University of Virginia Library

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To the right honorable the Earle of Clarendon Lord Chanceller of England.

Though, therfor, what I need will seem to be
Declard in vaine, to them who need not mee,
I now adventer to try what successe
God's Providence will give to this adresse,
And am resolved no eie henceforth shall veiwe
This Welcome-Home till it be seen of you,
In hopes 'twill in your sight find so much grace
That you unblamd, at least, will [let] it passe,
Though not approvd; for, if I may beleive
That character which common-fame doth give
Of you, and of that prudent moderation
Wherby you labour to reduce this nation
To better concord, and her wounds as well
Vpon the left side as the right to heale,

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(Which doubtles is the nearest way to bring
Content both to the People and the King),
I shall presume that both his interest
And theirs you essay to mannage for the best,
And persevere in acting to that End
Whereto God your advancement did intend,
Which being well performd, He that begun
Vpon the ruines of old Clarendon
To raise your house, will raise it more and higher
Than I dare say, or you ought to desire.

To add more will be needles; for the wise
Cann make good use of that which Fooles despise,
Or think impertinent. You have on high
A worke to do, and so, belowe, haue I.

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Wee are both servants to one God and King,
Although in offices much differing,
And, howsoeuer you shall entertaine
This my Adresse, it will not be in vaine,
For somwhat it hath hinted which doth need
Both your, and my, and evry reader's heed.
I may be someway fitt to be employd,
And by this Nation to be quite destroyd
Deserve not, though to God-ward much to blame.
But, whatsoere I seem, (my Lord), I am

A Postscript.

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VOX VULGI.

A Welcome home from the Counties, Citties and Burroughs to their Prevaricating Trustees, with a premised savinge of the honor of the every faithfull and discreet Member of Parliament.

Wee not a litle troubled are this day
To thinck what cause is given vs to say
What wee must speake, and how wee may divide
Them who have well deservd from those wee chide,
For they so intermixt among them are
Whose Reputations vnto vs are dear,

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That neither he who was to cleave in two
An apple on his childes head with his bow,
Nor he who shott the Centaure without harme
Vnto his wife when shee was in his arme,
Had much more cause than wee haue to beware
That not mislevelled our arrowes are.
But wee will runn the hazzard now begun,
For, them should none reprove who haue misdone,
The world would quite be ouerwhelmd with evill,
And all, at last, runn headlong to the Devill.

Are you so soon adjornd? and dare you come
To shewe your faces here againe, at home?
Hold vp your browes, wee pray, that wee may see
Whether with brasse or steel they hardned be:
So, 'tis enough: Good God! what impudence
In them appeareth! and how little sense
Seem these to haue of that disreputation
Which they haue brought upon this English nation
By turning of their glorie into shame,
And rendring those partakers of their blame
Whose rationall debates and sober voices
Were ouerwhelmed by their brutish noises,
And whom, wee hope, God will distinguish from
Those Brutes who, for the most parte, are become
Our Representatives in nothing more
Then in those sinns which wee are plauged for.

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And you, by some effects that wee haue seene,
Do rather seeme elected to haue bene
Our Hangmen, to haue had our clothes for Fees,
Then for our welfare to be made Trustees,
For since your meetinge, much a doe to saue vs
The King had by the pardon which he gaue vs,
And no provision by your means wee had
Whereby our Greevances abatement had (?)
Which disrespect did wee forbare to veiwe
Wee to our selves should be as false as you,
And thoughts from question should no more be fre
Ere long, then now our words and actions be.

