I Will not entertain you with a long dis­course; the sum of all I have to say to you, being but to give you Thanks, very hearty Thanks; and I assure you I finde it a very dif­ficult work to satisfie My Self in My Own ex­pressions of those Thanks; Perfunctory thanks, Ordinary thanks for Ordinary civilities are easily given; but when the Heart is as full as Mine is, it is a labor to thank you: Bou have taken great pains to obliege Me, and therefore it can­not be easie for me to express the sence I have of it.

I will enlarge no further to you upon this oc­casion, then to tell you, That when God brought Me hither, I brought with me an Extraordinary [Page 4] Affection and Esteem for Parliaments▪ I need not tell you how much it is improved by your car­riage towards me. You have out-done all the good and oblieging Acts of your Predecessors to­wards the Crown; and therefore you cannot but believe My Heart is exceedingly enlarged with the acknowledgment.

Many former Parliaments have had particu­lar denominations from what they have done; They have been stiled, Learned and Unlearned, and sometimes have had worse Epithites; I pray let us all Resolve that this be for ever called, The Healing and the Blessed Parlia­ment.

As I thank you, though not enough, for what you have done, so I have not the least doubt, by the blessing of God, but when I shall call the next Parliament, which I shall do as soon as reasonably you can expect or desire, I shall re­ceive your Thanks for what I have done since I parted with you: For I deal truly with you, I shall not more propose any one Rule to My Self in My Actions, and My Councels, then this, What is a Parliament like to think of this Acti­on, or this Councel▪ And it shall be want of Ʋn­derstanding in Me, if it will not bear that Test.

I shall conclude with this, which I cannot say too often, nor you too often, where you go, Tha [...] [...] to the miraculous blessing of God [Page 5] Almighty; and indeed, as an immediate effect of that Blessing, I do impute the good Disposition and Security we are all in, to the happy Act of Indempnity and Oblivion; that is the principal Corner-stone which supports this excellent Build­ing, that creates Kindness in Ʋs to each other; and Confidence is Our Joynt and Common Securi­ty. You may be sure, I will not onely observe it Religiously, and inviolably My Self, but also exact the observation of it from others: And if any person should ever have the boldness to at­tempt to perswade Me to the contrary, he will finde such an Acceptation from Me, as he would have, who should perswade Me to burn Magna Charta, cancel all the old Laws, and to erect a new Government after My Own invention and appetite.

There are many other particulars which I will not trust My Own Memory with, but will require the Chancellor to say the rest to you.

THere cannot be a greater manifestation of an excellent Temper and Harmony of Affections throughout the Nation, then that the King and his two Houses of Parlia­ment meet with the same Affections and Cheerfulness, the same Alacrity in their Countenance at the Dissolution, as when they met at the Convention of Parliament: It is an unquestionable evidence, that they are ex­ceedingly satisfied in what they have done to­wards each other, that they have very well done all the business they came about: This is now your case, you have so well satisfied your own Consciences, that you are sure you have satisfied the King's expectation and His Hope, and the desires and wishes of the Country. It was very justly observed by you Mr. Speaker, that you have never asked any one thing of the King, which he hath not with all imaginable cheerfulness granted; and in truth His Majesty doth with great comfort acknowledge, that you have been so far from denying Him any thing He hath asked, that He hath scarce wished any thing that you have not granted; And it is no wonder, that having so fully complyed with your obligati­ons, and having so well composed the minds [Page 7] of the Nation, you are now willing to be re­lieved from this extraordinary Fatigue you have submitted so long to, and to return to the consideration of your own particular Af­fairs, which you have so long sacrificed to the Publique▪ and this reasonable wish and de­sire hath brought the King to comply with you, and, which nothing else could do, to part with you with an equal cheerfulness; and he makes no doubt, but all succeeding Parlia­ments will pay you their Thanks for all you have done, and look upon your Actions and your example with all possible Approbation and Reverence.

