summ of Money to mend the one and to relieve the other who deserve not only Pay but Reward to encourage them An Oration for Contribution Noble Citizens and Dear Country-men IT seems you are Covetous but not Prudent that you are so loath to raise and so slow to pay Contribution-Money towards the maintenance of the Army which is to fight not only for your Lives and Liberties but to protect your Goods and that every man may without Disturbance injoy his own but you are so Covetous that rather than you would part with Some you will endanger the Whole and as you are Covetous so you are Fearfull for you will neither maintain poor Souldiers that are willing to fight for you nor yet go to the VVarrs to fight for your selves you Fear your Enemies and yet will take no care to Overcome them And give me leave to tell you that your Covetousness and Fear doth make you Treacherous for if you will neither help with your Purse nor your Person you betray your Country to the Enemies power also your old Parents tender VVives and young Children that cannot help themselves all which you betray to Slavery leaving them for a prey to the Enemy and not only your fertil Country and shiftless Friends and neer Allies but your own Lives for it seems by your Covetousness and Cowardliness that you had rather have your Throats cut than part with your Money or fight in your own Defence which is a strange Madness as to be afraid to Dye and yet to take no care to provide for your Safety nor to have Courage to fight for your Lives The best that can be said or thought of you is that you relie upon base hopes as that the Enemy may spare your Lives to inslave your Persons But I can only say this that either you must Fight your selves or Maintain others or else others will take what you have to maintain themselves to defend their Country An Oration to perswade a City not to yield to their Enemies Worthy Citizens I Do not doubt your Courage in Resisting and Fighting your Enemies nor your Patience in Sufferance nor your Care in Watching nor your Industry in Labouring nor your Prudence in Ordering and all for the defence of your City which is besieged by your Enemies which you indeavour to keep out by all possible means sparing neither your Limbs nor your Lives nor do I fear the power of your Enemies for whilst your Courages Strengths Patience and Industries be united together it is more probable you will raise the Siege than the Enemies take this City for though your Victuals be scarce and your Ammunition wasted yet your Temperance doth supply the scarcity of the one and your Courage the want of the other Only that I fear will make you yield upon any conditions is the Love to your Wives Daughters Mothers Kinswomen and femal Friends and not so much their safety for so long as your Lives last you will defend them but if you yield to your Enemies by yielding to the Womens Effeminate fears if your Enemies do not say or think you base Cowards they will say or think you facil Fools For give me leave to tell you that though men of Honour as Valiant men will Fight for the safety and protection of Women not only for those that are neer Allied to them but for those that are neither of their Country nor Kinn Yet no man that would keep the Reputation of Valour will quit that Honour for a Womans sake no although it be to save his Daughter Wife or Mother from their Enemies for a Gallant man dreads more the name of a Coward than any thing in the world and it is no dishonour to a Man to have his Wife taken and abused by his Enemy when he could not Honourably help her for Force is no Dishonour but a Base free Act for a man cannot be forced to be a Coward nor a chast Woman to be a Whore they may both have Misfortunes Injuries and Hatefull abuses done to them but not Wicked Base or Ignoble minds VVherefore let me perswade you for your own Honour's sake not to yield through the VVomens desires let not their tears move you nor their intreaties perswade you for if you yield though upon the assurance of your Lives and Liberties where will you wander to seek an Habitation for if you could not keep your own City and Wealth it is not likely you will get the like from other men alas your Neighbours will shut their Gates and Doors against you for Poverty and Misfortune hath not many Friends or Hosts for few are so Hospitable as to entertain either and you will not only find Charity cold but those that have envied you in your Prosperity will despise you in your Adversity and what Masculine spirits can bear such misery as Neglect Want and Scorn and the Infamy of yielding Courages Wherefore it is better to Dye in the Defence of your own City and be Renowned for your Valour and Constancy in after-ages wherein your Lives Acts and Deaths will be mentioned to your Honour and Renown An Oration for those that are slain in the Warrs and brought home to be Buried Worthy Citizens YOu lament over the Corps of your Friends slain in the Warrs shedding your tears and