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<NAME>Pip Willcox</NAME>
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<HEAD>The Prologue to all the Commons of <HI>England.</HI></HEAD>
<P>VVOrthy Freemen of <HI>England,</HI> the former publique Magi|&s;trates of this Kingdom, by their Machivilian empoy&s;ened principles, and &s;pecious pretences of common good, whereas nothing le&s;&s;e was intended, have mo&s;t cunningly and fraudently cozened you of your native freedoms, to which by the fundamentall lawes and con&s;titu|tions of the Kingdom, yee were born unto, &amp; &s;ecretly by wicked patents have &s;tolne away your Birth-right, to &s;et up the particular and &s;elf in|tere&s;ts of private &s;ocieties: One of which <HI>I</HI> here pre&s;ent to your &s;erious con&s;ideration, as a great grievance and burthen under which the hone&s;t Clothier e&s;pecially, and thou&s;ands of poore people groane: yee know for what this Kingdom hath almo&s;t been wa&s;ted to a&s;hes, yee have &s;pent &s;o much of your e&s;tates and blood, <HI>viz.</HI> the &s;ubjects liberty, to which all civil government is &s;ub&s;ervient. My advice to all is this, e&s;pecially the clothiers and others, who are deeply intere&s;&s;ed, that as they love their bleeding dying Country, their deliverance from &s;o great a thraldome, they would by petitioning, and all lawfull means, be earne&s;t with the Parliament, for the removall of this and all other pre&s;&s;ures. They are bound in duty to God, in ju&s;tice to you, in di&s;chargall of &s;o great a tru&s;t committed into their hands, to ea&s;e you of all unju&s;t grievances, intole|rable burthens, be therefore active in the work. For very importuni|ties &s;ake, your indeavours will be crowned with a happy &s;ucce&s;&s;es and (if you faint not) reap the benefit of your labors, which &s;hall alwaies be the de&s;ire of him who is willing to &s;erve you.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Thomas John&s;on.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
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<P>_WHo&s;oever &s;urvayes this Iland in her radiant and &s;hining lu&s;tre with community and freedom, cannot but &s;ay, <HI>o quanta mutatio!</HI> oh how great a change! for indeed, this Kingdom is a corporation or &s;ociety of men under one form of civil government, made by common con&s;ent in Parliament, who are all bound by the law, to maintain common freedom, and the generall good of each other.</P>
<P>But particulars, Patent &s;ocieties &s;welling with a luciferian &s;pirit, in de&s;iring to ad|vance into a higher room then their fellows, did by &s;eruptitious Patents incorporate them&s;elves, exclu&s;ively became de&s;tructive to the whole body, and &s;ubverters of the true ancient priviledges of the people, and of all &s;ocieties, tho&s;e of Marchants are the wor&s;t, having no foundation on the lawes; The fellow&s;hip and charter of tho&s;e that &s;tile them|&s;elves Marchants of Ea&s;t-land, is a monopoly of this kind, according to the true genuine &s;ence of the word monopoly, relating to a private company, who a&s;cribe unto them&s;elves the &s;ole exerci&s;e and benefit of &s;uch a trade, wherein every &s;ubject hath equall freedome with them, all which this monopoly doth, and is illegal, being contrary to <HI>magna Char|ta,</HI> the petition of right, Statutes of monopolics, with divers others, and in particular the&s;e 3. following: 1. is of the 14. of <HI>Edw.