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<DATE>2011-11-02</DATE>
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<NAME>Judith Siefring</NAME>
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<PB N="1" REF="1" MS="y">
<HEAD><HI>A mo&s;t Learned and Eloquent</HI> SPEECH, <HI>&s;poken or delivered in the Honourable</HI> Hou&s;e of Commons <HI>at</HI> We&s;tmin&s;ter, <HI>by the mo&s;t Learned Lawyer</HI> MILES CORBET, <HI><ABBR>E&s;q</ABBR> Recorder of</HI> Great Yarmouth, <HI>and Burge&s;s of the &s;ame, on the</HI> 31^t^h <HI>day of</HI> July, 1647. <HI>taken in Short|hand by</HI> Nocky, <HI>and</HI> Tom. Dunn, <HI>his Clerks, and revi&s;ed by</HI> John Tayler.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Mr. Speaker,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>I Know not how to &s;peak, I know no Man weaker than my &s;elf, who do acknowledge, I am as unfitting to &s;peak in this Honou|rable A&s;&s;embly, as <HI>Phormio</HI> was to prattle an Oration of War's Di&s;cipline to the great Soldier <HI>Hannibal,</HI> in the pre&s;ence of King <HI>Antiochus;</HI> yet out of the debility of my Knowledge, the inabi|lity of my Learning, the imbecility of my Judgment, the Nobility of this con&s;cript Senate, the mutability of their Cen&s;ures, the in&s;tability of Opinions, the probability of Offending, the volubility of Scandal, and the impotency of my Utterance, I have (maugre all the&s;e perillous Impediments) adventured to unbo&s;om and disburthen my Mind before the&s;e unmatchable Patriots.</P>
<P><HI>Mr. Speaker,</HI> I am not ignorant that you are appointed in this Par|liament to be the Ear of this Kingdom, and Mouth of the Commons; and I de&s;ire that your Hearing may not take any offence again&s;t my Words; nor your Tongue to retort me a Reproof, in&s;tead of an Applau&s;e.</P>
<P><HI>Mr. Speaker,</HI> In my Introduction to Grammar (vulgarly called <HI>The Accidence</HI>) I found eight parts of Speech, which is now an Intro|duction to me to divide my Speech into eight parts; that is to &s;ay,
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. <HI>What we have done for Religion.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. <HI>What we have done for the Church.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. <HI>What for the King.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>4. <HI>What for the Laws.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>5. <HI>What for the Kingdom.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>6. <HI>What for the Subject.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>7. <HI>What for Reformation.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>8. <HI>What for our &s;elves.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST> Of all the&s;e in order, as my infirm Loquacity can demon&s;trate.</P>
<PB N="2" REF="2" MS="y">
<P><HI>Mr. Speaker,</HI> I do not herein declare, either or neither the Opinions of this honourable A&s;&s;embly, or any Fancy of my own, but I will make plain unto you, how the Malignants e&s;teem of us, and into what <HI>odium</HI> we are fallen among&s;t foreign Nations.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, for <HI>Religion:</HI> They &s;ay we have thru&s;t out one Religion, and taken in two: That we have thrown down <HI>Prote&s;tani&s;m,</HI> and erected <HI>Anabapti&s;m</HI> and <HI>Browni&s;m:</HI> That by our Doctrines we do abu&s;e the famous Memory of Queen <HI>Elizabeth,</HI> King <HI>James,</HI> and con&s;equently King <HI>Charles:</HI> That in their Religions they were Papi&s;tically minded, (which their Lives and Acts have and do manife&s;t the contrary) and they &s;ay, it is no le&s;s than odious, and high Trea&s;on, to traduce either of tho&s;e decea&s;ed or &s;urviving Princes, with &s;uch fal&s;e and &s;candalous A&s;per|&s;ions.</P>
