Attestations that they never said any such thing and that was all that you could do to prove your Negative and this might have been easily had especially from Mr. J. K. who lives at Edinburgh nor is there any of us so far exasperated against him as not to believe his own Testimony solemnly and seriously delivered And this is more Civility on our part than any of them will allow us at any time or upon any occasion If I were at Edinburgh I could prove the Affirmative and you must excuse me to continue just where I was notwithstanding of all the Informations you have received The following Paragraph hath in it more Impertinencies than there are Lines and yet it is probable that many of your Sect may think it seraphically witty The Author of the Postscript said that the absurd and ludicrous Sect metamorphos'd Religion and its solemn Excercises into Theatrical Scenes Another of the same Fraternity says that your Preachers were whining Fellows that drivelled at Mouth and Eyes And thus you make them contradicct one another and then you run away with a loud holla'a as if you were at the Head of the Rabble pulling down a Cathedral to see so many Curates slain with the Jaw bone of an Ass The word Theatrical Scenes does not determine whether your Preachers acted Comedies or Tragedies and a whining Scaramouchi may act his part in either and if so the many Words which you have gathered to no purpose discover your Ignorance and not any Contradiction amongst them whom you hate But Mr. Ridpath are you not in a strange Career when you can never hit upon the true nature of a Contradiction I am not surpriz'd that you do not know the Nature of a Comedy and Tragedy for you never read Aristotle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor none of the Commentators upon him either ancient or modern yet you might in two months time for so long I am told you was at the University have learned what a strict and formal Contradiction is That the Presbyterians were better at Libelling than their Neighbours is evident from all Records and therefore the Author of the Postscript had good Reason to say that Libelling was their Characteristick as that which they most practised and excelled all others in that in which they placed most of their Strength and Confidence and which they will never forbear if they happen to live where there is any to be accused But you say that your Enemies were the first Aggressors and their bold Attempts against the Godly justifies all the rough Treatment that they have met with Mr. Ridpath there is one thing that I would entreat you to condescend to and it is in itself very just and reasonable and unless you yield to it we may fight to our last breath without satisfying one another or serving any good Design the thing is this when you accuse Persons and Parties you must be more express definite and particular in your Libels I am of the Opinion that it is not possible for Presbyterians to forbear Libelling especially upon all publick Turns and Revolutions their Libels against the Clergy both in England and in Scotland are still upon Record Did you never see the Centuries of scandalous Ministers accused before the Long-Parliament The General Libel against the Bishops of Scotland may be seen when you please in the King 's Large Manifesto and in the first Volume of Nalson's Collections and if you believe neither of these Books since they were both written by Malignants read the Acts of the General Assembly 1638 and there you have the very same Libels mentioned and there is no Presbyterian but knows that the Libels against the Bishops in the Year 1638 were read from all the Pulpits of the Nation where the Assembly's Authority was obeyed and what is said by the Author of the Postscript of their Behaviour towards Archbishop Spotswood is commonly attested by the oldest Men in that corner of the Country near St. Andrews Particularly this is more carefully preserved in the Family of Ballfour And the Bishop of O. and Mr. Sage of Glasgow had this very Story from the Laird of Ballfour's own mouth 'T is true that there is an Act of the General Assembly mentioning the Libels against the Bishops but there are also among the unprinted Acts Acts of Excommunication and Deposition against some Prelates and when those Acts are produced I offer to prove from their own Authentick Records many more steps of their Fraud and Artifice That there are such Acts as I last named unprinted vid. Index of the principal unprinted Acts of the Assembly at Glasgow 1638. And if they were not afraid of being discovered and exposed upon this very Head those Acts had been printed as well as the other Principal Acts nay the Act against Episcopacy it self was not printed because it could not but alarm all the Protestant Churches abroad against them when the Order of Episcopacy was condemned as simpliciter unlawful a thing unheard in the Christian Church until the mungrel Conventicle at Glasgow sat therefore the Act against Episcopacy was left unprinted