Women who cast themselves into the fiery Pits where their dead Husbands are consumed of Vassals who stab themselves to follow their Prince into the next World of Otho's Praetorians of the Saguntines burning in their Cities Flames What can be so honourable as to dye for or with our Country or Faith our Religion or Honesty to dye with that which gave us Life and Liberty and Sense of these Litsters Hog-herds vow to burn Norwich unless this Knight will come out to them which he does well mounted and forsakes his Horse to please them They seem to honour him highly and offer him a fair Canton of the new Common-wealth if he will command their Forces The faithful Cavalier abhorred the proposition and could not dissemble his Dislike He tells them he will not to his eternal dishonour renounce his Soveraign whom all good Men obeyed to engage with the veryest perfidious Traitors living in their Villanies He attempts to horse himself again but fails it was Treason to speak against the Government The Commons grow furious they cry out Treason against Treason and Rebellion Thousands of Hands are lifted up against him as if they all moved by the same Nerves and Sinews they hew him down but he crushes some of them with his Ruin whosoever stood within his Reach lost either Head Legs or Arms he kills twelve of them at length a Villain of his own beats out his Brains Then do the Infernal Curs rush in with full Mouths and mangles him to bits who says Walsingham would have driven a Thousand of them before him had he had fair Play This amazes the rest of the Gentry they strive for Vassalage with the same Emulation others do for Liberty they observe Litster they receive his Commands upon their Knees who in all things imitates the State and Pomp of Kings Sir Stephen of Hales a Knight of Honour carves before him and tasts his Meats and Drinks the rest of the miserable Courtiers are imployed in their several Offices But when the Fame of the Kings good Fortune began to go strong and of his Preparations to assert his Right and Authority Litster sends on Embassy from North-Walsham the Throne of his Tyranny to London the Lord Morley and Sir Iohn Brews with three of the confiding Commons to obtain Charters of Manumission and Pardon with great Summs of Mony squeezed out of the Citizens of Norwich under Pretence of preserving the City from Slaughter Fire and Spoil or as others raised by an ordinary Tribute to Litster Which Monyes were sent for Presents to the King to win him to grant them Charters more ample and beneficial than had been given to any others These Messengers are met at Ichlingham near New-Market by Henry le Spencer Lord Bishop of Norwich of a noble Family stout and well-armed He had been at his Mannor of Burleigh near Okeham and there heard of the Tumults in Norfolk and was now hasting thither to see how things were carryed with eight Lances only in his Company and a few Archers He charged the Lord Morley and Sir Iohn upon their Allegiance to tell him whether any of the Commons the Kings Traitors were with them They look upon the Bishop as a young rash Man and the Awe of their Masters was so prevalent he could hardly wrest the Secret from them After many Words they discover it and the Bishop causes the Heads of the Clowns to be struck off and fixed on a publick place at New-Market Then taking with him that Lord and Knight he posts for North-walsham The Gentry hearing of the Bishops Arrival in his Coat of Male with his Helmet upon his Head his Sword by his side and his Lance upon his Thigh croud in to him the Bishop quickly found himself in a Gallant Equipage and as quickly reaches North-walsham the sink of the Rebellion Litster was intrenched he had fortified his Ditch with Pales Stakes and Doors and shut himself in behind with his Carts and Carriages The Heroick Bishop like another Maccabeus charges bravely through the Ditch into the midst of the Rebels when all the Barons of England hid themselves so suddenly that the Archers could not let an Arrow fly at him and came to handy Blows As the French Historian de Serres observes in Affairs of the World oftentimes he that is most strong carrys it a good Fortune and a good Mind seldom go together Otho tells his Souldiers often times where the Causes of things are good yet if Judgment be wanting I may put in where the Counsels are unsound the Agents faithless where Money Arms and Men are wanting the Issue must be pernicious The Goods and Honours of this World which follow the Triumphers Chariots are common to the good and bad Grace Charity and Love are the Marks of a pious Man not Success to brag of which becomes rather a Spartacus or Mahomet who carry Faith and Law upon the Swords point than a Christian The God of the Christians is not the God of Robbery and Blood But things here fell out as could be wished the Innocency of the side prevailed and the righteous weak side overcame the strong unjust Litster touched with the Conscience of his Mischiefs struggles to the utmost to avert his Danger at length gives Ground and attempts to shift for himself by leaping over his Carriages in the Rere The Bishop pressed forward so fiercely that this Course proved in vain most of the unhappy Clowns are laid along upon the place Litster and the Captains of the Conspiracy are taken and condemned to be drawn hanged and beheaded which was done Others of the chief Conspirators dispersed over the Country are searched out and executed The Monk here tells us It was apparent by the Works of these Demoniacks by their Fruits that they had conspired he speaks of the whole not only the Destruction of the Church and Monarchy but of the Christian Faith too School-Masters were sworn by them never to teach Grammar more and whosoever was taken with an Inkhorn about him never saved his Head Our Monk attributes these Calamities to the remisness of the Bishops to the Conceits and Fangles of Presbyter Wycliff which if they be truly registred by the Monks his mortal Enemies were pestilential and damnable Indeed Presbyter Wycliff was then living but is not named in these Commotions as one busie in them by the Monk though busie he might be we shall find Sir Iohn Old-Castle Lord Cobham and others of Wycliffs Disciples Rebels and Traitors too too busie in Henry the Fifths Beginning Baal and Straw and Wraw were Priests of the Idol and his Lieutenants and might serve the turn to imbroil without fetching more Aid in He attributes too these Mischiefs to the licentious Invectives of the Clowns against their Lords generally to the Sins of the Nation inclusively taking in the Orders of Mendicants or Begging Fryers like factious Lecturers wâ—… had nothing of their own and were obliged 〈◊〉 flatter the People and make themselves
of fashion and I am afraid I shall be laughed at if I speak any thing in defence of the King yet thanks be to God there 's no great need on 't His Majesty's Vertues are his strongest Guard A King like a Porcupine is a living Quiver of Darts every Beam of Majesty is a Fulmen Terebrans to his Blaspheming Enemies My Fellow-traveller stept aside a little to give his Brain a Stool and now is return'd into the Road His Lordship he says multiplies and is fruitful in Absurdities 'T is true by an equivocal Generation for so he begat your Pamphlet meeting with the putrid Matter of your Invention as the Sun produceth Insect Animals The Absurdity is he hath no Notion of Subverting the Law Treasonable but by Force and here we must score up the second Quibble for then he says This Argument will never subvert the Law as having no Force Truly I am of a mind that if my Antagonist were both to Dispute and Answer himself he would have the best on 't and that 's the Course he takes here He frames an Argument where none is intended His Lordship says he knows no other nay and there is no other but he doth notinfer the latter from the former therefore there is no other because he knows no other so that this is a Brat of your own Brain not drawn from his Lordship's Ignorance as your scandalous Quill foam'd at the mouth but from your own Impudence and if it halt as you say it confesses its Father it halts before a Creeple You do well therefore to let Nature work to help your lame Dog over a Stile to cast it as you conceive in a right Frame There