His avarice, perhaps, may not be natural, rather enforced by those riotous courses which he is known to support at court, to the destruction of all industry and prowess, for the Persian life is opposite to all parts of vertue, bewitches the understanding with pangs of alteration, laughter to scorn, the old ways and rules of government having actually lost both the Eastern and the Western Empires. It doth, like an evil spirit, whisper in the king's ear, they are never absolute till they take extravagant courses, as if a monarch were the children of will, and no kinne to laws or justice.

Therefore we desire that this disease may reign no longer amongst us, for though the chancellor's own person be but a defluction upon the publick health, yet it falleth upon places of great concernment, and becometh a calenture through all the blood; making him widely act, and others suffer with an implicit faith.

The charge you see, my lords, is a plain charge, yet what is meet for gownmen to open, the House of Commons have appointed some of the long robe to deliver it to your lordships, my profession being only arms, wherefore had in charge the point of honour; neither do the commons hold it according to the franchize, to impeach men upon such crimes as only the extremity of law, or eloquence of an orator, are able to make faults. - This bold wholsom speech, uttered by a gentleman of repute, and one of the Veterani, retired home out of France to follow the business of his country, and make up his last accompte, as all men in time must submit to age, did thoroughly warm the lords, who often want some such fomentations, when businesses are depending between the will of the prince, and the good of the people; it also seemed to reclaim some men, who were almost enticed with hopes of court benediction, to the Duke of Ireland, and the chancellor's party: I observe, in these parliamentary proceedings, the managers of the evidence sought not after men's reputations or estates, neither, as I guess, had an instruction so to do, but only an amends; and though they modestly desired the removall of some few from the king's house, the houses undertook it with a great deal of gravity, tender of the government, not apt to do any thing out of private discontent, which might disparage former establishments; but stood upon the old foundations as the surest maxim of state, never to dislike an institution for the ministerial part, or to judge of things merely by success, since the Aconite hath both a poisonous and a healing faculty; and 'tis only the right application of time and matter, brings good success to the greatest negociations ever were. After the House had been in some whisper with itself, the chancellor recollected his thoughts, and desired leave to speak: it was accordingly granted him, because in those days men evermore underwent quick and speedy trials, unless further respite were petitioned for to better their defences, which likewise was rarely denyed.

The Chancellor's Replie.

My lords, the charge of the commons is an ill influence of that importance to be blasted by the whole mouth of our country, as whosoever cometh to answer, cannot denie he is either guilty or unfortunate. Guilt is of a double nature, 'tis either general or particular guilt; and he that is accused, may safely deny the one, though forced to confess the other. Who is it can say in a heavy visitation, non peccavi contra te, domine? when the man of holy writ, the man after God's own heart, crieth out, I have sinned seven times a day. And sure 'twere presumption in the midst of this affliction, I see hath besieged me round, so to confess I am both guilty and innocent, since no man is bound to accuse himself, or to aggravate ill saviour of his offences; yet happily this specifical charge now exhibited against me, may not reach the next part of my sinnes, it rather borders upon the confines of my weak fraile errors, the symptom of humaine kind, from which none is free, the judge no more than the delinquent, the jaylor than the prisoner, or the accuser, no less than the accused. To the first part of the knight's enforcement, I joyne issue with

him, and deny not, like Prometheus, I have attempted forbidden fire; 'tis true, your lordships do justly conceive I ought to have attended the motion of the starrs, without endeavouring to become (pointing at the lords) one of the constellations; yet, my lords, not as judges, but men full of the same will and affections, consider whether to be admitted into this sphere, were easily to be refused, or rather not heartily to be endeavoured. Transgressions of nature are the common pleas of all offenders.

