such bookes are likely to be bought vp before he will deliuer them out of his hands If he be a Printer he makes conscience to exemplefy his Coppy fayrely truly If he be a Booke-bynder he is carefull his worke may bee strong seruiceable If he be a seller of Bookes he is no meere Bookeseller that is one who selleth meerely ynck paper bundled vp together for his owne aduantage only but he is the Chapman of Arts of wisdome of much experience for a litle money He would not publish a booke tending to schisme or prophānesse for the greatest gain if you see in his shopp any bookes vaine or impertinēt it is not so much to be imputed his fault as to the vanity of the Tymes For when bookes come forth allowed by authority he holds it his duty rather to sell them then to censure them Yet he meddles as little as he can with such as he is truly perswaded are pernitious or altogether vnprofitable The reputation of Schollers is a◅ deare vnto him as his owne For he acknowledgeth that from them his Mystery had both begining and meanes of continuance He heartely loues seekes the prosperity of his ovvne Corporation Yet he vvould not iniure the Vniuersityes to advantage it norbe soe sawcie as to make comparisons betweene them He loues a good Author as his Brother and vvillbe ready to yeeld him the due portion of his labors vvithout vvrangling When he comes to be Maister or Warden of his Company he labors truly to rectify what is amisse but fyndes so many peruerseones and so few of his good mind that his yeare is out before he cann bring any remedy to passe He greeues for those Abuses vvhich haue bene offred to me other Authors but fynding that by speaking on our behalfes he is likely to bring himselfe into an inconuenience vvithout profitt to vs he prayes in ◅ilence for amendment and that God vvould not lay to the charge of the whole Corporation that vvhich but some among them are guilty of He feares none of those reproofes vvhich are to be found in this booke For he knowes himselfe cleare and is resolued to make sale of it so it come forth vvith allowance from Authority In a vvord he is such a man that the State ought to cherish him Schollers to loue him good Customers to frequent his shopp and the vvhole Company of Stationers to pray for him For it is for the sake of such as he that they haue subsisted and prospered thus long And thus you haue the true discription of such a Stationer as I exempt from my reprofes now followes the Charecter of him at whose reformation I haue aymed A meere Stationer is he that imagines he vvas borne altogether for himselfe and exercizeth his Mystery without any respect either to the glory of God or the publike aduantage For which cause he is one of the most pernitious superfluities in a Christian gouerment and may be well termed the Deuills seedman seeing he is the aptest Instrument to sowe schismes heresies scandalls and seditions through the vvorld What booke soeuer he may haue hope to gaine by he vvill divulge though it contayne matter against his Prince against the State or blasphemy against God And all his excuse wil be that he knew not it cōprehended any such matter For giue him his right he scarcely reads ouer one page of a booke in seauen yeare except it be some such history as the Wise men of Gotham and that he doth to furnish himselfe with some foolish cōceits to be thought facetious He prayseth no booke but vvhat sells well and that must be his owne Coppy too or els he will haue some flirt at it No matter though there be no cause For he knowes he shall not be questioned for vvhat hee sayes or if he be his impudence is enough to outface it What he beleeues is prepared for him in the next world I know not but for his enriching in this life he is of so large a faith that he seemes to beleeue all Creatures and Actions of the vvorld vvere ordayned for no other purpose but to make bookes vpon to encrease hi◅ trade And if another man of his small vnderstanding should heare him plead his owne supposed right vvhere none might contradict He would halfe thinke that all our Vniuersityes and Schooles of Learning were erected to no other end but to breed Schollers to study for the enriching of the Company of Stationers If an Author out of meere necessity do but procure meanes to make sale of his owne booke or to peruent the combinations of such as he by some Royall lawfull priueledge He presently cryes it downe for a Monopoly affyrming that men of his profession may go hang themselues if that be suffred Marry Authors haue a long tyme preserued a very thankfull generation of them from hanging if they cannot afford them one booke of ten Millions to releeue them vvithall in a case of need vvhen that booke was the Authors owne alsoe no part of the Stationers former liuelyhood This is iust as reasonable a complaint as if a Cōpany of Haglers should preferr a bill against the Cuntry Farmers for bringing their owne Corne other prouisions to the next markett He will fawne vpon Authors at his first acquintance ring them to his hiue by the promising sounds of some good entertainement but assoone as they haue prepared the hony to his hand he driues the Bees to seek another Stall If he be a Printer so his worke haue such appearance of being vvell done that he may receaue his hyre he cares not how vnworkmanlike it be parformed nor how many faults he lett goe to the Authors discredit the readers trouble If his employment be in bynding