THE Rights and privileges OF THE City of London, PROVED From Prescription, Charters, and Acts of Parliament. ALSO The Coronation Oaths Of several of the Kings of England. Together with Some Arguments to enforce on all Great Men their Duty of acting agreeable thereunto, and to the known Laws of the Kingdom. Veritas abscondi erubescit, nihil enim magis metuit quam non proferri in publicum, vult se in luke collocari, & quis illam occulat occultetve, quam omnium oculis expositam esse est aequissimum? Eatenus ratiocinandum donec veritas inveniatur, ubi inventa est Veritas, ibi figendum Judicium. Co. 10. Rep. in Pref. LONDON; Printed for J. Johnson, 1682 THE Rights and privileges OF THE City of LONDON. TIS certainly the Duty of all Men at all times, to exert their utmost Abilities for the Happiness and Peace of that Country in which they are born, and to show their warmest Affections in the maintenance and Defence of its just Rights and privileges, especially when they find how malicious and unwearied the Endeavours of some Men are to bring the most ancient, as well as glorious Constitutions, under Contempt and Ignominy, and by that means, with a more plausible Colour, and greater Facility, utterly to destroy and dissolve them. May we not fear there are too many such resolved and desperate Persons among Us, that industriously labour to effect the utter Subversion of LONDON's great IMMUNITIES, the Antiquity of which, I may be bold to say, comes not in Arrear to any Citie's in the World. LONDON, the Epitome of England, Dr. Chamberlain's present State of England, 〈◇〉 Part, 11 Edit. Anno 1682. p. 176, 178. Inter Recorda Mic. 14. H. 6. Civita London est Antiquissima & Liberrima Civitas Domini Regis & Regni Angliae, & Camera Regis vulgariter nuncupata. the Seat of the British Empire, the Chamber of the King, and the chiefest Emporium, or Town of Trade in the World; wherein all the Blessings of Land and Sea, and( by the benefit of Shipping) all the Blessings of the Terrestrial Globe, may be said to be enjoyed, above any City in the World. Whoever therefore are the quarrelsome Enviers of LONDON's long enjoyed customs, and Franchises; whoever would violently ravish from this Metropolis of the Kingdom, those mighty Blessings, her Jurisdictions and privileges,( whilst as yet at least it cannot be boasted, that she hath forfeited them by Law) those are the Persons against whom I cannot but be affencted with Grief, Resentment, and( I think I am pardonable, if I add too) a zealous Indignation; and indeed a less Concern I should hardly know how well to answer for, since I am obliged to this August City, for its being the Place both of my Nativity and Education, and as so, it justly commands all my dutiful Regards. The Sword that was at his Father's Throat made a dumb Son once to speak; and shall a Man that hath any true English Blood running in his Veins, see the violent and unnatural Attempts of some dissolute angry Citizens upon the privileges of the City, which are the Bowels of their Mother, and upon her Life and Being too, and yet be silent! I could never bring myself to maecenas his cowardly love of Life, which Seneca justly despises, Vita dum superest, been est, hanc mihi vel acutâ si sedeam Cruce, sustinet. A mere Being here( me thinks) is not so pleasurable as to make me fond on't, unless I could enjoy it with its comfortable Appendages; and what is sufficient to make the Remains of Life any ways gustful to that miserable Man, whose fate it should be to survive the Wreck of his native Country, and beloved City? If the open and bold Invasions that have of late been made by some Persons upon the Rights and Liberties of this Renowned City,( in manifest and bare-faced Contempt, not only of its ancient Usages, Laws and Customs, but of the very Laws of the Land) have been carried on and promoted by any of the Citizens, let them be of what Rank or eminent Quality soever; it is highly demonstrative, that such Citizens have both forgotten the Duties of their Place, renounced all Truth and Honesty, and have little less than perjuriously broken all the Obligations of of their * The Oath of every Freeman of the City of London. Oaths, solemny taken in the Presence of God, Angels, and Men, as Freemen, or as Persons of a more exalted Character, to keep and defend the ancient Laws, Usages, and Customs of the City. And what does any good Man think can less deserve, Ye shall swear, that ye shall be good and true to our sovereign Lord King Charles, and to the Heirs of our said sovereign Lord the King. Obeysant and obedient ye shall be to the Mayor and Ministers of this City. The Franchises and Customs thereof ye shall maintain, and this City keep harmless in that that in you is. Ye shall be contributory to all manner of Charges within this City, as Summons, Watches, Contributions, Taxes, Tallages, Lot and Scot, and to all other Charges, bearing your part as a Freeman ought to do. Ye shall colour no foreign Goods under, or in your Name, whereby the King, or this City might, or may lose their Customs or Advantages. Ye shall know no foreigner to buy or sell any merchandise with any other foreigner within this City or Franchise thereof, but you shall warn the Chamberlain thereof or some Minister of the Chamber. Ye shall implead or sue no Freeman out of this City, whilst you may have Right and Law within the same City. Ye shall take no Apprentice, but if he be free-born, that is to say, no Bond man's Son, nor the Child of any Alien, and for no less term than for Seven Years, without Fraud or Deceit; and within the first Year ye shall cause him to be enrolled, or else pay such a Fine as shall be reasonably imposed upon you for omitting the same; and after his Term's end, within convenient time( being required) ye shall make him free of this City, if he have well and truly served you. Ye shall also keep the King's Peace in your own Person. Ye shall know no Gatherings, Conventicles nor Conspiracies made against the King's Peace, but ye shall warn the Mayor thereof, or let it to your Power. All these Points and Articles ye shall well and truly keep according to the Laws and Customs of this City to your Power. So God you help. than, when a convenient Opportunity may occur, for ever to be disfranchised from those excellent and highly to be valued privileges, to which they are, and have been such avowed, as well as abhorred Enemies? for these are the real Disturbers of the King's Peace, and the Violaters of those most admirable Laws, that, if religiously observed, and submitted to, would preserve Us all in Order and Harmony, and make 'em no longer angry with those that dare not run with them into the same Lavishes and excess of Riot. The Citizens ought to behave themselves as one entire Body and Person, and not to be Divided upon any Pretences whatsoever into Parties and Factions, to destroy their Immemorial and Charteral Rights; because no Man, according to the Laws of the Land, is bound to discover wherein he is Criminal, and lies obnoxious to Penalties to be inflicted: None by Law is obliged to show the defect of his Title to any thing, neither is any one bound to discover any Act he hath done, whereby to make himself liable to a Forfeiture of his Estate; Nemo tenetur prodere seipsum, is a Rule in Law: Therefore Citizens and all Freemen being obliged by their solemn Oaths to maintain the Liberties of the City and defend them, that must certainly be intended in a legal sense and way. And admit particular Citizens have done any Act, or committed any Offence, whereby they are finable, or otherwise punishable, or whereby they have forfeited those privileges, they are yet, as Citizens, bound by their Oaths to make the best of their Cause, either against a Quo Warranto, or any other Action brought against them by any whomsoever. I. The Antiquity of the City of London by Way of Prescription. AS for the Antiquity of this celebrated City, I cannot meet with any Records to inform me when it first commenced. Venerable Bede, a Saxon, and a Priest, Bed. Eccles. Hist. lib. 1. cap. 1. f. 149. l. 50. who writ the Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, from the coming in of Julius Caesar, to the Year 733, and who lived near 950 Years ago, says, Britannia erat Civitatibus quondam Viginti & octo Nobilissimis, insignita praeter Castella innumera, quae & ipsa Muris, Turribus, portis ac seris erant instructa firmissimis: That Britain was of a long time famous in 28 most Noble Cities, besides Castles innumerable, which were of a vast strength: And as for the Names of these Cities I find them set down in Henry archdeacon of Huntingdon, Hen. de Hunting. lib. 1. f. 170. b. l. 5. ( who writ an History of the Kings of England to the Reign of King Stephen, in whose time he lived) and among them the City of London is mentioned; He begins them thus; York, Canterbury, Worcester, LONDON, gloucester, Winchester, Carlisle, Lincoln, &c. all of them remaining Cities to this day. Ammian. Marcellin. Ammianus Marcellinus, who wrote near 1300 Years ago, calls London then an Ancient City. Herodian in the Life of Severus the Emperor of Rome, saith, Londinum urbs magna & opulenta, that it was then a Great and Opulent City. Cornelius Tacitus, Tacitus lib. 14. Annal. cap. 10. who married the Daughter of Lucius Aricola the Roman governor of Britain, who was here with him by the space of seven Years, affirms, Quod Londinum ●empore Neronis( which is above 1500 Years past) fuit Copia Negotiatorum & Commeatu maximè celebre, that London in the time of Nero, Lord Cook 4. Instit. fol. 247. a. was a City famous for Trade and Commerce; nay so famous about that time, that by way of highest Honour and Dignity, Cambden tells us it was ennobled above 1360 Years since with the Title of AUGUSTA. Camb. Brit. f. 305. Nay, to go a great step higher yet, Fitz-Stephan, or Stephanides, a Monk of Canterbury, born of worshipful Parents in the City of London, who wrote in the Reign of Henry the Second, of this City, St●w's Survey of London, f. 575. 4o Stephanides, cap. de dispositione Urbis. saith; Haec Civitas Urbe Roma secundum Chronicorum fidem satis antiquior est, &c. That if you give any credit to Historians, it's far more ancient than that of Rome. II. The Rights and privileges of the City of London proved from Charters. NOw certainly that Person must be a Man of a hardened Forehead, or else be very ignorant in the Annals and Histories of this Nation, who can suppose, that these so ancient Cities declared and mentioned by Bede and Huntingdon, whereof London is one, were made Corporations by any Charters of our British, Saxon, or Norman Kings, or that they received all their privileges from the sole Grace, Favour and Bounty of them, who in truth were so many and so inconsiderable in those times, that Britain seemed rather an Aristocratical and Democratical Government mixed together, then any entire or absolute Monarchy; For Xiphiline, Xiphil. è Dio-cassi. p. 601. Impress. Basiliae. out of Dion Cassius in the Life of the Emperor Severus, assures us; apud hos, i.e. Britannos Populus magna ex parte Principatum tenet; that among the Britains the People bore a great share or sway in the sovereignty; which, by showing what kind of Government was among the Britains in those days, gives us a great Light from whence this ancient City originally had her privileges. And it is another gross and notorious Error for any to affirm, that such Charters of this famous City of London as were granted to the Citizens or Barons of London, proceeded from the more Will, Pleasure and Kindness of the ancient Kings of England: For whosoever will please to inspect with any Considerateness and Care the ancient Records and Historians of the Kingdom as to this point, may easily satisfy himself, that there is no material Clause in any of the Charters of the City of London but what hath cost the Citizens many thousands of Pounds; and I dare be bold to say, there is not one Subject in all the King's Dominions who hath purchased and paid so dear for his particular Estate by half as the Citizens of London have done for the several Grants and Confirmations of their chargeable Liberties and privileges. It would be endless to file a particular Account of the many vast Sums of money which has been paid to the Crown by the City for their several Grants and Confirmations; I shall therefore forbear such an Enlargement, and content myself with giving you a few Instances in the more early Times. 