising all the properties of it obvious in the custumal . as then for other countrey-mens communicating with us of kent in the tenure , i conceive it first came up , by way of imitation of our example , in ireland especially , and amongst the welch-men , in whose vocabulary or dictionary the word is sought in vain , as it is also in that old statute which concerns them , ( statutum walliae . ) where though mention may be found of a custome there obteining of partition of their lands , like to that of our kentish gavelkynd , yet without any one word of gavelkynd . and if perhaps it may be found in their deeds , charters , or other records , yet ( as one a saith in a case not much unlike conditioned to this of ours , whose words with very little variation i shall therefore take up here : ) suspicari licet hanc vo●em pluribus illorum chartis actisque publicis , n●n tam illorum quàm pragmaticorum usu ac instituto invectam . i. e. 't is to be suspected that it had its imposition , and was first transmitted hither by our lawyers , who borrowed the term to make use of it for illustration sake , like as of late ( i am perswaded ) the parliament did in that stat. . hen. cap. . where the term of gavelkynd haply is but borrowed , to help describe and illustrate that partible quality there mentioned of the lands in wales , which i am the more induced to conceive , because in a former statute concerning wales , namely that of the th of the same king , cap. . making mention of this partition , gavelkynd is not at all remembred . in imitation then ( as i conceive ) of the kentish-men , the generality of whose partible land of long time hath notoriously been known by that title , and whose lands alone of all the counties of england at this day be of the nature of gavelkynd of common b right , this name or term of gavelkynd in lands elswhere of like condition in matter of descent , hath been taken up and is reteined . by that which hath been said , i may be thought to incline to their opinion , who hold that socage and gavelkynd are synonyma , terms identical , and of one and the same signification here in kent , and that consequently what land here is of gavelkynd-nature , is of socage-tenure ; as on the other side , what land is of socage-tenure is of gavelkynd-nature . i answer , no : for i require in this case , i mean to make socage land here in kent ipso facto partible , after the custome of gavelkynd , that it be granted out and holden in gavelkynd c expressely , or in terms equivalent , as i said before , yet with that distinction oftimes wherewith i there qualified it . notwithstanding , i am not of their mind , who distinguishing between free and base socage in kent , make the natures of their descents divers ; the free socage ( say they ) descending to the eldest alone , the base falling in division between him and all his brethren . thus d mr. lambard in the person of others ; to help justifie whose distinction , with the inference upon it , he there exhibits an inquisition taken after the death of one walter culpepper , making mention of divers parcels of land and annual rents holden by the deceased at his death , some in liberum feodum , others in gavelkynd ; the former of which , by the verdict of the jury , was to go to the deceaseds eldest son e alone ; the latter , in common amongst him and the rest of his brethren . thus the inquisition , which ( as mr. lambard there follows it ) cleerly distinguisheth free socage from the gavelkynd , interpreting , it seems , liberum feodum there by free socage , and it may be rightly ; however i crave leave of dissent , and ( as it is but fit ) shall give my reasons : for my part , i never found free socage any where expressed by that term , or in latine rendred liberum feodum , nor perhaps to those of more diligence , and more conversant with our law-records than my self , hath it ever occurred under that notion . nor have i met with any free socage , as this here , not subject to the rendring of some kind of service , either in denari●s , or otherwise . by liberum feodum , i understand sometime feodum militare , which is often in old records called liberum feodum . in a very ancient f rental of southmalling manour in sussex , we have this title : liberi feodi , and under it : godefridus walensis tenet feodos milit . in tenemento de malling , & quartam partem unius feodi apud terring per liberum servitium armorum suorum . willmus de bransa tenuit apud adburton unum feodum militis , per liberum servitium armorum suorum . and so some others . apposite here is that of g bracton : notandum ( saith he ) quod in servitio militari non dicitur per liberum servitium , & ideo quiaconstat , quod feodum tale liberum est , &c. sometime also by liberum feodum , i understand ( what i conceive it doth principally denote unto us ) frank fee , that is , by the feudists definition , such pr● qu● nullum omnin● servitium h praestatur , and therefore is of them reckoned inter feudastra , or feuda impropria . and such as this seemeth to be meant by liberum fe●dum in that inquisition , because it is there in terminis expressed to be holden ( just after the manner of frank fee , by the precedent definition of it ) absque aliquo servitio inde faciendo . and if frank fee , then in probability not socage : for as all the land in the realm ( say our books ) is either ancient demesne , or frank fee , so none ( say they ) is to be accounted ancient demesne , but such as is holden in i socage . frank fee then being opposed to ancient demesne , which is socage , cannot it self be socage . nor will bractons distinction of socage into liberum and villanum , applied to that difference in mr. lambard , of free and base socage , by which the one should consist of money , and the other of base services , be warranted ( as himself there observes ) from the ensuing inquisition , some lands being therein denoted to be of gavelkynd-nature , which neverthelesse do yeild none other but money alone , and none there of that nature charged with works , besides that of suit of court , improperly called works , as not coming under the notion either of manuopera , or carropera , to which double head all works of this kind are wont to be referred . hence let none perswade themselves , that gavelkynd-land was not , or by its nature is not liable to works : for albeit that . of king ina's laws in the archaion , seemeth to counter-distinguish gaf●l , and w●rk ; and though moreover gafolland and werkland occurr in some manours out of kent , as of a distinct and different nature , ( yet both servile , and opposed to what there is called terra libera , denoting , i suppose , free socage ) yet most certain it is , that both gablum and opera do often meet , and are found in gavelkynd-land . witnesse the old custumal of monkton manour in thanet , belonging to the church of canterbury , mentioning the particulars of what servile works the tenants there stood charged with for the swolings ( so many plough-lands , i take k it ) holden of the monks in gavelkynd . witnesse also this passage in king johns charter made to hubert the archbishop , for the changing gavelkynd-land into knights-fee , at large exemplified by mr. lambard , peramb . pag. . xenia , averagia , & alia opera quae fiebant de terris iisdem convertantur in redditum denariorum aequivalentur . witnesse in the third and last place ( not to multiply instances in a case so cleer ) an inquisition found after the death of isabella de monte alto , widow , sometime of orpington , recorded in a lieger of that cathedral , whereof expect a copy in the appendix , scriptura . 't is true indeed at this day , and time out of mind ( haply from richard the seconds l time ) such servile works ( properly called villein-services ) have been , as they still are , intermitted , or rather quite ceased ; insomuch as all our gavelkynd-land , in point of service , now differs nothing from free socage , as it stands described and defined of bracton ; being such ubi fit servitium in denariis , ( to use his own words ) all the tenants burthen , his whole service , being onely servitium crumenae , pecuniary , such as payment of money for rent , suit of court , and such like ; nay , in many grants of land in gavelkynd that i have seen , i find no tie at all upon the tenant , no covenant or contract between his lord and him , to require of him any such base services , there being ut communiter , and regularly , a reservation onely of rent in money , suit to his court , or the like : yet i must tell you ( as a reason hereof , in my judgement ) that , though gavelkynd , in the genuine sence , sound land letten for gable , cens , or rent , consisting chiefly in denariis , ( whence in an old m custumal of eastry manour in kent , i read : in eodem manerio mutati sunt octo cotarii pro gavelkende . medlef●rm tenet unum messuagium , tres acras , quae solent esse cotar . modo reddit xl . d. de gablo , and so divers more , which haply will be better understood , if i add what occurrs in an old accompt-roll of the archbishops manours for the year . in charing bailives receipt : et de xiij . s. iiij . d. de fine cotariorum , ut coteriae suae ponerentur ad redditum : ) yet commonly upon such grants in gavelkynd , the tenant pare●d with such a sum of money to his lord , in gersumam , i. e. in consideration of that grant , and by way of fine , as may seem equivalent to the base services otherwise imposeable and to have been charged upon that land , and upon the tenant in respect thereof ; or if not , probably , ( as in gavelkynd-land , by vertue of king johns fore-mentioned charter , turned into knights-fee ) he had his rent inhanced and augmented to an equivalent value of his services to be redeemed ; the cause in chief of the excuse of gavelkynd-men from base services of latter times , and at this day , being ( i conceive ) no other than the tenants buying them out , and consequently the change of the same ( as littleton hath it of socage in general ) into money , by the mutual consent of lord and tenant , whereof expect some examples to be presented in the appendix , scriptur . , and . in the mean time have here an instance or two taken from some old accompt-rolls of the archbishops manours of this and that summe paid & received for enfranchising the land from customes and services , and changing it into knights-fee , whereof in the last-remembred accompt-roll , and in the receipt of ce●ring ( now called charing ) manour there : et de ij . s. ix . d. ob . de incremento redditus thomae de bernfeuld de termino sancti johannis , ut terra sua de caetero sit libera de consuetudinibus per feodum militis . et de xiiij . d. quad . de incremento redditus thomae de bending , ut terra sua sit libera per feodum militis , de termino s. johannis . and so some others there , as also in maidstone and other archiepiscopal manours , and such may well be reckoned among lands of that sort , which in a copy of the book of aid , cited by n mr lambard , are noted to be holden in knights-service , per novam licentiam archiepiscopi . but to return to our gavelkynd , which if not extensive to free socage , they may seem to stand in need at this day of some other character ( to keep them unconfounded ) than bracton in the definition and description of the latter doth propose , in regard the service of both equally consisteth in money . to recapitulate now what hath been delivered concerning partition in kentish gavelkynd-land : it is ( as hath been shewed ) neither from the name , nor from the nature of the land alone , nor from prescription , nor yet from any particular custome , that this property there proceedeth ; but partly from the nature of the land , and partly from custome , not ( i say ) a particular one , but a general custome extended throughout the whole county in censual land , or land letten for cens , or ( what is all one with it ) gavel , or gafol , to say , holden in f●ef ( or inheritance ) roturier , as called in normandy , and other parts of france ; the antiquity whereof , and how beginning in kent , and why more general there than elswhere , shall be the argument of our next discourse . proposition iii. the antiquity of gavelkynd-custome , ( in point especially of partition ) and why more general in kent than elswhere . master lambard o inclines in his opinion to conceive this custome brought hither out of normandy by odo ( earl of kent , and bastard brother to king william the conquerour ) and that we received it thence by his delivery ; an opinion inconsistent with the custumal it self of his own edition , the very close whereof ( if it may be credited ) layeth challenge to the custome before the conquest . for my part i conceive it may carry an antiquity far greater than the time of the norman conquest , being probably as old ( in the name i mean , i will not say in all the properties of it , though happily i may in point of partition ) as gafolland it self , from which ( if considered in the term ) it as little differs in sence as in syllables ; to what our saxon ancestours called gafolland , their successours , and we at this day ( for a fuller expression of the nature of it ) having added one syllable , and so calling it gavelkynd-land . yet i would not be thought of his p opinion , who would bear the world in hand , that the commons of kent continue their priviledges by means of a composition entred with the conquerour at swanscomb . no , under favour , we ow them not to that , or any other such like specious stratagem , nor are beholding either to stigand the archbishop , or egelsine the abbats policie to contrive , or to their and our countrey-mens valour to compasse , their continuance for us in such a way . i am not so prodigal of my historical faith , as to cast or squander it away upon commentitious fables : for i account this no better , however swallowed of the vulgar , whom i dare not to encounter in any dispute about it , as despairing of successe , though using never so effectual convincing arguments to dis-ingage them in the belief of it ; and therefore appealing from them , i shall apply my self to the more literate and judicious , by intendment not so tenacious of a specious tradition , but that they can with patience both hear it questioned , and , if occasion be , refuted ; not unwilling to desert it , if , upon trial , it may prove unsound and spurious , and accounting it as thank-worthy to discover an old errour , as to deliver a new truth , especially since truth is not more often , nor more easily , lost by too much altercation , than errour is contracted and continued by too little . i will not undertake , nor do i mean to make it my task here , to shew how it came to passe , that gavelkynd is in a manner proper , and villenage improper onely to kent , no other county partaking with it , either in that degree of commonnesse and universality wherewith kent is overspread of the former , or in the immunity it enjoyes from the latter ; the finding out the true cause whereof hath not escap'd my diligence , although my skill i confesse it hath . but , be that as it will , and albeit i cannot in the affirmative shew what was , yet in the negative , that this was not the means whereto we ow the continuance of our gavelkynd-customes at and since the conquest , shall be my next assay to prove , and that by shewing what more than suspition of errour this monkish relation ( for such it is ) deserveth to fall under with men of unbiassed and dis-ingaged judgements . but first , will it please you to hear the story it self , as it is already englished by the illustrious authour of the illustrations upon the poly-olbion , pag. . who there suspects the same as not of clear credit . when the norman conquerour had the day , he took his journey towards dover castle , that he might with the same subdue kent also ; wherefore stigand archbishop , and egelsin abbat , as the chief of that shire , observing that now whereas heretofore no villeins had been in england , they should be now all in bondage to the normans , they assembled all the county , and shewed the imminent dangers , the insolence of the normans , and the hard condition of villenage : they resolving all rather to die , than lose their freedome , purpose to encounter with the duke for their countries liberties . their captains are the arch-bishop and the abbat . upon an appointed day they meet all at swanescomb , and harbouring themselves in the woods , with q boughs in every mans hand , they incompasse his way . the next day the duke coming by swanescomb , seemed to see with amazement , as it were a wood approaching towards him , the kentish men at the sound of a trumpet take themselves to arms , when presently the archbishop and abbat were sent to the duke , and saluted him with these words : behold , sir duke , the kentish men come to meet you , willing to receive you as their leige lord , upon that condition , that they may for ever enjoy their ancient liberties and laws used among their ancestours , otherwise presently offering war ; being ready rather to die , than undergo a yoke of bondage , and lose their ancient laws . the norman in this narrow pinch , not so willingly as wisely , granted the desire : and hostages given on both sides , the kentish men direct the normans to rochester , and deliver them the county , and the castle of dover . thus spot , st. austins chronicler at canterbury , living under edw. . he , i say , and onely he , and such others as of latter times write after his copy : for before him , and in that interim of more than years , between the conquest and the time he wrote , no published story , no chronicle , no record of any kind , kentish or other , may be found to warrant the r relation ; a matter the whilest so remarkable , as , if true , not likely to escape all our historians pens that were before him , those especially about the conquest . amongst which ſ ingulphus silence is the more remarkable , since he is so particular and punctual in relating and recounting the conquerours oppugners , and their proceedings . when afterwards rochester castle , kept by odo the conquerours brother , against william rufus in the year , was by him besieged ( a thing of as small moment at least as this ) why , all the stories with one consent were full of it , particularly malmesbury and paris ( amongst other occurrences ) tell of a much declined nick-name , wherewith those were threatned that should refuse to come to the kings assistance in that action , which the former hath nidering , the latter , nithing , quod latinè nequam sonat , say both , and rightly , if it come , as i conceive it may , from the saxon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , i. e. nequitia , malitia , as it is in several places found in their t psalter ; a nick-name this , of such infamy , as fastened upon the most detestable and barbarous villeins , such as were guilty of despoiling and rifling the dead , which the . of hen. . laws calleth weilreif , a term ( identical , i take it , with walaraupa in the legis boîor . tit . . cap. . parag . . ) which textus roffensis thus illustrates in a place : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . i. e. ( according to the latine version in jornalensis , where this law occurrs , as the ●th of those of king ethelred , at vaneting : ) wealreaf . . mortuum refare est opus nithingi : si quis hoc negare velit , faciat cum xlviij . thaynis plenè nobilibus . this ( of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) is that surely which the old glossary ( new set forth ) at the end of hen. . afore-said laws , harps upon , in the word refare , and is there glossed by opus nithingi , as also in the word wealreaf . but to return to our story , that i mean of the siege laid to rochester-castle , which though of as small , if not lesse , concernment than the other here in question , could find many chroniclers to record it , and must this needs escape them all , till spot had got it by the end ? besides , observe with me ( what mr. selden there , and mr. lambard before him both note ) his commixture of u a falsity about villenage , affirming it was not in england before that time , which is apparently false by choice of testimonies , both from our laws and other saxon monuments , so obvious as i will spare to repeat them , setting that aside until i have dispatched the main matter of the story , the composition , i mean , between the conquerour and the men of kent , with the occasion of it , which as it wants the warrant of confirmation by other elder historians , not onely silent of it , but agreeing in asserting an universal conquest , so in ●lat contradiction of it , we find cleer testimony in florentius wigorniensis and roger hoveden , of our counties fellow-suffering with her neer and more remote neighbours of sussex , surrey , hampshire , middlesex , &c. in the devastations , depredations , and other miseries of a countrey invaded , subdued , and ( at least in some parts ) harried by the norman conquerour , immediately upon that signal victory of his over the english , at the place where afterwards he founded that abbey , from the battel there fought , called battel-abbey in sussex . you shall have my authours own words : interea ( say they , x having but newly told the story of that fatal battel : ) comes gulielmus suthsaxoniam , cantiam , suthamtunensem provinciam , suthregiam , middelsaxoniam , herefordensem provinciam devastabat , & villas cr●mare , hominesque interficere non cessabat , donec ad villam quae beorcham nominatur , veniret : &c. to this let me add a passage from the story of the same spot , where , after mention made of an annuity , or rent-charge given to his abbey , by one sulburga , the lady of brabourne , about the year , he subjoyns this : istum redditum ( saith he ) & jugum terrae apud horton , & terram de hengestehell juxta wivelesburgum , hugo de monford abstulit , cui & episcopo baiocensi willi●lmus bastardus fere omnes terras cantiae contulit , contradicentibus monachis , sed minimè praevalentibus . now if the conquerour seized almost all the kentish lands , and gave them to his brother , the bishop y of bayeux , and hugh monfort , ( as you may find further verified by domesday book , with cleer evidence of the like distribution generally throughout the kingdome , whence that of z inguiphus : deinceps ergo comitatus & baronias , episcopatus & praelatias totius terrae suis normannis rex distribuit , & vix aliquem anglicum ad honoris statum , vel alicujus dominii principatum , ascendere permisit : ) how is it likely that kent should escape or speed so well , as by that specious story of the swanescomb encounter and accord , the monk would bear the world in hand ? truth is , by the way , the harpies of those rapacious times ( the conquerours kinsmen and countrey-men ) laid about them notably for the fattest morsels they could find in most places , out of church-lands a especially : ( tempore autem praedicto normannorum , quo dux willmus cum suis armatis copiis angliam intravit , vastavit , penitùs & subegit , omnia in praedam data sunt , &c. quoth gervase the monk of canterbury ) and what with force on the one hand ; and flattery on the other , obteined so many , as at length the pressure gave occasion to the religious of those times for a general complaint thereof unto the conquerour , with petition for redresse , and amongst the rest , the monks both of st. austins , and of the cathedral at canterbury , particularly seem to joyn in the remonstrance ; whereupon ( for the former ) the conquerour directs a writ , brief , or charter to lanfrank the archbishop , &c. for redresse of what wrong in that kind had betided the place , of such tenor as you shall find in the appendix , scriptura . and for the cathedral , besides a particular charter granted by the conquerour to the monks there , ut praedicti monachi potestatem habeant terras suas dandi & tollendi ubicunque eis melius visum fuerit , quicunque tas teneat : &c. they shew a general writ of his to archbishop lanfrank and others , for the restitution and reseizing of whatsoever had been taken from the bishopricks and abbeys all the kingdome over , whereof it seems they had particular occasion to make use , both by their care to record it , ( as an evidence much concerning them ) in their leigers , as also by the record they likewise there keep of the plea between their said archbishop , and the foresaid odo , at pinenden , whereof , from the records of the church of rochester , which it equally concerned , mr. selden in his notes upon eadmerus , pag. . hath given us a copy ; a pregnant evidence for our present purpose in many respects . this last named charter , because it may be the first that ere you saw of this nature in print , and may conduce to a right judgement of spots story , i shall advisedly recite at large in the appendix , where you shall find it , scriptura . but ( no longer to digresse ) be further advertised ( good reader ) that whereas by spots relation , the conquerour was opposed by the kentish men , in his march through west kent towards dover , and after composition with them at swanescomb , was by them conducted to rochester , and put in possession of the county , together with the castle of dover ; the very truth is , by the more credible relation of b gulielmus pictavensis ( a writer of the same time , and the conquerours own chaplain , followed by c ordericus vital●s ) the conquerour , after his victory neer hastings , made not first to london , and then to kent , but after fe●ling his affairs about hastings , presently took his journey towards dover d by the way of romney , where having avenged himself of the savage kind of inhabitants , for the slaughter of certain of his men , by some mistake landing at that place , ( of pictavensis called romanaerium for romaneium , as of ordericus rightly named ) he thence advanced on to dover ; whither , though a numberlesse multitude of people had betaken themselves , as to a place , by reason of the castle , inexpugnable , yet dismayed with the conquerours approach , the place with all readinesse submitted to him , who , after eight dayes fortification of it , marching from thence , at a place not far from dover , the kentish men of their own accord came in to him , sware him ●ealty , and gave hostages for performance . marching then onward , and understanding where stigand the archbishop , with the earls edwin and morcar , and other english nobles ( who conspired to set up edgar etheling , king ) were assembled , he made towards them with a strong power , and sate down not far from london ; whence certain companies issuing out against him , he , with of his horsmen soon repelled them , forcing their retreat back into the citie , not without the slaughter of divers by the way . this action was followed with the firing of all buildings whatsoever behither the river ( of thames . ) passing over which , the conquerour removed to wallingford , whither archbishop stigand , and other of the english nobility followed him , and deserting young edgar , made their peace with the conquerour , receiving him as their sovereigne : whose example the londoners soon following , rendred themselves also to the conquerour , and ( as the kentish men had done ) delivered him hostages ; such , both for number and quality , as he required . thus gulielmus pictavensis followed ( as i said ) by ordericus vitalis , a writer of , as it were , the same time . by which relation it is evident , that the conquerour intending for kent , did not set out ( as spot insinuates ) from london or those parts , but on the contrary ere he went to london , made himself sure of kent , by taking dover castle , ( the lock and key , as one e cals it , of all the kingdome ) and from thence , after the kentish mens voluntary submission to him , marcheth towards london . now , from the silent passing over most of these particulars in other writers , of and about this authours time , all save onely ordericus vitalis , let none call the truth of them in question , since their undertakings were for compiling a more general story , than that of the conquerour alone , who therefore were more succinct and summary in their relations , advisedly ( by their own confession ) pretermitting many particular passages . ingulphus , after a summary relation of the conquerours acts at his first coming in , excuseth his brevity thus : summatim namque ac carptim victoriosissimi regis gesta narro , quia secum sequi annuatim , passimque scribere gressus suos non sufficio . whereas , on the contrary , this authour ( pictavensis ) undertaking onely the acts and life of the conquerour , ( whose chaplain he was ) sat himself to exspatiate in all memorable occurrences . besides , ( which i cannot but observe , as tending much to the credit both of our authour and his relation ) although gemeticensis ( a writer of the same time ) balk the most of these passages ; yet excusing himself also for his studied brevity , he refers the reader to our authour , for fuller intelligence , making mention of his story ( like as ordericus vitalis also doth ) with great applause , in these words : f his per anticipationem breviter intimatis , ad finem gestorum willelmi regis anglorum , & ducis normannorum , de quibus fastidio lectorum compendiosè consulentes , quaedam pers●rinximus , veniamus . si quis verò plenius illa nosse desiderat , librum willelmi pictavensis , luxoviorum archidiaconi , eadem gesta sicut copiosè , ita eloquenti sermone affatim continentem , legat . of whom ordericus vitalis g further thus : ipse siquidem praedicti regis capellanus longo tempore extitit , & ea quae oculis suis viderit , & quibus interfuerit , longo relatu vel copioso indubitanter enucleare studuit . thus far then in way of refutation of spots story in grosse , or in the general ; a meer monkish sigment , i conceive , politikely devised , and with a design to bring a perpetual obligation on the kentish men to his own abbey , as owing ( forsooth ) the continuance of their ancient liberties partly to a quondam abbot of the place : even much such another , as that of the devils attempt upon s. pancras chappel to overturn it ( whereof in the antiquities of canterbury , pag. ) smelling too much of the legend , and invented doubtlesse for the greater glory of the abbey . now descend we to the result of the story , and the inference upon that meeting , made by spot and his followers , which in short is , that hence , or hereupon kent received her pristine priviledges , instancing ( some of them ) in gavelkynd for one , and particularly that hence , as formerly kent ( participating in common with the whole kingdome in that point ) had no villeins , so by that means from henceforth ( by a singular priviledge above other counties ) it never had any . indeed , ( which i note as adminicular to this assertion ) among the articles by which the auditours of our cathedral were to take accompts of the bailives of that churches manours out of kent , recorded in an old lieger there , these are some : . de cens●riis nativorum quod possint exire tenuram domini ad laborandum & operandum extra , & statim post operaredire . . de finibus nativor . profiliabus suis maritandis infra tenuram domini . . de finibus nativor . postmortem patrum suorum , quod possint habere terras quas p●tres habuerunt , tenendas ad voluntatem domini , secundùm consuetudinem maneri●rum : whereas in the like articles for the manours in kent , not one of these occurr ; but , as if improper for the manours of that county , all are quite omitted , to the manifest confirmation of spots acquitting kent of villeins and villenage . true , i confesse , nor can it be denied as to those dayes , the time i mean when those articles were set on foot , which , judging of their age by their character , seemeth to be about edw. . dayes : but that there were none at , or after the conquest ( the point in issue ) is under favour an assertion little truer , if not fully as false , as that other of his concerning the composition with the conquerour . for proof whereof , to say nothing of hubert ( the archbishop of canterbury in king johns time ) his acquitting both his own and the monks possessions , amongst other burthens , from that of villenage , because possibly this priviledge might concern their possessions elswhere , and not in kent : i appeal to a writ of king edw. . anno regni sui septimo , to the assesso●s of a tenth and fifteenth in the county of kent , in the behalf of the abbat of spots own abbey ( st. austins ) and his villeins , whereof you may find a copy in the appendix here , scriptur . . followed with another of a very rare deed or charter of about h. . time , taken from an ancient manuscript chartulary of the very same abbey , now remaining with sir thomas cotton , which i must confesse to ow to the cour●es●e of my late learned friend sir simonds d'ewes , cleerly shewing villenage to have obteined and taken place in kent , and even in our gavelkynd ; a tenant to that abbey of certain land in gavelkynd doing homage to the abbat there for the same , expressely as for villenage , and covenanting to perform as much service to his lord , as to the same villenage apperteined , as by the deed ( which whether i should more value for it self , or for the hands sake that reach'd it to me , is with me some question ) more fully may appear , scriptur . . add hereunto , that the laws of hen. . cap. . make mention of villani in kent : differentia tamen weregildi multa est in cantia villanorum & baronum . so that chapter is concluded . to ascend yet higher , in domesday-book , and in the kentish survey there , villani frequently occurr , by which , if , after the common opinion of modern and some elder lawyers , bond-men ( such as of latter times and at this day we call villeins ) are not to be understood , but rather ( after the k mirroir ) cultivers de fief demorants en villages uplande ; car de vill est dit villein , &c. or , in fitzherberts expression : base tenant , qui fesoit villein service , mes ne fuit pas villein . i ▪ e. a base tenant , that doth villein service , but neverthelesse is no villein ; then , to put the matter out of all ●oubt , know that besides villani , you may withall find , and that in divers several manours too in that kentish survey ( particularly in the bishop and church of rochesters manours of southfleet , stone , falkham , woldham , trottesclyve , snodeland , halling , frend●bery , &c. ) expresse mention of servi , which of all hands is confessed to denote men of servile condition , bond-men , or bond-slaves , villeins . and take along with you this note by the way , that the pretended composition in spot , by which he will have kent for the future conserved in her immunity from villenage , did for many years antedate the time of this survey ; that , pretending to the conquerours first coming in ▪ this , not beginning , at the soonest , untill about fourteen years after . i might follow this with some pregnant passages to this purpose , such namely as that in the old l custumal of ickham manour in east kent : et isti cotarii nusquam capient auram nisi apud ickham vel brembling : such ( secondly ) as that in a like ancient m custumal of tenham manour : quaelibet coteria tenet unum messuagium , tres acras , & debet metere acras , &c. et facie●t quicquit serviens de manerio praeceperit : such ( thirdly and chiefly ) as that in the n will of one sir william septvans knight , sometime owner of milton neer canterbury , dated anno : item lego adam standerd , thomae hamonde , roberto standerde , roberto chirche , & johanni richesforde servis & nativis meis , pro bon● servitio mihi ab eisdem facto , plenam libertatem , & volo quod quilibet eorundem habeat cartam manumissionis sigillo meo signatam , in testimonium huj●smodi meae ultimae voluntatis . i might add , that , what in confirmation of the probability of spots story is added , viz. that hereupon the king so stomached the archbishop , as to put him by his place and office in his coronation , hath no support or warrant from any story of those times , all which , with gervasius dorobornensis , a monk of his own church , agree in the yeilding and rendring other reasons hereof , chiefly his being interdicted his episcopal function , for invading the see of canterbury , robert the archbishop being yet alive , and undeprived , and holding it and winchester both together : which is the more probable , because for the same reason four years before , wolstane the elect of worcester refused to be consecrated bishop by him , and was sacred by aldred , the archbishop of york , as the monks of worcester and westminster have it in the year . but to keep to our villenage , which apparently is traceable in kent sithence the norman conquest . nor indeed seemeth it to have been otherwise here ( in this particular o● bond-men , or villeins ) in the times before the conquest ; witnesse ( besides the mention of such in the o saxon laws of ethelbert , lothaire , and eadric , all kentish kings ) an old saxon tripartite deed or charter purporting a contract of marriage , which , because it may serve to exemplifie the manner of espousals in those elder times , and is a great illustration to a model or constitution of that nature exhibited of late by sir hen. spelman , concil . tom ▪ . pag. . and mr. whelock , in his late edition of the saxon laws , pag. . i shall tender it to common perusal , from that part of it left and laid up at christchurch , transcribing it in the appendix , scriptur . . before i proceed , having made mention of that constitution , touching the manner and rights of espousals , let me ( so fairly occasioned , with excuse for the digression ) help to rectifie the edition with some animadversions , which to me it seemeth much to want , in the saxon especially . first then i conceive , the first word of the second chapter in the saxon copy , viz. ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) as belonging to the precedent chapter or article , ought to be taken thence , and placed as the very last word of that precedent article , and so we are to read it , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , .i. according to the latine copy , & pleg●ent ( rather ▪ ●ide jubeant ) ho● amici sui . in the next , or second article , i conceive the two last words there , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , belong to the next , the third article , which consequently is to begin the●e . as imperfect is that article in the end as in the beginning , wanting to perfect it , the whole first line of the next ( the fourth ) article , viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he ▪ all which , i say , belong to the precedent article , the fourth being to begin at 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which i conceive not well turned ( as in the new version there ) by ●i quidem eve●iat , being rather , under favour , thus to be rendred : si sic conveniat , and th●s indeed runs the old version in the precedent page ; and so ( to passe by some intervening literal mistakes ) is that in the close of the sixth article , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , by satis●ationemque accipiant de celebrandis ●uptiis . the old version here is : et excipiat inde plegium qui jus habet in vadio . i once pitched upon this version : satisdationemque inde a cipiant qui sponsalia ordinaverint , i. e. paranymp●i . but leaving that , to return to our purpose . by what is premised , i conceive we have ground enough to conclude against what spot singularly delivers touching the conquerour and kentish mens meeting , with the manner , product , and result of it ; and consequently , what is built upon it , our counties reteining her gavelkynd-customes and priviledges by means thereof . but after this pulling down with one hand , to help build up another while with t'other , and not to leave the cause of our enjoyment of those liberties ( that especially of partition , the more eminent property in gavelkynd ) thus uncertain , let us enquire into the carriage of affairs of this nature about the times of the conquest , when they say we obteined to preserve and continue this ( amongst the rest ) by composition with the conquerour , whilest the rest of the kingdom was deprived o● it ▪ i say deprived , because as p privatio praesupponit habitum , so those who are of this opinion take it for granted , that before the conquest ▪ by vertue of a national custome first induced by the saxons , and by them traduced from the germans , intended by ta●itus in his haeredes successoresque sui cuique liberi , &c. and afterwards incorporated into our laws by q king can●●us ▪ inheritances descended and were partible after the nature and manner of our gavelkynd , at this day . so of late ( amongst others ) sir hen. spelman , in his glossary , ve●b . gav●l●●um ▪ daniel in his history , ●ol ▪ . verstegan in his antiquities pag. ● . archbishop parker in his antiquitates britannicae , pag. . and mr. lambard , in his glossary , verb. terra ex scripto , though afterwards in his perambulation , pag. . he is found to crosse himself herein , by saying that this custom was brought hither out of normandy by odo the conquerours brother . now 't is true , and not to be denied , that by these laws of canutus inheritances were partible ; but how ? it may be equally , ( like our gavelkynd ) but it is not so expressed , nor do the words inforce it . it 's ordered there indeed , that a partition of the estate be made , in the one , between or among the wife , children , and next of kin , by the lord ; in the other , by the heirs among themselves ; in both , not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 emne , or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , i. e. equally , but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; in the former more explicitely thus : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. i. e. ( according to the old version in brampton ) unicuique secundùm modum qui ad eum pertinet . here is now no equal division spoken of , no equalling the younger with the elder brethren , or the like . but the estate is to be shifted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , i. e. according to right , justly , or if you will ( after the old version of the latter law in brampton , being the same verbatim with that in mr. lambard r elswhere ) rectè , every one to have his due , haply after a geometrical , not arithmetical proportion . again , not by equal proportion , in point of goods at least , for each was to partake therof , ( as in the gavelkynd partition ſ in ireland , each one a part according to their quality , degree , or desert ▪ ) prorata , happily their reasonable part , whence indeed some do fetch and ground a writ we have among us , called rationabili parte bonorum ( concerning which there is a question in our books , whether it lie by the common law , or by the custome onely of some t countries , and whose footsteps may be traced in venerable bedes english saxon ecclesiastical history , lib. . cap. . ) but of this matter more anon , at the close or foot of this proposition . or again , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , i. e. juxta arbitrium boni viri , as the civilians in like case use to speak , or pro arbitrio domini , as it is in the former of those laws , be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , i. e. judicio suo ▪ whose place ▪ by provision of succeeding times , both here and in scotland , was supplied by the u ordinary , first joyntly with the deceaseds friends , afterwards without them and alone , as haply more to be confided in , because by common intendment , as more knowing , so more careful to deal uprightly ; though it be utterly unknown or uncertain when this trust began by written law to be committed to the ordinary ; if i may guesse , about what time that provision was made for the like in x normandy , whereof in matth. paris history , anno . pag. . edit . ult . or else ( to proceed ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , according to right , i. e. custome , or right , as it is ordered and directed or tempered by the usages of several places , for y quaelibet provinvincia abundat suo sensu . apposite and pertinent to this purpose is that observation of a late compendious z historian of our own , upon occasion of the confessours collection and compilement of , as it were , a codex legum , ( whither we may refer the original of magna charta ) a standard-law to be currant over all the kingdome : before these collections ( saith he ) of the confessours , there was no universal law of the kingdome ▪ but every several province held their several customes , all the inhabitants from humber to scotland used the danique law , merchenland , the middle part of the countrey , and the state of the west saxons had their several constitutions , as being several dominions , and though for some few years there seemed to be a reduction of the heptarchy into a monarchy , yet held it not so long together ( as we may see in the succession of a broken government ) as to settle one form of order currant over all , but that every province , according to their particular founders , had their customes apart , and held nothing in common , ( besides religion , and the constitutions thereof ) but with the universality of meum & tuum , ordered according to the rights of nations , and that jus innatum , the common law of all the world , which we see to be as universal as are the cohabitations and societies of men , and serves the turn to hold them together in all countries , howsoever they may differ in their forms . so that though we shall admit these with the rest of cnutes laws to be national , as by their preface ( that , i mean , of the second part , conteining his secular or politike constitutions ) they are apparently no other , ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : ) yet i take it these laws ( . and . ) conclude not for a national , general , or universal descent of inheritances , by an equal or arithmetical division amongst all the children or heirs , nor indeed for more than this , that a partition was to be made of the same , in point of proportion , more or lesse , according to what , pro more patriae vel loci , and ( in point of goods ) juxta arbitrium domini , was just and fit , there being no precedent general law , or canon here ( now extant at least ) to regulate , or give directions in case . but if not nationally , ( for , to give one instance instead of many , thoroldus , in a charter of his to croyland abbey , recorded by a ingulphus , makes mention of his lord and kinsman , earl algar , the eldest son and heir of leofric , earl of leicester , and his countesse godiva , thorolds sister , in the year . ) yet i am contented to admit and agree , that provincially , and particularly here in kent , we had such a custome both before and at the conquest : neither am i against their opinion , who affirm the like course and custome currant in those times throughout the kingdome , as not being desirous to insist much upon this example in thoroldus charter , or any such like , to the contrary , for the present , though i doubt whether it can concludently be argued from ( the grounds and authorities they seem to go upon ) those laws of canutus . neverthelesse be it so : for though some will say , the conquerour found it not here , but either by himself , or his brother odo , brought it hither out of normandy , and by the pattern and practice of his own countrey planted it here , ( how can this stand with spots story by the way ? ) yet i am not of their mind . for had it been from thence transplanted hither , probably it would not have been confin'd to kent , a corner onely of the kingdome ; but have spread it self rather over the whole , by the conquerours means , whose inclination and endeavours to propagate and implant here the customes of his own countrey , are too eminent and notorious to be doubted of . 't is nothing probable then , ( what some have deemed ) that we borrowed this custom from normandy , or that odo was wrought upon by any pattern of that countrey to set it up amongst us , but rather found it here at his coming . supposing therefore such an universal custome here in england before and at the conquest , it will concern us next to make enquiry , how it came to passe , that when all the realme beside , hath in a manner discontinued it , kent onely re●●i●s it , in that g●●i●●al manner at l●a●● , whereby improcesse of time it is become ( as the year-book quoted of b mr. lambard phraseth it ) as it were a common law there ▪ the answer must be but conjectural , since records herein fail us of all light , as well as histories , all but spots , who for the reasons pre-alleaged shall be none of my resolver . will you have the common answer ? why then they say the conquerour abrogated this custome in all parts of the kingdome save onely in kent , which obt●ined to continue it by composition with him when they met at swanescomb . but having formerly said ( i hope ) enough in answer hereunto , i will seek further , and try if some other more probable cause may not be found for it . the conquerour then ( i will suppose ) consented to the continuance of this custome generally throughout the kingdome , in all , i mean , but knight-service land , the descent whereof to the eldest son alone , ( partly for his own , and the realms better c defence and strengthening , and partly for the upholding and maintenance of d gentile families ) i suppose none doubts to be lesse ancient than the conquest , for so much of it ( at least ) as is of ancient tenure , ( as mr. lambard desires to qualifie it : ) nay , and seems to give expresse allowance to it , without distinction of lands , by that th of those laws in ingulphus copy , which after the conquest , he granted to the people of england , and were indeed ( as the title of them intimates ) the laws of the confessour , his predecessour ; or rather , say e some , of the confessours predecessour , canutus : si quis intestatus obierit , liberi ejus hereditatem aequaliter dividant . so runs the law according to f mr. seldens version from the original french or norman . some haply may take this as intended onely as a rule for goods , not for lands too . but to that it may be replied , that the word ( hereditatem ) there ( if of that acception then , as since and at this day ) will not admit of that construction ; since , by the common opinion both of elder and more g modern lawyers , nothing passeth with us here in england , jure haereditario , but onely fee , and that hereditaments are such things as do naturally , and of course descend to the heir , and neither to the executour or administratour , as chattels do , whence that of littleton , sect. . feodum idem est quod haereditas ; answering to that of h bracton , long before him : feodum est id quod quis tenet ex quacunque causa sibi & haer●dibus suis . see to this purpose glanvill , lib. ● . cap. . but here we meet with an objection . by this argument ( will some say ) you restrain and ti● up the constitution to lands onely , excluding goods , or chattels , as our lawyers call them , from what ground , see in sir hen. spelmans glossary , verb. capitale , to which add freherus his notes upon the decalogue , published anno . precept the last . to construe it , ( i must confesse ) or of either singly , or alone , were , in my judgement , too much to restrain and streighten it , and in ●ffect to conclude it a lame and imperfect constitution , ordering the intesta●e dead mans estate , and the disposal thereof , but to halves , as we say ; wherefore i conceive , that to take the word ( inheritanc● ) here to comprehend both , ( as i suppose aeh●e doth in that . of canutus laws , whereto this here , if it were not taken thence , may seem to have some reference ) is not more reasonable , than to understand it ei●her of chattels , or l●nds singly , seems to me otherwise . why but then ( say they ) you admit of a po●e● of devising inheritance by will , and consequently make f●e and free-hold deviseable , and that by law , arguing from those words : si quis intestatus ob erit , &c. ●rue ; dis●inguishing times : for ( ● take it ) nothing was more usual in those i times , ( i mean before the norm●n conquest , and this , if you ma●k it , is o●iginally a law of the confessours , or rather of canutus , his predecessour ) than to dev●se and give lands away by will , though therein they receded from ( their first copy ) the german custome , of nullum testamen●um ; a provision afterwards received into the body of the feudal law , which thus hath it : k nulla ordinatione defuncti in feudo manente vel valente . it was then , i say , a usual thing , with their lords consent at least , to dispose of their land by will , especially their bocland , thence haply , amongst other titles given it ( as being sometimes termed and turned l alodium , otherwhile m terra hereditaria , often n terra libera ) not seldome called o terra testamentalis , that is ( as an old leiger-book in guildhall london expounds it ) terra quam homo potuit in l●cto suo languens legare : with this limitation notwithstanding , that such bocland were not by precaution in the original gift or grant , liable to that or the like restriction , in point of alienation , occurring in the th of king alfreds laws , which neverthelesse extended b●t to strangers , a man being there forbidden to alienate his land of that nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , i. e. ●xtra cognationem vel progeniem , or , in the civil law phrase , extra familiam , from his own kinred or family , whence perchance it came afterwards to passe , that in such terragentilitia , the heirs concurrence was required and used in the alienation . instances of this kind ( of disposing land by w●ll , i mean ) might be given in abundance , but a few may serve the turn . to passe over , as obvious , because publike , king alfreds will , at the ●nd of his acts and life by asserius , though i might here perhaps not impertinently take up that of regis ad ex●mplum , &c. to let that passe , i say , as also for the like reason , to omit byrh●ri●ks will of mepham in kent , extant in the perambulation , pag . whereunto ( if need were ) i could add many more examples , as well out of st. albans private history , now of late made publike by my deceased friend dr. watts , as from the records of the church of canterbury , whereof , besides the copies of some whole wills , i have by me several extracts : to let all these passe , i say , i shall onely instance in a will or two , one of a very eminent pe●sonage , an etheling , p prince ethelstan by name , the son of king ethelred , which i shall set before you in the appendix , scriptura , as scriptura , the other ; with some imperfections and misprisions here and there , i confesse , but through the transcribers fault that entered them in the leiger , and by reason of his ignorance ( it should seem ) of the saxon tongue and character , which i dare not undertake to rectifie . thus for practice . as for law : besides that power in all men in those times to devise land in general , by their wills , without any violence deduced and concluded from that of canutus laws , providing how a mans whole estate ( the lords heriot onely excepted ) shall be disposed of , in case he die intestate , we have a more expresse law for it afterwards , the th i mean , for such land at least as is there termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , i. e. ( as mr. lambard construes it ) terraomni lite soluta , or ( as it is turned in jornalensis , and the th of the confessours laws de heretochiis in mr. lambard , fol. . a. ) terra acquietata comitatus testimon●o . let me illustrate it by a passage in a charter q of king edmund to ael●here his thane in the year . of certain lands and possessions there called mulanton , running thus : prout pater ipsius aelsheri priorum temporibus nostrorum , sub contestamine totius popularis senatus , sua pecunia , ab illo & ab alio , prout tunc temporis mos erat , adqu●sivit . in effect it was , as i conceive , if not the same with bocland , ( called terratestamentalis , not onely because deviseable , but also in regard of the publike testimony of the shire , required and used in the passing of it otherwise than by will ) such land ( like that mentioned of mr selden , tit. of hon. par . . cap. . pag. ▪ and there said to be holden , qu●etè & absque omni c●lumnia ; or like that passed or conveyed , as in sir henry spelmans councils , pag. . and . ) as was unquestion●bly a mans own , as upon the purchase or grant of it confirmed and assured to him in the legal way of those times , such haply ( like those of latter times passed by fine ) the conveyance whereof was recorded and inrolled , or entred in the shi●e-book , in publike shire mo●e after proclamation there made , for any to come in that could lay challenge , or pretend right un●o it ▪ whence not improbably our manner of recording conveyances , sometimes ( as in canterbury ) in the hundred sometime in the burgemo●e , otherwhile in both , whereof i am not unfurnished of instances . thus for that kind of land . now for bocland , and how the law stood there : r sir henry spelman , i confesse , is cleer of opinion against all power of ali●na●ion in the owner , and that of necessity it must ●e left to descend to the heir , and thence is called terra ●aereditaria , grounding upon that th of king alureds laws , which he there recites . under favour , that law cleerly makes for the contrary , allowing unto the possessour a power of alienation , saving where his hands are tied from it by an expresse provision and prohibition to the contrary , from those ( the ancestour , or who else ) it came unto him from ; a caution in my apprehension of the same nature with an exception , which ( as ſ civilians use to say ) firmat regulam in non exceptis . and as for its name of terra haereditaria , and the argument upon it , it is easily answered , as thus : so called it was to distinguish it from folcland , otherwise called gafolland , wherein the tenant being but as it were a lessee , usufructuary , or fermour , and having no propriety , upon his death , or other expiration of his term it reverted to the lord , and descended not upon the heir , as bocland did , at least ought to do , being ( because his own in propriety ) hereditary , if not alienated by him in his life time , as it might be , in regard it was as well terra libera , as haereditaria , and so called , which folcland never was , however sir henry spelman , in a place so assert , likening it to allodium , which indeed was liberum , and consequently capable of alienation , either by gift or sale , to whomsoever the owner pleased ; a property appropriate to bocland , thence otherwise called , especially abroad , allodium , whereof more hereafter . but further to cleer the point of boclands being alienable , and in the power of the owner to dispose of at pleasure , have here a pregnant passage for our present purpose , borrowed from a charter u of archbishop w●fred ( who died about the yeer . ) of the gift of certain houses to his successours in the see of canterbury , thus speaking : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 x 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . that is , in our modern english : if any man shall say that this mansion is not more in my power , or ( the power of ) my heirs to use , than of the rest of the society , ( or covent ) then let him know , that it never was christ-church land , nor any mans bocland before it was mine : and then let him further think and consider by other mens bocland , as well in priviledged places , as without , whether they may grant away their own ( land , or possessions ) or give it for ( or , in ) their lives times as pleaseth them , or wherefore mine should be of different kind to those of other men . thus the charter , as i understand it . bocland then , i conceive , we may conclude alienable by the owner of it , both by act or grant in his life time , and at his death by will , in the times ( i mean ) before the conquest . but afterwards that custome of devising it by will ceased , as did withall the descent of land generally , by equal division amongst all the sons . for , as the english laws and customes in general , from that time suffered a daily eclipse and declination by degrees , so this in particular ( saving where they were more tenacious of it than elswhere , and in such places , whereof y london seemeth to be one , as by special priviledge were suffered to keep it up ) languished , and was at length supplanted by that other kind of descent , which now regularly takes place throughout the most part of the kingdome . insomuch as where this partible descent cannot , to uphold it self , justly plead antiquity and ancient custome , it quite fails , and falls to the ground . and to this passe ( i take it ) was it come in glanvill and bractons dayes , who therefore harmoniously deliver this as a requisite and essential property in land of such descent , that it be not onely by nature partible ( as it is by being socage , if we may interpret bractons si haereditas partibilis sit , by glanvills si fuerit socagium : ) but withall , that by custome and of old it hath actually been parted . now the kentish men , it seems , the commons there , i mean , like the londoners , more careful in those dayes how to maintain their issue for the present , than their houses for the future , ( a contrary respect to theirs who have of late , by act of parliament , rid their lands of this custome , as to that property of partition ) were more tenacious , tender and retentive of the present custome , and more careful to continue it , than generally those of most other shires were : not because ( as some z give the reason ) the younger be as good gentlemen as the elder brethren , &c. ( an argument proper perchance for the partible land in wales ) but because it was land , which by the nature of it , apperteined not to the gentry , but to the yeomanry , whose name or house they cared not so much to uphold , by keeping the inheritance to the elder brother . and thus at length , though 't is like enough from small beginnings , ( as many times great streams have but narrow fountains ) it became so spred and diffused over all the county , that what was not knight-service , but socage-land , or of socage tenure , was in time ( in mr. lambards phrase ) apparrelled with the name , and ( as may be added ) qualified with the properties of gavelkynd . and hence also it comes to passe , both that we very rarely , or never meet with any land there at this day , ( other than knight-service land ) that is not of gavelkynd nature , and of a partible descent , and that withall both our printed and manuscript custumals , whether general or particular , use never a word of socage tenure , but of gavelkynders , tenants in gavelkynd , tenements of gavelkynd ▪ and such like , as mr. lambard observeth , pag. . and notwithstanding the ancient printed custumal in tottell claimeth freedome onely to the bodies of the gavelkynders , which may be the truer reading , yet mr. lambards may , especially at this day , passe well enough , by whose copy it is claimed as due to all the kentish men in general , as , for the generality of the commons , by common intendment , such at this day . but of these things hitherto . yet ere i proceed to the next proposition , let me discharge my self of a late promise for inquiry into the following emergent : whether the writ , de rationabili parte bonorum , lie at the common law , or by custome . this writ is grounded and dependeth on a tripartite division of a mans personal estate , whether dying testate or intestate , and leaving behind him wife and children ; as in case he leave onely a wife , and no children , or children onely and no wife , upon a bipartite . in the former of which cases , one third part of the goods belongeth to the widow , another to the children , and the third ( called the deaths-part ) to the use of the defunct , to be disposed either by himself , as he shall see good by his will , or for him , if he die intestate , by the ordinary in pios usus . in the latter case , one moyety falleth to the widow , or to the children , ( as the case shall be ) and the other to the use of the dead , as before . in both cases , to the children of the deceased , each of them a rateable part , provided that such child be not his fathers heir , or were not otherwise advanced by him in his life time , unlesse haply ( for hereof there is some question ) waving that his former portion , he shall choose rather ( as in the case of lands ) to take the benefit of this partition by the way of hotchpot , which is all one with the civilians collatio bonorum , or the lumbards missio in confusum . see dr. cowell , and sir henry spelman , in hotchpot . now that there was any certain , or definite part or portion of the deceaseds goods or estate , ( whether real or personal ) any quota pars , or legitima , as the civilians term it , by any custome here nationally observed , due to the widow or children in the saxon times , doth not ( that i can find ) appear by any law or other monument of theirs now extant . the plainest and most visible footsteps of that tripartite division or partition by this writ intended , appear in that remarkable place of venerable bedes ecclesiastical history , lib. . cap. . where we read of one , who , testatorlike , disposing of his substance or estate , omnem , quam possederat substantiam , in tres divisit portiones . e●quibus unam conjugi , alteram filiis tradidit , tertiam sibiipsi retentans , statim pauperibus distribuit . the saxon reading hath it more for our purpose thus : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . where mark , the third part is there said to belong to himself : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. plainly insinuating that the other two as rightly apperteined to his wife and children , each of them a third . but withall observe , that this is the act of an house-keeper in the province or region ( as there called ) of northumberland : paterfamilias in regione northan●ymbrorum , &c. so is he described ; and such a testimony indeed it is as makes much ( i confesse ) for the antiquity of that custome ( of a tripartite division ) yet surviving and currant in those northern quarters of the kingdome , but whether , in right construction , extensive any further , or concluding for a national custome in that particular , especially since traceable in few other parts or counties of the realme , by any later or elder footsteps , i think may well be doubted . to proceed then , ( for i intend to state and handle the point rather as an historian , relating the matter of fact , than as a disputant , arguing the case : ) as for that law or constitution of a king edmund , which some insist upon for the widows right to a moyety of the estate , if she have no issue , otherwise , in case of issue , and remaining sole , to the whole , that cleerly takes place onely vigore contractus , or by force of a precedent contract ; the law in that particular being ushered in with this ground , or supposition : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. i. e. if it shall be so mutually agreed or covenanted ( before or upon the marriage . ) nor doth that law of king canutus , par . . cap. . conclude for more than this , namely , a partition of the estate amongst the wife , children , and nighest kinred , to be made judicio domini , by the lord ( of the soils ) discretion , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , i. e. rightly , or according to right , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , i. e. after the measure , ra●e , or proportion that to them belongeth , not determining or making any mention , what that right , that measure , or proportion is in certain , ( not the widow and children each of them a third ; for then where were the kinsfolks share ? ) but leaving it ind●●●ni●o and undetermined , as what haply being ordered by the lords discretion , and that swayed and regulated by ( that optima legum interprete ) custome , might vary with the place . nor was any such partition currant here , in case there were a will , for what saith the law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. i. e. if any one depart this life intestate , &c. implying liberam testandi facultatem , a free liberty to dispose otherwise by will : as doth also that law of his successour , the b confessour , ratified and re-inforced by his successour , the conquerour , providing that the children of persons intestate shall equally divide the heritage . in which respect , and because by taking no notice of the widow , ( as neither doth that other law of canutus , par . . cap. . ) it tacitely seemeth to exclude her , i know not well what ( much pertinent to the point in hand ) can be concluded from that law. and as not from this , so neither , i conceive , from that law of king hen. . cap. . because it concerns and speaks onely of the kings own barons and tenants : [ si quis baronum vel hominum meorum infirmabitur , sicut ipse dabit vel dare c disponet pecuniam suam ita datam esse concedo , quod si ipse praeventus vel armis vel infirmitate pecuniam non dederit nec dare disposuerit , uxor sua , sive liberi , aut parentes , aut legitimi homines ejus eam pro animâ ejus dividant sicut eis melius visum fuerit ] and is seemingly no national provision , no rule intended for the generality of the subjects , the communalty : or if it were , yet with such expresse full and free liberty ( inconsistent with this writ ) given by it to the party to dispose of his estate by will at his pleasure , as tacitely was granted both by that fore-cited . law of king canutus , and that other of his successour the confessour , whereof also before . so that admitting , or supposing a will , the subsequent division or distribution ( prescribed by that law of hen. . ) took no place , as by consequence neither did that reasonable or rateable part intended by this writ . passing therefore hence , let us next ( as next in order of time ) consult ( that oracle of the law ) judge glanvill , living and writing in hen. . dayes . he indeed , lib. . cap. . is expresse for this kind of tripartite division : cum quis ( saith he ) in infirmitate positus testamentum facere voluerit , si debitis non sit involutus , tunc omnes res ejus mobiles in tres partes dividentur aequales . quarum una debetur heredi , secunda uxori , tertia verò ipsi reservatur : de qua tertiâ liberam habet disponendi facultatem : verùm si sine uxore decesserit , medietas ipsi reservatur . and to the same purpose again , ●od . lib. cap. . si post debitorum acquietationem aliquid residuum fuerit , tunc id quidem in tres partes dividetur modo praedicto ( he refers to the forecited fifth chapter ) et de tertia parte suum ut dictum est faciat testamentum . to which kind of tripartite division , he plainly seemeth to refer , and have respect afterwards , lib. . cap. . where he layes it down in terminis , as a thing recepti juris , warranted by the custome of the realme , that is the common law , saying : de catallis autem ( these are the words of the writ ) quae fuerunt praefati r. praecipio quod ea omnia simul & in pace esse facias , ita quod inde nil amoveatur nec ad divisam suam faciendam , nec ad aliam rem faciendam , donec debita sua ex integro d reddatur . et de residuo post fiat rationabilis divisa secundùm consuetudinem terrae meae . thus glanvill , with whom unanimously concurr e bracton and fleta . hence now many learned men conclude this tripartite division , and the writ waiting thereupon , to be rather by or at the common law ; than ( as is thought by others , and those learned men also ) by custome , and that hereof magna charta , cap. . expressely taketh notice , in the savio , or limitation at the end , thus englished : saving to his wife and children their reasonable parts . the opponents , and such as take the contrary part , endeavour to elude this as a matter rather of counsel than command . so ( for example ) dr. cowell , instit . li. . tit . . parag . . followed by sir edw. coke , in the second part of his institutes , pag. . who to assert his opinion in the negative , ( his denial of the widow and childrens right to a reasonable part by the common law ) thus there adds : the nature of a saving regularly is , to save a former right , and not to give , or create a new , and therefore , where such a custome is , that the wife and children shall have the writ , de rationabili parte bonorum , this statute saveth it . and this writ doth not lie without a a particular custome , for the writ in the register is grounded upon a custome , which ( as hath been said ) is saved by this act. but where going on he further adds , that bracton was of the same opinion , quoting for it , ( as f swinbourne before him ) that place of bracton , fol. . a. [ neque uxorem , neque liberos amplius capere de bonis defuncti patris vel viri mobilibus , quàm ●uerit eis specialiter relictum , nisi hoc sit de speciali gratia testa●oris , utpote si bene meriti in ejus vita fuerint , &c. ] with submission , they are both of them mistaken : that which bracton there delivers , being a plain exception , deviation and diversion from the general rule by him ( as by fleta after him , totidem verbis ) just before laid down , and taking place onely in cities , burrows and the like , by particular custome of the place , as ( amongst others , ut quidam dicunt , say they ) in london , and that upon this double consideration , namely , first , the advancement of trading and traffique ( the life of all common-wealths , especially of ilands ) which would be much encouraged by this liberty left to the merchant or trades-man , to dispose of his labours and gettings , where and how he saw best ; and secondly , the countenance of vertue , and discountenance of ( her opposite ) vice , when by a necessity laid upon the wife and children , to comply with the husband and father in such wayes , both of thrift and duty , as might win and wear his love , and consequently , make him willing to requite their merit , the vertuous should be rewarded , the vicious discarded : vix enim ( say they , bracton and fleta both ) inveniretur aliquis civis , qui in vita magnum quaestum faceret , si in morte sua cogeretur invitus bona sua relinquere pueris indoctis , & luxuriosis , & uxoribus malè meritis : & ideo necessarium est valde , quod illis in hac parte libera facult as tribuatur . per hoc enim tollet maleficium , animabit ad virtutem , & tam uxoribus quam liberis benè faciendi dabit occasionem , quod quidem non fieret , si s● scirent indubitanter certam partem obtinere etiam sine testator is voluntate . and this ( i take it ) is the thing ( the good of the common-wealth , by the maintenance of traffique , much encouraged by the liberty of a free devise ) by glanvill , though somewhat darkly , pointed at , lib. ● . cap. . where ( acquainting us , that an assise of mortdancester lies not for houses or tenements , [ which are wont to passe inter catalla in burrows , as bracton and fleta inform us ] because of a greater commodity redounding to the kingdome by another kind of assise , an established course i suppose he means , warranting the liberty of a free devise of such things , tanquam catalla ) he saith : item ratione burgagii cessare solet assisa per aliam assisam excausa majoris utilitatis in regno constitutam . but notwithstanding it were thus in london in those times , ( when bracton and fleta wrote ) yet afterwards it seems that custome ( of a free and arbitrary devise ) ceased , and ( haply upon those counter-grounds , or contrary considerations , brought and laid down against it by the same swinbourne , fol. . a. ) gave place to this kind of tripartite division : witnesse ( besides mr. lambard , perambul . pag. . ) what in a book lately published , intitled the city-law , and said to be translated from an ancient french manuscript , pag. . is delivered in these words : and it is to be understood , that when a citizen of the same city ( london ) hath a wife and children , and dies ; all the goods and cha●tels of the said party deceased , after his debts be paid , shall be divided into three parts ; whereof one shall remain to the dead , and shall be distribu●ed for his souls benefit ; and the other part shall be to his wife , and the third part to his children , to be equally shared between them ; notwithstanding any will made to the contrary , &c. but ( to proceed ) although glanvill , bracton , and fleta , one and all , seem to conclude for this rule or order of partition , to obtein and take place by the common law ; yet , as this course did not long survive them , but , except where particular custome ( such as that whereon the writs in the register are grounded ) kept it up , at length grew into dis-use , in the case both of testate and intestate persons ( witnesse on the one hand , the liberty time out of mind generally used at pleasure to dispose of personal estate made by will ; and on the other , the ordinaries well-known power of distribution of intestates goods , which is not without warrant from that clause at th' end of magna charta's th chap. whereof in matthew paris , and g elswhere : ) so with all these passages in glanvill , bracton and fleta , are so inconsistent with what , in the case of testate persons , themselves with almost the same breath , deliver , that i know not how possibly to reconcile them . whereof the former thus : potest enim quilibet homo liber majoribus debitis non involutus , de rebus suis in infirmitate sua rationabilem divisam facere sub hac forma secundùm cujusdam patriae consuetudinem , quod dominum suum primò de meliore & principaliore re quam habet recognoscat , deinde ecclesiam , postea vero alias personas pro voluntate sua . quicquid autem diversarum patriarum consuetudines super hoc teneant , secundùm jura regni non tenetur quis in testamento suo alicui personae praecipuè nisi pro voluntate sua aliquid relinquere , libera enim dicitur esse cujuscunque ultima voluntas , secundùm has leges sicut & secundùm alias leges . the other two , to one effect thus : cuilibet autem sit licitum facere testamentum de rebus suis mobilibus & se moventibus , & quatenus superfuerit deducto aere alieno , scilicet debitis aliorum , &c. thus , in mine opinion , do the same men more than seem to fight with , and contradict themselves , and how to set them agreed is past my skill . but indeed vix tanti est , 't is not much material , since if we shall admit ( what some eagerly contend for ) this rule and order of partition to have sometime been by law currant throughout the realme , yet by general disusage and discontinuance , it is now , and that not lately , antiquated and vanished out of ure , both in this ( of kent ) and other counties , surviving onely ( for ought i hear ) in the province of york , and some few cities ; and that it should ever be revived , at least in the case of testate persons , until first some way may , if possibly , be found , how to dissolve this knot , and remove this rub of flat repugnancie and disagreement of those ancient authours ( the vouched patrons for it ) with themselves in the point ; i for my part , saving better judgement , see but little reason , and further than thus dare not in a case so controverted and canvased by learned and judicious lawyers , interpose any judgement of my own . proposition iv. whether gavelkynd be a tenure or a custome . it will not be amisse ( i hope ) to usher in the answer to this quaere , with some digression concerning tenures . facing then about , and looking back upon the times before the conquest , inquire we out the tenures ( if i may so call them ) then in use , and what other succeeded in their places afterwards at and since the conquest . here i expect it should be granted ( for 't is avouched i am sure by several h men of credit ) that before the conquest we were not in this kingdome acquainted with what since and to this day we call feoda , foreiners feuda , i. e. fiefs , or fees , either in that general sence i mean wherein they are discoursed of and handled abroad in the book thence intituled de feudis , at home in that called littletons tenures , or in that particularly understood of us , when we treat or speak of knights-fee , which could not then be known here , when knights themselves were not in being , as ( saith a record in the cathedral of canterbury , whereof more i anon ) they were not till the conquerours time or if in effect they were known to us , yet in terms certainly they were not : for the name of fee , or feudum , in this sence is no where to be found in any our records or monuments of those dayes now extant , and of credit , if my self and others have not been more unhappy to misse it , than indiligent to seek it . 't is true , it occurrs in the fifth and sixth of the laws ascribed to the confessour , set forth by mr. lambard , in the varia lectio there in the margent ; but besides that the text in each place reads it fundo , those laws , i take it , for the most part , especially as to their phrase , carry not that antiquity ; but , like those of like kind in scotland , ascribed to king malcolm the k second , and king alureds will at the end of the story of his life penned by asserius , where the word several times occurrs , savour of a later dresse . the like no doubt may as truly be said of that , qui in feodo suo , in the old latine version of king edgars laws , following those in the original saxon set forth in the late edition of the councils by sir henry spelman , pag. . and may we not upon this ( amongst other grounds ) question those charters in l ingulphus , thus far , i mean , as to doubt , whether many , if not the most of them , speak not another than that tongue in which they were originally penned , as being by the authour , ( though english born , yet afterward normaniz'd , by conversing there some time , as a retainer and secretary to duke william , afterward conquerour , and king of england ) whose story is penned in latine , the better to suit with it , taught to speak the latine of his time , and late masters native countrey ? upon this ground , i say , that amongst many other phrases scattered here and there , not in use with the saxons , nor ever heard of here in england till about ingulphus own time , ( such as averia , ballivus , bedellus , communa pasturae , justiciarius , for is factura , tenura , weif , stray , with many more such like , which i forbear to name in this place ) occurrs feudum . for example , in the charter of witlaf , the mercian king , dated anno . we have it thus : & xl . acras de eodem feodo in campo de deping . the like in a charter of bertulph , another mercian king also , dated anno . and in some other of later date from succeeding kings , we have — de eodem feodo de gerunthorpe , and the like : whereas it may very justly be doubted , whether either the laws , stories , or other , either written or printed monuments of credit of any nation or countrey , can shew the word ( feodum , or feudum ) in use amongst them ( but in stead thereof beneficium , feudum's elder brother , or the like ) until about that age , until ( i mean ) after the beginning of the tenth century from our saviours incarnation . and hence give me leave , with buchelius , in his illustrations upon heda's history of the bishops of m utrecht , to suspect that list or memorial , n de vassis sive fide addictis ecclesiae & episcopo trajectensi , ( as there it stands intituled ) of heda ascribed to adelboldus the th bishop of that see , who after he had sate years , died in the year . as indeed a piece unadvisedly referred to that time and place , and in all probability belonging to some successour of his . but be that as it will , i see nothing however that may render us unsatisfied of the truth of their assertion , who say that the conquerour brought , or introduced first into this kingdome feudum , feodum , or ( as in english ) fee , taken as it signifies feudal services , especially military , ( praedium militare ) the sence in which , as it regularly occurrs in the o feudal books abroad , so constantly in domesday-book here at home , for distinguishing the land from other there said to be holden per gablum , ad ●irmam , in alodio , and other like tenures there occurring : the introducer borrowing ( saith one p of my authours ) the term , ( he might have added the customes ) from his own native countrey , normandy , which he concludes from a passage of himself there quoted out of domesday-book , thus speaking : — in eodem feudo de w. comite radulfo de limes ' . carucat . terrae sicut fit in normannia : thus subjoyning : feudum & nomanniam jungit , ac si rei novae notitia è normannia disquirenda esset . but with submission to better judgements , i question whether those words : sicut sit in normannia , may not relate to carucatae terrae , being an expression not used of q the saxons for a plough-land , ( but aratrum , sulinga , hida , familia , mansio , mansa , manens , casata , and the like terms of quantity ) rather than to feudum , from which too it is further distanced in the quotation than from the other . but to let that passe : to the conquerour ( it seems ) it is , that the name and customes of our english fees , or ( as we now vulgarly call them ) r tenures , such at least as are military , ow their introduction , whatsoever the ſ mirroir ( a book whose antiquity is too much cried up of some ) hath to the contrary , as if in terminis known here in england in king alfreds dayes , by whom ( as the authour there pretends ) i● was ordained that knights ▪ fee should descend and fall to the eldest , and socage among all the sons : whereas in very deed we knew neither one nor t'other in those dayes , they with the rest since and at this day called fee-simple , fee-taile , fee-ferme , frank-fee , as also grand and petite serjeanty , escuage , burgage , villenage , and the rest , in the book of tenures and elswhere obvious , being all of the norman plantation , and we by them , at least since their conquest of us , brought acquainted with them , not knowing what fee ( in that notion ) meant before , nor being to this day agreed among our selves , as neither are the feudists and other writers on that argument in other parts , upon the etymologie and derivation , either of that o● the word whereunto it is opposed , allodium ; wherein indeed authours of several sorts , lawyers i mean , etymologi●ts and antiquaries so much differ and disagree , as that the further we wade in the research of their opinions in that kind , the more uncertain still we come off , and the further we are from ( the end of our inquiry ) satisfaction . however , i will on this occasion adventure to offer my sence , which , if well considered , may perhaps help to end the difference . not to repeat that variety of other mens opinions in the point , of which some , and those the most , and with most general applause and acceptation , fetch the former ( feudum ) from fides ; others from faida , or feida ( bellum ) a third from foedus : a fourth from the german fueden , qua●i a fungendo , i. pascendo , or ( as t gryphiander hath it ) from the saxon foden , i. e. nutrire : to let these derivations all passe without any further repetition , as obvious enough in the writings of the feudists and elswhere , especially ( with some additions of his own ) in martinius lexicon ▪ philologicum : as likewise not to repeat the like variety amongst them , ( as obvious as the other ) concerning the latter , ( allodium ) which some will have to be a derivative from à , the privative particle , and laudium , or laudatio , as a possession acknowledging no authour , no lord of the soil , but god alone ; others from that privative particle , and lodes , quasi sine lode , that is , ●ine vassallo , as a mad man is called amens , to say , ●ine mente , as whose possessour is no vassal , whilest a third sort fetch it from alsleud , as we should say , possessions common ( i. e. such as may freely be given or sold ) to all or any of the people , the many : like in this ( say some ) to what of old we here in england called folcland , by which ( but how properly , since folcland is parallel'd with what sithence we call u copy ▪ hold , may well be doubted ) they are found to illustrate it , contrary to a fourth derivation of others , who hold it inseparable from the family , and thence of the germans called ein anlod . a fifth sort there is , that draw it from the foresaid privative particle à , and l●od ( in french l●ud ) a vassal , as it were , without vassallage , or without burthen , which we english men ( saith my authour rightly ) at this day call loade : not further , i say , to trouble the reader with either any longer repe●ition of these and the like ( for there are some other ) various opinions of this kind , or any catalogue of the several authours of them , i will , as i promised , offer my conjecture at each words etymologie , with submission of it to better judgements . in short then i say , that each of the two words in its original , which is german , is a compound consisting of two syllables , of which two , the latter ( to begin with that ) i conceive to be the same in both , and is no other than what is borrowed towards the composition of many several words of the same original , used and continued both in those , especially the teutonic parts , and also here in this iland , from the time of the saxons setling here , down unto this day , though with some little variation of the dialect , occasioned by tract of time bringing its corruptions , and the intermixture of other languages : and that is with us hade , head , hode , with the teutonics heyd , and heit , sometime hat , betokening in each place ( as dome , and ship , anciently written scip , in the terminations of many of our words : ) a quality , kind , condition , state , sort , nature , property , and the like . hence the military , masculine , feminine , childish , paternal , maternal , fraternal , sisterly , desolate , presbyterial , neighbourly , quality , nature , kind , condition , &c. of a knight , a man , a woman , a child , a father , a mother , a brother , a sister , a widow , a priest , a neighbour , &c. is termed knight-hode , manhode , womanhode , childhode ▪ fatherhode , motherhode , brotherhode , sisterhode , widowhode , priesthode , neighbourhode , &c. the quality , nature , existence , of the deity is stiled godhead with us , with our ancestours , the english saxons ( who wrote and had that hade , which we since write and have hode and hood ) godhade . head in maidenhead ows it self to the same original , denoting out the virgin-condition , or maiden-quality of the party . hood in livelyhood is also sprung from the same root , whereby a mans state of subsistence is signified : and the like may be said of hood , in falshood , likelyhood , and a many words more of like termination , as expressing and setting forth in the one , the false , in the other , the probable , likely , condition of the thing predicated . this may also help us in the etymologie of what we use to call feud , or deadly feud , our ancestours , the saxons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the germans fhede , feide , and faide , which in truth is but a compound of their f●h , i. e. hostis , inimicus , as we say at this day a foe , and hode , hade , head , heyt , &c. ●i . conditio , status , qualitas , &c. together importing the condition of enmity in the person who bears it . i could here enlarge with instances of very many teutonic words thus terminating , i mean , in their dialect with heyd , heit , and the like , and by such their terminations predicating , as is said before , a quality , condition , &c. such as allenheyd , felheyd , fijnigheyd , hebbelickheyd , heyligheyd , maeghdelickheyd , and numbers more obvious in every page of kilianus dictionarium teutonico-latinum , and elswhere ; but i fear to be tedious . seeing now what the latter syllable in feudum and allodium , in their several originals , signifieth ; and having taken the words thus asunder , let us next consider of the other part of the composition , their former syllables , which in feudum ( the former ) is feh , feo , or feoh , signifying as x pecunia in the general , so more peculiarly a salary , stipend , wages , intended of us when we say : officers live by their fees ; whilest in the other , allodium , the former syllable rightly written , is all , al , or ( as with the saxons ) eal . put we now the syllables together again , and then the former will come forth feo-hode , feh-hode , or the like ; the latter , all-hode , and that most appositely , if applied to the feudists feudum and allodium , considered in their originations and primitive acceptions . the former of which when first y instituted , was but personal , not , as afterward , perpetual , patrimonial , hereditary , or holden ( in glanvill and bractons phrase ) ad remanentiam , but as a clergy-man holds his benefice , ( hence in some ancient z charters called feodum ) onely for life ; the tenant being but a meer stipendiary , a termer , at best but a freeholder for life , usufructuarius , and indeed some were not so much , but held only ( as our learned a glossarist hath it ) ad voluntatem domini , as b others , precariò , not unlike our tenants at will since and at this day : the land was onely lent , as the german term for it c ( lehen ) seems to intimate . in processe of time , degenerating and receding from their first institution , they became perpetual and hereditary , yet holden , as formerly , with a condition of service on the tenants part , and stipendii loco & nomine on the lords ; by way ( as it were ) of salary , pension , or stipend from the lord , to gratifie and recompence his man withall for such his service , to which he was obliged under peril of forfeicture by the withdrawing thereof . i dare not add in consideration of fealty or homage , ( in those times ) since , though that acknowledgement in the feudal law , of some fee tenable without an oath of d fealty be indeed justly taxed for a paradox of such who will have fee to come of fides , ( whence haply our legal maxime , that all tenures regularly are liable to fealty : ) yet might fee , by this derivation of it , stand with fealty , and the tenants of it be called e fideles feudales without a soloecisme ; a good argument for the derivation of it thus , rather than from fides , as of more scope , and more consistent with fee of all sorts than that other derivation doth allow . fees , i say , were holden but in service , nomine quasi alieno , the dominium , that at least of lawyers called directum , ( though the utile were transferred on the tenant : ) the propriety , i mean , remaining and abiding still in the lord , together with a power of restraining his tenant from alienation , and consequently such land was but partially , conditionally , not totally and absolutely , granted out . contrariwise , that which was termed , in opposition to it , allodium , as it was hereditary , perpetual , and patrimonial , so was it ●ans all condition , free , and in the power of the possessour to dispose of it ad libitum , how he pleased , either by gift or sale , without asking any man leave : and as it was hereditary , perpetual , patrimonial , and free land , so was it withall possessed totally and wholly , not as our land generally in this kingdome in subjects hands at this day said to be holden in dominico suo ut de feodo , as our lawyers phrase it , but rather in dominico suo ut de jure , ( the owner having dominium both directum and utile : ) or in the feudists phrase , and after their unanimous , harmonious definition of it , pleno jure ; integrè ; ex toto ; or ex solido , as f malmesbury hath that which g eadmerus expresseth by in alodium , quit of all services , like frankalmoigne , whereunto mr. selden there in that respect resembles it . i may call it absolutely , immediately , or ( if you will ) independently , without acknowledgement of any superiour lord , not unlike the prince of haynault , holding onely ( saith my h authour ) de deo & sole , or , as other absolute princes , gratiâ dei , in a word , in totality : whence the terms of praedia immunia , terra propria , fundus proprii juris , patrimonium , in i charters and elswhere given to such possessions . probably , land of this nature was the same with our bocland , which i sometime find in the latine rendring of some saxon pieces turned by it : ( hence a hint to judge of the one by the other : ) for what in the th chapter of the first part of king cnutes laws is read bocland ▪ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. and in the old latine version of it in the kings ms. and jornalensis , is turned haereditas : si quis tainus in haereditate sua terram ( it should be ecclesiam ) habeat , &c. in another like old version in the book of rochester called textus roffensis , is rendred allodium ▪ si liberalis homo quem angli thegen vocant , habet in alodio suo ecclesiam , &c. by allodium also is turned in the same record ( textus roffensis ) what occurrs in the saxon fragment exhibited by mr. lambard , perambulat . in mepham ▪ pag. . under the term of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ▪ et si villanus ita crevisset sua probitate , quod pleniter haberet quinque hidas de suo proprio alodio , &c. allodium , it seems thence , being properly such land as is fully a mans own . shortly then , feudum , fee , or land holden in fee , is no more ( considered in its first and primary acception , to which they must have regard that will hope to judge aright of the ground for the first imposition of the name : ) than what was holden in fee-hode , by contraction feud , or feod , i. e ▪ in a stipendiary , conditional , mercenary , mediate way and nature , and with the acknowledgement of a superiour lord , and a condition of returning him some service for it , upon the withdrawing whereof the land was revertible unto the lord : in which respect , as the grant thereof is improperly called a donation , being but k feodalis dimissio , i. e. a demise in fee , so the deed or conveyance by which it was demised , is as improperly termed a charter of donation , being no more than a charter or deed of feoffment . such , i say ▪ is feudum . allodium is contrarywise what is holden in all-hode , in totality , in a totall , full , absolute , immediate manner and condition , without acknowledgement of any superiour lord , and free from any tie or compact for the returning any service at all for it unto any . thus far ( and i hope not too far , nor impertinently ) for cleering the etymon of feudum and allodium , as the argument , so the torture of many learned pens , amongst whose derivations of one and t'other , i humbly crave this of mine ( such as it is ) may be admitted for future indagatours , and all others of unforestalled judgements freely to consider of . and now to spin on our former thred , and to reassume our argument of the introduction of our fees or tenures by the conquerour , which that etymon coming in the way caused me a while to set aside : i here professe to concurr with them , who upon the question put , resolve it in the affirmative , whereof our learned l glossarist , for one , thus : feodorum servitutes in britanniam nostram primus invexit gulielmus senior , conquestor nuncupatus , &c. and a little after : deinceps vero resonarunt omnia feodorum gravaminibus ▪ saxonum aev● ne auditis quidem : no other tenures , or , in the scottish expression , haldings of land , being formerly here in use but these two , bocland , and folcland ; the one ( saith my m authour ) a possession by writing , the other without . that by writing ( so he adds ) was a freehold , and by charter ; hereditary , with all immunities , and for the free and nobler sort . that without writing was to hold at the will of the lord , bound to rents and services , and was for the rurall people . it may be added , that the former took name from the lands booking , or entring ( with the limits of it ) in a codicil , ( as then called ) a little book , or ( as we since call it ) a charter , which if the land were given to a lay-man , was in way of seizin delivered to the party that was to have the land , ( hence haply that ceremony we retain of delivering a conveyance as the parties act and deed ) or , ( if to a monastery ) laid and left most commonly upon the altar : ego autem licentiâ & consensu illius , testimonioque episcoporum & optimatum suorum , omnes terras meas , & libros terrarum propria manu mea posui super altare christi in dorobernia , &c. as it is in the close of a n memorial of the gift of monkton and other manours to the church of canterbury , in the year , by queen edive , or edith , whose picture , in thankful remembrance , was until of late reserved in that churches treasury . hence was such a charter vulgarly known in those times by the name of o a landboc , in the latine of the times telligraphum , sometime codicillus , and the like . observe yet further , terram haereditario jure conscribere , & liberam proclamare , ( the latine phrase for creating bocland ) was a prerogative royal , or a royalty , and out of the power of any subject , whence that passage often occurring in subjects grants of lands in perpetuity to the forenamed cathedral , and other places , viz. and such a one king , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , i. e. haereditario jure conscripsit , as also that : liberam omninò proclamavit , and such like . king ethelreds priviledge ( as called ) confirming to that cathedral ( amongst other things ) their whole possessions , is hence by p one of the subscribents called , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . but notwithstanding this enfranchisement , the land was very seldome alienated by the possessour in frankalmoigne , without ( what the law of q mortmaine afterward required ) a concurrent , or at least a subsequent confirmation from the king , whereof examples are obvious in the list of that churches lands and benefactours , published in the antiquities of canterbury , pag. . as also of the concurrence of the magnates , or nobles , in such bocland-grants , principally in that of mallings . you shall have the very words , because rema●kable : anno domini dcccxxxviij . ecgbertus & athelwlfus rex filius ejus dederunt ecclesiae christi in dorobernia mallings in suthsexan , quod viz. manerium prius eidem ecclesiae dedit baldredus rex , sed quia ( mark this ) non fuit de consensu magnatum regni , donum id non potuit valere . et ideo , &c. bocland thus flowing originally from the crown , upon all forfeictures , and particularly that of the estate of the possessour , for deserting the warrs , as if there were no mean between the king and him , the king alone was to take the r forfeict . but of bocland more anon . some other kinds of land ( 't is true ) there were in those dayes , but all ( i take it ) reducible to the precedent diehotomy , such as , gafolland : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as it is in the truce or agreement between alfred and guthrun kk . in the archaion , cap. . neatland . inland : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . so runs the first chapter of king edgars laws there . utland : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . as we have it in the will of byrhtric in our kentish perambulation , pag. . of which four , the two former , i conceive , were but the same with folcland ; both one and t'other importing land letten or demised , as fol●land was , to rural people , more emphit●utico , for profit : the one from gable , or gafol , i. ● . cens , or rent , being termed gafolland ; the other called neatland , either from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , to improve , fructifie , whence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for a foenerator , a usurer , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , profit , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ▪ profitable , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , unprofitable , unthrifty , or else which i rather think ) from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , villanus , colonus , as the old version of the th & th of k. ina's laws renders the word , which comes all to one with ceorliscus spoken of in that second chapter of the foedus aluredi , & guthruni , regum , and there described by his quality to be o●e that occupieth ſ gafolland . as for the remaining two , inland , utland , the former was terra dominicalis , land holden in demesne , in the owners own hands , ( and for the most part designed in mensam domini , whence otherwise stil●d in succeeding times bord-land , like the civilians and canonists bona ad mens●m ) and in this respect may not unfitly be referred to bocland , regularly of like property . the latter contrariwise , like gafolland , and neatland , was land letten out , and , in opposition to demesne land , termed in servitio , or tenement●lis , that is , granted out in service by the lord to his tenants , to be holden of himself , and so we may parallel it , as with gafolland and neatland , so with folcland , being of the same nature : like the frenchmans fief s●rvant , i. terra serviens , in respect whereof the tenants were bound to be retainers , attendants and followers to their lords , sui●ors to their courts , and were thence called ( in the term of hen. . laws , taken up afterwards of t bracton ) folgarii , concerning which see further in sir hen. spelmans glossary , verb. folgare , & folgarii , as also in the laws of king knute , par . . cap. . besides these sorts of land , after ages ( since the conquest ) produced many other , such as , work-land , cot-land , aver-land , drof-land , swilling-land , molland , ber-land , smiths-land , ware land , terra susanna , for-land , bord-land , and such like . of each of which ( for some satisfaction to the inquisitive ) in a word or two . the first ( work-land ) is land of a servile nature and condition , terra servilis , as i find it called , as also ( what indeed the word soundeth ) terra operaria , because haply at the creation of the manour , and distribution of it into parcels , charged with servile works , such as plowing and harrowing the lords a●able ground , mowing . tassing and carrying in his hay , sowing , weeding , reaping , and inning his corn , making and mending his fences , thatching his barns , and such like : charged ( i say ) with servile works , and not with cens or rent , or if also with rent , yet of the twain more especially with works , and therefore contradistinct , and opposite to gavelland , which was land liable to cens or rent , or if also to works , yet chiefly to rent ; both one and t'other being denominated from what was the more eminent service arising from them . hereof some footsteps visible in the . of king ina's laws . the second ( cot-land ) that belonging unto , and occupied by the cotarii , cotset● , or cotmanni , a sort of base tenants , so called from certain cotes , or cottages , small sheds like sheep-cotes , with some little modicum or parcel of land adjoyning , originally assigned out unto them in respect and recompence of their undergoing such like servile works , or baser services for their lords , as before expressed . the third ( aver-land ) much the same with that before called work-land , coming of the french ouvrer , to work , or labour , but chiefly differing from that in this particular , that the services thereof consisted especially in carriages , as of the lords corn into the barn , to markets , fairs , and elswhere , or of his domestick utensils or houshold-provision from one place to another , which service was of diverse kinds , sometimes by horse , thence called horse-average , otherwhile by foot , thence termed foot-average ; one while within the precinct of the manour , thence named in-average , another while without , and then called out-average ; the tenant in the mean while being known by the name of avermannus . the fourth ( drof-land ) that holden by the service of driving , as well of distresses taken for the lords use , as of the lords cattel from place to place , as to and from markets , fairs , and the like : more particularly here in kent of driving the lords hogs or swine to and from the weald of kent , and the denns there , thence called of old drofdens , namely from the droves of hogs sent thither , and there fed and fatted with mast , or pawnage ; the driver whereof was vulgarly called drofmann●u . the fifth ( swilling-land ) that let out or occupied by swillings , swollings , or sullings , that is , plough-lands , coming of the saxon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a plough , ( in which notion the word may extend to all arable land ) the quantity whereof was various and uncertain , conteining more or lesse according to the nature of the land , a plough being able to master a greater or lesser quantity , thereafter as it is in quality . this ( of swillings ) i find to be a word proper to the kentish , even from the conquerours time , ( to look no higher ) whose survey ( commonly called domesday-book ) shews suling ( and the like ) to have been a term in those dayes peculiar to this county , whereby to expresse the quantity of their land , whilest hide , and the like was of like use elswhere . to this head may be referred hide-land , yoke-land , aker-land , rod-land , and the like , being quantities or portions of land let out and occupied by the hide , yoke , aker , rod , &c. and denominated accordingly . the sixth ( mol-land ) was the same with up-land , of the saxons called dunland , standing in opposition to meadow-land , mershland , or low-land ; the tenant whereof was wont to be called molmannus : the word ( as i conceive ) being derivable from the latine moles , a heap , of which see further in the surveyours dialogue . hence probably the name of that place in ash ( the seat and patrimony a● this day , and from good antiquity , of the harflets , formerly of the septvans , families both in their time ado●ned with knight-hood ) called molland , being of an advantagious situation for the overlooking of a large level of a rich mershland . the seventh ( ber-land ) that which was held by the service of bearing , or carrying the lords or his stewards provisions of victual or the like , in their remove from place to place , such tenant being thence called ●erm●nnus . the eighth ( smiths-land ) that , in respect whereof the tenant was bound , as to undergo the smiths or farriers office and work , in and about shooing his lords horses and carriages , so also to find and furnish him with materials ( of iron ) for that purpose . the ninth ( ware-land ) the same that otherwise called in the latine of the times , terra warectata , or terrajacens ad warectam , that is land lying , or suffered to lie ●allow , coming from the french garé , ( their g here , as in many other words , being turned into our w ) whence with them terre garée , for old fallow-ground . the tenth ( terra susanna ) land , not much unlike unto , if not the same with the former , being superannated land , or land with over much tillage worn and beaten out of state , and therefore of necessity lying over year , and being converted from tillage to pasture , until it may recover state , and be fit for tillage again , the term or denomination coming from the french susanné , signifying stale , grown old , past the best , or overworn with years . the eleventh ( for-land ) the same ( i take it ) that we otherwise use to call fore-aker , whereof see more in sir henry spelmans glossary , verb. forera . the twelfth and last ( bord-land ) that holden and occupied by the bordarii , or bordmanu● , the same ( i take it ) with the french bord●ers , i. e. villeins or cottagers , such as hold by a servile , base , and drudging tenure , of them called bordage . you may read both of the one and the other in the old grand custumier of normandy , cap. . within the ●ignification of the word ( bordland ) are comprehended also ( as is already hin●ed in this chapter ) lands holden in demesme ( of the saxons termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) and designed to the furnishing of the lords boord or table , and the maintenance of him and his family in victual . for which see bracton , lib. . tract . . cap. . num . . which kind of land the saxons used to call foster-land , quasi fostering land , that is land ad victum , a term obvious and very frequent with the religious men of those dayes , who as they had their special ferms and portions of land assigned them ad victum , so had they other as peculiar to their clothing or apparelling , land ad vestitum , which ▪ from the saxon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , vestis , or vestimentum , they called scrud-land . they had withall their sextary-land , which was such as apperteined to the office , and was intrusted to the care , of the sacrist or sexton , and was designed chiefly to the upholding & maintenance of their church or temple , both in the fabrick and ornaments . besides all these , they had their almes●and , which was that appropriate to their almnery , a parcel or place of the monastery set apart for harbour and relief to such poor people ( for the most part ) as were allied , or otherwise related to the monks . i may not he●e omit over-land , a name attributed to such land as lieth by or along a rivers side , and coming of the saxon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , i. e. margo , the bank of a river : whence that known places name lying by london , alongst the thames-side , called st. mary overies : compounded of the aforesaid over , and ree , betokening a river , or current of water . land of this name we have at or neer ash in kent , alongst the stour-side , running to sandwich town and haven . i might to these add monday-land , and the like , which with it fellows , borrowed denomination from this or that week day , and that in respect of the tenants obligation to such or such servile works or services , upon such or such dayes of the week , in respect of that land . but i purpose to digresse no longer , having for brevity sake , wittingly omitted the quotation of the places where these several names occurr , which otherwise i should willingly have added , and shall onely in the appendix , scriptura . present the reader with a copy of a saxon charter making mention of those two , fosterland and scrudland , as somewhat more remarkable than the rest . now returning to our bocland , you must know , that notwithstanding that introduction of new tenures by the conquerour , we did not streightway forgo our bocland , that kind of tenure i mean , but reteined it both name and thing , witnesse first what occurrs in u a deed sans date of certain messuages , by roger , son of john , alderman of radingate in canterbury , granted in frankalmoigne to st. laurence hospital neer the city , founded by hugh , of that name the second , abbat of st. augustines there in the year . viz. duo messuagia quae sita sunt in terra d bocland , de qua nulli responde● , &c. where we have not onely bocland mentioned , but the nature of it also in part se● forth . witnesse also another passage to the same effect in a like ancient x charter to the church of canterbury , for the grant of a parcel of land lying without the wals of the city , between queningate and burg●●e , running thus : volo autem ut monachi teneant terram illam omnino liberam , sicut ego & antecessores mei , & nemini inde respondeant . witnesse lastly , domesday book it self , where though haply not the name of it , ( as neither of folcland , saxon terms both ) yet the thing , to my apprehension , is very obvious and often occurring under the name and notion sometime of tainland , otherwhile ( and i think more often ) of allodium . hence the phrase ( for the former ) of y clamare ad tainland ; of tenere in alodio , for the other : both taken up ( as i conceive ) in opposition to fee ; but the former so termed , because indeed bocland , or alodium , was properly tenable by thanes , ( hence in the eleventh chapter of king cnutes laws , par . . thegn and bocland in the original saxon , as thegen and allodium in the latine version in textus roffensis , meet as relatives : ) not but that it was sometime held by ceorles , as who were not incapable of holding it , ( witnesse the old version of the saxon fragment in mr. lambard , whereof before : ) but when so , as improperly there , and as much out of place as knights ▪ fee ( proper to knights and the nobler sort of people ) were