</HI> 3.2. <HI>Item,</HI> Where it is contained in the great Charter, that all Marchants &s;hall have &s;afe and &s;ure conduct to go out of the Realm of <HI>England,</HI> and to come, and abide, and go through the Realme of <HI>England:</HI> a&s;well by water as by land: we at the reque&s;t of the Prelates, Earles, Barons, and Commons, will and grant for us, and for our heirs and &s;ucce&s;&s;ors, that all Mirchants, Denizens, and Foraigners (except tho&s;e which be of our enmity) may without let, &s;afely come into the &s;aid Realme of <HI>England,</HI> with their goods and Marchandize, and &s;afely tarry and &s;afely return, paying the cu&s;toms, &s;ub&s;idies, and other profits rea&s;onably thereof due, &s;o alwaies, that franchi&s;e and free cu&s;tomes rea&s;onably, granted by us and our ance&s;tors to the City of <HI>London,</HI> and other cities and good Townes of our Realm of <HI>England,</HI> be to them &s;a|ved. The 2. is of 18. <HI>Ed.</HI> 3.3. That the ordinance made before this time, upon taking of &s;orts of wools in every County, be wholy nulled and defeated, and that every man, al|well &s;tranger as privy from henceforth may buy wool, according as they may agree with the &s;eller, as they were wont to do, before the &s;aid ordinances, and that the &s;ea be open to all manner of marchants, to pa&s;&s;e with their marchandize where it &s;hall plea&s;e them. By both the&s;e &s;tatutes it evidently appeareth, that every Engli&s;hman may tran&s;port his commodity without mole&s;tation, to what port beyond &s;ea he plea&s;eth, and make &s;ale for his be&s;t advantage, every Engli&s;hman being a native denizen and privy man of this kingdom, according to the true meaning of the &s;aw: for it is imaginable to me, that the law &s;hould provide better for aliens, then her own children; the 3. is of 12. <HI>H.</HI> 7.6. <HI>viz.</HI> as followeth To the di&s;creet Commons in this pre&s;ent Parl &s;heweth unto your di&s;creet wi&s;|doms, the Marchant Adventurers inhabiting and dwelling in divers ports of this Realm out of the City of <HI>London,</HI> that where they have their pa&s;&s;age, re&s;ort, cour&s;e and recour&s;e with their goods, wares, and marchandize in divers coa&s;ts and parts beyond the &s;ea, a&s;wel into <HI>Spain, Portugal, Britan, Ireland, Normandy, France, Civil, Venice, Dan&s;k, Ea&s;tland, Freezeland,</HI> and other divers and many places, regions and countries being in league and amity with the King our &s;overaign Lord, there to buy and &s;ell; and make their exchan|ges with the &s;aid goods, wares, and marchandizes, according to the law and cu&s;tom u&s;ed in every of the &s;aid regions and places, and there every per&s;on freely to u&s;e him&s;elf to his mo&s;t advantage, without exaction, fine, impo&s;ition, or contribution to be had or taken of them, to, for, or by any Engli&s;h per&s;on or per&s;ons. &amp;c. By which Statute, all marchants, a&s;well tho&s;e inhabiting in divers parts of the Kingdoms, as of the city of <HI>London,</HI> as al|&s;o every free born &s;ubject, is acknowledged as his right to have freedom to trade to the
<PB REF="2">&s;aid parts mentioned, and to divers other regions and countries without &s;ubjection to any patent or paying any exaction, fine, &amp;c. for in that the &s;tatute &s;aith, every per&s;on is freely to u&s;e him&s;elf to his mo&s;t advantage, without exaction, &amp;c. to be had or taken of them, or any of them, to, for, or by any Engli&s;h per&s;on, or per&s;ons, it clearly holds forth, that the marchant, and con&s;equently every man that u&s;eth comerce to the&s;e parts, ought not to come under the obedience of any opre&s;&s;ing corporation what&s;oever: now <HI>Dan&s;t</HI> and the <HI>Ea&s;t-land</HI> being expre&s;&s;ed in the &s;tatute, which are the principall parts to which the&s;e <HI>Ea&s;tland</HI> marchants are priviledged by their monopoly, and indeed the crown and glory of the re&s;t for venting our native commodities, as al&s;o the other included, when the &s;titute &s;aith, and other divers and many places, regions, and countries, I hope every ho|ne&s;t man will be willing with heart and hand to endevour the recovery of our birthright which the law &s;o evidently makes out owne from the&s;e unju&s;t oppre&s;&s;ors.</P>
