A SPEECH Made to His EXCELLENCY The Lord General MONCK And the COUNCIL of STATE, At Fishmongers-Hall in LONDON.
The Thirteeth of
April, 1660. At which time they were. Entertained by that Honorable COMPANY.
After a SONG of difference betwixt the Lawyer, the Soldier, the Citizen and the Countrey-man.
The CHORUS being ended. Enter the
Ghost of
MASSIANELLO Fisher-man of
NAPLES.
IS your
Peace just? What rock stands it upon?
Conscience and
Law make the best
Ʋnion.
If you gain
Birthrights here by
Bloud and
Slaughter,
Though you
sing now, you'l
howle for ever after:
Trust my Experience, one that can unfold
The strangest truest Tale er'e was told,
In my
degree, few men shall overtake me,
I was as
great as
Wickedness could make me;
This
heart, this
habit, and this
tongue to boot
Commanded
Forty thousand Horse and Foot,
In three weeks time, My fortune grew so high
I could have match'd my
Fishers Family
With the best
Bloud in
Naples: Right and
Wrong,
And
Life and
Doath attended on my
Tongue,
Till (by a quick verticitie of
Fate)
I find too son what I repent too late;
And, though a
Rebell in a righteous clothing,
My glow-worm glories glimmer'd into nothing.
Thus fell that
Fisher-man that had no fellow,
I am the Wandring Shade of
Massianello;
Who, since I was into
Perdition hurl'd,
Am come to preach this Doctrine to the world.
Rebels though backs with Power, and seeming Reason,
Time and Success, shall fell the fate of Treason.
But stay!
[...]e looketh up to the Picture of Sir
William Walworth (who stab'd
Jack Straw) that hangeth over the head of my Lord General.
what
Picture's this hangs in my sight?'Tis valiant
Walworth, the
King-saving Knight:
That stab'd
Jack Straw: Had
Walowrth liv'd within
These four Months, where had
Jack the Cobler been?
It was a bold brave deed, and act in Season,
Whilest he was on the Top-branch of his
Treason.
But from that
Shaddow,
To the Lord General.
dropping down My eye,I see a
Substance of like
Loyalty.
IF long renowned
Walworth had the fate
To save a
King, You have to save a
State;
A Paralle
[...]
And, who knows
what by Consequence? The Knight
By that brave Deed, gain'd every man his Right:
And you, by this, may gain each Man his due,
Not onely Trusty Hearts, but
Traitors too:
He
drew bloud, you did not; 'tis all one sense,
There's but a
Straws breadth in the difference:
He sav'd the
Town from being burnt, and
You
Have rescued it from
Fire and
Plunder too:
He was this
Companies good
Benefactor,
And
You have been their
Liberties Protector;
For which, I heard them say, they would engage
Their States, and Blouds, and Lives against all rage
That shall oppose Your
just Designes: And that
You are the welcomst Guest,
ever came at
This Table; they say, All they can exhibit
Is not so much a
Treatment as a
Tribute:
They call you the First step to
England's Peace,
The True fore-runner of our Happiness:
And, joyn'd with these great
Councillors,
To the
[...]cil of St
[...]
You areOur best
Preservatives in
Peace and
War.
You have a Loyal
Heart, a Lucky
Hand,
Elected for the Cure of this Sick Land,
Who by
Protectors and
unjust Trustees,
Hath been Enslav'd, and brought upon her Knees:
We humbly pray this may be thought upon
Before the
Kingdoms Treasure be quite gon:
And hope you will (though
Envy look a squint)
When all is fit, Put a Just
Steward in't.
Spoken by WALTER YOUKCNY.
CHORUS.
Then may your fame out-live all Story,
And prove a Monument of Glory;
Kings and Queens (as Tribute due)
On their knees shall pray for You,
Whilst all Truè hearts confess with Tongue and Pen,
A
Loyal Subject is the best of Men.
LONDON, Printed by W. Godbid over against the Anchor Inn in Little Brittain. 1660.