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or oftner if need were, (for ſo the Law ſtood, and ſo this Prince was at that time Bound) to Interpret a Law after ſuch a manner, as to ſay he was Enabled to call a Parliament Oftner than once in Three Years.
So much for that Point; the next is this. The The Upſhot of this Act of Parliament, and the Concluſion of the whole Act is in theſe words. “To the end, there may be a frequent Calling, Aſſembling, and Holding of Parliaments once in Three Years at the leaſt.” I do ſay, that if ever we came to Low-water Mark in our Laws about Parliaments, and if ever they run Dregs, it was in the Time of Charles the 2d. And yet it was enacted, and was the End of that Law, that One ſhould be Called, Once in Three Years at the leaſt. Now I leave it to the Lawyers to tell, whether a Proclamation can call a Parliament, or any thing elſe beſides a Writ of Summons and a Writ for Elections?
And thus have I run through the Law of Parliaments till t’ other Day, and conſidered what is the Law at preſent. From King Alfred’s Time down to Edward the Firſt, it ſeems to have been the ſtanding Law to have Parliaments Twice a Year. I know that the Invaſions of ſeveral Nations both Danes and Normans, and the Revolutions and
