BRITANNIA, PASSIONATELY AND HISTORICALLY, Remembering her Misery and Happiness in former Ages, and declaring her Calamities, and Epectations now.  
O Stay and consider! I conjure ye by the being and original you have from me; I conjure ye by all your native relations, 
Her adjuration.  by the blood which is so warm in your veins, and heats you into such famous Resolutions for your Religion and Country; I conjure ye by all the peace, by all the happiness and prosperity, by all the pleasures I have afforded you, by all those terrene blessings, those glorious habitations and Cities, by all those goodly Territories, by all that can be dear, or precious, or honourable; I conjure ye by my sufferings, by my troubles, my slaughters, 
Her complaint.  by my present desolations and distractions, by the purple streams that flow down every Province and County, by my torn and dishevelled Laws, Privileges, Immunities, by the mutual wounds and discords, by all the disorders and rapines, by all the tyrannies and woeful oppressions, by all the violations and disturbances, by all the expressible or imaginable sorrows of a State and Kingdom, by my own tears and sighs; behold and consider my meditations, and pour forth your passions with me: O let us contribute our lamentations, and consociate our griefs, and let us lay our sorrows together, and make up a rich and solemn lamentation, there is a glory in calamity, and a grandeur in distresses: O let we sit down and reason together, let us remember our former sorrows, and call up the ghosts of ancient calamities, and recover the miseries of other Ages from their Sepulchers, let us sit a while in the Region and shadow of death, and ask the way into the land of forgetfulness, and converse with the hoary spirits of our Ancestors, and contemplate those rivers of blood, which run in the channels of those ages, and are now overflowing into our own: let us ask after the golden times and prosperities which have made our forefathers happy in the enjoying, and would almost make us miserable in the remembering.  
I was at first glorious in the name of Britain, 
The first britains.  and though I had no King or Monarch, but was divided into several States and governments, yet I was a pleasant and pregnant soil, green and springing with meadows, vartegated with flowers, shaded with trees, and white with harvests, and painted with inhabitants, and undeflowred with aliens, unviolated either with the languages, usages, or fashions, or dispositions of foreigners, I enjoyed myself in my own banks girded with waters, abounding and flourishing, and like the map of another world, as if Providence had made all over again in me in a lesser Globe, and divided me from the rest, and walled and secured me with Seas, I knew none mightier than Cassevalaunus, who had only a temporary administration and rule, here was no Tyranny, no oppression, no divisions but of provinces, till some Merchants having only a Maritine knowledge of me, gave Caesar so much information as sent him over, and then factions increased at home, and my inhabitants inflamed against one another, made breaches for the Roman enemy to enter, than my peace wasted, and my glory declined, and I became a tributary to another nation, till Voadicia, that famous Queen, spirited with a British virtue would needs forget her Sex and constitution, and turn masculine for the redeeming of her Country, and having rallied many thousands of my inhabitants, defeated the Roman forces, yet being of a Sex too weak for a victory, was forced to let it fall out of her hand again; and Suetonius a Roman General took it up, then was I more miserable than before, my oppression heavier: Thus hath the Tyranny of Rome been ever fatal and grievous to me unto this day, yet I confess, I bade some calms and peaceable distances, even then, but my Northern enemies broke in upon me while my Romano governor's were absent, and then I sent Ambassadors abroad unto them, but had no redress, my people were taken from me, and in those mighty factions of Rome spent, and I woefully depopulated; this was the complexion of my misery then; and yet in all these oppressions my inhabitants have ever been mindful of their ancient liberty, and have struggled against the Tyrannies of those ager, and writ their Nationall virtues in drops of blood unto Posterity.  
And now my troubles grew to be more numerous, 
The Saxons.  and my factions potent, and Vortigern stands up in a supremacy, and being not strong enough to support such a glorious advancement, he calls in a ravenous and rude enemy, who though they landed upon my soil as Stipendaties, yet there flowed in such numbers and streams of people by the interest they obtained in a doting Prince, enamoured on a Saxon beauty, that they soon spread over into my Northern Provinces: and thus possessed on such large Territories, they break out into insolences, and they rage upon my inhabitants, who still retaining their Native excellency, combine and fight with these usurpers, under the Standard of a famous King: 
Arthur.  and now my Kingdom looks red again with new slaughters, and my people after many bloody contentions are conquered and spoiled, and I left in a deplorable condition, rend and divided into so many parts and Dominions, every grand Saxon holding up a Sceptre, and my poor inhabitants with all their Laws, Religion, and Liberties entombed in a general desolation, all my delicacies not regarded, but trampled on by a cruel and barbarous nation.  
