succour have 'T is too much like a base French stratagem To make the People poor to govern them More happy for a Prince when Aid he craves To hav 't from free-born men than injur'd slaves We are free-born we yet are English-men Let 's not like old men boast what we have been But make us happy by your gentle Rayes And You shall be the tenour of our Praise And our posterities with joynt consent Shall call you Englands healing Parliament But if you still will make our Bands the stronger If Prisoners must remain in durance longer If wandring Stars must still by force detrude Under Eclipse those of first Magnitude If Prelates still must ov'r our Conscience ride And Papists bonfires make on us beside If he and they whose Avarice and Pride So long have rid our backs and gall'd our side Have got so strong an intrest in the State That their Commitment costs so long debate Until a way be made for his escape To forreign parts there to negotiate The edge of Justice surely's turn'd aside To cut the poor ones flesh and save the Hide If you mens Lusts and Av'rice gratifie And yet our empty Purse-strings will unty You are too free of what nev'r was your own And know you only make us more to groan Asse-like and surely any mortal man Will seek to ease his burden when he can There 's not an English-man but well hath learn'd Your Priviledges are alike concern'd With all our Liberties That he that doth Infringe the one usurps upon them both And shall it on your Door and Tombs be writ This was that Parliament so long did sit While Conscience Liberty our Purse and Trade The Country City Ships and All 's betray'd That made an Act for building on the Vrn But no Inquest who did the City burn To feed a Palmer-worm who threw away That publick stock that Seamen should defray Since now you have an opportunity Redeem your selves and us from Slavery If not the Wheel goes round there is no doubt You 'l also share with those you have turn'd out Vivat Lex Rex POST-SCRIPT IF ere you leave us in a lasting-Peace 'T is by redressing all our Grievances When Rulers stop their ears to th' Peoples cryes Those are sad symptoms of Catastrophies In Watch or Clock things made irregular Though ne're so small make all the work to jar And in the Body Natural 't is sound That if an Humour doth therein abound That the Physician must extenuate And make it with the rest co-operate So if in Bodies Politick there be Not found 'twixt all Estates a harmony They cease not till in tract of time they bring All to Confusion Peasant Lord and King To make some great and ruine all the rest In this a Commonwealth cannot be blest And doth it follow hence great Sirs that we Must be made Beggars to posteritie Let Equity and Justice plead our Cause And then refer us to our antient Laws If Magna Charta must be wholly slighted We must conclude our Rulers are benighted But needs must we be poor when it is known We 've had a second Pearce of Gaveston Your Power is sovereign else we durst not quote His poysonous name without an Antidote Perfideous Clarenden that potent Thief His Prince's blemish and the Peoples grief Who once did scorn to plunder by retail Who stretch'd the State 's purse till the strings did fail He and his fellow Juglers found the knack To plow deep furrows on the Nations back Like Glaziars who incite the roaring Crew Windows to break that they may make them new So they pick Quarrels with our Neighbor Nations Then baul at you to peel us with Taxations Which having got stil more and more they crave Ev'n like the Horsleech or devouring Grave For Avarice cannot be satisfi'd No more than Belzebub and 's Brother Hide That Machiavil we have not yet forgot Who brew'd that wicked hellish Northern Plot Where many Gentlemen had ruin'd been If Providence had not stept in between Who then amongst vour selves secure can be If this be not check'd by Authoritie He was one of that open-handed Tribe Whose Avarice ne're yet refus'd a Bribe What suit of Law soev'r before him came He that produc'd most Angels won the Game Be 't right or wrong or Plaintiff or Defendant Should have the Cause if Gold were at the end on 't How did he send without remorse or fear Thousands brave English to that Grave Tangier What usage had the Scots thousands can tell When the late Remonstrators did rebel Whilst Irish Rebels quit their old O hone Poor English Protestants take up that tone Empson and Dudly's facts compar'd with his Were but nights darkness unto Hells Abiss The famous Spensers did in type pourtray What should be acted by this Beast of prey Earth him and you shall find within his Cell Those mischiefs which no Age can parallel War Fire and Blood with vast expence of Treasure Ruine of Englishmen his chiefest pleasure In fine for Mischief he was what you will The perfect Epitome of all ill All good men hate his Name nay which is worse Three Nations doggs him with their heavy curse As he regarded not the Widows tears So ye just Heavens multiply his fears Let Cains most dreadful doom soon overtake him And his companion Gout never forsake him Let Heavens Vengeance light upon his pate Till all our wrongs it doth retaliate Till he himself to Justice doth resign Let all men call him Cursed Clarendine Dexterous Artist he with little ease Transplanted Dunkirk from beyond the Seas And dropt it near that fatal spot of Land Where for him now Tyburn doth