disbanding of the Army, and bring it in tomorrow morning.

Message from the King concerning a Recess.] Aug. 31. A message from the lords came down to the commons, to desire a conference; which being agreed to, the lords communicated the following Message to them, which they had received from the King:

"C. R. His majesty being frequently desired, by several members of the house of peers, to dispense with their absence from the service of the house, and to give them leave to go into the country for their healths and their affairs and finding that the circuits will carry many of the members of the house of commons into their several countries; where, he doubts not, they will much advance his majesty's service, and the peace of the kingdom; and the house of commons having, by their Speaker, desired his majesty's leave to go into the country, his majesty is graciously pleased that both houses shall have a recess upon Saturday the 8th of next month: In which time he doubts not care will be taken for the raising such money as shall be necessary for the payment of the debts of the Navy, disbanding the Army, and supporting it till it shall be disbanded; which his majesty desires as much as any man. And his majesty intends that both houses shall meet again upon Tuesday the 6th of Nov.

next."

On the reading of this Message the commons ordered, That no private business, depending in their house, be proceeded in till the day of adjournment. But, at the same time, several debates arose concerning the word Recess' in the king's Message; whether to adjourn or no; or what the word meant; to adjourn, or to determine, and ordered another conference with the Lords, about it. But that house being risen before the message was sent, this matter was dropped for that time. However, two days after, a conference was held; when the lord-chancellor declared it was his majesty's pleasure that the parliament should be adjourned according to former usage; and not that he meant, by the word Recess,' a dissolution.

Sept. 4. The conimons resolved, That his majesty should be desired not to dispose of any of the Manors or Lands of the persons excepted from pardon by the late act, until his brothers, the dukes of York and Gloucester, were provided for. At the same time, they ordered the sum of 10,000l. to be charged on the receipt of the excise, for the use of the duke of York, and 7000l. for the duke of Gloucester, to be paid for their present necessities; also 5000l. more for the repair of his majesty's houses.

State of the Revenue of the Crown.] A committee had been appointed to consider the State of the present Revenue of the Crown; and this day, sir Heneage Finch reported from the Committee to whom it was referred to consider of a Revenue to be settled on the king's majesty, and the State of

the late king's Revenues, an Estimate of the present Revenue of his majesty, and several Resolves of the said committee; that is to say, "That, according to the best information the committee could receive from the officers heretofore employed about the Revenue, the total of the revenue which came unto his late majesty amounted, from the year 1637 to 1641 inclusive, communibus annis, unte 895,8197. 5s. whereof 210,493l. 17s. 4d. did arise by Payments, partly not warranted by law, and partly expired: and that the Expences of his said late majesty's government did amount, communibus annis, to about 200,000l. a-year above the Receipt; in which computation the incomes arising by Ship-Money are not comprehended: and that, by Estimate, the present Revenue of his now majesty may be computed at 819,3987, or thereabouts; that is to say, by

819,398

"Of which sum 45,698/. 18s. 7d. part of the said 263,5981. for Farms and Rents, is casual, and, for the most part, lost; viz. for the Mint, Allum, Transportation of Gold, New-Years-Gifts, and installed Debts."

He also reported some Resolves of the said Committee, viz. "That a Bill be tendered to the house, for establishing and regulation of the office of Post-master: That the like Bill be tendered to the house, for Wine Licenses: That a Bill be prepared for settling the Lands of the Crown, so that no grant of the inheritance shall be good in law; nor any lease more than for 3 lives, or thirty one years, where a third part of the true yearly value is reserved for a rent, as it shall appear upon the return of a survey; which that Act is to take order for, that it may be speedily had and taken that the house be desired to move his majesty, that there be a forbearance to make Leases of Lands, or other grants of the Revenue, till the said Act be passed: and That the said committee think fit that the Revenue, for the constant yearly support of his majesty, be a Revenue of 1,200,000%, a-year:”

The question being propounded, That the present king's Revenue shall be made up 1,200,000l. a-year: it was put, and passed in the affirmative.

Resolved, That this house doth agree with the Committee, that a bill be brought in for establishing and regulation of the office of Wine Licenses; and that another bill be brought in for settling the Lands of the Crown,

so as that no grant of the inheritance shall be good in law; nor any lease for more than 3 lives, or 31 years, where a third part of the true yearly value is reserved for a rent, as it shall appear upon the return of a survey, which that Act is to take order for, to be speedily had and taken.-Resolved, That this house doth agree with the Committee, that the king's majesty be humbly moved, to forbear to make any Leases of Lands, or other grants of the Revenue of the crown, till the said last mentioned Act be passed.-Resolved, That his majesty be humbly moved that he will be pleased to forbear the exercise of his prerogative, in making use of his Tenures, till this house shall have settled a Revenue in compensation thereof; which is already in an effectual way of settling.