'Tis not enough for a minister of state to say he knew not what he did, because matter of right should be his rule to protect him from ignorance; and excuse me therefore if I digress to say, I am no less confident of my innocence, than distrustfull of my abilitys to discharge the office and duty of a chancellor, having more skill to guide battles and martial affairs, than process at law; wherefore indeed the late libel justly calleth me the unlearned chancellor. Ask my valiant brother, Sir Richard le Scrope, if these thirty years I have not faithfully served at banner in the king's warrs, passing through many degrees of command? And do your lordships expect a skilful gownman of such a nursery ? My lords, the right of a peer, though never so unproperly seated, is ever more inherent in my blood, and, like the purple fishes' tincture dyed the dog's teeth that bit it, my posterity, I hope, may live to make this House satisfaction for the misdemeanor of so weak an ancestor, and wipe off the blackness of this day, if those seeds can any thing abate these bitter clouds of disfavour; let the dying plead for them that are to live, and the longer lived something extenuate the paines of the sacrifice.

'Tis sayd I have defrauded the king both of lands and monéys, yet I can safely affirm my estate, since the chancellorship was conferred on me, is not much bettered above four thousand marks; too small a proportion, I should think, either to enrich or corrupt the first minister of state, belonging to the crown of England: 'tis true, great sums of treasure have passed through my hands, to several uses good and bad, wherein, may be, I have erred in countenancing some of those frivolous expences; but then likewise consider the great distance between the king and the chiefest of his subjects, for indeed, to flatter my own ambition, I esteem them gods, forgetting they do both err, and dye like

men.

I shall only now plead one thing more, which is, the king has made me his chancellor, and I do thereby represent his person; therefore my suite to your lordships is, I may not answer particularly, but before the king himself, praying, whatever becometh of me, my story, in after ages, will stand like a sea mark in the ocean of greatness, to dissuade men of inferior rank from aspiring so high, nor to shipwrack thus upon every rock of vanity. Your lordships then command, I do answer to the matters of fact objected against me; truly, I am right willing so to be heard, hoping by the help of God and his Saints, to make some good justification. First, Concerning the article they chargeth me with certain bargains and contracts passed between the king and me, to the damage and disherison of the crown, thereupon I speak with the faith of a knight, as well as a liege man, how, never since I was a chancellor, have I purchased any rent or tenement of the king, neither did his grace incline to bestow them upon me till he conferred the earldom of Suf folk, and then no more than one hundred marks a year, out of the customs of Hull, was assigned for my better support; a small proportion, heaven woteth, for such estate as an earldom is this, to the best of my remembrance, was done in shillings, last road towards Scotland, indeed to enable to attend upon his grace there; and had other men from low beginnings got no more, the exchequer would be fuller than it is. Mortimer's vile peace with the Scots was not more exclaimed against, than a poor pension of a hundred marks nor Gaveston, that cost the nobility of England so many bloody wars. Think on them, my lords, when you repine at me; review the glass of those times equalie with the speculation of those, and then tell the age to come which were the days of worst consequence, or the most dangerous ministers of state. And let me further vindicate my master's honour, to affirm boldly, though a spectacle of misery, his reign,

compared with Edward the First, and Edward the Second, if indifferently censured, will be found, perhaps, lesse politique than the first, yet far more candid than the second; besides, 'tis yet a climate any dispassionate subject may quietly live under, without esteeming his prince either defective or tyrannical.

Was I not the king's messenger, employed in the treaty of his marriage? I grant the employment above my merit, yet would not undergoe the perills accompanied that negociation for ten times this estate; the commons accuse of having unjustly gotten what is not enough to support nature, and, were my abilities of that ill influence they are suspected to be, certainly I would have sold my integrity at a dearer rate; but what is sublime in other men, is made despicable; and, for gaining an estate, I am reputed a felon, which getteth some more successfull persons the reputation of industrie. The commission I should have sealed according to my promise in parliament, I well remember the first motion of it, when such a commission was conceived by both Houses, and confess it was a great omission I did not seal it, though to be wise at all times is not the part of every man, neither doth it benefit the parties accused to strive with the extenuation of such faults as are not defensible.

