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A47885
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A modest plea both for the caveat, and the author of it with some notes upon Mr. James Howell, and his sober inspections / by Roger L'Estrange.
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L'Estrange, Roger, Sir, 1616-1704.
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1661
(1661)
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Wing L1272; ESTC R37601
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15,257
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50
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Majesty hath repulsed not to insist upon some others admitted upon mistake And Honest men for Villains I speak upon my own experience A Watch upon his Majesties Ear c. That is Such is the pressing boldnesse of some people toward the King that 't is no easie matter without apparent impudence for a poor Cavalier to interpose and tell those Truths which the Others would have concealed Concerning Seditious Ministers and Libells The Lectures are supplyed with the Former and the whole Nation rings of the Other Their businesse is to enflame the People against the Government under the Mask of Persecution and Popery They Pray for the Kings Conversion rather then his Establishment Bishops they mention not at all unlesse to call them Antichristian Drones and Lazy Lubbers And who are these Gospel Ministers as they stile themselves but for the greater part such as the Law has ejected and the whole Kingdome spewed out from those Livings which by violence and Treason they had ravished from Honest men These are the men that cry the Gospell's Persecuted The Candle-Stick's removed They Cheat the Poor to Gorge themselves and pay their Tavern-Scores out of the very Alms-Boxe Nor is the Press less active or less dangerous then the Pulpit They have their private Instruments and Combinations to disperse their Libels and I dare undertake there may be found among the Confederate Stationers in this Town above a Million of Seditious Pamphlets 'T is the best Trade they Drive and bating matter of Conscience who can blame them for 't Their Gains are great their Hazzard little beside the Pleasure of accomplishing their malice I was my self upon a search for the Phoenix a virulent Pamplet which with the Printer Publisher and Stationer I discovered to Master Secretary Sir Edward Nicholas who with great Honour and exactness sifted the matter and proceeded in it I found at the same time the first two Sheets of The Year of Prodigies an imposture of a most damnable Design This Book is lately Perfected sought for and many Copies taken yet let me offer that Giles Calvert and Thomas Brewster have certainly a hand in 't and Livewell Chapman Probably tho' they absent themselves But to the Book it self The Author of it ransacks several stories for memorable Accidents and Prodigies and for Remarques of such and such Judgments that follow'd them These does he match with a most impudent forgery of the like wonders here to strike the People with a superstitious expectation of the same events Now mark how probably the false Prophet draws the Prediction or the Portent to his design and both the Factions co-operate in the Delusion To overthrow the Government by King and Bishops is that they aime at and this by the influence of pretended signs from Heaven upon the Peoples minds in approbation of the Project they labour to accomplish their Observation reaches from Aug. 1. 1660. to the end of May 1661. They tell us of two Suns seen near Hertford but they name none that saw them Then in the Parallel they point at the like in the beginning of Queen Mary and about the time of the Persecution in Germany They mark also that it portends the * fall of great men from their Power c. with an Asterisme at FALL Again Two Meteors c. This was seen when the Persecution waxed hot in SCOTLAND In the same page you 'l find the apotheosis of their 5 Martyrs Scroop Iones and his fellows at Charing cross Five Naked men forsooth were seen in the Ayre in Hertfordshire by the Lord knows who exceeding bright and glorious upon the day they were executed Armies were seen in Sussex c. This happened a while before the King of Sweden routed the Imperial Army and here in England in 1640. This villenous Impostour to get himself more credit gathers some Observations that predict Pestilence a thing which in common reason was to be expected from the distemper of the season so that if That succeed he hopes it may dispose the people to believe the Rest But I shall be too long upon him Let what I have Observed suffice for Persecutions and now the People are startled see what encouragement the wretch gives them to rebell and cast off the Yoke Haylstones as big as Wallnuts This happened in the LAST year of QUEEN MARY A dreadful Whirlwind c. This happen'd in the LAST year again of QUEEN MARY This is to possess the People that the King is not long-lived Frogs and Toads out of the Ayre This happened the year before Charles the fifth was put to flight and hardly escaped with life A terrible Tempest and raging Tides This was observed in the LOW-COUNTRIES a little before they threw off the yoke of the KING of SPAIN A fierce and sodain shower of Rain c. This in the LAST year of QUEEN MARY An extraordinary Tide c. The like happened a while before the late King then â—rince of WALES began his voyage toward SPAIN A River dry'd up c. This happened in the 31. of Richard the second and also in 1643. and the 22. of Hen 6. which was conceived to portend a Revolt and Division of the People Several of these stories are lyes upon my knowledge so far as by particular enquiries from persons upon the place where they are said to have happened I can know any thâ—ng but let this serve without persuing his further falshoods This is enough to manifest a conspiracy when both from Press and Pulpit such desperate impressions are stamp'd upon the credulous and superstitious Vulgar But that which most amazes me is that the consequence of discovering Treason should be so mischievous for the very persons I complain of scape better then I do Now to resume the examination of my Caeveat wherein if any syllable be found that may be said to reflect either upon the King or his Counsel the Act of Indemdity or the Publick Peace my words lye open to the World let him that hath a mind to 't pick a quarrel with them Having passd over my answer to the Cordial where I was under a confinement to follow Mr. Howell's wandrings I shall dispose the rest into a little better Order And first concerning the King We are with reverence to believe that where he knows the Person he Preferrs or Saves he knows likewise the Reason of his Bounty or Mercy and we are not to pry into forbidden secrets But where we find the King a stranger either to the Action or the Person we may with fairness enough humbly acquaint his Majesty c. p. 18. And there we are to acquiesce without presuming to Advise or Direct unless our Lord and Master will have it so for having modestly declared matter of Fact the judgement and proceeding rests in his Majesty Again He that sees Cromwells Bradshaws Saint Johns his Creatures nay and the meanest of them laden with Offices and
