WHen the Roman Empire went to wrack, all the Provinces were drain'd, all the Inhabitants fit for Arms carried away for Recruits to sup­port it: By these means the Provinces were left exposed to the violence and in­vasion of Strangers, which gave occa­sion [Page 2]to the many turns and changes in these parts of the world. Thus the Sa­xons or English became Masters of Bri­tain, and the French (another people of Germany) took that opportunity to ad­vance beyond their borders, and push on their advantage till they got posses­sion of all the fair Territory; and the very name of Gauls was swallowed up by them; and henceforward Britain and Gaul began now to be called England and France.

As with us grew several distinctions (from our situation) of Northfolk, South­folk, Eastsex, Southsex; so the French were divided into Eastrians and Westri­ans: The Country where the former liv'd, by some corruption was named Austrasia, and this other Newstria; till such time as the Danes growing trouble­some to their Neighbours, part of them overran England, and another Band of them that they called Northmans, sub­dued France; and after much bustle seat­ed themselves in Newstria, which from thence took the name of Normandy.

How long these French, after they [Page 3]were thus transplanted retain'd their German liberty, I shall not now examine; only I find some of their Authors look askue upon the Court of Rome on that occasion; they had complained that their Language grew Italianiz'd, their man­ners Italianiz'd: But when the Pope came to keep his Court at Avignon, new Phrases and new Forms crept also into their policy. Then came in fashion those Letters du propre monuement, &c. which that man of Morals, Monsieur Pi­ [...]rach could so ill digest.

The Pope first employed them to ren­der the Laws of the Church of no effect.

Their Champions for Absolute Power [...]cknowledge, that the King is tyed to [...]orms; that his Commands will not move [...]ut in the proper Channel; that the Kings letters have not any force or verture [...]nless they be undersign'd by a Secretary [Page 4]of State; nor his Letters Patents, unless [...] they be so sign'd; and then sealed by the Chancellor, who has it in his power to cancel them, & who seals them not with­out the advice of one or two Masters of the Requests assisting at the Seal; & who is, as it were, a severe Controuler of the Kings orders, edicts, wills, commands, & grants. But say they — ni du [...] Pape mesme n'ont aucune vertu si elles no font signeés par le greffier,Baracane de­fence de la Mo­narchy, Fr. p. 409. Secretaire, ou dataire seelées par le seelleur, Gardesaux ou Chancellier, quoy pour cela? C'est or­dre a esté sagement establi par tous les Princes' & seigneurs, tant spirituels, que temporels, pour se garantir des surprin­ses & obvier aux faussetez. Il est plus malaise de contrefaire deux' seings, & falsifier un seau, que d'en contrefaire un seulement. Le secretaire d'estat, ou de la coronne ne signera jamais aucunes lettres, si le Roy ne luy commande; & les lettres, qui suivant les Ordonnances du Roy, doivent estre signeés par un se­cretaire d'estat, ne passeront point au seau, si elles ne sont munies du seing du [Page 5]Secretaire, & si elles sont contraires a la [...]olunté du Roy, exprimeé par ses Edicts & Ordonnances, le Chancellier ne les se­ [...]llera point, que premierement il n'en [...]ye averti le Roy, tout cela en un mot [...]end au service du Roy: Et de le vouloir [...]enverser contre le Roy, c'est tourner la [...]umiere en tenebres, convertir le feu en glance, & mettre la terre par dessus le ciel. Neither have the Letters of the Pope him­self any vertue, if they be not signed by the Clerk, Secretary, or Dators; and sealed by the Sealer, Sealkeeper, or Chancellor: What of all this? This order has been wise­ [...]y settled by all Princes and Lords as well spiritual as temporal, to secure them against surprises, and to prevent forgeries; it be­ing more difficult to counterfeit two Sign­ings and one Seal, than if there were but one hand to be forged. The Secretary of State shall never sign any Letters unless the King command him, and they shall ne­ver come to the Seal, unless they be fortifi­ed with the signing of the Secretary; and if they be contrary to the Kings Will expressed in his Laws, the Chancellor shall never seal them, till he has advertifed the King there­of. [Page 4] [...] [Page 5] [...] [Page 6]All this, in a word, is for the Kings service; and to count this a lessening of the King, is to turn light into dark­ness, fire into ice, and to set earth above heaven.

Then for the power which the Par­liament seems to exercise in approv­ing or refusing any publick Acts, Grants, Orders, Officers, &c. made by the King: This makes no Argument a­gainst his Absolute Power, the same Do­ctor tells us; Qu'il est necessaire qu'elles soient solennellement reconues, enregi­strees, & publieés, pour eviter les obre­ptions, subreptions, & surprinses qui pourroient escheoir en l'impetration des lettres, des officés, & des autres; & mesmes pour vuider les oppositions qui peuuent estre formeés par ceux qui y pretendont quelque interest. Auquel le Roy n'entend deroger, si n'en est fait expresse mention dans icelles; & pour ces causes telles lettres sont presenteés ou Parlement, avant que les pourveus des Offices entrent en l'exercise ou iouissance d'iceux, & quant le Parlement juge, y avoir eu de la subreption & obreption ou [Page 7]de la trop grande importunité en l'im­petration d'icélles, & que l'execution en seroit prejudiciable au service du Roy & du publique, il refuse de les enregistrer, & donne advis au Roy des causes du re­fus, fondeés sur son service, d'ont il est bien aise, encore que quelquefois il face semblant a l'impetrant d'icélles en estre marri—That it is necessary they be solemn­ly approved, recorded, and published, to avoid obreptions, surreptions, surprises, and all the fraud and foul practise that might have been used in obtaining those Letters, Offices, or other Grants; as also to avoid the oppositions of those who pretend some right or interest, which the King in­tends not to prejudice, unless express men­tion be made thereof; and for these causes such Letters are presented to the Parlia­ment, before any who have the grant of Offices, are admitted to the exercise or pos­session of them. And when the Parliament judges that any fraud or foul means had been practis'd, or too great importunity us'd in obtaining them, and that the execution of such Grants might be prejudicial to the service of the King and of the Publick, [Page 8]then d [...]es the Parliament refuse to [...] them, and makes the King acquainted [...] the causes of their refusal founded upon his service; whereat he is right glad, though sometimes to him who had the Grant, he makes a show as if he were vext.

All agree the matter of fact, but how the King is thus bound, and how this tye lyes upon him they want language soft enough for an occasion so tender: It has always so been, de toute l'ancienneté, says one; antiquâ consuetudine, says another; their Kings have always had the wisdom to submit to these forms, says Baracaue: the modesty says du Tillet, the good Na­ture says P'asquier, une debonnaireté, a goodness familiar to 'em, to reduce their wills under the civility of law Some call it a magnanimity Royal and becoming a King, and a glory beyond that of conquering Na­tions. Bodin (from the Civilians) as­cribes it to their humanity. See id tamen­senatu probante fieri humanum est, says Theod [...]sius; which Baldus interprets, non tam necessitatis quam humanitatis: and to their Majesty; Digna vox est Majestate regnantis legibus alligatum principem se [Page 9] [...]rofiteri; to do otherwise would be a Levi­ [...] and Vanity, as he cites it from the Sena­ [...]or in Livy Levius est & vanius sua decre­ [...]a tollere quam aliorum: Others venture to [...]o a little farther, they says Pasquire, who [...]nder the pretence of an Absolute Power, [...]ould flatter the Kings to be above law. [...]n lieu de leur gratifier dirent en un ob­ [...]cur language, que les Roys n'estoyent [...]oint hommes, ains lyons, qui par le moy­ [...]n de leur force s'estimoyent avoir Com­ [...]andment [...]ur les hommes. Instead of say­ing a grateful thing say be craft that Kings [...]re not men but lyons, who think by their [...]ight to have the command over men. says [...]u Tillet, Si leur puissance absolue n'yest [...]egleé, elle devient dissolüe: If it be not re­ [...]ulated, their power is not absolute but disso­ [...]ute: And a Spanish Treatise [...]f Politicks,Iron de santa Maria. with twenty ap­ [...]robations before it, affirms: [...]i el monarca sea quien fuere, se [...]esoluiere por sola su cabeça, sin [...]cudir a su conseio, o contra el parecer [...]e sus conseieros, aunque acierte en su [...]esolution, sale de los terminos de la mo­ [...]arquia, y se entra en los de la tyrannia. [Page 10] If a Monarch whoe're he be, shall [...] his own head resolve any thing with­out the advice of his Council, or con­trary to the opinion of his Counsel­lors, though right in his resolution; h [...] breaks out over the bounds of Monarch [...] into Tyranny.