Pray, what new title is conferd upon
Your Worships, for the service you have done?
The Blessed, or the Healing, Parliament
You never shall be calld by our consent;
Nor were those epithites upon the last
With our free vote or approbation plac't,
(Although they who ascribed what was thought
Then merited, performd but what they ought.)
Our wounds (if not inlarged) were left bleeding,
So that newe mischeefs evry day are breeding
Because they had not learnd to be so wise
To know that Mercy more then Sacrifize
Doth pacify the wrath of God and man,
And tenn times more then extream rigor can.
By worthy managing of that great blessing
Whereof wee had almost a full possessing,

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(Or li[ke]lyhoods of timely settling that
Which both our King and wee then aimed at),
Things might haue that effected long ere this
Which would haue much improvd our happines.
Whereas, whateuer wee shall now endeavor,
A setlement indangerd is for ever,
Or so to be obstructed by oure juggling
That, like beares in a nett, wee may ly struggling
Till we are breathless, or vntill those fewe
Who are yet sober grow as madd as you,
And make thenceforth both Parlaments and Kings
To be reputed despicable things.
For carnall polecies the work hath spoyld
And faire expedients offred are so foild
(As in all former ages and of late
They often were, when to a King or State
God tendred them), that what shall now be done
Our wills or witts dependeth not vpon
But only our fate [OMITTED]
Concuring with celestiall [OMITTED]

Wee never heard your judgments praised much
Or moderation; but that you are such
Quickwitted things we heare as haue not bene
In any British Parlaments yet seen;
For, wheras they consumd much time in stating
What was to them proposd and in debating,
You, at first hearing, could without dispute

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All arguments with noise alone confute,
And absolutly be resolued too
In hardest matters what yee list to do
In spight of reason, both to their vexation
And wonderment who to more moderation
Would faine haue you reducd; to scornfull jeering
You more inclined then to patient hearing;
Whereon, if that shall to the publike wrong
Which may expected be ere long, (sic)
They who unborne and unbegotten be
To blame you will haue no lesse cause then wee.
Your guiltines is great, and so is our
Who did such giddy Ratlebraines impowre,
Or could beleeue that men of sober wit
Might be elected in a druncken fit,
Or persons of debauched conuersation
Prove vsefull to the wellfare of the nation,
Or that they any way advance could bring
Vnto the reall honor of the King;
For few who know you not can well conceive
What men some of you were, much lesse beleive.
But peradventure this experiment
May henceforth make vs wary to prevent
Such oversights, or else make other some
To be more wise then wee in times to come.
And cheefly to that purpose this was writ
That [OMITTED] your Repentance to [OMITTED]
For wee a better principle embrace
Then to delight ourselues in your disgrace;

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And therefor, though your faults we shall not spare,
Wee of your names and persons will haue care,
So likewise would, had they [OMITTED]
Of your estates though you had [OMITTED] other.
Excuse vs though in termes we bitter bee,
For men more holy and more meek then wee
In such concernements as these are wherin
You haue of late prevaricaters bene,
When such like attributes haue bene their due
Did vilify as rightous men as you.

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But you had other ends; and, whilst wee live,
Forget wee cannot, though wee may forgive,
How willfully you prosecuted those
To whome your malice only made you Foes;
And how, as if yee thirsted after blood,
You sought, een in despight of men and God,
Of that Indulgence vs to have bereaven
Which gratiously the King had freely given,
Though not a few of you as guilty be
As any, and do need as much as wee
The selfsame pardon. Some of you perchance
Complide with others meerly for advance
In way of profit, or to please their wives
By gaining of some Court appellatives,
Which is a weaknes whereby wiser men
And good are byassd now and then,
That wee are plesed to connive in this
At you and them; For though you did amisse
It may illustrate so the constancy
And perseverance of [his] Maiestie
In his late Act of Grace, and so much tends
Vnto his honor, that it makes amends
For that wherein to vs you gave offence,
And wee'l ascribe it to God's Providence;
Who, if He should to you be so severe
As yee vnto your Benefactors were
(Or as you are to many a one of those
Whome (though your Friends) you still pursue as Foes)

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You would with shame descend into your graves
And your Posterity be voted Slaves.
For never would this Nation's wounds be closd
If what hath bene by some of you proposd
Had tooke effect; or were the King inclind
To no more Mercy then as yet wee find
In some of you, he might be healped on
To act what by a Tirant could be done.
So far forth as within your powr it lies,
You haue exposed all our Liberties
To such a hazzard that they may be lost
For euer, if not purchast with more cost
Than wee can bear: and you in vs thereby
Haue also raised such a Jealosie
Of Parlaments, that wee beginn to fear
They never will bee better then you are
Vntill that Kingdom commeth which will bring
All Nations in sub[j]ection to one King,
Or, all to make a passage therevnto,
God shall chuse one man out of evry two
Who into publike trust shall be elected.
For what can reasonably be expected
From Persons chosen as they lately were

