in respect of the rest of those who are at this time exasperated in relation to their Estates Credits and Consciences as they will pretend at least that the Publick charge which the present Government may be constrained yearly to continue will amount to more then that which would suffice to calm their spirits by a repair of their destructive damages And yet their suppression by violence may paradventure also be prolonged until some advantage be gotten by the changeableness of humane affairs to let their fury break forth in such a time as may destroy or endanger that peace which they desire to preserve For an Army is a security which hath in it neither certainty nor safety It being therefore this Remonstrants principle not only to seek the preservation of that visible Power whereto God subjects him out of prudence and moral gratitude because it protects him but even for conscience sake also though it should oppress him as the last did he thinks it his duty to give a Caveat whereby they whom it shall concern may take it into consideration whether both Parties which have opposed each other are not in some respect so equally guilty of the sins occasioning the Judgements under which they have lain together or by turns and whether it will not be their next and safest way to a general peace to divide the burthen which now lies destructively upon many to be born by the whole Nation and to make it as easie as Justice and Prudence will permit by an impartial respect to the interest of all Parties concerned To which end somewhat shall be proposed before the conclusion of this Remonstrance not Magisterially to be strictly so or so prosecuted but rather to be a hint of something to that purpose to be deliberately determined by wiser men It will be pertinent to common peace to take notice how many hundred thousands are at this time exasperated by being nigh totally destroy'd or much impoverished by the loss of their livelihoods liberties with little hope of remedy Some by imprisonment upon malicious suggestions only without any cause of offence given some by being deprived of their monies exacted lent or contributed upon the Publick Faith to that Power whereto they heretofore submitted conscientiously or by compulsion some by being ejected forcibly out of Lands Offices or other Estates by them Purchased and formerly belonging to the King Queen Prince Prelates and such as were then reputed Delinquents some by taking up on valuable considerations those Lands or Offices from the first or second Purchasers and Possessors in satisfaction or in relation to debts jointures childrens portions or other collateral Contracts Securities or Engagements and some by great summs expended in buildings or other improvements borrowed from many who are quite undone by their disability to repay it occasioning suits and quarrels no less destructive to them then to the original Purchasers and Lenders And not a few thousands are as much discontented upon other civil and conscientious accounts whom to provoke altogether may be of dangerous consequence though the Kings Indulgence hath much qualified and settled the minds and estates of some For little advantaged will they be by a pardon for life who needed it or for ought else criminal who are put into a worse condition by living then to be executed ten times by the hang-man The natural temper of this Nation is for these respects much to be regarded and they are accordingly to be dealt withall as it was prudently counselled by King Henry the fourth upon his death-bed to his Son whose words I will here insert as not impertinent I charge thee said he before God to minister the Law indifferently to all to ease the oppressed to beware of flatterers not to deferr Justice nor yet to be sparing of mercy punish the oppressors of thy people so shalt thou obtain favour of God and love and fear of thy Subjects who whilest they have wealth so long shalt thou have their obedience but made poor by oppressions will be ready to make Insurrections Rejoyce not so much in the glory of thy Crown as meditate on the burthenous care which accompanies it Mingle Love with Fear so thou as the heart shalt be defended in the midst of the body but know that neither the heart without the members nor King without the Subjects help is of any force Speed pag. 763. This Remonstrant conceives he might have procured many thousand hands subscribed to attest the reasonableness of this Caution and of what else is in this Remonstrance expressed or desired but he endeavoured it not because he thinks it will be needless to wise men who very well know that common cheat signifies little or nothing as hands are usually procured When Reason prevails not more then Voices there is small hope of Justice And as it was said to Dives They who will not believe Moses and the Prophets will not believe one sent from the dead So may this Remonstrant say They who will not be moved to do conscionable and righteous things for the sake of Justice and Mercy will little regard Remonstrances or Petitions subscribed with many thousand hands till they feel them about their ears or until the vengeance of GOD seizes on them as it lately did on those who neglected good Cautions until they had not power to put them in execution Misconster not this as a secret threat to any in Authority for it is humbly and soberly intended to be only a Memorandum useful at this time wherein all have not the patience of Saints who are grieved or oppressed That which hath been may be again hereafter and there be among those who are now depressed some of those Anointed-ones of the LORD whom he will not permit to be harmfully touched without Vengeance For he hath other Anointed-ones beside Kings whom he