breathing your sighs on their Hearses 'T is true they are natural Showers and Zephyrus's airs of loving Affections and passionate Hearts yet give me leave to tell you you have more cause to Rejoyce than Grieve First that their Death begets their Renowns and is an Honour to their Memory to Dye in the Service of their Country for all men that have Worth and Merit would willingly nay gladly Dye to save their Country or for the Honour of their Country and all Wise men will gladly quit a present frail and uncertain Life to live Eternally in the memory of the present and future Ages in whose memories their Actions live like Glorified bodies and Purified souls for thus they become from Terrestrial to be Celestial The next cause you have to Rejoyce is that their Bodies are brought home as a witness of their Victory and their Deaths are their Triumphs which are adorned and set out with numerous and glorious Praises besides they have the happiness to be inurned with their Fore-fathers where by a natural Instinct or Sympathy they may mutually intermix and perchance transmigrate together and since they Fought Valiantly and Died Honourably they shall be buried Happily and will be remembred Eternally and have an everlasting Fame rejoyce with Musick Bells and Bonfires and offer unto the Gods Oblations of Thanksgiving ORATIONS IN THE FIELD OF WARR PART II. An Oration from a Besieged City ready to yield or else to be taken I Am come here to intreat you that are our Over-powerfull Enemies to be our Mercifull Saviours that though you are determined to destroy our City and possess our Goods yet you would be pleased to spare the Lives of
therein As for Moral Philosophy he knew well how to Compose Common-wealths and to Settle and Govern them also he knew well the Natures Humours Passions and Appetites amongst Mankind as also to Divide and Distinguish them and to Order Form and Reform them As for Natural Philosophy he did not only Study the Outward Forms of several Creatures but their Inward Natures In truth his Conception was so Subtil and Peircing his Observation so Dilative his Reason so Strong his Wit so Agil his Judgement so Solid his Understanding so Clear and his Thoughts so Industrious as they went to the First Cause of several Effects and he did not only Converse with the Body but the Soul of Nature indeed he was Nature's Platonick Lover and She rewarded him in Discovering to him her most Hidden and Obscure Secrets by which he begot Great Wisdome and Everlasting Fame for though his Body be Dead yet his Good Laws VVise Sciences Profitable Arts VVitty Experiences Graces Vertues and Eloquence will Live for the Benefit and Delight of Living men in all Nations and Ages and though we have great reason to Mourn for his Bodily Death yet we have more reason to Rejoyce for his Glorious Fame but leaving his Merits to Life and his Body to Death let us lay him into the Grave to Transmigrate as Nature pleases A Funeral Oration of a Dead Lady Spoken by a Living Lady Dearly Beloved Sisters in God VVE are met as Sorrowfull Mourners to attend this Dead Ladies Corps to the Grave She was in her Life the Rule of our Actions and will be in her Fame the Honour of our Sex She was Favoured of Nature the Gods and Fortune Nature gave her Wit and Beauty the Gods gave her Piety and Charity and Fortune gave her Wealth and Education She was Adorned by the Graces Beloved by the Muses and Attended by the Arts She was Sociable in her Conversation Just in her Promises and Generous in her Gifts She was Industrious in all Good Actions Helpfull to all Distress'd Persons and Gratefull for all sorts of Courtisies She was Humble in her Own Prosperities and full of Magnanimity in her Own Adversities her Mind had no Passage for any Evil nor no Obstruction against any Good But to repeat or summ up the Number of this Ladies Merits is beyond my Rhetorick or Arithmetick for certainly she was Composed of the Purest Effence of Nature and the Divinest Spirits of Heaven She had the Piety of Saints the Chastity of Angels and the Love of the Gods in which Love let us leave her Soul and lay her Body in the Grave till the time of Glorification A Foreiners or Strangers Funeral Oration Beloved Brethren YOu shew your Charity and Humanity and that they are not Bound up to Particulars or to your Friends and Country-men but that they Extend to Strangers in coming to see this Stranger who Died out of his Native Country Decently to be Buried in a Forein Land I mean Forein as from his Native Country although the truth is that all the World is Common to Mankind for Nature hath not assigned Men to any Particular place or Part of the World but hath given All the World freely to them as if she made the World and all other Creatures only for Man's sake for all other Creatures are not so generally Disperst or rather so Spreading and Branching throughout the World as Mankind is by reason they Belong Breed Prosper or Increase in Particular Climates as some in Cold and others in Hot and some in one Part of the World and some in Another for some Creatures will be so farr from Increasing in some Particular Climates as they cannot Live in them but in all Parts of the World that are Habitable there be Men. 