This Spaniard took his notion from that passage in Livy, where he gives a [...] account, how the last Tarquin was the fir [...] of their Kings that without advising wit [...] any other than a Cabal of his Domestick [...] make peace and war, made and broke League [...] and Alliances, and govern'd all of his own head, never consulting the Senate and Peo­ple, as the custom of his Predecessors ha [...] always been, having first by practices lessen' [...] the number of the Senators (that nothing [...] but the Rump of a Senate remain'd) to make them the more contemptible. Quo con­temptior paucitate ipsâ ordo esset, mi­nusque per se nihil agi indignarentur, hi [...] enim Regum primus traditum a priori­bus morem de omnibus senatum consu­lendi solvit; domesticis consiliis rem­publicam administravit, bellum, pacem, foedera societates per se ipse cum quibus [Page 11]voluit injussu populi & Senatus fecit dire­mitque.

But I have digressed from the French or rather from Bodin, who concerns us nearer; having set up for a new disco­verer in Politicks: He would perswade us that Plato, Aristotle, Polybius, Hali­ [...]arnassaus, Cicero, Sr. Tho. Moor, Cardi­ [...]al Contarini, Machiavel, and who not, were all in a wrong way — Et quoni­ [...]m haec disciplina maximos in republica [...]umultus ac perturbationes ciere potest, [...]ccuratius uobis est ac subtilius explican­ [...]a. Their Doctrine tended to Sedition [...]nd disturbances in the Common-wealth, [...]herefore he will handle it with the greater [...]ccuracy and subtlety: And what will be [...]he consequences of Bodin's new learn­ [...]ng? Certainly it must either make Mo­ [...]archy short liv'd, by debauching it into [...]yranny; or else it must (as Mr. Hobbs [...]ho sees farther, and who writes En­ [...]lish, clears the matter) to establish this [...]yranny, banish all humane Learning [...]nd fear of God out of the world.

There have been in all Nations Pens, [...]s well as Voices, servile and mercenary; [Page 12]and such wretches, as that by Virgil damn'd to Hell.

Who make and unmake Laws, shuffle and betray both their Laws and Reason, that they may impose this dominum poten­tem, this Lordly despotick power, to the enslaving of their Country.

But whether the love of Novelty cor­rupted Bodin, or that he knew no better I examine not: But though our English Politicians have followed him over hedg and ditch, without ever making use of their own eyes or understanding; other people do not overmuch admire him; the Scaligerana are too sharp upon him; but thatCharamonte. Italian does him reason, Il Bodino huomo di molta lectura, ma di confusa & turbida do­ctrina, impugnando da per tutto quasi la politica doctrina d'Aristotele: Bodin (says he) a man of much reading, but confound­ed and blunder'd in his Notions, con­tradicting [Page 13]Aristotle at every turn.

Now Bodin would have us believe that [...]here can be no such thing as a mixt Com­ [...]on-wealth, nor will he allow be any [...]nore thann three sorts of Common-wealths. Nam si rerumpublicarum for­ [...]as bonorum ac malorum finibus, aut vir­ [...]utibus ac vitiis metimur, infinitas esse com­ [...]eriemus: And a little after he says, non [...]uae cuique extrinsecus accidunt intueri o­ [...]ortet.

By the way we may note, that the [...]ertues have by the most been reckon'd [...]o be four, others have reduc'd 'em all [...]o Prudence, Sincerity, and Patience; so [...]hat Common-wealths might have been distinguished by their virtues, without making such an infinite number of them; and to make several forms from their se­veral ends, will certainly prove not so very extrinsecal and accidental, but a real and essential difference. So thought the Ancients all who writ of Politicks before Bodin; therefore if a single Person go­verned for the good of the Publick, that was called Monarchy; if a few governed for the Publick Good, that they called A­ristocracy; [Page 14]if the People governed for the Publick Good, that was Demo­cracy; and these were counted three sorts of good Common-wealths. But if a single Person governed for his own par­ticular good, that they would not call Mo­narchy but Tyranny; if a few governed for their particular profit, that they would not call Aristocracy but Oligarchy; if the People governed for the advantage of the Rabble, and not for the common bene­fit, this they would not call Democracy, but Oclocracy, or the misrule of the Rab­ble. The Greeks I say, who coin'd these words, made that the currant meaning of them.

There are Authors, who to make short work, divide all Common-wealths into Monarchy and Polyarchy: Either, say they, one governs and that is Monar­chy; or more than one (no matter whether few or many) govern, and then it is a Poliarchy. They who love the division into two, might better say that all go­vernment is either for the Governors good, and that is Tyranny; or for the good of those that are governed, and this [Page 15]is a Polity or Common-wealth. But these [...]e sick mens dreams; may shew however [...]at the End is more material than the [...]umber of those that govern, and con­ [...]quently justifies the Ancients, who di­ [...]nguishing the Common-wealths from [...]eir End, reckoned six several kinds of [...]ple Common-wealths, as afore has [...]en declared. And humane Actions are [...] distinguished; the same Action may [...] vertuous or vitious according to the [...]d: Give a Wench mony to debauch [...]r, and give it her to relieve her neces­ [...]ies; this is charity, this a vertue, but [...]e other is a kind of a deadly sin: 'Tis [...]e End makes the difference, a differ­ [...]ce not accidental and extrinsecal, as [...]din suggests, but real and essential.

And as high Justice greates upon the [...]rders of wrong and oppression, high [...]urage is near to rashness, liberality to [...]odigality, &c. so does Monarchy stand [...]on the brinks of Tyranny, Aristocra­ [...] easily slips into Oligarchy, and De­ [...]ocracy into popular disorder: There­ [...]re the wiser Statesmen having observ'd [...]is corruption so ordinary and familiar [Page 16]to the simple Common-wealths, have by art endeavoured of the three good Common-wealths, to compound a mixt one that might not be subject to the same frailties and decay; to temper Monarchy and give it that balance and counterpoise by the mixture of the other Common-wealths with it, which might keep i [...] steddy, and preserve it from tottering into Tyranny, which is its ruin. But al [...] these matters together with the growth [...] the decay, and changes of Government [...] are describ'd by that companion of th [...] great Scipio Polibius, so accurately and philosophically, that I cannot forbear to set down the whole passage, which is t [...] this effect. That, Man is naturally civil and disposed to love company, and not (a [...] they would perswade us to believe, wh [...] say the State of Nature is a State of War [...] more a beast than those that walk on fou [...] feet, than the Bruits themselves that go i [...] Flocks and Herds; and in like manner [...] the strongest Bore, and the strongest Bull [...] always the Captain of the rest; so in thes [...] companies of men, he amongst them wh [...] was most hardy to encounter dangers, an [...] [Page 17]had most of bodily strength to overcome [...]em, had the rest for his followers: And [...]ence it was that so many Nations had [...]ch their Hercules, and that so many [...]ne to be called by that name: And in [...]ose rude times these were the first sort of [...]ings.

But by conversing together this rudeness [...]aring off by degrees, and men by little [...]d little coming to be somewhat more po­ [...]t, to have something of consideration, [...]d the use of their reason, and to under­ [...]nd Justice and honest dealing, and to see [...] advantages that Prudence and a wise [...]d had over raw uncultivated strength, not [...]ly in deciding Controversies and admini­ [...]ing Justice, but even in providing a­ [...]inst and repelling of dangers. He there­ [...]e now, who was most eminent for wisdom [...]d justice, drew most eyes upon him, and [...] him all ran and submitted their differ­ [...]ces to his Arbitration, his advice they [...]k, and his direction they followed on all [...]asions either of difficulty or danger; and [...]ese were called the Wise Men, and these [...]re the true and proper Kings.

Now the Son, who had his Education [Page 18]under such a vertuous, wise Father, and had been present with him when affairs of the greatest importance had been debated and by common presumption better capaci­tated to govern, than any of a stranger Fa­mily: The Son, I say, succeeds his Father in this Kingly Government, no man envy­ing him the dignity; nor did these King [...] differ from other people in their manner of living, there was no pomp or shew, or an [...] badge of the Authority Royal, but the woode [...] Scepter which Homer describes, (which perhaps was like our Constables Staff [...] and with this the Authority was hande [...] down from Father to Son, till in tract o [...] time some young man came in place, wh [...] giving ear to some loose companions abo [...] him, would not longer be content with th [...] plainness and ordinary fare of his Ancestor [...] but gives himself over to riot and excess setting his mind on gorgeous Apparel, o [...] Trains and Trappings, on Feasting an [...] Revels: By these new modes he loses th [...] hearts of his Subjects, draws envy upo [...] him; that Reverence paid to the Scepter i [...] the hands of his Progenitors, now turns i [...] to contempt, and he still running headlon [...] [Page 19]after his vain pleasures and flanting perni­cious courses, not heeding the duty of his place, grows a burthen to the people; and instead of being their refuge, their relief and support, rides and galls their necks, and makes their lives bitter: So that how to throw off the yoak is now their only care; and matters being thus ripe, or the young Prince with his Comerades hastening on his fate by some outrage or rape upon Wife or Daughter of some considerable Subject, some of the most eminent amongst the people con­spire together and put an end to his Life and Tyranny.