is no way of Subverting the Law but what I know but I know no way of Subverting the Law but by forcé You would be loath a man should say this is no Syllogism and yet 't is true There 's no Figure will give it a Tenement to hide its head in I could give you a Remove now and set you upright but I had rather you should take it asunder and my Lord and you part Stakes part Propositions he the Major you the Minor because in the first you say there is so much Knowledge in the latter so much Ignorance You see you are in a Bog but I will throw my Cloak about you and dance you out for lo a most Eloquent Si quis in quest of the Author of our Tenent Who says this Is it some ancient Iudge No I thank you as the Case goes Or is it one that looks more into the Court than the Inns of Court I perceive I must count Quibbles as they do Fish thou art three there he bounceth out with his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Young Gentleman knows not the Law I do not wonder you writ it in other Characters for 't is a most acute Apothegm though I say it that should not say it and such on one as may well beseem the Rump-end of Licosthenes at the next Impression But he makes a Transition from Common Law to Common Reason and he hopes to be scored up for that Quarter-Quibble but I cannot afford it If nothing but Force can subvert Law then Iudges when they pronounce false Iudgments stop lawful Defences let loose the Prerogative and all that Rout of Instances which he hath rallied up do not subvert the Law Well to do you a Courtesie they do not 'T is one thing to stop a Pipe to cut an Aqueduct and divert a Conveyance and another to spoil a Spring-head The Law in this Case suffers a Deliquium but she is not dead The Subversion of Laws is Root and Branch A Castle may be dismantled made unserviceable and yet 't is not said then to be quite overthrown When you usurp'd the Chair of Logick and made a false Syllogism were the Laws of Logick then subverted No but transgress'd so that if our Author suffer by Injustice as I hope you are more Historian than Prophet he will not involve the Laws in his Ruin Your Apostrophe to Tressilian is a true Apostrophe for 't is from the Cause for will ye introduce a Parity in Offences too Scan the Cases and you shall find them diverse But give me leave by the way to admire your Phrase of the Iron Laws 'T is a good Argument to me that there is no Alchymy otherwise the Corruption of so many Judges by this time had turn'd them into Gold But my Lord must dispute again Do you carry the Knapsack of his Arguments My Lord hath a fine time on 't that you should feed him thus with a Spoon 'T is thus The Earl of Strafford ' s Practices have been as high as any The Practices of Tressilian have been as high as High Treason I wonder where you got all this Logick at Furnival's Inn But I know the Reason of it because Plutarch attributes Logick to a Fox and King Iames maintains Discourse in a Hound that 's it which puts you upon Syllogisms You would be loath to come short of any of your Fellows For the words of the Major which are only my Lord's and which indeed I had as lieve he should justifie as I you must know they are a Comparison Now Comparisons are betwixt things of the same kind As high as any that is in the rank of Misdemeanours The Painter when his Picture would not sell for a God made a special Devil of it and so he vented it Though my Lord cannot yield that the Earl of Strafford's Practices should be sublimated into Treason yet place them in the front of any lower Offences and it seems he will pass it This Similitude of mine doth not run of all four no more must you think of that As high as any But to make few words suppose I should grant you your Conclusion that the Earl of Strafford's Practices were as high as Treason yet if they be not specified by Statute for Treason my Lord doth justly abstain his hand from his Dispatch You ask how these words should sound in the Mouth of a Judge Truly I have not the measure of your Ears they are of too large a size for me I being a Judge hold your Guilt to be as high as Treason yet having no Law to give me Commission I 'll have no hand in your Sentence so that supposing all Cases to be like this I grant you the Assizes would be in vain the Judges Circuit would be like the wheeling of a Mill move continually but never nearer their Journey 's end but when the Law hath provided sufficiently unless in a Case as this extraordinary the Vanity and Mockery which you speak of recoils upon him that first discharged them For your last where you would have Sir Henry Vane's Oath to be prefer'd before my Lords Suspicion I would willingly answer as he did with Meditation at the first time nothing as much at the second and at the third Vouz avez Sir Henry Vane You say his
heavy as very Asses as himself He is said to be a crafty Fellow and of an Excellent Wit but wanting Grace yet crafty enough he was not for the great and dangerous Enterprize A Marius however Impious for such he must be pace pessimus fitter to remove things to overturn overturns than for Peace but as Plutarch of him subtil faithless one who could over do all Men in Dissembling in Hypocrisie practised in all the Arts of Lying and some of these good Sleights Tyler wanted not one who had Sense and Iudgment to carry things on as well as desperate Confidence to undertake had become this part incomparably had gone through with it how easily under such a Captain if we look upon the Weakness of the Opposition and the Villainous Baseness of the Gentry had the Frame of the ancient Building been rased the Model must have held Richard whose Endeavours of Defence or Loyalty alone should have been killing had not fallen by the Sword of Lancaster he had found his Grave on Tower-hill or Smithfield where the faithful Lieges of his Crown were torn in peices by these Cannibals The Reverence due to the Anointed Heads of Kings began to fall away and Naked Majesty could not guard where Innocency could not But Tyler blinded by his own fatal Pride throws himself foolishly upon the Kings Sword and by his over-much Hast preserves him whom he had vowed to destroy The Heathens make it a Mark of the Divinity of their Gods that they bestowed Benefits upon Mortal Men and took nothing from them The Clowns of the Idol upon this Rule were not very Heavenly they were the meek Ones of those times the only Inheritors of Right the Kingdom was made a Prey by them it was cantoned out to erect new Principalities for the Mock-Kings of the Commons so their Chiefs or Captains would be called Here though the Title of Rebellion spoke fair was shewn somewhat of Ambition and no little of unjust private Interest no little of Self-seeking which the Good of the People in Pretence only was to give Way to and no Wonder for the good of the People properly was meerly to be intended of themselves and no where but amongst those was the Commonwealth Had these Thistles these Brambles flourished the whole Wood of Noble Trees had perished If the violent casting other Men out of their Possessions firing their Houses cutting off their Heads violating of all Rights be thought Gods Blessing any Evidence of his owning the Cause these Thieves and Murderers were well blessed and sufficiently owned Such was then the Face of things Estates were dangerous Every rich Man was an Enemy Mens Lives were taken away without either Offence or Tryal their Reign was but a Continuation of horrible Injuries the Laws were not only silent but dead The Idol's Fury was a Law and Faith and Loyalty and Obedience to Lawful Power were damnable Servants had the Rule over Princes England was near a Slavery the most unworthy of free and ingenious Spirits of any What I relate here to speak something of the Story I collect out of Sir John Froissart a French-Man living in the Times of King EDWARD the Third and his Grandchild King RICHARD who had seen England in both the Reigns was known and esteemed in the Court and came last over after these Tumults were appeased And out of Thomas of Walsingham a Monk of St. Albans in Henry the Sixth's Days who says Bale in his Centuries of him writes many the most choice Passages of Affairs and Actions such as no other hath met with In the Main and to the Substance of things I have made