<P N="2">2. Contrary to the light of nature, which teacheth men to walk by congruity and e|quality, not to oppre&s;&s;e, becau&s;e they would not be oppre&s;&s;ed, not to take away any mans right, becau&s;e they would not have another u&s;e the &s;ame mea&s;ure to them. Which prin|ciples of nature are engraven upon the hearts of heathens, who certainly will ri&s;e up in judgement one day again&s;t the&s;e men that &s;ell us for &s;laves in our own land.</P>
<P N="3">3. It is irrationall, rea&s;on being the fountain of all hone&s;t laws, gives to every man pro|priety and liberty: propriety of intere&s;t, freedom of enjoyment and improovement to his own advantage, from that propriety take away freedom, &amp; a con&s;iderable part is gone nay we &s;ee it by experience, that tho&s;e who have bereft us of our liberty, have made bold with our propriety, and indeed if prerogative may take away the one, why not the other from the &s;ame principles? &s;o that it appears to be rationall, that every native who hath propriety of goods, wares, and marchandize, hath freedom to tran&s;port them to any port beyond Seas, and there convert them, to his own profit, it being his true and proper in|heritance &s;o to do, it is very &s;trange to my under&s;tanding, that one man &s;hould do the work, and another man receive the wages, I mean, that the hone&s;t clothier who has toyl|ed much in the making of his cloth, &s;hall not have the benefit to &s;ell it here for his own gain, or to &s;hip it for more profit, but being debared of freedom in both, mu&s;t make &s;ale to them, in who&s;e power it is to give him what price they plea&s;e, whereby he is cheated of the fruit of his labour.</P>
<P N="4">4. That the monopoly is again&s;t the honour of the Nation, becau&s;e by it the people are put in acondition of va&s;&s;alage in their own country, it takes away indu&s;try the &s;pring of wealth, the hearts of the people being brought to &s;ervility, and not able by rea&s;on of this, and other the like patents, to imploy them&s;elves, cannot chu&s;e but procure &s;ad effects if not timely prevented, for</P>
<P N="5">5. The pattent was illegally procured by the &s;olicitation of evil Coun&s;ellors, under the broad &s;eal of <HI>England,</HI> in the 25 year of the raigne of Queen <HI>Elizabeth,</HI> it being of no longer &s;tanding under &s;pecious pretences, as the profit of her then Maje&s;ty, the good of the Kingdom, &amp;c. whereas by it the natives have bin weakned and &s;poiled, which will ea&s;ily appear, if we con&s;ider the&s;e particulars.</P>
<P N="1">1. By rea&s;on of this patent, thou&s;ands of poor people are in a condition of beggery, who otherwi&s;e might maintain them&s;elves in hone&s;t callings, by the making of cloath, and other woolen manufactures, by carding, &s;pinning, weaving, &amp;c. and certainly this one thing throughly con&s;idered, &s;hould &s;tir up the bowels of every truly noble &s;pirited Engli&s;hman, to double his &s;trength, if it were po&s;&s;ible, an hundred fold, in all ju&s;t waies, for the removall of &s;o great an ob&s;truction.</P>
<P N="2">2. The poor Clothier &s;uppre&s;&s;ed, none being to trade to tho&s;e parts but the company, the clothier makes not half the cloaths he might; and for tho&s;e he doth make, they be|ing
<PB REF="2">of a confederacy, and having all the priviledge of buying in their own hands, by rea|&s;on whereof, many times he is forced to fell them at a far le&s;&s;. price then they co&s;t him in making, or el&s;e to keep them till the next year, which di&s;courages and &s;lackens the clothier in the pro&s;ecution of his calling, and cau&s;eth &s;ome to fail, others to give over, and tho&s;e which remain, many of them &s;carce can make a living.</P>
