Sidor som bilder
PDF
ePub

dom of England a College of Phyficians, the King is Supreme Governor of thofe, but not Head of them, nor Prefident of the College, nor the best Phyfician.

3. After the Diffolutions of the Abbies, they did not much advance the King's Supremacy, for they only car'd to exclude the Pope; hence have we had feveral Tranflations of the Bible upon us. But now we muft look to it, otherwife the King may put upon us what Religion he pleases.

4. 'Twas the old way when the King of England had his House, there were Canons to fing Service in his Chapel; fo at Westminster in St. Stephen's Chapel (where the Houfe of Commons fits) from which Canons the Street call'd Canon-row has its Name, because they liv'd there, and he had alfo the Abbot and his Monks, and all thefe the King's House.

5. The three Eftates are the Lords Temporal, the Bishops or the Clergy, and the Commons, as fome would have it. Take heed of that; for then, if two agree, the third is involv'd; but he is King of the Three Eftates.

6. The King hath a Seal in every Court, and tho' The Great Seal be called Sigillum Anglia, the Great Seal of England, yet 'tis not becaufe 'tis the Kingdon.'s Seal, and not the King's, but to diftinguish it from Sigillum Hiberniæ, Sigillum Scotia.

7. The Court of England is much alter'd. At a folemn Dancing, firft you had the grave Measures, then the Corrantoes, and the Galliards, and this is kept up with Ceremony; at length to French-More, and the Cufbion Dance, and then all the Company dances Lord and Groom, Lady and Kitchen-Maid, no Diftinction. So in our Court, in Queen Elizabeth's time, Gravity and State were kept up. In King James's time things were pretty well. But in King Charles's time, there

has

-1

has been nothing but French-More, and the CushionDance, omnium gatherum, tolly, polly, hoite come toite.

The King.

1.'TIS hard to make an Accommodation between the King and the Parliament. If you and I fell out about Money, you faid I ow'd you twenty Pounds, I faid I ow'd you but Ten Pounds, it may be a third Party allowing me twenty Marks, might make us Friends. But if I faid I ow'd you twenty Pounds in filver, and you faid I owed you twenty pounds in Diamonds, which is a Sum innumerable, 'tis impoffible we fhould ever agree. This is the Cafe.

2. The King ufing the Houfe of Commons, as he did in Mr. Pymm and his Company, that is, charging them with Treafon, because they charg'd my Lord of Canterbury and Sir George Ratcliff; it was juft with as much Logick as the Boy, that would have lain with his Grand-Mother, us'd to his Father, you lay with my Mother, why should not I lie with yours?

3. There is not the fame reafon for the King's accufing Men of Treafon, and carrying them away, as there is for the Houses themselves, because they accufe one of themselves. For every one that is accufed, is either a Peer, or a Commoner, and he that is accufed hath his Confent going along with him; but if the King accufes, there is nothing of this in it.

4. The King is equally abus'd now as before; then they flatter'd him and made him do all Things, now they would force him against his Confcience. If a Phyfician fhould tell me, every thing I had a mind to was good for me, tho' in truth 'twas Poifon, he abus'd

C5

me;

me; and he abufes me as much, that would force me to take fomething whether I will or no.

5. The King, fo long as he is our King, may do with his Officers what he pleases; as the Mafter of the Houfe may turn away all his Servants, and take whom he please.

6. The King's Oath is not fecurity enough for our Property, for he fwears to Govern according to Law; now the Judges they interpret the Law, and what Judges can be made to do we know.

7. The King and the Parliament now falling out, are juft as when there is foul play offer'd amongst Gamef ters, one fnatches the others ftake, they feize what they can of one anothers. 'Tis not to be afk'd whether it belongs not to the King to do this or that; before, when there was fair Play, it did. But now they will do what is most convenient for their own fafety. If two fall to fcuffling, one tears the other's Band, the other tears his; when they were Friends they were quiet, and did no fuch thing, they let one another's Bands alone.

8. The King calling his Friends from the Parliament, because he had ufe of them at Oxford, is as if a Man should have use of a little piece of Wood, and he runs down into the Cellar, and takes the Spiggot, in the mean time all the Beer runs about the Houfe; when his Friends are abfent, the King will be loft.

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

1.

Knights Service.

KNights Service in earnest means nothing, for

Lords are bound to wait upon the King when he goes to War with a Foreign Enemy, with it may be one Man and one Horfe, and he that doth not, is to be rated fo much as fhall feem good to the next Parliament. And what will that be? So 'tis for a private Man, that holds of a Gentleman.

Land.

1. WHEN Men did let their Land underfoot,

the Tenants would fight for their Landlords, fo that way they had their Retribution; but now they will do nothing for them; may be the firft, if but a Conftable bid them, that fhall lay the Landlord by the Heels, and therefore 'tis vanity and folly not to take the full value.

2. Allodium is a Law Word, contrary to Feudum, and it fignifies Land that holds of nobody. We have no fuch Land in England. 'Tis a true Propofition; all the Land in England is held, either immediately, or mediately of the King.

[blocks in formation]

Language.

1.TO a living Tongue new Words may be added; But not to a dead Tongue, as Latin, Greek, Hebrew, &c.

2. Lat:mer, is the Corruption of Latiner, it fignifies he that interprets Latin, and though he interpreted French, Spanish, or Italian, he was call'd the King's Latiner, that is, the King's Interpreter.

3. If you look upon the Language spoken in the Saxon Time, and the Language spoken now, you will find the Difference to be juft, as if a Man had a Cloak that he wore plain in Queen Elizabeth's Days, and fince, here has put in a piece of Red, and there a piece of blue, and here a piece of green, and here a piece of Orange-taway. We borrow words from the French, Italian, Latin, as every Pedantick Man pleases.

4. We have more Words than Notions, half a Dozen Words for the fame thing. Sometimes we put a new fignification to an old Word, as when we call a Piece a Gun. The Word Gun was in ufe in England for an Engine, to caft a thing from a man, long before there was any Gun-powder found out.

5. Words must be fitted to a Man's Mouth; 'twas well faid of the Fellow that was to make a Speech for my Lord Mayor, he defir'd to take measure of his Lordship's Mouth.

« FöregåendeFortsätt »