However, consider the bye-deeds of others heretofore, and, I am confident, your lordships will find eminenter negligences have been punished at lower rates; the example likewise of my president in the future, may concern you all. I beg no pardon of this House, that only belongeth to the king; nor strive to out-face this impeachment in liament, wishing only to escape from the malice of my accusers, and the prejudice of my own infirmities.

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Your lordships have now heard the summe of defence, and offences, the matter of fact, proofs, and answers; other crimes of less moment, wherein I am most conscious to myself of being guilty, you do not hear me go about to excuse; only sighed past errors were not to be recalled, they are many; progresse of time may diminish the present ill countenance they bear, then some will pittie me, others take warning by me; but in adversity I see. few ready to stand by me, submitting all to him, who setteth bounds to the sentence of the judge, and the transgressions of the offender.

After these last words, the chancellor made a low reverence to the cloth of state, and retired into the chamberlain's room, where he expected his final sentence; his delivery had gained very much upon the lords, for that it was more generous than learned, yet accurate too, and caused many of the worst nature present enclined towards compassion.'-Translated from a Manuscript History of Richard II., kept in the University Library in Cambridge.

The Earl of Suffolk was committed to the castle of Windsor, from whence he was soon delivered by the king. His sentence was otherwise mild, being neither forfaulted nor degraded, but only amerced in a fine of 20,000 marks, besides the resumption of lands to the amount of L. 1000 yearly, which he had purchased by the benefactions of the crown.

A Speech delivered from the Parliament, by the Lord Thomas de Woodstock, Duke of Glocester, and Thomas de Arundell, Bishop of Ely, To King Richard the II., in the 11th year of his reign, on his absenting himself from his Parliament.

This article refers to the preceding one, being a remembrance by the nobility and commons in the parliament of 1386, upon the king's absenting himself from parliament. It was grounded, according to Hollinshed, upon an old ordinance, by which it was enacted, "That if the king should absent himself forty days, not being sick, and refuse to come to the parliament, without regard to the charges of his people, they may then lawfully return to their homes; and therefore sith he had been absent for a long time, and yet refused to come among them, it was greatly to their discomfort." The argument is here put into a rhetorical shape, probably for the use of Charles I,

SIR,

THE lords, and all the commons of your parliament, have themselves commended to your most excellent majesty, desiring the success of your invincable honour, against the power of your enemies, and most firm bond of peace and love in your heart towards your subjects, for your good God-wards, and the good of your soul, and to the unspeakable comfort of all your people, whom you govern: on whose behalf we intimate these things to you; That it appears to us, (by an antient statute, and by laudable and approved usage, which cannot be deny'd,) that our king can call together the peers of the realm, and the commons, once a year to his parliament, as to the supream court of the whole kingdom, in which all right and justice ought to shine forth without any doubt or stain, as the sun at noon-day, where poor and rich may find an infallible refuge, to enjoy the refreshments of tranquillity and peace, and for repelling of injuries, where also errors in government are to be reformed, and the state and government of king and kingdom treated upon by sage advice, and the destroying and repelling of both intestine and foreign enemies to the king and kingdom, with most convenience and honour, may be debated upon, and provided for; as also in what manner the charges incumbent upon the king and kingdom, may be born with most ease to the commonality. They conceive likewise, that since they bear the incumbent charges, it concerns them to inspect how, and by whom, their goods and chattels are expended. They say also, that it appears to them (by an ancient statute,) that if the king absent himself from his parliament voluntarily, not by reason of sickness, or for any other necessary cause, but through an inordinate will, shall wantonly absent himself by the space of forty days, as not regarding the vexation of his people, and their great expences, it shall then be lawful to all and singular of them, to return to their own homes without the king's leave: and you have now been longer absent, and have refused to come to them, for what cause they know not.