<P N="3">3. This Monopoly greatly impareth the trade of cloth, tho&s;e who are judicious affirm that 5000 cloths more then are, would be made, &s;hipped, and expended yearly in tho&s;e parts to which they are authori&s;ed to trade to, which I verily beleeve &amp; prove thus, all the cloth they &s;hip, &s;ome extraordinary times excepted, is but to 1. or 2. Towns, and there re|&s;iding their Factors, who making &s;ale to the Binger, he &s;endeth the cloth up and down the Country, from whence ari&s;eth many mi&s;chiefes, the Countries not being furni&s;hed as they &s;hould: as al&s;o the &s;elling at &s;uch exce&s;&s;ive rates, cau&s;eth the Datch to make cloth in an a|boundant manner, &amp; to be &s;atisfied with it, though it be exceeding cour&s;e: and again, there being divers Kingdoms, Dominions, Dukedoms, Countries, Cities, and Towns, to which by their patent they are licen&s;ed, what advantage would the young marchant have, having &s;o va&s;t a compa&s;&s;e, how active would he be from Town to Town, from City to City, from one Country to another, and &s;elling cheap, would invite forraign parties to &s;et a true e&s;ti|mate upon our native commodities, and certainly were trade free, <HI>Sweedland,</HI> and <HI>Pomer|land,</HI> would vent much cloth, whereas the company is not able to &s;atisfie the <HI>Ea&s;tland</HI> it &s;elf, by rea&s;on of the &s;malne&s;&s;e of their &s;tock, it may be ea&s;ily conceived, that &s;uch a &s;mall Company of private men, are never able to &s;uffice &s;uch famous Kingdoms and Dukedoms to which they onely are licenced to traffick.</P>
<P N="6">6. It cau&s;eth a great decay of Navigation, which &s;u&s;taineth the mariners, &s;o that by this and other the like patents, the &s;aylor is greatly &s;uppre&s;t.</P>
<P N="7">7. It ob&s;tructeth returns, divers of the mo&s;t &s;table commodities which our Country &s;tands in, need of, are imported by them, viz. flax, hemp, pot-a&s;hes, pitch, tar, cour&s;e linnen, packing, canvas, with divers other very con&s;iderable marchandize, now they bring over when they plea&s;e, and what they plea&s;e, and &s;ell at what price they plea&s;e, which cannos but have &s;undry evil concomitance. 1. Our Country is not &s;atisfyed with that variety and conveniency it &s;hould: and 2. By rea&s;on the Citizen gives &s;uch an unrea&s;onable rate to the marchant, the poor have all exce&s;&s;ive dear, giving many times half as much more then the comodity is worth, or then it would be &s;old for were the trade but open, from which and &s;uch other dealings it is, that the people are uncon&s;cionably wa&s;ted, and weak|ned, and therefore what ere it co&s;t us, lets have this ravenous patent down, whereby there would be all the&s;e gallant effects: multitudes of poor maintained, the clothier rai&s;ed, the trade of cloth greatly augmented, by rea&s;on that thou&s;ands might be vented more, then are the number of marchants increa&s;ed, the art of navigation furthered, and la&s;tly, an univer&s;al benefit to the whole nation, from the plenty of marchandize imported, which we &s;hould have at far ea&s;ier and more valuable con&s;iderations. <HI>Ob.</HI> But if trade be free, the Alien will expect freedom al&s;o. <HI>An</HI> I &s;ee no ground but aliens paying cu&s;tom, provided alwaies that wee enjoy as full and large priviledges with them, they ought to have the like here with us. but 2. &s;uppo&s;e the State &s;hould prohibit &s;trangers, yet there is no &s;hadow or colour of right rea&s;on, that we who have equall liberties in the lawes, have ventures our e&s;tates and lives &s;o freely to pre&s;erve them, &s;hould be deprived of our true inheritance, and there|fore for further &s;atisfaction, I &s;hall here in&s;ert part of their charter, that every one may judg whether it be ju&s;t or no: Fora&s;much as we be credibly informed &amp;c. that you our Subjects marchants, and others, exerci&s;ing and u&s;ing the trafficque and feat of marchandize, out and from any our Dominions through the <HI>Sound,</HI> into the Realmes, Kingdoms, Dominions, Dukedome, Countries, Cities and Towns, of <HI>Norway, Swethia, Poland,</HI> and the territories of the &s;ame Kingdoms, as al&s;o into <HI>Letto,</HI> and <HI>Liefland,</HI> under the dominion of the King of