The King and you have given such earnest to each other of your mutual Affection, you have been so exact and punctual in your pro­ceedings towards each other, that you have made no promise, no profession to each other, of the making good and performing of which the world is not witness: You declared at the Adjournment in September last, your Resolu­tion to settle a noble Revenew on the Crown▪ you have done it with all the Circumstances of Affection and Prudence. The King promi­sed you to establish a Council for Trade, a Council for the Forreign Plantations, a Com­mission for composing all difference upon Sales; all this he did before your coming to­gether, and with very good effect; and you [Page 8] shall hear that the Proceedings in every one of them are more vigorous and effectual after your Dissolution; His Majesty then promised you, that he would give up all his endeavors to compose the unhappy differences in matters of Religion, and to restore the languishing Church to peace, Unity and Order: Constan­tine himself hardly spent so much of his own time in private and publique Conferences to that purpose; His Majesty in private confer­red with the Learned Men, and heard all that could be said upon several Opinions and In­terests apart, and then in the presence of both Parties, himself moderating in the debates, (and less care and diligence and authority would not have done the work) and God hath so blessed His Labor, and made His Determi­nations in that Affair so generally agreeable, that he hath received thanks from His Houses of Parliament, that is, from the whole King­dom: If after all this, His Majesty doth not reap the full Harvest he expected from those Condescentions; If some men, by their writing, and by their preachings endeavor to continue those Breaches, and very rashly and I think unconscientiously keep up the distincti­ons, and publickly justifie and maintain what hath heretofore been done amiss, and for which the Act of Indempnity was the best defence; I shall say no more, then that I hope [Page 9] their▪ want of Modesty and Obedience will cause them to be disclaimed by all pious and peaceable men, who cannot but be well con­tented to see them reduced by Law, to the obe­dience they owe to Law: And His Majesty is confident, that this His beloved City, to­wards which His heart is so gracious, and so full of Princely Designs to improve their Ho­nor, their Wealth, and their Beauty, will discountenance all those seditious designs, and by returning and fixing themselves upon their good old Foundations, make themselves the great example of Piety, of Loyalty, and of hearty Affection to the whole King­dom.

This discourse puts me in mind to say to you, that though the King wonders much more at the many great things you have done, then that you have left any thing undone, yet he could have wished, and would have been glad that your other weighty Affairs had gi­ven you time to have published your opinion and advice in the business of the Militia, that the People after so many disputes upon that Argument, might have discerned that the King, and His two Houses of Parliament are as much of the same mind in that, as in all o­ther things, as no doubt they are: But since that could not be done, you may all assure your selves, That the King will proceed there­in [Page 10] in with all imaginable care and circumspecti­on, for the ease, and quiet, and security of His People: And as He did before the last Recess by the unanimous advice of His Privy Coun­cil, issue out His Commissions of Lieute­nancy for the setling the Militia in the several Counties, to prevent any disorders which many apprehended might arise upon the dis­banding the Army; so He will now again recommend it to them to keep themselves in such a Posture, as may disappoint any sedi­tious designs which are now on foot; and there cannot be too much circumspection and vigilance to frustrate those designs. You have heard of many suspected and danger­ous persons which have been lately clapped up; and it was high time to look about: His Majesty hath spent many hours Himself in the examination of this business; and some of the Principal Officers, who before they came to His Majestie's Presence, could not be brought to acknowledge any thing, after the King Himself had spoken to them, confessed, That their spirits were insensibly prevailed up­on, and subdued, and that it was not in their power to conceal their guilt from Him. They have confessed, That there is a party of the late Disbanded-Officers and Soldiers, and others, full of discontent and seditious purposes, and a resolution to attempt the [Page 11] change of the present Government, and to erect the Republick; they acknowledge that they did purpose to have made their attempt for the rescue of those Wretches, who were so justly condemned at Newgate, and so worthily executed; and that Ludlow should then have appeared in the head of them; that they made themselves sure at the same time, by Parties and Confederacy to have surprized the Tower of London, and the Castle of Windsor, but that they found, or at least apprehended, that their design was discovered; which so broke their spirits, that they concluded they must acquiesce for the present, and stay till the Army should be disbanded, which they said was generally de­bauched, that is, Returned to an honest and fast obedience to the King; and that it was evident they were betrayed by those who were most entirely trusted by them; and they were in the right: The King had no­tice of all their design, what progress it made, and the night they intended to surprize the Tower and Windsor, and gave notice to the several Governors; and so without any noise, that mischief was by God's goodness pre­vented: They acknowledge that they have since recovered their Courage and Resoluti­on, and were about this time to make their full attempt; they have been promised some [Page 12] considerable Rising in the West under Lud­low, and in the North under others; but this place was the Scene of greatest hope; they made sure of a Body here, I think they say of Two thousand five hundred men, with which they resolved in the first place, to se­cure (you know what that security is) the Person of the General, the Duke of Albe­marle, with whom they have so much reason to be angry, and at the same time to possess themselves of Whitehal; You know the method used in such possessing, Kill, and take Possession; and this insupportable Calamity God hath again deverted from Us; though I must tell you, the poor men who seem to speak honestly, and upon the impulsion of Conscience, are very far from being confident, that there will not be some desperate Insur­rections and Attempts in several parts of the Kingdom within a short time, which all possible care will be taken to prevent; and in truth this very good City so well requites the Kings abundant Grace and Kindness to it, That not onely by the unwearied Pains and Diligence of the worthy Lord Major, but by the general temper and constitution of the whole City, the discontented and seditious Party (which can never be totally extirpated out of such a Metropolis) is like to receive lit­tle encouragement to pursue their desperate Counsels.

