Page:An Essay Concerning Parliaments.djvu/10

 do not find a Man better Qualified than the Learned Lord Chancellor Forteſcue, who was an Aged Lawyer, and had been Lord Chief Juſtice of England when he wrote his Book de laudibus Legum Anglicæ, which was on purpoſe in a Dialogue with the Prince of Wales, to inform him of the Nature. of the Engliſh Conſtitution, and to let him know by what Sort of Laws the Realm, in which he was to Succeed his Father, was to be Governed. And therefore he adjures him over and over again to Addict himſelf to the Underſtanding of the Laws of his Father’s Realm, wherein he was to Succeed, Fol. 16. a. and having ſhewed the Prince the Different nature of Realms, where a King could Tyrannize, and where he could not, being reſtrained by Politick Laws, Fol. 26. b. Rejoyce therefore (ſays he) moſt Excellent Prince and be glad, That the Law of the Realm in which you are to ſucceed is Such, for it ſhall exhibit and miniſter to You and your People no ſmall Security and Comfort.

But out of that excellent Book which believe no Way Warped, (for then it muſt lean towards the Court, partly becauſe of the Flattery and Officiouſneſs which is too often found in Dialogues with Princes, and partly becauſe the Author was retained on the Crown ſide by the Greateſt Office in England;) I will confine my Self to thoſe Paſſages only which