1. In the 9th of Richard the 1st, Ex Rotul. in Scac. the Citizens gave one thousand five hundred Marks pro Libertatibus suis conservandis. 2. 4 Johan. in Scac. reman●n. In the Reign of King John they paid three thousand Marks pro habenda confirmatione Regis de Libertatibus suis, which was a very great Sum in those Times. 3. In 2 H. 3. MS. penès Domin. Sam. Baldwin. Serviend. Dom. Reg. ad Leg. MS. penes Jo. Cook Gen. de Interiori Templo. M.S. Statutor. penes Guil. Petyt. Ar. de interiori Templo. Rast. Stat. f. 1. a. c. 9. they paid Quintamdecimam partem omnium Bonorum svorum mobilium, a fifteenth part of all their movable Goods, Ut Civitas London, habeat omnes Libertates antiquas & liberas Consuetudines suas, That the City of London might have all her ancient Liberties and free Customs. 4. In 9 H. 3. They paid another fifteenth of all their movables, that London should have all the old Liberties and Customs which it had been used to have. 5. In the 36th H. 3. The King granted Civibus London. In MS in Archi●●s London. omnes Libertates suas Leges & Consuetudines & quas etiam habuerunt tempore Regis Henrici Primi usitatas & non usitatas: for which their Rent was increased septem Libras Sterlingorum per Annum, and they then paid to the King five hundred Marks pro Charta illa habenda; no small Sum in that Age. 6. In 50 H. 3. Stow's Annals fol. 199. 1 Coll. Liber de Antiquis Legibus in Archiv. London. there were twenty thousand Marks paid for a further Confirmation of their Liberties; not to instance in the many illegal Impositions, Tallages, and Taxes, which that ungovernable King laid upon the City, notwithstanding so many of his Solemn and Sacred Oaths for the inviolable Observation of Magna Charta. I shall now proceed to show from Charters the privileges that the Citizens of London had to choose their Officers, particularly Sheriffs; and I shall begin with, 1. William the First, commonly called the Conqueror, who did confirm the Ancient Liberties of the City, Stwo's Survey of London. fol. 740. and by one Charter demised and granted to the Citizens of London, the said City, and the Sherifwick thereof; and afterwards confirmed the same * That there were Parliaments in William the 1st's time, see Argumentum Anti-Normanicum, proving from ancient Histories and Records, that William Duke of Normandy made no absolute Conquest of England by the Sword, in the sense of our Modern Writers, printed, 1682. in Parliament. For the words of the Record are, † Lib. K. in Archiv. London. Auctoritate Parliamenti Willielmus dimisit tunc Civibus London. totam dictam Civitatem & Vice-Comitatum London. cum omnibus Appendiciis, &c. 2. As to the Sherifwick of Middlesex, Henry the First, Son to this William the Conqueror, confirmed the Liberties of the City of London, and granted to them, their Heirs and Successors for ever the Sherifwick of Middlesex at the Farm of three hundred Pounds per Annum, Ita quod ipsi Cives ponent Vice-Comitatum quails volverint de seipsis; so that they should choose what Sheriffs they pleased from among themselves. This was the better to enable the City to keep the Peace; for many Murders, Rapines, Ch●rt. H. 1. per Inspec. 2 H. 5. and villainies being committed in the City, the Offenders would thereupon fly into Middlesex, and the Citizens having no Power or Jurisdiction before in that County, the Offenders by that Means escaped unpunished. 3. Ex MS. Civitatis London. King Stephen by his Magna Charta confirmed( amongst others) the Liberties of the City, which they not only had in the Times of William the Conqueror, Omnes Libertates & bonas Leges quas Hen. Rex Angl. Abvunculus meus eis dedit & concessit & omnes bonas Leg●s, & bonas Consuetudines eis concedo quas habuerunt Tempore R●gis E●wardi. Magna Charta Regis Stephani. William Rufus, and Henry the First, but those they had and enjoyed in the time of Edward the Confessor. Concessit & reddidit, & Chartâ suâ Confirmavit omnes Consuetudines quas R. Hen. 1. eis dedit & concessit libe è, quietè & plenariè te●end. spell. Glos. Diatriba de Magna Charta. fol. 375. In Archivis London. Journ. Seym. fol. 467. 27 H. 8. The great Case between St. Martin le Grand and the City of London. 4. Henry the Second by his Magna Charta did the same, and so did, 5. King Richard the First, his Son, who by his Letters Patents granted to the said Citizens all those their said Customs, and all other Liberties and Free Customs which they had in the time of King Henry, Grandfather to King Henry his Father, whensoever they were best, or most free Customs. 6. King John in the first Year of his Reign, by a Particular Charter, Ex Original. Chart. 1 Johannis. confirmed to the Citizens of London and their Heirs, the free Election of their Mayor and Sheriffs, with a Power to displace and remove the Sheriffs at their own pleasure: the Words are, Quod ipsi de seipsis faciant Vice-Comites quoscunque volverint, & amoveant quando volverint. Charta H. 3. per Inspex. 2 H. 5. 7. Henry the Third by his Charter ratified and confirmed to the Citizens of London and their Heirs the Sherifwicks of London and Middlesex for the ancient Fee-Farm of 300 l. per. Annum, which was the original Rent in Henry the First his time, with the former Clause, Quod ipsi de seipsis, &c. And after the Citizens should present their Sheriffs so chosen by them at the Exchequer. Which said Charters of Hen. 1st, King John, and Henry the Third, have by Inspeximus's been confirmed under the Great-Seal of England, one of the greatest Obligations of the King to the People, by Edw. 1. Edw. 2. Edw. 3. Hen. 4. Hen. 5. Hen. 6. Ed. 4. Rich. 3. Hen. 7. Hen. 8. Ed. 6. Q. Mary, Q. Eliz. King James, King Charles 1. and his Present Majesty. To close this Point, In the memorable Case between the Dean and Chapter of Westminster and the City of London 27 Hen. 8. touching St. Martins le Grand, the City by the deliberate Advice not only of the Recorder and of the City Counsel, but no doubt by the Direction also of other great and eminent Lawyers of England, penned and exhibited the ensuing Articles against the Sanctuary of St. Martin's to the King and Council, as I understand it. Journ. Seym. fol. 467. a. 27 Hen. 8. St. Martins le Grand. Articles declaring for the Mayor and Commonalty of London, that the Enclosure and church of saint Martines le Grande, the messages, Houses, and Lane of saint Martins aforesaid, be of and in the Liberty and Jurisdiction of the said City, and that there be, nor by any lawful mean have been any such privileges and Immunity, the which may or ought to defend all manner of enorm Enemies of God, the church, the King and the realm unpunished, as it hath been of long wrongfully accustomend, and especially to disherit our most dread sovereign Lord and his said City and Chamber of London of such Rights, Jurisdictions, Liberties and free customs as of long time before the Foundation, and at the Foundation of the said church, and ever after peaceably and quietly had used and approved by divers Records by Authority of Parliament, Letters Patents, and otherwise, as followeth. 1. First, They seyen that the City of London is, and since the time of Remembrance of Man, hath been the Chief City of this Realm, and above all other Cities and Towns of the same, as well in Honours, Liberties, and Free Customs highly endowed; and the which Famous City in the time of saint Edward King and Confessor, and long time before, always hath been of itself one hoole County, and one hoole Jurisdiction and Liberty by the said Citizens and their Predecessors, of the King and his progenitors holden at Farm. And the same Citizens then and by all the time aforeseid by reason of their said Jurisdiction and Liberty among others have had Liberties and free Customs to elect and make of themselves yearly certain principal Officers in the said City, which faithfully shudde answer the King's Ferme, and immediately under him the People of the said City, Nota. That all Officers within the City were to answer as well to the Citizens as the King. and others repairing to the same; in Peace, Unity, and Justice shudde govern after their old Laws and Customs. And also to substitute under them other under-Officers and Ministers to help for the Sustentation and Execution of the premises. Thus far only out of the Record. III. The Rights and privileges of the City of London proved from Acts of Parliament. AND that the Rights of this so Famous and Ancient City might be kept inviolable, and remain and flourish to all future Generations. It was the great Wisdom of the Kingdom to fortify it with new carriers against all succeeding attacks and Invasions whatsoever. Apud C. Lambard L. L. Will. Prim. f. 170, c. 55. Ut omnes Lib. Hom. totius Monarchia Regni nostri predict. habeant & teneant Terras suas & Possessiones suas be●è & in place lib. ab omni Exact. injusta, & ab omni Tallagio, ita quod nihil ab e● exigatur vel capiatur nisi Servitium suum liberum quod de jure nobis facere debent & facere teneatur & pront Statut. est eis & illis a nob. dat. & Concess. jure Heredit. in perpet per Commune council. totius Regni nostri predict. I shall pass over the Magna Charta confirmed by the Common Council or Parliament of the Kingdom in the fourth Year of William the First, wherein it was ordained[ That all the Freemen of the whole Kingdom aforesaid, should have and keep their Lands and Possessions well and in Peace, free from all unjust Exactions and Tallage, so that nothing should be exacted or taken from them but their free Services due to him according to Law, given and granted by them to him by Right of Inheritance for ever, and that by the Common Council of the whole Kingdom.] I say, I shall pass over that Charter, and descend to the Great Charter of the Liberties of England granted in King John's time, * Mat. Paris Fol. Ut Civitas Londinensis habeat omnes antiquas Libertates & liberas Consuetudines suas tam per Terras quàm per Aquas; and † Rastall's Stat. Fol. that of Hen. 3. whereby the City was to enjoy all the Old Liberties and Customs which it had been used to have. And it is very observable, that the Magna Charta's of Hen. 1. King Stephen, and Henry the Second, were but as general Confirmations of all the Liberties, good Laws, and ancient Customs of the Kingdom: but Differences happening to arise between King John and the Barons concerning what those Liberties, Laws and ancient Customs, as well of the Crown as of the People, were, that so they might be brought into greater certainty, and receive new force, The Magna Charta of King John was drawn and reduced into more particular and distinct Articles or Chapters, Quam Johannes fideli●èr tenere juravit Rot. Pat. 17. Joh. per unica m. 23. n. 3. which he swore faithfully to keep and observe, and the Barons did him Homage thereupon. And it is a Truth most infallible, notwithstanding the Ignorance( not to say Malice) of several modern Writers, that have industriously employed their Pens to defame those Venerable and Ancient Constitutions of the Kingdom, whereby this last Age has been so much poisoned with their notorious Errors. I say, this Charter of King John, mat. Paris( who was Historiographer Royal to Henry the Third, Son of King John, and who lived in that time) does affirm, did contain ex parte maxima Leges Antiquas & Regni Consuetudines, chiefly the Ancient Laws and Customs of the Realm. And he must be a Man of but an ordinary Capacity and knowledge in the Saxon Laws, and in the Laws of William the 1st, and Henry the 1st, and other ancient Records of the Nation, that will assert the contrary: But if he desires to come to the knowledge of the Truth, for which all Men ought to have the highest Deference and Veneration, and will do himself that Justice to compare the Magna Charta of King John with the above-recited Laws and Charters, he may very easily, for the correcting of his judgement, inform himself, That the Concession and Confirmation of those Laws by King John's Charter were not Leges de novo introductae vel concessae, new upstart Laws enforced upon him by the power of the Barons at Running mead; But they were the avitae Consuetudines & antiquae Leges Anglorum, and to the Observation of which in the general, Vinculo juramenti in die Coronationis suae adstrictus fuit, as we shall show hereafter. spell. Gloss. Diatrib. de Mag. Char. f. 374. This great Charter of King John, which Sir Hen. Spelman calls—( Augustissim. Anglicar. Libertatum diploma & sacra Anchora) was in the general ratified and confirmed in several Parliaments in the Reign of Hen. 3.