The Cuckoo's-neſt AT Weſtminster.
WHo is it amongſt us that hath not heard theſe Cuckoes at Weſtminſter? an Ayrie of ſuch Ominous Owly Birds, that the like was never before ſeen in this Kingdom; that have kept a great cackling, and been long and Cloſe ſitters, but have hatch'd nothing but Cockatrice egges, vile Treaſons, addle Ordinances and the like to enſnare and enſlave a free-born People, making of them no better then Hedge-Sparrows, to nurſe up (with their wealth) the Baſtard Iſſe of their Pernicious Plots againſt King, Church and Kingdom; the Common-People, that willingly fed them, and lent them not onely Hands, but Lives and Eſtates, being now (for their great kindneſs) juſtly become a Prey to the Ravenous and griping Clawes of theſe Canniball Cu•koos (the Parliament and Army) that now are devouring them, (after they have Pulled and Polled them to the bare skinnes) are now feeding upon their fleſh, and picking their very bones, Killing, Deſtroying, and Robbing them: and if this be not enough to provoke the People to Curſe theſe unnaturall Vipers, and to loath all future Parliaments to the worlds end, I have loſt my ſcenſes; none will fear them, none will love them, none will obey them, all will hate them, all will deſpiſe them, all fight againſt them.
Let us now conſider what manner of Birds theſe be: and we ſhall find them not Kuck•es onely, but other birds of Prey, as Ʋultures, Harpyes, Puttocks, Oſtriches, Owles, Martyns, D•wes and4 ſuch like Ominous and unclean Birds that with their huge Bodyes and balefull Wings, have obſcured our King; our Peace; our Happineſs, and hid all joy and comfort from us; theſe are all Birds of a Feather, that ſit in Counſell and conſpire together againſt the Eagle, the Phaenix, the Turkey, the Pea-hin, the Turtle, the Swan, the Canary, and ſweet-ſinging Nighting••ll, who being all too credulous to beleeve the feined bablings of theſe Sate-Decoyes, are now covered and intangled in their Nets caught in their Pit-falls, and all their goods and feathers pulled from them by Lime-twigg-Ordinances.
The•e Birds of Prey flock together at Weſtminſter; and have for almoſt Eight yeers rooſted themſelves there, even till they had de•yled their very Neſts, and were forced to flie abroad till they were cleans'd and yet ſit brooding, and hatching their pernicious Plotts and Treaſons, Cocatrice Ordinances, bald buzzardly Votes, contradicting Orders, and changling Declarations, both againſt the Laws of Nature, Reaſon, Conſcience and Religion, and have Uſurped all Power and Authority from and over their Lawfull and undoubted Soveraigne, doing their utmoſt to deprive both him and his Poſterity of their Hereditary Fights and Succeſſions ▪ denying to acknowledge him for their Head, forbidding Adreſſes to be made unto Him ▪ or Meſſages to be received from Him, by wich they have changed and abandoned the Nationall and Fundamentall Laws of the Land (the only ligaments and ſinewes of a Kingdom) being an Act ▪ not onely of the higheſt Treaſon that can be; but a Crime that diveſts them of all their Priviledges, un-Parliaments them, and makes them all guilty of the abhorred ſin of Perjury in breaking Proteſtations, Oathes and Covenants, and lyable to a juſt Cenſure, and conviction of Theft, Treaſon & Rebellion; for which they can no otherwiſe ſatisfie the King, Lawes or People, but by the tribute of their Roundheads; too ſlight a Recompence for ſuch abhorred and Trayterous Crimes.
Therefore the People may now ſee (without ſpectacles) how groſly they been diſceived, and juggled out of their Lives and Eſtates; 'tis true the Parliament at the firſt (convened by Royall authority) was a lawfull and (for ought I know) a conſcienſcious Parliament, and the whol Body (being aptly and compleatly united together in the Members, without foreable diſlocation,5 or falſe Election) was queſtioneſs the higheſt indicature in, this Kingdom; But ſince Edge-hill Fight, this juncto (or Pretended Parliament, acting in open Hoſtility, & fighting againſt their King. ) abandoning their Head are no more a Parliament, but the Body of a Parliament (without a head) a monſter, a very Cuckoos-neſt ▪ a combined medly o•Traytors and Rebe•ls, and far different from the Nature of a Parliament, (by reaſon of their Luciferian Pride, to be flung down to hell) and to be diſerted by all Loyall Subjects, as disjoynted, ſevered and mangled in its members, (as deficient as their then Generall) uncapable of any juſt Act ▪ but wading on in blood (by an u•urped, Treaſonous, Tyrannicall and overawing Power, having no dirivation from the King, but their own ▪ luſts,) therefore no Subject whatſoever hath any warrant (neither can they binde ▪ the Conſcience of any) to yeēld either Active or Paſſive obedience to any Act or Ordinance, becauſe they illegally Act, contrary to all Preſidents of former Parliaments, and Parliamentary Power, and are no longer the viſible Repreſentatives of the Body Politique, and ſo muſt neceſſarily be guilty of all the innocent blood ſhed theſe 6 ▪ yeers in this Kingdom, and ſtill ſhedding in moſt Counties in England, theſe Rebells (being ſo fleſh'd in Blo•d & Rapine,) thy are reſolv'd to goe through-ſtitch in their abhorred Rebellion (though they ruine 3. Kingdoms) by their inhumane butcheries, being rewarded with a large ſum for ſhedding blood in the City, incouraged & rewarded for murdering the S•rey-Petitioners, the Kentiſh and Eſſex men, for delivering (in a legall way) Petitions for redreſſe of their ſeve•a•l agrievances: what can any rationall man think, but that they defer to murder their King ▪ untill ſuch time as they have firſt murdered and deſtroyed all his Loyall Subjects.
