YOu are come (I thank you) to see me dye: and let me re­quest you to take my last Breath. I'll no set Speech; the long Parliament loaded you with those; (so many Speeches as, if orderly burnt, would brew two hundred Quarters of Malt:) & had sate speeching still, if his late Highness had not bad to Vn­house them. I spake none, neither in the Commons, nor in the other House: and yet I must either now speak or else hereafter for ever hold my peace. My Conscience, 'tis my Conscience speaks: And the first thing that is upon my spirit is the Killing of the Beares, for which the people bait m [...], and call me all the names in the Rain-bow. But did not David kill a Bear? did not the Lord Deputy Ireton kill a Bear? did not ano­ther Lord of ours kill five Beares and five Fidlers? may Beares be kill'd in Nottingham, in Leycester, and not in Surrey? You know I was high Sheriff of the County, and if I might not kill a few Bears why was I made Sheriff? I thought it our interest to let nothing live that would fight; and therefore we made an Act against Gock maches: others have kill'd far greater things with lesse Commission. But per­haps they'll say I strook at the Prerogative; for Kings and Protectors have a Priviledge when they find a good Mastive Dog, to clap their collar upon him and use him for the Game; and so if kill the Beares, hang the Dogs, no Bear no Dog. But think you the Preroga­tive would reach to Beares? or that Great Britain were the Isle of Dogs? are we, like S^t. Mallowes, guarded by Mastives? the French have ever made us their Apes, and u [...]till we follow their Doggs too? If an English Mastive get whelps in France they all prove Curres; (I wish our English Souldiers there may never turn French.) Can we forget that horrid Ac­cident when Major Generall Skippon came in a Horse-licter wounded to London? when he pass'd by the Brew-house near S. John's street, a Devillish Mastive flew (as at a Bear) at one of his Horses, and held him so fast by the stones, that the Horse grew mad as a mad dogg, the Souldiers so amaz'd that none had the wit to shoot the Mastive, but the Horse-licter born between two Horses toss'd the Major Generall like a Dog in a Blanket. Thus your Dogs use Horse and Man: And for [Page 2] Women, remember now Swash the abominable Mastive took a dispen­sation with an Elder's Maid. Nay, not a Sow in the streets by night, but the Watchmen's Dogs steal privately to her, which makes your Lon­don-Piggs have such round heads: and when I my self had my first Brew-house (which was at Pye-corner) I heard a Pig bark, where­by I knew 'twas a City Pig. Here's a sweet stir with Beares and Dogs, able to make a wise-man mad: for first they pretend to preserve their Dogs, yet rayl at me for shooting the Beares that kill those Dogs; and then tax me for killing the Beares, yet set their Dogs to tear the Beares in pieces. Yes, and the Man that ow'd the Beares now sues me for destroying his Goods. but what the Devil are Beares good for? They bragg of a Weapon-salve made forsooth of the fat of Beares killd in the Act of Generation, (though Beares never generate but by night when none can know it:) my Sword hath made some Wounds, let them anoynt the blade of my Sword and try how many Cavaliers 'twill cure. The Devill has a hand or a foot in this Salve if it come from Beares: for, you know the Beast with seaven heads and ten hornes had the foot of a Beare, whence peo­ple say a Beare has the Divel's foot: You think I meane the Beare at the Bridgefoot (for God sends meat and the Devil sends GOOKS:) I mean a Limb of the Devil, and is it a sin to destroy the Devil? George, was Sainted for killing a Dragon; (Saints of old like honest George us'd to kill Beasts, but now Saints commonly kill men;) the Dra­gon and Bear are Pictures of the same; for the Devil hath divers Sutes to put on; he wears not onely the Beast (a red Dragon, an Otter, a Bear) but a very Man, a Woman, in Silks, in Buff, in a long Mourn­ing Cloak (to hide his cloven foot) and too often a Saint or Angel of new light; yet then so like as one Devil to another. An Au­thor of Ours said the Beast's ten hornes are the Kings of Europe; which may bee the reason why the Members that voted against a King were so hot for Decimation: those Members were not the major part, but the Major Generall part: I confess that Author wrote after the King was