accustomed--that is to say, by the mouth of the speaker
of the said commons for the time being--to the end that the said lords
and commons may have what they desire (avoir puissent leur gree) of our
said lord the king. Our said lord the king willing moreover, by the
consent of the said lords, that the communication had in this present
parliament as above be not drawn into precedent in time to come, nor be
turned to the prejudice or derogation of the liberty of the estate for
which the said commons are now come, neither in this present parliament
nor in any other time to come. But wills that himself and all the other
estates should be as free as they were before. Also, the said last day
of parliament, the said speaker prayed our said lord the king, on the
part of the said commons, that he would grant the said commons that they
should depart in as great liberty as other commons had done before. To
which the king answered that this pleased him well, and that at all
times it had been his desire."[243]

Every attentive reader will discover this remarkable passage to
illustrate several points of constitutional law. For hence it may be
perceived--first, that the king was used in those times to be present at
debates of the lords, personally advising with them upon the public
business; which also appears by many other passages on record; and this
practice, I conceive, is not abolished by the king's present
declaration, save as to grants of money, which ought to be of the free
will of parliament, and without that fear or influence which the
presence of so high a person might create: secondly, that it was already
the established law of parliament that the lords should consent to the
commons' grant, and not the commons to the lords'; since it is the
inversion of this order whereof the commons complain, and it is said
expressly that grants are made by the commons, and agreed to by the
lords: thirdly, that the lower house of parliament is not, in proper
language, an estate of the realm, but rather the image and
representative of the commons of England; who, being the third estate,
with the nobility and clergy make up and constitute the people of this
kingdom and liege subjects of the crown.[244]

At the next meeting of parliament, in allusion probably to this
disagreement between the houses, the king told them that the states of
parliament were come together for the common profit of the king and
kingdom, and for unanimity's sake and