often reproves for their sakes and verily he will not forget the poor for ever though to humble them for their transgressions he hideth his face from them for a season at least his Everlasting Mercies he will not take from them God preserve us from seditious and mutinous repinings and give us all grace from the lowest to the highest joyntly and severally to endeavour that which prevents desperate Activities and take away every occasion of temptations thereunto For though meek and conscientious men will as they ought to do wait patiently upon GOD in all their sufferings yet meer natural men of which sort the greatest number of those many thousands consist who are made almost desperately careless of their lives will not easily conform to Evangelical principles as is before implyed but perhaps when their personal wants are aggravated with the importunings and upbraidings of Creditors the neglects of friends and the scorn of enemies the jears of neighbours and the cries of perishing wives and children it may so provoke them that in such extremities they will have as a little regard to Reason Religion and Civil duties as they had
Such also it was generally reputed and acknowledged by the Publick Ministers of all neighbouring Nations Kings Princes and Republicks wiser then whom it could not be expected that this Remonstrant or any of the said Purchasers and Lenders should have been Therefore if they were deceived the examples of such considerable persons and so much Reason deceived them that no man living can be certain wherein he is not deceived or that he may not be as much deceived now or hereafter as he and others were heretofore But without question the Powers in being whether by Gods Grace or permission all Power being given by him even that which Pontius Pilate had to crucifie his Son are to be the object of our obedience while they continue whatsoever they seem and no man can be justly blamed for submitting actively thereunto in meer civil things or with a passive obedience in matters relating to GOD and Conscience nor can this Principle be disadvantagious to the Power for the time being but will be a great strengthening and security thereunto if well understood Even as a man whether he were lawfully or unlawfully begotten is truly and essentially a man and so reputed as long as the Soul and Body continue together howsoever he shall be dismembred by others or by his own default So that Power and Parliament by which the said Securities and Sales were given and made were a valid Power and a true Parliament to all intents and purposes so long as they retained that which was essential to supream Powers and Parliaments how surreptiously soever that Power was acquired or whatsoever was but accidentally defective Or else perhaps the lawfulness of most Powers and Parliaments yea and of most humane Authorities and Constitutions would be otherwise found defective enough to be questioned and to have all their transactions rendred invalid And so likewise they may de facto how just soever they be de jure when a Power shall be permitted to raign which is strong enough to make WILL and PLEASURE the Supream Law For to speak truth in plain English which this Remonstrant heartily loves to do when just occasion is offered a prevailing Power in the hands of Tyrants howsoever acquired is while it hath being paramount to all Laws and rational Arguments and will be obeyed in every thing as it pleaseth right or wrong or else break or destroy all that opposeth it till GOD extraordinarily restrains it or breaks it into pieces Blessed be his name for it we are not yet subjected to such a Tyrannie as our sins have deserved but to a King from whom we have received an Earnest making us hopeful that Justice and Mercy will equally flow from the Throne either when he shall be fully and rightly informed of such particulars as are pertinent to his cognizance and care or when GOD's time is come And therefore this Remonstrant doth in order thereunto hereby signifie on behalf of himself and such other Purchasers and Lenders as aforesaid that when they engaged with and for the the said Parliament lent their moneys and purchased the forementioned estates they did it not upon any factious Principle nor meerly to get satisfaction for what they had disbursed or to have recompence for services formerly done but for supply also of Publick necessities and to dis-engage the said Parliament and Nation from those debts which were originally contracted for the service of the late King by which debts other engagements were in part at least occasioned and for discharge whereof that Parliament was impowered to continue undissolved till the said debts and engagements were paid and discharged And this Remonstrant then believed and still believes that the said Parliament was fully authorised both to raise money by what lawfull means they could to supply publick wants and to make such Sales and Securities as they proposed to repay and satisfie for what was lent bought or acted by their commands for the Publick honour or safety And he so believes because Parliaments were that Supream Council of the Kingdom to whose Orders Acts and Ordinances the people had ever heretofore been obedient without scruple or blame yea whereto no less obedience was required then to the Kings personal commands nay much more as it was then thought when Empson and Dudley two eminent persons and as this Remonstrant remembers of the Kings privy Council were condemned by Judgement in Parliament and executed for their officious obedience in executing the Kings illegal Commission under the great Seal of England which was more obliging then his personal mandates A Popular Supream Power whilest it is actually