Page:An Essay Concerning Parliaments.djvu/54

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I am ſure that I have by this Time gained my Point, which was to ſet Wiſer Men upon Thinking.

I was afraid that this Government would float and move upon the Face of the Waters, till we were at a certainty about our Parliaments; and therefore when I waited upon my Lord Devonſhire before the Coronation, and it is my Fault I have not done it often ſince, I ſaid that we were never the Better for this Revolution till we had a Settlement of Parliaments, and our Ancient Right was Anniverſary Parliaments, and that nothing elſe could ſet the Government to rights. Knowing how much he had Aſſiſted the King, and ſeeing the white Staff in his Hand, I concluded upon his Intereſt with the King, and therefore ſaid; My Lord, you may make a Complement of this Matter to the King, and tell him that we mud have Good Laws, in a Good Reign, or never, for we cannot have them in a Bad one; but the Laws made in a Good Reign are to ſupport us when a bad one comes, as the ſeven Years of Plenty in Egypt, ſuſtained the ſeven Years of Famine. It breaks no Rules to repeat my own Diſcourſe to his Lordſhip, and to ſay that he gave me the hearing, nor to ſay that a certain Knight pulled me by the Sleeve, which had no other Effect than to make me ſpeak the more, and the

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