the Time of Parliament, and the Lords difpofe of fuch Laws as they fhall propose.

2. The next Thing that is required is Liberty of Speech, without which, Parliaments have little Force or Power: Speech begets Doubts, and refolves them, and Doubts in Schools gets Understanding; he that doubts much asketh often, and learns much, and he that fears the worst, foonest prevents a Mischief.

This Privilege of Speech is anciently granted by the Teftimony of Philip Comines, a Stranger, who prefers our Parliaments, and the Freedom of the Subject in them, above all other Affemblies, which, if it be broke or diminished, is negligently loft fince the Days of Comines.

If Freedom of Speech fhould be prohibited, when Men with Modesty make Repetition of the Grievances and Enormities of the Kingdom, when Men fhall defire Reformation of Wrongs and Injuries committed, and have no Relation of evil Thought to his Majefty; but with open Heart and Zeal exprefs their dutiful and reverent Refpect to him and his Service; I fay, if this Kind of Liberty of Speech be not allowed in Time of Parliament, they will extend no further than to a Quarter-Seffions, and their Meetings and Affemblies will be unneceffary; fo all Means of Disorder now crept in, and all Remedies and Redreffes, will be quite taken away.

As it is no Manners to conteft with the King in his Election of Counfellors and Servants (for Kings obey no Men, but their Laws) fo were it a great Negligence, and Part of Treafon, for a Subject not to be free in Speech, against the Abuses, Wrongs and Offences, that may be occafioned by Perfons in Authority, what Remedy can be expected from a Prince to the Subject, if the Enormities of his Kingdom be concealed from him, or what King fo religious or juft, in his own Nature, that may not hazard the Lofs of his Subjects, without this Liberty of Speech in Parliament? For fuch is the Misfortunes of moft Princes, and fuch is the Unhappiness of Subjects, where King's Affections are fettled, and their Loves fo far tranfported to promote Servants, as they only truft and credit what they fhall inform.

In this Cafe, what Subject dares complain, or what Subject dares contradict the Words or Actions of fuch a Servant, if it be not warranted by Freedom of a Parliament, they fpeaking with Humility? For nothing obtaineth Favour fo much with a King as diligent Obedience. The third fureft, and safest Way betwixt the King and his People, and leaft Scandal of Partiality, is, with Indifference, with Integrity and Sincerity, to examine the Grievances of the Kingdom, without touching upon the Perfon of any Man, further than the Caufe giveth Occafion; for otherwife, you fhall conteft with him that hath the Prince's Ears open to hearken to his enchanted Tongue; he informs fecretly when you fhall not be admitted to Excufe; he will caft your deferved Malice against him to your Contempt against the King, and feeking to leffen his Authority, he will make the Prince the Shield of his Revenge.

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These are the finifter Practices of fuch Servants to deceive their Sovereigns. When these Grievances fhall be authentically proved and made manifeft to the World, by your Pains to examine, and Freedom to fpeak, no Prince can be fo affectionate to a Servant, or fuch an Enemy to himself, as not to admit of this indifferent Proceeding; if his Services be allowable and good, they will appear with Glory; if bad, your Labours fhall deferve Thanks, both of Prince and Country. When Juftice fhall thus fhine, People will be animated to ferve their King with Integrity, for they are naturally inclined to imitate Princes, in good or bad; the Words of Cicero will then appear, That malicious and evil Men make Princes poor, and one perfect good Man is able to make a Realm rich.

One Cafe I will inftance that is common in the Mouths of all People, and generally (Vox Populi, Vox Dei eft) if one of Quality, in the laft Expedition to the Ifle of Rhee, endeavoured to conceal the Number of Men loft in the last Encounter, and confidently affirmed their Number not to exceed three or four Hundred, until a Doctor of Phyfick, out of Tenderness of Confcience, and Duty to his Majefty, could not diffemble the vulgar and true Report, but acquainted his Majefty of two Thoufand of his Subjects there lost. This was fo contrary to the firft Information, and fo difpleafing to the Informer and his Defigns, that he caufed the Phyfician's Remove from his Highness's Prefence, who, yet remains in Kind of a banished Man.

The Truth of thefe two Reports is eafily determined by the Clerks of the Bands of each Company, and is worthy to be discovered for Truth-Sake; Truth being fo noble of itself, as it will make him honourable that pronounceth it; Lies may fhadow it, but not darken it; they may blame, `but never fhame it.

By this small Precedent his Majefty fhall fee himself abused, and it may be a Means for him to reflect both upon Men and Matter. The Men flain are no lefs injured by concealing their Names, whofe Lives were loft for King and Country.