in this kingdome since and at this day in socagers hands , or in the hands of sockmen , whose proper tenure was that of gafolland : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as you have it before . i have often much wondred with my self , whence it should come to passe , that diverse of our canterbury houses and ground at this day pay no quit-rent at all , which others in the same place , though holden in free burgage are known to do . but considering afterwards with my self , that bocland often occurrs in landbocs ( as they were called ) of the place in the saxons time , i at length concluded , at least conceived , such houses and ground to be the remains of our ancient bocland , which seemeth to be still surviving in them , as if holden in allodium , pleno jure , without all manner of chargeable service , and no other ( probably ) than part of those eighty acres of land ( or the like ) in canterburies survey in domesday-book thus expressed : habet etiam ( 't is spoken of ranulfus de columbers ) quater viginti a●r as terrae super haec quas tenebant burgenses in alodio ( so i read it , rather than alodia ) de rege , or , as a very ancient book sometimes of st. augustines abbey , now with the kings remembrancer in the exchequer reads it : item dicuat burgenses quod idem ranulfus tenet quatu●r viginti agros de allodiis eorum , &c. the same domesday-book ( to prosecute this discourse of allodium a little further ) makes mention particularly of some allodiarii by name in that kentish survey , and there also we may read to this purpose : has forisfactur as habet rex super omnes alodiarios totius comitatus chent , & super homines ipsorum . and : in cantia quando moritur alodiarius , rex inde habet relevationem terrae , excepta terrae s. trinitatis , & s. augustini , & s. martini , & exceptis his , godric de burnes , & godric de carlesone , & aelnold cilt , & esber biga , siret de cilleham , ( these last three are mentioned also in the survey there of canterbury , amongst those whose lands were sac and soc-free , i. e. quit against the king of sac and soc : ) & turgis , & norman , & azor. super istos habet rex forisfactur am de capitibus eorum tantummodc , & de terris eorum habent relevamen qui habent suam socam & sacam . i rather read it habent , than habet relevamen , because by charters both of the cathedral and st. augustines abbey , of those succeeding times , i find the monks in each place priviledged with the liberties of sac and soc , &c. over their allodiarii , as termed in the charters of the latter place , over their thegnes , or theines , as in the former , in what form of words see in the charter of each place , for illustration sake , copied in the appendix here , scriptur . . and . and least these various terms ( allodiarii and thegnes ) rendring them of a seeming difference , should occasion any suspition of their being not the same , for your satisfaction to the contrary , take this note along with you , that those who in the latine charteis of st. austins , are termed allodiarii , in the very same charters exhibited in english , ( like as in those at christchurch ) are stiled thegnes . but what ( may it be ask'd ) were they then which in some very ancient records of that cathedral are named threnges ? indeed i have met with a record there , ( and you may meet with it here in the appendix , scriptur . . a choice one in my account , as the book it self was i● seems in his , who in the margent of the first page of it long since left this note : custodiatur benè iste libellus , quia etsi appareat non valere , benè tamen valet , & est libellus satis pretiosus monachis ecclesiae christi : ) which makes no slight mention of such threnges belonging to the monks there , in these very words : quia verò non erant adhuc tempore regis will mi milites in anglia , sed threnges , praecepit rex , ut de eis milites fierent , ad terram defendendam . fecit autem lanfrancus threngos suos milites , monachi verò non fecerunt , sed de portione sua ducentas libratas terrae dederunt archiepiscope , ut per milites suos terras eorum defenderet , & ut omnia negotia eorum apud curiam romanam suis expensis expediret , unde ad huc in tota terra monachorum nullus miles est , sed in terra archiepiscopi , &c. to this purpose gervasius dorobernensis , then a monk of the place , speaking of the archbishops dividing the revenue between himself and the monks : sibi etiam ( saith he ) r●servaverunt comites , barones & milites ; monachis verò assignaverunt rusticos & agricultores . these threnges doubtlesse were the same , which in domesday-book are somewhere called drenches , and if so , your best satisfaction what they were , will be from the words explication in sir hen. spelmans glossary . but , me thinks , laying these records concerning them together , and then comparing them wi●h the fore-cited ancient charters of liberties granted to the monks of christchurch and st. augustines on the one hand , and domesday-book on the other , drenches , threnges , thegnes , one and all , may not unfitly be rendred in that books phrase , allodiarii : being such liberales , ( as the saxon thegnes is not unusually turned in the old latine translations , as thegenscipe by liberali●as ) such ministri , fideles , servientes , nobiles , as being by these places dignified with some portions of their allodium , or bocland , did militiam ex arbitrio tractare , nullius ●omini imperio evocati , nulloque feodali gravamine coerciti , ( as our learned glossarist concerning allodiarii ) being permitted to continue in their pristine estate , acquitted from military service and tenure , when as others were from threnges turned into milites , and their land consequently subjected to military fee and tenure . whether the name of drenches were taken up from such a cause as our learned glossarist , from a record by him there cited , is assigned for it , some reason there is to doubt from the mention of ( the terms synonimy ) threnges , in that record of christchurch , as known in that notion here before the conquest , whereas the other sayes they took name first after it : if before it , ( as the christchurch record ) then i see , me thinks , some cause to suspect the term corrupted from thegnes , i. thanes , which cleerly that cathedral had before the conquest . on the other side , if the record ( in the glossary ) be right , and that withall threnges , drenches , thegnes and allodiarii be ( as all the fore-cited authorities laid together , they seem to be ) synonima's , terms identical , then were our kentish allodiarii , such as had not revolted from the crown , by opposing the conquerour , whether by their aid or counsel , but had peaceably submitted to him and his empire , whilest consequently others of the county opposing , withstanding , and resisting him and his coming in , had ipso facto forfeited their possessions : and if so , then spots history , whereof so much before , may well deserve yet another dash , or , if you will , another spot . but thus far of allodium , as also of what induced it , bocland , which , as to the name , almost quite ceased with the saxons , though , as to the thing it survived some time after , under the notion of allodium , into which it was translated of the normans here , and of them so altered also in the very thing , that it became thus far subject unto tenure , as in the opinion of learned z men , it was land ( as we say ) holden , and so accounted , whence in time that common and received a axiome amongst us , that in the law of england ( since the conquest at least ) we have not properly allodium , that is , not any subjects land that is not holden : in which respect , as one b saith , he that can say most for his estate , saith thus : i am seized of this or that land or tenement in my demain as of fee , seisitus inde in dominico meo ut de feodo , &c. and 't is most true at this day , but under favour , it was otherwise since the conquest , witnesse ( besides domesday-book , where the opposite to fee , allodium , is very obvious ) those charters afore-cited , the one of st. laurence , the other of christchurch , ( and such like ) mentioning land holden by the authours or owners , for which they were responsible to none , as also the pinenden plea for the archbishops lands of canterbury , and the grant in alodium mentioned in eadmerus , evidencing cleerly the contrary , and asserting ( some of them ) the continuance of such creations from the king , to whom , after textus roffensis , it peculiarly belongs to grant out , or passe land in that kind : carta alodii ad aeternam haereditatem , being there reckoned and ranked inter consuetudines regum inter anglos . now as our bocland did not presently expire with the saxons , its first authours , upon their vanquishing and supplanting by the normans , so neither did our folcland , but survived and continued after the conquest , and remains unto this day , though not in the very name , yet in the thing and substance . for , as aforetime the saxons had their ceorles , gebures , folcmen , &c. as afterwards the normans their villani , bordmanni , cotarii , &c. so what the former held was called folcland , gafolland , &c. and was opposed to bocland ▪ what the latter , villenage , and ( in some sence ) socage , opposed to chivalry , knight-service , &c. and in all likelyhood intended by that rusticana servitus occurring in a charter of wal●he●●nus mamino● , granting the ●●thery of bertrey to the church of rochester ▪ quod si aliquid de pr●dicto dominio in rusticanam servitutem translatum est , &c. as it is in mr. seldens history of t●thes , cap. . pag. ▪ as for the original of socage , there b are that refer us ( for the finding of it ) to a notable passage in g●rvasius tilburiensis his book intituled dialogus so●ccarii , who lived and wrote in hen. . dayes , which ( to bring the reader better acquainted with the state of affairs in the disposal of our countrey-mens free-hold in those elder times , when as the english state was new moulded ) i here offer to his view : post conquisitionem , &c. i. after the c conquest of the kingdome , and the deserved subversion of the rebels , when the king himself with his nobles surveyed his new countrey , a diligent inquiry was made , who they were , which taking part in the war agaist the king , had saved themselves by flight : to all these , like as to the heirs of such as had fallen in the war , all hope of any lands , d possessions and e rents , which formerly they enjoyed , was cut off . for they accounted it no small favour to escape with life under enemies . but those who when summoned , came not to the war , or being occupied in houshold or other necessary affairs , were absent , when in processe of time by their constant f serviceablenesse , they had ingratiated themselves with their lords , without hope of succession , their children onely , and that but at the lords will , began to possesse . afterwards , when becoming odious to their lords , they were every where expelled their possessions , nor was there any that would restore what was taken away , a common complaint of the natives came to the king , that being thus hated of all , and bereaved of their estates , they should be enforced to betake themselves to forein parts . at length , after consultation upon these matters , it was decreed , that what by their deservings , and upon a lawful agreement , they could obtein of their lords , should be their own by inviolable right . but they should challenge nothing to themselves g by name of h succession , from the times of the nations subduing . which thing truly , how discreetly it was considered of , is manifest , especially when as thus by all means , for their own good , they were bound from thenceforth to apply themselves by constant i serviceablenesse to purchase their lords favour . insomuch as who of the conquered people possessed lands , or such like , obteined them not , as seeming to be due by right of succession , but in recompence of his deservings , or by some intervening agreement . hence we see how precariously matters stood with the generality of our poor countrey men ( in point of estate ) in those dayes , and with what observance and obsequious respect they were fain to carry themselves towards their conquering disseisors , to purchase many times but a modicum of what had lately been their own , and when they had it , see withall upon what kittle , rottering , uncertain terms they held k it . the relation comes from a very good hand , and is so authentike , as ( for ought i know ) it may be credited for it self . but if any man expect further confirmation , i suppose it may be found in bracton , lib . cap. . num . . where he hath this passage , and is in part seconded in it by fleta , lib. . cap. . fuerunt etiam ( saith he ) in conquestu liberi homines , qui liberè tenuerunt tenementa sua per libera servitia , vel per liberas consuetudines , & cum per potentiores ejecti essent , postmodum reversi receperunt eadem tenementa sua tenenda in villenagio , &c. the same l authour , fol. ● . and elswhere tells us of a sort of tenants , ad similitudinem villanorum sockmannorum per conventionem de gratiâ dominorum , licet hoc esset ab initio villenagium , &c. a passage , if not totidem verbis , yet in substance often repeated of him , in my judgement intimating thereby that practice of the tenants currying favour and complying with their lords , whereof in tilburiensis , and their obteining thereby to better their estates , and by degrees to creep out of villenage into a kind of socage , a tenure ( thus ) grown to that latitude and so comprehensive , as it helps to make that dichotomy , into which all the kingdomes lands in the hands of common persons , in point of tenure are resolved , chivalry being the other . now being of such note , a little further enquiry after the antiquity of the thing , and etymologie of the name , to clear the truth in both , wil not do amisse ( as i conceive ) in this discourse of tenures . by the common and received opinion of our lawyers , derived i suppose , and first suckt from ( that great ornament of their profession ) m bracton , the term is said to come ( to use the authours own words ) à socko , & in●e tenentes quitenent in sockagi● , sockmanni ▪ dici poterant , ●o quod deputati sunt , ut videtur , tantummodò ad culturam , &c. this ( of bracton ) is strongly backt by littleton , in his book of tenures , where treating of socage , he saith , that the reason why such tenure is called , and hath the name of tenure in socage , is this : because ( saith he ) socagium idem est quod servitium socae , & soca idem est quod caruca , &c. a soke or a plough . in ancient time ( for so he adds for further confirmation ) before the limitation of time of memory , a great part of the tenants which held of their lords by socage , ought to come with their ploughs , every of the said tenants for certain dayes in the year , to plow and sow the demesne of the lord. and for that such works were done for the livelyhood and sustenance of their lord , they were quit against their lord of all manner of services , &c. and because that such services were done with their ploughs , this tenure was called tenure in socage , &c. thus littleton , followed by the generality of our common lawyers and others since , not without a kind of popular errour , as under favour i conceive , and with submission to better judgements , shall endeavour to evince , without check ( i hope ) for presuming to control so great , so many , and those eminent lawyers , whereas here i oppose them not in point of law , but onely in matter of fact . the first exception then that i take against this opinion , is its inconsistencie with many several species of socage-land , or land said to be of socage kind or tenure ; such as petite sergeanty , escuage certain , frankalmoigne , fee-ferm , burgage , by divine service , and the like , which have no manner of relation to the plough , or matters of husbandry , as originally they say socage had , and therefore still reteins the name , though the cause whereupon it first grew be taken away , by changing the service into money . so littleton . an exception ( this ) warded off by the patrons of the present derivation , with a distinction of a double kind of socage , the one , that so called à causâ , the other n ab effectu , and to this latter sort ( socage in effect ) are these of them referred , as one would say , socage at large , because partaking of the like effects and incidents with socage . but this distinction carries with it no great antiquity , being questionlesse sought out since bractons time , as necessary to uphold that of his and his followers derivation of socage from the plough , otherwise so inconsistent with these tenures . not but that i hold them to be socage , with the common opinion , but from another cause , as i conceive , whereof anon . in the mean time , i have a second exception against the derivation , which is this : that though that of the plough may be the chief service , wherein socage is conversant , yet are the sycle and the syth , the fork and the flail , and many such like , attendants also upon it , and concomitant services with it in socage-land : to derive then socage ab aratro , that being but one species of socage-services , is as improper under favour , as at this day to define feudum ( comprehending whatsoever fee is constituted for any lawful and honest service , although not military ) by what the feudists call clientela militaris , because a chief part of feudal service is military , and that of old fees , for the most part , were granted out militiae causâ , an error into which o vulteius challengeth hotoman to have fallen , in his definition of feudum thence , which my author cals a definition of a genus , by a species , concluding it not logical . a third exception taken to it may be this , that if socage-land be so ancient ( under that notion ) as king alfreds time , as p some will have it , who tels us that in those dayes socage-fee was divided between the heirs males , why then was it not rather from the saxon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , signifying ( what soc never did with them ) a plough , ( whence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , for plough almes , being a pension of a penny imposed upon every plough , in the name of q almes ) called sulh-age , or sul land , to say plough-service-land ? or how could it in those times be called socage in the sence by this derivation intended , when the word soc , if it signifie a plough ( as it doth a plough-share ) being in that sence a french word , cannot in any reason be thought to have taken place here , i mean in the saxons times , and so long before the french , by their conquest , and intermixture with us following thereupon , had prevailed to suppresse and extirpate the english language ? but if it cannot pretend to so much antiquity , as being a term , as well in the original , as in the sence , norman , or french , then probably they would not have imposed it without some pattern , some precedent , of their own countrey , as used there in like case : but doubtlesse this was wanting , their r term for land of this condition being tenement villein , villein fief , fief roturier , heritage roturier , and the like . besides , had the term been of their imposing , with intent to have it signifie tillage-service , char●● being the usual word with them for a plough , fetch 't from car●●● ( whence their carucata terrae for a plough land , no● heard of here with us until their coming hither : ) more likely it had been called ſ carucag● , or the like , as a certain tribute by our hen. . imposed by the plough , was therefore called caruage , carucage , and the like . my next and last exception is from fleta's derivation of socmanni , t where speaking of the kings manours , he saith : in hujusmodi verò maneriis erant olim liberi homines liberè tenentes , quorum quidam cum per potentiores è tenementis suis ejecti fuerant , eadem postmodum in villenagium tenenda resumpserunt : & quia hujusmodi tenentes cultores regis esse dinoscuntur , eis provisa fuit quies ne sectas facerent ad comitatus vel hundredos , vel ad aliquas inquisitiones , assisas vel juratas , nisi in manerio tantùm , dum tamen pro terra , quorum congregationem tunc socam appellarunt ; & hinc est quod socmanni hodie dicuntur esse . a soca enim derivantur , &c. where , though he say that the socmanni were cultores regis , yet he sayes not that thence they were called socmanni ; but that their congregation , ( their assembly or company ) was called soca , and hence it is ( faith he ) that they are termed socmanni , for they are derived from soca , &c. thus he . now if from soca ( an assembly of husbandmen ) then not from soc , sock , or soke , ( a plough . ) to come now to that which i conceive to be the right and genuine derivation of the term ( socage . ) to expresse a liberty , immunity , franchise , jurisdiction , protection , priviledge , &c. our saxon ancestours were known to have and use a word somewhat variously written of them , viz. soc , socne , soken , and the like . hence ( to proceed to instances ) sanctuary , the priviledge sometime so called , was of them termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , otherwise u 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . with them also x 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signified a jurisdiction to keep the peace . y 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , an immunity from service in war , or from warfare . z 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the lords protection to his man or tenant . a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , being of a double sence , signified both a priviledge or protection against assaults upon a man in his own house , or under his own roof , and a liberty or franchise to hold plea thereof , with power of animadversion by mulct , or fine . b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imported a liberty or priviledge of faldage , debarred and denied unto tenants in times past , and by the lord , for the inriching his own demesne lands , reserved to himself . hence their word , faldwrth , for him that enjoyed such a liberty . shall i now give you one example from the normans ? nullus enim socnam habet impunè peccandi , say the laws of hen. . cap. . speaking of barons having soch . and ( to enlarge yet a little further touching soc , &c. ) as it signified a liberty , immunity , franchise , priviledge , jurisdiction , &c. so withall a territory , precinct , or circuit , wherein such a jurisdiction , and such priviledges were to be exercised , and that as well in a simple , as a compounded notion . hence ( for the former ) socha of this and that place so obvious in domesday-book , whereof some instances in ingulphus , by name , soka de donnedike , soca de beltisford , soca de tad , soca de acumesbury . in this sence it frequently occurrs in hen. . laws , where you may also often meet with c soca placitorum quam quidam habent in suo de suis , and other such like passages . in the same sence the register hath it , fol. . a. as also bracton , lib. . tract . . cap. . num . . in the statute de g●v●leto , made anno . edw. . ( where the custodes , the guardians of the soke , are termed sokerevi , of dr. cowell ) turned by rent-gatherers ) and in the statute also . hen. . cap. . it is used accordingly . thus of soke , or soken simply . in composition it occurrs often with port. as for example , the knighten gild , sometime in or n●●r east-smithfield london , erected first by king edgar , and confirmed with some inlargement afterward by succeeding kings , ( being a portion of ground enfranchised with special liberties , to be enjoyed within that extent of it set forth by d s●ow ) was anciently called a soke , and afterwards , ( because lying by eald-gate , now algate , port being added , or rather preposed to it ) portsoken , being for extent and otherwise , i take it , the same , which at this day is known there by the name of portsoken-ward . here now we find it restrained to a part onely of a city , a particular ward , but in some ancient charters of liberties granted to several cities , and other like places of this kingdome , and particularly to london , you may find it spreading it self to the utmost skits and liberties of the city without the wals , as in h. . e charter to that city , ann . . of his reign : et quod infra muros civitatis , neque in portsokne , nemo capiat hospitium per vim , sed per liberationem mareschalli , &c. the like occurrs in several charters to the city of canterbury , whereof one ( 'tis henry the seconds ) thus : concessi etiam eis quietantiam murdri infra urbem , & in portsoka , & quod nullus , &c. another ( of henry the thirds ) thus : concessimus etiam quod nullus de civitate vel portsoka sua captus vel rectatus de aliquo crimine vel forisfacto pro qu● debeat imprisonari , imprisonetur alibi quam in prisona ejusdem civitatis , &c. a little after : et quod nullus externus faciat forstallu●● in civitate praedicta , vel in portsoka sua ad no●umentum civium , &c. i spare to add more instances , it being plain enough by these , that the liberty of the place in the full extent of it is intended by portsoca : you may call it not improperly , the extent of the franchise . the fore-cited statute . hen . cap. . by occasion there given to mention the soke of osweldbeck in nottinghamshire , useth the terms of lordship and soke indifferently , to expresse the territory wherein the custome there mentioned took place , whereby it seems our term ( soke ) also signified a lordship , the word extending thither , i conceive from the extent of the priviledge so called throughout the whole compasse of the lordship , viz that whoever is dignified with it , and its constant concomitant sac , as regularly all lords of manours are , hath that dominion over all men and matters of his territory or lordship , as freely to hold plea , and have and take cognizance of the one , and between the other , in such matters , i mean , as ( in the language of hen. . f laws ) exceed not his soch , his cognizance , as being haply regalia , certain arduous or capital matters reserved to the king and his justices . hence , to have socne , or to be so priviledged , after a book of christchurch canterbury , is aver fraunche court de ses homes , answerable to that of fleta , lib. . cap. . soke ( saith he ) significat libertatem curiae tenentium , quam socam appellamus , as also to what i read in an old ms. amongst other etymologies of this kind : nota quod sok est quaedam libertas , per quam domini tenebunt curias suas , & habebunt sectam homagiorum . a great g lawyer of our times gives it this definition : soc ( saith he ) is a power or jurisdiction to have a free court , to held plea of contracts , covenants , and trespasses of his men and tenants . within a little after he proceeds to derive it , in a different way ( though not without some company ) to what is here afore-proposed ; how rightly judicent ali● . shortly , soc , soke , socne , and the like , ( not to mention its derivation in clement reyners h onomasticon , and some others ) betokened we see , both a liberty , priviledge , franchise , &c. and a precinct , or territory , wherein such a liberty , &c. was exercised , if you will , a sokmanry . and resolving our socage ( the tenure so called ) to be deriveable from soke , considered under one of these acceptions , i stood irresolute a while to which of the twain i should referr it . once i intended to pitch upon the latter : and then me thought , as the territory , precinct , extent , circuit , &c. of a lordship or manour was called soca , and socmanria , so probably the men of that territory , precinct , &c. in respect of their relation to that soke , and their dependance upon it , and the lord thereof by tenure , were termed socmanni , that is , men apperteining to the soke , or lordship , quasi socae ascriptiiii ; homines socae : and consequently , as in that respect the men were called socmanni , so their services , ( those duties in works , provisions , moneys , or otherwise , which by their tenure they were to return to the lord of the soke ) were called socage ; tract of time having added to soke or soc , ( what a i famous lawyer of these times cals a legal termination ) agium , in composition ( saith he ) signifying service or duty , as homagium , the service of the man ; esc●agium , servitium scuti , &c. and so the parts being put together , ( soc and agium ) it comes forth socagium in latine , socage in english . thus , i say , was it sometime in my thoughts to have derived socage , and indeed not altogether improperly in a large sence ; all sorts of tenants of or to a soke , ( the caetus tenentium aut vassallorum mancrii , the homage , as sometime called ) being from their relations to the soke or lordship , and the lord thereof , not unfitly called socmanni , and their service & tenure consequently socagium . but at length , upon second thoughts , i concluded this somewhat too large and vast a derivation , as being comprehensive of all sorts of tenants , villeins and all , which , with the k authour of the terms of law , i conceive to be improperly called sokemen , or their tenure socage . besides , when i first pitch'd upon that derivation , i conceived the tenants whole service to be ( if i may so call it ) socal , respecting onely the soke , not foreign , whereas afterward i found that socage-service was not so to be restrained , it being ordinary with tenants in socage to do service extra , or foris , socam , as to ride with their lord from manour to manour , ( like the rod-knights in l bracton ) to carry and pay rent to the lord , and to deliver him corn and other provisions at his granary or elswhere out of the tenants proper soke , and the like : in which respect also with what incongruity are pure villeins called sokemen ? since they are so far from being tied to the soke , that they may be commanded out , and imployed abroad wheresoever the lord shall please , as well without as within the soke . changing therefore my opinion , as to that derivation , and looking further back to that other ( the former ) sence of soke ( a liberty , priviledge , immunity , franchise , &c. ) i resolved finally to derive and fetch it thence ; and thus i make it good . amongst other sorts of land , our books are full of that called terra servilis , villein-land , land holden in villenage , servile land , such namely ( for fuller explanation of it ) as that holden at the lords will , both for time and services ; in both respects uncertainly ; for time , it being in the lords power ( of old m at least it was so ) tempestivè , or intempestivè , to revoke , and resume the same out of the villeins hands into his own , and for services , the tenant being altogether ignorant , and not knowing over night what service may be required of him the next morning . he might also have greater or lesser taxations laid upon him , at his lords will : nor might he marry his daughter without a fine to his lord , for his leave and licence , & ita semper tenebitur ad incerta , saith my authour . now to defend land against the lord from villenage , and to come off acquitted of this servitude and servile condition , it was and is necessary of the tenants part to shew a tenure of his land , by opposite and contrary services to those in villenage , that is , per certa servitia , by certain , expresse , definite , services : and , as otherwise it may be concluded , that his tenure is villenage , so hereby , if the service be not regal , or military , it is as cleerly socage . for , that certa servitia , are a supersedeas to villenage , and do make it to become socage , proofs are obvious . to this purpose consult we bracton , lib. . cap. . num . . as also ●od . cap. num . . where he is expresse for the tenants acquital from all other services , ( some being expressed in the charter made him by his lord ) than what are specified therein : alia omnia servitia & consuetudines quae expressa non sunt tacitè videntur esse remissa : and satis acquietat ex quo specialiter non onerat . see him again , cod . lib. cap. . num . . at these words : cum teneatur sockmannus defendere tenementum s●um erga dominum suum per cerium redditum in pecunia numerata , vel per quid tale , quod tantundem valeat , quae consistunt in pondere , numero , vel mensura , in solido vel in liquido , sicut frumento , vino , oleo , secundùm quod redditus diversimode accipiuntur , &c. have recourse also to the same authour , lib. . tract . cap. . num . . at these words : dum tamen servitia certa sunt ; si autem incerta fuerint , qualecunque fuerit tenementum , tunc erit villenagium , &c. add , as agreeable hereunto , that of sir edw. coke , in his commentary upon littleton , sect. . to tenure in socage ( saith he ) c●rta servitia do ever belong . hence it is , that the authour of the terms of law , expounding socage , or tenure in socage much after the same manner with bracton , ubi supra , ( to wit lib. . cap. ● . num . . ) saith , that to hold in socage , is to hold of any lord lands or tenements , yeilding to him a certain rent by the year for all manner of services . you see it proved then , that certa servitia , certain services , so they be not military , make a socage tenure . the ground whereof is obvious , viz. that by such tenure ( per cert● servitia ) the tenant hath a soke , a priviledge , an immunity , a quietus est , as from villenage in general , so from all villein , military , or other services than those by contract , or custome n charged upon him : a soke , i say , whereunto ●gium being added , signifying the service or duty to be returned for that priviledge , it comes forth socagium in latine , socage in english , as , by putting man to soke , the tenant is signified , and called sokeman . but if soke here carry with it such a sence , ( of immunity , discharge , priviledge , &c. ) how comes it then to passe ( may some perchance demand ) that liberum is often found to accompany socagium , as liber also doth socmannus ? for answer , i conceive , to distinguish free socage from base . not but that base socage had its priviledge as well as the other , as being holden by services set and certain , or determinate ; but in regard those services regularly consisted in servile works incident to villenage , the tenure gat the name of villanum socagium , to distinguish it from liberum socagium , acquitted of those servile works , and consisting o in denariis . from hence also ( such a soke , such a priviledge ) it is , that the villanum socagium in the kings demesne is turned of p bracton and others , by villenagium privilegiatum . by the way , hence judge whether i am not right in my derivation of socage from soc , soke , &c. a priviledge , &c. when here you see villanum socagium of bracton and others , rendred by villenagium privilegiatum , i. e. priviledged villenage . 't is time now that we inquire how this derivation will suit with those before remembred tenures , by divine service , in frankalmoigne , fee-ferme , petite sergeanty , escuage certain , burgage , and the like . whereto i answer , very well . for , as they were all , through a tacite discharge from corporal service in warfare , excused from military fee , or tenure , so on the other side , by reason of an expresse tenure per certa servitia , or per certum redditum , common to them all but frankalmoigne , they were rendred quit and free of villenage , and consequently became of socage tenure . as for frankalmoigne , as it may challenge an interest in the composition of socage from soc or soke , and agium , to wit , in the former syllable , so on the contrary side , hath it as little to do with the latter , because such tenure is quit of all service whatsoever , as well spiritual , ( unlesse q uncertain ) as temporal . but because as it hath not to do with military service on the one hand , so neither with villenage on the other , and hath its priviledge expressed in that epithete of libera , it is referred to socage , as in some sort such . this then is that ( this tenure per certa servitia ) that makes tenure by divine service , of no relation to the plough , to become socage . this makes also fee-ferme , a meer censual service , ( much in the nature of that which among r civilians is called ager vectigalis ) as being liable onely to so much yearly rent , without any other service regularly , unlesse fealty , suit of court , or the like , according as the feoffment may run , and having nothing to do with the plough , to become socage . this makes escuage certain , another tenure of no relation at all to the plough , but quatenus escuage , as it is simply escuage , eo ipso , of ſ knight-service , because by being certain it draws him not forth to any corporal service in war , to be also termed socage , whilest contrarywise what is properly called escuage , that namely which is uncertain , and so called , because ( besides its subjection to homage , fealty , ward , and marriage ) it is uncertain how often a man shall be called to follow his lord into the wars , and again what his charge will be in each journey , from being liable , i say to this uncertainty of duty , is t knight-service . hence ( fourthly ) it is that burgage ( a tenure no way smelling of the plough , or tillage , being currant and conversant onely in cities and towns ) because holden for a certain annual rent , becomes with the rest socage . hence also our kentish gavelkynd , considered in its name or term , ( betokening censual land ) of no affinity with the plough , or plough-service , because , i say , holden per certa servitia , comes to be called socage . the like might be said of frank ferme , and other the remaining species of socage-land : one and all , as properly so called , as rightly , and with as much reason referred to that head of our english tenures , as that which for its plough , or tillage , service is said to be more peculiarly so called , standing not in need of that distinction which the common opinion useth to bring them within the compasse of it , called ab effectu , because of like effects and incidents belonging to them with socage tenure ; a distinction by this derivation rendred frivolous and needlesse , and under favour therefore as fit to be laid aside , as their u assertion is to be retracted , who , to vindicate the reteining of the name of socage , as of use onely to distinguish that from a tenure by knight-service , affirm that the cause wherupon the name of socage first grew , viz. plough-service , is taken away , by the change of such service into money , whereas presupposing our present derivation of socage to be admitted , both name and cause still continue . thus much for socage , a term that to me first occurrs in glanvill , never as yet in any elder record . in a roll of x accompts of the archbishop of canterburies mannours , for the sixth year of archbishop baldwyn ( glanvills coaetanean and companion in his voyage and expedition , with king richard the first , to the holy land ) which by computation was the year of our lord . it occurs by the name of soggagium thus : super soggagium london remanent xx . d. and this in croydon manour there , amongst the expences and deductions following the receipts of that year . which i mention , not as conceiving it no elder than hen. . dayes ; yes i rather hold socmannus , socmanria , and socagium to be relatives , and consequently that where the one occurrs , the rest are implied : but socmannus is obvious in domesday-book , and lesse ancient therefore i perswade my self socage and socmanry are not . nunc age , carpe viam , susceptum perfice munus . now therefore to come to our quaere , ( whether gavelkynd be a tenure or a custome ) and give it an answer : i confesse there are that in some sort hold the negative , as who will have it to be a custome accompanying the land where it obteineth , rather than a tenure whereby the land is holden , holding the whilest the tenure to be socage : and of this opinion y mr. lambard doth more than seem to be . now between tenure and custome in this case with us , the difference , as i collect , stands thus : admit it onely a tenure , and then the nature of the land is not concerned in point of descent ; so that in some cases ( as the escheat of it by death or cessavit , to the lord that holds over by knight-service , or to the crown by forfeicture in treason and the like ) it ceaseth to be any longer of gavelkynd-nature , in point of descent , and goes not , as before to all , but onely to the eldest of the sons , according to the course of the common law : whereas if it be a custome following the nature of the land , then it is , say they , inseparable from that land where it obteineth , insomuch as notwithstanding this escheat , or whatever other alteration of the tenure , it remains , as before , partible among all the sons , or other heirs where sons are wanting . but to the point . to prove gavelkynd to be a ●enure , i shall not need , i think , to multiply authorities , the generality of those ancient deeds that i have seen for the granting lands in gavelkynd ( whereof some are exhibited in the appendix ) are wont to have their tenendums ( the usual and more proper place for the creation of a tenure in any kind of grant ) thus phrased : tenendum either ad or in gavelikendam , or the like . the office recited of mr. lambard , in his peramb pag. . found after the death of walter culpepper is alike phrased : tenuit in gavelkind being a much repeated passage in it . the statute . hen. . cap. . in terms calleth it a tenure , taking knowledge , that there were not at that day within the shire above . persons at the most , which had lands to the yearly value of xx . pounds without the tenure of gazelkynd , and that the greater party of this county , or well nigh all , was then within that tenure . and this alone ( which i shall add ) may evince and clear it to be a tenure , that since the statute of quia emptores terrarum , anno . edw. . prohibiting the subject to let land to be holden of himself , as there are not to be found any more grants of land z pro homagio & s●rvitio , so neither in gavelkynd . for brevity sake , i will urge no more authorities of this kind . being thus then apparently a tenure , how cometh it to passe that we so usually call it the custome of gavelkynd , seldome either making or finding mention of gavelkynd , but with that adjunct , and under that notion of custome ? indeed the property of equal partition is and hath so long been of that eminencie in our kentish gavelkynd , and it so much celebrated for that property , that as if it were the sole and onely property of it , all the other , in respect wherof this land may as well be called gavelkynd as for this , are as it were forgotten , and that onely carries away the name from its fellows : whereas that of partition ( as hath been said before ) is but one among the many other properties and customes in our kentish gavelkynd , such as dower of the moyety ; a losse of dower by marriage before or after assignement ; b not to forfeict lands for felony ; power of alienation at fifteen years of age , and the rest obvious in the kentish custumal . and because this , of partition , amongst the rest , properly depends of custome , as thwarting the course of the common law in like case , hence the quaere grew at first , whether gavelkynd were a custome or a tenure . indeed a very improper and incongruous quaere , and occasioned by the want of that distinction of the genus from the species , which through inadvertencie are here confounded , gavelkynd being the genus , & partition the species . so that if we shall but reddere singula singulis , this doubt will quickly have an end : gavelkynd generally spoken of and in grosse , is the tenure ; particularly , and with reference to this partition , it is a custome accompanying the land of that tenure . or , if you rather will , gavelkynd is the tenure ; partition , and the other properties , the nature . which solution gives occasion of another quaere , and that indeed a main one : whether ( namely ) this custome of partition in gavelkynd-land , be so inherent in the land , and so inseparable from it , that notwithstanding the tenure of the land be altered , yet the land shall st●●l retein this property ? no more ( i take it ) than the rest of the fellow-properties as much depending upon custome as that , and for which the land may deserve the name of gavelkynd , as well as for that , and therefore some perhaps will say it shall retein them all indifferently . i shall not here ingage as an opponent , onely invited by this fair occasion , crave leave to propound academically , what in like case i find delivered by others , conducing ( in my judgement ) to facilitate the resolution , leaving it to such as have more will to debate , and better skill to decide , the question than my self , to give a fuller and more peremptory resolution in the point . i may ( i take it ) not improperly state the question thus : whether the person in this case shall follow the condition of the land , or on the contrary , the land that of the person . the former ( it seems ) takes place in paris , the french metropolis , by the custome of the place : whence that of choppinus , treating of those customes , pag. . parisiensi i●●em munic●pi● ( saith he ) quod gentilitiâ pariter sulget nobilitate clarorum virorum , usus familiae herciscundae minus est obnoxius invidiae . ubi scilicet , non persunarum , sed fundorum conditio nobilis , plebeiave , partes assignat . to which he adds a little after : h●●d ide● tamen dividundarum haereditatum rati● immutata est parisiis : cum nobiles fundos , plebeii nobiliter , & ignobiles aequojure generosi invitem partiantur . to the same purpose c our authour elswhere ●els us , that priseo quodem g●llici fori usu , plebeius fundus haud ideo pristinam exuebat conditionem ; quòd à recto ipsius domino aere comparatus esset : ni ejus nomine comparator in clientelam se , unà cum superiore fundo suo , ad patronum contulisset ; which his margin elswhere d records thus : anciennement les rotures a●quises par le scigneur direct , se partageoient returierement , si non que le dit acquereur les comprint en l'adveu de son fief , le rendant au superieur . thus went ( it seems ) the more ancient custome in those parts . but tempora mutantur . the case of latter times is altered there , as the same authour gives us to understand in both the last fore cited places : at post●rioris aevi jurisprudentia , mutatis calculis , novam invexit servientis fundi unionem tacitam , & consolidationem cum altero dominante , ac parem adeo utriusque qualitatem praenobilem : ni si illius emptor subinde contestationem interposuisset contrariae voluntatis . thus in the former place . in the latter thus : nostrae tamen aetatis moribus , diversum obtinuit , censuales nempe & obnoxios agros solâ per rectum dominum acquisitione , prorsus uniri , in unúmque redigi cum praedio dominante : nisi protinus emptor contrariae voluntatis testationem interposuisset . the effect of both is this , that censual lands by purchase coming unto the direct lord ( the lord of the fee , or over lord ) a●e , ipso jure , feudal , and shall accordingly descend , as thereby re-united to the fee , unlesse the buyer , at the time of purchase , do protest to the contrary . will you please to hear his reasons ? unionis nempe vis illa eò producitur , ut ignobile praedium , militari junctum , nobilitetur : eque plebeio as so●● vectigalibus obnoxio , transeat in feud●lis clientelae sortem liberiorem . thus he , de moribus parisior ▪ pag. . much what one with that in the other place ( de domanio franciae , pag. . ) quoniam tacita praediorum unione , confusa erant jura servitutum , census & solarii vectigalis : cum rei propriae nulla superforet servitus , ex●ndéque vectigalis sundi qualitas esset immutata . thus he , whom see also , if you please , de domanio gallic● , pag. . num . . also pag. . num . . to whom add hotoman , de feudis , lib ▪ . tit . . parag . . in fine . you see by this how the present case stands in some parts abroad . here at home , as it seems by the very custumal of kent , in two several cases therein specified , the descent of gavelkynd-land is changeable , and the land becomes unpartible ; first ( namely ) when by escheat , happening either by death , or cessavit ; next , when , by the tenants voluntary surrender , it comes into his lords hands , who holds by fee of haubert , or by grand sergeanty , both which e mr. lambard takes to be knight-service . to which may be added two other cases , which occur in an ancient kentish eire , in the exchequer , ann . . edw. . where enquiry being made , and the question propounded to the kentish men , how many ways gavelkynd-land might be altered , and delivered from the ordinary and custumary descent , answer was given by four , instancing in the two former , and to them adding those other two , namely , ▪ per licentiam regis , ( by the kings licence ) and , . per chartam archiepiscopi , ( by the archbishops f charter . ) against this , and on the other side , ( inter alia ) may be opposed what is pleaded in the fore-remembred controversie between burgade bendings , and the prior and covent of christchurch canterbury , wherein the prior , in barr of burga's claim to the moyety of his and the monks manour in franc bank , g pleads , quod dominus rex qui manerium illud deait praedecessoribus suis , non tenuit illud nomine gavelkinde . whence ( admitting the plea for law ) naturally seemeth to result this double consectary . . that the king may hold land in gavelkynd . . that the king holding land in gavelkynd , in case he shall grant it away to any religious house , in puram & perpetuam eleêmosynam , ( in frankalmoigne ) it remaineth notwithstanding partible , as before it came to the crown , in their hands at least whom the religious men shall infeoffe with it . much more doubtlesse might be said in the point , as well pro as contra : but i shall leave it to be further argued by lawyers , adding onely in a word , what upon the whole matter i conceive of the case . i would ask then , if our kentish gavelkynd-land be partible quatenus gavelkynd ? i expect no other than an affirmative answer . if so , and admitting withall that such property in gavelkynd-land owes it self to a custome accompanying land of that nature ; yet i suppose it shall enjoy that property no longer than the land it self continues to be gavelkynd , which some hold it is not , being once returned and come back again into the lords hands , ( the king especially being lord ) that granted it out in gavelkynd , or of whom it formerly held in gavelkynd : because then , as h cessante causâ sollitur effectus , so by reason of the unity of possession , the usu fructus ( i cannot well english it ) being consolidated and made one with the property , that property of being censual land , which gavelkynd denotes , and which cannot be intended of any land holden in demesne , and not in service , ceaseth , and is quite extinguished , there being required to make the land censual , a censual tenant , one that holdeth by censual services , such as here is none ( especially in the kings case ) when once the land is come home again , reduced to its first principles , and re-united to ( what , like fief , is opposed to service-land ) the lords ▪ in-land , or demesne-land , ( as in the case of a common lord ) or to the crown , i à quo omnia feudamoventur & ●riuntur , the fountain whence all tenures are derived , ( as in the kings case ) from whence by the letting it out in gavelkynd , it was formerly severed . to this purpose see petri gregorii tholosani syntag. jur. univers . lib. . cap. . num . . but of this also hitherto , for i hasten to an end . proposition v. whether before the statute of wills ( . and . h. . ) gavelkynd-land in kent were deviseable , or not . in answer whereof , holding with those which resolve it in the negative , howbeit ( for my part ) not studio partium , but veritatis amore , i shall oppose to such as hold the contrary , what arguments are brought against them and their opinion , in a case of mr. halls of kent , verbatim , as i find them published in print , which here follow , with their title : reasons and authorities to prove that gavelkind-lands in kent , are not , nor were anciently deviseable by custome . first it is a rule in law , that an assise of mortdancester doth not lie of lands which are deviseable by testament , &c. and this appears by divers books , as namely , . edw. . mortdanc . . . assiz . . and fitz. nat. brevium . . but it appears by bracton , fol. . b. that an assize of mortdancester will lie of gavelkind lands in kent , and so it appears by divers ancient records , quod vide in itinere johannis de berewicke , &c. anno . edw. . copia . fol. , , , . & in itinere h. de stanton . anno . edw. . copia . fol. , , , , . by which it appears plainly , that an assize of mortdancester lies of gavelkind lands in kent . but an assise of mortdancester doth not lie of lands within the city of canterbury , because lands are there deviseable by custome , as it appears in dicto itinere h. de stanton , fol. , , . and it is evident , that in the city of canterbury , ( which was anciently part of the county of kent ) there was a special custome used to devise lands , lying within the liberties of the city , and to prove their wils in the court of burgmote in the same city . but there needed no such custome , if all the gavelkind lands in kent had been deviseable , &c. also the most part of the ancient wills of gavelkind lands in kent , before the statute of uses did mention feoffees of the lands devised , &c. as appears by the register-books of wills , at canterbury , and at rochester , whereby it doth appear , that the devisors were cest●y que uses , and not owners of the land devised , and although some wills of land make no mention of feoffees , yet there were feoffees of the same land , as will appear by the deeds of feoffment thereof , and twenty to one do mention feoffees , &c. also sir john fineux chief justice de r. b. sir robert read chief justice de c. b. and sir john butler , justice , &c. devise their lands in kent before the statute of uses , and make mention of feoffees , &c. which had there been a custome to devise , no question they had taken of it , &c. also many ancient deeds of feoffment of lands in kent referr to wills , sc . dedi , concessi , &c. a. b. omnia terras & tenementa , &c. ad opus & usum perimplendi ultimam voluntatem meam , &c. also there are wills to be found of lands in diverse other counties of this realm , whereby lands were devised before the statute of uses , and no mention made of any feoffees , as appears in the register-books of the prerogative court , and in diverse other places , and yet without doubt they bad feoffees seised to their uses , &c. or else they could no● there devise the same . also the houses and lands in cities and burroughs , which were deviseable by custome , were reckoned inter catalla sua ; but it were strange that all the socage lands in kent ( which are conceived to be gavelkind ) should be reckoned inter catalla , &c. and in the register , fol. . there are fourteen several writs of ex gravi querela , and none of them make mention of any county , &c. nor of gavelkind , but secundum consuetudinem civitatis , or secundùm consuetudinem burgi , &c. and if gavelkind lands be deviseable by custome , &c. the devisee can have no writ of ex gravi querela , because there is none before whom the action or writ should be brought , &c. also mr. lambard in his perambulation , writing of the customes of kent , maketh no mention of any custome to devise lands : nor the treatise called consuetudines cantiae in the old mag. charta , fol. . which ( without doubt ) they would not have omitted , if there had been any such custome , &c. also between the statutes of . h. . of uses , and the statutes of . of h. . of wills , there were very few wills made of lands , as appeareth by the register-books before mentioned , and the most of such wills as were then made ( being but few in number ) do make mention of feoffees . also the common practice ever since the statutes of wills hath been such , that if a will be made void for a third part , by a tenure in capite of part of the land ▪ &c. that third part shall descend to the heir , and the devisee shall not have it ; and this appears by special liveries in the court of wards proving the same ; and by diverse witnesses that can prove the same to be so , &c. and in sanders case of maidstone , in anno . jacobi regis , all the lands were devised by will , and after the will was avoided for a third part , by reason of a tenure in capite of a small part of the land , and the third part of all the residue of the lands , being gavelkind , did escheat to the king for want of heir , which land is ever since enjoyed under the kings title by escheat . and john wall upon a trial recovered against white the devisee . whereby it is evident that gavelkind lands in kent were never deviseable by custome , and so it was agreed per curiam pasch . . el. in c. b. in halton and starthops case , upon evidence to a jury of kent , & it was then said , that it had been so resolved before , and there it was said per curiam that fitz. nat. brev. . l. is to be understood where there is a special custome , that the land is deviseable , &c. and he that shall conclude upon that place of fitz , nat. brev. . l. that all gavelkind land is deviseable , &c. may as well conclude , that all lands in every city and burrough in england is deviseable , which is not so , as appeareth by mr. littleton , who saith that in some burroughs by custome a man may devise his lands , &c. and if gavelkind lands were deviseable by custome , &c. then a man may devise them by word without writing , as it is agreed in . h. . dyer . . for a man may devise his goods and chattels by a will nuncupative , so may he likewise devise his lands deviseable by custome , because they were esteemed but tanquam catalla , &c. and it would be a mischievous thing , if all the gavelkind in kent should be deviseable by word onely . to these arguments and objections against the custome , certain answers and exceptions by the learned counsel of the adverse party have been framed and returned in behalf thereof , reducible to three heads : which ( to avoid all just suspicion of partiality and prejudice wherewith some zealous advocates and contenders for the custome have been , and may again be , ready to asperse me ) i shall here subjoyn ; together with such answers and arguments ( by way of reply ) as i have received from the learned counsel of the other side , in further and fuller refutation of theirs who endeavour to uphold the custome . the learned counsels arguments in behalf of the custome . first , they deny the old book of . edw. . fitzh . mortdancester . ●o be l●w. but an assise of mortdancester lies of land deviseable , if it be true that his ancestour died seized , unlesse it appears that the defendaut claims by some other title . but if the defendant plead that the land is by custome deviseable , and was devised unto him , it is a good barr of the action . secondly , they rely much upon the book of fitzherb . natura brevium , fol. . which sayes , that a writ of ex gravi querela lies where a man is seised of lands or tenements in any city or burrough , or in gavelkynd , which lands are deviseable by will time out of mind , &c. whence they inferr that all gavelkynd-lands are deviseable by custome . thirdly , they cite the treatise called consuetudines cantiae , in the book called old magna charta , and lambards perambulation of kent , fol. . that lands in gavelkynd may be given or sold without the lords licence , and they interpret the word given , to be by will ; and the word grant , to be by deed . the reply to the fore-going arguments , by such as stand in opposition to the custome . as to the first objection against the argument taken from the assise of mortdancester , they reply thus : first , they maintain , that the custome alone , without an actual devise is pleadable in abatement to an assise of mortdancester , as well as the custome with an actual devise is pleadable in barr : for which there is not only that book of . edw. . but also bracton , lib. . fol. . ubi non jacet assisa mortis antecessoris , among his pleas in abatement of the writ , ( having before treated of pleas in barr to it . ) cadit assisa ( sayes he ) propter consuetudinem loci , ut in civitatibus , burgis , &c. and . assis . pl. . where upon the like plea the writ was abated : and fitzherb . nat. brev. fol. . i. ( whose authority they think strange to be denied in a matter of law , wherein he was a judge , and yet so strongly relled on in a matter of fact and custome , in a place whereto he was a stranger : ) and so was it practised and allowed in itin. johan . de stanton , . edw. . and the reason given by the book , why such a custome is pleadable in abatement to this writ , is because the suggestion of the writ may be true , that the ancestour died seised , &c. and yet the heir have no title where the lands are deviseable . and it is the property of this writ , that the dying seised must be traversed ; and though the tenant plead the feoffment of the ancestour , or other matter in barr , ( that is not matter of estoppell to the heir , as a fine , recovery , &c ) yet must he traverse the dying seised , and the jury shall be summoned and charged to inquire , if the ancestour die quo obiit seisitus fuit , &c. and so are the books of . assis . pl. . . hen. . . brooke mortdancestor . . old nat. brev. fol. . and diverse others . nor is there any opinion to be found in any book of law against that book of fitzherb . mortdancestor , . until the th of king charles , launder and brookes case , crooke , lib. . fol. . obiter , upon the trial of this custome . . admit that at this day the law is held to be otherwise , yet it appears by all the authorities aforesaid , that in those times the law was taken to be , that the mortdancestor did not lie where there was such a custome : but it was a good plea in abatement of the writ . and yet assises of mortdancestor were then frequently brought and maintained of lands in kent , as appears by bracton , and the books abovesaid . . whether the custome alone be pleadable in abatement ; or the custome with an actual devise be to be pleaded in barr , they say it cannot be shewn ( if it can they challenge them to do it , who would maintain the custome ) that it was ever pleaded one way or other , either in abatement , or in barr , to any one of all that multitude of assises of mortdancestor brought at large in that county , when in so small a city and county as canterbury ( where indeed there is such a custom ) they shew it often pleaded to writs of mortdancestor brought there before roger de stanton and other justices in eyre . secondly , to the book of fitzherb . nat. brev. fol. . upon the writ of ex gravi querela ( from whence the ground of this question sprung ) they answer , that the sence and meaning of that book ( no lesse than the grammar of it duly observed ) is no more , then that the writ of ex gravi querela lies there where lands in any city or town , or in gavelkynd , are deviseable by custome . not that all lands in cities , and burroughs , and in gavelkynd , are deviseable by custome . so that the mistake ariseth by making that a categorical , which is but an hypothetical proprosition : and serves rather to ground an argument against the custome . for if the writ of ex gravi querela does lie there , where there is such a custome ; then ( à contrariis ) it may well be argued , that where a writ does not lie , there is no such custome : and it cannot be said to lie there ( for fitzherbert speaks of places : ) where it was never brought . they say further , that this writ of ex gravi querela is a formed writ in the register , appointed by law as the proper remedy of the devisee , where such a custome is : and that therefore it hath been required by the judges , as a necessary proof of such a custome , that it be shewen that this writ hath been used to be brought there , where such a custome is alleaged to be , . assis . pl. . and the opinion of knivet , . assis . brooke , devise . in like manner , as to prove a custome of intailing copy-hold-lands , it must be shewn that plaints in the nature of formedons have used to be entred . ( heydons case in the third report . ) but they say that for proof of this custome in kent , there is not onely ( of . in the register , which all conclude , secundùm consuetudinem burgi , or civitatis ) not one precedent of any such writ for kent : but that it cannot be shewen that ever any writ of ex gravi querela was brought for any lands in the county at large , out of some city or town . and it is a question to whom such writ at large shall be directed , there being no form at all in the register of the direction of any such writ at large ; the form there to a city or burrough being either majori civitatis , or burgi , &c. they say it could not be , but that question must have arisen , ( if not of the custome ) whether a will or no will : for the trial of which there was scarce any other course ( at least , none more ready ) before the course of ejectments grew to be the practice , then either for the devisee to bring this writ of ex gravi querela against the heir being in possession , or for the heir being ousted by colour of a will to bring his mortdancestor . and therefore they think it not credible that ( if such a custome were , and so extensive as to the whole county of kent ) there should be no record , ( if there be , they again challenge the other side to shew it : ) whether any devi●ee either brought this writ , or pleaded this custome , ( and pleaded it must be , as themselves acknowledge , and is resolved in launder and brookes case : ) for any lands within the county of kent out of some city or burrough : when as they are confident to say , that there is not any custome used in kent , and that extends through the whole county , but records may be shewen where it hath at some time been judicially pleaded and allowed . they add , that customes , being special laws , are suted to the place where they are used ; and that this is a custome very proper and sutable in cities and burroughs , among merchants and tradesmen , that they might dispose of their houses together with their personal estates : and that the pleading of this custome in all writs and records is , that they are legabilia , tanquam bona & catalla . and therefore by the books of . assis . pl. . and cokes . instit . . it is held that this custome cannot be alleaged in any upland town . then how improper is it that all the estates in so great a county should be of no other nature ( in this respect ) than goods and chattels , and liable to be disposed and carried away by words catcht from dying men ? which ( they say ) may serve too for an argument against the pretended benefit and utility of this custome ; especially when the multitude of controversies , arising upon wills , have made it a question , whether it had not been better the statutes , of . and . hen. . of wills , had never been made . and therefore ( they say ) that in wyld's case , in the th report , which was resolved by all the judges of england , it is said expressely ( and no doubt upon good consideration ) that at the common law , lands were not deviseable but by custome onely in cities and burroughs , houses and such small things . and in matthew menes case , in the th report , where the will was of gavelkind-lands in kent , and a house holden in capite , it is all along held , that the will there was enabled by the statute , and puts a case of lands in london deviseable by custome , as a stronger case ; which certainly it were not , if lands in kent were so deviseable . the third objection from the words ( doner on vender ) they say , deserves no answer more than this , that the same words are used , that the infant may doner or vender , give or sell , his estate at the age of fifteen , and that no man will say , that he may at that age make a will. thus have you the learned counsels arguments ( faithfully exhibited ) both for and against the custom of devising gavelkynd-land in kent , before the statutes of . and . hen. . concerning the devising of lands by will. treading ( as i said ) in the steps of those who oppose the custome , give me leave , by the way of corollary , to add somewhat , haply not improper to be hinted and insisted on in this argument . besides then the repugnancie in this custome , to the common opinion both of ancient and modern a lawyers , it fights with the very nature of fee , ( comprehending , at least with us , gavelkind , as holden by the tenant in dominico suo ut ●e feodo ) which , though fees are with us , as in france & elswhere , become b patrimonial , & so alienable by gift or sale followed with scisin in the alienators lifetime ; yet by the seudal c law , are indisposeable by will , several reasons whereof are found rendred by the d feudists . and it is inconsistent , & at variance with the common opinion of lawyers , both at home and abroad , so withall , and above all , it makes gavelkynd degenerate from it self , and its first original , which our e lawyers and antiquaries , by an unanimous vote , referring to the germans , vouch for it that , amongst other of their customes published by tacitus : haeredes successoresque sui cuique liberi , & nullum testamentum : a passage , or authority , equally insisted on by the feudists to warrant their f nullâ ordinatione defuncti in fendo manente vel valente , prohibiting the disposal of fee by will , and of our municipal lawyers and others , as for the like , so withall to illustrate the original of our g gavelkind . but that which in this case ( as to matter of fact ) very much , if not most of all , works with me , ( what it may with others i know not ) and induceth me to an utter dis-belief and rejection of this custome , is certain passages & clauses in several wils extant & to be found in our registers at canterbury , and in that at rochester , intervening and happening in the interim of those two statutes ; the one of uses , made anno . the other , of wills , inacted anno . hen. . ( a time most proper for the custome , if any such in being , by i●s fruits , the immediate free devise of lands by will , at pleasure , without that mediate , collateral and by-way , that periphrasis , of feoffments and their uses , which now was out of doors ; to assert and shew it self : ) all which ( in my opinion ) do plainly tend to the dis-proof of this custome of devising lands in kent by will , before that statute of wills . as for example . . in the will of thomas bourne of tenterden , dated . may . in the archdeacons registry at canterbury , lib. . quatern . and where ( saith he ) there is an act lately made to avoid uses of wills , yet my mind is that clement my son shall have my house and shop in tenterden with th' appurtenances to him in fee. and that john bourne my son shall have all my lands lying in the parish of hawkherst to him and his heirs in fee. and i give to my said son john xl . s. upon condition that he will abide and stand to the dividing and order of my lands , as my mind is before expressed . and if he will not stand to , and abide the said order and division , but to shift his part throwly , then i will the said xl . s. shall remain and be had to alice my wife . also i give to clement my son iij. l. upon condition that he do stand to and abide the division and order of my lands and tenements , according as my mind is before expressed . and if the said clement de refuse my said order and division of my lands , and shift his part throwly , then i will the said iij. l. shall remain and be had to alice my wife , &c. argument . had there been a custome for devising lands by will , what needed that notice to be taken here of the act for avoiding uses of wills ? and why is the testator put to it thus , to work and wage his sons to consent to that partition and division of his lands , by a legacie in money to be forfeicted upon their refusall , and for choosing to shift or divide throughly , as a thing in their power by law , which could not be , had there been any such custome . . in thomas sayer , alias lamberds will of feversham , dated in may . in the same registry and book , quatern . . some lands are devised away from the two female inheritrices , to be sold : and a partition also made between them of other lands , whereupon a legacie in money is given to the heirs at law , to wage them to consent and condescend to that devise and division , in these words : item i will and bequeath to isabel and margaret my two daughters , to each of them . l. . s. . d. to be paid to them by benet my wife in money , or money-worth , in four years next after my decease , upon condition that my said two daughters , their heirs and their assigns , to suffer this my present will and testament to take effect , according as i before have willed . and if my said two daughters , their heirs and their assigns do this refuse , that my said will can take none effect , according as i before have willed , then i will my said two daughters , nor their assigns , shall take no benefit nor profit of none of my bequeaths to them before bequeathed , &c. argument . the same quaere here as before , viz. what needed this conditional legacie in money , had it not been free to them and in their power and choice , whether his will ( for the sale of some land , and for the division of other ) should take effect , or not ? . in john crowmers will of pogylston esquire , dated in february . in the same registry , book , and quatern ▪ this clause to our purpose is remarkable . item i will that each of my three daughters , benet , elizabeth and grace , have . l. s. . d. of such debt as their husbands do ow me : so that their husbands be content that such lands as i have purchased go according to my devise and will , or else not , &c. argument . the like quaerie here as before . where also note , that although he mention a devise of lands by will ; yet no such will is either proved or registred , because ( probably ) null and void in law. the like whereof may be supposed of sparcklins will of thanet , dated in march . in the same book and registry , quarern . where his mansion place at bronston is said to be bequeathed to his son john : whereas no such thing appeareth by the approved will ; nor is any land at all devised by it . the like may be said of cacherells will of norborne , dated anno . in the same registry and book , quatern . . where some legacies in money are charged upon a house there said to be given to the party charged and his wife , whereas no such gift appeareth by the will. . in sarlys will , dated anno . hen. . in the same registry and book , quatern . . where he maketh mention of his three daughters , we have this clause : item , i will that he ( my brother ) shall have my part of my house at wy , called jancocks , during his life , if that may be suffered by the law , &c. . in the will of william byx of linsted , dated . in the same registry , lib. . quatern . . occurrs this passage : i will and bequeath all the profits , commodities , fermes , rents , of all my lands whatsoever , &c. unto my brother germane , laurence byx , unto the timos that my sons , laurence and nicholas come to the age of . years , &c. also to my daughters marriage . l. to be raised out of those profits , &c. and paid by my brother laurence . provided alway , if the law will not suffer nor admit my brother laurence to enjoy and take up the fermes , &c. of my lands , then i will that each of my said sons , &c. shall pay the said . l. unto my said daughters marriage , &c. . thomas hunt of pluckly in his will , dated in the year ( no moneth ) . ( probably some time before the statute of wills that year made ) in the same registry , book and quatern ▪ gives to his wife the issues of his lands for life , and after her death the lands themselves to his son john , charged with some legacies in money to his younger brother anthony and his children : but with this proviso : if this my will ( saith he ) stand not good and effectuall in the law , then i will that my said messuage and premisses after the death of my said wife shall remain to my said two sons i. and a. and to their heirs for ever , &c. . the like clause to this occurrs in the will of john hubberd of westerham , dated the th of july . in the bishop of rochesters registry : viz. also if it do please god to visit my wife and all my children with death , then i will that richard hubbard , the son of william hubbard of lynsfield shall have my house and all my land , if that the law will suffer it : paying therefore to every one of my sisters , agnes , katherine and margaret , three pounds six shillings and eight pence , to be paid within the space of two years next after my decease . . nor is this passage lesse pregnant and pertinent to our purpose , taken from the will of john stace of leigh , dated the th of march . in the same registry . and also i will that if the kings last act in parliament will not stand with my wife to enjoy the one half of my lands , i will then that mine executour shall pay yearly to agnes my wife xl . s. during the term of her life , and that to be paid quarterly at the four usual terms by equal portions , &c. argument . in these five last wills mentioned ( sarlys , byx , hunt , hubberd and staces ) what means that doubt and question in the testators , whether their devises ( of houses and lands ) were good , or would hold and stand firm in law , had there been such a custome , and had not the law been clear otherwise in this case , as well in kent as elswhere ? i observe also , that in the interim of . and . h. . some few ( and indeed but very few ) wills there are in the registers at canterbury , wherein lands are devised : some with feoffment , and some without , at least without mention made of any . as for the former , those with feoffment , i find the most of them dated , though in or after the year . yet before the sixth of may . year of that king , until when the act was not to come in force . besides , happily the feoffment was made before the statute , and so could not be revoked ( as i conceive ) without the feoffees consent . as for the rest ( those without mention of feoffees ) some of them were of our city ( canterbury ) or the like places , where by particular custome they might devise . others ( happily ) had feoffments , although not mentioned . if not , they were no other ( i conceive ) than wills de facto , or de bene esse , made : nor did or could otherwise , or further operate , inure , or take effect than the interessed or concerned parties should give way : with whom in those elder times ( times of more and greater regard and reverence to the will of the dead than the present ) the dying parent , or kinsmans mind declared in his will , bare so great a sway , and did so much prevail , as to perswade with them to renounce an advantage to themselves , for the fulfilling of the deceaseds solemne and declared mind . besides , it follows not , that because such wills and devises are found , therefore they passed and were allowed of as good and effectuall : the contrary whereof is more than probable by the ifs and conditions found in other wills of those times , arguing plainly the testators distrust and doubt of the validity , and consequently of the successe and effect of his devise , whereof examples are laid down before . before i close and wind up all , i have onely this to add , by way of offer , from the party opponent to this custome , and his councel , ( which , as a matter much considerable , i may not pretermit : ) that , whereas that abundance of wills wherein lands are devised without mention of feoffees , found and produced from the registries both of canterbury and rochester , is much insisted on in behalf of the custome : if from the registries of any other diocesse out of kent , ( where such devises never did , nor could obtein , until the statute of wills ) of equal circuit and extent to either of these , the very same thing may not as truly be observed , and a proportionable number and quantity of such kind of wills , ( wills of lands devised without mention of feoffees ) cannot be produced , and consequently the argument and inference thence drawn ( for the custome ) cluded and avoided , they will sit down convinced , and with their adversaries subscribe unto that argument . an offer ( this ) in my judgement so fair , ingenuous and plausible , as not to be rejected of any , but such as out of a cavilling spirit , are resolved to turn the deaf ear upon all fair and equal proposals : that i say not , such as , for maintenance sake , make it their study , quocunque modo , to maintain their spurious interest . but that i may not seem to be ( what indeed i am far from being , any otherwise than in truths behalf ) a partisan in this businesse , i shall forbear all further censure , and if i may but have the readers leave to make my epilogue , i shall , with thanks to him for that , and the favour of all his other patience , quit the stage of my discourse on this whole argument , and make my exit . many other things offer themselves to his discourse , that would treat of gavelkind to the full ; but they are ( i take it ) mostly points of common law , which because they are not only out of my profession , but besides my intention too , which was to handle it chiefly in the historical part , and that no further than might conduce to the discovery of the primordiae , or beginnings of it , i will not wade or engage any further in the argument , lest i be justly censured of a mind to thrust my sicle into another mans harvest : onely ( so a close ) craving leave to supply the common kentish custumal , at the end of mr. lambards perambulation , with one clause , which , according to an ancient copy registred in a quondam book of st. augustines abbey at canterbury , now remaining with my very noble and learned friend sir roger twysden , is to come in at pag. lin . . after these words : que de lay est ●e●● sans men . viz. ( as that old copy gods on there : ) e●si home ou femme seit feloun de sei mesmes qeil s●y mesmes de gre se ocye , le roy aura les charteuz tuts & ni●nt l'an nele wast , mes se heir seit tautost enherite sans contredit , kar tout seit il feloun de sey mesmes , il neyt my atteint de felonye . et clayment auxi , &c. as it follows in that printed custumal . which clause , as i conceive , may be thus englished : and if a man or woman shall be a felon of him or her self , who shall kill him or her self of his or her own accord , the king shall have all the chattels , and not the year and the waste , but the heir shall immediately inherit without contradiction : for albeit he or she be a felon of him or her self , he or she is no● attainted of felony . now craving pardon for what liberty i have taken to deliver my sence , and give my conjecture , on severall occasions here emergent , i shall here cut the thred of this discourse , wishing that as i have not spared freely to speak my mind , so that every man that pleaseth , should assume the like liberty , not sus●ecting me so opinionate of mine own vote , as to wish , much lesse to beg , least of all to importune any unwilling mans concurrence , though haply unprovided of a better of his own , disclaiming that magisterial boldnesse of him arrogated , that said once upon a like occasion : — si quid novisti rectius istis candidus imperti , si non , his utere mecum . and ( to wind up all ) wish every man , in what he stands in doubt of , to be his own oedipus . da veniam scriptis : quorum non gloria nobis causa ; sed utilitas , officiumque fuit . an appendix of such muniments ( viz. charters , and other escripts ) as are quoted in the precedent discourse , with reference to this place for transcription . charta pervetusta de terrâ ad censum concessâ . arnulfus prior , & tota congregatio ecclesiae christi , omnibus fidelibus & amicis suis salutem . sciatis nos , consentiente archipiscopo a anselmo , concessisse calvello & heredibus suis extra civitatem circa castellum , novem partes terrae , inter terram arabilem & prata , eâ conventione ut ipse calvellus & heredes sui singulis annis dent celerario lij . sol . pro omni re , praeter tres forisfacturas , id est , murdrum , & furtum , si ipse calvellus vel haeredes sui fecerint , & praeter si verecundium ipse sive heredes sui fecerint monachis ecclesiae vel servientibus eorum . horum verò denarior . una medietas dabitur in mediâ quadragesima , & altero in festo s. michaelis . calvello autem mortuo , pro redemptione quam heredes facere solent , heredes sui xx . sol . dabunt , & censum quem pater priùs dederat , ipse deinceps similiter dabunt . testes horum sunt folbertus de cill , will. folet , rogerius filius herengodi , robertus de mala villa . [ note that this charter hath a seal appendant on a labell proceeding from the side-margent , round , and about the bignesse of a five shillings peece of silver , the wax yellow , stamped ; but on the one side with the form of a church , much like that in the old seal of st. augustines , in sir henry spelmans councells , pag. . the inscription in the ring of it this : ✚ sigillvm ecclesiae cristi . ] charta prioris consimilis . wibertus prior & conventus ecclesiae christi cantuar. omnibus fidelibus suis , tam praesentibus quam futuris salutem . sciatis nos concessisse goldwardo filio feringi terram quae fuit walteri de sartrino servientis nostri , mariae filiae richardi aurifabri , simul cum propria terra sua in qua feringus pater suus manebat , pro iiij . s. & iiij . d. & ob . quos nobis inde annuatim reddet ad duos terminos , ij . scil . solid . & iiij . denar . & ob . ad med . quadrages . & ij . s. ad festum s. michaelis . tenebit itaque praedictus goldwardus de nobis has terras bene & in pace & honorificè jure hereditario per suprascriptum censum , & licebit ei de ipsis tanquam de propriis liberè facere quod voluerit , salvo jure & redditu nostro . ita tamen quod si eas alicui dare voluerit vel vendere , nobis prius hoc indicabit , & nos ad emendum eas b proximiores esse debemus . terra illa jacet juxta murum eleëmosynariae nostrae . testibus bartholomaeo dapifero , willmo camerario , geldewino & johanne , cocis ; & multis aliis . alia charta de terrâ ad gablum concessâ . robertus monachus ecclesiae s. augustini , custos & procurator hospitalis beati laurentii , omnibus christi fidelibus salutem . sciatis me concessisse hamoni textori & heredibus suis duas acras terrae contra sanctum sepulchrum , pro duob . solidis de gablo , singulis annis , jure hereditario tenendas . medietatem autem dabit in media quadragesimae , & medietatem alteram in ad vincula s. petri , & tres gallinas in vigilia natalis domini . valeat . testibus alurico presbytero , lidulfo , willmo textore , & fratribus illius loci . charta de terrâ ad gavelikendam concessâ . sciant praesentes et futuri quod ego r. dei gratiâ s. augustini cantuar. et ejusdem loci conventus dedimus jordano de serres et heredibus suis ad gavelikendam , xl . acras de marisco nostro pertinente ad manerium nostrum de cistelet , cum pertinentiis suis , tenend . de nobis jure hereditario in perpetuum . reddendo inde nobis annuatim vij . solid . et vj. denarios sterlingorum ad curiam de cistelet , in duobus terminis anni , in nativitate domini iij. s. et ix . d. et in nativitate johan . baptistae iij. s. et ix . d. et pro hac concessione dedit nobis praedictus jordanus c. s. sterling . de gersume . vt igitur ista donatio stabilis et firma permaneat sigilli nostri munimine eam roboravimus . hiis testibus henrico de cobbeham , galfrido de stokes , stephano de marisco , philippo de fierport , godefrido del hac , bricio del hac , waltero filio roberti , gileberto fratre abbatis , willmo pincerna , wido janitore , w. coco , alex. hostiario , et multis aliis . apographum processus litis inter burgam de bending , & priorem & conventum ecclesiae cantuar. de toto manerio de welles coram w. de ebor , r. de turkeby , g. de preston , & sociis suis itinerantibus apud cantuar. . id. junij , anno domini . r. h. filii r. johannis . burga quae fuit uxor petri de bendings petit versus priorem s. trinitatis cantuar. medietatem manerii de welles sicut francum bancum suum , ad faciendum firmam xviij . dierum , et unde praedictus petrus quondam vir suus eam dotavit , &c. et prior , scil . rogerus de lee venit et dicit , quod habet manerium illud ex dono praededecessorum domini regis , qui illud manerium aliquando tenuerunt . et quod illud manerium dederunt deo et ecclesiae s. trinitatis adeo liberè sicut manerium illud tenuerunt in puram ac perpetuam eleëmosynam : ita quod illud manerium nunquam postea partitum fuit , nec est partibile . et dicit quod dominus rex qui manerium ill●d dedit praedecessoribus suis , non tenuit illud nomine gavelkinde . et è contra burga dicit , quod praedictum manerium est gavelkinde , et partibile , ita quod quidam robertus de valoignes , dominus de sutton , qui duxerat in uxorem matildam de welles , cujus hereditas illud manerium fuit post mortem illius matildis , habuit nomine franci banci , medietatem illius manerii , et petrus vir illius burgae habuit medietatem illam ex dono hervei bellet consanguinei ipsius burgae , postquam idem petrus desponsavit ipsam burgam , qui quidem herveus redemit medietatem illam per denarios suos de praedicto roberto , ad opus ipsius petri ac burgae . et quod ita sit offert domino regi xx . s. per sic quod inquiratur per patriam . et prior dicit quod praedictum manerium non est gaulikend , neque partibile , nec praedictus robertus unquam habuit ibidem medietatem praedicti manerii ut de franco banco suo . et quod ita sit ponit se super patriam . et ideo fuit inde , &c. juratores viz. r. de setvann , i. de esting , s. de creie , g. de dene , w. de okrindenn , a. perot , e. de bocton , s. de haute , b. de badlesinere , r. de chilham , et alanus de leghes , dicunt super sacramentum suum , quod praedictum manerium fuit quondam manerium domini regis . et quod datum fuit deo et ecclesiae s. trinitatis in liberam , puram et perpetnam eleëmosynam . ita quod manerium illud nunquam fuit gaulikende , nec partitum , nec est partibile , nec praedictus robertus nunquam habuit medietatem praedicti manerii nomine franci banci . set dicunt quod post mortem praedictae matildis , tenuit praedictus robertus totum manerium illud simul cum custodiâ praedicti petri. ita quod praedictus herveus dedit quandam summam pecuniae praedicto roberto pro custodiâ illâ . et ideo consideratum est , &c. quod prior teneat , &c. & sine die , & praedicta burga in misericordia . carta de terrâ ad gavelikende concessâ . alanus prior et conventus ecclesiae christi cantuar. omnibus christi fidelibus ad quos literae istae pervenerint salutem . volumus ad omnium noticiam pervenire quod nos concessimus & assignavimus theb. de einesford & heredibus suis quater vigin●● acras de dominio nostro in northocholt , tenendas de nobis ad gavelikende . reddendo inde nobis xx . s. singulis annis , x. in med . quadrag . & x. ad festum s. michaelis . hanc tamen hac conditione ei tenebimus si mansionim & domos suas super praedictam terram fecerit . debet insuper tam ipse quam heredes sui sequi curiam nostram de orpinton sicut ceteri homines de eadem villâ . charta pirori consimilis . alanus prior et convenius ecclesiae christi cantuar. omnibus christi fidelibus salutem . sciatis quod nos concessimus & assignavimus stephano de renardintone c. acras de marisco nostro inter wallas monachorum pontis roberti , et oxeniam , ita quoddebet habere illas c. acras post alias c. acras quas in eodèm marisco dimisimus stephano militi de s. martino , usque ad c. illas acras quas dimisimus solomoni de ges●ings . concessimus ●utem has praedictas c. acras eidem stephano de renardintone & heredibus suis ad gavelichinde . reddendo inde nobis duas marcas argenti singulis annis , ad duos , viz. terminos , infra octavas nativitatis s. johannis baptistae unam marcam , infra octavas s. michaelis alteram marcam , pro omni servitio , nisi quod debet wallare secundum quantitatem illius terrae intus & extra , tam contra salsam quàm contra frescam , sicut ceteri , et curiam nostram sequi . jura etiam cantuarien . ecclesiae , et in hoc et in aliis , quantum ipse potest cum ratione tueri et defendere . haec autem omnia sacramento corporaliter in capitulo nostro praestito juravit se fideliter observaturum . hiis testibus godefrido coco , stephano portario , bartholomaeo seneschallo , willmo de capes , roberto porter , et multis aliis . alia charta consimilis . omnibus ad quos praesens charta pervenerit gaufridus prior & conventus ecclesiae christi cantuar. salutem . noverit universitas vestra nos concessisse joni & heredibus suis berchariam nostram ducentarum ovium , scil . medietatem de osmundeseye in terra & marisco cum una salina , tenend . de nobis successivè ad gavelykende it a plenè & integrè sicut eam unquam rogerus de osmundeseye tenuit . reddendo inde nobis annuatim lvj . s. de redditu ad duos terminos , scil . ad festum s. johannis baptistae xxviij . s. & ad festum s. michaelis similiter viginti octo . post mortem verò praedicti jonis dabunt nobis heredes sui successivè de relevio lvj . s. dabunt etiam idem j. & heredes sui post ipsum nobis annuatim ad natale domini unum mathlardum , et unam annat●m , & quatuor cercellas , & ad pascha unum caseum , & unum agnum de present . super hoc sciendum , quod praedictus j. et heredes sui curiam nostram de leysdun sequentur , & in auxiliis dandis & scottis sicut alii tenentes nostri scottabunt . et inde ipse & heredes sui successivè salvos plegios invenient de redditu terminis statutis reddendo , & de berchariae instanratione integrè & fideliter conservanda . alia consimilis charta hospitali data . sciant presentes & futuri , quod ego radulfus frone tradidi & concessi deo & fratribus hospitalis s. laurentii juxta cantuariam , in orientali parte siti , septem acras terrae meae tenendas in gavelekende de me & heredibus meis liberè & quietè . reddendo inde annuatim mihi vel heredibus meis xlij . denarios , pro omni servitio , & omni exactione in duobus terminis , scil . in med . quadragesimâ xxj . denar . & in festo ▪ s. michaelis xxj . denar . praedicta autem terra nominata est prestesteghe , quae adjacet terrae heliae de blen . pro hac donatione & confirmatione dederunt mihi praedicti fratres & heredibus meis quinque marcas sterlingorum . his testibus johanne clerico , filio henrici sacerdotis , &c. & pluribus de halymot . inquisitio de terris & tenementis quae isabella de monte alto tenuit de priore ecclesiae christi cantuariae . inquisitio facta apud hokynden coram eschaetore domini regis die mercurii prox ▪ ante festum s. catherinae virginis , anno r. r. edwardi secundo , de terris & tenementis quae isabella de monte alto tenuit de priore ecclesiae christi cantuariae , & per quod servitiū , per sacramentū will mi de cokeler , &c. qui dicūt per sacramentū suū , quod praedicta isabella tenuit in gavelikende die quo obiit de praedicto priore unū messuagiū xlij . acras terrae cum pertinentiis in hokinden , per servitium decem solid . undecim denarior . per annum , & per servitium arandi unam acram terrae ad seminandum frumentum , quod valet xij . d. per annum . et per servitium metendi praedictam acram & cariandi in grangiam prioris apud orpinton blada ejusdem acrae , quod servitium extendit per annum ad xij . d. et per servitium arandi dimidiam acram terrae ad seminandum frumentum , et dimidiam acram terrae ad seminandum ordeum , et utramque dimidiam acram metendi et ligandi , quod quidem servitium extendit per annum ad ij . s. et per servitium solvendi unam denar . et obulum ad falcandum pratum domini prioris , & per servitium curiandi unam carectatam & dimidiam feni in grangiam prioris apud orpinton , & valet per annum iij. denar . et per per servitium faciendi duo averagia de orpinton usque mepham per annum , & valet opus viij . denar . et per servitium claudendi tres peticatas circa gardinum prioris praedicti apud orpinton , & valet opus iij. d. per annum . et per servitium duarum gallinarum & xl . ovorum , et valet per annum vj. d. pretium gallinae ij . d. et per servitium faciendi sectam ad curiam praedicti prioris de orpinton , de tribus septimanis in tres septimanas . et dicunt quod praedicta isabella obiit per tres annos elapsos , et quod areragia à tempore mortis praedictae isabellae usque in hodiernum diem sunt l. s. j. d. ob . summa totius per annum — xvj . s. — viij . d. — ob . unde de redditu ●ssis . — x. s. — xj . d. — de consuetudinibus — v. s. — ix . — — ob . servitia tenentium de rokinge ad redditum posita . memorand . quod in festo s. michaelis , anno d ni mcclxxxix . regni verò regis edwardi xvij . prior et conventus ecclesiae christi cantuar. relaxaverunt tenentibus suis de rokinge , viz. falcationem , levationem , cariagium , et tassationem prati . item cariagium , impletionem & sparsionem fimorum , facturam cratis , & burghyard . item averagia apud merseham . item fotaveagia . item messionem & herciaturam & collectionem stipularum . item cooperturam grangiarum , & tonsionem ovium . et pro ista relaxatione , praedicti tenentes solvent annuatim ad manerium praedict . in festo omnium sanctorum , & ad purificationem beatae mariae redditus subscriptos pro equali portione viz. robertus le frode de xij . acris & dimid . iiij . s. ij . d. ob . timberdansland pro viginti sex acris iiij . s. ij . d. ob . terra heymund pro novem acris iij. s. ij . d. terra juliani pro viginti acris iiij . s. j. d. ob . stameresland pro undecim acris ij . s. viij . d. terra smalspon pro tresdecim acris ij . s. iiij . d. terra le bred pro octo acris & dimid . xvj . d. &c. relaxatio servitiorum & consuetudinum tenentium de mepham , pro annuo redditu solvendo . vniversis pateat per praesentes quod in festo nativitatis domini , anno ejusdem mcccvj. regni verò regis edwardi filii regis henrici xxxv . henricus prior et capitulum ecclesiae christi cantuar. remiserunt et relaxaverunt hominibus et tenentibus suis de mepham quasdam consuetudines el servitia pro annuo redditu quinquaginta septem solidor . trium denarior . et unius oboli ●isdem priori et capitulo in praedicto manerio suo de mepham in festo apostolorum petri et pauli annuatim solvend . in formà subscriptà , viz. tenentes de gavellond de octodecim jugis , pro cariagio triginta et sex carectat . feni de prato de redhamme apud clyve usque mepham , quindecim solidos , viz. pro qualibet carectat . quinque denarios . et unum dimidium jugum est in dominico . item pro averagiis tresdecim solid . & quatuor denar . item pro clausura circa blada duos solidos , undecim denar . & obulum . item pro clausura circa curiam quae dicitur burghyard . viginti duos denar . obulum & quadr . item tenentes de sex jugis & dimid . de inland pro trituratione & ventilatione triginta & quinque quarteriorum frumenti , novem solid . quinquc denar . obolum & quadr . viz. pro trituratione cujuslibet summae tres denar . & pro ventilatione unum quadr . item pro trituratione & ventilatione septemdecim grossarum summarum et dimid avenae , tres solid . tres denar . & unum quadr . viz. pro trituratione cujuslibet summae duos denar . et pro ventilatione unum quadran . item pro opere sarclandi octodecim denar . item pro opere tassandi in autumpno tresdecim denar . item pro fimis spargendis sex denar . et obolum . item pro xviij . a cladibus faciendis ad ovile sex denar . item pro cibo prioris querend . et pro servitio quod dicitur worderinde , et pro pomis frangendis duodecim denar . item pro clausura circa blada , quae dicitur swinhey , duos solidos , decem denar . et quadr . item pro clausura xvj . perticarum et quinque pedum muri infra curiam ab ostio aulae versus portam curiae xvj . denar . et obol . item pro grangia cooperienda duos solid . et sex denar . in quorum omnium testimonium , sigillum commune praedictorum prioris et capituli , et sigilla walteri de northwode , johannis de isebergh , johannis de halifeld , henrici de mildenacre , petri de mildenacre , et johannis de prestwode , pro se et omnibus aliis tenentibus de gavellond , ad requisitionem ipsorum : et johannis de pettesfeld , johannis de la dene capellani , henrici de lomere , alfredi de northwode , henrici de northwode , et walteri ive , pro se et omnibus aliis tenentibus de inland , ad requisitionem eorundem , huic scripto cirographato alternatim sunt appensa . acta sunt haec anno supradicto . breve regis ( w mi j mi ) pro terris monasterii s. augustini cant. alienatis recuperandis . will mus dei gratiâ rex angliae , lanfranco archiepisco cantuar. &c. salutem . mando & praecipio ut faciatis s. augustinum & abbatem scotlandum reseisire burgum de fordwich , quem tenet haymo vicecomes , omnesque alias terras quas abbas egelsinus fugitivus , mentis lenitate , vel timore , vel cupiditate alicui dedit vel habere concessit . et si aliquis , &c. charta w. regis j mi de restitutione ablatorum in episcopatibus & abbatiis totius angliae . w. dei gratiâ rex anglorum , l. archiepiscopo cantuar. & g. episcopo constantiarum , & r. comiti de ou , & r. filio comitis gil. & h. de monte forti , suisque aliis proceribus regni angliae , salutem . summonete vicecomites meos ex meo praecepto , & ex parte mea eis dicite , ut reddant episcopatibus meis , & abbatiis totum dominium , omnesque dominicas terras quas de dominio episcopatuum meorum & abbatiarum , episcopi mei & abbates cis vel lenitate , vel timore , vel cupiditate dederunt , vel habere consenserunt , vel ipsi violentiâ suâ inde abstraxerunt , et quod hactenus injustè possederunt de dominio ecclesiârum mearum . et nisi reddiderint , sicut gos ex parte mea summonebitis , vos ipsos velint nolint constringite reddere . quod si quilibet alius , vel aliquis vestrum quibus hanc justitiam imposui , ejusdem querelae fuerit , reddat similiter quod de dominio esicopatuum vel abbatiarum mearum habuit , ne propter illud quod inde aliquis vestrum habebit minus exerceat super meos vicecomites vel alios quicunque teneant dominium ecclesiarum mearum b quod praecipio . breve regis in subsidium villanorum abbatis s. augustini cantuar. se gravari querentium in taxatione mae & mae . edwardus dei gratiâ rex angliae , dominus hiberniae , & dux aquitaniae , taxatoribus decimae & quintaedecimae in comitatu cantiae , salutem . ex parte dilecti nobis in christo abbatis s. augustini cantuar. nobis est ostensum , quod vos omnia bona & catalla villanorum ipsius abbatis in comitatu praedicto , non deductis redditibus , servitiis & custumis quae iidem villani praefato abbati reddunt & solvunt annuatim , quae quidem redditus , servitia & custumae inter temporalia ipsius abbatis spiritualibus suis annexa ad decimam sunt taxata , et inde idem abbas decimam solvit , taxastis , et decimam & quintamdecimam praedictas inde levare intenditis ad opus nostrum , in ipsius abbatis et villanorum suorum praedictorum praejudicium et gravamen : nos nolentes praedictum abbatem , pro eo quod ipse de temporalibus spiritualibus suis annexis decimam solvit in hac parte indebitè prae gravari , vobis mandamus , quod deductis redditibus , servitiis , et custumis villanorum praedictorum , quae inter temporalia praedicti . abbatis spiritualibus annexa ad decimam sic taxantur , et de quibus idem abbas decimam solvit , sicut praedictum est , residua bona et catalla eorundem villanorum taxari , et dictas decimam et qnintamdecimam inde ad opus nostrum levari faciatis , prout aliàs in hujusmodi taxationibus fieri consuevit . et ▪ si quid per vos à praefatis villanis indebi●è levatum fuerit , id sine dilatione restitui faciatis eisdem . teste meipso apud pontefractum primo die martii , anni regni nostri septimo . charta de homagio facto pro terrâ de gavelkind , sicut de villenagio . sciant omnes tam posteri quam praesentes quod w mus filius w mi de elmton , & radulfus frater suus diviserunt hereditatem suam de duabus villis burne et wilrintune , sicut de gavelikende in curia s. augustini , in praesentiâ domini rogeri electi ejusdem ecclesiae & plurimorum monachorum & laicorum : & radulfus relevavit in eadem curia partem suam . ipse verò radulfus de medietate istarum duarum villarum fecit homagium abbati sicut de villenagio , & reddet de burne gablum quinquaginta solid . quatuor terminis anni , dominicâ viz. palmar . xxij . s. vj. d. in nativitate s. johannis tantundem , ad festum s. michaelis tantundem , ad festum s. thomae ante nativitatem domini tantundem , & tantundem servitii quantum ad idem villenagium pertinet , faciet . similiter de medietate de wilrinton , idem radulfus alios quinquaginta solidos , eodem modo , et eisdem terminis reddet cum servitio . ego autem r. dei gratiá electus beati augustini cantuariensis ejusdemque loci conventus , hanc partem suae hereditatis praesenti chartâ et sigillo ecclesiae nostrae eidem radulfo confirmavimus . hiis testibus quorum nomina subscripta sunt , willmo filio nigelli , elya de silingheld , radulfo de s. leodegario , radulfo de creye , eylgaro de esture , hugone cosin , stephano de renardinton , alano de reading , daniele de wyvelesberhe , hamone de solforde , hamone de aldelose , alano de legh , rogero de wadenhale , et pluribus aliis . chirographum pervetustum de nuptiis contrahendis , & dote constit●en●â . here appeareth in this writing the agreement that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 godwine made with byrhtric when he his daughter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wooed , that is first that he gives her one pounds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 weight of gold a so as she his agreement received , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & he giveth her those lands at strete with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all that thereto apperteineth , & in burwaremersh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one hundred and fifty acres , and b thereto thirty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 oxen , & twenty cowes , & ten horses , & ten bondmen . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this was c spoken at kingstone before cnute 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 king ▪ in living the archbishops d witnesse , & in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the covents at christ-church , & aelfmeres ( the ) abbats , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the covents at s. augustine , and aethelwines 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( the ) sheriffe , and siredes th' elder , and godwines 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wulfeyes sonne , and aelfsy child , and eadmer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at burham , and godwine wulfstanes sonne , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 charles the kings e knight , and when men that maiden 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fetchd to brightling , then went of all this f in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pledge ael●gar syredes sonne , and frerth priest of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 folestone and of dover leofwine priest , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wulfsy priest , and eadred eadelmes sonne , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 leofwine waerelmes sonne , and cenwold rust , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 leofwine godwines sonne at horton , and leofwine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the red , and godwine eadgi●es sonne , and leofsuh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his brother . and which soever of them longest liveth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 g take all h possessions aswell that land that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i to them give as every thing . this thing is knowne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i to all * valiant men in kent , & in sussex of thanes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and of churles , and this writing is l three-fold , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one is at christ church , m another at s. augustine , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the third hath byrhtric himself . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . testamentum ethelstani etheling , filii regis ethelredi , quo ( inter alia ) contulit ecclesiae christi cantuariae , manerium de holingburne , anno christi . in god almighties name i ethelstan prince 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 make knowne in this writing how i my substance & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my possessions given have for gods n love & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my soules redemption , & my father ethelredes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 king that i it of o earned , that is first that i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 consent that man p set free every forfeited q surety 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r that i by ſ promise t ought . and i give in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with me where i me rest to christ & s. peter those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lands at eadburghbery which i bought of my father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 u with two hundred marks of gold by weight , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & x with five pounds of silver , & that land at meralefan 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which i bought of my father y with two 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hundred marks and a halfe of gold by weight , & that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 land at mordune which my father me to let i give into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that place for our both soules , & i him this pray 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for gods love & for s. mary & for s. peters that it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stand mought , & that sword with silver hilt that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wolfriht made , & that gilt pouch , & that bracelet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which wolfrihc made , & that drink-horne that i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ere of that covent bought at ealdminster . and i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will that men take that money which athelwolds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 widow me ought to z pay which i for her ere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 paid have , & dispose it elfsy bishop to ealdminster 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for my soule , that is twelve pounds a by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tale . and i give to christ-church in canterbury 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those lands at holingbourne and those which thereto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appertaine , except that one plough-land that i to siferth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 given have . and those lands at garwaldintune , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & i give those lands at ritherfelde to the nuns 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 minster of saint mary b gratis , & one silver 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 great piece of five pounds , & to new-minster one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 silver basin of five pounds in that holy trinities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 name that the place is dedicated to . and i give to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shaftesbury to that holy c rood & to saint edward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those vi . pounds which i to edmund my brothr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 d committed have . and i give to my father ethelred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 king those lands at cealtune e except those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eight hides which i to aelmer my minister given 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 have . and those lands at northtone , & those lands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at mulinton , & those silver hilted swords which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wlkytel possesseth , & that brigandine that with morkere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is , & those horses that thurbrand me gave , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those white horses which liefwine me gave . and i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 give to eadmund my brother those swords which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 offa king enjoyed . and those swords with the hollow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hilt , & one javelin , and one silver f hemmed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 war-trumpet , and that land which i possesse in eastangle . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and those lands at peakesdale . and i will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that men deliver every yeare one dayes g ferme to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 covent at ely of this land on s. etheldriths masseday 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & give likewise to the minster one hundred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pence . & feed there on that day an hundred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 h poore . be ever this almes delivered yearly , i ow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the land he that k oweth , whilest christendom standeth . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and if he will not that almes performe who 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that land hath , go that land to s. etheldrith . and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i give to eadrith my brother one silver hilted sword . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . and i give to elfsy bishop one gilt l crosse which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is with eadrith syfleds son , & one black stede . and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i give to elmer those lands at hamelden which he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 m ere had . and i pray my father for god almighties 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 love & for mine that he that n give which i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to him given have . and i give to godwine wlnothes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sonne those lands at cunitune which his father o ere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 possessed . and i give to elfsith my p foster-mother 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for her great deserving those lands at westune 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which i bought of my father q with three hundred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 marks lacking a half of gold by weight . and i give 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to elfwine my masse-priest those lands at horelvestune 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & those swords which wyther enjoyed . and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my horse with my furniture . and i give to eylmere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my r dish thane those eight hides at cateringetune , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & one diverse-coloured stede & those sharpe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ſ swords & my target . and i give to syferth those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lands at high-cliffe & one sword & one horse & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my bowed shield . and i give to ethelferrh stameren 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & lyving those lands at tywynge . and i give 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to liefstane liefwines brother what of that land-estate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which i t of his brother took . and i give 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to lyemare at bygrove those lands which i him u ere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from took . and i give to godwine drevelen those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 three hides of land at little gareshale . and i give 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to edrith wynfelds sonne that sword x which the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hand is on marked . and i give to elfwine my 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 minister that sword which he to me y sometime gave . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . and i give to elfnoth my sword white , & to my 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 huntsman that stede which is at colingeregge . and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tender men of my gold to elurith at berton & to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 godwine drevelen so much as eadmund my brother 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 knowes that i to them of right to yeild ought . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . now thank i my father with all humility in god 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 almighties name for that answer which ( he ) to me sent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on friday after midsummers masse-day by elfgare 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 elfstanes son , which was that he to me signified by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 z my fathers message that i might by gods permission 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & by his give my lands & my a possessions as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to me most expedeient seemed , b either for god & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the world . and of this answer is to witnesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eadmund my brother & elfsy bishop , & byrhtmer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abbat & eilmer eluriches sonne . now pray i all the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wise men which my c will shall hear read either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 d clergie & e laity , that they be of assistance that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my f will stand may , sith my father giveth leave 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for my g wills standing . now declare i that all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those things which i to god unto gods church & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gods servants given have be don for my deer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fathers soule ethelred king & for mine & elfrith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my grand-mother that me fedd , & for all theirs that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 me to this h goods helped . and he that this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i will through any thing breaketh let him give an accompt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thereof to god almighty , & to saint mary , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & to saint peter , & to all those which gods name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do laud. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . charta libertatum ecclesiae christi cantuar . concessar . per regem henricum primum . h. dei gratiâ rex anglorum , episcopis , comitibus , proceribus , vicecomitibus , caeterisque suis fidelibus francis et anglis in omnibus comitatibus in quibus achiepiscopus randulfus & monachi ecclesiae christi cantuariae terras habent amicubiliter salutem . notum vobis facio me concessisse eis omnes terras quas tempore regis eadwardi cognati mei , & tempore willielmi patris mei habuerunt & saca & so●ne on strande & streame , on wode & felde , tolnes & teames , & grithbreces , & hamso●ne , & forestealles , & infangenes thioves , & flemen feormthe super suos homines infra burgos & extra in tantum & tam pleniter sicut proprii ministri mei exquirere debent . et etiam super tot thegenes quot eis concessit pater meus . et nolo ut aliquis hominum se intromittat nisi ipsi & ministri eorum , quibus ipsi committere voluerint , nec francus nec anglus : propterea quia ego concessi christo has consuetudines pro redemptione animae meae , sicut rex eadwardus & pater meus antehac fecerunt . et nolo pati ut aliquis eas infringat , si non vult perdere amicitiam mea● deus vos custodiat . thus englished in the same charter . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 charta consimilium libertatum ecclesiae s. augustini ▪ cantuar. concessarum per s. edwardum regem . ego edwardus dei gratiâ rex anglorum , eadsino archiepiscopo , et godwino comiti , & omnibus suis baronibus canciae , salutem . sciatis me dedisse deo & s. augustino & fratribus ut habeant eorum saca & socna , et pacis fracturam , et pugnam in domo factam , et viae assaltus , et latrones in terra sua captos , latronumque susceptionem vel pastionem , super illorum proprios homines infra civitatem et extra , theloniumque suum in terra et in aqua , atque consuetudinem quae dicitur teames . et super omnes allodiarios suos quos eis habeo datos . nec volo consentire ut aliquis in aliqua re de his se intromittat , nisi eorum praepositi quibus ipsi hoc commendaverint , quia habeo has consuetudines deo datas et s. augustino pro redemptione animae meae ita pleniter et liberè sicut meliùs habuerunt tempore praedecessoris mei knuti regis , et nolo consentire ut aliquis haec infringat , sicut meam amicitiam vult habere . epistola gaufridi supprioris & monachor . ecclesiae cantuariensis ad regem henricum . de lite inter eos & baldvinum archiepisc . excellentissimo domino suo h. dei gratiâ anglorum regi g. supprior & conventus ecclesiae christi cantuar. flebilis & ultra modum afflictus salutem & suspiria flentium & afflictorum respicere . cum scriptum sit , gloria in excelsis deo , & in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis : ut pro bona voluntate in terris habita , gloriam habeatis in coelis , serenitati vestrae quem in nullo offendisse credimus vel recognoscimus , supplicamus , ut si quid odii aut rancoris concepistis adversus nos aut ecclesiam cantuar . odio personae alicujus aut operis praesentes temporis vel praeteriti , quod nos debeat respicere , pietatis intuitu remittatis , attendentes innocentiam nostram , nec vindicantes aliorum peccata in nobis . si peccavimus publicè , puniamur , sin autem , quòd ecclesia cant. de quâ omnes anglorum reges , non solùm fidem christi , sed & coronam regni sumpserunt , qu● usque modò libera extitit , captivatur & con●ulcatur ab hominibus , cum sit mater omnium in regno angliae manentium . in christo jesu vobis dicimus , timemur ne novitates multae & malae subitò oriantur , quarum principia etsi nos sensimus , forsitan exitus alios quàm nos tanget nec transire permittet immunes , sed involvet . qui hanc novitatem non admiretur , quod dominus archiepiscopus dicit nos debere de eo terras & possessiones nostras tenere ? cum jam per quingentos annos & eo ampliùs , à tempore scil . magni theodori , qui terras partitus est , & utrique parti suam portionem assignavit , conventus in pace possederit portionem suam , & liberè administraverit , quod & chartae regum & pontificum plenius attestantur , ex quarum tenore perspicuum videre est , quod usque ad haec infoelicitatis tempora , archiepiscopus nihil juris vel dominationis plus habebat in terris monachorum , quàm monachi in terrâ archiepiscopi . et ne super hoc quisquam dubitet , proferantur in medium charta s. aedwardi regis & sancti anselmi achiepiscopi , & aliae multae regum & pontificum . quod autem dicitur lanfrancum dividisse terras , ideo est , quod cum normanni , captâ angliâ , omnium ecclesiarum terras occupassent , rex will. ad instantiam lanfranci , eas resignavit . lanfrancum verò singulis ecclesiis reddidit quod antea possederant , sibi autem quod ante cessorum fuerat suorum retinuit . quod autem tempore lanfranci non sit facta terrae divisio , testantur chirographia ante tempora beati dunstani facta inter archiepiscopos & monachos de concambiis terrarum multarum : sed & hoc attestantur scripta vetustissima quae linguâ anglorum , landbokes , id est , terrarum libros , vocant . quia vero non erant adhuc tempore regis willielmi milites in anglia , sed threnges , praecepit rex , ut de eis milit●s fierent ad terram defendendam . fecit autem ▪ lanfrancus threngos suos milites : monachi verò non fecerunt , sed de portione sua ducentas libratas terrae dederunt archiepiscopo , ut per milites suos terras eorum defenderet , & ut omnia negotia eorum apud curiam romanam suis expensis expediret . vnde adhuc in totà terrâ monachorum nullus miles est , sed in terrâ archiepiscopi . terram tamen ducentarum librarum adhuc habent archiepiscopi : pro quibus omnibus valdè miramur , quòd vel talia dicit , vel quòd assensum ●i praebetis , quòd vestrâ authoritate & nomine vestro , per ministros vestros res & possessiones nostras invadit , cum nichil ad eum spectent , set nos teneamus post deum in capite de vobis , sicut & ipse : quod manifestum est , decedentibus archiepiscopis , quia terrae eorum statim confiscantur , à seculo autem inauditum est , quod possessiones nostrae confiscatae fuerint aliquo tempore . quapropter supplicamus , ut maturiùs pro deo dum potestis haec corrigi faciatis , cum fortè tunc a velitis , cum non b potueritis . valeat . donatio wolgithae de manerio de stisted , a. d. . here appeareth in this writing how wolgith gives 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 her substance after her departure , which to her the almighty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 god gave in life to use , that is then first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to my lord his right heriot . and i give that land 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at stistede a by gods b witnesse & my friends 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to christ-church to the monks for c sustenance , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , on this condition that elikitel & kytel my children 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 use those lands for their d dayes , & afterward go 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that land to christ-church without any deduction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for my soule , & for elfwines my lords , & for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all my children , & be halfe the men free after their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 e dayes . and i give to the church at stistede 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 f besides that which i in life gave eldemesland . & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 g thereto hyeken , that there be in all fifty acres in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 h field after my departure . and i give to wolk & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 kytel my sonnes that land at walsingham , & at 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 charlton , & herlingham . and i give to my two 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 daughters gode & bote sexlingham & summerledeton , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & to the church at sumerl . sixteene acres 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of land , & one acre of medow . and i give to ealgyth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my daughter that land at cherteker and at ashford , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and the wood which i laid thereto . and i give to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 godwine earle and harald earle frithton . and i give 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to christ-church to christs altar one little 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gilt i crosse and one carpet , and i give to s. edmund 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 two boned hornes . and i give to s. etheldrith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one wollen kyrtel . and i give to s. osyth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 halfe a pound of money . and i give to austine one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 carpet . and he that my k testament bereaveth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which i now l ordeined have m by gods n testimony , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bereaved let him be of these earthly joyes , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & cut off him the almighty lord which all creatures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 created & made from all o holy mens communion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p in domesday , & be he delivered to satam the devill 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & all his cursed companions into hell bottome , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there q perish with gods r deniers ſ without intermission , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & mine heires never to trouble ( s ) . of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is for witnesse edward king & many others . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . donatio terrarum apud apoldre , orpinton , palstre , werhorne , wittrisham , ecclesiae christi cantuariae per aedsium presbyterum , de consensu cnuti regis & aelfgifae reginae , ann . . here appeareth r in this writing how cnut king 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & aelfgife his lady gave to eadsy their priest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when he turned monk that he might ſ convey that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 land at apuldore as to himselfe most pleasing were . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . then gave he it to christ-church to gods servants 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for his soule , & he it bought that of the covent for his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dayes & aedwines with fower pounds , on that t contract 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that men deliver every yeare to christ-church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 three weighs of cheese from that land , & three u bundles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of eeles , & after his dayes & aedwines go that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 land into christ-church , with meat and with x men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even as it then y inriched is , for eadsies soule , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he bought that land at werhorne of the covent for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his dayes and eadwines also with fower pounds , then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 goeth that land forth with the other after his dayes & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 edwines to christ-church with the z crop that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there then on is , & that land for his dayes at berwick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he obteined of his lord cnute king , & he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gives also those lands at orpington in his dayes for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his soule to christ-church to gods servants for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a garment land , which he bought with eighty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 marks of white silver by hustings weight , & he gives 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also those lands at palstre & at wittresham after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his dayes & edwines forth with the other to gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 servants for foster-land for his soule . this bequest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he giveth to the covent on this b contract that they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ever him well observe , & to him faithfull be in life & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after life , & if they c with any unadvisednesse with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 him this d contract shall breake , then stands it in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his owne power how he afterwards his owne dispose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will. of this is for witnesse cnute king , & aelfgife 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his lady , & aethelnoth archb. & aelfstan a b. & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the covent at s. austines , & brihtric young & aetheric 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 husbandman , & thorth thurkilles nephew , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tofi , & aelfwine priest , & eadwold priest , and all the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 kings counsellours , and this writing is e threefold , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one is at christ-church , and one at s. augustines , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and one hath eadsy f with himselfe . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . finis . i have perused this learned treatise of gavelkynd , and judge it very fit to be published . april . . ja. armachanus . a table , or index of the principal contents . a. aehte , what , p. agium , in the termination of word what signifying , p. akerland , what , p. allodiarii , p. allodium , the same with bocland , p. , . the word derived , p. . more properly in england since the conquest , p. . proper onely to the king to grant , p. almesland , what , p. assise of mortdancester , where it lieth , p. , aver-bred , what , p. aver-land , what , p. avermannus , p. b. bed-rip , what , p. bene-bred , what , p. beneficium , of same signification anciently , that feudum of latter times , p. ● benerth , what , p. ben-rip , what , p. bere-gafol , what , p. ber-land , what , p. bermannus , what , p. bians , what , p. black-maile , what , p. black-rents , what , p. blank-ferme , what , p. bocland , what , p. . whence so called , p. . how variously denominated , p. whether anciently deviseable , p. . whether otherwise alienable , p. , . the same with allodium , p. , . reteined after the conquest , p. bordarii , p. bord-land , what , p. , bordmanni , p. burgh-yard , what , p. , bydel , what , and whence derived . p. c. mr. cambdens derivation of gavelkynd , p. carropera , p. carucae procariae what , p. roga●ae , p. carucage , what , p. charters , diverse of those in ingulphus questioned , and how far , and why , p. chivalry and socage , two tenures comprehending all the lands in kent , and elswhere in england , p. cniht , in the saxon language , what , p. coke , sir edward , his derivation of gavelkynd , p. the conquerours progresse & proceedings after his victory neer hastings , p. . his charter of restitution of church-lands , p. conquest , the times about it very rapacious , p contract of marriage , a saxon form or model of it , p. , coredy , what , p , corne-gavel , what , p. corporations , anciently en●eoffed with lands in gavelkind , p. cotarii , what , p. . their tenements changed into gavelkind , p. cotland , what , p. cotmani , what , ibid. custome , hardly left , p. . beginning within memory no custom , ibid. of gavelkynd , a common law in kent , p. its essential property , p. . how different from tenure , p. cyricena-socne , what , p. d. de rationabili parte bonorum , the writ so called whether lying at the common law , or by custom ? p. , dome , in the termination of words , what signifying , dover - castle the lock and key of all england , p. drenches , what , p. drincelean , what , p. drof-dens , what , p. drof-land , what , p. drof-mannus , what , ibid dun-land , what , p. e. error , if setled , difficult to remove , p. . often caused for want of altercation . ibid. estates , in england universally partible before the conquest , and how , p. , ex gravi querela , the writ so called , where it lies , , f. fald-socne , what , p. fald-worth , what , ibid. fee , not alienable without the lords consent , p. . whether anciently deviseable , p. naturally not deviseable , and why , p. fees , whether any in england before the conquest , p. , . become patrimonial in many places , p. . what in their original , p. . how changed afterwards , ibid. females , capable of succession in gavelkynd - land , p. . excluded from succession with males , p. feudastra , what , p. feuduto , novum , & antiquum , p. feudum , the word how ancient , p. , . derived , p. fewd ( in deadly fewd ) whence derived , p. fief de haubert , and de roturier , p. filctale , what , p. fildale , what , ibid. fines for the enfranchising of lands , p. fird-socne , what , p. fodrum , what , p. folcland , the nature of it , p. see also p. , . folgarii , what , p. foot-average , what forgable , what forland , what forsohoke foster-land , what , francus bancus , frankalmoigne , p , frank-fee freehold , whether anciently deviseable , frith-socne , what g. gabella , what p. gablum , what , p. . terram pon●●e gablum , what , gabulum denariorum gafel , gafol , gafnl , gavel , what signifying gafolgylda gafol-hwitel ● gaigneurs , what gavel absurdly rendred gifeeal in many compounds , gavelate , what gavel-bred , what gavel-bord , what gavel-corne , what gavel-dung , what gavel-erth , what gavelet what gavel-fother , what gavelikendeys gavelkynd , the words vulgar derivation proposed , pag. . scanned , p. . rejected , ibid. a new etymon proposed and asserted , p. . the custome so called a common law in kent , p. . not causal of partition in land so called , p. . what it comprehends , p. . the tenure so called almost universal in kent , p. . whether eo nomine obteining in wales , p. . whether a tenure or a custome , p. . prescription in it not good , and why , p. whether socage and it synonimies , p. . grants of land in gavelkynd , p. . when ceasing , p. . see more in partition , villains . gavelkynd - land , females capable of it , p. . the nature of it , in point of partition , scanned , p. . no prescription good there , and why , p. . liable to works , p. . whether deviseable in kent before the stat. of wills , p. . descendible to collateral kinred , p. . anciently conveyed to gilds and corporations , pag. . alienable from the proper heir , p. . all partible land not called gavelkynd , p. . gavelman p. gavel-med , what gavel-noh● , what gavel-ote , what gavel-refter , what gavel-rip , what gavel-rod , what gavel-sester , what gavel-swine , what gavel-timber , what gavel-werk , what gavel-wood , what ge , how used with the sa●ons , p. gecynde , mis-construed by mr. lambard , geneat , what gersuma , what grants of land in gavelkynd , when ceasing h. hade , head , hode , hood , &c. in the termination of words what signifying haereditaments , what hamso●ne , what hereslit , what , and whence derived , hide land , what hlaford-so●ne , what horse-average , what hotchpot hunig-gavel , what i. in-average , what ingulfus charters , many of them questioned , and how far , and why inheritance , the word how accepted in england , , . inheritances , in england universally partible before the conquest , and how , , inland , what , k. kent , with other counties conquered and over-run by will. . p. . servi there , p. . also nativi , kind , in dutch , what , and whence derived p. , knecht in dutch , what knight service-land naturally incapable of partition knyghren-gyld knights , whether any here in england before the conquest kynd , in gavelkynd of what signification l. mr. lambard his two-fold derivation of gavelkynd , p. . whereof one rejected , the other admitted , p. . mistaken in the construction of gecynde land , all in kent and thorowout england , either of chivalry or socage tenures , p. . all in england , either ancient demesne , or frank fee , p. . and subject to tenure , . descended , not alienable of old without the heirs consent , . purchased , alienable at pleasure , ibid. censual , not censual , . how many several kinds of land before the conquest , . as also since landagendman , what land-boc , what land-gabel , what land-gafol , what ibid. leaf-gavel , what p. lef-silver , what ibid. les-gavel , what ibid. les-gold , and les-yeld , what ibid. liberum feodum , what lyef-geld , what m. mailer , what p. mailman , what ibid. mail-payer , what ibid. mala , what ibid. malt-gavel , what malt-peny , what ibid. malt-shot , what ibid. manopera , what mete-gavel , what mirroir , the book so called , censured molland , what molmannus , what ibid. monday-land , what mortdancester , the assise so called , where it lies , , mortmaine , what , . the tenure of it double ibid. n. names , to be sutable with things very convenient , nativi in kent neatland , what nidering , alias nithing , a nickname of what signification , & whence derived , o. oale-gavel , what ordericus vitalis , his relation of the conquerors proceedings and progresse after his victory neer hastings , p ordinary , his power of d●stributing intestates goods here in england , when beginning , as also in scotland , and normandy over-land , what out-average , what p. parceners , how many sorts , paroc , what partition , in gavelkynd - land , neither from the name , nor nature of it onely , . nor from prescription , . but partly from the nature of it , and partly from custom , and what , . the antiquity of it , . whether inherent in the land , , . why more general in kent than elswhere , , . whether brought hither by odo out of normandy , , . whether continued there by composition with the conquerour partition , but one property or branch of gavelkynd , , . out of kent whence obteining ibid. & partition of goods peny-gavel , what some phrases in ingulphus ancient charters questioned p. pictavensis his relation of the conquerors proceedings and progresse after his victory neer hastings , . himself the conquerours chaplain , and an eye-witnesse ib. portfoc● , what , portsoken , what potura , what prescription not good in gavelkynd , and why r. rationabili parte bonorum , , & redditus , albi , what , . nigri ▪ what , ib. restitution , a charter of it by the conquerour rip-silver , what rochester - castle besieged by will. . rod-land , what romney , the conquerours passage by it in his march to dover s. contract of marriage in saxon , . the edition of it corrected , . several wils in saxon scip , ship , in the termination of words , what signifying , scotale , what scrude-land , what p. seisin , how delivered in the saxons times servi in kent servitus rusticana sextary-land , what smithesland , what soca , socha , soke , sokne , what , socage , free and base , . the derivation of the word , and what it signifies , . whether it and gavelkynd synonima's , . its original , . opposite to villenage , socage-land and service , so called elswhere , in kent termed gavelkynd socagium , the distinction of it into liberum and villanum , whence socmanni sokerevi sokmanry spelman sir henry , his derivation of gavelkynd spots story ( of the kentishmens encounter and composition with the conquerour ) exhibited , questioned , refuted , . a meer monk●sh ●igment , and why devised , . when he lived , . his commixture of falsity , stigand the archbishops deposing for opposing the conquerour , not warranted by ancient story sul-aelmesse , what swilling-land , what swine-gavel , what swine-money , what ib. swine-paneges , what ib. swinhey , what t. tainland , tenure , all land in england subject to it , . how different from custome , tenure , by divine service , in frankalmoigne , in fee ferm , by petite sergeanty , by escuage certain , in burgage , all socage , and whence , , tenure in mortmaine twofold tenures in chivalry and socage , all lands both in kent , and elswhere throughout england reducible to one or t'other of them tenures , in gavelkynd new created , . what before the conquest terra ad gablum posita , what terrae censuales , what terra , haereditaria , . libera , , . susanna , . testamentalis , , . unde nemini respondetur , thegenes , ● theines , p. threnges ibid. tol-sester , what truth often lost by too much altercation twy-gavel , what twy-sket , what ibid. v. verstegan , his derivation of gavelkynd villani in kent villenage opposite to socage , villeine - services when first ceasing so generally in kent villeine and villenage in england in the saxons time , . in kent since the conquest , . and in gavelkynd - land , . as also before the conquest vilienagium privilegiatum , unlandagend , what ● utland w. wareland , what weilreif , what were-gavel , what werk-gavel , what werk-land white-rents , what wills in saxon wood-gavel , what words in ingulphus more ancient charters , a sort of them questioned work-land , what the writ , de rationabili parte bonorum , whether lying at the common law , or by custome ? , & the writ of ex gravi querela , where it lies , , y yoke-land , what finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a -e a nomina si n●scis perit & cognitio rerum . isid . o●ig . l. . cap. . arist . . phys . & . metaphys . idem ▪ metaphys . notes for div a -e sir hen. spelman , in voce ▪ gaveletum . britannia , in kent . * the english lawyer , p. . * interpreter , in voce . perambul . p. . a see the addition to dr. casaubons treatise of use and custome . b see sir ed. coke , instit . part . . fol. . a. ff ▪ de reg. jur. l. quod ab initio . c duarenus , commen● ▪ in tit. de pactis , p. . ● . d see kilianus diction . verb. knecht . lamb. peramb . p. . vid. dictionar . nostr . anglo-sax . i● voc● . e davies reports , le i●ish cust de gavelkind , fol. . f ●racton de acq●iren . rer ▪ dominio , fol. ● a. g de morib . germanor . h l. inter filios . l. famil . hercis . l. si quis à liberis . ●f . de l●b . agnos● . l. si major . in si . l. communi divid . i lib. . feud . tit . parag. . & ibi ho●om . k li. hen. . c. . glanvil . li. . c. . bracton , fol . a. l and another in the appendix , scriptur● m see vulteius , de feud . li. . c . nu . . p. . n glanvil . lib. . cap. . o see the ● proposition . p perambu● . p. ▪ q anno ▪ edw. . r lib. . ●●l . . a. † conveniunt rebus nomin● saepe suis . ſ nominae cum re consentiant , plat● de sapient . gafol , what signifying . glossar . verb. gabell● . ſ peramb . p. . t instit . p. . fol. . . u in archiv . eccles . cant. † fortè he●e● ▪ conteining four gallons , so fleta lib. . cap. . x coke , instit . p. . p. . y spelm. gloss . in voce ▪ z lamb. archaion , fol. . cap. . a spelm. gloss . in voce . ●avel-●orn . corn-gavel . cavel-erth . * in archiv . archiep. cant. biaus . benerth . a et omnes tenentes de isto jugo debent a rare , herciare , seminare , de semine archiep . unam acram sine cibo , quia gavelerth . custumal of tenham manour . b should he not rather have said , dominus ab hominibus suis ? c in archiv . memorat . d custumal of monkton manour in thanet . gavel-rip . e in armat . eccles cant. ripsilver . bedrip . benrip . bidrip . see spelm. glossa . in bedellus . f in archiv . archiep. cant. gavel-med . * in archiv . memorat . gavel-ore . g in archiv . memorat . h ubi sup . i ubi sup . gavel-dung . k ubi sup . gavel-rod . l ubi supra . burgh-yard . gavel timber . m ubi sup . gavel-refter . gavel-bord . gavel-swine . n ubi sup . swine-paneges . swine-money paroc . gavel-wood . o ubi sup . gavel-sester . tol-sester . oate-gavel . gavel-werk . p ubi sup . q ubi sup . manuopera . carropera . gavel-noht . gavel-fother . fodrum . gavel-bred . r ubi sup . ſ in archiv . eccles . cant. averbred . gaigneur● . wood-gavel . werk gavel . swine-gavel . corn-gavel . peny-gavel . malt-gavel . malt shot . malt-peny . les-gavel . t in archiv . archiep. cant. les-yeld , les-geld . leaf-gavel . les-silyer . lyef-yeild . u ubi sup . hunig-gavel . x ubi sup . were-gavel . y in archiv . eccles . cant. z in archiv . archiep. cant. twy●gavel . twy●sket . bere-gafol ▪ drincelean . scot-ale ▪ potura . a in archiv ▪ memorat ▪ b ubi sup . filctale . fildale . gild-ale . for-gavel . c in archiv . eccles . cant. d see the mirroir , p. . mete gavel . gavelet . gavelate . e instit . par . . pag. . f in archiv . archiep. cant. hereslit . g see butlers english grammar , pag. , , & . gavel-man . gafol-gylda . h in archiv . archiep. cant. i ub sup . gavelikendeys . mala. white-rents , blanc ferm . black-rents , black maile . k see spelm. glossary , verb. ferma alba . coke , instit . part . . and . l skenaeus de verbor . signifie . verbo firmarius . land censual . land not censual . m hotoman . de verb. feudal in verb. manus mortua . n see spelm. glossary , verb. feudum scutiferum , & feudum ignobile . o cowels interpreter , verb. chivalry . p lamb. peramb . p. . terrae censuales . kind ( in gavelkynd ) what signifying . q as doth also mr. wheloc in his latine version thereof in his bede , pag . gecynd misconstiued by mr. lambard . u this seems to thwart glanvil . lib. . c. . fol. . ● . potest itaque quilibet , &c. and bracton , ●ol . ● . b. x cap. . ●ol . . b. y bracton , l. . c ▪ . fol. . b. coke , instit . part . ●ol . . b. z lib. ● . c. . fol. ● . b. item l. . fol. . b. coke , instit . part . . fol. . b. verb ▪ fee simple . fleta , lib. . c. . parag . partible land , and parceners two-fold . a fol. , , . b lib. . cap. . c the s●●t●●sh reading i● , si fueri● socegium ill ud an ●qui●ù● divisum . see reg. majest . lib. . c. ● . d li. . c. . ●ol . . ● . vid. flet. l . c . parag. . e lamb. peramb pag. . coke , upon littl. sect. ● . objection . solution . f see fulberts dialog . part . cap. . of pa●ceners . g fol. . ● . h fo. . ● . quem sequitur fleta , lib. . c. . parag . . i anno . dw . . k perambul . fol. ● . l fol . ● . and fol. ● . ● . dilemma . m coke , instit . part . ●ol . b. and fol. . b. objection . objection . solution . n peramb . p. . o hotom de 〈…〉 l. tit . ● . p● ag . ● . item disput . c. . spelm. gloss i● feud . scuti●ero , p. . p peramb . pag . q scriptu . , , . r anno ● . edw. . ſ see bracton , lib. ● . tract . . c. . which laid to chap. . ●od . tract . the instance there seemeth to be a kentish case concerning a widow of graven●y ( anciently written grav●nel ) by feversham . t p●r●mb . pag . u anno . edw. . x fol. ●● y skenaei annot. in reg. majest . lib. . cap. , & . z see . edw. . . hen. . & girald . cambrens . itinerar . camb. lib. . cap. . by the way , how do our britains claim descent from the trojans ? sith with them the eldest son , by prerogative of primogeniture , monopolized the whole inheritance . whereof see mr. seld. jan. angl. lib . pag. . vit. basinstoch . hist . lib. . pag. . a rover. illustrat . hist . monast . s. jo. reom●en . p . . num . . b coke , instit part . fol. . ● ▪ objection . solution . c as in the appendix , scriptu . , , , , . d peramb . pag. . e in which respect free socage is not likely to be here intended , since glanvill never mentions free socage , but under the notion of partible land , as l. . c. . and l. . c. . liberum feodum . f in archiv . archiep. cant. g lib. . fol. . ● . h vulteius de feudis , lib. . cap. ● . pag. . i cowell interpreter , verb. ancient demesne , from fitzherbert . gasolland . werkland . k — terram trium aratrorum , quam cantiani anglicè dicunt thrée swolinges , &c. as in the charter of k. offa , in the antiquities of canterbury , p. . l see spelmans gl●ssary , verbo lazzi ▪ m in archiv . eccles . cant. gersuma . n peramb . pag. . o peramb . pag. . p spot , in the lives of the abbats of s. augustine at canterbury , cited by mr. lambard , both in his glossary before his a●chaion , verb. terra ex scripto , and in his perambul . pag. . to discover an old errour as acceptable , as to deliver a new truth . q green boughs , as mr. lambard hath it : a likely matter , at that time of the year , being about november . r see cambdens britann . in kent . ſ hist . of croyland abbey . t psal . . psal . . in marg . psal . . . in marg . u testis falsus in uno , redditur suspectus in omnib . farinac . de tes●●b . q. . n. . kent conquered by the normans . x flor. wigorn . an . . rog. hoveden , fol. . ● . y see order ▪ vital . ann . . z hist . croyl . fol. . b. see also eadm . hist . pag. . vsus ergo , &c. a see the epistle in the appendix , scriptur . . b gesta gul●●l . duc●● , &c. pag. . c hist . eccles . lib. pag. . d herewith concurreth malmesbury , fol. . b. where he saith , qui cum & b●lli hastingensis victori● , & cast●lli do●r●rsis deditione terrorem sui nominis spars●sset , ( conquaestor ) londonium peti● , &c. e matth. paris , hist . in hen. . f lib . ● ● . g hist . eccles . lib. . propè sin . lamb. peramb pag. . author antiquit . britan. ●n vitâ stiga●d● archiep. villani in kent . godwin , c●tal ▪ of ●● . in the life of hubert . k cap. . sect. . pag. . ●ervi in kent . l in armar . eccles . cant. m in archiv . archiep. cant. n penes registrum consistorii cantuar. nativi . o ms. in text. roffens . p l. decem in ●i . de stipul . ● . m●numission●● , de justi● . & ju● . q ll ca●uti , par . ● . cap. , & . r archaion , fol. . a. ſ davies reports , l● trish custome de gavelkind , fol. . t see cowells interp. verb. rationabili parte bonorum , & swinburne of testam . par . . cap. , & . u bracton , fol. . b. s●ld . tit. of hon. cap. . sect . ● . p. stat. will. reg. scotor . . cap. , & . x cu●●umar . normann . cap. , . y . distinct . utinam . z daniel , in will. . a hist . croyl . sol . . a. b perambul . pag. . c coke upon li●tleton , fol. . a. d hodie nobil●tas s●●indè allodiales satrapias divisioni inter liberos obnoxias , in feuda redigere solet ; scil . ut primogenito consulat , & poten●iae nervis in unum glomeratis , suus familiae splendor mul●itudine liberorum in posteritate non gravetur . nic. burgund . de cons●●t●d . fla●driae , tract . . num . . e camb. britan . seld. polyolb and spelm. councils . f notes on eadmer . p. . g cowell interpr . verb. heir , and hereditament . as also instit . lib . tit . . pag. . h lib. . fol. ● . b. objection . solution . objection . so●u●●on . i see gesta guli●l . du●●s , &c. p. . b. k lib. f●udo● . . tit . . parag . . & ibi ho●om●nnus . l v●rsio fragmenti saxon in text. r●●f●ns . m ll. aluredi , cap. ● . apud ●ornalens . ll. ca●ut . c●p . ● . ibid. ll. edo . in lamb. ●ol . . a. n ll. ethelredi , cap. . in j●r●al . o judic . civit . lond. ibid. cap. . ll. canu●i , c. . ibid. & glossar . ad calcem ll. hen. . ve●bo bocland . p of whom see spe●d , hist . in the life of ethelred the ● monarch . q in armar . eccles . cant. vid. bract●n , lib. a. cap ● . num . . fol. . ● . r glossar . ve●bo bocland . ſ gl . ex his in addit . in parag . item placet . insti● . de donatio . s● parag . ut autem lex . in auth. de non alien . glossar . verb. focland , & verb. alodium . u in archiv . eccles . cant. x quaere : for the writing is not clear . y see stowes survey , p. . z lamb. peramb . pag. . from littleton . see the preface to the reader . hotchpot . a vid. spelman . concil . tom . . p. . b si quis intesta●us obierit , liberi ejus haereditatem aequaliter dividant . vid. cl. seldeni not. ad eadmer . pag. . c. . c al. jusserit . d . reddantur . e vid. bract. & flet. p. . f of testaments , par . . parag . . fol. . b. and . a. where he is out in saying , that glanvill took his ground from magna charta , which is impossible ; glanvill being dead long before : an eirour ( it seems ) occasioned by that marginal quotation , not glanvills own , but his that set him forth , or some others . g et si quis liber homo intestatus decesserit , per manus parentum propinquiorum & am●corum su●●●m , & per visum ecclesiae distribuantur , salvis unicuique debitis quae desunctus debuit : which in effect is the same with that of bracton , and fleta : ad ecclesiam & amicos pertinebit executio . h see mr. seldens titles , . edit . pag. , , . illustrat . upon polyolb . p. sir hen. spelmans glossary , verb. feu●um . i and in the appendix , scriptura . k vid. spelm. glossar . verb. feudum , pag. . col . . & verb. baro pag. . col . . l histor . croyland . m pag. . n pag. . o hotom . de feud . lib. . pag. . parag . ult . tit . . p spelman , ubi supra . q annuente rege , omnes carrucat as , quas angli hidas vocant , funiculo mensus est : order . vital . hist . eccles . ad ▪ ann . . r bacons●lements ●lements , tract . . p. . ſ ch●p . sect. . p. . feudum derived , t de we●c● ▪ bild . s●● ▪ ● . cap. . num . and allodium . u cowells interp●eter , & west , symbol g p r. . l b. . s●ct . . feud . ( in deadly feud ) derived . x saxon gospels , matt. . , also chap . , . & verstegan , pag. . y vide tit . feud . ● . t●t . . de his qui feudum dare possu●t . spelm. gloss . verb. felonia , p. . cowells interpret . verb. fee. z biblioth . cluniae . pag. . & cujac . de feud . lib. . tit . . a verb. felonia . b vulteius de feud . lib . cap. . num . . c kilian . diction . verb. leen , & dr. zouch , descript . jur . temporalis , sect . . d vid. hotoman . de feud . lib. . tit . . parag . . e vi. spelm. glossar . verb. fideles . f de gest . pontif. lib. . g hist . novor . l. . p. . vi ● . dr. zouch , descript . jur . temporal . sect . h spelm. glossar . verb. allodium . i as in hundii metropol . salisburg . bibliothec . cluniac . & praemonstrat . hist . ultraject . & miraei cod. donatio , &c. k vid. fleta , lib. . cap. . parag . . l verbo feudum . m lambard , in verb. explicat . verb. terra ex s●ripto . n in armar . ●jusd . ecclesiae . o see scriptur . . in the appendix , & spelm. glossary . vide sp●lm . pag. , . & bed. hist . eccles . anglo-saxon . lib. . ● . . & chronolog sax. anno . p sp●lm . concil . p. . q anno . hen. . c. . & anno . ed. ▪ vide custumar . norman . cap. . r ll. ethelr . par . c. . & ll. canut . par . . cap. . gafolland . neatland . inland . utland . ſ such ( ●●ply ) as that in a ve●y a●cien● deed in christ church , called terra rusticorum . it occu●rs in a charter of amfridus de de●e , of lands in fai●field , made about hen. . time ▪ to which may be added what occurrs in a charter of hubert t●e archbishop to the prio●y of s. gr●go●ies by cante bu●y , viz. de decimls militum & ru●●icorum , &c. t ll. hen. . cap. . bracton , l●b . . tract . . cap. . work-land . cot-land . aver land . horse-average foot-average . in-average . out-ave●ag● . drof-land . drofdens . swilling-land . hide-land , yoke-land , aker-land , rod-land . mol-land . ber-land . smiths-land . ware-land . terra-susanna . for-land . bord-land . vide fletan● , lib. . cap. . p●rag . . foster-land . scrud-land . sextary-land . almestand . over-land . monday-land . u in lib. hosp . s. laurentii propè cantuar. x in archiv . eccles . cant. y vide cl. seldeni notas ad eadmer . pag. . bocland in canterbury . allodiarii . thegnes . theines . threnges . drenches . z mr. seldens titles of hon. first edit . pag. . a id. jan. angl. pag. . coke instit . p. . fol. . & . cowells interpreter in verb. fee. b cowell , ubi supra . folcland . servitus rust●can● . b vide adv● s●● ▪ in ma● ▪ paris . hist . & d roger ▪ twysden . praefat . in ll. hen. . c i turn conquisitionem , so , in analogie to conquaestors turning by conquerour . d or , ferms . e or , revenues . f or , observance . g or , in way . h or , descent . i or , observance . k some cause ( haply ) of the paucity of charters or feoffments so ancient as those times , extant when bractan wrote , a● he observes , fol. ● . l bracton , fol. . a. . a. . b. socage , how vulgarly derived . m lib. . cap. num . . fol. . b. n coke insti● . par . . sect . . and . o de feudis , pp. , . p mirroir , cap. . sect . . followed by by coke , instit . par . . fol. . ● . q vide foed . ●d . &c. cap . lamb. explicat . verb in ve●b . arationis eleemosyna , & spel. concil . pag. . r see the grand custumier of normandy , ca. . and . with the glosse there ; and mr. soldens tit. edit . . p. . ſ vide spelm. gloss . verb. carucagium . carucage t lib. . c ● ▪ though afterwards , lib. . c. . he concur with bracton . socage , a new derivation of it proposed . u vide ●● ▪ aluredi , c. , . x spelm. gloss●● ▪ i●●●● voce . y idem , ● . ● voce . z ll. ethelstan . apud exon & g●ea●e●●y●m . ms ▪ in jornalen . a sp●lm . glossar . in voce . b idem , in voce . faldwrth . c cap. . ( where i read placitornm for pr●latorum ) and elswhere . sokerevi . d survey o london , pag. ▪ . e coke instit par . . pag . f cap. . where for accedit , i read excedit , according as the th chapter hath it . g sir edw. coke , instit . par . . p. . h before his apostolatus benedictinorum in anglia . i sir edw. coke , institut . par . . sol . . a. k in the word villenage . l fol. . b. & sol . . b. m vide bract●● , fol. . a ● fol. ● ● . a. b. n vide li. edw. confess . a pud cl. seld. not. ad eadmer . cap. . pag. . objection . solution . o bracton , lib. . cap. . num . . the rent hence called quit-rent . p fol. . a. fol. . a. fol. a. fol. . a. fleta , lib. . cap. . q coke upon littleton , in frankalmoigne r lib si . . ff . ag . vectigal . ſ bract. fol. . a. & . b. t dr. cowell , interp. verb. escuage . u coke instit . par . . fol. . b. bacons elements , tract . . p ▪ x in archiv . archiep. cant. virg. . a●n●id . y perambul . pag. , , . fl●●● is exp●esse for this , lib. cap. . p●●●g . whe●e h● s●ith ●icut in tenurade g●●●lk●nde , ve●●alibi , bi ●er●a partibili● est , &c. see reg●st . or g. fol. . b. z sp●lm . g●oss . verb. ●●●●agium . objection . solution . a hereof see bracton , fol. fol . a. b whereof also i● him , fol. . b. gavelkynd ▪ partition , whether inherent in the land , or not . c de mor●b . parisior . p. . d de doman . franc. p. . e peramb . pag. . f of this some examples before , propos . . towards the end . g see the append ▪ scriptur . . h l ▪ adigere . parag quamvis . de jur . patron . c. cum cessante ▪ extra . de appellat . l. tutores . parag ▪ curatores . de admin ▪ tut . i bald. & alii citat ▪ per tholosan . syntag . jur . univer ▪ lib. cap. . num . . a glanvil , lib. cap. . & bracton , fol. . b. fol . ● . fol ● . a. fol. . b. fol . b. b●itton with others cited by dr. cowell instit . lib. . ti● . num . . coke upon ●i●tb●ton fol. . b. linwoods provincial . de testam . c. statutum parag . testamentis , vers . legari possunt . b bract lib . cap. lib. . tract . . cap . num . . cujac . de fcud . lib. . tit . . & lib. . tit . . c lib. . tit . . de success . feud . & vulteius lib . cap. . num . . d hotoman . upon that place of the feuds . e lamb. peramb . pag. . & spelm. glossar . verb. gaveletum . f feud . lib. . tit ● . d ▪ success . feud & hotoman . ●bid . g lamb. & sp●lm . ubi supra . perora●io . a clause wanting in the printed kentish custumal supplied . ovid. de pont . lib. . el. . notes for div a -e vide pag. . scriptura . a this ( it seems ) was before he granted them liberam dispositionem rerum suarum , wherof in eadmer . hist . novor . pag. . . forisfacturae . redemptio . scriptura . vide pag. . b simile habes in ll. bu ger . apud scatob . c. ▪ scriptura . vide pag. . scriptura . vide pag. . & . gavelikend . scriptura . vide pag. . francus bancus . gavelkinde . juracores . vered●ctum . judicium . scriptura . vide pag. . & . gavelikende . sc●iptura . vide pag. . & . gavelichende . scriptura . vide pag. . & . gavelykende . relevium . present . scriptura vide pag . & . gavelekende . scriptura . vide pag . gavelikende . scriptura ● . vide pag. . burghyard . ●…iptura . ●…e pag. ● . gavellond . burghyard . inland . a f. cl●yis , vel claiis . vid. spelm. glossar . in voce . worderinde . swinhey . scriptura . vide pag. . scriptura . vide pag. . b f. quàm . scriptura . vide pag . scriptura . vidē pag . scriptura . vide pag. . a conditionally ( and upon this consideration ) that she accept of his speech , i. e. consent to the agreement , or contract here made , and on these terms will become his wife . b withall . c agreed . d presence . e minister . f for surety . g seixe . h inheritances . i of each , o● every . * doughty . l tripartite . m a second ▪ n glory . o obteined . p set at liberty . q pledge . r fortè mancipia . vide dictionar . nosti . in voce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . spelm. glossar . verb. domesticus , pag. . col . . item concil . p. & ma●t . patis . add●●am . p. . ſ contract . t poss●ss● . u for . x for . y for . z yeild . a numbred ▪ b freely ▪ c c●ucifix . d made . known . e saving . f tipped . g victual . h needy . i possesse , i. e. whosoever owes the land . k possesseth . l crucifix . m sometime . n confirm . o sometime . p nurse . q for . r i. sewer , forte . ſ fortè , a cutlash . t from . u sometime . x is marked with a hand . y sometime sold . z a message from my father . a substance . b i. e. either to divine or secular uses . c testament . d clerks . e laics . f testament . g testaments h estates . i testament . scriptura . vide pag. . thegenes . [ ] this answers not to the latine ; that , quot eis concessit pater meus ; this , as i to them have granted . scriptura . vide pag. . & . allodia●ii . scriptura . vide pag. . & . 〈◊〉 can●… dig●… nota. landbokes . th●eng●s . nota. a fortè , voletis . b poteritis . scriptura . vide pag. . a with . b testimony . c i. c. ad victum . d lives time . e deaths . f together w●th that . g withall . h champion i crucifi● . k will. l bequeathed . m with . n witnesse . o saints . p at . q be tortured . r reprobates . ſ or , except he desist from molesting mine heires . r by . scriptura . vide pag. . ſ dispose . t condition . u cados . x i. e. entirely . y improved . z stock . a clothing . scrud-land . hustings weight . foster-land . b condition . c by . d condition . e tripartite . f to . the constitution of the office of land-credit, declared in a deed by hugh chamberlen, senior ... and others ... ; inrolled in chancery, anno dom. . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a wing c estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) the constitution of the office of land-credit, declared in a deed by hugh chamberlen, senior ... and others ... ; inrolled in chancery, anno dom. . chamberlen, hugh. p. printed, and are to be sold by t. sowle ..., london : . caption title. imprint from colophon. reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng land bank (london, england) land banks -- england. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images - celeste ng sampled and proofread - celeste ng text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the constitution of the ffice of land-credit , declared in a deed by hugh chamberlen senior , m. d. and others , joynt undertakers and managers thereof ; inrolled in chancery , anno dom. . . to all , to whom these presents shall come , hugh chamberlen senior , of essex-street , in the parish of st. clement-danes , in the county of midlesex , doctor in physick : and , as honorary managers of the undertaking , herein and hereby mentioned and intended , viz. the right honourable charles earl of monmouth ; arthur earl of torrington ; henry earl of romney ; charles earl of arran of the kingdom of ireland , and baron of weston in england ; robert lord viscount lisle , son and heir apparent to the right honourable philip earl of leicester ; thomas lord wentworth , baron of raby ; almeric lord de courcy , baron of kinsale , of the kingdom of ireland ; hildebrand lord allington baron of killard , of the kingdom of ireland ; the honourable peregrin bertie esquire , vice chamberlain to his majesty ; and william bridgeman esquire , secretary to the right honourable the lords commissioners of the admiralty : and likewise as , undertakers and fixt and constant managers , of the said herein and hereby mentioned and intended undertaking , viz. the honourable charles egerton of lincolns inn , in the said county of middlesex ; thomas aston of aston , in the county palatin of chester ; john weston of ockham , in the county of surry ; peter smith of the parish of st. ann , in the liberty of westminster , in the said county of middlesex ; oliver salusbury , of the middle temple , london ; richard robinson , of the parish of st. giles in the feilds , in the said county of middlesex , esquires ; andrew prime senior , of london , merchant ; samuel white of lincolnes inn aforesaid gent. william prewett of the parish of st. martin in the fields , in the said county of middlesex ; charles nicolas eyre of the parish of st. james in the liberty of westminster aforesaid ; and peter chamberlen of essex-street aforesaid , in the aforesaid parish and county ; esquires ; send greeting . . whereas the use of credit in trade and dealing , hath by insensible degrees much obtained , especially for an age last past , or there abouts , throughout europe , and most of the civilized , and trading part of the world , to the very great benefit , ease , and convenience , of no small part of mankind . . and whereas notes or bills of credit , have by experience been found , of very great use ; and , being well secured by a good fund , are properly accepted and taken as ready money ; and , being preferable to the usual money in many , and equal to it in all , respects , may therefore justly be accounted a superior species of money . . and whereas the said hugh chamberlen , for above thirty years last past , having taken into serious consideration , the nature of banks , and of credit in general ; and the necessary , convenient , and various uses and kinds thereof in divers kingdoms and states , as also here in england ; and observing the great utility of sound and good credit , and the deplorable and many mischiefs frequently resulting from uncertain , mistaken , personal , and precarious credit ; to the utter ruine of multitudes , and sometimes to the indangering the publick safety . . and further , considering that lands , and hands , are the material and efficient causes of all true , genuine , and natural riches ; and that money , as such ( tho' very good and useful in its first intendment , however since subjected to abuses ) is but imaginary , or at most but political , wealth ; and therefore inferior to natural riches ; and consequently as such ought to attend the service of land and trade ; and not prey upon , both the lords of the soil , and the industrious merchants , by that corroding and destructive canker , usury . . and the said hugh chamberlen , also further reflecting , that credit , rightly founded upon land , must evidently be more secure than any other sort of credit : and that , since gold and silver , are not of the product of this kingdom , they might by foreign orders , by edicts of princes , or states , by a wrong ballance of trade , or by other artifices or incidents thereof , or by some other uncommon accidents , become scarce and rare in this kingdom ; which could not happen , but to the very great damage of the publick ; as being the common measure , medium , pledge , and account of trade . . the said hugh chamberlen , upon these and other such reflections , and with an earnest desire , to serve his native country , in so great and general a good , applied himself , with the utmost intensness of mind , to contrive a general credit , to be so founded upon land , as to give it the greatest safety and convenience , that in its own nature it is capable of ; and to make a credit , that should not only be a succedaneum to money , but in divers respects , more noble and useful , and indeed a superior species , indued with all the uses and excellence of metaline money , and in several regards , exceeding the same ; and particularly herein , that in its own nature it should be local , without the restraint of laws . . and whereas the said hugh chamberlen , at divers times communicated these his conceptions and designs to divers persons , and in particular to the lords and gentlemen herein before mentioned , in order to mature and ripen such his thoughts , and make them more effectual for the common avail . . and whereas the said hugh chamberlen , hath made several attempts and essaies to bring his said thoughts and intentions into practice , for the common good ; but , by reason of the great and many difficulties , that generally accompany all great and good designes , hath not hitherto been able to effect the same ; but yet the long , many , repeated , and unwearied attempts and endeavours of the said hugh chamberlen , and those at sundry times , conjoyned wirh him therein , have so far awakened this nation at first ( and long , by him experienced to be wholly ) averse to thoughts of this sort , that within the reign of his present majesty , several banks have been set up and attempted ; tho' all of them on a far less basis , both as to extent and benefit , than what hath been divers times offered and endeavoured by the said hugh chamberlen : and indeed all the said banks ( as can well be made out ) manifestly owing themselves to the models , frequently proposed and attempted , both in print , and manuscript , and publickly , and privatly , and freely imparted by him , to all that thought fit to inform themselves . . but for as much as men naturally embrace the greater good , rather than the less , as soon as they distinguish them aright ; and since the land credit , proposed and intended by the said hugh chamberlen , and his present friends , associates , and joynt undertakers therein , can be demonstrably made out , to be far superior to any other sort of credit , in being , or attempting in the world : and since divers noblemen , gentlemen , merchants , and others , have been so far sensible of the great and general good , of the hereby intended credit ; of its great extent , and advantage to trade ; of its manifest tendency to the immediate raising the real worth and value of the english lands ; to the preservation of the honours estates and families of our ancient nobility and gentry ; to the increase and perfection of all manner of arts , sciences , and manufactures among us ; to the highest improvement of all our possible produce ; to the extirpating of poverty , baggary , vice , and sloth ; and to the great encouragement of virtue , ingenuity , and industry : the said noblemen , gentlemen , and others , have already actually subscribed land estates , for the annual payment of about one hundred thousand pounds rent charges , to the hereby intended office of land credit ; which subscriptions will be further continued to two hundred thousand pounds per annum , or more , as occasion may require : and since the said design is now intirely perfected in its idea , scheme , and model ; and all matters and things are now framed , and matured , for the speedy and actual reducing thereof to practice , with all the dispatch that will well consist with the safety , establishment and honour of so great an undertaking . . now for the better effecting the good ends and purposes herein before premised and intimated , and herein after to be further mentioned and explained , these presents witness , and the said hugh chamberlen , and the lords and gentlemen aforesaid , as joynt undertakers and managers of the office of land credit , hereby intended , do hereby declare , that forasmuch as the necessity of credit in trade , is evidently such , that men dayly venture upon what is uncertain , rather than want the use of it ; and when it is made secure beyond possibility of loss to any , it is then money under another name , and can equally with money become the measure , pledge , and account of trade : and since it is most certain , that credit , having all the essentials of the usual money , and some other additional advantages , wants nothing but a coercive law , enforceing its currency , to enable it to assume the name of money , being already in possession of all its nature , uses , and qualifications : which proposition is sufficiently illustrated by rightly defining money . money therefore is no more than a legal secure and common pledge , instituted to supply the defects of barter , and to be the measure , medium , and account of trade : or in other terms , money is only a secure pledge , of a known value , that a man shall be repayed in the same , or in some other commodity , for the commodity that he parts with ; and it serves but to supply the intervals of time , between the selling of one commodity , and the buying of another : all which offices , can be equally performed by sound and good credit , as by the usual species of common money . . and further , forasmuch as credit , founded upon land , and secured by more than a double value , must undeniably be safe in its self , and good and effectual to all the intents of trade and dealing , to the great benefit of all in general , and without loss or damage to any by it . and since it is most certain , that such as are possest of estates , in fee simple , &c. have already by law , an undoubted right , of making whatever settlements of such their estates , they shall think fit , and to what ends and purposes they please ; except where criminal designs , superstitious uses , or illegal mortmains , are thereby pursuing , or some invasion thereby made of anothers right . and since the happiness of this nation is such , that a law cannot pass in england , that can prove a violation of property . this being so ; and land well conveyed , being universally allowed to be the best security ; and being also the true mother from whom by industry all wealth is born ; and the landed men , or lords of the soil , being ( upon the matter ) the body of the nation , the natural defenders of english rights and liberties , and a chief support of the expense of war , and splendor of peace . . they the said hugh chamberlen , and the rest of the joynt undertakers and managers before mentioned ; do hereby , further declare , that this undertaking ( in order to publick and private good , and to free our lands from the servitude and tyranny of devouring usury ) offers to all land-proprietors , a way how to settle estates , so as to raise one hundred years credit upon every estate , to be setled for the ends of this undertaking ; to be disposed in manner following ; that is to say , to the proprietor seventy years value , for the rent-charge by him payable for years ; of which said years value , only years value is to be paid to the proprietor , and that by four payments in three years ; which four payments are thus to be made , viz. upon sealing the conveyance . years value . at the end of one year years value . two years years value . three years years value . which is in all — years value . . the other thirty years value , residue of the said seventy years value above mentioned , is to remain in the joynt stock of trade , herein after further mentioned and expressed to be belonging to the whole body of the proprietors of the land subscribed to this undertaking . in which joynt trade , every person therein concerned is to have his proportional dividend of the profits : but the capital is not to be drawn out , till the hundred years be expired ; nor is any man's stock in trade alienable or transferable , but together with the estate on which it was raised : and its use is such , that at the moderate estimate of ten per cent. profit , it will not only pay the several annuities , but double as much yearly to each proprietor : by which means , the estates settled on this office or undertaking , will become in effect exonerated , and onely a collateral security ; and such settlement , tho' for one hundred years , will thereby be ( not a burthen but ) a benefit to such estates : and at the end of the said one hundred yearly payments of such intended annuities , each respective proprietor may withdraw his share of the said joynt stock in trade . . and they the said undertakers and managers , do hereby further declare , that to assist the more ready circulation of this credit ; especially in the beginning , and till time and experience shall have shown the true worth and solid fund thereof , ready money is to be provided by the said undertakers in the best manner they can , and by such expedients , ways and means as they shall judge proper to that end . and for assisting the said undertakers to raise money , in order to such circulation of the hereby intended bills of credit , they the said undertakers are to have and employ , ten years value of the said hundred years credit , so as aforesaid to be raised on each estate , so to be setled as aforesaid on the office or undertaking hereby intended ; the other twenty years value , residue of the said one hundred years credit , so as aforesaid to be raised , being to the sole , proper use , benefit and behoof of the undertakers hereof , for support of all the charges and expences , ordinary and contingent , for managing and carrying on this undertaking , during the whole term of the continuance thereof . . and it is hereby further declared , that this undertaking teaches , to advance or anticipate one hundred years revenue , and to call it back by equal portions in one hundred years ; by which means , the nation has the use of so great an additional treasure pro interim , the increase whereof cannot ( by necessary consequence ) but be great by trade ; and its return , from whence it issued , will be by slow and easie gradations . . from a due consideration of the whole of this undertaking , and all its parts , as contained in the constitution thereof herein and hereby setled and declared , it will be most evident , that no money bank is or possibly can be either so safe , or the credit of it so well secured , as will be the land credit issued by and from this office or undertaking . for first , all money banks are far more liable to rapine and seisure ; and next , it is apparent that ten thousand pounds credit , issued upon ten thousand pounds in money , can have no greater value of security than its original fund of ten thousand pounds in money ; which yet ( as is most notorious ) few ( if any ) banks have , whatever they pretend : but ten thousand pounds credit , issuing by and from this office or undertaking , is firmly secured by twenty two thousand five hundred pounds value ; every rent-charge of one hundred pounds per annum for one hundred years , being to be secured ( above all reprises ) by one hundred and fifty pounds per annum , in land , for one hundred and fifty years ; and ( since the ten thousand pounds credit issued , upon thus securing the payment of one hundred pounds annuity or rent-charge for one hundred years , is not to be called for at one time , and in one sum , but annually , in small and equal payments , for an hundred years ) the security is unquestionably good , for such payments to be duly made in such a term : the bills therefore have thus most evidently a more than double real , solid , and intrinsick value , inseparably adhering to them : the land must annually call for them , till the hundred years be out : the office must annually destroy them as they come in for rent : at the end of the hundred years they will therefore be all destroyed ; their annexed value making them ( beyond all just exception ) safe to all pro interim . since therefore the advantages accruing by the said intended bills of credit , are so many , so great , and obvious ; and since none can possibly lose by them , there can be no just cause of doubt , but that safety and convenience must necessarily give them a general esteem and currency . . but to such as enquire , why these rent charges are to continue for the term of one hundred years just , and not for fifty years , or two hundred years , or more , or less : it is hereby answered , that one hundred years is found requisite and necessary to the good ends intended by this office of land credit , and to the support and safety of it ; so as to make all things bear , and answer , not only the very great expence and charge absolutely necessary therein , but also the security , profit , advantages and intentions of it ; and therefore a less term were incompetent , and a greater term ( tho' possibly it might be done yet ) is not wanted now ; and may ( if thought fit ) be done hereafter , when time shall by experience have shewn the benefits of such a credit . if any shall wonder , how the same land can securely raise one hundred years value , that may be bought in fee for twenty years purchase : it is also answered , that when a sum of money is to be repaid at once with interest , then it cannot securely much exceed one half , or two thirds of the common purchase of the land ; but where the money is to be repaid by equal annual payments only , there a year and half in rent can well secure a years rent , and so in proportion of time and value . . and whereas this undertaking raises , by advance or anticipation , the value of one hundred years on the land ; it also firmly secures the annual repayment of it in equal portions , by one third more in time or term of years , and one third more in rent or value : and thus ten thousand pounds , raised by advancing one hundred years rent of one hundred pounds per annum in land , is secured to be repaid in one hundred equal annual payments , by land , of one hundred and fifty pounds per annum for one hundred and fifty years , which produces twenty two thousand five hundred pounds , and is therefore , without all peradventure , plainly and evidently , a more than double security , that the ten thousand pounds so raised , must be recalled and discharged , by equal annual payments in one hundred years , in payment and satisfaction of the credit so raised on such land by anticipation as aforesaid . which point being thus firmly setled and secured , beyond any possibility of reasonable doubt , none that take this credit can possibly lose by it ; which is all that is expected from the usual species of money , and from the best security . . to illustrate this more clearly , what follows is a plain and full demonstration of the validity and security of the bills of land credit hereby intended , viz. a. settles one hundred and fifty pounds per annum on trustees for a year and half , to secure the payment of one hundred pounds ( above all reprises ) at the end of one year . the trustees do thereupon issue their bill of credit , for one hundred pound , chargeable on such land , and payable at a year : this bill is paid out to one hundred several persons within the year ; and consequently does the office of so much ready money : at the end of the year , the bill is either brought to the trustees , to be exchanged for money , and so cancelled ; or ( which is the same thing ) it comes to the hands of one that owes one hundred pounds to the trustees , who therefore accept it in lieu of their debt , and cancel it . and none can reasonably deny , but that this settlement , and the bill of credit so issued thereupon , were a great convenience to the landed man , and answered his occasions as well as ready money ; and as secure , and greatly useful to all who received it . now it is most certain , by parity of reason , that at least an equal service , benefit , and security , will attend bills of credit secured by land , tho' setled for one hundred years ; and tho' they should all circulate for the whole term : for they differ but as majus and minus , save that the bills issued for one hundred years , have thereby a further security and advantage , by reason of the joint stock in trade ; which will at least exonerate the land from any payment , and probably may besides put double the money yearly into the proprietor of the lands purse ; and is the result of extending the term of years so long . . but further , the security of the bills for one hundred years ( tho' equal at first to the security of the bill for one year , as is clearly made out ) grows stronger every year as the bills come in : for that all the same lands are still tyed , as at first , to make good the bills to the very end and expiration of the whole term of one hundred years . had the instance of the bill payable at one year , been made to consist of one hundred bills , payable in equal portions , and at equal distances in that one year , it had then been so for parallel in security with the bills of one hundred years ; because both securities had then been alike strengthened , by the gradual paying in of the bills : but still , both the security and benefit of the bills for one hundred years are far superior to the other , from the necessary consequences of the great benefits accruing by means of the joint-stock in trade ; of which advantages , the other sort of bills are wholly uncapable . and this ( as is conceived ) amounts to a full demonstration , that the hereby intended bills of credit are not barely equally secure with any other sort of bills , but are more secure , and more valuable ; and that because they are extended to one hundred years ; which yet some ignorantly , and others maliciously object as a fault in them . and thus , tho' a part be not greater than its whole , nor a term than a perpetuity , yet a part of one thing , may be greater than the whole of another ; and a part of the same thing has often , by improvement , become more valuable than its whole was ( either by estimation , or in reality ) worth , without and before such improvement . hence it is , that a term of years , as applied by this undertaking , is really far more valuable than the perpetuity of the same estate , without such application . . and that , tho' it is acknowledged , that indeed common mortgages are a very ancient sort of credit upon land ; but yet because they cannot be transferred without trouble , hazard , charge , and loss of time ; and because they are generally in sums not so well suited to common or frequent occasions , they are still ( as their name imports ) but dead pledges , and a very lame and imperfect credit ; and therefore interest is justly required upon them , to compensate for those defects and inconveniences . whereas the bills of credit to issue by and from this office or undertaking , are so many living pledges , and readily , and securely circulating mortgages , qualified with all the essentials of current money ; they are also transferrable as money it self , by the bare act of payment , tale , or delivery ; and being in their values and denominations well suited to the general uses of trade and business , it follows by plain and evident deduction , that no demand of interest can fairly be made upon them ; and that they do well and perfectly answer all that is pretended of them by the undertakers ; which is , the whole advantage of sound and safe credit . were this undertaking calculated purely for little , narrow , selfish , sinister , and by-ends , then indeed the undertakers would contrive ( under pretences specious enough ) to allure men to load their estates to a debt of three fourths of the full value , principal sum , leaving them subjected to a design'd foreclosure and sale , which in such case would no doubt be the necessary and inevitable consequence . but such are the benefits tendered and intended by this office of land credit , that it will intirely free the estates of those concerned in it ; and lead them besides into a gainful trade . . and they the said joint undertakers and managers , do hereby most solemnly declare , that great care and caution shall be had , in the examining of every title to be received into this undertaking . that the land proprietors shall and may hold and enjoy their lands to be setled for this undertaking , and receive and take the rents , issues and profits thereof peaceably and quietly , during the whole term of years for which such lands shall be so setled , without any lett or interruption by or from this undertaking , or by reason or means thereof , or of the settlement of such lands thereon ; unless such land proprietors become two years in arrear of their rent charges , or annual payments ; in which case only , this office or undertaking may enter and hold such estate or estates , until due satisfaction shall be made of such arrears , and no longer . but that during the time this office shall be in possession of any such estate , no damage , waste or spoil shall thereon be wittingly or willingly committed or suffered by this office , or any belonging to it : nor shall this office under-lett , impair or disparage any such estate , but shall rather use , improve and occupy the same , to the most and best advantage for the good of the respective proprietor ; and shall peaceably and quietly restore such estate , at any time , upon demand , and upon full satisfaction made , of all arrears of rent , and of all reasonable and needful charges and expences for seizing and holding such estates ; the office duly accounting for profits received . and that if any estate so as aforesaid to be setled , shall hereafter become considerably and solidly improved in its true value , above what it really was when so setled as aforesaid , that then the proprietor of such estate , may either raise more credit thereupon , in proportion to such improvement , or to such part of it as he shall think fit ; or may have such part of his estate freed and discharged from this office , as shall be more than the requisite security for the credit at first raised and issued on the whole of such estate . that this office being duly secured , by the conveyance for the setling of any annuity on this undertaking , as the nature of each case may respectively require ; no farther advantage is to be taken of any thing , omitted , implied or expressed in or by such conveyance , in prejudice of any land proprietor ; but the office being safe , all things else are to be taken most favourably for the proprietor ; and proprietors are at all times ( before or after any entry by or for this office ) to have power to make any lease or leases , of all , or any part of such their estates , so as not to injure the title , or to lessen the rent , that secures the annual payments to this office. that counterfeit bills of credit cannot be imposed on the office , or upon others , without the apparent negligence of such as receive them . that no bill of credit can possibly be issued , but what is duly founded upon land. that all bills of credit , that come in for the annual payment of the rent charges shall be duly cancelled ; so that none shall remain , upon the same fund , after one hundred yearly payments of such rent charges . that a due provision shall be made for the support of the office in all its parts , for the whole one hundred years , in all its charges , ordinary and contingent . that the joint-stock in trade shall be fairly managed , and in such sort , that the good of the nation in general shall be always regarded , and no engrossing or monopolizing suffered to the hurt of the people . that the books , accounts , and papers of the said joint-stock of trade , shall be open at convenient times to the visitation , inspection and view of all concerned ; as also of the members of both houses of parliament ; of all great officers and ministers of state , and of the royal houshold ; of all privy counsellors ; and in general , of all persons of quality , honour , or other eminence ; or to any eminent merchant or trader ; to obviate all possible umbrage , from any reasonable doubts , of sinister and clandestine actions . that the checks and comptroul upon this undertaking , be by those concerned in honour and interest to suffer nothing injurious to the publick , or to particulars ; all which , will further and more plainly herein after appear . . and they the said joint undertakers and managers do hereby further agree and declare , that the grand and essential constituent parts , and the fixt and general management and oeconomy , of the settlement and constitution hereby mentioned and intended to be , by these presents agreed , setled , and declared , shall for ever unalterably be as followeth , viz. . the whole undertaking hereby intended , shall consist of the union of these three , principal parts , members , or branches , viz. first , the branch of the setled lords , or noble visitors . secondly , the branch of the land subscribers , and proprietors . thirdly , the branch of the undertakers , and managers . of which in their order . . first , there shall be twelve fixt and setled lords , or noble visitors , viz. great officers or ministers of state , or noblemen in publick imployment , if they please to accept and perform the same , else others of honour , and eminent dignity or quality , fit to undertake so great a trust , are to be nominated and setled by the undertakers . these noble visitors shall or may have a personal superintendance , the first wednesday in every month , between the hours of nine and twelve in the forenoon , being twelve times a year certain , for each , and oftner if they please ; and then ( when oftner ) jointly or separately , as they shall think fit ; and likewise at any time upon the humble request of the branch of undertakers and managers ; the branch of land subscribers and proprietors ; the chamber of comptroul ; the chamber of trade ; and the chamber of trustees , or any three , or more of them the said branches and chambers . . and that such three or more of the branch of the noble visitors as shall be present at the hour and place appointed for any of the meetings of or for the said branch , may proceed to business , and have and exercise the same powers , as if all the members of the said branch were present ; except in the case of the admonition mentioned in the next ensuing paragraph . . and that this branch of the noble visitors have the visitation , inspection and examination of all matters and things in general , relating to this whole undertaking , and may thereupon , by their admonition in writing , under the hands of any seven , or more of them , require the redress of what they shall judge amiss ; having first heard the respective branch , office , or chamber ; and that such their admonition be either obeyed , or such reasons given to the contrary , as shall be agreed to be satisfactory by the said branch of visitors ; or by the branch of undertakers and managers , the chamber of trade , and the chamber of comptroul , or any two of them . and this superintendance of this branch of the noble visitors , is hereby setled and constituted , to the intent that the lords , or others , composing this branch , may thus have always in their power , to prevent or remedy the transacting of any thing by this office and undertaking , that may be hurtful or injurious to the government , or to the people . . and that any member of this branch of the noble visitors , absenting himself from the said monthly meetings at any time for six months together , shall ipso facto cease to be a visitor , and his place shall and may be supplied , or filled up by such person , agreeable to this constitution , as the undertakers shall thereto elect. . and that the auditor , herein after mentioned , for this branch of the noble visitors , shall be elected by a majority of such of the said visitors as shall be present , at the time of election : but that each member of this branch of the visitors , have the nomination and appointment , in writing under their hands , of one apiece of the comptrolers , and governors of trade , herein after mentioned , for their branch : all which , shall continue for life , unless removed by a majority of the said visitors , or otherwise according to this constitution ; and the vacancies of such officers are to be filled in course by the said visitors in their several turns ; no visitor presenting twice to any such office , till all have presented round . and that in all questions and votes for the branch of visitors , each member have but one single and equal voice . . and this branch of visitors do also superintend this undertaking continually by comptrolers , being persons of known worth and quality , chosen by them , in manner as is herein before mentioned , upon convenient notice by the chamber of undertakers ; otherwise by the undertakers and managers equally with the governours of the joint-stock in trade , and chamber of comptroul above-mentioned , or any two of them ; which comptrollers are ( by direction of , and in subordination to the said noble visitors ) to be witnesses between the government ; the people in general , and the land subscribers and proprietors in particular , of the just and fair management of the said hereby intended office and undertaking . the said noble visitors , do also upon like convenient notice , chuse ( in manner herein before-mentioned ) one third of the governours of the trade , and an auditor : or for want of such choice , the chambers of managers , of trade , and of comptroul , or any two of them are to appoint them . . it is to be adverted , that the chamber of comptroul is to consist , not only of those members thereof so as aforesaid to be chosen by the said noble visitors , but also of an equal number of like worth and quality chosen by the branch of the land subscribers , and likewise a like number , and of like worth and quality chosen by the branch of managers ; which three sorts of elected comptrollers are together to make one chamber ; and to take effectual care , that no credit be issued without a due fund ; that is to say , that credit for one hundred years , and no more , be issued upon estates made over for one hundred and fifty years to the trustees for this undertaking , according to the intention of this constitution : that the credit paid back for rent be duly cancelled : and that there be a sufficient provision for the due support of the whole undertaking , during the whole term of its continuance , in all its charges stated and contingent ; and they are to have a superintendance over the governours of trade , so far as to prevent the embezelling , or imprudent hazarding of the joint-stock . . secondly , the land subscribers and proprietors chuse one third of the governours of trade , an auditor , and comptrolers , as before ; in which election , every proprietor shall have one vote , and no more ; which vote may indifferently be given in person , or by proxy ; and the comptrolers thus to be chosen , by this branch of the land subscribers and proprietors , are to join with those chosen by the lords visitors , as before ; and those chosen by the undertakers ; and to exercise together the several powers and trusts before-mentioned , in the three last preceeding paragraphs or articles . the land proprietors , or any of them , may at any time ( upon their request , and at their charge ) exchange their subscribed estates for others of equal value ; such other estates passing thro' all the forms of the office , as the first setled estates shall have done : and at any time , within the first five years after opening the said hereby constituted office of land credit , and the actual issuing of bills by the said office , they may ( conveening in a body ) draw out of the office , by the major votes of three fourths , or more of them ; and upon paying back the bills of credit issued , by the said hereby intended and constituted office or undertaking , on their estates according to this constitution , shall have back their estates , paying only after the rate of six per cent. per annum , as interest for the credit so raised on their estates as aforesaid ; or any single subscriber may at any time ( upon his request in that behalf , and at his charge ) after the said first five years from opening the office , have back his estate , upon payment to the office the credit , issued as aforesaid , upon his estate , together with interest for the same , as aforesaid , after the rate of six per cent. per annum . . thirdly , the branch or chamber of the undertakers and managers shall retain learned councel for the strict examining of titles , and due settlement of estates ; and shall nominate and chuse certain persons , on whom the estates subscribed to this undertaking are to be legally setled , in trust for the due payment of the annuities for one hundred years , as aforesaid . the said branch of managers have also the nomination and choice of one third part of the governours of trade ; as also of one auditor , and of comptrolers to join with the comptrolers chosen by the lords visitors , and those chosen by the proprietors . there is to be an equal number of these comptrolers , chosen by each of the said three principal parts composing this office of credit ; and such comptrolers are together , to exercise the several powers and trusts , as in the preceeding clause relating to the power and office of the branch of the noble visitors . . and the undertakers , in particular , are to make due provision for support of the whole undertaking , in defraying ( out of the twenty years value reserved for that end out of the said hundred years credit , so as aforesaid to be raised on the estates setled for this undertaking ) all the charges stated and contingent , ( except those of the joint-stock in trade , which are to be defrayed as herein after ) during the said hundred years ; and likewise to provide , in the most effectual manner , to prevent and detect counterfeit bills , and to take care of and for the just and regular execution and oeconomy of the whole , and all its parts , and that all be transacted with justice and impartiality . . and it is hereby provided and constituted , that this branch of undertakers and managers , shall consist of at least eleven persons , and at most of one and twenty ; besides the ten herein named honorary managers , which are only temporary , and not essential to the undertaking . and that any five or more of this branch ( whereof three or more to be of the number of the first eight original undertakers , or such as legally represent them ) shall be such a meeting or committee , by a majority of whom , all matters appertaining to this branch are to be decided by vote , scrutiny , or balot ; wherein each person is to have only one single vote . and that all the fixt and constant undertakers and managers shall have as due notice of meetings as may be , and are duly to attend the service ; but that the honorary managers be at their liberty to come when , and as they please . and that all new members of this branch , be only chosen by the chamber of undertakers ; but that none be elected , till first proposed in three several meetings of the said chamber , and then such elections to be decided by the balot ; and that no person , so to be elected , shall be admitted or accounted as a member of this branch , unless first signing to such previous orders , as shall be thought fit ; upon failure whereof , such election is to be null and void . . and that the said chamber of undertakers have full power , in such their meetings , to make resolves , rules , orders , establishments , and regulations , for the well governing of themselves , and for the general direction and oeconomy of the whole undertaking ; with regard to the common prosperity thereof , and pursuant to the tenor and true meaning of this constitution . and that every member of this office and undertaking , do act conform to such rules and orders , upon pain of suspension , deprivation , or expulsion , and of utter incapacity of re-admission into this office or undertaking , or into any of the dependents thereof , as the case may require . . and that the said chamber of undertakers , do choose all manner of officers and servants , in any sort regarding this office of land credit , that are not expresly limited in and by this constitution to be otherwise chosen . and that in the said undertakers do reside , the sole power to provide all appartments , for all the branches and chambers of this undertaking ; except for the chamber of trade ; as also all stationary ware , candles , fewel , and other conveniencies , and necessaries : and to defray , out of the rising profits of this office of land credit , all constant incident and contingent charges ; and order payment thereof , and of salaries bills and expences thereto relating : except of the trade : and likewise to employ the fund , set apart for support of the office , in the most prudent manner to that end , to the best of their judgments ; and with the advice and consent of the chamber of comptrol . and that this branch of undertakers and managers , do take a particular care , that all persons belonging to this undertaking , do discharge their several duties . and that this branch , do also hear examine and redress , all complaints and grievances of all manner of officers belonging to this undertaking , either directly under this branch , or by appeal from any other branch or chamber , alone , or jointly with some other chamber or chambers , as the nature of the case may require , . and they the said undertakers and managers , do hereby further agree and declare , that for the better diffusing the good intended by this undertaking , credit may be raised , not only upon lands in fee , as before , but also , upon leases , and upon houses ; with these restrictions , viz. as to leases , that none be admitted for a less term than thirty years to come ; nor of less value than fifteen pounds per annum ; and such a lease ( if of land ) may secure ten pounds per annum , for twenty years ; which is two thirds of the rent , for two thirds of the term ; or it may secure four ninth's of the rent , for the whole term ; the security being both ways equal , and more than double ; and such a lease is therefore to receive the several quotas of credit , in proportion with lands in fee , as herein before is particularly set forth and declared . . and that as to houses , not only they are to be insured from fire , but likewise for as much as houses are , by decay and dilapidation , subjected to more and greater hazard and contingency than lands ; therefore a double value in houses is required , by this undertaking , to secure the credit to be issued thereon . . and for the better and more effectual prevention , of any hindrance , impediment or obstruction , in the affairs and business of this great undertaking , that may arise by the default . willfulness , perversness , obstinacy , or voluntary , negligence , of any person or persons whatsoever , from time to time to be employed in this office of land credit , or any of the branches or chambers thereto belonging ; it is hereby further declared to be an essential of this constitution , that if any one of the said three principal constituent members or branches thereof , do or shall , at any time hereafter , plainly , openly , or willfully , neglect their duty , in matters of consequence , and do not rectify the same , upon notice given by both , or either of the other branches , or by the chamber of comptrol as representing the branch of visitors , or by the chamber of trade , as representing the branch of the land subscribers and proprietors , or by the chamber of undertakers , that then the other two branches of this undertaking , or the respective chambers of trade , and of comptrol , the first as representing the branch of proprietors , and the second as representing the branch of visitors , as the case shall require , shall and may supply such defect pro interim and may pro natura commissi vel delicti , suspend or remove such person or persons , as upon inquiry and examination , shall appear to be faulty therein ; whose places are to be resupplied by their respective branch or chamber , according to the true meaning of this present constitution . . and also , that the said hugh chamberlen , or any member of the chamber of undertakers , or branch of managers , as also any of the comptrolers , may be at any time present in any of the branches , chambers , or offices , belonging to this undertaking ; and may there freely , ask , inquire move , or offer whatever any of them shall judge to be conducing to the general good. . and it is hereby declared to be also an essential of this constitution , that the governors of the trade , are to be the constant representative of the branch of the land subscribers and proprietors ; and to do all acts for them , in the intervals of the session of that branch ; to prevent the trouble and inconvenience of too frequent assembling so great a body without just and necessary cause . . yet that the body of the proprietors may by order of one , or both of the other branches , or of the said chamber of undertakers , be assembled in person , or by proxy ; or the said body of proprietors may also be assembled , at the request of any fifty person , or more , being proprietors for one third , or more , of the whole of the rent-charges , that for the time being shall be vested as aforesaid , in the trustees for estates setled for the service of this undertaking . and that the said branch of proprietors being so assembled , may , at their pleasure , freely inquire into , and examine all books , papers , accompts and proceedings , in any wise belonging or appertaining to this undertaking , or any of the branches , chambers or offices thereof ; and may prepare and give into the chambers of managers and of comptrol , or either of them , memorials of whatever they shall judge fit and proper ; which done , that assembly is , for that time , dissolved ; and thereupon the chambers of comptrol , of trade , and of management , are forthwith to deliberate , thereon de die in diem , till resolutions be taken by the said three chambers , or any two of them , in every point contained in such memorials : which resolutions , with the reasons whereon they were founded , are to be entred fair by the secretaries of those three chambers . . and it is likewise hereby provided and constituted , that the land proprietors do at first meet as subscribers onely , and do then choose the auditor , comptrolers , and governors of trade for that branch ; in order to settle these three chambers , and give a beginning to the undertaking : which elections made , that assembly is dissolved , and no more to be reassembled as meer subscribers : but , within one year after two hundred thousand pounds per annum , shall be actually made over to this undertaking , all the then so settled land subscribers and proprietors , are to be re-assembled , in a general meeting of that branch ; which till then is to be in all things represented by the chamber of trade as at first settled . this branch , thus re-assembled , are to elect their auditor , comptrolers , and governors of trade , either de novo , or the same persons , or any of them , that shall then be found in the administration of those employments . the said branch may also then proceed , to frame any remonstrance or memorial , they shall judge proper to the good of the undertaking , and may transmit the same to such consideration as herein before , on like occasion , is directed to be done ; and are then , for that time , dissolved . . and that , the summons or notice for assembling of this branch , shall be by affixing papers of the time and place of meeting , at and in all or most of the appartments of the several branches or chambers of this undertaking ; at the royal exchange in london ; at westminster hall ; at the four inns of court ; at temple bar ; at charing cross ; at st. james's ; and so-ho ; and at other eminent and publick places in and about the cities of london and westminster ; and likewise by causing notice of such meeting to be put into the gazett ; or other publick news papers , if the same will be permitted on the usual terms of common advertisements : and that at least fourteen days notice be given of every such meeting ; and that such notice having been so given , any fifty or more of them appearing , are to have as full right and power to proceed to business , as if all were present . . and it is hereby further declared , that in the chamber of trade , the six and thirty governors ( of which number that chamber is to consist ) are but three distinct votes , that is to say , the twelve governors chosen by the lords visitors , or any three or more of them , are one vote ; the twelve governors chosen by the land subscribers or proprietors ; or any three or more of them , are also one vote ; and the twelve governors , or any three or more of them , chosen by the office chamber or branch of managers are likewise one vote ; and a quorum is to consist of three or more of the governors for each branch . . and that in the chamber of comptrol are likewise to be but three distinct votes , that is to say , one for each of the three aforesaid chief and constituent branches ; and a quorum is to consist of any three or more of the comptrollers for each branch . . and it is hereby declared to be absolutely and indispensibly essential , that the hands of three of the comptrolers , ( viz. ) of one for each branch , are to be to every bill of land credit to be issued by this office or undertaking , in attestation to all men , that they are duely and bona fide founded upon land , according to the tenor and true intent and meaning of these presents . and that such bills of this credit , as shall return back to this office , for and in lieu of the rent charges or annual payments , as aforesaid , shall be annually cancelled ; and an authentick registry or entry thereof made , by or in presence of one or more of the said comptrolers for each of the said three branches ; who shall signe such entry or registry thereof , and cause the same to be countersigned by the secretary of that chamber . . and it is hereby further declared , that the most exact care and caution , shall from time to time be taken , for security of the treasure belonging to this office or undertaking , to prevent any loss or embezlement therof : and care is to be taken , that the treasury chamber do pay and dispose the same according to proper orders , being careful to take due vouchers to discharge it self thereof , according to the tenour or true intent and meaning of this present constitution , and such establishment and orders as shall be made in pursuance hereof . . and that the comptrolers and governors of trade , for the lords visitors , or proprietors , may severally and respectively fill or supply , the vacancy of any office belonging to their several and respective principals ; which choice shall or may be laid before such principals at their next assembling , to be confirmed or annulled at their pleasure ; saving to the lords visitors , the power of presenting or chusing comptrolers and governors of trade from time to time as is herein before particularly mentioned . . and further , that the several rent-charges , or annual payments to this undertaking , are to be made payable at the chamber of comptroul , in easter term yearly , or within forty days following , till the end of the term of years for such annuities , or yearly payments ; and the first payment thereof is to be made , in the first easter term from and after the end of the first year , from the conveyance of each estate to this undertaking , by the respective subscriber or proprietor ; or within forty days after the said last-mentioned easter term. . and further , that the chamber of trade is solely to be defrayed in all its charges , stated and contingent , out of one fourth part of the neat profits arising by such trade : out of which fourth part , the six and thirty governours thereof ( as men of worth and value imployed in so great affairs , and to incourage their utmost application , and sincere transacting , in discharge of their trusts , without making any private , clandestine , or other profit to themselves , over and above the allowance to them hereby appointed ) are to be allowed five hundred pounds a-piece per annum , for their standing fee ; in case the same exceed not one third , of the aforesaid fourth part , of the neat produce of the said trade , before hereby allotted for defraying all manner of charge , stated and contingent , relating to , or affecting the said chamber of trade . . and that as a further inducement to the application and industry of the said six and thirty governours , ten shillings in the pound shall be further allowed , out of all profits to arise by such trade , over and above ten per cent. per annum : of which poundage , one half shall be divided equally among the said six and thirty governours ; and the other half shall be distributed , among such subordinate officers or servants belonging to the said chamber of trade ; or among such other person or persons that shall render any eminent service in particular to the said chamber of trade , or in general to this undertaking , in all or any of its parts or branches ; such rewards , to be given according to the several and respective merits of every , or any such person or persons , whereof the said governours of trade are to be judges : yet so , that an appeal may be made to the office or chamber of management , and to the chamber of comptroul , by any who are aggrieved by the distribution of such rewards : which chambers , shall thereupon take those matters into consideration ; and such order therein shall stand and be decisive , as the said three chambers , of comptroul , of management , and of trade , or any two of them , shall think fit to agree and determine . . and further , that the said chamber of trade , shall also have full power to chuse all their own officers ; except their secretary , who is to be chosen by the chamber of undertakers ; and whose salary , of five hundred pounds per annum , is to be paid by the said chamber of trade , out of the aforesaid one fourth part of the profits of the joint-stock : and the said chamber of trade , is to make all rules and orders for it self , officers , and dependents ; and to deliberate and determine upon all matters and incidents relating to their trade ; yet so , as that the said chamber , at any time upon demand or request in that behalf made , by the lords visitors , by the branch of proprietors , by the branch of managers , and by the chamber of comptroul , or chamber of undertakers , or by any of them , shall at any time communicate and impart to them , or any of them , so desiring , all matters and things whatsoever , that shall be demanded or desired : and if the said lords visitors , proprietors , undertakers , managers , and comptrolers , or any three , or more of them , the said branches , chambers or offices , shall disagree to any project of trade , pursuing or intended by the said chamber of trade , as too hazardous in its self , or as any way prejudicial to the english crown or nation ; then such project of trade shall be forthwith wholly discontinued , or laid aside , and no further practised or pursued . . and further , that the said chamber of trade , are never to endeavour the becoming the sole trader to any part or place , or in any commodity , exclusive to others ; nor are at any time to ingross any sort of commodity , goods or merchandize , unless in order to serve the nation better and cheaper than would otherwise have been done : and then that the produce of such trade do not in any such case exceed twenty per cent. per annum ; nor more than ten per cent. per annum , at the utmost , in commodities of necessity to the support of life , or goods , or merchandize , for service of the king in his fleets or armies . . and it is hereby further declared , that for the accommodation of such monied persons , whether widows , orphans , or others , who know no better way to employ their stocks of money , they may at all times bring into the joint-stock of trade , what sum or sums of money they please , either by way of loan , at five per cent. interest ; or by way of profit and loss in the trade : so that no fractional sums , but only even hundred pounds , be so brought in ; and no less sum than one hundred pounds . and so , that what shall be brought in upon loan , shall continue for one year certain , and after at six months notice from the time of interest being payable : and also that the money so to be brought in to trade upon profit and loss , shall not be drawn out , but may at any time be transferred in the books of the chamber of trade : upon which consideration , such money so to be brought in upon profit or loss , shall be admitted to proportional dividends , with land proprietors , of the profits to arise by the joint-stock of trade , so as aforesaid to be setled and erected : and this provision is thus made , to the intent that none may be necessitated to keep money by them dead and unimployed ; and thereby be forced , to their loss , to live upon their principal : and also to the end , that persons ignorant of trade , and otherwise incapacitated for it , may yet receive the benefit of it , without the trouble , and without the hazard of being wronged or defrauded therein ; because of the strict checks upon this trade , and the frank and open procedure of it ; wherein no secret , clandestine practices will be permitted , nor any of the narrow , selfish and sinister arts , of some cunning merchants , who postpone fair dealing , and the publick good , to their private and sordid lucre. . and further , the said chamber of trade , shall yearly make up their books to midsummer ; so that in michaelmas term yearly , all persons concerned may see , to what amounts their several and respective quotaes of the dividend of profit ; and may accordingly receive the same , at any time upon demand , at the treasury of the said chamber of trade . . and moreover , that the constant residential apartments , of the head or general office for this undertaking , that is to say , of the three principal or constituent branches , and of the chambers of undertakers , of trade , of comptroul , of audit , of counsel , of treasury , of trustees , of the secretaries , survey , register , of the bills , agent , and others on them depending , shall be held within the cities or liberties of london , and westminster , or one of them ; or within the parts or places comprized within the london weekly bills of mortality . . and also , that to prevent the imposing upon any person , who shall transact or negotiate any matters or things with this undertaking , the authority , power , and business of every chamber or office , shall , with all convenient speed , be hung up therein , fairly written in tables , and so always continued , in some publick place of each chamber or office , so as to be freely and easily read by all that please . . and that all manner of officers , superior , and subaltern or inferior , be for life ; ( except those chosen , the first time , by the branch of land subscribers , who are to be subject once to a new election , as is herein before expressed ) unless suspended , or removed , in case of wilful and obstinate neglect or malversation , having been first admonished , and always heard in their vindication , before censure pass upon them . . and likewise , that all salaries are to go out of the profits to arise by this undertaking ; that for the first year , to be accounted from midsummer , , only bare subsistence is to be paid , to such as cannot be without it : that half salary be paid to all , as soon as one hundred thousand pound annuities shall be setled for the ends of this undertaking ; and that full salary , according to the establishment , with all arrears , including also the first year from midsummer one thousand six hundred ninety and six , be constantly paid , as soon as two hundred thousand pounds such annuities shall be so setled . . and further , that all resolves , regulations , rules , and orders , made , agreed , or declared , by the eight original undertakers , on the thirteenth day of march last , or at any time since by the chamber of the said undertakers made , to the day of the date hereof , be valid and obliging to all the parties to these presents , and to all others properly concerned therein . . and moreover , it is hereby provided always , that if any such auditor , comptroler , or governour of trade as aforesaid , at any time chosen for the service of this undertaking , shall , in the judgment of the branch of undertakers and managers , seem unqualified to answer the character and station to which such auditor , comptroler , or governour , shall be respectively elected ; whereby the good ends and purposes of this undertaking , may be in danger to be thereby obstructed or impaired ; and if the same shall be so resolved , upon a scrutiny therefore to be made by balot , in a meeting held for the said branch ; for which resolve , the said branch , or any member thereof , shall be obliged to render no other reason or account , than the result of such their scrutiny by the balot , as aforesaid ; that then the election of every such person shall be to all intents and purposes absolutely null and void ; and such vacancy shall be supplied by the former elector or electors , or otherwise , according to the tenor and true meaning of these presents ; so that such scrutiny be therefore made , within one month after the inrollment of these presents in some court of record , or within one month next after report made to the said branch of undertakers and managers , of the election of any such auditor , comptroler , or governour of trade . . and lastly , that the said now undertakers and managers , or the undertakers and managers at any time hereafter for the time being , may at any time hereafter , by advice of councel learned in the law , make , seal , and execute any further , or other deed , or instrument , for the better explanation or execution of all , or any of the clauses , articles , trusts , and powers , in and by this present constitution and settlement mentioned or intended . in witness whereof , the said vndertakers and managers herein before first above-named , have hereunto set their hands and seals . dated at london , the fifteenth day of july in the eighth year of the reign of our soveraign lord william the third , by the grace of god , king of england , scotland , france , and ireland , defender of the faith , &c. annoque dom. . finis . london printed , and are to be sold by t. sowle , in white-hart-court in gracious-street . . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a -e the parties . preamble . benefit of credit to trade . bills of credit superior to money . the author of this contrivance and his motives . material and efficient causes of riches . money is but polilitical , not real wealth . land credit more secure . inconveniencies of gold and silver for being the common measure of trade , where they are not the native product . ends and motives of the doctors pains . the doctor communicates his thoughts , &c. the late encouragement of banks by this nation , is the effect of the doctor 's endeavours . tendency and benefit of this undertaking . divers have subscribed to it . now for the better effecting this matter ; it is declared that there is want of good credit . good credit is money under another name . what money is . those possessed of estates in fee simple , &c. can by law settle them to what vses they please : except in certain cases . property sacred by law. land the best security . the mother of all wealth . landed men how considerable . ends of this vndertaking . what it offers . to raise years credit : of which , seventy to the proprietor , viz. . to himself : manner of paying the forty years value . and the remaining thirty years value , to the joint stock of trade . profits of it to be proportionably divided . capital to remain . not transferable , but with the estate . vse and benefit of the joint stock . money at first necessary to circulate the credit . the vndertakers to find expedients for money , in the best manner they can . and to have years value of each annuity , to assist them to raise such money . the hundred years . benefits thereby . preference of this credit to that of money banks . this credit more than doubly secured . the land must annually call for these bills . and the office must annually destroy them . these bills will all be cancelled at the end of years . why must this credit continue no more nor less than year ? answer . how years value can be raised upon land , that will sell but for , answer . how this credit secured . l. therein is secured , by l. which is therefore a more than double security , that such credit shall be duly discharged . the premises illustrated by an example . bills for years may be safely current the while , and as useful as those payable at a short term. the security of these bills grows stronger yearly . a part may be improved to a greater value than the whole was before , or can be without , such improvement . and a term thus applied is better than the perpetuity not so applied . mortgages a very ancient sort of credit ; but troublesome ; and not well suited to general occasions . dead pledges , and but an imperfect credit . interest necessary upon mortgages , and why . but not upon these bills , and why . this vndertaking not calculated for narrow or sinister ends. the noble and advantagious contrivance of this office. care against bad titles . proprietors to be always in possession of their lands thus setled . vnless two year in arrear . for then , the office may enter and hold , till satisfaction . but to do no damage ; nor vnder-lett : but rather improve the estate ; and restore it at any time , upon demand and payment . accounting for mesne profits . vpon improvement of any estate , the proprietor may raise more credit : or may free such overplus , from the engagement to the office. the office being safe , things to be interpreted in favour of proprietors : who ( before or after entry ) may make leases , not hurting the title , or lessening the rent . bills so contrived that none need be deceived with false . no bill can be issued without a due fund . all bills must be cancelled ; as their fund ceases . provision for support of the office. nature of the management of the joint-stock . all its books and proceedings may be enquired into , when fairly desired . the vndertaking consists of three principal parts . first , the lords visitor .. what is submitted to their care. quorum of the visitors . visitors power , and manner of redressing what 's amiss . intent of their superintendance . visitor ceases to be so , if six months absent . his place , how supplied . choice of their auditor . choice of their comptrolers , and governors of trade : all which , for life , unless , &c. each visitor , one vote . their comptrolers . in case the visitors neglect to chuse them . comptrolers employment . governours of trade chosen in proportion by the visitors : and an auditor ; in case the visitors neglect such choice . chamber of comptroul . business of the said chamber . secondly , the land-proprietors , they chuse their governours of trade , an auditor , and comptrolers . comptrolers duty . land-proprietors may exchange their securities . and may upon joint-agreement , within the first five years , withdraw their securities . any single subscriber may , upon request , withdraw at any time after . thirdly , the vndertakers and managers chuse councel at law : trustees for estates : a third of the governours of trade : an auditor ; and comptrolers . vndertakers are , in particular , to make due provision for the expence of the office. to prevent and detect counterfeit bills : and for the just administration of the whole . this branch to consist of at least , and at most , besides the herein named honorary managers , which are only temperary . how many transact . new members chosen . vndertakers make rules and orders . and chuse all officers : not herein limited to be otherwise chosen ; and do provide , and defray . and have a general care and inspection . the credit extended to leases and houses . and on what terms , as to leases . as to houses to be insured against fire . provision against negligence , or damage , by any relating to this constitution . freedom reserved to dr. chamberlen , the vndertakers , or managers , and comptrolers , to be present at the debates of any of the several chambers . governors of trade , the constant representatives of the proprietors . yet that the body of the proprietors may , upon occasion , assemble , or be assem●led , in person , or by proxy . what the proprietors being assembled may do . their memorials remitted to the judgment of the three chambers of comptrol of trade , and of management . first meeting of the land subscribers . their second meeting . till when , represented by the chamber of trade . what they do at their second meeting . how the branch of land subscribers to be summoned . number of votes in the chamber of trade . their quorum . votes in the chamber of comptrol . their quorum . one comptroler of each branch , to attest every bill . and that the bills be duely cancelled . care of the treasury . treasurers duty . comptrolers and governors of trade , belonging to the visitors , or subscribers , are to fill up the vacancy of any office of their respective branches . place of paying the rent charges ; and the time . when the first payment is to commence . joint-stock is to defray its proper charge and expence , out of the fourth part of the neat profits . salary of the governors of trade . contingent perquisites to the governours of trade . and to their subordinate officers , and others , for eminent service . of which , the governours of trade are to judge . yet an appeal lies , and when . chambers of trade chuse their own officers . powers of the chamber of trade . subject to an enquiry , by the several branches , and chambers , of comptroul , and of vndertakers . and the reason why . against exclusive ingrossings , to the publick prejudice . profits limited , in case of ingrossing , to per cent. in some cases , and to in others . care for monied persons , widows , and orphans . the reason for their admission . the time for the joint-stock to accompt . office to be held in or about london , &c. business of every chamber , to be therein hung up in tables . all officers for life ; except , &c. the salaries to go out of the profits . only subsistance to some , for a year from midsummer , . how payment of salaries afterwards . confirmation of orders already made . provision against election of vnqualified persons for auditors , comptrolers , or governours of trade . reserve for furthe● deed , for better explanation , &c. by the king in calling to our princely remembrance, that in the late rebellion vpon pretence of depopulation and vnlawfull inclosures, the greatest number of the offenders have not beene proceeded with according to iustice and their traiterous deseruings ... england and wales. sovereign ( - : james i) approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a stc estc s ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) by the king in calling to our princely remembrance, that in the late rebellion vpon pretence of depopulation and vnlawfull inclosures, the greatest number of the offenders have not beene proceeded with according to iustice and their traiterous deseruings ... england and wales. sovereign ( - : james i) james i, king of england, - . sheet ([ ] p.). by robert barker, printer to the kings most excellent maiestie, imprinted at london : anno dom. . offering pardon to rioters who submit before sept. other title information from first lines of text. "giuen at our castle of windsor the . day of iuly, in the fifth yeere of our reigne of great britaine, france and ireland." reproduction of original in: society of antiquaries. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng inclosures -- england. land tenure -- england. great britain -- history -- james i, - . broadsides -- london (england) -- th century. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion royal blazon or coat of arms ❧ by the king. in calling to our princely remembrance , that in the late rebellion vpon pretence of depopulation and vnlawfull inclosures , the greatest number of the offenders haue not beene proceeded with according to justice and their traiterous deseruings , no nor so much as apprehended or touched for the same , although they bee in no better case or degree , then those few which haue suffered or beene called in question : there want not some reasons and circumstances which ( if wee would consult onely with policie or passion ) mought induce vs to further seueritie , and a more generall execution of the law vpon the same offenders . for wee are not ignorant , that of all other seditions and rebellions , none doth bring such infinite waste and desolation vpon a kingdome or state , as these popular insurrections , which though they doe seldome shake or indanger a crowne , yet they doe bring a heape of calamities vpon multitudes of innocent subiects , and chiefly vpon the authors and acters themselues . and againe , wee doe obserue , that there was not so much as any necessitie of famine or dearth of corne , or any other extraordinary accident , that might stirre or prouoke them in that maner to offend ; but that it may be thought to proceede of a kinde of insolencie and contempt of our milde and gracious gouernment , which mought ( in some prince ) turne the same into more heauy wrath and displeasure . but we neuerthelesse hauing at the very entrance of our raigne , in the highest treasons against our owne person , intermingled mercie with iustice , are much more inclined in this case , which concerneth a number of poore & simple people , to extend our naturall clemencie to wards them . whereupon we haue resolued to set wide open the gate of our mercie vnto them , and to bestowe vpon them our free grace and pardon , without further suite or supplication . and therefore we doe hereby take and receiue all the sayd offenders , and euery of them , to our mercie , and of our grace and meere motion , freely pardon vnto them their sayd offences , and all paines of death or other punishment due for the same , and promise vnto them , in the word of their naturall liege lord and king , that they shall not be in any wise molested or impeached , in life , member , lands or goods for their sayd offences , or any of them . so as neuerthelesse , that before michaelmas next they doe submit themselues , and acknowledge their sayd offences before our lieutenant , deputie lieutenant , or sheriffe in the countie where they shall remaine , whereof wee will and command a note or entrie to be made and kept . and we are further graciously pleased , that if any of them seuerally or iointly shal desire for their better assurance , to haue our pardon vnder our great seale , that our chancellor shal make the same vnto them without further warrant in that behalfe . not intending neuerthelesse to preiudice any our subiects priuate suite or action , but so much as in us is , absolutely to acquite & discharge them against us , our heires & successors . giuen at our castle of windsor the . day of iuly , in the fifth yeere of our reigne of great britaine , france and ireland . god saue the king. ❧ imprinted at london by robert barker , printer to the kings most excellent maiestie . anno dom ▪ . a letter sent from both houses of parliament, to all the high-sheriffs of this kingdom, concerning the late propositions for ireland. england and wales. parliament. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text r in the english short title catalog (thomason .f. [ ]). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing e thomason .f. [ ] estc r this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; : f [ ]) a letter sent from both houses of parliament, to all the high-sheriffs of this kingdom, concerning the late propositions for ireland. england and wales. parliament. sheet ([ ] p.) march . london, printed for ioseph hunscott, [london] : [i.e. ] the propositions were intended to be published at the lent assizes and other convenient times to receive subscriptions for the settling of . million acres of land in ireland. reproduction of the original in the british library. eng land settlement -- ireland -- early works to . ireland -- economic conditions -- statistics -- sources. a r (thomason .f. [ ]). civilwar no a letter sent from both houses of parliament, to all the high-sheriffs of this kingdom, concerning the late propositions for ireland. england and wales. parliament. c the rate of defects per , words puts this text in the c category of texts with between and defects per , words. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion ❧ a letter sent from both houses of parliament , to all the high-sheriffs of this kingdom , concerning the late propositions for ireland . master sheriff . the lords and commons being deeply sensible of the unspeakable calamities which his majesties good subjects of the kingdom of ireland do now suffer , by the barbarous cruelties and massacres of the rebells there , and conceiving these printed propositions herewith sent ( being ratified by his majesties royall assent , and the unanimous approbation of both houses of parliament ) do undoubtedly tend to the speedy and effectuall reducing of those bloody rebells , the propagating of the protestant religion , the augmenting of the greatnesse and the revenue of the crown of england , and the establishing of an happy and firm peace for the future in his majesties three kingdoms ; and all this to be effected ( by gods gracious assistance ) without the generall charge of the subject , and to the great advantage of those that shall under-write ; have thought fit to require you to publish these printed propositions and instructions at this lent assizes , to the intent that all his majesties good people within your countie , may take notice of the benefit they may receive by under-writing in due time ; and that so many of them then present and willing to subscribe , may give up a note of their names , sums , and dates of their subscriptions to you , to be entred in the paperbook mentioned in the printed instructions , which is forthwith to be sent unto you . and you are further directed hereby , at this lent assizes ( if they be not past ) by the advice and assistance of the justices of peace for your county , then present , to appoint certain dayes and places most convenient for this service ; when and where your self , and the justices of peace within each division , will be present , to receive the names , summes , and times of subscription , of such of his majesties well-affected subjects within your countie as shall not have subscribed at this lent assizes , their names sums , and times of subscription , to be likewise entred in the paperbook . and if this letter come to your hands after the assizes , then to appoint such times and places as may best speed this service . and further , your self , and the justices of peace , the ministers of gods word , and persons of quality within your county , are hereby earnestly desired to shew themselves active and exemplary in advancing this great and pious work ; 't is a service tending so much to the glory of god , the honour and profit of his majestie , and the peace and tranquilitie of his three kingdoms for the future . and you are likewise to inform those that shall under-write , that the act of parliament ( which his majestie hath promised to passe ▪ for the setling of those two millions and half of acres ) is already in hand , and that the lands are to be divided so indifferently by lot amongst them that under-write , that no one man , whatsoever , shall have more respect or advantage than another , in the division . and lastly , you are to give a speedie account to the parliament of your proceedings herein , and of those that do really advance this service . thus not doubting of your utmost care and diligence herein , we bid you heartilie farewell . the propositions . i that two millions and an halfe of those acres may be assigned , allotted , and divided amongst them after this proportion , viz. for each adventure of li. acres in ulster . li. acres in conaght . li. acres in munster . li. acres in leinster . all according to the english measure , and consisting of meadow , arrable , and profitable pasture , the bogs , woods , and barren mountaines being cast in over and above . these two millions and a halfe of acres to be holden in free and common soccage of the king ▪ as of his castle of doublin . ii. that out of these two millions and an halfe of acres , a constant rent shall be reserved to the crowne of england , after this proportion , viz out of each acre thereof in ulster d — conaght d — ob munster d — que leinster . d — whereby his majesties revenue out of those lands will be much improved , besides the advantages that he will have by the comming to his ands of all other the lands of the rebels , and their personall estates , without any charge unto his majesty . iii that for the erecting of mannors , setling of waste and commons , maintaining of preaching ministers , creating of corporations , and regulating of the severall plantations , one or more commissions be hereafter granted by authority of parliament . iv. that monies for this great occasion may be the more speedily advanced , all the undertakers in the city of london , and within twenty miles distrant thereof , shall under-write their severall sums before the twentieth day of march , . and all within sixty miles of london , before the first day of april , , and the rest of the kingdom before the first day of may , . v. that the severall sums to be under-written , shall be paid in at four payments , viz. one fourth part within ten dayes after such under-writing ; and the other three parts at three moneths , three moneths , and three moneths : all to be paid into the chamber of london . vi . that for the better securing of the said severall sums accordingly , every one that doth so under-write , shall at the time of his subscription pay down the twentieth part of the totall sum that shall be by him then under-written . and in case that the residue of his first fourth part be not paid in to such person or persons as shall be appointed to receive the same within the ten dayes before limited , then such party shall not onely forfeit the twentieth part of the sum totall formerly deposited , but so much more of his first fourth payment to be added thereunto , as shall make up the one moity of the said first payment . and if the same person shall fail in any other of the three payments , he shall then forfeit his entire first fourth part , and all the benefit of his subscription ; which forfeiture shall accrue to the common benefit of the rest of the undertakers . march . london , printed for ioseph hunscott . . the reforming registry, or, a representation of the very many mischiefs and inconveniences which will unavoidably happen by the needless, chargeable, and destructive way of registries proposed to be erected in every county of england and wales, for the recording of all deeds, evidences, bonds, bills, and other incumbrances : written in the year when oliver and the levelling-party made it their design to ruine monarchy ... / by fabian philipps. philipps, fabian, - . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a wing p estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) the reforming registry, or, a representation of the very many mischiefs and inconveniences which will unavoidably happen by the needless, chargeable, and destructive way of registries proposed to be erected in every county of england and wales, for the recording of all deeds, evidences, bonds, bills, and other incumbrances : written in the year when oliver and the levelling-party made it their design to ruine monarchy ... / by fabian philipps. philipps, fabian, - . [ ], - p. printed by tho. newcomb for the author, and are to be sold by abel roper ..., london : . reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng land titles -- registration and transfer -- great britain. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread - emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the reforming registry , or a representation of the very many mischiefs and inconveniences which will unavoidably happen by the needless , chargeable , and destructive way of registries , proposed to be erected in every county of england and wales , for the recording of all deeds , evidences , bonds , bills , and other incumbrances . written in the year , when oliver and the levelling-party made it their design to ruine monarchy , the laws of the nation , and the impoverished loyal party ; and is now published to prevent the more then a few evils and sad consequences which may hereafter be introduced by it . by fabian philipps . plato lib. . de legibus . omnes eas leges colunt & innovare formidant in quibus educati sunt , si illae divina quadam fortuna longis temporibus stabilitae fuerint . london , printed by tho. newcomb for the author , and are to be sold by abel roper at the sign of the sun over against st dunstans-church in fleet-street . . the contents of the chapters . chapter . that the registring or inrolling of deeds of bargain and sale , whereby an estate of freehold doth pass , is provided for by the statute of h. . cap. . wherein it being left to the peoples choyce where to inroll them , they have rather chosen to do it in chancery , and at london , then in the several counties , p. . chap. . the inconveniences of an inforced registry of such , deeds in the proper counties . pag. . chap. . the inconveniencies if all deeds , of bargain and sale shall be enacted to have the force and effect of fines with proclamations , or of recoveries , and to bar as they doe : pag. . chap. . of the registring of all mens former deeds or other evidences , if but for ten or twenty years past , under a penalty to be , otherwise of no effect or less then they would formerly have been . pag. chap. . of the registring of all bonds , bills , leases releases feoffments , contracts in writing and all other writings which may incumber reall or personal estates . pag. chap. . of new courts or judicatories to be erected in every county , to hear and determine causes . pag. chap. that it is impossible to provide against all things which may happen to be incumbrances . pag. chap. . that ( if it could be possible ) the people will not willingly be at the trouble or charges in all their contracts , to search in so many county registries to discover incumbrances . pag. chap. i. that the registring or inrolling of deeds of bargain and sale , whereby an estate of freehold doth pass , is provided for by the statute of hen. . cap. . wherein it being left to the peoples choice where to inrol th●● , they have rather chosen to do it in chancery , and at london , then in the several counties . the erecting of offices for the registring of deeds and conveyances indented in every county , by which any estate of freehold or inheritance is to pass , or be conveyed by bargain and sale , will be needless . for that by the statute of h. . c. . which is yet in force and unrepealed , it is already provided for . and being ever since ( now almost one hundred and fifty years ago ) left to the peoples liberty , whether they will inrol with the clerk of the peace in every county , or in the chancery and courts of record at westminster . they have so much liked of the better and more proper way of inrolling in chancery , being the officina justiciae of the nation , the repository of most of the records of it ; and into which , many of the greatest concernment , are by law and several acts of parliament certified , and disliked the other ; as there is not one deed or indenture of that nature , for every hundred which are in the chancery , inrolled in the courts of upper bench , common pleas and exchequer , by vertue of that statute . and not one almost in a year inrolled with the clerk of the peace of every county where the lands do lie , either because where it was done in the proper county , it was by that statute appointed to be done by the custos rotulorum , and two justices of the peace of the county , and the clerk of the peace , or two of them at the least , whereof the clerk of the peace to be one ; who by their distances or remote habitations , were not often or easily to be found or got together , or that the people were not so willing to trust their deeds or evidences , or the records thereof , with the clerks of the peace , as they are with an officer of trust in chancery ; which being the registry of the supream authority , is a court always open , and kept in a known place of strength and security . and was very long before in use and practice amongst them , for the more sure keeping and memory of their deeds and evidences , as grants and releases for lands , and the like , amongst the records of their kings and supream magistrates , where they thought them safest , as may appear by the close rolls in chancery , ever since the raign of king john ; and so frequently in the raign of king henry the seventh , being forty years before the making of the said statute of h. . as there are many deeds of bargain and sale of lands , releases of right and title to lands , deeds of gift , or bargains and sales of goods and chattels , bonds for payment of money , acquittances for money paid , letters of attorney , and agreements betwixt private persons , to be seen recorded and inrolled in the close rolls of h. . with the now usual form or memorandums , that the parties acknowledging , did come into the chancery and acknowledge them , &c. and which was anciently held to be so much assistant , and contributing to the welbeing and preservation of mens deeds , by inrollments , or records , or exemplifications made thereof , as it was in e. . adjudged , that if a deed be shewed in court , or be in the custody thereof , and the seal be by mischance broken off , the court shall inroll the deed for the avail of the party : which is not onely an evident demonstration of the peoples long approving of the one , and disallowing of the other ; but of the ease and benefit which they have had by inrolling of their deeds in chancery , and the courts at london . and therefore every mans private deeds and conveyances , being to take their original and principal force from the parties consent , and contract , and the confirmation and power which the laws of god , nature , and nations , and the common and statute laws of this nation hath allowed them , in making them to be of force and valid . the act of parliament of h. . . for inrolling of deeds as aforesaid , being made in the same parliament when the statute of hen. . . for transferring of uses into possession , was enacted , did in the supplying of many defects in deeds of bargain and sale , of and concerning freehold and inheritance , and the want of livery , and seisin , and attornment . not forbid or take away the use and force of fines and recoveries , leases with releases , and feoffments with livery and seisin , which in the extent and validity thereof , are far better assurances ; but onely ordain , that all deeds whereby estates of inheritances or freehold , should pass or or be altered , or changed from one to another , by way of bargain and sale , should not be good , unless they should be indented and inrolled , as that act appointed ; and restraining onely the execution and effect thereof , to the inrolment within the time prefixed , did leave the people to inrol them where it might seem best , or their own conveniences perswade them . wherefore an inforced registry or inrolment of all such deeds in the proper counties , if it should keep within the bounds of that act , and onely injoyn inrolments of deeds by indenture , where estates of freehold and inheritance are to pass by way of bargain and sale , will unavoidably produce many inconveniences . chap. ii. the inconveniencies of an inforced registry of such deeds in the proper counties . they will be illiterately , carelesly , and ill-favoredly registred , and kept in the proper counties , if either the pay or number of them , shall not come up to the care and time , are to be bestowed upon them , or receive no other or greater fees then are allowed by that statute for inrollments . as it hath demonstrably already hapned in the taking and inrolling of statutes merchant , by the majors of the staple in all cities , burroughs , and good towns , and their officers thereunto appointed , by vertue of the statutes or acts of parliament of acton burnel in e. . and the statute de mercatoribus in e. . which have since the erecting of the statute office at london , by the statute of h. . . to attend the lord cheif justices of the court of upper bench , or common pleas ; and in their absence , the major of the staple at westminster , and recorder of london : for acknowledging of statutes for debts have been so much disused , and the course of statutes merchant which are yet in force for merchandise so neglected , as there are above a hundred such statutes entred , to or for every one statute merchant : and whereas the clerk of the statutes , who was by that act of parliament ordered to reside at london , doth fairly and orderly enter and keep his books and records , and after certain years , lodg and lay them up for safety in the tower of london , it will upon search and inquiry appear , that notwithstanding every statute , whether for merchandise or otherwise , is to be duly inrolled by the clerks or officers , upon pain of forfeiting of twenty pounds for every statute not entred or inrolled , there can be found very few of the rolls or books of the statutes merchant since h. . and none at all of those that were taken and inrolled in two hundred years before . the difference betwixt the now statute office , which is inperpetual succession to such a capital city , and superior courts , as the city of london , and the courts of upper bench and common pleas , and annexed as it were unto them , and the town ▪ clerks or majors , or constables of the staple in the other cities and corporations , which do so often change , and are by election , as they become little more then as private persons , giving us the reason why those writings or records in their custody , coming afterwards through so many changes , to so many several hands as they do , can no way , as it seems , escape imbezelling . we may well enough believe , that the same fate may attend these country registers , if they shall not be made to be as a court of record , and in perpetual succession ; and if they shall be made to be as so many judicatures and courts of record , will be the cause of more inconveniences to the people , then the loss and imbezeling of their records or inrollments , can come unto . the city of london which did use to inroll such deeds in the hustings , and divers other cities , boroughs , and towns corporate , who did use to do the like , and had therefore their rights expresly saved by the proviso of that act of anno henry the eight for inrollments , and that it should not extend to any manors , lands , tenements , or hereditaments , within the said cities , boroughs , or towns corporate ; for that they did anciently , and before the making of that act , use to inroll such deeds , will by these new registries , without any forfeiture , or cause given to loose them , be deprived of those their very ancient rights and liberties . such a constrained way of registring of deeds of bargain and sale , which concern onely estates of freehold and inheritance , will be very inconvenient to purchasors ( who most commonly do reside at or near london , or trade or come thither , where the richest and most moneyed men and purchasors amongst the people are to be found ; and whose inhabitants or near dwellers , do amount to almost the one half of the commonwealth , and added to such as upon merchandise , or other occasions do come thither , and pass to and fro from ireland , scotland , and other foreign parts , will make up in number as many as the whole people of the nation , ) and be not a little prejudicial to such also as live in the countreys more remote ; who for any thing of value , do usually , either come themselves on purpose to london , or employ their attorneys or lawyers to procure their conveyances to be there made , where the best of lawyers , and most variety are most easily to be found and advised withal in the term times ) to travel or send to those several counties where the lands do lie , to have their deeds inrolled , or for such as dwell and purchase in remote counties , either to content themselves at home with such counsel o● lawyers which the country affords , and adventure their estates and security upon it , or go on purpose or send to london to have their conveyances made ; and when they are brought home , send to the shire-town to finde the register , or some before whom to acknowledge the deed , which may happen to be many miles distant from him ; and for them that buy in london , to be at the charge to carry those that do sell and live as far as yorkshire , or other remote places , or make their bargain in london , for lands lying in wales , or the west part of england , into that country where the lands do lie . and send or travel to inroll a deed for every parcel of land in its several county , the lands therein sometimes extending into three or four counties , and many times into more then one , when as now one uninconvenient charge to inroll it at london , will serve for lands in all the counties mentioned in the same deed. or upon any suit or occasion at london or westminster hall , where all the suits and actions of concernment are , amongst many other businesses most commonly and commodiously dispatched at one and the same time by the nobility , gentry , merchants , tradesmen , and seamen of the whole nation , and the generality of all the people ( except cottagers and day laborers , and the more rustick part of the yeomandry or husbandmen ) and do as so many several lines drawn from the circumference , meet in the term times or upon other occasions at london in one and the same center , to travel or send backward and forward ; and perhaps to several places at great charges and distances to take copies of deeds or records , where now they can have them all in one place , or within little more then a mile of it : the records or registries which are to be as mens publick evidences when the private are lost , will not in times of war or trouble ( which most nations at one time or other , do meet with ) be at all or so safely kept as the records are at london , being the chief city of the nation ; and as the heart thereof , the residence of the supream authority , and such a strength , as is not easie to be forced or taken , and most likely to be the last place that shall suffer by any foreign or intestine troubles , and which hath hitherto in most of our unhappy civil wars , for several ages preserved the publick records and evidences of the people , in the tower of london , chappel of the rolls and treasuries at westminster ; places not onely strongly built with stone , but so carefully looked unto , as no candles or fire are permitted to be used in the same . there being always likely to be a vast difference between the safe keeping of records and evidences in a city , that hath above two hundred thousand men , with a magazin , and strong hold , and more ships and furniture for shipping to guard them , then all the shire-towns , ports , and havens of the rest of the nation can make , and furnish out , if all were put together , and a shire-town which hath neither walls , nor strength , or any considerable number of people to defend them , there being of fifty and two shire-towns , but twenty two cities and walled towns , and those so weak and unfortified , as hull onely and bristol , and some few excepted , every rebel-rout or insurrection may plunder or destroy them . the consideration whereof did heretofore put the kings and supream magistrates of england , in minde to get from time to time , as much as they could into their care and custody , the records of the iters , judges , circuits , the hundred and petty court rolls , perambulations of forests , being the out-lying and scattered records of the nation , and all that could be saved and got together , from the rage and troubles of former times , and the careless keeping of such as had the charge of them , and put them into safe custody in the tower of london , or treasuries for records at westminster ; and to that end , from time to time did send their writs to command the bringing in of the records of several courts into the treasury , which was usually done by indemures , under the hands of the judges that brought them in , and the officers who received them , and made allowances out of the exchequer , for the kalendring and wel-ordering of them . the having of which publick records , memorials , and evidences , as so many jewels of inestimable value ( wherein our laws and liberties , and all that we have concerning our estates , lives , progenitors , and predecessors do reside , and are recorded ) so safely preserved for the help and instruction of our selves and posterities , being justly accounted to be a blessing . may teach or give us to understand , what an evil condition the people of england would have been in , if they had lost those cabinets and jewels of their estates and memories , or were but inforced , if they could be found again , to send from as far as the people of scotland do now with great trouble and expences , from all parts of their nation into england , to the tower of london , to search and take copies of the evidences of their estates or reconcilers of their controversies , or how easily they might have been lost , if in wat tylers , jack cades or ketts popular frenzies , they had been kept either in kent or southwark , or such like open and unfortified places ▪ or what had become of them , if they had lain dispersedly in the shire-towns , in our late harassing and destroying civil wars . and that by such , or some other disasters , we might have had as bad an accompt of them , as are now to be had of all the records and court rolls of the sheriffs turns , county and hundred courts , courts leet , or courts baron , and justices in eyre , since the time of william the conqueror , and k. henry the second : when as none of the sheriffs turns , county and hundred courts , can shew us any records of above twenty years standing , if so much , the proceedings therein , being either not entred at all , as they should be , or not well kept or ordered : and the other inferior courts not far above one hundred years , where any care hath been taken to keep them , and many times not so much : and for one that exceeds one hundred years , there are ten which do not reach to half a hundred . and that those records of the petty and inferior courts of antient times , which are now to be found in the treasuries , and amongst the records at london and westminster , do not amount to any more then to about the ten thousandth part of those country and inferior courts records , which are lost and not to be found ; and that those that are to be seen , are but as some pitiful scraps and torn pieces of what have been rescued and taken out of the jaws of time and antiquity . such an inforcement to register all such deeds in the proper counties , will without any necessity of war or publick safety , take away the common right and liberty , which god and nature , and the laws of the land , have given to every man ; and so far exceed monopolies , which never yet reached to mens private evidences , as that it will too much resemble the king of spain's paper , which every man in spain is bound to buy at a rate , to write his contracts and assurances upon , will be as a selling of justice contrary to magna charta , the petition of right , and the liberties of the people , who have of late as well as formerly fought for them , with the hazard and loss of so many of their lives and estates ; and which the army have so often by publick and private remonstrances , called god and men to witness , they would be car●ful to preserve for them ; and if all deeds of bargain and sale registred , shall be enacted to have the force and effect of fines with proclamations and recoveries , and bar as they do . chap. iii. the inconveniencies if all deeds of bargain and sale , shall be enacted to have the force and effect of fines with proclamations , or of recoveries , and to bar as they do . that most ancient and strongest kinde of assurance , for conveying and passing of lands from one man to another , by an undoubted and irrevocable title , known to be in use long before , and ever since the conquest ; and which , without any strained guess or conjecture , and with more probability for it , then against it , may to such as know that our fines are recorded as an agreement betwixt the parties acknowledged in the court of ▪ common pleas , before the judges , et multis aliis fidelibus ibi praesentibus , and many other good people there present ; seem either to be deduced , or very much to resemble that manner of assurance or conveyance which abraham had of ephron the hittite , when he bought of him the field of ephron for a burying place for himself , and his wife sarah ; where after the agreement or bargain made for it , the holy scripture saith it was made sure to abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of heth , before all that went in at the gates of the city , ( which was their court of justice ) will be taken away , to give place to that , will be a great deal dearer , and a worse assurance then a fine ; which as to the indentures of chyrograph ( if there were no other necessary foregoing writs and solemnities to make it legal , and prevent counterfeiting ) would amount but unto about five or six shillings . and ( if it shall be endeavored to be made equal with a fine , with proclamations , and as safe from forgeries , and be a bar as such fines are , should be read and proclaimed , and hung up in tables as fines are , to be read at the assizes , in the county where the land lies , and be also hung up in tables at westminster-hall , and read and proclaimed in open court , or some eminent place , in four terms after the ingrossing or acknowledging of it ; to the end , that such as are for ever to be concluded by it , may not pretend ignorance . and yet if that were done , there cannot be in a deed inrolled , reasonably supposed , that ground or reason , which besides the parties agreement and consent , appears to be in a fine or recovery , viz. that it is done upon a demand , suit or action , and interpleading in the court of common pleas , whereby the parties are for ever bound and debarred to say , it was not so by the strength and power of a double estoppel , in so high a court of record against the record , whereof there can be no averment . for all our former acts of parliament do in their preambles , which are to be as the keys to open and expound the minde and intention of the makers , and to bring the act it self unto a reasonable exposition , most commonly ( if the reason it self were not obvious ) not onely take care to express and declare the reason and cause , of that which was commanded or forbidden , but made every thing that was to be done in order , to such prohibition or command , to carry and bring along his reason with it , whereby to make known its consistence and agreeableness with right reason . which being the ground , foundation , and support of all laws , is so every where visible in our laws , ( where time hath not made some alteration of that which was before the basis and reason of it ) as every thing therein , if not mistaken by ignorance , or such as make too much haste to censure or condemn it , before it be heard or understood , may upon due examination , ( some small or very inconsiderable defects perhaps or redundancies , which the greatest perfections under the sun , are to be allowed onely excepted ) not onely justifie it self , but condemn those that have been too busie in finding fault with it , it being a never failing principle in the laws , that ratio legis is anima legis , and gives life and being to it . and therefore it will be a dangerous president , and of ill consequence , that acts or things in law , grounded upon several reasons , and very much differing in the magis and minus , or extent thereof , should be made to be of one and the same operation and effect ; as that a grant by copy of court-roll should pass an estate of freehold as well as copihold , a fine levied by tenant in tail , bar a stranger in remainder , as immediately as it doth the issue of his body ; or that a general plea or issue , not guilty ( the manifold inconveniences whereof , have all over england been sufficiently experimented ) should carry and amount to as much , as all other more legal pleas and issues ; or that any thing of an inferior consideration shall be of the same effect , as a superior or more weighty , as that the sign manual or privy seal of the supream magistrate , shall be as binding as the great seal of england ; that an interlocutory sentence shall be as much as a decree , sentence , or judgment , upon a full hearing or debate ; that an acquittance without hand and seal , or words of release of all actions , shall be of the force of a release of all actions under hand and seal ; a lease parol , or by word of mouth , or a deed poll should be as much as by indenture ; that a contract or promise of marriage , before two witnesses , shall be as much as a marriage duly solemnized ; and that things said or spoken without oath , shall be as much aupon oath ; all which would be against that right reason which do usually accompany our laws . women covert , who upon levying of fines , were to be examined , whether they did freely consent , or do it , must now sign and seal , the deed to be inrolled as well as their husbands , if dower be to be barred , and examined as they were wont to be upon levying of fines ; for by law they are not barred by a deed inrolled , in regard of their coverture . deeds of bargain and sale , covinously or deceitfully gained , by greedy and insinuating oppressors in taking advantages , and working upon mens necessities , or gotten by cheating gamesters of some yong gentlemen , who many times loose their lands before they finde their wits , or some fawning cormorant citizens who gets into such witless mens estates , upon kindly supplying their wants with a knavish bargain of beaver-hats , st. omers onions , brown paper , pack-thred , and such like trash , or loosing commodities , shall have no remedy or relief in chancery allowed them as formerly . if that such deeds inrolled shall have the force of fines and recoveries for that against fines and non-claims and bars by recoveries , there can be no releif to be had in conscience or equity , because it might otherwise be a means to impeach and open a gap , to break into all other mens estates and conveyances . so as that which by these proposals is pretended to be a way to prevent deceipt , will in such , or the like case , become the greatest fortifier and defender of it . such a transferring of the power of fines and recoveries into registred deeds , may hereafter much prejudice and terrifie such , as by this new way of registring shall have deserted the suing out of fines and recoveries . if another parliament , either in this or any future ages shall happen to repeal , or take it away , or the inrolments of deeds or records thereof , lying in so many dispersed and unsafe places , should happen to be lost , and subject them and their estates to all manner of claims and controversies , which they would otherwise have been freed of , if they had been permitted to make use of the old and safe way of fines and recoveries ; which in all the commotions of people or petitions of parliaments , were never yet found fault with , or desired to be taken away . there will be a great difference betwixt fines and deeds inrolled , not onely in the manner of passing and acknowledging of them , but in the benefits , priviledges , and safety , which as inseparable concomitants do attend fines , but cannot by any rule of right reason , be simul & semel , or at all put over to deeds inrolled or lodged in them , for fines which are to be acknowledged in court , before two judges , at the least , or out of the court , before the lord chief justice of the court of common pleas ; and if by commission , which is to be signed by the lord chancellor , or lord keeper , and lord chief justice of the court of common pleas , or by some of the justices of assise or the circuit where the land lieth , ought to be directed to men of quality and conscience , and expert in the laws of the land , one whereof is to be a knight , ( the writs of covenant whereupon they are grounded , passing the great seal of england , and so many sworn officers and judges hands and perusals , ) and have a duplicate or double indenture of chyrograph so cut , one in another , as one must necessarily discover the other , if there be any variance or falsification in them , and so many places and offices recording them , cannot be counterfeited , or if they should , will easily be found out ; but deeds so to be registred and inrolled , which shall not be attended with so many cares and cautions , may easily be forged , counterfeited , or antidated , and bring with them more deceits and incumbrances , then they do pretend to prevent ; and fall into all the inconveniences , questions and debates , which fines and recoveries , being the grand and common assurances of the land : for lands betwixt party and party , have by those many laws and cases , which have been adjudged to indulge and protect them , hitherto avoided and escaped . the same power and force which are granted to fines , cannot with justice or convenience , be given to deeds inrolled against the bargainor or his heirs , or those that may claim the lands , because in deeds there are most commonly reciprocal covenants , and some things to be performed on the bargainees part , which may demand equity or performance , and many times no words of warranty or release ; but i● a fine , there is onely a grant , release , and covenant , to warrant on the part of the cognisor , or he which levieth it . and if taken away from the people , will loose the supreme magistrate and his revenue , ten or twenty thousand pounds per annum ; which the people having the benefit of such an ancient and sure way of conveyance , which had in e. . now almost four hundred years ago , so great and due respect given unto it , as it was by a parliament held in that year , declared , that the order of law will not suffer them to be levied without a writ original ; and that the cause of the solemnities then used in fines , was because a fine was so high a bar , of so great force , and so strong a nature in it self : and hath been setled , confirmed , and brought to the perfection it now enjoys , by fourteen or fifteen acts of parliament , and for the greatness of the assurance , and the peace and quiet which it bringeth with it , justly said to be finis sructus exitus & effectus legis ; the end , fruit , and effect of the law , and a fine , because it doth finem litibus imponere put an end to most suits or controversies can arise against it , did never as yet , or have in all their petitions in parliament , which have been since or before , concerning other grievances , so much as complained of or grudged . and though they had no cause or reason to complain of fines and recoveries , will not like so well as the proposers . to be compelled to register all their former deeds or evidences , if but for ten or twenty years past , under a constraint or penalty to be otherwise of no effect , or not so available in the law as they would have been formerly . chap. iv. of the registring of all mens former deeds or other evidences , if but for ten or twenty years past , under a penalty to be , otherwise of no effect , or less then they would formerly have been . for that were to make any law which should be made to such a purpose , to be guilty of a retrospection , or looking backwards in its commands or prohibitions , and the penalties ensuing thereupon , which can have no rule or pattern from the laws or word of god , who in the making of his most righteous laws , made them to binde , and look onely to the future : and when he might do what he would with his clay , not onely commanded those laws to be written very plainly , but was so willing to pardon sins of ignorance , as he ordained a sacrifice to be made for them . and when in the forbidding the children of israel to marry within certain degrees or nearness of blood , under the penalty of death , or cutting off from the people , he had said , after the doings of the land of egypt , wherein ye dwelt , shall ye not do . did not either punish or call them to account for any former marriages contrary thereunto . moses therefore who understood the minde of god , concerning those laws which he had received from him , better then all other legislators or law ▪ givers which have been since , ( the onely son of god excepted ) being to die , commanded them to be often read unto the people , that they might hear and observe them . the wedg of gold , and shekels of silver , and the babilonish garments , for which achan was stoned to death , by all the people , had not been the accursed things , but the lawful spoils of war , if the foregoing prohibition had not made them to be so . nor had saul so grievously , or at all offended , or been punished for sparing agag , being his prisoner and captive in war , if the command or charge of god before hand had not made it to be an offence . which our english laws have so much imitated . as the act of parliament of e. . ordering all pleadings to be in english and inrolled in latin , and not in french , as they had been formerly , did neither order or intend , that all the pleas for the years before , should be entred over again , and made to be in latin. the statute of h. . cap. . for acknowledging of statutes or recognisances for debts , hath an express saving for recognisances taken before the major and constables of the staple , though they did not concern merchandise ; which was the evil sought to be remedied . the statute of h. , cap. . for transferring of uses in possession , making great alterations in mens estates , did after many savings and provisoes , ordain , that all lawful wills and testaments , made or to be made , before the first day of may , . should be of the same force as they were forty years before , notwithstanding the said act ; and that actions then depending , should not be abated or discharged , by reason of the executing of any estate by authority of the said act. the act for inrollments of deeds of bargain and sale made in the same year , and parliament , was ordained not to take effect , until after the last day of july , which should be in the said year . the statute of & e. . c. . forbidding the buying and selling of offices , concerning administration of justice , doth expresly provide , that all acts or things before done in the execution of such offices , should be good until the parties offending , contrary to that act , be removed out of their places , and that all bargains and contracts made for offices , before the first day of march , then next coming , should be in such force and effect , as if that act had never been made . and all our acts of parliament which were not private , or by way of pardon for offences past , have until the act of attainder of the earl of strafford , in anno . wherein there was a proviso , that it should not afterwards be made or taken to be a precedent , been made and ordained for the future ; and in all their orders and prohibitions , looking forward , and for the time to come , and not seldom , prefixing a day or time when the act should begin to take effect . and for fear least any particular should be damaged in their intentions , and care of the general , have besides a saving of other mens rights , been loaded with as many provisoes to that purpose , as any their cares or forecast could possibly put them in minde of . wherin we may hope that our no foolish ancestors ( though some of their ingrate , and less wise posterity , have been pleased to think them otherwise ) did neither erre in following the opinion of saint paul , that by the law is the knowledge of sin , and we had not known sins , but by the law. and the guidance of gods holy laws and ordinances , or that which the light of nature , and laws of all other nations ( where justice and reason had any acquaintance ) could as well as their own , instruct them . for if laws which are rightly and generally defined to be praecepta quaedam à recta ratione tracta & deducta honesta imperantia & turpia prohibentia , certain rules and precepts drawn and deduced from right reason , commanding good and honest things to be done , and forbidding the contrary , should like janus ( whose retrospection was but feigned , as a loving farewel to the year past ) look backward as well as forward , and claw and fall upon all that was past , and behinde them , they would as to what is past , cease to be laws ; and instead of preventing evil , and doing good , prove to be no better then snares to catch and surprise men in their past and innocent actions , before such laws came to be known , or made against them , make the time past , out of a time to come , and be as to what is past , or had been done before , as laws altogether impossible to be kept , and as never known or published ; and the punishments or evils hapning upon them , as inflicted ▪ for offences before any law was made , to make or declare them to be so ; and be in the birth and making of them , like some fierce and pitiless winds , broke loose into the world , which with some benefit they bring along with them , in other things do at the same time , break , overturn , and throw down all that are near or about them , contrary to the care and love which god himself was pleased to shew to his people israel , in the making and giving of his laws ; to whom intending to deliver his laws with great terrors and majesty in mount sinai , to the end they might hear and obey them , he did three days before , give them warning to set ▪ bounds before them , and take heed that they came not near the mountain , least they or their cattle should perish or be consumed . and contrary to the rules of all the intellect and right reason , which god hath hitherto blessed the world withal ; and the rule and reason of all the laws of god , nature , and nations , civil , common , or cannon . but if there were nothing of ill example or consequence which might happen by this proposed retrospection in the making of other laws . such as inforced retrospection of deeds and evidences already past and executed , which could never yet deserve to have any entertainment , or to be so much as heard or mentioned in senates , will bring a very great charge and trouble to the people to register their former deeds and evidences , which were before as strong and valid , as the law and the best council they could get , could make them ; and to or from which , such registring by act of parliament ; without a judicial examination of the cause , and hearing of the parties concerned on both sides , can neither adde or diminish . or if they shall be pretended to be onely inforced to be registred , to prevent frauds and inconveniences for the future , by former bargains or dispositions ( which do so seldom happen to purchasers and money-lenders , as there is not one in every thousand which comes to any loss or mischances by them , will as to fines and recoveries , judgments , statutes , recognisances , and many deeds which are inrolled ( without some of which , no land , or almost bargain of consequence , doth pass from one man to another ; ) actum agere , and altogether needless for that , they being the greatest incumbrances to be feared , are better registred already , then they are like to be by the proposers . and for such deeds or evidences which the owners were unwilling to be at the charge of inrolling , as not being necessary ; they are not like to bring any disturbance or inconveniencies to purchasors , who by the fines and recoveries onely , which in every purchase or mortgage of any considerable value are sure not to be omitted , may if nothing else were to be found upon record ( though very many deeds of uses , trusts , intails , releases , and of other special concernments , are for preservation most commonly to be found inrolled ) easily understand there hath been some former disposition or alteration of the estate , which is to be suspected or looked after . and for the greatest part of them , are so little wanting to themselves in their purchases or lending out moneys , as they do not onely then and at all other times , before hand , summon in and be speak all the cares , diligences , and jealousies , possible of themselves , and their counsel learned ; but make out all manner of inquiries and scrutinies , concerning the title and value of the lands ; call for and peruse the sellers or borrowers deeds or evidences ; demand and require for assurance , fines , recoveries , feoffments , warranties , statutes , recognisances , or judgments , and counter-securities for performance of covenants ; and be sure to have a discharge of such mortgages , judgments , statutes , and recognisances , which are found upon record , or otherwise discovered , or to inforce the depositing of part of the money in their hands , to free or discharge incumbrances or answers upon oath in chancery , to discover them : and besides the usual covenants of freeing and discharging all manner of incumbrances done , or suffered by the seller or borrower , and if need be , some of their ancestors , or from whom they claim ; and of making better assurance within so many years limited , as the purchasor or lender , or their counsel learned , shall reasonably advise or require , do for the most part of them , like some grand seigniors , or men of empire in their wills and desires , upon such as are to sell or borrow to defend themselves agalnst some importunate necessities ; and must needs therefore bow down before them , and yeeld to all that is demanded of them , rather take too much , then too little security , to the great and many times impertinent cost of the borrower or seller , and that with so great severity , and never almost to be satisfied curiosity , in the inforcing , obtainning , making , recording and inrolling of their assurances , as it is to be wished , that they would but imploy the tenth part of that care and deligence , to secure and provide for a blessed eternity . and if amidst all these their cares and industries , they happen to meet with any former bargains or other titles , disturbing their purchases or mortgages , which is very seldom . or that such as greedily hunting after cheap bargains , and to have them to be so , can be content to adventure upon crackt or litigious titles , or incumbred estates , or in a wilful hast , or giddy confidence , think their money or fees well saved , if they trouble not a lawyer that is able to advise or make their conveyance to be safe and legal ; but will either do it themselves , or imploy some scrivener , parson of the parish , or yong clerk to make it , or will not be at the charge of a fine , or to stay a day or two longer to get a statute or recognisance , or have it done as it ought to be , do come afterwards to be deservedly troubled with defects or controversies in their conveyances or estates , which are for the most part caused or bred onely by the rashness , ignorance , negligence , or carelesness of themselves , or their attorneys or solicitors ( those few suits and troubles which sometimes accompany such kinde of purchasors , having for the most part , besides the knavery of those who should have been bound faster , no other cause or original , are all of them notwithstanding , not seldom holpen or set right again by those many remedies which the courts of law and equity do afford them against voluntary or dormant deeds , or such as are not made upon good consideration , old sleeping statutes , judgments or recognisances , not in a long time called upon or put in execution . so as to constrain the people to such a registry of all their evidences , onely to secure purchasers , who either will or might be sure enough to secure themselves without it , ( some defects in title being not by any registring , possibly to be discovered , if the deeds should be over and over , and every moneth in the year registred ) may seem to be as little necessary or pleasing to them , as for every one in a town , county , or nation , to be ordered or compelled to take phisick every year , or keep some costly or tedious way of diet to prevent apoplexies or gangreens , or some such like seldom diseases or accidents which may happen to their bodies , because some few have died or been much troubled with it , when as multitudes of them are in health and do not need it ; many fear it not at all , nor are likely to be in any danger of it , some so poor as they cannot be at the charge , and others not able to undergo the trouble or distemper of it . and more especially needless , when every man which doth but know any thing in our laws , or hath ever bought or sold land , or sought to recover any which hath been aliened from him , or had intails which his careful ancestors thought to have been an unalterable provision for him and his posterity , docqued and cut off , cannot but confess , that our laws have from time to time been exceeding careful , and made it to be a great part of their business , to secure and protect purchasors bona fide , who are already as well ( if not more ) provided for in their conveyances and assurances , as any nation under heaven ; and as far also as the care or wit of man could hitherto conceive it to be necessary by feoffments , with livery and seisin , fines and recoveries , leases and releases , demise and redemise , warranties , bars , and non-claims , prescriptions , estoppels , entries tolled , judgments , statutes and recognisances , with collateral security to perform covenants , discovery of incumbrances upon oath ; the statute of h. . for transferring of uses into possession , the act of parliament for inrolling of deeds of bargain and sale , an act to preserve the estate of tenants for years , in a recovery suffered by one in reversion ; an act of parliament in & e. . for saving and allowing of leases , and other kinde of estates not found in any inquisition or office to intitle the king ; three or four statutes or acts of parliament against fraudulent assurances , or such as go about to deceive men of their debts ; and another in eliz. ordaining a forfeiture of a years value of the land , by such as are parties or privies in the same ; the statute of ● eliz. for inrolling of fines and recoveries , to avoid errors in them ; three or four statutes or acts of parliament concerning bankrupts . the statute against forging of deeds , the statute of jac. for limitations of writs of formedon unto twenty years after the title accrued ; and another to quiet the titles of all men against the king , certain cases onely excepted , which had been in sixty years quiet possession ; another , that the lands of men , dying in execution , should be chargeable with their debts ; and another to make it felony against such as should levy fines , suffer recoveries , or acknowledge judgments , statutes , or recognisances in other mens names , with the rule of expounding grants , strictly against the grantors , debts to be paid before legacies , and trusts void as against creditors , and many other aids and assistances not here enumerated , which the laws have been at all times ready to contribute to such as shall timely and seasonably require or make use of them . but if there could be any necessity , ground , or colour of reason , to lay so great and needless a charge upon the people in general , in registring their former conveyances , to prevent a seldom or far lesser charge or loss which might but possibly happen to some few ; in particular , yet such a registring will certainly , besides many other evils attending it , revive and raise controversies betwixt adversaries , or such as have been the former owners or inheritors of the lands , make and multiply suits , which were never intended , or incourage others to project or make designs upon men and their estates ; and so breed and multiply informers , as few mens estates or titles shall be free from such kinde of vermin , and welwishers to themselves , more then to the commonwealth : and if no other troubles shall break in that way , lessen or take away the credit of those , who were before reputed to have had a good title to their lands and estates , especially when the late wars and plundrings , have lost or taken away a great part , if not all , of mens ancient and later deeds and evidences ; and where some shall appear to be registred , and others found to be wanting . or if they could be found or produced , will many times be to seek for those that did seal or execute them , whereby to have them acknowledged and registred . or when those that should be vouched to warranty , or sued in a warrantia charta , or to perform covenants , shall be gone beyond seas , or dead , or insolvent , and no witnesses to be found , that can tell or remember any thing of the contents or verification of them . the want whereof , may be a way to raise again , when courage and necessity shall meet together , the old way ( long ago laid asleep , and disused by our now more safe then formerly , keeping our records and evidences ) of gaging battel in a writ of right , and fighting by themselves or champions . to which , and many more troubles and inconveniences which may be hereafter sadly experimented , there will also be too large an addition . if all bonds , bills , leases , releases , feoffments , contracts in writing , and whatsoever writings else which may prove or happen to be incumbrances upon real and personal estates , must also be registred . chap. v. of the registring of all bonds , bills , leases , releases , feoffments , contracts in writing , and all other writings executed , which may incumber real and personal estates . for it will as to the debts and recognisances , fines , port-bonds , obligations , ( which have the force of statutes staple ) and accompts due to the king or supream magistrate ; which by their many priviledges , powers , and severities , may bring great incumbrances and troubles upon such as shall deal with such debtors or accomptants , by way of purchase or lending of money : and as to wills and testaments ( which by disposing & charging of lands , may sometimes obstruct or lessen the estates and assurances of purchasers ) decrees in chancery and the exchequer , fines and recoveries , judgments , statutes , and recognisances , raise a new and unnecessary charge upon the people , upon a pretence onely that incumbrances of mens estates and lands , cannot now be so readily found in twelve or thirteen places in london , within half a mile one of another , as they hope they will be by their supposed better registring or kalendring of them in above fifty several shire-towns , some thirty , some one hundred and twenty , and the least twenty miles distant one from another . for the debrs and accompts due to the supream magistrate and their discharges , are already entred and inrolled in the court of exchequer , attended by the clerk of the pipe , and his great roll , the two remembrancers , the tally , and pell , and auditors offices , and need not to be twice inrolled and registred . wills and testaments are registred in books of parchment , fairer and better kept then any records of the nation ; and for a small fee or recompence , laid open to the view of such as shall have occasion to seek for any thing in them ▪ fines are exactly and without any difficulty to be found in the fine office , and recoveries in the clerk of the warrants office in the court of common pleas the decrees in chancery , fairly entred by sworn registers , and their clerks in books of orders , and so methodically kept and kalendred , as the search hath nothing at all of hardship in it ; and are ( if the clerks of the six clerks do but their duty ) inrolled afterwards in parchment , and carried to the chappel of the rolls , where they are most orderly kept , and easie to be found ; the recognisances acknowledged in that court , being with as little charge and labor to be found in the inrollment office ; and after they are inrolled , carried in and laid up amongst the publick records thereof . the recognisances taken before the justices of the peace , are , or ought to be duly certified into the quarter sessions , and entred with the clerks of the peace of the several counties . statutes ( not merchant ) are orderly to be found in the statute office. decrees of the exchequer entred into books , and kept by particular clerks in the two remembrancers offices ; and the judgments of that court are , as the judgments are in the courts of upper bench and common pleas at westminster , duly entred and recorded in their several rolls or records in parchment ; and for such as are in the courts of upper bench and common pleas , entred upon posteas and after verdicts , have their particular clerks of the judgments , to enter and give accompt of them : the searches in all which several places , making no great charge to the people ; some whereof are to be had for nothing , others for four pence ; some eight pence , others twelve pence , and the greatest not exceeding sixteen pence ; which in a general search , though all those twelve or thirteen london offices and places , will not altogether be so much as the charge of a man and horse , for one days journey , for a single search to a registry , if not much above twenty miles distance . but if there could be any reason to enter and inrol them over again , and put them into fifty two several places and distances , so far of from one another , or to perswade or enjoyn people not to look for them , where with most ease and less charge they are to be found . the clerks or registers of such new erected offices ( if either they or their business could be for the good of the common-wealth ) will be too much exempted , and at liberty , if they shall not according to the law and rule of right reason , hitherto observed , be constituted and made to be under the survey or control , and sworn as officers or clerks of some of the superior courts ; as the clerks of the tower records , and chappel of the rolls are of the master of the rolls , the custos brevium of the upper bench ; of the judges of that court , the custos brevium ; and all other officers of the court of common pleas are ; of their judges , the two remembrancers and clerks of the pipe , by act of parliament ; and the chamberlain of the exchequer , and the keeper of doomsday book ▪ and divers ancient and miscellaneous records of great value are of the lord treasurer , chancelor , and barons of the exchequer . for if they shall not be incorporate and subordinate to some one , or every of these superior courts , as to several respects , whereby with less charge to the people , or trouble to those courts , to collect and make up their registers out of the records , if there could be any need of it ; as the clerk of the pipe and exchequer remembrancers are order'd by act of parliament , to do one out of anothers rolls or office , the decrees and recognisances in the chancery and exchequer , and the judgments in the courts of upper bench and common pleas at westminster , must by this new and unpractised way of registers , be certified out of those superior and grand courts of the nation , to those who are neither courts of record , nor intend to be in any subordination to them , with a great deal of unnecessary charge and trouble to the people , to procure exemplications under the seal of the said courts , or authentick and sworn copies of records of them ( the latter whereof being to be delivered by the plaintiffs , or those that obtained the judgments , or their attorneys , or any other interessed therein , may produce many inconveniences ) and send them to and from all parts of the nation , one as far as from kent to westchester , and another from oxford to york to lincoln ; and upon three several judgments had at london , as it many times happens upon one bond for payment of money , wherein three or four several men of three several additions or residence , do stand bound to send into wales , northumberland , devonshire , cornwal , or the like , to have them entred in the proper registries ; where also judgments in personal and transitory actions against men , who have neither lands or any fixed residence in one county , more then in another , and write themselves of several places , will be so much the more difficult in the search , and finding them ; as fisty two shire towns are most commonly farther distant from those that must go unto them , and at all times not a little remote one from another , and not so easie or expedite a search , as it would be with the registers , or at the chappel of the rolls , in chancery the prothonotary of the court of upper bench , the three prothonotaries of the court of common pleas , and in the pipe and two remembrancers offices in the exchequer , the office for probate of wills , the fine office , and clerk of the warrants and the statute office , who are all of them constantly to be found most part of the vacation , and all the term times , within less then a mile of one another at london , without sending any one on purpose thither . or if the plaintiffs or the superior courts , whose judgments and decrees once entred and inrolled , cannot by the judges themselves be stayed or arrested , without a writ of error in courts of common law , and a bill of review upon a decree in chancery , and are sworn not to deny any man common right , shall be ordered to transmit or certifie copies of such judgments or decrees , with an injunction , that they shall not be otherwise valid , or put in execution , will not onely be unparalelled and unpresidented , and against the oath of the judges , and common right and justice ; but render those ancient and superior courts to be but as half courts of record , and their judgments but interlocutory ; or as offices onely of inquest and inquiry , and the registries to be in effect and power , as their superiors . mean while the people having obtained any judgments or decrees in those courts , concerning lands or personal estate , sh●ll by this new way of registries , be ( if there shall be no provision or exception for such cases ) necessitated and put to another needless charg● ▪ and trouble of transmiting copies of 〈…〉 and decrees , which by a 〈…〉 , composition , or agreement ( whi●h happens so often , as there is not one judgment in every twenty in a year , considered one with another , which stands unsatisfied or unagreed , or remains as an incumbrance for three terms after ) do come to be either useless , or not at all to be put in execution or be disabled by such restraints , to take executions upon such judgments , which are not satisfied , though it be against a flying debtor , or a wasting estate , or to acknowledge satisfaction upon any such judgments , until they shall be transmitted to the registries ; where unless all releases , satisfactions , and payments , either in part or in whole upon judgments , shall be also entred . ( which with the other troubles of registring , will be enough to keep all the men and people of the nation , from the danger of falling into the lethargy or sleeping sickness ) they may receive mens moneys for searches and certificates , but never be able to give a certainty or truth of what shall be desired of them . bonds , bills , and other writings , which are now usually made upon all occasions , and at all convenient times and places , in above nine thousand parishes , sundays onely excepted , and many of them in half or a quarter of an hours space , with great dispatch and ease to the people ; cannot , if they must be registred , be made now , or done as formerly , without both the parties travelling together to the registry , or meeting at . or more shiretowns in fifty & two , to acknowledge and enter them , which may be forty , thirty , twenty , or ten miles off from the place where the contracts were made ; and will so trouble every mans ordinary , and formerly easie enough , affairs and business in that kinde , as to make them to be no less then extraord nary incumbrances , and too much discover every mans estate , and double every mans misery and wants , in taking away his credit , which might by degrees be a means to help him out of it . unlock and throw open every mans closet or place wherein he keeps his writings and evidences , and expose them for the registers fees , to the view of every one that shall have a desire to see and take copies of them ; which the chancery and other courts would not suffer to be done , or so much as to be seen or read by their adversaries , unless at hearings or tryals ; nor their counsel , attorneys , or solicitors , to be examined as witnesses against them , or to discover what they had seen , or understood by their writings or evidences . mens wives may by this means be as privy as themselves , to their estate and evidences , which wise and good men many times finde fitting to conceal from them ; to the end , that they may not lavish , and be the more irregular in their desires and expences . and their children more prodigal and wasteful , and less careful to please their parents , or to be governed by them in their marriages , when they shall know what is before-hand setled upon them . those that have good estates , will be rendred so , more then needs , to be visible ; as the taxers or assessment-men shall be sure to over-rate them ; for although there be found such deeds , or conveyances , or bonds , or bills made unto them , which may seem as a good estate or income they cannot , or at least will not be at leasure to computate their charges , and out-goings , or be able to judge how much they are trusted or seised to other mens uses , or how much of those lands are afterwards sold , or how much they stand indebted to others . many thousand tradesmen and merchants in the land , who live upon credit , diligence and industry , and have of their own scarce a tenth part of what they trade for , or is in their shops or warehouses , will be so laid open to the view and jealousie of their friends and creditors , or such as they trade with , as they will every one be so afraid of the poor debtors , and one of anothers being not paid first , or that they may come to be loosers , as they will strive who shall get himself first paid ; and so altogether distrusting and vying who shall be the first , rush in at once upon them , and be sure to destroy and tear them all in peices . no man when he sees a small or no estate in a yong hopeful tradesman , will lend him any thing to set up withal : and all those advantages which men may have by their towardliness , and honest , and hopeful endeavors will by this inquisition be taken away and made to be of little advantage . many of the nobility , gentry , merchants , tradesmen , mechanicks , yeomen , farmers , husbandmen , and even day laborers , being two parts in three of the house-keepers or masters of families in all the nation , who by the late wars and miseries of the times , and decay of trade and merchandise , are come either a great deal indebted , or so far behinde hand , as more then one half of them may be rationally enough believed to be , if their creditors did but know the weakness of their estates , not far from the prison door , or having their lands extended ; and all of them , if a statute of bankrupt could be sued out against them , irrecoverably thrown into ruine , will by this means be very much prejudiced in their estates and subsistance . yonger brothers and soldiers , and all such as have no lands , or certain visible estate , and are a considerable part of the nation , will never be able to advance themselves in marriage , or borrow money to buy land , or trade withal . such a registry will make a man that is but a little going behinde hand , to be reckoned as quite undone for that , if his payments and discharges of his mortgages and bonds , and every half year or six moneths payment of interest , be not also registred , or a search made through all the fifty two counties and registries , what he hath paid or discharged , or purchased , or had registred in his name in others places , or which he hath in charter , parties , or beyond seas , or in factories , retorns , or consignments , clearly liquidated or made to be certain and apparent , and will require a great deal of time and money to travel , or send from place to place so far distant to inquire of , which envy and ill-will , or the saving of charges , will hardly or doe very seldom permit , he shall be given over as a dead man , or a person infected with the plague , or some contagious disease which no man will come at . and if the party thus wronged or abandoned , shall go to right or clear himself by proofs or certificate , it will not onely make it to be an unusual and strange kinde of proces or inquiry , but to be very chargeable , whilest by the failing of his credit , and falling on of his creditors , he shall be sure to be undone , before he can tell how to right or clear himself from that imputation . it will too much advantage and encourage forreign kingdoms , states , and commonwealths , that are at present , or shall be hereafter in hostility with us , to make or continue wars , when they shall from year to year be able to finde the poverty and consumption of the nation ; and will by such an inspection into our books and registers , instruct forreign merchants or bankers , how to raise their moneys exchange or commodities , by working as they do too much already upon our merchants , wants and necessities , who will not be able to send or carry ready money , if they could be allowed to do it . bills of exchange which have their ground and foundation altogether upon the credit of him that gives it , and are as well at home , as in the parts beyond the seas , a cause of traffick and commerce , and the swift and sure conveyers of money ; and if it could be brought to a true examen and accompt , would appear to be so much carried and communicated to several hands and uses , meerly upon exchange and credit , as amounts to half the money and personal riches of the nation , will not in such a growth and fertility of distrust and jealousies , as will by this means be in all men and parts of the commonwealth , when it shall be known what money merchants do ow , or take up at interest , to trade withal ; be now made use of as formerly without a search , through all the fifty two registers , for fear least the bills should not be answered : and where merchants and men of credit are , if they accept a bill most careful to perform it , and not onely they that send , but those that do accept it , look upon a protest of not payment , as some mortal sickness happening to their trade , credits , or estates , will by reason of this engine of jealousies or distrust , neither know how to accept or give any bill of exchange will be very grateful to the theeves and highway-men of the nation , who have long taken this way of sending bills of exchange , to be a grievance and hinderance to their imployment ; when men being so generally affrighted by these new kinde of registries , shall rather adventure to keep and carry their money themselves , give them an opportunity of becoming , as they think the better keepers of it , and save them the hazard and charges of corresponding with ostlers , chamberlains , and tapsters in the inns , ot to employ sett●rs when by search in the registries , they may know what money is stirring , and how to way-lay the payment or carriers thereof . the assurance office , whereby so many do daily secure their fears , estates , and adventures at sea , now more used and requisite then formerly , will be so much distrusted ; as those that were wont to be afraid of storms and casualties at sea , will be now not a little afraid of the insurers , and whilest they shall stand consulting betwixt scilla and charibdis , spend so much time in it , as the news of their undoing may come unto them before they can finde the way to resolve how to prevent it . disgrace and disparage the city of london , the mother and nursery of all our trade and commerce , at home and abroad , shut up the old exchange , take away or destroy all our traffick , by land or sea , and the shipping and navigation thereof , and like a general beggery cast over all the nation , make every man afraid to trust or deal one with another . or if to amend the matter , all bonds and bills , shall by their registring have the force and power of judgments , statutes , or recognisances bestowed upon them . such a rigid and binding security which all men have hitherto looked upon as grand incumbrances to their estates , and did therefore in all their contracts and bargains , avoid as much as they could ; and which , the people did so little desire to press one upon another , as though ever since the reign of king edward the first ( which is now almost four hundred years ago ) it was in their power to require it , there is not above one statute or recognisance , or judgment , entred into or given as security , in or for every thousand bonds or bills which are made , and taken every year in the nation ; and if they shall now , whether they will or no , have all their bonds and bills made to be so fierce and biting , will upon satisfaction and payment be inforced to a great deal of charge and trouble in the discharging or vacating of them ; and in stead of taking of incumbrances , prove to be the greatest and most general in the nation . and not well agree with the laws of god ; and of this , and many other nations to binde or captivate the contracts of the people , which ( sundays onely excepted ) are daily and hourly made to so much trouble , charges , discredit , and severity , before they can be ratified , when as a more easie and gentle way of securities and contracting one with another have hitherto , and for many hundred years together dispatched them . will cause those that with care and discretion enough , may have an occasion for themselves or their friends , to stand bound in twenty several bonds for payment of money , or performance of covenants , or the like , to be so much discredited or distrusted by two or three bonds , which shall be found to be entred upon record , as every man doubting the priority of the former bonds ( if they shall be of the force of a statute or judgment ) will be afraid to meddle with them , or take them for security , make every man to be little better then a prisoner in execution , and to renounce the benefit of the law , which was his birth-right , before he can borrow a little money to satisfie his necessity or occasions , or to trade withal ; and like esau sell his birth-right for a mess of potage to pacifie his hunger ; and every bond and bill to be as a continual and standing commission of bankrupt to hover over him , and tear and pull him in peices ; and every borrowing of money , to be as a rack or torture of his credit , and a thraldom of his estate . strengthen the hands of the usurer and oppressor , bruise the broken reed , stretch out the paws of the bear , and sharpen the talons of the vulture ; leave the poor and honest to the cruel mercy of the wicked , to be gnawn and devoured like sheep , and teach the usurers ( a great part of whose trade and cunning , it is already like the kite to catch the chicken ) to finde out the necessities of the people , and prey upon them ; and if they give not what brocage they please , to lend them money or to forbear or continue it at interest upon the same security ( which ten thousand bonds and bills in this nation , by payment of the interest , and many times without , have been for two , three , four , or seven years together , without any suite or trouble begun , or made upon it ) inforce them to all manner of extortions and hard conditions ; which if they will not call a mercy or thank them for it , and fairly and quietly lie down , and have as many feathers as they please plucked of them , and live in as much fear of them , as the partridges do of the hawks , and by so much the more for that the usuring hawks can when they please ( which the other cannot ) know where to finde out their prey , utterly and at once destroy them by seising upon their goods and lands , and carrying them to prison . which will be contrary to those most righteous and unerring laws of god , and the minde and pity of the god of justice and mercy ; who in his own blessed laws , saith , ye shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child , if thou afflict them in any wise , and they cry at all unto me , i will surely hear their cry , and my wrath shall wax hot ; and i will kill you with the sword , and your wives shall be widows , and your children fatherless . if thou at all take thy neighbors rayment to pledge , thou shalt deliver it him by that the sun goeth down : for that is his covering onely , it is his rayment for his skin ; wherein he shall sleep . and it shall come to pass , when he cryeth unto me , that i will hear . thou shalt not take the upper or the nether milstone to pledge . when thou doest lend thy brother any thing , thou shalt not go into his house to fetch his pledge . which gives no way or allowance to the tearing of their credit in pieces , nor agrees with what our saviour christ , and his blessed apostles taught us , to do as we would be done unto . and blessed are the merciful . but if ye bite and devour one another , take heed that ye be not consumed one of an●ther . executions cannot be made thereupon , without certificate of the bonds or bills registred into the chancery , as is provided by the statute of acton burnel , e , . and if they be certified , will make another charge , and may and ought to be pleaded to ; as in the case of statutes merchant , or other statutes allowed of , and provided by the statute of hen. . cap . whereby the plaintiffs shall throw down and worry the defendants , and the defendants make a shift to get up again , and beat and take away their weapons from them by giving bail , to make proof of their complaints and suggestions suing an audita quaerelas out of the chancery , which like a bill in equity , having a long course of suggestions and witnesses to attend it , will loose more time , and make more charges upon such an after game and scuffle , then would have been expended in the ordinary way of proceeding or getting in money due upon a bond or bill , not having the force of statutes . for statutes merchant are to have a capias and a non est inventus returned , before there can be an extent or seisure of his lands or goods ; and upon a statute in the nature of a statute staple , the plaintiff or cognisee is first to have a certificate from the clerk of the statute office , to the clerk of the crown or commonwealth in chancery , who upon payment of an half penny in the pound , for the sum expressed in the statute , to the use of the supream magistrate , makes out the extent , upon which the sheriff by act of parliament takes for his fee twelve pence per pound for the first hundred , and six pence per pound for the other hundred , besides other charges : which writ of extent being returned , and filed in the petibag , is the warrant for a liberate directed to the sheriff , to give possession of the land extended , which is but many times the beginning of a greater charge , in bringing audita quaerela's or bills in chancery , when as it is in every year to be proved and acknowledged for a truth , that of eight hundred actions or writs issuing forth of the court of common pleas or upper bench in a year , in some one particular county for debt , upon bonds or bills or in some other personal actions , there are no warrants taken out to arrest above six hundred of them , in regard of the defendants speedy agreement ; and of those six hundred , not above three hundred are arrested , or come to enter their appearance ; and of those not above a half come to plead or make any defence , and not the on : half of them do afterwards come to tryal at the assises ; and not a fifth part of those do come to move in arrest of judgment , or sue out writs of error , or put in bills in chancery : and those that do not proceed so far as to arrest , do not put the plaintiff or defendant to so much as ten shillings a peice charges ; the second sort including the former charges not twenty shillings a piece , if the defendant be not a desperate fighter , and hard to be taken ; and the third sort , if there be no special or long pleadings , not above thirty shillings in all ; and the fourth sort , or such as come to tryal , not above four or five pounds , with all the charges reckoned together , besides that of witnesses or extraordinary counsel , so little is the expence of time and money , in the present way or course of suing upon bonds and bills , and other personal actions . and so much is like to be the delay , and charges , and vexation of that which some would so willingly have to succeed it . but if the trouble and charge of certificates into the chancery , and suing out of audita quaerela's , and such a generation of suits as are like to happen by such a severe kinde of securities , shall be endeavored to be prevented by making every registry to be a court of record , and to have something to hear and determine , as well as to write and register . chap. vi. of new courts or judicatories to be erected in every county , to hear and determine causes . there will be then fifty two judicatories or inferior courts more then are already erected , one of which to be added to every county in england and wales , will come before they will be welcome or wanted ; for every shire in england hath already the summer and winter assises , quarter sessions four times in every year , county courts every moneth , sheriffs turns , courts leet and baron , and weekly or three weeks courts in its city or towns corporate , amounting in every county to no less then two hundred , one with another ; which being in the wisdom of former ages , and some hundreds of years past , and every years experience since , sound to be in their due limits and bounds , very necessary and useful , do make as many law-days and meetings for the people , as they have need of . to help which new courts or judicatories to work or business , if bonds and bills which they would have the registring of , or any other of the causes or matters , which are and have hitherto been from time to time , dispatched by the courts at westminster ( when they had before the wars and troubles of these later times , almost half as much , or as many again as they have now ) with good content and conveniency to the people ; and to all who have had occasion to seek for , or attend their justice ( if those that are ignorant or peevishly self-conceited or discontented , because their desires or unjust expectations have been frustrated in some actions or suits , which they prosecuted or defended , ) would but let reason or truth be judge of their mistaken-apprehensions , and not lay their own or other mens errors or failings upon the courts or judges , shall be transferred and carried into these county judicatories , from the more knowing and superior courts and judges at westminster ; who besides their well-known learning , and justice in all causes , which are brought before them , may for an evidence or testimony of the peoples approbation of them , call to witness the many causes , which for many ages together , and in every year are , and have been removed from the inferior courts to the superior , for want of justice ; and the many juries and tryals at their bars , which by consent , both of plaintiffs and defendants , are yearly and termly brought from the counties , as well near as remote , to be heard by the more learned sort of judges and courts , and put unto the judgment , and determination of the less , or very little , or not at all able or knowing ; will stop up the ways of the places of the paths , where wisdom and justice made their constant habitation ; deprive and take away ( if they shall not be impowred to try by juries ) from every man , so much of his part and interest in magna charta , as the want of his tryal by his peers , or a jury will come to , put the spear of the mighty into the hands of those that are not able to weild or manage it , inforce the people to inquire of the blind and deaf , the way to make an end of their controversies by carrying their causes to such as are not able to judge or determine them , which may after the expence of much money , time , and labor , yield them as good a crop or harvest , as ulysses had when he counterseited himself to be mad by ploughing the sand or shore with his strange kinde of cattle , and sowing of salt instead of corn. or if the sheriffs turns and county courts , shall be put into the power and care of those judicatures , that ancient and necessary officer of justice , and the execution of the law , will be made either to be as nothing , or but the one half of what it was formerly , and ought to be ; and the whole frame of that ancient and useful jurisdiction put into disorder , or dissolved ; or if the hundred courts , leet and baron , will take away the inheritance , right , and property of the lords of manors , and the necessary relations and dependences , which are and ought to be betwixt them and their tenants , contrary to magna charta , and the whole tenor of our laws and liberties . or if these new judicatories shall as the systeme-makers had for the setting up of others , not long ago contrived , be made up of several parts or pieces , and torn or taken out of that goodly order and frame of our laws and body politick ; or as the romans did in their original contempt , and poverty , in the getting the sabine and neighbor virgins to be their wives , sally out upon other jurisdictions , and ravish and take to themselves what they can get , and no way belongs to them , will by all , or any of those ways , not onely vex and turmoil all sorts of people ; and bereave them as the members of the body politick of the daily care , influence , and communication of justice which they used , and ought to receive from the head and supream authority in a place so near unto it ; and those that sit at the helm of government of that termly intelligence which they should have , and cannot well be without at london and westminster , concerning the due administration and distribution of justice ; besides an half yearly inspection into the due execution of justice in the several counties of the nation , and the peoples content and satisfaction in it , by the assises wherein the judges of the superior courts , like so many stars and planets in our firmament , do keep their circuits and courses , but give them stones instead of bread , and grievances instead of remedies ; especially if they shall be guided and managed by ignorant , though honest well-meaning men or by tradesmen ( whom the athenians and romans , those wise and great common wealths-men of the world , did never think fit to imploy in the administration of justice ) or some small practised or unmolested doctors of physick , or men of a contrary profession , to that which should be the rule of their judgment , town clerks , or such who think they can understand better then write or read ▪ committee or lawyers clerks , or such as shall be but balbutientes , or novi●es in the laws , or very little or not at all furnished with the knowledge , experience , or practise thereof , or be assisted by sid●smen of their own capacities , or such as being phantastick or self-conceited , shall think they speak law or reason , or do justice ; when none but such as speed well by their doing the contrary , can be of that opinion , and would perhaps do right , if they could understand the way unto it , which to such men will not be very easie , whilest ( like those ignorant judges , which plato long ago complained of ) they sit as men astonished in the hearing of any difficult matter , and are to be taught by others ; and for want of knowledge in themselves , or how to distinguish betwixt right and wrong , do not know how to judge of that which is said or pleaded before them ; but whilest every one of them must have his own discourse , and speak his sense as they call it ; will be sure , too often , to leave the point , and reason , and truth of the case , like some house or place infected with the plague , and a cross and lord have mercy upon us put upon it ; and rail against the law , because it puzzleth them ; and the lawyers for troubling them ( as one of a country committee not long ago said ) with their many reasons . and misuse their power , and make it arbitrary in not doing what they might or should do , doing many things they should not do , and doing every thing they would do in making their orders as their vulgar reason , or the byas of partiality or ignorance shall carry them ; or if one or more should happen to be lawyers , and the major part none , their knowledge can go no further then their votes , or what they shall be able to perswade their misunderstanding , or not at all understanding companions unto . mean while the people ( who are sure to suffer by it ) are after a great expence of money , and abundance of delays , attendance , and trouble , which are usually to be found in such courts of later edition , sent home with the sad stories of their grievances and complaints , ready to make affidavit , that ignorance in the administration of justice , is an accumulation of evils ; the fruitful parent of many grievances , and a mighty oppressor . which will not be all the evils and mischiefs neither , which are like to come along with it ; for this their design of cutting , as it were , the moon into stars , and erecting these registries , and little tribunals , will by degrees remove into them , the business and being of the city of london , and courts at westminster ; which hath hitherto , by the justice and trade of the nation , residing in it , and a concourse of all people and nations , been made to be in that flourishing condition , which it was in at the beginning of the late wars , in a more near and especial manner , then to the more remote parts of the nation , communicated her riches and increase , to above twelve neighboring and adjacent counties , who by the raising of their land and commodities , and a daily and nightly vent in sending of it thither , have double or treble improved their lands in their yearly rents , and values ; and will not onely bring a great loss , destruction and ruine to the city and suburbs , consisting of above three and forty thousand houses , above half whereof , with the several families and inmates , which are in the suburbs , being almost two parts in three of the number , do depend onely or very much , upon the termly meetings at the courts of justice , but impoverish and make a general disturbance in all the parts and counties of the nation , as well near unto it , as remote . which are so incorporate and concerned in it , as they that know how the trade and money of london is diffused , and communicated to , and over every part of this nation ; and that there is not a city or shire-town , except bristol and hull , but hath most of their wares and commodities from thence , and most of that upon day or trust ; and that there is not a mercer or shopkeeper , or innkeeper , in all other cities and borrough , and little villages , but are furnished with their wines and commodities , and are as tributary unto them , and depend upon their welfare , cannot deny , but if london sink , they are not like to swim ; or , if london perish , they are not like to be without the taste or sense of some of their miseries . for no man can rationally imagine or believe , that after such a ruine or distruction of this great emporium , and onely town of trade , of the three nations of england , scotland , and ireland , and the taking away or lessening the courts of justice at westminster , the commerce or trade of the nation , can live or subsist in the cantons , or little pieces of trade or judicatories which shall be erected out of it , or that it can produce any better effect , then the laying waste of the glory of the nation , and the leading into captivity the laws and liberties of the people , or that half of the fifty two shire-towns , or any of them , can be so conveniently scituated as to have business and trade enough , to draw all the people and commodities from all parts of the nation to them ; or that lincolnshire fens , or buckingham , or northamptonshire pastures , or essex and suffolk , hertfordshire , kent and surrey , should or can finde in any of their adjacent shire-towns or registries , the hundred part of the vent which they now have for cattle , sheep , wool , hides , corn , malt , butter and cheese , and all kinde of commodities ; or that it will be any more then to kill and destroy the heart , the principal part and seat of li●e ; and to hope notwithstanding , that the liver , veins , and arteries , and all that conveyed blood , spirits , and nutriment to it , and received life in exchange from it , or the feet and hands , stomach and belly , that used to supply and be subservient to it , or the head and eyes that used to govern or guide the body which belonged to it , can be in any good condition , and enjoy a health or welbeing , when that so eminent , so vital , and principal a part of the body shall be cast into a consumption , languish , or be extinguished . and yet when all is done , and the sad effects and consequences of it suffered , the design or pretence of these registries of securing all purchasers of lands , and lenders of money , or to make mens estates to be so visible and transparent , as no man in selling or borrowing , shall be able to cozen or deceive , or not satisfie one another ; will be no otherwise possible , then to break in pieces , and disturb a whole nation , and put them to a great and unnecessary expence , to do that over again which is already done , and better then they can do it , and leave them open , notwithstanding to as many hazards and contingencies as they were before ▪ chap. vii . that it is impossible to provide against all which may happen to be incumbrances . for confiscations and forfeitures of lands ; for treason , murders , felonies , and premunires , may be grand incumbrances to purchasors , or the creditors of those that commit them . misdemeanors , fines , forfeitures of offices or places ; mortgages , statutes , recognisances , bonds and penal bills ; breach of penal laws , covenants , trusts and conditions , which arising out of the wills or pravity of men , or the necessities or carelesness of themselves , or oppression of others ; from causes either in themselves or others , 〈◊〉 from actions past or to come , may be a loss or lessening of mens debts , or great obstructions in the recovery of them , dowers , intails , powers of revocation ( not to mention or insist upon the various or manifold incumbrances which may arise or come by copihold estates , which being not chargeable with debts or extents , are in themselves incumbrances , and were not long ago little less then a sixt or seventh part of the lands of england , with their admissions , surrenders , in or out of court , absolute or conditional , and their many several sorts of forfeitures ) lands of gavelkind or burgage tenure , ioyntures , made after marriage and refused , elopements , and unlawful marriages , tenancy by curtesie , and trusts with other mens money and estates , moneys insured by policy of exchange , bills of exchange accepted ; errors in matter of substance , in some of the creditors judgments , which may be a cause of reversing them , disherison of sons and heirs apparent , concealed illegitimacies , intrusions , and wrongful entries , actions of battery and scandal , and all manner of actions or suits in law or equity , which may lessen or prejudice any mans estate ; assumpsits , promises and ingagements by word of mouth ( which may make as many obligations , troubles , and ties upon mens estates , as bonds or bills can do , or did before such kinde of writings or instruments were invented , imbargoes , high flying , gaming or gading wives , which the roman censors would have reckoned amongst incumbrances ; prodigal children ▪ losses by fire , sea or land , wars , factors , or bad servants , suretiship , or too much trusting , death of those for whose lives they held land or estates , or had any dependancy upon , sickness , decay of trade , deceits or wrongs done by others , vain and unnecessary expences ; many of our actions past or to come , in facto or fieri , esse or posse . and all manner of casualties , accidents or contingencies , which are not visible before-hand , or appearing , or possibly to be found in any registry , may prove to be no small incumbrances to money lenders upon bonds , or bills , iudgments , statutes , or recognisances , especially if the debtors have no estates in lands , or shall be liable to statutes of bankrupt ; which all the lillies , or those which pretend to be in commons , or greatest familiarity with the stars , or the greatest wits or endeavors of men ; can neither perceive before they happen , or tell any one how to escape , but must be constrained to reckon it amongst the number of the grand impossibles to be done by the sons of men , and confess it to be a work onely sit for omniscience and preseience , of which there will be a non datur to these new kinde of registers , as well as other men . and would in the attempt of it , busie and employ all the clerks and writers of the nation ( though to no-other purpose ) then to make the people travel up and down , vex themselves with fears and jealousies , and spend more then twenty times as much again , as they do now in their writings , assurances , or contracts ; whereas all the charge of the inrollment office in chancery , wherein three parts in four of the inrolled deeds of the nation are inrolled , did never as yet cost or put them to the charge of above one thousand pound per annum . the accompt and ballance of which vast registry , and the calculation of the riches , poverty , or estates of men , lands bought or sold , transferred or settled to uses ; and passed after or involved in two or three other mens estates . and what is become of the money , with the payments , satisfactions , profits , incomes , losses , rises or falls in expences in house-keeping , apparel , or recreations , releases , acquittances , and discharges of lands , statutes , judgments , recognisances , bonds , or bills , promises , covenants or contracts , with those many numberless intricacies and impossibilities which will attend such a work ; will not onely confound the auditor , or a whole colledge of astrologers , if they should undertake it , but give them or any who shall come to be satisfied or secured by them to understand , that it will be as vain in the product or expectation of it , as the design of uttamacomock the virginian , proved to be ; who being taken at home for a grand piece of policy , was sent hither in king iames his time , and directed by powhatan his king or emperor , to take the number of the people of england , and learn their estate and condition ; did when he came to plimouth , stand at his lodging door , and upon a long stick cut a notch for every one that came or passed by : but at last , finding his notches like to wear out his stick , and not being able to know or distinguish those that passed by , or returned ; or for which , he had made notches before , had the wit to give over and conclude the people to be very numerous , and the work impossible . chap. viii . that ( if it could be possible ) the people will not willingly be at the trouble or charges in all their contracts , to search in so many county registries to discover incumbrances . or if this impossible could ( as it never will ) be made possible , and that all or any part of what is designed could be feasible , and that there could be at every shire-town such a rare glass or perspective , at the peoples charge , as they pretend to make for them ; the most part of the people will , when all is done , be like to do but as they do already , which is not in one of every bargains , or lending of money , or contracts which they make ( unless where they have to do with some very much inoumbred , and indebted persons and estates ) to busie themselves or their purses in searching for judgments , statutes , or recognisances , or scriveners books , or what fines are leavied , or deeds inrolled , though the searches be not either very troublesome or costly , but rather tarry at home , and believe one another , satisfie themselves by private informations and inquiries , and take , as they have all this while done covenants or collateral securities , to be freed from incumbrances , or upon any probability of distrust cause them to be discovered upon oath , or be as unwilling to be at the labour and charge to prevent such seldom happening frauds or the wrongs which they may receive by them , as they are in multitudes of deceits , cozenings and cheatings which every week or oftener are put upon most or many buyers at markets , and in the trading and commerce of most men one with another , though the laws have provided several sorts of remedies and reliefs , and the court leets and sheriffs torns , twice a year holden to enquire amongst other things , of those or the like frauds and some of the buyers as well as the sellers , the cozened and the cozening , those that commit the frauds and deceipts , and those that suffered by them are not seldom sworn and impannelled in juries to present them , and every one , or too many as it is to be feared , do buy by false weights and measures which the office of the clerk of the markets , and the care which should attend it , and the punishments of pillory , and other severities , ordered by our laws against the offenders , have not been able to restrain , and yet by course or custom do too contendedly endure it , or not put themselves to the trouble of complaining of it . which until a glass , or christal , or window can be contrived in every mans heart ( and head ) to be looked into to discern their hearts and purposes ( and their intentions made unalterable ) as thales one of the seven wise men of greece , being appointed by apollo with some other wise men and philosophers to reform the world in that learned and pleasant mythologie of traiano boccalini had proposed to be made ; will render this design of preventing all or many frauds , and freeing all mens estates and assurances from incumbrances , to as little purpose as the great care which was taken by edward the third and his parliament in anno of his raign , to have correctors in every city and town of the staple to make and record bargains between buyers and sellers , now and long since ( if ever put in execution ) utterly disused , and believed to be more troublesome then necessary , or or as mr henry robinson's kinde office of addresses , or helps to borrow or lend moneys , buy or sell , or rent land or houses , help men or maids to services , or any that want solicitors for their suites at law cum multis aliis &c. which being erected at his own charges some years ago , the people who thought they could better do their business themselves ( though he was content to take for his fees , but what they themselves should think reasonable ) so little relished , as he and some others who have since driven on that design of publick advice and assistance , have to their costs and charges found it to be onely an essay of their own invention , which hath neither answered their charges or expectation . nor will this design of registring at all , or in any thing gratifie or benefit the people , who will thereby have their charge and trouble as greatly as needlesly multiplied , and their laws by degrees reduced into many little courts and iudicatories which will be as much for their good as those many grievances and oppressions heretofore put upon them by lords and men of power and great estates , sheriffs in their county courts and tornes , bailiffs and stewards , in the court-leets , and court barons , long agoe heavily complained of , and by the care of many good acts of parliament , at length remedied , or bring the commonalty of our more happy england , into that servile and sad condition of the common people of france , who having at one and the same time many perpetual parliaments , or courts so called , and a multitude of baillages seneschauses resorts , and petty jurisdictions , with their numberless presidents and lievtenants criminel and civil , and as many appeals as their contentions can possibly purchase , are not seldom in the chase of one another through their many inferior courts to the superior or dernier resort , with as little money left them as hopes of gaining any thing more then a repentance , brought to a loss of much of their time , as well as their estates . and will gain as much hereby , as to their needless charges , as they would do if all the people of england from one year old to fifty , should be ordained to buy and weare spectacles at more then the ordinary rate , because such as live to be fifty or threescore and upwards , may have need to benefit and help their eyes thereby , or as the french do by way of imposition or gabel of a certain proportion of salt enforced upon every family at the kings rates , whenas many of the common people have more salt then meat . or as to have it ordained that every town and village shall all along the high-wayes in the bounds of their parishes keep a strong and constant watch and ward , every day but sundayes , betwixt sun-rising and sun-setting , to prevent roberies and catch thieves , because sometimes upon actions brought upon the statutes of winchester , and for hue and cry , the inhabitants of some few hundreds are but selfom enforced to pay for the money , goods , or cattel lost , or that all villages and towns , not having ( as there are very many ) any physitians to cure diseases , and apothecaries with their shops abundantly furnished with allmanner of medicaments , to prepare and administer them , should keep and maintain physitians and apothecarie at the chargeof the inhabitants or the publick , because that one part of three , or a very great part of the people do die sooner then otherwise they would do , or languish under long and incurable pains and sicknesses , and expend much money to no purpose for want of them , or skill , or care to prevent diseases , or not seeking a cure by physitians or apothecaries dwelling far off before it be either a great deal more difficult or chargeable , or impossible to be helped . and as great advantages touching the preservation of their happy and well known and approved laws and liberties , as the now and long agoe wandring , and every-where dispised iewes , had by crucifying their saviour and letting loose barabbas the murtherer . for the hoped for importation , or our imitation of any such forreign customs , or the expected fruit and benefit by this design of registring ( whatsoever they shall be fancied to be beforehand , until it shal otherwise be lamentably experienced ) will never be able to ballance or recompence the charges of one hundred thousand pounds per annum , pretended to be raised for the king as a constant and perpetual revenue by that way of registring and nine or ten hundred thousand pounds per annum , or a million of english monies , which the people must pay for unnecessary registring of many of their deeds , writings , and contracts more then they did heretofore ; & those other great disturbances , ruines , and alterations in the nation , troubles and charges in all mens estates , businesses , and affairs , which will arise and happen by it ; when as the registring , supposed to be such an antidote against incumbrances shall prove to be the cause , not of a few , but very many mischiefs & inconveniences , not incombrances and needless charges only in some one single case of a hundred , or five hundred , and seldom , but for ever upon all the people of england , not upon a part onely of their estates , but all , and not upon all men for life , or in tail , or for a short time , or but upon some of their generations , but until some good angel or act of parliament , by the mercy of him which dwelleth on high shall be sent to our pool of bethesda , to recal and cure them , remain as an estate in fee - simple , and perpetuity to all our posterities . quae procul a nobis flectat deus ipse gubernans et ratio potius quam res persuadeat ipsa . