The observator, upon the successe of former Parliaments: being by way of parralell compared with this present Parliament. Published to un-deceive the people. — Discourse concerning the successe of former Parliaments.

The observator, upon the successe of former Parliaments: being by way of parralell compared with this present Parliament. Published to un-deceive the people. — Discourse concerning the successe of former Parliaments.

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Title page

The Obſervator, VPON The ſucceſſe of former Parliaments.

The Obſervator, VPON The ſucceſſe of former Parliaments.

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THe conſtitution of our Engliſh Monarchy is by wiſe men eſteemed one of the beſt in Europe, as well for the ſtrength and honour of the Prince, as the ſecurity and freedome of the Peopl and the Baſis, on which both are founded, is the conveniencie of that great Councell, the Parliament. Without which neither can the Prince enjoy that honour and felicity, that Phillip de Commines. a forrainer, ſo much admires, where he delivers what advantages the Kings of England have by that repreſentative Body of their People by whoſe aſſiſtance in any action they can neither want means, or looſe reputation. Nor on the other ſide, can the People have any poſſibility of pleading their own rights and liberties, for in the interim between Parliaments, the People are too ſcattered aud confuſed a body, to appeare in vindication of their proper intereſts; and by too long abſence of ſuch Aſſemblies they would looſe all▪ For (as Iunius obſerves) Populus authoritatem ſuam tacitè non utendo amittit; ſic plerumque accidit ut quod omnes curare tenentur curat nemo, quod omnibus commiſſum eſt, nemo ſibi commendatum putet: The People inſenſibly looſe their power for want of uſing it: for ſo it happens, that what all ſhould looke after, no man does; what is committed to all, no man thinks his own charge.

And in that interim it happens, that thoſe Optimates Regni, who under the Prince are entruſted with government, meaning Councellours, Judges, and other great Magiſtrates, either through fear, flatterie, or private corruption, doe often betray the Peoples rights to the Prince.

The ſtate of government ſtanding thus; If diſtempered times happen to be (as our Chronicles have ſhewed ſome) where by diſſention between Prince and People, the Kingdomes ruin hath been endangered, it doth not ſo much prove that the Engliſh Government is not the beſt, as that the beſt Government may be abuſed. For in every Monarchy, how limited ſoever, the Prince his perſon is inveſted with ſo much Majeſty, that it would ſeem a mockery in Sate, if there [Page] were no conſiderable power entruſted into his hands; yea, ſo much as that, if he be bad or weak, he may endanger the ruin of the Kingdome; ſo neceſſary is it for all humane ordinances, how wiſe ſo ever, to leave ſomewhat to Chance▪ and to have alwaies need of recourſe to God, for his aſſiſting or curing providence.

And though the Kingdome of England, by vertue of the government thereof, will be as hardly brought into confuſion, as any in Europe; yet there is no warrant againſt the poſſibility of it.

For it was ever heretofore ſeen, that our Parliaments were rather a ſtrength and advantage to an honourable wife Prince, than a remedy againſt a bad or weak one; or if we change the expreſſion, they were rather an excellent diet, to preſerve a good raign in ſtrength, than Phyſick to cure a bad one; and therefore have bin as much loved by ſound and healthy Princes, as loathed by them that were out of temper; the latter having thought them a depreſſion of their Dignity as the former have eſteemed them an advantage to their ſtrength. So that in ſuch times only the true convenience of that great Counſell hath been perceived by England, and admir'd by forrain Authors: in the other times it was that thoſe witty complaints have bin in faſhion, (as Sir Robert Cotton ſpeaks of a bad time) that Princes in Parliaments are leſſe then they ſhould be, and Subjects greater. But on the contrary, that they have been an advantage unto Kings, the conſtant Series of our Hiſtory will ſhew. 1. By thoſe great atchievments which they have enabled our wiſe Kings to make, who were moſt conſtant in calling them, and conſenting to them. 2. That no one Prince was ever yet happy without the uſe of them.