as well as the Acts of Excommunication and Deposition against some Prelates And this is either altogether unknown to or dissembled by Mr. Gilb. Rule when he denies the Truth of that Story as related by the Author of the Five Letters And you are a Fool to think that in those days when Rebellion and Hypocrisie were triumphant they would have stuck at such little Punctilio's and not practise all Arts to delude the Populace I hope you do not deny what use they made of Margaret Mitchelson's Visions Raptures and Revelations by which they persuaded the People that the Covenant was authorised by immediate Revelations from Heaven as well as by the Popular Tumults at Edinburgh The Knavery against Archbishop Spotswood was an Injury done to him and the Church but the counterfeit Raptures of Margaret Mitchelson countenanced by your Party mocked and defied God's Justice and Providence no less than it ridicul'd and prophan'd all Religion Vid. King 's large Declaration Nay they procured Libels against the Clergy from most Counties in England and in those Counties where they had none to work upon of their own Gang they forged Libels and presented such counterfeit Petitions in the name of such Counties and dispersed their Forgeries for real Truths to make their Party appear numerous and the Clergy odious And Sir Thomas Aston petitioned the House of Lords against this villanous Practice but this was not welcome to those Lords who favoured the Faction and therefore Sir Thomas Aston was reprehended and the Forgerers gently rebuked And my Author truly observes that this was like to prove aglorious Reformation which was built upon such Foundations and advanced by such Arts and Methods So that if you mean the former Presbyterians they were the first Aggressors and if you mean the modern they practised this Trade of Libelling ever since the beginning of the
The SPIRIT of Calumny and Slander Examin'd Chastis'd and Expos'd IN A LETTER TO A MALICIOUS LIBELLER MORE Particularly Address'd to Mr. GEORGE RIDPATH Newsmonger near St. Martins in the Fields CONTAINING Some Animadversions on his Scurrilous Pamphlets Published by him against the Kings Parliaments Laws Nobility and Clergy of Scotland TOGETHER With a short account of Presbyterian Principles and Consequential Practices Tenue est mendacium perlucet si diligenter inspexeris Senec. London Printed for Joseph Hindmarsh at the Golden-Ball over against the Royal Exchange 1693. TO THE READER IT is not much worth the while to inform the World that now Mr. George Ridpath is at the Head of the Presbyterian Party in Scotland His Associates there and here have such an Opinion of him that they consider him as the Invincible Champion of their Cause and the truth is if any Man be so inconsiderable and so much a Brute as to fight him at his own Weapons Mr. Ridpath will certainly carry the Prize He 's the Man that is now most likely to pull down Antichrist and the Whore of Babylon And as for the Scotch Episcopal Clergy who yet retain any kindness for the Hierarchy and the former Government if he lives another year they must all of them be banish'd the Isle of Britain It is enough for you to know that now the Presbyterians as is probable have by an unanimous Suffrage chosen him to manage the Libels against their Opposites He now appears in the Field of Battel with all the Noise Lies and Clamour that becomes a Zealous Covenanter He began this last years Campagne with a Libel against Dr. M o which valuable Book he Dedicated to the Parliament of Scotland by this one may easily infer that either he had a mean Opinion of the Parliament or extraordinary thoughts of himself If the following Treatise cannot be reduc'd into any certain Method this is not to be imputed unto me for I must confess that I too much follow'd the Excursions of Mr. Ridpath's invention I was willing to contract the Animadversions that I made upon his Book into as little room as was possible and therefore the frequent Transitions from one thing to another are best understood by such as have Read his Continuation c. I hope most Men are better employed than either to think or speak of the Calumnies and Lies that he industriously heaps together against the Clergy His Party is resolv'd to make use of such Engines against the Church as they and their Fore-Fathers found most successful to the Extirpation of Root and Branch and they that are unacquainted with their Malicious Methods are great Strangers to our Nation and History If the Reader meet with some Paragraphs that are more particular and peculiar to Mr. Ridpath than the Publick is oblig'd to take notice of I must be excus'd since I was compell'd for I assure you that I value personal altereations no otherwise than a good Christian ought to do Nor did I ever Write to satisfie or convince Mr. Ridpath that being a thing in it self impossible There is a certain Order of Mean Spirited Fellows I do not mean by their External Quality who think that there is nothing written by their Party were it