no Additions no Alterations I have faithfully followed my Authors who are not so historically exact as I could wish nor could I much better what did not please me in their Order No Man says Walsingham can recite fully the Mischeifs Murders Sacriledge and Cruelty of these Actors he excuses his digesting them upon the Confusion of the combustious Flaming in such Variety of Places and in the same time Tyler Litstar and those of Hartfordshire take up most part of the Discourse Westbrome is brought in by the Halves the lesser Snakes are only named in the Chronicle what had been more had not been to any purpose Those were but Types of Tyler the Idol and acted nothing but according to the Original according to his great Example they were Wolves alike and he that reads one knows all Thomas of Becket Simon of Montfort the English Cataline Thomas of Lancaster Rebels and Traitors of the former years are canonized by the Monks generally the Enemies of their Kings Miracles make their Tâ—…mbs Illustrious and their Memories Sacred The Idol and his Incendiaries are abhorred every where every History detests them while Faith Civility Honesty and Piety shall be left in the World the Enemies of all these must neither be beloved nor pittied THE Rustick Rampant OR RURAL ANARCHY THe Reign of King Richard the Second was but a Throw of State for so many Years a Feaver to whose Distempers all pieces of the home Dominions contributed by Fits the forraign part only continuing faithful In the fourth Year of his Reign and Fifteenth of his Age the Dregs and Off-scum of the Commons unite into Bodies in several parts of the Kingdom and form a Rebellion called the Rebellion of the Clowns which lead the rest and shewed the Way of Disobedience first Of which may truly be said though amongst other Causes we may attribute it to the Indisposition and Unseasonableness of the Age that the Fruits of it did not take it was strongly begun and had not Providence held back the Hand the Blow had fallen the Government had broke into Shivers then The young King at this time had few besides Thomas of Woodstock his Uncle Earl of Buckingham and after Duke of Glocester but the Servants of his House in Ordinary about him the Lord Edmund of Langley Earl of Cambridge after Duke of York with the Lords Beauchamp Botereaux Sir Matthew Gourney with others of the Nobility and Gentry had set sail for Portugal the Duke Iohn of Lancaster another of his Uncles was in Scotland treating a Peace when this Commotion brake out Though no Cause can be given for Seditions those who design publick Troubles can never want Pretences Polidore as much out in this Story as any gives this Reason for this the Poll-mony says he imposed by Parliament a Groat Sterling upon every Head was intolerable It was justly imposed and so by some to whom Law and Custom of England were intolerable not to be endured but we shall find in the Tyranny breaking in not only fifth and twentieth Parts and Loans forced out of Fear of Plunder and Death but Subsidies in Troop and Regiments by Fifties more than Sequestrations and Compositions not under Foot low Sales for what had these Rascals to give but down-right Robbery and Violent Usurpations of Estates Thus would Polidore have it in Defence
a Day Tyler who had insinuated himself into the good Grace of these Churls by appearing the most stirring and active of the Kennel who began and ruled the Cry and was by I know not what Ceremony perhaps like that Irish Election by casting an old Shoe over his Head declared Prince of the Rabble leads them to Rochester which will not come behind Canterbury in Kindness The People of the Town says the Knight were of the same Sect it seems the Castle once one of the strongest in the Kingdom was now neither fortified nor manned the Governour Sir Iohn Moton yields himself into their Hands he was one of the Kings Family of his Houshold and must be thought awed as he was into the Engagement Here the Commons might be thought ashamed of their own Choice they offer Sir Iohn the General 's Staff which had he accepted he must have commanded according to the Motions of Lieutenant General Tylers Spirit and when this turn had been over at the least stamp of his Foot have vanished sneaked off the Stage They tell him Sir Iohn you must be our Captain and which shews the Power of his Commission you shall do what we will have you The Knight likes not their Company he trys his best Wit and Language to be rid of them but could not prevail They reply downright Sir Iohn if you will not doe what we will have you you must dye for it we will not be denyed but at your Peril Enough was said the Knight yields but his Charge of Captain General is forgotten we shall see hereafter what Use they make of him and in what manner he must be employed This Example is followed in the other Countrys The Gentry did not only lose their Estates and Honour but their Courage and Gallantry their Bloods were frozen Fear had stifled their Spirits The Clowns as the Knight had brought them into such Obeysance that they caused them to go with them whether they would or not they fawned on them humbled themselves to them like Dogs groveling at their Feet The Lord Molines Sir Stephen Hales Sir Thomas Guysighen this Sir Iohn Moton and others were Attendants and Vassals to the Idol Every Day new Heaps of Men flock to them like Catalines Troops all that were necessitous at Home Unthrifts broken Fellows such as for their Misdeeds feared the Justice of the Laws who resent the dangerous and distracted State of the Kingdom alike and will no doubt hammer out an Excellent Reformation they will mend their own Condition which will be enough we must expect no more and now the Confidence in their Strength made them bold enough to throw off their Mask of Hypocrisie they began to open the Inside They departed from Rochester says Froissart and passed the River he says the Thames at Kingstone and came to Brentford where I think he leads them out of their Way beating down before them and round about the Places and Houses of Advocates and Procurers and striking off the Heads of diverse Persons Walsingham tells us who those Advocates and Procurers were All Men says he were amused some looked for good from the new Masters others feared this Insurrection would prove the Destruction of the Realm The last were not deceived All the Lawyers of the Land so he goes on as well the Apprentices Counsellors as old Justices all the Jury-men of the Country this was Priest Baal's Charge they could gripe in their Clutches had their Heads chopped off It was a Maxim of the Cabal That there could be no Liberty while any of these Men were suffered to breath From little to great they fell upon things which they never thought of in their first Overflow which Guicciardine observes in civil Discords where the Rebellion is Fortunate and Mens Minds are puft up with Success to be Ordinary The Statue of Cumaean Apollo weeps for the Destruction of Cumae we shall here read of Men without Sense or Apprehensions both the Stories will seem as Incredible The stupid Nobility and Gentry sleep in their Houses till they are roused by these Blood-hounds that they might seem to deserve the Calamity tumbling upon their Heads They were becoming Tenants at Will in Villeinage to their Vassals under their Distress their Task and Taxes more by the sottish Baseness of themselves than any Vertue in these Rascals scorned and sleighted by every tatter'd Clunch Their Lands continually upon any Vote or Information to be sold or given away upon any Information of Loyalty or Faithfulness The ancient Vertues of the Gentleman not to be found in that Age and serving only for a Pretence to Ruin no one could form an Expectation of more than this to be the last Man born what was Polyphemus his Kindness to Ulysses to be devoured last all which they were contented to hazard and indure to preserve a Shred or jagg of an incertain ragged Estate for the Health or Mistresses Sake subject ever to the Violence of the same lawless spoiling Force which maimed and rent it before Next to return to this Riffraff their Cruelty reaches to Parchment Deeds Charters Rolls of Courts Evidences are cast by them into the Fire as if they meant to abolish all Remembrance of things this was to