Page:A History and Defence of Magna Charta.djvu/24

xviii proceedings to the prejudice of your people in any of the premiſes, ſhall not be drawn hereafter into conſequence or example: and that your majeſty would be alſo graciouſly pleaſed, for the further comfort and ſafety of your people, to declare your royal will and pleaſure, that in the things aforeſaid, all your officers and miniſters ſhall ſerve you according to the laws and ſtatutes of this realm, as they tender the honour of your majeſty and the proſperity of this kingdom.”

this petition had for its foundation, Magna Charta, ſix other ſtatutes, and a great number of precedents, yet the king endeavoured to evade the paſſing of it into a law, and when it was carried, he was ſo offended with the attempts of his people for an effectual redreſs of their grievances, that he abruptly diſſolved the parliament, and never called another for twelve years afterwards.

1640, after the people had made various applications to the monarch, in conſequence of the principles of arbitrary power aſſerted by the court, having bred a general diſcontent, he ſummoned a parliament, which paſſed the celebrated triennial bill providing that a parliament ſhould be held every third year.