never so ignominiously fulsome and scandalous but what is invincible and unanswerable Their Pride and Vanity are Incurable It is not my meaning that we ought to put our selves to the Drudgery of answering all the Scurrilous and Obscene Libels that are propagated by our Enemies but 't is reasonable to let our Friends see that at some times we can Confute them if that be thought convenient I am so far convinc'd of the weakness of their Reasonings that I know no Sect Antient or Modern that ever broke the Peace of the Christian Church but may be more plausibly defended than the latest Edition of Presbytery in Scotland I never thought that the Reputation of my Friend was in any hazard by being attack'd by Mr. Ridpath or the Little Creatures who instigate him yet by the following Papers I make it plain to all disinteressed persons that Mr. Ridpath lies Willfully and Deliberately in several Instances and therefore I may be allow'd to take leave of him for the future if he does not manage his accusations as becomes the Spirit of Truth Innocence and Ingenuity If you think that the Style is more sharp than is Decent or Just then I intreat you may Read his Books which occasion'd these Papers and then I am confident that you will retract your Censure and find that I have meddled with his Person as little as was possible He is in some places so Obscene that there is no coming near him and therefore I made all possible hast to rid my imagination of him and the paultry Trash that he gathers together The Bookseller was willing to Print a Sheet or two more than the Letter that I address'd to Mr. Ridpath and therefore I gave him some Propositions that are extracted out of such Books as are most in Vogue amongst the Scotch Presbyterians that the Reader might have a sample of their Moral Theology with regard to Obedience Government and Subjection To which I have added a Letter written from the Tolbooth of Edinburgh by the Famous Assassin Mr. James Mitchel who endeavours to prove from several Texts of Scripture that he ought to kill Dr. Sharp Lord Archbishop of St. Andrews In short to use the words of a Great Man Rebellion is the Soul of the Kirk And though we had not known the History of that Parliament Anno 1645. So they call'd the bloody Meeting at St. Andrews we have later Instances of their Arbitrary and Tyrannical Malice against the better half of the Nation Their very Patrons are asham'd of them not through any ingenuous remorse but because their bare fac'd Villanies are frequently expos'd I think the following Letter needs no other Preface than what is already hinted by Sir Your humble Servant S. W. The CONTENTS THE Occasion of this Letter Mr. Ridpath the Author of two or three Scurrilous and abusive Pamphlets against the Kings Parliaments Laws Nobility and Clergy of Scotland Page 1 His Rage and Passion against the Author of the Apology for the Clergy of Scotland Ibid. His Challenge fairly embrac'd The Author of this Defence undertakes to prove that there is not a good Consequence in Mr. Ridpath 's Books from the beginning to the end p. 2 The Character bestowed upon Mr. Rutherford by the Author of the Apology no justifiable ground of Mr. Ridpath 's clamourous bawling against the Learn'd Advocate Ibid. â—â—â—path 's accusation against Sir George Mackenzie in the case of C. of C. founded only on his own Petulance and Malice p. 3 Ridiculous advices to the Ministers of State in England and his Civilities to K. W. and Q. M. Ibid. His imitation of the famous Presbyterian Buffoon Dr. Bastwick when he reviles the present Clergy of the Church of Scotland p. 4 His impudence in
I did not know a thing that he thought was known all the World over why said he Ovid is of our Family and do not you know said he that Ovidius is from Ovis a Sheep and the Butchers take Ovis by the Neck and therefore he began his Book de Tristibus with Parve nec invidio from all this he concluded that Ovid was of his Family and I think he argued as wisely as you do to prove us Enthusiasts It is true the Author of the Postscript said that the Acts of the General Assembly did sufficiently vindicate King Charles II. and his Ministers of State from any Shadow of Rigour or Cruelty but I must tell you that he meant other Acts than those you guess and it is a sad thing to have to do with such an Adversary as you it appears that you have a very good Opinion of your self and there is not a Quality more essential to a Presbyterian than Pride and Vanity you have not read the Books you are concerned to read if you set up for the publick Advocate of the Kirk how came you to guess what Acts your Adversary meant unless he had cited those Acts particularly and therefore I advise you to read the Acts of the General Assembly more narrowly and see if you can name any of the Papal Enchroachments upon the Civil Magistrate more daring and ambitious than that one Act which is cited in the Margine and which is recorded to the Honour of Presbytery Mr. Ridpath you see that I have a great