( and in particular, in the Parliament in the 52 Year of Hen. 3.) after he had conquered and subdued the Barons, and was in the actual Possession of the Entire Regality of the Crown; I say, that then that King did summon a Parliament at Marlborough to provide for the better Estate of the Realm, 52. H. 3. Stat. de Marlb. Preamble. for the more speedy ministration of Justice, as belongeth to the Office of a King, the more discreet Men of the Realm being called together, as well of the higher as of the lower Estate, It was provided, agreed, and ordained, That whereas the Realm of England of late had been disquieted with manifold Troubles and dissensions, for Reformation whereof, Statutes and Laws were right necessary, whereby the Peace and Tranquillity of the People must be observed, amongst other Acts, Ordinances, and Statutes then made, which the King willed to be observed for ever firmly and inviolably of all his Subjects as well high as low, Register. fol. 97. Stat. de Marl. c. 5. 15 Ed. 4. f. 13. Mirror 319. Co. 2 Inst. fol. 108. De Communi Consilio Regni Angliae Provisum fuit, That the Great Charter shall be observed in all his Articles, as well in such as pertain to the King, as to other. And that shall be inquired afore the Justices in Eyre in their Circuits, and afore the Sheriffs in their Counties when need shall be; and Writs shall be freely granted against them that do offend before the King or the Justices of the Bench, or before Justices in Eyre when they come into those parts. Likewise the Charter of the foreste shall be observed in all his Articles, and the Offenders when they be convict shall be grievously punished by our sovereign Lord the King in Form above mentioned. Thus we see the steady and inviolable Observation of this Great Charter( wherein the Article concerning the Liberties and Franchises of the City of London is a main and essential Branch) was thought by this King and his Great and sovereign Council of Parliament very necessary, if not the best and only way to preserve the Peace and Tranquillity of the People of England. And not only that King, but the whole Nation were divers times sworn to the Religious Observation of it, and the Clergy several times in their public Excommunications cursed all such as should violate or infringe any one Article of it. So zealous were our Ancestors to preserve their Liberties from all Encroachments, that they employed all the Strength of Human Policy and Religious Obligations to secure them entire and inviolate. Nor did the Care of preserving this Great Charter, and therein the memorable Liberties and privileges of the City of London, end with that King's Life; But in the several Confirmations of that Charter in the Reign of that mighty Prince Edw. 1. Ror. Stat. 25 E. 1. m. 38. Co. 2. Inst. c. 38. f 76. Magna Charta 28 E. 1. sub magno Sigilio in Archivis land. remanent. by Parliament( in particular in the 25 and 28 Years) the clergies care was as great, and as great were their Excommunications against the Breakers of it: Nay, by a General Canon it was strictly ordained and commanded that the Priests and Confessors when their Penitents came to make Confession to them, Pupilla Oculi fol. 50. cap. 22. De se●tentia lata supper magnam Chartam. should charge their Consciences with the inviolable Observation of, and Obedience to this mighty Law, and therein the Preservation of the Liberties and free Customs of this great Metropolis of the Nation( the City of London) as being an essential part in Magna Charta, as I have said before. Nay, so tender and careful was the Wisdom of Parliament in 34 Ed. 1. That in the Statute de Tallagio non concedendo cap. 4. It was ordained for him and his Successors, viz. Keebl. Stat. cap. 4. fol. 72. Volumus & Concedim. pro nobis & Hered. nostris quòd omnes Cleri & Laici de Regno nostro habeant omnes Leges, Libertates & liberas Consuetudines suas ita liberè & integrè sicut eas aliquo tempore melius & plenius habere consueverunt, & si contra illas quocunque Articulo in praesenti Charta contento Statuta fuerint edita per Nos & Antecessores nostros vel Consuetudines introductae volumus & concedimus quòd hujusmodi Consuetudines & Statuta vacua & nulla sint in perpetuum. All Clerks and Laymen of our Land shall have their Laws, Liberties, and free Customs as largely and wholly as they have used to have the same at any time when they had them best: And if any Statutes have been made by Us or our Ancestors, or any Customs brought in contrary to them, or any manner of Article contained in this present Charter, We will and grant that such manner of Statutes and Customs shall be voided and frustrate for evermore. Co. 2 Instit. f. 534. This containeth( as my Lord Chief Justice Cook observes) a Restitution general to the Subjects of all their Laws, Liberties, and free Customs, as freely and wholly as at any time before, in the better and fuller manner they used to have the same: And this doth not only extend to Magna Charta, and Charta de Foresta, but to all other Laws, Liberties, or Freedoms, and free Customs whatsoever. But to proceed. Rot Claus. 19. H. 2. m. 15. dorso. There having been several Invasions and illegal Proceedings made by the King's Justices and other his Ministers upon the Franchises, Customs and ancient Usages of the City, especially by colour of a Quo Warranto brought against the City 14 E. 2. before Henry de Stanton and others, Justices in Eyre, sitting in the Tower of London, who not only had refused to allow the Citizens some of their Praescriptional Rights, but had fore-judg'd them of others contrary to their ancient Customs. The Commons in Parliament, 19 Edw. 2. petitioned the King, That he would please to let the City enjoy again those Liberties, without having any further Attempts made upon it by his Ministers or Judges: and as the Reason they gave was extraordinary, so likewise was it most true, queen nosire Commune Recovrir est en la dite Citée, because the general Safety of the Kingdom was in that of the said City: To which the King, De assensu Praelatorum Comitum Baronum & aliorum in dicto Parliamento tunc existentium, Answered, queen droit soit fait, That Right should be done them. And indeed it was no wonder that Edw. 2. bore a heavy Hand over the Londoners, Rot. Claus. 35 E. 1. m. 13. dorso. Fit le serement sur le Corps de Dieu & sur less autres relics. since forgetting his Solemn Oath he had made to his Father Edw. 1. upon the Body of God, and upon other relics, in the Parliament 35 of his Reign, That he would never have any thing more to do with pierce Gaveston, a Gascoign or French-man, who had sadly debauched him, for which ( Communi decreto exiliatus) he was banished the Kingdom by Act of Parliament: Walsingham. fol. 93. Yet notwithstanding, scarce was the Breath out of the Body of his Royal Father, but Edward sent for Gaveston, made him Earl of Cornwall, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and gave up the Reins of his Government to be wholly managed by the said pierce Gaveston, after whose Tragical Fall the King resigned himself to be absolutely governed by the pernicious and woeful Counsels of the two Spencers and their complices, of whose usurped Royal Power, their Banishment of the Queen and Prince( afterwards Ed. 3.) their cutting off and murdering so many Noble Men, Walsingham. fol. 93. and others, especially Thomas Earl of Lancaster the King's uncle,( whom E. 1. upon his Death had charged his Son, ut diligeret & faveret) their villainous design totally to destroy the Blood Royal, and other their horrible Destructions, Oppressions, and general Mischiefs, as traitors and Enemies to the King and Realm, as the Records and Historians of those times witness; Knighton Col. 2531. Dugdale Baronagium. so have we the Evidence of the whole Kingdom in the Parliament 1 Ed. 3. which( amongst other things) tells us, That Ed. 2. nothing did, nor would do but as the Spencers and their Party counseled him, were it never so great Wrong. The Answer of Ed. 2. in his Parliament, Anno 19, before mentioned, being not therefore thought a sufficient Guard against the King's Ministers, his Son and Successor, Ed. 3. in the first Year of his Reign, De Assensu Praelatorum, Comitum, Plac. Coronae coram Domino Rege apud Eborac. Term. Statutae Trinitat. 1 E. 3. penes Camerar. in Scaccario remanen. Baronum & totius Communitatis Regni in Parliamento. By the Consent both of the Lords and Commons, did by his Charter in that Parliament grant and confirm, as a perpetual Law, for him and his Heirs for ever, That since In Magna Charta de Libertatibus Angliae, it was contained, That the City of London should have and enjoy Omnes Libertates suas antiquas & Consuetudines suas, All their Ancient Liberties and customs; And because the said Citizens had at the time of the said Charter, Et temporibus Sancti Edwardi Regis & Confessoris & Willielmi Conquestoris & aliorum Progenitorum nostrorum; and in the time of St. Edward the Confessor, and William the Conqueror, and other the Progenitors of the said King, diversas Libertates & Consuetudines tam per Chartas ipsorum Progenitorum quam sine Chartis ex antiqua Consuetudine, he granted and confirmed to the Citizens their Heirs and Successors, that they should enjoy their Liberties and Customs which they not only had by the Charters of those his said Progenitors, but which they enjoyed without Charters by ancient customs. And because those Liberties had been oftentimes impeached, and some of them fore-judged in the tempestuous times of Edw. 2. as before hath been observed, and other preceding Kings, contrary to Magna Charta: therefore both the King, and the Lords and Commons did set a Brand upon such illegal Proceedings, and by their Solemn Act did publicly condemn them as usurpations, to prevent the like in Ages to come; and also put a mark of Infamy upon the Names of Henry de Stanton and his Fellow-Justices, who in the Quo Warranto 14 Ed. 2. refused to do the City Justice. And further, by the same Authority, it was Enacted, Quod pro aliqua Personali Transgressione vel Judicio personali alicujus Ministri eju●dem Civitatis non capiatur Libertas Civitatis illius in manum nostram vel Hered. nostrorum nec Custos in eadem Civitate eâ occasione deputetur said hujusmodi Minister prout qualitas transgressionis requirit, puniatur. That the Liberty of the said City should not be taken into the Hands of Edward the Third, or his Heirs, for any Personal Trespass or judgement of any Minister of the said City; Nor that a Custos should be set over the said City upon any such like Occasion, but the Minister that transgressed, should be punished according to the Quality of his Offence. And when Richard the Second( that unfortunate Prince) endeavoured to shake the ancient Government of the City, as also of the whole Kingdom; for his unlucky Flatterers had so far imposed upon his Understanding, that forgetting his solemn Coronation-Oath, whereby he was bound to govern his Subjects secundum Leges Regni according to the Laws of the Kingdom, not secundum merum Imperium Regis; he often declared, Quod Leges suae erant in Ore suo, Rot. Parl. 1 H. 4. Art. 16. & in Pectore suo, & quod ipse solus posset mutare & condere Leges, that the Laws were in his Mouth and in his Breast, and that he had such a Prerogative that he could make and change Laws when he pleased. The Commons considering the high Consequences which would unavoidably affect the whole Kingdom by the Invasion of the Liberties of the City, they presently took the Alarm, and thereupon petitioned the King. Jones Rep. f. 240. E. Rotulo Parl. tent. apud Westm. die Iunae & prox. ante fest. omnium sanct. RRs. Richar. second. post Conquest. 