bookes soe they vvill hold together but till his worke Maister hath sold them he desireth not they should last a weeke longer For by that meanes a booke of a Crovvne is mard in one Moneth which vvould last a hundred yeares if it had 2d. more vvorkmanshipp so their gaine employment is encreased to the subiects losse If he be a seller of Bookes he makes no conscience what trash he putts off nor hovv much he takes for that vvhich is vvorth nothing He vvill not stick to belye his Authors intentions or to publish secretly that there is somewhat in his new ymprinted books against the State or some Honorable personages that so they being questioned his vvare may haue the quicker sale He makes no scruple to put out the right Authors Name insert another in the second edition of a Booke And when the impression of some pamphlet lyes vpon his hands to imprint nevv Titles for yt and so take mens moneyes twice or thrice for the same matter vnder diuerse names is no iniury in his opinion If he gett any vvritten Coppy into his powre likely to be vendible whether the Author be vvilling or no he vvill publish it And
of their malicious wronges then the Nightingale in a Sommers night doth of the barking of dogges whooping of Owles but sing on without distemper to the contentment of myne owne soule Yet since their clamorous noise hinders others from heareing the voice of the Charmer and through my sides wounds the credit of Authority and may parhapps hereafter incourage them presumptuously for the bringing in of greater inconueniences I desire their dealing with me may be taken notice of by this most Reuerend Assembly To which end I haue here sett downe what they cry out to the disparagement of me and my booke instead of dispersing it abroad according to his Maiesties royall commaund Some giue out that my booke containes nothing but a few needles Songs which I composed and gott priuiledged by Patent meerely for my priuate benifit to the oppression of the Common-wealth Some discourage those that come to buy the booke other whiles denying that it is to be had other while peremptorily protesting against the selling of it or disgracefully telling such as enquire after the same that the worke is Ridiculous and that it better be◅itted me to medle with my poetry then to be ◅ampering with diuinity with such like other wordes of contempt Other some there be who dare auerr that my Lords Grace of Canterbury with many of the Bishopps and best Deuines doe much dislike and oppose the saide Hymnes Others againe buze in the peoples eares that the Hymnes for the Obseruable tymes are popish and tending to the maintenance of superstition And some there be among them who in such terms of ribaldry as no Stewes can goe beyond them blasphemingly affirme that the CANTICLES are obscene and not fitt to be divulged in Song or Verse Yea many other obiections they make and cast out diuers aspersions aswell vpon the Author as on his booke to bring both into contempt The maliciousnes and superfluity of wickednes appearing in these their euill speakeinges your Reuerences can easily perceiue Neuerthelesse forasmuch as there lye Padds in the straw which the best iudgements cannot discerne at the first sight And seeing I haue been openly traduced as vnbeseemingly intruding vpō the deuine calling and stand now accused as one that hath hatched and brought forth such thinges for my temporall aduantage which are offensiue and scandalous to the Church and consciences of good mē which I would not willingly be guilty of for all the world by your patience I do hereby giue an account of my action now in question hopeing that it shal be to the satisfying of this reuerend Assemblie the contentment of such as haue vpon misreport been offended to the shame of myne opposers And I trust also it shall discouer that although there may be founde indiscretions or ouersights in my vndertaking yet I haue deserued fairer vsage my aduersaries lesse credit and my studies better entertainement then heretofore they haue found To keepe my selfe the closer to that which shal bee pertinent to this Apology I wil make these particuler obiections my Theames which I haue repeated nor will I bring any other authorities to make good my defence then the true relations of what hath ben don and such plaine arguments as mine owne reason shal be able to frame For if this discourse come to the veiw of your Reuerēces only you wel enough know what the Recordes of Antiquity can afford to these purposes And if it happen among those only of meane capacity such playne expressions as I purpose to vse will acquire most credite among them And first whereas they giue out that my Hymnes are needles they doe not only thereby contemne and slight my paynes but lay an imputation of vanity vpon the wisedome of the Holy Ghost also For a greate part of them are parcells of the Canonicall Scriptures originally Songe And to say any fragment thereof were needeles is in effect to deminish from Gods words vpon which followes a heauie curse God deserues euery day to be praysed of vs for deliuering his Church by the ouerthrow of Pharoah in the redd Sea as much as he did in the very moment of their deliuerance And the song of Moses then vsed doth in each particuler as properly concerne euery christiā Congregation as it did the Iewes themselues vpon that occasion For Gods mercy shewed to v◅ in our baptisme and the spirituall ouerthrowe of the