<P><HI>Mr. Speaker,</HI> I would not be mi&s;taken; I &s;ay not my own words, but I &s;ay, what the Malignants &s;ay of my Lord <HI>Say,</HI> and of us: They &s;ay, That the Prote&s;tant Religion was wont to be (and ought) an <HI>inward</HI> Robe or Ve&s;tment, for the Souls and Con&s;ciences of all true Believers; and that the Bi&s;hops, ancient Fathers, and all Orthodox Divines, had a care to keep her neat, clean, and hand&s;om, in as &s;potle&s;s Integrity as a Militant Church in this imperfect Age could keep it. But they &s;ay, that we have made Religion an <HI>outward</HI> Garment, or a Cloak, which none do wear among&s;t us, but Sectaries, Fools, Knaves, and Rebels. They &s;ay, this Cloak, being with often turning, worn as Threadbare as the public Faith, full of wrincles, &s;pots, and &s;tains, neither bru&s;hed, &s;punged, nor made clean, with as many Patches in it, as in a Begger's Coat, kept by Coblers, Weavers, O&s;tlers, Tinkers, and Tub-preachers; &s;o that all order, and decent comeline&s;s, is thru&s;t out of the Church; all laudable Ornaments trod down and bani&s;hed, under the fal&s;e and &s;candalous terms of Popery; and in the place thereof, mo&s;t na&s;ty, filthy, and loath&s;om bea&s;tline&s;s, our Doctrines being vented in long tedious Sermons, to move and &s;tir up the People to Rebellion, and traiterous Contributions, to exhort them to Murder, Rapine, Robbery, and Di&s;loyalty, and all manner of mi&s;chief that may be, to the confu|&s;ion of their Souls and Bodies.</P>
<P>All the&s;e damnable Villanies, our Adver&s;aries &s;ay, are the accur&s;ed Fruits which our new moulded Lin&s;ey-wol&s;ey Religion hath produced; for they &s;ay, our Doctrine is neither derived from the Old, or New Te&s;tament: That all the Fathers, Prote&s;tant Doctors, and Martyrs, never heard of any &s;uch; that Chri&s;t, and his Apo&s;tles, never knew it; and for the Book of <HI>Common-Prayer,</HI> they &s;ay in Ver&s;e:</P>
<Q><L><HI>Ten thou&s;and &s;uch as we, can ne're devi&s;e,</HI></L>
<L><HI>A Book &s;o good as that which we de&s;pi&s;e;</HI></L>
<L><HI>The</HI> Common-Prayer <HI>they mean: If we &s;hould &s;it</HI></L>
<L><HI>Ten thou&s;and Years with all our Brains and Wit,</HI></L>
<L><HI>We &s;hould prove Coxcombs all; and in the end,</HI></L>
<L><HI>Leave it as 'tis, too good for us to mend.</HI></L> </Q>
<PB N="3" REF="2" MS="y">
<P>And &s;o much they &s;ay we have done for <HI>Religion,</HI> which is the fir&s;t of my eight parts of Speech; and as my weakne&s;s and your patience will permit, I will more briefly and compendiou&s;ly proceed to the &s;econd.</P>
<P>Secondly, we are taxed with profane and barbarous Pollutions of the <HI>Church,</HI> or <HI>Hou&s;es,</HI> dedicated to God's Service: They &s;ay, that we never built any, but have taken too much accur&s;ed pains to deface, and pull down many, perverting the right u&s;e of them into Stables, recepta|cles of Strumpets, luxurious Villains, and infernal &s;tinking Smoaks of Mundungo at the Communion Table, de&s;troying tho&s;e things, which we with great maturity of Judgment, Learning, and Wi&s;dom, &s;et in order, enacted by former Parliaments, mo&s;t execrably &s;poiling all by the u&s;urped Power and Protection of this Parliament.</P>