7o N. 37. Item priont less Communes purgreinder qui eat & nurtur de pai● perenter vos Lieges & pr. come profit queen vos Citenis de Citeè de Lond●e, soient entirem. en ce present Parlement restituz a ever. Franchises & frank Usages & queen il please a vouz. trees dont Signiory devestre grace especiale granter & confirmer as vos did Citeins & alers Successors per voz Leres Patents touts leurs Libertées & Frank. Usages auxi entirement & pleinement come ills ou leurs Predecessors less avoient en temps d'aucune des vòz tresnobles progenitors, ove clause, de licet usi non fuerint vel abusi fuerint, ensemblement ove less Franchises qu'ls on't en especial de vestre trees gracious grant ou confirmencent, nient const●e steautz aucuns estatuz juggements renduz Ordinances, ou Charters faits ou grants einz ces hours a contrary si bien en temps davons de voz dites Progenitors come en le vie, issint come le restraint de leur Libertees & Franks Usages ad en plusours maneres accaunt ces h●ures empirez & arreriz. Pestate de eux, & riens value a come profit du Roilme, & queen touz less vins & Vitailleas si bien pessoners come auters ove lours Vitailles venantz a vostre dite city soient desore enaunt desouz le gouernail & renle deal ' Mair & Aldermannes de la Citèe avaunt did pure less temps esteantz, come auncienement soloient easter & oultre granter queen nul Mair de la dite Citèe desore enavant, ne fair ne soit constreint de faire en vestre exchequer trees doubt seigneur, nailleurs autre serement, mais solment launcien serement use en temps le Roy Edward vestre trees nobleaies( qui Dieux assoil) aucun statute ou Ordinance au contrary ent faitz non obstantz. That for the greater Quiet and maintenance of Peace between his liege People and for common Profit, his Citizens of his City of London should be in the then present Parliament entirely restored to their Franchises and free Usages: And that it might please his most Dread Highness of his special Grace to grant and confirm to his said Citizens, and their Successors, by his Letters Patents, all their Liberties and free Usages, as entirely and fully as they, or their Predecessors enjoyed them in the time of any of his most Noble Progenitors, with the Clause of Licet usi non fuerint vel abusi fuerint; as also with the Franchises which they enjoyed from his most Gracious Grant or Confirmation, notwithstanding any Statutes, Iudgments given, Ordinances or Charters late made or granted to the contrary, as well in the time of any of his said Progenitors, as in his own Reign: Because the Restraint of their Liberties and Frank Usages had several ways before that time impaired and put back their Estates, and was not available to the common Profit of the Realm; and that all the Vintners and victuallers, as well Fishmongers and others with their Victuals, coming to his said City, should be from thenceforward under the Rule and Governance of the Mayor and Aldermen of the aforesaid City for the time being, as anciently they were wont to be. And further to grant that no Mayor of the said City for the future should take, nor be constrained to take, in his Court of Exchequer, any other Oath, but only the ancient Oath used in the time of King Edward his most Noble Grandfather( whom God absolve) any Statute or Ordinance to the contrary thereof made notwithstanding. To which the King answered, ‖ Vid. Cart. Concess. Civibus London. 7 R. 2. & lib. H. in Archivis land. fol. 169. De assensu Praelatorum, Dominorum, Procerum & Magnatum sibi in eodem Parliamento assistentium, Le Roy, le Voet, So it pleaseth the King. H. Knighton Coll. 2740 L. 7. An. Dom. 1392. Walsingham, fol. 347. Notwithstanding all which, a sad Convulsion fell upon the City of LONDON in the sixteenth Year of that King, the occasion of it was this: That King having sent to the City of London to borrow 1000 l. and they refusing, a certain lombard or Banker undertook to lend the same, he having other People's money in his Hands, and lending it without their consent, they fell upon him, and so beat him, that. it even cost him his Life. The King hearing this was extremely enraged, and forthwith summoning a great Council of Peers at Nottingham, Omnes Regai pene majo e●. ( not a standing Privy Council) he acquaints them with the matter, and they advised him presently to kerb the haughty Insolence of the Citizens, Qui omnes infesti Civibus propter diversa● causas consulant. and one of their principal Reasons was, because they were great Favourers and Encouragers of the Lollards,( such as we now call Protestants). Hereupon the Mayor and Sheriffs with several of the Aldermen were committed to the Castle of Windsor, and the rest to other Castles, till the King should otherwise by his said Council determine. And in that Great Council it was Decreed, Domini Temporales Regni cuncti & Episcopi feet omnes, nee non exercitus talis qui merito terrori Londinensium posset esse. Cives de sub Coelo delere. Londinenses ergo in medio Miseriarum subito constituti & velut versati inter eadem & malleum, cum non esset locus excusationis. Decreverunt se potius submittere Regis gratiae, quam succumbere veridicto vel judicio duodenae. that a Custos should be set over the City: Shortly after another Great Council of Peers met at Windsor, where were the Temporal Lords of the whole Kingdom, and almost all the Bishops, and such an Army drawn together as might justly put the Londoners into Terror and Consternation: And here it was designed to blot the Name of a Citizen from under Heaven. But this was frustrated by the Duke of Lancaster, and the Londoners, when they saw there was no way left for them to make their legal Defence, resolved rebus sic stantibus, rather to submit themselves to the King's Mercy than stand to the Verdict and judgement of twelve Men, to be summoned to pass upon them after the new way of proceeding by the Statute of 28 E. 3. cap. 10. and therefore they voluntarily gave the King 10000 l. and so were restored to their ancient Liberties and Customs. But Henry the Fourth, soon after coming to the Crown, this proceeding against the City of London, Caput Regni & Legum( the like whereof never happened from that time to this day, being now 290 Years ago) so startled all other Cities and Burroughs of the Kingdom, that we find the care of succeeding Parliaments was very memorable as to this Point in the Reigns of Hen. 4. Hen. 5. and Hen. 6. and that in the first Article sometimes before, and sometimes after the Confirmation of the Rights, Liberties, Franchises, and Customs of Holy Church, the two great Charters, and those of the Lords and Commons; the Cities and boroughs were always sure to be remembered by them, as you may take notice, if you please to consult these Statutes, 4 Hen. 4. cap. 1. 7 Hen. 4. cap. 1. 9 Hen. 4. cap. 1. 3 Hen. 5. cap. 1. and 2 Hen. 6. cap. 1. I will give you the first of them at large, the others are in effect but repetitions of the same, and therefore I shall only refer you to them for a further Confirmation. 4. Hen. 4. cap. 1. A Confirmation of the Liberties of the Church, and of all Corporations and Persons. FIrst, That Holy Church have all her Liberties and Franchises, and that the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, Keeble's Stat. f. 195. and all the Cities, Buroughs and Towns Franchised, have and enjoy all their Liberties and Franchises which they have had of the Grant of the Progenitors of our said Lord the King, Kings of England, and of the Confirmation of the same our Lord the King, and that the great Charter, and the Charter of the foreste, and all the good Ordinances and Statutes made in the time of our said Lord the King, and in the time of his Progenitors, not repealed, be firmly holden and kept. And for the Honour of Magna Charta, I will conclude this Head with an Act of Parliament thus( cited by Mr. Petyt), viz. Mr. Petyt's Ancient Right of the Commons of England asserted, f. 103 Rot. Parl. 12 Ed. 4. n. Rast. Stat. 12 Ed. 4. cap. 7. That valiant and great Prince Edw. 4. after the overthrow of his Enemies, and peaceful Possession of the Crown, ass●i●ed with the Iudges of England, Arch-Bishops, Abbots, Priors, his Dukes, Earls, Viscounts, and Barons, with the Great Men, or Knights of the Counties, and Commons in full Parliament, hath left this recorded to Posterity; They call this Great Charter the Laudable Statute of Magna Charta, which Statute was made for the great Wealth of this Land; Vpon which Magna Charta, the great Sentence and apostolic Curse by a great number of Bishops was pronounced against the Breakers of the same, and the same Sentence is four times in the Year openly declared, according to the Law of Holy Church, and in affirmance of the said Statute of the said Great Charter divers Statutes have been made and ordained. And great reason certainly they had to put so high a value on that so famous Charter, since the substantial part of the Laws thereof were no less than the great Results, Decrees, and Iudgments ordained by the Prudence and Iustice of the British, Saxon, and Danish Dynasties, founded upon two grand and principal Bases or Pillars LIBERTY and PROPERTY, which like those two brazen ones called Booz and Jachin supporting the Temple of Solomon, upheld the tottering Frame and fabric of our ancient Government, though often by evil Men designed to be overthrown. Preface to Cook's 2 Instit. Moor's Reports fol. 797. per Popham. mat. Paris. 839. A Charter Empta & Redempta, purchased and redeemed with vast Treasure of the Nation, and the Effusion of a Sea of Christian Blood: A Law published and established with fearful Execrations and terrible Curses against the Infringers and Breakers thereof, and all done with that Religious Solemnity, and profound Ceremony, as it may seem inferior only to that of the Commandments of Almighty God, given to the jewish Nation. Thus far Mr. Petyt. From all which 'tis plain, that by Prescription even as high as the Roman Times, 1. London was a famous City and Corporation, Co. 2 I●stit. f. 250. and had Franchises, Liberties and Customs. 2. That those Franchises, Liberties and Customs out-lived the Roman Power, and descended to succeeding Generations. 3. That they flourished under the Saxon Government. And, 4. Were ratified and confirmed by Parliament held in the Reign of William the First. 5. They were confirmed in Parliament by the Magna Charta's of William 1. Hen. 1. King Stephen, Hen. 2. King John, Hen. 3. and Edw. 1. and by particular Acts of Parliament of Ed. 2. Ed. 3. and Rich. 2. and by the general Acts of Parliament of Hen. 4. Hen. 5. Hen. 6. and Ed. 4. and that which is of no small concern, is, The Rights and privileges of the City of London are rendered inviolable by the General Coronation Oaths of the Saxon Kings, by the solemn Oath of William the first, and by the particular Coronation Oaths of William the Second, Henry the first, King Stephen, Richard the first, King John, Henry the third, and Edw. the first, and all succeeding Kings down to this day. I shall not give you the trouble of the several Oaths at large, but only recite to you what principally makes to my point, referring you for the rest to the Books from whence I collect them. To begin with the Oath of the Saxon Kings, The Oath of the Saxon Kings. In vit. Aelfredi mag. f. 62. Dei Ecclesiam ac universum Imperii Populum Christianum vera place fruiturum, omnemque iniquitatem omnibus ordinibus inter dicturum & mandaturum in omnibus Judiciis Justitiam & Miserecordiam. which they took at their Coronation. It was, That they would peaceably govern the Church and the People of their Kingdom, and would forbid all Injustice to all Orders of Men, and that in all Judgments Justice and Mercy should be mingled together. William the Conqueror's Oath just before he was crwoned, was, That he would govern all his Subjects with that prudent Care as became a good King Enact, and Himself keep Right Law,; Promisit se velle cunctum populum sibi subjectum justè ac Regali Providentia regere, rectam Legem statuere & tenere, injustaque judicia penitùs interdicere. Hoved. pars prima fol. 258. l. 14. Quod se modestè erga subjectos ageret, & aequo jure Anglos