by the same Power and do the same things which they do then they call the very same Power flat down-right Tyranny Tom. Do'st not thee remember Will. one day the last Summer when our Barge lay against York Stairs there was a great Noise about the Head Bayliff of Westminster breaking into an Embassenders House to seize upon some Goods which belonged to a Man was condemned to be Hanged at Tyburn and upon Complaint of the Embassender to the King the said Bailiff was taken and clapt into the Tower and every body said he would be hanged at the least for breaking the Common Law of all Nations But the next News we heard was that he had got some sort of a Warrant was made by the Long Parliament that set him at Liberty within three Hours after he was committed Will. I remember the time very well they call those Warrants Habeas Corpuses and they will fetch a Prisoner committed by the King out of any Goal in England but not one Committed by the House of Commons And this they call Priviledge of Parliament Tom. All these Gentlemen that were fetched up by Messengers and Serjeants they might by the Common Law have chosen whether they would have come or not There was a Knight in our County at Oxford that was sent for by a Messenger and he told the Messenger he had something else to do and would not come and said he would justifie it Will. Surely this was just about the time they were Dissolv'd otherwise he durst not have been so bold Tom. He said he had been a Member himself many Years and knew no Law to compell any Man to come before the House of Commons unless they had a mind themselves and therefore they sent to the King to get his Majesty's Proclamation to fetch him before them Will. So then His Majesty's Proclamation issued out at the desire of the Commons is of Force but when sent out by himself is worth nothing at all Sam Why so Will. Because I remember there were several sent for in Custody for obeying the King's Proclamation against Petitions and brought to their Knees If therefore that had been a good Proclamation why should any body have suffer'd for it And for any thing I know if his Majesty should have made a Proclamation to fetch up that Knight or any body disobeyed their Messenger it had deserved as much to have been disobeyed as that about Petitions unless the House of Commons can make a Proclamation contrary to Law a good one as this would have been For what need had they of the King's Proclamation if there had been Law to have fetched those men before them Tom. Now if those Men were fetched up did dare to sue and the Lawyers did dare to do their Office and the Judges did dare to give Judgment I am of Opinion they might bring Actions of false Imprisonment against the Messengers that fetched them up For if they had not full Power to punish those who did not obey them then surely those who were fetched had wrong done them Tom. But I dare assure thee neither Lawyer nor Judge dare meddle with any such matter If any of these Gentlemen would be so ventersome they will find no Law to stand against the Votes of the Commons till they find they are as much brought under as they say Harry the Eighth brought them they durst not prate in his Days as now they do Will. What did he do Tom. I have heard a Fellow of Maudlin Colledge say he tumbled them and made them do what he would himself and not what they had a mind to and not a word of Tyranny or Arbitrary Power Sam. But pray thee Will. some more of their Doings Will. I have told thee it is without end and therefore I will tell thee the last thing they did which was they Voted that if any man advised his Majesty to Prorogue them upon any Account but to disinherit the Duke he was an Enemy to the King and Kingdom Nay he was a Pensioner to the French King Tom. What whether he ever received any Money from the French King or not Will. Ay though he never received Penny of Mony from him or any body else by his means or order Tom. For any thing I know they might as well have said that he had been my Lord Mayor's Bull-rider I have often heard say that a Parliament can make a Man into a Woman and now I see they can make a man into a Pensioner of France tho' he be none Tom. What then was done Will. That very day notwithstanding all this they were Prorogued Tom. Then surely they will say either they were Prorogued by the Advice of some Body who for that Advice are Pensioners or if his Majesty Prorogued them on his ovvn Head then they vvill think tho' they dare not say that he himself is a Pensioner Will. And vvithin fevv days after they vvere Dissolved and ather order'd to be called at your Tovvn of Oxford Tom. Well for all that Sam 's Parson said There vvas a Parliament called at Oxford that vvas called the mad Parliament yet vvill I be hang'd if ever that vvas