1.  If that those of their own company, as the now Lord Mayor and their Mr. Forget-Good, with then brave Lord Willbewill, might, under Shaddai, be still the governors of the town, castle, and gates of Mansoul.

2.  Provided that no man that now serveth under their great giant Diabolus be by Shaddai cast out of house, harbour, or the freedom that he hath hitherto enjoyed in the famous town of Mansoul.

3.  That it shall be granted them, that they of the town of Mansoul shall enjoy certain of their rights and privileges; to wit, such as have formerly been granted them, and that they have long lived in the enjoyment of, under the reign of their king Diabolus, that now is, and long has been, their only lord and great defender.

4.  That no new law, officer, or executioner of law or office, shall have any power over them, without their own choice and consent.

’These be our propositions, or conditions of peace; and upon these terms,’ said they, ‘we will submit to your King.’

But when the captains had heard this weak and feeble offer of the town of Mansoul, and their high and bold demands, they made to them again, by their noble captain, the Captain Boanerges, this speech following: 

’O ye inhabitants of the town of Mansoul, when I heard your trumpet sound for a parley with us, I can truly say I was glad; but when you said you were willing to submit yourselves to our King and Lord, then I was yet more glad; but when, by your silly provisos and foolish cavils, you laid the stumbling-block of your iniquity before your own faces, then was my gladness turned into sorrows, and my hopeful beginnings of your return, into languishing fainting fears.

’I count that old Ill-Pause, the ancient enemy of Mansoul, did draw up those proposals that now you present us with as terms of an agreement; but they deserve not to be admitted to sound in the ear of any man that pretends to have service for Shaddai.  We do therefore jointly, and that with the highest disdain, refuse and reject such things, as the greatest of iniquities.

’But, O Mansoul, if you will give yourselves into our hands, or rather into the hands of our King, and will trust him to make such terms with and for you as shall seem good in his eyes, (and I dare say they shall be such as you shall find to be most profitable to you,) then we will receive you, and be at peace with you; but if you like not to trust yourselves in the arms of Shaddai our King, then things are but where they were before, and we know also what we have to do.’

Then cried out old Incredulity, the Lord Mayor, and said, ’And who, being out of the hands of their enemies, as ye see we are now, will be so foolish as to put the staff out of their own hands into the hands of they know not who?  I, for my part, will never yield to so unlimited a proposition.  Do we know the manner and temper of their King?  It is said by some that he will be angry with his