[Page 13] The King doth not believe that all those persons who at present are apprehended, and in custody, will be found guilty of this Treason; It is a vulgar and known Artifice, to corrupt inferior persons, by perswading them, That better men are ingaged in the same enterprise; and the King will make as much haste as He can to set those at Liber­ty, against whom the evidence or suspicion is not too reasonable; in the mean time, they who are in truth innocent, must con­fess that the proceeding towards them, hath been very natural and full of Clemency; and no man will wonder, if His Majesty be ve­ry desirous that in this conjuncture, and in order to prevent, or suppress these too vi­sible distempers and Machinations, His Mi­litia in all places be in good order and pre­paration: And you may assure your selves, That in the forming and conduct of it, He will have so great a care of the ease and quiet of His People, that if any person trusted by him, shall through want of skill, or want of temper, satisfie his own passion or appetite, in grieving or vexing his neigh­bours, His Majesty will be so sensible of it, that if it can be cured no other way, His Trust shall be quickly determined, and He is not at all reserved in giving those Anim­adversions [Page 14] and Reprehensions when there is occasion; and His ears will be always open to receive those complaints.

My Lords and Gentlemen, You are now returning to your Countreys to receive the thanks and acknowledgements of your Friends and Neighbours, for the great things you have done, and to make the burthens you have laid upon them, easie, by convincing them of the inevitable necessity of their submitting to them; You will make them see that you have proceeded very far towards the separation, and even divorce of that Necessity from them, to which they have been so long married, that they are now restored to that blessed temper of Go­vernment, under which their Ancestors en­joyed so many hundred years, that full measure of felicity, and the misery of be­ing deprived of which they have so sensi­bly felt, that they are now free from those midnight Alarms, with which they have been terrified, and rise out of their beds at their own healthy hours, without being sa­luted with the death of a Husband, a Son, and Friend, miserably killed the night or the day before, and with such circumstances kill'd, as improved the misery beyond the loss it self; this enfranchisement is worth all [Page 15] they pay for it: Your Lordships will easi­ly recover that estimation and reverence that is due to your high Condition, by the exercise and practice of that vertue, from whence your Honors first sprang; the ex­ample of your Justice and Piety will enflame the hearts of the People towards you; and from your practice, they will make a judg­ment of the King himself: They know ve­ry well, that you are not only admitted to his Presence, but to his Conversation, and even in a degree to his Friendship, for you are his great Councill; by your Example they will form their own Manners, and by yours they will make some guess at the King's: Therefore under that obligation, you will cause your Piety, your Justice, your Affability, and your Charity to shine as bright as is possible before them. They are too much in love with England, too partial to it, who believe it the best Countrey in the world; there is better earth, and a better aire, and a better, that is, a warmer Sun in other Countries; but we are no more then just, when we say that England is an endosure of the best People in the world, when they are well Informed and Instructed; a People in sobriety of Con­science the most devoted to God Almighty; [Page 14] [...] [Page 15] [...] [Page 16] in the integrity of their affections, the most dutiful to the King; In their good Manners and Inclinations, most regardful and lo­ving to the Nobility; no Nobility in Europe so entirely loved by the People; there may be more awe, and fear, and terror of them, but no such love towards them as in England. I beseech your Lordships, do not undervalue this love; they have looked upon your Lordships, and they will look upon your Lordships again, as the greatest examples and patterns of Duty to the King, as their greatest Security and Protection from inju­ry and injustice, and for their enjoying what­soever is due to them by the Law, and as the most proper Mediators and Interposers to the King, if by any failer of Justice they should be exposed to any oppression and violence: And this exercise of your Justice and Kindness towards them, will make them the more abhor and abominate that parity upon which a Commonwealth must be founded, because it would extirpate, or suppress, or deprive them of their beloved Nobility, which are such a support and se­curity to their full happiness.