half so mad as this thou hast told us of For according to thy Tale this Parliament let nothing ' scape them to his Majesty they vvould have given nothing nor let any body lend him any thing but vvould get from him vvhat they could From the Duke they vvould have taken his Birth-right the Church and Religion they vvould have cast in a nevv Mould the Bishops and Clerks they vvould have nevv-fashioned if not utterly laid aside banished many of the Nobles taught the Judges of Westminster-Hall nevv Lavvs and made them pay for practising the Old terrified most of the Loyal Gentry of the Kingdom vvith Serjeants Messengers and Expensive Journeys the same with Mayors Sheriffs and Bayliffs Fault or no Fault taken away Courts and Priviledges from several Shires to their great harm to revenge themselves of particular men not only hinder'd Irish Cattel and other Provisions from the City but Beggar'd many thousands of Families of Silk-Weavers and other poor Handicrafts-men Sam. Nay these very Men were got to that Height they would have abused any Body they met with Gentle or Simple not paid a Farthing for crossing the Ferry but said they were Franke in Parliament-time as their Masters Letters were at the Post-house Tom. Was not this then as mad a Parliament as that Parliament they talk on at our Town If this next prove a madder than the last if it sit at our Town I 'll give any man leave to hang me at the Mast of my Barge Sam. For all this I believe they will not sit at Oxford for they say a many Noblemen have Petitioned the King's Majesty against it Will. And I can tell thee his Majesty said they should Sit at Oxford for all that Tom. Pray thee who were these Noblemen that Petitioned Will. I cannot tell thee who they were
much decay'd and had need of repairing and it will never be done but by a Parliament I was at Vxbridge last Saboath-day and there at the Meeting the Minister said That the best Church in the World should be repaired once in a hundred years and that the Church we now have was repaired but he had another Word for it about a Hundred and Forty or Fifty years since Tom. Was it not Reformed the Scholars at Oxford talk much of that Reformation Sam. Ay Ay it was Reformed that he said and that the Church but more especlally the Church-men should be Reform'd Will. Besides this Member told me the Parsons must use the Surplice no more Sam. That was only for the good of the Woollen Manufacture I carried a Clothier over the Ferry not long since that said they were hereafter to wear Flannel Surplices and the Bishops were to wear white Crape in stead of Lawn Sleeves Will. And then for the Bishops Courts that as we call the Bawdy-Court they would have mauled those Rogues to some purpose Tom. A Pox on 'em they made me pay above five Pounds about a Bastard a Whore laid to me that a Scholar of Oxford got I dare say for I kept reckning and the Child was got when I was gone down with the Barge to London and for want of a Flash we lay above ten Weeks before we came again Will. It seems thou diserved'st for it however Tom. That which troubled me most was that I must have done Penance in a White Sheet and then my Wife and all my Friends would have known it and so faith I was forced to borrow the Moneys and make my Peace with them And after all they would have had Ten Shillings more for a piece of Parchment no bigger than my Hand I was e'en glad to pay them a Noble to get clear of them Will. As far as I could understand they would have taken these Courts away and have made the Bishops spoor Gentlemen They would have clipt their Wings if not quite staved them O this Member as we passed by Lambath-House shaked his Head at it and said There were Raggs of Popery kept there and so did he at Eulhum when I landed him at Putney Sam. What did he mean by that Will. Why the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury lives at Lambeth and the Bishop of London hath a Countrey-House at Fulham Sam. Well but Will. Thou said'st they would also have had a Fling at the Law Will. For any thing of the Law it self I heard not so much of it but they were in hand to have rockoned with almost all the Judges in Westminster Hall some for one Fault and some for others Sam. What had the Judges done Will. Whether they had strained a Pin to do something extraordinary for the King and the Court I know not but the main matter was that most of the Talkative Men of the House were Lawyers and the only way for them to get Preferment was by turning out of the Judges that they might get into their Places Sam. I think in my very Conscience these Lawyers are the Bain of the Kingdom For they are so accustomed to talk against their Consciences for Moneys at Westminster Hall that when they come to talk in the House it is the same thing So