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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	church_n	life_n	write_v	3,140	5	5.7901	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59303	The compleat memoirs of the life of that notorious impostor Will. Morrell, alias Bowyer, alias Wickham, &c. Who died at Mr. Cullen's the bakers in the strand, Jan. 3. 1691/2. With considerable additions never before published. Licensed, April 14. 1694.	Settle, Elkanah, 1648-1724.	1694 (1694)	Wing S2673; ESTC R214764	54,948	96

The Compleat MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF THAT Notorious Impostor Will. Morrell alias Bowyer alias Wickham c. Who died at Mr. Cullen's the Bakers in the Strand Jan. 3. 1691 2. With Considerable Additions never before Published Aude aliquid Brevibus Gyaris carcere dignum Sivis esse aliquid Licensed April 14. 1694. LONDON Printed for Abel Roper and E. Wilkinson at the Black Boy over against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleet-street 1694. TO Gabriel Balam Esq SIR A Fair Name in the Frontispiece of a Book is by long Custom reckoned as Essential a part of it as a Portico is of a Temple And yet as Panegyricks are their common Furniture Dedication is the nicest part of Writing For though the Honest Poet like the Faithful Painter draws not beyond the Life 't is still but a sort of Labour lost For as Modesty is the Finishing Stroke to the Compleat Gentleman That Patron that is the most worthy of Praise is the least fond of it And if we stretch into that nauseous Extream of Flattery the Panegyrick is turn'd into a Libel by exposing what we pretend to praise 'T is true the Pretence of Dedications is the borrowed Protection a piece of Scribble receives from the Noble Patron under whose Vmbrage 't is usher'd into the World When alas a great Patron is no more a Protection to a dull Book than a Cesar's Face to a leaden Shilling Wit and Sense stand only upon their own Legs and go no farther than their own intrinsick Merit carries them The World at least the Judicious part of it is not to be so cheated There 's no passing off that false Coin for which every Man of Sense has both a Scales and a Touch-stone Wit runs the Fate of Belteshazzar The Mene Tekel is certainly written over our Heads if we are once weigh'd and found too Light But supposing some favour'd Author cherish'd by the Smiles of a Noble or Generous Patron takes this occasion for that 's the fairest Dedicatory pretext of avowing his Gratitude to the whole World for such signal Obligations yet this publick Acknowledgment of past Favours looks very suspiciously like a Design of drawing on of new ones too So that to sum up the Cause the Brotherhood of the Quill if they would fairly unmask should plainly tell the World that there 's a private Gratification goes along with the publick Acknowledgment For Men make Dedications as Votaries make Thanksgivings The bent Knee is not wholly for Blessings receiv'd but for some little Continuation too of the kind descending Smiles And 'Faith now I am playing the Tell-troth and making thus bold with the Poetick Fraternity this common Fault amongst them may well be excused For to Apologize for the Muses in their own Native Dialect I need but quote a Stanza in Gondibert O hireless Science and of all alone The Liberal Meanly the rest each State With Pension treats But this depends of none Whose Worth they reverently forbear to rate If Poor Poetry is put to such hard Shifts for maugre our Gondibert's fair Flourish that 's the plain English to be so wholly unprovided for that the Muses have neither Lands nor Livings annex'd to their Foundation but are wholly supported by Goodness and Favour whilst all other Studies whether in the Long or Black Robe have their Preferments as warm Gowns soft Furs fat Glebes and fruitful Crops and what not And Poetry as much as 't is charg'd with Fiction yet like Truth goes almost naked Vnder these Melancholly Circumstances it may well be permitted some Grains of Allowance as an Vnhappy Dependant upon Courtesie But whilst I am thus plain in correcting Faults abroad I ought to look at home as having a much weaker Plea for my own Dedication when being so altogether a Stranger to you I dare be guilty of this Presumption This indeed I ought to have consider'd But when I find the Ingenious every day making their Court to you and the more eminent Priests of Apollo the more successful and no less deservingly so all assiduous Suitors to your Favour so many fair Examples are that Warrant for my Ambition that I lay hold of any Occasion tho at a farther distance of making one of the Train You have that Air of