'T is true Different Climates may cause men to be of Different Complexions but what Complexions soever they have they are all of the same kind as Mankind and of the same sort of Animals for though all Beasts are of Beast-kind yet a Fox and an Ass is not one and the same sort or kind of Beast but there is no such different sort amongst Mankind for there is no difference of men in their Natural Shapes Proprieties Qualities Abilities Capacities Entities or the like unless some Defects to some Particulars which is nothing to the Generality for all the kind of Mandkind is all alike both in Body and Mind as in their Shapes Senses Appetites Speech Frowning Laughing Weeping and the like as also alike in their Rational Parts as Judging Understanding Conceiving Remembring Apprehending Considering Imagining Desiring Joying Grieving Loving Hating Fearing Doubting Hoping Believing and the like And therefore since not any man can be accounted as a Stranger in any Part of the World because he hath by Nature a Right as a Natural Inheritance to Inhabit what part or place of the World he will But all Mankind are as Brethren not only by Kind but by Inheritance as being General Sharers and Possessors of the World so this Dead man ought not to be accounted as a Stranger but a Brother VVherefore let us Mourn as we ought to do for a Dead Brother and Accompany his Hearse to the Grave with Religious Ceremony there leaving it in Rest and Peace A Post-Riders Funeral Oration Beloved Brethren YOu have Exprest your Humanity and Charity in coming to this Poor Unfortunate man's Burial which though he was a Poor man yet he was an Honest man and therefore is much the more Worthy to be Praised for Poverty and Necessity is a great Temptation to Knavery as much as Riches is a Temptation to Foolery which is Vanity nay Riches is not only Guilty of Vanity but Vice as Luxnry Pride and Wantonness whereas Knavery is Cheating Coosening Stealing and the like of all which this Poor man was Free And as he was an Honest man so he was a Laborious man for his Profession of Life was a Post-Rider an Unfortunate Profession for him for he Riding fast upon a Stumbling Jade fell down and Broke his Neck Thus we see that Misfortunes as well as Sicknesses bring many to their Lives ends and many times to a Miserable end for Misfortunes take Life away Unawares and sometimes Unprepar'd to Dye so this man did not Think when he got on the Horses back he should Ride Post to Death for had he thought so he would have Chosen to Run a-Foot a Safer though a Slower pace But could his Soul Ride Post on Death to Heaven as his Body Rid Post on a Horse to Death he might Out-strip many a Soul that is gone before him for though his Soul as all Souls are Light and of no Weight yet Death is no nimble Runner being Cold and Numb and nothing but Bare Bones a Hard Seat for a Tender Soul Besides the way to Heaven is so Narrow and Steep as Death cannot Get up for should he Venture his Soul would be in Danger to be Overthrown and cast into Hell which is a Deep Dark
and Gallant men and as I prefer after-Memory which is Fame before present Life which Fame is the Heaven wherein Worthy and Honourable men and actions are Glorified and live to all Eternity so would I have my Souldiers there to Live and be Glorified which Desire expresses that I love my Souldiers equal with my Self and as I do prefer Honour and Fame before sensual Pleasures or Life so I have alwayes preferr'd my Souldiers Lives before my Own for I never indeavoured to save my own Life when my Souldiers Lives were in Danger but have put my person in the same danger they were in nay I have ventured One more danger than they have done for I have led them Singly to the face and front of their Enemies neither have I been Idle when as my Souldiers have taken pains but to the contrary I have taken pains when as they have been Idle for my Person hath not only been imployed in Ordering Appointing and Directing of every particular but I have march'd on Foot with the Infantery whilst the Cavallry hath Rid easily on Horses or the chief Commanders have rid lasily in their Waggons as also I have taken pains in Teaching Ordering and Marshalling my Souldiers as well as time place and opportunity would give me leave and my Body hath not only labour'd but my Mind and Thoughts were alwayes and at all times busily imployed for the affairs of the Army and for my Souldiers Advantage contriving the Best as how to prevent the Worst Thus my thoughts have Labour'd for you continually Keeping me waking whilst you have slept and rested in ease Neither did I ever rob my Souldiers of their Spoils but was pleased to distribute my Share amongst them nor did I ever make a Scarcity of your Victuals through