Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	author_n	great_a	write_v	3,726	5	5.3359	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47483	A modest answer to Captain Smith's immodest memoirs of secret service and his remarks upon the D. of S---'s letter to the House of Lords humbly dedicated to the Right Honourable, the Lords spiritual and temporal in Parliament assembled by Ric. Kingston.	Kingston, Richard, b. 1635?; Smith, Matthew, fl. 1696. Memoirs of secret service.; Smith, Matthew, fl. 1696. Remarks upon the D--. of S-----'s letter to the House of Lords concerning Captain Smyth.	1700 (1700)	Wing K613; ESTC R28760	16,651	43

A MODEST ANSWER TO Captain SMITH's Immodest MEMOIRS OF Secret Service AND HIS REMARKS UPON THE D. of S 's Letter TO THE House of LORDS Humbly Dedicated to the Right Honourable The Lords Spiritual and Temporal In Parliament Assembled By RIC. KINGSTON LONDON Printed for John Nutt near Stationers-Hall 1700. A Modest Answer TO Captain SMITH's Immodest Memoirs c. THO' the Justice of the Right Honourable the House of Peers in their Proceedings against Captain Matthew Smith has given an Intire Satisfaction to all that by examining the Stratagem have discovered that the bottom of the Design in Publishing his Two Books was meerly the Contrivance of a Party against a Person of Great Honour and Integrity yet because others that either being in the Party that put the Unthinking Captain upon so Rude an Enterprize or that take every thing for Truth that they desire should be thought so are still Whispering their Discontents and Buzzing it from Ear to Ear that the Captain has very hard Measure I thought fit to rectify that Mistake and set the whole Affair in its proper light Not as a Busy Intermedler in Publick Affairs but as a Friend to Truth and Justice that having it in his Power to Disabuse the Nation thinks it his indispensible Duty not to neglect this Opportunity of doing it The Author is so perfect a Stranger to his Grace the D. of S. that he never had the Honour of Speaking to him but once in his Life and that is now about Three Years ago and 't would be a greater piece of Disingenuity than he can believe any Man will be guilty of to insinuate that the Author is making his Court to the D. by this discovery of the Artifice that has been employed to Asperse his known Honour and Fidelity Nor has he any Intention to Lessen Captain Smith's Services or hinder him from the Just Reward that is due to them by making Reflections upon his Person or Conversation any further than the necessity of speaking Truth extorts them from him nor will advance any thing in Confutation of his Books or Detecting his Criminal Confederacy but from apparent Matters of Fact and Irreproachable Evidence I am not ignorant that this Narration is Impar Congressus for which I humbly beg his Graces Pardon and intreat the Reader in Honour to make that Allowance through the whole Discourse but if any think fit to Chide the Undertaking upon that Consideration having already confest my Fault I have only this Boon to ask That they would suspend their Censure till they have Read the Book and then a God's Name let them speak their Pleasure To proceed orderly in this Affair I am obliged to acquaint my Reader that tho' Captain Smith's Letters of Correspondence with his Grace the D. of S had been long transfer'd from Hand to Hand in Manuscripts yet the Printing and Publishing them under the Title of Memoirs of Secret Service raising all the Clamour and Noise that has been made about them since it will be necessary in laying open the Design against his Grace and discovering the Captain's Practices to begin with that Book And herein I will prove First Tho' Captain Smith with great Assurance has Printed his Name in the Title-Page of those Memoirs as Author of the Book It was not written by him Secondly That the Writing and Giving away Five Hundred of those Books Publishing and Maintaining the Captain and the Person that Wrote it was carried on by a Contribution at the Charge of a Party Thirdly That the very Letters of the Captain 's Correspondence as now Printed in the Memoirs are so Alter'd and in them are so many Additions Spurious Glosses and Artificial Connexions that they cannot be said to be the same with the Originals sent to the D and consequently that no Inferences can or ought to be collected from them to support Captain Smith's Pretensions against him Fourthly That the Substance of both his Books generally speaking are meer Fardles of Improbabilities Incongruities and Invented Falsities And having dispatch'd an Answer to the First I shall proceed to this Second Book Entituled