A BRIEF Discourse, declaring and approving the necessary and inviolable maintenance of the laudable Customs of London: Namely, of that one, whereby a reasonable partition of the goods of husbands among their wives and children is provided: With an answer to such objections and pretenced reasons, as are by persons unadvised or evil persuaded used against the same.  
AT LONDON Printed by Henry Midleton for Ralph Newberie. 1584.   

juris civilis de consuetudine Axiomata sive maximae.  
Consuetudo vim habet rei judicatae.  
Consuetudo est optima legum interpres.  
Conuentio & consuetudo vincunt legem.  
Consuetudo firmata est ubi simili aliquando contradicto, judicio quid est obtentum seu judicatum.  
Caepta usucapio vel praescriptio per defunctum, continuatur per haeredem, cum in omne ius defuncti succedat haeres.  
Profunda requie humano generi prospexit usucapio. Barto.  
Vsucapio est quies periculi solicitudinisque litium. Cicero.   

A BRIEF discourse declaring and approving the necessary and inviolable maintenance of the laudable Customs of London.  
WE find it necessary in all common wealths, for subjects to live under the direction of Laws, constitutions or customs publicly known and received, and not to depend only upon the commandment and pleasure of the governor, be the same never so just or sincere in life and conversation. For that the Law once enacted and established, extendeth his execution towards all men alike without favour or affection: whereas if the word of a Prince were a law, the same being a mortal man must needs be possessed with those passions, and inclinations of favour or disfavour that other men be: and sometimes decline from the constant & unremovable level of indifferency, to respect the man besides the matter, if not to regard the person more than the cause. Wherefore it was well agreed by the wisest Philosophers and greatest politics, that a dumb laws direction is to be preferred before the sole disposition of any living Prince, both for the cause afore touched, and for other reasons which I will here omit. But to descend to the particularities of my intention, and to treat of the validity and inviolable observation of some laudable (I might term them sacred) customs, being the principal joints and very sinews of all good corporations and fellowships, and being also the maintainers of a sacred unity and natural amity between the husband and his wife, the parents & their children, which (as Aristotle the wise Philosopher termeth it) is the beginning of a city. For what is a city but a manifold and joint society consisting of many households, and living under the same Laws, freedoms and franchises? so I must needs confess them to be the procurers & causes of sundry good effects to the general estate of the city wherein they be observed: as of the other side they may breed sundry inconveniences in such a city where the same are violated and broken with allowance and impunity. I will therefore shortly show the nature of a Custom, and the difference which it holdeth from a public Law. And next I will declare how necessary the same are to manage the government and to entertain the prosperity and traffic of this city: and namely that one good custom which I intend to speak of. Lastly, I will endeavour to answer those pretenced reasons, and colourable objections made against the precise maintenance and defence thereof.  
First then I suppose that a Custom which justly deserveth that name, is of no less reverent regard and authority than a written law, passed and allowed in Partliament: which notwithstanding I do grant that there are certain differences between a law and a custom: for the Custom taketh his force by degrees of time, and consent of a certain people, or the better part thereof, but a law springeth up in an instant, & receiveth life from him that is of sovereign authority to command. A Custom enlargeth itself by plausible entertainment, and acceptable circumstances of time & occasion, with general liking and allowance, whereas a Law is commanded and published by power and received by dutiful constraint, and that often against the goodwill of them that are bound by it, for which cause Chrysostom not improperly compared the Custom to a King, and the Law to a tyrant. Moreover the Custom doth neither promise a reward for observation, nor inflict a punishment for violation thereof: whereas the Law always importeth either a consideration of gain, or a terror of punishment or damage, if the same be not a Law of enlargement or permission that disannulleth the prohibitions of a former Law. Finally a Custom is applied to the commodity of some one province, circuit or city, and grounded upon a special reason of conveniency or commodity, for those persons or place where it is observed: whereas the Law hath a general reason, 
See 34. H. 8. B. custom, 59 A man may not prescribe or plead a custom per totam angliam, for that is common law & no custom, otherwise if the custom had been pleaded to be in such a city or county as Gavelkind Gloc. Fee and such like.  extended to the whole Nation bound by the same, without private consideration of the due importances, of any peculiar place or people. Therefore it is well said and put in ure by the common Lawyer, Quod consuetudo ex rationabili causa profecta private communem legem. That a Custom grounded upon reasonable and honest consideration abridgeth or altereth the judgement of the common Law. So that in Customs the estate or condition of the people are to be respected, and such Customs as are consonant to reason, and most appliable to the estate and quality of such people, are to be allowed. For example the Custom of Boroughenglish, 
Burchenglish.  yet in force in sundry places of England, whereby the younger son is to inherit his father's land, hath taken strength by this reason, that the father may (if he be not careless and secure to do his children good) train up his elder sons in some good trade or occupation by which they may be able to get their own living: whereas the youngest, by the impotency and tenderness of his years, may be perchance unapt and unable for such instruction. And so the Custom commendable that provideth for the relief of the young and impotent. Also by an old custom of this land, in sundry boroughs and towns, lands were devisable by will, though the Laws of England pronounced such devices to be void, and the reason was, 
But see now the statute of 32 H 8. ca 2 and 34. H. 8. c. 5. of Explanation.  for that inhabitants of boroughs or Cities, whose traffic and trade resteth much upon mutual trust & credit, are oftentimes indebted at the time of their death. Wherefore it was thought meet, that they might devise their land for the due satisfaction of their creditors, which to do, they were enabled by the Custom. In Kent and other places of this land the Custom of Gavelkind is maintained, which importeth an equal division of the inheritance to be made among all the brethren: a Custom partly grounded upon a natural consideration, for that all the sons hold the like obligation of nature & desert with their parents, in the which they have an equal interest: and also suffered to take place in Kent and other places of this land in those days most inclinable to rebellion, to the intent to enféeble their forces, and to bring their great houses and families to impuissance and decay, thereby to disable and discourage them from such unlawful and violent attempts.  