Petition to the King from both Houses, on behalf of Vanc and Lambert.] Sept. 5. A Petition was drawn up, and read in the house, to be presented to the king, from both houses, in these words:

To the King's Most Excellent Majesty: The

Humble PETITION of the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled, "Sheweth; That your majesty having declared your gracious pleasure to proceed only against the immediate murderers of your royal father, we your majesty's most humble subjects, the lords and commons assembled in parliament, not finding sir Henry Vane or col, Lambert to be of that number, are humble suitors to your majesty, if they shall be attainted, yet execution, as to their lives, may be remitted. And, as in duty bound, we shall ever pray, &c."

Mr. Prynne was ordered by the house to carry up this Petition to the lords for their concurrence. To which their lordships agreed; and, on presenting it to his majesty, he was also graciously pleased to grant the same.

Debate in the Commons, relative to the King's Marriage.] Sept. 12. This day, a remarkable debate took place in the house of commons, of which the Journals take not the least notice, nor any historian that we know of. We are indebted to the MS. Diary so often quoted, for this piece of intelligence.

Mr. Bamfield moved, That the king should be desired to marry, and that it should be to a Protestant.

Mr. Annesley said, That he thought this motion was not timely offered; and that when queen Elizabeth was put in mind of such a thing, she said, They ought to look to matters that concerned themselves.-Sir Gilbert Gerrard spoke for the motion, as also Mr. Bunckley, for marrying a Protestant, and that the Speaker should move this matter when he went up with the Bills to the house of lords.

Sir Samuel Jones desired it might be left to the king's own choice.

Serj. Hales said, It was not reasonable to confine his majesty; urging how much the peace and good of the nation was bound up in him.

Sir Heneage Finch argued, That the motion was very sudden, and wished they might not be too sudden in their resolves upon it: that they had no reason to think the king would marry a Papist, being then at liberty to make his own choice, when before he was under Catholic princes, and might have been induced to marry amongst them. He desired to be satisfied, whether any one could propose a convenient Protestant match, and said, the world would think strangely of them, if they confined his majesty to a Protestant: that the cause of the late troubles was said to be the marriage of the king's father to a Papist, which he did not believe. And that now, to propose such a thing to him, when he had no time to consider of it, would savour very ill. He added, that he did not know the ambassadors, which were then come over, came to offer the king any match; but, if they did, he believed his majesty would be very wary in accepting one; though he might be induced, for the advantages which might be made to the kingdom, to hearken unto them.

Mr. Boscawen was for referring it to a committee to draw up a Petition for it. Mr. Hollis said, It was better to refer it to their next meeting; and Mr. Annesley, Sir John Temple, and Mr. Prynne, saying, That it was not seasonable at that time, the affair intirely dropped. The last member said, That the king having lived so many years unmarried, and had not yet thought of it, it was not fit to prescribe rules to him, but leave it to himself.

The Speaker's Speech to the King at the Adjournment, on presenting the Bills.] Sept. 13. His majesty came to the house of lords this day; and, sitting in his chair of state, commanded the gentleman-usher of the black rod to give notice to the house of commons, that they speedily attend his majesty, who being come up, their Speaker made the following Speech:

Most Gracious and Royal Sovereign, Your commons, the knights, citizens, and burgesses, have commanded me to present your majesty with the sacrifices of their hearts, most humble thanks, for their often and frequent admissions unto your royal presence; and for the freedom you have been pleased to allow them, upon all'occasions, of making their wants and desires known unto your majesty.— Sir, this royal favour and fatherly kindness unto your people hath naturalized their affections to your person, and their obedience to your precepts: And as it is their duty, so it is their desires to manifest and evidence the truth and reality thereof, by supporting and upholding that grandeur and splendour which is due to the majesty of so meritorious a prince as you yourself: And therefore they have resolved, unu flatu, et nemine contradicente, to make up your royal majesty's constant and ordinary Revenue 1,200,000l. per annum.-But finding as to some part of the settlement of that Reve-. nue, that there will be a necessity of making use of the legislative power; and that the Bills,

