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<DATE>2011-11-23</DATE>
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<NAME>Jayne Henley</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>TO The Honourable Court The Hou&s;e of COMMONS Now a&s;&s;embled in Parliament.</P>
<P>The humble Petition of many hundred thou&s;ands, inhabiting within the thir|teene Shires of WALES.</P>
<P>Directed to the Hou&s;e the 12. of <HI>February,</HI> 1641. &s;hewing their manifold grievances, for which they de&s;ire redre&s;&s;e from the Parliament.</P>
<P>With their motion that their Country may be more &s;trongly fortified with Ammunition of Armes.</P>
<P>And how they freely proffer them&s;elves to a&s;si&s;t the Prote&s;tants in <HI>Ireland.</HI></P>
<P>Printed at London for <HI>T.H.</HI> 1642</P>
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<DIV1 TYPE="petition">
<PB REF="2">
<PB N="1" REF="2">
<HEAD>TO THE HONOVRABLE COVRT THE Hou&s;e of Commons now a&s;&s;embled in Parliament. The humble Petition of many hun|dred thou&s;ands, inhabiting within the thirteene Shires of <HI>Wales:</HI></HEAD>
<OPENER>Sheweth,</OPENER>
<P>_THat the manifold pre&s;&s;ures, under which we have groaned the&s;e many yeares, have beene by you endeavou|red to be reformed, and amended by your unwearied labors, and unce&s;&s;ant con&s;ultations. Yet notwith&s;tanding your &s;edulous vigilances hath wra&s;tled with tho&s;e extreme di&s;turbances, and di&s;tempers in the King|dome: We &s;till finde out many inconveniences ari|&s;ing afre&s;h, to the great am<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">zement and di&s;courage|ment of his Maje&s;ties loyall Subjects. Wherefore our humble motion is, that your Honours would &s;e|riou&s;ly
<PB N="2" REF="3">revolve the &s;till growing mi&s;eries, under which we have beene, and are now &s;ubjected: that you would be graciou&s;ly plea&s;ed to adde a period to the calamities which are pre&s;&s;ed upon us. The dif|fu&s;ive current of the&s;e grievances di&s;till from one originall &s;pring, and that we conceive to be a ma|lignant party, and faction, who build ob&s;tructions again&s;t your deliberate and judicious determinati|ons; who ca&s;t &s;candalous a&s;per&s;ions upon what hath beene by you enacted; and labour to nullifie, or at lea&s;t to extenuate in a repugnant oppo&s;ition, what you are in agitation to in&s;titute. The boldne&s;&s;e of the&s;e malevolent adver&s;aries hath too audaciou&s;ly outdared the very fundamentall lawes, and hath trea|cherou&s;ly &s;tudied to &s;ubvert the foundation, upon which the Ju&s;tice and Religion of this Nation is firmely built and e&s;tabli&s;ht. We earne&s;tly there|fore entreat your Honours maturely to con&s;ider their malicious intents, and daily practi&s;es again&s;t the State; which if they be not &s;ea&s;onably ca&s;tigated in time, before their infant con&s;piracies grow to the prime height of their ripe perfection, they will then become incorrigible. Yet withall wee impartially acknowledge your &s;edulity in correcting and &s;eque|&s;tring them, but your endeavours have &s;till beene fru&s;trate and retarded, by rea&s;on of their abounding malignitie. And whereas divers high taxations have beene oftentimes impo&s;ed on us, wee did alwayes upon the con&s;ideration of the &s;ame, expect a refor|mation; but as yet wee have found little or no re|dre&s;&s;e: the cau&s;e of which we neither conceive, or
<PB N="3" REF="3">&s;u&s;pect to be produced by you, but principally by the calumnious &s;ugge&s;tions of that factious party; which we de&s;ire may be excluded and expelled the Hou&s;e of Peeres: Thus the liberty of the Subject is trampled downe, the Trades decay in the whole Kingdom, and for our parts, our E&s;tates are &s;o mi|&s;erably wa&s;ted by heavy impo&s;itions, that without your propitious relief we &s;hall peri&s;h with our Wives and Families; and Cattell which is the chiefe&s;t mine of our Countrey, have been bought, and driven from us by whole flockes and heards at once, &s;ome tran&s;ported into <HI>Ireland,</HI> and others into mo&s;t parts of <HI>England,</HI> &s;o that unle&s;&s;e &s;ome &s;uddain redre&s;&s;e be &s;peedily occa&s;ioned by you, we &s;hall be impoveri&s;hed: our &s;erious motion is therefore, that your Honours would be plea&s;ed to vindicate the abu|&s;ive wrongs done unto our Countrey, and that you would &s;peedily ea&s;e us of this burden of mi&s;ery, which we are no longer able to &s;upport. And whereas we e&s;pecially have alwayes &s;hewn our loyalty to his Maje&s;ty, our awfull obedience unto you, ob&s;equi|ou&s;ly &s;ub&s;cribing to what you have been plea&s;ed to impo&s;e upon us; yet notwith&s;tanding we are di&s;re|&s;pected, and &s;hamefully derided with ludibrious contempt more than any other Countrey what &s;o|ever; wherefore we be&s;eech you that the authours; ur|gers, or &s;ugge&s;ters of the &s;ame may be found out, and known, yea and &s;uffer exemplary and condigne pu|ni&s;hment for their reproaching us, according to their ju&s;t demerits; for otherwi&s;e we can conceive this Epidemicall deri&s;ion of us to be nothing el&s;e, but a
