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Most Gracious Soveraign,
THis your City, wherein your Majesty doth chiefly Reside, grows Too big for the rest of your Kingdome, indeed So big as it will be too Unruly and Unwieldy to be Govern'd, and being fully Populated, it will not only be apt to Cor∣rupt the Air, and so cause Often and Great Plagues, which may Infect the whole King∣dome; for where Many People are, there is much Dung and Filth, both within the Streets
and Houses, as also Foul Bodies and Corrupt Humours, which of Necessity must be very Un∣wholesome; but it will Devour the rest of the Kingdome, for it is the Mouth and Belly that Devours the Fruitfull Increase of the Land, yet Labours not to Husband the Ground: Besides, the Richest and Noblest of your Subjects Resi∣ding for the most part in the City, as being the Chief City, Rob the Country, and Inrich the City; for what they Receive in the Country, they Spend in the City, so that they Feed on the Labours of the Poor Country-men, and are Inriched by the Vanities of the Nobles. Thus they Thrive by Vanity, and Live by Spoils, Wasting the Plenty, Beggering the Gentry, and Ruining the Country, and so the Kingdome. Also too Great and Populous a City is not only a Head too Great for the Body of the Common∣wealth, but like a Head that is full of Gross Hu∣mours, indeed a Great City is a Head fill'd with Evil Designs, and not only a Head with Evil Designs, but it is the Tongue of Detraction, the Heart of Civil Warr, the Magazin of Warring Arms, and the Treasury to maintain Rebellious Armies; for though they are more apt to Mu∣tin than to Fight, and more apt to Rise in Tu∣mults than in Arms, yet more apt to Take up Arms, than to Keep Peace; and though they have neither Conduct nor Courage, yet they will Destroy with Force and Fury, whosoever will offer to Oppose them; and their great Plen∣ty will make them more apt to Rebell, than if
they were Pinched with Necessity; for their Wealth makes them Proud, their Pride makes them Ambitious, their Ambition makes them Envious, their Envy makes them Factious, their Faction makes them Mutinous, and in a Tu∣multuous Mutiny they will indeavour to pull your Majesty from your Throne, break your Laws, and make Havock and Spoil of all the Goods and Lives of your Loyalst Ministers of State, and Noblest Persons about you, and for the most part, the most Honest and Worthiest Persons they can come to, they will Destroy. Thus a great City is too Rich to be Obedient, too Proud to be Govern'd, too Populous to be Quiet, and too Factious to Live Peaceably.