<P><HI>Mr. Speaker,</HI> It is a rigorous Medicine for the Toothach to knock out the Brains of the Patient; he is no wi&s;e Man that takes violent Phy&s;ic and kills him&s;elf, to purge a little Phlegm, nor is he a prudent Builder, if his Hou&s;e wants &s;ome &s;light repairs, will pull it down: A Man that loves his Wife, will not put her away for a few needle&s;s black Patches that her Face is disfigured withall. In like manner, if any thing were ami&s;s, either Ornament, Ge&s;ture, Ceremony, Liturgy, or what&s;oever might have been approved unfitting, &s;candalous, or ju&s;tly offen&s;ive, it is concieved it might have been removed, or reconciled, in a more Chri&s;tian way than by ruinating, demoli&s;hing, tearing, and violently defacing all, without regard of Humanity, Chri&s;tianity, or Order, either from God or Man, as too many places in this unjointed Kingdom can mo&s;t truly and wofully te&s;tifie. And the&s;e &s;weet pieces of Service (our Adver&s;aries &s;ay) we have done for the Church.</P>
<P>Thirdly, concerning our <HI>Loyalty,</HI> and <HI>Obedience</HI> to the King: It is manife&s;t, that we have all taken the Oath of Allegiance to His Maje&s;ty, and that we have al&s;o lately taken Oaths and Covenants to make War again&s;t him: Our Enemies would fain know, who had power to di&s;pen&s;e or free us from the former Oath, and likewi&s;e by what Autho|rity the latter Covenants and Oaths were impo&s;ed upon the Con&s;ciences of Men. For my own part, if there were none wi&s;er than my &s;elf, this ambiguous <HI>Aenigma</HI> would never be unriddled. But it is reported, that if we had kept our fir&s;t Oaths con&s;cientiou&s;ly, and not taken the &s;econd mo&s;t perniciou&s;ly, and performed them &s;o impiou&s;&s;y, then we had never &s;o rebelliou&s;ly oppo&s;ed and offended &s;o gracious a Maje&s;ty.</P>
<P><HI>Mr. Speaker,</HI> Our Adver&s;aries do further alledge, That our <HI>Obedience</HI> to His Maje&s;ty is apparently manife&s;t by many &s;trange ways: We have disburthened him of his large Revenues, we have ea&s;ed him of the charge of Royal Hou&s;e-keeping, we have freed him of paying of his Navy, we have cleared him from either repairing of, (or repairing to) his &s;tately Pallaces, magnificent Man&s;ions, and defen&s;ive Ca&s;tles and Garri&s;ons, we have put him out of care for reparations of his Armo|ries, Arms, Ammunition, and Artillery, we have been at the co&s;t of keeping his Children, and mo&s;t tru&s;ty Servants from or for him, we have taken Order, and given Ordinances, that he &s;hall not be troubled with
<PB N="4" REF="3">much Money or Meat; and that his Queen and lawful Wife &s;hall not &s;o much as darken his Door. And we have endeavoured by open Rebel|lion, to relea&s;e him of a mo&s;t trouble&s;om Life and Reign, by hunting him like <HI>a Partridge over the Mountains;</HI> and by &s;hooting Bullets of all &s;izes at his <HI>Per&s;on</HI> for His <HI>Maje&s;ty</HI>'s Pre&s;ervation, on purpo&s;e to make him a glorious King in another World. We have ea&s;ed him of a great number of his faithful Friends, loyal Subjects and Servants, by either charitable Fami&s;hing, brotherly Bani&s;hment, liberal and free Impri&s;onment, Parliamental Plunder, friendly Throat-cutting, and unlawful Beheading and Hanging, or ruinating as many as we could lay hands of, that either loved, &s;erved, or honoured him.</P>
<P>All the&s;e heavy Burthens we have ea&s;ed him of, and overladen our &s;elves with the u&s;urped Pondero&s;ity of them; &s;o that our Adver&s;aries &s;ay, that the weight of them will either break our Backs, our Necks, or &s;ink us for ever: And they &s;ay, that &s;ince the World's Creation, never &s;o good a King had &s;o bad Subjects to u&s;e him &s;o hardly.</P>
