Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	part_n	time_n	write_v	3,303	5	5.3552	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A89061	Mercuries message defended, against the vain, foolish, simple, and absurd cavils of Thomas Herbert a ridiculous ballad-maker. Wherein, his witlesse answers are clearly confuted, himselfe found guilty of hypocrisie, catcht broaching of popery, condemned by his owne words, and here and there for his impudent saucinesse jerkt with the rod of correction, to teach him more manners when he writes again. By the author of the said Mercuries message.	Taylor, John, 1580-1653.	1641 (1641)	Wing M1747; Thomason E160_13; ESTC R22299	13,081	24

MERCVRIES MESSAGE Defended Against the vain foolish simple and absurd cavils of THOMAS HERBERT a ridiculous Ballad-maker Wherein his witlesse answers are clearly confuted himselfe found guilty of Hypocrisie catcht broaching of Popery condemned by his owne words and here and there for his impudent saucinesse jerkt with the Rod of Correction to teach him more manners when he writes again By the Author of the said Mercuries Message Here 's your reward Come up sirra London printed 〈◊〉 1641. MERCVRIES MESSAGE DEFENDED OR A Replie to the Ridiculous Answer of HERBERT a Ballad-maker IT is a true maxime verified by daily experience that the worst of men shal never want disciples as bad as themselves to stand up in their defence and approve of their wickednesse Do the Priests of Baal seek to insinuate an opinion in the hearts of the Israelites 1 Kings 18. that their dumbe idol is a god Why they shall not want for a crew of credulous spirits to call upon his name from morning untill noon O Baal hear us Doth idolatrous Ieroboam set up two golden Calves in Dan and Bethel 1 Kings 12. there will some of the people easily be drawne to worship Did the Popes great favourite William a Canterbury painfully labor to suppresse the true worship of Iesus Christ and in the place thereof zealously endeavour to erect a new fardle of superstitious Ceremonies devised by a packe of deluding Iesuites and preferred to his Grace by the Whore of Babylon with what facility will a company of indifferent Jack a bothsides Rev. 3.16 luke-warme Laodiceans either for hope of preferment or feare of imprisonment imbrace and allow these his stinking traditions Would you see an example of such an impudent act Do but look upon the scurrilous and simple Answer to Mercuries Message and you shall plainly perceive it Ioshua 7.25 Here is the Arch-bishop who like Achan with his Baby lonish garments hath a long time troubled all Israel charged with high treason and imprisoned in the Tower by the House of Commons now happily assembled in Parliament and there is Herbert a poor threedbare ballad-maker writing in his behalfe against the relation of those crimes for the which at this present hee is justly sequestred whereby that which at first was onely writ and intended as a close quip to reprove the enormities of the times and the little great Master of mis-rule then and still in coram nobis for his insolent misdemeanours formerly practised is now become a matter of controversie as though to blow off the Bishops cap were to undermine the Truth of Religion or as if the soiling of his lawne sleeves could not chuse but sully the beauty of the Church and all this maintained by a Poeticall Ballad-maker Well glad I am to see that his Grace has some friends still left in this decaying time but sorry their number being so small their quality should bee no better But whither wander I Is it possible that such a mist of errour should darken mine understanding as to think he wrote this Book out of love to the Mitre or conscience to Religion surely no he that reades the story shall finde no such businesse But there 's a thing called Half a Crowne the ordinary price of his ridiculous Pasquils and that was the maine motive inducing my moneylesse youngster to make such a derided and witlesse Answer who I will undertake for as much more shall rail more audaciously against the wickednes of the Bishop than ever that impious wretch Rabshekah did against the piety of good Hezekiah 2 Kings 18. This I shall clearly demonstrate and prove to his face in the examination of his ensuing Answer But to come orderly to my Reply and give an answer to every thing in its proper place which I shall do with as much brevity as may be few words being sufficient to confute such an Animal When first I saw the title of that pretty piece of ignorance An Answer to Mercuries Message Musing with my selfe what manner of person the worthy Authour should be I either took him to be some hanger on at the Episcopall palace in Lambeth or else one of the Bishops poore attendants at his Court royall neer Tower-hill Which by the fortune of fates is now made a Bower of Grace for my Lords recreation in this delightfull time of the Summer season But had every chamber such a Tenant as his small esteemed defender I beleeve it would quickly and might justly bee called a Cage of unclean Birds Thus I say at first did I ruminate upon some brave opposer but O how mightily was