DIE Mercurii, 15 die Aprilis,
Domini tam Spirituales quam Temporales, quorum nomina subscribuntur, præsentes fuerunt :
Præsens R E X.
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King present.
HIS Majesty, having on His Robes and Crown, and
sitting in His Throne; the Prince being in his Robes on
His Left Hand, near the State; and the Lords Spiritual
and Temporal being in their Robes;
Speaker of the Commons presented.
The House of Commons were sent for, who appeared,
and presented Serjeant Glanvile for their Speaker;
who, after low Obeisance made, (fn. *) came to the Middle of
the Bar, and did humbly desire His Majesty "to excuse
him in that weighty Service, and command the House
of Commons once more to elect another, fitter for so
considerable a Business He confessed, he had a hearty
Affection to serve, but little Abilities; being ready to
faint before the Burthen came upon him."
Approved of.
The Lord Keeper came from his Place behind the
King, and kneeled down; and receiving the King's Direction, returned to his Place, and told the Speaker,
His Majesty had commanded him to let him know,
that He gave a great and Princely Attention to his
learned Speech, and finds nothing to disagree from
what He expected; telling him he hath shewed his
Abilities, in setting forth his own Disabilities; and so
commended and approved the Choice of the Commons; and would not admit of his Excuse."
Hereupon the Speaker proceeded, and said:
His Speech.
"May it please Your Majesty,
"The Knights, Citizens, and Burgesses of the Commons House of Parliament, in Conformity to most an
cient and most constant Usage (the best Guide in great
Solemnities), according to their well-known Privileges, a
sure Warrant for their Proceedings, and in Obedience
to Your Majesty s most Gracious Counsel and Com
mand, a Duty well becoming loyal Subjects, have
met together in their House, and chosen a Speaker,
one of themselves, to be the Mouth, indeed the Servant, of all the rest; to steer watchfully and pru
dently in all their weighty Consultations and Debates,
to collect faithfully and readily the Vote and genuine
Sense of a numerous Assembly; to propound the
same seasonably, and in apt Questions of their final
Resolutions; and to represent (fn. *) them, and then Conclusion, their Declarations and Petitions upon all urgent Occasions, with Truth, with Right, with Life,
with Lustre, and with full Advantage, to Your most
Excellent Majesty. With what Wit, what Temper,
what Spirit, what Elocution, he ought to be endowed and qualified, that, with any Hope of good Success, should undergo any such Employment, Your
Majesty, in Your great Wisdom, is best able to discern and judge; both as it may relate to Your own
peculiar and most important Assairs of State and Government; and as it must relate to the proper Business
of the House of Commons, which was never small nor
mean, and is like at this Time to be exceeding weghty. Had Your House of Commons been as happy in
their Choice of myself as they were regular, wellwarranted, and dutiful, who stands elected yet to be
their Speaker, and am now presented by them to
Your Majesty for Your Gracious and Royal Appro
bation, should not have needed to have become trou
blesome to Your Majesty, in this Suit of my Releasement and Discharge; which now, in Duty to Your
Majesty, and Care for the Preservation and good Success of Your Affairs, I hold myself obliged to make.
My Imperfections and Disabilities are best known to
myself; to Your Majesty (I suppose) not altogether
unknown, before whom, in the Course of my Practice and Profession, it hath been Your Goodness towards the meanest of Your Subjects, I have divers
Times had the Honour and Favour to appear, and
bear a Part, as an ordinary Pleader. It is a learned
Age wherein we live, under Your Majesty's most
peaceful and most flourishing Government; and Your
House of Commons, as it is now composed, is not only Your Representative Body, but the abstracted
Quintessence of all the whole Commonalty of this
Your Noble Realm of England. There be very many
amongst them much fitter for this Place than I am;
few or none, in my own Opinion, so unfit as myself.