The Romans would have held it the highest Honour for their Friends and Posterity fo to die. And the Parliament may fear that those that stick not fo palpably to wrong a King, may as unjustly cast Afperfions upon the House, and other his loving Subjects.

There is no Remedy left for these Mif-reports but a Freedom of Speech in Parliament; for there is no wife Man that speaks, but knows what and when to speak, and how to hold his Peace, whilft Subjects Tongues are ty'd, for Fear they may reach him a Rap whofe Confcience cries guilty: The King and his People are kept from Understanding one another, the Enemy is heartened Abroad, and the malignant Humours of Difcontent nourished at Home; and all for one who is like a Dragon, that bites the Ear of the Elephant, because he knows the Elephant cannot reach him with his Trunk ; and Princes are abused by falfe Reports whispered in their Ears by Syco-. phants and Flatterers. Diogenes being asked what Beast bit foreft, anwered, Of wild Beafts the Backbiter's, of Tame the Flatterer's.

Now

Now to defcend to Grievances, which are of two Kinds, fome concerning the Kingdom in general, fome in particular, which have Relation to the general.

The grievances in General are so many in Number, as will ferve for every Member of your House to present two a Piece to your Views; and because I cannot be admitted among you my felf, yet in Regard I have been a Member of you, I will prefume fo far, as to rank myself with you, and to tender the Number of two to your Confideration.

My firft Complaint is of Titles of Honour, and that in two Kinds: First, in refpect of the Parties themselves, their Estates and Parentage: Secondly, in refpect of the Manner of their obtaining thereunto, which is mercenary, bafe, and corrupt, which in Reason should not hold, for, by Law, the Confideration is unlawful.

Trajan commends Plutarch for his Precepts in School, when he taught that Men fhould Labour to deferve Honours, but to avoid the getting of it bafely; for if it were Reputation to have it by Defert, it was Infamy to buy it for Money; in that Age where Rich Men were honoured, good Men were defpifed.

Honour is not to be valued, according to the vulgar Opinion of Men, but priz'd and esteemed, as the Sur-name of Virtue, ingendered in the Mind; and fuch Honour no King can give, or Money can purchase. He that will ftrive to be more honourable than others, ought to abandon Paffion, Pride and Arrogancy, that fo his Virtue may fhine above others; for Honour confifts not in the Title of a Lord, but in the Opinion People have of his Virtue ; for it is much more Honour to deferve and not to have it, than to have it and not deferve it.

There is one of three Things that commonly caufeth a Man's Advancement, Defert, Favour and Power: The firft makes a Man worthy of it, the other two are but Abuses; for Favour is but a blind Fortune, an Ounce of which at Court is better than a Pound of Wisdom; Fortune never favoureth, but flattereth; fhe never promiseth, but in the End fhe deceiveth; she never raiseth, but she cafteth down again, this Advancement is meeter to be called Luck than Merit; that Honour that is compaffed by Power, takes unto itself Liberty, and defires not to be govern'd by Wisdom but Force; it knows not what it Defires, nor hath a Feeling of any Injury; it is neither moved with fweet Words nor pitiful Tears; fuch Men live not to do Evil, because they have no Defire to it; but when their Power faileth to do it, the true Honour amongst the Honourable is, where Fortune cafts down, where there is no Fault, but it is Infamy, when Fortune raiseth, where there is no Merit.

Examine the State and Condition of Men raised to Honour thefe 25 Years past, and whether it be Defert, Honour or Power that hath preferred them, enter into the Mischiefs the Kingdom hath suffered, and doth fuffer by it; and the Cause of his Majefty's great Wants will foon appear; recollect with yourselves how many poor, bafe, and needy Companions have been raised to

the

the higheft Top of Honour, yea, how many Will's, Jack's, Jockies, Georgies and James's have attained to the Degrees of Dukes, Earls, Vifcounts and Barons, then will it appear, whether Defert, Favour or Power advanced them; after this, examine their princely Expences in thefe 25 Years, their Eftates in prefent, and what is requifite to maintain their future Degrees of Honour to themselves and their Pofterity, and you fhall find his Majefty's annual Revenues confumed and spent upon thofe unworthy Perfons. Befides the impairing and impoverishing of the State, it brings with it the Contempt of Greatnefs and Authority; it breeds an inward Malice in Gentlemen better deferving of their Country, better able to maintain the Degree of Honour, without Charge to King or Kingdom, and whofe Houses and Alliances may better challenge than the beft of them.

It breeds Discontent in the meaner Sort of Subjects, to fee his Majefty's Wealth and Revenues of the Kingdom thus wafted and confumed, whereby his Majefty is inforced to exact from them, who would otherwise be able to help himself.