in being cannot be properly impeached of Treason nor any who acts by the commands or authority thereof Because it was then our duty to be obedient thereto And though a single person or few or many yea though Cities Counties Provinces and whole Armies may be Traytors it is not reasonably supposed the Representatives of whole Nations can so be and if possibly they might there is no competent Judge thereof but GOD himself who usually determineth such differences as he is LORD of Hosts by the sword as he did lately upon a joynt appeal and afterward by reversing again that Judgement for the sins of these Nations hath righteously executed his dooms on both parties for their mutual failings in their reciprocal Relations and which dooms were reciprocally inflicted on both the said parties for their treasons against his divine Majesty for their gross hypocrisies apostasies prophaneness unmercifulness and injustice in which many imitate each other to this day For even many of those actions which ought not to have been done lay obligations upon their actors and their successors when they are done Children should not be unlawfully begotten yet when mis-begotten the parents are obliged in all duties by them to be performed to their children The Israelites were not to have made a league with the Gibeonites but when it was made they were bound to observe it and for the breach thereof the whole Nation was punished many years after and seven of their Kings sons hanged also for that transgression Moreover it is further considerable that the Parliament which made the said Sales and granted the said Securities were both the Kings and Peoples Trustees summoned by the late Kings Writ to consult about the most weighty affairs of the Kingdom and delegated by a popular Election to dispose of the Peoples Interest as they should find cause for the Common good And thereupon this Remonstrant conceived he might reasonably have confided as much in that Parliament as in this now sitting and doth suppose that they who make question of the former may as rationally be doubtful both of this and of all future Parliaments especially if the successors of that Power and Parliament shall not or ought not in equity to confirm their Sales and Securities nor give recompence to those who are damnified out of the estates of those who trusted them with the Publick Faith whose estates as
will grudge him the liberty of inserting a leaf or two into that discourse which was for the relief of many together with himself composed solely at his cost and labour without the least contribution thereunto vouchsafed either by them or any other For he may say on his own behalf as Ulisses did when he pleaded for the armour of Achilles before the Grecians meaque haec facundia siqua est Quae nunc pro domino pro vobis saepe locuta est Invidia careat bona nec sua quisque recuset Do not envy my pen Which often for the weal of other men Hath been employed if that otherwhile I make use of it for mine own availe But the means hitherto provided for the relief of this Remonstrant and other Purchasers and Lenders doth not yet appear likely to have that gracious effect which was by them expected and intended by his Majesty Therefore he prayes it may not be offensively taken if he declares plainly what the effects thereof hitherto are and may probably be hereafter according to his understanding For his purpose being to express nothing but in order to the preservation of himself and others from destruction nor to be more bold in language then the heedlesness of this Generation shall constrain it cannot be justly conceived that he would wilfully insert any word or clause which might by giving just offence deprive him of that benefit which he desireth to attain unless it be thought his Oppressions have made him mad as many wiser men have been who suffered less and if so he is rather an Object of pitty then of displeasure He is thankful to his Majestie for not taking those advantages at large which were providentially put into his hands and gratefully acknowledgeth the Indulgence vouchsafed to Purchasers by his Commission for mediating on their behalf manifest his compassion to be more then their own Trustees have expressed especially his often hastening the Act of General pardon and desiring the Parliament to make the Plaister as large as the soares nevertheless the Instrument drawn up to those purposes seems not to have passed through their hands who are so sensible of his Peoples Grievances as he himself was nor is it possible that he can in so short a time have that full cognizance which he may have hereafter of the true state of those many differing Causes which are to come under consideration in relation to Purchasers and therefore the means by him intended may be so defective without his default that many will be more damnified then relieved thereby This is found and felt by experience already The work imposed is too heavy for so few work-men in regard the Commissioners are persons of honour who have other weighty affairs which will divert them and take up so much time that not a few being already quite ruined by delay many more will be destroyed before their Causes can be heard and determined Some of them have so little whereby to subsist that they cannot spare out of it so much as the charge of Solicitation will require And it is feared most of those who are yet able will be wheeled round in such perpetual motions as they were at Worcester and Drury-houses to their impoverishing also by the long contests which will arise from several interfering Securities Interests and Claims still multiplying debates and expences when so many thousands as are engaged by Original Purchases and Subcontracts