It may therefore ſeem a Paradox, that any Prince ſhould diſaffect that which is ſo high an advantage to him, and a great wonder, that ſome Kings of England, not vicious in their diſpoſitions, nor very ſhallow in their underſtandings, have ſo much kicked againſt Parliaments. And that ſuch have been (before we ſhew what reaſons may be of it) ſee the characters of ſome Princes, whoſe ſucceſſe and fortunes are known [...]o all that read the Hiſtories, as they are delivered by Polidore Virgil, who in his ſixteenth booke ſpeaks thus of Henry the third: Fuit ingenio miti, animo magis nobili quam magno, cultor religionis, adverſus inopes liberalis. He was of a gentle nature▪ a mind rather noble then great, a lover of Religion, and liberall to the poor.

In his eighteenth Book thus of Edward the ſecond; Fuit illi natura bona, ingenium mite, quem primò juvenili errore actum in leviora vitia incidentem, tandem in graviora malorum conſuetudines & conſilia traxerunt. Non deerant illi animi vires, ſi repudiatis malis ſuaſoribus ille juſtè exercuiſſet. He was of a [Page] good nature and mild diſpoſition, who firſt by the errours and raſhneſſe of Youth, falling into ſmall faults, was afterwards drawn into greater, by the ſociety and counſels of wicked men, there was not wanting in him a ſtrength of mind, if avoiding evill counſell, he could have made a juſt uſe of it.

And in his twentieth Book, thus of Richard the ſecond; Fuit in illo ſpiritus non vilis, quem conſociorum improbitas, & inſulſitas extinxit. He was of a ſpirit not low or baſe, but ſuch as was quite deſtroyed by the wickedneſſe and folly of unhappy Conſociates.

A reaſon of this accident may be, that their ſoules, though not vicions, have not been ſo large, nor their affections ſo publike, as their great calling hath required; but being too much mancipated to private fancies, and unhappy Favourites, and long flattered in thoſe affections under the ſpecious name of firmneſſe in Friendſhip, (not being told that the adaequate object of a Prince his love ſhould be the whole people, and that they who receive publike honour, ſhould return a generall love and care) they have too much neglected the Kingdome, & grow afraid to looke their faces in ſo true a glaſſe as a Parliament, and flying the remedy, encreaſe the diſeaſe, till it come to that unhappy height, that rather then acknowledge any unjuſt action, they ſtrive for an unjuſt power to give it countenance, and ſo by along conſepuence become hardly reconcilable to a Parliamentary way.

Such Princes have beene a greater affliction to this Kingdom, than thoſe who haye been moſt wicked, and more incureable for theſe reaſons. 1. They have not been ſo conſcious to themſelves of great crimes, and therefore not ſo apt to be ſenſible of what they have bin made to do by evill Councell; And therefore they are more prone to ſuſpect the People as unkind to them, then themſelves as faulty, and ſo the more hardly drawn to repent their Actions, or meet heartily with a Parliament. 2. The People looke with honour upon the Prince, and when they find but few perſonall vices in him, will hardly be brought to think, though themſelves feel and ſuffer for it, that he is faulty; and therefore ſometimes (which would hardly be believed, if experience had not ſhewed it) the People have bin ſo raſh as that to maintain for the King an unjuſt Prerogative, which themſelves underſtand not, they have to their own ruin, and the Kings too (as it hath after proved) diſſerted that great Councell whom themſelves have choſen, add by whom only they could be preſerved in their juſt rights,; untill too late, they have ſeen and repented their folly.