And to come nearer to the matter, this famous and renowned city of London hath many laudable and ancient Customs: which though they derogate and differ much from the rules of the common Law, yet have they been not only approved by inviolate experience of sundry ages, but also have been of old ratified and confirmed by sundry acts of Parliament, and charters of Princes, and namely by the statute of Magna Charta, by these words following, 
Magna charta. cap. 9  Quod civitas London habeat omnes libertates suas antiquas & consuetudines quas habere consuevit, which is, That the city of London have all their ancient liberties & customs which they have used to have. The words following for other cities, etc. be, Quod habeant omnes libertates & liberas consuetudines suas, which signifieth, that they shall still retain their liberties & free customs, that is to say, their freedoms & immunities, as to be discharged of tolle, pontage, and such like: Whereas the City of London hath provision made by that statute, for all usages and customs whatsoever. Verily as the city of London beareth odds, and prerogative over other cities in England, being the Metropolis or mother City thereof, so are the inhabitants of it no less necessary than profitable members of the common wealth, in transporting our commodities into other lands, and enriching us with the benefits and fruits of other countries. The city of Rome, and Citizens of the same had that prerogative as in other things so also in their executions for causes capital, that they should not be crucified, being a death of great torment and infamy, but only beheaded. The benefit of which Custom S. Paul claimed and obtained in the time of Nero: pretending that he was a citizen of Rome. The said Citizens also by the dignity and reputation of their city were not for any transgression or offence to be fettered, whipped, or scourged, which privilege likewise the said S. Paul took hold of, who being oppressed by the calumnious accusations and outcries of the jews, was by commandment of Claudius Lisias the captain to be examined by torture of whips, 
Acts. 22.  what was the cause of that general murmur and exclamation of the people against him: yet S. Paul by alleging that he was a free man of Rome, not only delivered himself from the injury and rage of the people, but also made the captain much afraid of question or punishment for the indignity offered unto him, so great was the majesty of that City, and so reverent the reputation of all such as were accounted members thereof. Athenaeus termed Rome in those days very fitly, Epitome totius orbis, an abridgement of the whole world, for the continual concourse and resort of all nations thither. We may derive thence an argument for our purpose, that London being worthy that title, Epitome totius Angliae in respect of the necessary repair & frequent assembly of all estates therein, whether it be for justice by the Laws of this land, which are here administered, or by trade of merchandise, which is here so great that it may be termed totius occidentis emporium: and chiefly because of the favourable and often sojourn of our most royal and gracious sovereign, whose majesties chamber this is as it always hath been of her most noble progenitors: the same is no less worthy of sundry pre-eminences which by Custom and Charter it enjoyeth above other Cities of this land.  
We find in our Law books that the scholars of Oxford claimed a privilege by custom to have preferment of any house or lodging that was to be let in the city of Oxford, 
40. E. 3. fo. 17. Vide Brooke, Prescr. 8.  & the same was allowed in the common place in Westminster, where justice Finchden a man of great reckoning at that time said, that it is reason that they which are principal instruments of great good in the common wealth, should have beneficial customs for the maintenance of their societies: the like reason (saith he) serveth for the merchants of the staple in Westminster, and also for the justices of Assizes, or justices in eyre, to have the like prerogative. Also it is not unfit to remember, that the barons of the land have divers prerogatives above other subjects, that is, they shall not be sworn when they pass upon their Peers, and if they bring an appeal, the defendant shall not wage battle against them, and they are exempted out of all returns in juries, and shall not be sworn in leets, and all in respect of their dignity and for the necessary use of them in government of the common wealth. So that persons of needful employment in the estate, have always been savoured in all their honest Customs or prescriptions, and especially the Citizens of London, and the rather for the great presumption and opinion conceived of their experience, who being trained by hard education, in great use of service and affairs: and also by their travail and traffic beyond the seas, by continual negotiation with other Nations must needs (by all reasonable likelihood) procure unto themselves great judgement and sufficiency, to manage a politic regiment in their city, according unto that verse of the Poet Homer in the beginning of his treatise of wise Ulysses his adventures remembering his travail into sundry Nations and Cities.  
