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pleased to load him with. He came to London the 17th of Aprill, tooke his place in the House the 19th, and on the 21th, in the morning, before he had delivered two of his said many letters, answered, or rather spake to his charge, to the following purpose:
Mr. Speaker,—I received your letter, whereby I am appointed to attend this House as this day. I am here in obedience to those summons, and to receive the further pleasure of this House. I did, Sir, with your letter, receive certaine articles brought in against me by Sir Hierome Sankey, but doe not perceive I was required to prepare any answer to them; for indeed I thinke it is impossible to give any, those articles being soe generall and confused; for the substance of them is, that I received great bribes, bought great numbers of debentures, unwarrantably cousened the State of vast sums of money, the soldiers of vast scopes of land, and that I and my fellow Commissioners have used many foule and unwarrantable practises in our employment, but without any mention of time, place, person, or other circumstances whereby I might understand what this charge meanes.
Wherefore, Mr Speaker, I desire your pardon if I make noe answer to itt, otherwise then to tell you, in generall, I am not guilty of a title. I promise you, Sir, I shall be ready, at a very short warning, to give you an answer to any particular complaint that I ever heard so much as murmured against me. And truly. Sir, I am not ashamed to tell you that within this three yeares I have heard very many, but, I thank God, chiefly from those who are jealouse and querulous uppon all occasions, and who are practised in a way of protesting against other dispensations of justice, as well as those wherein I have acted. I tould you. Sir, I should make noe answer to this charge; nevertheless, I shall make soe much use of these articles as to take them as a theame and a hint whereuppon to acquaint you with my carriage in matters of this nature; nor shall I uppon this occasion scorne to follow the absurd method of the articles themselves, in my discourses upon them.
Wherefore, uppon the first article, which is, that I received great bribes, I say:
That allthough I had the honour to be secretary to his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant in Ireland, in which capacity severall warrants and orders for the disposing of beneficiall offices, church livings, exemption from transplantation,
