A learned commendation of the politique lawes of Englande vvherin by moste pitthy reasons & euident demonstrations they are plainelye proued farre to excell aswell the ciuile lawes of the Empiere, as also all other lawes of the world, with a large discourse of the difference betwene the. ii. gouernements of kingdomes: whereof the one is onely regall, and the other consisteth of regall and polityque administration conioyned. written in latine aboue an hundred yeares past, by the learned and right honorable maister Fortescue knight ... And newly translated into Englishe by Robert Mulcaster.

MOre ouer the Ciuile lawes say y^t your na¦tural or bastard sonne is y^e sōne of y^e people. Wher¦of a certein metriciā wri∣teth in this wise.

To whom the people fa∣ther is, to hī is father none & all. To whom the peo∣ple father is, wel fatherles we may him call.

And while suche a chylde had no father at y^e tyme of his birthe, surelye na∣ture knoweth not howe he could afterward come by a father. For if one woman shoulde beare two children of twoe for∣nicatours, and the one of them shoulde afterward marrye her: Whether of these twooe children shoulde by this marriage bee legittimat? Oppiniō may somewhat {per}swade,

but reason cannot fynde: seeing the time was once when bothe those chyl∣dren beeinge iudged the children of the people, did not knowe theire fathers It were therefore vnrea∣sonable that a child after∣warde borne in the same wedlocke, whose genera∣tion cannot be vnknowē shoulde be disherited, and that a childe whiche kno∣weth no father should be heire to the father & mo∣ther of the other, specially in y^e roialme of England where the eldest sonne on¦ly enioieth the fathers in∣heritance. And an indiffe¦rent iudge would think it no lesse vnreasonable, that a base borne childe shoulde bee equally mat∣ched with a lawful begot¦ten childe in y^e inheritāce

whiche by the Ciuile la∣wes can bee deuyded but onelye among male chil∣dren. For saint Augus∣tine in the xvi. booke de Ciuitate dei wrytethe thus. Abraham gaue all his substance to his sonne Isaac: and to the sonnes of his concubines he gaue gyftes. Whereuppon se∣meth to bee ment, that to bastarde children there is noe inheritaunce due, but onelye a necessary ly∣uinge. Thus saieth hee And vnder the name of a bastard child saint Austē vnderstādeth all vnlaw∣ful yssues: & so doth holye scripture also ī diuers pla¦ces, callinge none by the name of a bastard. Lo, Saint Austen thinkethe no small difference to be, & so thinketh Abrahā to,

betwene the succession of a bastarde, and of a sonne lawfullye begotten. Yea holye scripture reprehen∣deth all vnlawful childrē vnder this metaphore, sayeng Bastarde slippes shall take no deepe roote nor lay any fast founda∣tion, in the iiii. chapiter of the booke of wisedome. The churche also repro∣ueth the same in that it admitteth them not to ho¦lye orders. And if it so bee that the churche doe dys∣pense withe suche a one, yet it permitteth not him to haue anye dignitye or preeminence in y^e church Wherefore it is conue∣nyent that mannes lawe in the benefite of successiō shoulde cutte thē shorte,

whome the Churche iud∣geth vnworthy to bee re∣ceaued into holye orders, and reiecteth from all pre¦lacie: yea whome holye scripture iudgeth, as tou∣chinge their birthe, much inferiour to them that be lawfullye begotten. We reade that Gedeon the pu¦issaunt begate lxx. sonnes in wedlocke, and but one onelye out of wedlocke. Yet thys misbegotten chylde wyckedlye slewe all those lawfullye bee∣gotten children one one∣lye excepted. Iudges .ix. Whereby it ys percea∣ued that there was more wyckednesse in one bas∣tarde chylde, then in .lxix. lawfull sonnes. For it is a commen sayenge:

If a bastard bee good, y^t cōmeth to him by chaūce, that is to wytte, by speci¦all grace, but if he be euil that commeth to him by nature. For it is thought that the base child draw∣eth a certeyn corruption and stayne from y^e synne of his parentes, without his owne fault, as all we haue receaued of y^e synne of oure first parēts much infection, thoughe not so∣muche. Howebeit the ble¦mishe which bastardes by their generation do re¦ceaue muche differeth frō that werein lawfull chil¦dren are borne. For their conception is wrought by the mutuall synnefull lust of both parēts, which in the laufull & chast copu¦lations of marryed cou∣ples taketh no place. The

synne of suche fornica∣tours is committed by y^e mutuall consent of them bothe. Wherefore it is li¦kened to the first synne, & cleaueth more cruelly to the chylde, then the synne of suche as do otherwise offende alone: so that the chylde so begotten deser∣ueth to be called the child of synne, rather then the chylde of synners. where¦fore the boke of wysedō makynge a difference be¦tweene these ii. gen̄atiōs of y^e laufull gen̄atiō it say¦ethe thus. O howe faire is a chaste generaciō w^t vertue. The memoriall thereof is immortall: for it is knowen with god & with men. But the other is not knowen with men

so that the children there of borne are called y^e chil∣dren of the people. Of whiche base generation the same booke thus spea¦keth: All the chyldrē that are borne of wycked pa∣rētz are witnesses of wyc¦kednes agaīst their parētz when they be asked. For beīge demaūded of their parentz, they open theyr synne, euen as the wyc∣ked sonne of Noe vncoue¦red his fathers priuities. It is therefore beleued touchīge the blīde borne of whom the pharasiez in the ix chapter of Saint Iohns ghospell said: Thou art altogether borne in sīne: y^t he was a bastarde, who wholly is borne of synne. And where it folowethe:

doest not thou teache vs. It seemeth that thereby maye be vnderstanded, y^t a bastard hathe no lyke naturall disposition to knowlege and learnyng as a lawfull chylde hath. Wherefore that lawe maketh no good diuision whiche in the fathers in∣heritance makethe equal bastard children and lau¦full childrē, whō y^e church in gods inheritaunce ma¦keth vnequall. Betwene whom also scripture put∣teth a differēce in fourme aboue mentioned: & whō nature in her gyftes seue¦reth, markynge the natu¦rall or bastard chyldren as it were with a certein priue mark ī their soules Whether therefore of y^e ii. lawes Englishe or ci∣uile do you now imbrace

most noble prince, & iudge to haue the preeminence in this case.