my Luxury nor have I ever brought my Souldiers into Want through my Imprudence for whatsoever Want or Loss you have had it came meerly from Fortune whose power the Wisest and Valiantest cannot alwaies and at all times withstand But yet the Common Souldiers and Under-Commanders for the most part Accuse their Generals laying the Disfavour of Fortune to their Generals charge although it is not in any Man's power to avoid Fortune's malice unless men could Divine what would fall out against all Reason or Probability and though Wise men may imagine such chances yet they will never order their Affairs or Designs or any Action against Reason Sense and Probability besides Foolery and Knavery cause loss and misery without Fortune's help making more Disorder and Confusion than the Wisest men can rectifie But I will not trouble you with many more Words nor Reproofs for neither Words Reproofs nor Perswasions will do any good on a Mutinous and Rebellious Army who hath more Strength to do Evil than Honesty to do Good more Fury to mutine than Courage to fight more Envy to their Leaders than Love to their own Honours I add only this your Baseness I abhorr your Rudeness I scorn your Malice I despise your Designs I slight and your intended Cruelty I fear not A Commanders refusing Speech to Mutinous Souldiers who Depos'd their General and would Choose him in his place Fellow Souldiers YOu have Forcibly against my will Proclamed me your General and because I sent you word I would not Command you you sent me a Threatning message that although you at first chose me through your Love and Kindness yet now whereas I did slight your Love you would Force me to take that Charge upon me but let me tell you I care not for your Favour nor I fear not your Anger as being neither a Knave nor a Coward for to be a Friend to Mutinous Souldiers is to be a Knave to Fear them is to be a Coward and to be chosen General to a Rebellious Army is a Dishonour Wherefore I preferring Honour before Life will rather Die than be your General But who gave you Authority to Depose your General and to make an other Or what right have you to Take away and Give Commissions You will answer by Force of Arms or rather force of Rebels for Arms are or ought to be for Justice Right Truth or Honour not for Injustice Wrong Injury Falshood and Dishonour and strong Arms and couragious Hearts do not agree with mad Heads and wild Passions But you by your Disobedience seem to be Cowards for Valour is Obedient nay Valiant men will obey Unreasonable Commands rather than Oppose their commanders and choose rather to Die obediently than to Live disobediently But your Actions have shew'd you to be Rebellious Cowards for which I am not only Asham'd that you are my Country-men or Fellow Souldiers but Hate you as Enemies to Honour and honesty and therefore if it lay in my Power I would Destroy you as being Unworthy to Live A Generals Oration to his Evil-designing Souldiers Fellow Souldiers I Have not call'd you together to perswade you to Fight your Enemies for I perceive you are turned Cowards and Cowards are deaf to all perswasions of Adventures Nor do I go about to perswade you to Patience although it be the part of good Souldiers to suffer Patiently as well as to fight Vigorously also to be patient with painfull Labours but I perceive Patience and Industry that accompany Valour have also forsaken you Nor shall I perswade you to stick close to me as to defend my Life from the Enemies although I have been more carefull to defend your Lives with Skill and Knowledge in Warr and Arms than you have been to defend my Life with your Strength and Courages And give me leave to tell you that the Renown you have gotten in the Warrs hath been gain'd as much by my Conduct as your Valours Thus I neither perswade you to Fight to Suffer nor to Help me in time of need but my Desire is to perswade you not to Bury the Renown you have gotten in these Warrs in the Grave of Treachery nor to cast down your Glorious Acts from the Palace of Fame into the Pit of Infamy which you will do if you put your Evil Designs into Acts for I perceive well by your Secret Meetings and Gatherings in companies together without Order and by your Whisperings into each others Ears as also by your Murmurings Complaints and Exclamations you intend some Evil but in what manner you will execute your Evil Designs I cannot tell I suppose it is either that you will Desert me or Make Peace with the Enemy without me on Dishonourableterms or that you will Betray me to the Enemy and Deliver me into their hands or else it is that you have conspir'd to Murder me with your own hands either of which will be unworthy for good Souldiers to do Wherefore I would if I could disswade you for your own sakes and not for mine not to do such Acts as to cause Honest men to Hate you Valiant men to Despise you Wise men not to Trust you your Enemies to Scorn you your Country to Exclame
