YOu know I seldom make Speeches , yet ( my Lords ) every thing would live ; and now I must either find a Tongue , or lose my Head . I am accus'd for sitting here , when your Lordships fled to the Army ; Alas , my Lords , I am an old man , I must sit ; you may ride or run any whither , but I am an old man . You voted them Traytors who left the House , and went to York ; they told us then they were forc'd away by Tumults : Do not You say so too ? were they Traytors for going , and am I a Traytor for staying ? 's Death ( my Lords ) what would you have me do ? hereafter I 'le neither go nor stay . I have served you 7 years , what have you given me , unless part of a Thanksgiving Dinner , for which you made me fast once a Month ? I was fed like a Prince at the KING'S cost , twice every day , ( long before some of you were born ) and this KING continued , nay , out-did his Father in heaping favours upon me : Yet ( for your sakes ) I renounc'd my Master when he had most need of me ; voted against him , swore against him , hired men to fight against him : I confess , I my self never struck at him , nor shot at him ; but I prayed for those that did : I gave my Tenants their Leases Fine-free , if they would rise and resist the KING . And yet ( my Lords ) after all this , must I be a Traytor ? Have I not sworn for you over and over again ? You sent me on your Errands to Oxford , to Vxbridge , to Newcastle , to Holdenby ; you hurried me up and down as if I had been a King : You made me carry a world of Propositions , I brought them all safe and sound ; what you bad me say , I spake to a syllable ; and had the KING ask'd me how old I was , without your Commission I should not have told him , and yet ( my Lords ) I am an old man . Remember how I stuck to you against Strafford and Canterbury ; some of you shrunk at Strafford's Tryal , that your Names were like to be posted with Malignants ; and for Canterbury , many of you would have had him live , my Lord of Northumberland and others would have no hand in his Blood , but I gave you the casting voice , which sent him packing into another World ; and yet now would you send me after him ? Have I not sate with you early and late ? When the Parliament tumbled , and tossed , and rolled it self , on this side , and on that side , still I was for the Parliament ; though I staid here with Presbyterian Lords , yet when you return'd I was firm for you . All the other Lords left you in the House when Sir Thomas's Chaplain gave thanks for your return ; but I staid and pray'd with you , and am ( for ought I know ) as great an Independent as any of you all . I rejoyced with you , fasted , sung Psalms , prayed with you , and ( hereafter ) will run away with ye . Nay , I had done it now , but who knew your minds ? If ye meant I should follow ye , why did ye not wink upon me ? Think ye I could run away by instinct ? My Lords , you know I love Dogs , and ( though I say it ) I thank God I have as good Dogs as any man in England ; now ( my Lords ) if a Dog follow me when I do not call him I bid him be gone ; if I call him and he comes not , then I beat him ; but if I beat him for not coming when I never call'd him , you 'l think me mad ; 's Death ( my Lords ) 'T is a poor Dog is not worth the whistling .

But perhaps my fault is not meer staying here , but being active in your absence , because in my Robes and Collar of SS. I brought up Mr. Pelham the Commons new Speaker ; why , what if I did ; Is not Mr. Pelham my own Cousin ? would your Lordships have me uncivil to my kindred ? why might not I entertain the new Speaker as well as Sir Robert Harley intreat us to admit him ? Mr. Pelham is none of Sir Robert's Cousin , and yet Sir Robert is an old man .

I hear some say , that I was forward to begin a new War , that my Hand is to all the Warrants for listing Men and Horse ; and in order thereunto I voted His Majesty should come to London . 'T is true ( my Lords ) I did give my Vote for the KING's coming hither ; but wherefore was it ? 't was onely to come to chuse a new Speaker : what would ye have us dumb , and sit here like Ferrets ? My Lords , I love to hear men speak ; and all the Lawyers told me , No King , no Speaker ; that either the Commons must name their Speaker , and the KING approve him ; or the KING name him , and the Commons approve him ; no King , no Speaker And so I was for the King , that is , for the Speaker .

Then ( my Lords ) observe the manner of his coming : the KING was to come according to the Covenant ; mark ye that ; I was still for my Oaths : let him come when he will , if the Covenant fetch him , he had as good stay away . And yet men cry shame on the Covenant ; those that took it do cast it up again ; and those that refuse it have given a world of Arguments that it is unreasonable ; which reasons our Assembly ( like a Company of Rascals ) never yet answer'd . I know ( my Lords ) many of our Friends never took this Oath , but they refus'd it out of meer Conscience ; shall Malignants Consciences be as tender as ours ? why , what do they think our Consciences are made of ? But ( my Lords ) suppose this Oath be unreasonable ; can we do nothing but we must give reason for it ; this is as bad as the House of Commons , who when we deny to pass any Ordinance , presently send to know our reasons , though themselves give no reasons for demanding ours . And so Malignants would have reasonable Oaths ; only here 's the difference , the House of Commons do use to demand Reasons , and Malignants desire to be suffer'd to give Reasons . My Lords , I love not this giving of reasons , though I hold the Covenant is extreme reasonable ; for as some Malignants take it to save their estates , so we give it to make them lose their estates ; both love the estate , and both hate the Covenant . Thus ( my Lords ) we have Reason for this Oath , and Your Lordships have No Reason to make me a Traytor while I give my Vote according to the Covenant .