And all eyes being now turn'd upon these as their deliverers, the Government and Conduct of all Affairs is committed to their charge and direction. Thus rises an Ari­stocracy, and thus we see Monarchy first cor­rupted into Tyranny, and the next change from thence in course of Nature is to an A­ristocracy.

And these men eminent for wisdom and vertue satisfied with the honour of the charge and trust reposed in them, above all things studied to serve the publick; but afterwards their Sons coming to succeed, who had not [Page 20]that stock of discretion and sobriety; but degenerating or forgetting the vertue that preferred their Ancestors, begin to Lord it over the people without other regard than of their particular lust. And thus the Ari­stocracy being corrupted into an Oligarchy, the people are provoked by a general insur­rection to rescue the Soveraignty out of their hands.

And now the people will neither trust so great a charge with a single Person, nor with any few, they come to their last only and yet untainted hope founded upon themselves, and contriv'd a form of popular Common-wealth, and they themselues took the pub­lick affairs under their charge and protecti­on; and thus was constituted a Democracy.

And because all Governments are good and successful at the beginning, so long as the men were alive, who had felt the oppres­sion and tyranny under the two former kinds of Governments, they were content and glad with their present condition, and liberty seem'd sweet and precious to 'em above all treasure. but this Generation being spent and their vertue with 'em, a new People succeeded, and the Laws are now trampled [Page 21]under foot: Licentiousness, Faction, and Disorder turn all things upside down, and they clash together so long till some one over- [...]opping the rest, all are brought under the Command of one Master; and so about a­ [...]ain from Monarchy to Tyranny, from Ty­ [...]anny to Aristocracy, from Aristocracy to Oligarchy, from Oligarchy to Democracy, from Democracy to the Rule of the Rabble, [...]nd thence back to Monarchy. This is the [...]ound that all Governments run, this is the [...]ourse, the order, and oeconomy of Nature; [...] that any turns or change of Government [...]ay easily be foreseen.

Wise Statesmen observing these changes [...]nd corruptions in all simple Common-wealths to be so constant and certain, and [...]nding the mischiefs that attend so frequent [...]evolutions; they set their brains at work [...] contrive some model of Government that [...]ight be steddy and durable, which they saw [...]ould not be any simple and uniform Com­mon-wealth: It remain'd therefore that they [...]ixed the vertues and good properties of the [...]hree good Common-wealths, and so tem­ [...]er'd them together that no room might be [...]ft for those vices, that, like worms, breed [Page 22]in the very core of all simple Common-wealths and destroy them.

They joyn'd the three States of Monar­chy, Aristocracy, and Democracy, and wrought them together into one Body Po­litick.

This model of Government had the Spar­tans from the prudence of Lycurgus, and the Romans were brought to it, made wise by dear-bought Experience: And this is the Government that all civil Nations have affected, and from hence grows that notion of the three States, which we hear so much of in most Nati­ons of Europe, though the meaning there­of is not every where understood.

This is the Doctrine of Polybius, and this was the general sense of mankind, till Bo­din comes forth with his new Heresie in Politicks, and denies that there can be any such thing as a mixt Common-wealth. To prove this, he rambles into a many stories to shew that a King cannot alien or divide his Soveraignty amongst his Favourites: 'Tis questionless a trust that cannot be assigned over, but all this re­lates to another point, and touches not [Page 23]the mixture in the Original and funda­mental constitution of a Common-wealth, Et ut Corona, si in partes distra­cta, aut aperta fuerit, nomen omittit; As the Crown would lose its name, he says, if pull'd [...]n pieces. This is common to many o­ther things, a Rose, a Prickle, if pull'd [...]n pieces, would lose their name; and [...]his being no particular flower of the Crown, does not illustrate or make much [...]o the business. In another place he says, Monarchiam autem individuam esse opor­ [...]ere diximus, quia si dividatur, Monarchia [...]on sit; ea est enim unitatis inviolabilis na­ [...]ura, ut omnem omnino refugiat partitio­ [...]em; ut enim Corona — Monarchy must [...]e indivisible, such is the nature of Unity [...]hat it cannot be by any means distributed; [...]s the Crown — which comparison he [...]gain repeats. But his Argument is no [...]etter, than with us, should we from [...]he nature of the number five perswade, [...]here cannot be seven or eight Cinque Ports; or in France argue, that the Ad­ [...]ocates Cap cannot be square, because [...]tis called Bonnet round: Words are a [...]rt of Cloaths that are not always exact­ly [Page 24]shaped to the Thoughts that wear them. Another Argument he would bring from a Saying in Aristotle against Plato, that two extremes would make no good mixture: Nam si nihil optimum ex duobus extremis existere posse confiteatur, quid fert tribus inter se confusis? which is as strongly urged, as should he say, if Dover and Calice cannot come to­gether, how shall the Sea make any intercourse and correspondence betwixt them?

But because these Reasons seem a little too metaphysical, he would make the matter plain by Examples; and with a strange confidence suggests that neither the Spartan nor the Roman were mixt Common-wealths: And it is no wonder if he find some passages in Historians to prove them either Monarchies, Aristo­cracies, or Democracies, as he had a mind. Plato says, that he knew not by which of these Names to call the Spartan [...] And Aristotle to the same effect; and that this shows the mixture to be perfect and acurate: And Polybius speaking o [...] both the Spartan and Roman, tells us [Page 25] [...]at the [...]. three States had [...]e Soveraignty so equally sha­ [...]d amongst them, that even [...]ose who lived under the Government could [...]t well pronounce in the main, whether the [...]wer was in the People, in the Nobles, [...] in the Monarchick State.

In the Spartan, the Kings, the Senate, [...]d the People, by their Representatives [...]e Ephori; in the Roman, the Consuls, [...]e Senate, and the People, by their Re­ [...]esentatives the Tribunes, made the [...]ree States of the Common-wealth.

But that we may return to France, [...]ere Bodin swaggers, and would make [...] Capital to account that of France a [...]ixt Monarchy as some had done; [...]ho reckon'd the Aristocracy to consist [...] the Peers, and the Democracy in that [...]hey call the Third State. Machiavel be­ [...]ev'd it a mixt Monarchy, and to that [...]emper imputes all its greatness and du­ [...]ation. Seissel who writ expresly on the Monarchy, affirms the same thing with [...]any more that writ both before and [...]nce Bodin.

He says there is not the least shadow [Page 26]of an Aristocracy in the Peers,—Pa­rium qui sic appellantur, quod inter se qu [...] ­dem pares sunt, non autem principi, ut n [...] ­mis rustice nonnulli opinantur. TRhey ar [...] one anothers Peers, he says, and not Peer [...] to their Prince as some too clownishly ima­gine.

