324 LIFE, TIMES, AND SCIENTIFIC LABOURS 



in order to his Majesty s command, and the welfare of 

 his tenderly beloved people. The rest of the troop 

 shall be nominated when your Lordships shall approve 

 of the motion, and his Majesty vouchsafe an acceptance 

 thereof. They shall all of them be approved persons 

 in zeal, loyalty, and allowed by you, and do ambition 

 the honour of being called a troop of the House of Lords, 

 and being so termed, and most of them of your members, 

 I dare without vanity affirm that no King in Christen 

 dom but may boast of such a troop ; and it will not 

 only be a safety to his Majesty s person, but an honour 

 to the whole nation ; and an evident testimony of your 

 Lordships constant loyalty and zeal to both King and 

 kingdom, and will keep up the honour of this House, 

 and not subject [it] again to be thrust out of doors ; and 

 I beseech your Lordships that I may be rightly under 

 stood, for it is my duty to his Majesty, and the honour 

 I bear to this House, and not the ambition of being 

 Captain of the said troop, that makes me to motion the 

 raising thereof ; for as I acknowledge that there are 

 many greater persons in the House, as well titular as 

 real, in merit and power, any of whom, if they please 

 to undertake it, I shall with more joy and readiness serve 

 as a trooper therein, than to have the command thereof. 

 &quot; My second humble offer, disposable by your Lord 

 ships, is at my own cost and charges, but under your 

 Lordships name and approbation, and out of the 

 accruing profits of my Water-commanding Engine, to 

 cause to be erected a competent ordinary, affording as 

 well wine as meat, for one meal a day, for forty indigent 

 officers, such as the calamity of the late times has 

 brought to so pressing necessities, as none of your 

 Lordships, I am confident, but is very sensible thereof, 

 especially of such persons who (had not their zeal to 

 their King and country transported them) might have 