deuill pursuing vs with an host of sinnes and temptations is in myne opinion more effectually exprest to a spirituall vnderstanding by apprehending the actions and circumstances of that temporall deliuerance thē it could be by the power of any words or by any other ordinary means except by contēplating of that most excellēt material obiect the Sacrament of Baptisme it selfe of which the other was but a type In like manner all the other Canonicall Hymnes do admyrablie help towards Gods euerlasting mercies and for illustrating those particuler Misteries of our christian fayth which they did typically and prophetically foreshew Yea they are part of the propheticall witnes as the Hymnes of the newe Testament are patt of the Euangelicall witnes of our interest in Christ Iesus And verily the late neglect of their application in our christian mysteries hath not onely much iniured one of the two great witnesses of our saluation but giuen occasion also that many vnsound professors haue corrupted them euen to the bringing in of diuers Iewish and Talmudicall fancies to the fearefull distraction of weake people But were not those Hymnes necessary in respect of the variety of their arguments yet the variety of expression were somwhat needful although the matter were the same For as the seuerall dressings of one sort of meate maks it diuersly agreeable to the pallats and stomackes of men so the various manner of things de◅uered in holy Scripturs makes them applicable to our vnderstandings and what in one kind of deliuery seems harsh or obscure in another kind is acceptable and more easily apprehended That which is easie to you is hard parhapps to me and what may be thought an impropriety to some great iudgments doth many times most properly insinuate the speakers meaning vnto them of weaker capacityes In obseruing the seeming differences amonge Interpreters in their trāslatiōs of these words NASSECHV BAR part of the last verse of the secōd psalme I conceiued thereby that the profitable vse of variety was very apparant For the translation most agreeable to the original Hebrew renders the words OSCVLEMINI FILIVM the Septuagint APPREHENDITE DISCIPLINAM and Saint-Hierome ADORATE PVRE which beeing all orthodoxe Interpretations and agreeable both to the scope of the Psalme and that which the wordes originally beare and all standing well together also with the Analogie of fayth this variety made me conceiue in my meditations therevpon that the holy ghost had deliuered his meaning in these triple Equivokes that they might the more properly bee accomodated to the seuerall States and ages of his Church For pardon me if I
I ought to seeke the same without entreating any mans furtheraÌ„ce and if it be not in euery perticuler iust and conuenient that I should enioy the same yt shall goe and I wil venture an vtter vndoeing rather then make vse of any mans friendship to detain it For God who hath hitherro prouided for me in such a manner as best befitted both my temporall and spirituall Condition will I knowe continue his prouident care of me while I can haue grace to be thankfull and retayne the resolution to doe my lawfull endeauour Howsoeuer let the worlde conceit of mee as it pleaseth I scorne to enioy my lyfe much more any priueledge to the common preiudice and am able to demonstrate as shall hereafter appeare that my booke and the Kinges Graunt haue beene malitiously traduced without cause Yet the Stationers haue not only scandalized the sayde graunt vniustly and layde the imputation of impertinencie to the Booke of Hymnes without cause but feareing as it seems lest their publication would discoÌ„uer their false dealing and gayne me and my labour some good approbation in spight of their mallice They haue as I sayd before practised also or rather conspired as much as in them lyes to hinder the lawful sale of my Booke For they prouide them not in their shoppes as they are commaunded by Authority nor furnish themselues with those as with other books notwithstanding they may take them vpon trust and make profitt of them before payment is required at their hands being content somewhat to hinder themselues that they may disaduantage me And to excuse this iniury they giue out contrary to their owne knowledges that if they take my bookes from me none will fetch them out of their handes which they falsly pretend meerely to dispariage that which I hope they shall neuer be able to bring out of credit tyl they haue lost their owne For they are daily so much enquired after that had the Booke-sellers preferred them to sale as they would haue done if the coppie had been their owne twenty thousand might haue been dispersed long ere this tyme. Yea if they had either any loyal respect to the Kings pyous commaund or loue to the practise of Deuotion or but that humanity which is to be found among Infidells they might haue deulged a hundred in place of euery tenâ—… which are yet dispersed For though fewe knowe where to get the sayd Hymnes because they are seldome to be had amonge the Booke-sellers yet thousandes of them haue beene bought vp by gentlemen and others whoe hauing enquired out with much difficulty where to finde them report to mee howe much I am abused amonge the Stationers and how hardly they cann forbeare from vsing them vnciuilly that come to aske for my Booke with diuers other particular Discourtesies But because those vsages doe demonstrate their owne euill