Caesar called the Army under his Com­mand, Commilitones or Fellow-Soldiers and it would have been a little blunt i [...] them to have called him Fellow-Soldie [...] again; but whoever shall look back i [...] History to the Original of these Peer [...] may find that they were in the beginning the Kings Peers, though at this day th [...] distance is very plain. Du Huillant speak­ing of Hugh Capet, tells us, that he — n'estant si grand guerrier que bien en­tendu aux affaires, caut et advise, il [...] voluit proceder par cautelles & douceurs si qu'ayant affaire à grand seigneurs [...] manda tous les gouuerneurs des Provin [...] ces de son royaume à ce qu'ils vinssen [...] vers lui, pour le consciller au gouuerne­ment, regime & administration de so [...] nouueau estat, leur faisant entendre qu [...] totalement il vouloit dependre de leu [...] [Page 27]conscil & avis; voire les tenir pres da [...], come ses amis, freres, & pareils en [...]issance & Autorité; — not being so [...]ch a Warrier as a wise and wary Person, [...] would proceed soft and fair, so that ha­ [...]ng to do with great Lords, he sent to all [...]vernors of Provinces within his King­ [...]m, that they might come to him to advise [...]out the Government, and Administration [...] his new State; letting them to under­ [...]nd that he would wholly depend on their [...]unsel and Advice; and keep them about [...] Person as his Friends, Brothers, and [...]uals in Power and Authority. He tells [...] futher, that some of the cunningest a­ [...]ngst them, seeing Hugh, from a Mayer [...]the Palace to be made King, did the same; [...]d set up for themselves within their Go­ [...]rnments, making themselves Lords, [...]kes, and Counts Proprietors; whereas [...]re they had been only Governors, viz. [...]e Dukes governors of Provinces, and [...] Counts Governors of Towns, and those [...]les of Dukes and Counts that formerly [...]re given to the Governors for the time [...]ly, became now Hereditary and desceneded [...] Posterity. Pasquiere gives the same [Page 28]account of the Peers at large, and th [...] President Fauchet employed by Henry th [...] Third to revise the Antiquities of Fran [...] and who writ since Bodin, tells us: Ma­les urays fondateurs de l'estat Fronca [...] ­ont este ceux de la maison de capet; le [...] quels de leur gré, ou contraincts par [...] noblesse, de laisser en heritage, & sa [...] l'hommage, les duchez & comtez aup [...] ravant tenus à vie (car on ne trouue poi [...] certainement quand & pourquoy ils [...] sont faites hereditaires) amoindrie [...] ceste debordeé puissance des ancie [...] Roys, de faire toutes choses a leur app [...] ­tit, & comme ceux de Lacedemon [...] ­eeurent les Ephores, pour controlleu [...] de leur authorité, ceux-cy establire [...] & asseurerent les plus grands seigneu [...] Ducs, Comtes & Pairs de la cour [...] France, pour tenir le grand Parlemen [...] audience & generalle Justice de tout [...] les doleances du peuple; & les Jugemen [...] des Seneschauz & Baillifz, & juges inf [...] ­rieurs donnes en grandes causes, car [...] commencement de ceste derniere fami [...] le, il n'y avoit comte, voire signeur cha­stellain dependant nüement du Roy, q [...] [Page 29] [...]pensast avoir autant de puissance en [...]erre, que ces nouueaux Roys.

But the true Founders of the French [...]e, were these of the House of Capet; [...] of their own accord, or compell'd by the [...]ility, left them their Dutchies and [...]nties formerly held for life only in inhe­ [...]nce saving the homage, (for it is not [...]ainly known when or wherefore they were [...]e hereditary) and lessened that unbrid­ [...] power of the ancient Kings to do all [...]gs according to their appetite, and as [...] of Sparta took the Ephori for Con­ [...]ers of their Authority, these settled and [...]ed the greatest Lords, Dukes, Counts, [...] Peers of the Court of France, to hold [...] great Parliament, Audience, and gene­ [...] Justice of all the grievances of the Peo­ [...] and appeals from the Judgments of [...] Seneschals, Baylies, and inferior Judges [...]n in great causes: For at the begin­ [...] when this Family Reign'd, there was [...]r a Count, nor so much as a Lord of a [...]e depending barely on the King, who [...]ght not that he had as absolute power [...] in his own Land, as these new Kings. [...]onfirm this he adds, how the Kings [Page 30] Hugh and Robert, writing to Audeber [...] Count of Perigueux, to raise the Sieg [...] before Tours, and twitting him with th [...] Demand, who made him Count? Il [...] fit difficulté de respondre, ce n'est vo [...] Roys; ains ceux qui vous ont fait Roy [...] He did not stick to answer, 'twas not y [...] Kings, but those who made you Kings.

And whoever considers the circum­stances of Hugh Capet's coming to th [...] Crown, and the great power the Pee [...] exercised till upon the occasion of th [...] Holy War and other practises they we [...] reduc'd and brought to the Crown, ma [...] well conclude: ThatPasquiere. [...] toute ancienneté en for [...] d'Aristocratie conjoynte avec la Mona [...] ­chie, furent introduits les douze Poi [...] sur lesquels nos Roys ne s'estans reserv [...] que la Souueraineté & hommage, sem [...] que par leur conscil (comme d'un anci [...] Senate) se menassent les affaires. Fr [...] all Antiquity were introduced in the form [...] an Aristocracy joyn'd to the Monarchy, [...] twelve Peers, over whom the King reser [...] ­ing only his Soveraignty and Homage, [...] affairs of State seem (as by an ancient [...] [Page 31]nate) managed by their advice.

And when scarce the shadow of the [...]ncient Peerage remain'd to them, they [...]etain'd the Precedence, and had place be­ [...]ore all Princes of the Blood, till the late Ordinance, Anno 1576. to the con­ [...]rary.

And 'tisBaracaue. said there was [...]n Order of Parliament also [...]nno 1295. whereby it was declared [...]hat they were called Peers for being one [...]nothers Peers, and not the Kings E­ [...]uals.

What Bodin would conclude from [...]hose forms, quia sic nobis placuit, and Rex vobis dicit, may be answered in the words of Dr. Baracaue, where (in ano­ther occasion) he says, this is not like [...]he sic volo, sic jubeo, noted by the Saty­ [...]ist. Qu'importe [...]t il de dire, ainsi nous [...]laist, & tel est nostre plaisir, ou dire & [...]our cause, sans exprimer la cause? Les Cours des Parlemens disent en leurs ar­ [...]ests, & pour cause sans en rendre la cause [...]our monstrer la Soveranieté.

What more is it, says he, to say we are [...] pleased, and such is our pleasure; than [Page 32]to say, And for a Cause, without expressing the Cause? The Courts of Parliament say in their Orders, and for a Cause, without ren­dring any cause; to shew the Soveraignty. The Parliament, it seems, have their forms too to shew their Soveraignty, nor is the Argument of Bodin from the form of di­recting their Letters, of more force: How should they write but, Au Roy nostre sou­uerain seigneur, Regi Domino nostro supre­mo? Is not this the ordinary civility of Europe? 'Tis true that whenSuetonius. a Poet had called Augu­stus Caesar, Dominus; he set out a Procla­mation that none might presume to call him any more by so proud a Title, nor could the modesty of his Successor Tibe­rius bear it.

Yet as their Majesty and real Great­ness declin'd, as the Empire began to sink, the froth and flattery came above; so that it was lawful to call Domitian both Lord and God; and his Successors were not satisfied till complemented in the abstract with your Everlastingness, your Eternity, your Divinity, &c. And when the wooden Eagle was split in two, [Page 33]that Chip of the Eastern Empire brake [...]ut into blossoms to a miracle, with the Porphyrogenitos and Despots, were blown about the Sebastocrators, Panhypersebasti, Protonobilissimypertati, &c.

But amongst the Romans, these Titles so fierce and glorious after they had been worn a while at Court, descended to the City and Country; and even came so [...]ow, that Martial could say of the mighty Dominus,

The French words, Sire, Seigneur and Sieur have ran the same fortune; and the [...]alling a man Sir, or Monsieur, or Mon­ [...]eigneur, or My Lord twenty times, will [...]ot amount to a Recognizance of any [...]ubjection: nor can the Complement [...]ass any Domination or Despotick Right [...]ver us.

If Seigneur and Dominus will not do, [...]he word Souverain will not help them; [...]eing commonly used in France for any Superior: as, Soveraign of the Accounts, [Page 34]Soveraign of the Treasure, Soveraign of the Forests, Soveraign Judge, Soveraign Bailiff, &c.

And now having said so much con­cerning the direction of these Letters, I shall add nothing in answer to Bodin, touching the Subscription: all agree­ing, that where the Letter begins with Seigneur, of course, it must end with Treshumble and Tresobeissant Serviteur.

And that their proceedings with the King are by way of Petition, is no more than is done even in Poland: where Bo­din makes the Government an Aristo­eracy.

It is a Rule, Quae ex adulatione, vel indulgentiâ conceduntur non debent trahi [...] in exemplum. Besides, of all people, this is the worst Argument with the French; who are so well known to af­fect soft words, and gentle forms on all occasions possible. It is not their fashion, like the Justice of Aragon, to accost their King with a Nos qui valemos tanto co­mo vos, y podemos mas que vos, vos e­legimos rei con estas é y estas condicio­nes, entra vos y nos un que manda mas [Page 35]que vos, i. e. We who are as good men as you, and can do more than you, chuse you King on such and such conditions; there is one betwixt us and you, who commands more than you.