in Flattering Free in Protesting and Earnest in Vows and Promises all which hath such force with Females who are Credulous and Believing Creatures as she had no Power to deny him his Desire But both these Lovers desire these Most Noble and Just Judges to Consider their Crime is not caused through Spite Envy Malice Revenge Scorn Pride Hate or the like Sins but through Love Kindness Friendship Charity Generosity Humility and such like Vertues which caused this Crime namely Adultery so that it is the only Sin that is Built upon Vertues besides this Sin namely Adultery hath a Well-pleased Countenance a Courtly Behaviour and an Eloquent Speech which is the cause most Men and Women are in Love with this Sin the Gods forgive them for it for this Sin doth not appear with Terrible and Horrid Aspect as Murder as to cause the very Soul as much as the Senses to be Maskered with Fear not it doth not appear of so Foul an Aspect as Gluttony and Drunkenness as to cause Hate or Aversion but it hath so Amiable an Aspect as to cause Love and so Fruitfull an Effect as to cause Life and Living Creatures They implore Mercy and beg your Favourable Sentence and since it is a Natural effect for Males and Females to be Adulterers at least Lovers you may as soon destroy all Animal Creatures as this Sin if it be one and if there be some Men and Women purely chast those are of Divine Compositions and not Perfect Naturals their Souls and Bodies having more of the Purity of the Gods than the gross Corporality of Nature but these two Offendants confess they have proved themselves Nature's Creatures and the Woman says she is Eve's Daughter but if you will Spare her Life she hopes to be as great a Saint as Mary Magdalen for she will beg Pardon by Repentance and wash out her Sin with her Tears Plaintiff Most Reverend Judges This Pleader ought to be Condemned not only for a Corrupt Lawyer but a Wicked Man and may very well be believed to be Guilty of the same Crime he Pleads so well for for if he were not Guilty of the Crime he would not Plead for a Pardon Defendant Most Reverend Judges I am no more Guilty of the Sin than the Interceding Saints in Heaven for Sinners on Earth but if the Pleader should be Condemned for the Cause of his Client neither Truth would be Heard nor Right Decided so that all Justice would be Overthrown with Malicious Accusers and False Witnesses But howsoever Most Reverend Judges I am not to Decide the Cause though I Plead in the behalf of my Clients and it is the Profession of a Lawyer to speak for his Clients and not Against them whatsoever their Cause be for this is the part of their Opposites and I am not to fling the first Stone Plaintiff Most Reverend Judges Howsoever he be Affected whether evil or not yet the Cause he Pleads is a Wicked Cause and the Offenders ought to be severely Punished according to the Punishing Laws for such Offences and Offenders and if Adultery should be suffered Propriety and the Right of Inheritance would be lost in the Obscurity of hidden Adultery or in the Uncertainty of the Right Children or Fathers A Cause Pleaded at the Barr before Judges concerning Theft Most Reverend and Just Judges Plaintiff HEre is a man which is Accused for Stealing privately and Robbing openly against all Law and Right the Goods of his Neighbours for which we have brought him before your Honours appealing to the Laws for satisfaction of the Injuries Wrongs and Loffes leaving him to your Justice and Judgement Defendant Most Reverend Judges I am come here to Plead for this poor man my Client who is Accused for Stealing which is a silent obscure way of taking the Goods of other men for his own use also this Poor man for so I may say he is having nothing of his own to Live on but what he is Necessitated to take from other men is accused for Robbery which is to take away the Goods of other men in a Visible way and Forcible manner All which he confesseth as that the Accusation against him is true for he did both Steal and Rob for his own Livelihood and Maintenance of his Old 〈…〉 Past Labouring and for his Young Children 〈…〉 are not Able to help themselves and for his Weak Sick Wife that Labours in Child Birth For which he appeals to Nature who made all things in Common She made not some men to be Rich and other men Poor some to Surfeit with overmuch Plenty and others to be Starved for Want for when she made the World and the Creatures in it She did not divide the Earth nor the rest of the Elements but gave the use generally amongst them all But when Governmental Laws were devised by some Usurping Men who were the greatest Thieves and Robbers for they Robbed the rest of Mankind of their Natural Liberties and Inheritances which is to be Equal Possessors of the World these Grand and Original Thieves and Robbers which are call'd Moral Philosophers or Common-wealth makers were not only Thieves and Tyrants to the Generality of Mankind but they were Rebels against Nature Imprisoning Nature within the Jail of Restraint Keeping her to the spare