beheaded, when our Liberties stood commit­ted to severall Keepers. And yet I would know that Member's name that would not be a King: every creature (above and below) hath a Monarch in his belly: the Devil would fain have bin King of Heaven, and Adam scorn'd to be King of the Earth, and each of his sonnes would be King of all the rest. And (to speak my Conscience) if the State should vouchsafe to name me King, I think I should not question the Elections no, though it were (as I hear the Persians once chose a [Page 3] King) by the neighing of a horse. But he that hath Horse may soon be a King; and therefore I love to save my Horse; but why with a vengeance should we save Beares that feed upon Horse-flesh? My Physician say's that an old fellow one Pliny told him, that a piece of Beares flesh will grow b [...]gger by boyling; wh [...]ch shewes the Devil and his Damme is in Beares; for all things else will boyl away to no­thing: had all my Beer had a good sound boyling, I had not dyed worth a pound of Hopps. Are these your Beasts of the Game? I pro­fesse I hate Gaming, there's an Act against it, though some of our own [...]lay deep as any, and the Gamesters made Di [...]e of some of Their bones who made that Act; (O who can tell how a man is us'd when once he comes to be a dry bone!) Something there is that Dice run now more false then ever, that so many new curses follow those Bones. Perhaps the Beares come not within the Ring of this Act against Gaming, yet both Dog and Bear are within the lists of the Act against Duells; and though they are out of the Act of Oblivion, yet some new Justices brought them within the Act for Marriages. 'Tis confess'd they fight but not for us; they are no part of the militia, and never paid so much as Pole money: they never with Lions were ad­mitted into the Tower, nor shew'd at Westminster among the fine Sights; nor ever reckon'd among the Crown Jewels. There were Propositions for bringing in Plate, mony, and Horse, but not for Beares. And yet now must England turn Greenland? the War has made it Red Land, and Funerals make it black Land, & our Ministers make it blew Land. But if I never answer for killing any thing but Beares I shall do well enough: Were I arraign'd, it could not be Murther, but Beare-slaughter: nay I killd them in my own defence, for they would have killd mee; which is more then can be said for putting many a thousand to death. O but they say I killd them not fairly, but shot them dead in cold blood? And am I the first that did so? have wee not done it over and over? I kild them as wee killd Lucas and Lisle, two as brave men as the King had any: what? would they have mee bayt them to death? do I look like a Beare-ward? or should I knock them in the head like an Oxe? there is a Major Generall can do that better then I. I remember one (now a great Lord) who speaking against Strafford, said, Beasts of Prey ought to have no Law: shall wee grant that to Beares which wee deny'd to Strafford? A Cavalier told mee that this was but a Quibble upon the word Law, for there is (said hee) no Law for Beasts, but that a man may kill them for his use, and the more sudden and less payn the better, and if a Hare or Stag have Law, that is, liberty to run, 'tis not for their but for our sakes, to prolong our sport in their destru­ction. [Page 4] However that Quibble was seasonable then, and did our wor [...] upon Strafford and Canterbury. But mark how both sides plead so mee; the one say's, Beasts of Prey must have no Law; the other say's There is no Law for Beasts: so both say 'tis lawfull for mee to kill the Beares. No matter how; hang them, shoot them, chop of their heads, send them to Jamaica, any way is best. For can there be Beasts more Malignant then Beares? I look'd but in my Almanack, and there I found two Doggs and two Bears among the Starrs; and those I dare say are Malignant Starrs; for within two lines the great Beare is call [...] Charles Wayn. By this you'l imagine Malignants are in Heaven; but wee and they shall scarce meet in one place: for els t'were madness in us to kill them, because thereby wee send them to bee happy. But They as well as Wee would fain live; and would have good Estates as they had before, and as Wee have now: 'tis in our Power whether They shall live but not whether wee our selves shall dye; for though our Army bee as strong to day as yesterday, yet our own Bodies draw nearer Death. Behold it in mee: and remember Naseby, which made us what wee are; how the King's best men, when the Victory was Theirs, took a bottomless fancy of running all away, having done the like before at Marston moore. I have known six-thousand (and no Cowards neither) fly all like Bedlems when no enemy was within seaventeen miles, and if they were all exam [...]n'd upon Oath they could not tell why. And they say that one poor wooden Horse at Troy did more then all our Army in the Indies. 