desire to court your Friendship since I cite the Books exactly that you look upon as Oracles You tell us after a long Declamation against King Charles II. his Government and the Doctrine of Passive Obedience that Sir George Mackenzie's Arguments in the defence of his Reign are all of them built upon a false Narrative of Matter of Fact as if the Rebellions against King Charles I and II. were not notorious and known all Europe over The Scotch Rebels laid King Charles I. upon the Altar and the English Rebels sacrificed him and this is no other Censure than what is obvious to every Man's Observation Must we sit down and transcribe all the Presbyterian Protestations Remonstrances seasonable Warnings and Declarations when every little Pamphlet is answered Must we prove that Presbyterians are Rebels that is as needless as to prove first Principles for since the Covenant is the Magna Charta of your Religion as you are distinguished from other Christians why should you think the Imputation of Rebellion to be any Reproach Sir George Mackenzie gave the World a true Narrative of the first Rise and Occasion of those Laws that you complain of And we are very glad how much you write against it you but wound your own head and kick against the pricks for his Narrative remains true and founded upon the Records of Parliament and Progress of your Rebellion and still unanswered as it is unanswerable I know that one of your Club wrote a Pamphlet against his Defence of King Charles II ' s Government entituled a Vindication of the Presbyterians in Scotland c. It peeped out as if it were afraid to see the light but no body knows where to find it and in a few days it evanished 'T is said to be printed for Edward Golding 1692. I got one Copy accidentally but all my Industry could not procure another The Author is a very accomplish'd Gentleman no doubt of it he tells you in the very first page of his Pamphlet that he left the Law part unanswered And this one Expression is enough to proclaim him a Fool that he who had no knowledge in the Laws should venture to answer Sir George Mackenzie's Book just as if one should censure the Works of Tully and Quintilian without any knowledge of the Rules of Oratory and Rhetorick and to let you see how grosly ignorant this poor Creature is he tells us that King Ch. I. when the Earl of Traquair sat at the Helm of Affairs imposed on the Subjects an Oath commonly called the Tender with great Severity and that it is not improbable but that the Covenant was a Counter-Oath to that Now Mr. Ridpath I ask you how any Man can forbear smiling to see how such a little Shuttle-cock can assault the Memory and Writings of Sir George Mackenzie Was the Covenant no older than the Tender and was the Tender by which Men were made to part with all degrees of Loyalty and to renounce the Family of the Stewarts imposed with great Severity by King Charles I. and is this the Book that you think confutes Sir George Mackenzie's Vindication better than the Doctor can defend it But your learned Author goes on and tells us that the General Assembly I suppose he means that in 1638. did not throw out the Bishops without the Authority of Parliament since they had their allowance for it as if the General Assembly that threw out the Bishops had waited for the determination of a Parliament and when Sir George pleads that the Ecclesiastick State were always the first of the three Estates of Parliament your little Man tells us in opposition to this some Stories of Monks and Culdees by which the Church was governed from the beginning of Christianity in Scotland But is this any thing to our purpose when we plead that by so many Laws and Parliamentary Constitutions our Bishops make up the first of the Three Estates of Parliament and which is more those very Laws are not yet repealed by which the Ecclesiastick State is declared to be the first And tho in the days of the Covenant when the Bishops were expelled by Tumult and Violence one of the three Estates was split into two contrary to the fundamental Constitution of Parliaments yet by unrepealed Laws and immemorial Possession they remain the first of the three Estates of Parliament He tells us next that there were no Bishops during King James ' s Residence and consequently none sat in Parliament and must we be put to the drudgery of confuting such a sad Creature as this is when the Records of Parliament give him the lie And I speak it sincerely I never saw any thing in Print more ignorantly writ than that Pamphlet is for he tells us again that he knew of no Persons of Quality put to death by Covenanters save the Earl of Montross And if you please to defend your learned Brother you may for my part if I am not constrained to it I am resolved never to look into his Pamphlet nor do I know how to excuse my self at the Reader 's hands for inserting so many of his lamentable Impertinencies In another place of your Book you accuse Sir George Mackenzie of having persecuted Hallside but this Gentleman is here also and no Man can speak more to the advantage of Sir George Mackenzie in all Companies and upon all occasions than he does and he flatly denies all the malicious