giving the world a cast of his cunning and starts objections which we must either overthrow or suffer by Now whereas some object hehath rewarded ROUNDHEADS says the Author of the Cordial This is a charge upon the Cavaliers for to be sure the other Party will not complain Since manifest it is that in effect some persons are entertain'd beyond common expectation what better office could I do either to his Majesty or his Party then to lay a charm upon the people not to enquire too boldly into the actions of their Sovereign Had I done less the slur had stuck upon us had I. H. done nothing I had been silent Again whereas some except against his Majesties Lenity and Indulgence c. Not Wee say I could I say less and at this rate he squanders away his Breath and Politiques in Vindication of the King as if we charged his Majesty When to deal freely his very zeal in an Abuse and if I had a mind to blast a cause I would engage that Gentleman to be For it Next to this provocation I might plead my Primum Tempus had I not still a stronger Plea Innocence But to evince the Partiality of my Back-friends Let us suppose a Fault what is the Quality of it and who the Offender it is an Errour either of Imprudence or of Sawcynesse for that 's the worst they say of it and the Offender is a Person that has been twenty years a faithful Servant to the Crown Greater Crimes then This have been pardon'd within the Memory of Man yes and greater Offenders too and those that are the most advantag'd by That Pardon are now the sharpest upon Mee Now to the point of Prudence I shall easily grant that to exasperate so Keen so Close and Deadly a Faction as that which Threatens mee were a grosse and weak Oversight in any man that rates Himself above the publique but being Resolv'd rather to sink my selfe for speaking plain Loyall and usefull Truths then that the King should suffer by not knowing them I shall most readily dispose my self to act that Resignation which I doe now but Talk of NOTES UPON Mr. Iames Howell c. IF he that wrote the CAVEAT to the CAVALIERS had been of the Gentleman's Counsel that penned the CORDIAL he should never have disown'd the Author and after that have defended the matter of it If it was Well done why was it disclaim'd if Ill why is it justified But to the old Epigram He does as Puritans at Baptism do He is the Father and the Witnesse too The thing it self might have been spared but then so solemnly to disclaim it is not pro dignitate HISTORIOGRAPHI Regii The Title indeed might have becom'd the Mouth of his Toledo-Captain Some SOBER INSPECTIONS made into those Ingredients that went to the Composition of a late Cordial call'd A Cordial for the Cavaliers SOBER INSPECTIONS with a mischief why there was one I. H. that dedicated a discourse under this Title To his Highness The L. PROTECTOR when he would have made himself King wherein he compares OLIVER CROMWELL to CHARLES MARTEL and complements him in these words There is says he a memorable saying of Charles Martel in that mighty Revolution in France when he introduced the second race of Kings that in the pursuit of all his actions he used to say that he followed not the ambition of his heart so much as the inspirations of his soul and the designs of Providence This may be apply'd to your Highness in the conduct of your great affairs and admirable successes I rest in the lowest posture of obedience At your Highness command I. H. One passage more I remember that is of very pretty insinuation Under the name of POLYANDER is couch'd the Author of the Dialogue whom you must imagine to be a man of Parts and Travailed This Polyander gives his opinion for a single Person against all other forms of Government But then he says that It is requisite that this single person should be attended with a standing visible veteran Army to be paid well and punish'd well if there be cause to AWE as well as to Secure the People To give I. H. his due the other Oliver could not have given his Name-sake better counsel The Book indeed does mightily cry up the Royal Prerogative and 't is a little sharp upon the Scots and the thing commonly call'd the Long Parliament which yet at that time done does but proclaim the Author of it either a weak Statesman or a worse Subject For during their divisions it was our interest still to uphold the weaker side and hinder the other from setling Neither can any thing be more unseasonable then to exalt the rights of Sovereignty when a Traitor wields the Scepter It does but serve to fix the Crown upon the wrong Head to magnifie the Power of Kings when an Vsurper manages the Office It was an unlucky oversight in Mr. Howell to Christen this vindication of his Cordial SOBER INSPECTIONS If he had call'd it any thing else except S. P. Q. V. the Pamphlet might have liv'd and dyed free from that envy which commonly attends great Wits and Undertakings Not one of forty I dare almost swear but would have been content with the bare Title-page and never have turn'd the leaf but first to fob the poor Cavaliers with a Cordial like a whipp'd Posset that is all Froth and then to mend the matter by a sad tale in favour of it that wears a Title to give a Horse a Vomit This is not kindly done But that the world may not mistake I.H. for JAMES HOWEL the said JAMES HOWELL Esq in his Survey of VENICE dedicated to the SUPREME AUTHORITY of the Nation the PARLIAMENT of England in 1651. is clearly for a COMMON-WEALTH For says he were it within the reach of humane brain to prescribe rules for fixing a Society succession of people under the same Species of government as long as the world lasts the Republique of Venice were the fittest patern on earth both for Direction and Imitation And in the tender of his Republican Model to the Keepers of the Liberties he treats the mighty men in a stile of Reverence and Honour Most NOBLE SENATORS he begins and with a dignity befitting both the Presenter and the Present Thus he concludes Therefore most humbly under favour the Author deem'd it a piece of Industry not altogether unworthy to be presented unto that Noble Assembly by Their daily Orator HOWELL Now on the other side I.H. in his Epistle to the PROTECTOUR calls this same NOBLE ASSEMBLY a MONSTER and his HIGHNESS HERCULES for Quelling of it Yea such a Monster that was like to Gourmandize and devour all the Three Nations Who This I.H. was or That JAMES HOWELL belongs not to our Enquiry The Author of the Inspections says indeed very acutely There are more I.H's. then one and so say I there may be more Iames Howell's too But if the person now