Die mihi musa virum captae post tempora Troiae,  
Qui mores hominum multorum vidit & urbes.  
The sense whereof may be well expressed in English verse without time thus:  
All travailers do gladly report great praise of Ulysses:  
For that he knew many men's manners, and saw many cities.  
Which opinion of their policy and experience conceived and approved by the noble Princes of this land, in all ages doth evidently appear by the manner of their government, whereat strangers do no less envy than admire seeing so populous a city, containing by true estimation more than 500 thousands of all sorts of inhabitants managed not by cruel viceroys, as is Naples or Milan, neither by proud Podestà, as be most cities in Italy, or insolent lieutenants or presidents, as are sundry Cities in France, (whose precedents are noble men or captains, having their persons environed with a guard of soldiers, and holding their cities possessed with a garrison aswell in the quietest calm of peace as in the hottest combustion of war) but by a man of trade or a mere merchant, who notwithstanding, during the time of his magistracy, carrieth himself with that honourable magnificence in his port, and ensigns of estate, that the Consuls, tribunes or praetors of Rome, (namely, when as the same was reduced to a monarchy) much less the Podestà of any city in Italy never bore the like representation of dignity, and that not only in peaceable seasons but in time of greatest war: for such credit the Princes of this land have still reposed in their fidelity and wise direction, that we have few examples in any chronicle of any noble man or other appointed to assist the L. Maior in his government, much less to be sole ruler or lieutenant for the time, were the state never so troublesome, and the affairs of never so great consequence and importance.  
And to add a little more in proof of the singular good conceit had of their service to the common wealth, and that the same hath in all ages from the conquest given them prerogative above other cities of this land, we read in the seven year of Henry the vi, 
7. H. 6.32.  that in a nativo habendo brought by the Lord to recover his villain, it was adjudged a good return made by the Sheriff of London, that such was the Custom of London, that a villain having remained there the space of one whole year and a day, could not be fetched or removed out thence. For so great is the prerogative of that place, that it giveth protection to the villain or bondman against his lord while the said bondman shall be resiant there. Likewise it was taken for a good custom in the city of London, that no attaint should be maintained for a supposed false verdict given in that city. 
7. H. 6.32. & the same case was adjudged in 2. E. 3.  In the which case the Sheriff of London made return upon a writ of attaint sued against a Londoner, that such was and had been always the custom of the city, that no attaint should be allowed against any commoner or other citizen of the same, for which cause he might not saluis libertatibus without impeachment of their liberties, serve or execute the writ. Then was there a writ directed out of the Chancery to the justices of the King's bench with express commandment to allow to the Mayor, Sheriffs and Citizens all their liberties, immunities & customs, and further out of that writ was a Venire facias directed to the Mayor & sheriffs, whereby was day given them to come and make declaration of their custom, at which day the party's plaintiff and defendant being present, the Mayor & sheriffs had full allowance of their customs, the sheriffs were holden excused for their return, and the parties writ was abated, and himself punished by imprisonment for his vexation. I have here at large remembered this case, to the end it may appear both what credit and opinion of conscience and truth, the law ascribed to the citizens of London, and also how careful and vigilant the Mayor & sheriffs have always been to preserve & uphold their customs, although since that only custom was for especial causes abrogated by the statute of 11. H. 7. and an attaint given in London. 
11. H. 7. ca 21.  Moreover, we find it recorded in M. 2. E. 3. that whereas a citizen of London brought an appeal of robbery, 
M. 2. E 3. cor. pl. 157.  and the defendant would have tried his innocency by battle, as he may in semblable case against another man, Wilby then justice answered him, that he was not to have allowance of battle in an appeal commenced by a citizen of London, for that by custom of their city they were exempted from it. The like appeal was sued P. 20. E. 3. wherein the defendant made offer of the same trial. 
P. 20. E. 3. cor. pl. 125.  And although he that sued the appeal would have joined battle without regard of this franchise, the Lord Maior with the rest of the corporation sued a writ out of the Chancery reciting their custom or franchise, and prayed allowance of it in disturbance of the battle 20. E. 3. Coron. 125.  