Sweetness and obliging Temper a Conversation so grateful as renders you the Favourite even of Both Sexes But if I proceed to sum up your fair Character I shall transgress the Laws I have laid down and offend that Modesty as has an Ear too tender for that Subject Not to enlarge therefore upon your other Merits 't is sufficient You are so great a Cherisher of the Muses and the Stage that that single Virtue alone has encourag'd me to the Confidence of this Address All I have truly to blush at is the slenderness of the Present this inconsiderable Trifle I offer you However as the Crow presented to Cesar be pleased to give it the same favourable Acceptance as indeed like that poor Crow saluting you with the same Hayle only with more Zeal and tend'ring you the humble Obedience of SIR Your most Devoted Servant E. SETTLE THE Notorious Impostor Or the History of the Life of Will. Morrell alias Bowyer c. THIS Famous Rover from the Multitude of his Titles to begin with his right Name William Morrell was by Profession a Chyrurgion and more than twenty Years ago for many Years together a Practitioner of good Credit in Banbury where his Industry honestly got him by his Practice a comfortable Subsistence with which he maintained himself his Wife and Family very handsomly till about twenty Years ago he began to be very Lazy and much addicted to hanker after the Conversation of the Gentry thereabouts And being a Person very Facetious and his Company not disacceptable he screwed himself into the Society of the best Quality round about and would be a Month or two a Guest at several Great Mens Houses More particularly he some time since insinuated himself into the Favour of a Worthy Gentleman near Banbury viz. Humphry Wickham of Swakely Esq whose Person and Character he pretended to represent and in which Imposture he made his last Exit His Original it was very Obscure and his first Start into the World was in no higher a Post than a Journey-man Shoemaker in which Character he liv'd some considerable time at Worcester understanding so little of what he profess'd at Banbury viz. Chyrurgery that he knew the Vertue of no other Plaister than his own Cobler's Wax From that Imployment he took a Frolick to Sea from whence returned he came to Swakely with the true Privilege of a Traveller his Authority unquestionable he talk'd Miracles both of his Voyages and Adventures For Example That he had made a Voyage to Constantinople and Barbadoes for East and West were all one in his Geography and so amused the Country-People with his Rhodomontadoes that they look'd upon him as a Prodigy of a Man His great Art he profess'd was Chyrurgery the

in Innocence too for thanks to her kind Stars there was no Consummation in the case as much a Wife as she is she is a Virgin-Bride at least and as much cheated as they have all been our young Spouse has the Satisfaction of that single happy Escape to counter-ballance all the rest of her Losses What Reparation our fair Promiser made to her Fellow-Sufferers in the Coach our Story mentions not but the Father Son and Bride returning by weeping Cross they found this Farewel Epistle at their arrival at Slough My Sweet Bride AY too Sweet God wot to be so lost Had we but consummated my Chicken had I but got the Virgin-Toy sign'd and seal'd my Sweeting it had been a Prize worth all the other Treasure But my hard Fate had otherwise decreed and I must e'en sit down by my losing Bargain But my Dear notwithstanding my abrupt parting prithee do not conceive hard Thoughts nor fancy me a Masquerader for though my House is removed from Lime-street upon my honest word I am a true Merchant and have hook'd in my Venture Pray Comfort your Condoling Fellow-Travellers and assure them their Moveables I took into my Protection are all very safe and that I shall take all possible care in performing my Trust in keeping them so And now Child if thy Defeat of a Bed-fellow should set thee a-gog for a new Husband for thy Consolation let me tell thee that I am fairly drawn off to make room for a happier Successor and at thy next Prayers for a Man in thy Tables to fill up the Blot I leave open thank Heaven thou hast scap'd so well for thou hast received the first Mercy I ever shewed thy Sex before and so dear Widow'd Turtle Farewel This Adventure so luckily concluded our Wife-Merchant takes a little Recreation in London and then tired with Ease and Idleness he thinks it high time to look out for new Game His Rambles have hitherto mostly lain Westward and his Success he has gotten there invites him to try his farther Fortune a Field the same Road. Down therefore his Galloper and he set out and meeting nothing