ALthough in this your GRACES general Visitation of the Pla­ces under your Command, This that you are now entered into (possibly) may seem among the Meanest; yet, by an Unani­mous Voice and Consent, I have it in Charge to assure you, That there has been None, where the Hearts of the People have been filled with greater Awe and Veneration for your Character, greater Honour for your Person, greater Admiration of your Perfections, nor greater Glad­ness at your Arrival: Hitherto they have worshipt you at a distance, (as the Israelites did the Mount) and now they have the Pleasure of seeing you Face to Face.

[Page 2] But our Joyes must not be wholly laid out for your Grace: Part is due to the additional Satisfaction we conceive at the presence of your Noble Son, who is Heir even in your Life of your incomparable Ver­tues; and as that may seem a Paradox in Law, so 'twill appear as high a Contradiction in Reason, That though your Grace has entirely con­vey'd unto his Lordship your excellent Endowments, yet notwithstand­ing that Bounty, your own Original stock and abundance is not in the l [...]st impair'd or diminished. 'Tis is matter of exceeding trouble to us, That it lies not within the Compass of our Power, to exemplifie the Honour and Service we have for your Grace, by external Demonstra­tions of Deference suitable to the Quality of so Illustrious a Person. In regard therefore the Extent of our Ability is not correspondent to the Zeal of our Affection, the sincerity of your Welcome will be very im­perfectly represented by the Solemnity of your Entertainment. The best and most pleasing part of that will be, That your Grace will still find our Heads and our Hearts inform'd and regulated by the same Principle of Loyalty, which was our Antidote against the Poyson and Infection of those Treasonable Doctrines and Practices, which in the late dismal Times of Rebellion (like the Frogs of Egypt) overspread the Land round about us, but were not able to blast or corrupt our Vineyard, a Vineyard of so admirable a Mould, that it never gave Birth to any such monstrous Production, as a Sequestrator or Committee-man. Those Boars of the Forest invaded it, with design to engender, and propagate their kind; They sow'd their Tares amongst our Wheat, and water'd them with our Blood, but (maugre that) the Nature and Virtue of our Soil, had so irreconcileable and aversion to the malignity of the Seed, that it never gave them any Return; and there­fore when they fail'd to debauch, they destroy'd and laid it waste. The same Principle and Conscience, which (in those days of Desolation) when we were no longer able to resist, yet supported us to weather the Tyranny and Oppressions of those Arbitrary and Republican Hoghen Moghens, rather than renounce the Cause of our SOVEREIGN, kindled and inflamed in us the highest Horror and Indignation, at the report of the late infernal and execrable CONSPIRACY against His MAJESTY, His ROYAL BROTHER, and the GOVERNMENT: A Conspiracy that was equally complicated with Impudence and Im­piety, for besides that, Sovereign Princes (being God Almighty's Vicege­rents here on Earth) are in that respect, in a more immediate manner, the Subjects of his Care and Protection: The Plot of our Sons of Belial carried a more particular Contempt and Affront of the Divine Power, arising from the more particular Providence it has exerted in the pre­servation of the BLOOD ROYAL of this Kingdom, ev'n above that of any other Nation, in so many signally repeated (I had almost said miraculous) Instances.

Add to this, That it not only flies in the face of the Oath of Alle­giance, but most impudently beards the concurrent and uniform Authori­ty of all Laws Natural, Divine and Municipal.

[Page 3] And as these Considerations, together with the Justice, Clemency and Candor of their Administration, seem to promise a sufficient secu­rity to the Sacred Person; so (methinks) the Beauty and Excellence of our MONARCHY (which will appear yet the more shining, if set in opposition to the Baldness of a Republique) should supersede the necessity of any other Guard to our Government. A Government framed with so great Art and Curiosity, so exact a Symetry and Proportion through all its Parts, and finally so wifely disposed, and accommodated to the joint and reciprocal Felicity of Prince and Subject, that there is none in the World can vie with it, either in respect of the Gracefulness and Splendor of its outward Form, or the more real Happiness it dis­penses and communicates to all Orders and Degrees of Men living under it: A Government (in short) that 'tis at once the Religion and Interest of the Subject, to defend and continue; and as the influence of the one engages all the good and honest to its support, so the sense of the other should endear it ev'n to the most knavish, and sell ended part of the People. These are indeed plausible deductions of Logick, but plain and simple Experience (which is free from that Sophistry and Deceit incident to Syllogism and Argument) has, beyond Contradiction, prov'd, That there have been a sort of sottish and profligate Miscreants among us, that have transgressed against all these Lights; not only the Lights of their Consciences, but (a strange Infatuation!) their own tem­poral Peace and Happiness; and all this, to reduce us again to the same state of Captivity and Thraldom, from which we have not been so long freed. But that it may be very well remembred, that not only our Civil, but likewise our Philosophick Rights and Liberties suffered Shipwrack, and even that fundamental Priviledge of our Species, the free use and exercise of our Speech, our Understandings, and all the Fa­culties of our Soul was under Sequestration.

And since Treason is in its Nature no less apt to be carried on by Policy, than Power; by clandestine Councel and Stratagem, than open Force and Violence; the goodness of God has as well appear'd in dis­closing the Councels of our Traytors, as if he had discomfited their For­ces: Neither is our Praise and Thanksgiving only due for the blessing of the Discovery, but the happy Effect and Consequence thereof, which has been the undeceiving a multitude of (probably well-meaning) Men who were misled, and imposed upon, by the sanctimonious disguise and popular amusement of Religion and Piety.

And now there being nothing more conducive to the preservation of all Places in their due Allegiance, than the intrusting them to the Conduct and Government of Persons well affected, from a congratula­tory Address to Providence for detecting and confounding the Snares of the Hunters, the Transition will be apt and natural to an acknow­ledgment of His MAJESTIES great Wisdom, in setling us under [Page 4] your GRACES LIEUTENANCY, who, to all the Embelishments of Art and Nature, has the accession of that, which is the best Ornament Man is capable of, I mean Loyalty and Affection to the KING: You derive it from your most honourable Ancestors, 'tis entayled on your Fa­mily, and seems to be inherent and fixt in your Blood. He must needs be a very great Stranger to our British Annals, that is ignorant of the Aid they have constantly ministred to the Crown in its distress. All their Parts and Members have in their respective Provinces mov'd in subser­viency to its Interest. The Wisdom of their Heads has given it mature and prosperous Counsel in its most difficult Emergencies: The In­tegrity of their Hearts has fortified it with firm and fast Friends in its Adversity; The Might of their Hands has gained it Victory in the day of Battel. And lastly, The fulness of their Coffers has afforded it Sup­ply and Relief in its extreamest Exigency, in the lowest Ebb of its Fortune.

I shall trespass no further on your GRACES Patience, than whil'st I conclude with a most humble Praver to your GRACE, That you will always look on us with an Eye of Favour; We are sensible the best Title we can make to recommend us to your Patronage, and to the Honour and Relation of your Servants, will be, with our wonted Con­stancy, to maintain our Hereditary Character of Most Obedient Sub­jects, to the Common Father of our Countrey the KING, and of Con­formable Sons to our Holy Mother the CHURCH, and as the most pre­vailing and effectual Expedient to secure us against warping from our Duty to Both, We shall always endeavour to live in a Brotherly Love one among another.