The power of this Parliament, in al­lowing or refusing the Acts of the King, is the same in effect as what we call the Negative Voice. And sometimes, when the Kings would hardly be denied, the Parliament have much valued them­selves for their resolution in opposing them. Thus they overcame Lewis the Eleventh,Pasquier. whose wilfulness and Opiniâtreté was particu­larly noted by Historians) and made him promise to importune them no more, nor send Letters to them that were not de Commandement Royal; which they interpret, Just Commands. As, an vo­lunté du Roy, is meant, To the Laws. The most memorable instance that I have met with, of the Parliament's Au­thority in this kind, is that in Henry the Third's time; when he wrote to the Governor d'Angoulmois, to put the Town into Monsieur's hands; the Governor de­sires [Page 36]to be excused: the Duke de Montpen­sier is sent, and the Gates are shut against him; then is sent an Herald of Arms, to declare them Rebels and Enemies, unless they obeyed. And at the request of the Attorney General, the Parliament orders the Inhabitants to appear in perso at a day certain; they send their Deputies. It was insisted upon, that they should be heard before the Privy Council: but they demanded to be heard in Parliament. Where, when they came, it was urged that they might not be allowed Council, but speak for themselves, being charged with High Treason. The Deputies in­sisted that, on the contrary, they had done the King good Service; and that, for their part, they had no Charge to plead other­wise than by the mouth of their Advo­cate. Which being granted, they made choice of Pasquier. And the sum of their Plea was, Que l'ancien ordre de ceste Monarchie portoit que iamais trefue de telle importance, iamais paix n'avoit esté executeé, qu'au prealable elle ne fust ve­rifieé & emologuee en ceste cour avec­que grande maturite de conseil que ceste­cyne [Page 37]l'ayant esté, nous avions juste occa­sion de nous excuser, & dispenser de l'ou­verture que l'on demandoit. Ceste exce­ption estoit elle bonne & vallable? Quant a moy ie n'en feray jamais nul doute, voz registres en font foy, l'usage est tel, & la loy generale de la France. i. e. That the ancient course of this Monarchy was so, that never Truce of this importance, never any Peace was executed, but that, in order thereunto, it was first allowed and recorded in this Court, with great maturity of Counsel. That this for the delivering up of Angou­lesme, not being so recorded, we had just rea­son to excuse our selves, and to dispence with the opening of the Gates demanded of us. Is this Exception good and sufficient? For my part, I shall never doubt it. This your Records can testifie, this is the Custom and Common Law of France.

The Authors that write in Latin call their Parliaments, Sacrum & Sacrosan­ctum ordinem, A Sacred and Divine Con­stitution; Quid tertium & arbitrum, A third Party, and Umpire betwixt Prince and People: Si tribunitiae potestati, aut Ephoris Lacedemoniis compares non ab­erres, [Page 38]says Matherel: Their Power may be compared to that of the Tribunes, or the Lacedemonian Ephori. Du Haillan, says they, are truly a Roman Senate, cest un urai Senate Romain, representant une majesty secourable aux bons, & e­spouuantable aux mauuais attendu qu'el­les ont cognoissance en derniee resort, & sans appel non seulement de toutes matieres civiles & criminelles, mais aus­si de toutes lettres royaux; entre antres des graces & remissions, pour juger de la civilité ou incivilité d'icelles. It is a true Roman Senate, representing a Majesty giv­ing succour to the Good, but terrible to Evil-doers; in as much as they have cog­nizance, and give Judgment without Ap­peal; not only in all Civil and Criminal Causes, but likewise of all the King's Let­ters: amongst the rerst, those of Graces and Pardons; to judge whether they be lawful or unlawful. Pasquier, on this occasion, tells us, Their Parliament is not like the Pope's Officers, to judge of the Fraud or Surprises only, but to determine whether the King's Grants be just and reasonable, or no. and du Hallan affirms, Ceste [Page 39]forme de proceder est si ancienne en ce Royaume, qu' un Prince, quelque de­pravé que il soit, auroit honté de la rom­pre, comme eussi ses fuiets & serviteurs craindroient a le lui conseiller. This form of proceeding is so ancient, that any Prince, however depraved, would be a­shamed to break it; nor would any of his Servants or Ministers dare to advise him thereto. And in another place, Sont tel­lement inveterees, que pas un roi n'en­treprend d'y deroger, & quand il le vou­droit faire, on n'obeiroit point á son com­mandement. A practice so settled that no King would undertake to derogate from it: nor if he should, would any obey his Commands. But Quotations of this kind are endless.

The French reckon several Particulars wherein their King's Power is restrain­ed; as that, He cannot alter their Coin. He cannot turn out of place the Magistrates of the Kingdom, till their Cause be heard and approved in Parliament.

He cannot pardon a Criminal without the Parliament. Regi capitatis paenae re­nittendae, & abolendi criminis sine parla­menti [Page 40]auctoritate jus non sit, in hoc regno. Criminosus deferens litteras remissionis aut abolitionis, siue pardonii debet incarcerari, & suas literas offerre Parlamento, &c. Boerius decis. Burdegal. 65. Dont en y a souuent de condamnez & executez avec leurs graces. Le Roy, p. 376.

He cannot alien any part of his Demean, nor any part of his Kingdom.

Nor can he dispose of the Succession; that not being Patrimonial or Heredita­ry. Sed sola lege & consuetudine regni, as their Lawyers speak. Or Lege Regiâ, according to the new Cant in Bodin.

Another of these they call Laws of the Kingdom, or Fundamentals, is their Sa­lick Law, for excluding Females from the Crown.

And farther, to prove the French King a Civil King, he is not in his Great Seals represented as the Emperors and other Kings, in Armour, on Horseback, or with a naked Sword in hand, like Conquerors; but he is pictured, sitting on the Bench in a long Robe, with Ju­stice in his Right Hand. En habit de Roi Justicier.

In like manner, for the Soveraignty of [...]e Parliament, we may observe, that [...]hen all other Officers, upon the death [...] their King, are in mourning Weeds, [...]ese, in the midst of the Obsequies, ap­ [...]ear in their Robes of Scarlet; to shew, [...]at though the Kings be mortal, yet the Majesty of the Crown survives in the Parliament.

And from hence, perhaps, may be [...]awn the true reason of that saying in France, that their King is Immortal, and [...]at he never dies. There being little [...]ound for the sense that Bodin would [...]ve it from the Succession; seeing that [...]esides the many interruptions by Ba­ [...]ards that have reigned, and those great­ [...] Changes from the Merovingians, to [...]e Charlians; and from the Charlians, [...] Hugh Capet's Line; their Kings, till of [...]te, never computed the beginning of [...]eir Reign from their Predecessors De­ [...]ase, but only from the time of their [...]wn Coronation. So that in Bodin's [...]nse, it has not been from any very an­ [...]ent date that their Kings have been im­ [...]ortal.

May be, in imitation of the Vestra [...] ternitas of the Roman Emperors, son [...] more bashful French-man having vent red to call their King immortal; oth [...] French-men, not understanding th [...] cramp word, got it interpreted. An [...] that the King never dies was a pret [...] song amongst them. But in what sen [...] this could be, all were in the dark; t [...] at length, a cunning man arose, an [...] made it out most plainly: as Bodin h [...] done.

By what has been said, the Fren [...] Monarchy may seem sufficiently tempe [...] ­ed with a mixture of the other State [...] Yet, after all, it cannot be dissemble [...] that the Peers at this day are not th [...] King's Fellows or Equals, as at their O­riginal Institution. Nor are these (no [...] called) Parliaments the same thing wit [...] the old Parliaments under the Merovi [...] ­gians or Charlians; whe [...] Carpento bu­bus tracto, &c. Tritenhemius. by the Team of Royal O [...] en was drawn along in a Wa [...] ­gon his hairy Majesty, to th [...] place appointed for that August Assembl [...]

Then were the states called, and con­sulted [Page 43]on all great occasions. Yet these [...]re the Victorious; the Clovis, the [...]arlemain, the Kings that extended [...]eir Dominions over Spain, Italy, Dal­ [...]tia, Sclavonia, Hungary, Poland, and [...]ught even Germany, with their Title [...] Emperor, to the French Crown.

But what if those mighty Warriers [...]uld not call the States? that, possi­ [...], in those days of Honesty and true [...]licy, was a point no more thought on, [...]n was the Crime of Parricide by the [...] Legislators.

In the old Historians we find there [...]re several names for this Assembly; [...] Conventus Statuum, Curia, Placitum, [...]lamentum.

The many wars occasioned many Par­ [...], or Meetings, to treat of Peace. [...]m this Parley, or Parlement, as the [...]nch word it, these Assembleies are cal­ [...] Parliaments.

Sometimes they were called Curia, or [...] Court: and because those Kings [...]re not ordinarily seen by the people, [...]e in this Court, afterwards the Phrase [...]going to Court came to signifie the go­ing [Page 44]to the King's Palace, or place of R [...] ­fidence.

They were also called Plactium, fro [...] whence Hotoman thinks, when the Kin [...] Edicts came to be writ in the Mothe [...] tongue, the ignorance or malice of so [...] Clerks deduced that ordinary from [...] Car tel est nostre plaisir, for the Lat [...] Quia tale est nostrum placitum.