Then, said the king, I now plainly see that my people and the commons design to oppose me with force, and are about to make an insurrection against me: and if I be so infested, I think the best course I can take will be to go to my cousin, the King of France, and ask his advice, and pray in aid of him against those that way-lay me, and rather to submit myself to him, than be foiled by my own subjects. To which they replied, That counsel is not for your good, but will inevitably tend to your ruin; for the King of France is your capital enemy, and the greatest adversary that your kingdom has; and if he should set his foot within your kingdom, he would rather endeavour to prey

upon you, and invade your realm, and to depose you from your royal dignity, than afford you any assistance, if, which God forbid, you should stand in need of his help. Call to mind, therefore, how your grand-father, King Edward the III., and your father, Prince Edward for him, fought indefatigably in sweat and sorrow all their days, and went through innumerable hardships of cold and heat, to acquire the kingdom of France, which by hereditary right appertained to them, and does now to you by succession after them. Remember, likewise, how innumerable lords and commons of both realms, and kings and gentlemen of other kingdoms, and people innumerable, perished, or hazarded perishing, in that war; and that the commons of this realm poured out goods of inestimable value, and innumerable sums of money, for the carrying on of that same war; and, which is more to be lamented, they have now, in your days, undergone such heavy taxes, towards the maintaining of your wars, that they are reduced to such incredible poverty, that they cannot so much as pay their rents for their farms, nor aid the king, nor afford themselves necessaries; and the king himself is impoverished, and the lords become uneasy, and all the people faint; for a king cannot become poor, that has a rich people; nor can he be rich, whose people are poor.

And all these mischiefs redound not to the king only, but also to all and singular the peers of the realm, in proportion: and all these mischiefs happen by means of the king's evil ministers, who have hitherto misgoverned both the king and kingdom; and if some course be not taken, the kingdom of England will be miserably diminished sooner than we are aware of. But there remains yet another part of your message, which we have to impart to you, on the behalf of your people. They find it an (ancient statute) and it hasbeen done in fact not long ago, That if the king, through any evil counsel, or foolish contumacy, or out of scorn, or some singular petulant will of his own, or by any other irregular means, shall alienate himself from his people, and shall (refuse to be governed and guided by the laws of the realm, and the statutes and laudable ordinances thereof,) together with the wholesome advice of the lords and great men of his realm, but persisting headstrong in his own hair-brained councils, shall petulantly prosecute his own humour, That then (it shall be lawful for them, with the common assent and consent of the people of the realm,) to depose that same king from his regal throne, and to set up. some other of the royal blood in his room.

BIBL. COTTON.

Julius B. III. 8. Fol. 49.

Bulla Gregorii P. R. de Denariis Petri in Anglia.

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GREGORIUS episcopus servus servorum Dei venerabilibus fratribus Cant. et Ebor. Archiepiscopus et eorum suffrag. et dilectis filiis abbatibus et prioribus archidiac. et eorum officialibus per regnum Anglie, constitutis ad quos iste litere pervenerint salutem et apostolicam benedictionem. Qualiter denarius sancti Petri qui debetur camere nostre colligatur in Anglia et in quibus episcopatibus et diocesibus debeatur ne super hoc dubitare contingat presentibus fecimus annotari sicut in registro sedis apostolice continetur. Cant. dioc. 81. et 18s, ster. De Lond. dioc. 161. et 10s. De Roffen. dioc. 51. et 7s. De Lincoln dioc. 421. De Norwic. 211. 10s. De Elien dioc. 51. De Cicest, dioc. 81. De Winton dioc. 181. 6s. et 8d. De Exon. dioc. 201. 5s. De Wigorn. dioc. 101. 5s. De Herford dioc. 61. Coventr. et Litch. dioc. 101. 5s. De Bathen. dioc. 121. 5s. De Saresber. 171. De Ebor. 111. 10s. Dat. apud urbem veterem decimo kal. Maii, Pontificatus nostri anno secundo.