As for signing Warrants to raise a New War , I wonder you 'l speak of it ; have not you all done it a hundred times ? how many Reams of Paper have we subscrib'd to raise Forces for King and Parliament ? 'T is known I can scarce write a word besides my Name : Cannot a Man write his own Name without losing his Head ? If I must give account for what I set my hand to , Lord have mercy upon me ! I see now my Grandfather was a wise Man , he could neither write nor read , and happy for me if I were so too . Come , come my Lords , be plain and tell me , do I look like one that would raise a New War ? I must confess I love a good Army , but if there be none till I raise it , Soldiers of Fortune may change their Names . No , ( my Lords ) 't was not I , 't was the Eleven Members would have rais'd a War ; you see they were guilty by their running away , I neither ran with them , nor with you , I do not like this running away , I love to stay by it ; and whether was for War , I that stayed in Town , or You that went to an Army ? The Devil of Horse did I list but in my New Coach , nor used any Harness but my Collar of S-S . And will you for this clap me in the Tower ? You sent me thither six years since for but handling a Standish , and now you 'l commit me for writing my Name ; what ( my Lords ) do you hate Learning ? Can you not end or begin a Parliament without sending me to the Tower ? Do your Lordships mean to make me a Lord Mayor ? If I needs must go , I pray you , send me home , to Baynard's Castle or Durham House , ( a damnable Fire burnt my House at Wilton , just that hour I mov'd Your Lordships to drive Malignants out of London . ) But why to the Tower ? am I company for Lyons ? do you think me a Cattamountain , fit to be shown through a Grate for two pence ? No , my Lords , keep the Tower for Malignants , they can endure it , some of them have been Prisoners 7 years ; they can feed upon bare Allegiance , please themselves with Discourses of Conscience , of Honour , of a Righteous Cause , and I know not what : But what 's this to me ? How will those Malignants look upon me ? nay , how shall I look upon them ? I confess some of them love my Son's company , they say he 's more a Gentleman , and has wit : 'sDeath ( my Lords ) must I now turn Gentleman ? I thought I had been a Peer of the Realm , and am I now a Gentleman ? Let my Son keep his Wit , his poor Father ne're got two pence by his Wit. Alas , ( my Lords ) what hurt can I do you ? Or what good will it do you to have my Head ? I am but a Ward , my Lord Say hath dispos'd of me these seven years ; I am no Lawyer , though the Littletons call me Cousin ; I am no Scholar , though I have been their Chancellour ; I am no States-man , though I was a Privy-Counsellour ; I know not what you mean by the Three Estates . Last June the Army demanded a Release for Lilburne , Musgrove , and Overton , I thought They were the Three Estates . I thank God I have a good Estate of my own , and I have the Estates of my Lord Bayning's Children , and I have my Lord of Carnarvan's Estate ; these are my Three Estates . And yet ( my Lords ) must I to the Tower ? Consider we are but a few Lords left , come , let 's love , and be kind to one another : The Cavaliers quarrell'd among themselves , beat one another , and lost all . Let Us be wiser , my Lords ; for had we fallen into their condition , my Conscience tells me we had look'd most wofully .

I perceive Your Lordships begin to think better of me , and I hear you would quit me if I were not charg'd by the Agitators and General Council of the Army . How ? Agitator ? 'sDeath , what 's that ? Who ever heard that word before ? I understand Classical , Provincial , Congregational , National , but for Agitator , it may ( for ought I know ) be a Knave not worth three pence : If Agitators cut Noble-men's throats , you 'l find the Devil has been an Agitator . As for the General Council , I hate the Name of it , 't is old and naught , and us'd to be full of Bishops ; those fellows have troubled us ever since the Apostles ; I thought we had made 'em poor enough , and is their Name come again to torment me ? My Lords , I understand not these General Councils , those of old ( they say ) were Christians , and these are Independents : What a damnable deal of Generalling is here ! General Assembly , General of the Army , General Council of the Army ; we never had quiet hour since we had so many Generals . Well , my Lords , these are hard times , and we make them worse with hard words , which neither we , nor our Fathers understood . Heretofore Bishops went Jure Divino , then Elders would be Jure Divino , and now Agitators will be Jure Divino ( Dam me , I think nothing is Jure Divino but God . ) Call you this a through Reformation ? what betwixt the Assemblers and the Agitators I am reform'd to meer skin and bone . My Lords , if these ‛ tators must rule the Kingdom , why are not we our selves Agitators ? why may not I make Oldsworth an Agitator ? His abilities and honesty are equal to most of 'em . But ( for ought I see ) Agitators will sooner be Earls of Pembroke and Montgomery , than we Agitators : for the Parliament leads the People , the Army leads the Parliament , Sir Thomas leads the Army , Cromwel leads Sir Thomas , Ireton leads Cromwel , Agitators will lead Ireton ; whither the Devil shall we all be led at last ?

My Lords , ye see I have spoke my mind ; I hope every week some of your Lordships will do the like ; and the Commons in this ( though in nothing else ) will follow the House of Peers .

But I have done , I have done , my Lords : Remember I beseech you I am an old man , I have been a Grandfather time out of mind , ( for I was so when this Parliament began ) and now must I be food for Agitators ? O my Lords , I have used the KING so ill , and He lov'd me so well ; and I have serv'd you so well , and you use me so ill , that no man is sorry for me : Therefore my Request is , that you would not think of sending me to the Tower , 'till some body pities me .