And those weighty Affairs, and pu [...] ­lick business, which were commonly [...] served for this Assembly of the States, [...] be there treated on and debated, ca [...] afterwards, from thence, to be call [...] Matters of State; as also, the Phrase [...] sitting in State, and the Chair of St [...] from the Golden Throne on which [...] Kings wereplaced in these Assemblies.

But when Hugh Capet ascended [...] Throne, new measures and new Polici [...] came in play. He was no Fighter, n [...] cared for enlarging of Territories; b [...] had a notable head for King-craft, a [...] sought on the best terms to settle [...] Crown in his Family. To that end, [...] Bishop of Laon, (who had betrayed in [...] his hands the King and Royal Fami [...] [Page 45] [...] thither for shelter) and the other [...]hops and great Lords, that had done, [...] might to do him good Offices, were ta­ [...] in to be his Peers, and share with [...]m in the Administration of the Go­ [...]nment.

Now, by this new Model, the Ari­ [...]cracy, or Nobles, gain'd very much. [...]t a great blow was given by this inno­ [...]tion to the Democratical or Popular [...]te. For these Peers, besides their par­ [...]ular interest in the Nation, were in ap­ [...]arance a competent Council for the [...]nagement of all the extraordinary bu­ [...]ess and Affairs of State, whereby the [...]rliament was not so necessary as for­ [...]rly. And Capet finding in the people [...] hanckering still for the old Race of [...]arlemane, was well content to be dis­ [...]ced withal from calling that Assem­ [...]; save that for securing the Successi­ [...] he was fain to keep them in humour, [...] that he had prevailed with them in [...] life time to Crown his Son Robert [...]g.

The same jealousie caused Robert in [...] life time, to do the like for his Son, [Page 46] Henry the first. And Henry also, for [...] Son Philip the first. And now one mig [...] have thought the Succession fixed. Y [...] Philip dying without having made [...] same Provision for his Son Lewis [...] Gross, Lewis was put to his shifts to g [...] crowned: and was fain to take up wi [...] a kind of an unusual Bishop, to do t [...] job for him in hugger mugger.

Whereupon, he grown wise du [...] not trust the States for his Son Lewis [...] Young; but put him in possession of [...] Throne e'er he left the World. A [...] this Lewis did as much for his Son Phi [...] the Second. Till now, after some hu [...] dreds of Years discontinuance, all E [...] ­ction-right was pretty well forgotte [...] This however, set the Court a fenci [...] against the States; and the Court thoug [...] it self better at ease without them.

Nor was this concerning the Succe [...] on the only Tye upon the Kings to con [...] ­nue a good understanding with the Stat [...] but the Peers were often at variance wi [...] the King, and put him hard to it. And [...] these distempers in the Kingdom no [...] medy was found effectual but an heali [...] [Page 47] [...]arliament. These were the Umpire be­ [...]wixt King and Peers; and generally de­ [...]ded in favour of the Crown.

By which partial Arbitrements, and [...] the advantages made of the Holy [...]ar, when the Peers Adventurers died [...] the Expedition; some without Heirs, [...]me without other than Females, or [...]ales under Age. So that the Pairyes [...] Escheat, by the Salick Law, or by [...] way of Guardianship, came to the [...]rown.

By which means, the Power of the [...]eers being at an end, and the Equality [...]oken, there remained no farther occa­ [...]on for Arbitrations, and the sacred Au­ [...]ority of Parliament quite vanished.

So that now, without much danger, [...] Experiments might be improved, [...]d new projects of Government set on [...]ot. Accordingly, the old Parliament [...] to be laid aside; and in their room, a [...]ect knot of men to have the States bu­ [...]ess committed to their Trust and Con­ [...]ct.

And these, for their better counte­ [...]nce, must be called a Parliament also. [Page 48]whatever Power and Authority had bee [...] exercised by the States, is now usurpe [...] by this young Senate; and presently [...] new House is built for them, and the [...] are fixed at Paris. Where, after a litt [...] while, they became so overlayed wi [...] business, that one Parliament was [...] sufficient; but two were constituted f [...] the better Expedition.

And indeed, having opened the do [...] for all Civil Causes to come before the [...] it was necessary to draw out from the [...] Parliaments a Detachment for State-A [...] fairs: and these had the name of th [...] Close, Privy, or Great Council. When [...] by this Parliament in a little time deg [...] ­nerated to a mere Court of Judicature [...] as afterwards that Privy Council, b [...] permitting Causes to be heard befo [...] them, gave occasion for the business [...] State to be removed to a particular [...] ­bal.

But this Parliament I say, [...] ­ing a new Creature, was tossed, a [...] turned into a thousand several Shap [...] and Figures, e'er it came to any dura [...] Consistence. One while it was to [...] [Page 49]half-yearly, another while without dis­ [...]ntinuance; then half of it the one half [...]ear, and the other half Parliament the [...]her half year; to the end, that what [...]e King's Ministers could not get to pass [...]ith the one, might be carried in the o­ [...]er: thus rendering the Authority of the [...]urtPasqniere Res. A Demy-illusoire, [...] a manner Illusory, [...] But upon the Pope's com­ [...]g to settle his Court at Avignon, these [...]ovations and abuses fell in like a tor­ [...]nt, both upon church and State.

Not long before, the Kings, as St. [...]wis, under a shady Tree, in person, [...]ard all appeals, and determined the [...]uses of their Subjects, and were them­ [...]ves the Chief Justices.

Now the Canonists so infected the [...]tion with their tricks and subterfuges, [...]eir Quillets and Chicancery, and set [...] an itch of wrangling and vexatious­ [...]ss amongst them, that Courts could [...] be erected fast enough for them; [...] in a short time, a third part of the [...]ple, one way or other, got thereby Employment.

A few years before, this King, Phi­lip the Fair, had been excommunicated, his Subjects freed from their Obedience, and his Kingdom given away to the Em­peror, by Boniface. Yet now Clemen [...] the fifth and he so well agreed, upon hi [...] coming to Avignon, that, as my Autho [...] says, Fraternisans en conseils, collogue­ing together, they not only made goo [...] booty of the Templars, destroying the [...] by consent, for no greater quarrel, [...] supposed, than their Riches. But th [...] Pope gave leave to the King to levy [...] tenth upon all the Clergy; and th [...] King, in exchange, was to connive [...] the Pope's Apostolick Indults, Graces E [...] ­pectatives, Tenths, First Fruits, Procur [...] ­tions, Mandates, monitorials, Executo [...] ­als and Laudable Customs.

These inventions and wit of the Min [...] ­sters at Avignon raised an Emulation [...] those at Paris, and they wonderred [...] find in words so strong a Charm, th [...] the Pope thereby could work such wo [...] ­ders, and ride over all the Fences of Re [...] ­son, Law and Custom; and that for the [...] strange feats, the de proprio motu, [...] [Page 51] Authoritate absolutâ were all sufficient.

Whereupon the Courtiers at Paris [...]ll also arm the King's Letters with [...]ese new Spells, and send them out up­ [...] adventures. But however Canonical [...]d currant they had proved with the [...]urch-men, to the Lay people, this de [...]oprio motu, and Authoritate absolutâ, [...]re uncouth Phrase, and Barbarous La­ [...], which they could no where meet [...]th in Classical Authors, nor understand. Wherefore, when about these times, [...]on occasions for mony, the Layety were [...]adredth penny, and the fiftieth penny; [...]n with Fortification money, Equiva­ [...]ts and Loans; then with yet the more [...]eadling terms of Aids, Subsidies and [...]vertions, so it happened, that, let [...] Imposers call them what they would, [...] people had one name for them all; [...] crying out a Maletoult, knock'd the [...]llectors on the head, with as little [...]uple as ordinary Robbers.

All the great Wars of former days, [...]der the Merovingians and Charlians, [...] for a long time under the Capets, had [Page 52]been maintained at the King's prope [...] Charges: so frugal had been their wa [...] of living, and the Demean of the Crow [...] so large.

But now was no subsisting withou [...] Levies upon the people; and these we [...] stubborn and unwilling to be impose [...] upon, when no Law or Custom could b [...] shewn to oblige them.

This plunge raised again from th [...] dead the old-fashioned Parliamen [...] And in one of their first Assemblies, [...] was by all declared, that. no Impositio [...] could be laid upon the people witho [...] their consent. Wherefore it being the [...] part, they took care to relieve the neo [...] ­sities of the Crown. And on this a [...] count there was occasion to assemb [...] them several times.

But these were not now to be call [...] the Parliament, but the Assembly of t [...] States; nor yet to meddle with Sta [...] Affairs; those weighty matters bei [...] now Parliament-business: and there [...] another Parliament in Ordinary for th [...] purpose.