'Tis certain no Woman is so fickle as an Army. I speake not for my self; for 'tis well known I have done my part; sure I have killd better things than Beares; and killd them as men should bee killd, eyther in the field or in a High Court of Justice: the best Cavalier among them all (the King himself) I Judg'd to the Block; my Lord Hewson is my witness, for hee sate next to mee. Per­haps they think my Lord Hewson and I not fit to bee Judges because of our Trades; but let them shew mee one Text of Scripture where Brew­ers and Shoomakers are forbidden to bee Judges. I confess in Juries of Life and Death wee except against a Butcher as blooded in slaying of sheep and Calves; but if hee onely kill Beares and Men hee may bee either a Juror or a Judge. I knew a Judge did use to mend Stockings; (I spare his name because hee did a Business for mee) and 'tis as law­full to mend Shooes as Stockings, and if a Judge may bee a Cobler, a Cobler may bee a Judge. As for mee, 'tis true I have born a Sling; which made a Knave call me Sr Thomas Slingsby; but I made the Slingsbies shorter for it by one, and that one shorter by the Head; and had done as much for young Mordant, but that (having drank White-wine [Page 5] that morning) I stept forth to the Wall, and before I could return, Mor­dant was quit. Thus the Life of Man is but a pissing while. But what if I have born a Sling? did not David so too? the difference is, Hee laid by his Sword and took up a Sling, and I layd by my Sling and took up a Sword. Kings, Lords and Gentlemen take mony for their Land; o­thers sow it and sell the Corn to us; wee advance it to good Beer and Ale, and then sell the Drink to those Kings, Lords and Gentlemen; and thus the Cup goes round. They sell for mony, and Wee sell for mo­ny; and if a Shilling had a Tongue as well as a Face, it would say, Sir, I am but twelve pence whether you meet mee in the Brewhouse or in the Exchequer. 'Tis true, there are divers sorts of Shillings: some are Brass; impudent Rogues, who when di [...]covered are nayl'd to a Post: some are [...]ead, heavy dull Beasts that will not goe: others are right Metall but clipt, poor decimated things that would goe and cannot. But Brass is B [...]ss and Silver is Silver at Court and at Pye-corner. I was as wa [...]m in my Leather Jacket as in my Scarlet Cloak. 'Tis strange what an eye-sore that Cloak was to some, as if the Garment it self could sin▪ indeed wee had a man that us'd to hang his Cloke in my Brew-house (as Country folk hang Wooll over pales of Wa­ter to make it weight:) and so though not Hee, yet his Cloak was a Drunkard. But Cloake or Jacket I was the same man: I never deny'd, but still kept my Trade, (and if others had done so, a hundred thousand Lives had bin sav'd) at last I got to be Brewer to the Navy; and if each man had drank like the Whale at Greenwich I could have fill'd them all: for I had three Brew-houses, one at Lon­don, another at Kingston, and a third at Edenburgh. And why not I have three Brew-houses as well as Assembly-men three Benefices? they were my Livelyhood as theirs were their Livings. One of those fellowes at Margarets Westminster (who had four Preferments given him by the State) would needs teach us how to live by a Word: You'll ask (said he) what Word is that? 