LOW S CASE OF TENURES. 271 



monarchy in nothing better than in this : that as there is no kingdom of 

 land of the subject that is charged to the crown by way of England charg- 

 tribute, or tax, or talliage, except it be set by parliament : tribouTand all 

 so on the other side there is no land of the subject but is land charged 

 charged to the crown by tenure, mediate or immediate, and b y wa y of 

 that by the grounds of the common law. This is the excel- tei 

 lent temper and commixture of this estate, bearing marks of 

 the sovereignty of the king, and of the freedom of the sub- 

 ject from tax, whose possessions arefeodalia, not tributaria. 



Tenures, according to the most general division, are of two 

 natures, the one containing matter of protection, and the 

 other matter of profit ; that of protection is likewise double, 

 divine protection and military. The divine protection is 

 chiefly procured by the prayers of holy and devout men ; 

 and great pity it is that it was depraved and corrupted with 

 superstition : This begot the tenure in frankalmoigne, which 

 though in burden it is less than in soccage, yet in virtue it is 

 more than knight s service. For we read how, during the 

 while Moses in the mount held up his hands, the Hebrews 

 prevailed in battle ; as well as when Elias prayed, rain came 

 after drought, which made the plough go ; so that I hold 

 the tenure in frankalmoigne in the first institution indifferent 

 to knight s service and soccage. Setting apart this tenure, 

 there remain the other two, that of knight s service, and 

 that of soccage ; the one tending chiefly to defence and pro 

 tection, the other to profit and maintenance of life. They 

 are all three comprehended in the ancient verse, Tu semper 

 ora, tu protege, tuque labora. But between these two ser 

 vices, knight s service and soccage, the law of England 

 makes a great difference : for this kingdom, my lords, is a 

 state neither effeminate nor merchantlike ; but the laws 

 give the honour unto arms and military service, like the 

 laws of a nation before whom Julius Caesar turned his back, 

 as their own prophet says ; Territa quasitis ostendit terga 

 Britannis. And therefore howsoever men, upon husband- 

 like considerations of profit, esteem of soccage tenures; yet 

 the law, that looketh to the greatness of the kingdom, and 

 proceedeth upon considerations of estate, giveth the pre 

 eminence altogether to knight s service. 



We see that the ward, who is ward for knight s service 

 land, is accounted in law disparaged, if he be tendered a 

 marriage of the burghers parentage : and we see that the 

 knight s fees were by the ancient laws the materials of all 

 nobility; for that it appears by divers records how many 

 knight s fees should by computation go to a barony, and so 



