decorative top border consisting of a French fleur-de-lis with Tudor rose and Scottish thistle on either side, each surmounted by a crown and against a background of stylized foliage  
Hugh Peters's dream.  
HAving of late been made the Theane and Subject of some ingenious fancies to delight other Men, blame me not, my Masters, if for my own recreation, I relate unto you, what in my nocturnal perambulatings, as in a Vis on presented itself to me ▪ for lying not long since pensive in my thoughts, I was( as it seemed unto me) through many maze; and winding Meanders brought to those infernal regions, whither some of the ancient Heroes( more happy then myself) have dared to descend, and with prosperous success returned,( if Poets speak truth) where after a dismal passage, and some hideous appearances, I arrived at the brink of that Hellish Lake where Charon with his weather-beaten Boat waits to wafte over distressed souls, when boldly thrusting myself into the crowd, I was on a sudden( being on the shore) encountered by a Person sometimes well known to me,( as afterwards appeared) for( quoth he) have you forgotten me, I am John Lilburne, on purpose sent hither by my great Master Pluto, to meet thee, and lead thee unto his Court, and withall to show thee the very entrails and bowels of his kingdom. Know then( proceeded he) that this is the Valley of Gethinn●m, wherein the devil useth to celebrate his great Dayes of Thanksgiving, because here he is sensible of the tears and cries of widows and Orphans made by your Masters successively upon several occasions, for you must know he laughs in his sleeve at it; but I suppose you have heard so much of that matter, that I need not stay here to show you more concerning it: Let us go on therefore, and there on your right hand you may behold a pure Company, observe but their actions and postures, and there me thoughts I saw some blowing coals, and the sparks flying into their Faces, others sate wrying their mouths and screwing their countenances into sundry forms: here sate one as a Jester acting his part, and there another Proteus like changing both shape and colour with every turn; while I stood musing and wondering who they might be, one of them on a sudden drew near, who as he approached, said to me, wonder not at us, friend, for we are they that did beat the Bush, though you have taken the bide, we did Camerinam movere, like cocks, rak the Dunghill, but you got the pearl, in short we are they who by crying down Religion, and preaching up Faction, made a way for such as you to tread in, and ourselves became the steps to raise your greatness, but had we been sensible of what we since have seen and now feel, we might perchance, like the Monkey, have reached the Apple out of the Fire with the Cats claw; have sought our own advantage with the peril of your heads: but Sero Sapiunt Phryges, our loss hath taught us repentance: Thus had he gone on, if a great noise had not suddenly interrupted him and startled us, which was a great multitude, that with confused noise and violent outcries, like the old Ephesians about Diana, sought for they knew not what; I desired to know of my Conductor what they were, who returned, these are the spurious Brats of your begetting, I wonder you know them not. See you those Midas-ear'd fellowes, whose Progeny may be discovered by their ears; those others who like some of the old Philosophers barbati tantum, have more hair then wit, some of them neither wit nor hair, some( as the old Song speaks— Like a reverend dean, with a Band startcht clean— are so glued into a posture, they dare not stir least they disorder a hair, and other of Eve loose a garb and Humour, that they are ready( to imitate Adam in innocency) to walk naked: Some out of Religion frighted into a quaking fit like an Ague, while others in the heat of their zeal must be new dipped to an increase of their Frenzy: these, I say all these, beloved Brother, are the bastard issue of your so much gloried Religion( if without offence it may so be called) who are now in full career going to cojole another sort of Men, to whom I will now led you: Scarce had he spoken the word, but we were brought into a large room, all of fretted work, where at a large Table were sundry Persons sitting, several whereof I had never seen, but was  told they were Aeneas Sylvias, Caesar Borgia, Hildebrand, and many others who in their times had made great bustles in the world, and been grand Polititions to bring to pass great Pluto's designs, among whom as of a newer date I saw old Noll sitting cheek by jowl with the devil himself, where they were in a grand consultation, what new offices to bestow on those new made and new come( though long expected) Lords: at last it was resolved,( the great offices of trust being disposed, as the treasurer ship to Aeneas Sylvias Hildebrand to be president of the council, Caesar Borgia to be admiral, and old Noll to be Lord general) that Pride should have a brewhouse within the Court to brew onely for the Devills drinking, and that Styx, Acheron, and Phlegeton, the three chief rivers of Hell, should be set apart to that purpose onely for liquour: least the tailor for his diabolical highnesse should prick his fingers, and so not being able to work, discover his Masters nakedness, it was ordered that B— the broken goldsmith, to advance his trade should provide him thimbles of Sylver: many places were reserved for persons of note, as for Sir H. V. To be Secretary of Sate, Sir A, H. To find coals for his Winters store, T. C. To be his Topographar, and to teach the queyn division of concretum and abstractum( so well in a speech( by him made) once applied) one eyed H— should be the Devills Soale-mender, and upright setter.  
