You should tell your masters all that you see and hear. Do not flatter
them. Let it be the truth. Say that men talk everywhere, more and more
openly. Tell them that you heard John Hampden say that the King's Star
Chamber was an abomination, that the King soiled his majesty in treating
Mr. Prynne and Mr. Bastwick so. Say that you and your like are reviled
by all honest men.

_Ireton:_
And you can say that it is no fear of earls or kings that spared you the
whipping you would deserve if you were better than shadows.

_Bridget:_
Well said, Mr. Ireton.

(There is a demonstration of anger from the labourers, but CROMWELL
checks it.)

_Mrs. Cromwell:_
Now, Henry Ireton, these gentlemen may be bears, but I won't have you
make this room into a bear-pit.

_Cromwell:_
No, friends, these men say but what they are sent to say.
(To the agents.)
I should not speak to you but in the hope that you will report it to
those that should know. I am a plain burgess of this city. I farm a few
lands and am known to none. But I have a faith that the people of this
country are born to be, under God, a free people. That is the
fundamental principle of this English life, If your masters, be they who
they may, forget that, then, as you say, there will be lessons to be