"I most humbly beseech Your Majesty, as You are
the Father of the Common-wealth, and Head of the
whole Parliament, to whom the Care of all our Welfare chiefly appertains, have Respect to Your own
Ends, have Regard to Your House of Commons, have
Compassion upon me, the most unworthy Member of
that Body, ready to faint with Fear before the Burthen falls upon me. Why then should they in me, of
Your Majesty in them, through my Defect, stand exposed to any Hazard of Differvice? I have only a
hearty Affection to serve You and Your People, lit
tle Abilites for Performance. In the Fullness, there
fore, of Your Kingly Power, Your Piety, and Your
Goodness, be graciously pleased to command Your
House of Commons once more to meet together o
consult and deliberate better about their Choice of a
meet Speaker, till they can agree of some such Person as may be worthy of their Choosing and of Your
Majesty's Acceptation."
The Lord Keeper (after Directions received from
His Majesty) replied as followeth:
L. Keeper Answer.
"Mr. Speaker,
"His Majesty, with a Gracious Ear and Princely At
tention, hath listened to your humble and modest Re
quest, full of Flowers of Wit, of Flowers o Floquence, and Flowers of Judgement. Many Reasons
from yourself he hath taken, to approve and agree
to the Choice and Election made by the House on
Commons. He finds none, from any Thing that you
have said, to diffent or disagree from it. You have
set forth your Inabilities with so much Ability, you
hvae so well decyphered and delmeated the Parts and
Duty and Office of a good Speaker, which is, to col
lect the Sum of the House judicially, to read it with
Fidelity, to sum it up with Dextenity, and to mould it
into fit and apt Questions for Resolution; and those,
as Occasion shall serve, to present with Vigour and
Advantage and Humility to His Majesty. He doubts
not but you, that are so perfect in the Theory, will
with great Ease perform the practique Part; and, with
no less Commendation, His Majesty hath taken Notice,
and well remembers, your often waiting on him in private
Causes, wherein you have always so carried yourself,
and won so much good Opinion from His Majesty, as
he doubteth not, but that now you are called forth to
serve Him, and to serve the Public; your Affections and
the Powers of your Soul will be set on Work with
more Zeal and with more Alacrity. It is that for which
Philosophers call a Man happy, when Men that have
Ability and Goodness do meet with an Object fit to bring
it into Act; and such at this Time is your good Fortune,
an Occasion being ministered unto you to shew your
Ability and Goodness, and your Fidelity to His Maje
sty's Service; to shew the Candour and Clearness of
your Heart towards those of the House of Commons
In all which His Majesty nothing doubteth but that
you will so discharge yourself, as He may, to His former Favours, find Occasion and Reason to add more
unto you; that the House of Commons may rejoice
in this Election of theirs; and that the whole King
dom, by your good and clear and candid Service, may
receive Fruits and Effects that may be comfortable to
all. His Majesty therefore doth approve and confirm
the Choice of the House of Commons, and ratifies you
for Speaker."
Then Mr. Speaker addressed himself to His Majesty, as followeth:
Speakers Address to His Majesty.
"Most Gracious Sovereign,
"My Profession hath taught me that, from the highest Judge, and highest Seat of Justice, there lieth no
Writ of Error, no Appeal. Your Majesty, in full
Parliament, hath been pleased, by the Mouth of Your
Lord Keeper, to declare Your Royal Judgement, in
Affirmation of the Election of Your House of Commons Thereby I am become their Speaker, and their
Servant What is therefore left unto me; but, in
the First Place, devoutly to beseech Almighty God,
the Author and Finisher of all good Works, to enable me, by His Blessing, to discharge honestly and effectually so great a Task, so great a Trust; and, in
the next Place, humbly to acknowledge (as I do) the
great Grace and Favour that is done unto me by Your
Majesty, and readily to conform to Your good Pleasure
and Command, to which I now submit with all possible
Chearfulness; lest else my too-much Diffidence to undertake the Service might add a further Disadvantage to
my Performance, than peradventure would arise out
of my other Imperfections.