That when the Army could not have an opportunity to plunder the City, (as nothing ſo ſure as they intended it) they were hired by Martyn, Mildmay, Veine, and the reſt of that Neſt to pick a Quarrell with the Countrey, that they might Plunder and unundoe them (when then they had miſſed of their aime in the City) as now they doe in Eſſex, Kent, and all the Kingdome over ▪ Killing ▪ Plundering, annd triumphing over all they are able to Conquer ▪ ſo that between both Partyes (Royaliſts and Roundheads, as between the good and bad thief,) the poor Coun••ey muſt be crucifyed.
6The chief fomentors that are Regicides, and moſt active in our deſtruction in the upper Houſe, are the Lord Say, Pembroke, Mancheſter, Kent, Warwick, Denbigh, Stamford, Wharton, Grey, theſe alwayes Cuckoo forth one Tune, no K•ng, no King; in the lower Houſe are a neſt of as evill birds, as ever hatch'd at Tyburne, and theſe are Lenthall, Mildmay, Scot, Challoner, Martyn, Weaver, Veine, Corbet, Cromwell, that cannot endure to heare the King ſo much as named in the Houſe; in the Synod of time-ſerving Prieſt-byters, there are Martiall, Burgeſſe, Stronge, Sedgwick, Vines, Love, Whittaker, Nye, that draw altogether in one yoak, againſt Monarchy, theſe teach Rebellion in ſtead of Divinity, more Lies then Truth, more Blaſphemy then ſound Doctrine, and will have no King to reigne over them, except he be of the Royall Proginy of Mrs. Parliament, or the Childe of Reformation: in the Army there are another neſt of Birds, but not of the ſame feather, and theſe be the Elect forſooth, the Precious babes that are hayl fellow with God Almighty, ſee ſtrange Viſions, and are poſſeſſed with unerring ſpirits, that whatſoever they doe, (tho never ſo impious and wicked,) is lawfull; and theſe are Peters, Dell, Erbury, Knowles, Goodwin, Symſon, &c. The firſt ranck of theſe are Oxen, and the latter Aſſes, which the Parliament yoak in their Plow together, becauſe they are forbidden it in the old Law, and by that means avoyd Idolatry; but their Drivers are more charitable then theſe Beaſts, for they but kill our bodies, and rob us of our goods, but theſe Wolviſh cattell ſlay our ſoules, take away our good Names ▪ judge us, and condemn us to Hell; theſe are the charitable Saints, that have the mark of their brother Cain in their foreheads, Vagabonds that have no abiding places, but are hurryed with every winde from one uncertainty to another, and are conſtant in nothing but miſchief; theſe are the running Plague-ſores that infect the whole Nation, and cauſe ſwellings and Riſings in the Body of the Common-wealth; theſe are thoſe that ſow diſcord among brethren, and though (like Samſons Foxes) they are ty'd tayl to tayl, yet they carry a Fire-brand amongſt them that burnes up both Church and State in the mercyleſs and conſuming flames of an unnaturall and bloody warre; theſe are the diſturbers of our Iſrael, and hinderers of our Peace; old Foxes, & wilde Boares that root up our Vineyards, feeding themſelves fat on the Ruines of7 others; theſe, in ſtead of expelling out Papacy (but one Faction) have brought in five hundred damnable Sects, and ſet them a•l to devour Epiſcopacie, to bring in bleſſed Liberty to pull downe Monarchy, and ſet up Ariſtocracy, by which means they have advanced their Hypocriticall, Diabolical and pernicious Treaſons to this very day: Are not theſe Cuckoes worthy of a Cage? ſurely they be: But I ſhall leave this Neſt of Fow•e Birds to the Peoples ordering, having told them where it is, onely deſiring all Loyall People to ſecure their money from them, to provide Armes for their own defence, and rather chuſe to die like men, then live like ſlaves. But I will in ſtead of an Epi•ogue, give you a Dialogue to cure your Melancholly ▪