Remarks upon the D. of S 's Letter concerning Captain Smith c. The Book claim'd by Captain Smith Entituled Memoirs of Secret Service was Written by Mr. Thomas Brown a Stiff Jacobite and a Mercenary Poet that will Write any thing or against any Man for Money And here methinks Captain Smith that pretends to be so stout a Williamite has made a Horrible Blunder in his Politicks at the Threshold of his Enterprize in employing a Rank Prostituted Jacobite to do as he calls it Service for the Government and I cannot get over the Aenigma without the Assistance of a Proverb Like to like Tho some will applaud his Judgment in the choice of such a Tool for designing to Calumniate an Eminent Minister who was so fit to undertake it as a Debauch'd and Mercenary Jacobite whose peculiar Talent lies in Scandalizing Mankind A Sheet of the first Impression of these Memoirs by a Mistake coming to me to be Corrected gave me the first Opportunity of Guessing at the Author Reading the Preface the Paraphrase the Observations and the Minutes which almost compose the whole Pamphlet And meeting a Quotation in Latine from Titus Livius to which Language I knew Captain Smith so perfect a Stranger that he familiarly breaks Priscian's Head in English And knowing that he is no more able to Write one Line of that Preface than to run away with the Monument confirm'd my Opinion that Mr. Brown was the Author of it Now Resolving to make my self Master of the Secret I sent for Mr. Brown to me At his coming I charg'd him with the Fact shew'd him the Infamy and Danger of the Action and he immediately confess'd He was the Author of the Book Entituled Memoirs of Secret Service Curs'd Captain Smith for drawing him into a Snare and employing his Pen to so Base a purpose for which he said he heartily Beg'd the D's Pardon and by way of Atonement voluntarily offer'd to tell me all he knew in the Matter These Words were spoken in the Presence and Hearing of Mr. M. S. Physician Mr. A. R. Bookseller and Mr. B. B. Printer At another time discoursing this Subject with Mr. Brown in the Presence of Mr. A. R. he told us how bravely he Lived while he was Writing the Book before-mentioned and that when he had finished the Copy for the Press and Captain Smith being then out of Pocket and expecting no great Sum of Money till the Sitting of the Parliament he gave him a Bill under his Hand for the Payment of Fifty Pounds for Writing that Book And now having proved this Particular beyond Dispute I proceed to my Second Head which is That Writing Publishing and Giving away above Five Hundred of these Memoirs and the Charge of Maintaining the Captain and the Poet while he was Writing the Book was carried on by a Contribution at the Charge of a

Party For Proof of this Particular I must again make use of Mr. Brown who at the same Place and Time and before Mr. A. R. above-named told it me in the very Words they are inserted in above He also added the Names of several Considerable Persons that were Contributers to the Charge which I think is neither Safe nor Prudent in me to remember And also that Dr. Chamberlain who lives in Suffolk-Street to use Brown's own Words was Casheer to the Party and sent Money to Captain Smith by his Foot-Boy as often as the Captain sent for it Having travell'd so far and successfully in this Affair and my Curiosity tempting me to possess my self of the whole Matter I soon perceived what I had long suspected and now am obliged to prove as my Third Particular viz. That the very Letters of Captain Smith's Correspondence with his Grace the D. of S as now Printed in the Memoirs are in many Places alter'd and so many Glosses and Artificial Connexions added to them that they cannot be said to be the same with the Originals sent to the D and consequently that no Inferences can or ought to be collected from them to support Smith's Pretensions against him Captain Smith in April 1696 delivered all the Copies of his Letters of Correspondence with his Grace into my Hands and now upon reading the Book finding those in Print run smoother and that they were more intelligibly connected than any I had read that were Written by Captain Smith himself without the help of a Prompter I began to suspect some Foul Play or Trick was in the Wind. I diligently compared the Written and Printed Letters and soon found tho' they are bad enough still that the Finger of Tom Brown had been there for several Passages are added to those in Print that were not in his first Written Copies Some flat Words were changed for better and in other Places whole Sentences Alter'd to mend the Sence to smooth the Cadencies and to make them speak more to his