quô Franco● tractaret. Malmesb. lib. 3. fol. 154. b. lin. 8. and would interdict to the utmost of his Power, all false Judgments, and that he would govern both the English and the French by the same Equality of Law, without respect to either. William the Second ( in die Coronationis suae) upon his Coronation, as well by himself, Coepit tam per se quam per omnes quos poterat fide Sacramentoque Lanfranco promittere Justitiam, Equitatem & Misericordiam se per totum Regnum, si Rex foret, in omni Negotio observaturum, Pacem, Libertatem, securitat, Ecclesiarum contra omnes defensurum. Eadmer. lib. 1. fol. 13. lin. 51. as by all those whom he could get to pass their Faith for him, promised by Oath to Lanfrank, Archbishop of Canterbury ( if he might be King) that he would observe Justice, Equity and Mercy throughout his whole Kingdom, and that he would stand up in the Defence of the Peace, Liberty and Security of the Church against all Men. B●nas & sanctas omni Populo Leges se servatur. & omnes Oppressiones & iniquitates quae sub frat●e suo em●●serant in omni sua Dominat. ●am in Ecclesiis quàm in Secularibus negotiis prohibiturum & subversurum, spospo●derat●aec omnia ju●is-jurandi interjectione firmata sub monimento Litterarum sig. sui Testimonio roboraturum. Ea. lmer. lib. 3. fol. 55. lin. 44. Henry the First upon his Coronation-day swore before the Clergy and People, that he would keep the good and sacred Laws, and all his People should have the benefit of them, that throughout all his Dominion he would forbid all manner of Oppressions and Injustice, into which the Nation was sunk in his Brother's Reign, as well in matters belonging to the Church, as in those that were secular, and all these things he further corroborated under his own Hand and Seal. Omnes E●actiones Mischingas & Inj●●●itias sieve per 'vice Comites vel alios quossibet m●lè ind●ctus funditùs extirpo, bonas Leges & antiquas & justas Consuetudinis in Mu●dris & Plitis & aliis Causis observare vel observari praecipio & constituo. Juravit & vovit, Sacr. Sanct Evang. & plurimorum sanctorum Reliquiis coram eo positis quod rectam Justitiam exercebit in Populo sibi commisso deinde juravit quod Leges malas & Consuetudines perversas si aliquae sint in Regno suo delebit & bonas custodiet. Bromp. 1158. lin. 57. Vid. mat. Paris fol 153. lin. 39. King Stephen, as you may find under his Seal and Charter, concessit & juramento vovit, swore utterly to extirpate all Exactions, Miskennings, and Injustices illegally introduced either by Sheriffs or any other whomsoever; That he would observe himself, and command and cause to be observed the good and ancient Laws and just Customs, in Murders, Pleas, and other Causes. Richard the First, the Oath he took at the high Altar in Westminster-Abby is thus registered in Brompton: He swore and vowed upon the holy Evangelists, and the relics of several Saints, that he would execute upright Justice to his People committed to his care, and that he would abrogate and disannul all Evil Laws and wrongful Customs, if there should be any found within his Kingdom, and that he would observe and maintain those that were good and laudable. Henry the Third swore, That he would likewise, see that upright Justice should be administered to his People committed to his Charge, Quod in Populosibi commisso rectam Justitiam tenebit, quodque Leges malas & iniquas Consuetudines si quae sint in Regno suo delebit & bonas observabit & ab omnibus faciet observa●i. Mat. Paris fol. 289. l. 25. Ego Edw. Filius & Haeres Hen●ici Reg. prositeor, consiteor & promitto coram Deo & angels ejus amodo & deinceps Legem & Justitiam pacemque sacrae Dei Ecclesiae Populoque mihi subjecto sine respectu servare, sicut cum Consilio Fidelium nostrorum invenire poterimus, Pontificibus quoque Ecclesiae Dei condignum & canonic. Honorem exhibere, quae ab Imperatoribus & Regibus Ecclesiae sibi commissis collata sunt inviolabile conservare, Abbatibus & Vasis Divinis congruum honorem secundum Fidelium nostrorum, &c. sicut Deus me adjuvet & sacra Dei Evangelia caetera desiderant. Cam. Brit. Annal. Hybern. f. 800. and that he would abolish and extirpate all bad and wicked Laws and Customs if there should be any found within his Kingdom, and observe the good, and cause all Men else to observe and keep them. Edward the First, his Coronation Oath was thus — Ego Edwardus Filius & Haeres Henrici Regis, &c. I Edward, the Son and Heir of King Henry, do profess, declare and promise before God and his Angels, That from henceforth I will execute Law, Iustice and Peace to the Holy Church of God, and to the People over whom I have the Charge, without any respect, as We shall be able to discern with the Advice of our Parliament; and also to the Priests of God's Holy Church, will exhibit, and pay all befiting and caconical Honour, and inviolably preserve whatsoever hath been conferred upon the Church by Emperors and Kings committed to them, as also to the Abbots and holy Vessels a becoming Honour according to our counsellors, &c. So God me help and his holy Gospel. The rest of the Oath is wanting, but much desired. I shall give you the next Oath at full length, and it is that of Edward the Second. SIRE, Voulez vous granter & guarder & par vostre serment confirmer au People d' Engleterre less Leys & less Custumes a eux granteez par less anciens Roys d' Engleterre voz predecessors droitz & devoutez à Dieu & nomement less Leys less Custumes & less Franchises grantez au clergy & au People par le glorieus Roy saint Edward vostre predecessor. Rot. Claus. 1 E. 2. m. 10. pars unica. Responsio Regis, Jeo less grant & promet. Episcopus, Sire, Garderez vouz à Dieu & saint Eglise, au clergy, & au People Pees, & accord. en Dieu entirement solonc. vostre poer. Responsio Regis, Jeo less Garderai. Episcopus, Sire, freeze vous en toutz voz Jugements ouele & droit Justice & discretion en Mesericord. & Veritè à vostre Poer. Responsio Regis, Jeo less frai. Episcopus, Sire, Granterez vouz à tenir & gardir less Leys & less Custumes droitereles less quells la Communalte de vostre Roiaume avera esleus & less defenderez & afforcerez al honour de Dieu à vostre Poer. Responsio, Jeo less grant & promit. 'Tis true, this is the first Coronation Oath that I meet with upon Record, formally entred; yet I doubt not, had the Records of former Kings been preserved and left to Posterity, but we should have found them much what the same with this. The Monkish Writers, as in this King's Coronation, so in others precedent, give only a summary Account of them, more Historico. And as this Oath is the first complete one I meet with, so for fear least all may not understand it, as it is in its Original Language, I will take the pains to give it them in English, Sire, Will you grant and keep, and by your Oath, confirm to the People of England, the Laws and Customs to them granted by the ancient Kings of England, your lawful and religious Predecessors, and namely the Laws, Customs, and Franchises granted to the Clergy and to the People, by the glorious King Saint Edward, your Predecessor. The King's Answer. I grant, and promise to keep them. The Bishop. Sire, Will you keep Peace and agreement entirely according to your Power, both to God, the Holy Church, the Clergy, and the People? The King's Answer. I will keep it. The Bishop. Sire, Will you, to your Power, cause Law, Justice, and Discretion in Mercy and Truth to be executed in all your Judgments? The King's Answer. I will. The Bishop. Sire, Will you grant to hold and keep the Laws, and rightful Customs, which the Commonalty of your Kingdom have, and to defend and uphold them to the Honour of God so much as in you lies? The King's Answer. I grant and promise so to do. And this done, the King swore to the Observation of what he promised upon the Altar. In Rot. Claus. 1 E. 3. pats prima. m. 24 in dorso. As to the Oath of Edward the 3d, Son and Successor of Edward the 2d, it is entred likewise in French in the like Form. Richard the Second, his Coronation-Oath. The Oath is to be seen in Rot. Claus. 1 R. 2. m. 44. Sacr. Dom. Regis Corporale de concedendo & servando cum sacra Confirmatione Leges & Consuetudines ab antiquis, justis & Deo devotis Regibus Angliae Progenitoribus ipsius Regis Plebi Regni Angliae concessio & praesertim Leges, Consuetudines, & Libertates a gloriosissimo & sanctissimo Rege, Edwardo Clero, Populoque Regni predict. concessis. As to that particular which concerns this Point, is this: That he would confirm and religiously keep the Laws and Customs granted by the ancient, just, and devout Kings of England, the Progenitors of the said King, to the People of the Kingdom of England, and especially the Laws, Customs, and Liberties granted by the most glorious and most holy King Edward to the Clergy and People of the aforesaid Kingdom. But the formal Oath of this King Richard is enrolled in the Parliament Roll of 1 H. 4. N. 16, 17. Which form agrees with that of Edward the Second, and Edward the Third, and the like form as to substance hath been observed even down to our time by all succeeding Kings. Now to imagine that after so much Treasure paid to the Crown by the Citizens of London for their Liberties; after so many Confirmations of them by the Charters of so many Kings of England; and those backed with so many Acts of Parliament; and all further strengthened and corroborated by the Coronation-Oaths of all these Kings: To imagine I say, after all this, that so ancient and Famous a City as London can be destroyed and amnihilated in two or three Terms, after so many Centuries of Years by any Power less than that of Parliament, and become a common Vill as Islington, &c. is so strange a piece of Extravagance, that I wonder how it can ever meet with a favourable Entertainment in the Mind of any, that will give themselves the liberty but of half an hours serious Consideration upon the matter; For I dare be bold to affirm, that there cannot any such President be found, not only, I say against the Rights of this Renowned City of London, but of any other City, or Town Corporate, or other body politic in all Records, Histories, or Law-books to this instant of time. I shall now proceed to acquaint you with the Statute of the 1st of King James, and the Petition of Right, and give you some few Observations deduced from them, and so upon the whole leave every Man to think, or act, as his judgement, Honour, Loyalty, and Conscience shall best direct and influence him. It was the Solemn Declaration of King James, and that confirmed by the greatest Authority of the Kingdom, himself being present in Parliament. That to alter or innovate the fundamental and ancient Laws, privileges, and good Customs of this Kingdom, Parl. Stat. 1 Jac. c. 2. whereby not only the Royal Authority, but the People's security of Lands, Livings, and privileges both in general and particular are preserved and maintained: He said, To alter them, it was impossible, but that present Confusion should fall upon the whole State and Frame of this Kingdom. And in the Declaration of divers Rights and privileges of the People in the third Year of King Charles the First, Petition of Right, 3 Car. 1. that glorious Martyr; It is declared, That the Subjects ought to be governed by the Laws and free Customs of the Realm, and that no Offender of what kind soever is exempted from the Proceedings to be used, and Punishments to be inflicted by the Laws and Statutes of this Realm; and that all the King's Officers and Ministers should serve him according to the Laws, and Statutes of the Realm, as they tendered the Honour of his Majesty, and the Prosperity of his Kingdom. And thus have we in short, seen the Force and Power of the sacred Coronation-Oaths both of the Saxon, Norman and English Kings, and delivered the great judgement of King James, and his present Majesty's most Blessed Father, That there are fundamental and ancient Laws and Customs of the Kingdom, whereby both the Royal Authority, and the People's Security of their Lives and Estates, both in general and particular, have been preserved and maintained, which whensoever invaded, it was impossible but that a dreadful Desolation should fall upon the whole Kingdom. Thus have we seen that the