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260
AN ESSAY ON
to compaſs a long parliament, and therefore he was fain to take other indirect ways to gain the ſame point as if he had one. It was Richard the ſecond; who, in the articles alledged againſt him, and confeſſed by him, let us know it was by influencing elections and falſe returns. The words as they ſtand in the rolls, 1 Henry IV. m. 20. are theſe[1]:
“19. Item, Although by ſtatute, and the cuſtom of his realm in the calling of every parliament in every the counties of England, his people ought to be free to chuſe and depute
- ↑ Item, Licet de ſtatuto, & conſuetudine regni ſui in convocatione cujuſlibet parliamenti populus ſuus in ſingulis comitatibus regni debeat eſſe liber ad eligendum & deputandum milites pro hujuſmodi comitatibus ad intereſſendum parliamento, & ad exponendum eorum gravamina, & ad profequendum pro remediis ſuperinde prout eis videretur expedire; tamen prefatus Rex ut in parliamentis ſuis liberius conſequi valeat ſua temeraria voluntatis effectum, direxit mandata ſua frequentius vicecomitibus ſuis, ut certas perſonas per ipſum regem nominatas ut milites comitatuum venire faciant ad parliamenta ſua, quos quidem milites eidem Regi faventes inducere poterat, prout frequentius fecit, quandoque per minas varias, & terrores, & quandoque per munera ad conſentiendum illis qua Regno fuerant prejudicialia, & populo quamplurimum oneroſa; & ſpecialiter ad concedendum idem Regi ſubſidium lanarum ad terminum vita ſua, & aliud ſubſidium, ad certos annos, ſuum populum nimium opprimendo.
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