defeat their Lords in the Claims of any ancient Rights and to leave no Man more Title than themselves had to their Sword and Power The Kentish and Essexian Rout were joyned says the Monk but he tells us not where and approached near London at Black-heath they made an Halt where they were near 200000 strong Thither came two Knights sent by the King to them to inquire the Cause of the Commotion and why they had amassed such Swarms of the People They answer they met to conferr with the King concerning Business of Weight they tell the Messengers they ought to go back to the King and shew him that it behoves him to come to them they would acquaint him with their Desires we shall quickly discover why his Presence was required Upon Return of the Knights it was debated in Council by the Lords about the King whether he should go or no Some of the Table more willing to venture the King than themselves willing to throw him into the Gulph or perhaps not senting the Design of the Clowns perswade him to see them Your Majesty thus they must make a Tryal of these Men Necessity now must be looked on above Reason if any thing can give the Check to the Uproars it must be your Presence there can be no Safety but in this Venture it is now as dangerous to seem not to trust as to be deceived Fate is too much feared if it be imagined that this Tree of your Empire which has flourished so many Ages can fall in an Hour The Archbishop of Canterbury Simon Theobald of Sudbury Lord Chancellor of England the most Eloquent most wise and most pious Prelate of the Age Faithful to his Prince and therefore odious to
to fire unless Iohn Lakinhethe Guardian of the Temporalities of the Barony in the Vacancy then were delivered to them which the Towns-men mingled in the Throng put them upon The Guardian stood amidst the Crowd unknown This Man out of Piety to preserve the Monastery it was Piety then though it may be thought Impiety now discovers himself he tells them he is the Man they seek and asks what it is the Commons would have with him They call him Traitor it was Capital to be called so not to be so drag him to the Market-place and cut off his Head which is set upon the Pillory to keep Company with the Priors and Chief Justices Walter of Todington a Monk was sought for they wanted his Head but he hid himself and escaped Our Hacksters Errant of the Round Table Knights of Industry would be thought General Redeemers to take Care of all men in Distress for the Burgesses Sake they command the Monks threatning them and their Walls if they obey not to deliver up the Obligations of the Townsmen for their good Behaviour all the ancient Charters from the time of King Knute the Founder any way concerning the Liberties of the Town besides they must grant and confirm by Charter the Liberties of the Town which could not be done in the Vacancy for so it was Edmund of Brumfield Abbot in Name by Provision of the Pope was a Prisoner at Nottingham nor had any Election been since the Death of Abbot Iohn Brivole and therefore the Jewels of the House are pawned to the Townsmen as a Gage that Edmund of Brumfield whom they would suppose Abbot and whom they intended to set free should seal which Jewels were a Cross and Chalice of Gold with other things exceeding in value One thousand Pounds these were restored again in time of Peace but with much Unwillingness Upon the Bruit of the Idols Mishap and the Suppression of his Legions at London these Caterpillers dissolve of themselves Wraw the Priest Westbrome and the rest of the Capital Villains in the General Audit or Doomesday for these Hurliburlies shall be called to a Reckoning for their Outrages Cambridge suffered not a little in these Uproars the Towns-men with the Country Peasants about confederated together break up the Treasury of the University tear and burns its Charters they compel the Chancellor and Scholars under their common Seals to release to the Mayor and Townsmen all Rights and Liberties all Actions and to be bound in 3000l not to molest the Burgesses by Suits of Law concerning these things for the time to come The Mayor and Bayliffs were fetched up by Writ to the next Parliament where the Deeds were delivered up and cancelled the Liberties of the Town seized into the Kings Hand as forfeited new ones granted by him to the University all which they owe yet to the Piety of this King and his Parliament a Court which the Idol never names Had he set up one of his own begetting it must have had nothing else but the Name it would have been as destroying as the Field Norfolk the Mother of the Kets would not loyter this while nor sit lazily and sluggishly looking on Iohn Litster a Dyer of Norwich King of the Commons there infuses Zeal and Daring into his Country-men he had composed out of his own Empire and the Borders an Army of fifty thousand Men. This Upstart Kingling would not wholly move by Example he makes Presidents of his own and tramples not like a dull Beast the Road beaten by others He had heard what was done by the London Congregations he had a Stock of Traditions from the Elders there which he was able to improve and although I know not how he could exceed the Idol with his Council yet so the Monk exceed them he did he presumed greater things Tyler lost his Life before things were ripe was watched and undermined by the King and Nobility he could not spread his full Sails else for his Presumption he far out-goes Litster Litster the Norfolk Devil begins with Plunder and Rapine the only Way to flesh a young Rebellion The Malignants of the Kings Party the rich and peaceable go under that Notion are made a Prey no place was safe or priviledged Plots were laid to get the Lord William of Ufford Earl of Suffolk at his Mannor of Ufford near Debenham in Suffolk into the Company out of Policy that if the Cause succeeded not then the Rebels might cover themselves under the Shadow of that Peer The Earl warned of their Intention rises from Supper and disguised as a Groom of Sir Roger of Bois with a Portmantue behind him riding By-ways and about ever avoiding the Routs comes to St. Albanes and from thence to the King The Commons failing here possess themselves of the places and Houses of the Knights near and compell the Owners to swear what they list and for greater Wariness to ride the Country over with them which they durst not deny Among those enthralled by this Compulsion were the Lords Scales and Morley Sir Iohn Brews Sir Stephen of Hales and Sir Robert of Salle which last was no Gentleman born but as full of Honour and Loyalty as any Man Knighted by the Kings Grand-father for his Valour he was says Froissart one of the biggest Knights in England a Man not supple enough who could not bend before the new Lords he had not the Solidity of Judgment as some more subtle than honest call it to accomodate himself to the times Like Messala he would be of the justest side let the Fortune be what it would he would not forsake Justice under Colour of following Prudence he thought it not in vain to prop up the falling Government perhaps his Judgment may be blamed he stayed not for a sit time had he not failed here he had not fought against Heaven against Providence whose Councils and Decrees are hid from us are in the Clouds not to be pierced our Understanding is as weak as foolish as Providence is certain and wise Our Hopes and Fears deceive us alike we cannot resolve our selves upon any Assurance to forsake our Duty for the time to come Gods Designs are known only to himself it is Despair not Piety Despair too far from that to leave our Country in her dangerous Diseases in her publick Calamities the Insolency of injust Men is a Prodigy of their Ruin and the Incertainty of things Humane may teach us That those we esteem most established most assured are not seldom soonest overthrown Plato would not have them refer all things to Fate there is somewhat in our selves says he not a little in Fortune Ours are but Cockfights the least Remainder of Force and Life may strike a necking Blow and by an unlooked for Victory raise what is fallen if Death cannot be kept off if our Country cannot he saved by our Attempts there is a Comliness in dying handsomly nor can any Man be unhappy but he who out-lives it We have heard of
