HALESIADOS. A MESSAGE FROM THE NORMANS, TO THE general of the Kentish Forces. WITH The general's Answer to the NORMANS Letter. Also two State-pasquils', 

1. The Independent Suspended.  
2. The Leveller Listed.    — Famam spectate parentum. 
Printed in the year, 1648.   

HALESIADOS. A Message from the Normans, to the general of the Kentish Forces.  

WOnder not Albion, that these lines are sent  
From th' Norman Duke to th' general of Kent.  
For we're concerned i'th' quarrel you are in,  
And must expect you be what you have been  
Victorious Champions; as, to give your due,  
You showed yourselves when we invaded you.  
Your hearts, no doubt, are same, brave Kentishmen,  
Fighting for that which you pretended then,  
Your Liberties, Laws, privileges, Rights,  
All which you gained in being Opposites  
To our time-memorized progenitor.  
Whose valiant hand spread his Commanding Power  
O'er all the British isle to Thames famed flood,  
And by you only in his march withstood.   

Shall those victorious State-triumphant bays  
Which decked your Phanes & Temples in those days,  
From you receive their Winter: and decline  
Through your remissness in this feverish time?  
Have you no mind to vindicate your wrongs,  
Which shrilly echo with as many tongues  
As there be Nations? If your easy rage  
Be so soon calmed, why did ye first engage  
Your County in this action: or foreslow  
Th' pursuit of that which ye resolved to do?  
When th' Actor's on a Stage, he must not start,  
His reputation prompts him to his Part.  
And tell us, are ye not in selfsame sphere  
Of active worth and resolution here?  
Are not the Eyes of all Spectators on you,  
Wishing you may perform what does become you?  
And will ye make retreat, when you may wing  
Your fame, and right a State-devested King?  
Is this the Copy which your valours show  
To other parts in imitating you?  
But you will say," There's not a helping hand  
" That would supply our breach, were we at stand:  
" All's out of joint: the fabric of our State  
" finds only fuel to a civil hate.  
" The People strive to please the Consuls will,  
" The Consuls in their Synods act what's ill:  
" The City times it; cares not who's oppressed  
" So she may eye her private interest.   

Admit all these; you have a freeborn State,  
Which were no County your Associate,  
If ye retain your valour, can oppose  
Th' insulting braves of such licentious foes  
Who forage on your fortunes: and would eat  
The labours of your hands for which ye sweat.  
These came not to you, as we came to treat,  
Or to debate, but violently beat,  
And with their vaunts amate your country boors  
By acting Execution at their doors.   

Where be those legates which ye sometimes sent  
Unto our Army from the wild of Kent?  
These slighted our proposals, and would pledge  
Their lives before they lost their privilege.  
These could contest before by sprightly power  
With Britain's sole subduing conqueror,  
And stand upon their terms, till they had got  
That Grant which other Counties purchased not.  
Nought could decline their aims:— and is it just  
Such valiant Spirits now should sleep in dust,  
And lose their memory unto your shame,  
Whose actions gave your County life and fame?  
Who could endure to see an ancient Shrine  
Reared to preserve the honour of his line,  
And spreading family, to rubbish dashed,  
And not remember th' ashes that were placed  
In that obsequious urn?— The Case is yours:  
Those who derived their Liberties from ours;  
Those who disvalue popular command,  
And would be free-indenized in a Land  
Subject to servile awe, lie there among you;  
Would ye than know by us what does become you?  
Preserve their fames; let not a matchless State  
By spurious blood become degenerate.  
Let those rich monumental Columns bear  
The Names of those for which they mounted were:  
And in their models, represent them too  
In acting those achievements they would do.  
Now, should you answer, that you have not cause  
To fight as they did, since ye have your Laws  
And Liberties confirmed: nor aught denied  
That might by Law of arms be rectifide:  
Hear your incensed friends:— what can be free  
Before an Independent enemy?  
When sovereignties contemned, the Law abused,  
And senators just for their purpose chused;  
When Arms make Laws:— nay, when Astraeas' seat  
Such Centaurs and such Lapithees beget,  
As th' HALL where JUSTICE sometimes sat arrayed  
In purple, now's a SANGUINE SHAMBLES made  
Begored with Christian blood; that 't may appear  
Justice has nought but Swords to manage there.  
What canst thou challenge for thyself, brave Kent,  
But that thou hast so many ages spent  
In the fruition of thy liberty,  
But now ore-awed by lawless tyranny?  
What a poor honour is't for man to say,  
Once in my time I had a prosperous day?  
Nought to oppose my wishes; all success  
To crown the Abstract of mine happiness.  
But evening crowns the day: 'tis present state  
Which human frailty only levels at:  
Those glorious beams of his which shone so clear,  
When they're removed from his hemisphere,  
And with a sable sullen Cloud impaled,  
How may those vading rays of his be called  
But Lights before his Death? Whose twinkling shine  
Conducts him in the Exit of his time.  
And such are you;— for wherein could ye vaunt  
That you had freedoms other Counties want;  
As for example, 
* The Son no loser by his father's attainture.  Father goes to th' bough,  
And's Son enjoys his State, and goes to th' plough:  
With sundry other privileged powers  
Conferred on you by our ancestors:  
When ye are stripped of these, and made as naked,  
As if such Bounties ye had ne'er partaked?  
Now tell us, do you not deserve the noose  
If what they got, your cowardice shall lose?  
Rouse up your Spirits then, and now prevent  
This imputation to the wild of Kent.  
Retain your pristine prowess, and make good  
That antient-line all-uncorrupted blood,  
Which ye derive from them from whence ye came,  
And who have chalked the way to crown your fame.   

