Page:An Essay Concerning Parliaments.djvu/26

 I knew what I ſaid when I wiſhed the Triennial Bill of Forty had never been made; and it muſt be remembred that that Act is as if it had never been made; For it gave occaſion to ſome Men that came in with the Deluge of the Reſtauration, when it rained Cavaliers, (though I value all Mens Rights more than my own, and Princes moſt becauſe they are biggeſt) and it prompted them to think of turning a Cautionary Triennial, into a Diſcretionary. But God be thanked they wanted Words to expreſs themſelves; and if they meant it, they have not done it.

But 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 occaſipn there ſhall be more and oftner Parliaments, than once in Three Years. Now I ask for whoſe ſake was that Clauſe Enabled? Not for the King’s, for he was always 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 Oftner 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