"Two Enemies I might fear, the common Enemies
of such Services, Expectation and Jealousy. I am not
worthy of the former; I contemn the latter. Time,
which trieth the Truth, shall let the whole World see
and know, that I am, and will be found, an equal
Freeman, zealous to serve my Gracious King, and
zealous to serve my dearest Country.
"Monarchy, Royal and Hereditary, as of all Sorts
of Government the most complete and excellent,
whether we regard the Glory, the Wealth, or the
Safety of the Governor, or of the People; or of
both; and I hope there are not of this Nation any
that are of Anti-monarchical Spirits or Resolutions, no
nor Dispositions, nor Friends to such as are so. If
there be, I with no greater Honour to this Parlia
ment, than to discover them, and, by all good Means
possible, to assist Your Gracious Majesty to suppress
them or confound them.
"You are a great King at all Times; but, sitting now
attended by Your Prelates, Your Lords, and People,
in Free Parliament, are in the highest State of Majesty and Glory. I remember well, I heard Your Majesty's most Royal and Learned Father, our late Dear
Sovereign King James of Sacred Memory), speak to
that Purpose of Himself and of Kings in general, His
Majesty sitting then in Parliament, upon that Throne,
which, by Descent from Him, and from innumerable
Royal Ancestors, is now become Your Majesty's lawful Seat and rightful Inheritance.
"To behold You thus in Peace and Safety, upon
great and good Occasion, after full Fifteen Years Experience of Your most peaceful Government, yields
compleat Joy to all Your Majesty's loyal and well-affected Subjects, who cannot but concur with me in
this Desire;
"[Serus] in Cælum redeas, diuquê
Lætus intersis populo Britanno.
"England is Your State of Residence; not made a
Province, not governed by a Vice-roy God open
all our Eyes and Understandings, to discern and
value the great Blessings and Benefits we enjoy by
Your Majesty's Gracious Presence, and immediate Influence of Life and Chearfulness, to all the Parts of
Your Noble Kingdom.
"Scotland is Your Birth-place, and therein hath Advantage of Your other Kingdoms. God make them,
and keep them, ever sensible and worthy of that Honour.
"Ireland begins a-pace to imitate England, in a great
and quick Progress to Civility of Manners and Conversation, by many sedulous Plantations, and Improvement of Your Soil, by their receiving and enacting of
the more wholesome Laws and Statutes of this Kingdom, and by many other good Effects and Fruits of
Peace and blessed Government.
"Fraunce is still an Attendant to Your Royal Stile
and Title.
"The Prerogative of a King is as necessary as it is
great; without it, He should want that Power and
Majesty which is and ought to be inseparable from
the Crown and Sceptre; nor can there any Danger
result, from such Prerogative in the King, to the Liberty of the Subject, so long as both of them admit
the Tomperament of Law and Justice; especially under such a King as Your Majesty, who, to Your immortal Glory, among Your Printed Laws, have published this to the whole World, for Your Maxim :
"The Liberty of the People strengthens the King's
Prerogative; and the King's Prerogative is, to defend
the People's Liberties Apples of Gold in Pictures of
Silver! Kings, as (fn. *) Kings, are never said to err, only the best may be abused by Information; the highest Point of the Prerogative is, The King can do no
Wrong; if, therefore, by the Subtilty of Misinformers, by the specious false Pretences of Public Good,
by cunning and close Contrivance of their Ways to
seduce, the Sacred Royal Person shall, at any Time,
be circumvented, or surprized, or over wrought, and
drawn to command Things contrary to Law; and that
the same be done accordingly; these Commands will
be void, and the King innocent, even in His very Person, defended by His Prerogative; nevertheless the
Authors of such Mis-informations, and Actors in those
Abuses, will stand liable and exposed to strict Examination and just Censure, as having nothing to defend
themselves but the Colour of a void Command, made
void by just Prerogative, and by the fundamental and
true Reason of State and Monarchy; and what Difference is there, or can be, in Law, between a void
Command and no Command at all?.
