A SHORT HISTORICAL ACCOUNT TOUCHING THE Succession of the Crown.  
IN the Heptarchy, there was no fixed Hereditary Right; one King tripping up the heels of another, as he had power, till one got all.  
Afterward no fixed Hereditary Right; for Athelstan, the Great King, was a Bastard; and so were several others; who by their Courage and Policy, got the Crown; so that a Law was made, under the Saxon Monarchy, de Ordinatione Regnam, that directed the Election of Kings, prohibiting Bastards to be Elected.  
Edward the Confessor was not King, Jure haereditario.  
William the First( called the Conqueror) had no Right, but from the peoples Election.  
William Ruffus was Elected against the Right of his Elder Brother.  
Henry the First came in by the same way.  
King Stephen was Elected, a Clero & Populo, and Confirmed by the Pope.  
Henry the Second came in by consent; yet he had no Hereditary Right, for his Mother was Living.  
Richard the First was charged before God and Men, by the Archbishop, upon his Coronation, that he should not presume to take the Crown, unless he resolved faithfully to observe the Laws.  
King John, his Brother, because his Elder Brothers Son was a Foreigner, was Elected a Clero & Populo, and being Divorced from his Wife, by his new Queen he had Henry the Third.  
Henry the Third was Confirmed, and Settled in the Kingdom, by the General Election of the People; and in his Life time, the Nation was sworn to the Succession of Edward the First, before he went to the Holy Land.  
Edward the First being out of England, by the Consent of Lords and Commons was Declared King.  
Edward the Second being misled, and relying too much upon his Favourites, was Depose●, and his Son was Declared King in his Life time.  
Richard the Second, for his evil Government, had the Fate of the Second Edward.  
Henry the Fourth came in by Election of the People, to whom Succeeded Henry the Fifth, and Henry the Sixth, in whose time Richard Duke of York claimed the Crown; and an Act of Parliament was made, that Henry the Sixth should enjoy the Crown for his Life, and the said Duke after him; after which, King Henry raises an Army, by Assistance of Queen and Prince; and at Wakefield, in battle, kills the Duke; for which, 1 Ed. 4. they were all, by Act of Parliament, Attainted of Treason; and one principal Reason thereof, was, for that the Duke being Declared Heir to the Crown, after Henry, by Act of Parliament, they had killed him.  
Edward the Fourth enters the Stage, and leaves Ed. 5. to Succeed, to whom Succeeds Richard the Third, Confirmed King by Act of Parliament, upon Two Reasons: First, That by reason of a Precontract of Edward the Fourth, Edward the Fifth, his Eldest Son, and all his other Children were Bastards. Secondly, For that the Son of the Duke of Clarence, second Brother to Edward the Fourth, had no Right, because the Duke was Attainted of Treason, by a Parliament of Ed. the 4th.  
Henry the Seventh comes in, but had no Title; First, Because Edward the Fourth's Daughter was then living: Secondly, His own Mother, the Countess of Richmond, was then living.  
After him, Henry the Eighth wore the Crown, who could have no Title by the Father; in his time the Succession of the Crown was limited several times, and the whole Nation sworn to the observance.  
Sir Thomas Moor Declared, That the Parliament had a power to bind the Succession, which was Declared to be Law by 13 E●. cap. 1. and made a Praemunire to hold the contrary.  
Edward the Sixth Succeeded, ●ut his Mother was Married to King Henry, while A●● of Cleve, his Wise, was living.  
Queen Mary was Declared a Bastard; and by virtue of an Act of Parliament, of Henry the Eighth, she Succeeded; which Act being Repealed in the First of her Reign, and the Crown being. limited otherwise by Parliament, all the Limitations of the Crown in King Henry the Eighth's Reign were avoided; so that  
Queen Elizabeth, who was Declared a Bastard, by Act of Parliament in Henry the Eighth's time, and limited to Succeed, in another Act in his time, and that Act Repealed by Queen Mary, became Queen in the force of her own Act of Parliament, which Declares her Lawful Queen.  
The Crown was entailed in Richard the seconds time; again, in the time of Henry the Fourth; again, in the time of Henry the Sixth; again, in the time of Edward the Fourth; again, in the time of Richard the Third; again, in the time of Henry the Seventh; thrice in the time of Henry the Eighth.  
And upon the Marriage of Queen Mary to King Philip of Spain, both the Crowns of England and Spain were entailed; whereby it was provided, that of the several Children to be Begotten upon the Queen, one was to have the Crown of England, another Spain, another the Low Countries; the Articles of Marriage to this purpose, were Confirmed by Act of Parliament, and the Pope's Bull.  
So that it was agreed by the States of both Kingdoms, and the Low Countries, and therefore, probably, the Universal Opinion of the great Men of that Age; That Kings and Sovereign Princes, with the consent of their States, ●ad a power to alter and bind the Succession of the Crown; and never denied to be Law till the Reign of King Charles the Second.  
True it is, that this Doctrine doth not go down well with those that do pretend to 
●●●●. 1. ca●. 1.  prerogative, added( as they say) by the Act of Recognition made to King James; and the oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance, which do make so much talk concerning Inheritance and Heirs: But let these Gentlemen consider, that the Act of Recognition made no Law for the future; nor doth the famed across the Statute of 13 Eliz. nor doth it take away the power of the Parliament from over-ruling the Course of the Common Law for after Ages. Nor do the oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy hold forth any such Obligation unto▪ Heirs, otherwise than as supposing them to be Successors, and in that Relation only. And therefore, was no such Allegiance due to Edward the Sixth, Queen Mary, or Queen Eliz. until they were actually possessed of the Crown, 
●5 H. 8. cap. 1. 6●. ●. 11. 1, 2, 2. ●●. 10. 1 ●●. 6. ●●●. 3.  as may appear by the Oath forced by the Statute of H. 8. touching their Succession. Nor did the Law suppose any Treason could be acted against the Heirs of Ed. 6. Queen Mary, or Queen Eliz. until these Heirs were actually possessed of the Crown, and so were Kings and Queens, as by the express words in the several Statutes do appear. Nor did the Recognition, by the Parliament made to Queen Eliz. Declare any engagement to the people to assist, and defend Her and the Heirs of Her Body, otherwise than with this Limitation, being Kings and Queens of this Realm, or by the Statute in that behalf made doth appear. Moreover, had these oaths being otherwise understood, the Crown had by virtue of them been pre-engaged, so as it could never have Descended to Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, or King James, but must have remained to the Heirs of Edward the Sixth for ever.   

LONDON, Printed for Richard Baldwin, in the Year 1689.