And you Gentlemen of the House of Commons, you are now returning to your Countrey, laden with a Trust not inferior, [Page 17] weighty, than that you brought from thence, you came up their Deputies to the King, and he returns you now his Deputies to them, his Plenipotentiaries, to inform & assure them, that he thinks himself the happiest, and the great­est Prince of the World, not from the Scitua­tion of His Dominions and the Power of his great Navy, with which he can visit his Neighbors, and keep them from visiting him, or from the noble Revenue you have setled upon him, which he will improve with all good Husbandry, but from being possessed of the Affections and Hearts of such Subjects; that he doth so intirely love them, and de­pend upon them, that all his Actions and all his Councels, shall tend to no other end, but to make them happy and prosperous: that he thinks his Honour and his Interest Prin­cipally to consist in providing for, and ad­vancing the Honor and Interest of the Nation: That you may have the more credit in what you say, He will not take it unkindly, if you publish his defects and Infirmities: You may tell them, that He is so confident in the mul­titude of His very good and faithful Subjects, that he is very hard to be perswaded that His few ill and unfaithful Subjects can do Him much harm; that He so much depends upon the affection of honest men, and their Zeal for His security, that He is not so sollicitous and vigilant for His own safety as he ought to [Page 18] be, amidst so many Combinations, of which he is so well informed, that His Servants, who with grief and anguish importune Him not to take so little care of his own safety, can obtain no other answer from Him, then what Caesar heretofore gave to his jealous Friends, Mori se malle quam timeri, or timere; He will die any death, rather then live in fear of His own Subjects, or that they should live in fear of him; You may tell them as a great Infir­mity, that a troubled and discontented Coun­tenance so afflicts him, that he would re­move it from them at his own charge, as if he himself were in the fault; and when he hath been informed of any less kinde, or jea­lous thing said amongst you, as your windores are never so close shut, but that the sound of your words goes to the several corners of the Town, His Majesty hath been heard to say no more, but, What have I done? I wish that Gentleman and I were acquainted, that he knew me better. Oh, Gentlemen, you cannot be your selves, nor you cannot make your Friends too zealous, or too jealous for such a Prince's safety, or too sollicitous for such a Prince's satisfaction and content, to whom we may very justly say, as the King of Tyre writ to Solomon, Because God hath loved his people, he hath made thee King over them: Even His defects and infirmities are very necessary to­wards [Page 19] the full measure of our prosperity.