Subjects of England ought to be governed by the Laws and free Customs thereof, and that all the King's Ministers ought to make the Laws and Statutes of the Realm the measure of their Actions, and if they do contrary to them, they are not to be exempted from due Punishments; and that these are fundamental Principles of the English Monarchy, I shall beg the Reader's Favour to present him with some few Instances. The Lawyers say, and that most justly, That he Law of England is founded upon Reason: We have had many Kings endowed with excellent Science, but( as my Lord Cook says of King James) Not learned in the Laws of the Realm of England; Cook's 12. Rep. f. 65. and Causes which concern the Life, or Inheritance, or Goods, or Fortunes of the Subject, they are not to be decided by Natural Reason, but by the Artificial Reason and judgement of Law, which Law is an Act which requires long Study and Experience before that a Man can attain to the Cognizance of it, and the Law is the golden Met-wand and Measure to try the Causes of the Subjects, and which protects the King in Safety and Peace. From this Consideration proceeds the Rule of Law, (a) Le Roi ne serra conclude à m●nstre ou à di●e le verity mes le lay adjudgera luy pl istost. d'estre deceive Cook's 1 Rep. f 43 a. That the King in pleading, shall not be concluded to show or to say the Truth, but the Law judges him very often to be deceived. (b) Le Roy ne ●oit fair ●ort, ne son Prerogative voet●●estre asc. un garruntie à lui de fair inju●ie al autre, Altonwood's Case. 1 Rep. f. 44. b. Vid. ploughed. come. f. 247. a. The King can do no Wrong, neither will his Prerogative be any Warrant to Him to do any Injury to another. Est le duty de Subjects a v●ier queen le Roy soit verement enformè, Car le Roy ad le Charge deal Bien public & pure ceo ne poet intend. ses private besoignes, & less grants queen il fait, il fait come Roi & il doit easter issint instruct queen son purpose & intent. prendra effect. Cook's 1 Rep. fol. 52. a. It being the duty of Subjects to see that the King be truly informed, for he hath the Charge of the Publick-Weal, and therefore he cannot attend his private Businesses, and the Grants that he makes, he makes as King, and therefore as King, he ought to be so instructed that his Purpose and Intent should take Effect. If he makes a Charter, de gratia speciali, certa Scientia & mero motu, Idem fol. 53. a. and that is solemnly confirmed under the Great Seal of England, yet those Clauses, Non valent in illis in quibus praesumitur, Principem esse ignorantem, are of no force, as to those things in which it is presumed that the King is ignorant, and therefore the Courts of Westminster-Hall, notwithstanding such Charter so solemnly made and ratified, when it appears that the King was deceived in Law, have adjudged them to be voided: And in the great Case of 28 H. 8. in Parliament, when the Bishops of Salisbury and Worcester, being two Foreigners, were deprived of their bishoprics, it was declared by Act of Parliament, Act Parl. 28. H. 8. n. 28. That the King having no knowledge nor other due Information or Instruction of the Statute of Provisors, had, contrary to those Statutes, nominated and preferred laurence Campegius and one jerome to those Sees. In the Message sent by Ed. 6. and his Council, Fox's Martyrol. 2 vol. p. 668. 1 Col. to the Rebels in Devonshire, The Council tell them that the six Articles were taken away by Parliament; Dare then, say they, any of you with the name of a Subject, stand against an Act of Parliament, a Law of the whole Realm? What is our Power, if Laws should be thus neglected; yea, what is your Surety, if Laws be not kept? Stephen gardener Bishop of Winchester, Id. in eodem volume, fol. 2. col. 1. in his Letter to the Lord Protector, the Duke of Somerset, in Edw. 6. time, writes thus: Now whether the King may command against an Act of Parliament, and what danger they may fall in that break a Law with the King's Consent, I dare say, no Man alive at this day hath had more experience, what the Judges and Lawyers have said, than I. 1. I had Experience in my old Master the Lord Cardinal, who obtained his Legacy by our late sovereign Lord's Request at Rome, and in his Sight and knowledge occupied the same with his two Crosses and Maces born before him many Years, yet because it was against the Laws of the Realm, the Judges concluded the Offence of the Praemunire. For which when he was indicted in the King's Bench, Dr. Burnet's Reform. 1 Vol. fol. 80. Anno 1529. Fox Vol. 2. fol. 253. col. 2. though he pleaded his Ignorance of the Statute of Praemunire, yet that would not help him, but he was forced to submit himself to the Law, whereupon it was declared in a great Council convened at Windsor by all the Lords, and other the King's Council, that he was out of the King's Protection, that he had forfeited his Goods and Chattels, and that his Person might be seized on. And notwithstanding his Allowance made by the King of his Legantine Power, to which the whole Clergy of England, knowing the King's declared Pleasure therein, submitted; yet they were all indicted in a Praemunire in the King's Bench, for that Submission, though by the King's Consent, to the illegal Power of the Legate, and thereby breaking the Statutes against Provisions or Provisors: nay, it appears in the Rolls that several Commissions were granted under the Great Seal in Supportation of that Authority, but all in vain: The King could do no wrong, he was misconusant of the Law, nor had he power of himself to alter, suspend, or repeal it, and therefore it was in vain for the Clergy to pretend it was a public and an allowed Error, and that the King had not only connived at the Cardinal's Proceedings, but had made him all the while his chief Minister, Dr. Burnet's 1 Vol. fol. 112, 113. Anno. 1531. 30 H. 8. that therefore they were excusable in submitting to an Authority to which the King gave so great encouragement, and that if they had done otherwise, they had been unavoidably ruined. But it was answered, that the Laws were still in force, and that their Ignorance could not excuse them, since they ought to have known the Law; yet since the Violation of it was so public, tho the Court proceeded to a Sentence that they were all out of the King's Protection, and were liable to the Pains in the Statute, the King was willing upon a reasonable Composition, and a full submission, to Pardon them: but before that was done, they were forced in the Convocation to acknowledge the King supreme Head of the Church, and the Province of Canterbury to pay 100000 l. in lieu of all Punishments which they had incurred by going against the Statutes of Provisors, and the Province of York 18840 l. with another Submission of the same nature, and so 〈◇〉 had a general Pardon confirmed by Act of Parliament. From all which, it may be observed how careful the King's Ministers ought to be in preserving and keeping inviolable the sacred Coronation-Oaths of their Princes, with which by Law they are in a special manner entrusted; and when they have forgot the duty of their own Oath and Office, it is the Happiness and Safety of both Prince and People, that in all Ages there hath still been a Court sovereign to call them to a strict and severe Account, and to make them memorable Examples, not only to the present, but to all future Generations. I shall pass over the Punishment upon the Justices in King Alfred's time( which you may red at your leisure in the Miror of Justice) and shall come to the nearer Times of our own Norman and English King's and I'll begin with, Horn. Miror of Justice, p. 239, 240. 241, 243, 244. 1. One Ralph Flambard in the Reign of William the Second, who was a Man of a mean Extraction, being the Son of Turstin, a common secular Priest of Bayon in France, who by infamous Flattery and crafty Accusations, got himself advanced to the bishopric of Durham, Treasurer of England, and premier Minister of State, of whose execrable villainies both Malmesbury, Ordericus Vitali, and Matthew Paris, Malmesb. fol. 88. Order. Vital. f 6●8. mat. Paris. fol. 56. give a large Account( to whom because I design brevity, I will refer the Reader) at last this Flambard, ad omne scelus paratus, a Man dextrous in all Wickedness and villainy, was in Parliament 1 Hen. 1. Parl. 1 H. 1. Communi Concilio Gentis Anglorum. impeached, and by the Common Council of England committed to the Tower, from whence Custodibus suis pecunia corruptis, by corrupting his Keepers he slipped Coller, made his Escape and fled into Normandy. 2. Henricus de Bathonia in the 34 H. 3. was one of the Iustices of the Common Pleas, and Conciliarius specialis Regis, a Man very learned in the Laws of the Land, mat. Paris. f. 811, 814, 820. he was accused for being Domini Regis subdolus subplantor in Officio Justiciariae sibi Commisso, Stimulatus ac voluntarius adeo turpibus, per fas & nefas, emolumentis inhiabat, ut in una sola itineratione plus, ut dicebatur, quàm ducentas libratas terrae sibi appropriaret. a cunning Supplantor of his sovereign Lord the King in his Office of Justiciar committed to him, and that by natural Inclination he was, right or wrong, so gaping after Bribery and Corruption, that in one bare Journey of a Circuit it was reported he appropriated to himself above 200 pounds worth of Land,( no mean Sum in that Age) and the King reputans causam hanc crimen Lesae Majestatis, looking upon him for this no less than guilty of high Treason, he was in the Parliament following impeached at the svit of the King, charging him among other things, Imponens eidem inter caetera quod totum Regnum perturbavit & Barnagium universum contra ipsum Regem exasperavit, unde seditio generalis imminebat. that he was a Disturber and an Aggrievor of the whole Kingdom, and that he stirred up the whole Parliament against him, by reason whereof a general Sedition might very likely have ensued. I find no judgement given, but this is certain, that the King was so enraged against him, that he openly declared, Ut siquis Henricum de Barthonia occideret, quietus sit à morte ejus, & quietum eum protestor, that if any body would but kill this Henry de Barthonia, he should be discharged of his Death, and secured by the King; but at last, pro duabus millibus marcarum, plene reconciliatus fuit, a good round Fine got his Pardon, and he was fully reconciled to the King. 3. Judicium redditum versùs Justiciarios & alios Ministros Dom. Regis in Parliamento 18 E. 1. The memorable judgement that was given in the Parliament of 18 Ed. 1. against the Iusticiars and others of the King's Ministers for their intolerable Injuries and Oppressions committed both on Church and State, contrary to the Great Charters so many times purchased and redeemed, granted and confirmed to the Subjects by the several Oaths of Ed. 1, Hen. 3. and King John, and corroborated by the dreadful thundering out of the Sentence of Excommunication against the Invaders of the Common Liberties of England contained in them; that those Criminals had subtly and maliciously by divers Arguments of Covetousness and intolerable Pride, incited the King against his faithful Subjects, and counseled him, contrary to the good and wholesome Advice of his Parliaments, and had not been afraid impudently to assert and prefer their own foolish Counsels, as if they were more fit to consult about, and to preserve the Common-Wealth, than all the Estates of the Kingdom assembled together; that they had troubled the Land, Ex Chron. ab An. 1272. 1 Ed. 1 ad An. 1317. 