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a -e cook. part . institutes . hill. e. . in banco rot. ● . somerset . notes for div a -e §. . §. . § . §. . §. . §. . §. . § . notes for div a -e §. . gen. . . §. . §. . § . § . § . doctor and student . and lib. . cap. . §. . § . §. . §. . plowd●ns comment . , . notes for div a -e §. . deut. . . levit. . levit. . josh. . sam. . . rom. . . chap. . . cicero philip . . vida lib. . de dignitat . reipub. exod. . , . § . §. . § . § . notes for div a -e coke's reports , sir will. herberts case . reports . sir thomas cecils case . and reports . earl of devonshire's case . § . § . § . § . § . § . § . § . § . § . § . § . § . § . § . § . § . § . § . § . § . § ● . § . § . § . exod ▪ : v. , , . exod. . v. , , . deut. . v. ▪ . matth. . v. , . gal. . v. , , . § . § . § . §. . notes for div a -e §. . § . prov. . ▪ & . § . § . sigonius de antiquo jure civium rom. lib. . cap. . & . et lib. . de repub. atheniens . lib. . cap. ▪ plato , lib. . de legibus . § . § ▪ § . § . notes for div a -e cap. smiths history of virginia ▪ . notes for div a -e §. . whereas we are authorized and required by his majesties letters, bearing date the th day of february, , to give such further rules and directions for the better disposing and settling the remaining part of the security of the commissioned officers which served his majestie in the wars of ireland, before the fifth of june, ... by the lord lieutenant general and general governour of ireland, essex. ireland. lord lieutenant ( - : essex) approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a wing i estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . 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(eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) whereas we are authorized and required by his majesties letters, bearing date the th day of february, , to give such further rules and directions for the better disposing and settling the remaining part of the security of the commissioned officers which served his majestie in the wars of ireland, before the fifth of june, ... by the lord lieutenant general and general governour of ireland, essex. ireland. lord lieutenant ( - : essex) essex, arthur capel, earl of, - . [ ] leaves. printed by benjamin tooke ... and are to be sold by joseph wilde ..., dublin : . title from first lines of text. statement of responsibility transposed from head of title. imprint from colophon. "given at his majesties castle of dublin, the th. day of august, in the th. year of his majesties reign, [countersigned] w. ellis." broadside in [ ] leaves. reproduction of original in the society of antiquaries library, london. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng land titles -- ireland. ireland -- history -- - . ireland -- politics and government -- th century. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion diev et mon droit royal blazon or coat of arms by the lord lieutenant general and general governour of ireland . essex , whereas we are authorized and required by his majesties letters , bearing date the th . day of february , , to give such further rules and directions for the better disposing and settling the remaining part of the security of the commissioned officers which served his majestie in the wars of ireland , before the fifth of june , . as we shall see necessary and conductng to the better satisfaction of that interest . we have thought fit to give the following rules to his majesties commissioners appointed for setling the undisposed part of the said security . first , that in case the possessor desires to compound for the fee of any lands , tenements or hereditaments , and it doth not appeare ( otherwise than by his own discovery ) that the kings is intituled to the same , that the possessor be admitted to have his majesties title , and be discharged of the mean profits , paying one third part of the value of the said lands , tenements , or hereditaments , the same to be valued , viz. the inheritance of lands at ten years purchase of clear yearly value , over and above the quite , rent , and of houses , and other hereditaments , at eight years purchase at the like clear yearly value . secondly , that where there is an incombrance , and the possessor desires the preemption , and being his own discovery , there the inheritance of lands , tenements and hereditaments to be valued as aforesaid , and the incumbrance being deducted , the possessor to pay , viz. if an incumbrance of money by mortgage or otherwise upon lands or houses , one third of the remain of the value , and if an incumbrance by lease for term of years , the lease to be indifferently valued , and to pay one third of that value after deduction of the ineumbrance as aforesaid ; and if the incumbrance be from a nocent , to an innocent , in which case the money is onely forfeited , a third part of the money . thirdly , that where the possessor desires to compound for the fee of any lands , tenements , or hereditaments , and by the help of a discoverer the litle already appears , in such case the discoverer vsing first satisfied by the possessor , according to former rules , the possessor to pay one moyety of the remain according to the values aforesaid , yet no possessor to have any benefit of this rule , who shall not within twenty days next after notice or warning given him by the said commissioners , appear before them and accept thereof , without further suit or trouble . fourthly , where the possessor hath built from the ground since november , . and himself making discovery , to pay ten years purchase according to the value of the ground as the same shall appear to be worth before the said improvements , and where there was any former building , upon the ground which has been since pulled down , and new built or repaired , the said possessor to pay eight years purchase , according to the value of the said former building , and we do hereby lastly order and declare , that in all certificates hereafter to be passed by the aforesaid commissioners of any mortgaged or incumbred houses or lands within the security of the said commissioned officers , to any person who now is or hereafter shall be intituled to the preemption of the same , or that shall by canting or giving most , come to have the inheritance , and fee thereof absolutely adjudged or decreed to him , the said commissioners to thereupon ascertain and reserve the quitrents payable thereout to his majestie , according to such proportion as the whole value of the said respective houses or lands at the rate of ten years purchase , shall appear to them to exceed the unforfeiced incumbrances thereupon , so that if such houses or lands shall be of more value and near , but not a full fourth part more than such unforfeited incumbrances thereupon , in such case onely one fourth part of the quitrent payable by the acts of settlement and explanation shall be reserved to his majestie out of such houses or lands , and so in like manner and proportion where the value of such houses or lands shall appear in a greater or less proportion to exceed such unforfeited incumbrances thereupon , yet so as the rents that shall be so reserved , be not in any case less than one fifth part of the nex●t quitrents payable to his majestie out of such lands by the said arts , and that the said rents so to be reserved , be also in all cases something more than the rent payable to his majestie out of such lands in the year . and that upon passing such certificate , the rents therein to be reserved be made payable to his majestie from the date of such certificate , and whereas the present farmers of his majesties revenue , have declared their willingness and readiness to consent and agree to the moderation & abatement of quitrents according to the proportion aforesaid , in all cases where the present proprietor or possessor of and mortgaged or incumbred lands or houses , within the security of the forty nine officers , shall be willing to compound and agree for the preemption or redemption of the mortgages & incumbrances thereon , & pass letters patents thereof with all convenient speed , we do hereby further order , that in all such cases the said commissioners do acquaint the said farmers of his majesties revenue of such persons as they shall thereunto nominate or appoint , with the proceedings as for what relates to the quitrent which from time to time shall be made by them with any such proprietor or possessor , & more especially with the value the said commissioners shall put upon such lands , in order to the ascertaining the rent to be reserved thereout , to the end the said farmers , or the persons thereunto appointed by them being satisfied therein , may agree and consent thereunto , or otherwise declare rnd offer their reasons to the contrary , or causes why they do not consent . and in case any difference shall happen between the said farmers & the said commissioners concerning the valuation of such houses or lands , or the due proportioning of the said quitrents , the same is as well by the said farmers , or those appointed by them , as by the said commissioners to be certified or represented to the lord lieutenant , or other chief governour or governours of this kingdom for the time being , to be finally settled and determined , as upon due consideration and examination of the matter in difference shall be by him found reasonable and just . given at his majesties castle of dublin , the th . day of august , in the th . year of his majesties reign , . w. ellis . god save the king. dublin , printed by benjamin tooke , printer to the kings most excellent majestie ; and are to be sold by joseph wilde book-seller in caste-street . . a brief of proceedings between sr. hierom sankey and dr. vvilliam petty with the state of the controversy between them tendered to all indifferent persons. petty, william, sir, - . this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text r in the english short title catalog (wing p a). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing p a estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) a brief of proceedings between sr. hierom sankey and dr. vvilliam petty with the state of the controversy between them tendered to all indifferent persons. petty, william, sir, - . sankey, hierome, sir. [ ], p. [s.n.], m. dc. l. ix. london : [ ] petty was employed to survey the forfeited estates in ireland with a view to their distribution among the army. the work provoked animosities and jealousies, and the mouthpiece of the opposition to petty was sir hierome sankey, a military officer. cf. dnb. reproduction of original in huntington library. eng land tenure -- ireland. great britain -- history -- commonwealth and protectorate, - . a r (wing p a). civilwar no a brief of proceedings between sr. hierom sankey and dr. vvilliam petty· with the state of the controversie between them tendered to all ind petty, william, sir d the rate of defects per , words puts this text in the d category of texts with between and defects per , words. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread - emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a brief of proceedings between sr. hierom sankey and dr. vvilliam petty . with the state of the controversie between them tendered to all indifferent persons . london . printed in the year , m. dc . l. ix . to the reader . the imployments wherein doctor petty hath s●rved in ireland , have been many and intricate ; the persons concerned in his well or evil administrations , numerous ; the occasions of jealousie concerning him , almost infinite , and consequently the various articles exhibited against him , with his answers and other proceedings thereupon , must needs be tedious . you have therefore what is most material and pertinent , of every thing relating to sir hierom sankey's and the said doctors proceedings , faithfully reduced into the narrowest compass consistent with perspicuity , to the end that all lovers of truth and iustice , may be encouraged to unravel the perplexed knots of this business , and learn by this example to understand the weight and reasons of other popular jealousies and discontents hereafter , and withal the error and vanity of them , who hope to please multitudes , by their most cautious and upright endeavours . a brief of proceedings between sir hierom sankey and doctor vvilliam petty . on the th . of march / . sir hierom sankey after an affrighting aggravating preface , exhibits the following articles against doctor william petty , in a parliamentary assembly of above four hundred honourable persons . viz. . that he the said doctor had received great bribes . . that he had made a trade of buying debenters in vast numbers against the statute . . that he had gotten vast summes of money , and scopes of land by fraud . . that he had used many foul practises , as surveyour and commissioner , for setting out lands . . that he and his fellow commissioners , had placed some debenters in better places than they could claime , denying right to others . . that he and his fellow commissioners had totally disposed of the armies security ; the debt still remaining chargable on the state . on the . of april , the said doctor , being come ( upon summons ) out of ireland answers the said articles , in the said assembly to the following effect . viz. to the first . that he had acted as secretary to the lord lieutenant , and as clerk of the counicll of ireland , in both which capacities he had faire opportunities of taking bribes , but was never taxed therewith . that as commissioner for distributing lands , he shunned the receiving of any obligation , avoided all bargaines , but by leave , &c. to the end he might avoid the very appearance of this evil . to the second . that he never bought debenter without leave , those at dearest rates , and of brokers , and not till the body of the army was satisfied ; that none who ever sold him any , did ever complain of the least hardship put upon them , and that it was not possible for him so to do . to the third . that he never received penny from the state but according to contract , and not till he had past all kind of examinations . that the work he hath done is even now worth more then the state hath paid for it , &c. that he had no land by his own assumption , but all by orders from o●her commissioners , and the council , in a way not repugnant to law , and not at lesse rates or considerations then others ; and if there was any singularity in the manner , 't was to his one damage onely . to the fourth . that for the generallity of the actions he had done , as commissioner and surveyour , he hoped he might without much vanity , glory in them ; instancing his measuring twenty two counties in thirteen moneths , satisfiying twenty thousand debenters , without alteration , using strictnesse towards the greatest persons , &c. to the fifith . that his fellow commissioners were persons of integrity and ability , and that he would not prevent them of the honour to clear themselves . to the sixth . that above three hundred thousand acres of land were yet undisposed , and that what was already set out , had satisfied more debt then needed to have been charged upon it . after the abovesaid defence of the said doctor , and when the said sir hierom ( being newly come from seeking proofes out of ireland ) was urged in the parliament to instance particulars , with reference to the above charge , he alledged as followeth : . that lieutenant colonell flower bringing an order for land , the said doctor asked , what he would give him to set it out to him . flower answers , . l. the doctor replied , 't was an inconsiderable reward , demanding half the rents , at length they conclude for . l. per annum , as a rent charge , the said sir hierom calling the same , an horrible bribe . . that captaine sands producing the like order , could not have his lands untill he had given the doctor a faire house in dublin , calling the same , an inducement to a bribe . . that lieutenant colonell brayfeild demanding land , was told , his lands were beyond the moon . . that captain winckworth doing the like , was told , that the lands he desired were kept for my lord deputy . . that the debenters of the souldiers commonly amounting to five shillings two pence , the said doctor would pay the five shillings , but keep the two pence for himself . . that the said doctor had seven thousand acres in the barrony of ballebuoy more then he had either order for , or right unto . . that the said doctor received . l. for a duplicate of straffords survey , which never cost him . l. the transcribing . to which instances the said doctor intended to have said . viz. to the first . that flower was a vicious wretch and notoriously guilty of covetousnesse , that he by tricks , and abusing the lord lieutenants kindness had trappanned him , the said doctor , out of an estate worth . l. per annum , for a rent charge of . l. per annum only , which he never yet paid , and has been the author of all the said doctors troubles , meerly to work him out of the said . l. per annum ; that he had been damnified by that transaction with flower above one thousand pounds , and that without hopes or design ( from first to last ) of ever gaining any thing by him , and much lesse of being bribed . to the second . that he had done great acts of kindnesse and charity for the said captain sands , that he was to give the said sands eight hundred acres of land for a house , and some imaginary benefit of an order of his , which he needed not ; the said house not being worth . l. that the rea●on of sands his complaint , was his own great guilt in seeking to abuse the state , and the said doctor , in a most unchristian manner . to the third . that he doth not remember any such expression as land beyond the moon , but that if it were used , 't was in kindness towards the said liuetenant colonel brayfield ; that if he had not his order served so soon as he desired , 't was because the said doctor could find nothing good enough for him . for the said doctor ever affected the person of the said brayfield , was commanded by the lord lieutenant to assist him , and was desired the same by his then partner and friend , sir thomas herbert . to the fourth . that winkworth is a very weak mistaking person , who had no more wit then to think by this device to withhold the doctor from questioning him for the razure of an order made in his own case . the others he needed onely to have denyed with some explication , sir hierom having upon more mature thoughts declined them himself . sir hierom after many threatnings of the said doctor to question him again , sometimes in one place , and sometimes in another , did at length upon the twelfth of iuly . procure the following articles to be put into this present parliament , without reading them ( as he himself boasted ) beyond the first article , the which article cunningly suggesting a fraud of about . l. got acceptance to the wh●le , and a reference into ireland , although the chief witnesses ( for trying all the pretended frauds of the state and army amounting to about twenty thousand pounds ) as also authentique copies of records be here in england , sufficient for that purpose . the first of which articles is , that he the said doctor had as much land for . l. as comes to . l. to which the said doctor answers generally , and briefly . that it will rather appear , that he had paid . l. for . acres . . article . whereas the said doctor had licence to purchase lands charged with more incumbrance than they amounted unto at the act rates . he hath taken some incumbred for lesse , some he hath gotten by collusion and paid nothing , and hath wrested others out of an officers hand of the army . answer . the doctor hath paid above . l. for what many have had for four hundred pounds , and hath proceeded according to orders , throughout the whole businesse . . article . whereas rates higher and lower then the act rates were put on lands by consent of the persons concerned , the said doctor hath taken to himself the benefit of the enhancements . answer . that the doctor hath no benefit by the said enhancements , nor desires to have any ; the scope of this article being to wind out of the states hands about . l. which belongs to them . . article . that he left out of the souldiers lot , the chiefest seates 〈◊〉 incumbred , putting in others incumbred as clear , and afterwards takes those choice seats to himself . answer . that the design of leaving out certain lands here mentioned was good , and orderly , & the doctor believes that the practice of it was so to , though he never medled with it , that 't was not his interest to abuse the said design , neither hath he gotten any thing in consequence of the errours complained of , if any such be . . article . that many of the conditions for which he had received above . l. were never performed , but that he got up his bond and contract concerning the same , surreptitiously . answer . this whole article is a grosse mistake of the fact : for there were two contracts , by one whereof . l. was due ; whereof the doctor never received but . by the other contract about . l. was due , whereof he never received . l. moreover the defects here mentioned were neither the doctors faults nor profit : and the useful overwork , he hath done deserves several thousand pounds in recompence . lastly , his bonds and contract were kept from him above nine moneths longer then they ought to have been , out of abundant caution onely , and at length were delivered by the consent and knowledge of the councel , the army , the atturney general & surveyor general , after many debate concerning the same . . article . that the doctor hath received . l. three times over , and . l. more by a falsification , as also . l. and . l. more then in strictnesse he could demand , to the couzenage of the state of . l. answer . what is said to have been paid thrice , was never paid once , and if he hath received any thing which in strictnesse of law he might not , in equity and conscience he ought to have received twice as much for those very things . as for the . l. said to be forged , 't is a rash mistake proceeding from too much desire to find faults . . article . that after all these frauds both as to money and land ; he so amused a certain committee , as they allowed him . l. more for nothing . answer . upon a full reveiw of all matters relating both to the land and money , between the state , army , and the said doctor himself ▪ a committee of most judicious and honest persons allowed him . l. over and above all he then had , or now hath received , and even when the cry of the abovementioned frauds and many others , was highest : neither is any reason to the contrary yet detected . . article . that by delayes , feigned scruples , and derisions he wrought men to sell him their debenters at under rates , and to give him part of whatsoever he assigned them . answer . the delayes here mentioned were inevitable , the derisions a frivolous complaint ; that of working men to a composition , a very slander . the contrary of all these allegations being true . . article . whereas he had greater rates for surveying then over were given , he gave lesse to his under surveyours then was ever taken , and yet retrenched much of that too . answer . the said under-surveyours were not duly punished for their treacheries against the said doctor : they were payd more than they deserved , more than they durst claim by law , more than arbitrators allowed them , and twice more than they will have againe for the like work , they were used better than they used others , besides , the doctor gave them more , then the state it self hath since given them , nor did they ever complain , till now they were instigated for a supply instead of other declined articles . . article . that he hath not walked by the rules and instructions given him ; but slighted them all . answer . a general slander ; to which there needs only to be said , that dolosus ve●●atur in generalibus . . article . that he with-holds his original books and plots , as also the duplicates of his ●air books contrary to an act of parliament . answer . this is a demand never till now thought fit to be made , an absurd and uselesse desire ; a meer device to enable some hereafter to abuse the state and subject at their pleasure , and a pretended crime that the doctor can make no benefit by . observations upon the whole matter , viz. . that since it appeared to the world ( and never before ) that he the said doctor was like to gain by his hazardous undertaking , he never wanted some great crime or other : as for example , one while the returning unprofitable land for profitable ; another while keeping all men in the dark , another while taking great bribes , of . l. at a time ; another while satisfying of the same debenters twice over ; another while suppressing petitions at the council , &c. none of all which are now mentioned . . it is a wonder that no magistrate , law , judge nor jury , nor no injured souldier or surveyour had in four years time the skill and courage to bring him to punishment . . that though he had been questioned , before the council , and hath had many cases which might have been tried before the court , set up for deciding controversies , between souldiers and souldiers , yet never had cheque or rebuke , for any thing he ever did ; though he ever urged all men to form their jealousies into a charge , as willing to be questioned anywhere ; yet that he should ( before any other remedy was tried ) be brought into two several parliaments to be punished , seemes hard and needless . . that this charge should be undertaken by a person of little conversation in these matters , one who having talked incredibly high upon his six first articles was forced to decline four , viz. that of bribes , buying debenters without licence , wrong placing debenters , and imbezelling the armies security , leaving onely the two , that contained but general surmises . and that when he returned out of ireland ( where he had been instructed by seven the most diligent and subtile persons that ever acted in such a businesse ) could instance at his return but in seven particulars , three of which , and the greatest , viz. the said doctor having . acres without order , that of straffords survey , and devouring the odd pence of the souldiers debenters , he was fain to quit upon further consi●erations , leaving only a few jests and mistakes for the parliaments judicature , and in his last charge making three or four articles of one and the same matter . . that the said sir hierom should accuse the said doctor for perswading the council and commissioners to signe orders for his satisfaction , and for amusing the referrers mentioned in the seventh article , to give him . l. for nothing , and yet never taxt any of them , for their negligence or ignorance in reference to the premises , nor the superior powers for making use of such instruments , and for employing the said doctor , the supposed worst of them all . . that when the said doctor l●boured to be t●yed in ireland ▪ before those who had been witnesse ▪ of his actings , ( waving his priviledge as a member of parliament for that purpose ) that he should be hurried on a suddain to the highest and last judicature in england . that when he would go back into ireland , should be held in england , and endeavours used for his being sent back thither ignominiously ; and now he is in england , and desi●es to be tryed here , should be remanded into ireland by an order odly gotten , and as it were upon sir hieroms stealing in the articles into the house contrary to his own promise , without so much as having them read through , before they were referred , as himself related . out of all which , 't is hoped no impartial considerer of these things will think it impossible , but that the said doctor may be an honest man , nor will judge him before he be heard , nor will have so little curiosity , as not to desire he may be heard ; but on the contrary will think , that a man coming from smal and unlikely beginnings to the management of many considerable trusts , to the favour successively of all in chief power in his time , and to a competent estate , may be envied . nor that among . persons , who envy one anothers portions and lotts , there may grow up an epidemical malice , and a pannick fear of strange wrongs done and intended unto them ; e●pecially it being so natural in us all , to supplant those , to whom god hath given any eminency , either in riches , power , or parts , above our selves , which ( by the way ) is often cunningly and improperly said concerning him , to prejudice all those unto whom he may endeavour to vindicate himself , or at least to keep neuters , till the bottome of the whole be laid open . and lastly , it is very probable from the times of his impeachment , the sparing him some years after the body of his imployments and undertakings were over ; the appearing of such a person as sir hierom sankey in the cause ; the shifting of articles from one nature and form to ano●her , the vehemence of the prosecution ; the accusing him in parliaments , before any remedy was sought elsewhere ; the interest of the parties ; the emptiness of the complaints when scan'd ; the fewness of the miscarriages , ( though all allegations were proved , ) if compared with the infinity of the occasions from whence they arose ; the endeavours to have him tryed sometimes in one place , sometimes in another , with the forbearance of others equally taxable . truly from all these considerations , 't is very probable , that some more secret and private interest , is the true cause of the doctors tribulations . a strict enquiry whereinto , would perhaps make much for the publick profit , and well become the justice and wisdome of the parliament ; that the innocent subjects and painful servants of this common-wealth be not sacrificed to private spleen and animosities , nor any man ruined to make good the rash engagements of others . finis . the case of the lord jeffreys, and the lady charlotte, his wife, sole daughter and heir of philip earl of pembroke, deceased, in relation to a bill entituled, an act to set aside several amendments and alterations made in the records and writs of a fine and two recoveries in the grand sessions, held for the county of glamorgan. jeffreys of wem, john jeffreys, baron, - . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a wing c a estc r this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) the case of the lord jeffreys, and the lady charlotte, his wife, sole daughter and heir of philip earl of pembroke, deceased, in relation to a bill entituled, an act to set aside several amendments and alterations made in the records and writs of a fine and two recoveries in the grand sessions, held for the county of glamorgan. jeffreys of wem, john jeffreys, baron, - . sheet ([ ] p.) s.n., [london? : ] imprint from wing cd-rom, . publication date according to lady day dating. docket title reads: the case of the lord jeffreys. to be heard at the bar of the house of lords on friday the th of february, . reproduction of original in the folger shakespeare library. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng jeffreys of wem, charlotte jeffreys, -- baroness, or - -- early works to . jeffreys of wem, john jeffreys, -- baron, - -- early works to . estates (law) -- england -- early works to . inheritance and succession -- england -- early works to . land tenure -- england -- early works to . - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the case of the lord jeffreys , and the lady charlotte , his wife , sole daughter and heir of philip , earl of pembroke deceased , in relation to a bill entituled , an act to set aside several amendments and alterations made in the records and writs of a fine and two recoveries in the grand sessions , held for the county of glamorgan . philip late earl of pembroke , being seized in tail male , with remainder over to the present earl , of several mannors and lands in the county of glamorgan , in consideration of a marriage to be had between him and henriette querovalle , and of l. portion , did by articles of that date , covenant with robert earl of sunderland , and sidney lord godolphin , to settle on her l. per annum , during her life , out of those mannors , in lieu of a joynture ; and entred into a statute of l. penalty to make good those articles . the marriage took effect , and the portion was paid ; and the late earl , to enable himself to make such settlement , employs mr. rider and mr. negus , his own servants , to get a fine and recovery , levied and suffered at the grand sessions held in glamorgan-shire in april . and accordingly commissions of dedimus potestatem were taken out , and directed to mr , herbert salladine , mr. francis negus , and others , as commissioners to take the earls acknowledgment of the fine , and warrant of attorney for the recovery ; which were by salladine and negus duly executed and return'd . that mr. rider coming to the grand sessions was informed , that there were several freehold leases on several parts of the estate , and that the recovery would not bar the entail of those lands , unless such freehold leases were first surrendred ; and therefore mr. rider agrees with the compounder for the king's silver , to pass the fine and recovery at that time for l. composition money ; which was also to be a satisfaction for a second fine and recovery , if any were esteemed necessary , for the tenements contained in such freehold leases : and in april . a fine and recovery of the estate passed , and a chirograph of the fine , and an exemplification of the recovery were brought to sir john king , in order to have the settlement drawn by him ; and by his direction and advice the freehold leases were surrendred , and a fine and a d. recovery duly suffered of those lands , at the grand sessions held in august after . and thereupon a chirograph of that fine , and an exemplification of that recovery were brought also and delivered to the said sir john king. that thereupon the earl by indenture , dat . . sep. , reciting both fines and recoveries to be duly levied and suffer'd , declar'd the uses thereof to himself and his heirs . and in pursuance of the said articles , and subsequent agreement secur'd to his countess a jointure of l. per annum , out of the said mannors and lands , of which the said fines and recoveries had pass'd . and upon the execution of the said fines and recoveries , and the said conveyances , the trustees of the countess delivered up the stat. of l. to the earl to be cancell'd . that in aug. . earl philip dyed without issue male , leaving only one daughter , viz. the lady charlotte now wife of the lord jeffreys ; to whom all the said mannors and premisses , of which the said fine and recovery were suffer'd , descended ; and by whom after the earl's death , the premisses were enjoy'd , subject to the said jointure of the countess of pembroke . that the records and writs relating to the fines and recoveries are so carelesly kept in the county of glamorgan ; that many of them are torn , defac'd , rotten , lost , or otherwise embezzelled , by the neglect and default of the officers in the courts there . in hil. ter. . tho. earl of pembroke , now lord privy seal ; hoping to take advantage of the misprision of the clerks in entring the said fines and recoveries , or of their negligence in keeping them , brought three several writs of error to reverse the first fine and both recoveries , which were return'd accordingly . that upon this occasion the countess being advised ; that the mistakes in the said fines and recoveries were amendable , and that upon a writ of error brought the court usually ordered amendments to be made , did , by the advice of her council , move the justices of the grand sessions of wales ; that the mistakes in the said fines and recoveries might be amended , and the several writs and parts of records , that were rotten , eaten by vermin or desac'd , might , as usually in like cases , be supply'd upon the testimony of living witnesses , who were concern'd in the said fine and recoveries . that upon this motion , the usual rule was made for amending and supplying the said writs , unless the earls council should at a time appointed show cause to the contrary . that upon hearing of council on both sides , and upon fight of many precedents of the like amendments in westminster-hall , and upon the opinion of many eminent council , and the oaths of several living witnesses , that commissions had issued , and were returned for the earls acknowledging the fine and recoveries , and that the usual writs and proceedings had been made in prosecuting and perfecting them , and that the records were kept in a confused manner , and in such places , that they were rotten , defac'd , or lost : and that whatever writ , or part of records was wanting , was rotten or eaten by vermin ; such of the defects , as were usually amendable , were by rule of court amended , or supplyed . since which proceedings the amended records are removed into the king's bench by certiorari , and by the rules of law the errors cannot be further proceeded in until the lady charlotte comes of age. the present earl hath now brought a bill in parliament , to set aside all these amendments by the legislative power , and to disenherit the heir at law. now forasmuch as these mistakes occasioned by the misprision or negligence of the clerk in making or keeping records have usually been amended and supplied . and forasmuch as many good laws have been made for the encouragement of amendments in the reigns of several of their majesties predecessors , which do yet stand in force . and forasmuch as a common recovery is favoured in law , more than any judgment or proceedings in any other real action : as being a common assurance made by the mutual consent of parties , and upon which most of the settlements in england , and the titles of purchasers do depend , and therefore hath been , and is usually amended and supported . and forasmuch as this precedent will be of fatal consequence to most of the estates in england , and more especially in wales , if the neglect , or misprision , or indirect acts of the clerks shall set aside all titles and settlements , contrary to the plain words of the deeds , and the testimony of many witnesses yet alive , and the known consent and meaning of the parties , without any relief , or amendment of those mistakes : and the rather since it cannot be denied , that the records in that county are kept in such place and manner , that there are no whole and entire proceedings in any fine or recovery , suffered and levied in the county of twenty years standing . it is therefore humbly pray'd , that this bill may not pass into an act. notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a -e dec. . fragmenta antiquitatis, antient tenures of land, and jocular customs of some mannors made publick for the diversion of some, and instruction of others / by t.b. of the inner-temple, esquire. blount, thomas, - . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a wing b estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) fragmenta antiquitatis, antient tenures of land, and jocular customs of some mannors made publick for the diversion of some, and instruction of others / by t.b. of the inner-temple, esquire. blount, thomas, - . [ ], , [ ] p. printed by the assigns of richard and edward atkins, esquires, for abel roper ... tho. basset ... and christopher wilkinson ..., london : . preface signed: tho. blount. errata: p. [ ]. reproduction of original in huntington library. includes index. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng land tenure -- great britain -- history. manors -- great britain. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - taryn hakala sampled and proofread - taryn hakala text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion i well knowing the learning and industry of the author , do allow the printing of this book . fra. north. fragmenta antiquitatis . antient tenures of land , and jocular customs of some mannors· made publick for the diversion of some , and instruction of others . by t.b. of the inner-temple esquire . — neque semper arcum tendit apollo . hor. london , printed by the assigns of richard and edward atkins , esquires . for abel roper , at the sun , tho. basset , at the george , and christopher wilkinson , at the black-boy , all in fleetstreet , . to the reader . whilst i was perusing many of our both publick & private records for other ends , i thought a small collection of some remarkable tenures of land and unusual customs of some mannours might not be unacceptable to the studious , who when weary with poring upon littletons tenures , and his learned commentator , might relax are fibulam by recurring to these , and smile at the inoffensive mirth both of our kings in former times , and lords of mannours , in creating them ; some of which i confess are since , converted into a rent , having a modo arrentatur enter'd in the record , others are by length of time disused , and others yet remain in force : as not long since i had the curiosity to ask an old officer in the exchequer , whether he ever remembred any herring pies paid to the king for the mannour of carleton in norfolk ? yes , very well , answered he , for we had some of them in court among us here last term , nor does the late act of parliament , for taking away all tenures by knight-service and capite , extend to the discharging the honorary services of grand serjeanty , other than of wardship , mariage , &c. but are left standing on their old foundation by a particular proviso in that act. neither are these kind of tenures unusual in other countries ▪ for we read of a queen of hungary , who upon her death-bed bequeathed the city and province of altenburg to one of the lords of her court , upon condition that he and his successors should always keep a certain number of peacocks , in defect whereof the territory should revert to the crown . my first intention was to render all the records in english ; but upon second thoughts , i judge the original words would be more acceptable both to the learned and learner ; and for the help of the latter , have explained ( to the best of my skill ) those of any difficulty , at least as many of them as i could , for some i believe may pose the ablest glossographer now living ; as warocks , muta deynectorum canum , heymectis , cyppos , berbiagium , chacuros , sensas , muta vini & gruna vini , &c. or , to speak more truly , i took them as i found them , some out of the very records , others extracted thence , and translated to my hand ; for i was not willing to spend very much time in rem levem , as sir henry spelman words it , upon a liike occasion . and yet , as light as the subject may seem to be , i am very well informed , that atturney general noy had , a little before his death , bespoke a copy of all the tenures by serjeanty , remaining upon record ; 't is like he judg'd them useful , or divertising , or both . i have purposely omitted , or but rarely mentioned , those more common tenures , whereby the owner was obliged to deliver yearly into the exchequer , a mew'd sparhawk , a pair of spurs , gloves or the like , of which kind i met with many , and held them not for my purpose , which was to take in none but what were in some respect or other remarkable . nor must i forget to advertise the reader , that the names of divers mannours and places here mentioned are written otherwise now , than they were of old , which the knowing in each county will easily reconcile : and , however others may like of this essay , some gentlemen of antient descent , i presume , will be well enough pleased to see their ancestors names thus revived and transmitted from our seldom seen records to a more publick register . nothing of this nature , having to my knowledge been ever till now , made publick . and i will be bold to say , the studious in law-latin and record-learning shall not any where find so much singular of that kind collected in so small a volume . lege , ride , disce . tho. blount . antient tenures of land . addington . roberius agyllon tenet unam carucatam terrae in addington in comitatu surrey per seriantiam faciendi unum ferculum in olla lutea in coquina domini regis , die coronationis suae , & vocatur dilligrout , et si sit seym ( sagimen ) in illo ferculo vocatur maupigyrnun . afterwards in k. edw. the first 's time , william walcot held the mannor of addington by the same service , only in this record it is called quoddam pottagium vocatum maupigyrnun . and it is now come to the possession of thomas leigh esquire , who , at the coronation of his majesty that now is , anno , brought up to the kings table a mess of pottage called dillegrout , this service being adjudged to him by the court of claims in right of this his mannour , whereupon the lord high chamberlain presented him to the king , who accepted the service , but did not eat of the pottage . aston-cantlou . the mannor of aston-cantlou ( i de cantulupo ) in the county of warwick , was by inquisition , after the death of lawrence hastings , earl of penbroke , return'd to be held in this form ; quod quidem manerium per se tenetur de domino rege in capite per servitium inveniendi unum hominem peditem cum arcu sine corda , cum uno basneto sive cappa , per quadraginta dies , sumptibus proprijs , quoties fuerit guerra in wallia . bericote . king henry the second enfeoffed one boscher , his servant , with the mannor of bericote in the county of warwick , by the service of keeping a white young brach ( brachetam ) with red ears , to be delivered to the king at the years end , and then to receive another , to breed up , with half a quarter of bran. henley . lands in henley in comitat. warwick , were held by edmond lord stafford , by the service of three shillings , or a payr of scarlet hose . carleton . edmundus willoughby tenuit unum messuagium & sex bovatas terrae , in carleton , in com. nott. ut de manerio de shelford , per servitium unius catapultae per annum pro omni servitio . alcester . in the of k. edw. . upon the relief paid by william de bauteraux , for the moity of the town of alcester in com. warwick , it is there recorded to be held of the king per servitium inveniendi medietatem equitis armati , cum uno equo discooperto in guerra domini regis . stoneley . in the mannor of stonley in com. warwick , there were antiently four bondmen , whereof each held one messuage , and one quartron of land , by the service of making the gallowes and hanging the theeves . each of which bond-men was to wear a red clout betwixt his shoulders , upon his upper garment ; to plow , reap , make the lords malt , and do other servile work . cukeney . in cukeney ( in com. nott. ) manebat quidam homo , qui vocabatur gamelbere & fuit verus dreinge ante conquestum , tenuit duas carucatas terrae de domino rege in capite pro tali servitio , de * ferrando palesridum domini regis , super quatuor pedes de cluario domini regis , quotiescunque ad manerium suum de manifeld jacuerit , & si inclaudet palesridum domini regis , dabit ei palesridum quatuor mercarum . scrivelsby . the mannor of scrivelsby in the county of lincoln is and long has been held by the dymocks ( to whom it devolv'd from the marmyons ) by grand serjeanty , viz. of being champion to the kings of england on their coronation day . by virtue of which tenure , at the coronation feast of his majesty that now is , a little before the second course was served up , sir edw. dymock ( to whom the court of claymes had adjudged the office of the kings champion ) entred westminster-hall on a goodly white courser armed at all points in rich armour , and having a plume of blew feathers in his helm , he there made a stand for some time , and then advanced in manner following , way being made for him by the knight marshal , first two trumpets , the serjeant trumpeter , the serjeant at arms , an esquire carrying a target , having the champions own arms depicted thereon . an esquire carrying the champions lance upright . mr. owen , york herald . the earl marshal on his left hand . the champion . the lord high constable on his right hand , both likewise on horse back . at the lower end of the hall york-herald proclaimed the challenge in these following words . viz. if any person of what degree soever high or low , shall deny or gainsay our sovereign lord king charles the second king of england , scotland , france and ireland , defender of the faith , son and next heir to our sovereign lord charles the first , the last king deceased , to be right heir to the imperial crown of this realm of england , or that he ought not to enjoy the same , here is his champion , who saith that he lieth , and is a false traitor , being ready in person to combate with him , and in this quarrel will adventure his life against him , on what day soever he shall be appointed . thereupon the champion threw down his gantlet , which lying some small time , and no body taking it up , it was delivered unto him again by york-herald . then all advanced forward until the champion came to the middle of the hall , where york-herald made the like proclamation , and the gantlet was again thrown down and after some time returned to the champion , who advanced to the foot of the ascending steps to the state , and at the top of the steps the said herald proclaimed the challenge the third time , whereupon the champion threw down his gantlet again , which no body taking up , it was finally delivered to him . this being done , the earl of pembroke and mongomery , with viscount montagu , and the lord paget his assistants , presented on the knee to the king a guilt cup with a cover full of wine , who drank to his champion , and by the said earl sent him the cup , who , after three reverences , drank it all off , went a little backward , and so departed the hall , taking the cup for his fee , according as had been adjudged him by the court of claims . east-bilsington . robert bernham esquire holds the mannour of east-bilsington in the county of kent of the king by the service of presenting the king with three maple-cups on the day of his coronation ; which service was performed at the coronation of his majesty that now is , by erasmus smith esquire , in behalf of the said robert bernham . narborough . thomas spelman ( qui obijt martij eliz. ) dicitur in inquisitione tenuisse manerium de narborough in com. norfolk cum tertia parte advocationis ecclesiae , &c. de domina regina , ut de manerio suo de wirmegay , per servitium militare & per redditum s. pro wayt-fee & castle-gard . worthynbury . richardus de pynelesdon tenet terras & tenementa in worthynbury in partibus de mailer says-nec in com. flint , quae tenentur de domino rege per certa servitia & per ammobragium , quod ad quinque solidos extenditur , cum acciderit , sicut per inquisitionem , &c. lastres . johannes de la hay cepit de will. barneby domino de lastres in com. heref. unam parcellam terrae de terris dominicalibus . reddend . inde per annum xx d. & unam aucam habilem , pro prandio domini in festo s. michaelis archangeli , sectam curiae & alia servitia inde debita , &c. burgus de guldeford . robertus testard tenuit quandam terram in villa de guldeford per seriantiam custodiendi meretrices in curia domini regis . et arrentata est ad xxv s. pinley . adam de oakes was found by iniquisition to dye seized of certain tenements in pinley in the county of warwick , which he held of the king , by the payment of a half penny per annum , called warth . earl warren and surrey . in the sixth year of king edward the first , after the making the statute of quo warranto in the parliament held at glocester , the king by his justices , questioning certain of his great subjects , by what title they held their lands ; among others , john earl warren and surrey , being called , and demanded by what warrant he held his , shewed them an old sword , and unsheathing it , said , behold , my lords , here is my warrant , my ancestors coming into this land with william the bastard , did obtain their lands by the sword , and i am resolved with the sword to defend them against whomsoever shall endeavour to dispossess me ▪ for that king did not himself conquer the land and subdue it , but our progenitors were shaters and assistants therein . and good sharers were they ; for it appears that william the first earl warren was at the time of making the general survey , possessed of two hundred lordships in several counties of england , whereof coningsburg in york-shire was one , which had twenty eight towns and hamlets within its soke . setene . bertram de criol held the mannor of setene in com. kantiae of the king by sergeanty , viz. to provide one man called veltrarius , a vautrer , to lead three greyhounds , when the king should go into gascony , so long as a pair of shoes of four pence price should last . see seaton postea . egmund and newport . king henry the third gave to henry de alditheley , ancestor to the lord audley , earl of castle-haven , the lordships of egmundun and newport , in com. salop , for the yearly rent of a mued sparhawk , to be delivered into the kings exchequer every year at the feast of saint michael . greens-norton . otherwise called norton-dauney ▪ in north-hampton-shire , which the greens antiently held by knights . servito ; to lift up their right hand towards the king , upon christmas day , every year , wheresoever the king should be in england . sculton . the mannor of sculton , otherwise called burdos , or burdelois , in norfolk ▪ was held by this tenure ; that the lords thereof , on the coronation day of the kings of england , should be chief lardiner . hemingston . rowlandle sarcere , held one hundred and ten acres of land in hemingston in com. suffolk , by sergeanty , for which on christmas day , every year before our sovereign lord the king of england he should perform simul & semel , unum saltum , unum sufflum , & unum bombulum , or as we read elsewhere in french , un saut , un pet , & un syffet , simul & semel ; that is , he should dance , puff up his cheeks , making therewith a sound , and let a crack , et quia indecens servitium , ideo arrentatur , ( sayes the record ) ad xxvi s. viij d. per annum ad scaccarium regis . sloley . richard sloley held of the king in capite one messuage and four acres of land in sloley in com. warwick , by serjeanty , that is , giving to the king , upon every expedition with an army towards scotland , one pole-axe or xij d. in silver for all services . astley . the mannors of astley , wedington , hill-morton , milverton , and merston jabet were antiently held by philip de astley of william earl of warwick , by the service of holding the earl's stirrop , when he should get up or a light from his horse . cotes . sir stephen de segrave in henry the thirds time purchased the mannor of cotes in com. derby , of the daughters and heirs of stephen de beauchamp , to hold by the service of one brache yearly . eastbrig . hubert de burg earl of kent had a grant in fee from king henry the d. of the mannor of eastbrig in kent , to hold by the service of a sore sparhawk at lammass yearly . tonge . roger la zouch , being lord of the mannor of tonge in com. salop , did by a fair deed in henry the third's time , grant to henry de hugefort and his heirs certain messuages and lands lying in norton and shaw , in the parish of tonge , with liberty of fishing in the waters , pawnage for hogs , and liberty to get nuts for certain days in the woods of the said mannor , rendring yearly to the said roger and his heirs a chaplet of roses upon midsomer day , in case he should be then at tonge ; if not , then to put it upon the image of the blessed virgin in the church of tonge , for all services . pole. william montacute obtained a grant from king edward the third of the mannor of pole with the advowson of the church in comitat. cumbriae , paying the king his heirs and successors , wheresoever he or they should happen to be , a sword of s. d. price , in lieu of all services . burg on the sands . the barony of burg on the sands in com. cumbriae , with divers other mannors and lands in that county , were antiently held by the service of cornage , i. to blow a horne when any invasion of the scots was perceived . northampton-shire . in hen. . richard de lizures , was certified to be forester in fee to the king for north-hampton-shire , and was by his office obliged to attend him in his army well fitted with horse and arms , his horn hanging about his neck . wilton . in the time of king henry the first hugh de logushamp obtained , by the gift● of that king , the mannor of wilton in com. heref. to hold by the service of two men at arms in the wars of wales . ashele . william de hastings , being steward to king henry the first , held that office by sergeanty , in respect of the tenure of his mannor of ashele in com. norfolk , by the service of taking charge of the napery ( i. the table clothes and linnen ) at the coronations of the kings of england . castle-cary . in . hen. . henry lovel was found to dye seized of the mannor of castle-cary in com ▪ somerset , by him held in capite of the king , for a whole barony , by the service of finding two souldiers in the kings army at his own cost for forty dayes . biwel . hugh de baliol was certified to hold the barony of biwel in com. northumberland of the king , by the service of five knights fees , and to find thirty souldiers for the guard of new-castle upon tine , as his ancestors had done from the time of king william rufus , by whom they were enfeoff'd of that barony , as the record expresseth . east-gareston . in . edw. . paganellus de cadurcis i. pain chaworth , was found to be seized of a messuage and acres of land in east-gareston in com. berks held by the service of finding a knight armed with plate-armour in the kings army , when it should be in the territory of kidwelly , in wales . staveley . in . edw. . john musard was found to be seized of the mannor of staveley in com. derby , held of the king in capite by barony , finding for that and his other lordships , two souldiers in the kings army in wales . riddesdale . in the tenth year of william the conquerour , robert de vmfranvil knight obtained from that king a grant of the lordship , valley and forest of riddesdale in com. northumb. by the service of defending that part of the countrey for ever from enemies and wolves , with that sword which king william had by his side , when he entred northumberland , with liberty also to hold and determine pleas of the crown . drakelow . william de gresely tenet manerium de drakelaw in com. derby in capite , & reddit unum arcum sine corda , & unam pharetram de tutesbit , & duodecem sagittas flectatas , & unum buzonem . pightesle . thomas engaine held certain lands in pightesle ( now called pitchley ) in com. northhampton , by the service of finding , at his own proper costs , certain dogs for the destruction of wolves , foxes , martrons , cats and other vermin , within the countys of northampton , roteland , oxford , essex and buckingham . kings-brome . in edw. . rich de stanford held one toft and four yard land and a half in kings-brome in com. warwick of the king in capite , by the service of a pair of tongs to be delivered yearly into the exchequer , by the hands of the sherif of that county . northampton . william the conqueror gave to simon st. liz a noble norman , the town of northampton , and the whole hundred of falkely , then valued at forty pounds per annum , to provide shoes for his horses . marden . johannes freeman held one yard land in marden in com. heref. per seriantiam mensurandi fossata & opera domini regis ad custum ipsius domini regis . coningston . thomas winchard , held land in coningston in comitat. leyc . in capite , by the service of saying daily five pater nosters and five ave ▪ marias , for the souls of the kings progenitors and the souls of all the faithful departed , pro omni servitio . bridgnorth . king henry the first gave sir ralph de pichford the little burgh near bridgnorth ; to hold by the service of finding dry wood for the great chamber of the castle of burgh ( i. bridgnorth ) against the coming thither of his sovereign lord the king. whittington . beneath whittington in shropshire , one wrenoc , son of meuric , held lands by the service of being latimer , that is , trucheman or interpreter , between the english and the welshmen . kinwaldmersh . nicholas filius & haeres nicolai de longford , chivalier , tenet quatuor messuagia , acras terrae , deeem acras prati , & lx s. redditus cum pertinentiis in kinwaldmersh , de rege in capite , per servitium inveniendi unum equum , unum saccum , & unum pryk in guerra walliae , quandocunque contigerit regem ibi guerrare . langewath . vniversis — capitulum beati petri , ebor. concessisse ad firmam j.s. totam hayam nostram de langewath , cum solo ejusdem hayae , bruera , marisco & omnibus aliis pertinentiis — reddendo inde annuatim nobis tempore pinguedinis unum damum , & fermisonae tempore , unam damam , &c. dat. . calend. januar. anno m cc lxxix . brokenerst . petrus spileman finem fecit cum rege pro terris quas dictus petrus tenuit , per seriantiam inveniendi unum servientem cum hambergello per dies in anglia & inveniendi literam ad lectum regis , faenum ad paleefridum regis , quando rex jacuerit apud brokenerst , in com. southampton . rodeley . certain tenants of the mannor of rodeley in com. glocester do pay to this day , to the lord thereof , a rent called pridgavel , in duty and acknowledgment to him for their liberty and priviledge of fishing for lampreys in the river severn . plompton . in king henry the third's time walter de plompton held certain lands in plompton in the parish of kingsbury and county of warwick by a certain weapon , called a danish axe , which being the very charter whereby the said land was given to one of his ancestors , hung up for a long time in the hall of the capital messuage , in testimony of the said tenure . hildesley . ad istam curiam johannes rede fecit finem cum domino pro tenemento suo — per servitium octo solidorum & unius bederip in autumno . stamford . william earl warren , lord of this town in the time of king john standing upon the castle walls , saw two bulls fighting for a cow in the castle meadow , till all the butchers doggs pursued one of the bulls ( madded with noise and multitude ) clean through the town . this sight so pleased the earl , that he gave the castle meadows , where first the bulls duel began , for a common to the butchers of the town , after the first grass was mowed , on condition that they should find a mad bull , the day six weeks before christmas day , for the continuance of that sport for ever . homet . king henry the fifth granted to sir walter hungerford the castle and barrony of homet in normandy in special tail , rendring to the king and his heirs , one lance with a fox-tayl hanging thereat yearly , upon the feast of the exaltation of the holy cross , and finding ten men at arms and twenty archers , to serve him or his lieutenant during his wars with france . nedding and kettilherston . william de la pole , marquess of suffolk , had a grant from king henry the sixth of the mannors of nedding and kettilberston in com. suffolk , to hold by the service of carrying a golden scepter , with a dove on the head of it , upon the coronation day of the kings heirs and successors . as also a scepter of ivory , with a golden dove on the head of it , upon the day of the coronation of the queens of england . isle of man. sir john stanley of hen. iv. had a grant in fee of the isle of man , with the castle † pele ( pelam ) patronage of the bishoprick , with all the regalities and franchises thereto belonging : to be held of the king , his heirs and successors , by homage and the service of two falcons , payable on the day of his or their coronation . brayles . in king edward the firsts time adam vnderwood held one yard land in brayles in com. warwic . of william earl of warwick , paying therefore seven bushels of oats yearly and a hen , and working for the lord from michaelmas till lammas every other day , except saturday ; viz. at mowing , as long as that season lasted , for which he was to have as much grass as he could carry away with his sythe ; and at the end of hay-harvest , he and the rest of his fellow-mowers to have the lords best mutton , except one , or xvj d. in money , with the best cheese , saving one , or vj d. in money , and the cheese-vat , wherein the cheese was made , full of salt. from lammas to michaelmas he was to work two days in the week , and to come to the lords reap with all his houshold , except his wife and his shepherd , & to cut down one land of corn , being quit of all other work for that day . that he should likewise carry cart-loads and an half of the lords hay , and cart-load of stones for days , and gather nuts for days . and in case the lord kept his christmas at his mannor of brayles , to find three of his horses meat for three nights . that he should plough thrice a year , viz. selions ; and make quarters of malt for the lord , and pay for every hog he kept above a year old j d , and for every one under a halfpeny . and lastly , that he and the rest of the tenants of this mannor , should give marks yearly to the lord at michaelmas , by way of ayd , and not marry their daughters , nec † filios coronare , ( i. nor make their sons priests ) without license from the lord. bainton . in . ed. . peter de manley was found to be seized of the mannor of bainton with the advowson of the church , by the service of finding two knights and four esquires in the kings army for dayes , in time of war , and to provide a steward to do suit for him at the kings court at york , from six weeks to weeks . wiltshire . the county of wilts antiently paid to the king ten pounds for a hawk , twenty shillings pro summario , a sumpter horse , one hundred shillings for hay , and in money five ores . fernham . the barons furnival held fernham in com. bucks ( now called farnham-royal ) by service of finding their sovereign lord the king upon the day of his coronation , a glove for his right-hand , and to support his right arm the same day , whilst he held the regal verge or scepter in his hands . from the furnivals this mannor came to the talbots , who though they exchanged it with king hen. . yet they reserved this honourable office to them and their heirs for ever . fingrey and wulfelmelston . the earls of oxford , by the heir of sandford , antiently held the mannors of fingrey and wulfelmelston in the county of cambridge , by serjeanty of chamberlain-ship to the queens of england , at the kings coronation . lufnam . tho. beauchamp held south-luffenham and other lands in com. rutland by service to be the kings chamberlain in the exchequer . hodnet . hodnet in shropshire was antiently held by the vernons of the honour of mongomery , to be seneschal or steward of the same honour . barons of cheshire . the earl of chesters barons were antiently bound in time of war with wales , to find for every knights fee , one horse with caparison and furniture , or two without , within the divisions of cheshire ; and their knights and free-holders to find corslets and haubergeons , and defend their fees with their own bodies . lanton . the baskervils antiently held lands there , in chief , as of the honour of montgomery , by the service of giving the king , a barbd-headed arrow , when he came to hunt in corndon-chace . newbigging . apud newbigging xiij bovatae assifae de hijs hominibus . baldwinus una bovata pro ij s. & dimid . & duas gallinas , & xx ova & quatuor * precarias in autumpno cum uno homine , bis arare , bis herciare , semel falcare , semel foenum levare , & cum opus fuerit stagnum reparare , & molas attrahere , & oves uno die lavare & altera tondere . hundred de lidingeland . johannes de balliolo tenet medietatem hundredi de lidingeland quae seisita fuit in manus regis , eo quod ipse non optulit se personaliter ad portandum virgam coram justitiarijs itinerantibus in eodem comitatu . tutbury . walter achard or agard claimed to hold by inheritance the office of escheater and coroner through the whole honour of tutbury in com. staff. and the bailiwick of leyke . pro quo officio nullas evidentias , carta vel alia scripta proferre possit , nisi tantum * cornu venatorium album argento inaurato in medio & utroque fine decoratum ; cui etiam affigitur cingulum byssi nigri fibulis quibusdam argenteis ornatum , in medio quorum posita sunt insignia edmundi secundi filij regis henrici tertij . stafford . edmund lord stafford held the mannors of stafford , bradeley and madeley in com. stafford of the king in capite by barony , by service of finding for dayes at his own charge , three armed men , with three equis coopertis . , horses harnessed for war , as often as there should be war with wales or scotland . listun . godefridus filius johannis held certain land in liston in com. essex of our lord the king by the service of making wafers at his coronation . felstede . adam de glanvile tenet xx acras terrae in felstede by the service of keeping two palfreys , ad liberationem domini regis . i. at the kings livery . estham . radulpbus de moigne held estham in essex by serjeanty , ut sit emptor domini regis in coquina sua . i. caterer . legere . willielmus filius johannis de legere held certain lands in legere in com. essex by serjeanty , to find unum equum , unum saccum & unam brochiam in servitio domini regis in wallia ad custum domini regis . wodeham mortimer . hardekynus tenet quoddam tenementum in wodeham mortimer in com. essex per serjantiam ad nutriendam unam † brachettam domini regis cum dominus rex ei illam miserit ad nutriendam , & custodiendi quousque habilis fuerit ad currendum . mauldon . the inhabitants of mauldon in essez , anciently held that town by serjeanty , to find the king unam navem cum * apparatu suo quotiescunque contigerit dictum regem ire cum exercitu extra regnum angliae per xl dies sumptibus suis propriis , & hoc ad summonitionem domini regis . rewenhall . eutach de ho tenuit unam carucatam terrae cum pertin . in rewenhall in com. essex per seriantiam inveniendi unum hominem equitem cum uno * gambesone in exercitu domini regis , cum contigerit ipsum ire in wallia , sumptibus suis propriis per xl dies . heydon . johannes pycot tenet quoddam tenementum in villa de heydon in com. essex per serjantiam , tenend . manutergium coram domino rege die coronationis . et petrus pycot tenet quoddam tenementum in eadem villa , per serjantiam tenendi pelves ad aquam dandam ad coronationem praedictam . hallingbury . rogerus quondam cissor domini regis tenuit unam carucatam terrae in hallingbury com. essex , per serjantiam solvend . ad scaccarium domini regis unam acum argenteam quolibet anno in crastino sancti michaelis . alesbury . willielmus filius willielmi de alesbury tenet tres virgatas terrae de domino rege in alesbury in com. buck. per serjantiam inveniendi stramen ad lectum domini regis , & ad straminandam cameram suam , & reddendi tres anguillas domino regi cum venerit apud alesbury in * yeme . et etiam inveniendi domino regi cum venerit apud alesbury in estate stramen ad lectum suum , & praeter hoc † herbam ad jucandam cameram suam , & etiam reddet duas gantas , & haec servitia praedicta faciet ter in anno , si contigerit ipsum regem ter venire apud alesbury , & non pluries . stow. johannes de curtese tenuit acras terrae in stow in com. cantabr . per serjantiam adducend . unam * trussulam foeni ad cloacham domini regis cum ipse rex transierit per partes illas , & arrentatur ad scaccarium domini regis ad x s. per ann . maplescaump . willielmus de valoignes tenet de domino rege in capite medietatem manerii de maplescaump per talem servitium , quod si dominus rex venerit usque maplescaump ad missam suam audiendam ; tunc idem willielmus inveniet ei unum denarium ad oblationem . exmore . henricus iii. dedit willielmo de plessets , ballivam de exmore in com. somerset per servitium reddendi eidem regi proinde juvenculas & unum tauriculum , vel pro quolibet eorum x d. winfred . robertus de novoburgo tenuit manerium de winfred in com. dorset una cum hundredo ibidem de rege in capite , per servitium dandi aquam manibus domini regis die coronationis suae , & habebit * pelvem cum lavatorio pro servitio praedicto . holicote . walterus barun tenuit quasdam terras & quaedam tenementa in villa de holecote de rege in capite , per servitium pendendi super quoddam lignum furcatum cervos de morina defunctos in foresta regis de exmore ; ac etium hospitandi pauperes supervenientes , de infirmitate debilitatos , sumptibus suis propriis pro animabus antecessorum domini edwardi regis . brineston . manerium de brineston in com. cestriae , tenetur de rege in capite per servitium inveniendi unum hominem in exercitu domini regis in partibus scotiae praefecturum nudis pedibus , camisia & * bractis vestitum , habentem in una manu unum arcum sine corda , & altera manu unum † tribulum non pennatum . maperdeshale . terra in maperdeshale in com. bedford , tenetur in capite per servitium essendi in guerra regis cum uno equo non appreciato , una habergione , gladio , lancta , capello ferreo & uno cultello , sumptibus suis propriis . hoton . manerium de hoton in com. cumbr. tenetur de domino rege in capite , per servitium forestae custodis in haya domini regis de plompton , & ultra hoc per servitium tenendi † slippam sellae domini regis dum equum suum in castro suo carleoli scanderit & per servitium reddendi per an. s. d. ad scaccarium regis carliol . per manus vicecom . cumbriae , qui pro tempore fuerit . domus in london . rex johannes concessit willielmo de ferrariis comiti derby domum , quae fuit isaac iudaei de norwico in london , in parochia sanctae margaretae . tenend . de nobis & haeredibus nostris per tale servitium , scil . quod ipse & haeredes sui servient coram nobis & haeredibus nostris ad prandium omnibus festis annalibus , quando festum celebrabimus , capite † discooperto sine capello , cum una garlanda de latitudine minoris digiti sui vel haeredum suorum pro omni servitio . dat. . jūnii , regni . morton . edmundus busche tenet terras in morton in com. essex , de rege in capite per servitium inveniendi unum stimulum ferreum pro uno warroks super quoddam clothsack , quandocunque dominus rex equitaverit in exercitu versus partes walliae tempore guerrae . quaere . gloucester city . tempore regis edwardi reddebat civitas de gloucestre , xxxvj libras numeratas , & xij sextaria mellis ad mensuram ejusdem burgi , & xxxvj dicras ferri , & c virgas ferreas ductiles ad clavos navium regis , & quasdam alias minutas consuetudines in aula & in camera regis . esseby . willielmus filius warini tenet tertiam partem villae de esseby in com. northampt. de rege scotiae , per quoddam servitium , quod teneat † strepe suum die natalis . et idem rex tenet de rege angliae in capite . bishops-castle . within the mannor of bishops-castle in com. salop , howel de lydom and william ap john held one yard land , paying iij s. at the feast of pentecost , and iij s. at michaelmas ; vel tria vomera , tria cultra , & reparare ferramenta ad tres carucas , ad electionem ballivorum episcopi . slapton . hugh courtenay esquire , son and heir of sir hugh courtenay knight , held the mannor of slapton in com. devon. of the bishop of exeter , by the service of being steward at the installation feast of every bishop of that see. the particulars whereof were , after some controversie , thus ascertained by walter stapledon then bishop of exeter , and his dean and chapter under their seals at newton plympton , the morrow after the feast of st. tho. the apostle , anno dom. . edw. . that the said hugh or his heirs , shall , at the first coming of the bishop to exeter , meet him at the east-gate of the city , when he descendeth from his horse , and then going a little before him on the right hand shall keep off the press of people , and attend him into the quire of the cathedral church , there to be installed . and shall at the installing feast serve-in the first mess at the bishops own table . in consideration of which service the said hugh courtenay and his heirs shall have for their fee , four silver dishes of those which he shall so place at the first mess , two saltcellars , one cup , wherein the bishop shall drink at that meal ; one wine-pot , one spoon and two basons , wherein the bishop shall then wash . all which vessels are to be of silver . provided the said hugh or his heirs , being of full age , do attend this service in person , if not hindred by sickness or the kings writ , &c. then to appoint some worshipful knight to supply the place by a deputation , who shall swear that his lord is sick , &c. seaton . richardus rockesley miles , tenebat terras seatoniae in com. kantiae per serjantiam , esse vautrarium regis in gasconia donec perusus fuit pari solutarum pretii iiij d. yorkshire . philippus de lardimer clamat esse venditorem domini regis de feodo in com. ebor. de omnibus rebus , quae vendi debent pro debito domini regis , vel etiam pro auro reginae . ita viz. quod ipse vel certus suus attornatus ibit ad mandatum vicecomitis de loco in locum insra comitarum sumptibus suis ad praedictas venditiones faciendas : et capiet de unaquaque venditione pro feodo suo xxxij denarios . which tenure was afterwards seised into the kings hands for the abuse thereof , as appears by the great roll in the pipe-office , anno edw. . kibworth . queen elizabeth granted to sir ambrose dudley the mannor of kibworth-beauchamp in com. leic. to be held by the service of being pantler to the kings and queens of this realm , at their coronations . chesterton . gilbert le harpour held lands in chesterton in com. warwick of the king by grand serjeanty , viz. to keep the place called teddesley † hay within the forest of canoke at his own cost . bruham . bertrammus le wyle tenet dimidiam hidam terrae in villa de bruham ( com. bedf. ) de domino rege per serjantiam , reddendi per annum unum par † arceonum ad sellam . et prior de neunham tenet dimid . hidam terrae in villa de turvey de domino rege in capite per serjantiam , reddendi per ann . unum par arceonum dealbat . ad sellam , & valet terra illa x s. per ann . sutton . alexander de summersham tenet dimidium feodum militis in villa de sutton ( in com. bedf. ) de domino rege in capite per serjantiam , essendi in propria persona cum domino rege , ubicunque fuerit in guerra in anglia , seu alibi . standebury . robertus de tadeshale tenet viginti libratas terrae in standebury , in com. berks , de domino rege per serjantiam custodiendi unum girefalconem pro domino rege . benham . willielmus lovel tenet duas carucatas terrae de domino rege apud benham , in com. berks , per serjantiam custodiendi unam † meutam deynectorum canum ad custum domini regis . et willielmus de valence decem libratas terrae de domino rege in eadem villa , quae fuit escaeta domino regi per hugonem wake , per serjantiam custodiendi hostium camerae domini regis . lyndeby . johannes de metham & sibilla uxor ejus , tenuerunt de rege in capite medietatem villae de lyndeby , per servitium reddendi pollicium de griseo ad scaccarium domini regis tantum . east-gareston . patricius de cadurcis ( i chaworth ) tenet manerium de east-gareston in com. berks , per serjantiam inveniendi unum armigerum armatum ess●ndi in anteriori parte exercitus domini regis in westgales tempore guerrae , per xl dies sumptibus propriis . bokhampton . johannes le bay tenet duas hidas terrae de domino rege in bokhampton per serjantiam , custodiendi unam meutam caniculorum † harrectorum , ad custum domini regis . bokhampton . willielmus hoppeshort tenet dimidiam virgatam terrae in eadem villa de domino rege , per servitium custodiendi domino regi sex damisellas , scil . meretrices , ad custum domini regis . east & west-haured . johannes pater-noster tenet unam virgatam terrae cum pertin . in east-haured in com. berks , per serjantiam dicendo pro anima domini regis unum pater-noster quotidiè , & valet per ann . v s. et quidam willielmus de insula tenuit unam carucatam terrae cum pertin . in west-haured , per serjantiam emendi cervisiam ad opus domini regis ; & valet per ann . c. s. creswell . hugo de sancto philiberto tenet manerium de creswell in com. berks , per serjantiam ducendi butellos vini ad jentaculum domini regis , & vocatur illa serjantia de la huse per regnum angliae . padeworth . petrus de condrey tenet manerium de padeworth in com. berks , in capite de domino rege , per serjantiam inveniendi unum servientem in navi domini reginae , quotiescunque contigerit ipsam transfretare ad partes normanniae , ad tenendam unam cordam ejusdem navis in eadem . et valet per ann . serjantia illa x marcas . hertrug . philippus de hertrug tenuit quandam terram in hertrug in com. berks , quae valet per ann . xl s. per serjantiam mutandi & custodiendi unum osturcum domini regis . burstal . johannes filius nigelli tenet unam hidam in burstal in com. bucks , de domino rege in foresta de bernewode , per serjantiam , quae vocatur le derhyde pertinentem ad ballivam suam de custodiendo forestam ; unde idem johannes est custos de feodo . aylesbury . margeria de aspervil tenet unam virgatam terrae de domino rege in capite , in aylesbury in com. bucks , per serjantiam custodiendi omnes districtiones factas pro debito domini regis per summonitionem scaccarii . fulmer . marmaducus darel miles , tenet de domino rege manerium de fulmer in com. bucks , per servitium unius rosae rubeae per annum . papworth-anneys . johannes russel tenet in villa de papworth-anneys in com. cantabr . duas hidas terrae & dimidium de domino rege in capite , per serjantiam pascendi duos pauperes pro animabus antecessorum suorum ; & arrentatur ad scaccarium pro viij s. cumberton . alexander hered tenet dimidiam hidam terrae in cumberton com. cantabr . de domino rege per serjantiam , essendi pistor domini regis . wilburgham magna . willielmus loveday tenet unum messuagium , & octoginta acras terrae in magna wilburgham in com. cantabr . de domino rege in capite , per serjantiam inveniendi spervarium sorum : et cum hoc fecerit deferet illum ad curiam domini regis , & ibidem faciet moram per xij dies , cum duobus equis , duobus † garcionibus , & duobus leporariis ad custum domini regis . raghton . simon de raghton & dominus robertus de la ferte , & ivo filius hugonis de fornecostes , tenent unam parvam serjantiam , in raghton in com. cumbriae , custodiendi † aerias austurcorum domini regis : et valet per ann . ix s. quos reddit ad scaccarium domini regis . airedale . willielmus de boyvile tenet unam serjantiam inveniendi unum forestarium in warda de alredale , & capit per diem ad sustentationem forestarii sui de villa de alredale , quolibet die iij d. à festo sancti michaelis , usque ad festum apostolorum philippi & jacobi , & à die illo usque ad festum sancti michaelis singulis diebus ij d. auri & hole . walterus aungerin tenet unam carucatam terrae in auri & hole in com. devon. per serjantiam , quod quotiescunque dominus rex fugare voluerit in foresta de exmore , inveniet eidem domino regi duas sagittas barbatas : et valet terra illa per ann . xx s. la barr. morinus de la barr tenuit octo acras terrae apud la barr in com. devon. de domino rege in capite , per serjantiam reddendi domino regi unum salmonem , & duas sagittas * barbatas quotiescunque contigerit ipsum dominum regem * fugare in exmore . droscumbe . walterus de bromhall tenuit quandam terram in droscumbe in com. devon. per serjantiam inveniendi domino regi , quotiescunque contigerit ipsum fugare in foresta de dertmore , unum arcum , & tres sagittas barbatas : et arrentata est ad v s. per ann . windebury , & loston . willielmus de albemarle tenet manerium de windebury in com. devon. de domino rege in capite , per serjantiam inveniendi unum hominem equitem per xl dies propriis sumptibus in exercitu domini regis in wallia . item tenet manerium de loston , per serjantiam inveniendi domino regi duas sagittas , & unum panem avenae , cum dominus rex currit in foresta de dertmore . bakton . galfridus arblaster tenet quandam terram in bakton in com. devon. per serjantiam custodiendi gayolam com. exoniae . brodeham . galfridus de la hull & millesenta uxor ejus , tenent unum * ferlingum terrae in brodeham in com. devon. per serjantiam , essendi bedellus domini regis in hundredo isto . saundford . hugo peverell tenet manerium de saundford in com. devon. per serjantiam inveniendi domino regi , in exercitu suo per totam angliam sumptibus propriis unum hominem equitem armatum , & duos homines pedites . bryanstan . radulphus de stopham tenet manerium de bryanstan in com. dorset , per serjantiam inveniendi domino regi , quotiescunque contigerit ipsum habere exercitum in anglia in walliam * garcionem deferentem unum arcum sine corda , & unum buzonem sine pennis , ad sumptus suos proprios per quadraginta dies . gissag . imbertus pogeys tenet manerium de gissag omnium sanctorum de dono henrici regis , per servitium unius paris calcariorum deauratorum : et eidem imbertus dedit dictam terram abbathiae de tarent , &c. hundred de loseberg . thomas filius richardi de mareschal de cerberg , tenuit quandam terram in hundredo de loseberg ( com. dorset ) in capite de domino rege , per serjantiam inveniendi quendam strigulum , &c. porscaundel . juliana uxor johannis filii alani , tenuit dimidiam hidam terrae in porscaundel in com. dorset , in capite de domino rege , per serjantiam custodiendi † canes domini regis lesos , si qui fuerint , quotiescunque dominus rex fugaverit in foresta sua de blakemore : et ad dandum unum denarium ad clancturam parci domini regis de gillingham . windesor . johannes de windesor tenuit manerium de windesor in com. dorset , quod valet per ann . xx l. per serjantiam , quod ipse & haeredes sui debent ponderare denarios venientes ad scaccarium domini regis . kingeston-russel . willielmus russel tenet kingeston in com. dorset , in capite de domino rege per serjantiam , essendi custos ostii botilarii domini regis , per quatuor principalia festa per annum . bradepole . elena de gorges tenet manerium de bradepole in com. dorset , per serjantiam inveniendi quendam servientem — armatum , cum guerra evenerit , per quadraginta dies . oketon & dalton . anketil malore tenet quandam terram & x s. redditus in oketon & dalton , in com. ebor. de serjantia domini regis per archeriam , quam terram dominus rex dedit eidem anketilo in maritagio cum filia & haerede willielmi de muletorp ; & tenet praedictam terram unius archeriae , quod inveniet unum servientem ad custodiam castri ebor. tempore guerrae per xl dies ad custum proprium . debet etiam invenire unum servientem ad ducendum thesaurum domini regis , per totum comitatum ad custum proprium , & extra com. ad custum domini regis . swinton . willielmus filius daniel tenet quatuor bovatas terrae & dimid . in swinton in com. ebor. reddendo inde per annum unum flaskettum , &c. wapentake de strafford . thomas carnifex tenet de domino rege in capite manerium de r. in com. ebor. per serjantiam inveniendi domino regi in exercitu suo in walliam , unum equum , unam falcem , unam brochiam , & unum saccum , &c. et praedictus thomas in misericordia pro injusta detentione . hereford . hospitilarij tenent in hereford unum messuagium cum pertin ' , quod philippus filius odonis tenuit per serjantiam * chachepolli , quod eis legavit in puram eleemosynam . ho. jeremy del ho & radulfus de coggeshale tenent feodum del ho in rivahale , quod est de honore bononiae & valet xl s. & deb●nt tenere per servitium * chamberlangeriae in com. devon ' , & modo nullum servitium faciunt nisi duos wartpenys per an ▪ ad hundredum de wyham . hundred de beckingtre . johannes le parker tenet dimid . hidam terrae per serjantiam custodiendi parcum domini regis & boscum forinsecum , & valet per annum dimidiam marcam . bures . willielmus de bigod tenet cum uxore sua villam de bures , & hundredum de domino rege in capite , scil . villam de bures per serjantiam * eschanderiae , & valet villa c s. & de hundredo reddit ad scaccarium xviijl . vpminster . johannes engayne tenet manerium de vpmenistre in com. essex , quod valet per ann . xxxl . per serjantiam custodiendi canes leporarios domini regis . morton . henricus de averyng tenuit manerium de morton in com. essex in capite de domino rege , per serjantiam inveniendi unum hominem cum uno equo precii x s. & quatuor † † ferris equorum , & uno sacco de coreo , & una brochia ferrea , quotiescunque contigerit dominum regem ire in walliam cum exercitu sumptibus suis propriis per quadragnita dies . pusey . alicia paternoster tenet unam virgatam terrae in pusey in com. berks in capite de domino rege per servitium dicendi quolilet die quinquies paternoster , pro animabus antecessorum domini regis . & valet per ann . v s. & richardus paternoster pro relevio suo ter dixit coram baronibus modo hic orationem dominicam cum salutatione beatae mariae , sicut johannes frater ejus fecerat pro relevio suo . saling . radulfus picot tenet unam carucatam terrae in saling in com. essex per serjantiam custodiendi unum spervarlum ad custus domini regis ; & dominus rex invenient eidem sustentationem suam ad tres equos , tres † garciones & tres leporarios , & idem radulfus mutabit praedictum spervarium sumptibus suis propriis . falsted . walterus de glanvile tenet quadraginta acras terrae in falsted in com. essex per serjantiam † cariandi unam summam avenae sumptibus suis propriis ad equos domini regis , dum tamen dominus rex moram fecerit in com. essex inter pontem de stratford extra london & pontem de colcester , & modo terra illa arrentata est . boyton . willielmus de reynes aliquando tenuit duas carucatas terrae in boyton in parochia de finchingfend in com. essex per serjantiam custodiendi domino regi quinque canes † luporarios , & decanus & capitalum londoni modo tenent terram illam . hashwell . simon de hashwel tenet quoddam tenementum in villa de hashwel in com. essex per serjantiam essendi † hastilarius domini regis . springesend . petrus le marshal tenet quoddam tenementum in spring send in com. essex per serjantiam custodiendi unum palefridum in stabulo domini regis sumptibus ipsius domini regis . fingreth . robertus de vere , comes oxoniae , tenet manerium de fingreth in com. essex per serjantiam essendi camerarius domini regis die coronationis suae & idem robertus & matilda uxor ejus tenet manerium de ging-reginae , per serjantiam custodiendi cameram dominae reginae die coronationis praedictae . tey magna . robert 〈…〉 de trumpeton tenet dimid . carucatam 〈…〉 tey magna in com. essex per serjan 〈…〉 inveniendi domino regi unum equum 〈…〉 num * saccum de cannabe , & unam brochiam in exercitu domini regis in walliam per xl . dies sumptibus suis propriis . brokenerst . petrus spileman tenuit de rege in capite unam carucatam terrae in brokenerst in comitatu southamptoniae per serjantiam inveniendi unum servientem cum * hambergello per quadraginta dies in anglia &c. launceston . robertus hurding tenet unam acram terrae & unum furnum in villa castri de lanceveton nomine serjantiae essendi in castro de lanceveton cum uno capello serreo & una * hachet denesh per xl . dies , tempore guerrae ad custum suum proprium , & post xl . dies si dominus castri velit ipsum tenere in eodem castro , 〈…〉 custus ipsius domini . degemue . willielmus trevelle tenet unam acram terrae cornubiensem in degemue & eglosderi per serjantiam inveniendi unum batellum & rethia ad piscandum in lacu de hellestone , quandocunque dominus rex venerit apud hellestone & quamdiu moram ibi fecerit . penkelly johannes de treveilly tenet in penkelly in com. cornub. dimidiam acram terrae cornubiensem per serjantiam recipiendi unam capam de grisanso ad pontem de pauleton cum rex fuerit in veniendo versus cornubiam , & intrando de domino de cabilia , qui eam in adventu domini regis , ibidem deferre debet , & eam tradere eidem johanni , qui quidem johannes eandem capam ferre debet cum domino rege per totam cornubiam . pengevel . robertus de wena tenet tres acras cornubienses terrae in villa de pengevel in capite de domino rege per serjantiam inveniendi quinque soldarios ad vada gayte castri de lanceveton &c. schipton . willielmus le moyne tenet man●rium de schipton in com. gloc. de domino rege per serjantiam custodiendi lardarium domini regis . twigworth . robertus le sauvage tenet unam virgatam terrae in twigeworth de domino rege per servitium quinque solidorum per annum , & debet portare brevia domini regis quae veniunt ad vicecomitem per comitatum istum ad custum suum proprium . vpton . galfridus de la grave tenet unam virgatam terrae in vpton in com. gloc. per serjantiam quod debet sequi dom. regem in exercitu suo in anglia cum arcu & sagittis ad custum suum proprium per xl . dies , & postea ad custum domini regis , & willielmus de kingsham tenet duas acras terrae per serjantiam custodiendi hostium dispensorii domini regis . stapelton . johannes de allebyr tenet unam virgatam terrae in stapelton in com gloc. per serjantiam ad portandum brevia dom. regis de castello gloucestriae per unam * dietam ad custum suum proprium , & ultra ad custum dom. regis . teynton . hugo de kilpec tenet manerium de parva teynton in com. glouc. de dom. rege per serjantiam servandi * hayam de hereford ad custum suum . idem habuit duas filias , quae sunt ejus haeredes , quarum philippus marmion desponsavit unam & willielmus de cantilupo habet custodiam alterius per dom. regem . molesey . walter de molesey tenet terram suam de dom. rege in molesy per serjantiam existendi † balistarius domini regis in exercitu suo , per xl . dies ad custum suum proprium , & si amplius ibi moram fecerit ad custum domini regis stoke . nicholas le archer tenet duas carucatas terrae in villa de stoke in com. glouc. per serjantiam inveniendi domino regi in exercitu walliae unum hominem cum arcu & sagittis , sumptibus suis propriis per xl . dies . kingesham . johannes de daubeney tenet manerium suum apud kingesham in com. glouc , per serjantiam custodiendi † hostium panetriae domini regis . et praedictus johannes dicit quod die coronationis domini regis nunc fecit serjantiam suam in propria persona . lancaster . rogerus de hesam tenet duas carucatas terrae , per servitium sonandi cornu suum quando rex intrat & exit comitatum lancastriae . vpton . walkelinus de fabrica tenet unam virgatam terrae in vpton in com. glouc. per serjantiam reddendi ad manerium domini ducenta capita sagittarum . et juratores dicunt quod dominus rex est in seisina . kings stanford . richardus pygot tenet duas virgatas terrae in stanford regis in com hereford de domino rege in capite per servitium conducendi thesaurum domini regis de hereford usque ad london , sumptibus domini regis & in redeundo sumptibus suis propriis ; & etiam summonendi episcopum hereford ad portas manerii dicti episcopi de bromyard , si contingat dominum regem praedictum episcopum implacitare . mawardyn walterus de monemuwe ( i. monmouth ) tenet unam virgatam terrae in mawardyn in com. heref. per serjantiam conducendi thesaurum dom. regis usque london , quotiescunque summonitus fuerit per vicecomitem , cum uno equo & capello ferreo sumptibus domini regis , viz. xij . d. quolibet die versus london , & in redeundo sumptibus suis propriis . et willielmus caperon tenuit duas virgatas terrae ibidem per serjantiam custodiendi portam castri hereford , & habendi denarios per diem de domino rege . watton . robertus aguillum tenet manerium de watton in com. hertford per serjantiam inveniendi unum hominem ad pedes quandocunque dominus rex vadit in walliam per xl . dies sumptibus suis propriis . lighthorn . comes warwici est dominus de lighthorn in com. warwic , & tenet de rege in capite &c. tota villa est geldabilis , & dat scutagium & warth , & venit ad duos magnos turnos vicecomitis . hornmede . juratores dicunt quod manerium de hornmede in com. hertford , quod domina lora de saunford tenet in dotem , est serjantia domini regis , essendi camerarius dominae reginae . magna gidding . johannes engayne tenet unam carucatam terrae in magna gidding in com. hunt. per serjantiam currendi ad lupum , vulpem & cattum , & amovendi omnem verminam extra forestam domini regis in comitatu isto . peckam . johannes peckam tenet manerium de peckam in com. kanciae in capite de domino rege per servitium mutandi unum osturcum per ann . bilsington . antecessores comitis arundel solebant tenere manerium de bilsynton , in com. kanciae quod valet per ann . xxx l. per serjantiam essendi pincerna domini regis in die pentecostes . coperland & atterton . solomon de campis tenet quasdam terras quae vocantur coperland & atterton in com. kanc. de domino rege in capite per serjantiam & servitium tenendi caput ipsius domini regis inter dover & whitsond , quoties contigerit ipsum inter praedictos portus transfretare versus whitsond . ovenhelle . osbertus de longchamp miles tenet quandam terram quae vocatur ovenhelle in com. kanciae , per servitium quod debet exequi dominum regem in exercitu suo usque in walliam xl . diebus propriis sumptibus , cum uno equo precii v s. & cum uno sacco precii vj d. & cum brochia ad eundem sacuum . hundred de middleton . willielmus de leyburn tenet terram suam de domino rege per serjantiam ad custodiendum lardarium domini regis die quo dominus rex portabit coronam . bilsington . prior de bilsington tenet quandam partem serjantiae in bilsington in com. kanciae † ad serviendum dominum regem die pentecostes de coupa sua . lenyngburn . willielmus filius willielmi bek tenet terram suam in lenyngburn per serjantiam inveniendi ad transfretationem domini regis unam navem quae vocatur baard , versus vasconiam , sumptibus suis propriis . portus maris . king edward the first ordained , that his sea-port towns should provide for his service certain ships sumptibus suis propriis & duplici eskippamento . sr. robert cotton ( in his answer to motives for war ) interprets it double shippage , by which i suppose he means double tackle or furniture for the ships . keperland & atterton . solomon attefeld tenet terram apud keperland & atterton in com. kanciae per serjantiam , viz. quod quotiescunque dominus rex vult transire mare , idem solomon & haeredes sui debent transire cum eo ad tenendum caput ejus in mare , si necesse fuerit . waleton . richardus de waleton tenet quatuordecim bovatas terrae cum pertinentiis , in waleton in com. lanc. de domino rege per serjantiam faciendi executiones ad brevia domini regis & attachiamenta in wapentachiis de derby & makerfeld , & est ballivus eorundem de feodo . parva singelton . thomas de singelton tenet parvam singelton in com. lanc. per servitium faciendi attachiamenta & executiones ad brevia domini regis & attachiamenta ad placita coronae in wapentachiis de amonderness & blakeburnschire , die qua pater suus obijt ▪ seisitus . scargerthorp &c. abbas de netele tenet in scargerthorp , bekingham & sutton in com. lincoln quoddam manerium cum pertin . quod habet de dono walteri de burgo qui illud tenuit de domino rege in capite , per servitium reddendi domino regi unam † capellam lineatam de syndone & unum par calcarium deauratorum pro omni servitio . bradele . radulfus de fletcher tenet in villa de bradele in com. linc. unum messuagium & duas bovatas terrae & sex acras bosci cum pertin . de domino rege in capite per servitium reddendi per ann . viginti * flectas ad scaccarium domini regis . renham . laurentius de broke tenet villatam de renham in com. middlesex de domino rege in capite per servitium inveniendi domino regi in exercitu ubicunque fuerit infra quatuor maria angliae unum hominem equitem precii equi v s. & unum saccum precii v d. & unam brochiam precii duorum denariorum ob . qr . per xl . dies sumptibus ipsius laurentii . idem tenet villatam de ikenham per idem servitium . enfeild . richardus de plessetis tenet viginti libratas terrae in enefend in com. middlesex de domino rege per serjantiam essendi capitalis forestarius domini regis in forestis de menedop exemore , rychiche & selewode in com somerset . lilleston . oto filius willielmi tenuit manerium de lilleston in com. middlesex de domino rege henrico patre domini regis nunc in capite , per serjantiam custodiendi * cuneum monetae domini regis . sed magister militiae templi modo tenet , &c. brambelegh . richardus cauus & sabina uxor ejus tenent unum messuagium & sexaginta acras terrae in brambelegh in com. middlesex , per servitium inveniendi domino regi unum hominem equitem armatum per xl . dies sumptibus suis propriis , quotiens contigerit ipsum dominum regem adire alicubi cum exercitu . et priorissa beati leonardi de stretford tenet quinquaginta acras terrae in eadem villa per servitium inveniendi domino regi unum hominem ad tenendum manutergium ipsius regis in coronatione sua . east-smithfield . thomas de meose tenet unum messuagium & unum molendinum aquaticum & octo acras prati cum pertin . in east-smithfield per servitium inveniendi domino regi unum hominem peditem cum arcu & sagittis per xl . dies sumptibus suis propriis in turri london . tempore guerrae . carleton . eustachius de corson , thomas de berkedich & robertus de wethen tenent triginta acras terrae in villa de carleton in com. norfolk per serjantiam ducendi domino regi ubicunque fuerit in anglia , viginti & quatuor * pastillos de fresh allec in primo adventu . herlham . radulfus de herlham tenet manerium de herlham in com. norf. per serjantiam inveniendi in castro de norwico unum balistarium tempore guerrae xl . dies sumptibus suis propriis . redenhal . petrus filius roberti le espicer tenet quandam terram in redenhall in com. norf. per serjantiam custodiendi unum austurcum domini regis sumptibus domini regis a festo sancti michaelis usque ad quadragesimam ; & postmodum ipsum mutare debet sumptibus suis propriis . shelfhanger . johannes filius bartholomaei de avyleres tenuit quandam serjantiam in villa de shelfhanger in com. norf. & in brome & everwarton in com. sufolk , per serjantiam essendi mareschallus peditum com. norf. & suff. in exercitu domini regis in wallia , cum contigerit dominum regem ibidem ire cum exercitu , sumptibus comitatuum praedictorum . norton & clun . willielmus filius alani dat duos bonos catzuros pro habendis duobus feriis , una apud norton , per quatuor dies duratura , & alia apud clunne , per tres dies duratura , secundum tenorem chartae domini regis , quam inde habet . ashley . johannes de hastings tenet manerium quod vocatur le vppehall in ashelt in capite de domino rege per serjantiam essendi pannetarius domini regis . rakey . walterus de burgh & participes sui tenent xvjl . libratas terrae in rakey in com. norf. per serjantiam duorum mues vini rubei & ducentorum pirorum de permeines solvendorum ad festum sancti michaelis quolibet anno ad scaccarium domini regis . runham . walterus de hevene tenuit manerium de runham in com norf. in capite de domino rege per serjantiam duarum mutarum vini sacti de permains , solvend . domino regi ad scaccarium per ann . ad festum sancti michaelis . banningham . rogerus bygod comes norf. tenet quandam serjantiam in bannyngham , quae vocatur tusard per servitium inveniendi domino regi unum * balistarium tempore guerrae per quindecim dies sumptibus suis propriis . stanhow . johanna quae fuit uxor johannis king tenet quandam serjantiam in stanhow in com. norf. serjantiam custodiendi unum bracelettum deymerettum domini regis . quaere . sibertoft . thomas curzonn tenet manerium de sibertoft in com. northampton de domino rege in capite per servitium inveniendi unum hominem peditem cum arcubus & sagittis in exercitu domini regis per xl dies infra quatuor maria , sumptibus suis propriis . wrencholm . robertus filius alexandri tenet manerium de wrencholm per custodiam porcorum regis , tempore pannagii , donec apprecientur , pightesley . johannes d'engayne miles & elena d'engayne tenent de domino rege in capite viginti libratas terrae cum pertin . in pightesle in com. northhampton per servitium fugandi ad lupum pro voluntate sua in comitatu isto . vpton . nicholas chaunceux tenet manerium de vpton in com. northampton , quod est de antiquo dominio coronae domini regis , per servitium inveniendi unum hominem armatum in guerra domini regis quandocunque necesse fuerit infra quatuor maria angliae per xl . dies sumptibus suis propriis . rode. robertus maunsel tenet xl . acras terrae cum pertin . in rode in quodam loco vocato somerhale & lidgate de honore peverelli per serjantiam inveniendi domino regi , in guerra sua walliae cum accederit , unum equum precii quinque solidorum & unum saccum precii iiij d. ob . cum uno * brochetto per quadraginta dies sumptibus suis propriis . radeclyve & glapton . manerium de radeclyve tenetur de domino rege in capite per servitium * mutandi unum estricium , & inveniendi unum portatorem ad custus domini regis . item gervasius de glapton , johannes de skerington & alii tenent medietatem unius messuagii & trium bovatarum terrae in glapton per servitium inveniendi unum sub-ballivum pro feodo peverelli in com. nottingham . abbeford . laurentius do scaccario tenuit duas carucatas terrae in abbeford in parochia de aston per serjantiam essendi marescallus coram justiciariis itinerantibus per totam angliam , & coram justiciariis de banco & baronibus de scaccario . nettlebed . oliverus de stanford tenuit quandam terram in nettlebed in com. oxon , per serjantiam * espicurnantiae cancellaria domini regis . hokenorton . ela comitissa warwici tenet manerium de hokenorton in com. oxon. quod est de baronia de oyly , de domino rege in capite per serjantiam scindendi coram domino rege die natalis domini , & habere cultellum ▪ domini regis de quo scindit . staunton . henricus de la wade tenet decem libratas terrae in staunton in com. oxon. per serjantiam portandi unum gerefalconem quolibet anno coram domino rege , quando domino regi placuerit spaciari cum hujusmodi falconibus , ad custus ipsius domini regis . nether overton . robertus de la sale tenet duas virgatas terrae in nether-overton per serjantiam inveniendi in exercitu domini regis hominem portantem unum † penicillum per quadraginta dies sumptibus suis ; & modo arrenta est ad scaccarium . thethercote & cheddich , petrus de chetwode tenet dimidiam carucatam terrae in thethercote & cheddich per serjantiam quod solebat invenire , in exercitu domino regis sumptibus suis propriis tempore guerrae , unum hominem peditem cum una lancea & uno bucino ferreo per xl . dies . quaere . thamewell . robertus de grant tenuit unum messuagium & xiij . acras terrae in hameletto de thamewell in com. oxon. de domino rege per serjantiam custodiendi portam de wodegate apud wodestoke in presentia domini regis , cum idem dominus rex moram ibidem faceret . boghton . johannes mauduit tenet manerium de boghton in com. oxon. in capite de domino rege per serjantiam mutandi unum hostricum domini regis , vel istum hostricum portandi ad curiam domini regis . lewe . robertus de eylesford tenet tres virgatas terrae in lewe in com. oxon. de domino rege per servitium inveniendi unum hominem cum arcu & sagittis per xl . dies sumptibus suis propriis , quotiescunque contigerit dominum regem ire in walliam cum exercitu suo . wylington . walter de la lynde tenet bedelleriam hundredi de wyllington & hundredi de westperet in com. somerset , per serjantiam inveniendi bedellos ad officium bedellorum faciend . in hundredis praedictis . et walterus dicit quod dominus henricus rex , pater domini regis nunc concessit johanni de la lynde patri suo praedictam bedelleriam per cartam suam , quam profert , &c. stony-aston . bartholomaeus peytevyn tenet duas carucatas terrae in stony-aston in com. somerset de domino rege in capite per servitium unius † sextarii vini gariophilati reddendi domino regi per annum ad natale domini . et valet dicta terra per ann . x l. stert . matheus de chamfleur tenet manerium de sterte in com. somerset in capite de domino rege per serjantiam unius † grunae vini , solvend . per annum ad scaccarium domini regis ad festum sancti michaelis . arrentata est ad iij s. per annum . mertok . robertus de sancto claro tenet decem libratas terrae in hundredo de mertok de domino rege in capite per servitium inveniendi unum servientem armatum cum uno equo in exercitu domini regis in wallia per xl . dies sumptibus suis propriis . brom. barthol . de avylers tenet terram in brom in com. suffolk per serjantiam ducendi pedites istius comitatus in walliam , quotiescunque contigerit dominum regem ire ad partes illas cum exercitu . hanlegh . robertus bardolf tenet quoddam tenementum in hanlegh in com. suffolk per serjantiam essendi & faciendi officium ballivi honoris de hanlegh , in capite de domino rege . aston-bernard john molyns held the mannor of aston-bernard in com. bucks of the king in capite , by the service of being marshal of the kings falcons and other hawks . wingfeild . galfridus frumband tenuit sexaginta acras terrae in wingefend in com. suffolk per servitium reddendi domino regi duas albas columbas per ann . wrotting . walterus pychard de wrotting in com. suffolk tenuit centum acras terrae de domino rege in capite per ▪ serjantiam inveniendi domino rege unum hominem peditem , cum uno arcu & quatuor sagittis , quotiescunque contigerit dominum regem ire in walliam cum exercitu per xl . dies sumptibus suis propriis . wylemondele . reginald de argentyne , in king edward the firsts time , was