My Lords and Gentlemen, God hath ena­bled us to invert one Argument, which, I hope, may to a good degree repair the much mischief it hath heretofore done: It hath been urged very unreasonably, yet successful­ly urged in the worst times, That it was not Faith, but Presumption, to expect that God would restore a Family, with which he seemed to have a controversie, & had humbled so far; That he would ever countenance a Party, that he had so much discountenanced, and almost destroyed. We may now much more reason­ably, and therefore I hope as effectually, press the Miracles that God Almighty hath lately wrought for King and People, as an evidence that he will not again easily forsake them: We may tell those, who are using all their endeavours to imbroil the Nation in new troubles, That it is not probable, that a Na­tion, against which God seemed these late years to have pronounced his Iudgment, in the very language of the Prophet;

Go ye swift messengers to a Nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from the be­ginning hitherto, a Nation rooted out and trodden down, whose Land the Rivers have spoiled:—The Lord hath mingeld a perverse spirit in the middest there­of.

[Page 20] That he should reduce that perversness to the greatest meekness and resignation, that he should withdraw his Judgement from this Nation, and in a moment restore it to all the happiness it can wish, and to no other end, but to expose it to the mercy and fury of a few discontented persons, the worst of the Nati­on, is not easie to be believed.

We may tell those who still contrive the ruine of the Church, the best, and the best Reformed Church in the Christian World; Reformed by that Authority, and with those Circumstances as a Reformation ought to be made, that God would not so mira­culously have snatched this Church as a brand out of the fire; would not have raised it from the grave, after he had suf­fered it to be buried so many years, by the boystrous hands of Prophane and Sacrilegi­ous persons, under its own rubbidge, to ex­pose it again to the same Rapine, Reproach and Impiety: That Church which delights it self in being called Catholick, was never so near expiration, never had such a Re­surrection, that so small a pittance of Meal and Oyl, should be sufficient to preserve and nourish the poor Widow and her Family so long, is very little more miraculous then [Page 21] that such a number of pious, learned, and very aged Bishops, should so many years be pre­served, in such wonderful straights and oppres­sions, untill they should plentifully provide for their own Succession: That after such a deep Deluge of Sacriledge, Profaness and Impiety had covered, and to common understanding swallowed it up; that that Church should again appear above the waters, God be again served in that Church, and served as he ought to be, and that there should be still some Revenue left to support and encourage those who serve him; nay, that many of those who seemed to thirst after that Revenue till they had possessed it, should conscientiously restore what they had ta­ken away, and become good sons, and willing Tenants to that Church they had so lately spoyled, may make us all piously believe, that God Almighty would not have been at the ex­pence and charge of such a miracle, so manifest­ed himself to us in such a deliverance, but in the behalf of a Church very acceptable to him, and which shall continue to the end of the World, and against which the Gates of Hell shall not be able to prevail.

We may tell those desperate wretches, who yet harbour in their thoughts wicked designs against the Sacred Person of the King, in order to the compassing their own imaginations; that God Almighty would not have led Him [Page 22] through so many Wildernesses of Afflictions of all kinds, conducted Him through so many perils by Sea, and perils by Land; snatch'd Him out of the midst of this Kingdom, when it was not worthy of Him; and when the hands of His Enemies were even upon Him, when they thought themselves so sure of Him, that they would bid so cheap, and so vile a price for Him; He would not in that Article have so covered Him with a Cloud, that He tra­vailed even with some pleasure, and great ob­servation through the midst of His Enemies; He would not so wonderfully have new mo­delled that Army, so inspired their hearts, and the hearts of the whole Nation, with an honest and impatient longing for the return of their dear Soveraign, and in the mean time have so exercised Him (which had little less of Pro­vidence in it than the other) with those unna­tural, or at least unusual disrespects and re­proaches abroad, that He might have a harm­less and an innocent appetite to His Own Countrey, and return to His Own People, with a full value, and the whole unwasted Bulk of His Affections, without being corrupted, or byassed by Extraordinary Forraign Obligati­ons: God Almighty would not have done all this, but for a Servant whom He will alwayes preserve as the apple of His own Eye, and al­wayes defend from the most secret machinati­ons of His Enemies.