"If Religion, Justice, and Mercy, all happily assembled, and graciously lodged together in Your Royal
Breast, may give to Your well-affected Subjects a good
Hope of the good Success of this Parliament, I know
not why we should not all of us expect it, with much
Confidence. Some few Particulars, pertuning to the
general Heads, I humbly beg of Your Majesty, that,
without Offence to Your Sacred Ears, I may have
Leave to mention and observe, to the further Comfort
of myself and all that hear me. What Prince of this
Land was ever known to keep the Hours and set Times
for Prayer, and for the Service of Almighty God,
with that Regularity and Constancy as Your Majesty?
nay more, have You not, eversince Your Access to the
Crown, had One Day in every Week, besides the
Lord's Day, dedicated and applied to Preaching and
Devotion? I may not stay here: There is another
Particular, equaling, nay, much excelling, both the
former; and that is, Your Majesty's great Care to
educate those Pledges of conjugal and most abundant
mutual Love, that is between Your Majesty and Your
most Gracious Consort, the best Queen and Woman,
and the Foundation of our future Hopes, the illustii
our Prince Charles, and the rest of Your Royal Pro
geny, in the true Religion of Almighty God, public
ly prosessed, and by Law established, in this King
dom What Tongue is able to express the great
Joy and Consolation, which all Your Majesty's most
loyal and loving Subjects do derive themselves, in
Contemplation of Your Majesty's great Piety and
Prudence, in this One Act expressed, extending itself
not only to the present Time, but to the Good of
Succession, and of all After-ages. Touching Justice,
there is not any more certain Sign to discern an equal
Judge, than by his Patience to be well informed be
fore he give his Sentence; and I may boldly say, all
Your Judges, throughout all Your Kingdom, may
take Example by Your Majesty, and learn their Duty
by Your Practice in this Kind Myself have often
been a Witness of it, to my no little Admiration and
Content. From Your patient Hearing, to let me pass
on to Your Righteous Judgement, and therein bring
but one Instance; but it shall be a great one: When
Your Lords and Your People, in Your last Parliament,
presented to Your Majesty a Petition, concerning divers Liberties and Rights of Your Subjects, the Petition being of no small Weight and Importance, as by
the same may well appear; Your Majesty, after meet
Deliberation, in few, but most effectual Words, Soit
droict fait comme est desire, made them such an Answer
as shall renown You for just Judgement in this Age
and to all Posterty. I make Haste to come unto Your
Mercy, whereof I cannot but have Need again and
again, before I have finished that Service to which I
am enjoined; and am not altogether in Despair of
obtaining it. Nevertheless, the Mercy which I mean
to celebrate is not only concerning single or particular
Persons, but whole Nations; that unexampled Mercy
and Clemency, which, in Your Royal Wisdom and
abundant Goodness happily net together, Your Ma
jesty vouchsafed to shew to us, and to all the King
dom, in not drawing Your Sword of Justice the last
Summer against Your People of Scotland, though
Your Army were much the better and stronger It
seems, Your Majesty remembered, with more Ten
derness of Heart than they do, that they were Christians and Your Subjects; and that Your Rule was posse
et nolle nobile; whatsoever might be the Rule that in
clined You to Mercy, I am sure the Benefit redounds
to us and ours, who by this Means are still in Peace
and in Tranquillity, not without good Hopes of long
Continunance; a Blessing per adventure under valued
by us, who have had so much of it, under Your Majesty's most Gracious Fathers Blessed Government I
have yet no Instructions from Your House of Com
mons, and therefore can propound nothing as by War
rant from them: But, if I may have Leave to present
Your Majesty with my own most humble and most
hearty Withes and Desires; they be directed upon Religion and Cnivalry, Commerce and Justice, and Unity, that this Parliament might be famous for the Care
and Advancement of God's true Religion, the only
