thouſand two hundred and fifteen, from King John, as that intereſting circumſtance is fully treated of in the following hiſtory. It would exceed the limits we have been obliged to preſcribe to ourſelves in this introductory eſſay to particularize the eſtabliſhment of the parliament under Edward I. and the various changes it underwent, from the fraud of ſome, and the violence of others, till the reign of that unfortunate monarch, Charles; whoſe unhappy diſputes with his commons in the year 1628, produced that ſpirited remonſtrance; intitled the petition of rights, which was ſo called, becauſe the drift of it was, not ta deſire of the King any grace or favour, but only the maintenance of the tights of the people.
This celebrated paper was preſented by the commons, the ſecond of June, 1628. and was drawn up in the following words:
“To the King’s moſt excellent Majeſty,
“Humbly ſhew unto our ſovereign lord the King, the lords ſpiritual and temporal, and commons in parliament aſſembled, that whereas, it is declared and enacted by a ſtatute, made in the time of the reign of King Edward I. commonly called Statutum de Tallagio non