[Page 23] If these Argumentations, Gentlemen, ur­ged with that vivacity as is most natural to your own gratitude and Affections, recover as many (and it would be strange if it should not) as have been corrupted by the other Logick, the hearts of the whole Nation, even to a man, will insensibly be so devoted to the King, as the only Conservator and Protector of all that is dear and precious to them, and will be so Zea­lous to please him, whose greatest pleasure is to see them pleased, that when they make choice of Persons again to serve in Parliament, they will not choose such, who they wish should op­pose the King, but therefore choose them, be­cause they have, and because they are like to serve the King with their whole hearts; and since he desires what is best for his People, to gratifie him in all he desires: This blessed har­mony would raise us to the highest Pinacle of honour and happinesse in this world, a pinacle without a point, upon which King and People may securely rest and repose themselves against all the gusts, and stormes and tempests which all the malice of this world can raise against us, and I am sure you will all contend to be at the top of this Pinacle.

I have no more to add, but the words of cu­stome, That the King declares this present Parlia­ment to be dissolved; and this present Parliament is dissolved.

THe Knights, Citizens and Burgesses now assembled in Parliament, be­ing the Representative Body of Your Commons of England, are as Con­duit Pipes or Quils to convey the Streams of Your Peoples dutiful Af­fections and humble Desires into Your Royal Pre­sence; and that being done, they need no other Speaker but Your Self, for they know Your Skil, and they have had experience of Your Will. And yet Royal Sir, Though they have no cause to complain, they cannot but take notice of Your Partiality, for when any thing in point of Right, or but Conveni­ency hath fallen out to be, as we use to say, a mea­suring Cast, a disputable Case between Your Self and [Page 26] Your People, without any regard or respect had unto Your own Right, or the Advantage that might ac­crue to Your Self by asserting the same, if the good of Your People hath come in competition with it, You have alwayes cast it against Your Self, and given it in on your Peoples side.

Royal Sir, Thus to undo Your Self to do Your peo­ple good, is not to do as You would be done unto; and what can we do lesse, then by way of a grateful retribution, cheerfully to pay Your Majesty the just Tribute of our dutiful Obedience unto all Your Royal Commands, and upon all occasions readily to sacri­fice, Se & sua, all that we have, or enjoy, Lives and Fortunes, in the Service of such an incomparable Soveraign.

But, Royal Sir, It becomes not me to fill Your Majesties ears with air; Loquere, ut te videam, is the on­ly Rhetorick the People ought to use to such a King of kindness, and a Prince so full of good Works; and therefore, as I am commanded, I must humbly assure Your Majesty, that the many healing expedi­ents propounded by Your Self in your several most gracious Declarations, have been the subject matter upon which Your Commons have wrought all this Parliament: And in the first place, they took in­to Consideration, the great and growing charges, which then lay upon your people, for the pay of Your Army and Navy; and they conceived it neces­sary; to begin with that part thereof, next at hand, wherein Your People would receive the most ease, and the greatest security and satisfaction, which was the disbanding Your Majesties Forces by Land, and the paying off five and Twenty of Your Ships then in the Harbour and of no use: And this led them to [Page 27] the Consideration of such wayes and means, as were to be used to raise Moneys for that purpose: And that for Poll-money being propounded and passed, some were of opinion, that, that alone would have over-done the Work: Others having had experience of a former Bill of the same nature, and upon the like occasion, fearing it might not answer expectati­on; and being unwilling to be deceived the second time, especially in such a business as this, wherein a mistake was like to prove so penal, moved for a fur­ther Supply, which after some Debate was agreed up­on, Of a Two months Assessment at Seventy thou­sand Pounds a month, and both have not yet fully done the work for which they were designed, but with the help of two other Bills here in my hand; the one intituled, An Act for the leavying of the Arrears of the Twelve months Assessment, commencing the four and twentieth of June 1659, ând the Six months Assessment com­mencing the Five and twentieth of December 1659. And the other intituled, An Act for the further Supplying and Explaining certain Defects in an Act for the speedy Provision of Money for Disbanding and Paying off the Forces of this Kingdome both by Land and Sea: They hope, this Ac­count will be fully cleared off at last.