<PB REF="3"><HI>Poall, Pru&s;&s;ia,</HI> and al&s;o <HI>Pomerland,</HI> from the river of <HI>Odera</HI> Ea&s;tward, and al&s;o <HI>Ry</HI> and <HI>Ke|vil</HI> in <HI>Lie&s;land</HI> afore&s;aid <HI>King&s;brough, Elbinge, Brown&s;brough,</HI> and <HI>Dan&s;ick</HI> in <HI>Bru&s;ia, Co|penhiven,</HI> and <HI>El&s;enore</HI> in <HI>Dan&s;k,</HI> except the <HI>Nerve,</HI> and the territories thereof belongings as al&s;o into the Iland of <HI>Finland, Goteland, Eweland,</HI> and <HI>Berntholme,</HI> within the <HI>Sound</HI> afore&s;aid, by one con&s;ent are willing to gather, congregate, and a&s;&s;emble your &s;elves into one follow&s;hip, and to be one body incorporate and politique, in deed, and in name; we con&s;idering that your purpo&s;es in this behalf are very laudable, do therefore not onely ap|prove and fan&s;ie the &s;ame, but will you to per&s;evere in your good minds and purpo&s;es, to the e&s;tabli&s;hment and perfection thereof, and earne&s;tly de&s;iring that our marchants and their &s;ucce&s;&s;ors haunting the &s;aid Kingdoms, Dominions, Countries, Cities, and Townes, before mentioned, or any of them, for marchandize, in and through the <HI>Sound</HI> of the Kingdom of <HI>Denmark</HI> (except before excepted) may from hence forth profit and increa&s;e as pro&s;perou&s;ly a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter"> any marchants of this Land have aforetime increa&s;ed and prohibited, &amp; do grant for us, our heirs, and &s;ucce&s;&s;ors that from hence forth there be and &s;hall be, of the &s;aid Fellow&s;hip, one Governour, and one Deputy, or Deputies, and foure and twenty a&s;|&s;i&s;tance of the &s;aid fellow&s;hip; and that they, or the major part of them, may make &s;ta|tutes, Lawes, and ordinances: and that the afore&s;aid Governour, or Deputie, or Depu|ties, and their &s;ucce&s;&s;ors, or the major part of them, as is afore&s;aid then pre&s;ent, as often as need &s;hall bee; the &s;aid Statutes, Laws, and ordinances, &s;hall and may execute and put in execution a&s;well within our Realme of <HI>England,</HI> as within the &s;aid Realmes, Domi|nions, Cities, and Countries, and every of them: and for that divers per&s;ons, our &s;ub|jects, being not brought up in marchandize through their ignorance and lack of know|ledge, commit many inconveniency, we willing to re&s;i&s;t and prevent them, and inten|ding to further the expert merchant in their lawfull and hone&s;t trade: will, and by our Regall Authority we Command, and al&s;o prohibite and forbid by the&s;e pre&s;ents, that no &s;ubject of us, our heirs, or &s;ucce&s;&s;ors, which is not, nor &s;hall bee by force of the&s;e pre|&s;ents made free of the &s;aid Fello&s;hip &s;hall by any manner of meanes at any time hereafter inter meddle in the trade of Marchandize; or by any meanes buy and &s;ell, or u&s;e any traffique into the &s;aid parts of <HI>Ea&s;tland,</HI> and Countries afore&s;aid, or any of them, (ex|cept before excepted,) upon pain to incur our indignation: as al&s;o to pay &s;uch fines, and emercements, and to &s;uffer impri&s;onment, and &s;uch other paines due to the Tran&s;gre&s;&s;ors of the &s;aid &s;ttatutes, ordinances, and con&s;titutions of the &s;aid Fellow&s;hip, or to the &s;aid Governour or his Deputy and a&s;&s;i&s;tants afore&s;aid, &s;hall &s;eeme meete and convenient, any Law, Statute, Cu&s;tome, or Ordinance, to the contrary thereof, many other things not|with&s;tanding &amp;c.</P>