But you will ask; how is't that Normans are  
So interested in their Kentish care  
For shielding of the honour they have got?  
we'll tell you, general, if you know it not.  
Balance the scale aright, and you'll confess  
That we, in our concerns can do no less.  
Ye, for an Impreze on your parcels set  
That Kentishmen were never conquered yet.  
Nay, that ye conquered us, when we did show  
Our sovereignty o'er all your Isle save you.  
And will you now that Badge of Honour lose  
By yielding up the buckler unto those  
Who are of such contemptible race  
They dare not look a Norman in the face?  
How may this correspond with valour, say,  
You to quell us, who are more stout than they   

〈◊〉 whom ye're crushed? For tell us, are not these  
Whom ye give way to plunder where they please;  
Soldiers of fortune, and the dregs o'th' Land,  
Who would for pay be at the Turks command?  
And must this handful put brave Kent to th' rout,  
Who should they fall have small hope to recruit?  
Must these their Orange-colour Ensigns rear  
Before your Maid-stone and your Rochester  
With a victorious Entry and surprise?  
Can Normans hear this, think you, with dry eyes?  
For if the issue of these Acts prove true,  
We were but Cowards to subscribe to you.   

But we'll renew no wounds; we'll only make  
This Application: as your fames at stake  
It is too rich a gage for you to lose,  
Or prostitute to such inferior foes.  
Be yourselves still: let's hear by next report  
There's not a Town, grange, citadel nor Fort  
Your sword has not regained.— By sacred Powers,  
Those precious ashes of your ancestors,  
Your glorious Conquests, and whatsoever is dear,  
We do conjure you, like yourselves appear  
Death-fleighting Kentists: this will make you great,  
I'th' Court of Honour, and restore your Seat  
To her proceeding fame: Our Ears and Eyes  
Thirst after your succeeding Victories:  
Crown our desires, so shall your actions bring  
Fame to yourselves, and freedom to your King:  
And be such patterns unto others too,  
As Pious Zeal may do the same you do.  
Let's hear this from you, and we'll ne'er repent  
Since Kent rolls others, to be ruled by Kent.   

'Tis no dishonour, so our Stories show,  
To be subdued by them that can subdue.    

The general of Kent's Answer to the NORMANS Letter.  

YOurs we received; and we confess, we are  
Bound to your princely favours for your care  
Of our succeeding honour; which shall be  
So fortified with Subjects loyalty,  
As no Rebellious hand shall e'er undo  
That loyal Contract we're obliged to.  
The Spirit of the Camomile is shown  
By rising higher when it is trod down:  
And precious Odours never smell so sweet  
As when they're pounded: then they breathe their heat  
And balmy liquour:— you, perchance, may hear  
That we have born as much as Men can bear;  
Taxes and Onerous Levies, as if sense  
Had lost itself by soldier's insolence.  
All this we grant: our State has been distressed;  
Our wrongs petitioned; but still unredrest;  
With guilded promises, we oft were fed,  
And by Committees into error led:  
For when we hoped they would our wrongs look o'er,  
Our hopes grew weaker than they were before:  
Delays spun our Conclusions, which wrought such  
Deep impression, as our County sought  
To right their wrongs, when Justice would not do it,  
By force of arms; and so we flew unto it.  
But this induced us most: Some did complain  
That diverse just petitioners were slain  
Who came from neighbouring Counties for redress,  
Which they conceived would prove remediless  
Without the senate's order: but so far  
Were they from help, as they commenced a war  
Upon those naked Plaintiffs, who lay dead  
Even in that room where Justice used to tread,  
By Military Cohorts, who were sent  
To execute this tragical Event.  
This much enraged our Spirits: So as we  
Presenting to our thoughts this injury,  
Or barbarous practice rather, we intended  
To lose our lives, or have these errors mended.  
Nor was our Senate slower in their care  
To have their powerful Army to prepare  
To answer our Petition in the field,  
The only choice Receipt (for so they held)  
Apt to deter Petitioners hereafter  
By this presentment of a Kentish slaughter.   