Diet of Temperance Binding her with Laws and Inslaving her with Propriety whereas all is in Common with Nature Wherefore being against Nature's Laws for any man to Possess more of the World or the Goods of the World than an other man those that have more Wealth or Power than other men ought to be Punished as Usurpers and Robbers and not those that are Poor and Powerless Therefore if you be Just Judges of Nature and not of Art Judges for Right and not for Wrong if you be Judges of the most Ancient Laws and not Usurping Tyrants you will not only quit this Poor man and set him free from his Accusers which are His and such Poor men's Abusers but you will cause his Accusers who are Rich to Divide their Wealth Equally with Him and all his Family for which Judgement you will gain Natures favour which is the Empress of Mankind Her Government is the Ancientest Noblest Generousest Heroickest and Royalest and her Laws are not only the Ancientest for there are no Records before Nature's Laws so that they are the Fundamental Laws of the Universe and the most Common Laws extending to all Creatures but they are the Wisest Laws and yet the Freest also Nature is the most Justest Judge both for Rewards and Punishments for She Rewards her Creatures that Observe her Laws as they ought to do with Delight and Pleasure but those that Break or abuse her Laws as in destroying their fellow Creatures by untimely Deaths or unnatural Torments or do Riot and oppress her with Excess She Punishes them with Grief Pains and Sicknesses and if you will avoid the Punishment of Remorse Grief and Repentance Save this Poor necessitated man from
before Judges a Cause betwixt a Father and his Son Most Reverend Judges Plaintiff against the Father HEre is the Son which ought to be his Fathers Heir whom for Marryig against his Fathers Consent his Father hath Dis-inherited which is against all Law or Right both of God Nature and Man Defendant Most Reverend Judges Disobedient Children ought to have no Part nor Parcel of their Parents Estate as Lands Goods or whatsoever for it the Parents have no Duty nor Obedience from their Child their Child can challenge no Part of their Parents Estate and since he hath Married Disobediently he ought to Live Poorly or to get his Living by his Own Labour or Industry Plaintiff Most Reverend Judges There is no Reason nor Law that if one man Commit a Fault to an other that man should Commit an other to be quit with him and put the Case the Son were unnaturally Disobedient must the Father be unnaturally Cruel to be Revenged of him Defendant Most Reverend Judges Parents are the Fittest Judges of their Childrens Faults and Crimes committed against them But howsoever Parents cannot be thought Cruel or Unnatural to Punish the Crimes of their Children no more than God can be said to be Cruel or Unjust to Punish Sinners for God who Made Creatures may do what he Pleases with them for being his own Work he may Dispose or Order them as he Thinks best or as he Pleaseth So Parents that Begot their Children may do the like in things concerning themselves Plaintiff But God is Mercifull wherefore Parents ought to be Natural Defendant God is Just and therefore Children ought to be Dutifull Plaintiff But if God Should Punish his Creatures according to their Desert no man would be Saved Defendant And if Children should do what they List there would be no Government for Parents would be made Slaves and their Children Masters so if God should not Punish Some of his Creatures All would be Damned and to make up the Fulness of their Sins they would Despise his Love and not Fear his Power and so they would neither Love nor Fear God so Children would have neither Duty nor Obedience to their Parents But to prove it a Clear cause his Estate is free from all Intails and wholly in his own Power to Dispose of it as he Pleases and to Give it to whom he will and therefore his Son can Challenge nothing by Law or Right SPEECHES TO The KING in Council PART V. A Privy-Counsellours Speech to His Soveraign Dread Soveraign HEre are many of your Noble Subjects chosen out to be I can not say Privy-Counsellours by reason there be too many to keep Secrets of State which shews we are rather Counsellours for Form than for Business Counsellours in Name rather than Counsellours in Nature Wherefore we shall not need to trouble your Majesty or our Selves the one to Hear the other to Speak long Orations or tedious Speeches for should we Speak we should rather speak like Fools than Wise men by reason we are not acquainted with your Majesties Cabinet Designs or Intrigues and so being your Majesties General and not Particular Counsellours must needs speak at Randome Wherefore we beseech your Majesty not to Censure our Judgements but our Ignorances in not knowing your Majesties most Private as Cabinet Desires Designs and Intrigues A Petition and Plea at the Council-Table before the King and his Council concerning two Brothers Condemned by the Laws