seized of the mannor of great wylemondele ( now called wymble ) in the county of cambridg , which he held by grand serjanty , to serve our lord the king on the day of his coronation with a silver cup , ad ordinationem seneschalli domini regis . this mannor is now come to the lord allington , who at the coronation dinner of his majesty king charles the second , carried the king his first draught of drink in a silver gilt cup ; the office of cupbearer , as also the fee having been adjudged to him by the courts of claims , in right of this mannor ; and when the king had drank , the said lord allington received the cup for his fee. guldeford . thomas de la puille tenet unam serjantiam in villa de guldeford de dono ricardi testard , per quam aliquando solebat servare lotrices curiae domini regis , & modo reddit ad scaccarium xxv s. cumbes . petrus de baldewyn tenet quandam serjantiam in cumbes in com. surrey ad colligendam lanam dominae reginae per albas spinas , si voluèrit , & si nolit eam colligere solvet ad scaccarium domini regis xx s. per ann . mayford . mayford est serjantia domini regis , & debet invenire unum servientem cum uno hambergello & una lancea , per xl . dies ad custum suum . gateshill . robertus de gatton tenet manerium de gateshill in com surrey , per serjantiam marescalli duodecim puellarum , quae sequuntur curiam domini regis . biscopestre . habuit rex griffin unum manerium biscopestreu , & in dominio unam carucatam habebat , & homines ejus sex carucas . quando ipse rex ibi veniebat , reddebat ei unaquaeque caruca cc. * hesthas , unam cunam plenam cervisia & unam butyri ruscam . westcurt . walterus gatelyn tenet manerium de westcurt in villa de bedinton in com. surrey in capite de domino rege reddendo inde domino regi per annum unam balistam precii xij d. lederede . willielmus frankelen tenet quandam terram in lederede in com. surrey de feodo regis inveniendo † scaunam ad comitatum , quotiescunque contigerit comitatum ibi teneri . et walterus le hore tenet quandam terram in eadem villa de feodo regis inveniendo quandam domum ad prisonam , cum contigerit aliquem prisonem capiari ad turnum vicecomitis , sed prisones debent esse in custodia vicecomitis . et willielmus de oxencroft tenet quandam terram in eadem villa de feodo domini regis inveniendo * parcum ad averia , cum aliquae averia capta fuerint pro debito domini regis . chenes . othonus de grandison & johannes de valletorta & alicia uxor ejus tenent villam de chenes de serjantia inveniendi die coronationis regis duos albos ciphos ad prandium , & modo arrentata est ad viij s. gateshull . hamo de gatton tenet manerium de gateshul in com. surrey de domino rege per serjantiam , ut erit marescallus meretricum , cum dominus rex venerit in partibus illis , & non tenet nisi ad voluntatem ipsius regis . midlovent . willielmus de thadeham tenet duas hidas terrae apud midlovent in com. sussex de domino rege in capite , & solebat reddere pro eadem terra domino regi per annum duos chapones albos , & modo reddit unam marcam . et willielmus papylon tenet terram in boseham per idem servitium . wolbeding . johannes de arundell de wolbeding tenet manerium de wolbeding in capite de domino rege per serjantiam deferendi † vexillum peditum de comitatu sussex per medium sussex , cum contigerit dominum regem transitum facere tempore guerrae per medium comitatus sussexiae . boseham . rogerus papilon tenet unum messuagium , unum molendinum & tres virgatas terrae in boseham in com. sussex per servitium portandi domino regi duos albos capones quotiens transierit per portam ipsius rogeri . chinting . thomas therel habuit quandam serjantiam in chinting in com. sussex inveniendi quendam servientem quotiescunque contigerit dominum regem cum exercitu suo ire in walliam vel alibi in anglia sumptibus suis propriis per xl . dies . et thomas de peverel tenet terram in blachinton per idem servitium . estwordham . johannes le vnz tenet estwordham in com. southampton de domino rege per serjantiam portandi unam virgam coram domino rege , & arentatur ad c s. per ann . hertlegh . patricius de cadurcis . ( i. chaworth ) tenet manerium de hertlegh in com. predict . faciendo servitium camerarii ad scaccarium domini regis . hochangre . jacobus de hochangre tenet hochangre in com. southampton per serjantiam inveniendi unum valectum in exercitu domini regis per quadraginta dies ; et ad faciendam pontem de hochangre & valet per ann . c s. stapeley . edmundus synagor tenet manerium de stapele in com. southampton per serjantiam inveniendi unum serjantium ad arma ubique in exercitu domini regis in anglia sumptibus suis propriis per xl . dies . schyrefend . johannes de wintreshul tenet manerium de schyrefend in com. predicto per serjantiam inveniendi unum serjantum ad custodiendum meretrices in exercitu domini regis . vide shirefeld postea . bentley thomas de brustvil tenet decem libratas terrae in bentlegh in com. southampton per serjantiam inveniendi unum hominem cum arcu & sagittis in exercitu domini regis in anglia & wallia per xl . dies sumptibus suis propriis . et ricardus de cardevile tenet centum solidatas terrae in tudderlegh per idem servitium . lindeshull . willielmus le moyne tenet duas hidas terrae in lyndeshull in com. southampton de domino rege in capite , per serjantiam custodiendi hostium lardarii domini regis . frollebury . willielmus de wintreshul tenet manerium de frollebury in com. southampton in capite de domino rege per serjantiam custodiendi hostium garderobae domini regis . et henrious de edmunsthorp tenet unam virgatam terrae in eadem villa per serjantiam custodiendi forestam domini regis de wytel . casham . roulandus de arley & henricus wade tenent medietatem cujusdam serjantiae in casham in com. southampton ad inveniendum quendam hominem peditem , ad custodiendum castrum de porchester tempore guerrae per xl . dies sumptibus suis propriis , & arrentata est serjantia illa per annum ad dimid . marcam . hundred de ford. richardus de carevile tenuit sex libratas terrae in capite de domino rege in eodem hundredo per serjantiam inveniendi quendam serjantum ad arma ubique in exercitus domini regis in anglia sumptibus suis per xl . dies . warneford . nicholas de malis manibus malmayns tenet centum solidatas terrae in villa de warneford in com. southampton pro uno † spervario soro reddendo domino regi per annum ad festum sancti michaelis ad scaccarium . elyng . rogerus de elyng tenet quandam terram in elyng to com. southampton per servi●ium ad ferenda brevia domini regis quae mittenda sunt vicecomiti southampton in insula de wight in hundredis de christ-church , ringewode & ford. burgus de porcestre . rogerus de wanstede tenet dimid . serjantiam ibidem per servitium inveniendi unum vallectum per octo dies sumptibus propriis , cum praepuncto , capella ferrea & lancea , custodire castrum de portesmue tempore guerrae & arrentata est per annum ad decem solidos . elston . thomas rooper and william wright claymed against francis leek esquire , the mannor of elston in com. nottingham with the appurtenances , and the rent of one pound of cumin seed , two pair of gloves , and a steel needle in elston , thorp and stoke by newark . cotinton . walter de marisco held the mannor of cottinton in com. nottingham by the service of presenting the king yearly with a pair of scarlet hose . bulewel . roger rastal held lands in bulewell in com. nottingham of the king , by the service of paying every year a horse with a halter . brunnesley . gilbert de brunnesley held ` lands in brunnesley in com. nottingham of the honour of peverel by serjeanty , of finding a horse of v s. price , with a sack and broach and an halter of an halfpeny price , for forty dayes at his own cost in the kings army in wales . borebach & conelesfeld . henricus sturmy & m. uxor ejus tenet de domino rege in capite maneria de borebach & conelesfeld cum pertin . in com. wiltes per servitium custodiendi balivam totius forestae de savernake & † censariam quae vocatur la verme in foresta praedicta , & etiam per servitium inveniendi unum hominem armatum ad loricam quando dominus rex eum habere voluerit citra mare . pro quidem custodia forestae & censariae praedictae habere debent omnia jura & pertinencia subscripta . omnes forestarii de feodo totius forestae praedictae erunt eis intendentes & respondentes tanquam capitali forestario forestae praedictae , & debent habere equitaturam , sellam , frenum , gladium & cornu forestariorum de feodo cum obierint . et debent habere estov erium suum ad housebote & heybote per totam balivam praedictam , & omnia amerciamenta facta in curia forestae praedictae de defaltis . et omnia placita de leporibus , rechibus , heymectis , tessonibus , vulpibus , murilegis & perdicibus , & omnia amerciamenta de escapiis animalium , & mortuo bosco per totum annum , excepto mense yetito . et omnia averia sua , exceptis bidentibus & capris in foresta praedicta quieta de herbagio per annum , & porcos suos quietos de pannagio per totum annum , excepto mense vetito . et debent habere extrahuras per totam forestam praedictam , & amerciamenta de expeditatione canum & aeria espervariorum , mel & nuces & cyppos per totam forestam praedictam post quodlibet regardum factum . et habent chaceam suam , per totam balivam forestae praedictae , ad lepores , vulpes , murilegos , tessones & ad omni modas hujusmodi vermes . et debent habere mortuum boscum in praedicta censaria de la verme per tres septimanas ante festum sancti michaelis sine utensili prosternendum . et debent habere in eadem censaria quicquid vento prosternitur praeter cablicium quod pertinet ad dominum regem . et retropannagium a festo sancti martini usque ad festum purificationis beatae mariae & omnes coopertiones de maerennio prostrato ad opus domini regis vel dato per dominum regem . et sabulonarium & chyminagium per totam censariam praedictam . et pasturam cujusdam anguli bruerae extra colput &c. borebach & conelesfeld . henry sturmy and m. his wife hold the mannors of borebach & conelesfeld , in the county of wilts , of our lord the king in capite , by the service of keeping the bail of the whole forrest of savernake , and the farm which is called la verne in the said forest ; and also by the service of finding a man armed with a coat of mail , when our lord the king will have him beyond sea. for the keeping of which forest and farm they ought to have all the rights and appurtenances here under written . all foresters in fee of the said forest shall be attendant and answerable to them , as to the chief forester of the said forest , and they ought to have the horse and furniture , saddle , bridle , sword and horn of such foresters in fee ; when they dye . and they ought to have their estovers of housebote and haybote through the whole bail aforesaid ; and all amerciaments for defaults made at the court of the forest ; and all pleas of hares ; nets , — badgers , foxes , wyldcats , and partridges ; and all amerciaments for the escapes of wild beasts , and for dead wood in the whole year , except in the fence month ( which was from fifteen dayes before midsommer day to fifteen dayes after ) and was also called tempus de foyneson ; because the dear did then fawn , or bring forth their young ; & to have all their cattle , except sheep and goats , during the whole year quit of herbage , and their hogs quit of paunage for the whole year , except in the fence moneth ; and they ought to have the estrays of the whole forest , and the amerciaments for expeditating dogs , and airys of sparhawks , honey and nuts and hipps through the whole forest after every regard there made : and to have their chace at hare , fox , wildcat , badger , and all such like vermin through the whole bayle of the said forest ; and they ought to have the dead wood on the said farm de la verme , for three weeks before the feast of st. michael , to be puld down without a tool or axe . and they ought to have on the said farm , whatsoever is thrown down by the wynd , except wood , which belongs to our lord the king. and retropaunage , from the feast of st. martyn to the feast of the purification of blessed mary : and all coverings or crops of timber felld for the kings use or given away by him ; and liberty to dig gravel or sand , and toll for wayfarage through the whole farm aforesaid , and the pasturage of a certain nook of heath-ground beyond colput . chichester . quaedam terrae & tenementa in suburbia cicestriae in parochia sancti pancratii tenentur de rege in capite per servitium reddendi rege quandocunque venerit per quandam venellam vocatam goddestrete super mari australi , i unum fucillum plenum fili crudi ad falsam cordam pro balista sua facienda . cuckwold . thomas colevyle miles tenet manerium de cukwold in com. ebor. de thoma nuper domino de mowbray , ut de manerio suo de threke , reddendo unum tergum sine scutum cum armis dicti domini depictis , annuatim die pentecostes . eggefeild . walterus le rus & alicia uxor ejus tenent duodecim acras terrae in eggefeild per servitium reparandi ferramenta ad carucas regis . husknal-torcard . sir john leek held the mannor of hucknal-torcard in com. nottingham , of the crown by knights service , and also by the service of carrying a gerfalcon from michaelmas till lent at the kings cost with horses and s. a day , and half a sextary of wyne , and two robes , when he was summoned to perform the service . lindeby . the town of lindeby in com. nottingham was an escheat of the kings of the honour of peverel , and william de saint michael had one moity of it of the gift of king john , paying yearly in the kings chamber a fur of grise mansfeild woodhouse . sir robert plumpton knight was seized of one bovat of land in mansfeild woodhouse in com. nottingham , called wolfhunt land , held by the service of winding a horn , and chasing or frighting the wolves in the forest of shirewood . over colewick . reginald de colewike held lands in over colewick in com. nottingham of the king in capite , by the service of paying him twelve barbed arrows , when he should come to nottingham castle . burton . john burdon held four bovats of land in demain in buron in com. nottingham of the honour of tickhill by the service of finding one horse and one sack , when the constables of chester marched into wales in the kings service . worksop . king henry the eighth granted to george talbot earl of shrewsbury the scite and precinct of the monastery of wirksop cum pertin . in com. nottingham , to be held of the king in capite , by the service of the tenth part of a knights fee , and by the royal service of finding the king a right hand glove at his coronation , and to support his right arm that day , as long as he should hold the scepter in his hand , and paying yearly l. s. o d. ob . whichnor . sir philip de somervile knight held the mannor of whichnour in com. stafford of the eirle of lancaster , then lord of the honour of tutbury , by these memoable services , viz. by two small fees , that is to say , when other tenants pay for releef one whole knights fee , one hundred shillings ; he the said sir. p. shall pay but fifty shillings , and when escuage is alsessd throgheout the land , or apde for to make the eldest son of the lord knyght , or for to marry the eldest doughter of the lord , the sayd sir philip shal pay bot the moty of it , that other shal paye . nevertheless the sayd sir philip shal fynde , meynteinge and susteigne one bacon flyke , hanginge in his halle at wichenore , ready arrayed all tymes of the yere , bott in lent , to be given to everyche mane or womane married , after the day and yere of their mariage be passed ; and to be given to everyche mane of religion , arch bishop , prior or other religious , and to everyche preest , after the year and day of their profession finished , or of their dignity reseyved , in forme following , whensoever that ony such before named wylle come for to enquire for the baconne , in there owne person , or by any other for them , they shall come to the bayliff or to the porter of the lordship of whichenour and shal say to them , in the manere as ensewethe . baylife or porter i doo you to knowe , that i am come for my self ( or if he come for any other , shewing for whome ) one bacon flyke , hanging in the halle of the lord of whichenour , after the forme thereunto belonginge . after which relation , the bailiff or porter shal assigne a daye to him , upon promise by his feythe to return , and with him to bring tweyne of his neighbours , and in the meyn time the said bailif shal take with him tweyne of the freeholders of the lordship of whichenoure , and they three shal goe to the mannour of rudlowe belonging to robert knyghtleye , and there shal somon the foresaid ▪ knyghtley or his bayliffe , comanding hym to be ready at whichenour the day appoynted at pryme of the day , with his cariage that is to say , a horse and a sadyle , a sakke and a pryke , for to convey and carry the said baconne and corne a journey owt of the countee of stafford , at his costages : and then the sayd bailiffe shal , with the said freeholders somon all the tenaunts of the said manoir , to be ready at the day appoynted at whichenour , for to doe and performe the services , which they owe to the baconne . and at the day assigned all such as owe services to the baconne , shal be ready at the gatte of the manoir of whichenour , frome the sonne risinge to none , attendyng and awayting for the comyng of hym that fetcheth the baconne ; and when he is comyn , there shal be delivered to hym and his felowys chapeletts , and to all those whiche shal be there , to doe their services deue to the baconne : and they shal lede the seid demandant wythe tromps and tabours and other manner of mynstralseye to the hall dore , where he shal fynde the lord of whichenour or his steward redy to deliver the baconne in this manere . he shal enquere of hym which demandeth the baconne , if he have brought tweyne of his neghbours with hym , which must answere , they be here redy . and then the steward shal cause theis two neghbours to swere , yf the seid demandant be a weddyt man , or have be a man weddyt ; and , yf syth his marryage one yere and a day be passed ; and yf he be a freeman or a villeyn . and yf his seid neghbours make othe , that he hath for hym all theis three poynts rehersed , then shall the baconne be take downe and broght to the halle dore , and shal there be layd upon one half a quarter of wheatte and upon one other of rye . and he that demandeth the baconne shal kneel upon his knee , and shal hold his right hande upon a booke , which booke shal be layd above the baconne and the corne , and shal make oath in this manere . here ye , sir philip de somervyle , lord of whichenour mayntayner and giver of this baconne , that i a. syth i wedded b. my wife , and syth i had her in my kepyng and at my wylle by a yere and a daye after our marryage , i wold not have chaunged for none other , farer ne fowler richer ne powrer , ne for none other descended of gretter lynage , slepyng ne waking , at noo tyme. and if the seid b. were sole and i sole , i wolde take her to be my wife before all the wymen of the worlde , of what condytions soevere they be , good or evyle , as helpe me god and his seyntys , and this flesh and all fleshes . and his neghbours shal make oath , that they trust verily he hath said truely : and yf it be founde by his neghbours before named , that he be a freeman , there shal be delyvered to him half a quarter of wheatte and a cheese , and yf he be a villein , he shall have half a quarter of rye , withoutte cheese , and then shal knyghtley the lord of rudlowe be called for to carry all theis thynges to fore rehersed ; and the sayd corne shal be layd upon one horse , and the baconne above yt , and he to whome the baconne apperteigneth shal ascend upon his horse & shal take the cheese before hym , if he have a horse , and yf he have none , the lord of whichenour shal cause him have one horse and sadyl , to such tyme as he be passed his lordshippe ; and soe shal they departe the manoyr of whichenour with the corne and the baconne to fore him that hath wonne ytt with trompets , tabourets and other manoir of mynstralce . and all the free tenants of whichenour , shal conduct him to be passed the lordship of whichenour , & then shal all they retorne , except hym , to whom apperteigneth to make the carriage and journy withoutt the countye of stafford , at the costys of his lord of whichenour . and yf the seid robert knyghtley doe not cause the baconne and corne to be conveyed as is rehersed , the lord of whichenour shal do it to be carryed , and shal distreigne the said robert knyghtley for his default , for one hundred shillings in his manoir of rudlowe , and shale kepe the distresse , so takyn , irreplevisable . bridshall . moreover the sayd sir philippe holdeth of his lord , the erle , the manoir of briddeshalle , by theis services , that , att such tyme , that hys sayd lord holdeth hys chrystemes at tuttebury , the sayd sir philippe shal come to tuttebury upon chrystemes evyn , and shall be lodged yn the town of tuttebury , by the marshall of the erlys house ; and upon chrystemes day , he hymself or some other knyght , his deputye , shal goe to the dressour , and shal sewe his lordys messe , and then shal he kerve the same mett to his sayd lord , and this service shall he doe as well at souper as at dynner , and when his lord hath eryn , the sayd sir philippe shal sit downe in the same place , their his lord satt , and shall be served at his table by the steward of the erlys house , and upon seynt stevyn day , when he haith dyned , he shal take leve of his lorde , and shal kisse him ; and for his service he shal nothing take , ne nothing shal gyve . and all theis services to fore rehersed , the sayd sir philippe hath doo by the space of xlviij . years , and hys ancestors before hym , to his lordys , erles of lancastre . tatenhul and drycot . item the sayd sir phelippe holdeth of his seid lorde , the erle , his manoirs of tatenhull and drycotte , en parcenerye , by theis services , that the seid sir phelippe , or his atturneye for hym ; shal come to the castle of tuttebury upon seynt petyr day in august , which is call lammesse , and shal shew the steward or recever , that he is come thither to hunt , and catch his lords * greese , at the costages of his lord. whereupon the steward or the recever shal cause a horse and sadyl to be deliveryd to the sayd sir phelippe , the price fifty shillings or fifty shillings in mony and one hound and shal pay to the seid sir philippe everyche daye fro the seid day of seynt petyr to holyroodeday , for hymself two shillinges six pence a day , and everyche day for his servant and his * bercelett , duryng the seid tyme , twelve pence . and all the woodmasters of the foreste of nedewode and duffelde , with all the parkers and foresters shal be commanded to awatte and attend upon the seid sir phelippe , while theyr lordys greese be takyn , in all places of the sayd forestys , as upon theyr master , duringe the sayd tyme. and the sayd sir phelippe or his atturney shal deliver to the sayd parkers or foresters that which shal belonge to their lordys lardere , commanding them to convey itt to the erlys lardyner , abiding at tuttebury , and with the remanant the seid sir phelippe shal do his plesoure . and upon holye-rood day the sayd sir phelippe shall returne to the castle of tuttebury , upon the sayd horse with his bercelett and shal dyne with the steward or receyver : and after dynner he shal deliver the horse , sadyle and bercelett to the steward or receyveour , and shal kisse the porter and depart . hopton . to the heyes male of the hopton laufully begotten , to me and to myne , to thee and to thine , while the water runs , and the sun doth shine ; for lack of heyrs to the king againe . i william king the third year of my reign give to the norman hunter , to me that art both line and deare the hoppe and hoptoune and al the bounds up and downe under the earth to hell above the earth to heaven , from me and from myne to thee and to thine , as good and as faire as ever they myne were . to witness that this is sooth , i bite the white wax with my tooth , before jugg , marode and margery , and my third son henery , for one bow and one broad arrow , when i come to hunt upon yarrow . this grant , made by william the conqueror to the ancestor of the antient family of the hoptons , i copied out of an old manuscript , and john stow has it in his cronicle , but in both it wanted the four first lynes , which seem to create that estate tayle , by which richard hopton esquire , a gentleman of low fortune , but haply may be the right heir of the familye , hath of late years by vertue of this charter made several clayms and commenced divers suites both for this mannour of hopton in the hole in the county of salop , and for divers other the mannours and lands of raph late lord hopton ; but hitherto for ought i hear without any successe . cholmer and dancing . in com. essex . carta edwardi confessoris . iche edward konyng have geven of my forest the keping of the hundred of cholmer and * dancing to randolf peperking and to his kindling ; with heort and hynd , doe and bock , hare and fox , cat and brock , wild fowell with his flock , partridge , fesant hen and fesant cock , with green and wyld stob and stock to kepen and to yemen by all her might , both by day and eke by night , and hounds for to holde gode , and swift and bolde , four greyhounds and six braches for hare and fox and wildcats , and thereof iche made him my book , witness the bishop wolston and bock ycleped many one , and sweyn of essex our brother , and to ken him many other , and our stiward howelyn , that bysought me for him . comitatus de ewe . king henry the fifth by his charter dated jun. . regni , granted to sir william bourchier the whole county of ewe in normandy . reddendo dicto regi & haeredibus suis apud castrum rothomagi unum * gardebrache ad festum sancti georgii singulis annis &c — [ this gardebrace is otherwise called vambrace , and signifies armor for the arme. coringham . in the third year of king edward the first sir william le baud knight made a signal grant to the dean and canons of st. pauls london , of a doe yearly on the feast of the conversion of saint paul , and of a fat buck upon the commemoration of the same saint , to be offered at the high altar in st. pauls by the said sir william and his household-family , and then to be distributed among the canons resident ; which said doe and buck were so given by him in lieu of acres of land lying within the lordship of westlee in com. essex , belonging to the said canons and by them granted to him and his heyrs to be enclosed within his park of coringham . but about the certain time and formality in offering the said buck and doe there growing afterwards some dispute , sir walter le baud knight son and heyr of the said sir william , by his deed dated on the ides of july , edward . for the health of his soul and of his progenitors and heyrs , confirmed his said fathers grant and obliged himself and his heyrs , his lands and tenements , that every year for ever on the day of the conversion of st. paul , there should be a good fat doe , brought by one of his fitting servants and not the whole family , at the hour of procession , and through the midst thereof , and offer'd at the high altar , without exacting any thing for the said service of the dean and canons . and on the day of the commemoration of st. paul in summer , a fat buck by some such servant , attended with as many of the family as had heretofore been usual , and so carryed through the midst of the procession , and offer'd at the high altar ; the said dean and canons , after the offering thus performed , giving , by the hands of their chamberlain , one shilling to the persons bringing the buck for their entertainment . and to this grant were witnesses sir nicholas de wokyndon , sir richard de la rokele , sir thomas de mandevyle , sir john de rocheford knights , with divers others . [ the reception of which doe and buck was till queen elizabeths days solemnly performed at the steps of the quire by the canons of st. pauls , attired in their sacred vestments and wearing garlands of flowers on their heads ; and the horns of the buck carried on the top of a spear in procession round about within the body of the church with a gr 〈…〉 noise of horn blowers , as the learned camden , upon his own view of both , affirmes . bure ferrers . johannes de ferrers chivalier tenet de honore castri de tremanton in comitatu cornubiae xxj . feoda militum in bure ferrers & alibi per servitium militare , reddend . ad festum sancti michaelis quatuor * virones ad batellos passagii de esse , & sustinend . xxj kernella castri praedicti , sumptibus suis propriis . clymeslond . a. b. * nativus de stipite quondam tenuit unam messuagium cum pertin . in clymeslond in com. cornubiae , & respondet inde per annum ad quatuor terminos ij s. iiij d. et berbiagii ad sestum apostolor . philippi & jacobi xvj d. et faciet sectam ad curiam domini de tribus septimanis in tres septimanas , & erit praepositus , decennarius & bedellus cum electus fuerit . et cum dominus princeps fuerit apud launceston , cariabit , quotiens dictus dominus voluerit , unum cariagium per diem de bosco de clymeslond usque launceston ad custum proprium — et filius ejus novissime natus , quem reliquerit superstitem , habebit terras suas , per finem quem fecerit cum domino ad voluntatem suam , & non amovebitur a terra sua pro tota vita sua . non mittet filium suum ad scholas , nec filiam suam maritabit , sine licentia principis : et cum obierit dominus habebit omnia catalla sua . aslaby . richardus filius wydonis de aslaby in com. ebor. tenet duas carucatas terrae per servitium aptandi unum canem liverium domini regis . cheshire . william the conqueror created hugh lupus earl of chester and swordbearer of england , with these words . habendum & tenendum dictum comitatum cestriae sibi & haeredibus suis ita libere ad gladium , sicut ipse rex totam tenebat angliam ad coronam . halton . hugh lupus earl of chester created nigel or neal baron of halton in chesshire , constable and marshall of chester , by condition of service to lead the vauntguard of the earles army , when he should make any expedition into wales ; so as the said baron should be the formost in marching into the enemies countrey , and the last in coming back . wallingford . tainus vel miles regis dominicus moriens , pro relevamento dimittebat regi omnia arma sua & equum unum cum sella , & alium sine sella ; quod si essent ei canes vel accipitres praesentabuntur regi , ut si vellet , accipiet . acton . the lord grey of wilton held the manour of acton in com. buckingham by serjanty of keeping one gerfalcon for their sovereign lord the king. whereupon that family of the greys had , for their badge or cognisance , a falcon sejant upon a glove . shorn . antiently sir roger northwood held the manour of shorn in kent by service to carry , with other the kings tenants , a white ensigne forty dayes at his own charges , when the king should make warr in scotland . tachebroke . roger de wellesburne tenuit medietatem unius hidae terrae in tachebroke in comitatu warwici , & veniet ad magnam † precariam in autumpno cum omnibus messoribus suis ad † puturam domini bis in die . grenocle . mathew de hastings held the manour of grenocle in the county of sussex of the king , by this service , that he shouid find an oare for the kings use , when he should passe over the sea at the haven of hastings . sciredun and siplegh . david de sciredun held lands in sciredun and siplegh in com. devon. of the king by the service of finding two arrows , when the king his sovereign lord should come to hunt in the forest of dertmore . shrewsbury in william the conquerors time , this city ( for so it was then called ) paid yearly seven pounds , sixteen shillings and eight pence de gablo , they were reckoned to be two hundred fifty two citizens , whereof twelve of the better sort were bound to watch about the kings of england , when they lay in this city , and as many to attend them with horse and arms when they went forth a hunting . which last service the learned camden believes was ordained , because not many years before edric streon , duke of the mercians , a man of great impiety , lay in wait near this place for prince afhelm , and barbarously murder'd him , as he rode a hunting . servitia et libertates roberti fitz-walter , de castro baynardi in london . ces sont les droicts que appendent a robert fitz-wauter chastellein de loundres , seigneur de wodeham , en la citee de loundres : cestascavoir , que le dit robert et ces heirs deivent estre a sont chief banoors de londres , de fee , pour la dicte chastelrie , que ces auncestres et luy ont du chastel-baynard en la dicte citee en temps de guerre doit le dict robert et ces heirs servir la ville en la manere desouz escript . que le dict robert doit venir sus son destrer covert , montant soi vintisme des hommes as armes , as chevaulx coverts de teyle ou de fer , tanque al graund huis de mynstre de s. pol , ove sa banere desploye devant luy , de ses armes . et quant il est venuz . a graund huis du mynstier avantdit , mountez et apparaillez , si come il est avantdit ▪ si doit le maire de loundres venir , ove touz ses viscountz el ses audermans , armes de leur armes hors du mynstier de s. pol , taunque au dit huis , ove son banere en sa main , tout a pee : et serra la banere vermaille od un ymage de s. pol , d'or ove les piez et les mains , et la teste d'argent , od un espeie d'argent en la main le dict ymage . et si tost come le dict robert verra , le meire et ses vicounts , et ses audermans venir au pee hors del dit mynstre armez ove cete banere ; si descendera le dit robert ou ces heirs , que ceo servise deivent a la dite citee de son chival , et salueta le meire come son compaignon , et son pier , et luy dirra . sire maire , jeo su venur pour faire mon service que jeo dei a la cittee . et le maire , les viscounts , et les audremans divront ; nous vous baillons ici come a nostre baner de fee , de ceste ville , ceste banere de ceste ville , a porter et governer al honour et a profit de nostre citee a vostre poer . et le dit robert et ses heirs resceveront la banere en sa main . et la maire de la dicte citee et les viscounts le suiveront al huis , et meneront un cheval au dit robert pris de xx l. et serra le chival enselle d'un selle d'armes le dit robert , et covert de cendal de mesme les armes ; et prendront xx l. d'esterling , et les baudront al chamberleyn le dit robert pour ses despenses de cel jour . et le dit robert montera le cheval , qui le dict maire li ad presente , ove tute le banere en sa main . et si toste come il est montee , il dirra au maire q'il face estier un mareschal maintenant , del ost de la citee de londres . et si tost come le mareschal est esteuz , le dit robert serra commander au maire , ela ses burgeis de la ville , dit facent soner le sein communal de la dit citee ; et irront tute le commune suiz la banere s. pol , mes 〈…〉 es seli robert portera en sa main demene tanque a algate enavant a porter ; a qui le dit robert et le maire se assentent . si i 〈…〉 nt soit q'il devient issue fuire hors de la ville , si doit donques le dit robert , de chechune garde de la ville , eslier deux des plussages pour pourveier , coment la ville poet mielux estre garde derere eux . et ceo counsel serra pris en la priorie de la trinite , id est juxta aldgate . et devant chescun ville ou chastel , que l' ost de loundres assege sil demorast un an entour le seige , se deit le dit robert avoir pour chescun seige de la commune de loundres cent ●euz pour son travail , et nient plus . ces sont les droectures que le dict robert avera en loundres en temps de guerre . cestascavoir , que le dict robert ad un sokne en le citee de loundres ; cestuscavoir du mure de la chanoniare de s. pol , si come home va aval la rue devant le bracine de s. pol , tanque a thamise ; et issent tanque a cost du molin q'est en l'eaw que vint avant avale del pount de flete , et va issi sus par les murs de loundres tout entour les freres prechours , tanque a ludgate : et issint retourne jus arere par le meisan de ses ditz freres , tanque a la dit cornere de mure de la dite chanoinerie de s. pol , cestaseavoir tout la paroche del esglise de s. andrew , q' est en le donesein de ces auncestres par la dit seigneurie . si ad le dit robert appendant a eele sokne , tortz cestes choses desus escritts ; q' il doit avoir sokman , et mettre qui q'il voudra sokman ; mel q'il soit de la sokmanrie . et si nul de la sokmanrie soit emplede en la gihalle de nule chose , que ne touche le corps le meire , qui que soit pour le temps ; ou qui touch le corps de nul viscounte de la dicte ville , list a sokman de sokmaneri le dit robert le fitz-water a demaunder la court le dit robert fitz-waulter . et le meire et les citizens de loundres le deivent graunter d'aver sa court ; et en sa court doit son juggement porter ainsi come il est assentue en la guihalle que done li serra . si nul laron soit pris en san sokne , il doit aver son cep , et son prisonement en son sokne ; et serra illucque menez tanque a la gihalle devant le meire et la pour veiront son juggement que le deit ester donee mes son juggement ne serra mie puplie tanque il veigne en court le dit robert , et en sa franchise . et serra la juggement tiel , s'il ad mort deservi pur traison , q'il soit lie au piler que estret en thamise al wode-warfe , la ou home attache les nieses , deux montes et deux recreces del eawe . et s'il soit dampne pur common larcin , il deit estre menee as homeaus ( id est helmes ) et suffrir la son juggement come autres ommuns larouns . et si ad le dit robert et ses heires un grand honeur , q'il tient a un grant franchise en la dite citee ; que le maire de la citee et les citizens de mesme la ville , li deivent faire de droict ; cestascavoir , que quant le maire voet tenir un grand conseil , il doit appeller le dit robert ou ses heires , p●r estre a son conseil , et au conseil de la ville . et deit le dit robert estre jurez du counseil de ville countra toutz gentz , save le roy d'engleterre et ses heires . et quant le dit robert vint a hustinges en la gihalle de la citee , si deit le meire , ou son lieutenant lever countre li , et le mette pres de luy . et taunt come il est en la dite gihalle , si devient tous les juggements oste donez par my sa bouche , selone le record des recordoures de la gihalle . et toutz les weyfes qui veignont , il y soit , il les doit doner as baillifs de la ville , ou a qui il voudra per le counseil le maire de la dite citee . which i have thus endeavoured to english . these are the rights which belong to robert fitz-walter , castellan of london , lord of wodeham , in the city of london : that is to say , that the said robert and his heirs ought to be and are cheif banner-bearers of london in fee , for the castelry , which he and his ancestors have of baynards castle in the said city . in the time of war the said robert and his heirs ought to serve the city , in manner hereafter written . that the said robert ought to come armed upon his horse of service , with twenty men at armes mounted upon horses harnessed with mail or with iron , even to the great door of the minster of st. paul , with a banner of his armes displayed before him . and when he is come to the great door of the said minster , mounted and armd as aforesaid , then ought the mayor of london with all his sheriffs and aldermen , to come on foot armed , out of the minster of st. paul , to the said door , with his banner in his hand , and the banner ought to be gules , an image of st. paul d'or , the feet , hands and head argent , with a sword argent in the hand of the said image . and as soon as the said robert shall see the mayor , and his sheriffs and aldermen coming on foot out of the said minster armed with this banner , he , or his heirs , who shall perform this service to the city , shall dismount his horse and salute the mayor , as his companion and shall say to him , sir mayor i am come to do my service , which i owe to the city . and the mayor , sheriffs and aldermen shall say , we allow you here as our banner-bearer of this city in fee , this banner of the city to carry and govern to your power , to the honour and profit of our city . and the said robert and his heirs shall take the banner in his hand : and the mayor and sheriffs of the said city shall follow him to the door , and present him with a horse of xx l. price ; which horse shall have a saddle garnished with the arms of the said robert and covered with a sendal of the same armes ; and shall deliver xx l. sterling to the chamberlain of the said robert , for his charges of that day . and the said robert shall mount the horse , which the mayor then presented him , with the banner in his hand , and as soon as he is mounted , he shall desire the mayor forthwith to cause a marshall to be chosen out of the host of the city of london . and as soon as the marshall is chosen , the said robert shall command the mayor and his burgesses of the city , to cause the common signal to be sounded through the city , that all the communalty may follow the banner of st. paul ( carried before them by the said roberts own hand ) to algate , to which the said robert and the mayor shall assent . if it so happen , that the said robert shall march out of the city , then he shall choose two of the most sage persons out of every ward of the city , to take care how it may best be guarded in his absence ; and this council shall be held in the priory of the trinity , near aldgate . and before every town or castle which the army of london shall beseige , if he continue a year about the seige , the said robert ought to have from the commons of london , one hundred shillings for his pains , and no more . these are the rights which the said robert ought to have in london in the time of war. that is to say ; that the said robert hath a soke in the city of london , viz. from the wall of the canonry of st. paul as a man goes down by the * bracine of st. paul to the thames and so to the side of the mill which stands on the water that runs down by fleet-bridge , and thence by london walls round about the friers preachers , to ludgate : and so returns by the back of the said friers house , to the corner of the said canons wall of st. paul. that is to say , all the parish of the church of st. * andrew which is in the gift of his ancestors , by the said seignory . the said robert hath also apppendant to this soke , all these things here under written : that he ought to have a sokeman of his own choice , provided he be of the sokemanry . and if any of the sokemanry shall be impleaded in the guild hall for any matter which touches not the body of the mayor for the time being , or any sheriff of the said city , it shall be lawful for the sokeman of the sokemanry of the said robert le fitz-walter , to demand the court of the said robert le fitz-walter . and the mayor and citizens of london ought to grant him to have his court , in which his judgment ought to be agreeable to that of the guild-hall . if any thief shall be taken in his soke , he ought to have his flocks and imprisonment in his soke , and from thence he shall be carried to the guild-hall before the mayor , to receive his judgment , which ought there to be given ; but the judgment shall not be pronounced , untill he come in the court of the said robert and in his franchise . and the judgment shall be such ; if he have deserved death for treason , he ought to be tied to a pillar which stands in the thames at wood-wharf , whereunto water-men tye their barges or boats , and there continue two floods and two ebbs of the water . and if he be condemned for a common larcin , he ought to be hangd at the * elms , and there suffer his judgment , as other common thieves . also the said robert and his heirs have a great honour , in holding so great a franchise in the said city , where the mayor and citizens ought to doe him right ; that is to say , that when the mayor is minded to hold a great council , he ought to call the said robert or his heirs , to be of his council , and of the said cities council : and the said robert ought to be sworn of the cities council , against all people ; save the king of england and his heirs . and when the said robert shall come to the hustings at the guild-hall of the said city , the mayor or his deputy ought to rise to him , and then place him by him . and whilst he is in the guild-hall , all judgments ought to be pronounced by his mouth , according to the record of the recorders of the guild-hall . and all the waifs which shall happen , whilst he is there , he ought to give to the bailifs of the city , or to whom he pleases , by advice of the mayor of the said city . whorlton . nicholaus de menyll tenuit manerium de whorlton , &c. de archiepiscopo cantuarensi , serviente dictum archiepiscopum , die consecrationis suae de coupa , qua idem archiepiscopus bibere debet eodem die . michleham . radulfus de belvoir tenet duas carucatas terrae in michleham de rogero de mowbray . reddendo annuatim quasdam caligas de scarleto ad natale domini pro omnibus servitiis . london . anostre seignour le roy et a son conseil monstre richard de bettoyne de loundres , qe come au coronement nostre seignour le roy q'ore est , il adonque meire de londres fesoit l'office de botiller oue ccclx vadletz vestuz d'une sute , chescun portant en sa maine un coupe blanche d'argent , come autres meirs de londres ount faitz as coronementz des progenitours nostre seignour le roy , dont memorie ne court , et le fee q'appendoit a cel iorne , cest asavoir un coupe d'or ove la covercle , et un ewer d'or enamaille , lui fust livere per assent du counte de lancastre et d'autres grantz qu'adonques y furent du conseil nostre seignour le roy per la maine sire robert de wodehouse : et ore vient en estreite as viscountes de londres hors del chokker de faire lever des biens et chateux du dit richard l. s. d. pur le fee avantdit , dont il prie que remedie lui soit ordeyne . et le meire et les citeyns d'oxenford ount , per point de chartre , quils vendront a londres a l'encoronement d'eyder le meire de londres pur servir a la fest , et toutz ount usee . et si il plest a nostre seignour le roy et a son conseil , nous payerons volenters le feel , issent que nous soyoms descharges de la service . id est . to our lord the king and his council richard de bettoyne of london sheweth that whereas , at the coronation of our lord the king that now is , he being then mayor of london , performed the office of butler , with three hundred and sixty valets clothed in the same livery , each one carrying in his hand a white silver cup , as other mayors of london have time out of mind used to doe , at the coronation of the kings progenitors , and the fee , appendant to that service , that is to say , a gold cup with a cover , and with an ewer of gold enameled , was delivered to him by assent of the earl of lancaster and other great men , then of our lord the kings council , by the hands of sir robert de woodhouse : and now there comes an estreat out of the exchequer to the sheriffs of london , for the levying of l. s. d. for the said fee upon the goods and chattels of the said richard , wherein he prays that remedy may be ordained him . and the mayor and citizens of oxford are bound by charter , to come to london at the coronation , to assist the mayor of london in serving at the feast , and so have always used to doe . or if it please our lord the king and his council , we will willingly pay the fee , so that we may be discharged of that service . stapleherst . tenementum newstede cum pertin . in villa de stapleherst in comitatu cantiae tenetur de manerio de east-greenwich per fidelitatem tantum & in libero socagio per paten . dat . . feb. . edward . . and by the payment for smoak-silver yearly to the sheriff , the sum of six pence . apelderham . johannes aylemer tenet per irrotulamentum curiae unum messuagium & unam virgatam terrae , &c. in apelderham in com. sussex & debet invenire unum hominem cum uno equo ad herciandum qualibet septimana per unum diem ad utrumque semen , yemale & quadragesimale , dum aliquid fuerit ad herciandum in terra domini . et ille qui herciat quolibet die recipiet unum repastum , viz. panem , potagium , compernagium & potum precii d. & quilibet equus hercians habebit qualibet die tantum de avenis sicut capi potest inter duas manus ; & etiam debet venire quolibet anno ad duas precarias carucae cum caruca sua , si habeat integram carucam , vel de parte quam habet carucae , si carucam non habeat integram , & tunc arare debet utroque die quantum potest a mane ad meridiem , & uterque tentor , viz. carucae , & fugator habebunt unum pastum solempnem utroque die praedictarum precariarum — et debet invenire ad tres precarias in autumpno , quolibet die duos homines , & habebit uterque dictorum hominum ad utrumque diem precariarum , primus unum panem utroque die de frumento & ordeo mixto , qui ponderabit libras cerae , precium cujuslibet panis d. q. et ad tertiam precariam habebit uterque homo unum panem praedicti ponderis , totum de frumento prec . d. ob . et habebunt praedicti duo homines coniunctim , ad quamlibet de praedictis tribus precariis , potagium & ferculum de carne sine potu prec . d. dylew or dylwin , adam de dyleu tenet in dilew in com. heref. duas virgatas & dimid . terrae , reddendo inde annuatim willielmo filio warini tres solidos argenti , & inveniendo tempore guerrae dicto willielmo singulis annis per quindecim dies , unum hominem , cum uno equo & uno compuncto & uno capello ferreo & una lancea , ad custum dicti willielmi . et si equus ejus moreretur vel esset interfectus in servitio praedicti willielmi , idem willielmus daret ei xx s. pro equo ipso . lincoln . rex mandat baronibus , quod allocent roberto de chadworth vicecomiti lincoln . lvj s. vij d. quos per praeceptum regis , liberavit johanni de bellovento , pro putura septem leporariorum & trium falconum & alanerarii , & pro vadiis unius bracenarii , a die sancti johannis baptistae usque ad vigiliam sancti michaelis prox . sequen . utroque die computato , viz. pro putura cujuslibet leporarii & falconis per diem , d. ob . & pro vadiis praedicti bracenarii per diem , d. shirefeld . johannes de warbleton tenet manerium de shirefeld in com. southampton de rege in capite per magnam serjantiam , viz. per servitium essendi mareschallus de meretricibus , & dismembrandi malefactores adjudicatos , & mensurandi galones & bussellos in hospitio regis . brodgate park . com. leyc . haec est concordia fact apud leycestriam die sancti vincentii martyris , anno regni regis henrici filii regis johannis xxxj ● , coram domino rogero de turkilby , magistro simone de walton , domino gilberto de preston & domino johanne de cobham justiciariis tunc ibidem itinerantibus , inter rogerum de quincy comitem wintoniae & rogerum somery , viz. quod praedictus rogerus de somery concessit pro se & haeredibus suis , quod praedictus comes & haeredes sui habeant & teneant parcum suum de bradgate ita inclausum sicut inclusus fuit in octabis sancti hillarii anno praedicti regis henrici xxxj o cum * saltatoriis tunc in eo factis . et pro hac concordia & concessione idem comes concessit pro se & haeredibus suis , quod idem rogerus de somery & haeredes sui quacunque hora veniant in foresta ipsius comitis ad * bersandum in ea cum novem arcubus & sex berseletis secundum formam cyrographi prius facti inter praedictum rogerum comitem wintoniae & hugonem de albaniaco comitem arundeliae in curia domini regis apud leycestriam ; & si aliqua fera , per aliquem praedictorum arcuum vulnerata , intraverit praedictum parcum per aliquem saltatorium , vel alibi , bene licebit praedicto rogero de somery & haeredibus suis mittere unum hominem vel duos ex suis qui sequentur praedictam feram , cum canibus , illam feram sequentibus , infra praedictum parcum , sine arcu & sagittis , & illam capiant eo die quo vulnerata fuerit , sine laesione aliarum ferarum in praedict ' parco existentium : ita quod si sint pedes intrabunt per aliquem saltatorium vel hayam , & si sint eques intrabunt per portam , si aperta fuerit , & aliter non intrabunt , antequam corna bunt pro parcario , si venire voluerit . et praeterea idem comes concessit pro se & haeredibus suis , quod ipsi de caetero quolibet anno capi facient duos damos tempore pinguedinis & duas damas tempore firmationis , & eas liberari facient ad portam praedicti parci alicui hominum praedicti rogeri de somery & haeredum suorum , literas patentes ipsorum deferentes pro praedictis damis . concessit etiam praedictus comes pro se et haeredibus suis , quod ipsi de caetero nullum parcum facient , nec ▪ parcum augmentabunt infra metas bersationis praedicti rogeri & haeredum suorum , praeter antiqua clausa praedictae forestae . et praedictus rogerus de somery concessit pro se & haeredibus suis , quod ipsi de caetero nunquam intrabunt praedictam forestam ad bersandum nisi cum novem arcubus & sex berseletis , & quod forestarii sui non portabunt in bosco praedicti rogeri de somery & haeredum suorum , sagittas barbatas set pilettas , & quod homines sui de barwe & forestarii infra octabis sancti michaelis ad vadum parci fidelitatem facient quolibet anno balivis praedicti comitis & haeredum suorum , quod venationem praedicti comitis et haeredum suorum servabunt fideliter & alia quae ad dictam forestam pertinent , secundum proportum dicti cyrographi inter praedictos comites wintoniae & arundeliae prius confecti . et haec concordia facta est inter praedictum comitem & praedictum rogerum de somery , salvis eidem comiti & haeredibus suis & praedicto rogero de somery & haeredibus suis omnibus articulis in praedicto cyrographo confecto inter praedictos comites wintoniae & arundeliae contentis . et praeterea idem comes concessit pro se & haeredibus suis , quod unus vel duo hominum praedicti rogeri de somery & haeredum suorum qui sequentur praedictam feram vulneratam cum canibus eam sequentibus infra praedictum parcum cum praedicta fera , fi eam ceperint vel non cum praedictis canibus , praedicti parci libere exeant per portam & sine impedimento . et praedictus comes & haeredes scire facient aliquem de suis praedicto rogero de somery & haeredibus suis apud barwe quo die mittetur pro supradictis damis ad praedictum locum praedictis temporibus , & hoc scire eis facient per sex dies ante praedictum diem . in cujus rei testimonium alter alterius scripto sigillum suum apposuit . et sciendum est quod tempus pinguedinis hic computatur inter festum beati petri ad vincula & exaltationem sanctae crucis , & tempus firmationis inter festum sancti martini & purificationem beatae mariae . sutton courtenay . sciant praesentes & futuri ; quod ego ricardus de harrecurt dedi & concessi willielmo de sutton pro homagio & servitio suo totam illam virgatam terrae in sutton cum uno messuagio & pertin . — dictus vero willielmus & haeredes sui arabunt unum seilonem ad yvernagium & unum seylonem ad semen quadragisimale & unum seylonem ad warectam , & sarclabunt per unum diem cum uno homine , & falcabunt cum uno homine per unum diem in esteia . et imvenient unum hominem ad levandum prata , & cariabunt dicta prata cum una carecta , quousque cariata sint plenarie in curiam de sutton , & invenient unum hominem ad faciendum mullones saeni quousque perficiantur , & facient quatuor precarias autumpnales cum duobus hominibus , scil . tres ad cibum illorum proprium & quartam ad cibum domini , & cariabunt bladum per unum diem cum una carecta , & invenient unum hominem per unum diem ad faciendum meyas in grangia . haec omnia servitia &c. hiis testibus — colewyke & wyleweby . reginaldus de colewyke debet pro serjantia de colewyke domino regi in adventu suo apud nottingham semel in anno duodecim sagittas ; et pro serjantia de wileweby debet domino regi in exercitu suo wallia unum equum precii s. d. & unum saccum cum brochia , & unum star; capistrum cum canabo precii . i d. benham . fulk fitz-warine held certain lands in benham in the county of glocester of thomas lord berkley , lord of brimmesfeild , by serjeanty ; to carry a horne in brimmesfeild park , betwixt the feasts of the assumption and nativity of the blessed virgin , at such time as the king should hunt there . turroc . king richard the first gave to henry de grey , of codnor , the mannor of turroc in essex ; which grant king john confirmed , and by his charter vouchsafed him the priviledge to hunt the hare and fox in any lands belonging to the crown , except the kings own demean parks , a special favour in those times . calistoke . nativi tenentes de calistoke in com. cornubiae reddunt per annum de certo redditu vocato berbiagium , ad le hokeday , xix s. savernake . johannes mautravers , custos forestarum regis citra trentam , clamat habere de quolibet forestario tam infra forestam de savernake quam alibi in com. wiltes , cum obierit , equum , sellam cum fraeno , cornu & gladium ejusdem , & arcum & sagittas barbatas . eresby . john de wileghby held the manour of eresby with its appurtenances in the county of lincoln , of the bishop of durham , by the service of one knights fee , and of being bailif to the bishop for the time being , of all his lands in the county of lincoln ; to hold his courts , make attachments , distresses and whatsoever else belongs to that office , at his own costs ; and to levy all the issues and profits arising thereby , and to be answerable to the bishop for the same . also by the service of being steward to him and his successors , and to carry a mess of meat to his table , on the day of his consecration as also at christmas and whitsontide , by himself or his eldest son , in case he were a knight , or some other fitting knight thereunto deputed by his letters patent . grosmunt . willielmus de braosa dedit regi octingentas marcas , tres dextrarios , quinque chacuros viginti quatuor sensas & decem leporarios , pro habenda seisina castrorum de grosmunt skenefrith & llantely in com. monmouth . bondby . edwardus botiler chivalier & anna uxor ejus , soror & haeres hugonis le despenser tenent manerium de bondby in com. lincoln per servitium portandi albam virgam coram domino rege in festo natalis domini , si idem rex in eodem comitatu ad idem festum interesset . more . walterus de aldeham tenet terram de rege in la more in com. salop per servitium reddendi regi per annum ad scaccarium suum duos cultellos , quorum unus talis valoris esse debet , unam virgam coryleam unius anni & longitudinis unius cubiti , ad primam percussionem per medium scindere debet , &c. quod quidem servitium in medio scaccarii in praesentia thesaurarii & baronum quolibet anno in crastino sancti michaelis fieri debet . et dicti cultelli libereatur camerario ad opus regis custodiendi . chetington . rogerus carbet tenet manerium de chetington in com. salop de rege in capite per servitium inveniendi unum hominem peditem tempore guerrae in exercitu regis walliae , cum uno arcu & tribus sagittis & uno palo ; et deseret secum unum baconem , & cum ad exercitum regis pervenerit , liberabit mareschallo regis medietatem baconis , & inde mareschallus deliberabit ei quotidie ad prandium suum de praedicto dimidio baconis , dum steterit in praedicto exercitu . et debet sequi exercitum durante dimidio bacone praedicto . winterslew . johannes de roches tenet manerium de winterslew in com. wiltes per servitium , quod quando dominus rex moram traxerit apud clarendon , tunc veniet ad palatium regis ibidem , & ibit in botellariam , extrahet a quocunque vase in dicta botellaria inventa , ubi eligere voluerit , vinum quantum viderit necessarium pro factura unius picheri claretti , quod faciet ad sumptus regis ; et serviet regi de cipho , & habebit vas unde vinum extrahet cum toto residuo vini in eodem vase dimisso , simul & ciphum unde rex petaverit clarettum illud . norwich . tempore regis edwardi in civitate norwici mcccxx . burgenses numerabantur , quo tempore reddebat xx libras regi , & comiti x libras , & praeter haec xx solidos & quatuor praebendarios , & sex sextarios mellis , & ursum , & sex canes ad ursum : modo vero reddit lxx libras pensas regi , & centum solidos de gersuma reginae , & asturconem & xx libras blancas comiti & xx solidos de gersum● ad numerum . kidwelly haeredes mauricii de london , pro hac haereditate tenebantur , si dominus rex vel capitalis ejus justiciarius venerit in partibus de kidwelly cum exercitu , deberent conducere praedictum exercitum cum vexillis suis & tota gente sua per mediam terram de neth usque ad loghar . eton & waterhal . reginaldus de grey tenet manerium de eton in com. buckingham de domino rege per servitium custodiendi unum falconem usq . ad volatum , & pro custodia illa , cum falconem illum duxerit ad regem , habebit equitaturam regis cum toto apparatu & indumentis domini regis ; et etiam habebit mensam domini regis cum tressello & mappa , & habebit omnia vasa de quibus dominus rex servatus fuerit eo die . et habebit dolium vini immediate postquam dominus rex ex ipso vino gustaverit . idemque reginaldus tenet manerium de waterhall in com. praedicto de dicto domino rege per servitium inveniendi unum hominem super unum equum sine sella , precii xv d. & unum arcum sine corda , & unum flaccum sine capite cum dominus rex mandaverit pro servitio suo dicti manerii , habendi in exercitu suo , &c. sir edward coke says , the worst tenure he has read of , is to hold lands to be ultor sceleratorum condemnatorum , ut alios suspendio , alios membrorum detruncatione vel aliis modis juxta quantitatem perpetrati sceleris puniat , that is , to be a hangman or executioner , &c. as in the tenure of some bondmen in the mannour of stonely before mentioned . customes of mannors . sutton-colfeild . inquisitio xij . juratorum capta ad hunc visum coram galfrido de okenham senesthallo per sacramentum anselmi de cliftona , &c. juratorum oneratorum de antiquis consuetudinibus istius dominii , tam de libertate quam de bondagio , quales consuetudines solebant facere & habere , ante coronationem domini henrici regis , avi domini regis nunc a tempore athelstani quondam regis angliae , &c. qui dicunt , quod unusquisque liber homo de sutton solebat terras & tenementa sua vi et effectu cartae suae originalis tenere , &c. item illi qui tenuerunt dimidiam virgatam terrae vel nocatam terrae vel cotagium de bondagii tenura , solebant esse bedellum manerii & decennarium . et etiam omnes illi qui tenuerunt in bondagii tenura , solebant vocari custumarii . et quotiescunque dominus ad venandum venerit illi custumarii solebant * fugare wanlassum ad stabulum , in sugatione ferarum bestiarum secundum quantitatem tenurae suae , ut illi qui tenuerunt integram virgatam terrae , per duos dies , & sic de aliis . et solebant habere inter eos dimidiam partem feodi woodwardi de venatione capta . et solebant esse custodes * bruerae de colfeild quotlescunque fuerint electi per vicinos ad curiam , &c. et etiam si aliqui de hujusmodi custumariis exierint de domino , solebant venire in curiam & sursum reddere in manum domini tenuram suam bondagii , cum omnibus equis suis masculis & pullis masculis , & carectam ferro ligatam , cum porcis masculis , panna sua integra , lana non formata & meliorem ollam suam aeneam , & exire & trahere moram ubicunque voluerit , sine calumpnia domini , & ipse cum omni sequela sua esse liber imperpetuum . et etiam dicunt quod audierunt antecessores dicere , qoud tempore quo manerium de sutton praedicta fuit in manibus regum angliae , tota chasea fuit afforestata , & omnes canes infra forestam solebant esse impediati & amputati * finistro ortello : et postquam devenit in manum comitis warwici licentiam habere & tenere * canes opertias ex omni genere canum & non impediatas et etiam omnes liberi tenentes solebant summoneri per tres dies ante curiam & custumarii similiter ; et si aliquod placitum fuerit inter vicinos , & defendentes negaverint & vadierint legem versus querentem , solebant * facere legem cum tertia manu , & solebant se essoiniare de communi secta curiae bina vice , & tercia comparere & warantizare essoinium . et similiter de placito tam querentis quam defendentis , bis de placito & bis de lege essoiniari & tertia vice venire , feu habere considerationem curiae . et praedicti custumarii folebant reparare * vadum circa stagnum molendini domini de sutton in opere terreno . thurgarton and horsepoll . the tenants of these mannors in com. nottingham held their lands by these customes and services . every native or villain ( which were such as we now call husbandmen ) paid each a cock and a hen , besides a small rent in money , for a tost and one bovat of land , held of the priory of thurgarton . these cocks and hens were paid the second day in christmas , and that day every one both cottagers and natives , dined in the hall , and those who did not had a white loaf , and a flagon of ale , with one messe from the kitchin. every villain gave a halfpeny towards cleansing the mill-damm . the freeholders were bound to ( tribus arruris ) three plow days for the lord with one plow , which were then valued at d. and likewise days work in harvest , the first day with one man , the second day with two , and and the third with five workmen and one of themselves in person , and every day to have their refection . the natives were likewise bound to give three plowdays each , and every plow was to be allowed four boon-loaves , and to harrow three dayes , and every harrower was allowed a brown loaf and two herrings a day . likewise all the natives and cotagers were to reap every other day in harvest , the first day every two were to have one brown loaf and two toillects , the second day , two brown loaves and one toillect , and afterwards every two men to have every day three brown loaves . and on the day of the great bidrepe , which was called the priors boon , every native was to find three workmen and cottager one . every of the said natives were to make carriage from the forain granges thrice a year , each with one horse , and every time to have a miche or white loaf ; and all the reapers in harvest which were called hallewimen were to eat in the hall one day in christmas , or afterwards at the discretion of the celerer . likewise every naif or she villain that took a husband or committed fornication paid marchet , for redemption of her blood , s. d. and the daughter of a cottager paid but half a marchet . and every native paid for paunage of every ▪ swine in the park d. &c. east and west enborne . the mannors of east and west enborne in com. berks have this custom : that if a copyhold tenant dye , the widow shall have her free-bench in all his copyhold lands dum sola & casta fuerit ; but if she commit incontinency , she forfeits her widows estate , yet after this if she come into the next court held for the mannor , riding backward on a black ram , with his tail in her hand , and say the words following , the steward is bound by the custome to readmit her to her free-bench . here i am , riding upon a black ram , like a whore as i am ; and for my crincum crancum , have lost my bincum bancum ; and for my tailes game , am brought to this worldly shame . therefore , good mr. steward let me have my lands againe . the like custom is in the mannor of tor in devonshire , and elsewhere in the west . brug , vel burg. sciendum est , quod quando aliquis customarius manerii de burg in comitatu salop. moritur , episcopus habebit melius averium , omnes porcos , apes , baconem integrum , pullum masculum , pannum integrum , ollam aeneam , * tenellam cervisiae , si sit plenam . et quando maritabit filiam extra feodum , dabit tres solidos , dabit etiam pro qualibet lierwyte ij s. durham bishopric . de decimis quae de vaccis proveniunt s●atuendum duximus , quod ubicunque fuerit receptaculum earum , licet in vicinis parochiis horn with horn , secundum anglicam linguam , pascua quaerant , illa remaneat tota decima ubi fuerit domicillium & remanentia . hecham . in soca de hecham in comitatu norfolk sunt lancetae ; consuetudo eorum est ; ut unusquisque eorum debet operaria sancto michaele usque ad autumpnum unaquaque hebdomada per unam diem , sive cum furca , sive cum besca vel flagello ad libitum domini cum corredio ad nonam , & uno pane ad vesperam , vel si eis remittitur hoc opus , quisque eorum dabit pro hoc opere sex denarios . hartlepool . robertus de brus habet apud hartlepool in com. dunelm . portum maris , & capit ibi * killagium , scil . de qualibet navi cum batello , applicante ibi , octo denarios , & de qualibet navi sine batello , quatuor denarios . llantrissim raaf ap howel ap philip praepositus de llantrissin in com. glamorgan amerciatus fuit pro eo quod habuit in manu sua coram justiciariis hic virgam nigram & inhonestam , ubi habere debuisset virgam albam & honestam de certa longitudine , prout decet . rochford . on kingshill at rochford in the county of essex , on every wednesday morning next after michaelmas day at cocks crowing , there is by antient custom a court held by the lord of the honour of raleigh , which is vulgarly called the lawless court. the steward and suiters whisper to each other , and have no candles , nor any pen and ink , but supply that office with a coal ; and he that ows suit or service thereto and appears not , forfeits to the lord double his rent every hour he is absent . the court is called lawless , because held at an unlawful or lawless hour , on quia dicta sine lege ; the title of it in the court rolls runs thus , to this day . kingshill in rochford . ff . curia de domino rege dicta sine lege , tenta est ibidem per ejusdem consuetudinem ; ante ortum solis , luceat nisi polus , nil scribit nisi colis . toties voluerit , gallus ut cantaverit ; per cujus solum sonitum curia est summonita , clamat clam pro rege , in curia sine lege , et nisi cito venerint citius paenituerint ; et nisi clam accedant curia non attendat ; qui venerit cum lumine errat inregimine , et dum sunt sine lumine , capti sunt in crimine ; curia sine cura , jurati de injuria , tenta ibidem die mercurii ( ante diem ) proximi post festum sancti michaelis archangeli , anno regni regis , &c. this lawless court is imperfectly mentioned by camden in his description of essex ; who says this servile attendance was imposed on the tenants of that mannor , for conspiring , at the like unseasonable time , to raise a commotion . kidlington . at kidlington in oxford-shire the custom is , that on monday after whitson week , there is a fat live lamb provided , and the maids of the town , having their thumbs ty'd behind them run after it , and she that with her mouth takes and holds the lamb , is declared lady of the lamb , which being dress'd with the skin hanging on , is carried on a long pole before the lady and her companions to the green , attended with musick and a morisco dance of men , and another of women , where the rest of the day is spent in dancing , mirth and merry glee . the next day the lamb is part bak'd , boyld and rost , for the ladies feast , where she sits majestically at the upper end of the table and her companions with her , with musick and other attendants , which ends the solemnity ▪ kilmersdon . at kilmersdon in somerset-shire by the custom of the mannor , the wife has widows estate , which she loseth if she marrys , or is found incontinent : but to redeem this last ▪ if she come into the next court , riding astride upon a ram , and in open court do say , to the lord , if he be present , or to his steward , these words . for mine arses fault take i this pain , therefore , my lord , give me my land again , she is by the custom to be restored to it without further fine , doing this penance . burgus de wallingford . juratores dicunt super sacramentum suum , quod nullus de natione istius burgi , pro quocunque facto quod fecerit , debet suspendi : nam secundum consuetudinem istius burgi , debet oyels & testiculis privari , & tali libertate usi sunt a tempore , quo non extat memoria . south-malling . tenentes de south-malling in com. cantiae debent , de consuetudine inter eos , * facere scotalium de sexdecim denariis & ob . ita quod de singulis sex denariis detur unum denarium & ob . ad potandum cum bedello domini archiepiscopi super praedictum feodum . mountgomery . quia per objurgatrices & meretrices multa mala in villa oriuntur , viz. lites , pugnae , diffamationes , &c. ac aliae multae inquietationes per earum hutesias & clamores . igitur utimur de eisdem , quod cum captae fuerint , habeant judicium de la gogingstoole , & ibi stabunt nudis pedibus & suis crinibus pendentibus & dispersis , tanto tempore ut aspici possint ab omnibus per viam transeuntibus ; secundum voluntatem balivorum nostrorum capitalium . east-rudham . de inpeny & outpeny , consuetudo talis est in villa de east-rudham in com. norf. de omnibus terris quae infra burgagium tenentur , viz. quod ipse qui vendiderit vel dederit dictam tenuram alicui , dabit pro exitu suo de eadem tenura , unum denarium , & simile pro ingressu alterius . et quod balivus domini erit ad deliberationem cujuslibet feisinae deliberandae . et si praedicti denarii aretro fuerint , balivus domini distringet pro eisdem denariis in eadem tenura . kinderton . thomas venables clamat , quod si aliquis tenentium sive residentium infra dominium sive manerium de kinderton in com. cestriae feloniam fecerit , & corpus ejus per ipsum thomam super factum illud captum , & convictus fuerit , habere pelfram , viz , omnia bona & catalla hujusmodi seisire ; et ea quae domino comiti pertinent , ad castrum cestriae praesentare , & habere omnia inventa domestica , & de omni genere boum , vaccarum , boviculorum , juvencarum , porcorum , bidentium , unum , viz. melius . et si de aliquo genere non habuerit nisi unum , clamat habere illud unum , cum aliis minutis animalibus , ut gallis , gallinis , ancis & hujusmodi , & omnes pannos talliatos & attaniatos , & omnes carnes attainiatas , & totum brasium infra unum quarterium , & de quolibet tasso bladi clamat habere groundstal integrum cujuscunque tassi , & totum plumbum extra fornacem , & omnia vasa lignea , omnes mappas , manutergia , & omnia ad lectum pertinentia , linea & lanea , & omnes carrectas ferro non ligatas & omnes carrucas cum tota apparura , &c. coleshill . they have an antient custom at coleshill in the county of warwick , that if the young-men of the town can catch a hare , and bring it to the parson of the parish before ten of the clock on easter-monday , the parson is bound to give them a calves head and a hundred of eggs for their breakfast , and a groat in money . fiskerton and moreton . the custom was here , for the natives and cottagers to plow and harrow for the lord , and to work one boon-day for him every week in harvest , when every two workmen had three boon-loaves with companage allowed them . each customary tenant in fiskerton and moreton ( in com. not. ) one day in the year found a man to cleanse the dam of fiskerton mill. si quis braciatrix braciaverit cerevisiam , if any alewife brewed ale to sell , she was bound to satisfy the lord for tolsester . if any native or cottager sold a male youngling after it was weaned , he paid d. to the lord as a fine ; or killed a swine above a year old he paid the lord one peny , which was called thistletac . every she native that married or committed fornication , paid pro redemptione sanguinis , s. d. to the lord which was in lieu of marcheta mulierum , which whether from mark a horse in the old gallique ( implying the obscene signification of equitare ) as mr. selden thinks , or from marca , the sum of money , by which it was afterwards commonly redeemed , i cannot determine . stanlake . at stanlake in the county of oxford the minister of the parish in his procession in rogation week , reads a gospel at a barrels head in the cellar of the chequer inne in that town , where some say there was formerly an hermitage : others , that there was antiently a cross , at which they read a gospel in former times , over which now the house and particularly the cellar being built , they are forced to continue the custom in manner as above . burford . about the year , a battel was fought near burford in oxford-shire , perhaps on the place still called battle-edge , west of the town towards vpton , between cuthred or cuthbert a tributary king of the west saxons , and ethelbald king of mercia , whose insupportable exactions the former king not being able to endure , he came into the field against ethelbald , met and overthrew him there , winning his banner whereon was depicted a golden dragon , in memory of which victory , the custom ( yet within memory ) of making a dragon yearly and carrying it up and down the town in great jollity on midsomer eve , to which they added the picture of a giant , was in all likelyhood first instituted . ensham . it has been the custom at ensham in oxfordshire , for the towns people on whit-monday , to cut down and bring away ( where-ever the church-wardens pleased to mark it out , by giving the first chop ) as much timber as could be drawn by mens hands into the abby-yard , whence if they could draw it out again , notwithstanding all the impediments could be given by the servants of the abby , and since that by the family of the lord , it was then their own , and went in part at least to the reparation of their church : and by this custom , as some will have it , they hold both their lammas and michaelmas common . bosbury . w.m. tenet novem acras terrae custumariae in bosbury in com. heref. & quoddam molendinum aquaticum ad voluntatem domini , & debet quasdam consuetudines , viz. tak & toll & faldfey , & sanguinem suum emere . lodebrook . in the mannor of lodebrook in the county of warwic , whereof the catesbyes were heretofore lords , each tenant paid swarf-money yearly , which was one peny half-peny ; it must be paid ( says the rental ) before the rising of the sun , the party must go thrice about the cross , and say , the swarf-money , and then take witness , and lay it in the hole ; and when he hath so done , he must look well that his witness do not deceive him , for if it be not paid , he giveth a great forfeiture , thirty shillings and a white bull. chester . in the time of king john , randle the third sirnamed blundevil earl of chester , having many conflicts with the welch was at last distressed by them and forced to retreat to the castle of rothelent in flint shire , where they besieged him , who presently sent to his constable of chester , roger lacy , sirnamed hell for his fiery spirit , that he would come with all speed and bring what forces he could for his relief . roger having gathered a tumultuous rout of fidlers players , coblers and other debauched persons both men and women out of the city of chester ( for 't was then the fair there ) marched immediately with them towards the besieged earl. the welch , perceiving a great multitude coming , raised the siege and fled . the earl , coming back with his constable to chester , gave him power over all the fidlers and shoemakers of chester in reward and memory of this service . the constable reteined to himself and his heirs the authority and donation of the shoemakers , but john his son conferred the authority over the lechers and whores on his steward , which then was dutton of dutton , by this his deed . sciant praesentes & futuri , quod ego johannes constabularius cestriae , dedi & concessi & hac praesenti carta confirmavi hugoni de dutton & haeredibus suis magistratum omnium leccatorum & meretricum totius cestershiriae , sicut liberius illum magistratum teneo de comite . salvo jure meo mihi & heredibus meis . hiis testibus — though this original grant makes no mention of giving rule over fidlers and minstrels , yet ancient custom has now reduced it onely to the minstrelsey ; for probably the rout which the constable brought to the rescue of the earl , were debauched persons drinking with their sweethearts in the fair , the fidlers that attended them and such loose persons as he could get . anno - hen . a quo waranto was brought against laurence dutton of dutton esquire , to shew why he claimed all the minstrels of cheshire and the city of chester , to appear before him at chester yearly on the feast of saint john baptist , and to give him at the said feast quatuor lagenas vini & unam lanceam . i. four flagons of wine and a lance , and also every minstrel then to pay him four pence halfpeny , and why he claimed from every whore in chesshire and the city of chester ( officium suum exercente ) four pence yearly at the said feast , &c. whereunto he pleaded prescription . the heirs of this hugh de dutton enjoy the same power and authority over the minstrelsy of cheshire even to this day , and keep a court every year upon the feast of saint john baptist at chester , being the fair day , where all the minstrels of the county and city do attend and play before the lord of dutton upon their several instruments : he or his deputy then riding through the city , thus attended to the church of st. john , many gentlemen of the county accompanying him , and one walking before him in a surcoat of his arms , depicted upon taffata ; and after divine service ended holds his court in the city , where he or his steward renews the old licences granted to the minstrels , and gives such new ones as he thinks fit , under the hand and seal of himself or his steward , none presuming to exercise that faculty there without it . but now this dominion or priviledge is by a daughter and heir of thomas dutton devolved to the lord gerard of gerards bromley in staffordshhire . and whereas by the statute of eliz ▪ fidlers are declared to be rogues , yet by a special proviso therein those in chesshire , licenced by dutton of dutton , are exempted from that infamous title , in respect of this his ancient custome and priviledge . esseburn . juratores dicunt quod in principio quando mineratores veniunt in campum mineria quaerentes inventa minera ▪ venient ad ballivum qui dicitur berghmanster , & petent ab eo duas metas , si sit in novo campo , & habebunt unam , scil . pro inventione , & aliam de jure mineratorum , & unaquaeque meta continet quatuor perticatas , & ad foveam suam septem pedes , & unaquaeque perticata erit de pedibus , &c. dicunt etiam quod placita del bergmote debent teneri de tribus septimanis in tres septimanas super minerias in pecco , &c. berk-holt . homines de berkholt in com. suffolk dicunt quod tempore regis henrici , avi domini regis nunc solebant habere talem consuetudinem ; quod quando maritare volebant filias suas , solebant dare ( domino ) pro filiabus suis maritandis duas oras , quae valent xxxij . denarios . warham . by the custom of warham in the county of dorset , both males and females have a right equally in the partition of lands and tenements ; tenementa in warham sunt partibilia inter masculos & faeminas , says the record . and is so unusuall a custom , that perhaps it may be hard to find the like elsewhere in england . honington . the tenants of the mannor of honington in the county of warwic were by antient custom to perform several services to the lord every other day from midsummer to michaelmas . to pay six shillings , and eight pence yearly for maintenance of the lords corn-cart , and none of them to sell his horse-colt without licence from the lord. hampton . tenentes de hampton , episcopi in com. hereford debent quaerere annuatim sex summas virgarum apud boscum de haya juxta hereford , & apportare ad hereford ad * cletas nundinarum faciendas , quando fuerint requisiti , & pro qualibet summa dictarum virgarum allocabitur eis obolum de nundinis . sufflete . duae mulieres in villam de sufflete in comitatu quae furatae fuerunt multos pannos in villa de croindone , & secuti sunt eas homines ejusdem villae de croindone , quorum pannos furtive asportaverunt usque in villam de sufflete , & ibi captae fuerunt & incarceratae , & habuerunt judicium suum in curia de sufflete , ad portandum * calidum ferrum , quarum una fuit valua & altera damnata , unde submersa fuit in bikepole ( i. in stagno quod vocatur bike . ) et hoc totum contigit tempore gilberti domini episcopi roffensis , & in quolibet judicio fuerunt coronarii domini regis . et paulus de stanes fuit tunc * cacherellus de hundredo de acstan . et per illud tempus robertus de hecham monachus fuit custos manerii de sufflete , & ad mulieres judicandas fuit dominus henricus de cobham & alii plures discreti homines de patria . clun . it is the custom of some mannors within the honour of clun in com. salop , that at the entrance of every new lord of that honour , the tenants shall pay him a certain sum of money called mise-money ▪ in consideration whereof they claim to be acquit of all fines and amerciaments , which are recorded at that time in the court rolls and not levyed , which they call white books . dunmow . the custome of the priory of dunmow in the county of essex was such , that if any person from any part of england came thither , and humbly kneeled on two stones at the church-door ( which are yet to be seen ) and solemnly took the ensuing oath before the prior and convent , he might demand of them a gamon or flitch of bacon , you shall swear by the custom of our confession , that you never made any nuptial transgression , since you were married to your wife , by household brawles , or contentious strife ; or otherwise in bed or at board offended each other in deed or in word , or since the parish clerk said amen wished your selves unmarried agen ; or in a twelve moneth and a day repented not in thought any way ; but continued true and in desire , as when you joyned hands in holy quire. if to these conditions , without all fear , of your own accord you will freely swear , a gamon of bacon you shall receive , and bear it hence with love and good leave ; for this is our custom at dunmow well known , though the sport be ours , the bacon's your own . it appeareth in an old register of this priory , that richard wright of badesnorth in norfolk , in the of henry the sixth , when john canon was prior , that steven samuel of little easton in essex º edward . when roger rulcot was prior ▪ and that thomas lee of coxal in essex hen. . when john taylor was prior , demanded their bacon , upon the terms abovesaid , and received it accordingly . priory of rochester . memorandum quod primo die adventus domini regis ad roffensem debent spigurnelli habere quatuor panes de pane armigerorum , & quatuor pane de panes garcionum . item debent habere quatuor galones cervisiae conventualis , & quatuor galones cervisiae communis . item de coquina quatuor fercula , quibus conventus servitur , & quatuor fercula de communi , scil . haleces & ova . item ad * praebendam septem parvos bussellos . item debent habere octo obolos ad emendum faenum ; et hoc provisum & statutum est per dominum regem henricum filium regis johannis & per hubertum de burgo & g. de craucumbe . pro ista autem provisione & concessione , debet prior & conventus roffensis , ubicunque dominus rex fuerit , quieti esse procera ad sigillum . item si dominus rex fecerit moram in roffense per duos dies vel amplius non habebunt spigurnelli de praedictis , sed si exierit & redierit , habebunt sicut in primo adventu , ut praedictum est . battle-abby . tenentes debent falcare , spergere , vertere , cumulare , cariare in manerium domini , & ad tassum furcare unam acram prati de prato domini . et invenient etiam per totam autumpnum unum hominem ad tassandum blada domini in dicto manerio , dum blada domini ibidem tassanda fuerint . bishops-castle . omnes burgenses de bishops-castle in com. salop. debent invenire unum hominem ter per annum ad * stabliamentum pro venatione capienda , quando episcopus voluerit . vrchenfeild . cum exercitus regis in hostem pergat , homines de vrchenfeild in com. hereford , per consuetudinem faciunt avantward , & in reversione le rerewarde . jurati hundredorum de irchenfeild , webtre , & greytre dicunt , quod botholin , qui tenuit villam de comboglin , solebat facere sectam ad hundredum praedictum , & esse unus domesman de eodem hundredo . hereford-city . quando rex venatu instabat , de unaqnaque domo per consuetudinem ibat unus homo ad stabilitionem in sylva ; alii homines non habentes integras masuras inveniebunt inewardos ad aulam , quando rex erat in civitate , burgensis cum caballo serviens , cum moriebatur , habebat rex equum & arma ejus ; de eo qui equum non habebat , si moreretur , habebat rex aut de cem solidos autterram suam cum domibus . si qui mortepraeventus nondevisisset quae sua erant , rex ha bebit omnem ejus pecuniam . &c. chakendon . omnes servi de chakendon in com. oxon. pro servitio falcationis , habebunt de domino , unum arietem , precii octo denariorum , ad minus , & quilibet falcans habebit unum panem precii oboli . et hi conjunctim habebunt unam carectatam bosci & unum caseum precii quatuor denariorum , & unum batinum sab . et quaelibet virgata terrae habebit sex toddas herbae , & dimidia virgata terrae tres toddas . tutbury . henricus sextus dei gratia rex angliae & franciae & dominus hiberniae , omnibus ad quos praesentes literae pervenerint salutem . inspeximus literas patentes johannis nuper regis castellae & legionis ducis lancastriae proavi nostri factas in haec verba , — johan par le grace de dieu roy de castille & de leon duke de lancastre a touts ceux qui cestes nos letres verront ou orront saluz . saches nous avoir ordenoz constitut & assignez nostre bien ame — le roy des ministraulx deins nostre honor de tuttebury quore est , ou qui pur le temps serra , pur prendre & arrester touts les ministralx deins mesme nostre honeur & franchise , quenx refusont de faire lour services & ministralcie as eux appurtenants a faire de ancient temps a tuttebury suisdit annualment les jours del assumption de nostre dame . donants & grantants au dit roy de ministralx pur le temps esteant plien poyer & mandement de les faire resonablement justifier & constrener de faire lour services & ministralcies en manere come appeint , & come illonques ad este use & de ancient temps accustome . et en festimoignianco de quel chose nous avous fait faire cestes noz letres patents , don souz nostre privie seale a nostre chastel de tuttebury le xxij . jour de august le an de regne nostre tres dulce le roy richard , quart . nos autem literas praedictas ad requisitionem dilecti nobis in christo thomae gedney , prioris de tuttebury duximus exemplificandas per presentes . in cujus rei testimonium has literas nostras fieri fecimus patentes . datum sub sigillo nostri ducatus lancastr . apud palatium nostrum de westm . die febr. anno regni nostri vicesimo primo . * item est ibidem quaedam consuetudo quod histriones venientes ad matutinas in festo assumptionis beatae mariae habebunt unam taurum de priore de tuttebury si ipsum capere possunt citra aquam dove propinquiorem tuttebury , vel prior dabit eis xl d. pro qua quidem consuetudine dabuntur domino ad dictum festum annuatim xx d. out of the coucher-booke of the honour of tutburye , cap. de libertatibus . the prior of tutburye shall have yerely , one oure ladye dey the assumption , a bukke delivered him of seyssone by the woodmaster and kepers of nedewoode : and the woodmaster and kepers of needwoode : shale every yere mete at a lodgge in nedewoode called birkeley lodgge by one of the cloke att afternone one seynt laurence dey ; at which dey and place a woodmoote shal be kept , and every keper makinge deffalte shall loose xij d. to the kynge and there the woodmaster and kepers shall chose of the kepers yerely as itt cometh to there turne to be stewards for to prepare the dyner at tutburye castell one oure ladye dey the assumption for the woodmaster & kepers and officers within the chase , and there they shall appoint in lykewyse where the bukke shall be kylled for the prior ageynst the saide ladye dey ; and also where the bukke shall be kylde for the kepers dyner ageynst the same dey ; and on the said feaste of assumption the woodmaster or his lyvetenant and the kepers and their deputies shall be at tutburye and every man one horsebake and soo ryde in order two and two together from the yate called the lydeat goinge into the commen felde unto the highe crosse in the towne ; and the keper in whose office the seynt marye bukke was kylled shall beire the bukks heede garnished aboute with a rye of pease ; & the bukks heede must be * cabaged with the hole face and yeers beinge one the sengill of the bukke with two peces of fatte one either side of the sengill must be fastened uppon the brooankelers of the same heed , and every keper must have a grene boghe in his hand : and every keper that is absent that dey beinge noder sikke nor in the kings service shall lose xij d. and soo the kepers shall ridde two and two together tyll they come to the said crosse in the towne ; and all the minstrells shall goe afore them one foote two and two together ; and the woodmaster or in his absence his lyvetenant shall ride hindermast after all the kepers ; and at the said crosse in the towne the formast keper shall blow a seeke , and all the other kepers shall answer him in blowinge the same , and when they come to the cornell ageynst the yue hall the formast keper shall blowe a recheate and all the other kepers shall answere hyme in blowinge of the same ; and so they shall ride still tyll they come into the churchyorde and then light and goo into the churche in lyke arrey , and all the minstrells shall pley one their instruments duringe the offeringe tyme , and the woodmaster or in his absence his livetenant shall offer up the bukks head mayd in silver , and every keper shall offer a peny , and as soone as the bukks head is offered uppe all the kepers shall blowe a morte three tymes : and then all the kepers goo into a chappell and shall there have one of the monks redye to sey them masse : and when masse is done : all the kepers goo in lyke arreye uppe to the castell to dynner : and when dynner is done the stewards goo to the prior of tutburye , and he shall give them yerely xxx s. towards the charges of ther dynner : and if the dynner come to more the kepers shall beire it amongst them : and one the morrow after the assumption there is a court kept of the minstrells , at which court the woodmaster or his lyvetenant shall be : and shall oversee that every minstrell dwellinge within the honor and makinge defaute shall be amercyed ; whiche amercement the kynge of the minstrels shall have ; and after the courte done the pryor shall deliver the minstrells a bull or xviij s. of money : and shall turne hyme loose amongs them , and if he escape from them over dove river the bull is the priours owne ageyne : and if the minstrells can take the bull ore he gett over dove then the bull is their owne . the modern vsage . upon the morrow after the assumption of the blessed virgin , being the th . of august , all the musicians within the honour are to repair to the bailiffs house in tutbury , where the steward of the court ( who is usually a noble man ) and rhe woodmaster or his lieutenant are to meet them , from whence they goe to the church in this order , i two wind musicians as trumpets or long pipes , then four string musicians , two and two , all playing : then the steward of the court or his deputy and the bailiff of the mannor , deputed by the earl of devon . the king of musick going between them : after whom the four stewards of musick , each with a white wand in his hand , and the rest of the company follow in order . at the church the vicar of tutbury for the time being reads the service of the day , for which every musician pays him a peny ; then all goe from the church to the castle in manner as before , where the steward takes his place upon the bench in court , assisted with the bailiff and woodmaster , the king of musick sitting between them , to see that every minstrel within the honor , being call'd and making default , be presented and amerced by the jury , which amercements are collected by the stewards of musick , who accompt the one moity to his majesties auditor , the other they retein themselves for their pains in collecting them . when the king , steward and the rest are so fate , the steward commands an oyez to be made three times by one of the musicians , as crier of the court , that all minstrels within the honor , residing in the counties of stafford , derby , nottingham leicester or warwick , do appear to do their suit and service , on such pain and peril as the court shall inflict for their default , essoynes nevertheless are allowed , in excuse of defaulters , upon good reason shewed . after which all the said minstrels are called by a sute-roll , as suitors are in a court leet , and then two juries are empanelled of the chief minstrells , by the stewards of musick , each jury consisting of , which are returned into the court , where the steward swears them ; the form of their oath is the same which is given in a court-leet , only in a leet the jury swear to keep the kings counsel , their fellows and their own , in this to keep the king of musicks counsel , their fellows and their own . the better to inform the jurors of their duty the steward gives them a charge , in commendation of the antient science of musick , shewing what admirable effects it has produced , what kings and noble persons have been professors of it , what manner of persons the professors ought to be , and to admonish them to choose skilful and good men to be officers for the year ensuing . the officers chosen by the jurjes are one king and three stewards of musick , the fourth is chosen by the steward of the court , the king is chosen one year out of the minstrells of stafford shire , and the next year out of those of derby shire . the steward of the court issues out warrants to the stewards of musick in their several districts , by virtue whereof they are to distrain and levy in any city , town corporate or other place within the honor , all such fines and amerciaments as are imposed by the juries on any minstrel for offences committed against the dignity and honor of the profession ; the one moity of which fines the stewards account for at the next audit , the other they retain themselves . as soon as the charge is given an oyez is made , with a proclamation , that if any person can inform the court of any offence committed by any minstrel within the said honor , since the last court , which is against the honor of his profession , let them come forth and they shall be heard . then the juries withdraw to consider of the points of the charge , and the old stewards of musick bring into the court a treat of wine , ale and cakes , and at the same time some minstrels are appointed to entertain the company in court with some merry airs . after which the juries present one to be king for the year ensuing , who takes his oath to keep up all the dignities of that noble science &c. then the old king ariseth from his place , resigning it and his white wand to the new king , to whom he also drinks a glass of wine & bids him joy of his honour ; and the old stewards do the like to the new , which done the court adjourns to a certain hour after noon , and all return back in the same order they came to the castle , to a place where the old king , at his own cost , prepares a dinner for the new king , steward of the court , bailiff , stewards of musick and the jurymen . after dinner all the minstrels repair to the priory gate in tutbury ; without any manner of weapons , attending the turning out of the bull , which the bailiff of the mannor is obliged to provide , and is there to have the tips of his horns sawed off , his ears and tail cut off , his body smeared all over with soap , and his nose blown full of beaten pepper . then the steward causes proclamation to be made , that all manner of persons , except minstrels , shall give way to the bull , and not come within forty foot of him at their own peril , nor hinder the minstrels in their pursuit of him . after which proclamation the priors bailiff turns out the bull among the minstrels , and if any of them can cut off a piece of his skin before he runs into derby shire , then he is the king of musicks bull : but if the bull get into derby shire sound and uncut , he is the lord priors again . if the bull be taken and a piece of him cut off , then he is brought to the bailiffs house and there collered and roped , and so brought to the bullring in the highstreet in tutbury , and there baited with dogs , the first course in honour of the king of musick , tha second in honour of the prior , the third for the town , and if more , for divertisement of the spectators ; and after he is baited , the king may dispose of him as he pleases . this usage is of late perverted , the young men of stafford and derby shires contend with cudgels about a yard long , the one party to drive the bull into derby shire , the other to keep him in stafford shire , in which contest many heads are often broken . [ the king of musick and the bailiff have also of late compounded , the bailiff giving the king five nobles in lieu of his right to the bull , and then sends him to the earl of devons mannor of hardwick to be fed and given to the poor at christmas . ] finis . index nominum . a. achard or agard page . aguyllon . aldithely or audley astley aspervil aungerin albemarle arblaster avering allebyr archer aguillum attefeild avilers . argentyne arundell arley aylemer arundel . comes . alesbury aldeham allington b. berkley , baro bellovent beauchamp balliol boscher boteraux burg , comes kantiae . barons of cheshire baskervile barun busche le bay boyvyle de la barre bromhall bigod bek broke bygod , comes nors . bardolf baldwyn brustuyl brunnesley burton bourchier bawd belvoir bettoyne , mayor of london brus bernham braos blundevil , comes cestriae botiler c. cantuar . archiep. cantulupe carevile chaworth ▪ . criol corbet curtese courtenay coudrey carnifex de campis cauus colevile corson . chaunceux chetwode chamfleur colewyke . chester earls and barons . clifton catesby coggeshale cobham cardevile d. darell dudley d'aubeney d'enguine dutton dymoc delahay de dyleu e. edmundsthorp enguine . eylesford elyng espicer exeter episcopus f. ferrers earl de ferrers fremon furnival , baron fitz-daniel de fabrica fletcher frumbaud frankelyn fitz-walter fitz-hugh fitz-william fitz-alan . fitz-warine fitz-wydon g. gerard gamelbere gatton . glanvile . green gorges de la grave grant gresley grey . . gatelyn griffin rex grandison glapton h. hastings . . . hungerford hardekin ho . hoppeshort hertrug hered de la hull hashwell hurding herlham hevene hochangre hopton harrecourt ap howel harpour hore hesam k. kiplec knightley ● kingsham king l. lancaster comes leigh . lizures longchamp . lovel . longford legere lydom lardimer loveday leyburn de la lynde leek st. liz . lupus , hugh comes . m. mauley montacute musard moigne , i. monk malore mareshal . molesey le moyne . monemue meose maunsel mauduit molyns malmains mariscus , marsh mandevyle menill mowbray metham mautravers n. nigel , neal . nettle , abbas northwood o. de okes oxencroft oxford , earl . p. parker pichford plompton . de la pole , marq. pycot . plesset . pater-noster . s. philibert peverell pogeys pygot perkam peytevin pychard de la puille papilon . peperkin pynelesdon q. quincy , comes r. roches rastal rede rochesly russel . raghton reynes rooper rus , rous s. stafford , baro segrave sloley stanford . stanley somersham stopham spelman . sauvage saunford sarcere singleton de scaccatio de la sale de sancto claro synagor sturmy somervyle sciredun somery sutton skerington spileman t. tateshall trumpeton trevelle treveily thadeham therell talbot , comes salopiae testard v. valence umfranvil underwood valoignes le unz venables vernon w. willoughby . winchard wrenoc warren , comes . le wyle windesor de wena waleton . warwici comes & comitissa . wade . wintreshull . ib. wan 〈…〉 ede wokynden wellesburn woodhouse wake wright . warbleton z. zouch index locorum . a. addington alcester astley asheley . aston-cantlou alesbury . alredale aury & hole abbesord aston-bernard acton aplederham atherton . aslaby b. baynards-castle baynton bericote burg in com. salop burg on the sands bywell brokenerst . brayles burford bishops castle . bridgnorth bruham benham . bockhampton burstal barr bakton brodeham bryneston bryanstan bradepole beckingtre hundred bures boyton bilsington . . bradeley bramlegh boghton brom boseham bentley bulewel brunnesley borebach bondby bucton bridshall bure-ferrers brodgate park bosbury berkholt banningham blachington brimsfeild biscopetreu battle-abby c. calistoke castle-cary cuckeney cotes coningston chesterton creswell cumberton clun coperland chetington carlton in com. not. carleton com. norf. cumbes chenes chinting casham colewyke cotinton chichester conelesfeld cuckwold cholmer coringham clymeslond chester . cheddish coleshill chakendon d. draklaw droscumb degemue dylew drycot dengy hundred durham dutton dunmow e. eastbrig egmundun east-gareston . eastham exmore esseby east-haured east-smithfeild east-wordham elyng elston eggefeild ewe in normandy enborne ensham east-rudham esseburn eresby eton enfeild f. falsted . fernham fingrey fulmer frollebury ford-hundred fiskerton finchinfeild falsted fingreth g. gateshill . greens-norton grenocle gidding-magna glocester gissag gamelbere guldeford . glapton grosmunt castle h. hallingbury halton hampton henley homingston hildesley homet in normandy hodnet holcot hoton hertrug hereford . ho hashwel hornmede hokenorton hanlegh hertlegh hochangre husknall-torcard hopton horsepoll hecham hartlepool honington hill-morton heydon herleham i. isle of man ikinham k. kings-brome kilmersdon kinwaldmersh kettilberston kingston-russel kingesham keperland kinderton kibworth kidlington kidwelly l. lancastre lastres langwath lanton listun legere london . launceston leningburn lilleston lewe lederede lindeshul lindeby . lantrissin loseberg lodebroke lidingland hundred lighthorn lufnam lincoln m. merston-jabet marden or mawerdin . mauldon mapleschamp maperdeshale morton . molesey middleton hundred mansfeld-woodhouse mertok mayford midlovent michleham mountgomery milverton mautravers more n. northampton town county nedding newbigging nettlebed nether overton narborough norton norwich newport o. oketon ovenhelle over-colewic p. padeworth pole pightesley . plompton papworth-anneys porscaundell pusey penkelly pengevel peckam porohester pynley r. ralegh riddesdale rodeley rewenhal . raghton renham redenhall rakey runham rode radeclyve rochford rudlow rochester s. saling saundford scrivelsby stonely sculton setene , seaton ▪ staveley stafford stow slapton sutton sutton-colfeild standebury swinton springesend schipton stafford-wapentake stapleton stoke stanford regis singleton parva scargerthorp shelfhanger stanhow sibertoft staunton stony-aston stert stapeley schyrefend shorne sciredun siplegh staplehurst sutton-courtenay shrewsbury schirefeld south-malling stanlake suffleet stamford sea-ports sloley savernake t. tonge tutbury . . tey-magna twigworth teynton thetercote turroc thamewel tatenhul tachebroke tudderley thurgarton turvey thorp . v. upton in com. gloc. . upton in com. northhampton upminster urchenfeild hundred w. waterhall watton wilton whittington wiltshire wulfelmelston wodeham-mortimer winfred wilburgham magna windebury windesor waleton woodstoc winterslew wrencholm wedington wyllington wingfeild wrotting wimble wolbeding warneford . worksop whichnor wallingford warham worthingbury wylewby whorlton westcurt in villa de bedinton y. yorkshire finis . errata . page . l. . r. faenum ad palefridum . p. . l. . r. king , his heyrs . and l. . the words transposed . p. . l. . r. mauley . p. . l. . r. eustach . p. . l. . r. juncandam . p. . l. . r. lancea . p. . l. . r. dominae . p. l. . r. clausturam . p. . l. . r. sherifs bailif . p. . l. ult . r. greyhounds . p . l. . r. grisauco . p. . l. . r. per ser - . p. . l. . r. frumbaud . p. . l. . r. lotrices . p. . l. . r. exercitu . p. . l. . r. pro qua quidem . p. . l. ult . r maeremio . p. . l. . r. on this side the sea. p. . l. r. suburbiis . and l. . r. regi . & l. . r. faciendam . p. . l. . r. burton . p. . l. . r. to demand one . p. . l. . r. et sont cheif banoyers & l. . r. et ses , with other faults in the french. p. . l. . r. ut unam . and l. . r. liberentur . p. . l. . r. de domino . and in margin r. others . