concernment; and that the restoration of our rights ought not to seem unto us more laborious, or difficult, than did to our enemies the introducing of the contrary.

Proposition 8.

That all Englishmen, that are active in maintaining the said title and innovations, are the most flagitious traitors, both to their King and country, that ever were.

Proof:

IT is apparent from the premisses, it being also evident, that, in comparison of such, Strafford in his worst appearance was a good patriot; and, as for the defaults of former times in this particular, they are not now pretendible for excuse; for that now Heaven holds forth power and opportunity far more liberally than ever heretofore, or, perhaps, than hereafter, for asserting of truth, and establishing of righteousness, in this kingdom.

THE BRITISH BELLMAN.

Printed in the year

Of the saints fear.

Anno Domini, 1648. Quarto, containing twenty-four pages.

ORDERED,

That a competent number of these books be forthwith printed, for the service of the King and kingdom, and be dispersed through all counties, cities, boroughs, and towns corporate, and all other markettowns whatsoever, within this realm of England, and dominion of Wales; and that all, who love their king and country, and hate rebellion and treason, do forthwith make all provision and speed that may be, to rise, and take by force, or otherwise, all garisons they can, in all parts of the kingdom, and summon in the country to them, for the speedier suppression of these abominable malicious rebels and traitors, this prevailing party in the parliament houses, and their army, who, by wicked craft and subtlety, have undone three flourishing kingdoms already, and yet would again engage us in another war with our brethren of Scotland. It is also desired, that our brethren of the association would keep their men in the field, and, when Cromwell is gone for Wales, fall upon the other part of the army, remaining in the country near us, with all the

power of horse and foot they can make, and we will endeavour, in the city, to second them to the utmost of our power; now is the time for us to free ourselves from slavery, and put an end unto taxations, we shall never have a settlement else.

Yes, O yes, if any one can give me notice of four great ships, laden with money, lately at Gravesend, to be passed without search, by ordinance of parliament, and can help to take them, he shall be well paid for his pains, and have many thanks.

O yes, O yes, if there be any more fools or knaves, that will go soul and body to the devil, for an heretical, perfidious piece of a parliament, incendiaries, boutifeu's, Faux's of faction and sedition, with brazen faces, and seared consciences; having nothing but perjury and lyes in their mouths; falshoods, treasons, and ais-religions in their hearts; daily murders, robberies, and oppressions in their actions; let them repair to the red-nosed rebel, thieftenant Oliver, or his black general Tom.

Who helps to disthrone the king, to change monarchical government, to subvert the protestant religion, and laws of our land. to cry down presbytery and crown, the kinglings, the buffoons, the mountebanks of Westminster?

Who saves the lordly Lurdanes, after seven years misrule, undoing of the kingdom, imprisoning, and abusing of the King, and suffering Haman to strike him, from taking leave of their allies at Tower-hill and Tyburn?

O yes, who sacrifices the city and country another seven years to their insatiable avarice?

Who helps them to pill and poll them by their ravenous implements, the committees and their substitutes, for more money to send beyond sea?

O yes, who buys bishops, malignants lands? Who buys Paul's steeple? Who buys the King's cast shoes and boots? Who buys his guards coats? Who buys sun and moon?

O yes, Who sends them thanks for their ordinance for forcing taxations for their four last bills and declaration against the King?

Who beats the boys from cats-pellet, and stool-ball? Who fights with Poyer, with the Lord Inchequin, with Colonel Jones of Dublin, and our brethren of Scotland? Who, and they shall have new snapsacks in hand, blue bonnets, and capon tails, when the Scotch and Welch be conquered, promises enough for the present, and as much pay at last as those that have been turned off with nothing.

In the beginning of this hell-spewed sessions, we had as large promises of happy accruements to this church and nation as subtle treason could in sly and specious language possibly suggest. We had them ushered in with a protestation in the first place; in which our religion, our laws, our King's honour, his parliaments privileges, our own liberties and properties were the common themes. We had them waited upon with an oath after, and a covenant, which nevertheless were only to be as the passages at which Jephtha's soldiers tried the lisping Ephraimites

in their Sibboleth: witness your answer of the twenty-sixth of May, 1646, unto our city remonstrance, in the latter end of page 2.

