junction with the King’s ſickneſs, was this, That if they had been held till Michaelmas, though there was then to be another parliament, it muſt have been at the King’s charge. For I am of opinion, by what I have ſeen even as low as Richard the ſecond’s time, that the ſitting of a parliament was uſually forty days; and that the quarantain was not duly kept in this parliament, 3 Edward i. of the octaves of Eaſter. But there was a concern in holding a parliament above forty days about the knights’ and burgeſſes’ wages; as appears by the memorable record which is in Knyghton, p. 2682. being the meſſage ſent by both houſes to King Richard the ſecond at Eltham[1].
In ſhort they ſay they have an antient ſtatute for it, that in caſe the King wilfully abſent himſelf, and will not come to parliament, as having no care of vexing his people, nor regard of
- ↑ The words are theſe: Dicunt etiam quod habent ex antiquo ſtatuto, quod ſi Rex a parliamento ſuo ſe alienaverit ſua ſponte non aliqua infirmitate aut aliqua alia de cauſa neceſſitatis, ſed per immoderatam voluntatem proterve ſe ſubtraxerit per abſentiam temporis 40 dierum, tanquam de vexatione populi ſui et gravibus expenſis eorum non curans, extunc licitum omnibus & ſingulis eorum abſque domigeria Regis redire ad propria & unicuique eorum in patriam ſuam remeare.