shall from all parts betwixt Saint Michaels-mount and Barwick some of them two or three hundred miles from their habitations flock together with witnesses Counsel and Sollicitours to their great cost here and neglect of their businesses at home Such a multitude cannot but so obstruct each others proceedings that many who are best able to bear the burthen may be sore straitened and depressed by losses in one place and expences in another by seeing Officers and making Friends for that which will amount to little or nothing at the last For of much of those Lands which were Purchased as aforesaid the Prelates have not power to make Leases for longer term then during their own lives and there being no Rule setled by Parliament whereby final Agreements may be made in that and some other Cases without dispute the Purchasers will have as questionable Titles hereafter as they have now and be perhaps all dead or beggared before any satisfaction shall be enjoyed As for the Lands claimed by the Prelates there is little hope the late Purchasers will have any considerable redress in lieu of them if the said Prelates be permitted to proceed as they begin for except two or three of them only as this Remonstrant hath heard who perhaps desire the Episcopal Function should be reduced to the Pristine Constitution so ambitious are they of Preheminence and so greedily hunt after immoderate Riches in their old age that regarding neither the tears of the oppressed nor Orders of Parliament nor the Kings gracious condescentions published on the behalf of Purchasers they following the dictates of their own Avarice take up the whole Rents make forcible Entries grant Leases to them who will give most and Arbitrarily seize the estates of the Purchasers before the times limited are expired or the Kings Commissioners can have time to take their Causes into consideration and before many can have means to present them or be in a capacity to treat This Remonstrant in particular having now lost about eight years 300. l. per an. in a Purchase of their Lands who were hererofore called Delinquents which Lands cost him as good as almost twenty years Purchase in ready money Also 1681. l. 15. s. 8. d. charged by Ordinance upon the Excise in Course which with the Interest thereof hath been eighteen years almost unpaid And now he is in danger to lose totally between five and six hundred pounds per an. more in Prelates Lands in Possession and Reversion part whereof coming into possession the last year being unstockt and not demisable by reason the Title is disparaged hath cost him in Taxes with other duties and necessary disbursments therein dispended more then twice so much as he could raise out of them by occasion of the said Prelates forcible Intrusions The remainder of this Remonstrants stock and goods were by Attachments out of the said Prelates own Court without arrest or any cause formerly made known according to equity or the Common-Law of this Land illegally and some of them as he thinks feloniously taken in the night and carried away by the said Prelates Officers or Agents being strangers without any known lawful Officer And the said Remonstrant neither being at home nor having the liberty of his person or any other means left to defend himself against such outrages or to maintain his family but by charity is by this usage and that which hath been thereby occasioned deprived of as much of his estate as being sold to the value and proportionably distributed might have satisfied most of his personal
debts had it not been so torn from him by some unconscionable Creditors and the said Officers maliciously confederating together to the taking away at the third part of the value the remainder of his houshold-stuff wearing apparrel victuals and the beds whereon his wife children and servants lay as also the wood in his yard without any other Authority but Will and Pleasure for the use of the Prelates now Tenant who being reputed perhaps because a Papist a true Son of the Church is now seated upon that Farm which he hath forcibly seized some of his said Agents being so shameless as to make answer when the illegality of their proceedings was objected that this Remonstrant should not be left able to prosecute his remedy at Law or words to that effect which they have made good Insomuch that this Remonstrant is compelled in his old age to shut up himself in a lone room without a servant night and day both in sickness and health his wife necessitated above fifty miles distant to keep possession with her maide in a naked house standing far from neighbours and much farther from honest men and his children and servants being scattered to seek harbour and livelihood where they can get it This and much worse is the Remonstrants present outward condition by delay of the Relief hoped for and by his being thereby disabled to prosecute means of redressing his grievances any further In the like condition as he believeth many thousands are at this day among the said Purchasers Lenders and such as fall under them by the ruine of those who are impoverished by their wants For the hopes which they had eight or nine Moneths past of a timely settlement hath had so slow a progress that many who had fair expectations and best means to improve them begin to be afraid it may succeed at last as in an old Tale it is said befell to him who brought a large piece of cloth to his Taylor to make him such garments as it would extend unto who at first told him it would make a very good sute cloak and coat but after it had been in his custody awhile he said to his customer it would make but a sute and a cloak after that it would make but a cloak being kept a little longer he could make but a sute of it