I mistaken therein for one day being necessitated to passe through a stinking Alley in a blinde alehouse I heard a crew of roaring Ballad-singers trouling out a merry Ballad called The more knaves the better company And one amongst the rest cried out Well sung Herbert who as it seems bore up the base amongst them and in that deboist manner consumeth his time and when his money is all spent as for the most part it is six or seven times a week writes a new merry book a good godly Ballad or some such excellent piece of stuffe even as the droppings of the spigot inliveneth his muddy muse to put his feeble purse in fresh stocke again looking in at the name Herbert and seeing such a poore ragged companion I tooke him rather to be some dung-hill rakers page than a lackey to the Muses And so thought to passe by untill upon better enquiry I was certainly informed that he was the Authour of that much applauded Answer And indeed had I tooke as much paines to have read his lines as I did to get acquaintance with his honourable personage I might easily have conjectured him to have beene such a fellow for who but he would so shamelesly peremptorily in the very Title of his Book assert three palpable lyes in two short lines unlesse hee had thought no body would have read it but as very fools as himselfe Certainly the young man had been in Pauls lately and fell asleep against one of the yellow pillars whether it were done willingly or unwillingly I know not but sure I am he came out most horribly brazen-faced as by the sequell I shall make it evident Thus he titles his Book An Answer to the most envious scandalous and libellous Pamphlet intituled Mercuries Message c. Envious What 's envious to tell a wicked man of his faults A scorner indeed loveth not one that reproveth him Prov. 9.7.8 ch 10.18 ch 15.10.31 32. Pro. 12.1 Prov. 15.12 But give instruction to a wise man and he will be yet wiser Prov. 9.9 Therefore he that loveth instruction loveth knowledge but hee that hateth reproof is brutish Prov. 12.1 But now methinks I hear you object and say Object 't is true indeed had the Bishop been admonished of his evill courses privately it had been something but to divulge his infamy in print for every rurall fellow

to scoffe and jeer at this must needs spring from an horrible root of envy and maliciousnesse Answ But if Sir Thomas Wiseacres can make this his position good by the testimony of any authenticke Ballad he hath in his three halfe penny Library we may safely conclude Paul to bee a man of a lofty spirit and full of malicious spleen towards Peter when he blamed him to his face before a great assembly of people for doing some things amisse as ye may reade Gal. 2. Gal. 2.11 Nay we may very well say that Solomon had overshot his judgement when hee writ this among his Sentences Open rebuke is better than secret love Pho. 27.5 And thus hath a few boughes cut off from the tree of Gods Word sweetned these bitter waters of envy which were so harsh to be swallowed by Herbert the Ballad-maker Let me now inquire what makes it so scandalous Is it possible to throw any disgrace upon a man whose actions have beene so ungracious that hee expects no other Exit but by an Axe or an Halter Such an one as by his notorious life hath made himselfe an hissing and a laughing stocke to all England Can this man be scandalized as soone will I beleeve that a bucket of water will slabber the sea because it makes a puddle in a fair hall as that a man of a corrupt life can be blemished by ill words because a man of honest conversation may But I would very faine have him answer mee this one question whether it be possible for a man to be slandered in a matter of truth Quest What I there writ of the Bishop all England will avouch nay he himselfe confesses to be true Where then is all this mighty scandall you talke of O but then 't is libellous libellous as how I pray What lyes hath the piercing eye of his blockish judgement found in it I wonder Had he been so kinde to have told me I le assure you they should have been mended in the next Impression and that is more than he can doe to his I am confident unlesse he take it and throw it into the fire and then cry Now I hope all faults are corrected But by your favour Master Herbert though you past them by so slightly without naming I must a little presume upon your patience whilest I recapitulate the summe of my Booke to try if I can discover these falsities you accuse mee of I will propound the questions do you answer if you can And 1. Quest 1 Doe not our lordly Prelates feare a fall What 's the reason then the great One lies thus caged up in the Tower and the rest questioned in Parliament for their places the expectation of all good men being to see these spirituall Lords drove out of their seats of justice into pulpits of instruction the fitter place of the two Well Quest 2 but did they not domineere in prosperity persecuting Gods faithfull people and ministers that opposed their idolatrous ceremonies setting them them in pillories cutting off their eares branding them banishing them the land and a thousand other cruelties exercised