to him with the same alacrity, as if they had never been disbanded. And if there be any so ill amongst them (as there can but be very few, if any) who will forfeit that favour and protection they may have from him, by any withstanding his majesty's commands, and the full and declared sense of the kingdom, his majesty is confident they will be as odious to their companions, as they can be to any other honest men. My lords and gentlemen; I am, in the next place, by the king's command, to put you in mind of the Act of Indemnity; not of any grants or concessions, or releases he made to you in that Act; I have nothing of that in charge; no prince hath so excellent a memory to forget the favours he doth; but of what he hath done against you in that act, how you may be undone by that act, if you are not very careful to perform the obligations he hath laid upon you in it. The Clause I am to put you in mind of is this: And to the intent and purpose that all names and terms of distinction may be likewise put into utter oblivion, be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That if any person or persons, within the space of 3 years next ensuing, shall presume, maliciously, to call, or alledge, or object against any other person or persons any name or names, or other words of reproach, any way leading to revive the memory of the late differences, or the occasion thereof, that then every such person, so as aforesaid offending, shall forfeit, &c.' It is no matter for the penalty, it is too cheap a one; the king wishes it had been greater, and therefore hath, by his just prerogative (and it is well for us he hath such a prerogative) added another penalty more insupportable, even his high displeasure, against all who shall swerve from this clause in the Act. Give me leave to tell you, That as any name or names, or other words of re proach, are expressly against the letter, and punishable accordingly: so evil and envious looks, murmuring and discontented hearts, are as directly against the equity of this statute, a direct breach of the Act of Indemnity, and ought to be punished too; and I believe they may be so. You know kings are, in some sense, called Gods, and so they may in some degree be able to look into men's hearts; and God hath given us a king who can look as far into men's hearts as any prince alive and he hath great skill in physiognomy too; you would wonder what calculations he hath made from thence; and, no doubt, if he be provoked by evil looks, to make a further inquiry into men's hearts, and finds those corrupted with the passions of envy and uncharitableness, he will never chuse those hearts to trust and rely upon. He hath given us a noble and princely example, by opening and stretching his arms to all who are worthy to be his subjects, worthy to be thought Englishmen, by extending his heart, with a pious and grateful joy, to find all his subjects at once in his arms, and himself in theirs; and shall we fold our arms towards one another, and contract our hearts

with envy and malice to each other, by any sharp memory of what hath been unneighbourly or unkindly done heretofore? What is this but to rebel against the person of the king, against the excellent example and virtue of the king, against the known law of the land, this blessed Act of Oblivion ?-My Lords and Gentlemen, the king is a suitor to you, makes it his suit very heartily, That you will join with him in restoring the whole nation to its primitive temper and integrity, to its old good manners, its old good humour, and its old good nature. Good nature, a virtue so peculiar to you, so appropriated by God Almighty to this nation, that it can be translated into no other language, hardly practised by any other people; and that you will, by your example, by the candour of your conversation, by your precepts, and by your practice, and by all your interest, teach your neighbours and your friends how to pay a full obedience to this clause of the statute, how to learn this excellent art of forgetfulness.-Let them remember, and let us all remember, how ungracious, how indecent, how ugly, the insolence, the fierceness, the brutishness of their enemies appeared to them, and we may piously and reasonably believe, that God's indignation against them, for their want of bowels, for their not being Englishmen, (for they had the hearts of pagans and infidels) sent a whirlwind in a moment to blow them out of the world, that is, out of a capacity to do more mischief in the world, except we practise their vices, and do that ourselves which we pretend to detest them for.-Let us not be too much ashamed, as if what hath been done amis proceeded from the humour and the temper of the nature of our nation. The astrologers have made us a fair excuse, and truly I hope a true one: all the motions of these last 20 years have been unnatural, and have proceeded from the evil influence of a malignant star; and let us not too much despise the influence of the stars. And the same astrologers assure us, that the malignity of that star is expired: the good genius of this kingdom is become superior, and hath mastered that malignity, and our own good old stars govern us again; and their influence is so strong, that with your help they will repair in a year what hath been decaying in 20, and they only shall have no excuse from the star who continue their malignity, and own all the ill that is past to be their own, by continuing and improving it for the time to come.-If any body here, or any where else, be too much exalted with what he hath done, or what he hath suffered, and from thence thinks himself warranted to reproach others, let him remember the story of Nicephorus: it is an excellent story, and very applicable to such distempers: he was a pious and religious man, and, for his piety and religion, was condemned to the fire. When he was led to execution, and when an old friend, who had done him injury; enough, fell at his feet and asked his