Now I am distracted again, and fresh Calamities succeed, 
The Danes  new stirs and broils inflame me every day, and there comes over by degrees another Nation fierce and Martial, and those arrive upon my coasts, and the ride of blood flows higher than before, I was now in as sad a condition as ever, and I had nothing to comfort me in these tumults of the Danes and Saxons, but the light of the Gospel break in upon me, and gloriously shone upon my white cliffs, and now I felt a new happiness, me thought, 
Augustine the Monk.  springing within my nation, now I conceited myself nearer heaven than before, now my shadows fled away, and I saw and discovered further; and yet I am able to say now, my beam was not so pure then, darting upon my eyes but through a cloud of superstition, yet I had little peace, for, those that wasted and spoiled my first people, they are now declining into a subject of revenge themselves, and the Britain's sufferings must now be required at the hands of their oppressors, and they must now let out their bloods for expiation, the Danes flow in like a crimson inundation upon the land, and I must now submit to another desolation, and be ruined over again.  
Nor am I long in this affliction, but things a little composed, 
The Normans.  I am looks upon again, by a new Conqueror, and thus exposed to an inevitable invasion, the Normans come over and possess me, and cloth me in purple once again at the battle of Hastings, and now all my Nobility and people distracted at their overthrow, lay down their defensive power, and presents my Crown and inheritances to that famous William: now my Laws, customs, 
William the Conqueror.  Privileges are all changed, and I am made a little more happy than before, and though I exchanged but one trouble for another, yet by a wise Providence, this trouble like a wave lands me upon a more blessed shore of prosperity then ever I had, now I am more civilised in attire and language, now I appear more comely and beautiful, now I enter communion with other Nations, and am able to look abroad and converse with other States and kingdoms, I begin to improve an interest abroad, and trade for relations, and negotiate for Foreign ornaments, now I can contemplate my former miseries, and admire the happiness of my present condition, and yet my religion was but of a duskish colour, for now the cloud of Superstitions began to gather and cast a shadow upon many nations as well as mine.  
And now my Crown grows brighter and more glorious than before, now my power becomes more Regal and Monarch call, and every day I receive some degree of perfection & accomplishment, and the troubles are as yet no more than puts a blushing die upon my face, & makes me more beautiful, & I am now busied only to keep myself from the invasion of old troubles, and thus being enriched and beautified by a new access of Majesty, I am courted by a succession of Kings, of Williams, Henries, a Stephen, a Richard espouse me, and these are times rather of enlargement & happiness then of calamity to me.  
But new revolutions of time brings with them revolutions of fortune, 
King ●ohns 〈◊〉  and misery appears to me again in the apparition of broils and combustions, my Prince and Nobles contend for liberties, and a supremacy from Rome intercedes and stirs up more unhappy contentions, and now I am brought into a new captivity, and my ancient liberties, which was before conquered from me by a power from Rome, is now again after my recovery and re-establishment taken away, and I am chained unto the Papal chair, & my Prince too, and my inhabitants, and this my second servitude to Rome is worse and more Tyrannous than my first, now my soul hath lost her liberty, and I am disfranchised in spirit and conscience, and all because I endeavoured my redemption; and thus, as if some fatality were now upon me, I am now espoused again to other Kings, but still more unfortunate in my successors: now my Peerage and Sovereign are beginning bloody discords, 
henry the 〈◊〉  and all the Quarrel is only for breaking the Coards which bond me fast, my King will needs enslave me, and make me submit to an unjust power, and Prerogative, and these my Nobles and Barons pitying to see my bondage, and not able to see their mother lie so fettered, who used to triumph in her Liberty, and walk in the pleasant meadows of enlargement, now my fields are embrued again, and the bodies of my slain people lie scattered before my eyes.  
And thus, as if a bloody Comet hung over me, other, and those more woeful and calamitous stirs break forth, 
The wars of York and L●ncaster begun by Henry the ●our●h.  and now my people fight for enjoying me, now I cannot but lament and bemoan my present unhappiness, I weep over my own comeliness, and curse my features and beauty, and call my Empire an unfortunate inheritance, that should occasion such strifes and miserable distractions, alas how many lie gasping and bleeding upon my plains, how are all my pleasures turned into sorrows, all my comforts into sighs and groans, to see those that should live in peace with one another, enjoying the comely intercourse of friends and neighbours and Country men, and now wounding all these relations, and without difference and respects making but one common sepulchre of those goodly Provinces.  