<P>Fourthly, <HI>Mr. Speaker,</HI> It is que&s;tioned what we have done for the <HI>Laws:</HI> There are &s;ome that are not afraid to &s;ay, That we have tran&s;|formed or metamorpho&s;ed the <HI>Common Laws</HI> of this Land, into the Land's common Calamities; that in&s;tead of the common Benefit which the Laws in Community &s;hould yield to all Men in general, we have perverted tho&s;e Laws to the private profit of our &s;elves, and &s;ome other particular per&s;ons. The <HI>Civil Law</HI> is turned into an uncivil Civil War, Bla&s;phemy, Athei&s;m, Sacriledge, Ob&s;cenes, Profanene&s;s, Ince&s;t, Adultery, Fornication, Bigamy, Poligamy, Ba&s;tard-bearing, Cuckold-making, and all &s;orts of bea&s;tly Bawdry is &s;o far from being puni&s;hed, that it is generally connived and winked at, or tolerated by us. And tho&s;e which &s;hould be the Puni&s;hers of the&s;e gro&s;s and crying Crimes, as Judges, Officials, Deacons, Proctors, and other Officers, the&s;e are derided, reviled, libelled again&s;t, cryed down, and made a common Scoffing &s;tock of every libidinous incontinent Whore, and Whore|monger.</P>
<P>The <HI>Law of God</HI> contained in the Decalogue or Ten Command|ments, we have ra&s;ed out of the Church, not &s;o much as &s;uffering them to be read: And the <HI>New Commandment,</HI> which was the la&s;t that Chri&s;t commanded, <HI>That we &s;hould love one another,</HI> we have turned that the foul contrary way, to the &s;poiling and murdering one another. The <HI>Law of Nature</HI> is mo&s;t unnaturally changed to bruti&s;h, heatheni&s;h, devili&s;h, barbarous Inhumanity; Paricide, Fratricide, and Homicide, hath been and is by us defended, maintained, and rewarded; no Affinity, Con|&s;anguinity, Alliance, Friend&s;hip, or Fellow&s;hip, hath or can &s;ecure any true Prote&s;tant, or loyal Subject, either of his Life or Goods, Safety or Freedom. The&s;e are the be&s;t Reports our Adver&s;aries the Malignant Party do give us.</P>
<P>It is farther &s;aid, That we have infringed and violated the Law of <HI>Arms</HI> here, and the Law of <HI>Nations</HI> abroad; For whereas Me&s;&s;en|gers and Amba&s;&s;adors have always had, and ought to have free and &s;afe pa&s;&s;age, with fair and courteous Accommodation and Entertainment, with the <HI>Turkes, Tartars, Jews,</HI> and <HI>Cannibals,</HI> always ob&s;erved mo&s;t
<PB N="5" REF="3">ob&s;equiou&s;ly and punctually: But we contrary to them and repugnant to <HI>Chri&s;tianity,</HI> have &s;uffered Amba&s;&s;adors to be rifled, robb'd, and evil entreated. And we have cau&s;ed His Maje&s;ty's Me&s;&s;engers to be hang'd, whom he hath mo&s;t graciou&s;ly &s;ent to us with Conditions of Peace.</P>
<P>By the <HI>Vox populi,</HI> or common Vote of tho&s;e People, we are plea&s;ed to call Malignants, Papi&s;ts, Enemies to the <HI>State,</HI> with other Scandals and Epithites, (which they utterly deny both in their words and pra|ctice:) We are ju&s;tly taxed to be the main Incendiaries, and pe&s;tilent Propagators, of all the Mi&s;chiefs which this afflicted mi&s;erable King|dom groans and bleeds under; for they &s;ay, That the old Statutes of <HI>Magna Charta</HI> are overthrown by us, under pretence and colour of &s;up|porting them: And that by our Votes, Ordinances, Precepts, Proclama|tions, Edicts, Mandates, and Commands, we have countermanded, abro|gated, annihilated, aboli&s;hed, violated, and made void, all the Laws of <HI>God,</HI> of <HI>Nature,</HI> of <HI>Arms,</HI> and of <HI>Arts</HI> too; and in&s;tead of them, we have unlawfully erected <HI>Mar&s;hal Law, Club Law, Stafford Law,</HI> and &s;uch lawle&s;s <HI>Laws</HI> as make mo&s;t for Trea&s;on, Rebellion, Murder, Sacri|ledge, Ruine, and Plunder. But as for the King him&s;elf, we have not allowed him &s;o much <HI>Law</HI> as a Hunt&s;man allows a Hare. The&s;e are our Enemies words, and &s;o much they &s;ay we have done for the <HI>Laws.</HI></P>