the Dr. was not in the Pope's Guards yet he was a Cadet in Dumbarton's Regiment in France and there is no such odds you think between being a Cadet in Dumbarton's Regiment which guarded Popery and contributed so much to enslave Europe and riding in the Pope's Guards Yes Mr. Ridpath there is very great odds tho you do not see it as much as there is between the Liberties of the Gallican Church and the unlimited Supremacy of the Pope and do you think that the King of France was fighting for Popery when he wrested the antient Rights of the Regale out of the possession of the Roman Bishop But Mr. Ridpath the Dr. was certainly in Dumbarton's Regiment I assure you of it and which is much worse he never thought shame of it The strict Alliance between the liberal Sciences and Arms is a Common-place too well known and he is very sure that neither Scholar nor Gentleman will ever reproach him upon this head and his passing some of his time in France the great Theatre of Breeding and Civility was a more auspicious Omen of Piety and Humanity than the most remarkable Gallantries of your Life Plato had strong Inclinations to follow the Camp when he was young until he was diverted by the Advice of Socrates I hear you sometimes teach Grammar a Study in it self very commendable why then do not you read our Buchanan not to name any of the Antients and if nothing else must please you but the Example of a Presbyterian of the latest Edition why may not I justifie the Dr's Practice when he was very young from the Example of your Mr. Williamson when he was old I mean the celebrated Mr. Williamson whom all the Ladies flock'd to see from all the corners of the Court when he delivered his Harangue before Queen Mary for he was a Captain of Horse in the Rebellion at Bothwel bridge And I think any Cadet in Dumbarton's Regiment may without Vanity be compared to a Captain of the Rebellion at Bothwell bridge And now that I mention Mr. David Williamson I intreat him not to take it ill if I recommend the Censure of one part of your Preface to the Parliament to himself for amongst many other things with which you asperse the Clergy of Scotland that sojourn in England this is one that they troop about the Country with their stoln Sermons Truly Mr. Ridpath I do not know any one of them that preaches except such as are provided with some Benefice in the Country and I think that is no small part of their Disaster and Infelicity so you cannot tell whether their Sermons are stoln or not In some cases it is not only allow able to borrow but expedient and if your Curiosity would engage you to read St. Cyprian de Idolorum vanitate you would find that he hath several Sentences nay the very turnings of Phrases from Minutius Faelix and this argues his Love to the Author and to the thing rather than any Indigence of his own If the Curates read good and solid Books and preach them to the People why may not they be allowed to bring out of their Treasure things new and old If the sparkish Daw in the Fable had only filled up the vacant places of her Wings with Feathers of her own kind she had never been ridiculous for we all of us acknowledge heartily that we borrow but still it is from Birds of our own colour But Mr. Ridpath I am to give an instance of an impudent Plagiary who lately before the Presbyterian Parliament in a Sermon designed to abuse the whole Order of Bishops borrows from Bishop Brownrig no less than about 16. or 17. Lines I do not at all find fault with Mr. Williamson for reading Bishop Brownrig's Sermons nor yet do I blame him for preaching them to the People would to God he would preach none else but to borrow so much from a superstitious Sermon preached at the Inauguration of King Charles I a Martyr for Prelacy and before my Lord Melvil in a Discourse calculated to incense the Meeting against Prelacy was truly becoming Mr. Williamson's Genorisity I do not declaim against his Stealing for I am as much obliged to Bishop Brownrig as to any Book of that kind that ever I read And this very Observation I have from another Curate who read Mr. Williamson's Sermon and compared it with the place in Bishop Brownrig whence he stole his most beautiful Feathers and if the Members of Parliament had known when they groaned under Mr. Williamson's powerful Preaching that his smooth and nervous Conclusion full of Laconick Majesty and Solidity had been borrowed from a Bishop they might think that such a Man as Brownrig was was not altogether unworthy of Mr. Williamson's Conversation and the plain truth is it was a very hard thing to treat a Bishop as a Limb of Antichrist when his own Jewels were borrowed to make such a Figure before the Parliament Next comes your Compliment to the Memory of my Lord Dumbarton as an Evidence of your extraordinary Prudence and Caution You knew that when your Book appeared