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a -e stat. . car. . ca. . notes for div a -e pla. coronae . . hen. . rot . . dorso . escaet . edw. . num. ● . mr. ashmoles narrative . in. post mortem laur. hastings , . ed. . i with a bow without a string and one basnet or helmet . sir w. dugd. antiq. of warwick-shire . esc . . ed. . n. . bovata terrae , is as much as one ox can plow in a year . and catapulta , was an ancient warlike engine to shoot darts . lib. sched . . hen. . nott. fol. . mich. rot . . ed. ▪ i. with one horse without a saddle . reg. dé stonely monast . mon. angl. . par. . by dreinge is understood a knight or one that held land by knight-service , before the conquest , and was not outed of his estate by william the conquerour . * . by the service of shoing the kings palfery , or saddle horse , upon all four feet , with the kings nails and shoing materials , and if he lamed him , to give the king another of four matks price . esc . . ed. . n. . inq. . edw. . narrative by elias ashmole esquire . ibid. in sched . liberae . . eliz. this wayt-fee i suppose may be money paid by the tenant , in liew of his waiting or attendance at the castle . pat. . ed. ● . p. . m. . intus ▪ this ammobragium i conceive to be the same , which in welch is called amabr , or amvabyr . i. pretium virginitatis domino solvendum ; according to the lawes of howel dha . rot. cur. ed. . i. paying a goose fit for the lords dinner on michaelmas day . pla. coronae . hen. . surrey . by meretrices was in those times understood laundresses . rot. fin. . ed. . n. . bar. of engl. . vol. domesday . esc . . ed. . n. . kent . this veltrarius or vantrarius , comes from the french vaultre , a mungrel hound , for the chase of the wild boar. carta . hen. . p. . m. . fines . ric. . camden in norfolk . pla. cor. . ed. . rot . . dorso suff. escaet . . hen. . n. . cartular . warwici com. claus . . hen. . m. . cart. . hen. . p. . m. . ex ipso autographo . carta . ed. n. . regr . de holmeoltram . lib. ruber scac. tit . north-hampton-shire . plac. apud heref. . ed. . rot. . testa de nevil norf. suff. esc . . ● . . n. . testa de nevil . northumb. esc . . ed. . n. esc . . ed. . n. . derb. testa nevelli . veredict . de singulis wapent in com. not. & derby . rot. fin. . edw. . m. . esc . . ed. . n. . jorval . lib. niger heref. inq. . ed. . esc . . ed. . camdens britannia . camden in shropshire . fines ric. . derby . pryk signifies a goad or spur , as i suppose , and is elsewhere in latin called compunctum . ex ipso autographo . what tempus pinguedinis and tempus fermisonae are , see under the title of brodgate park . fines-hill . . edw. . wilts . i. a shirt or coat of mayle . straw for the kings bed , and hay for his horse . taylors hist . of gavelkind . fol. . prid , for brevity being the later syllable of lamprid ( as they were antiently called ; ) and gavel , a rent or tribute . warwick-shire , fol. . a. i. one dayes work in harvest . rot. curiae maner . de hildeslegh in com. b●●ks , . rich. . rich. butcher in his survey of stamf. p. ● . rot. norman hen . p. . m. . carta h. . n. . pat. h. . m. . † pele or pile , is a fort built for defence of any place , especially against the force of the sea. inquis . per h. nott. tit . brayles † this was an usual restraint of old in villenage tenure , to the end the lord might not lose any of his villains , by their entring into holy orders . esc . . ed. . n. . domesday tit wiltes . this ore was a saxon coyn , which valued xvj . d. a piece , and sometimes according to the variation of the standard , xx d. esc . . edw. . n. . orig de . ed. . rot. . inq. ed. . fines edw. . inq. edw. . cam. brit. ex antiq. ms. fin. hill. ed. . mon. ang. . p. fo . . a. * reap-days . i. to harrow twice , mow or reap once , make hay once , — i know not what molas attrahere should signify , unless to draw or carry milstones . claus . edw. . suffolk . ms.d. de s. kniveton , fo . . * i. a white hunters horn , garnished with silver , inlaid with gold , in the middle and at both ends . to which is affixed a girdle of black silk adorned with certain buckles of silver . esc . ed. . pla. cor. apud chelmsf . hen. . ibidem . ibidem . pla. cor. de ed. . † i. a little brache or bitch-hound . ibidem . * i. a ship with his furniture or tackle . ibidem ▪ * i. a long horsemans coat , that cover'd part of the legs ; from the french gambe or jambe , a leg. ibidem ▪ ibidem . ibidem . i. paying a silver needle into the exchequer . pla. cor. de anno edw. . bucks . * i. in winter . † i. grass or rushes to strew the kings chamber : duas gantas , two ( green ) geese . pla. cor. apud cantebr . ed. . * i. a truss of hay for the use of the kings necessary house . in parvo rot. hundredor . ka●cia . orig. de anno ed. . inq. edw. . n. . dorset . * i. shall have the basin and ewer for his service . inq. ed. . n. . somerset . i. by the service of hanging the red-deer that die of the morion in the kings forest , upon a forked piece of wood. inq. ed. . n. . * i. breeches or drawers . † i. a calthrop ( anciently used in war ) without those four pricks , which it usually had , to annoy the enemies horses feet . but quaere . pasche ed. . dorset . with one horse of no set price , one hanbergion or coat of mail , a sword , lance , iron-headpiece , and a whittle or little knife . esc . de anno. . hen. . † i. of holding the kings stirrup when he mounted his horse in his castle of carlisle . ex libro magno du cat . lanc. † i. with his head uncover'd , without a cap ; but with a garland of the breadth of his little finger . hill. ric. . essex . domesday , tit . gloucestre . sextary was an ancient measure containing our pint and a half , and in some places more . a dicar of iron contained ten barrs : and virgas ferreas ductiles were iron-rods wrought into a fit size for making nails for the kings ships . lib. feod . edw. . fo . . † i. his stirrup . lib. niger heref. i. or . plow-shares , coulters , and to repair the iron-work of three plows , at the election of the bishops bayliffs . antiq. of exeter . rot. fin. mich. ed. . i. to be the kings vauterer or dog-leader in gascoigny , till he had worn out a pair of shoes of four pence price . this vautrarium regis is by some miswritten vantrarium , and englished , the kings fore-footman . see setene suprà . coke on lit fo . . b. notes for div a -e quo war ▪ ebor. temp . ed. . queen-gold is a royal duty of ten in the hundred , due to the queen consort of england , for all fines and oblations made to the king. lib. scac. p. . notes for div a -e pat. . eli. notes for div a -e esc . ed. . n. . † a separate enclosure within a forest or park , fenced with a rayl or hedge , or both ; of which there were several in this forest of cank . notes for div a -e pl. cor. coram joh. de vallibus & soc. ed. . bedford . † q. if it may not signifie a pair of saddle-bows , from the french word arceau , which denotes as much . notes for div a -e pl : cor. ed. . notes for div a -e pla. cor. apud wirdesor . ed. . notes for div a -e plac. ut supr . † i. a pack of i know not what dogs . notes for div a -e esc . ed. . i. a grey furr'd coat or pilch. notes for div a -e pla. cor. apud windesor ed. . rot . . in dorso . notes for div a -e pla. & rot . ut supr . † i. by serjanty of keeping a kenel of little hounds called harriers , at the kings charge . notes for div a -e pla. ut supr . notes for div a -e pl. ut sup . rot . . in dorso . notes for div a -e pl. ut sup . rot . . in dorso . i. of carrying bottles of wine for the kings breakfast . notes for div a -e pl. ut sup . rot . . notes for div a -e ibid. notes for div a -e pla. cor. in com. bucks . edw. . notes for div a -e ibid. notes for div a -e esc . h. . notes for div a -e pla. cor. ed. . cant. notes for div a -e ibid. notes for div a -e pla. cor. ed. . c●nt . † i. with two boys or grooms , and two hare-hounds , or greyhounds . notes for div a -e pla. cor. ed. . cumbria . † i. the kings aeries of goshawks ( or falcons , as some will have it ) from the french austour , a goshawk . notes for div a -e ibid. notes for div a -e pla. cor. de anno edw. . devon. notes for div a -e ibid. * i. two barbed arrows * — when the king shall chase or hunt in exmore-forest . notes for div a -e ibid. notes for div a -e ibid. notes for div a -e ibid. notes for div a -e pla. cor. ut supra . * ferlingus vel ferlingata terrae , is the fourth part of a yard-land . notes for div a -e ibid. notes for div a -e pla. cor. apud schyreburne , ed. . dorset . rot . . * i. a boy , carrying a bow without a string , but what buzonem signifies , lector , tu tibi oedipus esto . notes for div a -e ibid. rot . dorset . notes for div a -e ibid. rot . i. a certain horse-comb or curry-comb . notes for div a -e ibid. rot . . † i. leash-hounds or parkhounds , such as draw after a hurt deer in a leash or liam . notes for div a -e ibid. rot . . notes for div a -e ibid. rot . . notes for div a -e ibidem . notes for div a -e pla. cor. hen. . ebor. rot . . dorso . notes for div a -e ibidem rot . . i. a kind of basket. notes for div a -e pla. cor. edw. . ebor. notes for div a -e testa . nevelli . * intelligo ( says the learned spelman ) de serviente ad clavam , a serjeant at the mace ; we retain the word catchpol still , for a sherif bailiff or such like officer . notes for div a -e pla. cor. h. rot. . apud chelmsford . * i. the chamberlainship . ward-pennies , or money paid to the sherif or castellain , towards the guard or defence of a castle . notes for div a -e ibidem . notes for div a -e ibidem . * i. the chandry , where the candles are kept . notes for div a -e pla. cor. edw. . essex . notes for div a -e ibidem ▪ † i. four horse-shoes , a leather sack and one iron broch , which was a great pot or jug to carry liquid things ▪ as the sack was to carry the dry , from the french word brock , which signifies a great flagon , tankard or pot. so the learned spelman interprets it . though some are not willing to submit to his opinion herein . notes for div a -e pla. cor. edw. . rot . dorso . rot. fin. pas . ed. . notes for div a -e pla. cor. edw. . essex . † i. three boys or grooms and three hounds for the hare , or gyrehounds . notes for div a -e ibidem . † i. of carrying a seam or horseload of oats , which in some places is accounted eight bushels , in others perhaps more properly , but four . notes for div a -e ibidem . wolf-dogs . notes for div a -e ibidem . † i. the kings spear-man . notes for div a -e ibidem . notes for div a -e pla. corona ed. . essex . notes for div a -e ibidem . * i. a bag made of hempen cloth or canvas , and a jug or bottle to carry drink . see morton . notes for div a -e fines in wistes & southton . anno. . edw. . * i. munimen ex complicatis hamis vel circulis ferreis , in french , cote de mail , in english , a shirt of mail. notes for div a -e pla. coronae de an. . ed. . cornub. * i. a danish hatchet , or pole - 〈…〉 ▪ notes for div a -e ibidem . note a cornish acre of land makes of our statute acres or near thereabout . notes for div a -e capa de grisanco , a grey cloak , from the french cape , a short and sleeveless cloak , or garment , that in stead of a cape has a capouche behind it ; and gris , grey . de domino de cabilia , i suppose may intend a lord of the kings bedchamber , who was to deliver the cloak to him . ibidem . notes for div a -e ibidem . notes for div a -e pla. stin . de anno hen. gloc. notes for div a -e ibidem . notes for div a -e ibidem . notes for div a -e ibidem . * i. for one dayes journey at his own charge . notes for div a -e * i. this hay of hereford was a great woodland ground near the city , and heretofore reputed a forest . pla. cor. h. . rot . . in dorso notes for div a -e pla. cor. h. . rot . . dorso surrey . † i. he that shot in the engin called balista ; a cros-bow man. notes for div a -e pla. cor. e. . glouc. notes for div a -e ibid. † i. the pantry door . notes for div a -e pla. apud . lanc. hen. . rot . . notes for div a -e pla. cor. . e. . gloc. notes for div a -e pla. cor. de anno e. . heref. notes for div a -e ibid. notes for div a -e pla. cor ▪ e. . rot . . hertford . notes for div a -e inq e. . in scac. warth is the same with ward-peny , that is , money paid ob castri praesidium , vel excubias agendas . notes for div a -e pla. e. . rot . . notes for div a -e pla. cor. e. . rot . . dorso . hunt. notes for div a -e pla. cor. e. . rot . kanc. i. of mewing a goshawke every year . note a goshawke is in our records termed by the several names of osturcum , hostricum , estricium , asturcum , & austurcum , and all from the french austour . notes for div a -e ibid. rot . . notes for div a -e ibid. rot . . notes for div a -e in rot . hundred anno e. . rot . . kanc. notes for div a -e ibid. notes for div a -e ibid. † i. to be cup-bearer to the king on whitsunday . notes for div a -e ibid. notes for div a -e claus. e. . notes for div a -e ibid. notes for div a -e pla. cor. anno e. . lanc. notes for div a -e ibid. notes for div a -e pla. de libertat . & quo war. e. lincoln . † i. a head-peece , lin'd with syndon or fine linen , and a pair of gilt spurs . notes for div a -e ibid. * i. arrows with narrow feathers ; fleet arrows , such as they shoot at revers . notes for div a -e esson c●pt . apud crucem lapideam . e. . mid. rot . . this crucem lapideam , noted in the margin , stood near the may-pole in the strand , where the judges itinerant in old time used to sit . notes for div a -e pla. cor. apud crucem . lapideam rot . . notes for div a -e pla. cor. e. . * this cuneum is expounded , by the learned spelman , sigillum ferreum quo nummis cuditur , the kings stamp for coynage : and from this cuneum , comes our word coin , quasi cune . notes for div a -e ibid. notes for div a -e pla. cor. ed. . notes for div a -e pla. cor. de an. e. . rot . . norf. * i. four and twenty pasties of fresh herring , at their first coming in . notes for div a -e ibid. notes for div a -e ibid. notes for div a -e ibid. notes for div a -e i suppose this catzuros is the same , which is elsewhere written chacuros and may signify , coursers , tilting-horses , or horses for the career ; from the french coursier ; but see in tit. grosmunt . rot. fin. joh. m. . notes for div a -e ibid. rot . in dors . i. of being pantler to the king. notes for div a -e ibid. rot . . librata terrae , is a pound land , or so much as is yearly worth xx s. notes for div a -e ibid ▪ rot . in dorso . how much muta vini or a muc of wine was i know not , but it is worth the observing that in king edward the first 's time permain-cider was called wine . notes for div a -e ibid. rot . . * i. a crosbow-man , or one that did sling stones or shoot darts at the enemy , before the invention of guns . notes for div a -e ibid. rot . . notes for div a -e pla. cor. e. . . rot . northamp . notes for div a -e inq. jo● . cumber . notes for div a -e ibid. rot . . in dor ▪ notes for div a -e ibid. rot . . notes for div a -e ibid. rot . . * i. a little bottle or jug . notes for div a -e * i. of mewing a goshawk . pla. cor. de an. . e. . rot . . in dor. notting . notes for div a -e pla. cor. e. . rot . . oxon. notes for div a -e ibid ▪ rot . . * i. by the office of spigurnel , or sealer of the kings writs in chancery , see rochester . notes for div a -e ibid. rot . . i. of carving before the king , and to have the knife with which she carved . notes for div a -e ibid. rot . . dorso . notes for div a -e ibid. † i. an ensigne or the colors in an army , or flag . notes for div a -e ibid. notes for div a -e ibid. rot . . dors● . notes for div a -e ibid. rot . . dorso . i. by the serjeanty of mewing a goshawk . notes for div a -e ibid. notes for div a -e pla. cor. de an. . e. . somer . bedellery is the same to a bedel , as bailywic to a bailiff . i. the extent or circuit of his office. notes for div a -e ibid. † i. a sextary of july-flower wine , and a sextary conteyned about a pint and a half , sometimes more . notes for div a -e ibid. † i. what quantity this gruna vini was , i am to seek notes for div a -e ibid. notes for div a -e pla. corde an ▪ . e. . rot . . in dorso . suffolk . notes for div a -e ibid. rot . . notes for div a -e carta . e. . n. . notes for div a -e pla. cor. e. . rot . dorso . notes for div a -e ibid. rot . . notes for div a -e esc . e. . n. . cant. hereford . notes for div a -e pla. cor. de an. h. . sur. notes for div a -e i. to go a woolgathering for the queen , among the thorns and briers , though i confess i do but ghess at albas spinas , for the record is illegible , and seems to make it per albias with a dash over the word . ibid. rot . . notes for div a -e pla. cor . h. . surrey . notes for div a -e ibid. notes for div a -e doomesday tit . cestre . * hestha may be a corruption of the latin hecta , a little loaf of bread. a tub or cump full of ale. and rusca butyri , a tub of butter , in ireland still called a rushin of butter . sir h. spelman interprets these hestha's , capons ; from the french hestaud and hestaudeau ; but it seems more probable , that every plowland should pay loaves , rather than so many capons . notes for div a -e pla. cor. . h. . surrey . i. a crossebow or a warlike engin to cast stones or darts . notes for div a -e † i. in the record it seems to be so written , scaunam perhaps it should be scenam , for a hall or pavilion , wherein the assises or county court was to be held . ibid ▪ * a pound notes for div a -e ibid. i. two white cups . notes for div a -e ibid. the word meretrices was heretofore used for latrices or laundresses . notes for div a -e pla. cor. de an. e. . r. . sussex . notes for div a -e † i. an ensign or foot colours . pla. cor. . e. . r. . dorso . sussex . notes for div a -e ibid. notes for div a -e pla. cor. de an. e. . r. . sussex . notes for div a -e pla. cor. e. . r. . south . notes for div a -e ibid. notes for div a -e ibid. notes for div a -e ibid. notes for div a -e ibid. notes for div a -e ibid. rot . . dorso . notes for div a -e ibid. rot . . notes for div a -e ibid. notes for div a -e ibid. rot . . dorso . notes for div a -e ibid. rot . . notes for div a -e ibid. rot . . † i. a sore sparhawk . notes for div a -e ibid. notes for div a -e ibid. rot . . notes for div a -e mich. . h. . rot . . notting . notes for div a -e testa de nevil , notes for div a -e testa nevilli . notes for div a -e ibid. notes for div a -e bundel . petit. parl. a●. incerto e. . in turre . † a farm. coopertiones . i. crops af wood or tymber . because there are in this record some words of difficulty , to be understood , i have therefore thus reudred it into english ; hcymedis . q. q. cyppos . this retropaunage i suppose is the latter or after paunage ; for paunage begins at michaelmas and ends at saint martyns , in which time the beech mast and acorns are ripe and fall . and retropaunage begins at st. martyns and ends at candlemass in which time hipps and hawes and such like berries yeild some nutriment to swyne and poultry . notes for div a -e 〈◊〉 . fin. . ric. . i a spindle full of raw thred , to make a false string for the kings balister or crosbow . notes for div a -e esc . . h. . n. . notes for div a -e pla. cor. . h. . lanc. i. to repair the iron work of the kings plows . notes for div a -e escaet . . h. . notes for div a -e testa nevilli . i. grey fur. notes for div a -e esc . . h. . n. . notes for div a -e esc . . h. . n. . notes for div a -e testa nevilli . notes for div a -e pat. . h. . par . . notes for div a -e this was a translation in h. ▪ tyme from a roll in french of e. . ty me and printed in bar. angl . part . fo . . notes for div a -e * wild swyne . * a hound notes for div a -e ms. rob. glover . in com. salop. notes for div a -e * int. record . de an. e ▪ in thesaur scac. i. dengy . notes for div a -e bar. of e. par . * roane in nor. notes for div a -e hist . of st. pauls . by sir w. dugdale camd. in midelsex . notes for div a -e antiq. supervis . ducatus cornubiae . * virones is here used for boatmen , or such as could manage the passage boat. and kernella are the nooks or notches on the top of the wall of an embatteled castle , which is therefore called castellum kernellatum , from the latin crena a notch . notes for div a -e ibid. * i. this nativus de stipite was a villain or bondman by stock or birth , and differd from nativus conventionarius , who was so by contract or covenant . for the meaning of berbiagii you must consult some learned cornish man ; it seems to have been a certain rent , but why so called quaere . notes for div a -e ms. penes sam. roper . a● . notes for div a -e cam. brit. notes for div a -e cronicon cestriae . notes for div a -e domesday . tit . berocscire notes for div a -e cam. brit. tit . bucks . notes for div a -e ib●d . tit . kent . notes for div a -e lib. niger lichfeldiae . † i. magna precaria is a general reap day in some places called a love-reap , † ad puturam domini , at the lords diet , for meales . notes for div a -e inq. . edw. . notes for div a -e cam. brit tit . devon. notes for div a -e domesday tit . sciropescire . britan. notes for div a -e ex antiq . ms. penes william dugdale mil. ces sont les droectures q' appendent a robert le fitz-walter , et a ces heirs en loundres , en temps de pees . these are the rights appertaining to robert le fitz-walter and his heirs , in london in time of peace . * boe●house . * st. andrew wardrobe . * these elms stood near smithfeild and were the place of execution , before tyburn had that office. notes for div a -e esc . . e. . n. . notes for div a -e carta antiqua . notes for div a -e pet. in par. an. e. . notes for div a -e inq. post mo tem domini wotton . . notes for div a -e con suetudinar . monast de bello . at winter seedness and lent seedness . to harrow . bread and meat or , quicquid cibi cum pane sumitur . to two work-dayes of the plow . i suppose uterque tentor &c. may signify ( how properly i will not determin ) both the man that held the plow and he that drove it , who were to have a solemn repast . notes for div a -e carta . e. . this compuncto , i guess to be the same , which elsewhere is called pryk , and whether that may signify a spur , goad or what else , let the more learned determin ; for sir henry spelman himself leaves it unexplicated : some think it was an old fashioned spur , not with rowels of five points , but with one only . notes for div a -e communia . e. pas. rot . . in dorso . pro putura for the food or maintenance of seven greyhounde or hare-hounds , three falcons , and a falconer , and for the wages of one huntsman , for so bracenarius signifies , from the french braconnier , which denotes the same . notes for div a -e fin. hill. . e. . & pas . . e. . notes for div a -e ex codice ms. penes elyam ashmole arm. * de arloaps . * de arloaps . to chase with nine bows and hounds . infra metas bersationis , within the limits of his hunting ground . non portabunt sagittas barbatas sed pilettas , sagitta piletta , is an arrow that has a round knob ( pila ) in the shank of it , some two inches above the head to hinder the arrows going too far into the deers body . tempus pinguedinis , the buck-season , and tempus firmationis ( which elsewhere is written firmisonae ) the doe-season , the times of their continuance are declared above . notes for div a -e ex ipso autographo , penes tho. wollascot . arm. berk● . here the tenants were hound to plow a selion or ridge of land at winter-seednes and another at lent-seednes , and one selion at fallow , and to weed one day with one man , and to mow one day with one man in summer , for so i think is meant by esteia , from aestate , though i have not elsewhere met with the word . they were bound also to find one man to make hay , and to carry it with one cart , till all were fully carried to the court of sutton ( which was their lords house . ) and to find one man to make cocks or ricks of hay , till they were finished , and to assist at four reap-dayes in autumn with two men each day , the three first dayes at their own diet , and the fourth at their lords : and to carry corn for one day with one cart , and to find one man for one day to make moughs or meys in the grange or barne &c. this deed was without date , but by the character seemed to be made in king henry the thirds reign . notes for div a -e de serjantiis arrentatis per rob. de passelew , tempore h. star; a horse collar with a canvas cloth. notes for div a -e esc . . e. . n. . gloc. notes for div a -e carta . joh. m. . notes for div a -e antiq. supervis . ducatus cornub. why this rent was called berbiagium , i am to seek ; but it was payable at hokeday , of which there were two , viz. the munday and tuesday senight after easter week ▪ but i think tuesday was the chief hokeday , which day was long celebrated here in england in memory of the expulsion of the domineering danes . notes for div a -e inq. temp . e. . notes for div a -e esc . . e. . n. ●● notes for div a -e rot. fin. job . m. . dextrarii are horses for the great saddle , from the french dectrier , denoting as much . chacuros must either signify hounds or dogs for the chase , from the french chaseur , a huntsman ; or coursers , horses for speed or career , from the french coursier , but the first seems most probable . the word in another record , tit . norton , is written catzuros , and i suppose intended for the same thing . and it adds to the probability of this exposition in that king iohn was a great lover of horses hawks and hounds , taking a great part of his fines in those animals of recreation as appears by the fine rolls of his time . what sensas may signify let the more learned determin . notes for div a -e pas. fines . . hen. . notes for div a -e com. mich. . r. 〈…〉 ot . . salop. notes for div a -e lib. de tenuris . . e. . notes for div a -e esc . . e. . n. . wiltes . notes for div a -e domesday . what praebendarios may here signify i cannot well tell , some think chaplains ; others more probably , certain measures of provender for horses , which measure debet esse pollicum latitudinis infra circulum , & altitudinis trium pollicum . [ gersuma reginae is a fine to the queen , otherwise called aurum reginae . [ asturconem , a little nag or palfrey . sir henry spelman interprets it , equus generosior . libras blancas is contradistinguished to libras ad numerum , the first was money paid by weight , the other by tale ; the french indeed call coyn of brass or coper , silver'd over , monnoye blanche . notes for div a -e camd. ex vetusta inquisitione . notes for div a -e . jan. . e. . inp. in com. buck. equitatura regis signifies here , as i suppose , the kings horse and furniture and flaccum sine capite must doubtless be intended for an arrow without a head , from the french fleche , an arrow or shaft . on litt. fo . . a. notes for div a -e com. warwic . antiq. of war ▪ sh ▪ by sir w. dugdale kt. * to drive the deer to a stand that the lord may shoot . * a heath-ground . * dogs to be lawed on the left claw of the foot . * dogs unlawed or with whole feet . * to make law , by bringing others to swear besides himself , * to repair the ford of the milpond . reg. priorat . de thurgarton cited by dr. thurroton . in his antiq . of nott. shire . law dict. verbo , free-bench . liber ruber castri episcopi . * tenella ( or tonella ) cervisiae is a little tun tub or rundlet of ale. lierwyte or lairwyte ( from the saxon lagan , concubere , and pi●e , mulcta ) signifies a fine or mulct by the custom of some mannors imposed upon offenders in adultery or fornication , and due to the lord of the mannor . constitut rob. dunelm . epi. an. . this horn with horn is when horned beasts of several adjoyning parishes do promiscuously intercommon together , per cause de vicinage custumar . prior. lewensis . the learned spelman says , these lancetae were agricolae quaedam , sed ignotae speciei . besca , a spade or spittle from the french bescher to dig or delve . flagellum , a flayle . cum corredio ad nonam signifies , meat and drink or dinner at noon . spelm. gloss . notes for div a -e rot , parl. e ▪ . * keelage , whereby he had by custom what is here expressed for the keel of every ship , that came into his sea-port with a boat. notes for div a -e iu sessione itin. de kerdiff . h. . notes for div a -e ex rot. curiae ib. camd. brit. fo . . notes for div a -e ex relation● habitantium . notes for div a -e ms. pener sam. r●per arm. notes for div a -e pla. apud . rading . h. . rot . notes for div a -e ex vet. consuetud . in archivis archiep . cant. * to make a scotale , is to make a collection of a sum of money to be spent in ale. and in like sence does manwood interpret it in his forest-laws . notes for div a -e ms. ll. liberi burgi de mountgomery . this gogingstool is the same which in our law-books is written cuckingstool and cokestool ; antiently tumbrel or trebuchet , by bracton tymborella : the saxons , ( for it is of great antiquity ) called it a scealfing-stole , i. cathedra , in qua rixosae mulieres sedentes , aquis demergebantur . notes for div a -e reg. priorat . de cokesford . notes for div a -e pla. in itin. apud cestriam . . h. . pelf or pelfre appears here to signify such a quantity of goods and chattels as are here expressed , which to this day in common speech we call worldly pelf . what attaniatos may signify i am to learn. et totum brasium infra unum quarterium and all the mault except one quarter . de quolibet tasso bladi clamat habere groundstal integrum , of every mow of corn be claimed to have as much as would cover the ground or floor where the corn lay . carruca cum tota apparura , is a plow with all its furniture . notes for div a -e reg. pr●rat . de thurgarton . notes for div a -e nat. hist . of ox. sh . fo . . notes for div a -e ibid. fo . . notes for div a -e nat. hist . of ox. sh . notes for div a -e liber niger heref. fo . . i suppose this faldfey might signify a fee or rent paid by the tenant to his lord , for leave to fold his sheep on his own ground . and by sanguinem suum emere , was meant , that the tenant being a bondman , should buy out his villainous blood , and make himself a freeman . notes for div a -e ex. antiq. rentali ejusd . man. i know not what this swarf-money may signify , unless it were miswritten for warth-money , or ward-money . notes for div a -e sir pet. l●yc . hist. antiquities of chesshire . inter placita apud cestriam . h. . stat. . eliz. cap. . notes for div a -e esc . de anno e. . n. . derby notes for div a -e pla. coram rege mich. h. . rot . . here those ores ( which was a saxon coyn ) are declared to be in value of our money ▪ d. a peece , but after , by the variation of the standard , they valued d. a peece . and this fine for the tenants ▪ marrying their daughters , was without doubt in lieu of the merchera mulierum , or first nights lodging with the bride , which the lord anciently claimed in some mannors . notes for div a -e pla. de jur. & assi . de anno. . e . notes for div a -e inq. per h. nott. notes for div a -e lib. niger heref. * these tenants were bound to get yearly six horseloads of rods or wattles in the hay-wood , and to bring them to hereford for the making of hurdles to pen sheep in at the fair. for cleta i suppose is made a latin word from the french word claye , which signifies a hurdle or watled gate . notes for div a -e e monumentis roffenfis ecclesiae . sub anno . * this judgment to carry hot iron , to try the guilt or innocency of the criminal , was according to the ordalian law , not abolished here in england till king henry the thirds time . * chacherellus hundredi , is thought by the learned spelman , to signify the steward of the hundred , from the french cachereau i. chartularium rot. pat. . h. . m. . notes for div a -e antiq. supervis . honorii de clun . notes for div a -e reg. priorat . it . de dunmow . notes for div a -e liber de consuetud . eccl. roff. fact . . * for provende● these spigurnelli were sealers of the kings writs ; for king henry the third appointed geofry de spigurnel into that office , and perhaps the first in it ; or for some other eminency in him , it was , that these officers were afterwards for some time called spigurnels . pat. h. . m. . notes for div a -e castumar . de bello in com. sussex . ad tassum furcare . i. to pitch to the mongh . notes for div a -e liber niger heref. * for driving deer to a stand in order to shooting them , or into buckstalls or deer-hays for taking them . notes for div a -e domesday . rot. de quo war. e. . . heref. this domesman is one of those that sit in the court in judicature with the steward , for dome in saxon signifies judgments ; and there are nine of these domesmen continued to this day in irchenfeild , and were so from a long and unknown beginning , of which see taylors history of gavelkind . notes for div a -e domesday . tit . heref. stabilitionem in sylva is the same with stabliamentum pro venatione , expounded above . masuras , dwelling houses inewardos , i suppose may signify such as guarded the kings person . pecunia is here used for cattle and goods ; for of old pecunia pro pecude often occurs . see law dictionary . notes for div a -e inq. temp . e. . de hundr . de langtre , in com. ox. notes for div a -e ex regist . de tutbury . * h. . notes for div a -e the erle of devonshire is now prior . ab . h. . * cabossed . ears . single or tayle . brow-antler s. notes for div a -e the present steward is the duke of ormond , & mr. edw. foden his deputy . the earl of devon. is prior. the pretended perspective-glass, or, some reasons of many more which might be offered against the pretended registring reformation philipps, fabian, - . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a wing p estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) the pretended perspective-glass, or, some reasons of many more which might be offered against the pretended registring reformation philipps, fabian, - . [ ], p. [s.n.] london : . imprint date changed in ms. to . attributed to fabian philipps. cf. bm. reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng land titles -- registration and transfer -- england. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images - jonathan blaney sampled and proofread - jonathan blaney text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the pretended perspective-glass ; or some reasons of many more which might be offered , against the pretended registring reformation . london , printed in the year mdclxix some reasons of many more which might be offered against the pretended registring reformation . it cannot be denyed by any who have conversed with the right reason of laws , and rules of government , that innovations are more than a little dangerous , because there cannot possibly or probably be at once a certain and clear prospect made of all the evils , contingencies , and unevitable consequences which either will or may happen by it : and therefore have adjudged it to be more conducing to the weal-publick , rather to suffer some few or seldom mischiefs not fatal , than many inconveniences . which will not be escaped in such a renverse or plowing up of all or the greatest part of the estates and credit of the kingdom , and the product of so many sad effects as will attend it ; and may not be thought to be either a probleme or paradox in a nation harrowed and torn by war and confusions : if it shall be considered , that at the end thereof all the coyn which wore the harp and cross , being a moiety if not more than the legitimate money of king philip , queen mary , queen elizabeth , king james , and king charles the martyr amounted unto , did not with much of it which was counterfeited , when it was called into the mint by his now majesty , exceed two millions sterling and an half ; and that too much of that money , and other afterwards coyned , hath been transported , melted down into plate , or fooled away by the consumption of our gold and silver , to adorn those that should not wear it ; and that the people of england for above . years civil wars , plunderings , sequestrations , and free-quarter of armies and souldiers , and above . years very great and various taxes , are so universally indebted , as it may rationally be believed that the most part of them live more upon credit , than any certain or real estate or subsistence of their own ; that much of the lands of england if it should be sold , will scarcely pay the debts which might be charged upon the owners thereof ; and that a great part of the city of london now so stately re-built , hath been brought to that perfection by credit and money borrowed , which would not otherwise have been effected . that our nobility and gentry , the most of which made their loyalty to their king , and their love to the religion , laws and liberties of the kingdom , to be their ruine and impoverishment , will now by such a registration be turned out of that credit which was left to support their feeble and languishing estates . that our merchants , whose trades have brought riches and plenty into their habitations , and to be inmates and dwell with them , are for the most part three parts in four in credit , and an opinion of a greater estate than they can justly call their own . and the retailers , and now more than formerly lofty shop-keepers , who have owed their low beginings to a small stock , and a great deal of credit , and gain so well by it as to afford to give per cent. to any that will adventure a joynt trade with them , will when they shall be exposed to the jealous eyes of the nice , over-timerous and suspicious usurers or money-lenders , be turned out of all their expectations , and made to submit to the devouring and unmercifull fangs of a statute of bankrupt , or give over their trade and be better acquainted with humility . the country farmers when corn or cattel shall in their rates or prices fall short of their hopes to pay their land-lords rents , shall not now be able to borrow money to pay them , if their small stock or estates shall not be sufficient to endure the severity of a tell-tale registration . all trust and credit , and the faith , charity and love of mankind one to another , whereby so many families have had their rise and foundation , and more have gained good imployments , will be so enervated and weakned , as men shall be affraid of that which they needed not to have troubled themselves withall , and make them to be like crafty banyans , and hard hearted jews each to other . the merchants whose care of keeping their credits , returning moneys , and answeriug bills of exchange , makes them dread a protest of non-payment like some plague or mortal sickness , and whose punctual performances makes every day but sundayes in every year many a score if not hundreds of bargains , for great sums of money and concernments , without any writing , escript or scrole , as the vulgar call it , will now have such an anatomy-lecture read upon their growing more than certain estates , as all men will not easily or without much search have any thing to do with them . all foreign merchants will be by such a registration affrighted and deterred from trafficking with our merchants without ready money , the want whereof hath already by the cunning of the banks beyond the sea , who are made to rise and fall according to the scarcity or plenty of money , put them under great disadvantages in the buying or selling of their commodities . the dutch and other nations whose low interest heretofore brought into england some millions of sterling money , to put to a more gainfull usury , will by such a registration not adventure to bring over any more . foreign princes which are or may be in hostility with us , may by such a means or direction discover the weaknesse of the nation , in their want of money either to offend others or defend themselves . such a contrivance will lay open and discover the beggery and wents of the people , be inconsistent with the humanity and mercy of the god of mercy and justice , who commanded us not to afflict , bite or devour one another , nor to go into any mans house to fetch a pledge ( whereby to disgrace him ) and will as little agree with our magna charta , and the salvo contenemento of the gentleman , waynagio of the country-man , or mercandisa of the merchant , or the mercy and pity of our laws in extending but a moiety of lands upon a judgement , and sparing as long as possible the oxen and horses of the plow. that the romans when their people mutined , and refused to go to war in regard of the oppression of usury , did not offer them such an ill compounded remedy as the intended registration , to publish and lay open their poverty and thereby adde to their misery , but did order that no creditor should take any interest for certain years then to come . nor did the scotch after their wars mingled with their own and our factions had greatly impoverished them , deeme it to be any good for their people to have the fury of their registrate bonds , and horning , and caption let loose upon them , but locked up those severities and disgraces , by ordaining that no annual rent or interest , as they there call it , should for certain years after be demanded or taken . that such a device as the registration will not only undermine and overthrow a great part of our laws , and the excellent form and beauty of the fabrick and structure thereof , in which the liberties and safety of the peoples estates do reside , and lead into captivity their laws and liberties , but hinder and take away from the king his post fines , and profit of alienations , green wax , fines upon original writs , and seals in his courts of justice and chancery , amounting to about forty or fifty thousand pounds per annum . lay open and expose every mans estate to taxes and assessements , when as the registring of all mortgages and alienations of lands , can make no perfect discovery of incumbrances , without the registring of judgements , statutes and recognisances , as well for the time past as to come . destroy or weaken the trade of the city of london , and divert the profit of above . or . adjacent counties , who have exceedingly improved their rents and estates by it . that the registrate moveable bonds in scotland , had their original from the caursini the popes brokers in england , and from the miscalled camera apostolica , in the reign of our king henry the third , banished from hence by the cryes of the oppressed people ; and that to take as they do registrate bonds for debts , and keep them dormant for . or . months , or a greater time after , and afterwards register them , may so conceal debts and engagements , and weaknesses of estate , as may rather increase the hazzard and damage of the lenders of money , than prevent it . that the office of general remembrancer of all incumbrances , hath several parliaments in the reign of king james troubled and attended them for a confirmation , and could never obteyn it , was refused and certified by sr. edward coke , and the judges to whom it was referred , to be against the weal-publique , missed of its purpose in the parliaments of king charles the martyr , was entertained by oliver , and his ignorant and mechanick party as a ready means to level and overturn our laws , and make his saints some seats or business of judicature in the several counties , but went do further than its embrio , because his so called parliament could not agree in moneths time , what should be called incumbrances , and hath been rejected in a late session of this parliament . and besides its ushering in of these and many other mischiefs and inconveniencies , will be needless when every man which doth but know any thing in our laws , or hath ever bought or sold land , or sought to recover any which hath been aliened from him , or had intailes which his carefull ancestors thought to have been an unalienable provision for him and his posterity , docqued and cut off , cannot but confesse that our laws have from time to time been exceeding carefull , and made it to have been a great part of their business to secure and protect purchasors bona fide , who are already as well ( if not more ) provided for in their conveyances and assurances , as any nation under heaven ; and as far also as the care or wit of man could hitherto conceive it to be necessary , by feoffments with livery and seisin , fines and recoveries , leases and releases , demise and redemise , warranties , bars and non-claims , prescriptions , estoppels , entries tolled , judgements , statutes and recognisances , with collateral security to perform covenants , discovery of incumbrances upon oath ; the statute of the th . of king henry the . for transferring of uses into possession ; the act of parliament for inrolling of deeds of bargain and sale ; an act to preserve the estate of tenants for years , in a recovery suffered by one in reversion ; an act of parliament in the . and . year of king edward the . for saving and allowing of leases and other kind of estates , not found in any inquisition , or office , to intitle the king ; three or four statutes or acts of parliament against fraudulent assurances , or such as go about to deceive men of their debts : and another in the th . year of the reign of queen elizabeth , ordaining a forfeiture of a years value of the land by such as are parties or privies in or unto such deceipts ; the statute made in the th . year of her reign for inrolling of fines and recoveries , to avoid errors in them ; three or four statutes or acts of parliament concerning bankrupts . the statute against forging of deeds , the statute made in the one and twentieth year of the reign of king james , for limitations of writs of formedon , unto twenty years after the title accrewed ; and another to quiet the titles of all men against the king , certain cases only excepted , which had been in sixty years quiet possession ; another that the lands and estates of men dying in execution should be chargable with their debts ; and another to make it felony against such as should leavy fines , suffer recoveries , or acknowledge judgements , statutes or recognisances in other mens names , with the rule of expounding grants , strictly against the grantors ; debts to be payd before legacies , and trusts to be voyd as against creditors , and many other ayds and assistances not here enumerated , which the laws have been at all times ready to contribute to such as shall timely or seasonably require or make use of them . and the pretences of making lands to sell at greater rates , for that as is alleaged the titles are so fraudulent , and lands so doubly and trebly mortgaged , as men are supposed to be afraid to purchase or lend any money upon them , and that trade is greatly hindered by it , when all the securities which men can take for their debts are so deficient , and that thereby many suites and contentions have arisen which otherwise would not have been , may vanish and no more disturbe their fancies . when the fines and recoveries of . . or . years last past , will demonstrate plenty of purchases and a great deal of land sold , or aliened in every of those counties . and the records and decrees of chancery , being the pool of bethesda , whither all men deceived by mortgages or fraudulent conveyances do come for relief , can if compared with the number of fines and recoveries , and bargains and sales that do pass in every year , testifie that there is not much above one in every thousand that falleth into such a misfortune ; that in these late times the rich and gaining party , by the sufferings and miseries of the loyal party , have not been afraid to have joyntures setled upon their daughters given in marriage with great portions , to take rent charges and annuities for moneys lent by chevisance , and for more then the legal interest , or have bought indebted gentlemens estates , and gained well by monies left in their hands to clear incumbrances , and many times according to the latitude of their consciences , compounded them to their own no small advantage ; and there is commonly as much difference between trade and lending of mony , as betwixt a trades man borrowing of mony , and one that is no trades man lending it . when so many commissions of bankrupt issuing out every year , and the crafty trades men soddering up themselves again by a composition , or three or four shillings in the pound , can tell on which side the loss and hazards do lye . and the grand increase of trade appearing by the custome house books , and the overstocking of trade , by so great numbers applying themselves unto it , may declare that there is no defect in our laws which may deserve such a scandal or needless reformation , which will bring upon the people greater mischiefs or inconveniencies then it pretends to prevent or avoid ; when the loss of money , by reason of the failings of securities , or the insufficiency of debtors , by the pride and luxury of the times , so greatly gone beyond that of former years or ages , will appear to be more the cause of it then any the defects in our laws , and that the cry and clamour not unlikely to be designedly raised concerning the loss of debts and increase of suits and actions at law is more than needs ; when if it shall as it may be evidenced upon search & enquiry , that of some thousands of writs and actions made out by our courts of justice amongst such a multitude of people , and their variety of affairs , that there are more then one half of them ended in one term or two , and a very few of the remainder , unless for difficulty , or by reason of the peevishness of some of the parties , do seldome last to the years end ; and that if all the commissions of bankrupts taken out for seven yeares last past , and the number of prisoners for debt which have layne a year undischarged in the prisons of the kings bench , and the fleet , marshalsea , the two compiers in london , and all the county and other prisons in england , were taken , it may give all unbyassed men cause and reason enough to believe that there is no such danger or loss in lending of money or getting it in again , or that it is the cause of many suits or actions , when if there could be any such fear of frauds , they may without such mischiefs and inconveniencies better be secured by a short act of parliament , to ordain all intails , deeds of uses and mortgages to be inrolled in his majesties high court of chancery ; and that whosoever shall fraudulently ▪ mortgage any land , or wittingly conceal any former mortgage thereof , shall incurr the pains and penalties ordained in case of praemunire , or a forfeiture of the double value to the party grieved . that extremities will drive and necessitate men ▪ to seek releif and difficulties of justice , or obtaining it make a temptation of giving or taking bribes , now put into a new disguise or periwigg and called gratifications . that the bringing down of money to per cent. hath as frequent experiences may inform those whose estates have been sucked into a consumption by it , made too many refuse to lend money without as much brocage as hath amounted unto or per cent. and taught them to prey and work upon mens necessities , by denying to lend money without rent charges or annuities , which may bring them or per cent. and hath brought into a kind of trade and improvement of mony that horrid usury and brocage now practised by taking of pawns and loan of money at , , , or per cent. which like locusts and caterpillers devouring every green thing , have almost covered this impoverished nation . and that the hardning of mens hearts by such an inspection into all mens estates , and creating them by that means as many advantages as they please , will when people cannot borrow moneys as formerly upon reasonable securities cause an increase of the trade of tally men , who do now gain a great deal more than cent. per cent. by furnishing the market-women and heglers , and the cryers in the streets and other necessitous people , with clothes , houshold-stuff , or other necessaries , and lending them money at d. a week for every s. that the nature of the scots , much differing from that of the english , and the general poverty of that nation , causing the stricter tyes in their bonds and obligations , and the grand severities used in them , may be more agreeable to the laws and constitution of that people , than the more rich and tender hearted english. that the laws and customs of holland , and the united provinces , where they have few gentry , little land , many burgers , towns and corporations , and where the husband , wife , children and servants do continually busie themselves in trade and merchandize , may better endure the notarial acts ( not much used amongst them ) conveyed unto them by the civil law , and the registrings which the th . penny paid to their states upon the sale of houses doth in a manner necessitate , but cannot amongst a people whose trade and stocks are ever busily imployed in their herring-busses , or are ever sending out or taking in their personal estates in money or goods , to or from all the parts of the habitable world , admit or give them so clear a perspective as our men of the registring reformation dream of ; and yet when they are best of all pleased with it , they as well as the spaniards and other transmarine nations , are to confess that they have more appeals and staires of contention to climbe in many of their suits and actions , than we have in england , and are not without as many actions and suits proportionably to the small extent of their dominions , and their many little judicatories . that those who alledge that our laws are undervalued and slighted in the parts beyond the seas , and believed to be defective , may well allow us to think well of our own , and blame such opinions of foreigners , who censure our laws when they do not understand the language they are written in ; and when our learned fortescue , whose exile in france in the latter end of the reign of our king henry the th . gave him the opportunity of comparing the excellency of our laws , very much since adorned with an addition of many good statutes and acts of parliament , and the defects of the french , did write his book in the praise of ours , and the dispraise of theirs . that the decrets of france , and ringing out of a bell in some parts of the united provinces , for a confirmation of titles and quieting of future claims , do not operate so much or strongly as our recoveries and fines , with barres upon non-claims , do with less noise and disparagement . and that if it were fit or could be reasonable for the people of england to experiment all those mischiefs and inconveniences which may as certainly as sadly happen to us , as it did to the well-wishing daughters of the aged pelias , who destroyed him against their will , by letting out his old blood in their hopes of new ; yet the registring reformers can never arrive to any other end of their proposals , than that of getting offices and imployments to ruine or perplex the people . when as that which they would undertake will prove to be impossible and unpracticable , unless they can foretell and ascertain the lenders , that men who are now indebted & behind hand , will never be before hand or rich , or that those that are rich will never be poor , or have any misfortunes ; or can assure any money-lender that such a lord of a mannor will have no estates or lands fall unto him ; or such or any other person , merchant , trader , or borrower , will have no legacy given him , no executorship or heirship happen unto him , or what losses or gains may happen by trade or adventure by sea or land , what will be the profit or loss of the next ensuing harvest , how much or how little a man that appears to be a lender of money in their registry ; hath in trust for orphans or others , how much a foreigner hath of his own bank or money in england , when he puts out money to interest for his countrymen , what leases of lands have been made upon great fines taken and little rent reserved , what leases or estates have or will be forfeited by treason , rebellion , or otherwise ; what dower those women may resort unto , whose joyntures were made during marriage or coverture ; or what elopements they are guilty of ; what moneys are insured by policies of exchange , or what bills of exchange have been accepted ; what disherison of heirs apparent , illegitimacies , intrusions and wrongfull entries , what actions of battery and scandal , and other actions or suits in law or equity , which may lessen or prejudice any mans estate , may happen ; what assumpsits , promises or engagements have been made by word of mouth , ( which may make as many obligations , troubles and tyes upon mens estates , as bonds or bills can do or did before such kind of writings were invented : ) what embargoes , or what ruines by high-flying , gaming or gadding wives , prodigal children , losses by fire , war , factors , or bad servants , suretiship , or too much trusting , incurring of penal laws and praemunires , death of those for whose lives they held lands or estate , or had any dependence upon , sickness , decay of trade , deceits or wrongs done by others , vain and unnecessary expences , or follies , may happen ; when as many mens actions past or to come in facto , or fieri esse , or posse , which are not visible before hand , or to be found in any registry , may prove to be no small incumbrances to money-lenders , with many other dangers , contingencies and particulars , of which the registring reformers will not be able to find such a certainty as a table of tides will give us of the tides or high-water at london-bridge , but leave those that will trust to their discoveries to as great a hazard to be deceived , as those that trust to mr. wing almanack for weather & eclipses , sold in this year and some years before by the stationers as this years or a present calculation , when he hath been dead long before ; or meet with as good a directory as mr. vvilliam lillies hit or miss guessing almanacks , made out of wild and random conjectures , which in a multiplying-glass of fears and jealousies , bestowed upon the people by the proposed registry , making a mouse to seem as big as an elephant , or a pigmee as formidable as a goliah , will be sure to unhinge , dislocate and disturbe most of the affairs of the nation . and that therefore in a business of so many dangers , and concernements of so many mens estates , there being more need to erect mont pietes in every county , now successfully practised in many parts beyond the seas , to relieve the people in their debts and oppression , increased by an unchristian-like usury and brocage , then to encourage such a design of registring ; it may rationally be hoped that the parliament of england will do as the nobility and peers of england did in a parliament in the th . year of the reign of king henry the third , when it was but proposed that children born out of wedlock might be declared to be legitimate by the after marriage of the parents , stoutly to resolve , nolumus mutare leges angliae . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a -e fortescue de landibus legum angliae . to the knights, citizens, and burgesses, in parliament assembled, the proposals of william sydenham, esquire, for the raising a considerable revenue to his majesty, by a tax on mony, proportionable to that on land; which he humbly layeth before your honours great wisdom and consideration sydenham, william, d. ca. . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a wing s a estc r this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) to the knights, citizens, and burgesses, in parliament assembled, the proposals of william sydenham, esquire, for the raising a considerable revenue to his majesty, by a tax on mony, proportionable to that on land; which he humbly layeth before your honours great wisdom and consideration sydenham, william, d. ca. . sheet s.n., [london : ] imprint from wing. reproduction of the original in the goldsmiths' company library, university of london. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng land tenure -- england -- early works to . great britain -- history -- - -- early works to . - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread - emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion to the knights , citizens , and burgesses , in parliament assembled , the proposals of william sydenham , esquire , for the raising a considerable revenue to his majesty , by a tax on mony , proportionable to that on land ; which he humbly layeth before your honours great wisdom and consideration . i. that at the rate of one pound five shillings per cent. shall be paid to his majesty by all purchasers of lands or houses of what kind or tenure soever , within one month after such purchase made , to the full value of the purchase mony ; the title of the land not to be good or pleadable either at common law or equity , without the purchaser's producing from the king's commissioner or receiver a receipt under his hand and seal , or a true copy from his book of entries , that he had paid the king's duty aforesaid , or a stamp affix'd to the deed of sale ; and also in default , to forfeit one hundred pound to the king : and that in case any of the purchase mony shall be conceal'd , and not truly mentioned in the deed , that such mony not mention'd in the deed to be forfeited , one half to the king , the other half to the informer . ii. that one pound five shillings per cent. shall be paid to his majesty , by all purchasers of annuities , offices , or leases whatsoever , and copy-hold estates in possession or reversion , within one month after such purchase made , to the full value of such purchase-mony , the titles whereof not to be good or pleadable , either at common law , or in equity , without the purchaser's producing from the king's commissioner or receiver a receipt under his hand and seal , or a true copy from his book of entries , that he had paid the king's duty aforesaid : and in default , to forfeit fifty pound to the king. and that in case any part of the purchase-mony shall be conceal'd , and not truly mentioned in the lease or copy of court-roll , either in possession or reversion , that such mony not mentioned in the lease or copy of court-roll , to be forfeited , one half to the king , the other half to the informer . iii. that one pound five shillings per cent. shall be paid to the king by the lenders , out of all mony lent on mortgages , within fourteen days after such mortgage made , to the full value of such mortgage-mony , the titles of such mortgages not to be good or pleadable either at common law , or in equity , without the person who lent the mony produces from the king's commissioner or receiver a receipt under his hand and seal , or a true copy from his book of entries , that he had paid the king's duty aforesaid . and also in default , to forfeit fifty pounds to the king. and so after the rate of one pound five shillings per cent. per ann. to be paid to the king at two several payments in the year , to wit , michaelmas , and lady-day , during the continuation of the mortgage . iv. that one pound five shillings per cent. shall be paid to his majesty by the lenders , out of all mony lent on bonds , specialities , or notes , within ten days after such bond , specialty or note made and given , to the full value of such mony lent ; such bond or note not to be good or recoverable at common law or equity , without the person who lent the mony produces from the king's commissioner or receiver a receipt under his hand and seal , or a true copy from his book of entries , that he had paid the king's duty aforesaid : and so after the rate of one pound five shillings per cent. per ann. to be paid to the king at two several payments in the year , to wit , at michaelmas , and lady-day , during the continuation of such bond or note . and in default , to forfeit one moiety to the king , the other to the informer . v. that one pound five shillings per cent. be paid to his majesty by all merchants , and persons whatsoever , who shall export any goods of what kind soever out of this kingdom , if they receive the product home by bills of exchange , within twenty days after they receive such bills of exchange to the full value of such bills , and to produce from the king's commissioner or receiver a receipt under his hand and seal , or a true copy from his book of entries , that he had paid the king's duty , and in default , the bills of exchange to be forfeited , one half to the king , the other half to the informer . vi. that one pound five shillings per cent. shall be paid to his majesty by all persons who shall have mony in any bank in this kingdom , within three months after this shall be enacted by parliament ; and to produce from the king's commissioner or receiver a receipt under his hand and seal , or a true copy from his book of entries , that he had paid the king's duty , without which , their bank-bills or notes shall not be good or pleadable at common law , or in equity ; and also in default to forfeit twenty pound per cent. to the king of all such bank-mony , and five pound per cent. to the informer ; and so after the rate of one pound five shillings per cent. per ann. to be paid to the king at two several payments in the year ( to wit ) michaelmas , and our lady-day , during the continuation of such bank-mony , and so also for private and conceal'd banks to be subject to the same payments and penalties as aforesaid , exceeding two hundred pound . vii . that one pound five shillings per cent. shall be paid to his majesty by all persons and tradesmen whatsoever , who shall buy any sort of goods or commodities at fairs or markets , or at any other places in this kingdom , at the time of their buying such goods , and to produce to the full value of the mony which they bestow in such goods from the king's commissioner or receiver a receipt under his hand and seal , or a true copy from his book of entries , that he had paid the king's duty aforesaid , and in default , to forfeit one half of the goods to the king , the other half to the informer ; provided nevertheless that in case the goods are not bought at fairs or markets , that then , and in such case , they shall have ten days time to pay in the king's duty , and procure their receipts from the king's commissioner or receiver , under the penalty aforesaid . viii . that one pound five shillings per cent. shall be paid to the king by all farmers and husband-men , and all other persons whatever , who shall buy any sort of live cattel at fairs or markets , or at any places within this kingdom at the time of their buying such cattle , to the full value of the mony which they bestow in such live cattle , and to produce from the king's commissioner or receiver a receipt under his hand and seal , or a true copy from his book of entries , that he had paid the king's duty ; and in default , one half of the cattle to be forfeited to the king , the other half to the informer ; provided nevertheless that in case the live cattle are not bought at fairs or markets , that then they shall have ten days time to pay in the king's duty , and to procure their receipts from the king's commissioner or receiver , under the penalties aforesaid . ix . that one pound five shillings per cent. per an. shall by the lenders be paid to the king , out of all money now lent on mortgages , bonds , specialties , or notes , to the full value of such money lent on mortgages , bonds , specialties , or notes , upon the assigning or transferring , or altering the property hereafter , at two several equal payments in the year , to wit , at our lady-day , and michaelmas , during the continuation of such mortgages , bonds , specialties , or notes ; the titles of such mortgages , and also such bonds , specialties , and notes , not to be good , pleadable , or recoverable , either at common law , or in equity , without the person who lent the mony , produces from the king's commissioner , or receiver , a receipt under his hand and seal , or a true copy from his book of entries , that he had paid the king's duty aforesaid , and also in default , to forfeit one moiety to the king , the other to the informer . x. if any person contrary to the true meaning of this act , shall make any contract to avoid and elude this act , or any part or clause thereof , he shall forfeit one hundred pound , one half to the king , the other half to the informer , over and above the penalties oforesaid . the aforesaid proposals being duly weighed and considered , i am perswaded they will find very few objections ( if any ) which cannot easily be answered : due ballances are the interests of all governments , and not of the least concernment in taxes ; the body politick bearing very much proportion with the natural body , the one part of it being uneasie , the whole is affected . the mony of this kingdom , bears a great proportion with the land , almost equalizing it ; and yet it hath paid but a very little share of the taxes : land hath born the heat and burthen of the day : and although it hath been endeavoured by several acts of parliament , to make the mony of the kingdom pay its due proportion , yet how ineffectual have they all proved , not being enforced with penalties , which are commonly better and more effectual means to force obedience , than oaths and tests . this one pound five shillings per cent. on mony , is but three pence per pound , which is but one shilling more than the intrinsick value of the land tax of four shillings the pound . for one hundred pound in mony , according to the established interest , brings in six pound per ann. and one hundred pounds worth of land , hardly brings in four pound per ann. all charges being deducted . and therefore this tax proposed on mony , can give no just cause of complaint to any , who are friends to the best of interests , and willing to support the best of causes . besides , if we consider the uneasie circumstances which many are under , who are possessors of land , which do not so often attend those who command mony ; it will appear the more reasonable , that mony should no longer escape paying its share and proportion , and especially of so small a dividend , seeing it's demonstrable that a tax on mony , will be a means to advance the price of land ; for the taxes on it , hath occasioned several persons ( and more will follow their examples ) to sell their lands , and conceal their mony , not liable to the inspection of assessors ; so that all thinking men must grant the price of land must fall , except there is a tax laid on mony or some other way prevented by the wisdom of parliament . the greatest part of the mony in the kingdom doth circulate in those particulars before mentioned . and i believe it will be no easie matter by any shifts , ●o avoid paying these duties to the king , without great hazard and danger . this will raise yearly a very considerable summ , without racking invention ; merchants will have no cause to complain , because the product of their goods return'd home by bills of exchange , pays nothing at the custom-house : mony in banks hath no reason of complaint , for its interest and advantage turns to the best account of any mony in the kingdom : trades-men have no reason to think it hard on them , for their stocks have paid little towards the charge of the war : farmers and husbandmen have as little cause to complain of these proposals , as any , for they grew rich , whilst their landlords grew poor , their stocks always escaping the tax . if all persons who are herein concern'd , would be impartial , they must confess , that nothing is hereby proposed , but what is for the interest both of king and kingdom , and no impeding , but rather promoting trade . and if every man with cheerfulness would part with a little , rather than lose all , we might with assurance , expect and hope for good success in so just a war , under the conduct of so brave a monarch : to whom , god almighty grant a long and prosperous reign . all which is humbly proposed and submitted to the consideration of the parliament , & c. septima pars patentium de anno regni regis jacobi secundi quarto england and wales. sovereign ( - : james ii) approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a wing j b estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) septima pars patentium de anno regni regis jacobi secundi quarto england and wales. sovereign ( - : james ii) culpeper, thomas, - . p. s.n., [london : ?] caption title. imprint suggested by nuc pre- imprints. also published as: grant of the northern neck in virginia to lord culpepper. reproduction of original in the harvard university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng land grants -- virginia. virginia -- history -- colonial period, ca. - -- sources. great britain -- charters, grants, privileges. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion septima pars patentium de anno regni regis iacobi secundi quarto . iames the second , by the grace of god king of england , scotland , france , and ireland , defender of the faith , &c. to all to whom these presents shall come , greeting . whereas our late royal brother of blessed memory by his letters patents under the great seal of england , bearing date at westminster , the eighth day of may , in the one and twentieth year of his reign , for the considerations therein expressed , did give , grant , and confirm unto henry earl of st. albans , iohn lord berkeley , sir william morton and iohn trethewy , their heirs and assigns for ever , all that intire tract , territory , or parcel of land , situate , lying , and being in america , and bounded by and within the heads of the rivers tappahanock aliàs rapahanock and quirriough or pattawomacke rivers ; the courses of the said rivers , as they are commonly called or known by the inhabitants and descriptions of those parts , and chesapoyocke bay ; together with the rivers themselves , and all the islands within the banks of those rivers ; and all woods , underwoods , timber , and trees , ways , waters , rivers , ponds , pools , water-courses , fishings , streams , havens , ports , harbours , creeks , wrecks of sea , fish , royal deer , wild beasts and fowl of what nature and kind soever ; mines of gold and silver , lead , tinn , iron and copper , and quarries of stone and coal , which then were or at any time then after should be had , coming , being , arising , renewing , accrewing , found , or taken within the bounds and precincts aforesaid ; together with the royalties of hawking and hunting , for themselves , their heirs and assigns , servants and tenants , in and upon the lands and premisses aforesaid , and in and upon every part and parcel thereof ; saving , excepting , and reserving to himself , his heirs and successors , one full fifth part of all gold mines or gold oare , and one full tenth part of all silver mines and silver oare thereafter to be had or found within the said tract or territory of land : to have , hold , and enjoy all the said tract , territory , or portion of lands , and all and singular other the premisses , with their and every of their appurtenances thereby granted or mentioned , or intended to be granted ( except as before is excepted ) to the said henry earl of st. albans , iohn lord berkeley , sir william morton and iohn trethewy , their heirs and assigns for ever , to their only use and behoof , and to no other use , intent , or purpose whatsoever ; yielding and paying therefore yearly on the feast of st. iohn baptist , to him , his heirs and successors , the sum of six pounds thirteen shillings and four pence , at the receipt of iames-towne in the dominion of virginia , in lieu of all services and demands whatsoever , as by the same letters patents , amongst several other grants , powers , authorities , privileges , licences , clauses and provisoes therein contained , relation being thereunto had , more fully and at large it doth and may appear , in which amongst several other things there is particularly inserted this proviso following : provided also , that as to so much , and such part and parts of the premisses hereby intended to be granted , as within the time and space of one and twenty years now next coming shall not be possessed , inhabited , or planted at or by the means or procurement of the said henry earl of st. albans , iohn lord berkeley , sir william morton , and iohn trethewy , their heirs and assigns , these presents , and the grant hereby made shall cease , determine , and be void ; and we , our heirs , and successors , may dispose thereof to any other person or persons whatsoever , any thing herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding . and whereas the said henry earl of st. albans , iohn lord berkeley , sir william morton , and iohn trethewy , their heirs and assigns , have by good and sufficient conveyances and assurances in the law , for valuable considerations , sold , conveyed and assured the said whole tract , territory , and portion of land , and all and singular the premisses and every part and parcel thereof , and all their estate , right , title and interest therein , together with the said letters patents unto thomas lord culpepper , eldest son and heir of iohn late lord culpepper deceased , his heirs and assigns for ever , who is thereby become sole owner and proprietor thereof in fee simple , to whom we are willing to give all due encouragement and assistance , by confirming and enlarging the said letters patents , and releasing the last before mentioned proviso . now know ye , that we , for and in consideration of the many faithful and acceptable services done unto our late royal father and brother of blessed memory , by the said iohn lord culpepper , as also by the said thomas lord culpepper to our said late royal brother and our self , and all along from time to time , and for divers other good causes and considerations us thereunto especially moving , of our especial grace , certain knowledge , and mere motion , have given , and granted , and confirmed , and by these presents for us , our heirs and successors , do give , grant and confirm unto the said thomas lord culpepper , all all that entire tract , territory or parcel of land , situate , lying , and being in virginia in america , and bounded by and within the first heads or springs of the rivers of tappanhanocke aliàs rappahanocke , and quiriough aliàs patawomacke rivers , the courses of the said rivers , from their said first heads or springs , as they are commonly called and known by the inhabitants , and descriptions of those parts , and the bay of chesapoyocke , together with the said rivers themselves , and all the islands within the outermost banks thereof , and the soil of all and singular the premisses , and all lands , woods , underwoods , timber and trees , ways , mountains , swamps , marshes , waters , rivers , ponds , pools , lakes , water-courses , fishings , streams , havens , ports , harbours , bays , creeks , ferries , with all sorts of fish , as well whales , sturgeons , and other royal fishes , as all others whatsoever , wrecks of sea , flotson , jetson , and lagan , and all sorts of deer , wild beasts , and fowl , of what nature or kind soever ; and all manner of deodands , goods of felons and fugitives , treasure trove , waifs , strays , fines , forfeitures , escheats , advowsons , royalties and hereditaments whatsoever , with all mines of gold and silver , lead , tin , iron and copper , and all quarries of stone and coal within the limits and precincts aforesaid , which now are , or at any time or times hereafter , shall be had , coming , being , arising , growing , renewing , accrewing , found , or taken within the bounds , limits , precincts or places aforesaid : saving , excepting , and reserving to us , our heirs and successors , one full fifth part of gold mines , or gold oare , and one full tenth part of all silver mines , and silver oare , now being , or hereafter to be had or found within the said tract , or territory of land ; to have , hold and enjoy all the said tract , territory , or portion of land , and every part and parcel thereof , and all and singular other the premisses , with their and every of their appurtenances hereby granted or mentioned , or intended to be granted , except as before is excepted , to the said thomas lord culpepper , his heirs and assigns for ever , to his and their only use and behoof , and to no other use , intent or purpose whatsoever , yielding and paying therefore yearly from henceforth , on the feast of st. iohn baptist , to us , our heirs and successors , the sum of six pounds thirteen shillings and four pence , at the receipt of iames-town in our colony of virginia ▪ in lieu of all services and demands whatsoever , the first payment thereof to be made on the feast day of st. iohn baptist next ensuing the day of the date of these presents . and we do hereby , for us , our heirs and successors further give , grant , ratify and confirm to the said thomas lord culpepper , his heirs and assigns for ever , all and singular the grants , powers , authorities , privileges , licences and clauses in the said herein before recited letters patents mentioned , granted , or contained , in as large and ample manner to all intents and purposes whatsoever , as if the same and every of them had been particularly granted and expressed in these our letters patents , except only the above mentioned proviso . and we do further of our especial grace , certain knowledge , and mere motion , for us , our heirs and successors , fully and absolutely for ever release and discharge the said above mentioned proviso , and every part thereof , and every matter and thing therein contained , in as large and ample manner to all intents and purposes whatsoever as if the same had never been made , hereby declaring the same to be null and void . and the said thomas lord culpepper , his heirs and assigns , and the said tract , territory and premisses , and every part thereof , to be for ever freed , cleared , and discharged from the same , so and in such manner , that the said thomas lord culpepper , his heirs and assigns , may freely and absolutely enter into , have , hold , occupy , possess and enjoy the said tract , territory , and all and singular other the premisses freed and discharged of the said proviso , and all right , title , and equity thereupon , to be had in as large , ample , beneficial manner to all intents and purposes , as if the same proviso had been never had or made , any thing in the said recited letters patents , or any thing therein or herein contained to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding . and we do for us , our heirs and successors , fully and absolutely release and discharge the said thomas lord culpepper , his heirs and assigns , and the said tract , territory and premisses , and every part thereof , from all arrears of the said rent of six pounds thirteen shillings and four pence due at any time before the day of the date hereof , and from all other claims and demands whatsoever , except what is in these presents excepted and reserved to us , our heirs and successors . and we do hereby , for us , our heirs and successors , straightly charge and command the governor and council of virginia now and for the time being , and all judges , sheriffs , escheators , and other officers whatsoever , now and for the time being in our said colony severally and respectively , that they , or any of them , do not intermeddle with the disposal , or disturb the said thomas lord culpepper in the full and quiet enjoyment of the afore mentioned tract and territory , or any part thereof , or of the hereby granted escheats , advowsons , royalties and premisses , or any of them ; but that they and every of them in their respective places and stations be aiding and assisting to him the said thomas lord culpepper , his heirs and assigns , in and about the same , and in the execution of all and singular the grants , powers and authorities hereby granted and confirmed , or mentioned or intended to be hereby granted and confirmed , according to our royal intent and meaning herein before declared . and lastly , we do for us , our heirs and successors , declare and grant that these our letters patents , or the enrollment thereof , shall be in and by all things firm , valid , and effectual in the law , according to the tenor and true meaning of the same , notwithstanding the not describing or setting forth , or not rightly or truly describing or setting forth of the said tract , territory or parcel of land , or any other the premisses hereby granted , or of the buttings , boundaries , or situation of the same , or of any part thereof , or of any tenants , farmers , or occupiers of the premisses , or any part thereof , or any other defect , omission , non-recital , mis-recital , incertainty , or insufficiency in these our letters patents , or any act , statute , ordinance , provision , usage , custom , restriction , or any other matter , cause or thing whatsoever to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding . and although express mention , &c. in witness , &c. witness the king at westminster , the seven and twentieth day of september . by writ of privy seal . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a -e d' con ' thome dno colpepper . a safe and easy method for supplying the want of coin and raising as many millions as the occasions of the publick may require. humbly offered to the consideration of the present parliament. with some remarks upon the bank of england, dr. chamberlain's bank, the land-bank, so called, and the national land-bank. atwood, william, d. ? approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a wing a estc r this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) a safe and easy method for supplying the want of coin and raising as many millions as the occasions of the publick may require. humbly offered to the consideration of the present parliament. with some remarks upon the bank of england, dr. chamberlain's bank, the land-bank, so called, and the national land-bank. atwood, william, d. ? p. printed for roger clavel, at the peacock in fleetstreet, [london : ] caption title. imprint from colophon. by william atwood. reproduction of the original in the bodleian library. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng money -- england -- early works to . land banks -- england -- early works to . - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - judith siefring sampled and proofread - judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a safe and easy method for supplying the want of coin , and raising as many millions as the occasions of the publick may require . humbly offered to the consideration of the present parliament . with some remarks upon the bank of england , dr. chamberlain's bank , the land-bank , so called , and the national land-bank . ego certè reip . non deero ; & quicquid acciderit , a quo mea culpa absit , animo forti feram . cic. cornificio . it cannot be denied , that the want of good coin gave rise to the several banks now on foot , by which many private persons have enriched themselves , and more probably expect it , not without benefit to the publick : it being evident , that every summ paid by bill of credit is in effect , for the time the bills do pass , so much money added to the coin of the kingdom . but it is to be presumed , that the parliament will give a check to that endless encrease of bills of credit , which , upon the failure of any of the banks to answer in specie , when generally called for , may prove a greater mischief than that which they would remedy . if therefore a way can be found to supply the want of coin by credit , and that credit to have so true a foundation , that it shall certainly be made good in specie , and that within few years , which has not been pretended to by any proposer of banks , this may at the least deserve to be considered in parliament : where what is crudely proposed may be maturely digested and improved , by the collective wisdom of the nation . wherefore it is proposed , . that a fund of l. per an . more or less , according to the summ to be raised , be settled for eight years , or if for a longer time , a less fund ; and this may be of such a nature , as may give general satisfaction : but to name a fund which may be rejected , might prejudice a method applicable to any good fund . . let the money arising by the fund be paid into an office , to be erected at london , or within the suburbs , to be called the crown-bank , or publick-bank : for which office let there be as many commissioners , or directors , as the parliament shall think fit ; they to be intrusted to appoint collectors , and other officers , and to ascertain their sallaries , and the like . . at that bank let there be drawn on vellom , or parchment , or thick paper , made there , and imprinted with greek , hebrew , or some other particular characters , in a mill for that purpose , so many bills from l. to l. signed by commissioners or directors at the least , as shall make up as many millions as are wanting : let each of these tickets have its particular number , and the year expressed in which it is to be brought back into the office , and there discharged : let the peices of vellom , or parchment , or thick paper , be cut in the middle of the impression ▪ and let that part which has the other half of the impression be kept in the office , having upon it the same number with the other , and a memorandum of the summ contained in it , and be signed as the other . . let all the bills be current at the vallues expressed in them , and immediately pass in all payments as lawful coin , and be assignable , and to be lent out at interest as money . but if any bill be not brought * back into the office in the year appointed for it to come in , let it from thenceforth be wholly void : and after the bills have been brought in , and the money upon them paid , and the account for that year pass'd ▪ let them be cancelled . . let the mill where the vellom , or parchm●nt , or thick paper , is imprinted , be fram'd at the place where it is to be used . and let it be capital for the same , or any other of that kind , to be found elsewhere at any time ▪ or there unbroken after the whole number of bills making up the appointed summ , together with the counter-parts , have been once imprinted ; or for any persons to counterfeit any of the bills , or the impression on the vellom , or parchment , or paper , or so to imprint more pieces of parchment , or vellom , or paper , than the appointed number . . to prevent the confusion and uncertainty of hurrying in all the bills of each year at the end of each year ; let the bills of the year be brought in at any time after the first six months ; and if the money which should pay the same be not come into the office , let the commissioners or directors , give bills of credit upon vellom , or parchment , or paper , of another impression , for so much money as every bill carries , payable within six months at the farthest , with interest at l. per cent. till payment . and let it be actionable , and highly penal for them to refuse or neglect payment , if there be cash for it , or not to give such bills if cash fail , or to imbezil the money , or to postpone payments , or to employ it to any other use or purpose , than the payment of the bills in the first place , next to the defraying the annual charges of the bank , and let the overplus be paid into the exchequer . . in case the fund shall be deficient in any year , let what is wanting to clear the bills and the charges of the office , be paid out of such money as shall be in the exchequer ; and if it be not paid before the then next parliament , let it be supplyed our of the next publick tax . . let the commissioners or directors at the end of every year account to the lord treasurer , or commissioners of the treasury for the time being , who are to transmit the accompt to parliament . obj. if it be said , that these bills being to come in within the year for which they are appointed , will not pass abroad in foreign trade . answ . if that were so , possibly it might be an argument to recommend them , as riches kept at home ; the chief topick against regulating our coin being the fear of enriching our neighbours with it . answ . however , this objection would lie only against the bills which are to come back within the first year , whereas there are enough of others which may lie out some years , long enough for traficking abroad with them , and making returns , upon which the money will be received in specie . answ . these bills , if they were wholly kept within the nation , as they in effect increase the money , will advance the home manufactures , enable traders to employ more hands , and so lower the interest of money , that we may buy and sell as cheap as our neighbours ; and by consequence turn the ballance of trade on our side , which is now against us , and therefore will bring mony and bullion from abroad . and this not being the only coin we have , but an increase of it ; there will be enough of silver and gold to send into foreign parts . obj. if it be said that these bills may be counterfeited , or at least they who are at distance from london cannot be assured of the contrary . answ . there is as much security in these bills as in any deed , which may possibly be forged ; but forgeries happen so rarely , that they work no interruption of business , and common credit ▪ answ . the hands of so many commissioners being required , there can be no part of england where the hands of some of them will not be soon known . answ . no true bills can fail of being paid in specie : and if the publick should be charged with some counterfeits , the loss will bring no sensible inconvenience ; nor can it bear any proportion with the vast benefit of such an encrease of the wealth of the nation , so seasonably applyed . answ . no objection will lie against these bills ▪ but what will be at least equal against those of the bank of england , and all other banks ; which yet men are very ready to venture upon , with a much less certain prospect of receiving money for bills of credit , or what may yield money when they have occasion ; which leads me to the consideration of the most promising of the other banks . the bank of england has raised the king l. and perhaps has saved him l. in the remittances of money . this has a fund of l. per an. for years absolute , and for ever till redeemed by parliament ; which is in effect a perpetuity , and if employed as above for years , is worth millions . this bank is said to have paid l. in to the exchequer in money and bills , before one third of it was advanced by the subscribers : and to this day but l. per cent. is paid in ; and yet that l. sells for l. notwithstanding large dividends , and the loss perhaps of l. by the foreign exchange , besides such bills as they have publickly made known to have been counterfeited , and all wherein they have concealed their losses . this has been done by the help of bills of credit , though there could be no certainty but money might be called for faster than it came in : nor is it certain , as it would be in the crown-bank , that the credit shall not extend , not only beyond the fund , as it has already , but farther than they can answer in payments . tho foreign merchants may take their bills , because of their commerce here ; it is visible that it has not yet obtained credit with the bank at amsterdam ; for if it had , it could not have lost so much by the exchange ; nor is it to be supposed that it ever will gain full credit there , because of the extent of its credit at home beyond the real fund . doctor chamberlain's proposal as far as i can look into the mystery , is this . if a man makes over l. per annum . for years , to secure the payment of l. yearly into his office , in money or his bank bills , for years ; and also pays l. in money at payments , l. at setling the estate , l. at the end of the first year , l. at the end of the second l. at the end of the third ; he shall have bills for l. including his own l. of which l. when he seals , l. at the end of the first year , l. at the end of the second , l. at the end of the third , l. at the end of the forth , besides l. in bills , which with his l. advanced shall immediately be paid to the treasurer of the joint stock in trade , to which l. must be added as it comes in , and the party must pay ● . per cent . yearly for the whole l. for the charges of the office ; and if men will lend money , he proposes for l. to pay l. in years . where its observable . . whereas the office pretends to but ● . per cent . it is a full fifth of the whole value , for it is l. bills to the parties ● . except his own l. and 't is better than a third of what he receives to dispose of , should we admit that his bills will circulate . . he is so far from supposing that these bills will ever be paid in specie , that he makes no manner of provision for it , but allows the annuity , which is the fund for the bills , to be paid in bills : and so the bills are to carry themselves from the bank and to the bank , without any circulation or profit . . the circulation , if any , must be performed at the very beginning by one upon seven and an half , l. being all that is to be paid till the end of the first year to circulate the l. in bills received by the party , and the l. in bills put to the stock of trade ; unless what is accidental upon the coming in of moneys lent , which in truth , clogg the bank with ● . per annum . loss for every l. and that money will be no more than is requisite to clear incumbrances upon estates subscribed . and if any part of the l. first brought in be employed in trade , that , before profitable returns , leaves the less to circulate the bills , and if half be employed in trade l. must circulate l. . if the annuities were to be paid in money , which would be very hard upon them who have the bills dead by them ; yet the distance of years makes it very questionable what l. per annum shall hold out l. per annum in all events . . if this were practicable , it would be far from answering the great end which the doctor does , or ought to propound , of lessning the burthen upon land ; for either men with encumbred estates must not come in , or if they do , they will greatly abate the possibility of circulating the bills . suppose a man of l. per annum owes l. and takes up the l. which he must advance ; or suppose only the first l. be in money , but for the rest he may bring the bills he received from the bank. in the first case , he has occasion for five times as much money as a man of a clear estate brings to the bank ; if only the l. be to be paid in mony , then indeed he will have occasion for less then times as much as the other brings , but by the same rule there may never be more than the first l for every l. per annum . subscribed to circulate all the bills . but if the man owe l. he is excluded from all benefit of this bank. . the lender will expect better security than can be found here . shall he resort to his own money ? that is lent out to subscribers of land. shall he go to their land ? that is made over to answer the annuities to the bank in its bills or money : if in bills they are never likely to yield money ; if in money , that must be laid out to purchase bills , and they are to be cancelled ; if to the stock in trade ; that is first to answer the interest of l. to every subscriber of l. per ann. and let the lender catch the rest where he can . it is needless here to object the want of sufficient certainty , that the bills of credit shall come in upon any other account than their lying dead ; or that the governours of this bank shall not mismanage in several particulars , which might require parliamentary provisions . the lin●olns-inn , exeter-exchange , asgill bank , or whatever name you will give it , rather than that which it assumes of land-bank , has a subscription of l. with which expeditious gentlemen who are directors and slanding council , pretend to pass so many real securities as shall make to the bank l. per cent. at l. s. per cent. but as it is said l. per cent. more goes for the writings , and mr. asgil and another have l. credit in the stock for the invention ; so that they and the councel are sure to get well if the bank should have no credit beyond the summ subscribed , in which case the bank would not get l. per c●nt . considering the charges , the time the money must lie dead before securities pass , and the l. per cent. upon their bills , as long as they pass . however they propose to themselves to raise l. per cent. by bills of credit , upon the particular estates conveyed to the bank , which bills are to carry l. per cent. interest from months to months , and to charge men's estates till months notice for their coming in : yet if landed-men could have money no where else at their rate , and there were no flaws in their settlement , they might not be much out in their reckoning . but i cannot see how they can ever lend to the value of their subscription , because , obj. there is an other bank much better sounded , and with fairer pretentions to a parliamentary establishment , which will lend at l. d. per cent . and where the borrower may clear his estate when ever he pays his money ; nor is it improbable that the bank of england , and such other banks as are , or may be on foot , will so sink interest , that money will be commonly had elsewhere at the same rate , nay is already often let out at l. per cent . obj. the settlement empowers a servant of the bank to charge any man's estate in the name of the trustees ; they declare themselves chargeable only with willfull fraud : how then shall a man be secured against the servants , granting out double the due number of bills , where all that receive them shall have a like claim to be satisfied out of the estate ? obj. their bills of credit being designed to charge the respective estates , as long as the bills upon them are out , or till six months notice for their coming in ; can any man be sure to have his estate cleared till six months after the paying the money which he owes ? or what ground of certainty is there , that six months notice shall be duely given for the discharging his estate at the end of six months ? if it be said the subscriptions and insurance fund are their security , that the bills shall never trouble them . . the subscription money all but l. for insurance must be supposed to be lent out in mortgages , and no estate can or ought to be a security that an other mans estate shall be cleared upon bringing his money . . tho' they have acted a good while , it does not appear that the l. or any part of it is yet laid out , notwithstanding their covenant or promise to purchase with it a present fund for insurance . . that fund is to be farther supplied only with s. per cent out of such interest as they shall receive ; which , if the whole l. were let out , would be but l. per annum , and if but l. but l. per annum , which must be charged with bad bills as well as with the good ones lying out , and possibly with a charge yet more heavy from the defects of their settlement . besides the subscribers will certainly expect to be first serv'd with at least per cent . before they will suffer any part of the profits of the bank to be laid out for this purpose . . no security is equal to the actual clearing an estate , when the money due upon it is paid : and it will be impossible for many to raise the money by the sale of any part of the estate , or otherwise , unless the estate can be assigned over absolutely clear at the time of payment . obj. their bills not being intended to charge all the estates conveyed to their trustees , but only particular estates respectively , some of which may fail ; the apprehension which any man may justly have , that his bill is charged upon such an estate , must needs hinder the currency of their bills . obj. will it not be a fatal objection against their bills , that he who has one may have mislayed it , or returns not from abroad till the six months expire , or might never have observed the notice , and yet his bill signifies no more than if it were charged upon a bad title ? and where shall he have his remedy ? shall he sue the trustees ? they declare before hand they will be answerable only for willful fraud . shall he lay hold of the fund for insurance ? that is yet in the land of promise , and where ever it is , will be loaded with clearing the borrowers estate from supernumerary or other bills lying out , and with making good bad bills , besides this of paying bills when the estate on which they were charged is gone . shall the trustees be obliged to assign any one of the other mortgages ? they are to bear only their own burthen of bills , and enough too , if their design could take . obj. suppose a bill be charged , as far as it can be by their method upon a good estate , shall the man who has the bill reach this estate by law or equity ? i take it by neither : and that this may appear by a bare representation of the projected settlement . the legal estate is setled upon the present trustees , and that by a new term not known in our law , is to attend the equitable interest , which is to vest in new trustees to be chosen from time to time , and that by virtue of their election , without any actual transferr or assignment ; and they to whom the equity was never transferred , are to charge an estate to which they have no title ; and this not by their immediate act , but by their servant receiving power from them , and that in and by the name which they assume without authoriry , not being incorporated ; and this charge is to be made barely by the servant's reference to a book where the estate is entred , tho' that reference names not the party whose estate they would charge , nor yet the estate , least the bills upon that estate should not pass . these bills not being personal charges ; quere whether the party that receives them be in as good a condition , as he that receives a note from a bankers man ? quere whether this perversion of the nature of bills of exchange , which hitherto have been personal , and now are turned upon land ( which can neither answer nor receive letters of advice , nor be out of countenance when bills are protested ) be not an invention as new to the lawyers , as to the merchants ? obj. suppose the bank lend l. to a man , who after setling his estate to the use of the bank , according to this new contrivance , mortgages to an other who knows nothing of the first mortgage , for l. bona fide paid . quere whether the second mortgagee shall not in equity compell the first trustees to assign the legal estate to him , and exclude the new trustees from an equity , which had been no otherwise vested in them than as above ? and what regard in this case , would the court of chancery have to the intended charge upon the estate , by that blind and inauthoritative reference to a book of entries ? or suppose the trustees to whom the state was conveyed , and are likely to be disobliged by being voted out of the trust of the equity , which is designed to govern the legal interest , should join with the mortgagor in assurances to others ; who would be in the best condition those other persons or the bank ? in such difficulties are these gentlemen involv'd , by running in the dark byond their guide , mr. briscoe , who sometime before they set up had made a very rational proposal , for turning all the land of the kingdom which shall be conveyed to trustees for the use of the bank , into a living stock , and easing others of their excessive loads ; by bringing a million of money to circulate millions of bills , charged upon land and money , the whole fund making good every bill . yet no man's land is to continue in longer than he pleases , but he may withdraw it at any time , paying the money which he has taken up there , and his proportion of loss if any has then happened . and whether he has occasion for money or no , he is to take up one years revenue of his land , that the bank may be the first mortgagee , if after settling his estate he should borrow elsewhere , and then take up money of the bank. indeed mr. neal has added to this , bills for an other years revenue , to be lent the bank as so much cash : but i do not see how these bills can yield more credit than those which the directors have power to charge upon the whole fund , and consequently upon every particular estate . but as the bills are likely to be current to the value of the fund , and all the land mortgaged to the bank , for so much as is borrowed becomes fund , though not entituled to profit and loss ; the fund for making good the bills , may extend as far as the occasions of the landed-men ; and therefore the bank's bills may pass as far , with the help of such money as will flow into it . when the values of the lands and the titles are ascertained , they cannot fail of being a fund of credit for ths of the value ; and therefore he who subscribes l. per ann. is to have credit for l. and his share in the bank accordingly , and yet shall receive the yearly income , paying his proportion of loss , and such money or bills as he takes up ; and as the interest which himself pays is part of the profits in which he shares , it is highly probably that he cannot pay l. per cent. after the first year , and after that would receive more per cent ▪ than he had paid . on the other side , he that subscribes l. shall have equal advantages with the subscriber of l per an. and l. per cent. for the whole from his first payment , nor can his money be called in faster than at quarterly payments : but if he chuse to pay faster , he may have interest at l. per cent. for all above the payment then due ; yet some of the present directors lodge many thousands there without interest . and if we may conjecture by the encrease of credit in the bank of england , wch . has a much less , and less certain fund , it is not to be thought that more than half the subscription-money need be called in , and then they will have l. per cent. certain besides their share in the profits . though these payments may seem too slow to set the bank in credit , especially after the coin is regulated , and men will be less fond of bills than they have been ; yet such a fund can never fail of commanding money where it is needfull ; nor will men unnecessarily call for money , while they can have so good bills ; especially if this bank were established by ast of parliament : in consequence of which it would soon become a registry for most of the lands in the kingdom , and if it were made so for such as would voluntarily enter their lands and incumbrances , or the claims which they have ; and were l. per an ▪ settled for years for l. to the publick ( whereas the bank of england has in effect a perpetuity for l. it would make this bank no mean rival to that of amsterdam ; besides the raising land to years purchase generally , and that in bank to much more . nor can it be thought that the landed-men , who must needs have the prevailing interest in parliament , can long neglect those advantages , which would set them upon an equal bottom with the traders and usurers . the most weighty objections which i have met with against this bank are these two . obj. that the subscribers of money are not secure , because the landed-man may withdraw his estate . answ . but it is to be considered , that this hazard is the same to every landed-man that continues in , and besides , all bear their pro portions while they stay in , and pay at their going out ; and therefore are upon equal hazard ▪ answ . if i mistake not , the monied-man may have credit for ths of the value of his whole subscription , and extend that credit in bank bills ; and if this use of his stock would not for that time be like a with-drawing so much ; yet if he should never be able to bring this back to the bank , this might be worse than a landman's with-drawing his land. answ . the subscribers of land either come with clear estates , or owe money upon them : in the first case the monied man has great reason to be thankful , that they give the bank credit for l. actually conveyed , and in effect brought in , to every l. subscribed in mony when but a th . part is paid in , and possibly there may never be ▪ ths more . and if any landed men should withdraw , the benefit that is expected , and would be certain , when ever estates to the value of or millions were setled , would bring in enough of clear estates , when they saw the certainty of receiving their revenue , and yet having large interest , as if they had advanced l. for every l. per ann. if the estates are encumbered , it must be under ths of the value , or they cannot be admitted into the bank ; but if all the subscribers of land took up the ths , the monied man's profit would be the greater , and such men the bank is sure of till they can pay their money , and in the mean while it has their estates as a fund of credit , not only for that money , but for the remaining th which the land-bank , so called , cannot pretend to , any farther than as a security for the money borrowed upon the respective estates . obj. the other objection is , what lies as well against the bank of england , and the land-bank so called , which is the possibillity of bad titles , and counterfeit bills . answ . but the loss upon either , or both , must be first out of the profits , and if , losses excepted , but l. per cent. were clear'd , that would be l. which no man can imagine should be loss'd in any year . and there is no doubt , but the reasonable expectation of a much greater gain , will induce numbers of prudent men to venture with clear estates . however the bank could stand without them , and no man who owes l. or l. upon l. per an. can possibly be discouraged from such a method of lessening his burden ; nor is it to be thought , but many would come in , if it were for no other end , but to set an example for such a national good , as has been wanted for many ages . indeed objections have been published by some body concern'd in the land bank so called , which have so little in them , and so much mistake plain fact , that they hardly deserve notice , as , obj. that mr. briscoe proposes millions fund , one in money , two in land. when the proposal is for millions , and but one in money . so that whereas the profit to the moneyed man is supposed to be one d. besides his l. per cent . it is but one l. of the whole . obj. he will have all the profit to the subscribers , to arise by taking running cash at l. per cent . and letting it out at l. upon which he raises a vain calculation how many millions at l. per cent . clear profit must circulate to make l. per cent to the subscribers . not considering that this would be an objection against their bank ; for if neither can extend its credit beyond the money in bank , or advanced in specie ; it were to no purpose to pretend to a bank of credit . but suppose the million subscribed in money should circulate but the single value of the original fund , which is all as money to help circulation , this would turn to much better account than with reason can be expected in their bank , as will appear by the next objection . obj. he says , the inequallity of interest between the land and money subscribers can admit of no reconciliation for l. per cent . gain , raises the money'd man's interest but to six , and yet makes the landed man borrow money for nothing . whereas if this be done with half the subscription money paid in , the mony'd man has at the rate of l. per cent . and then he need not envy the landed man the advantage which is not gained by the money only , but advanced by the credit of the land ; which , as was before observed , is l. actually conveyed to l. subscribed , and but half that paid and perhaps much less , when yet , if i mistake not , the money'd man shall have credit to supply his occasions for three forths of his subscription . obj. it is urged that the land subscribers being the majority , the money must be disposed of at the will of the ●orrowers . answ . but wherein they can prejudice the money'd man , i cannot understand . can they ca●l in the money too fast ? this cannot be faster then at quarterly payments , whereas the landed man conveys his estate at first , and the more money is called in , the more is supposed to be let out at interest , which each shares in according to his proportion ▪ can it be thought the landed men will the rather encline to put the money out upon bad securities ? that becomes a charge upon their own land , and whatever advantages they make to the bank , redound to the others benefit ; and they who have the largest stake there will be more concerned for improving the stock , than they who may venture a little there , the better to raise the much greater interest which they have elsewhere : and yet no landed man , how much soever he has subscribed , can have ▪ 〈◊〉 then votes . obj. there is an other objection , not to have been expected from one of that other bank , which is the inconvenience and hazard that mr. briscoe's subscribers may meet with , by an unpresidented settlement of their estates . answ . but as i cannot find any president for their fanciful settlement ; neither can i apprehend any difficulty in settling an estate upon trustees , to be subject to its proportion of loss and gain ; nor can the fear of loss reasonably deter , where the gain is so probable and inviting . i must needs say it has not appeared to me , that ever any body before mr. briscoe proposed a practicable scheme for this , and yet sir william petty seems in the year , to have had something of the like kind in view , when to the question . what remedy is there if we have too little money ? he says . we must erect a bank , which well computed doth allmost double the effect of our coined money ; and we have in england materials for a bank which shall furnish stock enough to drive the trade of the whole commercial world. the hint of so great a man is not to be despised at least shews , that banks of credit are not to be lookt on as vain projects . in this belief i am farther confirmed , by perusing a treatise now in my hands , wherein a person of great judgment and experience not only holds , that it is necessary at this time for the parliament to appoint bills of credit , but that they may be effectual with only parliamentary security , without any particular present fund . and if i am not much mistaken , it appears by what i have observed of other banks , that the crown bank which i propose , to supply the present exigencies , is lyable to no objection , but what will fall upon the best of the others : and that all but the national land bank labour with objections which cannot be urged against this . for the recommending of which it may be observed . . that here is an absolute certainty that the credit shall never be stretched beyond its real and certain fund , which shall yield in specie all the money for which it gives credit . . till the money is paid by the publick , the bills will be as money , and passing as such from one to an other , are as capable of yielding interest : and consequently there will be no need of the crowns , paying interest , when it at the very first pays bills , which are current , not only because they shall in their time be paid in money , but in the mean while are as true a medium of trade and profit . this therefore in few years time would save the nation some millions as well as yeild millions for the present occasion . . whereas it will be some years before the benefit of the best of the other banks can be diffused over the whole nation ; this may be in few weeks , as soon as the bills can be finished , and delivered out . . if there be any apprehension that other banks may be too powerful , or may be a means of ingrossing commodities , and enhansing their prizes ; this has its certain limits , and reaches no farther , than the necessities of the publick require . . forwardness to close with invitations to honest profit , may lead the directors of other banks to pass bad titles , or what was fairly adventured may miscarry : but the crown-bank proposed is , in its nature , as firm and stable as the foundations of this monarchy ; which can never be moved , but by such a calamity as should leave us no visible means of continuing a protestant nation , or free people . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a -e * this to secure the coming in of the bills ▪ yet they that are to come in last will be of like benefit with the first , 〈◊〉 the last pass for money , and may be disposed of , or put out at interest from the beginning . of the bank of england . of doctor chamberlain's bank. of the land-bank so called . vid. the printed settlement . vid. the printed settlement . of the national land bank. vid. the letter from a citizen concerning the land-bank . sir will. pe●●●'s quantulum cu●que concerning money . vid. mr. john blackwell's essay towards carrying on the war against france . a table shewing instantly by the eye the number of acres belonging to any summe of money according to the rate setled by parliament upon any of the lands within the foure provinces of ireland ... delamain, richard, fl. . this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text r in the english short title catalog (wing d ). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing d estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) a table shewing instantly by the eye the number of acres belonging to any summe of money according to the rate setled by parliament upon any of the lands within the foure provinces of ireland ... delamain, richard, fl. . sheet ([ ] p.) printed by e.g. for i. wright, and i. franck, london : . reproduction of original in bodleian library. caption title. broadside. at top: the hvmble presentation of richard delamain the younger, to the right honorable house of peers, assembled in parliament ... a table of land values per acre in ulster, conaght, munster, and lempster. eng allotment of land -- ireland -- early works to . land subdivision -- law and legislation -- ireland. ireland -- economic conditions -- statistics -- sources. broadsides a r (wing d ). civilwar no the humble presentation of richard delamain the yonger, to the right honourable the house of peeres, assembled in parliament. delamain, richard f the rate of defects per , words puts this text in the f category of texts with or more defects per , words. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - megan marion sampled and proofread - megan marion text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the hvmble presentation of richard delamain the yonger , to the right honourable the house of peeres , assembled in parliament . whereas by order of parliament the severall rates of lands in the foure provinces of ireland with the rents reserved unto the crowne , are lately published for information of such persons as shall become undertakers therein ; but for that there is nothing yet extant for the helpe of such persons by way of computation as may answer all summes of money according to the severall rates in each province that shall be disbursed for any number of acres : under favour of this honourable house , for the ease and speedy satisfaction of all such as shall undertake , i humbly present a table whereby it may instantly appeare what number of acres in any of the severall provinces will arise from any summe of money proposed ; or what monies are to be disbursed for any number of acres desired , with the rents reserved to the king according to the quantity , in any of the said provinces . all which is done by an inspection on this table : which in all humility is presented herewith to the view and approbation of your honours , if it shall be held fit for the common use herein , by order of the house , it may be published with an illustration annext thereto , as a short description and application thereof . a table shewing instantly by the eye the number of acres belonging to any summe of money according to the rate setled by parliament upon any of the lands within the foure provinces of ireland : or what summe of money is to be disbursed for any number of acres , assigned ; and what the yeerely rent reserved for the king amounteth unto , for any number of acres in any of the four provinces . as also a table to reduce any number of irish acres of foot to the pole , into statute acres of . foot and a halfe to the pole : or any number of english acres proposed , to finde what number of irish acres they make . all performed by an inspection on the table calculated by richard delamain : and dedicated to the high and honourable court of parliament . ulster . pounds acres . acres . pounds . kings rent . s. - ●- l. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ●● - - ●●●●● - - ● 〈…〉 - - ● 〈◊〉 ● - - ●●● ● ● - - conaght . pounds . acres . acres . pounds . kings rent . ● / ● - s. - - / ● / ● - - - / l. - - - - - - - - - - ●● - - - - - - - - ●● - - - - - - ● ●● - - munster . pounds . acres . acres . pounds . kings rent . / ● l. s. - - / ● - - - - - - - - - l. - - ●● - - ● ●● - - ● - - ● ●● - - ● - - - - - - ● - - - - ● - - lempster . pounds . acres . acres . pounds . kings rent . / ● ● . - - / ● l. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - a table to reduce any number of irish acres into statute acres , or any number of statute acres , into irish acres : by the eye onely . e i i e . . . . . . . . ● ● ●●●●● ven●ris . mar●ii . . ordered by the lords in parliament , that this table with the preamble thereunto an●exed , shall be forthwith printed and published . jo. browne cleric : parliamentor . london , printed by e.g. for i. wright , and i. franck , . a narrative of the settlement and sale of ireland whereby the just english adventurer is much prejudiced, the antient proprietor destroyed, and publick faith violated : to the great discredit of the english church, and government, (if not re-called and made void) as being against the principles of christianity, and true protestancy / written in a letter by a gentleman in the country to a noble-man at court. narrative of the earl of clarendon's settlement and sale of ireland french, nicholas, - . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a wing f estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) a narrative of the settlement and sale of ireland whereby the just english adventurer is much prejudiced, the antient proprietor destroyed, and publick faith violated : to the great discredit of the english church, and government, (if not re-called and made void) as being against the principles of christianity, and true protestancy / written in a letter by a gentleman in the country to a noble-man at court. narrative of the earl of clarendon's settlement and sale of ireland french, nicholas, - . [ ], p. [s.n.], lovain : . signed at end: f.d. also published with title: a narrative of the earl of clarendon's settlement and sale of ireland. reproduction of original in cambridge university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng land tenure -- ireland. ireland -- history -- - . ireland -- history -- - . - tcp assigned for keying and markup - aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images - john latta sampled and proofread - john latta text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a narrative of the settlement and sale of ireland . whereby the just english adventurer is much prejudiced , the antient proprietor destroyed , and publick faith violated ; to the great discredit of the english church , and government , ( if not re-called and made void ) as being against the principles of christianity , and true protestancy . written in a letter by a gentleman in the country , to a noble-man at court. lovain , printed in the year mdclxviii . a letter . my lord , i have in obedience to your lordships commands , set down in brief , the sad and deplorable state of the irish nation , and the apparent injustice , and innequality used in the present settlement of that kingdom ; which , in my opinion , ( as i formerly told your lordship ) hath chiefly occasioned the heavy judgements of god , which our english nation hath sensibly felt these many years last past , and is to be feared , our sufferings are not yet at an end , if we do not take a speedy course to humble our selves , and appease the wrath of his divine majesty , who may punish us farther , with as much justice , as we have ( contrary to all justice ) hitherto oppressed the irish . it cannot be denyed , but that the roman catholicks of ireland have infinitely suffered , during the late usurped governments ; but they have done it cheerfully , and perhaps not without some comfort ; having had all that time , as companions in suffering , not only some of the nobility and gentry of england and scotland , but the king himself , and all the royal family ; ferre quam sortem patiuntur omnes , nemo recusat . but now since his majesties happy restauration , and during the universal jubilee of joy over all the british monarchy , that the irish alone shou'd be forced to mourn , but condemued to a perpetual sufferance , far surpassing those they formerly endured under the government of cromwel ; is a calamity rather to be deplored then exprest . and yet i find very few of our nation any way touched with a compassion of the miserie 's snstained by those their neighbours , and that the irish are not only vigorously persecuted by their constant enemies , but that they are wholly abandoned by their former friends ( i mean their fellow-sufferers for the same cause ) who do not now concern themselves in their sufferings . this consideration alone , together with the zeal i have always had for justice , and the commiseration which nature imprints in every man , are the motives ( next to your lordships commands ) which induce me to undertake this subject . i shall therefore , by setting down matter of fact , and by examining the title of the present possessors , as also of the antient proprietors , discovered the wicked artifices hitherto practised , to deprive the irish nation , not only of the benefit of his majesties mercies , but also of his justice . broghil and coot having by several emissaries sent into england , felt the pulse of the english nation , and finding the people generally inclined to concur with the loyal and successful endeavours of the lord general monk , in order to the restauration of his sacred majesty , convoqued a convention in dublin , of persons newly interested in that kingdom , to consult upon the best and safest course that might be taken to prevent the restoring of the irish cavallers to those estates which the conventionists and their partizans enjoyed by the usurpers bounty , and which they had great reason to believe , would be immediately restored to the ancient proprietors upon his majesties re-establishment . in order to this resolution , it was agreed upon , that all the gentlemen of ireland should be committed to close prison , to render them incapable of contributing to his majesties restauration , in case his majesty would choose to pursue his royal right by dint of sword , rather then to condescend to such disadvantageous conditions , as the conventionists did hope , and were fully perswaded would be imposed upon him by the parliament of england . it was also concluded , that a man of parts and faction among the presbyterian party , should be imployed into england , to prepossess the people there , with the dangers and inconveniences which the restoring of the irish natives to their antient estates , would infallibly bring upon the new english interest in that kingdom . in pursuance to these resolutions , all the prisons in ireland were filled with the nobility and gentry of that nation , whom no imbecility of age , nor indisposition of body could excuse , nor any offered security answer for : sir john clotworthy , ( a man famons for plundering somerset house , murdering the kings subjects , and committing many other treasons and horrid crimes , ) was dispatched into england . this person , who was always accounted as violent against the irish , as he was known to be seditious , and ill-affected to monarchy ; no sooner arriv'd in london , than he fill'd the peoples ears with such dreadful stories of a new insurrection in ireland , ( where counterfeited letters were read on the exchange and several copies dispersed over all the corners of the city ) that his majesty was warm in his fathers throne , when both houses of parliament ( grounding their belief on clotworthy's assertion ) presented unto him a proclamation , to be signed against the irish papists , who were said to be actually in rebellion , murdering his majesties protestant subjects , violently intruding into other mens possessions , with many other characters of infamy , rendring them odious to all nations . this proclamation was published in london on the third day of june . notwithstanding that it was very well known at that time , that there was not an irish man in arms in any part of ireland . clotworthy , encouraged with the good success of his first essay , and strengthened by a new landed recruit of convention agents ( among whom broghil himself made one ) having observed that a general act of indempnity was ready to be passed to all his majesties subjects , and fearing that the irish ( if concluded therein ) would be consequently restorable to their estates ; presented a proviso against them , to be inserted in that act ; but this proviso seemed so unreasonable to both houses ( especially after that his majesty had made a speech to them for comprehending the irish in his general and gracious pardon ( that they were fully resolved to extend the act of oblivion to the irish papists , as well as to the rest of his majesties subjects . but the conventionists , after some conference with the * d — of o — ( to whom , as 't is said , ( with what trust i know not ) they offer'd that great estate , and vast summs of money which wrought so much upon his grace , that , in the house of lords he made a speech against comprehending the irish papists in the act of oblivion , saying , that the king had taken that matter into his own hands , notwithstanding that his majesty had but few days before clearly declared himself for their being comprehended in his general pardon : so that it was carryed a-against them , to the great astonishment of all persons of honour and conscience , that were informed of the corrupt ways whereby they were excluded . neither , my lord , was the exclusion of the irish out of the act of oblivion , so satisfactory to the convention agents , if all other passages to his majesties further graces and favours were not shut up against them : and in order thereunto , they prevailed with the first minster of state ( whom they had gained to their side , by what coloured arguments he knows best himself ) to re-call the commission of lord deputy , which was formerly given to the lord roberts , a person of known honour and integrity ; the conventionists having , observed that his lordship was not to be won , upon any account to forward their design . this grand obstacle being removed out of the way , broghil , anglesey , clotworthy , and mervin , ( with the assistance of steel , roberts and petit ) after three months labour , brought forth that monstrous issue of their brain , which was exposed to the world under the name and title of his majesties most gracious declaration for the settlement of ireland . this was their master-piece , and hath been ever since the ground-work of all subsequent acts which were established for the farther settlement of that nation . the first branch of the declaration confirms the adventurer in his possession ; the second secures the soldier in his debenture ; the third satisfies the men ; the forth assures unto the transplanted irish the land decreed unto them in the province of conaught , and county of clare ; the fifth makes mention of those irish officers who served his majesty in flanders , as also the generality of the nation who pretend to articles . my lord , is not this a blessed declaration , which provides in so large a manner for so many different interests ? a declaration that satisfies the natives , and yet dispossesseth none of the cromwellists . to understand it well , we must mount a little higher , and call to our remembrance how the rump-parliament divided the spoils of that conquered nation , in the year . ten counties were allotted to the adventurers , twelve conferred on cromwel's souldiers , and three of the barren counties given by way of charity to the transplanted irish ; these , by computation , make up counties , the remaining seven ( for ireland contains in all but counties ) together with all the cities and corporations of that kingdom , were reserved to the common-wealth . now this declaration confirms the adventurers , souldiers , and transplanted irish in their present possessions ; and moreover , it assigns to several other uses , the seven remaining counties , and all the great towns of ireland , which were not disposed of by the common-wealth : one of the counties being designed to supply the deficiency of the adventurers lots ; another , to satisfie the incumbrances on the lands already laid out to adventurers and souldiers ; the third to reprize such as were removed from the lord duke of ormond's estate ; and the other four counties , with all the cities and corporations of the whole kingdom , ( a pretty grant ) being assigned to the protestant officers who serv'd his majesty in ireland at any time before the year . after this solemn division and distribution made of every house , and every acre of land , over all the kingdom of ireland . some irish gentlemen ( who also serv'd his majesty in flanders ) are named in the declaration , to be forthwith restored to their ancient estates ; but not , until lands of equal value , worth and purchase , are first found out to reprize the adventurers , souldiers , and the rest now in possession ; a work no more nor less feasible , than the creation of another ireland . my lord , this declaration was published on the th . of novomber . and at the same time broghil created earl of orery , and sir charles coot made earl of montrath ; were joyned in commission with the lord chancellor eustace , as his majesties lords justices of that kingdom ; sir john clotworthy ( who was also created lord viscount masserene ) sir audley mervin , and some others of the convention-agents , staid at court , to draw up privare instructions for the better executing his majesties declaration : and because innocents , viz. such as never offended his majesty , or his royal father , were the only people to be restored without previous reprisals , the conventionists made it their grand work to qualifie an innocent , that it should be morally impossible to find any such in rerum natura , virum , innocentum quis inveniet ? eleven qualifications were ordered for their tryal and those so rigid and severe , that clotworthy and his companions ( who had the wording of them ) did verily believe there could not be a man found in all ireland that should pass untoucht through so many pikes : for , not only the inoffensive persons , who never took arms , who never enter'd into the confederacy with the rest of their countreymen , if they did but pay them the least contribution out of their estates , if they did but reside in the irish quarters , although in their own own houses ; not only these , i say , were declared to be no innocents , but such as lived all the war-time in england ; such as were with hi● majesty at oxford , and served in his army , if they received any rent from their tenants in ireland , were by virtue of one of the eleven qualifications , to be held for nocents . but among all the other qualifications , that of taking an engagement ( which was administred unto all his majesties subjects in the three kingdoms ) was a very notable one ; this engagement was forced upon the irish in so high a nature , that those who would not take it , were debarred , not only from the benefit of the law , but also exposed to an innevitable danger of death , the souldiers of cromwels army being commanded by publick proclamation ▪ to kill all they met on the high-way , who carried not a certificate about him , of having taken that engagement : commands which were cruelly executed on silly peasants , who , out of ignorance , or want of care , having left their tickets at home , were barbarously murdered by the merciless souldiers : my lord , it is very remarkable , that they who devised this engagement , who heartily subscribed unto it , and forced others to take it , shall not be questioned or held criminal ; and that those who never saw it before it was ministered unto them , who abhorred it in their hearts , and were forced to sign it , to avoid a bloody and violent death , shall be declared nocents , and an irrevocable sentence of losing their estates given against them ; and the estates so forfeited , to be conferred on those very persons who compelled the proprietors to that forfeiture . by this qualification alone , a man may judge of the rest . to crown this grand work of settling ireland , the conventionists ( having worded the declaration and instructions to their own advantage ) prevailed with their great patron , to have themselves named the only commissioners to put in execution his majesties declaration for the settlement of ireland , this un-usual , and perhaps never before heard of course of justice , ( one of the parties being made judge of the case ) appeared so ugly and terrible to the irish , that many of them could hardly be perswaded to believe , that his sacred majesty was restored to the peaceable and free possessession of his crown and kingdoms , seeing the very same persons who tyranized over them during oliver's reign , were now not only confirmed in their formed in their former charges , and advanced to places of greater trust ; but also newly commissioned with an unlimited power , to give a final and decisive sentence of all the titles and pretentions of the unfortunate natives . this preposterous way of proceeding , having not only incensed the interessed irish , but also scandalized all the moderate men of england , another course was judged fit to be taken , less shameful in appearance , but in effect the very same : the new court of claims was annulled , and the lords justices were ordered to call a parliament , which met on the th . day of may . the lower house of this parliament was all composed of cromwellists , and but very few of the irish peers were admitted to sit in the house of lords , under the pretence of former indictments . this parliament made the first act of settlement , which they entitled , an act for explaining his majesties declaration for the settlement of ireland . this act decides all the doubtful expressions of the declaration in favour of the cromwellists , and to the disadvantage of the natives , it allows only a twelve-months time for the tryal of innocents ; but those irish gentlemen who served his majesty abroad , together with the generality of the nation pretending to articles , ( half a score persons only excepted , who were particularly provided for ) are for ever debarred by this act , to recover their estates without previous reprizals , which is a thing not to be had in nature . my lord , i cannot omit minding your lordship of a remarkable expression in the preface of this act , that the irish rebels were conquered by his majesties protestant subjects , in his majesties absence . these irish rebels when they were conquered , fought under the command of the lord duke of ormond , his majesties lord lieutenant in ireland , and after under the command of the lord marquess of clanrickard , his majesties lord deputy for that kingdom ; and those protestant subjects who conquered them , were called cromwel ireton , jones , reynolds , broghil , coot , venables , hewson , axtel , &c. who vigorously pursued the irish rebels for no other reason , but that they constantly denyed the authority of the pretended commonwealth , and unalterably adhered to the interest of charles stewart , ( for his majesties now protestant subjects were wont , in that time of conquest , to call our gracious soveraign ; ) but now adayes they sing another note , and speak quite another language ; having established for a fundamental law , that the irish rebels were conquered by his majesties protestant subjects in his majesties absence . this being passed , and the royal assent given to it , sir richard rainsford , and the rest of the commissioners appointed by his majesty to decide the claims of the irish , in pursuance of this act , landed in dublin , about the of . and having some time to study the act , they plainly understood , that none of the unfortunate natives could be restored to their estates , but the ten persons who had particular proviso's inserted therein , and such others as would prove their innocence in open court. the commissioners began their first session on the day of february , and the court continued until the of august following . during this time the claims of near upon a thousand irish were heard , whereof the one half were declared innocents , notwithstanding all the rigid qualifications against them . the time limited for ajudging innocents being expired , sir richard rainsford ( a most just and upright man ) would proceed no farther , expecting an enlargement of time to hear out the rest , who were in number , and who had as much reason to pretend a title to their estates , ( until they were heard , and condemned ) as those who were already judged ; for every man is to be held innocent until he be convicted , and especially those who durst venture upon so severe a tryal : for , that part of the nation ( which was involved in the war ) did not pretend to innocence , but claim the benefit of articles . but this enlargement of time being flatly denyed by the first minister of state , the court of claims was at an end , the interessed party made judges by clarendon , and indifferent men not admitted , and the parliament prepared an aditional bill of settlement , which came into england in the of may , . by this additional act , it is decreed , that no benefit of innocency , or articles , shall be allowed from henceforth , to any of the irish natives . the words of the text , pag. . l. . are these ; and it is hereby declared , that no person or persons , who by the qualifications in the said former act , hath not been adjudged innoieut , shall at any time hereafter be reputed innocent , so as to claim any lands or tenements hereby vested ; or be admitted to have any benefit or allowance of any future adjudications of innocence , or any benefit of articles whatsoever . to salve this grand breach of publick faith , the law of god , and nations , and to give some colour of justice , to an action which is evidently repugnant to magna charta , and the fundamental laws of england ( to condemn so many thousands before they are heard ) it is ordered by the same act , that some fifty four persons of the nobility and gentry of ireland , ( who likely deserved his majesties particular favour , and whose names are specified in the act ) shall be restored unto their several and respective principal seats , and unto acres of land thereto adjoyning ; provided always , that the adventurers , souldiers , and men who are to be removed , shall be first satisfied by some other forfeited lands , in equal value , worth , and purchase ; the transplanted irish are purposely left by this act upon very doubtful terms , that in case of necessity ( if the stock of reprizals should sall short ) their present possessions might serve to reprize the adventurers , souldiers , men , and grantees already removed by the restored innocents , and the ten proviso-men in the former act , or to be removed by the nominees , and some three or four persons more particularly provided for in this additional act. the forty nine men are expresly forbidden by this act , to set or let by way of lease , or otherwise any part of their lots within the walled towns and corporations , or at a certain distance thereunto : to any irish papists , under the penalty of loosing what is let , and forfeiting as much more , there is a general clause in the act , that all clauses and provisoes therein contained , which admit any doubtful expression , shall be always construed to the advantage and favour of the english protestants , and several other provisons are made , all tending to the designed extirpation of the natives . this destructive act , after many long consultations , wherein the first minister of state did always imploy the utmost of his uncontrouled power , to countenance the cromwellian party , and the kings solicitor general ( who had the penning of the act , made use of his rhetorick and knowledge in the law , to plead in their behalf , ( the favour of the one being easily gained , at the rate of several vast sums of ready money , and the promise of an estate of l. a year for his son ; and the pains of the other , being modestly rewarded by a small fee of l. sterl . ) this act , i say , so well supported , was signed and sealed at salisbury on the th of july ▪ ( notwithstanding all the opposition given thereunto , ) and this in a time when the hand of god visibly appeared in the great mortality , which then began to increase in the city of london ; and when i heard many moderate men say , we are justly punished by god , for the injustice done to the irish . it is now more than two years since the act went over into ireland , and the nominees who were to be restored as they verily believed ) to their chief houses , and acres of land , have not yet got the possession of a cottage , or of one acre of ground ; which agrees very well with ororye's railery lately expressed , that it was intended by the act , that they should be only nominees , nomine restorable , but not re , for that was never intended ; and yet the same orrory assured to the king , that there was a sufficient stock of reprisals to satisfie all interests . my lord , this is the true state , in brief , of the irish case , as to matter of fact , since the first day of his majesties most happy restauration , to this instant . let us now examine matter of right , and see what title the several interests obstructing there establishment of the irish can justly pretend to the estates of the distressed natives . these different interests can be reduced to four principal ones ; the first is , that of the adventurers , the second of the souldiers , the third of the forty nine men and the fourth of the grantees ; we will begin with the adventurers . these are certain inhabitants of london , who in the year . pretended to venture their momes to reduce the rebels in ireland , ( but intended , as afterwards appeared , to destroy the king ) upon the assurance of getting such a quantity of the rebels lands in proportion to the sums they laid out , and in pursuance of an act of our english parliament , which then passed to that effect . by which act , it is ordered that the mony so laid out , should be employed in the service of ireland ; and that , ( after the rebels were declared by both houses to be wholly conquered ) a commission should issue forth under the great seal of england , to make a strict enquiry through all the counties of ireland , of estates forfeited by the rebellion , to be disposed of for the satisfaction of the adventurers . neither of these conditions were hitherto observed , for the money laid out , was all , ( or at least , for the greatest part ) imployed to buy arms and ammunition to fight against his majesty in england . the rebels were never yet declared by both houses of parliament to have been conquered , nor any commission issued forth under the great seal of england , to enquire after forfeitures : it is true , that the remaining members of the house of commons , made an ordinance in the year . ( without the concurrence of the house of lords ) that the rebels were wholly conquered ; and that consequently assigned ten counties to the adventurers , without issuing forth any commission under the great seal of england , to examine whether the lands therein contained were forseited or no. of these ten counties , the adventurers of the doubling ordinance ( who were to have for their respective sums laid out , double the quantity of land assigned to the first adventurers ) have proportion , because their money was given to the long parliament in the year . when they were in actual rebellion against his majesty . the late king understood very well the nullity of this act having never made mention of the adventurers interest in all the treaties of peace which pass'd between his majesty and the confederates in ireland ; which certainly so just a prince as charles the first was known to be , would never have done , if he had conceived himself any way obliged by that act to provide for them . but supposing that the act of decimo septimo caroli in the behalf of the london adventurers , had not been defective ; can those of the doubling ordinance expect any benefit by that law ? can the first adventurers whose moneys were disposed to other uses than the relief of the protestants in ireland , pretend any advantage by that act ? nay , can those few persons of the first rank ( whom we call the just adventurers , and whose moneys were really imployed in the irish war ) lawfully enjoy the irish land , until the rebels be declared by the two houses of parliament to be wholly conquered ; until a commission issues forth under the great seal of england to examine who are the rebels , and who are innocents ; and until , after the performing these essential formalities required by the act , they receive by a just and legal way of proceeding , their respective proportions of the forfeited estates ? the first minister of state ( a lawyer by his first profession ) cannot be ignorant of these varieties ; especially when he perswades his royal master to speak after this manner , in his declaration for the settlement of ireland , pag. . therefore in the first place , in order to the settlement of that interest claimed by the adventurers , alth●ugh the present estates and possessions they enjoy , if they were examined by the strict letter of the law , would prove very defective and invalid , as being no ways pursuant to those acts of parliament upon which they pretend to be found , but rather seem to be a structure upon their subsequent assent , both to the different mediums and ends , than the observance of those ; yet who being always more ready to consult , &c. can any thing be spoken more plain to prove the nullity of the adventurers title by the act of . car. ? and could the supream judge of the court of equity give a more unjust sentence , than to say , although this party can pretend no right to the estate in question , yet i am pleased to adjudge it for him ? the matter in dispute is no less than the land of ten counties , the parties pretending are the irish proprietors , and the london adventurers : the first enjoyed it for so many ages , they have their patents and evidences to shew for it , and they lost it at length upon the account of loyalty , fighing for the kings interest against the murderers of his royal father : the last ( as 't is acknowledged by the words of the text ) have no other title but what they derive from the ordinance of an usurped government , for having disbursed vast sums of money to countenance rebellion , to pull down monarchy , and put up a pretended common-wealth . and yet the land is adjudged for them , and confirmed to them and their heirs for ever : the second main interest obstructing the restoration of the irish , is that of cromwel's souldiers , who are not mentioned in the act of caroli ; neither indeed do they pretend any other title to their estates , but that of the sword , which they have always imployed against the late king , and his present majesty , enjoying as a sallary for their service , all the irish estates in twelve counties . i do not think any man will be so impudent as to justifie this prodigious title ; i am sure their greatest patrons never durst say they were just , but they said very often , it was convenient to confirm them in possession of other mens land. and perhaps we shall not find many other states-men ( among the followers of the gospel ) who will allow a conveniency so apparent against justice : ruat coelum & fiat justicia , is a motto which better becomes a lord chancellour ; then , let us not do what is just , but what is convenient . it is indeed a most wonderful conveniency to dispossess the ancient proprietor who fought for the king , and give his estate to a fanatick souldier who fought for cromwel . to suppor this pretended conveniency , the first minister of state made use of a strong argument , derived from the great power of the cromwellists in ireland ; and thus he makes it out : the english army is very considerable now in ireland , they have swords in their hands , and they are in possession of all the great towns , and strong holds in that kingdom , it is not therefore safe to irritate them ; nay , there is an absolute necessity ( as the case stands ) to confirm them in their present possessions , for we must not do what is just , but what is is convenient . these words were often delivered in councel , as so many oracles , and perhaps the greater statesman did not seriously reflect , whether the same argument might not serve as well to confirm all the cromwellists in england , in their unlawful acquisitions of the crown and church-lands , and so many cavaliers estates , whereof they were dispossessed upon his majesties restauration , without any great noise , and less danger ; and yet they were then very considerable : they had swords in their hands , and they were in possession of all the strong holds of the kingdom , &c. my lord , i have been all over the kingdom of ireland , and assure your lordship , that the old inhabitants and natives of ireland , are ten for one , and far the more considerable party ; but large sums have made that corrupt minister say any thing that seemed advantagious to support that other interest : i am confident , my lord , admitting them as inconsiderable as he would have them , it cannot be half so formidable , as the power of that party was in england when the king came in . these were all disbanded in less then six months time , and now 't is more than seven years , that the fanatick army is maintained in ireland without any necessity , which , occasions that his majesty receives no revenue out of that vast and fertil kingdom ; nay , he is obliged to send yearly a considerable sum of money out of england , for the maintenance of that army : for my part i cannot nnderstand how the king might safely reduce the english army , and that it should be dangerous for him to disband the irish forces , who were not half so numerous , nor so much to be feared as those in england . if the want of money hindred their disbanding at once with their brethren in england and scotland ; might not they reduce by degrees , and by regiments , in eight years time ? i think it is sufficiently evidenced that the cromwellian party in ireland have no more power than what his majesty hitherto is pleased to grant them , by the advice of his first minister , who upholds that fanatick army for his own sordid , if not wicked ends . let that favourite that perswades his master to tolerate injustice and oppression , upon the account of a servile fear , have a care that he be not one day convinced either of ignorance . rex est qui posuit metus , & diramala pectoris , quem non ambitio popularis , & nunquam stabilis faveur vulgi praecipitis movet . the third grand interest , and the most destructive to the natives , is that of the protestant officers , who served his majesty ( or the parliament ) in ireland , before the year . whose arrears have been cast up , and stated to the vast sum of eighteen hundred thousand pounds sterl . in satisfaction whereof , the part of a whole kingdom ( which certainly is worth many millions ) is conferred upon them . they are entitled to all the natives estates in four great counties , to all the cities , corporations , and walled towns in ireland , to all the land situated within a mile to the sea , and to the river of shanon in the province of conaught , and county of clare , to all the debts , leases , mortgages , and the reversions of the irish ; for not only the real estates , but also all other pretensions and titles of the unhappy natives are forfeited : and leest all this should come short to content this insatiable party , the last act allows them one hundred thousand pounds out of the two half years rent from adventurers souldiers , and restored irish . though the roman catholick officers have always faithfully adhered to the kings interest , and never deserted his service ( as all , or most of these protestant officers in ireland have done , when the usurper prevailed ) yet they being papist , disables them from any satisfaction for their service , which was a qualification not imposed on the catholicks in england , &c. but since the cessation of arms concluded in the year . there was no more fighting between his majesties protestant , and roman catholick subjects , which makes a great difference between their loyalty in the point of merit , and that of our cavaliers in england , who , out of a generous resolution , without any necessity , or consideration of private interest , did freely embrace his majesties quarrel , siding always with the best , although weakest party , which they maintained , for the space of six years , at their own charges , with the loss of so many thousand brave lives , who were all sacrificed as unspotted victims on the altar of loyalty . how comes it then to pass , that a handful of irish protestants should be allowed l. for two years service , and that our english royalists , who were a hundred times more numerous continued thrice longer in serving the king and whose pure loyalty was never tainted with the mixture of any treachery or private interest , should get among them all , without distinction of nation or religion , but l. to be distributed among the needy cavaliers , ( who had neither estates of their own , nor any publick chrges or imployments ) to keep them from starving ? upon what account should the officers of the four or five garrisons in ireland that plundered ten times more then their pay came to , enjoy four large counties , and all the great towns and corporations of a kingdom , whilst the whole body of the royallists in england are so much slighted that there is not one parish in the country , nor street in any city , conferred upon them ? will not the irish forty nine men allow us , that prince rupert , the duke of newcastle , montross , bristol , barkley , middleton , rochester , gerard , and several other noblemen of england and scotland , deserve to have their arrears stated and satisfied , as well as the grandees of ireland ? i , there any conveniency , ( for i am sure there can be no justice ) to provide for the one and not for the other ? it cannot be said that his majesty is obliged by the act of . car. by his declaration from breda , or any other covenant , to recompence in so large a manner , the mercenary service of his protestant officers in ireland , without any regard to be had for the innumerable sufferings , and present want of so many indigent cavaliers in england , who have not bread to eat , nor a house to lye in , and scarce a rag to cover their nakedness . to give some colour to this apparent partiality , the first minister of state is forced to betake himself to his last refuge , telling , as for a final reason , that the protestant english interest cannot by maintained in ireland , without extirpating the natives . and therefore , that the counties and corperations undisposed of by the commonwealth , must not be restored to the natives upon any account . the preservation of this interest is now become ultima ratio , and the non plus ultra to all political debates ; and seeing the learned gown-man will needs establish it for a first principle not to be denyed , is not amiss to consider more attentively this idol , that occasions so much impiety . as for the protestant interest , i must confess his majesties bound to maintain it in all his kingdoms and dominions , as far forth as the glory of god requires , and the law of nations , and the several constitutions of particular places will admit . certainly , no man ( though never so zealous , ) will say , that his majesty was obliged , when he held the town of dunkirk in flanders , to expiate the ancient inhabitants , and place new english colonies in their room , for the preservation of a protestant interest . true religion was ever yet planted by preaching and good example , not by violence and oppression : an unjust intrusion into the neighbours estate , is not the right way to convert the ancient proprietors , who will hardly be induced to embrace a religion , whose professors have done them so much injustice : and as to the present settlement of ireland , it is apparent to the world , that the confiscation of estates , and not the conversion of souls , is the only thing aimed at . if by the english interest we understand the present possession of the london adventurers , and of cromwel's souldiers , there is no doubt it is inconsistent with the restoration of the irish , neither can the new english title to land be well maintained , without destroying the old title of the natives ; even as the interest of the late common-wealth was incompatible with monarchy , and cromwels protectorship was inconsistent with the kings government but , if by the english interest , we understand ( as we ought to do ) the interest of the crown and cavaliers of england , i see no reason why it might not be preserved in ireland for years to come ) as well it was preserved there for years past , without extirpating the natives . why could not the english interest be maintained in ireland , without extirpation , as well as the spanish interest is preserved in naples and flanders ; the french interest in rossilignion and alsace ; the swedish interest in breme and pomerland ; the danish interest in norway ; the austrian interest in hungary ; the venetian interest in dalmatia ; and the ottoman interest over all greece ; and so many other christian provinces , without dispossessing the antient inhabitants of their patrimonies and birth-rights ? forts , cittadels , armies , and garrisons punishment and reward , were hitherto held the only lawful means for the christian princes to maintain their authority , and secure their interest : such an extirpation was never yet practised by any prince that followed the law of the gospel . but , supposing that the preservation of an english interest were so sacred a thing , that it may be held lawful in that regard to extirpate the old inhabitants of ireland , who have received from the hand of god that portion of the earth for their inhabitants ; upon what colour of title can our rigid statesman design the extirpation of so many families in ireland , or the english race and extraction , lineally descended from the best families in england , and those antient english colonies who first brought over that interest into ireland , and maintained it there for so many ages ? if this cannibal english interest , gives no better quarter to the children of english in ireland , what can strangers expect ? nay , what assurance can be had for the prosperity of those very adventurers and souldiers , that after an age or two they shall not be likewise devoured , or displaced to make room for a new swarm of english planters , upon the account of securing a new english interest : and those new colonies also within an age after , shall extirpated upon the same score ; for the children of those who were planted in ireland , about the beginning of king james his reign , are now destroyed , for the better security of an english interest , as well as the posterity of the first english , who invaded the country in the days of king henry the second ; so that to the worlds end , if we follow this rule , we shall never be able to secure the english interest in the kingdom of ireland . the grandees are the fourth and last in order , that obstruct the restoration of the irish natives : their title is soon examined , being only founded on the kings free grant ; for it cannot be said that his majesty was bound by any former obligation , or pretended conveniency , to confer on his courtiers and favourites the land of other people . can there be any conveniency ( not to speak of justice ) that the kings only brother , and heir apparent to three crowns , should enjoy so many thousands a year in ireland of poor gentlemens estates , whereof some had the honour to serve under his command in foreign countreys ? and is it fit to expose his royal highness and his princely posterity to the many inconveniencies , and heavy judgements which commonly follow illegal and unjust acquisitions ? it is a remarkable passage , that miles corbe● and other regicides , who went over into ireland , got a large proportion of irish land , for no other service , but the execrable sentence of death which they gave against our late soveraign , and that the duke of york should now enjoy all that land , by no other title but that of the regicides . the land was given them by a tyrant , for murthering the king , let the world judge of the goodness of their title ; certainly whosoever comes to inherit them , can have no better . i shall make no mention here of so many courtiers of a lesser sphere , who have got vast estates in ireland , by his majesties free gift , and whom the first ministers of state have purposely interressed in that kingdom , to engage them against the natives ; whereby the restoration of the irish is rendred impossible , and the satisfaction of adventurers and souldiers already disposed by the decrees of the last court of claims , is much obstructed , so many fresh grants exhausting the stock of reprisals . my lord , i have hitherto set down in brief the hard usage extended to the irish since his majesties re-establishment , and examined the title of the several interests obstructing their restoration . now it remains to say somewhat of the undoubted right , and indisputable claim of the natives , to those estates which by cromwels decree , and his majesties confirmation , are kept from them . i will not take upon me to justifie their first rising , ( although i have seen a treatise in latin proving the lawfulness , or rather the necessity , of that war on their side , having begun it in their own defence , to prevent the general ruin and destruction designed against the kindom and themselves ( by the presbyterian party both in england and scotlana ) i shall not excuse any subjects presuming to take arms , upon any account or pretence whatsoever , without the authority of their prince ; i will only say , that by their insurrection ( how bloody and barbarous soever some are pleased to print and paint it ) four hundred english could not be found murdered in ireland , as appeareth by the proceedings ( and records yet extant in dublin ) of the usurped powers severe inquiry , and their court of justice , that for want of men did hang women , not only without legal proof , but without probability that they could or would be guilty of killing souldiers , or innocent english . the irish insurrection , i say ▪ hath not been accompanied with that insolence and malice in the beginning , nor with those sad and dismal effects in the end , which other rebellions have been guilty of , and some pamphlets have charged the irish with . they were scarce months in arms , when they yielded to a cessation upon the first notice given of his majesties pleasure , although they had then the upper hand of their enemies ; and it was known the protestant party could not be well preserved without it . this cessation was enlarged from time to time , until a final peace was solemnly concluded in the city of kilkenny , in the year of our lord by , and between the lord duke of ormond , his majesties commissioner , in the behalf of his majesty ; and the general assembly of the confederate cathol●cks of ireland , in the behalf of the said confederate catholicks . this peace was no sooner published , than all the garrisons , forts , citadels strong-holds , and magazines of the irish , were put under the command of the kings lieutenant ; all the nobility , gentry , and magistrates , both in cities and country submitted to his government . and though the english rebels have been ever since very succesful in all their attempts , yet the irish , notwithstanding they were offered any conditions by the usurper , held out , with an undaunted courage , until the last town , and the last fortress was lost , and until they received express orders from his majesty to yield to the times , and to make the best conditions they could for their own preservation . it is remarkable , that this peace was concluded in a time , when the irish nation was in a most flourishing condition , having armies in the field , and most of the cities and great towns in their possessions , and more than three parts of the kingdom under their command , when they were courted by the parliament of england , and solicited , by some neighbouring potentates , and when by espousing his majesties quarrel , ( who was then destitute of all humane support ) they were to draw on their country all their united force and power of the victorious rebels in england and scotland , and consequently expose themselves and their posterity to the danger of an unevitable ruin and destruction . i know their adversaries have practised all the artifice that malice could invent , to perswade the world , that his majesty is no way obliged to make good that peace which was concluded by the authority of his royal father . and solemnly confirmed by himself . those articles , they say , were forced from his majesty by the irish confederates who ought to loose the benefit of all his majesties gracious concessions , having banished the lord duke ormond , his majesties lieutenant , out of ireland . it is easily proved , that the king was forced to take the solemn league and covenant , when he was environed by the presbyteriam army in scotland : but i do not understand how it can be made out , that the confederates of ireland were able to exort that peace from his majesty , who was then in france . it will seem very ridiculous to say , that the lord marquess of antrim , and the lord muskry ( imploy'd by the consederate catholicks , to solicit , in a most humble manner , for those articles which only contain a pardon for the past , and the liberty of free-born subjects for the future ) should come to paris with a train sufficient to force a sovereign prince , lodged in the louvre , who was cousin german to his most christian majesty the other assertion , that the lord duke of ormond was banished out of ireland by the confederates , is very false ; his lordship being driven out of the provinces of leinster and munster , by the power of cromwels . army , and forced to retire to the province of connaught , from whence he took shipping for france , to inform the queens majesty of the sad condi●ion of that kingdom , and to implore some succour from abroad , ( which if timely obtained ) might probably give a stop to cromwels conquest , and render him unable to bring his victorious forces out of ireland , and defeat his majesty at worcester , his lordship having appointed the lord marquess of clanrickard to command in his absence , as the kings deputy , to whom the nation shewed all due obedience and submission ) is a manifest argument that his lordship was not banished out of the kingdom by the confederate catholiks ; for whom he named , a commander in his own absence : neither can it reflect upon the generality of the nation , what was decreed by some prelates convened in jamestown , whose unseasonable zeal was soon after condemned , and protested against by a general assembly held in loghreagh , of the clergy , nobility , and gentry of the whole kingdom . and the advantagious proposals then made by cromwels agents , were generously rejected by that assembly , the nation having unanimously resolved to rise or fall with the kings interest . but what need we any other evidence to prove that the irish did not generally violate the articles of that peace , then his majesties own words , in the preamble of his declaration for the settlement of ireland . and therefore we could not but hold our self obliged to perform what we owe by that peace to those who had honestly and faithfully performed what they had promised to us , &c. the irish being at the last over-power'd at home , though they lost their countrey , they did not fail in their loyalty , most of their young nobility and gentry having followed his majesty into forreign countries , and resorted from all parts to side with those princes who favoured his interest ; when the king was in france , they quitted the spanish service ; and when he came to flanders , they abandoned the french service and flocked in great numbers about his royal person , having made up in short time , a handsome body of an army , which rendred his majesty considerable to his friends abroad , and dreadful to his enemies at home . these are verities that none dare impugn , seeing the king himself is most graciously pleased to own them in his declaration . and in the first place , we did , and must always remember the great affection a considerable part of that nation expressed to vs during the time of our being beyond the seas , when with all cheerfulness and obedience they received , and submitted to our orders , and betook , themselves to that service which we directed as most convenient and behooveful at that time to us , though attended with inconveniency enough to themselves : which demeanour of theirs , cannot but be thought very worthy of our protection , justice and favour . my lord , is it not a sad case , that the irish nation who sacrificed their lives , their estates and fortunes , and all the interest they had in their country for the kings service , who followed his majesty abroad , and stuck to him in his banishment , when he was abandoned almost by all the rest of his subjects in the three kingdoms , should now be in a far worse condition , than they were reduced unto , during the usurpers reign ? for then their estates were kept from them by violence , and the un-resistable power of cromwel's army ; but now they seem to be legally adjudged against them by two acts of parliament . they were then in hopes that god would one day re-establish his sacred majesty in a peaceable and entire possession of his crown and kingdoms , and consequently restore to them their ancient patrimonies , which they lost upon the account of his interest : but now , they behold his majesty seated in the glorious throne of his ancestors , and themselves out of all hopes of ever enjoying their estates , which are conferred on their ( and his majesties ) enemies , by a final sentence pronounced against them ; and ( which surpasseth all the misery that can be imagined ) they are eternally condemned by a messias , in whom they hoped for redemption , and for whose sake they sacrificed their lives , lost their fortunes , quitted their countrey , and forsook all that was dear to them in this world : and this done by the corruption and covetousness of two or three persons , whereof one was the first minister . the extraordinary merit of this nation in his majesties service , was fresh in his majesties memory when he spake after this man-to the house of peers , on the july , . touching the act of indempnity ; i hope i need say nothing of ireland , and that they alone shall not be without the benefit of my mercy : they have shewed much affection to me abroad , and you will have a care of my honour , and what i have poomised to them . my lord , to pass by honour and gratitude , ( which some states-men little value ) how shall we excuse the injustice of these proceedings ? suppose the peace concluded in the year . was invalid , and that his majesty received no service abroad from any of the irish nation , can he in justice condemn innocents , ( before they are heard ) inoffensive persons , who never offended his royal father , nor himself : let us suppose farther , that an innocent person could not be found in all ireland , that every individual of that nation were an obstinate rebel from the beginning , and that none of them ever deserved the least favour from his majesty in point of conscience , honour , or gratitude ; can our prime minister and his adherents say , that so many thousand widows and orphans ( though never so criminal ) are not fit objects of his majesties compassion and clemency ? that kings are the anointed of the lord , and his lieutenants on earth , is an infallible truth received among christians ; and as they derive their power immediately from god , so they ought to imitate him in their actions . but of all the divine attributes , his mercy , as it is above all the rest of his works , misericordia ejus supra omnia opera ejus , so is it that alone which princes are most concerned to follow . it is by this heavenly virtue , that good kings have been always distinguished from tyrants , and that they appeared to their subjects as the very images of divinity . i do not think that the english crown was ever worn by a prince more benign and merciful than charles the second , i am confident there is no king now living on earth , who hath given a larger testimony of his natural propensity and inclination that way . how great then must be the guilt of those ministers of state that cunningly obstructed the effects of the bounty and clemency of so good and gracious a prince towards an innocent people ; and perhaps not the least deserving of his subjects ? their gettings by the bills of settlement spoils their plea , and pretence for the promotion of protestancy . it will seem a paradox to posterity , that the irish nation , which in all insurrections hath been pardoned , and preserved by the royal bounty of kings , meerly english should now be condemned to an eternal extirpation by a king of old irish extraction ( lineally descended from fergusius a prince of the royal blood of ireland ) who of all the kings that ever regned in england , was most obliged to the irish nation , and that during the reign of charles the second , ( the most merciful prince that ever wore a crown ) so many thousand innocents should be exempted from a hearing , and others from a general pardon , which by a mercy wholly extraordinary , doth extend to some of the very regicides . these are verities not to be doubted of in our dayes , which after ages will hardly admit , seeing the like was never before recorded in annals , or mentioned in any history : for , since the creation of adam to this day ( and perhaps our posterity to the worlds end , may be as far to seek ) we cannot produce another example of the like measure extended to a christian people , under the goverment of a most christian prince . the most bloody tyrants of former ages , even those monsters of nature , who seemed to be born for no other end , than the desolation of mankind , did never extirpate their old friends , to make room for their reconciled enemies : so that it must be a very difficult matter to perswade those who are not eye-witnesses of the fact , that the royal authority of our gracious king , which here in england maintains the peer in his splendor and dignity , the commoner in his birth-right and liberty , which protects the weak from the oppression of the mighty , secures the nobility from the insolence of the people , and by which equal and impartial justice is indifferently distributed to all the inhabitants of this great and flourishing realm ; should be at the same time made use of in his kingdom of ireland , to condemn innocents before they are heard , to destroy so many thousand widows and orphans , to confirm unlawful and usurped possessions , to violate the publick faith , to punish virtue , to countenance vice , to hold loyalty a crime , and treason worthy of reward . the bloody and covetous states-man who chiefly occasioned all this disorder , was very often heard to say , with a fierce countenance , and passionate tone , the irish deserve to be extirpated , and then he would ( after his usual manner ) come out with a great oath , and swear , they shall all be extirpated , root and branch . good god , what a heathen expression is this in the mouth of a christian , who is expresly commanded to love his enemies ? does he think that the divine providence , which orders the growth of herbs , the fall of leaves , and appoints an angel for the guard of every individual person , takes no care to preserve an entire body of a nation ? and that it shall be in the power of one man to destroy the work of god at his pleasure ; of such a man that could not prevent his own disgrace , not avoid the many other inconveniences which are like to fall upon him . this proud haman , who , joyntly with some few others , to get money for themselves , and estates for their children ) contrived the general extirpation of the whole irish race ; but before he could fully compass his wicked design ( i must confess he went very near to do it , and if god had given him a longer continuance of power he would undoubtedly make good his word ) was forced for his own safety , and the preservation of his life , to quit his fine house , forsake his family , and bid his countrey farewel , and to travel in his old age , in the dead of winter , through so many dangers at sea , and incommodities by land , to seek for some shelter abroad , seeing he could not be secure at home justu es , domine , & justum judicium tuum . he is gone with all his greatness , and the miseries of the poor irish do still continue ; however they are yet in being , and live in hope that the fall of their mortal enemy may be a beginning of their rise , and that his majesty will now seriously reflect upon the unparallel'd usage hitherto extended to that nation , who are deprived of the benefit of law , justice , and publick faith : the cryes and tears of more than an hundred thousand widows and orphans , being worthy his majesties princely consideration . and certainly there can be no great difficulty met with to dissannul two illegal acts , which are evidently repugnant , not only to the law of god and nature , contrary to the common reason , and consequently void in themselves ) but also to all sound policy and reason of state ; for that the true interest of england ( as relating to ireland ) consists in raising ▪ he irish as a bulwark , or ballance , against our english and scotch presbyterians . the irish papists agreed so well , and lived so peaceably with our english prelatiques , during the reign of king james , and seventeen years of king charles the first , that they seemed to be of one mind in all matters : and when the presbyterian practises and covenant began to disturb these kingdoms , the papists and prelatiques in ireland ( as well as in england ) joyned their hearts and hands against presbytery for the king. the great earl of strafford judged it was a true protestant cavalier interest , to raise an army of papists in ireland thereby to keep in awe the presbyterians of scotland and england . and indeed the presbyterian designs could never have had been compassed , if the king had not been forced to disband the same army then the earl ( now duke of ormond ( thought it was the true english and cavalier interest , joyn in parliament with the roman catholick nobility and gentry of ireland , against the presbyterian lords justices , and their faction ; and therefore joyntly with them , resolved to secure their persons , and seize upon the castle and magazine of dublin , for his majesty ; but this their design was quashed by an inconsiderate attempt of some northern gentlemen , which occasioned the late rebellion and encouraged the presbyterian lords , justices to force the kings loyal subjects into desperate courses : but no sooner were the presbyterian lord justices deposed , and imprisoned by the kings commands , but the roman catholicks , returned to their duty , first by a cessation , next by a submissive peace , delivering the whole kingdom to the duke of ormond , and joyning with the cavalier party against the kings enemies , and so continued untill both were over-powered by cromwel . another reason why understanding men judge the irish ought to be preserved , and their interest preferred before that of cromwels creatures , is , that the english of ireland are not able to defend themselves against the scots in that countrey ; if the irish be neuters . the scots are a people so numerous , so needy , and so near unto ireland , so cunning , close , and confederated in a common interest , that some of our states-men apprehend , they may soon possess themselves of the whole island , they being at this present , not only masters of vister , but spread over the other provinces , and very well armed . now , if despair should dictate to the destroyed irish , that it is their conveniency to joyn with the scots against the english that possess their estates , without question the english interest will be lost in ireland . it is better therefore , that the irish nation be gained , by restoring them to their own ( such only excepted as had their hands in murdering english ) than that a few presbyterian and phanatick up-starts be made great by other mens estates , and the whole kingdom endangered to be wrested out of our hands , and seperated from the crown of england . you see , my lord that there seems to be as little conveniency as conscience in my lord clarendon's , and his covetous partners settlement of ireland ; yet i must confess this domestick affair agreeth well with his policy in foreign negotiations . until his time the statesmen of europe ( particularly the english , ) made it their business to keep the scales equal between france and spain , least either of those two potentates might aspire unto an universal monarchy ; but the earl of clarendon made it his business to utterly destroy spain , and exalt the french king to such a height of power , that in a short time he might be master of the netherlands , and find no opposition in his way into england ; and indeed had not our kings conduct and courage been extraordinary , in closing up a new defensive league so seasonably , and in concluding a peace between spain and portugal , no part of europe that is worth the coveting , could be free from the french command . i hope , that as god hath inspired his majesty to prevent ( by this league and peace , ) the dangers which corrupt ministers drew upon us , so he will move him to establish a lasting peace in his dominions , by a just repeal of the irish act of settlement ; and thereby to quash all the designs against england , that france or any foreigner may endeavour to ground upon the discontents of a destroyed , and desperate people . now , my lord , that you have had this account of the transactions in ireland since his majesties restauration , it were an act worthy your lordship ( being a leading member in the house of peers in england , and much relyed upon in the house of commons ( to make it your request to his majesty , that the business of ireland may receive one publick hearing , and all parties concerned appear by their agents , which if your lordship prevail to get done , if the settlement as it is now established , be deemed just , will be happy for the possessours , and take away all calumnies that the irish do over all the world east on the managers of that settlement ; but if it appear not to be a just settlement , then justice in so high a degree will become the king , and his highest court , and will evidence the truth or nullitie of what hath been here been offered to your lordship , by , my lord , your lordships most faithful and most humble servant f. d. finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a -e * the d — of o — hath added as much to his own ancient estate , by the new settlement of ireland , as would have satisfied all the claims of the just adventurers . and anglesey and kingston little less . in the province of ulster , but three of the natives restored , viz. my lord of antrim , sir henry o-neil , and one more of an inconsiderable estate . in the province of conaught , but four viz. the earl of clanrickard , lord of mayo , coll. john kelley , and coll. moor. which the natives call the black bill , the reply to some reflections on mr. asgill's essay on a registry, for titles of lands by way of a letter to the author of the reflections. asgill, john, - . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; 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[ ], p. printed for john atwood ..., london : . reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng asgill, john, - . -- essay on a registry for titles of lands. land titles -- england. land titles -- registration and transfer -- england. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - judith siefring sampled and proofread - judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the reply to some reflections on mr. asgill's essay on a registry , for titles of lands . by way of a letter to the author of the reflections . london , printed for iohn astwood , at his printing-house behind st. christopher's church , in thread-needle-street , the backside of the royal exchange . . the reply to some reflections , &c. sir , if i may be intrusted to make an abstract of my own essay , it is to assert and prove , . that free-hold lands in england may be incumbered in divers manners , and in divers places , which renders the titles thereunto incertain , and therefore is a deficiency in the law. . that the conveyances by lease and release , lately invented upon the statute of uses , being clandestine conveyances , and now become the common conveyances of the kingdom , doth occasion a necessity of a registry to prevent them . and page . i have challenged the inns of court to shew , that either the common law , or parliaments of england , ever directed any incumbrances to affect lands but by solemn livery and seisin , or matter of record , and that therefore these clandestine conveyances are crept in , contrary to the true intent and meaning of parliaments , and all the avowed laws and customs of the kingdom . and this ( i know ) it was , that gave you confidence to single your self out , as the goliah of the law , to answer me : in which ( bully like ) you lugg out with a threat in your mouth . promising , . to shew that my arguments are advanced on suppositions and opinions in the law , which are in themselves either false or mistaken , or at least very broken and imperfect . . however they may be just in themselves , they conclude nothing to the purpose , viz. the necessity of a registry . and to charge me with falshood in the matter of my challenge , you say , page . that lands were otherwise to be incumbered than by livery and seisin , or matter on record : and for this you instance , . by a lease for years . . a devise by will. . a grant of a rent charge . . a release to a disseizor . . a surrender . for reply to which , in affirmance of my essay , i say , . that to a lease for years at common law , the transferr of the possession by entry was necessary to perfect the conveyance , so as to make the lessee capable of taking a release , which is directly contrary to a bargain and sale for years by the statute , of which i have complained , as being perfectly executed to this intent without any entry . . that to a grant of a rent there must be an attornment , which is the seisin of the rent , and all the possession that a rent is capable of , and by this the tenant hath the same notice to know to whom to pay his rent , as he hath by a feofment of the land. tho' i confess , that in both these cases of a lease for years , and grant of a rent , the deeds themselves , without any entry , are the initiating of a title , so as to give the grantees a right to have their title perfected ; for the lessee by virtue of his lease may enter , and the grantee of the rent may compel an attornment ; and so may a man by articles and a suit in chancery compel the making of a deed : but , 'till these things be done , the title is not perfect . but indeed in your discourse of the nature of a bargain and sale , before the statute , you seem to value a title to a suit in chancery , as much as a title to an estate . . as to a release to a disseizor . there is an actual transfer of the possession by entry , before the release can operate , and the entry is as an essential part of the conveyance as the release ; for they both make but one conveyance . and because i observe , that whereas i have in my essay used these words , livery and seisin , and some other words , as records , titles , notices , &c. in their large sense , according to common intent , you wou'd take advantage of me , by commenting upon them , according to their strict signification in terms of law. i 'le endeavour to explain this controversie about livery and seisin . when a deed is made first , and the possession is taken afterwards , this the lawyers call a feofment . and when the possession is taken first , and the deed made afterwards , this they call a release . now because i won't contradict the lawyers in their terms of art , i neither did nor do say , that both these are feofments , or that both of them are releases . but i did and do say , that according to common sense , they are both the same sort of conveyances , and are both executed by livery and seisin , because there is an actual and visible transfer of the possession , in the one as well as the other ; without which neither of them can be executed . but as in the first , the deed being already made , there needs nothing more but possession ; so in the latter , the possession being already had , there needs nothing but the deed : for the law hates to do any thing twice by circuity of action . when a man is in custody of the sheriff by any one writ executed upon him , he is in his custody upon all other writs then delivered , or otherwise the sheriff must let him go as fast as he takes him , in order to take him again . and as littleton , sect. . saith , it is in vain to make an estate by livery and seisin to another , where he hath the possession of the same land by the lease of the same man before . and therefore did not you and your admirers value your selves , more upon knowledge of terms of art , than the reason of doing business , you would not vaunt so much of your victory over me in this point . . as to a surrender , i say , that a surrender is not an incumbrance on land , but a discharge of an incumbrance ; and what i have said in my essay , is of the manner of creating incumbrances , and not of discharging them . for a judgment , which is an incumbrance upon record , may be discharged by a release which is not recorded , and so several other rights may be released without livery o● record ; and therefore , you might as well have instanced in any of them as in a surrender . . as to a devise by will , i say , that tho' the makers of the law , h. . by which lands are deviseable , did not thereby particularly direct such devises to be registred , yet they knew that long before the making that statute , wills were usually registred , whereby all the devises therein might appear . and as to what you say , that lands being by the custom of several boroughs , deviseable before the making this statute , is a sufficient answer to what i have said of the custom of the kingdom to the contrary , is ( by your leave ) taking a point of law without asking : for the custom of the kingdom is the common law of england , but the custom of an hundred particular boroughs is not , and therefore nothing that you say of them , can be an answer to what i say of that . i think these are all the opinions in law , in which you would seem to charge me with falshood . now to follow you in your next task , which is to shew my notions mistaken , broken and imperfect . page . you say , i have not enumerated all the ways , by which lands may be incumbered . reply . truly sir , nor you neither , and ( tho' i own you much more law and memory than i have ) i 'le give you 'till the publication of your next reflections , to make an inventory of these incumbrances ; for there 's as many several ways of incumbring lands , as there are several species of profits belonging to them , as herbage , pannage and estovers above ground , and mines under , all which may be particularly granted , and every such grant is an incumbrance : however , i thank you , for strengthning my argument : for if the multiplied ways of incumbrances , are the cause of the incertainty of titles , the more ways the more incertain . page . you say , my word incumbrance doth not comprehend conveyances of land. reply . for this i 'le put you a case , ( which when you have answered , i 'le answer the two you have put me ) a. conveys his land to b. and then makes a deed of it to c. and covenants with c. that he hath not incumber'd it ; query , whether the conveyance to b. be a breach of the covenant with c ? but i find this word incumbrance is unlucky to registries . major gen. ludlow in his memoirs takes notice , that upon a bill for a registry then brought into the house of commons , the lawyers kept them three months upon the word incumbrances . i remember indeed ( amongst the school-boys ) we had a nice distinction in magick , between ( two compounds of cumbo ) incubus and succubus ; both which we had learnt to be the possession of the devil : but incubus ( it seems ) is the devil within a man ; and succubus the devil lying upon him ; which the country people call a night-mare . page . you expose my ignorance of the nature and operation of a bargain and sale before the statute . reply , to this i can only say , that i never saw any author so much contradict himself in four pages , as you have done to this point in your th , th , th , & th . or else i can't understand them . i own ( indeed ) that ( for contradiction-sake i suppose ) you have slatly denyed my assertion in three words : but coming to argue upon it , you have confessed all i have said . like felons who plead not guilty ( for form-sake ) tho' , they know the evidence will be against them . page . you reprove me for saying , that the device of conveyancing by lease and release , is an abuse of the statute of uses : whereas , say you , the statute hath ( notwithstanding ) its full operation . reply . so say i , and more too ; for the parliament have given an inch , and the lawyers have taken an ell● ; and i always understood too much use of any thing to be an abuse of it . page . you correct me again , for saying that the statute for inrollments is eluded ; whereas ( say you ) page . 't is only avoided . reply . for this saying , sir , and this only , i heartily begg your pardon , and knock under table . page . you fetch me about again , for saying that this statute is avoided by the lease and release , whereas ( say you ) the first avoidance was by the covenant to stand seized , and that the lease and release was since invented , instead of the covenant to stand seized . reply . but sir , they say in our country , that the receiver is as bad as the thief , and the truth is , ( as you say ) that because the lawyers found , that this covenant to stand seized would not do all manner of business , they invented the lease and release , which hath done it effectually . but then you say , it had been more proper for me , to have instanced in this covenant to stand seized , which was the first evasion of the statute , and is now out of use ; than in the lease and release , which was invented afterwards , and is now in use . reply . by this , sir , i perceive , if you were to lampoon the fashions , you would fall foul upon ruffs and high collars , short boots and long spurs , and let the fopperies of the present age go free . page . you find fault with my definition of title , as different from my lord coke ' s. reply . now only to show captious you are , ( for this signifies nothing to our purpose ) my definition is , that to make a title , is to take the property of a thing from one man , and put it into another ; and lord coke's is , titulus est justa causa possidendi quod nostrum est , viz. the means whereby a man comes to land. and pray sir , can any man have a better means to come to land , than by a conveyance from him that had it before ? page . in the same page you contradict me , for saying that some notice is necessary to all title , whereas say you , by a gift of goods they are vested without notice to the donee , and so is the duty upon a bond without notice to the obligee . reply . very good . but suppose the donor or obligor deny the execution of the deed , must there not be some witness to prove it ? and this is what i have said , that there ought to be notice to other persons besides the parties , to evidence the deed , least the seller deny it . and now sir , i thank you for giving me my quietus from any more of your animadversions upon my false or mistaken notions in the law. but , page . you come to the second part of your task , that my arguments don't prove my conclusion , viz. the necessity of a registry . and this you would prove by logick . for , say you if conveyances by lease or release be the only grievances in the incertainty of titles , and that these were made by elusion of the statute for inrollments ; therefore if a provision were made for inrolling all bargains and sales , as well for years as free-holds , it would remedy the mischief , without registring all . reply . by this you would confine my argument to make good your own : for tho' i lay the blame more particularly upon leases and releases , ( as being most us'd ) i don 't by that quit my other arguments , or say there is no other mischief : nor will any inrollment remedy the mischiefs , without giving a preference to deeds so inrolled , to deeds not inrolled , which is all the registry offered : and whether it be called registry or inrollment , doth not alter the case . but pray sir , by the way , give me leave to intrude a little upon your trade of reflections , for i dare say , no one that has read them , but thinks either that you are concerned in some office , or fees for inrollments , or write for some one else that is . and for what you hint against new officers and new fees , i only say , that i can make no comparison between old and new officers , unless i know their names . but for fees , i 'le undertake , that deeds may be registred for half the money they are now inrolled ; not that i am underbidding you , but i observe you are concerned for the subject . pag. . you tell us , you have gone through the two branches of your design ; with what success the world may judge . reply . yes ! very great ! jamque opus exegi . welcome to the butts gentlemen . and now you are at leisure to divert your self with me . and to begin , page . you are pleased to mention two considerable parts of my essay to be wit and malice . reply . to this i can't return you a less complement than , that your reflections seem to be written with as much wit , and as little malice as you could . page . you say the clergy think their best answer to me , is a silent scorn and contempt . reply . why then ( i say that for 'em ) they have more command of their passion than you have . page . you say , i might have quoted precedents more to my purpose , than out of the old and new testament . reply . by this i conjecture , these are the two last places you ever look for any thing in . page . you say , that i deserve to be admired for no other reason , but for daring to write what a wiser man would tremble to hear . reply . why this may be ! and yet paul's sermon was never the worse , nor felix ever the wiser for trembling at it : they who never think of these things by themselves , are subject to such quaums when they hear them from others . hi sunt qui trepidant & ad omnia fulgura pallent . page . you would be very severe on those words in my preface , i hope i have such a warrant to search for truth , that will justifie me in breaking through all crafts ond sciences to find it ; as hunger justified david and his men , for entring the priest's house , and eating the shew-bread : because ( say you ) david was a king , and kings have prerogatives , and therefore might be justifyed in that which ( perhaps ) might intitle a man of mr. asgill 's station to another reward , ( anglicé , to be hang'd . ) reply . why then it seems 't is but perhaps , and so you are not positive , but have made a prerogative case of it , whether a king 's breaking a priests house be burglary ? as to that , sir , tho' i don't care to shew my self a volunteer in cases of prerogative , yet i dare give my opinion in this case , that if david had had no men with him , nor any that would have come when he called 'em , the priests would have made this action burglary : but his addition of men ( which i have inserted in my preface , and you have left out of your paraphrase ) is very material in this point , ( as i humbly conceive ) and quite alters the case : tho' after all , david , was no king at the time of this fact committed . page . you say i have made no provision for the ignorance and dishonesty of those who transact matters in title . reply . the whole design of the registry is to prevent dishonesty : but for cure of ignorance , i hope you don't expect it from me , whom you have so often charged with it ; and that you have stiled me gentleman in one line , and called me impudent in the next , puts me in mind of the civility of the coif given by one serjeant at law to another , at salisbury ▪ assizes , brother ! you are a rascal . page . you say , i should not have disclosed the mysteries of my trade . reply . and yet in page . you hint ▪ that all i have said of the priests and lawyers , is but a transcript from lord coke . page . you say , that the proposals of registries , having been still rejected by the wisdom of our fore-fathers , is some argument against it . reply . there is no more a species of a registry , than ( selden saith ) there is of kings , who in some countries are hereditary , some elective , some annual , and some for life , and all these invested with different powers . i have seen some proposals for registries calculated for rebellion . to burn all the records , fore-close men of their rights for non claim upon blowing a horn , levelling all titles , and beginning the world anew . and therefore the rejection of such a registry as this , is no argument against another otherwise calculated . and for those gentlemen , who are so complacent as to declare for a registry in general , and yet find fault with all that are proposed , 'till they shall please to define the nature of what they would have , i presume they must be thought to be against all . but as to rejection of laws by precedent parliaments , we have several examples of receiving them afterwards , as the taking away the court of wards , the grant of the sole trade to the indies , the tax upon paper , &c. which last i especially mention , because your old friend , fabian phillips , writing against a registry about fifty years since , puts the proposal for that and stampt-paper together , as badges of spanish slavery , and you have resembled it to thraldom and base tenure , and against the freedom of freeholders , ( not to be at liberty to cheat men of their money ! ) then , in page . you give another political hint against a registry , by which i know you mean that old bugg-bear . that a registry under a monarchy is dangerous , by discovering estates and settlements to the crown , whereby to make them liable to attainders . reply . why pray , as the case now stands ; suppose a man is attainted of treason , shall not the king have an office found for his land , upon evidence only that he received the profits , ( and i hope a registry don't furnish out that evidence ) and this puts the heirs or purchasers to plead and show their deeds , and sure those deeds would not be less , but rather more valid ( in this case ) for being registred . and yet whoever hath a mind to keep any settlement secret , need not register it , for nothing can defeat it but another deed register'd , which can't be done , but by the grantor himself . and as to discovering the monies of mortgagees , whereby to tax 'em , i should not be sorry to see that effected any way in ease of lands , tho' they may effectually register their mortgages , without discovering the summs secured . and i believe , there are not many examples of forfeiting monies at interest by attainders , for usurers are generally old men or young women , who seldom are caught in plots against the state , or else such others who being easie in their fortunes , won't venture ( upon any revolution ) to meet a new king so far as brentford , 'till they have several affidavits of the former being safely landed on the other side the water . but , page . you have desired the reader to take notice , that what you have said is only in answer to mr. asgill . reply . why then ! if the reader finds more jest than earnest in my reply , i desire him to take notice , that it is to make it more suitable to your reflections . and by this and your other grave sentences , and general cautions , i suppose you would be understood , that you could have wrote better on this subject if you had a mind to it . and therefore , to give you a further opportunity of shewing that faculty , i shall add something more to my former assertions , as matter for your further reflections . i. assertion . that the want of a general registry , hath been the occasion of multiplying laws to prevent frauds in the titles of lands . proved . that this was the occasion of making this statute of vses , h. . the several statutes against fraudulent conveyances , several clauses in the act . car. . to prevent frauds and perjuries , and all the late acts against clandestine mortgages , and to secure purchasers , appears by the preambles of the several acts , which recite abuses by secret deeds , uses , &c. which might have been prevented by a registry ; for all frauds in titles came by concealments , and when they are registred , they can't be concealed . ii. assertion . that besides other inconveniencies which may and do arise in the construction and use of new laws when they are known , the very multiplication of them is a burden to the people by rendring them difficult , if not impossible , to be known by them . proved . i may venture to hint at other inconveniencies in new laws , when the author of these reflections , page . saith , we are not without experience of some laws in force , whose design ( 't is true ) was the prevention of fraud , and yet have furnished out more business for westminster hall than the mistakes they have prevented would perhaps have occasioned . witness the statute of vses and wills. out of which these clandestine conveyances have been formed . and how many debates have arisen in the courts of law , about deeds fraudulent or not fraudulent , and in the courts of equity about notices of incumbrances , rights of redemption , &c. before they come to be settled and known as judgments or rules of courts by the lawyers themselves ? but for the meer layity , they can never come to know 'em , by reason of the multitude of the particulars , and the distance of time between one act and another , and the comparing them together , in order to understand them , and so they run into the breach of them without knowing it ; and therefore if that question in twyne's case quaeritur , ut crescunt tot magna volumina legum ? in promptu causa est , crescit in orbe dolus . had been inverted , the answer might have been inverted too quaeris ? ut orbis habet tot multae exempla dolorum , in promptu , causa est , jura volumen habent . the difficulty of the knowledge of the law , is not so much from the abstruseness of the matter , whereby to puzzle the judgment , but from the number of the particulars , which burdens the memory ; for all cases of common use are known as well to the clients , as to the lawyers . there is not a greater article in the laws of england , than the descent of lands to the eldest son as heir , and yet this being a common case , every man is his own lawyer in it . and were a registry settled , the use of it would become so common , that the knowledge of the law , and practice of it , would become universal . whereas the law of titles now lying dispersed in several volumes , which must be compared with one another , 't is a discouragement to the students of the law themselves , to enquire after them . the multiplication ( and consequently the ignorance ) of laws , is a secret curse fallen upon man , which insensibly consumes his estate , without his taking any account of it . the first law delivered to man was terminated in one single point , and that but a negative ; only of that tree thou shalt not eat , which being so short and plain , could neither burden his memory , nor puzzle his judgment . but man refusing to hold his life by so easie a tenure , he had ( for his punishment ) delivered him a law of a thousand commandments , which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear ; not from the difficulty of any one precept ; ( for they were all trivial performances ) but from the multitude of the particulars , and this very thing of it self ( without any more ) cost the people one th . of their estates , ( for so is the value of tithes computed ) to maintain an order of preisthood , who should apply themselves to that science only , and thereof upon all occasions inform the people , ( who were otherwise employed . ) and as this law of ceremonies and diverse commandments was delivered for a curse , so the taking away the former , and the abridgment of the latter , was the beginning of the redemption of the world ; for the ceremonies of the levitical law being taken away by the death of christ , and the commandments of the moral law being by him abridged into one precept , do unto all men , as you would they should do unto you ; for this is the law and the prophets : every man's conscience became his own lawyer . and thereby the order of priesthood became ipso facto dissolved , as being useless to the world , 'till by degrees they rallyed again , and getting into synods and general councils , with canons , creeds , articles , &c. they at length split the gospel into as many items as the law was before , and thereby regained a pretence to the tithes , which however they could not get settled 'till the th . century after christ ; when the decree of the council at lateran , an. . or ( as my lord coke saith ) a decretal epistle of pope innocent the third , an. . procured tithes to be first appropriated to the parish priests . and if the fees certain now payable by the people , for the knowledge of the laws ecclesiastick , together with the accidental fees paid for the knowledge of the municipal laws of the kingdom , ( as they come to have occasion for them ) were annually sumed up together , their total would strike deep in the revenues of the kingdom . not that i propose to lower the fees of the church or the law , as far as there is occasion for them : but could the occasions of them be reduced , i presume , the honourable professors of either science would not expect to be paid for nothing . iii. assertion . that as the delay of a general registry hath hitherto occasioned the multiplying of laws to prevent frauds in titles , so the longer it is delayed , the more laws must be multiplyed for that purpose . proved . they say a registry signifies nothing 'till forty or fifty years after 't is made , and so they said fifty years ago : but if instead of that , it had been then settled , we had now received the benefit of it : and should that objection prevail in other cases , we must neither plant oaks nor orchards , but leave off generation , because our issue arrive not to manhood 'till one and twenty . it is expected that frauds in titles will increase , and consequently laws must be multiplyed to prevent 'em ; and when all 's done , it must come to a registry at last , after some more cheats have inforced it ; and therefore in the mean time we are at double charge , in mending an old house , which must be new built at last . iv. assertion . that the apprehension of frauds in titles draws a suspition upon good titles as well as bad , and consequently doth depreciate the value of lands in general . proved . one of the first objections against a registry is , that frauds in titles are not so considerable as they are made to be . suppose that true , yet from the present impossibility of making titles certain , they are all suspected to be false . it may be said , that robberies and burglaries are not so common , as that men should always ride armed , or keep their doors shut , and yet they do think themselves obliged to be on their defence , because they know not when the thieves will come . suppose there were the like hazard in the titles of stock in the bank , &c. as in the titles of lands , viz. that this stock were transferrable at large out of a registry , and that every such particular transferr , together with general incumbrances of judgments , statutes , &c. were to affect it , as they do lands , and that the conveyances of it were to be made by lawyers , with recitals , and whereas's , &c. shewing all the mean assignments through which they came , and a set of covenants afterwards for being lawfully seized , &c. whether this very alteration of the title , without any thing else , would not of it self depreciate the value of stock l. per cent. and yet perhaps there might not be one false title in a hundred transferrs . why then if it be supposed , that the changing the title of lands to the title of stock , would depriciate it so much , i can't think but the changing the title of stock to the title of lands , would much advance the value of them , and this title to stock is nothing but a registry , which doth take away the use of first , all recitals of main assignments , because in the very accounts of the registry it appears , by whom all transferrs were made . secondly , all covenants for a good title ; because the registry it self shows it is a good title ; and therefore in all conveyances of coppy holds , and fen-lands in their registry , there 's no recital of things past , nor covenants against them , because it always appears upon the roll , and this makes the conveyances of those lands so short , being only the words of grant , parcels and habendum , and consequently the titles are easier perused , and less hazardous : for the very length of deeds doth of it self hazard the titles , by causing mistakes in perusing them . indeed i can't pretend , that a marriage settlement , whereby lands are to be entailed on the issue male , with provision for raising monies on several contingencies , should be as short as a bare transfer of stock without any such settlement of it , nor can such a settlement made of stock , be as short as a bare transferr of lands . but why all the words of grant and habendum , may not be as short in a transferr of land as of stock , i can't apprehend , and then there can be no difference in the length of them , but in the nameing of the parcels . and therefore to say , that a registry of lands may not be made as perfect , and the title thereof as readily transferrable as stock , is to say , that the same thing can't be done within an inns of court , as is at grocers-hall , or the east-india house . to me the transferr of titles seems to resemble the carriage of commodities , which is to be considered in the price , as well as any thing else . and if this be doubted , and the registry be rejected , i could only wish , that an experiment were made , to change the titles of stock , tallies , bills , &c. ( or at least of one branch of them ) into the titles of lands , to see whether this clogg on their transferr would not make them as dead commodities as land is now . v. assertion . that the establishing a registry in the metropolis , will be as convenient , and less chargeable , than to settle it in each county . proved . that all men should have justice brought home to their doors , and their business done near home , sounds popular . but tho' the soil of the lands lyes in the proper counties , yet the transferrs of the title follow the lawyers , and the lawyers follow the terms , which are in the metropolis , and therefore the transferrs of titles ●●e generally made there . however this registry don't alter the execution of deeds , but leaves that to be done by the parties , any where , as it was before . so that the additional trouble by the registry , is only the transmitting the deeds from the place where they are executed , to the place of registry ; and were there a registry in every county , they must be transmitted to the place where that registry is kept , and the party need carry them no further , in order to register them in london : because the registers in london will find it their interest to settle deputies in every county , who shall transmit and receive back all deeds , without trouble to the parties . so that the registry in london will be as convenient as the registry in each county . and as it will be as convenient , so it will be less chargeable . for should registries be settled in each county , there must be a general registry in london , to which the entries of all the county registries must be transmitted , or else they would be of no use for searches : and therefore , all great incumbrances which affect lands , are recorded in the courts at westminster . and 't is observable , that the office of registry for transferring fen-lands , is kept in london . but as this registry is calculated , it may be first settled in any one place , and from thence be extended , or else suppressed , according to the experience and success of it . finis . by the king a proclamation to declare and publish his maiesties resolution, to ascertaine his reuenue, by granting his lands holden aswell by copie, as otherwise in fee-farme. england and wales. sovereign ( - : charles i) approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a stc estc s ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) by the king a proclamation to declare and publish his maiesties resolution, to ascertaine his reuenue, by granting his lands holden aswell by copie, as otherwise in fee-farme. england and wales. sovereign ( - : charles i) charles i, king of england, - . [ ] leaves. by bonham norton and iohn bill, printers to the kings most excellent maiestie, imprinted at london : m.dc.xxvi [ ] caption title. imprint from colophon. "giuen at our court at nonesuch, the thirteenth day of august, in the second yeere of our reigne of great britaine, france and ireland." reproduction of original in: society of antiquaries. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng land tenure -- law and legislation -- great britain -- early works to . copyhold -- early works to . great britain -- history -- charles i, - . - tcp assigned for keying and markup - aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion cr honi soit qvi mal y pense diev et mon droit . royal blazon or coat of arms ❧ by the king. ❧ a proclamation to declare and publish his maiesties resolution , to ascertaine his reuenue , by granting his lands holden aswell by copie , as otherwise in fee-farme . whereas at our accesse vnto the imperial crowne of this realme , wee found the treasures thereof exhausted , the reuenue of our lands much diminished , and yet a great masse of debts lying vpon us , & a dayly charge , which in an ordinary course must be borne for the support of our honour , and a more then extraordinary charge for the necessary defence of our kingdomes , wee being imbarked in a warre at our first comming to the crowne : and when wee entred into a serious consideration of the seuerall parts of our reuenue , wee found them much too short to maintaine our ordinary expences , much lesse the extraordinary , which are neuerthelesse vnauoidable . to the end therfore , that wee might be fully and truely informed of the present state of our reuenue in euery part thereof , and of the burthen which lyeth vpon it , and so bee better enabled , for the future , to dispose and settle the same in such an order , as that wee might with more comfort mannage our estate , wee thought it fit to make choyce of some persons of qualitie and experience , to bee our commissioners for our reuenue , and they to take into their especiall care and considerations , by what iust and honourable meanes , wee might retrench all vndue or vnnecessary charges , issuing out of our reuenue , or coffers , and how to aduance and improoue such parts thereof , as might admitte of an improouement ; which our commissioners hauing returned to us an accompt of their paines from time to time in this our seruice , wee finde by them that the casuall profits of our lands , either by fines for leases , or copy-hold estates , herriots , reliefes , or therwise , haue , communibus annis , yeelded to us , or our crowne , in diuers yeeres past , but a small summe , nor is like to doe in many yeeres yet to come ; and yet out of the same there are issuing diuers annuall fees and payments , amounting in the whole to a great yeerely value . wee therefore , by the aduice of our sayd commissioners , intending to reduce our reuenue to a more certaintie , and to improoue our yeerely rents in those places where it may conueniently admitte of such improouement , to abate our vnnecessary charge issuing thereout , and yet to raise a present summe of money towards the defraying of those great expences , which for the publique defence of our people and kingdomes wee cannot auoid , and for the supply whereof , wee are resolued to spare nothing which lyeth in our power , and for the satisfying of those iust debts , which dayly crie in our eares , haue resolued , and by these presents doe declare and publish our resolution to all our louing subiects whom it may concerne , that we wil grant in fee-farme , all , or any of our honours , manours , lands , tenements , woods , & other hereditaments , both in the suruey of our exchequer , and of our duchy of lancaster , aswell such as are held by copie , as by lease , custodie , or otherwise , & aswell such as are yet in the hands of our commissioners when we were prince , as other our lands in mortgage , ( which we purpose forthwith to redeeme ) those manors & lands onely excepted , which are parcell of our duchie of cornewall . and to this end we purpose forthwith to nominate certaine persons vnder our great seale of england , to bee our commissioners , to whom wee will giue full power and authoritie , for us , and in our name , to treate and conclude with any persons , for any parts thereof , aswell quillets and parcels , as entire manours , at , and for such increase of rents , or fine , or both , as they in their good discretions shall thinke fit , and agree vpon : and we haue thought good thus to publish our pleasure and resolution herein , that the present tenants of our lands , and all other our louing subiects may take notice thereof , and may know whither , and to whom to make their repaire for this purpose ; to which ende wee will appoint our sayd commissioners to attend this our seruice on the twentieth day of september next , and so from time to time thence forward , at the chamber , commonly called the painted chamber , in our palace at westminster , whither our pleasure is , that all such of our subiects , as shall bee desirous to purchase any of our said lands in fee-farme , as aforesaid , shall resort to make their agreements accordingly . and because this our resolution may take that effect which wee desire and expect , our will and command is , that from hencefoorth , vntill our further pleasure bee knowen herein , no estate or lease by copie or otherwise , bee renewed , granted , or altered by any , but by oursayd commissioners onely . giuen at our court at nonesuch , the thirteenth day of august , in the second yeere of our reigne of great britaine , france , and ireland . god saue the king. ¶ imprinted at london by bonham norton and iohn bill , printers to the kings most excellent maiestie . m.dc.xxvi . to the knights, citizens, and burgesses in parliament assembled briscoe, john, fl. . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a wing b estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) to the knights, citizens, and burgesses in parliament assembled briscoe, john, fl. . broadside. s.n., [london? : ?] signed: john briscoe. reproduction of original in the british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng land banks -- england. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread - emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion to the knights , citizens , and burgesses in parliament assembled . may it please your honours , the last sessions of parliament i presented the members of this honourable house with a treatise , intituled , a discourse on the late funds ; wherein were proposals for a national land-bank to be under the government of commissioners appointed by the king , commissioners by the lords , and by the house of commons , and directors to be chosen by the subscribers to the bank : a third edition of which being reprinted , i do purpose to present such of the members of this honourable house therewith , who will be pleased to accept of the same . the main objection i could hear that was made against my then proposals , was obliging persons to take bills of credit in paiment , having double the value in good land-security , to indemnify the person who should receive the same ; which objection i notwithstanding answered in several places of the said treatise . but finding it difficult to perswade gentlemen to close therewith , i have since opened books , and received subscriptions of land and money to a considerable value , that there may not be money wanting to circulate or pay such bills that shall be issued out upon the security of such land : and the committee of this honourable house being of opinion that a national land-bank should be settled , i do here humbly present this honourable house with a short scheme or proposals for a national land-bank . that books be laid open to receive subscriptions of the owners or proprietors of lands , &c. to the value of millions , one th part of which yearly estates , together with millions in money , to be the fund of the bank. that the bare subscriptions of such estates shall oblige such one quarter part of the value of every of those estates to be subject to a proportionable part of the loss , and intituled to a like proportion of the profits of the said bank , viz. every l. per annum shall divide against in money . but that the said subscriptions shall not prejudice any persons right who shall appear to have a better title than the subscriber , but only subject such estates to the bank ; which will be for the advantage of the rightful owners or proprietors . that every such subscriber of lands , &c. after their estates shall have been subscribed months , and their titles shall be examined and approved by the counsel of the bank , and settled on the bank , may have three fifth parts of the value of such estate lent him , viz. upon l. per annum , l. in money , at l. s. d. per cent . per annum interest . and , that none may settle or take up money upon any estate who hath no right so to do , every estate is to be entered in a general office in london , and in a particular office to be kept in the county where such estate lies , where any person may put in their claim , or enter their caveat ( for the space of months after such entry ) against the settlement thereof , and publick notice shall be given of every intended settlement , before the said estate shall be permitted to be settled . that if any subscriber of land shall desire to withdraw his estate after it is settled , he shall be permitted so to do , paying into the stock of the bank one fourth part of the value of such his estate , viz. l. for l. per annum , and from thenceforth he shall be esteemed to be a money-subscriber . that every subscriber of money shall have l. per cent. per ann. for his money , paid out of the treasury of the bank , before any dividend shall be made of the profits in lieu of the rent the landed man receives of his tenants ; and after that , the account of profit and loss shall be stated , and the landed and monied men shall divide accordingly . that any other landed man , whose estate shall not be settled in the fund of the bank , may have l. upon l. per annum land , at l. s. per cent. per annum . by this means , estates in land may be presently subjected to be a fund of the bank. the monied men shall have a rent from the bank , as the landed man has from his tenants . the landed and monied men will both alike be concern'd in the management and direction of the said bank ; and therefore it cannot be doubted but such landed men will take care of the interest of the freeholder . no person 's right can be prejudiced hereby ; nor his estate be kept in the bank longer than he pleases . the proposer has a much larger and perfecter scheme ready , and is prepared to answer all objections that can be made , whensoever commanded by your honours so to do . i am , your honours most obedient servant , john briscoe . whereas by our proclamation, bearing date the twenty sixth day of june last, all persons concerned in any of the transplanted lands in the province of connaght, and county of clare ... by the lord lieutenant and council, essex. ireland. lord lieutenant ( - : essex) approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a wing i estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) whereas by our proclamation, bearing date the twenty sixth day of june last, all persons concerned in any of the transplanted lands in the province of connaght, and county of clare ... by the lord lieutenant and council, essex. ireland. lord lieutenant ( - : essex) essex, arthur capel, earl of, - . broadside. printed by benjamin tooke ... and are to be sold by joseph wilde ..., dublin : [ ] title from first lines of text. statement of responsibility transposed from head of title. "given at the council chamber in dublin the th day of february ." imperfect: torn, with loss of print. reproduction of original in the society of antiquaries library, london. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng land tenure -- ireland. priorities of claims and liens -- ireland. ireland -- history -- - . ireland -- politics and government -- th century. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion cr diev et mon droit royal blazon or coat of arms by the lord lieutenant and council . essex . whereas by our proclamation , bearing date the twenty sixth day of june last , all persons concerned in any of the transplanted lands in the province of connaght , and county of clare , were required to put in their claimes thereunto before his majesties commissioners , for hearing & determining the said claims before the first day of august last , & that they should with all convenient speed apply themselves to the said commissioners for hearing & determining the said claims , & prosecute the same with effect . and whereas in pursuance of his majesties letters on that behalf , we have amongst other instructions to the said commissioners directed , that an exact survey , be made of all the lands within the extent of their commission , which shall not be adjudged to the several persons in possession thereof ; and after a due calculation of all the just demands , which shall be made out of that stock , and before any distribution thereof towards satisfaction of such deficiencies or reprisalls , to compare both together , that so right measures may be taken in the application thereof , and such further instructions given , as the nature of the affaire shall require ; to the intent therefore that the ascertaining of the said stock , and the distribution thereof , may not be delayed longer than the necessitie of the said stock doth require , and that no person may be surprized in haveing his land cast into the said stock , nor any person who is iustly intitled to any deficiencie or reprisall , disapointed of his iust satisfaction for want of a due and timely prosecution of their claimes thereunto : we have thought fit hereby againe to require all persons concerned in any of the said claimes , or that are intitled to any of the said lands , or deficiencies . that they forthwith apply themselves to the said commissioners , and prosecute the same with effect , and take out certificate for the said lands before the first day of april next , as they desire to avoid the inconvenience aforesaid , which may fall upon them through their neglect herein ; and we do hereby require the said commissioners , that forthwith after the said first day of april , they proceed to the making up of the bookes of the stock of such lands which shall not be past by certificate to the severall persons in possession thereof . given at the council chamber in dublin , the th day of february . ja : armachanus . mich : dublin canc. thomond : lanesborough : hen : midensis : r : coote . robt : fitz : gerald. ca : dillon . char : meredith . jo : povey . ro : booth . jo : bysse . ric : gethin . ja : cuffe . vvm : flower . god save the king. dublin printed by benjamin tooke , printer to the kings most excellent m 〈…〉 and are to be sold by joseph wilde bookeseller in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