We had many pamphlets commended daily unto us, The Integrity of a Parliament, how that it could have no sinister end; as if a multitude could be void of knaves to contrive, and of fools to concur in mischief. Many plots were discovered daily against our religion and our laws, in which ye Machiavels of Westminster, ye Malevolo's might have claimed the chiefest livery, as Beelzebub's nearest attendants in that kind; but they must be fathered still upon our old justicers, and indeed they can do little, that cannot bely an enemy. Ye thought it best to cry whore first, that in them you might by little and little undermine our King and us; and sacrifice our religion, our laws, our goods, our lives and liberties, yea, our very souls too, for ye have silenced almost all our able guides, and daily burn their escripts, unto your own boundless lusts, ambition, pride, covetousness, and pleasure. These were the originals, the springs of your after-acted villainies; not that candour and zeal so often dissembled in your glossy declarations. It is now sufficiently manifest by your actions, the truest interpreters of men's intentions. How would you have us think you really intend as you pretended, when the courses you run conduce to the very contrary ends? Whilst the King and his faithfuls retained their places of dominion, we enjoyed such golden days of peace and plenty, as we must never see again, so long as you harpyes, you sucking purse-leeches and your implements be our masters.

Were we not enough damnified with your soldiers, during the time of the war, but you must still burden us with them, now it is ended? Did not taxations then light heavy enough upon us, but you must continue them still? How could you consume more than twenty millions of money upon such slender armies in so few years? The soldiers have had little, else, save bread and cheese, which have come from the country, over and above those vast sums; Oh! your coffers are not yet full enough; some of your monkey-brats are not yet provided for; but hye you hence, it is best, you urchins, you caterpillers of our commonwealth, to New England and the Spaw, after our gold you have sent away, lest on a sudden we send you to Styx without a penny in your mouths to pay your passage to your God Pluto. Our brethren of Scotland, and the Lord Inchequin, will find you more work than the boys in Moorfields and the Strand: your goodly glossings and rabble-serving collnsions have been but like watermen upon the Thames, looking one way and rowing another; and now you see your holy cause will not succeed by opposition, you come up, and would close, since money will not work upon our brethren of Scotland, with our city in the presbyterian government, in the restitution of the militia and Tower but for the protestant religion, and our old rubrick, you still wave them.

I pray you let me ask your honesties a question? Could Say and his confederates have their nocturnal meetings so frequently, and not have some treasonable designs, which the rest of the houses and ourselves might not be privy to? We may see now the reason of your bill, to sit as long as you listed; we trusted, such rare men were you in

leading our faith and belief so in a string, the ground thereof had been the redressing of the many grievances of the kingdom, and transaction of the Irish affairs, as was pretended; but it proves otherwise; that which, had you been honest, would have made this nation the happiest under Heaven, you have made the bane and ruin of all good people: you have demeaned yourselves meet, as an aged gentleman said of you, when he heard the King had signed you that bill: you would, said he, grow so ambitious that you would set all the kingdom on fire; and, when once you had got your fingers into its purse, you would become so insatiably covetous, that you would never seek the settlement of peace; whether this man guessed aright or no, let any one who hath his five senses judge.

We likewise call to mind your other bill for his Majesty's referring the choice of his privy-council unto you, coloured by your outcries against those his old faithfuls, and your dishonest proceedings against them; your framing scandalous petitions amongst yourselves, and sending them abroad for hands; a notable way to work upon exasperated minds, and to exasperate minds to work upon against them; but a way which may destroy any innocent man. While the shepherd had his dogs, you wolves could not raven his flocks; but since you supplanted them, what pranks you and your creatures, your substitutes have plaid, we have seen and felt; and you or they, or all of you, may one day answer for: we may say now, as no kingdom or state ever yet could, there is scarce one honest man in office amongst us; but no marvel: we know the proverb, Like master, like men.