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But an increase of all Prophanes here,
Corrupting Princes of the best condition,
Or setling of Iniustice, Superstition,
And Wickednes or Tiranny by Lawe?
That which should keep the worst of men in awe
Affrights the best. The brutish Lusts of men
Are more indulged and promoted then
The will of God; True conscientiousnes
Is either cried downe or favord lesse
Then grosse hypocrisy; those wisest are
Who take of good or ill lest heed or care,
Regarding nothing but to live at ease,
Or how their sensuality to please.
The greatest number negligent are growne
Both of the publike welfare and their owne,
Yea therto mischeevus, and had the Peers
As forward beene as many Commoners
In some particulers by them intended
Wee peradventer had bene lesse befreinded.

In these times truly sayd it cannot be
Of Parlaments, that God, the King, or Wee
Their Makers were: For those wee lately hadd
Haue, for the most parte, by themselves bene made,
Which being well considerd nothing more
Hath happned then wee might haue looked for.
To do the common work, few men will pay,
Intreat, make frends, go, run and ride, but they
Who, therein, seek themselues, and looke for fruite

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Either in profit or in vaine repute:
And such as these do in a commonweal
Make more wounds and deseases then they heal;
Which to prevent, the Romans, who foresaw
What mischeevs it begat, ordaind a lawe,
And to neglect it when they did begin
Corruption and all tiranny broke in.
As zealous wee acknowledge these to be
As Jehu when he cried out, Come and see.
In those Formalities they are devout
Which from the holy temple is (sic) shut out
Within the fore-court, upon them be
By whome [?] the holy Citty is trodd downe.
So far forth as the Cause of God, the King,
Or of the People, an advance may bring
Vnto their Vengance, or to their Ambition,
Their Wealth, or any sensuall fruition,
They will not in the least punctilio faile
To prosecute it with toungue, tooth and naile,
Or with those exprobations (?) which their hate
Can add, a shewe [of] guilt to aggravate
In those whome they disfavour; but no further,
Be their crimes treason, heresy, or murther,
Shall those crimes charged be then upon them
Though others they as justly might condemn.
Yea, (as if cheefely it were their designe
All bonds of concord, Civell and Devine,
To break in peeces) they haue tride this Nation
With almost evry kinde of Provocation,

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Which may occasion either an increase
Of Discord or infringment of their peace,
Charging the blame of what doth misbefall
On them whome they Phanaticks please to call;
Though if words, deeds, and clothes them shew vs may,
Phanaticks none so truly are as they.

Was this the kindnes which to vs you ment
When so profusely your estates you spent
In druncken Feasts and Banquetts, to besott
The Rable, who on Gaudes and Feathers dote,
That they in their distempratures might sell
Their, and our, auncient Birthrights for a meal
Or Dish of drinck? Did you consume your wealth
In Bribes for this? and quaff away your health
In Drinck oblations to the King, with shewes
Of Loyaltie, that you might him abuse
And ruine vs? Procurd you from your betters
For this end their commendatory letters
On your behalues? Did you for this pretend
The Peoples weal and slavishly descend
To fawne on vs, and to alure them to
A hope of what you never ment to do?
So seems it. But things past or out of date
Now to recall them back it is too late:
We therfor must pursue another course,
We then were very Fooles, and you were worse,
Which being knowne, we hope to be so wise

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That henceforth Flutter-mice and butterflies
Shall never more delude vs: for our sight
Beginns to clear, and finde a better light
Then was that Ignis ffatuus wherwith you
Befoold vs whilst wee did the same pursue.