<P>Fifthly, <HI>Mr. Speaker,</HI> This Que&s;tion or Query is, what we have done for the <HI>Kingdom:</HI> It is &s;aid, that we have <HI>done</HI> and <HI>undone</HI> the <HI>King|dom;</HI> this ancient famous flouri&s;hing <HI>Kingdom;</HI> this Envy of the World for Happine&s;s; this <HI>Eden</HI> of the Univer&s;e; this Terre&s;trial <HI>Paradice;</HI> this Ab&s;tract of Heaven's Ble&s;&s;ings, and Earthly Content; this Epi|tome of Nature's Glory; this exact Extract of Piety, Learning, and magnanimous Chivalry; this Nur&s;ery of Religion, Arms, Arts, and laudable Endeavours; this Breed of Men; this wonder of Nations, formerly renowned, feared, loved, and honoured, as far as ever Sun and Moon &s;hined; this <HI>England</HI> which hath been a Kingdom, and a Monar|chy, many hundred years, under the Reigns of 168 Kings and Queens; this Kingdom which hath conquered Kingdoms; that hath <HI>India, Syria, Pale&s;tina, Cyprus,</HI> Tributary tremblers; that hath made <HI>France</HI> &s;hake, and <HI>Spain</HI> quake; that relieved and defended <HI>Scotland</HI> from <HI>French</HI> &s;lavery, and &s;aved and protected the <HI>Netherlands</HI> from <HI>Spani&s;h</HI> Tyranny. Now have we made this <HI>Kingdom,</HI> this <HI>England,</HI> a mi&s;erable Slave to it &s;elf, an Univer&s;al <HI>Golgotha,</HI> a purple Gore, <HI>Acheldama</HI> a Field of Blood, a <HI>Gehenna,</HI> a Den of Thieves or Infernal Furies, and finally an Earthly Hell, were it not for this difference, That <HI>here</HI> the be&s;t Men are puni&s;hed, and in <HI>Hell</HI> only the wor&s;t are plagued; here no good Man e&s;capes Torment, nor any bad Man is troubled: The King is abu&s;ed for being good and ju&s;t, and his true and loyal Subjects and Servants are ruined and ma&s;&s;acred for their Fidelity. The <HI>Prote&s;tants</HI> are called <HI>Papi&s;ts,</HI> becau&s;e they will not be <HI>Browni&s;ts, Anabapti&s;ts,</HI> and Rebels: And our Adver&s;aries are &s;o bold to &s;ay, That we have plotted and laboured long to turn this glo|rious Monarchy into a pedling roly poly <HI>Independant</HI> Anarchy, and make this <HI>Kingdom</HI> to be no <HI>Kingdom;</HI> and &s;o much we have done for this <HI>Kingdom.</HI></P>
<PB N="6" REF="4">
<P>Sixthly, <HI>Mr. Speaker,</HI> They do que&s;tion us what good we have done for the <HI>benefit</HI> or <HI>liberty</HI> of the <HI>Subject:</HI> Many of them &s;ay, that they know too well and too ill, what and what not, they find (by lamen|table experience) that we have turned their <HI>Liberty</HI> into Bondage, their Freedom into Slavery, and their Happine&s;s into an unexampled Infeli|city. Nay, it is reported, that we have found two ways to Hell, which are, either to be Rebels, or perjured, to fight in Per&s;on again&s;t the King, and to be for&s;worn by a Covenant to owe him no Obedience, or duti|ful Allegiance: They &s;ay we &s;ay, Tu&s;h, the&s;e are but Trifles, which may be an&s;wered at an ea&s;ie rate, a &s;mall matter will clear this Recko|ning; it is no more than everla&s;ting Damnation, for which, <HI>Mr. Speaker,</HI> I am bold to make u&s;e of a Speech in the di&s;ta&s;tful Litany, <HI>Good Lord deliver us.</HI></P>