Means to make us happy in this World and that to
come; and, to that Purpose, that the most Reverend
Prelates, Your Majesty's Archbishops and Bishops,
sitting in the Right-Hand of Your Throne, will
therein be most forward, to whom it is most prosperous That the Lords Temporal, girt with their
Swords in their Creation, as more specially rewarded
on designed for Actors Military, would call to Mind
the most noble and most valiant of their Ancestors
(whose I ands and Honours they inherit); and how
famous this Land hath been, at Home and Abroad,
for Deeds of Arms and Acts of Chivaliy; and o labour to restore it, by all Means, to its ancien Glory;
the best Way to preserve Peace is, to be ready prepared and well-fitted for War: That Your Majesty
would be pleased to command that Your Grave and
Reverend Judges, whose Observations should e ceed
all other Mens, though they be but Assistanes in this
Service, to contribute the best and utmost the can,
to explain, to execute, to advance our good old Laws,
and to propound such Things for the enacting of
wholesome and plain new Statutes, that every Subject
of this Realm may be enabled to know and understand
himself clearly, both what he hath to do, and what he
may possess, and what not. There are no consderable
(fn. *) Mines in this Kingdom; Trade and Commerce, the
Exportation of our Wools in Manufactures, and Native Commodities, is that which furnisheth us with
Gold and Silver; the Materials of our Monies, and
hath only Power to enable us to supply Your Majesty,
for the defending of ourselves, and the offending of
our Enemies: That Merchants and Tradesmen, therefore, should have all meet Encouragement, is a most
special Interest of this Island; but, were we never so
valiant, never so wealthy, if Love and Unity be not
amongst us, what Good will our Wealth do to ourselves, or to Your Majesty? He that commands a
Heart in Love, he and he only commands assuredly the
Purse to pay and Hands to fight I pray God, we may
all endeavour to knit such a Knot of Love and true Affection, betwixt the Head and the Members, that all
Jesuited Foreign States, who look perchance with envious and malignant Eyes upon us, and would be glad
to rejoice in our Divisions, may see themselves lost and
defeated of all then subtile Plots and Combinations, and
of all then wicked Hopes and Expectations, to render
us, if then Endeavours might prevail, a People inconsiderable at Home, and contemptible Abroad. Religion
hath taught us, St. Deus nobiscum, quis contra nos? And
Experience, I hope, will teach us, St. sumus inseparabiles, sumus insuperabiles. It was wont to be, and I
hope it ever will be, the Tenet and Position of Your
House of Commons, That the Good of the King and
of the People cannot be severed; and cursed be every
one that shall go about to divide them.
"I fear, I have adventured too far on Your Royal
Patience; though yet, I consess, I never knew it
wearied. Nevertheless, I will here conclude, only
first beseech Your Gracious Majesty, in the Name and
Right of the whole House of Commons, That in
Your Justice, You would be pleased to grant and confirm to them, for their better Encoaragement to pro
ceed in then great Business, these their ancient ad just
Liberties, which Time out of Mind they have rightfully enjoyed:
"That they, their Servants, and necessary Attendants, together with their Goods, may be freed from
all Imprisonments; Arrests, and Molestatons, during
Parliament; that they may enjoy Freedom of Speech
in all then Propositions and Debates, which I hope
they will be careful to use within the Bounds of Loyalty and Duty; that, upon all necessary Occasion,
they may have Access to Your Majesty, with such a
competent Number, and at such seasonable Time and
Place, as Your Majesty shall appoint; and last of all,
that Your Majesty would be pleated Graciously to
make the best Construction of all their Words and
Actions, and of mine in particular."
The Lord Keeper, kneeling again near His Ma
jesty, and receiving Instructions, returned, and
signified in a large Speech, that His Majesty
commanded him to signify as followeth:
Lord Keeper, by His Majesty s Direction, answers Mr. Speakers Address.
