De laudibus legum Angliæ writen by Sir Iohn Fortescue L. Ch. Iustice, and after L. Chancellor to K. Henry VI. Hereto are ioind the two Summes of Sir Ralph de Hengham L. Ch. Iustice to K. Edward I. commonly calld Hengham magna, and Hengham parua. Neuer before publisht. Notes both on Fortescue and Hengham are added

MOreouer, the Ciuill lawes say, that your

naturall or bastard sonne is the sonne of the peo∣ple. Whereof a certaine Metritian writeth in this wise.

To whō the people father is, to him is father none and all:

To whō the people father is, well fatherlesse wee may him call.

And while such a childe had no Father at the time of his birth, surely na∣ture knoweth not howe he could afterward come by a Father: For, if one woman should beare two childen of two For∣nicatours, and the one of them should afterwarde marry her: Whether of these two children should by this marriage be legittimate? Opinion may somewhat perswade,

but reason cannot finde: seeing the time was once, when both those children, beeing iudged the chil∣dren of the people, did not know their fathers. It were therefore vnreaso∣nable, that a child after∣ward borne in the same wedlocke, whose genera∣tion cannot be vnknown, should bee disherited, and that a child which know∣eth no father, should be heire to the father & mo∣ther of the other, special∣ally in the realme of Eng∣lande, where the eldest sonne onely inioyeth the fathers inheritance, And an indifferent Iudge would thinke it no lesse vnreasonable, that a base borne childe should bee equally matched with a lawfull begotten child in

the inheritance, which by the Ciuill lawes can bee diuided but onely among male children. For Saint Augustine in the xvi. book de Ciuitate Dei writeth thus: Abraham gaue all his substance to his sonne Isaac: and to the sonnes of his concubines he gaue gifts: Whereupon see∣meth to be ment, that to bastarde children there is no inheritance due, but onely a necessarie li∣uing. Thus saith hee. And vnder the name of a bastard childe, S. Au∣gustine vnderstandeth all vnlawfull issues, and so doth holy Scripture also in diuers places, cal∣ling none by the name of a bastard. Loe, Saint Augustine thinketh no small difference to bee,

and so thinketh Abraham too, betweene the succes∣sion of a bastard, and of a sonne lawfully begot∣ten. Yea, holy Scrip∣ture reprehendeth all vn∣lawfull children vnder this Metaphor, saying, bastard slippes shall take no deepe roote, nor lay any fast foundation, in the fourth chapter of the booke of Wisdome. The Church also reprooueth the same, in that it ad∣mitteth them not to holy orders, And if so bee, that the Church doe dispense with such a one, yet it permitteth not him to haue any dignity or pree∣minence in the Church, Wherefore it is conueni∣ent, that mans lawe in the benefite of succession, should cutte them short,

whom the Church iudge∣eth vnworthy to bee re∣ceiued in holy orders, and reiecteth from all prelacie: yea whom holy Scripture iudgeth, as touching their birth, much inferiour to them that be lawfully begot∣ten. Wee reade, that Gedeon the puissant be∣gat threescore and tenne sonnes in wedlocke, and but one onely out of wed∣locke, yet this misbe∣gotten childe wickedly slew al those lawfully be∣gotten children, one one∣ly excepted, Iudges the ninth chapter: Where∣by it is perceiued, that there was more wicked∣nesse in one Bastard childe, then in lxix. law∣full sonnes. For it is a common saying:

If a bastard be good, that cōmeth to him by chance, that is to witte, by special grace, but if hee bee euill that commeth to him by nature. For it is thought, that the base childe draw∣eth a certaine corruption and staine from the sinne of his parents, without his owne fault, as all we haue receiued of the sinne of our first parents, much infection, though not so much, Howbeit the ble∣mish, which bastards by their generation doe re∣ceiue, much differeth frō that wherein lawful chil∣dren are borne, For their conception is wrought by the mutuall sinnefull lust of both parents, which in the lawfull and chaste co∣pulation of married cou∣ples taketh no place, The

sinne of such fornica∣tors is committed by the mutuall consent of them both, Wherefore it is likened to the first sin, and cleaueth more cru∣elly to the childe, then the sinne of such as doe otherwise offend alone: so that the Childe so be∣gotten deserueth to bee called the childe of sinne, rather then the childe of sinners, wherefore the Booke of Wisdome ma∣king a difference be∣tweene these two genera∣tions, of the lawfull ge∣neration it saith thus: O how faire is a chaste gene∣ration with vertue! The memoriall thereof is im∣mortall: For it is knowne with GOD and with men. But the other is not knowne with men,

so that the children there∣of borne, are called the children of the people. Of which base genera∣tion, the same booke thus speaketh: All the chil∣dren, that are borne of wicked parents, are wit∣nesses of wickednesse a∣gainst their parentes, when they bee asked. For beeing demaunded of their parentes they open their sinne, euen as the wicked sonne of Noe vncouered his fathers pri∣uities. It is therefore beleeued touching the blind borne, of whom the Pharisies in the ninth Chapter of Saint Iohns Gospell said: thou art all together borne in sinne: that hee was a bastarde, who wholly is borne of sinne: & wher it followeth

doest thou teach vs, It seemeth that thereby may bee vnderstanded, that a bastard hath no like natu∣rall disposition to know∣ledge and learning, as a lawful child hath. Wher∣fore, that law maketh no good diuision, which in the fathers inheritaunce maketh equall bastarde children and lawfull chil∣dren, whom the Church in Gods inheritance ma∣keth vnequall, Betweene whom also Scripture put¦teth a difference in forme aboue mentioned: & when nature in her gifts seue∣reth, marking the natuall or bastard children, as it were, with a certaine pri∣uie marke in their soules. Whether therefore of the two lawes, English or Ci∣uill, do you now imbrace,

most noble Prince, and iudge to haue the prehe∣minence in this case.