weeping stand The ecchoing Ax out of the Tow'r doth call To speed this Monster Epidemical But he upon us having plaid his prank Follows his Brethren Finch and Windebank Thus Hide by name is Hide by practice too Yet cannot hide from Heav'n tho hid from You. And being gone hath left his Imps behind Whose only work is all your Eyes to blind Lest tracing him you find their villany Yet known to few but the All-seeing Eye If any thing of common fame be true He 's only gone our Mischiefs to renew And if his practice justifie our fears Hee 'l sets again together by the ears Ambition's of the nature of the Devil Alwayes to brood and hatch and bring forth evill If true that Maxime be Kings cannot err With modesty we may from thence infer Ill thrives that hapless Nation then that shows A silent Prince and Chancellor that crows Over his Equals over all his Peers Over Fanaticks over Cavaliers He was so absolute 't was hard to say Or he or Charles whether we must obey Rose from a Gentleman too near the Throne Sought not the Nations Intrest but his own You are our Bridle in such Tyrants jaws That would destroy us and subvert our Laws Now hold the Beign now keep the Ballance true Find those Bandetro's that do lie purdue If you like Cato for your Country stand Three noble Nations are at your command Whilst Justice Truth Right ousness do guide you Wee 'l be your Guard whatever shal1 betide you Disarm the Papists and secure our Ports Place Protestants iu Garrisons and Forts Why should the French and Irish here bear sway That Enemies to England are this day Let not our Magazines remain with those That burnt our City and abide our Foes Whose hellish bloody principles are such To butcher English-men they think nor much What Safety Peace or Trade can we expect When these protected are and you neglect Us to secure against such Cut-throat Dogs As swarm now in our Land like Egypts Frogs What means the flocking of the French so fast Into our Bowels thus with Arms to hast And must our Horses which of value be Be unto France transported as we see Are not our Forts and Castles all betray'd When all their Stores and Guns aside are laid Out of the reach of such as would oppose Forreign Enemies and Domestick Foes Did the Dumb Child when at his Father's throat He saw a Knife immediately cry out Can we be silent when the Train is laid And Fire-works prepared as 't is said Look through the Vail and yon will soon espy The Romish Councils close at work do lie To undermine You and Religion too Look well about you lest you do it rue Now is the time to quit your selves like men Now stand up for our Liberties and then The Lawrel Wreath and never-fading Bayes Shall crown your heads and we shall sing your praise Is there no Balm in Gilead is there no Physician there Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered FINIS
their Cause Who justly now are made the peoples hate That would not do them Justice in the Gate â— We pray your Honours choose out a Committee To find the Instruments that burnt our City Can one poor sensless Frenchmans life repair The losse of Britains great Imperial Chair Many there were in that vile fact detected And those that should them punish them protected When Nero did the like on famous Rome Were all her Senators and People dumb Must we be silent when incompast round With black-mouth'd Dogs that would us all confound Most hellish Plot 't was Guido Faux in grain Hatch'd by the Jesuites in France and Spain For which your Honours wisely did remember To keep another fifth day of November When these Delinquents up and down the Nation You sifted for then came your Prorogation Mean while though London in her ashes lies Yet out of her shall such a Phaenix rise Shall be a scourge and terrour unto those Who for this hundred years have been her foes Perfideous Papists shall your treachery Think ye reduce US to Idolatry Blood-thirsty Monsters we know better things Not all the pride of your dark-lanthorn Kings Nor all your Counsels of Achitophel Shall make us run your ready road to Hell Blind Blockheads we abhor your rotten Whore None but the God of Jacob we adore We beg your Honours to redeem our Trade Which in your Intervals is much decay'd Regaining that we hope such fruit 't will yeeld We on our Ruins chearfully may build We pray repeal that Law unnatural That men in question for their Conscience call 'T is cruelty for you to force men to The thing that they had rather die than do This is mans All 't is Christ's Prerogative Therefore against it 't is in vain to strive Distribute Justice with an equal hand Unto the Peer as Peasant of the Land Many true Commoners murder'd of late Yet Justice strikes not the Assassinate Why should the just Cause of the Clyent be Utterly lost wanting a double Fee Why partial Judges on the Benches sit And Juries overaw'd which is not fit Why some corrupted others wanting wit And why a Parliament should suffer it Why great mens wills should be their only Law And why they do not call to mind Jack Straw Why they do let their Reputation rot And why Carnarvan Edward is forgot Why Bloodworth would not let that dreadful Fire Extinguisht be as good men did desire And why Lifeguard-men at each Gate were set Hindring the people thence their goods to get Why were our Houses levell'd with the ground That fairly stood about the Tower round When many thousand Families