"Mr. Speaker,
"His Majesty is no less pleased with your humble
and chearful Submission to His Pleasure, than He is
with your Modesty in your Excuse of it. before,
neither doth He the less commend what you have
now said, as that which is full both of Judgement in
dividing the Parts of it, and of Sharpness and Elo
quence in the Expressions of it. You lift up your
Thoughts and direct your Devotions aright; first, to
the great Throne of Heaven; next, to this Throne
upon Earth: To the first, for Divine Assistance, to
the other, for Gracious Acceptation. Armed with
this Confidence, you need (fn. *) fear no Enemy, and
yet I must tell you, Mr. Speaker, as smoothly as I
look upon you, there was entertained and lodged
within our Breast that great Enemy of yours, Expectation: But, now you have lost it and discovered
it, I will not fear to name him unto you; for the
other, Jealousy, it is too base a Companion to receive
Admittance into any noble and magnanimous Heart,
and I will leave it, with you, to the greatest Contempt
and Disdain that may be. You have set forth the
Blessedness and Happiness of this Kingdom, in the
Frame of Government, that it is Monarchical, in the
Nature of that that is Hereditary; and certainly it
was a good and a true Saying, Nolle discrimine, etc.
It is a large Field to walk in, and such a one as, to
speak any Thing to the Purpose, would take up more
Time than either I have to speak, or you to hear,
and yet you have brought me into a large Field too,
for, as Monarchies in general are but Happinesses,
that a Man cannot fix upon, unless we receive the
Joy, the Comfort, and the Fruit of them in particular; for certainly, in the Person of His most Excel
lent Majesty, (fn. †) are justly and rightly summed up all
our Blessings and all our Happiness in one, but in
one great and eminent and unequaled Example. His
Majesty's Piety, the World cannot doubt it; you have
well observed it. His Justice is well known to all His
Subjects, His Clemency beyond Expression. When
did ever a King of this Kingdom sit in His White
Robes for Fifteen Years together, when scarce any
Man was made to feel the sensible Stroke of the Axe,
non Blood be drawn, but in petty and particular
Causes? Mr. Speaker, it was a good Wish, and I will
join with you in it with all my Heart, that they may
be accursed and anathematized by this Parliament, by
all the Kingdom, by all succeeding Ages, that go
about in the least to innovate or alter any Thing, in
that happy Government under which we live."
Here the Commons applauding his Lordship's
Expression by a general Hum, his Lordship proceeded:
"It is a joyful Acclamation, and I doubt not but
your Hearts are full. And certainly, you my Lords,
and you of the House of Commons, may easily know,
that those that are of that Spirit and that Disposition,
they will quickly resolve all these Debates, and all
their Actions, into (fn. ‡)
Cades and Cade's Principles; which
is, to ruin the Nobility, to ruin the Gentry, and to
ruin Learning; to devour and eat up one another
Mr. Speaker, you have list up your Contemplations,
and raised them on Five excellent Pillars: That of Re
ligion, you do well in the first Place to begin withal,
for certainly it is that which must season all our other
Blessings, and it is that to which we ought to ascribe
the great Happiness that we have so long enjoyed;
in that, with great Judgement and Discretion, you fix
your Eye and your Care upon the Reverend Prelates
that assist His Majesty upon His Right Hand; certainly to them, and to their Predecessors, we owe the
Preservation of the Cospel, in that Purity and Sincerity we now enjoy it; let any Man look back from
the First of Queen Elizabeth, and somewhat before,
to these Times, and see to whom we owe it most
The Prophet Elisha, when he had Eliah's Spirit
doubled on him, (fn. †) took up his Mantle; and there
are Golden Candlesticks, and there are Gates of Sapphire and Onyx, and of rich Stone, spoken of as
well in the New Testament as in the Old, and God
forbid but we should live to do so. God, that is the
God of Order, the God of Glory, the God of Decency, served in such Sort and Manner as Ploughmen come home from the Plough ! Mr. Speaker,
