hansa quod provis. pro ipsis per ipsum Regem signatum sufficiet eis absq; assensu Dominorum et Domus Communis; These were strangers with whom the parliament had nothing to do, so such a declaration might be concerning them. But the proviso insisted upon by the Lords was concerning the merchants of the Staple, natural born subjects; and besides, that which the House of Commons went upon at the conference, was clean another thing, a proviso relating to another bill, and passed in another parliament; for 1 H. 8. 23rd day of the parliament, and 16th of February upon a Saturday, this bill which is now in question came up to the Lords from the House of Commons, cum proviso pro mercatoribus de la hansa theutonicorum; at the head of this proviso, are these words-Soit baille aux Seigneurs, and at the foot these,-les Seigneurs ont assentus. Then the 27th day of the parliament, which was Thursday the 21st of February, the Lords passed the proviso for the merchants of the Staple which had begun in their House; the words are,-Item proviso pro Mercatoribus Stapule de Calais, lecta est secundo et tertio, et missa in Domum inferiorum per Clericum Coronæ, and these words at the top of it; Soit baille aux Communs, and at the foot these-A cette provision les cões sont assentus. Then the 29th day, which was the last day of the parliament, the bill with the two provisoes annexed were delivered to Sir Thomas Lovel at the bar, Actus subsidii cum duabus provis annex. liberati Thomæ Lovel militi, cum Socii ad Barram, saith the journal.

This bare relation justifies enough the Lords citing of that proviso, by which the merchants of Calais are excepted from their being liable to any of the payments imposed by that bill of subsidy of 1mo. H 8. To say it was but a saving of former rights signifies nothing; for no question, the Lords would not have done it without good cause for it, (nor will they at any time make any abatement, but for good cause ;) but still they saved to the merchants of England their right, which the Commons had taken away. And then here was nothing against the course of parliaments, the proviso regularly added by the Lords, and

sent down to the House of Commons in due manner, and afterwards passed by the king with the bill.

Then for the king's signing it, which the manager of the conference made to be so great a matter; if he would have perused the records of H. 8, he would have seen, that in those times the king still signed all the bills he passed; and all the provisoes annexed, he signed likewise with his own hand; only bills of subsidy he signed not. But the provisoes annexed to bills of subsidy, which were to ease and discharge any persons, those he also signed; and therefore the other proviso concerning the Hans Towns, which was annexed to the bill when it came up from the House of Commons, was likewise signed by the king. So as the king's signing this proviso concerning the merchants of Calais, cited by the Lords, alters not the case, and makes nothing against its proving an inherent power and authority to be in the House of Peers of adding such provisoes, or making abatements in bills of subsidy, whensoever they see cause for it. As they did 1 Eliz. when they gave respite to the counties of Wales, and the county Palatine of Chester, for paying the subsidy (given that parliament) a year after all the rest of the kingdom, which was an easing of them for that time.

And for what is said of the grant 1 H. 8, that it was of the Commons alone; it was, as many other grants then were. The Commons by the assent of the Lords, &c., which expression is sometimes used as signifying the same thing with the other, We the Lords and Commons do grant, &c., as 37 H. 8, the only printed act of subsidy in all his reign, which begins thus,- We the king's majesties most humble, faithful, and obedient subjects, the Lords spiritual and temporal, and the Commons in this present parliament assembled, &c., have consulted together and determined to beseech his majesty most humbly to accept, and graciously to receive, at our hands the simple token or gift which we do herewith present to his majesty, freely with one consent granting the same; most humbly beseeching his majesty to accept the same, as it pleased the great king Alexander to receive thankfully a cup of water of a poor man by the

highway-side, &c. And a little after they say, Wherefore we the said Lords and Commons do by our mutual assents and agreements with one whole voice and hearty good-will, by the authority of this present parliament give and grant to the king's highness, &c. Here then is but one consent, one whole voice, one hearty good-will to give and grant, and one act of giving and granting of the Lords and Commons; and yet the Lords must have no hand in this giving as was told them at this conference. And they are told further, that the thanks was given to the Commons alone, and that is true; it was, it seems, the king's pleasure so to do. But this course was not always observed, sometimes both were thanked, and the law is, they should be so in the indemnity of Lords and Commons, 9 H. 4. Nor can the act of a king, using his pleasure, sometimes to vary from the exactness of a law, make an alteration in the nature and force of that law, but that still it remains the same, to shew what then should have been done, however the king was pleased to do otherwise, and what will be done, or at least ought to be done at any other time.