The antient and great Nobility of the Land cannot choose but inwardly fret, to fee themselves ranked, yea overtopp'd by thefe Men, that once would have thought it an Honour to be a Follower of theirs.

The fecond Abufe of Honour is the bafe and mercenary buying of it; obferve commonly what thefe People are by Birth, and mark the Manner of their and their Fathers getting of Wealth to compafs this Title, and you fhall find them People moft hateful, moft odious to the Common-wealth by their Extortion, Ufury, and other ungodly Kind of Getting, as you may instance in Roberts, Craven, Sanderson, and many others.

Can there be a greater Grievance to a noble Mind, than to fee thefe upftart Families by their unfufferable Mifery, Penury and Extortion, grown to Wealth, to precede the beft of you in Rank, Degree and Calling, whose Ancestors have loft their Lives for King and Country; and yourfelves in many Refpects more able and capable of ferving your Prince and CommonWealth than they, and every Way better deferving.

The Character of a covetous Man, is that he getteth his Goods with Care and Envy of his Neighbours, with Sorrow to his Enemies, with Travel to his Body, with Grief to his Spirit, with Scruple to his Confcience, with Danger to his Soul, with Suit to his Children, and Curfe to his Heirs, his Defire is to live poor, to die rich; but as thefe Vices are made Virtues, even fo is he Honoured for them, with Title of Nobility.

It is a ftrange Ambition of fome of them to purchase the Degrees of Earls, Viscounts and Barons of other Countries, as of Scotland and Ireland, only for the Name of a Lord, for no other Privilege they can challenge in England; if they commit any criminal Offences they fhall be try'd by an ordinary Jury and hanged, if they ftand in Danger of Arreft (as I think they are not much inrich'd by their Title) they are fubject to Catch-poles, and a Dungeon in the Counter may be their Sanctuary.

And

And fince their Pride makes them covet to divide themselves from you, and to become Scots and Irish, you can do no lefs in Requital, but make an Act, that so long as they hold the Title of Foreigners, they be made uncapable to fet in the Houfe of Parliament, or to enjoy any Freedom more than His Majesty's Subjects of Scotland or Ireland.

Few of you are there, that have not feen Nobility highly prifed in England, and much efteemed Abroad; and none of you now liveth but do fee it abused, and Liberty with too great Familiarity in Ufe. The State of the Court, and Reputation of Lords, are much decay'd, and Bonednes with Contempt crept in and no Way to be redreffed, but by a free and gentle Speech in Parliament, that fo his Majefty may fee the Mifchief of it, and reform it, for it refts only in his Power, who only hath Power to create Honour.

When Philip the fecond, King of Spain, entered with Arms upon the Kingdom of Portugal, and that with his Sword he might have any fitting Laws, yet were there four Privileges, which the Portugals befought they might enjoy; one whereof was, that the King would make no unworthy Perfon, Noble, or without their Approbation; which was granted them, and to this Day they hold that Freedom which keeps that Kingdom in the antient State, Honour and Dignity, that is to fay, two Dukes, one Marquis, and eighteen-Earls; and thus much for the Point of Honour.

The fecond Grievance I will recommend to your Views is the Carriage of our Wars, the exceffive Charges vainly fpent therein, the Unworthiness of the People imployed, the grave Experience neglected, the Defigns not warranted by Reafon and Difcretion, and the Executions worfe performed, with many other Circumstances that depend upon it.

But before I proceed herein, I muft crave Leave to speak to two Points; the one, to declare the Property and Condition of Impoftors and Deceivers of Princes; in the other, I must clear the Houfe of Parliament of an Imputation cast upon it.

Abufers of Princes are they, that perfwade him to War, to become poor, when they may live in Peace, and become rich, when they may be loved, cause them to be hated, when they may enjoy their Lives fecurely, put them in Hazard of cross Fortune rafhly, and lastly, having Neceffity to use their Subjects, puts them into that Neceffity as they refuse to do for him; all this is Pride of the Perfwader, as Socrates faith.

In the fecond, I will clear the Parliament (in which I was a Member) of an ungrateful Afperfion caft upon it, that is to fay, that the Parliament was a Caufe to draw his Majesty into War, and failed on their Parts to contribute towards it.

This has been often repeated, and the Parliament accufed; the Contrary has been as often reiterated, and the Truth expreffed how far the Parliament proceeded therein; but to ftop the Mouths of fuch falfe Reports, and to free the Parliament of much Calumniation, I must ufe this Argument.

At the Affembly of Oxford, the Parliament being prorogued thither, Money was required of us towards furnishing his Majesty's Fleet, then preVOL. III.

paring,