lates and cabin Counfellours that ufurpt of late, when as they fhall obferve yee

in the midd❜ft of your Victories and fucceffes more gently brooking writt'n exceptions against a voted Order, then other Courts, which had produc't nothing worth memory but the weake oftentation of wealth, would have endur'd the least fignifi'd dislike at any fudden Proclamation. If I fhould thus farre prefume upon the meek demeanour of your civill and gentle greatneffe, Lords and Commons, as what your publisht Order hath directly faid, that to gainfay, I might defend my felfe with eafe, if any. fhould accufe me of being new or infolent, did they but know how much better I find ye efteem it to imitate the old and ele

gant humanity of Greece, then the barbarick pride of a Hunnish and Norwegian ftatelines. And out of thofe ages, to whose polite wifdom and letters we ow that we are not yet Gothes and Jutlanders, I could name him who from his private house wrote that discourse to the Parlament of Athens, that perfwades them to change the forme of Democraty which was then establisht. Such honour was done in thofe dayes to men who profeft the ftudy of wisdome and eloquence, not only in their own Country, but in other Lands, that Cities and Siniories heard them gladly, and with great refpect, if they had ought in publick to admonish the State. Thus did Dion Prufæus a ftranger and a privat Ora

tor

tor counfell the Rhodians against a former edict and I abound with other like ex-amples, which to fet heer would be fuperfluous. But if from the industry of a life wholly dedicated to ftudious labours, and those naturall endowments haply not the worst for two and fifty degrees of northern latitude, so much must be derogated, as to count me not equall to any of thofe who had this priviledge, I would obtain to be thought not so inferior, as your felves are fuperior to the most of them who receiv'd their counfell and how farre you excell them, be affur'd, Lords and Commons, there can no greater teftimony appear, then when your prudent fpirit acknow-ledges and obeyes the voice of reafon Q4

S,

from

from what quarter foever it be heard fpeaking; and renders ye as willing to repeal any Act of your own fetting forth, as any fet forth by your Predeceffors.

If ye be thus refolv'd, as it were injury to thinke ye were not, I know not what fhould withhold me from prefenting ye with a fit inftance wherein to fhew both that love of truth which ye eminently profeffe, and that uprightneffe of your judgement which is not wont to be partial to your felves; by judging over again that Order which ye have ordain'd to regulate Printing. That no Book, pamphlet, or paper shall be henceforth Printed, unleffe the fame be first approv'd and licenc't by fuch, or at least one of fuch as fhall be thereto appointed. For

that

that part which preferves juftly every mans Copy to himfelfe, or provides for the poor, I touch not, only wish they be not made pretenfes to abufe and perfecute honeft and painfull Men, who offend not in either of thefe particulars. But that other claufe of Licencing Books, which we thought had dy'd with his brother quadragefimal and matrimonial when the Prelats expir'd, I fhall now attend with such a Homily, as fhall lay before ye, firft the inventors of it to bee those whom ye will be loath to own; next what is to be thought in generall of reading, whatever fort the Books be; and that this Order avails nothing to the fuppreffing of fcandalous, feditious, and libellous Books, which were mainly in

tended