For they and wee our Ends have driven on
So bedlam-like that wee haue pleased none
Or very fewe. Evn they that wisest are,
And active in the highst and safest sphear,
Are not secure from that which them disturbs
By countermotions in the lower Orbes.
All Parties are in some respects to blame,
And liable to such rebuke and shame
As might induce them to forgive each other
Before they are destroyed altogether.

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Dissatisfide men of all judgment are,
The Rich, the Pore, the Roundhead, Cavaleer,
And they who at the first did in their choice
Of such as these much glory and reioice.
Yea, Citty, Court, and Cuntry (if wee may
Give credit vnto what wee hear them say)
So doubtfull are to what their Actings tend
That they much wish their powre were at an end,
And that (if it were possible) our doome
Might from one heart and from one spirit come,
To setle Vnitie; For sure are wee
An Vniformity cann never be
Till all the men on earth are of one feature,
Of one Minde, of one Language and one Stature.

Tis high time to be sober men, and do
To others as wee would be done vnto;
For all affaires are strangely interrupted,
In manners men are more corrupted,
At variance things Divine and Civill be,
And none to reconcile them wee yet see;
Old Animosities are still fomented,
Oppressive Projects are afresh invented,
As if it were slipt wholly out of thought
What troubles to this Realm they lately brought.
Neglected Private wrongs and Suffrers are,
As if the Gen'rall Welfare no whit were
Concernd in Individualls, though that sinn
Made first those Breaches which at last let in
That Vengance which inevitable brings
Destruction both to Commonweales and Kings.

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New Greevances are evry day begun,
Oppressing those who were before vndone,
And sleights devised, as if for the nones
When they haue eat our flesh to pick our bones.
Yet numbred it will be among our Crimes
If wee deny that these are happy times.
The Fatt kine are devoured by the pore,
Who yet are still as leane as heretofore;
So that wee forced are to give Releefs
To Publike wants as if it were by breefs
Vouchsafd to beggers, and to raise supplies
Out of the Peoples sinns and penuries;
And many private Famelies, bereft
Of all their Livelyhoods, are wholly left
By Charity alone to be preserved,
Or els to begg, or steal, or to be starved.
Both Confiscations and the Warrs of late
Made not so many thousands desolate,
Breadles and harborles; nor were then more
Pore men quite ruinde, or Rich men made [pore]
(Nor half so many brought to great destresse)
As are at this time, calld a time of peace!
Yet wee still fayt, and brave it, sing and laugh,
And roare, and whore, and swear, and curse, and quaff,
As if in tryumph hither riding in
The Skarlet whore vpon the Beast had bene.
Those snuffs had not now flashed out so high,
Nor stunck so as they will do when they dy,

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Had all bene but as modest as some were
Who had the Title of a Cavaleer;
For not a few of them, though they and wee
Unhappily did lately disagree
By some misprisions, do themselves comply
In principles of faith and honesty,
Could their disturbers have been moderated,
And things proposed in modesty debated;
Whereas their Indiscretion whom wee blame
Hath unbound and brought all [things] out of frame,
That if God plese not to vouchsafe releef
These are but the beginnings of our greef:
For, doubtles, better fruites haue bene expected
Then His great mercy showne hath yet effected.
Wee know, [and] what wee know doth vs provoke
To speake so boldly that which wee haue spoke,
And wee appeal to God and these three nations
Whether or no these be false imputations,
Or whether iust exceptions may be took
To any line or word that wee haue spoke.

God blesse the King, and so anoint his eies
That he may see wherein his saftie lies,
Vouchsafe him such a circumcized eare
That he may Truths with approbation hear,
And him discerne who really intends
His weal, from those [who] seek but their owne ends,
Lest they so difficult his ways do make
That he cann neither forward go nor back,

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Or may be brought againe into a wood,
And rotten Oke, with tales of Robinhood.
Let Civill things with natures Lawes accord,
Church-Discipline be squard out by the Word.
Permit not any that (?) they step [OMITTED]
[OMITTED] in our consciences to faith [?] [OMITTED]
Move him to be more mercifull and iust
Then they haue bene in whome wee plac't our Trust.
His judgment at this present so improve,
That by our Failings an increase of Love
With honor he may gaine; In time prevent
The purposes of men malevolent,
And vnto evry faithfull one dispence
Justice and Mercy with Indifference.
And since God without bloodshed brought him in,
Let that which heretofore pourd forth hath bene
Suffice for what is past, and let no more
In time to come be shed vpon that score.
And whome he gives life let him so provide
That living [OMITTED] them to have died.
Thus doing shall his powre and life [OMITTED]
And turne our mourning to a cherfull (?) song.