disposition rather then disparage the said Booke I wil omitt to perticularize those many discourtesies which I am that way offered and proceed to answere such other obiections as they and their abetters haue framed to bring both my Hymnes and me into contempt And first they obiect forsooth that they are not worthy to be annexed with their Psalmes in meeter in respect of that insufficiency which they haue discouered in my expressions For so harsh and improper do my lynes appeare to these iuditious censurers and their chaplins that some compare them to DOD the fillkemans late ridiculous translation of the Psalmes which was by authority worthily condemned to the fire Some tearme them in scorne WITHERS SONNETS and some among them the better to expresse what opinion they haue of their pious vse are pleased to promise that they wil procure the â—…aring Ballett singer with one legg to sing and self them about the Citie which base speeches proceeding from those skoffing Isâ—…alites I could well enough brooke in respect of mine owne person oâ—… meâ—…t For there is soe much euill euen in the best of my actions that contempt is the fayrest reward which they can iustly challenge Yet when I call to minde with what Christian intentions I was emploieâ—… 〈◊〉 those Hymnes and howe many howers at â—…ight I spent about them whilst it may be my Traducers were either sleeping out their tyâ—… oâ—… 〈◊〉 employed when I consider also howâ—… many 〈◊〉 religious men haue approoued theÌ„ how much their pious vse might further the reuerence and practise of Deuotion to the prayse of God it greeues me that there should bee in this nation any so wicked as to oppose so Christian a worke to so friuelous an end But when I remember by whome and by what Authority that booke was allowed and commaunded to be made publik and withall what mistery of iniquity it is that hath conspired against the saÌ„e me thinkes it is an Iniurie not to be tollerated Is it reason they who liue by bookes should bee permitted to abuse the Authors of their liuelyhood Or is it seemely that those whoe as I sayd before are but the pedlers of books should become their censurers and by consequent both the censurers and deprauers of that Authority which allowed them If this be tollerated the fayrest draughts of Apelles shal be daily subiect to the foolish critiscismes of those arrogant coblers and the State shall not be able â—…re long to publish any thing but what they haue a fancie to approoue For to this passe it is already come that whatsoeuer the State dislykes shal be imprinted and devulged by them though both absurd and scaÌ„dalous with twice more seriousnes then any booke lawfully commaunded but let it tend to schisme and they will disperse more vnder-hand in one weeke then the Royall Authority shal be able to divulge in a yeare toward the setling of vnity in the Church I know not what it is which should make my booke of Hymnes appeare soe ridiculus vnto theâ—… or so vnworthy to be annexed to the English Psalm-book as they pretend In respect of the matter it cannot iustly be excepted against for a great part therof is canonicall Scripture and the rest also is both agreeable therunto in euery perticuler and consonant to the most approoued Discipline of the Church of England Soe that how squeâ—…ishly soeuer some of their stomackes brooke it they being allowed by Authority are as fitt I trust to keepe company with Dauids Psalmes as Robert Wisdomes TVRKâ—… and POPE and those other apocryphall Songs and praiers which the stationers add to the Psalmebooke for their more aduantage Sure I am that if their additions shal be allowed of by the most voices yet mine shal be approoued of before those by the best Iudgments Now as for the manner of expression which I haue vsed I hope it is such as no iust exception cann be taken therunto seeing I haue aswel in that which is of my owne Inuention as in the Translations vsed that simplicity of speech which best becommeth yâ— subiect without affectatioÌ„ to those poetical phrases
that I went about so to giue testimony also how farr I am from being wilfull in my owne opinions I doe in all humility submit my selfe to be rectified by your RRces in whatsoeuer I haue done or spoken which though offence had beene giuen will I hope make me somwhat more excusable then my aduersaryes pretend Howsoeuer I cannot dispayre For yf those ouersightes which I haue vnwillingly committed in that performance doe bring on me those outward troubles which shall frustrate some of my temporall hopes yet I am confident that those christian affections which Gods mercy hath made acceptable in me shall produce those inward comfortes which will vphould my faith tyll my contentments are made perfect and therfore his will be done I come now to speake of that imputatiō by which the stationers and their Abetters haue don my book and me the greatest iniury and that is in pretending my Hymnes for the Obseruable tymes to be furtherances to Popery and superstition When they cannot bring men to dislyke me and that labor of myne by disparaging the vsefullnesse thereof they obiect against the manner or method when that wil not serue turne they except against my calling when that wil not preuaile they impudently accuse it of obscenity when that effects not their purpose they gyue out that it is inclyning to Popery when none of these courses will aduantage them they rayle and send him that enquires