Oh, but we wrong you, you are special patriots; it is you presbyterians may be no further trusted, you be the honesties, there is no nay, and take it as granted, though nothing more questioned, or so questionable. We thought your exclusion of bishops out of the upper house, and bedaubing them with the goodly habiliments of Arminianism and popery, had been for some other end than that for which you expelled the eleven members; to paucify the number of those you conceived would countervote you, that you might easily do what you lusted, and lead the left shallowlings, nolens volens, in the trace of darkness; and that you might unquestioned, adhinnire, after fresh maidenheads, and neighbours beds. Il courses cannot endure good discipline; for this very cause, had the prophets and fathers of old, nay, our blessed Saviour and his Apostles, lived here in England in these days, they had certainly been inade new papists by this quintessence of villainy, this wicked piece of a parliament, and their hellish helpers. We thought your votes against pluralities had been for promotion of the gospel, not division of the clergy, and to make the wiseakers, the look-like geese, the naughty part of them (that will be any thing for preferment, omnium horarum homines) for you; neither did we, til now of late, imagine your possessing yourselves of his Majesty's shipping and Cinque Ports (so finely shadowed with the remembrance of the late spoiled Spanish fleet, and your desires of the kingdom's safety) had been the prologue to this treacherous tragedy you have since acted, much less ourselves should be the last scene thereof; yet herein we must needs acknowledge Heaven just in our punishment, for it was

we, presbyterians, that inabled you to your impious illegal courses of slaughter, plunder, and sequestration, contrary to the known laws of this realm, yourselves know it very well, against the King and his servants, who, I am now persuaded in my conscience, being farther discerning than ourselves, aimed at nothing, but bringing you to the trial of the law for your treasons, that we might enjoy the benefit of the laws of our land, and the protestant religion, as it stood established by our law. God forgive us our amisnesses.

I pray you, if a man might ask your high and mightinesses a question, what meant your displacing of the Earl of Essex, and your after poisoning him; (for it is certain you did so, many of us know it, deny it as much as you will) and your putting of your scoundrel army, and their mechanick captains, under the command of Fairfax and Cromwell, two atheistical independents? What meant your late force done upon our city, and the eleven members, your displacing and imprisoning our lord mayor and aldermen? For it was you that went away to the army that set on them, though now you say, you knew nothing of the last plot. Had those that were cavalierish plaid us such tricks of leger-de-main, we would have cast in their teeth--What not?

But you, our dear brethren, are men of another stamp, yet it is hard to say, whether barrel better herring. I hope you did it out of simplicity, with a good, charitable, pure intent, to promote and set forward the holy cause. You would fain say something for yourselves, but I know not what you meant well; but the ape hath discovered himself to be so, by cracking of nuts. Thus doth malice, ambition, and indiscreet zeal, make many men lose their wits they know not where. Indeed, such tricks befit well your independent cause, not to be promoted, but by collusion; but your transported saucy spirits may haply, in the end, be taught to be more submiss, and sparing in abusing them, from whom you had your power. You would fain come off with us now, but stay a little, good Mr. Mufties; you thought it easy to inslave us English, to strangle in the birth our classical projects, our consistorial practices, and conventual designs of zealous brethren in the land; such illuminates you counted us; you sure thought our brains made of the pap of an apple, and our hearts of aspen-leaves: religion, which should be the rule, must be only a result of policy, a stalking-horse to catch fools, and be pretended only to serve Babylonian turns. But go you, serve Baal and Ashtaroth, if ye like it; we will no popular cantonings of dismembered scripture; none of your missives prophetical determinations in their heretical conventicles; we will not build our salvation upon the facing impudence of such light skirts, such hellish impostors; let the truth they teach, and your parliamentary proceeding, come to scanning, the Turkish Alcoran, and Cade's, and Ket's, and Piercy's, and Nevil's actions will be as warrantable, as suitable with the word of God, and law of this land. Though you have eclipsed the lamp of light, you must not think us as geese, which, when they are driven on by night, and a long staff held over them, will go without noise or reluctancy, holding down their heads: we, protestants, are not so crest-fallen, as that we shall go on, as you independents would dispose us; if your gifted men, with their new learning, for old they have