A DECLARATION OF The Noble Resolution of the Earl of ESSEX his EXCELLENCE.  
Concerning his intention in going forth with this great Army, consisting of 60000. now advancing forward under His Honourable command; in the defence of the King and Parliament, and the Protestant Religion.  
With an excellent Speech delivered unto his Honour, immediately before his departure, by the Lord Roberts, before divers Colonels and Captains at Essex House, to encourage the Earl in his proceed, and the justice of his cause, being undertaken for the general good of the Kingdom.  
Being thought fit to be published for the satisfaction of well affected persons, and true Protestants.  
Sep: 9 LONDON, Printed for T. Banks. 1642.   

 depiction of a man on a galloping steed   

A Speech made unto the Earl of ESSEX his Excellency, by the Lord Roberts, Son in Law to the Honourable Earl of WARWICK.  
MY LORD,  
I Know unto whom I speak, and therefore the address of my Speech shall rather be a commendation, than an admonition to your Honour, in matters of Knowledge and Valour; your noble Spirit being the Magazine and Armoury of knowing magnanimity, whi●h together with other virtues inherent in your soul, render you the most Illustrious example of true Nobility. I need not commemorate here the noble actions of your worthy father, whom the Commons do still remember with a reverend adoration, thinking all the praises and prayers that they can accumulate on the name of Essex, to be poor sacrifices of their unfeigned love and affection, which being derived from your noble father, is now with the same fervour and heat of applause, by the general vote of the people, cast upon your Honourable Excellence. But because it is but the part of a School Orator, to endeavour with the Stars of Rhetorical figures to illustrate the brightness of the Sun, to praise the beauty of the Spring, rich in the dowry of nature, or generally to shadow out the exact portraiture of any thing that carries in itself a complete perfection: it would now appear an extravagant affectation of words to amplify your Lordship's troops of Militant virtues, shining in you as in the thrice Honourable Son of Essex valour, your breast being pregnant and swelling with all the natural gifts of a complete and Heroic General.  
It will become me therefore to leave the discourse of your generally acknowledged praise, since the hearts and hands, and tongues of the Commons united together, do with the utmost strength of good will cry Vives le Roy & Essex, God save the King and Essex, that goes for the safety of the King, and the general good of the Kingdom.  
This War my Lord hath a various object; the occasion hath been formerly manifested; the malignant party, and instigators thereof are well known, and distinguished into kinds, as Papists and their adherents, together with evil Counsellors; but we hope and do believe with a faithful truly grounded confidence, that the event shall with severe justice teach those revolting firebrands of dissension, that malum Consilium Consultori pessimum, Their evil Counsel shall be revenged on them that were the evil Counselors.  
If your Honour look into the material part of this intended war, your Lordship may d●scerne there a Parliament opposed and oppressed in right and privilege: nay, this Parliament, which must under God be the preserver of three Kingdoms: This Parliament, which is the last hope of the long oppressed Protestant Religion: This Parliament, which doth preserve the Rights and Liberties of the Subject, and doth endeavour to correct all injustice and oppression, by which also public dangers and fears are prevented: Lastly, this Parliament which is the only means to continue us to be anation of free men and not slaves, and to be owners of any thing that we may call our own, in a word this Parliament which hath so courageously endeavoured to prevent an inundation of all misery & confusion, and indeed the very desolation and rain of this Kingdom.  
This Parliament my Lord, through an inveterate malice they desire to destroy, but I hope it will destroy the destroyers, and be a wall of fire to consume them, as it is a wall of brass to us, to defend King and Kingdom, us and all we can call ours.  
