THE SPEECH, OF Philip Herbert, Late Earl of PEMBROKE.  
At his Admittance (as a Member) into the Honourable House OF COMMONS, In Parliament Assembled. April 16. 1649.  
After he had been duly Elected a Burgess for Berkshire in stead of Sir Francis Pills, lately disceased.  
Taken Verbatim by Michael Oldisworth.  
Printed in the Year. 1649.   

THE SPEECH, OF Philip Herbert, Late Earl of PEMBROKE.  
Many worthy Members, coming out of the House, received his Honer in with all respect, as a Member elected by the County of Berkshire, in stead of Sir Francis Pile disceased, where being no sooner outred but he spoke as followeth.  
Gentlemen,  
FOr so I can but now rightly call you all, though I know there be amongst you many worthy Lords, Knights and Burgesses; yet since all Domination and Lordship is cried down by the People, I think it my Duty to lay down the vanity of my Titles at the feet of this Supreme Authority, and Sink me. I hold it the best Policy so to do; and the best honesty too; LORDS, EARLS, KINGS, DUKES are all but Marks of the Gentiles, and cannot be proper to us Christians, that should have wit enough to Rule ourselves, and not exercise Lordship over our brethren, he that would be chief among you, let him be your servant, Dam, I have been your Servant, and will be your servant till death, I am an elect Member of this House, and no Ruler; neither have I any desire to Rule: for a Ruler should have his rule, 'Zblood, do ye make a Carpenter, or a Coxcomb on me, that ye think I'll be a ruler; Sink me, I grow Old, it is enough for me to Rule my Horse, and not to assume a Power to Rule others, for Ruling LORDS in an overruling scence, is a thing that stands neither with reason, law, justice nor Christianity; D …, I think 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lawfully Elected, and have as good qualities as another, and therefore may claim, have, and make use of any Privilege of Parliament, either in relation to my Person. Quality or Estate; Sink me and Dam, if I exercise Lordship over a worm: Judge me, I am as proud of Philip Herbert, or Burgess of Berkshire, as I am of Earl of Pembroke, and my Reason, (Mr. Speaker) is this, I was PHILIP HERBERT before I was Earl of Pembroke, and now I am Burgess for Berkshire, and I Bark not, and bawl not, (if I see occasion) as well as the best— of you all, then let the County that choose me their minister, and servant, complain of me, or turn me out, and choose another; No, Sink me, the Country ought not to be at the charge of keeping Dogs, and bark themselves, or feed their Dogs so high and lusty, that like Actaeon's, they devour their Masters: Pardon me, (Mr. Speaker) I hope you do not conceive that I call the Parliament Dogs, I speak concerning their vigillancy, to preserve their Master's Estates, and in that point, I may (in my blunt language) liken them to Dogs; but every like is not the same; Mr. Speaker, conceive me aright, I would have you not to be Dogs, but as dogs, that is as I conceive, not to be Dumb dogs; I shall ever hate a dumb Dog, but SIR, I know you are no dumb Dog, because you are Speaker.  
Gentlemen,— 
 I am now received in, and made a Member of this honourable House of Commons, though it be a thing strange, and not common in England for an Earl (as not long since I held myself to be) and a Member of the LORDS House to be made a Commoner, or removed from the upper end to the Lower end of the Table, I am not so void of Understanding, or common Scense, as not to think myself highly honoured therewith, I am no respecter of Persons or Places Sir, I know how to humble myself, and do acknowledge it my Duty, not only to lay down my Titles and Dignities, but my life and Honours for the Good of the Commonwealth,— Damn, 'tis not my Wealth that I prise above the Commonwealth, though I love both, and would do my uttermost to preserve both, which I take to be the chief Cause of the People's choosing me to be their Representative; 'Tis true, I was formerly chosen Chancellor of Oxford, not only by this honourable House, but the House of LORDS then being, but considering my weak abilities in Divinity, being (I thank God) little troubled with the same, nor guilty of any more confused or confounding langvages, than my own Mother-tongue, and for Arts and Sciences, they never shall trouble my head, I hold it my best Art and Science to preserve myself and my Estate, and get more if I can; Damn, he that cares not for his Wealth, can never care for the Commonwealth, for how can he that will not do good for himself, do good for Others; Charity ought to begin at home Mr. Speaker.  