were left Without a house then we must be berest Of habitations too with all the rest And share with those that greatly were distrest Why should our Mother-Queen exhaust our store Enriching France and making England poor Spending our Treasure in a forreign Land Which doth not with our Nations Intrest stand Therefore in time stay th' bleeding of this vein Lest it our Nations vital spirits drain Why England now as in the dayes of yore Must have an Intercessor Madam Shore Why upon her is spent more in a day Than would a deal of publick charge defray Why second Rosamond is made away And that remains a Riddle to this day Why Papists put in places of great trust And Protestants lay by their Arms to rust Why Courtiers rant with Goods of other mens And with Protections cheat the Citizens Why drunken Justices are tolerated And why the Gospel's almost abrogated Why Clergy-men do domineer so high That should be patterns of humility Why they do Steeple upon Steeple set As if they meant that way to Heav'n to get Who nothing have to prove themselves devout Save only this that Cromwel turn'd them out Why Tippits Copes Lawnsleeves such like geer Consume above three millions by the year Why Bell and Dragon Drones like Boar in sty Eat more than all the painful Ministry Which is one cause the Nation is so poor And when the King will find their Privy Door When Daniel shews th' impression of their feet And gives direction then hee 'l come to see 't Why Englands grand Religion now should be A Stalking-Horse to blind Idolatry Why many thousauds now bow down before it That in their Consciences do much abhor it Why Treachery is us'd by Compâ—ication Fraud and Deceit the All-a-moad in fashion Why ranting Cowards in Bust-coats are put And why they Robbers turn to fill their gut Why Fools in Corporations do command Who know nor Justice nor the Law o' th Land Why he who brought our necks into this Yoke Dreads not the thoughts of Feltons fatal stroke Sure they 'r bewitch'd who think us English men Have no more courage left us than a Hen. And why that interest is become the least In the year Sixty greater than the rest We know no reason but do all consent These are the fruits of an Ill-Government Some think our Judgments do run parallel With Davids in the dayes of Israel The difference is he was a Man of God But ours have been his sore afflicting Rod To which we turn our naked backs and say Lord during thy pleasure Vive le Roy. We pray restore our faithful Ministers Whom we do own as Christ's Ambassadors Why are our Pulpits pestred with that Crew That took up Orders since black Bartholmew Who Mysteries of Gospel know no more Than that dumb Calf that Israel did adore Too late for us to you to make our moan When they have led us to destruction Must all be enemies to King and State That from the Church of England separate Must all the Meetings of the Innocent Be judg'd unlawful and to Prison sent 'T were better all such Edicts you made void And grant the Liberty they once enjoy'd Confirming that unto them by a Law Makes good the Royal Promise at Breda Tread all Monopolies into the Earth And make provision that no more get birth In this a Prince's danger chiefly lies That he is forc'd to see with others eyes From hence our Troubles rose in Forty one When that Domestick War at first begun Relieve th' Oppressed set all Prisoners free Who for their Consciences in durance be Poor Debtors who have not wherewith to pay Break off their Shackles let them go their way And let suborned Witnesses appear No more against the Innocent to swear Let no more Juries that are byassed Selected be to do what they are bid Who to fulfill mens Lusts and Cruelty Regard not though the Innocent do dye Why should our just Laws as a Cobweb be To catch small flies and let the great go free This â—urns true judgment into wormwood gall Doth for the Vengeance of th' Avenger call Then ease those Burdens under which we groan Give Liberty its Resurrection Let painful Husbandry the Child of Peace Be now encouraged since Warrs do cease Let not the poor enslaved Plow-man crave Redress from you and yet no
Vox Lacrimae Anglorum OR The True English mens COMPLAINTS To their Representatives in PARLIAMENT Humbly tendred to their serious Consideration at their next sitting February the 6th 1667-68 By reason of the Multitude of Oppressions they make the oppressed to cry They cry out by reason of the Arm of the Mighty Job 35. 9. And in every Province whithersoever the Kings Commandment and his Decree came there was great Mourning and Fasting and Weeping and Wayling Esth 4. 