my Lord Duke Hamilton was Commissioner to the Parliament and then you expected the thorough Settlement of Presbytery which now you have in Folio by the late Act and therefore it was not safe to reflect upon my Lord Dumbarton or his Regiment But good Mr. Ridpath speak out plainly do you truly think that Persons of my Lord Duke Hamilton's Quality and Sence read such Pamphlets as yours certainly you cannot be so mad your Books are calculated for a lower order of Men and tho you sent some of them beyond Seas yet they are only considered by such who never read any thing but nasty Pamphlets and who now and then dream of Plots and reason about them with the same profound Sense that you do when you cite your Logical Aocioms Now when you draw near to a Conclusion you give the Dr. such a Blow that he is not able to recover for the Author of the Postscript said that you began your Title page with a Lie that your Book might be all of a piece And this again provokes your Heroick Passion and you load your Antagonist with some of the most odious Reproaches that your Dictionary could furnish you with But Mr. Ridpath what was it that he said why he said that your Book was not printed for Tho. Anderson near Charing-Cross and you charge him upon credit to prove that it was not printed for him And must you never be cured of this impertinence that you oblige your Adversary to prove a Negative in a matter of Fact and then to make your ignorance the more conspicuous you guard your desire with a Logical Axiom Affirmanti incumbit probatio I am ashamed of you that you do not know the difference between an Affirmative and a Negative Proposition when he said that it was not printed for Tho. Anderson near Charing-Cross
and do not run up and down and make a noise as if I opposed and Act of Parliament I only dispute against the Opinions of blind Zealots who have no more regard to the peace of the Nation than they have to the Order of Episcopacy Mr. Ridpath If you are as resolute as you are clamorous you cannot but think it reasonable to appear for no man is obliged to consider fulsome Lampoons no accusations ought to be heard against any man far less against Kings Dukes and Prelates unless the accuser openly pawn his reputation to prove the Crimes fairly before a competent Judicature There are many things in both your Books that I have not mentioned yet I am ready to prove that they are less material and more ridiculous than those I have named for I know no man so pusillanimous as to turn his back upon you for fear of any harm that you can do him and therefore I set down the initial Letters of name and sirname and that in Mr. Rule 's Latine makes up Totum Nomen and there are a great many here who know me though at present I neither wear the Doctoral Scarf or Canonical Habit. I have hitherto treated you with all Civility though there be none alive has fewer Engagements or Obligations to continue Mr. Ridpath Your humble Servant S. W. POSTSCRIPT Mr. Ridpath THE following Certificates and Letter came to my hands from Scotland not until the former Sheets were wrought off else they had been set down in their proper places to which they are more immediatly related The first is under the Hands of so many honest Inhabitants of Leith in favours of Mr. Andrew Cant sometime their Minister and it fully and plainly disproves and overthrows the Original and Fundamental Libel propagated by your self and your Informers against him viz. That he was suspended from the exercise of his Ministry and therefore the other Fabulous accounts that you raise upon this Calumny must necessarily fall to the Ground It is not possible to prove Negatives in a Matter of Fact otherwise than when they who ought to know the thing in Controversie declare upon Honor and Conscience that there never was any such things and if the Course of his Ministry had been interrupted by any Sentence how easily might this be prov'd nay how impossible had it been to have deny'd it since in so numerous a Parish so near the Centre of the Nation their would have been so many Witnesses of so recent a Transaction We whose Names are underwritten Inhabitants of Leith do by these presents declare upon Honor and Conscience that Mr. Andrew Cant sometime our Minister was never discharged the Exercise of his Office by any Sentence Ecclesiastical or otherwise amongst us but on the contrair continued very diligent and painful therein for the space of eight years or thereby after which time he was preferred to be one of the chief Ministers of the City of Edinburgh Sic Subscribitur Jo. Broune Skipper Ja. Hutcheson Notar Publick John Burton Baker Alex. Robertson Wine-Cooper James Cuningham Wine-Cooper Patrick Smith Wine-Cooper John Wilson Wine-Cooper Thomas Riddell Skipper Ja. Balfour Merchant T. Fenwick Maltman Jo. Muchmutie Skipper James Johnston Wright or Joyner Rob. Herdman Maltman Robert Bowy Wine Cooper G. Farquhar Maltman Andrew Fairservice Carter Geo. Davidson Maltman George Albercromby Maltman J. D. James