you shall not need to doubt but that His Majesty's
pious Example, unprecedented by any King (if I
should say by any Man I should not say amiss), will
give you, and the House of Commons, and all the
World, cause to rest most confident and most assured
of His Zeal and Constancy in the Religion He professeth; (fn. *) in which nothing within or without the Kingdom hath ever (fn. *) been found to shake or alter Him. Next
place, you look upon the Judges and Sages of the
Law, and well you may; Persons for Gravity and for
Learning certainly not exceeded in any Age; and,
for Justice and Integrity, I am sure, if any of them
be guilty of the least Defect therein, they have the
least Reason to be excused for it that ever Judges,
in any Time or Age ever had: They have the Example
of the King; they have the Freedom of His Royal Election; they have received, from Time to Time, Charge
and Command, that they should with Equality and Indifferencyd stribute that Justice committed to them, and so
discharge the Trust by God laid upon His Majesty, and
by Him transmitted to then Dispensations. For Chivalry, the next Pillar on which you set up the Trophies of
Honour, the Grandees and Great Lords of this Kingdom, you behold them in Number, I think, greater than
ever their Ancestors were; and I doubt not but their
Courage is every way equal; and I assure myself they
will never forget the famous Acts which have left them
Honourable to all Posterity, nor do the least Thing
that may either deface the Monumental Name and
Actions of them, or that may in the least Kind stain
the known Honour, Nobility, and Magnanimity For
Commerce, it is most certain, Mr. Speaker, that it is
the Royal Mine of this Kingdom, the East and West
Indies of our Nation; and in that we have all Cause
to bless God, and to give humble Thanks to His Majesty, that He takes such Care to maintain and encourage it, that this Nation never more flourished
since the Conquest than now it doth There remains
but Unity; and (as you said well) without that, we
can never be happy I will but turn yourself, you
have said, Si sumus inseparabiles, sumus insuperabiles;
I will but say (it is a borrowed one, and I will as soon
borrow that as any), Si collidimur, frangimur Mr.
Speaker, let all the World avoid Distrust Assure
yourself, there will not lack Attempts and Designs
out of malignant and all Affections; there will not
lacl, from discontented Persons, pestilent and peevish
Endeavours to make good their Actions; there will
not lack, from malicious and ambitious Spirits, evil
Counsel, that may disjoint and unknit His Majesty
and this House And you of the House of Commons, you see His Majesty hath Graciously invited
you hither; and let me put you in Mind, that you
forget not what I said unto you the last Day;
and that you remember, that there is nothing doth
take a gracious and good Nature so much, as an
humble, and sweet, and chearful Expression.
"For your Petitions, His Majesty hath heard them
all, and He grants them all, as fully and as freely as
ever Himself, in other Parliaments, did, or any of
His Predecessors before Him; and therefore there
remains nothing now, but that you go on with Chearfulness, you go on with Duty, you go on with those
Expressions, that you may rejoice the Heart of so
gracious, so just, and so good a King; and that may,
more than Showers in the Drought and Heat of
Summer, refresh and chear this Kingdom, and all His
Majesty's other Dominions."
When the Lord Keeper had ended his Speech,
His Majesty Himself was pleased to declare as
followeth:
King s Directions to the Speaker.
"Mr. Speaker,
"I will only say one Word unto you Now that you
are the Speaker; I command you to do the Office of
a Speaker, which is, faithfully to report the great
Cause of the Meeting, that My Lord Keeper, in My
Name, did represent unto you the last Day; with this
Assurance, That, you giving Me your (fn. *) timely Help
in this great Affair, I shall give a willing Ear to all
your just Grievances."
Adjourn.
Dominus Custos Magni Sigilli, ex Jussu Domini Regis,
declaravit præsens Parliamentum continuandum esse
usque in diem crastmum, videlicet, 16m diem instantis
Aprilis, hora octava Aurora, Dominis sic decernentibus.