If a free man or free woman of London be committed to Ludgate, they are to be excused from the ignominy of Irons, if they can find sureties to be true prisoners, & if the sum be not above an hundred pounds. Upon the like reason is that custom established for the liberal and mild imprisonment of the citizens in Ludgate, whereby they have indulgence & favour to go abroad into any place by baston as we term it, under the guard and superintendency of their keeper, with whom they must return again to the Prison at night, a custom verily, though quarreled with by some, and supposed to be the hindrance and delay of justice, & oftentimes a mean to defraud men of their true debts and executions, yet the ground thereof being well examined, it wanteth not a sound maintenance in the course of reason (as I think.) For the prescription or custom is but a mitigation of the extremity of their imprisonment, serving rather for the expedition of their discharge & speedy satisfaction of their creditors, than for any other purpose: so that this scope and licence in proper construction and sense of law, cannot be termed an enlargement or liberty. For to remain in the material prison in the night, and to go forth out of the same in the day, under the restraint & control of a continual keeper, is always an imprisonment, though exercised with greater mildness & lenity. And diverse causes there are to warrant the same in London rather than in other places: the one is for that the city of London standeth chiefly upon the traffic and intercourse of merchants and the use of buying & selling of their sundry commodities, which is not always performed by themselves but by their factors and servants, and oftentimes one factor or agent serveth the turn of many merchants, whereby he is pressed to sundry and several accounts. Wherefore to the end the prisoners may inform themselves upon their mutual reckonings, both what they own and what is due unto them, and also that upon conference & account with their agents returning from other countries they may be made acquainted with the increase of their adventures or commodities, it is necessary they should have places of meeting which will not be so convenient in a close prison, the same being no place of assembly or free access (especially it being no common duty in the Gaoler to permit any person to come among his prisoners for any such occasion) and if the Gaoler were bound to endure or suffer such common & voluntary repair unto his prisoners, yet will it be no fit place for merchants to treat & negotiate their causes which cannot be well determined without their books of accounts, and witnesses of their contracts, and oft must the same be decided before the masters of their trades or companies. So that this custom made in furtherance of mutual accounts doth very much enable the prisoner to procure his liberty and pay his det. Also if the prisoner be poor and of himself unable to pay, 
Vide 4. E 6. plo▪ come. 36.  this toleration of their going abroad with the keeper is a good mean for him to procure the alms and relief of other charitable people, thereby the sooner to purchase his liberty. Whereby it appeareth what reckoning the law maketh of them, in consideration of their great hazard by sea (through danger of shipwreck or piracy) and adventure in strange countries (by falsehood and negligence of factors) or by wars between Princes, the inconveniences and mischiefs whereof, are not so offensive or prejudicial to any, as to merchants, whose condition as it may by a fortunate voyage be much enriched, and advanced: so may it by any of the mischances aforesaid, be so impaired & overthrown, that it may turn himself, his wife, and family to utter calamity and distress. Therefore as the hope & comfort of the wife (having commonly no assurance of jointure in the city, nor expectation of dower as other women have) and also of the children (being for the most part borne to no great patrimony, other than that which their fathers shall by their virtuous industry acquire) doth only depend upon the fortune of their husbands or father's travail, it hath laudably and conscionably been observed for a custom, and is yet by the wiser and better sort religiously regarded that when any citizen of London dieth, his wife shall have the third part of his goods, and the children another third part, equally to be divided among them, according to the proportion of his goods, and himself another third part to dispose by his last will & testament at his pleasure. A partition so reasonable and grounded upon so good consideration, (the quality and estate of the Londoners considered,) that if it were not approved by custom, but to be proposed in the wisest and highest court of Parliament, whether it were fit to have the force of a law, I think no man (unless he were a Timon by nature, or a Diogenes by disposition) no man I say possessed with common humanity would gainsay or impugn it. Doth not the common law now in force give the husband presently by the intermariage all the goods and chattels of his wife, though the same be of the value of 10000 pounds, so that when she is once his wife, the law disableth her to give or dispose any thing that was hers before? And shall not the husband be bound by semblable obligation of reason to leave his wife the third part of his goods, and if the law be in that respect defective (as what law in the world, except the law of God, is without his imperfections?) shall not the custom supply it in such sort that no barbarous and uncharitable or cautelous, and unkind practices by deed of gift, or otherwise, shall disappoint or defraud the same? especially here in London, where the good estate of men, for the most part consisteth in movables, by reason of their continual trades and exchanges, so that their wives cannot assure themselves of their dowry commonly called thirds, as they might if their husbands were seized of lands in fee simple. Also the comfortable society between husband & wife, is of that precious estimate and honourable reputation before God and man, that there may not possibly a more sacred and strait conjunction be imagined among the children of men. Charondas the Philosopher calleth them Homosipios, which signifieth, fed with the self same food. And Epimenides another Philosopher calleth them Homocapuos, which is as much to say, as using the self same smoke, and the self same manger, & as it were drawing the self same breath. Finally, the scripture giveth express charge to each man to tender his wife with extraordinary good offices by saying, Thou shalt leave thy father & mother, 
Matth. cap. 19 Mark. cap. 10. 1. Cor. cap. 7. Ephes. cap. 5.  and cleave to thy wife. If the force of custom did not enforce the matter, these only considerations were sufficient to prove, that there should be nothing private, nothing peculiar, nothing proper, but every thing in common, every thing equally interested between the husband and the wife. The like though not equal affection is commanded by the Apostle to the Colloss. 3. by the fathers towards their children. You fathers be tender and loving unto your children, and discourage them not.  
