16 A SPEECH ABOUT UNDERTAKERS. 



far it may proceed from a good mind, and in what 

 kind it may be thought malicious and dangerous. 



Thirdly, I will give you my poor advice, what 

 means there are to put an end to this question of 

 undertaking ; not falling for the present upon a pre 

 cise opinion, but breaking it, how many ways there 

 be by which you may get out of it, and leaving the 

 choice of them to a debate at the committee. 



And lastly, I will advise you how things are to 

 be handled at the committee, to avoid distraction 

 and loss of time. 



For the first of these, I can say to you but as the 

 Scripture saith, &quot; Si invicem mordetis, ab invicem 

 consumemini ;&quot; if ye fret and gall one another s re 

 putation, the end will be, that every man shall go 

 hence, like coin cried down, of less price than he 

 came hither. If some shall be thought to fawn upon 

 the king s business openly, and others to cross it se 

 cretly, some shall be thought practisers that would 

 pluck the cards, and others shall be thought papists 

 that would shuffle the cards ; what a misery is this 

 that we should come together to fool one another, 

 instead of procuring the public good ! 



And this ends not in particulars, but will make 

 the whole house contemptible : for now I hear men 

 say, that this question of undertaking is the predo 

 minant matter of this house. So that we are now 

 according to the parable of Jotham in the case of the 

 trees of the forest, that when question was, Whether 

 the vine should reign over them ? that might not be : 