to Dye May it Please your Most Sacred Majesty I Am come here to your Majesties Council-Table to Plead the Cause of two Brothers whose Cause hath been Heard Judged Cast and Condemned by the Judges of the Laws of this Land and must suffer Death unless your Majesty acquit or Pardon them Indeed their cause is Hard for they were Forced either to Offend the Laws of Government or the Laws of Honour the Laws of Government threatned Bodily Death the Laws of Honour threatned Infamy and being Worthy Persons they chose rather to Venture Life than to Live Dishonourably But their Crime or it may rather be called their Justice which the Laws of the Land have Condemned them for is for Killing or rather Punishing their Sister for the Impurity Immodesty Dishonesty and Dishonour of Inchastity which was an Offence to the Gods a Reproach to her Life a Disgrace to her Race a Dishonour to her Kindred and an Infamy to her Family As for the Sin they past that by to be Judged of by the Gods her own Reproach they regarded not the Disgrace of her Race they indeavoured to obscure But as for the Dishonour to her Kindred and Infamy to her Family her Brothers were resolv'd to Wash off the Dishonour with her Blood and to Rub out the Black spot of Infamy with her Death which Resolution they put in Execution forcing a Surgeon to open an Artery Vein through which she Bled to Death Besides had they let her have Liv'd the Laws of the Land would have Punished her which would have been a Double Dishonour and a Recorded Infamy receiving as much Dishonour by her Public Punishment as her Private Crime Wherefore to prevent as well as to take off all Disgrace they were her Executioners by forcing the Surgeon to strike an Artery a very Easie Death for so Great an Offender but the Natural Affections from Brothers to a Sister did desire she might Dye with as Little Pain as might be Now Dead she is and they Condemned to Dye for her Death unless your Majesty will Pardon them and it will be a Gracious Act to pardon VVorthy Men such men as preferr'd Honour before Life A Speech of one of the Privy-Counsellours which is an Answer to the former Plea and Petition May it Please your Majesty TO give me leave as One of your Council to Answer this man As for Parents to Kill their Children for Children to Kill their Parents for Brethren to Kill each other and Sisters their Brothers or Brothers their Sisters or Neeces or Nephews their Uncles or Aunts or Uncles and Aunts to Kill their Nephews or Neeces or Cousin Germans is Unnatural or to be the Cause of their Death is Unnatural I may say a Great Sin in Nature VVherefore these two Brothers that were the Cause indeed the Actors in effect of their Sisters Death have Sinned against the Gods Nature and the Laws of good Government for which they Deserve Punishment both in this VVorld and in the VVorld after this Life And as for that which is called Honour it is but the Opinion of some men a meer Fancy not any Real Good only a Name to perswade men to do Evil Actions as to Fight Duells to make VVarrs to Murder Friends nay to Murder Themselves all which is against Gods Mens and Natures Laws which is Inhuman Uncharitable Unnatural and Impious The Petitioners Reply Most Dread Soveraign SInce your Majesty is pleased to hear the Sutes of Humble Petitioners and the Causes of Pleaders and the Defences of Condemned Persons as
in a Short time besides Open House-Keeping in Christmas time All which makes Gentlemen Beggars and Beggars Gentlemen for the Servants and Tenants grow Rich but their Masters and Landlords become Poor the one sort Buyeth the other sort Selleth and the Title of a Gentleman is Buried in the Ruine of his Estate III. Noble Gentlemen THe Gentleman that Spoke last spoke rather like a Cottager than a Gentleman or rather like a Miser than a Noble Hospitable Person for he Spoke as if he would have Gentlemen rather to Follow the Plough than the Race the Cart rather than the Deer the Puttuck rather than the Hawk to Eat Cheese instead of Venison Sour Curds instead of Patridge Fried Pease for young Leverets Rusty Bacon for Chines of Beef Rye Bread instead of White Manchet all which is to Live like a Clown and not like a Gentleman Burying his Birth in the Dung of his Earth But Noble Gentlemen I have Observed that a Gentleman although of Small Fortune if he Live Wisely may Live Plentifully and Honourably without his own Personal Drudgery the Wisdome is to Look into his Own Estate Industriously to Know and Understand the Value of his Lands Justly to Indeavour to have his Rents Paid Duely and not Suffer his Servants to Coosen him either by Flattery or Excess all which will Cause a Country Gentleman to Live as the first Gentleman said like a Petty King yet not like a Tyrant but like a Generous Prince with Delight and Pleasure Generosity and Magnificence amongst his Tenants Servants and Acquaintance also he will be an Assistance to Travellers and a Relief to the Poor and his Fame and Name will not only Sound