Dow Tailor J. W. James Walker as I took it Mason The two last could subscribe no otherwise being illiterate but very Honest I have subjoyn'd to this Certificate a Letter to one of his Friends in London occasion'd by your fulsome and unchristian Libels against him Worthy Sir EVer since I came to mans years I have been very sensible that we live here in the Neighbourhood of a Sullen sett of People that can never think themselves secure of any measure of Reputation unless they raise it upon the Ruins of the good Name of innocent Men that are not of their Opinion in every thing and am farther confirmed in this Thought by a late instance in what concerns me personally in a slanderous Pamphlet inscribed An Answer to the Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence It was some months in this place before I could procure a sight of it but when I had seen it the thoughts I had concerning what I am wickedly Libelled of were not so full of Anger as Disdain to find an obscure sorry Jack anapes for so he must be attacquing me with so much Malice and arrant Calumny though I was living very peaceably as I haye always done without being the Aggressor of any Person or Party At first I was resolved to slight it as a thing that can never do me harm with any one that knows me yet upon second thoughts and to satisfie a worthy Friend of mine I give you the trouble of this line which bears such short answers to the ill-natur'd and cursed accusations of that infamous Libeller as I think sufficient First Then he endeavours to vilifie and belie me by saving I was an Underling at Leith What he means by this I know not the true matter is that the first appearance I made in my Sacred Office was as second Minister of Leith to which I came regularly by a Presentation from the Patrons and Collation thereupon from the Diocesan I cannot apprehend any disparagement in the thing and I am sure I have yet a very great kindness from all that People excepting a few Bigots and of very little interest Next I remember he will needs have the World believe that I Preached very odd things to the People but has not so much as given one instance not for want of Malice but it seems invention in that particular My poor gift of Preaching the Holy Gospel was but small yet I bless God I am not asham'd of it and I hope I have somthing of the power of those Divine Truths I declar'd to the World on my own Heart and Seals of them upon the Hearts of others but if this Railing Fellow doubt I be competently qualified let him procure me Liberty and Safety I will not decline to Preach before the General Assembly In another passage of that Pamphlet this Silly Fellow charges me with being a notable Brawler and for proof says I was Suspended for sometime from the Exercise of my Office for beating of a Highlander To lot you see what Impudence is in this Contrivance I send you herewith inclosed a Copy of a Declaration under the Hands of some of the honest Neighbours in Lieth bearing that I was never Suspended the Exercise of my Office during my abode with them and if it were necessary I doubt not but I can easily obtain the attestation of all that are yet alive of them I left in the place It s hard that I should be obliged after fifteen years time to give them the trouble of attesting my innocence against the snarlings of a rank-mouth'd Curr but I have done it very easily Now this being made appear a
him and an invitation to Prentices and all others to joyn in this their Association Now a Bond of this Nature is by many Laws and Acts of Parliament declared Treason and that not only since the dreadful effects of the Infamous League and Covenant but even by very old Acts in the Reigns of King James the First and Second So much for this This Scoundrel was committed who was not then a Boy but a Fellow come to Years and then a Servant to two Sons of one Gray a person living on the English Border and of the same Gang with his Man Ridpath The Fellow confess'd before the Committee of Council that he had drawn this Bond but would not own that he had been prompted to it or assisted in it by others though the Council well knew that many of the Ringleaders of the Party were the promoters of this Trick which was design'd as a Prologue to a Rebellion against the then Government For this Villany the Law here might have justly sent him to the Gibbet and perhaps the Council had put him in the hands of the Judges Criminal had he not been preserv'd by the unparallel'd Clemency of the Prince that then sate at the Helm here which you know is so natural to that Sacred Race I remember the Duke of Rothes the Chancellour and several other great Lords having examin'd him and finding him very false and obstinate in his Answers ordered him to be committed Close Prisoner till he were further examin'd And as he was going to Prison seeing a Crowd about him and considering them as a Rabble he cry'd out aloud that he was suffering for the Protestant Religion the ordinary but false pretence of all