FOr so I can but now rightly call you all, though I know there be amongst you many worthy Lords, Knights and Burgesses; yet since all Domination and Lordship is cryed down by the People, I think it my Duty to lay down the vanity of my Titles at the feet of this Supreame Authority, and Sinke me. I hold it the best Pollicy so to doe; and the best honesty too; LORDS, EARLS, KINGS, DUKES are all but Markes of the [Page 4] Gentiles, and cannot be proper to us Christians, that should have wit enough to Rule our selves, and not exercise Lordship over our brethren, he that would be chief among you, let him be your ser­vant, Damme, I have been your Servant, and will be your servant till death, I am an elect Member of this House, and no Ruler; nei­ther have I any desire to Rule: for a Ruler should have his rule, 'Zblood, doe ye make a Carpenter, or a Coxcombe on me, that ye think Ile be a ruler; Sinck me, I grow Old, it is enough for me to Rule my Horse, and not to assume a Power to Rule others, for Ruling LORDS in an over-ruling scence, is a thing that stands nei­ther with reason, law, justice nor Christianity; D [...], I thinke [...] lawfully Elected, and have as good quallities as another, and therefore may claime, have, and make use of any Priviledge of Parliament, either in relation to my Person. Quallitie or Estate; Sink me and Damme, if I exercise Lordship over a worme: Judge me, I am as proud of Phillip Herbert, or Burgesse of Berkshire, as I am of Earle of Pembroke, and my Reason, (Mr. Speaker) is this, I was PHILLIP HERBERT before I was Earle of Pembroke, and now I am Burgesse for Berkshire, and I Barke not, and bawle not, (if I see occasion) as well as the best — of you all, then let the County that choose me their minister, and servant, complain of me, or turn me out, and choose another; No, Sink me, the Country ought not to be at the charge of keeping Doggs, and bark themselves, or feed their Dogges so high and lusty, that like Acteons, they devour their Masters: Pardon me, (Mr. Speak­er) I hope you doe not conceive that I call the Parliament Dogs, I speak concerning their vigillancy, to preserve their Masters E­states, and in that point, I may (in my blunt language) liken them to Doggs; but every like is not the same; Mr. Speaker, conceive me aright, I would have you not to be Doggs, but as dogges, that is as I conceive, not to be Dumb doggs; I shall ever hate a dumb Dogg, but SIR, I know you are no dumbe Dogge, because you are Speaker.

Gentlemen,—
I am now received in, and made a Member of this honorable House of Commons, though it be a thing strange, and not common in England for an Earl (as not long since I held my self to be) and a Member of the LORDS House to be made a Commoner, [Page 5]or removed from the upper end to the Lower end of the Table, I am not so void of Understanding, or common Scense, as not to think my self highly honored therwith, I am no respecter of Per­sons or Places Sir, I know how to humble my self, and doe ac­knowledge it my Duty, not onely to lay downe my Titles and Dignities, but my life and Honors for the Good of the Common-Wealth,— Damme, 'tis not my Wealth that I prize above the Common-Wealth, though I love both, and would doe my utter­most to preserve both, which I take to be the chief Cause of the Peoples chusing me to be their Representative; 'Tis true, I was formerly chosen Chancellor of Oxford, not onely by this honor­able House, but the House of LORDS then being, but considering my weak abillities in Divinity, being (I thank God) little troubl'd with the same, nor guilty of any more confused or confounding langvages, then my owne Mother-tongue, and for Arts and Scien­ces, they never shall trouble my head, I hold it my best Art and Science to preserve myself and my Estate, and get more if I can; Damme, he that cares not for his Wealth, can never care for the Common-Wealth, for how can he that will not doe good for himself, doe good for Others; Charity ought to begin at home Mr. Speaker.