for the booke to goe and seeke yt where he cann But the best of their stratagems hath beene by accusing yt of fauouring superstition For it hath not onely made many hundreds whoe knowe not yet what the Booke treates of to forbeare the buyeng and perusing of it but hath giuen them occasion also to passe their censures on me in so vnchristian a manner as if I were an Apostate that had fallen from my Religyon or sought the subuertion of yt for my outward profitt Wheresoeuer I come one gyddy brayne or another offers to fall into disputation with me about my Hymnes Yea Brockers and Costermongers and Tapsters and Pedlers and Sempsters and Fydlers and Feltmakers and all the Brotherhoods of Amsterdam haue scoffingly passed sentence vpon me in their conuenticles at taphouses and Tauernes So that insteed of diuvlging my booke that according to the Kings intēt yt might further y◠reverence práctise of deuotion and confirme in his Maiestyes subiectes obedience to the pyous discipline of our Church some of the stationers haue by traducing it giuen ignorant people occasion to speake the more in contempt of those Ordinances which they ought reuerently to obey If these presumptions shall be suffered without rebuke neither the Authority of the Church or State will shortly take place but that onely vvhich makes for the profitt or humor of the Stationers For some of them dare already tell me to my face that if the King had not peremptorely commāded the addition of my Hymns to the metricall Psalmbooke they would haue the sooner anexed thē but by compulsion they will not And for that cause one of them as hee himselfe affirmed hath sold of those bookes 500 lesse then hee might haue done in one quarter of a yeare What is this but to professe wilfull disobedience in contempt of his Majestie his pious Iniunctio as if he had not powre to command the publication of a few leaues to the glory of God without crauing their fauors For though it might be objected that I petitioned the sayd Hymnes might be added to the metricall Psalmes out of a priuate respect as doubting or foreseeing that the Stationers and others vvould feeke the suppressing of them if they vvere not compoūded withall to their owne liking Yet the Kings Maiesty had no such ende but inioyned the same meerely to this christian purpose that those Hymnes might be the more conueniently dispersed throughout his Dominions for the edifying and instructing of his Loyall subiectes perswading himselfe that those who haue enioyed so many greate Priuiledges by his gratious fauour would neuer haue opposed that authority by which they fub sist and by vertue wherof they receiue benefit of such Grants as are both of the same of a higher nature especially seeing it is probable that none of his louing subjectes worthy the name of a Christiâ would haue grudged to enlarge his booke the quantity of a fewe leaues at the ordinary rate to so pyous an ende as those Hymnes tend vnto considering how many poundes are yearly consumed in triuiall Pamphlets and other vayne expences But why should I onely complayne against the Stationers the inciuillity of those whom they haue stirred vp to clamor against the Hymnes for the solemne Dayes as if I alone suffred in this vproare Do not your RRces perceaue that the kings Iudgement Authority suffers by it Nay perceaue you not that while they seeme to aime at me they strike at you and seeke to ouerthrow or disparage the allowed Discipline of our Church Verily that is the white which they seeme to shoote at And there is not one of them but if he dare stand to his Objections before this reuerend Assembly I dare vndertake to prooue him to be little better then a Schismatick in his opinions an enimie to the govermēt established in the Church of England If vpō the review of my Hymnes there may be found either in them or in their Prefaces any thing repugnant to the Catholike Verity or the allowed Discipline I will recant it make publike acknowledgment of my error and vndergoe what punishment shal be thought deserued For I had rather be irrecouerably vndon both in my credit estate then to be an occasion of preiudice or scandall to the Church of God Nay let all my labors be made frustrate and my person be deliuered ouer to be subject to the tyrany of the Stationers if my Hymnes doe not euidently appeare vpon serious viewe to be instrumēts of Gods glory helpfull to deuotion tending to Christian Conformity and likely to be a meanes of deliuering our Solemnities from being so much traduced and misvnderstood for reliques of Popery as heretofore I am thus confident thereof by reason of that blessing which God hath already giuen For notwithstanding that great opposition of the Stationers hitherto made and those vilde imputations which they haue layd on my Booke Many haue confessed vnto me that my Hymnes for the Obseruable Tymes and their Prefaces haue made them more reverently affected towards that Discipline then formerly they were And haue professed that yt shall for euer hereafter teach them to be more conscionable in condemning and sleighting the obseruatiō of that which is established in our Church Yea some Divines haue modestly acknowledged that they did not so well consider the piety and vsefulnes of those observations as they haue since done If I were so greedy of temporall aduantages as the Stationers iudge me or yf I had meereley proiected my own profit in the course of my studies