c. Because we are given to understand that divers of our Subjects who against our Peace c. have raised and in divers Conventicles and Assemblys c. Do affirm that they the said Assemblys and Levies have made and do make by Our Will and Authority c. We make known to all Men That such Levies Assemblys and Mischiefs from Our Will and Authority have not proceeded He adds They were begun and continued much to his Displeasure and Disgrace to the Prejudice of His Crown and Damage of the Realm Wherefore he injoyns and commands c. To take the best Care for the keeping of his Peace and opposing of all such Levies with a strong Hand Further he commands every Man to leave such Assemblys and return Home to his own House under Penalty of Forfeiture of Life and Member and all things forfeitable to the King c. These Clowns charge not the King to be transsported furiously and hostily to the Destruction of the whole People which can never happen where the King is in his Wits but what is fully as mad they will suppose him to arm against his own Life and Power against his own Peace and the Peace of all that love him This Proclamation put Life into the Royalists into all honest Hearts and dismays as much the Rebels yet after this the Essex Traitors gather again at Byllericay near Hatfield Peverel and send to the King now at Waltham to know whether he intends to make good his Grants of Liberties and require to be made equal with their Lords without being bound to any Suits of Court View of Frank-pledge only excepted twice the Year The King and his Council are startled at this Impudence The King answers the Agents That if he did not look upon them as Messengers he would hang them up Return says he to your Fellow Rebels and tell them Clowns they were and are and shall continue in their Bondage not as hitherto but far more basely trampled on While we live and rule this Kingdom by Gods Will we will imploy all our Means and Power to keep you under So that your Misery shall frighten all Villains hereafter And your Posterity shall curse your Memory At the Heels of the Messenger the King sends his Unkle Thomas of Woodstock Earl of Buckingham and Sir Thomas Piercy with a Body of Horse to quell them The Rebels were intrenched according to the manner of Liâ—…sters Camp in the midst of Woods ten Lances of the Avant Currors rout them the Lords when they were come up inclose the Woods round five hundred are killed eight hundred Horses for Carriage taken the broken Remainders of the Defeat escape to Colchester a Town ever honest and faithful to the Prince where the Loyal Townsmen would not be gotten to stir they sollicite the Townsmen says the Monk with much Intreaty great Threats and many Arguments neither Intreaties nor Threats nor Arguments would move them From thence they get to Sudbury making every where such Proclamations as of old they had used where the Lord Fitzwalter whose Seat was at Woodham-Walters in Essex and Sir Iohn Harlestone rush suddenly upon them kill and take them the King meaning to visit Essex in his own Person comes to Havering at the Boure a Mannor of his own Demain of the Sacred Patrimony and from thence to Chelmsford where he appoints Sir Robert Tresilian Chief Justice of his Bench of Pleas of the Crown to sit and inquire of the Malefactors and Troublers of the Country and to punish the Offendors according to the Customs of the Realm known and visible Five Hundred of these wretched Peasants who had no Mercy for others heretofore cast them selves down before the King bare-footed and with Heads uncovered implore his Pardon which he grants them on Condition they discover the great Conspirators the Captain Rogues The Jurors are charged by the chief Justices to carry themselves indifferently and justly in their Verdicts neither swayed by Love or Hatred to favour or prosecute any Man Many upon the Evidence given in and the finding of the Jury were condemned to be drawn and hanged nineteen of them were trussed upon one Gallows Heading had formerly been the Execution of others in Essex Kent and London because of the Numbers of the Guilty which was now thought a Death short of the Demerits of the most foul and heinous Offenders wherefore according to the Custom of the Realm it was decreed says the Monk that the Captains should be hanged The like was done in other Countrys by the Justices in Commission where the King was in Person Here the King with the Advice of his Council revokes his Letters Patents the Charters granted to the Clowns Although so he speaks we have in the late detestable Troubles c. manumised all the Commons our Liege Subjects of our Shires and them c. have freed from all Bondage and Service c. And also have pardoned the same our Liege Men and Subjects all Insurrections by riding going c. And also all manner of Treasons Felonies Trespasses and Extortions c. Notwithstanding for that the said Charters were without mature Deliberation and unduly procured c. To the prejudice of us and our Crown of the Prelates and great Men of our Realm as also to the disherison of Holy English Church and to the Hurt and Damage of the Common-wealth the said Letters we revoke make void and annul c. Yet our Intention is such Grace upon every of our said Subjects to confer though enormously their Allegiance they have forfeited c. As shall be useful to us and our Realm The Close commands to bring in to the King and his Council all Charters of Manumission and Pardon to be cancelled upon their Faith and Allegiance and under Forfeiture of all things forfeitable c. Witness our self at Chelmsford the 2. of July and 5th Year of our Reign False for the 4th In the Case of a Subject and no reason Kings shall be more bound every Act extorted by Violence and Awe upon the Agent is void In the Time of Edward the Third two Thieves which was the Case here force a Traveller to swear that he will at a day appointed bring them a thousand Pound and threaten to kill him if he refuse their Oath he swears and performs what he had sworn By Advice of all the Justices these two were indicted of Robbery and the Court maintains that the Party was not bound by this Oath Yet if this be denyed as unsafe Violence or Force which strikes a just Fear into any Man makes any Contract void say the Casuists Bishop Andrews that most learned Prelate answers to the pretended Resignation of King Iohn urged by Bellarmine that what this King did if any such Act was done was done by Force and out of Fear Widdrington the most Loyal of all Roman-Catholick Priests who writ much against the Gunpowder Jesuits in Defence of the Right of Kings
Cheeks I mine eyes Blasted Thence fear of vomiting made me retire Unto her Blewer Lips which when I tasted My Spirits were duller than Dun in the Mire But when her Breath took place Which went an Usher's pace And made way for her Face You may guess what I mean Never did c. Like Snakes engendring were platted her Tresses Or like to slimy streaks of roapy Ale Uglier than Envy wears when she confesses Her Head is periwig'd with Adder's Tail But as soon as she spake I heard a harsh Mandrake Laugh not at my Mistake Her Head is Epicene Never did c. Mystical Magick of Conjuring Wrinkles Feeling of Pulses the Palm'stry of Hags Scolding out Belches for Rhetorick Twinkles With three Teeth in her Head like to three Gags Rainbows about her eyes And her Nose Weather-wise From them the Almanack lies Prost Pond and Rivers clean Never did Incubus Touch such a filthy Sus As this foul Gypsie Quean How the Commencement grow's new T Is no Curranto-News I undertake New Teacher of the Town I mean not to make No New-England Voyage my Muse does intend No new Fleet no bald Fleet nor bonny Fleet send But if you 'l be pleas'd to hear out this Ditty I 'll tell you some News as True and as Witty And how the Commencement grows new See how the Simony-Doctors abound All crowding to throw away Forty pound They 'l now in their Wives Stammel-Petticoats vaper Without any need of an Argument-Draper Beholding to none he neither beseeches This Friend for Ven'son nor t'other for Speeches And so the Commencement grows new Every twice a day the Teaching Gaffer Brings up his Easter-book to chaffer Nay some take Degrees who never had Steeple Whose Means like Degrees come from Placers of people They come to the Fair and at the