The clouds that are like to make this foul day of war did first gather very fast together at York, there keeping the beams of his Majesty's favour from shining upon his Parliament and people, and now they threaten a sudden bloody storm, but as clouds full gorged with ●apours do commonly weep out themselves in showers of rain, and having emptied their own substance, vanish, so it is to be hoped that the great and pious preparations of the Parliament will either dissipate these appearing clouds of civil war, or else force them to quench this fire of dissension by them raised, even with a shower of their own blood. But what are strength or forces but motions and dumb shows of war, unless they receive a quickening virtue from their magnanimous Commanders? from your Excellence (my Lord, the soldiers receive animatioon, courage, life, flame, & valiant hearts, nil desperandum est auspice Christo, & Deuce comite Essexiae, they are confident of victory through God and your Excellency's magnanimity, they look on you as the Coriphaeus and sum of valour, and the matchless Phoenix of a noble father, some sacred charm dwells in the name of Essex that with so sweet a violence attracts the iron-hearted soldier to follow your Excellence as their honourable and beloved adamant, or rather your constant faithful heart to King and Country, hath given you a fixed seat in popular affection. Thus the soldiers do by a loving Sympathy with your honour, and your Honour's Ancestors, derive from you the influence of their courage and forward resolution to attend your Honour, while you fetch your Promethean fire from heaven, advancing forward with a strong army and with noble intents, the safety of the K. the preservation of the Protestant Religion, the subduing all malignants, the free privilege of the Subject, and the good of the Kingdom and Commonwealth being the only end of this great expedition under you their honourable Excellence.  
There is no greater joy nor happiness in a Commonwealth in times of apparent danger, than to have some heroic Atlas, in whose supporting fidelity they may confide, and that through the assistance of Almighty God will like another ●oshua undertake to fight their battles. There was ever in other Commonwealths an Alcibiad●s a Themistocles and some valiant Captains or other that in the pressures and grievances of the state of their Country took courage to defend it from a civil war, and now in these times of distractions, when the sword threatens to impose a tyranny on the Subject, the divine power hath encited and encouraged the Earl of Essex his Excellence with a free and noble resolution to undertake either a desired pacification between the King and his Parliament if it may be obtained, or else a vindication and revenge against those Cavaliers and malignants that do either seduce the King or oppose the Parliament. And as his noble valiant father was so dear unto the people that his name is never mentioned but with much expressions of love and affection, as if they would never forget his service in many noble designs, so that he may show that fortes creantur fortibus, valour is derived from the Ancestory to the Posterity, hath now by the votes of the Parliament, and the desire of the Commons, buckled on his armout, intending to carry a defensive army into the oppressed parts of this Kingdom, now pillaged by the outrages of hostility, and though he goes forth strongly accommodated with all warlike ammunition, and with many troops of Soldiers drawn out of the City and Country, who with cheerful willingness will declare their courage in this expedition, yet his strongest confidence and resolution cousists in the goodness and justness of his cause:  
It is not to add more illustrious titles to his name, for he hath honour enough derived unto him from his father and also inherent in him by his living virtues, but he desires to do service for the King in beating off those flies and parasites that have whispered so much evil counsel into the King's ear, thereby to alienate his affection from his loyal Parliament and people, for it is better in all political justice, that some illaffected members should be cut off, rather than the whole body of the Commonwealth should perish, and besides, the liberty of the Subject is precious and aught to be maintained, that we may know our own, possess our own, & keep our own, & that the Kingdom may not be converted into a country of Peasants or slaves as France is, where the King at his free will and pleasure exercising an arbitrary power & tyrannical government, doth upon any occasion squeeze his subjects like so many orange; & if they suffer not themselves to be thus pillaged, their goods upon the least resistance are confiscated, but if this be not worth defending, yet who would not adventure life for that which is the life of his soul, the Protestant Religion, which is in danger now to be changed again into Popery, should the malignants and papists get the victory. On these grounds and reasons the Earl of Essex his Excellence hath undertaken the common cause being full of justice, piety, and Religion, is now gone forth under the propitious favour of God with a numerous and innumerable army collected out of the City and Country, well appointed and provided with all sorts of ammunition, & consisting of 40000 brave and resolute soldiers, who advance forward under the command of the said Earl of Essex his Excellence, to settle an established peace, or confound the malice of these Machavilian counsellors and mischievous bloody Cavaliers, who are enemies to the King and Kingdom, God bless and prosper his noble purpose and resolution, to the good of the King, Kingdom, and Commons of England.  
FINIS.