3. Printed in the Year 1668. To the Parliament THese Lines had kiss'd your Hands October last But were suspended till the time was past Because we hop'd you were about to do That which this just Complaint incites you to It is our duty to put you in mind Of that great Work which yet doth lag behind Our Grief and Woes do force us loud to cry And call on you for speedy Remedy Which was the moving Cause of these our Tears That you may know our Sufferings and our Fears And Providence now having led the way To give it birth peruse it well we pray And do not take it for an old Wives story But know the Nations Griefs lie here before ye Though in short hints yet here as in a Map With ease you 'l see the cause of our Mishap There 's not a free-born English Protestant But sets both hand and heart to this Complaint Vox Lacrimae Anglorum REnowned Partiots open your Eyes And lend an ear to th' Justice of our cries As you are English men our blood and bones Know 't is your duty to regard our Groans On you next God our confidence relies You are the Bulwarks of our Liberties Within your Walls was voted-in our King For joy whereof our shouts made England sing And to make him a great and gloâ—ious Prince Both you and we have been at great expence Full Five and twenty hundred thousand pound By you enacted since hath been paid down Our Customs to a vast Revenew come Our Fishing-money no inferiour sum That old Ale-spoiling trade of the Excise Doth yearly to a mass of money rise Besides the Additional of Royal Aid And Chimney-money which is yearly paid Oft have our heads by Polls been sadly shorn With money from poor Servants Wages torn Our Dunkirk yeelded many a thousand pound T is easier far to sell than gain a Town With forc'd Benevolence and other things Enough t' enrich a dozen Danish Kings Million on million on the Nations back Yet we and all our Freedoms go to wrack We hop'd when first these heavy Taxes rose Some should be us'd to scare away our foes Or beat them till like Gibeonites they bring Their Grandees ready haltred to our King Or make them buckle and their points untruss As they did when the Motto God with Vs. But Oh! instead of this our cruel Fate Hath made us like a Widow desolate Our Houses sadly burnt about our ears Our Wives Children sensless made with fears Our Warlike Ships in which our safety lay Unto our daring foes are made a prey Our Forts and Castles which should guard our Land Just like old Nunneries and Abbies stand And long before our Inland-Towns demur'd That Sea and Land alike might be secur'd Our Magazines which did abound with store Like us sad English-men are very poor Our Trade is lost our Merchants are undone Yeomen and Farmers all to Ruine run Those that our fatal Battels fought neglected And swearing damme cowardly Rogues protected Our gallant Seamen once the world did dread For want of Pay are metamorphosed Whilst their sad Widows poor Orphans weep Whose dear Relations perisht in the deep And to augment and aggravate their grief At the Pay-office find but cold relief Many a month are forc'd to wait and stay To seek the price of blood dead Husbands pay The sober People who our Trade advanced Throughout our Nation quite discountenanced It grieves our hearts that we should live to see True Virtue pnnished and Vice go free Thousands there be that could not hurt a worm Imprisoned were ' cause they cannot conform Others exil'd and from Relations sent We know not why but being innocent Whilst Romes black Locusts menace us with storms Like Egypts Frogs about the Kingdom swarms Our penal Laws are never executed Against those Vermin which our Land polluted Only to blind and hoodwink us alas An Edict passes to prohibir Mass With such a latitude as most men say It 's like its Sire the Oath Et caetera But prais'd be God for Peace that 's very clear But on what terms th' Event will make appear We dread lest it should be more to our cost Than when Amboyna Spicery was lost They treat with Rod in hand our Buttocks bare Judge what the issues of such Treaties are Thus sick ye Worthies sick our Nation lies And none but God can cure her maladies Those that should chear her in your interval Like dull Quack-salvers make her spirits fail Turn she her wither'd face to whom she will All that she gets is but a purging Pill If any of her Children for her cry Her cruel Empricks use Phlebotomy That wholsom Physick which should cleanse her blood They do detain inflaming what is good This for a long time hath bad humours bred Which sends up filthy vapours to the head All wise men judge if these extreams endure 'T will period in a mad-brain'd Calenture Then O ye Worthies now for Heavens sake Some pitty on your gasping Country take Call to account those Leeches of the State Who from their trust deeply prevaricate Who have of English Coin exhausted more Than would ten Cuer-de-Lions home restore Who like perfideous and deceitful Elves Ruine the Nation to enrich themselves More ready were our Counsels to disclose Then to protect us from our Belgian foes The Fleet divided shews such treachery That Pagans Turks and Infidels decry The States Purse cannot but be indigent When so much money over-Sea is sent No wonder Dutchmen cry Thanks Clarendine We are so roundly paid with English Coin If Georges mouth be stopt think they that we Have all our eyes bor'd out and cannot see Our foes of Engiish Coin have greater store Since Wars began than ere they had before Quaint stratagem for Rulers busied be To tye a raw Hide to an Orange Tree With resolution ' cause he 's of that blood To lift his head above the Mogan hood Then both the Kiep-skins would be well bestow'd One honour'd here t'other as much abroad These and such Projects have procur'd a War Where mortals worry'd were like Dog and Bear Then Money works the wonder that is sure The price of Dunkirk here may much procure Dunkirk was sold but why we do not know Unless t' erect a new Seraglio Or be a Receptacle unto those Were once intended our invading foes Then let that treacherous Abject Lump of Pride With all his joynt-Confederates beside Be brought to Justice tryed by our Laws And so receive the merits of