Echos from the Sixth Trumpet, Part 12 – Part 13
A Si quis, or Queries, with other Verſes annexed. Imprinted in the Year 1648.
HEre ſhould have been inſerted Collections our of an Addreſs entituled, A Speech without door; but it is quite loſt. The following Si quis preſented to the Members of Parl…ament in their ſingle Capacities, related to the Author's particular Intereſt, and was compoſed in an unuſual mode, in hope it might have inclined ſome of them to provoke the reſt to take notice of that which had been often preſented unto them in an uſual and more ſerious manner. Much may be thereby collected to evidence how moſt Parliament men ſtood affected as to the Execution of Juſtice about that time. This was laid down at the Parliament door.
That day in which Victorious Cromwel ſent
His firſt Expreſs (to your great wonderment)
Of Hamilton's Defeat; which whilſt a Scot
Then living, liveth, will not be forgot;
Ev'n on that day, before your feet I ſpread
A ſad Petition, humbly prefaced
By theſe enſuing lines:
He that is proſtrate on the floor,
Lies there whence he can fall no lower;
So does this Orator of your.
Petitions he hath oft convey'd
Into your hands, yet finds no aid;
Theſe therefore at your feet are laid.
There let them not neglected lye,
Nor unregarded paſs them by,
But view them with a gracious eye.
And let our Parents not provoke
Their Children, till offence be took,
By which their patience may be broke.
Conſider thoſe who lye below;
For you ſhall reap what you do ſow,
And find ſuch Mercy as you ſow.
Refreſh their Spirits who are ſad;
As GOD this day hath made you glad
By thoſe good tydings you have had.
Among the reſt, this Beadſman hear,
Who feels the wants which they but fear,
Who dread the effects of this moiſt year.
And blame him not, that thus he ſhows
His Cauſe as well in Verſe as Proſe,
And in a path untrodden goes:
For, ſcarce Earth, Water, Air or Fire
Enjoyes he, or wherewith to hire
That Pittance Nature doth require.
And men in danger to be drown'd,
Lay hold on any trifle found,
To reconveigh them ſafe aground.
Then this annexed Paper view,
And let him favour'd be of you,
As that which he avers, is true.
Or, if for what he here prefers
His Suit, there ſtand Competitors,
Let it be neither his nor theirs,
But as moſt equitable it appears.
To my Petition fixt, I for your view
Left this upon the Pavement, and withdrew,
In hope ſome kind hand would have been extended
To take it up, that it might be commended
To free debate. But ſix dayes now are gone,
And GOD ſince then the Mercy lately ſhown,
Hath more then doubled on you; yet here I
Still at your door unheard, unheeded lye,
And have as yet not ſo much favour'd bin
As to be told who took my Paper in
Of private Scrutenies grown therefore weary,
I have in publike now ſet up this Query.
Your Houſe receiving notice twelve months ſince,
Of my long ſuffring, and my Indigence,
(Occaſion'd in your Service) thought it fit
To ſome Selected Members to commit
The finding an Employment to ſupply
Subſiſtence, till my great neceſſity
Might be removed, by diſcharging that
Which is to me yet owing by the State.
I (having long without ſucceſſe attended)
Stand at this preſent by them recommended
Unto a Place nam'd, wherein there appears
With me, nor few, nor mean Competitors;
And ſome (to vacate your intent thereby)
Have alſo term'd it a Monopoly.
I humbly make Queries.
"Firſt, Whether he that's well known to have bin
"Foe to the Cauſe you are engaged in,
"Standing Competitor with him that's known
"To hazard for it all that was his own,
"Can be preferr'd without a wrong to you,
"And an entrenchment on the other's due?
"Next, Whether a Competitor defam'd
"For breach of Truſt (by whomſoever nam'd)
"Ought rather by your Votes to be befriended,
"Then he who to your Houſe is recommended
"By her own Members, and 'gainſt whom no man
"Exhibit juſtly an Impeachment can?
"Then whether he your Grace deſerveth beſt,
"Who hath for you loſt all his Intereſt
"In outward things; or they whoſe Wealth is more
"Since our diſtractions then it was before?
"And laſtly, Whether ought may be compris'd
"Among things judg'd to be Monopoliz'd,
"When all the Profits which from thence ariſe,
"Are brought into the Publick Treaſuries,
"And whereof neither one alone, or few,
"But all men likewiſe have their proper due?
Conſider well, I humbly pray of theſe
Few Queries; and then do as you ſhall pleaſe.
For, though my hopes in theſe poor Suits may fail,
I ſhall in what is my chief aim prevail.
Yea, ere this Land hath Reſt, a day will be,
In which there ſhall be ſome regard of me;
And then, that which is now perus'd with Jeers,
Shall fill their ſcornful Readers full of fears.
Theſe Verſes next following, were upon the ſame Occaſion preſented to ſeveral Members of the Houſe of Commons, repairing thither the 23d of December 1648, being the next day after their Humiliation, with an Imprinted Petition thereto annexed.
THey who at Rich mens threſholds begging lye,
(Though long neglected) wil prolong their cry
Till they an anſwer get, and ſo will I.
I know it is not Eight and thirty year
Since firſt I was an humble Suiter here;
And yet to me it ſeems as if it were.
Dayes, Months and Years I ſadly waiting ſtand,
Yet no man ſpeaks a Word, none lends a Hand
To help me, though but Juſtice I demand.
And therefore, ſuch as know me, and my Caſe,
Obſerve it to the ſcandal of that Place,
Whoſe guilt I bluſh for, as my own diſgrace.
But now I hope the Pool which heretofore
Cur'd ſome days none, or one, (and few days more)
Is mov'd ſo, that one day will cure a ſcore.
And that he proſecutes not his Affairs
Unſeaſonably, who to a Means repairs
New ſanctifi'd, with Faſtings and with Prayers.
Excuſe me then, that thus I do forelay,
And (as it were) arreſt you in the way
Unto the Houſe of Parliament this day.
And (whatſoe're this morning is deſign'd
To be debated there) ſome minutes find
To hear that Prayer which is herewith join'd.
Yea, ſpare a little time to do him right,
Who (having ſerv'd you with a heart upright)
Seeks but his own, that you enjoy it might.
For, 'tis a loſs to you, that he or they
Who could, and did for you lend, give and pay,
Should ſcarce have bread ſufficient for the day.
And 'tis to your diſhonour too, that ſuch
Who to ſecure you, Goods nor Lives did grutch,
Should want, whilſt your betrayers are grown rich.
If you in your Grand Work the worſe ſucced
For doing of this Charitable deed,
Leave me hereafter quite out of your Creed.
Or, if they long thrive, who as heretofore
Shall ſtill defer to hear and help the poor,
Kick me and my Petitions out of door.
'Tis now within your Walls, and I expect
It will be there this day with good effect,
Though ſome ſhould think it merited neglect.
For of that Criſis 'twill a ground-work be,
Whereby I ſhall undoubtingly foreſee,
What will become of other men and me.
Things preſent at ſome points of time foreſhew
Things future; and unleſs miſtake I do,
That which this day produceth, will do ſo.
That which was predicted in the laſt lines, hath accordingly ſucceeded, and juſtly; for that expreſſed in the Petition annexed to the preceding Verſes, was in effect that which next follows.