And now we will go with them to Walsingham, and see if history makes more for them than records; though neither is history a sufficient proof for things of this nature, neither is Walsingham's, or any of those Monks' writings the most authentic history in the world: but let us see what Walsingham saith, p. 475, he saith, his diebus clerus et populus primo quintam decimam, et postmodum tricesimam bonorum suorum Regi Angliæ in Subsidium concesserunt. And p. 488, he saith, pro confirmatione harum rerum omnium dedit Populus Anglicanus Regi denarium nonum bonorum suorum, et Clerus Cantuariensis decimum et Clerus Eboracensis quintum, quia propior damno fuit. What does this signify? but that the laity gave so much, and the clergy so much; and certainly the Lords will be acknowledged to be part of the laity; therefore the laity giving, they are comprehended. Another quotation was urged from p. 566. The words are, Eo tempore incohatum est parliamentum, quod protelabatur inutiliter fere per annum, quia postquam

parliamentales milites distulissent diu concedere Regi Subsidium, in fine tamen fracti concessere taxam petitam grandi communitatis damno. But how they will prove hence, that the Commons gave this subsidy alone, is difficult to tell. All that can be gathered from it, seems to be but this, the knights in parliament (which may be taken for the whole House of Commons) held off a long time, but at last yielded, and gave the tax demanded, to the great prejudice of the commonalty. Doth it follow therefore, that when the House of Commons had passed it at last, the Lords did not assent and join in the grant? Certainly, no man will say it. And for their last quotation, out of p. 564, in H. 4th's time, that subsidium denegatum fuit proceribus renitentibus, the words are these-In quadragesima sequente Rex convenire fecit apud Sanctum Albanum Clerum Regniq; Barones, sed proceribus renitentibus nil actum fuit: and no wonder that the Lords dissenting, nothing was done; yet whether this was a parliament, or only a great council non constat; more like to have been only a great council, and that the king had propounded matter of money to them, as he did afterward in the parliament of the 9th of his reign to the House of Lords; and as this very writer saith, that he had done a little before to these same barons at London, viz. Post festum Purificationis Rex accerssitis Londiniis regni Baronibus, tractabat cum eisdem de Regni regimine, deque pecuniali subventione sibi ferenda, sed proceres Regiis votis tum minimè paruere. this was but a great council and no parliament, if so be Walsingham gave a true account of what passed; for he doth not mention the Commons to have been summoned at all, or that they were there. However, were they, or were they not there, it makes nothing for the manager's purpose, to prove the Commons sole givers; and then for what he observes, that the Lords not agreeing, an act doth not pass, is what no man yet did ever doubt of.

All

The statute of 1 E. 3. c. 6, where the Commons complain, that when they have granted an aid, and the taxers had taxed them, and they had paid the money, there was inquisition

F

afterwards, and the taxers put to fine and ransom, signifies nothing to prove they were the sole granters of that aid.

And the 18th of E. 3. n. 14. It was by agreement that the Lords should accompany the king, and pass the seas with him; and the Commons they grant for the commonalty at large, in the counties two-fifteens, and for the cities and boroughs twotenths; the record saith, et pur ceste cause les ditz grants granterent de passer et lour auenturer ovesque lui, et la dite Commune luy granta pur meisme la cause sur certeine fourme deux Quinzismes de la Communaltee, et deux dismes des citees et burghs, &c. This was sometimes practised, as hath been. already shewed both in this king's time, and in E. 4th's and once in Queen Eliz. that the two Houses did agree to act severally, as here the Lords to serve in person, when the Commons gave money; so sometimes the Lords would charge themselves and their tenants apart (which in those times was a great part of the kingdom, and taking in the clergy, that is, bishops, and abbots, and priors, who held per Baroniam, more than half the kingdom) and the Commons did charge themselves apart, this in an extraordinary way, which altered not the case of their joint gift, when they would grant aids in the ordinary parliamentary

manner.

As for what is said of the 36 E. 3. c. 11, was but taken out of Poulton's Collection of Statutes in print; there, indeed, it is said,—That the three years' subsidy granted by the Commons to the king, shall be no example for the time to come. But if the record itself had been consulted with, it would have shewed that the Lords and Commons granted this subsidy; it is n. 35, where is said, Les dits grants et Communes granterent d'un assent a nostre dit Seignieur le Roy un subside de Leines Cuirs et Pealx lanutz, &c., pur terme de trois ans pleinement accompliz. It is true, that in the end of the record it is said, Purquelegrant nostre Seigneur le Roy a la requeste de sa Commune lour ad fait pardon de plusour articles d' Eyre. For which grant the king at the prayer of the Commons, remits unto them many things for which they were or might be questioned