Sir, Your Commons have likewise taken into their Considerations, the Charge of Your Summer-Fleet, which besides that part thereof Your Majesty is pleased to take upon Your Self, for Your ordinary Guard of the Seas, will amount unto a very great sum. And as 'tis a great Debt, so it is a growing Debt, in a few Moneths it doubles. There is a saying, Qui cito dat, bis dat; I am sure 'tis most true in this case, Qui cito solvit, bis solvit; To pay this Debt readily, is the way to pay it but once; and to take time to pay it, is the sure way to pay it twice: And therefore Your Commons lay­ing [Page 28] aside the sad thoughts of their long sufferings, and those miserable Devastations and Pressures they have lain under for many years last past; and look­ing upon the necessity of Affairs, which call impor­tunately, and must be answered effectually, hath pas­sed another Bill here in my hand, intituled, An Act for Six Moneths Assessment, at Seventy Thousand pounds per Mensem, to begin the First of January, and to be paid in, the one Moyety thereof before the First of Febru­ary, and the other Moyety, being the remaining part, by the First of April next ensuing; which is to be applyed wholly to the paying off the Arrears of Your Majesties Navy and Army.

I have three other Bills in my hand, which have relation to Your Majesties Revenue, and are branches thereof; the One intituled, An Act for the better Or­dering the selling of Wines by Retail, and for preventing abu­ses in the Mingling, Corrupting, and Vitiating of Wines, and for setling and limiting the Prizes of the same: And this Bill is tendered unto Your Majesty, for preventing all future disputes touching the Legality thereof: For we know it is Your Majesties desire, that nothing might be done, by any of Your Officers or Ministers that Act under You, Sine figura Justitiae, & warranto Legis. An other is intituled, An Act for erecting and establishing a Post-Office: And this being likewise Le­gally setled, will be of very great use to all Your Ma­jesties People, and especially Your Merchants, for holding Intelligence with their Correspondents, Fa­ctors and Agents in Foreign parts, Litterae sunt indices animi, and without the safe and speedy dispatch and conveyance of their Letters, they will never be able to time their business, nor carry on their Trades to an equal advantage with the Merchants of other Coun­tries. The other Bill provides for the increasing Your Majesties ordinary and constant Revenue by the [Page 29] grant of an Impost to be taken upon Ale, Beer, and other Beveredges therein particularly mentioned and expressed; To hold to your Majesty for life, which God long continue▪ and as it is the desire of your Com­mons, that your Majesty might never be necessi­tated to resort to any extraordinary or unparlia­mentary wayes and means, for the raysing of money upon your People; So they likewise acknowledg it to be their duties, to support and uphold, to the ut­most of their Powers, the Honour and Grandure of your Majesties Royal State and Dignity.

And for a further evidence of your Commons duti­full affections to your Majesties most dear and Royal Person, they have passed another Bill, for the raysing of seventy thousand Pounds for your Majesties fur­ther supply; All which Bills I am commanded humbly to present your Majesty withall, and to pray your gracious acceptance thereof, and your Royal assent thereunto

There are other Bills likewise of Publick concern­ment which have passed both Houses, and do now attend upon your Majesty, waiting for your Royal assent. The one is Intituled, An Act for the At­tainder of several Persons, guilty of the horrid Murther of his late sacred Majesty, your Royal Father of ever bles­sed Memory. There is another Bill Intituled, An Act for Confirmation of Leases and Grants from Colledges and Hospitals. This will tend much to the quieting of many mens Estates, that in the late unhappy times were enforced to renew, and change their Estates much for the worse, were it not for the favour your Majesty intends them in this Bill.