And now a King takes me by the hand, and administers comfort and consolation to me, now I feel better influences than before, 
Henry the sevenths' Reign.  my blood is staunched, and my dead are buried, and I have new robes presented me, and white garments, and those that were rolled in blood are taken from me, and now I have a garland of Roses not red with battles, but Damaskt with peace and happiness; now the birds return again and sing on my branches, and the Hart and Roe trips upon my plains, my sheep graze upon my mountains in flocks, and my shepherds begin to make oaten pipes, and warble their harmless tunes unto the valleys which resound the joyful reconciliations unto them, and now he that sits upon my throne, smiles upon me, and entertains me with pastimes, and glorious delights of peace.  
Yet to put me in mind that I am not immortal, 
Henry the eights troubles  Commotions begin in me, and my Liberty being almost lost again, and the Tyrannies of Rome overflowing into my kingdom; one that had espoused me for my perfections, and possessions, rouses up himself and breaks the Cords that superstition had tied him with to the Papal Dominion, and sets me at liberty, and now I enjoy my freedom and ease, and rejoice in my old immunities, now I am emancipated from another Supremacy, and those that led the souls of my people captive, and forced them to bring all, and sacrifice to their pleasures, making them to lay down not only their consciences, but their goods, lands, and all my delightful situations at their feet, are expulsed from my dominions, and though I remained still fettered in Superstitions and ignorance, yet I gained a kind of enlargement, by the favour and Indulgency of this Prince.  
After these, there arises a bright star, and shines upon me, 
Edward the 6. his troubles.  and me thought I was much refreshed at the first dawning of it; this brought me tidings of a more glorious light to follow, and yet in these days, when religion cleared up more brightly than ever, many a dark cloud of trouble was passing over me, and many stirs were beginning, but still happily becalmed by a divine providence, and the mist which was so thick in my Kingdom before, begun to break and scatter, and I had a clearer prospect, now I could see about the clouds, and many mysteries opened themselves to my discovery; and now my Liberty increased, till this star fell into my lap, and then a horror and darkness spread over me again.  
Now my sufferings are returning again, and I must be once more wet in the blood of my inhabitants, yet those troubles did more comfort me, 
Queen Mary's troubles.  than the other did discontent me; and I rejoiced to be a tomb to those, whose bodies and ashes were perfumed with the holiness of their souls, never did I more triumph in my noon and height of prosperity, when I had peace and all other blessings at the full, Oh! I gathered up those drops of blood from the Martyrdom of those Saints, and congealed them into rubies and Coral, and made me dress and Jewels of them, oh the radiant flames of those fires which gave more lustre unto my Kingdom then all the luminaries of heaven, than either Sun or stars: oh the glory of that age, and suffering, the lights of heaven, the day itself was darkened and occlipsed with those fires, and the ashes of those Saints were an ornament and rich covering upon me: these were troubles of a fresher complexion, the tears that were then shed I preserved in channels, and it pleased me to look upon such streams, such holy lamentations were music to my hills and valleys, and the Psalms which carried up the souls of my dying Martyrs were the sweetest harmony that ever the Trees of my Forest echoed.  
But these waves in a short time left raging, 
Queen Elizabeth's time.  and run in a smooth current, and now the storms gave way to a more peaceable and quiet feason, and a Lady enters upon my Throne, attended with graces and honours, with peace and flourishings, and this time I enjoy a composed and undisturbed condition, pleasures abound in my palaces and cities, and wealth and riches, and all plenties flow in all my habitations, now I am courted from abroad, and other Kingdoms send me Ambassadors, and woos my favours, and acquaintance, not any noise of War is heard in my land, and when at any time a cloud was gathering against me, either from abroad or at home, I saw a Divine breath dispersing and blowing it away, and thus I passed years of pleasure, and my Peace and happiness lengthens.  
Now a new Prince comes in, 
King James his time.  and to make me more blessed and completely glorious, he brings with him a people of his own, and a kingdom too, and now I am returned to my ancient Liberties, and enlargements, now I am Britain again, and my dominions wider, and I hear not now a murmuting, or the least whisper of any trouble, though there were some endeavourings by night, yet it was only in a few treasonable and personal practices; but oh, I had a strange misgiving then; me thought my peace was but a prodigious and boding calm, and I prophesied to myself that surely a tempest was not far off, and no sooner had a few years rolled over my head, but another King is seated in my throne, and as he sat down, some drops of blood sprinkled upon the Seat, and stained the robes, which made me fear such a purple inauguration would be followed with as red a revenge, and with streams of blood hereafter.  