'tis Faith, get Faith and I'll under­take you may live Gentleman like: but that Rascall brake his own word with me, and dyed Twelve pound in my debt. I grant he was first that told me my Surname came from a King of Rome, call'd (as I remember) Turkquintus Suparbus: there were seven of those Kings, but they are long since dead, and thence men call me one of the seven deadly sinnes, they may as well call me one of the seven Wisemen, or one of the seven Planets or seven Wonders of the World. But if we cre­dit such as Hee, 'tis a very hard thing not to be a King. They'll prove (if you'll pay them) that Rhombus and Remus that founded Rome were of English extraction; (I know not whether we had the same Mother, but 'tis said many of us had the same Nurse.) But I never [Page 6] ca [...]'d three pence for their Praise; therefore I pray ye vex not my Corps with a huge Monument, which cannot protect it self, nor me; and ma­ny a man's Bones had slept in quiet if his prating Tomb had not told where he lay. And trouble not my Ghost with any of their Elegies, Latin or English; they make a man but laught at, and are not worth a handfull of Graines. I do not mean Mr George VVithers▪ for He got the Statute Office by Riming: he hath now told that Office, but when will he sell his Verses? a Statute lyes upon them so as no body will buy them. 'Tis not a Month since one of the State's Poets brought mean Anagram for me and my Wife: but I hear those Anagram­mers should be all fetcht into a Court of Wards, for although they have not Wit enough for Lunatiks, they are dull enough for Idiots. But now they'll all at me: what a heap of paltry Quibbles and Clenches will they throw upon me? you'll hear them cry, Now Pride hath a fall,—Now there are but six deadly sinnes.—O, Sir, are you there with your Beares? They but saw me stand, holding my Crab-tree cud­gell upright, and they cry'd, Lo, there's the Bear and the ragged staff! How have they dragg'd my poor Name, & set me back from P to B to make me born in Bride's Church Porch? 'tis false and Non-sence to call me BR [...]DE, though my Wife was so when I led her to Church. I know they'll tell you of my Letter to a Friend where (instead of my best Beer) I wrote that I had sent my best Bear. But all Letters & Books are false; there's none of them honest except the Bible. I have an A­bridgement of an English Chronicle which drowns the Duke of Cla­rence in a Rundlet of Malmsey (the Duke might as soon be drownd in a Thimble;) but perhaps tis a whole Tonn in the Chronicle, for my book is but a ' [...]itome. Hang Names and Words; Greek and Latin will not make an honest man; and a man may speak Truth without true spelling, I remember when I dined with the Florida Ambassadour at Alderman Nowel's, where we had Florence wines, I told the Alder­man that when that Ambassadour got home to his Countrey he might send us more of that Florida wine: They all smil'd; but whar car'd I? 'twere not two pence to me if Florida were in Italy, and Florence in the Indies: they should remember I was a Brewer, not a Vintner. But I am posting thither where there are no Quibbles; though I fear (in the weak condition I am now) I my self have bin forc'd upon many: for Dy­ing men talk idly; and he that is sick and talks much, can hardly escape from Quibbles or Non-sence. And I hope you'll pardon my bait­ing your Patience so long with the Beares: consider it was the great Action of my Life, and the onely thing (in the opinion of many) that would lye upon my Conscience. I confesse I thought the Lease of my [Page 7] Life had not b'n expir'd; there is Breath enough in the world, but I must have no more of it. For Dea [...]h, Death is the grand Malignant; and a Malignant Feaver is his Lievetenant Generall, and (which is worse) this New Disease is his Major General, a Disease which sweeps through all Counties of England. And though the Weekly Bills of Mortality know not us who dy in the Countrey; yet tis my comfort I dye here in my own House at Non-such. 'Twas the Kings House, and Queen Eli­zabeth lov'd this above all her Houses; and some say my wife looks like that Queen, though the old Earl of Manchester was said to look like Her; (That Queen might look like whom she pleased, for She by Pro­clamation for bad any to draw her Picture;) but I would not have my Wife like both Her and Him, and so make her a 'Maphrodite. She hath brought me divers Sons; and I leave them good Estates: (I hope I do) and would gladly leave a good name to keep them company. The very Malignants say my Sons are civil persons: But should I live a thousand yeares they would not say so of me: I think 'twould not trouble them to see me renew acquaintance with my Sling. But how many know yee, that (raised like me to Power and Com­mand) have willingly returned to the place from whence they came? They talk indeed of a Roman Generall who came from the Plough (Dick Tator I think they call him) who having beat the Enemy went home to the Countrey, rich and renowned for a very wise man. And they say if that pittifull pilchard Massanello (who had a hundred thou­sand at his pleasure) had left his command, hee had not been rewarded with a musquet bullet, but had been honoured with a statue of Gold. 