Seditions and Rebellions here For which he was for some days put in Irons and a little after by the Goodness of his then Royal Highness who was always too compassionate to that Generation of Vipers he was dismissed This is all I can remember or learn of this Creature I hear in his late Pamphlet which I have not yet seen he has the Impudence to say that one Margaret Paterson a Prostitute sufficiently infamous should have confess'd somewhat before the Criminal Court relating to the Archbishop of Glasgow and me I am satisfied that all that that Villain has scribled of the Bishop be believed if ever she named either the Bishop or me in her Confessions either before that Court or any Confessions else whether publick or private Nor did the Bishop hear of such a Creature till the noise was made at her being taken naked in the Bed with the late Presbyterian Moderator Kennedy his two Sons for which they stand declared Fugitives in the Justice Court Books for the horrid Crime of Incest As to what relates to the C ks I make you this distinct Return In the year 1684 Sir Hugh and Sir George Campbels of C k with Baylie of Jerviswood Commissar Monro Mr. William Spence Mr. William Carstairs and some others were sent down Prisoners here by Sea and were kept close for some Weeks during which time I had occasion to be often with them for the Council ordered any of their Friends to converse with them and see them in presence of any of the Clerks of Council and such of them as are yet alive and their Relations will bear me witness that I was as easie to them that way as they could desire For the truth is they all professed so much Innocence in the matter they were accused of which was for being in a Conspiracy with the late Monmouth and Argyle for raising a Rebellion in both Nations at the same time and which fell out the next year accordingly and that with all the circumstantiated Imprecations to them and their Families that I began to believe the Government had been imposed upon in this matter and contracted such a compassion for them as made some of our then Statesmen angry with me and yet Carstairs upon the first application of the Thumb-Screw even the first touch of it confessed all as may be seen in his Printed Confession in the Tryal of Jerviswood and then Monro and afterwards the two C ks themselves which two Campbels were upon their Judicial Confession forefaulted in plain Parliament 1685 and their Estates annex'd to the Crown tho the King gave them not only both Remissions for their Lives but even ordered their Estates to be returned to them upon their paying a very inconsiderable Composition to some of the then Statesmen That which the Rascal Ridpath aims at I suppose is a Process which was commenced some time before that against old C k the undisguised matter of Fact was truly this which you may rely upon for certain and recorded Truth There was one Wallace a Collector or Surveyor in Airshire This Man gives Information to the Secret Committee that there were three Men in that Country who had assured him that old C k had encouraged several Country People to the Rebellion at Both well Bridge 1679 and that particularly he had said to themselves whom he rencountred with upon a place called the Bridge of Gastoun near his own House What meant such young lusty Fellows to stay at home when the People of God were in Arms for their Covenanted Cause and bid them go on to the rest the Whig-Army being then at Hamiltoun within ten Miles or thereby to that place for he and the rest of the Country would quickly be with them Upon which Information the three Fellows are brought in and kept some time in the Cannon gate Prison I heard them examined before the Secret Committee and all of them both jointly and separately were very positive clear and distinct in their Depositions Upon this an Indictment is raised against C k and the same Witnesses are again examined upon Oath before the Justices which is called by our Law a Precognition and there they were again very firm and seemed altogether clear and sincere But the Day of the Tryal being come and a disaffected Crowd getting in about these Witnesses when they came to depone they began to waver much and upon the matter deny much of what they had twice clearly made oath of before so that the Jury brought in C k not guilty and so he was acquitted from that Indictment And the next day the same three Rogues begged to be heard before the Council where I heard them again upon their Knees and with all the Solemnities of Truth and Sincerity Protest and Swear that what they had first Sworn was simple Truth and that their Carriage the day before in the Court was occasioned by their being terrified to swear against C k so great a Man in that Corner of the Country But upon the whole Matter the worthy Sir George Mackenzie had no more hand in all this Affair but meerly to pursue as the King's Advocate And in general I can affirm as in the sight of the God of Justice and Truth I do believe after all the Enquiry I