By him this seems in parte to be begun,
And so far also to be caried on
As meanes hath bene afforded thervnto,
If wee well weigh the works he had to do,

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And for how many diffring maladies,
Dissenting persons, and Antipathies,
He must provide a cure. Let us therfor,
Vntill God him enables to do more,
Attend with patience, and not trouble him
In what is to be done; but give him time;
For, then, what wee expect he shall fullfill,
Or, if that he performe it not, God will.
Then, howsoere the waters ebb or flowe,
From whatsoever coasts the windes do blowe,
Though craggy rock and lofty hill do stand
And barr out (as they do) on either hand,
Though Armies follow us, and though befor
The Redd sea stop our passage at the shore,
If wee with faith and meeknes wait on God
No stormes, hills, armies, or a sea of blood,
Shall make his purposes without effect
Or hinder what wee iustly may expect;
Or when all other meanes are quite bereaven,
There will be still an open passe to heaven.

God is our present hope, and more in Him
We do confide then in the King or them
On whome wee haue confided heretofor;
Strengthen this Faith, Lord, and increase [it] more,
For therby wee are so well pacifyed
That vnto those whome wee began to chide
Wee shall be reconcild, if they can be
As willing to amend their faults as wee
To pardon them; For wee haue all offended,
And he thats best hath more to be amended

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Then to be proud of. The prime diffrence
Twixt men and Devills is true penitence,
(As to their criminall estate, for they
Cannot repent of evill, as we may;)
And adds more to the glory of a man
Than acting all the morall Virtues cann,
For those may counterfeited be; This never.
If therfor they will henceforth so endeavor
As they would be forgiven to forgive,
And (as God shall enable them) to strive
To do their duties and to lay aside
Their Vengance, Animosities and Pride,
That wee may be in hope they will abate
Their spleen to persons who are moderate,
And shall assist them with a prudent zeal
To propagate his and publike weal
Whome they pretend to serve (although so headdy
They are not, nor so spightfull nor so giddy),
Let them so qualified back returne
Vnto their Trust, at end of this Adjorne,
If them to re-employ the King shall please:
For though wee might finde fitter men then these
Whome wee reprove, there sit among them some
By whose example they reformd become
May act more prudently at their next session,
And wee do hope they will. On this condition
Let all their former Failings, and the blot
Which this may cast vpon them, be forgot,
And let these checks for euermore hereafter

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Be turned into merriment and laughter.
For such faults now are epidemic[al],
And greater siners haue no checke at all.

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A Man defective born or misbegot
To be therfor a Man deny wee not,
Nor thinck wee those defects deprive him can
Of attributes essentiall to a Man.
If he deseased be, dumb, lame or blinde,
(Or otherwaies deformd in any kinde,)
Wee may (on iust occasions) without blame
Assume the boldnes to aver the same

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If nothing so malitiously be spoken
That Rules of Christian Charity be broken.
Ev'n so, howere it shall be constituted,
A Parlament in being is reputed
And ownd by vs as an Authority
Whereto wee, actively or passively,
Should yeald obedience; yet wee doubtles may
Speak thereof all which wee cann truly [say],
Which neither violates the common peace
Nor renders their Authority the lesse.
These things considerd, wee in reason iudge
That this infringeth no iust priviledge
Of Parlaments; for wee so lay the blame
As both prevents an vniversall shame
And individuall Blurrs; if what's intended
Shall so work vpon those who haue offended
That they, these Checks in silence passing over,
No further their owne guiltines discover.
Wee have herein expressed no whit more
Then what wee hear the raging waters [roar]
Or murmur out. And if effect this take,
It those distempratures perhaps may slake
Which yet increase, and improve a powre
To act what will be for their weal and our.
But whether wee haue done amisse or well
We to the Parlament itself appeal
When next it meets, and if we haue offended
Will ask their pardon, and faults shal be mended.
For wee haue hope that after next October
Wee that were mad this sumer will be sober,
And that this Chymick pill which some suspect

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Is dangerous will haue a good effect,
If they who take it do but drink a cupp
Of cheerfull wine and spue their choller up.