<P>And do further by the&s;e pre&s;ents inhibit and forbid, all and every our &s;ubjects, and the &s;ubjects of us our heires and &s;ucce&s;&s;ors, not being licenced and authorized by vertue of tho&s;e pre&s;ents, to traffique in and to the &s;aid Countries, Kingdoms, Towns and places before recited, or u&s;e any manner of trade in and to them, contrary to the tenor of the&s;e pre&s;ents, upon pain to incurre the di&s;plea&s;ure of us, our heires and &s;ucce&s;&s;ors, and to be fined, payned, and impri&s;oned, according to the &s;everall di&s;cretions and laws of the offi|cers of the &s;aid former &s;everall Companies and their &s;ucce&s;&s;ors, witne&s;&s;e our &s;elf at <HI>We&s;t|min&s;ter,</HI> the 17. of <HI>Augu&s;t,</HI> in the 21. year of our Raigne.</P>
<P>I no &s;ooner made a &s;urveyal of this cruel engine, what intollerable breaches &amp; inrodes it hath continually made upon us, but was ca&s;t into a &s;udden admiration, that &s;o free a people as <HI>England,</HI> &s;hould &s;uffer them&s;elves &s;o violently to be grownd to powder, which I &s;hall illu&s;trate to be trea&s;onable in the practi&s;ers of it by the&s;e po&s;itions: 1. If to &s;urrender a Ca&s;tle by the Captain of that Ca&s;tle through fear and cowardize, and not from any compliance with the enemy be trea&s;on, as was adjudged in the Parliament 1. <HI>Rich.</HI> 2. then is this a trea&s;onable patent, for be&s;ides the place, there is onely a lo&s;&s;e of the adjacent
<PB REF="3">parts, but by this patent our lawes, liberties, nay our very lives, in pur&s;uance of both the former, are &s;ubjected to will and tyranny, he that walks in the exerci&s;e of freedom, accor|ding to law, is &s;ubject to their counter commands, and to be fined, payned, and impri&s;oned and to &s;uffer &s;uch other puni&s;hments as to them &s;hall &s;eem meet and convenient.</P>
<P>If to kill a judg upon the bench be trea&s;on, becau&s;e of malice, not to the per&s;on, but to the law, then is this a trea&s;onable patent, here is not onely a malice to the law, but a mo&s;t butcherly weapon killing and de&s;troying of it, the&s;e 2. cannot dwell together, for the life of the patent, &s;o far as it extends, is the death of the law, which &s;tops its free cour&s;e for the benefit of the people, and makes it meerly a dead letter, a carkas without a &s;oul, a power being given to Mr. Governour and his companions, to make laws, &s;tatutes, and ordinances which power is more and far greater then belongs to the chief magi&s;trate to give, or can legally or ju&s;tly be exerci&s;ed by any but the Parliament, and therefore not to be received by any per&s;on or per&s;ons what&s;oever, and certainly tho&s;e laws, and all that government derived from Queen <HI>Elizabeths</HI> broad &s;eal commi&s;&s;ion are according to the lu&s;ts of the&s;e men, being extrajuditiall, in that they are above the &s;phaere of the law. 2. Contrary to the law, if the endeavouring the &s;ubver&s;ion of the ancient fundamentall lawes and govern|ment of this Kingdom, and to introduce an arbitrary and tyrannical government be trea|&s;on: as was adjudged in the ca&s;e of the Earle of <HI>Strafford,</HI> and in the ca&s;e of Sir <HI>Robert Berkley,</HI> by the fir&s;t article of impeachment by the Hou&s;e of Commons, <HI>Iuly</HI> 6. 1641. then is this a trea&s;onable patent, for here is not onely an indevour, but an actuall &s;urrender of both law and government, which have made <HI>England</HI> a free people, and what more anci|ent or fundamental, then tho&s;e laws which gratify the Commons; and by which they injoy their very lives, here is an arbitrary government introduced, &amp; put into the hands of tho&s;e whom the &s;ubject doth not own to have any right of power and rule, and that in &s;o high a nature as can be no le&s;&s;e then monarchicall, for what can a monarchicall power be, but to make lawes, and to puni&s;h the tran&s;gre&s;&s;ors according to tho&s;e lawes, by confi&s;cation of goods, impri&s;onment, or taking away the life of the va&s;&s;als, all which they may doe by their patent, and certainly this company of Marchants of <HI>Ea&s;t-land,</HI> who have practized arbitrarily for &s;o long a time as they have done, again&s;t the liberties of the natives de&s;erve for all their cruelties to be proceeded again&s;t as publique delinquents to the State.</P>