But let us see what account our common law hath made of the like customs, sounded upon the love and affection between man and wife. It was used of ancient time in Gavelkind land, & hath received the allowance and judgement of a good and lawful custom, that if the husband be attainted and executed for a felony by him committed, 
M. 8. H. 3 presc. 60.  yet shall his wife for the solace of her loss and desolation have her dowry of his land, 
8. E. 2. Itin. can. prescript. 50.  and also the heir shall inherit the same according to that old saying: The father to the bough, & the son to the plough, although the common law by rigorous imputation to make men more fearful to offend in crimes of such quality, 
P. 35. H. 6.58.  extendeth the punishment though not to the persons of the wife & children, yet to their fortune so far as it may turn to their utter impoverishment and discomfort.  
In the city of York there is a custom, that the husband may enfeoff his wife of such laud as he shall purchase, which though it be against the rule of the common law (which disableth the husband to convey any land to his wife) by feoffment or deed, 
12. H. 3. pre●▪ 6.1.  yet by force of the custom it was adjudged to be lawful and effectual. Also the custom of many places in England is, that the wife shall enjoy the whole land of her husband in name of her dowry, as it appeareth by M. Litt. himself, 
Litt. ti. Dower  and the husband cannot by any cautel or devise defeat her thereof. And in some other countries they have the moiety or tene part, and generally by the common law the third part. In North-wales the custom is so beneficial for wives, (that although they be sure of their thirds of such land as their husbands shall chance to be seized of at any time during the marriage) yet are they to have the moiety or tone part, not only of his goods & movables, but also of his leases, be the terms thereof never so long. Not many years ago the custom of Taunbean was alleged and allowed by the court of the King's bench, 
14. Eliz.  that the husband or wife whether so ever of them did happen to overlive should have the inheritance or fee simple land of the other by survivor, a custom verily neither contrary to reason nor repugnant to religion, as no well disposed or good husband can deny, when he entereth into consideration of these holy duties and good observances that are commended and commanded in holy scripture. 
Read the Epistle to the Ephesians, ca 5.  If then these customs bear sway in sundry places, and are publicly approved by judicial sentences, what citizen willbe so senseless, what Londoner so lose, what merchant or other freeman so inconsiderate, and unregardfull of his own good estate, and so ready to defile his own nest, as once to attempt or practise the violation or breach of so good a custom? What is he who seeing the estate of London is preferred before other cities of the land by the benefit and means of their most profitable customs, that will give a dangerous example to abrogate the same and to call their usages in question? A custom, if it have been once notoriously discontinued, or interrupted, loseth the title and appellation of a custom, and by instance given of the time when it was disused lacketh a great part of his authority. Then unnatural or at least wise unadvised is that citizen which to serve his private humour bringeth a general custom either into question by his fraud, or by his example into contempt. Pernicious also is the precedent of one custom called in question to the ruin of the rest: Namely, when as the city by their counsel in her majesties courts of Westminster, claiming the benefit of their customs, 
See before in the case of robbery how careful the city was to avoid this danger and to preserve their custom, and also in the case of the attaint before 7. H. 6. etc.  may be encountered & confronted, & with a counterplea given by themselves, that such of their own Aldermen & commons have by their deeds and devices either disaffirmed or disannulled the same. A practice as of great condemnation in them that do it, so no doubt of great oversight & incircumspection in them that suffer it.  
But somewhat to satisfy the idle cavils pretended to the contrary saith some one, is not the general law of England sufficient to manage the government of London as well as of all other subjects, but that Londoners must have private customs and usages of their own? This objection made by the enviers or enemies of the wealth of London (howsoever they make show to the contrary) rather deserveth a hiss than a reply, and is sufficiently confuted in the former discourse.  