<PB N="4" REF="4">&s;corning dete&s;tation to our known fidelity (which as we have hitherto kept, &s;o &s;hall &s;till continue invio|lable) this grievance e&s;pecially, unle&s;&s;e it be amend|ed, will become a great di&s;couragement to all our Countreymen.</P>
<P>We de&s;ire likewi&s;e that Learning be not too much di&s;countenanced and contemned, but rather that it may be advanced to its former dignity: for it is a mo&s;t ignominious, &s;hamefull, bla&s;phemous, and unknowne thing; yea, mo&s;t incongruous both to the Word of God, and common rea&s;on too, that Cob|lers, and Doctors of Divinity &s;hould be equall com|petitors. Thus if Scholar&s;hip be defaced, <HI>England</HI> (the glory of all Nations lately) is &s;uddenly like to degenerate, and decline from its former &s;plendor, and &s;o con&s;equently become barbarous. Yet we &s;peak not this in behalfe of any, for we call God to witne&s;&s;e, and our own actions can te&s;tifie as much, that whom|&s;oever your Honours &s;hall finde culpable, and delin|quent, we de&s;ire may be pro&s;ecuted according to the due proce&s;&s;e of Law, and (if the atrocity of the crime require it) be fully executed according to the ju&s;tice of the Realme. But amid&s;t all our own cala|ties e&s;pecially, we cannot omit that of <HI>Ireland,</HI> to hear of the condoleable mi&s;ery of the Prote&s;tant party, and the inhumane tyranny of tho&s;e helli&s;h Rebels: they have been in wofull di&s;tre&s;&s;e a long time, and yet almo&s;t de&s;titute of relief, till of late your Honours have been moved to commi&s;erate their di&s;tre&s;&s;ed e&s;tates; and as you have begun, &s;o we be|&s;eech you proceed, and continue in the &s;ame progre&s;|&s;ion
<PB N="5" REF="4">of mercy and charity; that the fir&s;t beginning of Re&s;ormation do not initiate in cruell oppo&s;ition, and that the foundation whereon that Reformation &s;hould be e&s;tabli&s;ht, be not written with the chara|cters, and in&s;cription of blood. For our parts, we will to the uttermo&s;t of our powers labour to repell, and divert the furious rage of tho&s;e tyrants, and wil to the end of our lives &s;tand in the defence, and mainte|nance of Prote&s;tant Religion. What we now crave more, is your mutuall concordance with his Maje|&s;ty, that you may both concurre in a co-unite cor|re&s;pondency of opinions, that the weighty affaires of the Kingdom may be deliberated with more facili|ty, and that what&s;oever you con&s;ult of, may tend to the honour of God, the peace, &s;afety, and tranquil|lity of the Land: that the malignant in&s;olency of the Recu&s;ant party may be more ea&s;ily curbed; that delinquents may be called to their trials, be pu|ni&s;hed, and &s;uffer ju&s;t execution: according as they have promerited, with expedition, lea&s;t they &s;hould break out, and hatch new con&s;piracies, and &s;o con|taminate the more &s;incere body: that the manifold abu&s;es to our Countrey be re&s;pectively vindicated; that the confu&s;ions, divi&s;ions, di&s;tractions, and di|&s;turbances may be allayed in a peacefull mitigation; that the Divine Wor&s;hip of God be no longer pro|phaned, but that it may rather be &s;etled &s;peedily in a purer way; that a clearer way may be opened for Trading and Merchandi&s;e; that e&s;pecially this be|ing duly con&s;idered, that we may be better fortified, and provided with Ammunition of Armes, and
<PB N="6" REF="5" MS="y">other military Ho&s;tility, that &s;o we may be more able to encounter with any forraigne Enemy, that &s;hall pre&s;ume to oppo&s;e, or invade the Briti&s;h Na|tion; That thus being armed again&s;t any oppo&s;iti|on, we may more freely enjoy the peace and liberty of our Con&s;ciences, and e&s;tates; to the great com|fort of his Maje&s;ty, the immortall fame of your Honour, with the &s;afety and pro&s;perity of the whole Kingdom.</P>
<P>Thus your Petitioners &s;hall be bound to pray for the happy &s;ucce&s;&s;e of your con|&s;ultations, that the Divine Providence of Almighty God may direct and pro&s;per all your deliberations, &amp;c.</P>
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<PB REF="5" MS="y">
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