The HIS T 0 R Y of the PuRITANs. VoL. II: K Charles I. thought to be for the beauty and grandeur of th~ city, and he did appre..: ~~bend the council had a right to command in thin6s of decency, and for the fafety if the fubjeC!, and where there was 110 law to tbe contrary. As to the words which he fpoke to Mr. 'Talboys, they were not de!igned to dero. gate from the law, but to 01ew, that we fat not there as judges of the law, bnt to offer his majefiy'sgrace, by way of compofition to them who would accept it, and therefore be had his option, whether he would a– gree to the fine we impofed upon him, or take bis trial elfewhere. The commons replied with great reafon, that no commiffion from the king could jufi:ify the pulling down men's houfes, or oblige them to part with their efi:ates without act of parliament. Illegal wnThe managers obje<.'lcd further to the archbi(hep, '' feveral illegal com..: mztments and • d b' r. d r · 1 11 J b d prohibitions '' rmtments, an exor ltant 11nes an centLHes 10 t 1e nar c 1am er, an in tbe Spiri-" high commiffion court, as in the cafes of Prynne, Burton , Bajlwick, w .l courts " Hunt!y, and others; and that when the perfons aggrieved brought pro– M. Charge. " hibitions, he threatened to lay them by the heels, faying, does the king "grant us power, and are we tbm prohibited? Let us go and complain, I ·" qvill break tbe back qfprobibitions, or tbey foal! break mine. According· " ly feveral perfons were attually imprifoned for delivering probibitions, as " was tel1ified by many witnefTes; nay Mr. Wheeler fwore, that be « beard the archbirhop in a fermon fay, that tbey which grantedprobibitions cc to tbe difturbance if tbe cburch's right, God will prohibit their entrance " into the kingdom oj heaven." .hbp's reply. The archbi!bop replied, that the fines, imprifonments, and other cen· Laud's H'~· .fures complained ·of, were the acts of the feveral courts that directed ·~·7~;0~7?, 'them, and not his. 'That the reafon why feveral perfons were imprifoned for probibitions, was becaufe they delivered them-into court in an un– mannerly way, throwing them on the table, or handing tht:m over the beads of others on a fi:ick, to the affront of the court; notwithftanding -which, nsmanyprobibitions bad been admitted in his time as in his pre– dece!Tnrs; and after all, he apprehended thefe prohibitions were a very ·great grievance to the church ; nor was there the fame reafon for them now, as before the reformation, while the biihops courts were kept un– der a foreign power, whereas now all power exercifed in fpiritual courts, as well as in temporal, is from the king. As to the words of his fermon, though he did not remember them, yet he faw no great harm in them. And here the arcbbirhop put the lords in mind, that nothing bad been done of Ltte in the fiar chamber, or council table, more than had been <done in king 'J ames and queen Elizabetb's times. Nor is there any one witnefs that bys, what be did was with a de!ign to overthrow the laws, -or introduce arbitrary government; no, that is only the conftruetion of the
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