But it is further urged by some hard husbands, my wife is froward & undutiful, and hath not deserved it. She is a fool and cannot rule it. She will marry again, and enrich some other with the fruit of my travail. Wherefore I think it necessary to abridge her of that liberality which the custom doth extend. Also my children be evil inclined, disobedient or untractable, or some of them be. Wherefore I may with reason deprive them of the benefit of this custom. First to answer the undutifulness, I wish thee whosoever thou art to summon and convent thyself to the tribunal seat of thy inward mind, 
Aug. in lib. confess.  as S. Augustine saith, & to make conscience thy judge, thy cogitations the witnesses, thy actions the accusers, thy memory the register or record to give in evidence: and let it be discussed in all due circumstances, whether thou didst not likewise forget the offices of a good husband and defraud her of her duties, 
1. Corinth. ca 7,  (as S. Paul sayeth) or provoke her to impatience which the same Apostle forbiddeth in these words, You husbands be loving to your wives, 
Coloss. ca 3.  and no way be bitter unto them. 
Peter. Epist. 1. ca 1.  Which also S. Peter remembreth in advising husbands to dwell with their wives sincerely and according to knowledge in doing honour unto them as to the weaker vessel. Let it I say be examined in the consistory of thy conscience whether thou either by thy fault wittingly, or negligently by thy default, or by thy unkindness unduly, hast caused her being the weaker vessel to be the more intolerable. If thou find thyself condemned by thy conscience, let remorse be thy executioner, and amendment with kindness towards thy wife be thy penance: but if thou find thyself guilty of no want of affection, love or good carriage of thyself towards her, so that her undutifulness proceeded of herself: yet I pray thee remember the benefits which God hath given thee by her means, whether they be gifts of fortune in bettering of thy estate, or eschewing of sin, by her lawful and comfortable company, or the blessing of children a sovereign good in this world, thy children being the monuments of thy life and being upon earth, & the repairers of thy decay. And let these favours and graces enjoyed by her company cover and countervail her other imperfections whatsoever. Follow therein the example of the wise Socrates, who being demanded how he could endure the continual scolding & vexation of his wife Xanthippe, likewise asked of the other why he suffered the rackling and unpleasant noise of hens and Turkeys in his house, because said the other they lay eggs and breed chickens for me, and so said Socrates, Xanthippe beareth me children, which good turn alone covereth and dispenseth with infinite defects. Calicratides the Athenian being demanded why he a man so nobly descended, but having matched with a base Thessalian woman, yet by his last will bequeathed unto her all his substance, leaving his other friends and kinsfolks unregarded: because (said he) she is my wife, meaning that she who was by his judgement and choice made worthy to be his wife, should be unworthy of nothing that was his. Which may also satisfy that second point of supposed folly in the wife, and want of discretion to marshal so great a proportion of wealth, as the custom will give her. Wherefore wouldst thou marry with a fool, if thou thoughtest her unworthy of the rights of marriage? then seeing thy choice hath estopped thy testimony of her folly, thy duty towards thy wife shall bind thee to favour and conceal her weakness, and to perform that which the custom pronounceth to be convenient. It can not be evil bestowed upon her, whose right by custom demandeth it, and whose estate and imperfections have need of it, whereas if the husband may be permitted by this colour to defeat his wife, many inconveniences and disorders might ensue.  

Leges se accommodant ad ea quae frequentius non quae raro accidunt. Bartolus.  First a general Custom, which is as also a general Law never provided for such rare accidents as seldom fall in experience, but for things that ordinarily and commonly happen, should be broken, to the general scandal and offensive example of all through the inability of one, which were a thing unreasonable. Likewise then might husbands, (if that were admitted for a just allegation) easily devise and publish that or some other imperfection to be in their wives, and thereby bereave them of their right. No more than it is a just counterplea or bar to a woman's dower to allege that she is a fool, no more is the imputation of such simplicity honest and sufficient to exclude her from her portion. No it is well said and maintained for a maxim in the common Law, Better it is to suffer a mischief than an inconvenience. Less harmful and hateful it is for a man to swallow twenty of these light offences, and to digest sundry of these pretenced scruples, than by violating of a custom no less common than commendable to leave to posterity an odious memory and obloquy of his name.  
The last objection against wives is no less ridiculous than Tyrannical, grounded upon an unjust desire to restrain them from marriage. Marriage is an honourable ordinance of God, fit and necessary for all persons disposed thereunto, to the avoiding of sin, and maintenance of a comfortable and sociable christian life. To restrain or prohibit the same either in maids or widows, (as S. Paul saith) is the doctrine of devils. 