first pluck The Toll-man Bernaby strikes 'um good luck And so c. The Country Parsons they do not come up On Tuesday Night in their own Colledge to sup Their Bellies and Table-Books equally Sull The next Lecture-Dinner their Notes forth to pull How bravely the Marg'ret Professor Disputed The Homilies urg'd and the School men Confuted And so c. The Inceptor brings not his Father the Clown To look with his Mouth at his Grogoram Gown With like Admiration to eat Roasted Beef Which Invention pos'd his Beyond Trent-Belief Who should he but hear our Organs once sound â—…ould scarce keep his Hoof from Sellenger's Round And so c. The Gentleman comes not to shew us his Satin To look with some Judgment at him that speaks Latin To be angry with him that makes not his Cloaths To answer O Lord Sir and talk Play-book-oaths â—…nd at the next Bear-baiting full of his Sack To tell his Comrades our Discipline's slack And so c. We have no Prevaricator's Wit â—…y marry Sir when have you had any yet Besides no serious Oxford man comes To cry down the use of Jesting and Hums Our Ballad believe 't is no stranger than true Mum Salter is sober and Iack Martin too And so the Commencement grows new Square-cap COme hither Apollo's Bouncing Girl And in a whole Hipprocrene of Sherry Let 's drink a round till our Brains do whirl Tuning our Pipes to make our selves merry A Cambridge-Lass Venus-like born of the Froth Of an old half-fill'd Jug of Barly-Broth She she is my Mistress her Suitors are many But she 'll have a Square-Cap if e'er she have any And first for the Plush-sake the Monmouth-Caâ—… comes Shaking his Head like an empty Bottle With his new â—…angled Oath by Iupiter's Thumbs That to her Health he 'll begin a pottle He tells her that after the Death of her Grannum She shall have God knows what per Annum But still she replied Good Sir La-bee If ever I have a Man Square-Cap for me Then 〈◊〉 Leather-Cap strongly pleads And fain would derive his Pedigree of fashion The Antipodes wear their Shoes on their Heads And why may not we in their Imitation Oh! how the Foot-ball noddle would please If it were but well toss'd on Sir Thomas his Lees But still she replyed Good Sir La-bee If ever I have a Man Square-Cap for me Next comes the Puritan in a wrought-Cap With a long-wasted Conscience towards a Sister And making a Chappel of Ease of her Lap First he said Grace and then he kiss'd her Beloved quoth he thou art my Text Then falls he to Use and Application next But then she replied your Text Sir I 'll be For then I 'm sure you 'll ne'er handle me But see where Sattin-Cap scouts about And fain would this Wench in his Fellowship marry He told her how such a Man was not put out Because his Wedding he closely did carry He 'll purchase Induction by Simony And offers her Money her Incumbent to be But still she replied Good Sir La-bee If ever I have a Man Square-Cap for me The Lawyer 's a Sophister by his Round-Cap Nor in their Fallacies are they divided The one Milks the Pocket the other the Tap And yet this Wench he fain would have Brided Come leave these thred-bare Scholars quoth he And give me Livery and Seisin of thee But peace Iohn-a-Nokes and leave your Oration For I never will be your Impropriation I pray you therefore Good Sir La-bee For if ever I have a Man Square-Cap for me The Character of a Country-Committee-man with the Ear-mark of a Sequestrator A Committee man by his Name should be one that is possessed there is number enough in it to make an Epithet for Legion He is Persona in concreto to borrow the Solecism of a Modern Statesman You may translate it by the Red-Bull Phrase and speak as properly Enter seven Devils solus It is a well-truss'd Title that contains both the Number and the Beast for a Committee-man is a Noun of Multitude he must be spell'd with Figures like Antichrist wrapp'd in a Pair-Royal of Sixes Thus the Name is as monstrous as the Man a complex Notion of the same Lineage with Accumulative Treason For his Office it is the Heptarchy or England's Fritters it is the broken meat of a crumbling Prince only the Royalty is greater for it is here as in the Miracle of Loaves the Voyder exceeds the Bill of Fare The Pope and he rings the Changes here is the Plurality of Crowns to one Head joyn them together and there is a Harmony in Discord The Triple-headed Turn-key of Heaven with the Triple-headed Porter of Hell A Committee-man is the Reliques of Regal Government but like Holy Reliques he out-bulks the Substance whereof he is a Remnant There is a score of Kings in a Committee as in the Reliques of the Cross there is the number of Twenty This is the Gyant with the hundred hands that wields the Scepter the Tyrannical Bead-Roll by which the Kingdom prays backward and at every Curse drops a Committee-man Let Charles be wav'd whose condescending Clemency aggravates the Defection and make Nero the Question
of a well-gleb'd Vicarage Besides the Advantage of a Wit which would require another Wit to tell â—…ow great such a Divine Knowledge as might enable you to profane every Leaf of Holy Writ Unknown Sanctity and a Conscience so tender I dare not touch Pity it is such accomplish'd Gifts and prodigious Parts should be misemploy'd in Secular affairs Such an Holy Father might have begot as many Babes for the Mother-Church of Newâ—…ark as our Party of late hath done Garrisons and converted as many Souls as Chaucer's Friar with thâ—… Shoulder-bone of the lost Sheep But you say yoâ—… expected I thought you had had more than yoâ—… expected but however you expected Penitentiaâ—… Language and Humble Style the Groat I wiâ—… not meddle with 't is Holy Coyn an Addresâ—… full of Complaints Sir we like your selves caâ—… speak big of our Losses and yet with more Ingenuity confess them though I for modesty will noâ—… ask you who stole from you of late a Fort-town Or who run away with the King but of that For that precise Summ I see you are willing to quarrel at Preciseness it was to tell you Revenge would have transferr'd it upon your very How you quarrel at your good Had you mistaxen him for a Tax-gatherer and eased him of his Portage before he arriv'd at your Chappel of Ease I would not you should have abated him a fourth part for his Forwardness and put it upon the File of Contribution for his Majestie 's good Garrsson of Newark I should have liked the Security well and when your Works had fail'd to save you expected a return upon the Publick Faith the Meditation whereof putteth me upon this Advice Think not Prophaneness can compact with Mud to cast up a Trench of Security Attempt not though a Giant to reach at Stars to throw that Proverb at you Be wise on this side Heaven Mr. Cleveland's Answer SIR THE Philosopher that never laughed but once when he saw an Ass mumbling of Thistles would have broke his Spleen at this Rejoynder of yours for who would not take that to be an Emblem of this observing how gingerly and with what caution you nibble at my letter lest it should prick your Chops But something must needs be replied Repetitions are usual with the Saints at Grantham I look upon your Letter as a Spittle-Sermon Sallinger's Round the same again I perceive your Ambition how you would prove your self to be a clean Beast because you know how to chew the Cud for the first Sentence where you speak of troubled Spirits and Sacred Oracles you talk as if you were in Doll Commons Extasie Certainly your spirit is troubled else your Expression had not run so muddy for never was Oracle more ambiguous if possible to be reconciled to Sence The Wit which you say may be truss'd up in an Egg-shell I fear your Oval Crown hath scarce Capacity enough to contain You disclaim being a Coloss Content I have as diminitive thoughts of you as you please I take you for a Jack-a-Lent and my Pen shall make use of you accordingly three Throws for a penny But you cannot Cleave Land like Terrain findere What a chargeable Commodity is Wit at Grantham where the poor Writer plays the Pimp and jumbles two Language together in unlawful Sheets for the Production of a Quibble But I applaud your Cunning for the more unknown Tongue you jest in your Wit will be the better And why cannot you Cleave the Land Tread but hard and your cloven Foot will leave its Impression You talk of Cyclops and Juglers indeed