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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A62653 A time-serving speech spoken once in season by a worthy member of Parliament ; and now thought fit to be reprinted to prevent the occasion of having it respoken. Worthy member of Parliament. 1680 (1680) Wing T1279; ESTC R7685 9,256 8

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Ely's Accusations that Castles and Forts of trust he did Obscuris ignotis hominibus tradere put in the hands of obscure and unknown men but we Mr. Speaker to such a kind of men are delivering up the power of our Laws and in that the power of all In the 17 Edw. 4. there past an Act of Parliament for the degrading of John Nevil Marquess Mountague and Duke of Bedford the reason expressed in the Act Because he had not a Revenue sufficient for the maintaining of that Dignity to which was added That when men of mean birth are called to high Estate and have no livelihood to support it it induceth Briberies Extortions and all kinds of injustices that are followed by gain And in the Parliament of 2 Carol. the Peers in a petition against Scotish and Irish Titles told the King That 't is a Novelty without President That men should possess Honours where they possess nothing else and that they should have a Vote in Parliament where they have not a foot of Land But if it had been added Sir Or have no Land but what is the purchase of their Villanies against how many of our new Peers had this been an important Objection To conclude Sir it hath been a very just and reasonable care amongst all Nations not to render that despised and contemptible to the People which is design'd for their Reverence and their Awe Which Sir bare and empty Title without quality or virtue never procured any man any more than the Image in the Fable made the Ass adored that carried it After their quality give me leave Sir to speak a word or two of their qualifications which certainly ought in reason to carry some proportion with the employments they design themselves The House of Lords Sir are our Kings Hereditary great Councils they are the highest Court of Judicature they have their part in Judging and Determining of the Reasons of making new Laws and of abrogating old From amongst them we take our great Officers of State they are commonly our Generals at Land and our Admirals at Sea In conclusion Sir they are both of the Essence and Constitution of our old Government and have besides the greatest and noblest share in the Administration Now certainly Sir to judge according to the Dictates of Reason one would imagine some small Faculties and Endowments to be necessary for the discharging of such a Calling and those such as are not usually acquired in shops and ware-houses nor found by following the Plough Now what other Academies most of their Lordships have been bred in but their shops what other Arts they have been versed in but those which more require good Arms and good Shoulders than good Heads I think Mr. Speaker we are yet to be informed Sir we commit not the Education of our Children to ignorant and illiterate Masters Nay we trust not our very Horses to unskilful Grooms I beseech you Sir let us think it belongs to Us to have some care into whose Hands We commit the management of the Common-wealth and if we cannot have Persons of Birth and Fortune to be our Rulers to whose quality we would willingly submit I beseech you Sir for our Credits and Safeties sake let us seek men at least of parts and education to whose Abilities we may have some reason to give way If Sir a Patient dies under a Physicians hand the Law esteems that not a Felony but a misfortune in the Physician but if one that is no Physician undertakes the management of a Cure and the Party miscarries the Law makes the Emperique a Felon and sure in all mens Opinion the Patient a Fool. To conclude Sir for great men to govern 't is ordinary for able men 't is natural Knaves many times come to it by Force and Necessity and Fools sometimes by chance but universal Choice and Election of Fools and Knaves for Government was never yet made by any who were not themselves like those they chose But methinks Mr. Speaker I see ready to rise after me some Gentleman that shall tell you the great services that their new Lordships have done the Common-wealth that shall extol their Valour their Godliness their Fidelity to the Cause The Scripture too no doubt as 't is to all purposes shall be brought in to argue for them and we shall hear of the Wisdom of the poor man that saved the City of the not many wise not many mighty Attributes I can no way deny to be due to their Lordships Mr. Speaker I shall be as forward as any man to declare their services and acknowledge them though I might tell you that the same honour is not purchased by the blood of an Enemy and of a Citizen that for Victories in Civil Wars till our Armies march through the City I have not read that the Conquerors have been so void of shame as to Triumph Caesar not much more indulgent to his Country than our late Protector did not so much as write publick Letters of his Victory at Pharsalia much less had days of Thanksgiving to his gods and anniversary Feasts for being a prosperous Rebel and given Justice and his Country the worst But Sir I leave this argument and to be as good as my word come to put you in mind of some of their services and the obligation you owe them for the same To speak nothing Sir of one of my Lords Commissioners valour at Bristol nor of another Noble Lords brave adventure at the Bear-Garden I must tell you Sir that most of them have had the courage to do things which I may boldly say few other Christians durst have so adventured their souls to have attempted They have not only subdued their Enemies but their Masters that raised and maintained them they have not only Conquered Scotland and Ireland but Rebellious England too and there supprest a Malignant Party of Magistrates and Laws And that nothing should be wanting to make them indeed complete Conquerors without the help of Philosophy they have even conquered them●elves All shame they have subdued as perfectly as all Justice the Oaths they have taken they have as easily digested as their old General could himself Publick Covenants and Engagements they have trampled under foot In conclusion so entire a Victory they have over themselves that their Consciences are as much their servants as Mr. Speaker we are But Sir give me leave to conclude with that which is more admirable than all this and shews the confidence they have of themselves and us after having many times trampled on the Authority of the House of Commons and no less than five times dissolved them they hope for those good services to the House of Commons by the House of Commons to be made a House of Lords I have been over-long Sir for which I crave your pardon therefore in a word I conclude I beseech you let us think it our duty to have a care of two things First that Villanies be not