Tim. ep. 1. ca 4  And to indent or condition with any that he or she shall not marry, 
43. E. 3.6.  is a condition limited against law, and by the same pronounced unlawful and unreasonable. Make it thine own case, admit thou didst match with a wealthy wife, whose furniture and riches hath increased thy estate, if God should call for her, wouldst thou in a kind memorial of the benefits attained by her means, make thyself a votary to live unmarried? Do those which marry great heirs being women, and after their wives deaths enjoy their whole inheritance by the courtesy of England, making their wives heirs to expect during their lives, take it for any matter of conscience or scruple to marry again? Unless it be in some place where the force of the custom and the benefit of the living joined together work a contrary resolution in some husbands: which Custom annexed to Gavelkind lands in Kent and other places is of this quality, 
16. E. 3. aid 129 19 E. 3. aid 144  that the husband shall after the disease of his wife be tenant by the courtesy of her land as long as he remaineth unmarried, whether he have issue by her or not: but upon his next marriage shall utterly forego all his interest therein. A custom therefore the less unreasonable because the restraint of marriage of the one side is countervailed by the beneficial favour of the other side to have the land by the courtesy without issue, and also for that he is to deprive the next heir of his wife, who perchance hath been married with him but few months or days, of the profit and commodity of the whole land during his life. But chief because it is a custom grounded & grewen in continuance to such religious observation & regard, that it seemeth an offence of conscience to infringe it. But in our case sithence there is neither custom nor conscience to warrant thy will, why shouldest thou then seem to quarrel with the lawful liberty of thy wife, if she survive thee, she being weak by kind and education, and thereby less able to direct her occasions, and govern her estate without a companion and coadjutor? no on God's name refer her to her own choice & conscience therein, and make it no pretence and colour to abridge her of her right, because she seemeth inclinable unto that, which God hath ordained, & all men and women do embrace. As to the fear and suspicion pretended, that another in matching with thy wife should be enriched by thy travail, what should move thee to make that superstitious account of thy goods when thou art gone? Were they any longer thine, than while thou hadst life & licence to employ them? Thou must needs know & acknowledge besides thy daily experience, by the very Etymology and signification of the word, the true nature & quality of the thing. These worldly goods are called temporal, because they serve one but for a time, they are termed transitory, for that their property is fleeting from one owner unto an other, they are named movable or currant, because all their grace and credit is in running & removing into divers hands, according to that rude and old (but yet true) latin rhyme,  
Omnia mundana per vices sunt aliena,  
Nunc mea nunc huius, post mortem sunt alterius.  
This worldly wealth each day doth change  
Their owners as we see,  
Now mine now his and after death  
An others goods they be.  
Then since thy wealth hath waited upon thee all thy life long, wouldst thou require the same to rest at thy devotion after thy death? If that seem impertinent and unprofitable unto thee then relinquish this care and suffer the goods of this world to have their natural course and condition, which is to be still in exchange, passage, & posting from hand to hand, serving all men, ut peregrinationis viaticum, That is, A pilgrims charge or defrayment in his journey, 
Hieronymus in Epist.  as S. Jerome termeth it. And address thy mind to the desire of such goods as are neither temporal, transitory, currant nor movable, but perpetual, permanent, constant and not only immutable but inestimable.  
But finally to satisfy the last objection against thy children, I wish thee to look back unto that I have said, that thou mayest not for a private injury or displeasure, seem as much as lieth in thee to supplant and abrogate a public custom, to the no less preiudize than offence of a great number that have interest therein. In enriching thy son, thou dost discharge the duty of a natural father towards him, which if he prodigally or wickedly misspend or abuse, he carrieth his own condemnation and proveth a wilful enemy to himself. The good father mentioned of in the gospel, 
Luke. cap. 15.  who at the suit of his undutiful & disobedient son, (that would needs abandon the service and attendance on his father to run the course of an extravagant libertine with lewd company) gave him a great portion of his wealth, is not any way blamed by our Saviour for that indulgence, but rather recommended to all posterity as a true pattern of a kind father. S. Paul commandeth the father to be well affected to his children, 
Colloss. cap. 3  and no way to discourage them. What may breed greater discouragement or discontentment in any child than to see himself by the place of his birth and the good fortune of the city entitled to the commodity of a good custom, and yet injuriously by his own father, (whose affection should be always occupied and earnest in procuring the good of his children) disappointed of his hope and defrauded of his right. And as well as some having just cause of displeasure again their son and child, may in this unlawful and disorderly sort practise their revenge, so may some other inconsiderate and wilful father upon a conceit taken against a good son and of singular desert, for that he concurreth not with him in some humour or disposition, most wrongfully distress and undo him by such a precedent. Thus the mischiefs objected on the one side are light and of small moment, whereas the inconveniences apparent on the other side be manifold and of dangerous consequence.  