Truly Gentlemen, I know not what errors are lately crept in­to that University, but at my last Visitation I think I plagu'd them to purpose; Confound me, they had as good to have been Visited with the plague as with me, for I spar'd none, right or rong, Dam­me, I think the University was never better weeded since it was a University, I pull'd up all the Popish Poppies, the Malignant may­weed, the thistles and hemlock that choaked the wheate, Damme, they had nigh choak'd me with fuming and swearing at them, a Pox of their Reasons, they were logick to me, for I could under­stand not one of them, and if I could, I would not, I had no such Order in my Instructions, I acted as vigorously as God would give me leave; I spar'd nere a sonne of Rome amongst them all, Damme, not my own Godson; 'Zblood, if my Father had been there a Schollar, and Popishly affected, (as I was told they were) he should have turn'd out with the rest, M. Speaker, I hate a turn-coat and a Black-coat too. I love a Buffe-coat, or Mistris Mays Petty-coat, better then Popish Canonicall coats, Damme, if ye [Page 6]were all of my minde (Gentlemen) you would pull down the Uni­versities, they are but the Nurses of Learning and Superstition; Damme, Learning and Superstition hath occasioned all these Warres, and Blood; Refuse me, I had rather be a Sculler then a Schollar, these Arts and Sciences (as they call them) are dangerous Enemies to the State, and steale and draw away the hearts and af­fections of the People from Martiall Affaires; and therefore (in my simple judgement) it would redound much to the strengthen­ing of the State, to change the property of them, and in stead of making them Nurceries of learning, to make them fencing Schools, or Nurceries of Warre; Damme, this Kingdom has more need of Warring then learning, for all Christendom threatens Us; therefore (Mr. Speaker) let us not alwayes be fooles, 'Zblood, I have so much witt in my Block-head, That if I see a storme a comming, I can provide for shelter, the very hooggs teach me that, Gentle­men, I hate human learning, Damme I can learne as good a lesson from a hogge, a horse, a Dogge or a Catt, as from the best Divine in England; Pox, am I not a lay-man? and can I lay out my time in in any thing better then lay learning; Besides I am a Statesman, (I know nothing to the contrary) but that I may state my Question then, That as I am no divine, so that J may not meddle any more with divinity, J am no ruler, and therefore, if they cannot learne the Witt to rule themselves, let them be unrul'd; for J have done my part with them; Gentlemen, J hold the Chancellorship a fitter place for my Man Oldisworth, or Mr. Peters then my self, and there­fore if your wisdoms think fit, J desire to be discharged therefrom, because the self-denying Ordinance forbids (as J take it) to hold two Places in the Common-wealth, therefore J desire to leave the one to the intent, that J may minde, and apply my self the better to the other; Damme, J cannot serve two masters, the Church and the State too, God and the — Parliaments; if it please this honorable House, (J conceive) one Office is enough for one man, therefore J shall betake my self only to doe my Businesse in this House, that the County that chuse me may be the better for it; Gentlemen, J need not be asham'd to doe my businesse in this House, and was never backward ye know in any good office, and would straine my self as much for the good of the State, as Alder­man Adkins, or any Member of you all; & shall untrusse my purse­strings [Page 7]too, upon any just and honest occasion; Gentlemen, as J have alwayes lov'd you dearly, so J hope you will love me a­gaine, for my great Affection to you, should draw your great Af­fection to me, and indeed, we are brethren, and brethren ought to love, and agree with one another; Damme, the very Devills can agree with one another, and cannot wee? 'Zblood, are we worse then Devills? Our grand Enemy (the King) is now cut off, and must wee needs be enemyes to one another, and cut off one another too; Beleeve me, Lilburne deserves to be hang'd, and Overton to be turn'd over a ladder, and Prince the Cheesemonger to be serv'd in the same kinde, as the Prince of Wales, that they dare be so impu­dent bold as to tax the Parliament, or the Counsell of STATE with injustice, or Tyranny: Damme, 'Tis at least Treason and Nonscense but to think so, and, Sink me, 'tis a thousand times worse to say so, or to write so, and shew the People reason for it too; A Pox of all reasons, and reasonings for me, J never lov'd it in all my life; Zounds, break a mans head, and give him a reason for it, as the Scot serv'd me, when he switch'd me over the face, broke my head with my own staffe of office, and then gave me a reason for it, and that was all the satisfaction J could have for that Af­front, Damme I hate a Scott, as I hate a reason, and hate a reason as I hate the Devill, Reasoning is neither better nor worse then Treating, and we all Know, TREATING is a Malignant and an Enemy to the State, and if the Treaty had taken effect, 'Zblood we might all have been hang'd and Damm'd before this: No, reason is dangerous in a State; neither is the State bound to render any reason to Lilburne, Overton, or any body else for their Actions, or what ever they doe; had it not been for Reasoning, wee had setled the Suprcame Authority on the People long agoe, and then we had had Peace, and a setled STATE; How simple is it to thinke that a Parliament is unjust, or can erre, thats a likely mat­ter indeed? No, Parliaments are chosen by the People, because they cannot erre? KINGS may erre, as David, and the late King did; But when did you ever read in the Bible, that a Parliament could erre, or had erred. And thus I hope I have given you Satis­faction in this point.

For this your Act of Leavying Money, I give my free consent, Pray what can be done without money, Damme, Souldiers that [Page 8]fight for Money, must have money; and though J am no Souldier my self, yet Damme, I love a Souldier with all my heart, and he that fights for money, let him winne Money, and (Sinke me,) if he winnes it, let him weare it too; Zblood, where should we have money for Souldiers, but of the Countreys and Cities whom they fight to preserve; unlesse they would have us pay them out of our owne Estates; but surely there is none in this Honorable House, but has more Frugallity, or at least more Witt, then to part with any of their owne Estates; Doe we not labour, and spend our time for the Good of the Common-wealth, and shall the Common-wealth deny to spend their money for Us; Zblood, time is precious, (Mr. Speaker) and God refuse me, wee have spent a long time in their Service (at least Eight yeers) and can­not so much as have a good word for our paines; Ram me, Sinck me, and Damme me, it were a good deed to give over, and leave them to themselves, and then we should have a Kingdome well Governed; Damme, I am out of breath, and therefore will con­clude my Speech.