Truly Gentlemen, I know not what errors are lately crept into that University, but at my last Visitation I think I plagued them to purpose; Confound me, they had as good to have been Visited with the plague as with me, for I spared none, right or rung, Dam, I think the University was never better weeded since it was a University, I pulled up all the Popish Poppies, the Malignant mayweed, the thistles and hemlock that choked the wheat, Dam, they had nigh choked me with fuming and swearing at them, a Pox of their Reasons, they were logic to me, for I could understand not one of them, and if I could, I would not, I had no such Order in my Instructions, I acted as vigorously as God would give me leave; I spared ne'er a son of Rome amongst them all, Dam, not my own Godson; 'Zblood, if my Father had been there a Scholar, and Popishly affected, (as I was told they were) he should have turned out with the rest, M. Speaker, I hate a turncoat and a Black-coat too. I love a Buffcoat, or Mistress Mays Petticoat, better than Popish Canonical coats, Dam, if ye were all of my mind (Gentlemen) you would pull down the Universities, they are but the Nurses of Learning and Superstition; Dam, Learning and Superstition hath occasioned all these Wars, and Blood; Refuse me, I had rather be a Sculler then a Scholar, these Arts and Sciences (as they call them) are dangerous Enemies to the State, and steal and draw away the hearts and affections of the People from Martial Affairs; and therefore (in my simple judgement) it would redound much to the strengthening of the State, to change the property of them, and in stead of making them Nurseries of learning, to make them fencing Schools, or Nurseries of War; Dam, this Kingdom has more need of Warring then learning, for all Christendom threatens Us; therefore (Mr. Speaker) let us not always be fools, 'Zblood, I have so much wit in my Blockhead, That if I see a storm a coming, I can provide for shelter, the very hooggs teach me that, gentlemans, I hate human learning, Damn I can learn as good a lesson from a hog, a horse, a Dog or a Cat, as from the best Divine in England; Pox, am I not a layman? and can I lay out my time in in any thing better than lay learning; Besides I am a Statesman, (I know nothing to the contrary) but that I may state my Question then, That as I am no divine, so that I may not meddle any more with divinity, I am no ruler, and therefore, if they cannot learn the Wit to rule themselves, let them be unruled; for I have done my part with them; Gentlemen, I hold the Chancellorship a fit place for my Man Oldisworth, or Mr. Peter's then myself, and therefore if your wisdoms think fit, I desire to be discharged therefrom, because the selfdenying Ordinance forbids (as I take it) to hold two Places in the Commonwealth, therefore I desire to leave the one to the intent, that I may mind, and apply myself the better to the other; Dam, I cannot serve two masters, the Church and the State too, God and the— Parliaments; if it please this honourable House, (I conceive) one Office is enough for one man, therefore I shall betake myself only to do my Business in this House, that the County that choose me may be the better for it; Gentlemen, I need not be ashamed to do my business in this House, and was never backward ye know in any good office, and would strain myself as much for the good of the State, as Alderman Adkins, or any Member of you all; & shall untruss my purse-strings too, upon any just and honest occasion; Gentlemen, as I have always loved you dearly, so I hope you will love me again, for my great Affection to you, should draw your great Affection to me, and indeed, we are brethren, and brethren ought to love, and agree with one another; Damn, the very Devils can agree with one another, and cannot we? 'Zblood, are we worse than Devils? Our grand Enemy (the King) is now cut off, and must we needs be enemies to one another, and cut off one another too; Believe me, Lilburne deserves to be hanged, and Overton to be turned over a ladder, and Prince the Cheesemonger to be served in the same kind, as the Prince of Wales, that they dare be so impudent bold as to tax the Parliament, or the Counsel of STATE with injustice, or Tyranny: Dam, 'Tis at least Treason and Nonscense but to think so, and, Sink me, 'tis a thousand times worse to say so, or to write so, and show the People reason for it too; A Pox of all reasons, and reasonings for me, I never loved it in all my life; Zounds, break a man's head, and give him a reason for it, as the Scot served me, when he switched me over the face, broke my head with my own staff of office, and then gave me a reason for it, and that was all the satisfaction I could have for that Affront, Damn I hate a Scott, as I hate a reason, and hate a reason as I hate the Devil, Reasoning is neither better nor worse than Treating, and we all Know, TREATING is a Malignant and an Enemy to the State, and if the Treaty had taken effect, 'Zblood we might all have been hanged and Damned before this: No, reason is dangerous in a State; neither is the State bound to render any reason to Lilburne, Overton, or any body else for their Actions, or what ever they do; had it not been for Reasoning, we had settled the Suprcame Authority on the People long ago, and then we had had Peace, and a settled STATE; How simple is it to think that a Parliament is unjust, or can err, that's a likely matter indeed? No, Parliaments are chosen by the People, because they cannot err? KING'S may err, as David, and the late King did; But when did you ever read in the Bible, that a Parliament could err, or had erred. And thus I hope I have given you Satisfaction in this point.  
For this your Act of Levying Money, I give my free consent, Pray what can be done without money, Dam, Soldiers that fight for Money, must have money; and though I am no Soldier myself, yet Dam, I love a Soldier with all my heart, and he that fights for money, let him win Money, and (Sink me,) if he wins it, let him wear it too; Zblood, where should we have money for Soldiers, but of the Countries and Cities whom they fight to preserve; unless they would have us pay them out of our own Estates; but surely there is none in this Honourable House, but has more frugality, or at least more Wit, then to part with any of their own Estates; Do we not labour, and spend our time for the Good of the Commonwealth, and shall the Commonwealth deny to spend their money for Us; Zblood, time is precious, (Mr. Speaker) and God refuse me, we have spent a long time in their Service (at least Eight years) and cannot so much as have a good word for our pains; Ram me, Sink me, and Damn me, it were a good deed to give over, and leave them to themselves, and then we should have a Kingdom well Governed; Dam, I am out of breath, and therefore will conclude my Speech.  
Vera Copia, Your Affectionate Servant, PEMBROKE & MONTGOMERY.  
FINIS.