Such a diſſertion was too ſadly ſeen at the breaking up of that Parliament of Edward the ſecond, where his Favourites the two Spencers were baniſhed, [Page] and the tragical effects that followed, when the King found ſo great a party of the Clergy and Layity, as enabled him to call home his baniſhed Favourites▪ and proved fatall to ſo many Parliamentary Lords, as the like execution of Nobility had never before been ſeen in England: over whoſe graves the People afterwards wept when it was too late, and proceeded further in their revenge, then became the duty and allegiance of Subjects. It is therefore a great miſ-fortune to England, and almoſt a certain calamity, when the diſtempers of government have been let grow ſo long, as that for their cure they muſt need a long Parliament. For there are no wayes, how juſt, how moderate ſoever they be, which that great Councell can take (if they go far enough to make the cure) but will provoke, either by the meanes, or the length of them, the Prince his impatience, or the Peoples inconſtancy.

For the firſt; the Delinquents muſt needs be many and great, and thoſe employed, and perchance highly favoured by him, beſides the reflexion which is made upon his judgement by their ſufferings, and that will be one reaſon of his impatience.

Another is that many prerogatives which were not indeed inherent in the Crown, but ſo thought by the Prince, and by him and his bad Councell long abuſed, to the prejudice of the People, with ſome ſeeming advantage to him▪ (though well weighed they brought none) are then after a long ſufferance called in queſtion.

For the People are uſed to entruſt kind Princes with many of their own priviledges and rights, and never call for them again till they have been extreamly abuſed. But at ſuch a time to make all cleare after ſo long a reckoning (and thoſe long reckonings in State being commonly fatall; for Parliaments have ſeldome been diſconntinued, but by ſuch Princes whoſe government in the Interim have been very illegall) they uſually queſtion ſo much, as that the Prince thinkes himſelfe hardly dealt withall, ſuch a Prince as we ſpoke of, who not bad in himſelfe, but long miſled by wicked counſell, was not enough ſenſible of the injuries he had done.

The ſecond obſtacle that ſuch Parliaments may find is the Peoples inconſtancy; and what age is not full of ſuch examples which before we name, let us conſider whether there be any reaſon for it? This perchance may be one, that the People naturally are lovers of novelty. Long diſcontinued and reforming Parliaments ſeemes to carry the face of a change of government, and thoſe things may then happen which do in the ſhift of Princes, that ſome people may for a while flatter themſelves with new and ſtrange hopes, that prove fruſtrate, or elſe with quicker redreſſes of inconvenience, then the great concurrence of ſo [Page] many weighty buſineſſes can poſſibly admit, how induſtrious ſoever that great Councell be, diſtracted with ſo great a variety; and the People after ſome time ſpent, grow weary again of what they before had ſo long wiſhed to see. Beſides, the People are more and more poiſoned dayly by the diſcourſes of the kindred, friends, and retainers to ſo many Delinquents, as muſt needs be at ſuch a Parliament: who, though they be no conſiderable party in reſpect of the whole Common-wealth, yet ply their particular intereſts with more eagerneſſe than moſt do the publike. They ſubtilly perſwade the People, that what ever the Parliament does againſt thoſe Delinquents is a ymed at the Kings honour, and that he is wounded through their ſides. And this opinion is ſomewhat furthred when the People ſee how many prerogatives of the Prince; (as wee ſaid before) are after long enjoying called in queſtion. So that by this meanes their inconſtancy ſeemes to be grounded upon loyalty to the King, and they perchance with honeſt, but deceived hearts) grow wearie of the great Councell of the Land.

Another reaſon may be, that the Prince himſelfe averſe from ſuch a Parliament, for the reaſons aforeſaid, can find power enough to retard their proceedings, and keepe off the cure of State ſo long, till the People tired with expectation of it. have by degrees forgot the ſharpneſſe of thoſe diſeaſes, which before required it.

By this meanes at laſt, accidentally a miracle hath been wrought after along Parliament, which is, that the People have taken part with the great Delinquents againſt the Parliament, for no other reaſon, than becauſe thoſe Delinquents had done them more wrong then the Parliament could ſudenly redreſſ. And ſo the multitude of thoſe great Delinquents crimes have turned to their own advantage.