<P>The Malignants do compare this <HI>Commonwealth</HI> to an old Kettle, with here and there a fault or hole, a crack or a flaw in it; and that we (in imitation of our worthy Brethren of <HI>Banbury</HI>) were intru&s;ted to mend the &s;aid Kettle; but like deceitful and cheating Knaves, we have, in&s;tead of &s;topping one hole, made three or four&s;core; for the People cho&s;e us to ea&s;e them of &s;ome mild and tolerable Grievances, which we have done &s;o artificially, that they all cry and complain, that the Medicine is forty times wor&s;e than the Di&s;ea&s;e, and the Remedy a hundred times wor&s;e than the Medicine. And &s;o much is reported that we have done for the <HI>Subject.</HI></P>
<P>Seventhly, <HI>Mr. Speaker,</HI> The Malignants Query or Que&s;tion is, what we have done for <HI>Reformation:</HI> What by our indu&s;trious Care, and long Sitting, we have Reformed; how the Service of God is by us more religiou&s;ly, &s;incerely, zealou&s;ly, fervently, and ardently, preached or practiced; what we have amended either in Church or Kingdom; how either the King is more honoured or obeyed than he was before this Parliament; what good we have done this four or five years; with what faces can we look upon the Freeholders and Corporations in every Shire, County, City, Town, and Borough in this Kingdom, who cried us up, and with their Voices elected us to be <HI>Knights</HI> and <HI>Burge&s;&s;es,</HI> which way we can an&s;wer the &s;ame, for our many breaches of that great Tru&s;t which they intru&s;ted us withal? I tell you, <HI>Mr. Speaker,</HI> the&s;e are home Que&s;tions; and they plainly &s;ay, that all our Reforma|tion is Nonconformation; and by &s;ure confirmation, true information, certain affirmation, we have by cunning Transformation turned all to Deformation: So that if our Predece&s;&s;ors and Ance&s;tors that are depar|ted this Life (to a better or a wor&s;e) &s;hould or could ri&s;e out of their Graves, and &s;ee the change, alteration, and unmannerly Manners, that have over&s;pread this Church and Kingdom, they would think they were not in <HI>England,</HI> but either in <HI>Turky, Barbaria, Scythia, Tartaria,</HI> or &s;ome Land that is inhabited by <HI>Infidels</HI> or <HI>Pagans;</HI> for <HI>England</HI> (as it is) looks no more like <HI>England</HI> (as it was five years ago) than a Camel or Cockle &s;hell are like an Owl or a Red Herring.</P>
<PB N="7" REF="4">
<P>Eighthly and la&s;tly, briefly and compendiou&s;ly, the Que&s;tion is, what we have done for <HI>our &s;elves:</HI> We have run the hazard of our E&s;tates to be ju&s;tly forfeited by Rebellion, again&s;t a ju&s;t, merciful, and truly religious King; our Lives are liable to the rigour of &s;uch Laws as former Parliaments have enacted again&s;t Rebels and Traitors; and our &s;elves are in danger of perpetual Perdition, if &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion, contri|tion, and &s;atisfaction, be not humbly and &s;peedily performed or endea|voured; for we (and none but we) have altered this Kingdom's Feli|city to Confu&s;ion and Mi&s;ery; from a plea&s;ant merry Comedy, to a di&s;mal bloody Tragedy, &s;ufficient to fill a large Hi&s;tory of perpetual Memory of us and our Po&s;terity.</P>
<P>And thus, <HI>Mr. Speaker,</HI> have I with as much brevity as I could, run over my Eight parts of Speech, whereby may be percieved, how the Malignant Adver&s;aries do e&s;teem of us and our Actions. I could &s;peak more than I have &s;aid, and I could &s;ay more than I have &s;poken; but having done, I hold it di&s;cretion to make an</P>
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