purpose in Print than they did in Manuscript This I thought sufficient to destroy all his Pretences to Veracity However because this Proof tho' as plain as Demonstration to my self yet was liable to Exceptions by those that favour'd the Person and assisted the Contrivance I enquired from whose Hand-Writing the Letters were Printed off and being assured it was done from Captain Smith's Hand-Writing to save the trouble of Transcribing I procured the Copy to be left with me by which I soon perceived tho' the Letters were Written in Smith's Hand yet they were in several Places Corrected Mended Alter'd and several Additions made to them by blotting out what had been Written by the Captain and Interlineations and Additions made in Mr. Brown's Hand and the difference between the two Hands as plain to be seen as the Nose on either of their Faces And resolving not to be single in the knowledge of this Artifice I shewed the Copy with the Additions and Alterations to a Minister of State who if there be occasion I am sure will do me Justice in what I have asserted Still methinks I hear some Body enquire How I came by the Blotted and Interlined Copy I Answer It was delivered into my Hands by the Bookseller and Printer when the first Impression was Printing off and I believe that very Copy is yet in my power to produce if required to do it After this having an Opportunity to Discourse Mr. Brown I charg'd him with making the Alterations and Additions aforesaid He would fain have shuffled it off at first but when he heard me say I would shew him his own Hand in the Copy to prove it He answer'd What wou●d you have me do Smith cannot Write Sense and I having Wrote the Preface made Observations and lick'd over his Minutes I was forc'd to stick in here and there a Word and now and then Usher in a short Sentence to make his Letters speak Sence and seem of a piece with the rest for which Captain Smith promised to bear me Harmless This was spoken in the presence of Mr. J. H. and Mr. T. W. and that it might not slip my Memory I wrote it down about half an hour after And this leads to the Fourth Particular viz. That the substance of his two whole Books call'd Memoirs c. are meer Fardles of Improbabilities Incongruities and Invented Falsities To Answer the whole Books will be the business of another time I shall only regard them now en Passant I have sufficiently prov'd tho he values himself upon it he was not the Author of it yet to do him a kindness and supposing it contains his meaning I shall treat it as if it were so without regard to the dismal Trunk he speaks through His Preface and two first Letters to his Grace displaies his Quality tells you he was of the Inner-Temple and had been Comptroller of that Society and then without doubt it was well govern'd I think that Dignity is otherwise called Master of Misrule at Christmas and since his Extravagant Expences upon that Occasion laid the Foundation of his Ruine and that the Office so aptly agrees with the Rakish Qualifications of the Person I will not grudge him the Honour of it He was also Captain of an Independant Company * p. 8. Did Duty at Windsor-Castle when His Majesty came thither upon the Revolution and would Insinuate that he was Broke for no other Reason but because he had been a Captain in the Late King James 's Reign but that is a Great Mistake He was Broke for being an Errant Coward For the truth of which I appeal to the Noble Lords that Broke him This Passage would admit of severe Reflections upon his Honour for what will a Coward not be guilty of but I will not add to his Afflictions He acknowledges himself to be a very Weak Man and I find in running over his Letters that Natural Imbecility has had a strange effect upon his Memory as well as his Courage as appears by the Observations following In the 19 and 20 pages He says the E. of P. next to his Grace the D. of N. was the first Person he communicated the Contents of his Letters of Correspondence to and that this was done in May 1696. but he extreamly forgets himself for he shew'd them to Francis Jermy Esq and Mr. William Read at the latter end of March left them three Weeks in his Custody and put them all into my Hands to peruse on the 23d of April 96. He says he had no Design to Accuse his Grace the D. of S. and in page the 26th out of a tender regard no doubt to his Graces Honour harrangues sweetly upon it in these words I could not avoid says he being upon my Oath to discover a Correspondence between a great Minister of State and my self That Honourable House cannot but remember I answered their Questions with all the Submission and Profound Respect Oh Fine Tom. Brown