So it is not intended these sho [...] [Page 53]trouble their heads, unless asked, with [...]ther considerations; than only in order [...]o the laying some Tax on the people. Yet the old Ancestrel Vertue would now [...]nd then be boyling up in the breasts of [...]ese States; and they be fancying them­selves as full of Power and Soveraign Authority as the old Assemblies so famed [...] History. But the Doleances, the Grie­ [...]ances were not to be insisted on, when [...]nce the Mony-Affair was adjusted: so [...]ey were still sent home, till need for a­ [...]other Tax. But, what was yet more [...]rievous, provision was made that the imposts should be at an end after a cer­ [...]in time: but when the Collector's [...]and was once in, they gathered on, in [...] much that what was designed for Temporary, became Perpetual.

To prevent which mischief, the States, [...] the Reign of Charles the Fifth, now a­ [...]ndantly wise, granting a Tax, ordain­ [...]d that none of the King's Officers [...]ould finger the mony: and the King [...]as sworn solemnly, that he would not [...]use any of it to be employed to other [...]ses than the War it was given for. [Page 54]The Commissioners, Assessors, Collecto [...] Receivers were all chosen by the State [...] and sworn upon the holy Evangelis [...] not to convert it to other ways, a [...] Command from the King notwithstand­ing. And if any Officer from the Ki [...] should attempt to force them, then th [...] to call the Posse of their Neighbours [...] help them to make resistance. Yet [...] find not that all this swearing and cau [...] on stood them much in stead, the T [...] was continued, and the Commissione [...] that from their being chosen by t [...] people, were called Esleus, retain t [...] name of Esleus to this day.

Unless upon these occasions for mo [...] the Court at Paris shewed less and l [...] disposed to convene this Assembly; ha [...] ­ing possibly learnt that sort of policy a [...] from Avignon: where nothing beg [...] to sound so harsh to their ears, as t [...] talk of calling a General Council.

However, that their Authority on t [...] account of State Affairs might not gro [...] quite obsolete and forgotten, upon fo [...] great Exigencies, when it could not w [...] be avoided, they have been summone [...] [Page 55]and have exercised their old Soveraign­ [...]y, even in these days.

As when under Philip the Fair, and Charles the Sixth, they condemned and cast off the two Popes; Boniface the Eighth, and Benedict the Thirteenth. And when they decided betwixt Edward the Third of England, and Philip Valois, to whether of them belonged the Right of Succession to the Crown of France, when they topt upon us with their Sa­ [...]ick Law. And when King John of France was taken Prisoner, and carried [...]nto England. When Francis the First would have alien'd part of his Domini­ons, &c.

Lewis the Eleventh was so averse from [...]alling this Assembly, he would not be [...]erswaded to it, till a Civil War (which was called, The War for the Publick Good) obliged him. AndHist. l. 5. ca. 18. Comines tells us, that [...]ome Courtiers would have [...]ade it High Treason to mention the Calling of them. But Comines was not [...]f their humour; he, against the Vogue [...]f his Fellow Courtiers declared, that [Page 56]no Prince could take a Farthing from a­ny Subject without their consent: an [...] that England, by reason of the freque [...] Parliaments, was the best governed Na­tion in the World.

In short, The Gauls, as Caesar's Com­mentaries teach us, had their Toti [...] Galliae Concilium; which, after the P [...] ­nionion and Panaetolion of the Greek [...] Budaeus would have called Pancelltico [...] as from them; Camden that of the En­glish, Pananglicon.

Whether the French coming to sett [...] amongst the Gauls, to render themselve more easie to them, chose to goven them in their own way; or that the [...] also brought along with them from G [...] ­many this Model, it appears not. Th [...] is certain, the Kings of the two form [...] Lines did, bonâ fide, govern with th [...] advice and direction of that great Cou [...] ­cil in all things.

Hugh Capet by his Constitution of th [...] Peers, made the Authority of that an [...] ­ent Assembly in a manner useless, unle [...] by accident, that it served to balanc [...] and be the Umpire betwixt the King [...] [Page 57]and their Peers. But then the Peers [...]ming to be reduced, the Court of Rome [...] Avignon taught the Courtiers at Paris [...]w Forms and new Politicks: And Ge­ [...]ral Councils being run down, and [...]ade out of fashion in the Church, the [...]ate must sympathize with it; and af­ [...]r some mouldings, and some little ad­ [...]ess, is brought also to walk on the same [...]igh Ropes, without that counter­ [...]ise which was wont to preserve it sted­ [...] and secure. The old name of Par­ [...]ment remains, but no longer to be re­ [...]ted fundamental and essential to the [...]ommonwealth; only a prudent Con­ [...]tution. And it was now from the [...]isdom, or else the debonnaireté of suc­ [...]eding Princes, that they always sub­ [...]itted their Wills and Edicts to be exa­ [...]ined, and approved or rejected by that [...]ssembly.

And now our Writers of the times are [...]r maintaining that the Government [...]as never otherwise, but the King's [...]ower always absolute and unlimited. Which need be no wonder, since the [...]me Gentlemen affirm the Merovingi­ans, [Page 58]Charlians and Capets, to be all [...] Branches from the same Stock, again the concurrent Authority of so ma [...] hundred Years; and when in truth [...] pet was not so much as of French Ext [...] ­ction, but descended from Witich [...] the Saxon.

But it was not conceivable how t [...] Absolute Powers, as that of the Chur [...] and State could agree together in [...] same place; therefore a check was fou [...] for that of the Pope: for upon any cla [...] ­ing of Interests, the Parliament and [...] University did always manfully opp [...] the Pope's Encroachments, and ass [...] the Liberties of the Gallicane Chur [...] In so much that Pasquier on this occas [...] resembles the Sorbon to the Tribunes old Rome.

And yet so long as the temporal Pri [...] should assume an absolute Power, [...] Papal interest would be certain to prev [...] in the end. A mixt monarchy is a [...] ­lance to it self, and needs to Forei [...] Authority to interpose: but under [...] unlimited Power, where the Prince accountable to none but God, whith [...] [Page 59]should the discontented fly? whither [...]ould the oppressed resort, but to God's [...]gents and Plenipotentiaries; to God's [...]icar, the Pope his Apostolick Majesty, [...]r Redress? He can curse and throw [...]out his Thunder, and free the Sub­ [...]cts from their Obedience, &c.

And in this the Pope has the better [...]nd of the staff; for by setting the tem­ [...]oral Princes above all the ties of Hu­ [...]ane Policy, and Civil Prudence, he [...]ot only withdraws their Subjects from [...]em, but even makes their temporal [...]overaignty truckle to his Spiritual: for [...]e Soul and Eternity are of more con­ [...]quence and value than any man's mor­ [...]l body. And whenever a Contest [...]appens, the Spirituals are sure to have [...]e upper hand.

When the Jesuits came in with their [...]eca obedientia, that other barbarous [...]rase to enslave the World withal; [...]ey intended their Doctrine for the [...]ppe's service only; for at the same time [...]ey reproached such of the Roman Re­ [...]gion as scrupled to own that the Pope [...]d power to give away the Kingdom of [Page 60] France, or any other Kingdom at plea­sure: and called them all Calvinists, who could not be thorough paced Je­suits.

But, to be even with them, and to a­void all strife betwixt the Spiritual Ab­solute, and the Temporal Absolute Power, Hobs takes the only true politick Measures. he, for quietness sake, thrusts the whole Nation of Spiritual Beings out of the World: and that the Soveraignty might be indivisible indeed, he allows not so much as Divisum imperium cum Jove — no, not that Jove himself should rival his Leviathan.

He founds his Politicks upon his Phi­sicks; therefore, in the first place, we are to believe that there is nothing in the Universe but meer Body; neither are we to think, to reason or to fancy ought of a future State, of Souls to be saved, nor to have the fear of God before our eyes; for then (as he calls it) we shall be fright­ed with Spirits into Rebellion.

And that we may not be inclined to these vain imaginations, he fairly pre­scribes, that the people may not be suf­fered [Page 61]to read (he names not Calvin and Beza, but) Aristotle, Plato, Seneca, Ci­cero; nor the Greek and Latin Histories; nay, all Greek and Latin are pestilent and dangerous; and thus the Universi­ties are the very Core of Rebellion.

Nor is this any Paradox, or sally of his particular wit; 'tis what Machiavil, and before them Aristotle had taught us, that to preserve an Absolute Power, all publick Schools must of necessity be put down. Thus we see how much the Pa­pal Tyranny is supported by their Inqui­sition. Thus in Turky are Letters dis­countenanced. And in Moscovy it suffi­ces, that God and the great Duke have all the knowledge to themselves.