after a few dayes more but a short coat only and at last no more but a very fair Cloth-button And perhaps with such a Result some of the Purchasers may button up their baggs of Papers and Evidences if the King take not their Causes into his special Consideration and go home three times more damnified then by losing all at first without more cost and trouble For when they have summed up the money paid for their Purchases at first for passing their Conveyances and Concomitant charges Interest and Brockage for money borrowed expences in suites at Common Law and Chancery thereby occasioned as also in Contests many years before Committees and Commissioners for removing Obstructions and thereto added what it will cost now before there will be a final settlement it may possibly amount to so much that the recompence will be less worthy of thanks then a peremptory denyal would have been at the beginning as this Remonstrant hath found by experience who verily believeth that after his Demands and Receipts had been stated by the Committee of Accounts for the Kingdom examined again by the Committee of the Navy Re-examined by a select Committee of Parliament and upon that three-fold Examination had 3950. l. reported to be due unto him and payment then ordered if he had totally quitted the said debt and hoped no more for it he had been at least 5000. l. richer then he is at this day For if delayes occasioning expences with the loss of eighteen years time and the money mispent and so long forborn had been avoided and other wayes employed he might in that space have turned it to more considerable profit The Proverb saith He that gives quickly gives twice A benefit vouchsafed speedily and seasonably may be doubled yea tripled thereby as Opportunities may occur whereas by being long delayed Suites Forfeitures Interest or such like may so augment damages that twice so much afterward will not be so beneficial as a quarter thereof might have been at the first and to destroy men under a colour of doing Justice and shewing Mercy is like the Cats playing with the Mouse a making sport at other mens miseries and one of the greatest cruelties in the world In brief by what is afore-expressed this Remonstrant hath neither the liberty of his person to attend the Commissioners nor wherewith but by Charity to subsist much less to bear the charge of prosecution so long as his cause may possibly be undetermined yea it will be little better then putting him all that while upon the Rack yet peradventure be no more available at last then meat set before a dead man But all this Remonstrating is to little purpose except somewhat may be proposed out of which an Expedient shall be raised whereby the Publick-Faith may be redeemed and the Grants and Securities afore-mentioned be made good or else a satisfaction given in such manner that particular Animosities may be allayed without overburthening or enseebling the whole Body-Politick which this Remonstrant thinking possible will contribute his conceptions thereunto though perhaps he may have little or no thanks but a jear for his labour And though he be so broken in his estate and overcharged with musings in his mind that he can hardly compose himself for such a serious contrivement yet he may stammer out such notions that wiser men less disturbed may either make more practicall or at least thereby take hints to discover and prosecute a better Expedient of their own For the most prudent men sometimes oversee what a Fool takes notice of The only way to settle an universal Peace and Concord is to satisfie all Interests as much as may be especially in things necessary to a competent subsistence even to the answering of their expectations who are most carnal so far forth as they are just in regard they are likely to be most troublesom Venter non habet aures and there are now so many laying claim to that Interest as will make it dangerous to exasperate them all at once and will be injustice to leave any of them unsatisfied as touching reasonable demands They whose Grievances are most considerable are such as have Lent or Contributed upon the Publick-Faith Souldiers who adventured their lives in the service of the Parliament Purchasers of Lands or estates belonging to the King Queen Prince Prelates or those who heretofore adhered to the King against the Parliament and such as had either Grants of Estates or Parliamentary Securities for payment of debts declared to be due unto them It cannot be now expected that the Lands of the King Queen Prince or such as were heretofore reputed Delinquents should
mean while These particulars being omitted it will be as unconscionable a Proposition as it would be to Merchant-Adventurers who must ballance their losses at one time with what they gain at another to compell them to make sale of their Wares brought home at their last Voyage according to the Disbursments only at that Return without any respect had to what they lost formerly or may possibly lose hereafter Nay it is far more unconscionable in regard that whereas Merchants do usually gain sufficiently at one time or other to make them both savers and gainers toward the advance of their estates many of the said Purchasers and Lenders have been by casualities by having that which was due unto them detained many years and otherwise by gross injustice very great losers without their own default in every Purchase Loan and Contract made to and with them who were intrusted with Publick Concernments and exercised the Supream Power without contradiction and whereto being conscientiously obedient they ought in equity to have their obedience rewarded as it was said their Piety and Charity should be who administred to his necessities as a Disciple