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Wee grudge not that the Military powre
(Reputed heretofore the Kings and Our)

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Is his alone; for when wee singly had it,
Destructive to our selues and him wee made it.
And so it will hereafter be if vsed
As then it was, or otherwaies abused.
Whether it be the People or the King
Who doth into the Feild an Army bring,
No matter; for, who ere aray them shall,
The Lord of hoasts will be their Generall,
And though their weapons make a dreadfull Ratle
He onely giveth victories in Batle,
And if they countermarch to His commands
Will slay them with the swords in their owne hands.
Though powre they add to powre, they shall at length
Like old Rome, ruind be by their owne strength,
And they by whome the sword is misemployd
Shall by the sword be at the last destroyd.

When that all Isr'el could not arme one man
With sword and spear, saue Saul and Jonathan,
And were of their Militia so bereft
That in their Borders not one smith was left
To make them weapons, God that want supplide,
And to break off that yoke did meanes provide,
In spight of all their enimies could do,
Though they had Armies, Armes, and Giants too.
Wee, therfor, hope the King in God alone
Confides, and not in ought that can be done
By humane wit or powre; For God intends
To blast all whereon flesh and blood depends,
Yea, all those things wherein they now take pride,
Or whereby they hope to be glorified,

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That they may know the weal of States and Kings
Consists but very litle in those things
Which they make most account of, in respect
Of those which they do most of all neglect.

Their lusting things terrestriall to possesse
The more the geting the more will still increse,
For whoso hath a longing after more
Though they had all the world would still be pore.
The Leaches which are always crying on
Will faile of all they lacke till the're undone,
And ere their endles wants cann haue supply,
One oxe will drincke the Seas and Rivers dry.
Their saftie nor their honor doth subsist
In saying or in doing what they list,
In wasting or abusing of the Creature
Against Gods lawes, their owne, and Lawes of Nature,
Or in depressing those who evry way
Their Makers image are as well as they,
And for whose [good] (not for their owne) they were
Inriched and advancd to what they are,
By works of Mercy and of Righteousnes
To execute the places they possesse.
This that our King will do wee hope, and pray
Without dissimulation that he may.
Then he noe way to need inlarge his poure,
For his wee then shall be, and all that[s] our.

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Wee then shall so be ruld by Grace and Reason
That here shall never need a Law for treson;
His Throne shall florish then, and wee no [more]
Of Kings or Parlaments as heretofore
Shall be afrayd, but live in loving awe
Of them, and to our selues become a Lawe.

This Welcome home by him the People sends
Who is no Foe to them that will be Friends;
No stranger this this Nation, but so long
With observation them hath livd among
And knowes so well their manners, disposition,
Their hopes, their fears, the good and sad condition,
That much he cannot be deceived in them,
Though few for good haue taken heed of him;
And if what they would be he so well knew,
He might forshew what would to them ensue.
Of this Reproof no malice hath bene cause;
For their misfeesans or for their applause
He cares not much, and is as careles too
Whether this shall beleeued be or no;

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Who at this present keeps his name vnknowne
More to prevent their trouble then his owne.
For, should they question him, he so well knowes
Their Priviledge, their powre, and what he owes
To God, his King and Cuntry, that to them
Twill bring more disadvantage then to him.
And yet twere better (if harme come to any
Hereby) that one man suffer should then many,
Through want of tendring to consideration
Things vsefull to the wellfare of a nation.
And, peradventer, somewhat here exprest
Will work on those to whome it is addrest.