And least H— M— should think himself ill rewarded, having so well deserved: it was thought fit he should supervise the Seraglio, the devil not fearing to be cornuted or made cuckolded, though he knew Harry to be a sufficient Cunny-catcher, both root and branch. But though this might seem something, yet not being enough, there was a stately room paved all with burning brimstone and seyled with melting pitch, which continually without wasting dropped, herein were placed several fiery seats for the persons last mentioned,( and several others whom I took not notice of) wherein they were to sit, and to be smeared with the pitch, like the gallant Ladies of the world with patches: then( said my conductor John to me) look through here, and showing me some little holes, I saw the blackness of their perjured souls, more horrid then is to be imagined: of which sight turning to him I said: And can it possibly be that they be such, nay then I see all is not gold that glisters: I see there is more craft in men then honesty: Is it not possible that goodness and greatness should go together: they invent a plot and set their emissaries to entice men to it, and then punish them like a tyrannicall schoolmaster; they make them cry, and then whip them for crying: they are like the sick wolf that went to his Ghostly father, to whom for penance it was imposed that he should eat no more meate in two dayes, then in his conscience he thought was worth three half-pence; away goes the wolf discontented, but shortly after meeting an Ewe and a lamb,( this greedy stomach now calling for food) and seeking so faire a prey, and not knowing suddenly how to perform his pennance, and yet satisfy hunger; stay, said he, no more but what in my conscience I value at one penny half penny. Why then( quoth he) in my conscience I value the Ewe at a penny, and the lamb at a halfpenny, and so eat them both: I will not apply it least I tyre you whereat honest Jack my leader smiling, true it is( quoth he) and thou hast welll fitted thy comparison to their humour, for they are men of the most envious disposition that ever infected the air with their breaths, having the power of Kings, not the nature of Kings, making laws rather to find faults then prevent them, O what could your enemies wish more unto you then to see your own estate, with your own hands undermined. I confess I was one of the first misled and misleading: but now I too dearly( though too late) repent me: O what would your forefathers say, if they now lived and saw their offspring defacing so famous a principality, which they with much labour and blood so wisely did establish. Have they not vomited out of their souls all remnants of goodness? yea certainly, there rests in them only a pride in evil, and having else no shadow of glory left them, they glory to be constant in iniquity, as thinking great courage is declared in being neither afraid of the heavens nor ashamed of the world: men whose consciences are seared, nay utterly lost and fled, & conscience like modesty is never to be regained; you may happily have heard of that tale, when conscience the air and the water took leave of each other, who at their parting, asking where they should meet again, & see each other, the air said, that they should find her on the tops of hills the water, that they should be sure of her in the bowels of the earth, but conscience replied, that she being once gone from them, it was impossible to meet with her any more, for consuetudo peccandi tollit sensum peccati, here stoping, for now we were come to Pluto's dining room, where Ben. Johnsons feast would have seemed but scanty dinner, so many varieties was the fiend served with, as, one dish I remember were two Presbyters in their cloaks dressed like an Hare in her wool, well larded with the fat of a solemn league and covenant, served with joy of a thanksgiving dinner; and brought up to the table by an unmannerly Scot. The next as I can think was an Oglio which was a mixed dish make up of sneaking Anabaptists and creeping independents, well soused in the tears of widows and Orphans, which was no sooner tasted but highly applauded, for its rich Hogo. The third dish( for so many courses were served up, and I speak but of one dish in each course) was filled according to the season( not with apricots, Peaches, or the like) but with several relishes of the Saints, as Presbyters zeal candied with nonconformity, independents discipline preserved with faction: the Quakers religion in a conserve of freneticall humour, and the Anabaptists Christianity newly dipped in those purified waters gliding by the holy banks of Bow: at which strange and unusual medley, the devils stomach grew a little Queasy, when L— slepping in with a rich cordial of dissimulation and hypocrisy some what revived him; whereupon he was lustily promised that though for the present the squib ran not to the end of the line, but he was discarded, yet he should not despair, for he should be thought on for his reward when time served, at which time the tables withdrawn, M— makes his appearance, and better at the end of a feast then the beginning of a fray, with a mess of fiddlers who sung the devil a song, at the end of which Hell broken loose, then might you have verified the Poets tales, of Mars and Venus taken in a net, like H— M— and his wench well-nigh so taken by Sir W. P. onely this difference there the persons, here the clothes found under the bed made the discovery: or Paris running away with helen, like one of the Illustrious Cromwellian ladies at the back door of James his park to the Mulberry garden, a mere chip of the old block: But how can it be helped, Cat will after kind: Mulciber in Trojam pro Troja stubat Apollo; here's Hercules fighting with Autaeus still recovering by help from the earth: And there the same fighting with the many headed Hydra: till at last the three fatal Sisters on a sudden( in a furious storm) fetched him away.  
Never was Agea's stable so purged from filth by him, as White-Hall was cleansed by the succeeding State. Mountebanks: but here with a sudden out-cry I was awaked, and lost my Conductor, and further hopes of seeing more at present:  
This was my dream, and many times they say  
That dreams prove true, then surely so this may;  
Whether or not I care not, yet I dare  
Avouch this truth, that many Men there are  
Will censure, e're they understand the theme  
On which I treat, then surely they but dream.  
FINIS.