<P>As touching their oath, it is one of the wor&s;t (I am confident) that ever was made, which I &s;hall here in&s;ert for every mans knowledge. You &s;hall &s;wear to be good and true to out Soveraign Lord the Kings Maje&s;ty, and to his Heir as and Succe&s;&s;ors, you &s;hall bee obedient and a&s;&s;i&s;tant to Mr. Governour, his Deputy, and Deputies, and a&s;&s;i&s;tants of mar|chants of <HI>Ea&s;tland,</HI> all &s;tatutes and ordinances which bee, or &s;hall be made by the &s;aid Governour, or by his deputies, and a&s;&s;i&s;tants &s;tanding in force, you &s;hall truly hold and keep, having no &s;ingular regard to your &s;elf, in hurt or prejudice of the common-weal of the &s;aid fellow&s;hip, you &s;hall heal, and not bewray, and if you &s;hall know any manner of per&s;on or per&s;ons which intend any hurt, harm, or prejudice to our &s;aid Soveraign Lord the Kings Maje&s;ty, or unto his land, or to the fore&s;aid fellow&s;hip or priviledges of the &s;ame you &s;hall give knowledge thereof, and do it to be known to the &s;aid Governour or his de|puty, and you &s;hall not colour or free any Forraigners goods not free of the &s;aid fellow|&s;hip, all which you &s;hall hold and keep to the uttermo&s;t of your power, or el&s;e being ju&s;tly condemned for making default in any of the premi&s;es, you &s;hall truly from time to time, being orderly demanded, content and pay to the trea&s;urer of this Company for the time being, all and every &s;uch mulcts and penalties which have beene or &s;hall be limitted and &s;et for the tran&s;gre&s;&s;ors of the &s;ame. <HI>So God you help.</HI></P>
<P>Lieutenant Col. <HI>Lilburn</HI> in his late book called <HI>Innocency and Truth ju&s;tified,</HI> being an
<PB REF="4">an&s;wer to Mr. <HI>Prius</HI> look, called <HI>the lyar confounded,</HI> hath the&s;e pa&s;&s;ages, pag. 53. And i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter"> the &s;econd place, &s;eeing they know, <HI>viz.</HI> the marchant adventurers, that the Petition o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter"> Right doth condemn the King and his Privie Coun&s;ell for making and admini&s;tring o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter"> oaths, not made by common con&s;ent in Parliament, and &s;eeing the Parliament us they ve|ry well know, was lately &s;o angry at the Bi&s;hops, and their convocation, for a&s;&s;uming to them&s;elves the boldnes to make an oath, although they were inve&s;ted with a more colou|rable authority to ju&s;tify them therein, then the&s;e can pretend, how exemplary ought the puni&s;hment of the&s;e men to be for their impudence and boldnes, after the knowledge of all this, to force and pre&s;&s;e upon the freemen of <HI>England,</HI> an oath of their own framing and making, and to keep their freedoms from them, becau&s;e out of Con&s;cience they dar<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter"> not take them, which at this pre&s;ent day is the condition of one Mr. <HI>Iohn&s;on,</HI> late &s;ervant to Mr <HI>Whitlock,</HI> one of the Ea&s;t Country Monopolizing Marchants, which is all one in nature with the Monopoly of Marchant Adventurers: And not onely do they mo&s;t un|iu&s;tly keep my freedom from me, for which I have &s;o often ventured my life in the Nor|thern &s;ervice according to the Cu&s;tome of the City of <HI>London,</HI> but mo&s;t inhumanely have taken from me my place of Factor&s;hip in the <HI>Ea&s;tland,</HI> and all becau&s;e I have reiected thei<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter"> monopoly and diabolicall oath, and this was the gallam &s;ervice of Mr. <HI>Burnell</HI> Gover|nour and his a&s;&s;ociates, the 3. <HI>Octob.