Page:An Essay Concerning Parliaments.djvu/28

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Diſturbances of State which happened, muſt needs cauſe frequent Interruptions in the practice of it. But my reaſon to be of that Opinion is this, becauſe Home who lived in thoſe Times, ſays, That Parliaments at that Time ought to meet twice a Year, and that at London, and that the Intermitting of Parliaments was the Greateſt Abuſion of the Law but one. Though I think I have ſtill a Greater Authority than Horn’s, (if any thing in this World can be bigger than that of an Able and Honeſt Man); But it is a King in his Letter to the Pope. It is in the Clauſe Rolls Anno. 3. Ed. 1. m. 9. Cedula. and is to be ſeen in Prynne’s large Book p. 158. I will quote no more of it than is for my purpoſe. It is concerning the Yearly Tribute of a Thouſand Marks which the Popes from K. John’s Time claimed, and there were ſeveral Years Due. The Pope’s Nuncio ſollicites the Matter, but the King excuſes himſelf that he had come to no Reſolution in his Eaſter-Parliament, but by Common Advice he would give him an Anſwer in his Michaelmaſs-Parliament next following. At preſent I only mind the wording and way of expreſſing theſe two Parliaments. Concerning the Firſt he fays, “In Parliamento quod circa Octabas Reſurrectionis Dommicæ celebrari in Angliâ Conſuevit. In a Parliament that

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