of Christs who came in the name of his Disciple though peradventure he was an Impostor And it is more then probable that many of the said Purchasers and Lenders if they have gotten ought or been savers by the said Parliaments Grants in one particular have lost more then the whole Interest and Principal of their Disbursments in the rest of their Contracts Expences and Debts pretended to have been secured unto them by the said Parliament as it hath happened unto this Remonstrant in his own particular His single request before-mentioned to his Fellow-Purchasers and Lenders shall be but this that they would be more just and respective unto him then some of them have been as he hears in their Censures passed upon this Remonstrance when it was perused in private For though it were voluntarily by him composed with as much regard unto their good as unto his own oppressive sufferings without putting them to any cost or pains though also none or few of them had more just cause to complain though he is more certain of the reality of his own oppressions then of all theirs and though the Common Grievances may thereby be more illustrated then by many of their sufferings They nevertheless not considering as usually they do in their own cases that Egomet mihi proximus do grudge this Remonstrant the mentioning his personal wrongs and as if they who suffered most had least right to complain misconster his insisting upon his own Oppressions as not comely in their judgement or else as likely to make his Arguments the less effectual on their behalf which want of Prudence Justice and Charity he cannot well approve of and therefore desires them to be more thankful to their friends lest they discourage every man from Apologizing for them when they cannot or dare not speak for themselves Though this Remonstrant intends well to all he hath no such ill meaning to himself as in the prosecution of the Common Interest sottishly to neglect his own well being when it is therewith involved He might have inserted much more in relation both to the Puhlick Interest and to his own but he confesseth he hath omitted in prudence not a few Arguments of more strength then any yet alleadged because he knows they may at this time be more mischievous to him then available to that Cause for which he pleadeth and that it would have been rather madness then discretion to produce them out of season That which he hath offered to consideration is expressed with a good Conscience toward GOD his Prince his Countrey and to each individual person therein and he desires no otherwise to prosper in this world then as he is an enemy to no mans person whatsoever his judgement be but only to his Errours and Vices and as he unfeignedly desires rather their conversion then their impoverishment shame and confusion He doth but hereby endeavour as he hath often done heretofore to discharge the Office of a Remembrancer to these Nations in barking like a true English Mastive when he thinks his Masters House or Flocks are endangered by Thieves or Wolves and therefore though his name be herein already Aenigmatically inscribed and was thought by him at first to have been a sufficient attestation hereof he doth now upon more deliberation openly subscribe what he hath Remonstrated with this name George Wither A BRIEF Advertisement Not unreasonably hazzarded THis Remonstrant being desirous that the Honour and well-being both of the King and People may be preserved by a timely supply of all their necessities and hearing since the conclusion of this Remonstrance that his Majestie hath present use of a very great summ of Money an Expedient came suddenly into thought whereby in his judgement he may not only be supplyed but thereby prevent also a great mischief which is already felt and whereof we shall every day grow more and more sensible by that diligence which is now practised to draw a considerable part of the Kingdoms Treasure into private hands For the Ecclesiasticks by being repossessed of about an hundred forty and two thousand pounds per annum as this Remonstraant is credibly informed by Impropriations now well near all out of Lease besides Parsonages and Vicaridges with other vast Revenues lately so much improved that their Annual worth is greatly enlarged have already raised so many hundred thousands of pounds by Fines and Rents that it hath exhausted the Treasure of this Kingdom out of the Peoples purses into their secret Hoords even so much that there is not sufficient for men to follow their Trades and Callings pay Taxes and sustain their Families without great penury And the said Ecclesiasticks as it is famed also are so suspitious of the Securities of these Times and perhaps justly so fearful lest the King and his Council or the King and the next Parliament may take their Uselesness Avarice and Ambition into such serious consideration that to provide for what may possibly succeed they will either hide their money in the earth where much of it may be quite lost or else keep it so close that little of it will be employed for Advance of Traffick Negotiations betwixt man and man Trade thereby obstructed much more then at present especially by that time they have fleeced every sheep within their Jurisdictions Therefore the King and his Council upon a view taken of what they have received may if they need it for Publick-uses get speedy supply of money as legally as they repossess those Lands by requiring a Benevolence from all the Prelates now enriched to excess meerly by the Kings Favour and who being for the most part old men with one foot and a half in the Grave and some of them childless shall not only have more left then is necessary yea much more though nothing be left them but their