Now you expect th' Event twixt us and them,  
And you shall have 't with an impartial pen  
Portrayed to life: For we do scorn our tongue  
Should right our valour, and do truth a wrong.  
Choosing our ground, and our Battalia set  
Cheerful as if we at a banquet met,  
Some for a Treaty looked, but they spoke higher,  
The general commanded to give fire:  
Nor was this Charge unanswered to our foes,  
Shot answers Shot, and blows encounter blows.  
But to join issue, we will here divide  
Those losses that occurred to either side.  
'Tis true, that we have lost two of our Towns  
By the remissness of unmannaged Clowns;  
Who would no long time martial Order keep,  
Lest by their absence they might lose a sheep:  
For this Plebeian Heard is such a Beast  
It ever tenders private interest:  
His way is how he may some profit win,  
A Crown at stake is nothing unto him.  
But in our loss and theirs the Stories err,  
For though they took Maidestone and Rochester,  
There was no breach but sealed with their blood,  
All which our Foes have lately understood;  
For we believe, they'll scarce, for all their boast,  
Recruit so many as their Conquest lost.  
Five hundred Foot, we know lie buried there  
Under those ruins: neither do we fear  
The Remnant of their Army: Well we know  
When Forces are at height, they must grow low  
And feel their degradation:— When the Sun  
To th' highest period his career hath run,  
He suffers a decline: his shade contracts:  
Part of his former rigour too he lacks.  
So Lakes and Moats dry up that have no Spring,  
So all unbounded Powers that want a King:  
So Trees grow hapless, when they drop their fruit;  
So Armies hopeless, when they want recrute.   

Some of their Party (peradventure) scoff,  
And say, we came far better on then off:  
But when they play their Cards (as they must play)  
They'll grant we came far better off than they.   

Our Body holds complete, prompt to receive  
Active Commands when they occasion have:  
But theirs are so disheartened of late,  
Through want of present pay, and people's hate,  
For though each man may have five shillings pay  
(Auxiliar's we mean) for every day,  
Scarce one of five, they were discouraged so,  
Will march one foot, but run before they go.  
There are indeed, some senate favourites,  
Who in these Stories of our age delights:  
And these will tell you, how our Maidstone wives  
Preferred the public good before their lives.  
How they imbrued their hands in husband's blood,  
Because the Saints were by their force withstood.  
But there's small truth in this: these wives through fear  
Might pull their husband's back, or shed a tear,  
Or beg a peace:— (— no Amazonian time  
For female Spirits to be masculine!)  
But to imbrue their hands i'th' blood of men  
Is a mere fiction, odious to our pen.  
They speak the like, would credulous ears believe them,  
Or for authentic histories receive them,  
That when they were at Maidstone conquerors,  
They took in Kent two thousand Prisoners.  
But what were these? Infants that hung at th' teat,  
Old men, whose toothless age required chewed meat;  
Weak helpless women, cripples, and such like,  
Who wanted strength to stand, much more to strike;  
These were those conquered captives which they took,  
To be registered in Primaleons' Book.  
And yet these Booties, to increase the wonder,  
Put them together, fall short of their number.   

Now to your princely self:— 'tis your desire  
That Kentish Spirits should retain that fire  
Which our progenitors did sometimes show  
When they received their Liberties from you.  
Let not your highness doubt on't; we're the men  
Both for our hearts and hands, that we were then.  
Our general like hail will fall upon them,  
And crush those Foes to dust that sought to wrong them:  
he'll pound to powder these rebellious Slaves,  
And cause the Furies caper o'er their Graves.  
Their late proscribed Lords called home again  
Must not secure their House: SAY'S Plots are vain,  
Nay, should they all those rotten Imps restore,  
we'd grapple with them at their senate's door.  
Patience abused is boundless fury made,  
We find by whom our Country was berai'd.  
To chastise these, our forces have decreed  
To Sacrifice their Blood to right their Head.  
If we turn tail, and not our State deliver,  
May long-tailed Kentists be cashired for ever:  
If time-succeeding Annals show not these,  
we'll forfeit Charter of our Liberties.   

Mean time suspend your judgement: and retain  
Opinion of us, as our Actions gain:  
And if we prove same men we were before,  
Hold us true Kentish: we do crave no more.    

The Jndependent Suspended.  


Referring to the sacrilege lately committed at S. Giles Church i'th' Fields.  SAint Giles, though such as here retain thy Name,  
Have got into the Proverb to be lame:  
Thy swift pursuing feet must not be so,  
In the revenge of a licentious foe;  
Lest Independents Act of privilege  
Commit upon thy Temple sacrilege.   

But some will say, that Act's misunderstood,  
Whats'ere they did, was for the Churches good.  
O no! This Crime must aggravate our grieves,  
To see the House of Prayer a prey for thieves.   

If this continue, our imperious foes  
May pitch on Tyburn for their rendezvous.    

The Leveller Listed.  

YOu, Sir, who from a pure pretensive zeal  
Observe the Rule of Plato's commonweal;  
Who would have all in Common; not for love  
But Envy, seeing others ranked above  
And you below.— Nor is it only state  
That your Anarchiall model levels at.  
Blood mixed with blood: wound paralleled with wound,  
Priority laid level with the ground.  
Listed in these designs you strive to be,  
And so you may: We hear from Tartary  
How Prince and People are at great debate  
'Bout their precedent quality of State;  
For this SUPREMACY does so much move them,  
They'll scarce endure heaven to be spheared above them.  
Embark you in this Action, and be gone;  
Leave us alone, and we shall knit in one.  
Charon the Tartars Ferriman's a shore,  
And waited long to waft your Worship o'er.  
If you recoil; let Brandon have a care  
To noose your level betwixt earth and air.   
FINIS.