</HI> 1645. but I expect to &s;ee Ju&s;tice (that bani&s;hed exile return in all her glory, and the&s;e oppre&s;&s;ing task ma&s;ters called to a iu&s;t account: for cer|tain I am, that the law never gave them authority to make an oath, or to force it upon <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 word"> con&s;cience; be&s;ides the oath containeth many perjuries, in the &s;econd branch it ties the &s;wearer to be a&s;&s;i&s;tant to Mr. Governour and his confederates in all their di&s;hone&s;t procee|dings. In the third branch, to keep all their pernitious laws and ordinances, which <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 word"> and ordinances are to deprive the Subiect of his right, and this will not &s;atisfie, but to all that are to be made, O intollerable burthen! whither will this bottomle&s;&s;e pit <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 span"> is &amp;c. &amp;c. &amp;c. and innumerable company of &amp;c. In the fourth branch, to keep all the<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="2 letters"> cozening &s;ecrets and underhand dealings in the pur&s;uance of their patent. And in the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 word"> branch, for making default in any of the premi&s;es, that is, for for&s;wearing him&s;elf, wh<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="2 letters"> he doth that keeps it, a&s;well as he that keeps it not, becau&s;e he &s;wears not in truth, in <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 word"> and in righteou&s;nes, to pay &s;uch mulcts and penalties which have been or &s;hall be limitted and &s;et for the tran&s;gre&s;&s;ors of the &s;ame, as if &s;uch great crimes could be wa&s;h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="2 letters"> away with a pennance: for my part I am clear in this point, that who&s;oever he be th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="2 letters"> bends &amp; yeelds obedience to this or the like oath, de&s;erve not the name of an Engli&s;hman &s;urely their de&s;ignes are to u&s;e the expre&s;&s;ion of Lieu. Col. <HI>Lilburn,</HI> in p. the 54 of his <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 word"> &s;peaking again&s;t the marchant adventurers, to make <HI>England</HI> a land of &s;lavery, ignoran<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="2 letters"> and beggery, or el&s;e a land of perjury: I have now learned the meaning of that Scripture <HI>Rev.</HI> 13.16.17 <HI>And he cau&s;eth all both &s;mall and great, rich and poor, free and boun<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter"> to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads that none might buy or &s;ell, &s;ave be that had the mark, or the name of the bea&s;t, or the number of his name:</HI> which re|lates as I conceive to all monopolies what&s;oever, <HI>&s;ublat a cau&s;a tollitur effectus</HI> take <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 word"> a|way the&s;e marchants patents, and all other of the like nature, and there will a &s;udden <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 word"> appear to the relief of the hone&s;t, comfort and tranquility to the whole Nation for the effecting whereof, if I &s;hall but erritate the curteous Reader, it is price &s;ufficient for him who&s;e de&s;ire it is not to live, but in the truth.</P>
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