NO FOOL, TO THE OLD FOOL:  
Hark ye my Masters;— for one half quarter of an hour now, let's be as Wise as Woodcocks; and talk a little Treason. Why should not we thrive in the world as well as our Neighbours? had not other people Heads, and Souls to lose as well as we? If men will be Damned, they had better Damn Rich than Poor:— as Bradshaw; and th' Attorney General Damned; and as they Damn at Westminster;— as Bishop Arthur does Intent to Damn: and there's another Fellow— what d' ye call him?— Pish— I'm the worst at names— he had a writing office, I remember;— he that sold a Parcel of Prisoners to a Scrivener:— he served a Lawyer once, and afterwards a Brewer, Both of a name— That fellow, will Damn, Damn'dly Rich. His Master too, is in a fair way to th' Devil. I could name you a Hundred of these thriving Lads, whom; though the honest world despises;— believe me,— Two or three hundred-Thousand pound, is a Convenient Plaster for a Broken Head; there's something to bear Charges yet. There's Power and Plenty.— They cousin, whom they please:— Hang, and Draw, at will;— they keep their Lackeys, and their Whores: and at the last, they go to Hell in Triumph. They have their Blacks, and Elegies, and leave the State to pay the Draper, and the Poet. 'twould make a man bepiss himself, to see the soft, and tenderhearted Needham, weeping (like Niobe, till he turns t'a stone) over the Tomb of Bradshaw,— to see him cry with one eye, and Laugh with th' other, and yet, the Tragicomical puppy, keeps his Countenance. The Tears of such a Saint, cannot but Fall, like drops of Lambeth-Ale, upon the Tongue of Dives,— how great a Consolation was it (think ye) to the late Protector, to find himself placed at the Right hand of God? by Sterry (that Blasphemous, bold Phanatique) of whose Condition, Charity itself can scarce admit a comfortable thought. For, after a long Course, of Treason, Murder, Sacrilege, Perjury, Rapine, etc. he finished his accursed Life, in Agony, and Fury; and without any mark of true Repentance. You'll say he was the Braver Villain for't.— Crimes of this large Extent, have indeed something that's Masouline to allay them. But to be Damned for Sneaking, To purchase Hell at the price of all that's pleasant here:— to contract sin, and Beggary, in the same act and Moment; This is the most Impudent, and Ridiculous wickedness that may be. He that Indents with the Devil, has a merry Bargain, compared with us; There's Time, and Pleasure. Here, the Vengeance treads upon the Heels of the offence; and the Punishment of our Misdoing, is the necessary and next immediate effect of them.— In Paying Taxes, to an Usurped Power; There, a Defection from the Right, and a Compliance with the Wrong, renders us Doubly Criminal— and in this Case, we do but buy our Chains, and the very next effect of our Disobedience, is Slavery. It comes all to a Point, in what concerns subjection to unlawful Powers. Under a Force,— is a Brutish Argument. Vice is the Obliquity of the Will: That's Free. The same Plea lies in the Case of Martyrdom: and by the same Rule we may renounce our Maker.  
If wicked, we're resolved to be,— Let's go a nobler way to work— let's get a matter of Half a dozen crafty Knaves together; take in some thirty or forty sly Rascals into the Gang, and call ourselves a Parliament. Why Gentlemen? this is no impossible thing, Our 〈◊〉 is as good ●● theirs, that ha● done the same thing before us, but then be sure of the Proportion. Seven parts of eight must have neither Wit nor Honesty: yet do look as wise as Judges, and in the middle of their, Pater-nosters pick their neighbour's pockets. These are to be directed by the Rooks, and by them both, the Nation, which would be over-stock'd with Cheats, were any more admitted into the Grand Conspiracy against the people, To Personal abuses, the rest are likewise qualified. They may imprison when, where, and whom they please, without cause shown, their Will is a sufficient warrant for the well-affected. In Fine, they are the People's voice, and that's the voice of Heaven.  
Why now should we despair of the same events, from the same means, considering, what a drowsy Patient, and phlegmatic People we have to deal with?  Fool a little? Let us vote down Magna Charta, and the Petition of Right:— Settle a Preaching Militia, and a fight Ministry?— out with our whinyards, and off with the names, instead of the Heads of the King's Tryers; as Okey did upon the Change. Take away Monk's Commission; Petition the Soldiery to petition us, to declare ourselves perpetual;— Bind up the Nation under Limitation for the next Session, and exclude all but our own party from the Choice. No matter for the Law or Conscience of the business— ARTICLES OF SURRENDER; and Public ACTS of INDEMNITY, amount to nothing.— OATHS, and COVENANTS, are but occasional Submissons to conveniency: not binding any man, that in the very act of taking them, resolves to break them. Let things come to the worst; when we have overturned the Government;— Polluted the very altar, with our MASTERS BLOOD— Cheated the Public, etc.— It is but to whine, and snivel to the People; tell them we were misled, by Carnal Appetites;— cloth all our Rogueryes, in Scripture-Phrase— Humble ourselves before the Lord; (but not a Syllable concerning Restitution) and they'll forgive us; Nay, perhaps, Trust us too: Think us their Friends for doing them no more than All the Harm we could.— 'Tis a good natu'rd sort of Beast,— the Common-people, if it be Pleased; and 'tis the Easiest thing in Nature, for Fools and Knaves to Please it. They have not been gulled half long enough yet,— what will you say now, to a New-Parliament made of an Old one? as There's no Fool, to the Old one, so there's no Knave to the Old one.  
What do ye think of your Episcopal Cole-marchant Sir Arthur, for Durham: and let him bring in his Fellow-Labourer Sir Harry Vane for Newcastle? In the City of London, you cannot choose amise, provided, that Ireton or Titchburn, be One; and that he choose his Fellows.— For Kent, no man like Sir Michael Livesy, (a Knave, a Fool, and a Coward.)— For Norfolk, let Miles Corbet be one, and if the House does not like him, let 'em recommend him to the Red Bull, for he personates a Fool or a Devil, without the charge either of a Habit or a Vizor. If the Nation be so charitably disposed, as to erect an Hospital in favour of the Lame, the Rotten, and the Blind, let 'em take in Limping Luke Robinson; Rheumatic Mounson (this poor Gentlemen has the mourning of the Chine;) Bobtayled Scot; and the Blinking Cobbler.— But why do I pretend to direct in particular?— Among the King's Tryers; Excise men, Sequestratours, Close Committee-men, Major-Generals, Buyers and Sellers of Crown, and Church-lands, etc.— they may wink and choose. Alas, they're all converted. I'm sure he's Right, cries one; he Told me so. Dull Sots that we are! let us be Right our Selves; and then, what need we care who's wrong? I'll put a Case to you: suppose, upon the Dissolution of this Session, six or seven thousand of the Phanatique Souldjery, that knows, a Settlement destroys their Trade; should Try a Blow for't yet; and by the help of some of their Confedederates, yet in appearance of Authority, should put a Force upon the Honest Party: ('Tis but to suppose, what many of that Gang are bold enough in Public to declare) I have a Fancy you'll look on still, and betake yourselves to your Old senseless Plea,— They have the Power.— Which, if you do— No no; you cannot be so tame, and witless. Be careful whom you Trust, either in your Militia, or Counsels; Choose Persons of Estates Honestly gotten; Such, whom the Law preserves, will preserve the Law.  
Whereas, If you choose such as have an Interest of their Own, that th'warts the Public; you're very Charitable, to Believe that those very People, who all this while, have cheated you to benefit themselves, should, at the last, adventure all to preserve you.  
Look before you leap THO. SCOT. March 16. 1659.  
FINIS.