There is another Bill to prohibit the Exportation of Wool, Wooll-fells, Fullers Earth, or any other scour­ing Earths, Woollen Manufactures, besides the Du­ties they pay your Majesty for your Customs [Page 30] here at home, have great impositions laid upon them in forraign parts where they are vented: In the Low-Countries sixteen or seventeen per cent. and in Portu­gal Twenty per cent at the least. But those, who for their own private base filthy lucre sake, having no re­gard or respect unto the publick good, that steal over the Materials of which those Manufactures are made, pay not one penny either here or there, and by that means strangers do make those Manufactures of our wool upon such easie termes, that they can afford and do under-sel your Merchants, which is the occasion of a double loss. First, to your Majesty in your Customs, and in the next Place to your people, who are there­by disheartened and discouraged, and in a short time, if not prevented, will be utterly beaten out of that Ancient native Staple trade, upon which many thou­sands of Families do wholly depend for all their live­lihood and subsistence.

There is another Bill intituled, an Act for prohi­biting the planting, setting or sowing of Tobacco in England and Ireland. This Climate is so cold that it never comes to any maturity or perfection: for we find by experience, though it be never so well healed, made up with the greatest art and skil that possible can be, yet it is impossible, after it is made up into the Roll, to keep it and preserve it from putrifying above three or four moneths at the most; and there­fore Physitians, even those that love it best, and use it most, conclude generally, that it is unwholsome for mens bodies: Besides many other great damages and inconveniencies will follow upon it, if it should be permitted. The abatement of your Majesties Custome, The destruction of your Plantations a­broad, The discouraging of Navigation, And so con­sequently the decay of Shipping, which are the Walls and Bulwarks of your Majesties Kingdom.

[Page 31] There is another Bill Intituled, an Act for the ta­king away the Court of Wards and Liveries, to­gether with tenures in Capite, Knight- Service, te­nures and Purveyances. This Bill Ex re nata may pro­perly be called a Bill of Exchange: for, as care is there­in taken for the case of Your people; So the supply of that part of your Majesties Revenue, which former­ly came into your Treasury by your tenures, and for your Purveyances, is thereby likewise fully provided for by the grant of another imposition to be taken upon Ale, Beer, and other Liquors, To hold to your Majestie, your Heires and Successors for ever: And yet they should not look upon the considerations mentioned in this bill, as a full compensation and recompence for your Majesties parting with two such Royal Prerogatives and ancient flowers of your Crown, if more were not implyed then is expressed. For, Royal Sir, Your Tenures in Capite are not only turned into a Tenure in Soccage (though that alone will for ever give your Majestie a just Right and title to the labour of our Ploughs, and the sweat of our browes) But they are likewise turned into a Tenure in Corde: what your Majestie had before in your Court of Wards, you will be sure to find it hereafter in the Exchequer of your peoples hearts The King of Spaines Mines will sooner deceive him, then this Revenue will fail you: for his Mines have bottomes, but the deeper your Majestie sinkes your self into the hearts and affections of your people, the greater you will find your Wealth to be, and the more invincible your Strength.

Royal Sir, We have nothing more to offer or to Ask, but must conclude all our work this Parliament with an humble and thankful acknowledgement of Gods infinite Goodness and mercie in Restoring your Majestie to your Royal and Imperial Crown, [Page 32] Throne and Dignitie; And for making you the Re­storer of that, which is dearer unto us then our lives, Our Religion; in which through Gods blessing and Gracious assistance we are resolved to live and dye. As likewise for restoring us to our Magna Charta Li­berties having taken the charge and care of them into your own heart, which is our greatest security, and more then a thousand confirmations

Royal Sir, You have denied us nothing we have asked this Parliament; indeed you have out-done your Parliament by doing much more for us, then we could agree amongst our selves to ask, and therefore must needs be a happy Parliament: This is a healing Parliament, A Reconciling Peace-ma­king Parliament, A blessed Parliament, A Par­liament, Propter excellentiam, that may truly be called Parliamentissimum Parliamentum: no man can say, that hath made the most curious search into Books or Re­cords, that there ever was such a Parliament as this; And its our unspeakable joy and comfort that no man can say, so long as your Majestie lives, but we may have such another; for you have set your Royal Heart upon it, to do your people good.

And as we have nothing more to say, so we have nothing more to do, but that which will be a doing as long as we have a being; The pouring out our soules unto Almighty God for your Majesties Long, Long, Long, and most happy, blessed, Glorious and Prosperous Reign over us.