And it is not enough that the people be no wiser, but they must not be per­mitted to be so good-natured as Cattel that Herd together. Their Morals must be corrupted, and their course of Ho­nesty and fair dealing must be broken, lest it might produce a mutual trust and correspondence amongst them; which in the end would be pernicious to the Commonwealth.

'Tis agreed also, that Courage is not a vertue for Subjects, under this sort of Government;Hobs. The less they dare, the better it is, both for the Commonwealth, and for themselves. Thus the Persians were qualified for the better Subjects, when an hundred Free­holders of Greece were wont to beat ten thousand of them.

Plato had the notion of making a Go­vernment happy by a King-Philosopher; and Hobs certainly (for these parts of Eu­rope) pursues an Idea as unpracticable: endeavouring to make the Subjects all Asses.

Some, for want of better Topicks, draw an Argument from Antiquity, that Monarchs were absolute before they were limited. But the same reason will hold likewise against all Laws; for in those days that Kings were without Li­mits, the Subjects were without Laws, till Experience and Evil Manners taught the World by Civil Prudence and Art, to preserve nature in its primitive perfecti­on and integrity.

Some would set Monarchs above all [Page 63]humane caution and policy, by vertue of some Expressions in old Poets: as in Cal­limachus, that Kings are from Jupiter; [...]. Which may be an­swered by that of Aratus, cited by St. Paul, [...]. We also are his Off-spring.

Homer tells us that Jupiter gave Aga­memnon the Sceptre and the Laws. But Homer may be interpreted by Homer. When first he had occasion to mention that Sceptre, he explains the matter thus: says he, Vulcan, as a curious piece of his Workmanship, gave this Sceptre to Jupi­ter. Jupiter gave it (as Kings give a white Staff to a Treasurer or Chamber­lain) to Mercury. Mercury gave it to Pelops. Then Pelops left it in succession to Thyestes. Thyestes left it to Atreus; and Atreus left it to Agamemnon. So we find a thing may be said to be given in several senses.

For the Laws that accompanied the Sceptre, Hom. tells not whether he meant the Legislation, or the Execution of the Laws; but Aristotle may inform us, that when Agamemnon assumes to himself a­ny [Page 64]absolute Power, he speaks as a Gene­ral in the Field, and not as King of La­cedaemon.

Others there be, who having stumbled on some Metaphor, or Poetical Simile, where God and the King are compared together, think it may as well hold good in Politicks; and never leave straining, till they drive it thorough all the incom­municable Attributes; nor is there any end to their Frenzy. Some of the Em­perors have checked their Flatterers with that Verse in Homer.

But of the two (say these Antipoliti­tians) an absolute Monarch is more like to God than a limited.

Which might be true, if Goodness did as necessarily accompany their Greatness. The Heathens, in their No­tion of God, placed Goodness before Greatness, optimus maximus. Now the [Page 65]business of Policy is to Tack Goodness to Power; it gives a Monarch the power to do all the good whereof his nature is capable. But these are not content, unless he had the power likewise of doing evil; which is to be unlike God, and which power cannot be affirmed of God with­out Blasphemy. Lucifer, and those o­ther unhappy Angels had that power, and sunk beneath the burthen: Is there more perfection of Nature in an earthly Monarch? or is there some promise, or prophesie to support him under the weight, that he shall not thereby plunge downright into Tyranny, and so lose that bright and Godlike resemblance, which distinguished him from other men? In effect, by making a Monarch unlimited, instead of Deifying, they make him a Devil.

For the Texts of Holy Scripture so of­ten applied on these occasions, few that are ingenuous can urge them; and few that have sense, but discern the Sophistry and abuse. One may there find the Tribe of Judah, but not a word of the Mero­vingians or Charlians. And if there were [Page 66]some temporal Monarchy to be esta­blished from Scripture, the Pope most certainly would have it all. It was Christ that said, To me is given all the power in heaven and upon earth. And who can make out their pretensions from Christ, by such a long Chain of Succession, but the Pope? What though Christ said, My Kingdom is not of this world; by is not, is meant, is not yet; that is, not till Constantine's time: and then comes the Pope into full possession of all, both Spiritual and Temporal Dominion. It was not said, Cum hâc Petrâ, but Super hanc Petram.— But leaving these hocus-pocus Arguments to the Jesuits, it may only be here remembred what long ago Demosthenes observed concerning Philip of Macedon; that, to serve a turn, the Roguie Priests made, even the O­racles [...], to Philippize.

But indeed, this Divine Right may be a Hercules amongst the Jesuits, when backed with the Inquisition. And we may allow Monarchs to be Gods, for want of better, in Hobs's State of Igno­rance and Atheism. As in Asia, Alexan­der [Page 67]passed well enough for the Son of Jupiter Hammon.

The Politicks of France say, that The French Government has nothing of the Barbarian or Despotick in it; but is of that kind which is called Oeconomick, where the King has an Absolute Power in his State, as a Father has in his Family. Which Notion is very much in vogue of late; but how they find this Absolute Power in a Family, is not easily to be imagined: take the most simple Family, as Hesiod describes it; a Man, and his Wife, with the Oxe, their faithful Servant; yet it is a sort of mix'd Government: there is sensibly an Aristocracy in it; the Wife is the Man's Fellow, his Peer, his Mate, his Consort, in all Civilized Nations; and shares the Government so far as ca­pable by her Education: sometimes has more than her share; and then it is cal­led Gynaecocracy, or Woman's Rule. Amongst the Barbarians indeed, as well in Aristotles time, as now, the Wives were in the nature of Servants, but no­thing there is to be called Oeconomy, but all Barbarity.

Besides, in this case, there is such a thing as a Divorce, which may set the woman on her own legs again, and so the good man be deposed, if he chance to be impotent, and cannot answer the ends of Marriage. And yet Marriage is of Divine Right.

Neither needed the Law-makers in all Ages have taken care to encourage young men to Matrimony, if such a goodly Dominion were to be got by it.

Then upon the Account of Children, Bodin indeed would not stick, even, with old Saturn, to eat his Off-spring; but in this horrid Doctrine few, I hope, are his followers. Potestas patria debet in pietate, non in atrocitate consistere, say the Civilians.

Moses compares the Office of a King to that of Parents; not by reason of any Absolute Power, but of the Charge.Numb. cap. 11. Why layest thou (says he to God Almighty) the burden of all this people upon me? have I conceived all this people? have I begotten them?

Thus have I answered whatever I [Page 69]could judge has by any body been mate­rially urged for this African Monster, this Demigorgon of Absolute Power. Which seems plainly inconsistent with either Nature or Policy, Reason or Re­ligion, Civility or Humanity. And it is not without good ground that its Champions despair it ever should obtain with us, so long as Greek and Latin, and the Classick Authors pass free from the Inquisition: or till such time as the Great Turk indeed threatens us from the Neighbour-shoar; or some new Tamber­lane, with an Inundation of Barbarism overwhelms us.

But to entangle the matter, and make the notion of mixt Monarchy seem, as it were, a little absurd; these Assertors of Absolute Power, with much ignorance, or much sophistry, so contrive to divide the Soveraignty, that each share does in effect imply the whole: whenas there may be found several ways without any of that pretended difficulty. Bodin grants that the Constitution may be Mo­narchical, and the Administration Ari­stocraticalor Popualr. Which goes very [Page 70]far towards the overthrowing of all his Systeme; and, certainly, is a contradi­ction of what he so laboured to maintain: for this was always accounted a dividing of the Soveraignty.

Thus in the Roman Commonwealth, the Power was in the People, and the Execution in the Consuls (which Office of the Consuls, Polybius calls [...], Kingly and Monarchical) add to these the Authority of the Senate, and then we have the several Powers of the Three States in the Roman Common­wealth; The People commanded, the Se­nate consented, and the Consuls executed.

In like manner, where Monarchy is predominant, after the Modern Style, the People may be said to desire or peti­tion, the Nobles to consent, the King to have the Conduct and Command of the Executive Power. Shall not then the Monarch have his Elbows at liberty, but sit idle till the People and Lords, with their Desires and Consents, have concert­ed matters for him? No such restraint follows; all the Laws and Customs of a Nation are qualified with the desire of [Page 71]the People, and consent of the Nobles' and all the ordinary Power requisite for the good and support of the Government is also implicitely so qualified at the Mo­narchs discretion, till something in par­ticular appear expresly to the contrary. Upon this Account the French say that, Mandement Royal, & Volunte du Roy; The King's Commands, and the King's Will, are not his Personal Will, and his Personal Commands; but those that ac­cord to Justice, and to the Laws: of which (that remnant of the Peers and Po­pular State) the Parliament are Judges. Therefore his Will & Commands come always before them to be examined, and there to be emologated and approved e'er they take effect.