10 Ed. 2. m. 8. The Secu●ity of English Men's Lives, or the Trust, Power, and Duty of the Grand-Jury of England. pag. 156. to the End. and disturbed the Nation, grievously oppressed the People, and under pretence of expounding the ancient Laws had introduced new and evil Customs; so that through the Ignorance of some, and Partiality of others( who either for reward, or for fear of great Men had been engaged) there was no certainty in the Law, that they scorned to administer Justice to the People; they cast into Prison many of the King's faithful Subjects, like Slaves, for no real fault in the World; where, with Grief, Hunger, or the excessive weight and burden of their Chains, they died; they extorted at their Pleasure infinite Sums of money for their Ransoms, by reason whereof they contracted the irreconcilable Hatred, and dreadful Imprecations of all Men, as if they had obtained such an incommunicable privilege by the detestable Charter of Non obstante, That they might at their own Lust be free from all Laws both human and divine; at last, notwithstanding some of them absconded, yet by judgement of Parliament, all( except John Mettingham and Elias Beckingham, who are name for their Honour) were condemned, some to Imprisonment, others to Banishment, or Confiscation of their Estates, and none escaped without grievous Fines, and the loss of their Offices. Cook's 3 Instit. fol. 223. Rot. Parl. Anno 24 E. 3. p. 3. m 2. dorso. Rot. Pat. An. 25. E. 3. p. 1. m. 7. Quia praedictus Willielmus de Thorp Sacramentum Domini Regis quod erga Populum habuit custodiendum fregit maliciosè, fal●è, & rebellitèr in quantum in ipso fuit, & ex causis supradictis per ipsum Willielmum( ut praedictum est) expressè cognitis suspendatur. Et quod omnia Terrae & Tenemeta, Bona & Catalla sua Domino Regiremaneant forisfacta. 4. In the 24 E. 3. Sir William Thorpe, Chief Justice of the King's Bench, was indicted before the Iustices of Oyer and Terminer, and found guilty, and afterwards the judgement was confirmed in Parliament, which was, That this Sir William having maliciously and falsely, and rebelliously, as much as in him lay, broken the King's Oath which he had the keeping of towards the People, he was adjudged to be hanged, but afterwards paying a great Fine to the King, he procured his Pardon. 5. The last Instance I shall give, is the Case of Sir Richard Empson, who was a Lawyer, and Privy-Counsellour to Hen. 7. he was indicted in the first Year of King Henry the 8th, Anderson's I Rep. Case 201. fol. 156, 157, 158. Deum prae Oculis non habens. Ut Filius Diabolicus. Ut ipse magis singulates favores dicti nuper Regis adhiber. unde magnat. fieri potuisset, ac totum Regnum Angliae secundum ejus Voluntatem gubernaret. f. 156. Fal●ò, deceptive, & proditory, Legem Angliae subveriens, diversos Ligeosi, sius nuper Regis ex sua falsa covina & subtle. ingenio contra communem Legem Regni Angliae de diversis Feloniis, Murdris, & aliis Artic. & Ossen. per ipsum Rich. tunc supposit. indict. fecit ac indict. procuravit, abbetavit & excitavit. That he not having the the Fear of God before his Eyes, but like a Child of the Devil subtly designing the Honour, Dignity, and Prosperity of the late King, as also the Prosperity of his Kingdom of England to destroy and that he might accumulate to himself the particular Grace and Favour of the said late King, that he might be made a great Man and govern the whole Kingdom of; England according to his Will and Pleasure, falsely, deceitfully, and traitorously subverting the Law of England, of his own covin and subtle Inventions did cause, procure, abet and stir up several of the King's liege People to be indicted for divers Felonies, Murders, and other Offences which he contrived, contrary to the Law of the Land: and when they were so indicted, he committed them to Prison without any Process of Law, as to the Fleet, Counter, and the Tower of London, there to remain at his will, until they had paid divers great Fines and Ransoms for his own profit in Subversion of the Law, the great Damage and Impoverishment of the Subjects, by reason whereof the People being miserable harassed and oppressed with such his Exactions, did murmur and repined against the late King, Per quod plures & diversi populi dicti nuper Reg●s hijs gravaminibus & indebitis exactionibus multiplicitèr torquebantur in taunt. quod Populi dicti nuper Regis versus i●sum nuper Regem multiplicitèr murmurabant & malignabant in magnum periculum ipsius nuper Regis Regni sui Angliae ac ad subversionem Legum & Consuetudinum ejusdem Regni. to the manifest Danger of the said King and the Kingdom, and to the utter Subversion of the good Laws and Customs of the Realm; whereof being found guilty, judgement of Death passed upon him, * Speed's Chron. fol. 903. N. 3. and he was accordingly executed. The Consideration of some of the forementioned Presidents, and others, Anderson's 1o Rep. ib. printed in my Lord Chief Justice Anderson's Reports, were allowed to be sufficient Reasons and Authorities by Queen Elizabeth, why the Judges of the Common Pleas, refused to admit and comply with certain illegal Letters Patents which She had sent to them on the behalf of her Servant, one Richard Cavendish; they confess, ills doient confessè queen ills ne on't performé less Commandments; mes ills disoint queen ceo ne'st ascun offence ou contempt à sa majesty pure ceo queen less Commandments fuerunt encounter ●le Lev de Terr. Enquex Cases fuit did queen nul est lie de obeyer tiel Commandment. fol. 155. That they had not obeied the Queen's Commandment therein, nor could they; But they said, that it was no Offence nor in Contempt to her Majesty, because those Commands were contrary to the Law of the Land In which Cases it was said, That no Man is bound to obey such Commands and further they said, that the Queen her self was sworn, and had taken an Oath to keep the Laws, and so likewise had the Iudges to break which voluntarily, as to what concerned the Iudges, they answered, that if they had obeied those Commands, they should do otherwise than what the Law could warrant them in; nay, directly against the Law, which would be contrary to the Oath they all had solemnly taken, in Offence to God, to her Majesty, to their Country, and Common Weal, in which they were born and had been bread; and if the Fear of God did not restrain them, yet the dreadful Examples of others, and the Punishments of such who had before offended against the Laws, would remember them, and keep them from doing any such thing, and for that the Queen and the Iudges were sworn, therefore they would not act according to her Letters Patens.;;; The Solemnity of the Proceedings in this case was very great, and memorable. 1. The Queen commanded the Lord chancellor, Fol. 154. Sir Christopher Wray, the Chief Justice of the King's Bench, and the Master of the Rolls to hear the Reasons of the Judges. 2. Those Iudges were the Lord Anderson, Mr. Justice Mead, Mr. Justice Windham, and Mr. Justice Periam, Men that were religious to the Church, loyal to the Queen and of excellent judgement, Gravity, and Wisdom in their Professions. 3. The Lord chancellor having heard their Reasons, allowed of the Matters, and gave his Approbation of them. 4. He having acquainted her Majesty with them, the Book says, She readily accepted of them. And now to draw to a Conclusion. The CONCLUSION. 'TIS said, The King can do no Wrong, as I have before observed, and it is upon a great Reason of Law that it is so said; for the Wisdom of the Law hath provided a Council to advice and direct him for the better Preservation and Observance of his Coronation Oath. Does the King resolve to declare his Will and Pleasure by his Charter? The Law hath taken care that the Secretary of State, the Masters of Request, the attorney General, the clerk of the Signet, the Clerk of the Privy Seal, and the Lord Keeper, or chancellor of England, Ryley's Plac. Parl. fol. 317. q'bien & loiaument Conseillerer le Roy solonc vostre seu & vostre petar. successively, shall all have the Perusal and Examination thereof, who by their Oaths are obliged well and legally to council the King according to their knowledge and their Power, and if any of these( who generally were Lawyers) did misguide the King in Point of Law, they were answerable therefore in the supreme Court of the Kingdom; I know very well, that in the Modern Oaths translated into English, the word Loiaument, is rendered Truly, and tho I agree that it is the Duty of every Man in his Place and Office Truly to advice and serve the King; yet Loiaument legally to council him, is a word of higher Import, and larger Extent than the other, by how much he stands bound to make his Advice to be agreeable to the Rules of Law, and not the more Will and Pleasure of his Prince; and indeed no Man can be said Truly to serve the King, but he that serves him Loiaument, according to the known Law, and that Man is the only truly loyal Subject. For Bracton that famous judge, in Henry the Third's time, had delivered it as a perpetual Rule both of Law and Truth; Lex facit Regem, & quia per Legem factus est, Rex attr●●●at ei, viz. Dominationem & Potestatem, & dignum est quod per ipsum tueatur Lex cvi Honorem tribuit & Potestatem. Bracton lib. 1. cap. 8. f. 5. It being the greatest Honour and privilege of a King to rule his Subjects according to Law. Seneca( a wise Man, Tutor to an Emperor, Sen. de Benef. and one that well understood what he wrote) broke forth into this passionate Interrogation, Quid omnia possidentibus dost? ille qui verum dicat; what thing only do they want who possess all things? even( answers he) a Person that will speak down-right Truth, and give them honest Advertisements; and therefore the Lord chancellor Bacon, among many other his excellent councils to the late Duke of Bucks, urgeth this following Document, Caballa of Letters fol. 41. with a warmer Zeal than ordinary. In respect of the King your Master,( saith he) you must be wary that you give him true Information and if the matter concern him in his Government, that you do not flatter him, if you do, you are as great a Traitor in the Court of Heaven, as he that draws his Sword against him.; King James gives these sort of Persons no better Names, In his Speech to the Parliament, 1609, his Works, fol. 531. than those of Vipers and Pests to their Prince and the Common Wealth; and that Glorious Martyr, King Charles the First, resembles them to base Flies which hang upon prosperous Princes, 〈◇〉, Meditat. 27. Parag. 4. as on Summer Fruits, but Adversity( saith he) like could Weather, drives them away. In fine, it is, and hath been an eternal maxim of Truth in the Common Laws of England— And that grounded upon no less Authority than the Divine Law of Almighty God, Et coment queen le Roi ad moults Prerogatives per le Common lay touchansa person ses Biens ses dets Duties & autres chooses personal, uncore le Common lay adtielment ad measure ses Prerogatives queen ills ne tolerount ne praejudicaront le Inheritance de ascun. Plowden come. fol. 236. a. That the Law of the Kingdom hath so admeasured and assertained the Prerogative of our Kings, That it will not suffer or permit them to prejudice or wrong the Inheritance of any of their Subjects. And of this Opinion and judgement was his late Majesty of blessed memory, King Charles the First, hu Declaration to all his loving Subjects, published with the Advice of his Privy-Council, exact Collections of Declarations, pag. 28, 29. when he so solemnly declared and published to all the World, That the Law is the Inheritance of every Subject, and the only Security he can have for his Life, or Estate, and the which being neglected or disesteemed( under what specious show soever) a great measure of Infelicity, if not an irreparable Confusion must without doubt fall upon them. Therefore the main thing, next to Religion, 〈◇〉. 