in the Way worthy his Atchievement he fixes at last at the Town of Wells Here he is a Country Gentleman again his Name Bowyer Brother to Sir Charles Bowyer This Town happily afforded a Boarding-School for young Girls where the Fair Recluses generally are not altogether Nuns Flesh and where notwithstanding the watchful Oversight of those Guardian Dragons the Governesses and Super-Intendants Love too often leaps the Pale and many a bold Jason very luckily moves off with a Golden Fleece At this Castle 't is resolved our next Batteries shall be levell'd only all the hardest Work here is the making his Approaches For that purpose he inquires first who and what the Fair Inhabitants are and the like where he is soon inform'd of several considerable Fortunes amongst 'em but most of 'em either under Guardianship or Parents and though allyed to pretty considerable Effects the Lash is in Hucksters Hands The carrying the Damsel will not finger the Gold and our Business being only to snap and away a lighter Cargo than those unweildy Portions does our Jobb And accordingly he discovers one just sizable for his Turn A Tradesman's Daughter her small Portion about 150 l. and all in her own Hands or at least in her own Power her Parents and Friends all dead and therefore at her own Disposal and likewise something of the Elderliest for a School-miss being indeed about 20 Years of Age. 'T is resolved then to fix here and for a handsome Initiation his first Attak is only from his Eyes he sees her first at Church where his whole Devotion is so intent upon no other Object that he gives her Occasion to observe him His Gentile Equipage and in a Stranger too might very well draw some Eyes in a Country Congregation and this young Devotees were not so wholly tyed to her prayer-Prayer-Book but hers might rove a little She no sooner saw him but she met a very Passionate and Long-wishing-Look returned her If her Curiosity peep'd a second time she found him in the same Posture his Eye never off of her And this he continued Forenoon and Afternoon in such a manner that it was impossible even for Indifference it self not to Remark him Next Morning he makes some means to get the Company and Ear of one of the Sub-Governants of the School a Matronly kind of a Tutoress He cannot tell what Malleable Mettal she 's made of and how far she may be tempted to betray a little Trust However he resolves to try And if she be to be shaken at least he 'll use the most Perswasive Arguments to assail her Accordingly having first beg'd the Favour of a full Hearing he begins to lay open his Case in manner following First he discovers his Birth and Quality a Brother to the Honourable Sir Charles Bowyer Secondly Though a younger Brother yet provided with a Plentiful Patrimony to keep up the Port of a Gentleman Then that yesterday at Church he had seen the only Sweetness upon Earth that he could truly Love That it was some Extraordinary Destiny that had brought him thither to lose his Heart to so Lovely a Creature And then telling his Name which his Love had made him inquire into the present Suit he had was to obtain the Conversation of that Sweet Gentlewoman that he might have the favourable Opportunity of declaring his Passion to her which Access understanding the Strictness of the Family in which she now lived and under what Confinement she lay he had no Hopes of accomplishing but through her Means And that if she would vouchsafe to be the kind Instrument in gaining him his Request he should not only be bound to her the longest Day of his Life but likewise make her a Gratification suitable to so signal an Obligation The Gravity of our Tutoress seem'd a little Surprized at this Motion but before she could make any Reply he continued his Supplication to her by telling her That for Heavens sake she would believe his Intentions to the young Lady were nothing but Honourable that had his Designs been so wicked as to aim at or over-reach any young Fortune in the House as such he understood there were several there he should be the greatest of Villains But that Love and only Love was his Design was manifest in his Addresses to this young Gentlewoman who as he was inform'd was but a Tradesman's Daughter of little or no Fortune or at least very inconsiderable to a Person of his Circumstances and Birth and therefore she had all the Reason in the World to believe him a Person of Honour and Integrity and 't was as such he desired her to serve him in the Request he had made her She hearing him protest so heartily and profess so honourably could not but be a little attentive to so reasonable a Suit But being her self a Woman of Principle and