hard words are the Jugler's Dialect But take heed the time may come when unless you can play Presto be gone your Run-away King may cause you Jugler-wise to disgorge your Fate and vomit a Rope instead of Inkle But to eccho your Comparison and to return you an Inventory of your good Parts Is it not pity that the pure Extract of sanctified Emmanuel parboil'd there in the Pipkin of Predestination and since well read in the Sick-man's Salve and the Crums of Comfort and liberally sed with all the Minced Meat in Divinity Is it not pity such a Goggle of the Eye such a melodious Twang of the Nose a pliable Mouth drawn awry as if it were â—…fying the Ear in private besides Cheverel-Lungs that will stretch as far as seventeenthly Is it not pity that these gallant Ingredients of Modern Devotion which might justly have qualified you for a Tub Lecturer and in time made your Diocess as large as that of Heidelberg that these ineffable Parts which pass all understanding should thus be sequestred from their Primitive Use and of a godly Lancepresado in the Church Militant be converted to a Brother of the Blade Such a walking Directory such a zealous Roger as this might have saved more Souls than Sampson slew and with the same Engine the Jaw-bone of an Ass. Your Pen is coy and you wave the Holy Ground and Holy Coyn with a squeamish Preterition I am glad to hear you acknowledge there is Holy ground for then I hope Hatcham Barn is not as good a Congregation as St. Paul's For the Holy Coyn you must pardon me if I suspect the Chastity of your Fingers I am sure those of your Party have been troubled with Felons witness the Church-Revenues and the several Sacrileges which cannot be par'd off with your Nails But there is another Reason why you abstain from the Idiom of the Saints You were in hopes to retrieve your Money and Verily Verily Ret never springs the Partridge You would have your Man taken for a Tax-gatherer Lord how the Clime alters the Man When he was with you he was one of the Scribes and Pharisees and here he must pass for a Publican and Sinner Sir We cast up no Trench of Security though we might have Dirt enough in your Language to do it and yet we hope to be saved by our Works for all the strength of your Faith whereby you hold your selves able to remove Mountains For your Advice not to throw Stars at your head I embrace it for what need 〈◊〉 so long as there is Goose-shot to be had for Moâ—…ey My Wit shall be on what side Heaven you please provided it ever be Antarctick to yours For the appellation of Giant I accept it only I am â—…orry I am not he with the hundred hands that I might so often subscribe my self SIR Your Servant I. C. An Answer to a Pamphlet written against the Lord Digby's Speech concerning the Death of the Earl of Strafford 'T IS the wittiest Punishment that the Poets fancied to be in Hell that one should continunually twist a Rope and an Ass stand by and bite it off I know not how this Noble Gentleman should ever deserve it but such is his Fate for while the Pamphleteer strives to tear his Speech to ravel this Twist of Eloquence and Judgement what doth he but make my Lord and himself the Moral of the Fable The first
those who conspired against his Majesty and Authority likes not the Advice the King ought not says he venture his Person among such hoseless Ribaulds but rather dispose things so as to curb their Insolence Sir says he Your Sacred Majesty in this Storm ought to shew how much of a King you can play what you will go for hereafter by your present Carriage you will either be feared for the Future or contemned if you seriously consider the Nature of these rough hewn Savages you will find the gentle Ways pernicious your Tameness will undoe you Mercy will ever be in your Power but it is not to be named without the Sword drawn God and your Right hath placed you in your Throne but your Courage and Resolution must keep you there your Indignation will be Iustice good Men will think it so and if they love you you have enough you cannot capitulate not treat with your Rebels without hazarding your Honour and perhaps your Royal Faith if you yield to the Force of one Sedition your whole Life and Reign will be nothing but a Continuation of Broils and Tumults if you assert your Soveraign Authority betimes not only these Doults these Sots but all Men else will reverence you Remember Sir God by whom Lawful Princes Reign whose Vicegerent you are would not forgive Rebellion in Angels you must not trust the Face Petitions delivered you upon Swords Points are fatal if you allow this Custom you are ruined as yet Sir you may be obeyed as much as you please Of this Opinion was Sir Robert Hales Lord Prior of Saint Iohn of Ierusalem newly Lord Treasurer of England a Magnanimous and stout Knight but not liked by the Commons When this Resolution was known to the Clowns they grow stark mad they bluster they swear to seek out the Kings Traitors for such they must now go for no Man was either good or honest but he who pleased them the Arch-bishop and Lord Prior and to chop off their Heads here they might be trusted they were likely to keep their Words Hereupon without more Consideration they advance towards London not forgetting to burn and raze the Lawyers and Courtiers Houses in the Way to the Kings Honour no doubt which they will be thought to arm for Sir Iohn Froissart and others report this part thus which probably might follow after this Refusal The Rebels say they sent their Knight so they called him yet was he the Kings Knight for Tyler came not up to Dubbing we find no Sir Iohn nor Sir Thomas of his making Sir Iohn Moton to the King who was then in the Tower with his Mother his half Brothers Thomas Holland Earl of Kent after Duke of Surrey and the Lord Holland the Earls of Salisbury Warwick and Oxford the Arch-bishop Lord Prior and others The Knight casts himself down at the Kings Feet beseeches him not to look upon him the worse as in this Quality and Imployment to consider he is forced to do what he does He goes on Sir the Commons of this Realm those few in Arms comparatively to the rest would be taken for the whole desire you by me to speak with them Your Person will be safe they repute you still their King this deserved Thanks but how long the Kindness will hold we shall soon find they profess that all they had done or would do was for your Honour For your Glory your Honour and Security are their great Care they will make you a Glorious King fearful to your Enemies and beloved of your Subjects they promise you a plentiful and unparalell'd Revenue They will maintain your Power and Authority in Relation to the Laws with your Royal Person according to the Duty of their Allegiance their Protestation their Vow their solemn League and Covenant without diminishing your just Power and Greatness and that they will all the Days of their Lives continue in this Covenant against all Opposition They assure you Sir That they intend faithfully the Good of your Majesty and of the Kingdom and that they will not be diverted from this end by any private or Self-respects whatsoever But the Kingdom has been a long time ill governed by your Uncles and the Clergy especially by the Arch-bishop of Canterbury of whom they would have an Account They have found out necessary Counsels for you they would warn you of many things which hitherto you have wanted good Advice in The Conclusion was sad on the Knights part His Children were Pledges for his Return and if he fail in that their Lives were to answer it Which moved with the King he allows the Excuse sends him back with this Answer that he will speak with the Commons the next Morning which it should seem the report of the Outrages done by the Clowns upon his Refusal and this Message made him consent to At the time appointed he takes his Barge and is rowed down to Redriffe the place nearest the Rebels Ten thousand of them descend from the Hill to see and treat with him with a Resolution to yield to nothing to overcome by the Treaty as they must have done had not the Kings Fear preserved him When the Barge drew nigh the new Council of State says our Knight howled and shouted as though all the Devils of Hell had been amongst them Sir Iohn Moton was brought toward the River guarded they being determined to