27. Medit. on which a princes Prosperity will depend and move, is that of Civil Justice, wherein the settled Laws of these Kingdoms are the most excellent Rules a Prince can govern by; which by an admirable Temperament, give very much to Subjects Industry, Liberty, and happiness, and yet reserve enough to the Majesty, and Prerogative of any King, who owns his People as Subjects, not as Slaves; whose Subjection, as it preserves their Property, Peace, and Safety, so it will never diminish a princes Rights, nor their ingenuous Liberties; which consists in the Enjoyment of the Fruits of their Industry, and the Benefit of those Laws, to which themselves have consented. The King's Prerogative( says this incomparable Prince a little after) is best shewed and exercised, in remitting, rather than exacting the Rigor of the Laws; there being nothing worse than legal Tyranny. Where the word of a King is, there is Power, saith the Holy Scripture, which gives great weight and sanction to what this King of blessed Memory hath here in the same Meditation recommended, nor can I better tell how to conclude than with so sacred an Authority, which he prescribes as another Rule and maxim to his present Majesty, and which as it was there particularly directed to him, so it ought to be written by no less than a Sun Beam to enlighten both the Princes of this Age, and all succeeding Generations: his Words are these, Never repose so much upon any Man's single council, Fidelity, and Discretion in managing Affairs of the first Magnitude,( that is, matters of Religion and Justice) as to create in yourself, or others a diffidence of your own judgement, which is likely to be always more constant and impartial to the Interest of your Crown and Kingdom than any Man's. Next beware of exasperating any Factions by the Crossness and Asperity of some Men's Passions, Humours or private Opinions employed by you. The more conscious you shall be to your own Merits, upon your People, the more prove you will be to expect all Love and Loyalty from them; and inflict no Punishment upon them for former Miscarriages; you will have more inward Complacency in pardoning one, than in punishing a thousand. Nor would I have you to entertain any Aversation, or dislike of Parliaments, which in their right Constitution, with Freedom and Honour, will never injure or diminish your Greatness; but will rather be as interchangings of Love, Loyalty and Confidence, between a Prince and his People. POST-SCRIPT. The Oath of the Lord Mayor. YE shall swear, That ye shall well and lawfully serve the King's Majesty in the Office of Mayoralty in the City of London, and the same City ye shall surely and safely keep to the behoof of his Highness, his Heirs, and lawful Successors, and the Profit of the King ye shall do; In all things that to you belongeth, and the Right of the King that to the Crown appertaineth in the same City of London, lawfully ye shall keep. Ye shall not consent to the decrease, ne concealment of the Rights, ne of the Franchises of the King; and where ye shall know the Rights of the King or of the Crown, be it in Lands, or in Rents, Franchises, or Suits concealed or withdrawn, to your Power ye shall do to repeal it; and if you may not, ye shall say it to the King, or to them of his Council, that you wete well say it to the King. Also lawfully and rightfully ye shall entreat the People of your Bailwick, and Right shall ye do to every one, as well to Strangers as others, to poor as to rich, in that belongeth you to do, and that for Highness, ne for Riches, for Gift, ne for Behest, for Favour, ne for Hate, Wrong shall ye do to no Man, ne nothing shall ye take, by which the King shall lose, or Right be disturbed or letted; and good assize shall ye set upon Bread,[ Wine] Ale, Fish, Flesh, Corn, and all other Victuails; Weights and Measures in the same City, ye shall do to be kept, and due Execution do upon the Defaults that thereof shall be found according to all the Statutes thereof made, not repealed, and in all other things that to a Mayor of the City of London belongeth to do, well and lawfully ye shall do and behave you: As God you help. The Oath of an Alderman. YE shall swear, That ye shall well and lawfully serve our sovereign Lord the King in the City of London, in the Office of Alderman, in the Ward of N— wherein ye shall be chosen Alderman, and every other Ward whereof ye shall be chosen Alderman hereafter; and lawfully ye shall entreat the People of the same Ward of such things as to them appertaineth to do, for keeping of the City, and for maintaining of the Peace in the same; and the Laws and Franchises of this City, ye shall keep and maintain, within the City and without, after your wit and power; and attendant ye shall be to maintain the right of Orphans after the Laws and Usages of the same City; and ready ye shall be to come at the Summons and Warning of the Mayor and Ministers of this City for the time being, to speed th'Assises, Pleas, and Judgments of the Hustings, and other needs of this City, if you be not let by the needs of the King, or by some other reasonable Cause; and good and lawful Counsel ye shall give for such things as touch the common Profit of the City; and ye shall sell no manner Victual by retail, as Bread, Ale, Wine, Flesh, ne Fish, by your Apprentices, allows, Servants, ne by any other way, ne Profit shall ye none take of any such manner Victual so sold during your Office. The Secrets of this Court ye shall keep, and not disclose any thing here spoken for the Common-wealth of this City, or that might hurt any Person or Brother of this said Court, unless it be spoken to your Brother, or to any other, which in your Conscience and Discretion ye shall think to be for the Commonwealth of this City; and well and lawfully ye shall behave you in the said Office, and in all other things touching the said City: As God you help. The Oath of the Sheriff. YE shall swear, That ye shall be good and true unto our sovereign Lord the King of England, and unto his Heirs and Successors, and the Franchise of the City of London within and without ye shall save and maintain to your power; and ye shall well and lawfully keep the Shires of London and Middlesex, and th' Offices that to the same Shires appertain to be done well and lawfully ye shall do after your wit and power; and Right ye shall do as well to poor as rich, and good Custom you shall none break, ne evil Custom arrere; and the assize of Bread, Ale, and all other Victuals within the Franchise of this City, and without, well and lawfully ye shall keep, and do to be kept; and the Judgments and Executions of your Court, ye shall not tarry without cause reasonable; ne Right shall you none disturb. The Writs that to you come touching the State and Franchise of this City, you shall not return till you have shewed them to the Mayor and the Council of this City for the time being, and of them have Advisement; and ready you shall be at reasonable warning of the Mayor, for keeping of the Peace, and maintainning the State of this City; and all other things that long to your Office, and the keeping of the said Shires, lawfully you shall do, by you and yours, and the City you shall keep from harm after your Power, and the Shire of Middlesex; ne the Goal of Newgate you shall not let to farm: As God you help. ADDITION. Ye shall also swear, That ye shall freely give all such Rooms and Offices of Serjeants and Yeomen as shall happen to become voided during the time ye shall remain in the Office of Shrievalty, to such apt and able Person or Persons as shall be by you nominated to the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen, and by them admitted, without any money or other Reward to be had, taken, or hoped for in respect thereof, according to the Act of Common Council made and provided in that behalf, the nine and twentieth day of April, in the six and twentieth Year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lady Queen Elizabeth, &c. As God you help. The Oath of the Common Clerk, or Town-Clerk. YE shall swear, That you shall be good and true to our sovereign Lord the King, and to his Heirs and lawful Successors; and the City of London, and the Liberties and Franchises of the same, to your Power ye shall maintain and defend; and the council of the said City ye shall keep, and the Harm of the same ye shall not know, but ye shall open it unto the Mayor and Aldermen of the said City for the time being; and attendant ye shall be upon the Mayor of the said City for the time being; and ready ye shall be at all times to come at the warning of the said Mayor, but yf you be letted about the business of this City, or by some other reasonable cause. Also resiant and dwelling ye shall be within the City during your Office, and all Pleas of Hustings, and all other Pleas and Records that to you belongeth to enter, ye shall truly enrol and enter; and all things that cometh to your keeping, as well Records as other things of the City, ye shall do your diligence safely to keep; ye shall show, ne deliver no Record, nor other Mynument of the City, whereby the City might be hurt, nor no Record that toucheth the Right of any Person, ye shall bide, conceal, ne deny; and good Counsel after your Wit and Power ye shall give in all things touching the weal of this City. Also ye shall keep no Clerk under you, but such as shall be able and admitted by the Mayor and Aldermen of the said City for the time being, and sworn before the said Mayor and Aldermen; nor any such Clerk remove without th'Assent of the said Mayor and Aldermen. Also ye shall swear, That you shall take no Money, Reward, nor Gift of any Person for any matter to be moved, or the which shall hang before the Mayor, Aldermen, or Sheriffs, or before the Mayor of this City of London for the time being. Also ye shall take no manner Money, nor other Reward for any Matter or Cause which shall be moved, or hang in any Court of this City, wherein by reason of your Office, ye shall have any Authority or Power, except only the Fees to your Office of old times due, used and accustomend. Also ye shall bear and pay all manner Taxes and all other Charges to you to be laid within this City, like as Citizens of the same City shall do for their part during your Office; and in all other things to your Office appertaining, well and lawfully ye shall behave you: As God you help. The Oath of the Common sergeant. YE shall swear, That ye shall well and lawfully serve the City of London in the Office of Common sergeant; and the Laws, usages and Franchise of the same City, ye shall keep and defend, within the City and without, after your Wit and Power; and the right of Orphans of this City ye shall pursue, save and maintain; and good and lawful councils ye shall give in all things touching the common profit of this City; and the council of the same City ye shall keep; and the common harm of this City ye shall not know, but you shall after your Power let it, or give it in knowledge to the Council of this City; and attendant ye shall be on the Mayor, Aldermen and Commons, for causes and needs of this City, at all times when ye shall be required and charged, and in all Places where need is, lawfully to show and declare, and attendantly pursue for the common profit of this City. Also ye shall swear, That you shall take no Money, Reward, nor Gift of any Person for any Matter to be moved, the which shall hang before the Mayor, Aldermen or Sheriffs, or before the Mayor of the City of London for the time being. Also ye shall take no manner Money, nor other Reward for any Matter or Cause which shall be moved or hang in any Court of this City, wherein by reason of your Office ye shall have any Authority or Power, except only the Fees to your Office, of old time due, used and accustomend. Also ye shall bear and pay all manner Taxes, and all other Charges to you to be laid within this City, like as Citizens of the same City shall do for their part, during your Office: As God you help. The Oath of them that be of the Common-Council. YE shall swear, That ye shall be true to our sovereign Lord the King, his Heirs and lawful Successors, and readily come when you be summoned to the Common-Council of this City, but yf you be reasonably excused; and good and true council ye shall give in all things touching the Common-Weal of this City after your Wit and Cunning; and that for favour of any Man, ye shall maintain no singular Profit against the common Profit of this City: And after that you be come to the Common Council, ye shall not from thence depart till the Common Council be ended, without a reasonable cause, or else by the Mayor's Licence; and also that all secret things that be spoken or said in the Common Council, the which ought to be kept secret, ye shall in no wise disclose: As God you help. FINIS. The Reader is desired to amend these Errata of the Press, or what other he may meet with. Folio 2. Line 7. for sustinet, red sustine. l. 21. r. solemnly. fol. 5. l. 41. for Vicecomitatum, r. Vicecomites. fol. 16. in Marg. l. 16. r. mischeningas. fol. 20. l. 19. f. he, r. the. in Marg. l. 12. Ascun, r. ascun. fol. 23. l. 1. vitali, r. vitalis. l. 27. and 29. f. Barthonia, r, Bathonia,