But in ſuch reforming Parliaments, upon whom ſo much buſineſſe lyes, not only the inconſtancy of the People hath been ſeen in Hiſtory, but the unſtedfaſtneſſe of the Repreſentative Body it ſelfe: and the diſtractions of that Aſſembly, whilſt they forſake each other under ſo great a burden, have let that burden fall diſhonourably to the ground. The moſt unhappy inſtance in this caſe, was that Parliament of Richard the ſecond, begun at Weſtminſter, and adjourned to Shrewsbury, in the nineteenth year of his reigne; a Parliament that difcharged their truſt the worſt of any that I read of; where there was as much need of conſtancy and magnanimity as ever was, to redreſſe thoſe great diſtempers which were then grown upon the State; and as much miſchiefe enſued by their default, both upon Prince and People, which might have been well prevented, and his happineſſe wrought together with their own (in the judgement of beſt writers) if they had timely and conſtantly joyned together in maintaining [Page] the true rights of Parliament; and reſiſting the ilegall deſires of their ſeduced King. But being fatally diſtracted, the major part of Lords and Biſhops, wrought upon by the King, and the Houſe of Commons being too far prevailed with by Buſhy the Speaker, and his Inſtruments, they utterly diſſerted the Common-wealth, and looking only upon the Kings preſent deſire, aſſented to ſuch things as made the Prerogative a thing boundleſſe; that he himſelfe (as the Story reports) was heard glorying to ſay, there was no true Monarch in Europe but himſelfe. Vpon which the ſame bad councell which before had brought him out of love with Parliaments, brought him to as great an abuſe of that power which he had now gotten over a Parliament. And then followed the blank-Charters, and other horrid extortions, beſides the ſuffering of ſome Lords whom the people moſt loved, and ſhortly after, by a ſad conſequence, his own ruin. Nor do we read that any of thoſe Lords who under the colour of Loyalty and Love, (as they called it) to his perſon, had trodden down the power and priviledge of a Parliament under his feet, had afterwards ſo much Loyalty to him, as to defend his Crown and perſon againſt an Vſurper, who without any reſiſtance or Contradiction unjuſtly aſcended the Royall Throne, the ſad occaſion of that miſerable and civill war, which in the following Ages ſo long afflicted the Kingdome of England. This was the worſt example of any Parliament, but in other times, they have proved better phyſicke then any other earthly meanes could be; yet their greateſt vertue and excellency is ſeen, when they have been uſed as a diet by honourable and juſt Princes, ſuch as this Nation hath been ſometimes bleſt with; and ſuch who have thought it no diſparagement or depreſſion of their dignity, to be ruled by the ſway of that great and honourable Councell, then a wiſe guider of a Ship would thinke it to follow his Compaſſe, or any Mathematician to be directed by his neceſſary rules and inſtruments.

FINIS.

§

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THE OBSERVATOR, UPON The Succeſſe of former Parliaments: BEING By way of Parralell compared with this preſent PARLIAMENT.

Publiſhed to un-deceive the People.

[figure]

LONDN Printed for I. H. and H. VVhite. 1643.

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Title statement

The observator, upon the successe of former Parliaments: being by way of parralell compared with this present Parliament. Published to un-deceive the people.Discourse concerning the successe of former Parliaments.

May, Thomas, 1595-1650.

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1643

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Text Creation Partnership,

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2005-12 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1).

ID [DLPS]

A50369

ID [STC]

Wing M1411B

ID [STC]

ESTC R202948

ID [EEBO-CITATION]

99825203

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99825203

ID [VID]

29580

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— The observator, upon the successe of former Parliaments: being by way of parralell compared with this present Parliament. Published to un-deceive the people., Discourse concerning the successe of former Parliaments., May, Thomas, 1595-1650..

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[8] p.

printed for I.H. and H. VVhite,. Londn [sic] :: 1643.. (The observator = Thomas May.) (Originally published in 1642 as: A discourse concerning the successe of former Parliaments.) (Reproduction of the original in the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery.)

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