I will not vouchsafe to answer that undiscrete Sarcasmus or bitter scoff that some use, We may play our wealth at dice without offence to the custom, wherefore should we not then dispose the same from our wife and children by our deeds of gift? This amounteth to as much as if a married man would say, I may commit felony or treason, and be attainted and hanged therefore, and then the law giveth my wife no dower, nor my heir no patrimony, then why should I not in reason use my discretion with the land without encumbrance by the one, or injury to the other? Match these two cases together with judgement, and thou shalt perceive they have a sensible concurrency in their address and application to this purpose. It is well said by the Poet,  Nil juuat exemplum quod litem lite resoluit. 
The example of one wilful or wicked act giveth no just countenance or allowance to an other. Let so much said to thy objections take some place to alter thine humour, or at least be a preparative for thine own reason in the fear of God to purge thee of the same.  
But to conclude this short discourse with one consideration of great importance, I wish thee to consider, that this city of London is and hath been happily preserved in this flourishing prosperity by the wise and politic consent that all and always the particulars have had to increase the general good estate thereof, thinking it their duty as they got and acquired their substance in this city, so also to spend & defraie it in the same: insomuch that whatsoever falleth from the one cometh & groweth unto an other, and by alteration of private fortunes (as chances & changes of times do require from one citizen to another) the general estate hath flourished and never wanted particular men of wealth & ability to sustain the offices & functions of the city. Upon which consideration by most laudable & ancient custom, the L. Maior and Senate of London have been and are entitled to the tuition & custody of young Orphans and their goods, & likewise are made acquainted by ordinary good means of inventories taken & produced, what substance and wealth each man dieth possessed of, to the intent that although that man which by his good travail & trade hath grown to be rich among them, be departed hence, yet his goods may remain as among his wife & children in use and property, so to the general strength of this city in account & reckoning. For we often see that one rich man's wealth passeth to the increase of the good estate of an other citizen, either by marriage of the widow, or of the Orphan: so that the city though deprived of a member or inhabitant, yet is not destitute of such as may discharge his employment and place. Whereas if this pernicious practice & uncharitable liberty might take root by deeds of gifts & cautelous conveyance to strangers, not only the wife & children may be distrested, but also the state of the city much weakened, & in danger of a great disreputation and decay, from that that it hath been and yet is. For if it be adjudged lawful in one, of what degree soever he be, it is neither impossible nor unlikely that the same will be used by many, and consequently may be practised by all: which if it befall, what will become of the happy condition of this City, it is not hard to conjecture. I mean not to extend my speech to the prejudice of any true debts that a man oweth without fraud or collusion, seeing the custom very providently careth for the discharge thereof, but my purpose is to dissuade men from evil example, from insolent violation of good customs, and from odious and unseemly practices of deceit & evil meaning towards their wives and children: Which persuasion I would wish all professors of the Law seriously and carefully to use and enforce to their clients, being citizens of London, as in good conscience and discretion they ought to do.  

An Apostrophe to the reader, and the motive of this treatise.  Blame not my bold enterprise (gentle Reader) nor reprove my simple censure herein presented unto thee, which might I know both for the matter and manner of it have been by any other, and perchance by myself more largely and effectually delivered: if the opportunity of my leisure might have answered the quality of the argument which I had in hand. But fearing lest I should with too long a discourse in so plain a proposition breed more loathsomeness than liking, I would not, for want of leisure I might not, & if I had had time at will I minded not, seeing for any urgent occasion (the error being yet fresh, the practice rare and not grown to an enormity, I needed not) but in a word or two to make thee acquainted with the cause that moved me to address these few reasons to thy gentle view. So it happened, that I being in company & conference with some persons (though otherwise wise and well affected, yet in this matter strangely conceited) it chanced that the lawefulnesse and conveniency of this custom came in question and debate among us, & was by some of them (being men for sufficiency, of great opinion, and for countenance and credit of good appearance and regard in the city) so pressed with objections, that the most part of those which were present seemed to incline to that persuasion. Wherefore lest the authority of the men might the sooner seduce the simple multitude unto their error, & for that I thought it a charitable policy to prevent the peril in the prime, before it grew to a festering sore or incurable evil, according to the Poet Ovid's advise,  
Principijs obsta sero medicina paratur,  
Cum mala per long as invaluere moras.  
Withstand at first the springing evil  
With medicines fit therefore,  
Too late it is to take the cure  
Of old and festered sore.  
I thought good to apply this simple resceipt of reason to the minds of all such as shall chance to be distempered by these disuasions: hoping that they will yield me that friendly requital of good construction, which my offered goodwill may seem to deserve: and although I keep myself unnamed, and unknown: it may please them to have this opinion of me, no more favourable than reasonable, that he which is well devoted to the defence of good customs, is rather to be justified in his good meaning, than condemned or held suspected of any sinister conceit.  
FINIS.