Page:A History and Defence of Magna Charta.djvu/297

Rh words to expreſs themſelves; and if they meant it, they have not done it.

ſo as they did put the act together, and as it now ſtands, there are ſeveral things in it worth obſerving. 1ſt. That if there be occaſion there ſhall be more and oftener parliaments than once in three years. Now I aſk for whoſe ſake was that clauſe enacted? Not for the King’s, for he was enabled by his prerogative, for the ſake of the ardua regni, to call a parliament every month in the year. Well then, it was for the ſake of his people, that if they judged there was occaſion for more or oftener parliaments, they might aſk for them. For I appeal to common ſenſe, whether it be not ridiculous, and wonderfully beneath the dignity of a parliament, when a prince was bound by his coronation-oath to call a parliament once a year, or oftener 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 oftener than once in three years.

much for that point; the next is this. The upſhot of this act of parliament, and the concluſion of the whole act is in theſe words: “To the end