that whatever they think for their Advantage they never want broad Consciences nor smooth Tongues to drive on to the utmost Sam. Pray thee Will. tell me one thing are not these Lawyers the Men that either doe or should understand the Law Will. No doubt of it Sam. Well then when the Rebellion was begun and carried on in our King's Father's Time and in his own did not the Lawyers know that the War was contrary to the Law Will. Certainly they did Sam. Then do I say That as many Lawyers as Sided with the Rebells in those days deserve yet to be Hanged for what they did then Will. O! but they were wise enough for that For they got the Act of Oblivion to pardon not only their Faults by-passed but those that were to come and abundance of those very Men that talked the People into that Rebellion are yet living and as willing to do Mischief as ever they were Sam. It goes beyond my Understanding how and why they are admitted to abuse the People at this rate For if they can set poor ignorant Men on a Mischief for which they may be Hanged and can talk themselves off again it is time for poor men to have a Care Will. I am of this mind that had I been the King's Advisar when he forgave all the Rebells I would not have forgiven one Lawyer for they could not plead Ignorance Sam. And that it was a Rebellion is clear For if it had not been what need was there of an Act of Oblivion Will. Thou art in the Right of that too Sam. Nothing troubles me so much as that these Lawyers are not only Lawyers to follow and maintain the Law but they can make what they will to be Law and what they like not to be no Law Nay they will hang the Honestest man in England and find Law for it and save the greatest Knave and find Law for that too Tom. Did not Judge Bradshaw pronounce Sentence against King Charles and Coke plead against him And both these were great Lawyers Nay an a bungling Lawyer that is a Justice of the Peace at the Quarter Sessions will take upon him to talk more than all the Bench and be very angry at any Justice that dares oppose any thing he says Will. There is reason for that For there is not one Lawyer of twenty but is certainly bribed tho' they call it feed of one Party in all Controversies at the Sessions and frequently by both O they make great Gains at a Sessions for there they are both Judge and Lawyer and all goes as they will Sam. I 'll tell thee for that I had a wrangling Quarrel once with a Drunken Fellow at the Ferry and upon some Words I up with the Boat-hook and broke his Head He went and fetched a Warrant for me I was advised to go my self to the same Justice being a Lawyer and bind my self over Which I did and would have given his Worship an Angel for so my Friend advised me He said he would take no Moneys upon that Account For indeed it seemed he had taken before from my Adversary but he said if I would give any thing to his Wife I might Upon which I sent a sat Wether worth a Mark in the Night time to her Worship and within two days both he and I were sent for before Mr. Justice and after he had talked a great deal of Law and seemed angry with us both he made us good friends and got both our Moneys Will. There may a thousand Stories be told of them I hope at one time both the King and the Kingdom will see what they are and never let them have more to do than with
Master of the House he got well by them and the Drawers of that House are become notable Boyes they can talk of State Affairs it would do your Heart good to hear them and for any thing that I know when these Boyes come to set up for themselves and keep Taverns in the City they may be the fittest men they will have to serve in Parliament they will now as young as they are make fine Speeches to their fellow Prentices when any Rout of them meets together and have their Lessons full ready on any occasion and will back a Petition of the Common Hall to the Purpose Sam. A Pox on 'em 't is such work as this that makes the King leave London and will undo us all at Dochet But this is all still out of the House Will. It is impossible I should tell you a tenth part of what they did in the House but the remembrance of Men and Things they fell upon will put me in mind best and therefore the first I think on is the Kings Majesty God bless him him they cryed Nochell Sam. What as Gaffer Block of our Town cryed his Wife Will. I don't know what he did but they Voted that no body should either Borrow or Lend nor Sell or Buy with him under pain of their Displeasure Sam. This is almost as ill as the Parson said of the Gun-Powder-Treason-day that the Pope would have done with Queen Elizabeth for he forbade any Body to Borrow or Lend with her Sell or Buy Eat or Drink Nay he forbid her to come in either Church or Market Will. But then to make him amends they