# An Essay Concerning Parliaments/The Conclusion

The Concluſion.
And thus I have finiſhed what I at firſt propounded; but under ſuch difficulties and diſadvantages of a broken Health, as I do verily believe never Book was Written. And for that Reaſon, I am certain that the very Great Perſonages to whom I ventured to Offer it, (though it was upon preſumption of a better Performance) will bear with it; to whom I wholly Submit it with all Deference: and if one ſingle Word of it ſhould happen to be againſt Law, I here revoke it before hand. And for the ſame Reaſon I earneſtly deſire all Antiquaries and Learned Men to look further into this Matter, becauſe I my ſelf cannot: And as they ſee Cauſe, either to Confirm or Confute my Notion, which is Indifferent to me, becauſe I only ſeek Truth. I do not ſpeak thus doubtingly concerning Annual Parliaments, for I am Poſitive in them; but if People will have the utmoſt of Antiquities, and the very Original of the Wiſeſt and Juſteſt Government in the World, they muſt ſometimes be content to Read with Letters that are ſomewhat Worn; Though I have been of Opinion for many a Year, that the Kalends of May were very Legible. And ​I am ſure that I have by this Time gained my Point, which was to ſet Wiſer Men upon Thinking.
I was afraid that this Government would float and move upon the Face of the Waters, till we were at a certainty about our Parliaments; and therefore when I waited upon my Lord Devonſhire before the Coronation, and it is my Fault I have not done it often ſince, I ſaid that we were never the Better for this Revolution till we had a Settlement of Parliaments, and our Ancient Right was Anniverſary Parliaments, and that nothing elſe could ſet the Government to rights. Knowing how much he had Aſſiſted the King, and ſeeing the white Staff in his Hand, I concluded upon his Intereſt with the King, and therefore ſaid; My Lord, you may make a Complement of this Matter to the King, and tell him that we mud have Good Laws, in a Good Reign, or never, for we cannot have them in a Bad one; but the Laws made in a Good Reign are to ſupport us when a bad one comes, as the ſeven Years of Plenty in Egypt, ſuſtained the ſeven Years of Famine. It breaks no Rules to repeat my own Diſcourſe to his Lordſhip, and to ſay that he gave me the hearing, nor to ſay that a certain Knight pulled me by the Sleeve, which had no other Effect than to make me ſpeak the more, and the ​more earneſtly to my Lord in that matter.
Likewiſe when Mr. Johnſton the preſent Secretary of State for Scotland, told me in the Court of Requeſts, that the Bill of Rights was going up to the Houſe of Lords, I wiſh’d at that Time that all the Rights were reduced to One Line which was our Right, To have a Parliament every Kalends of May. I tell theſe old Stories to ſhew that I was always of the ſame Mind, and that no Court neglects nor diſappointments have Altered me; and I will Love this Court whether they will or no, for I am ſure that I laid the Bridg that brought them over, and am pretty certain that they did not come hither in Virtue of Paſſive-Obedience.
FINIS.
ERRATA.
P. 19. l. 6. delete The. P. 30. l. 11. for, the Year before, read, ſome few Years before.