Loud but Long. IV. Noble Gentlemen THe Gentleman that Spoke last spoke well for those Gentlemen that can Content themselves in that Condition their Fore-fathers left them in but Gentlemen of great Estates desire great Titles Offices and Authorities which cannot be had in the Country but from the Court which Ambition perswades them to Leave the Country to Live neer the Court where they may be Seen and Known unto the Grand Monarch in which Courts are such Delights and Pleasures as the Country is not Capable to have as Masks Playes Balls Braveries and Courtships which Ravish and Transport their Thoughts beyond the Country Region indeed they are as if they were Transported into the Third Heaven untill such time as their Money is Spent their Land Sold and their Creditors are Numberless and then they are Cast out as Evil Angels into the Hell of Poverty and become Poor Devilish Sharks Living upon their Wits which is to Live upon their Cheats which cannot last Long. Thus Gentlemen in the Country are Proud in the Court Vain in the City Base and at last Unfortunate as being much Indebred and Miserably Poor V. Noble Gentlemen THe Gentleman that Spoke last Declares our Ambitions at Court but not our Luxury in the Country and though we have not Court Ladies and City Dames to our Mistresses yet we have Country Wives and Tenants Daughters for our Wenches and we Eat and Drink our Selves into Surfeiting Diseases and our Expences are far more in Riotous Hospitalities than the Courtiers in their Foolish Flattering Vanities for the Natures of Gentlemen and Noble men are for the most part Prodigal whether they be in Court City or Country and they will never Rest untill such time as their Money is Spent and their Land Sold and then they become Idle Drones for want of Stings which is Wealth to Imploy them VI. Noble Gentlemen VVE have Argued much of our Humours Actions and Estates of our Follies Vanities and Vices but we have not Concluded what is Best for us to Settle in as for the Course of our Lives there are but three wayes as to be either Meer Clowns or Perfect Gentlemen or Between both To be Meer Clowns is to be Drudges in our Estates To be Perfect Gentlemen is to be Careless of our Expences and to be Between both is to be Carefull Overseers and Moderate Spenders and of these three I judge the Last best as not to be so much a Gentleman as to be a Beggar nor so much a Clown as to be a Beast VII Noble Gentlemen VVE agreed to meet in this Town for Pastime and Mirth and not for Study and Disputation we came not hither to Learn Good Husbandry but to Spend our Money Freely our Intention was not to meet with Formality and Gravity but with Freedome and Jollity our Design was not to Return to our Dwelling houses with Heavy Hearts but Light Heads Wherefore Leave of Arguing and Settle to Drinking and let our Tongues Cease and the Musick Play and when we are Dead Drunk let the Fiddles Ring out our Knells and let our Coaches as our Hearses carry us to our Home-Beds as to our Designed Graves where after our Long Sleeps we may Rise and in our Resurrections be like either Saints or Devils In short let Good Wine and Good Brains be our Good Fortune VIII A Speech of a Quarter drunk Gentleman Noble Gentlemen YOu have made Eloquent Orations before you did Drink but let that Pass for now you must Speak only Witty Expressions and give me Leave to Tell you that Logick and Wine are as great Enemies as Poetry and Water Wherefore let the Orators Drink Water and Poets Wine for VVine begets Fancy and VVater Drowns Reason which is the cause Orators Speak so Much and Long untill they Speak Non-sense But O Divine Wine whose Sprightly Vapour doth Manure the Brain to a just Highth of VVit it is the Serene Air of VVit the Quint-essence of VVit the Sun and Light of VVit the Spirit and Soul of VVit for were it not for Wine the Mind would be as in a dark Hell of Ignorance and the Brain would be Lethargically Stupified for want of Lively Heat for Wine is the Food of Vital Life and Animal Reason IX A Speech of a Half drunken Gentleman Noble Gentlemen YOu have made Eloquent Speeches but of what I am a Rogue if I can Tell but that they were Full of VVords I did hear Many Words but I do not Remember any Sense or Reason in them the truth is that the Spirits of Wine have Burnt out the Sense of your Discourse and have Rarified my Memory so much as no Substantial matter will Remain therein so that your Oratory is Dead and Buried in the Vapour of Wine a Blessed Death and a Happy Funeral and may it Rest in Peace and Silence and not Rise to Disturb our Drinking to which Wish and Hope I begin a Health and Desire you all to Pledge it ORATIONS IN The Field of Peace PART XIII A Peasants Oration to his Fellow Clowns Fellow Peasants FOr we are all Fellows in Labour Profit and Pleasure though not Fellows in Arms Spoils and Danger and though we Live in the Fields of Peace and not in the Fields of Warr yet our Fields of Peace resemble the Fields of Warr for