'Tis true the Queen of Sweden, though born a Kings Daughter, resign'd her Crown, and vows shee never lived happy til now. But her Successor love's Kingdoms better then so, and will onely have as many as hee can get. Hee soon swallow'd Poland, and as soon disgorgd it: and is now in Danemark, holding two Forts (with two hard names) which stand like our Graves-end and Tilbury: and had he strength to take Ours too, I think in my Conscience hee would make us all Danes. Hee has many Designs: but all my Design is onely to save my Estate and my Soul. Indeed heretofore I had some little Plotts, but they did not all take: I thought to make the same Horses serve both for my Coach and Dray, but I found my Dray-horses were too high shod, and I might as well have Harness'd the Beares. And yet I know what be­longs to Horses: for I was the first brought Horses into Paul's: and those Horses brought Saddles, for a Sadler hath set up another Exchange there. I was told Epsham water might do mee good, but I durst not take it, having us'd the Vicar so very severely, lost that Pa­rish Priest should unhallow the Well: and (to say truth) from my Youth [Page 8] I never used to drink Wa [...]er. My Youth minds mee of the late Earle of Pembroke: for w [...]n hee lay dying (as I do now) I went to visit him, and when they to [...] him Colonel Pride was there (for then I was but Colonel) who? [...] (said hee) Pride? oh, a precious Youth! But what had hee to do with my Youth? had I such strength and health as in my Youth, I would no [...] change with any Lord in England. I now die a Lord, and had I l [...] [...] long as that Earle I might have been an Earle as well as hee. And [...] first of all the new Lords, whereby you'll see whether our Sonn [...] [...]eed us in the Peerage. I would have no Barons Warr: though I fea [...] a world of Doubts will be rais'd about the Other House▪ They'll pu [...] it to the question Whether our House bee within the Act against [...] Buildings? and (if within the Act) Whe­ther as built upon a new f [...]dation, or because 'tis a Cottage? Then (af­ter the Foundation) have a [...] [...]he Roof; Whether it be Tyled or Tbatcht, (I do not mean by Wat Tyler or Jack-Straw) Whether it bee the Vpper House or a Garret, where old Shooes, old Casks, & such Lumber is plac'd? Whether this High Court bee a Court of Warr, where none sit but Offi­cers? with a hundred such questions too many for a Dying man to re­member. And truly himself have been much puzzled with this Other House: for the Common [...] House & ours is the other ▪ & [...] is one House & [...] other, & who can [...] [...]rewhouse, hee [...] if I mean to [...] [...]ouse, then goes he to Kingston: when he re­turn [...] I send him to my [...] House, then goes hee to London: and when hee comes back I bid him [...] to Kingston or London, but to the other House, and then must hee [...]arch to Edenburgh. Thus a man must run though two Nations ere [...] can finde this other House: for this is the other and that is the other and all are the other House: though sure our House of Peers is such as [...]ere cannot be such an other House. I hope 'tis no offence in mee to co [...]pare the House of Lords to a Brewhouse: for I am of both Houses: [...] [...]ow how men are at work in both, & what great Heats are often in bo [...] & how in both they all work for one man, yet every man for himself with twenty more things wherein the two Houses agree. The difference is, that wee took the Engagement against a House of Lords, but not ag [...]nst a Brew-house. But that was meant of the old House of Peers, not the new: and a new House is worth two old ones, for the Stare hath a whole years Rent of a new House if it stand within ten miles of London. But alas (my good Friends) I am now going to the Lower House, whithe [...] we all must go sooner or later and the best & greatest Lord of us all had other go to the other House then to the other VVorld: for no Brew-house [...]there, but a great hot Oven that will never be cold. Therefore take [...]d, for as we Brew, so must we Bake.