have cut him in peices if the King had broke his Promise All the Desires of these good and faithful Counsellors contracted suddenly into a narrow Room they had now but one Demand The King asks them What is the matter which made them so earnestly sollicite his Presence They have no more to say but to intreat him to land which was to betray himself to them to give his Life and Soveraignty up to those fickle Beasts to be held of them during their good Pleasures which the Lords will not agree to The Earl of Salisbury of the ancient Nobility and Illustrious House of Montacute tells them their Equipage and Order were not comely and that the King ought not to adventure amongst their Troops They are now more unsatisfied and London how true soever to the Cause and faithless to the Prince shall feel the Effects of their Fury Southwark a friendly Borough is taken up for their first Quarters Here again they throw down the Malignants Houses and as a Grace of their Entrance break up the Kings Prisons and let out all those they find under Restraint in them not forgetting to ransack the Arch-bishops House at Lambeth and spoil all things there plucking down the Stews standing upon the Thames Bank and allowed in the former Ages It cannot be thought but that the Idol loved Adultery well enough but perhaps these publick Bawdy-houses were too unclean and might stink in his Nostrils we cannot find him any where quarrelling with the Bears those were no Malignants They knocked not long at the City-Gates which some say were never
Ends and Lives too they could not hope better things about the Charter which was no where extant but in the Noddles of these Cluster-fists But Day and Comfort broke out together upon them suddenly this Overflow of Pride and Arrogancy abated their Loftiness fell and their Bristles were somewhat laid very unpleasing Rumours concerning the Army were spread and the Death of the Idol Tyrant Wat of stinking Memory was certainly known and divulged and what was as stabbing that the Citizens of London grown wise and resolute either out of Loyalty or which is the rather to be supposed Experience of their new Master began now to own their Prince their natural Lord unanimously and to side with him against all Seditious Opposers of his Majesty and the just Rights and Liberties of his People which they saw like to perish together Farther a Knight of the Court seconds the Report and by Proclamation in the Kings Name now legal again commands this Herd to keep the Kings Peace under forfeiture of Life and Members from that Hour The King now grown a Protector again of his Subjects sends his Letters Protectory to the Abbot in these Words RIchard c. To all our Lieges and Commons of Hartford c. We pray charge command straightly as we may c. by the Faith and Liegances which to us ye owe that to our Beloved in God the Abbot of St. Albans nor to our House and Monastery of the said Place of our Patronage nor to none of the People Monks nor others nor to none of the Goods of the said Monastery c. Ye suffer to be done as much as in you lies any Grievance Dammage c. Given under our Great Seal at our City of London c. Though now these Carles were well cooled yet e'er the Zeal was quite slackened and the Clouds dispelled which hovered weakly and were likely to scatter with the next Breath of Wind they conclude to perfect their Building which to the great Nuisance of this Monastery they had raised Besides the Lieutenants or Major Generals of Tyler thought it a much unworthiness to droop too soon before those whom they had summoned in to piece up their deformed Insurrection with so much Bravery and Insolence They continue and pursue their Requests to the Abbot but with less Noise than formerly the Abbot was advised by Letters from Sir Hugh Segrave Lord Steward of the Houshold and Sir Thomas Percy created after Earl of Worcester to grant all things assuring him these Grants being thus forced from him would be void in Law and could not hurt his Monastery The Abbots Chamber the Chappel all Places are full of them they give Directions to the Abbot's Clerk for their Charter of Liberties which now they were contented to accept but will have a Bond of One thousand pounds Sterling for the delivering up the Charter unknown before the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin next if it can be found if not that the Abbot with his twelfth Hand an ancient Saxon manner of purging or clearing the Offender where the Offence was secret with twelve of his chief Monks should swear that he neither has nor detains any such Charter with his Knowledge The Abbot agrees he and the Covent Seal but oh the Miracle not to be believed nor understood without another upon our Faith and Understanding the seal in which the Glorious Protomartyr was figured three times together could not be pulled from the Wax no sleight no Strength could doe it to pass by the pious Frauds and Dreams of Monks From thence the Black-bands depart to the Market-place there at the Cross they publish their new Acquisitions the Charters of the King and Abbot with the Kings Protection of the Monastery which was but a Counterfeit of their Love On Munday and Tuesday following the Villains of the Patrimony of our Protomartyr as the others did in all places else imbroiled exact of the Abbot Deeds of Manumission and Liberty according to the Effect of the Royal Charter before which Charter the Abbot recites and confirms From Villains these now conceive themselves Gentlemen of Welsh Pedegree descended of Princes nay as our Monk noble beyond the Line and Race of Kings they are meer Free-holders hold only of God and the Son rather of the Sun and Club and will neither perform their Customs and Services nor pay Rent The common People who are neither swayed by Religion or Honesty stop and check themselves not that they were contented but because they could not nay they durst not go on to more The Plague of this Distemper was not only epidemical but kept its Days on the fatal Saturday fifty thousand Clowns out of Suffolk Essex Cambridgeshire the Isle of Ely places miserably harrassed according to the former Presidents were incorporated by the jugling Tricks of the Essexian Impostors sent out by the Fathers of Disobedience in the first Conception of the Ruffle to inveigle Proselites to the Holy League This was but an indigested Mass without Shape or Form Wraw not Straw as sometimes he is called aâ—…most lewd Presbyter as Walsingham or Priest who came from London the Day before with Orders from Tyler who according to his own Establishment had the executive Power was imployed into those parts to lick and fashion the Monster He with Robert Westbrome King of this Congregation lead the tatter'd Reformers from Mildenhall to St. Edmunds-bury where then stood a most Glorious Monastery and where their Fellow Scoundrels expected them Wraw finds these Choperloches good Disciples willing to learn and quick of Apprehension so capable they understood his least Signs The same Frenzies are again acted by other Lunaticks the Lawyers or Apprentices of the Law as the Monk and their Houses are the first Objects of their spight they do not only cut off them but fire their Nests Sir Iohn Cavendish Chief Justice of the Kings Bench who had been one of the most able Serjeants of this Kings Grand-fathers Reign and was made Chief Justice by him they intercept and behead Orpheus Tracie Nero the Roman Belgabred the Brittain excellent in the Sweetness of a Voice and Skill of Song with Iohn of Cambridge Prior of Saint Edmunds lose their Lives in the same manner as they unluckily fell into their Hands The Cause of the Priors Death is made this He was discreet and managed the Affairs of his Monastery faithfully and diligently he was taken near Mildenhall a Town then belonging to Saint Edmund of the Demain of the Abby the Vassals Hinds Villains and Bond-men of the House sentenced him murthered him by Vote His Body lay five Days Naked in the Field unburied In Saint Edmunds-bury these Cut-throats compass the Priors Head round as in a Procession after they carry it upon a Lance to the Pillory where that and the Chief Justices Head are advanced The next Work was the levelling a new House of the Priors After they enter the Monastery which they threaten