took care to kill him an Old Lean Lord at Christmass and that 's all I remember they have done for him since they met Sam. What did they then do Will. Next they took the Duke into handling Sam. And what would they do with him Will. They would have taken away his Birthright whatever he had done to them I know not but they were resolv'd to have worried him Sam. What was it provoked them so much against him Will. They said he was a Papist and was for the Pope and the Plot but the Truth on 't is I think the true Reason of their Cruelty was because he put his Brother in mind who were and had been Rogues and were sure to prove so in the end and for this they would never forgive him and with talking with one another they were got to that pass they matter'd not what they said for they were permitted so long they thought no body durst gainsay them Sam. Why I thought no man living durst have medled with any of the Blood Royal. Will. Thou art a Fool did not they behead the last King and kept this banished a long time and all that was still a House of Commons Sam. What would they have done with the Duke thinkest thou VVill. Hang'd him if they could have catch't him but-being he was out of their reach have taken away all his means and all he was ever like to have if which God forbid he should have surviv'd the King Sam. They were very bold VVill. Thou may'st swear that when the Fore-man of Old Townsend's Shop a blind Scrivener was so bold as to speak a saucy Speech against his Highness Sam. What was he a Prentice VVill. No he was out of his Time and had set up for himself Sam. Why I thought no such Hand-crafts men had ever been chosen Members Will. Any body that has money to pay for Drink Gentle or Simple that will spend his Guinneys upon some Town in the West Country is good enough for I 'le tell thee as I heard Squire Kites Huntsman say that he cared not for above three or four Couple of Hunting Dogs amongst twenty Couple so they would give their Tongues and go along with those that were Hunters no more do they in the Parliament care whether the greatest part of their Members have any Wit or none at all so that they will Vote with the Old ones Tom. Well though it was sore against my will I was Press'd once into the Service when the Duke was our Ambral and I dare swear never a man in the Fleet had a better Heart than he Will. Pox on you Rogue you staid but one Bout and run away but we that staid and were in both the Hollands Wars know the Duke well enough and let them do what they will at Westminster I am sure all the Seamen and Watermen in England will be for him against any Body but the King God bless him Tom. And I am sure he 'll never be a Rebel as many of those that are his Enemies have been Will. Rebel they would like him better if he would stand in the Kings Face and do what he pleased whether the King pleased or not do'st not see how they love D. M. for coming home whether the King would or no. Tom. Well I hope to see the Duke at Oxford and there he will be welcome I dare say let London and the Devil say what they will Sam. For London surely it is not London that does all these ill things you talk of Tom. Thou art in the right of that for I never heard that the Houses met together to Petition or raise Tumults there 's no fault in the place 't is some roguish People that lives in it whom nothing vvill ever make better Subjects than they have been I have knovvn them long enough Sam. But prethee Will go on vvith thy Story Will. Novv I think on 't I should have told you that I am novv going to say first of all that is vvhat they vvould have done about the Church for I have heard the Church should take place of both the King and the Duke Sam. Ay but not of the Law for I know a Wise man as any in Buckinghamshire an Attorney that says That the Law was above both Church and King Will. Why then according to that Rule I should first have begun with the Law Tom. No matter amongst us we are not so punctual go on now thy hand is in with the Church Will. As for the Church I carried a Member up to Putney and he told me they had resolv'd to Overhall all the Nine and Thirty Conditions of the Church and that they had already heaved away Three and a half of them Sam. Belike if they had gone on they would have hove away most of them Three and a half in one day was a great step Will. No I do'nt believe they would have hove them all away but they would quite have new moulded them so that one should scarce have known them Ha'nt I seen an old Ship that has been a long time at Sea when she has been in the Dock her Rigging Overhall'd and Tarr'd new Painted Carved and Guilt a man that has sayled in her could scarce have known her Sam. Thou art in the right of that and I do believe that the Church was grown very old and