While I was triumphing some years in my new glory, 
King Charl●s his time.  enjoying the prosperity of a full throne, adorned with a Garland from France, feasting and banqueting at home and abroad with foreign States, me thought I felt a d●stemper of alteration running an my veins, I begun to be fensible of new Ceremonies, and dress, and paintings in my Religion, of new oppressions, new exactions in my State, my Court grew full of pride, gallantry, ambition, lust, and wantonness, my tribunals full of injustice, of unrighteousness, or bribery, my Cities full of deceits, cheat, extortions, usuries, my Country's full of oppressions, ignorance, profaneness, covetousness, uncharitableness, my King grew credulous, my Courtiers Tyrannous, my Nobles and Gentry many of them vicious, and while these things were thus carried on, there begun some strive in my Northern parts; and the troubles gathered, and in a short time were so many, that I felt two Armies in my bosom struggling, but they were soon appeased, and when I thought I had seen the return of a peace, a new difference flames out, my King and subjects contend together, and from paper to powder, from pen to pistol, and now behold a generation is risen up, destroying my Religion, my Laws, my Liberties, my Parliament, my inhabitants, my Cities, my Countries, my Palaces: I that have enriched them, how do they impoverish me? how do they consume my cattles, my wealth? how do they give my glory to the tramplings and scorns of my enemies? how do they persecute my only darling? the conservatory of my peace, the Cabinet of my prosperity? how is it broken up? 
Parliament.  how is that Parliamentary honour laid in the dust? how have they emboldened and encouraged those that durst not appear in my ruin before? those that I had kerbed with laws, and chained with my national power? how have they have violated all? and taken off their fetters, and brought them out to be the persecutors, 
Papists.  the tormentors, the murderers of my dearest subjects? how have they complied with other Nations, strangers to me in Religion, in Laws, in Liberties? and these must be landed upon my shores, and mixed with my inhabitants, a nation whom their own Kingdom have vomited out, as unworthy to tread upon the soil; and these must come over into my habitations with hands besmeared in the blood of so many thousand Saints; O all ye that have any commiseration in your souls, any bowels of compassion, go fall down at the Throne of my Prince, speak to him with tears and sighs, to stop the bleeding of his Kingdom, to put away those purple Councillors, that dash my people so together, that are never weary with contriving new engines and devices of blood and calamity! O pray him by his own obligations to me, his oath so solemnly taken to preserve me, pray him by all his former and many Protestations to defend my Religion, my peace, and Liberty, pray him by the comforts and endearments of the precious blossoms upon his Throne, pray him, as he regards the preservation of his Crown, of his Parliament, of his Kingdom, nay of all his Kingdoms: O tell him the miserable and unfortunate glory of such a Conquest; the unhappy and unnatural triumph in such spoils.  
O call to those Princes that are about him, call to their chariots to stay, before they drive into irrecoverable ruin, call to their swords before they 〈◊〉 drunken in the blood of those that have no crime, but Religion upon these souls.  
O call to the Divines there before they recover the banks of Tiber, call to them to return from Idolatry, from Superstitions, call them home again before they arrive at those shadows of desolation, which are in Babylon.  
O call unto the people that are in Arms about him, that they will remember their Liberties, and look back and see them swimming down in the blood of their Ancestors, call to them to think upon their posterity, that they may not twist such cords for to bind themselves, & makewiths to tie their generations after them; O call to them to come out of the mist they fight in, hold before their eyes the Kingly & Parliamentary power they fight against, call to them to bring home the person of their King to the Throne that wants him, hold forth your Religion, your Reformation, which you received from other age●, and desires only to improve it to the generation after ye, hold forth the Likerties, the immunities of England, ask them if they be digging a Sepulchre to bury their grand Charter in before they die, and if they fight to make the 〈◊〉 of their Prince a King?  
And if still they go on in these contentions, they must know, I shall receiver my Liberties against their swords, the ghosts of England will rise up, and fight against them, those that have gone down to their graves in this defence both in this age, and in the ages before: heaven is engaged for me, and my people fight against an enemy whose idolatries, whose blood guiltiness, whose blasphemies, and profanations will take their part in destroying them, and now is the time of my Reformation come, behold the many divine assistance, the many heavenly deliverances, the many miraculous evidences my people have had since the beginning of these wars, behold those eternal truths which are hastening their accomplishment, behold the Prophetical declination of Rome, behold how my people are returned home to me again, who have wandered abroad seeking sanctuaries from persecutions, as if they were sent before hand to wait for some new blessings, these are my certain and undeniable comforts, my assurances, my expectations, and on the pillow of these I shal● rest my wearied, and distressed, and complaining soul.   
FINIS.  

Printed according to Order, by G.B. and R.W.