in the High Commission and other such unconscionable illegall Courts kept by them and a viperous brood of promoters pursivants and such like knavish dependants What was the matter then with those three men M. Burton D. Bastwicke and M. Prin with divers others redeemed out of severall prisons by the Parliament nay what means such a numerous company of poor ministers petitions daily presented to the honourable House of Commons that have most cruelly been thrust out of all their lands and meanes of maintenance and so undone themselves their wives and children because their consciences would not suffer them to submit to such base superstitious ceremonies as were imposed upon them Did not our weekly lectures and sunday afternoon Sermons begin to go downe apace under a pretence of getting infection in the Church of God at Sermons more than at Service what 's the reason then that Ministers durst not preach upon week-dayes nor on the Sabbath in the afternoon in many places for fear of suspension and displeasing the Bishop nay what meant little Wren to flutter about so monstrously and silence above 80. in his owne Diocesse for standing above an hour in a sermon though they preached but once a week Was it not the Bishop of Canterbury his chiefest meanes to perswade the King to set out the booke of Toleration for Sports and Pastimes on the Lords day thereby to betray both such good Pastours of their flock as would not reade it and deceive the souls of the people that too greedily receiv'd it how comes it to passe then it was never mov'd nor thought on before Were not altars raised and adorned with wax-candles nay some with Images and Crucifixes Were not men commanded to bow to them as they went forward and backward and likewise to cringe and buckle the knee at the Name of Iesus though the Minister were but praying for Iesus College in Cambridge Quest 7 or noting some proof out of Iesus the son of Sirach Quest 8 Did not our Episcopall Canoneers finely run themselves into a premunire by making New Canons after the last Parliament was dissolved charging them so deepe with an Oath and c. that they recoyled in their faces Quest 9 And did not these things give men just cause to suspect that the Bishop had more than a moneths minde to make a match with the Strumpet of Rome but all these his projects failing hee being catcht napping in his knavery and committed to the Black Rod to be whipt for his offences did not every man that could Quest 10 tosse a jeer after him was not scoffes and flouts of Canterbury common in all mens mouthes alas this is so evident that it cannot be denied and now what 's become of all these envious scandalous and libellous lines What all vanisht so quickly before seen or was it some other book you thought on when you were answering mine sure some such matter or else sucking too long at the ale-tap had dimm'd your eyes and so made you thinke what you writ your selfe in your owne you had seen printed in mine what ever it was 't is fit you should be wound up for your doltishnesse but I am willing to let you part at a distance for he that closes with a begger may expect to part lousie In the next place to fill up the Title we have the resemblance of an arme holding a knife fast clencht as though you had lately made some desperate fray among the two penny pudding-pies in Fleet-lane or perhaps you set it there as a direction to your friends to be in readinesse to cut the rope when you were catcht in a twist for your faucy poetry Thus carping Criticke have I done with the forefront of your book Give me leave now having stood so long at the porch to enter in at the doore and see what ornaments are

within worth taking notice of I am perswaded you are no Pharisee for if the inside of the cup be no cleaner than the out 't is pitty but such slovens should have it knockt about their coxcombs I shall now be more briefe in my observations ye see I have at large maintained the truth of my booke against the falsities of your Title and whether it be done to the full or no I appeal to any man of honesty or understanding and let him bee judge But to the purpose Turne over behold and wonder Ha what 's here a flat cap narrow ruffe and lawne sleeves On the backeside of his Title is the picture of the Bishop very ilfavoured drawne incompassed with a single ring sure it stands for the Bishop of Canterbury but I hope his sorrows have not so strangely metamorphos'd him Do's he learne to tumble in a hoope tro perhaps he intends to shew tricks in Bartholmew Faire I remember there was a sight last yeer called The decollation of Iohn the baptist wherein a boyes head was cut off through a table if he study such an art of Legerdemain hee I have great resort to his booth I warrant him But for all that sure the Balladmaker was a little too bold to thrust a Bishop on the back side of such a knavish Title as if hee had no where else to pin his lies but upon father Williams Canonicall Rochet truly it was very unmannerly done But I proceed to the book it selfe wherein M. Author you may take notice of your owne words for they shall be set in a different letter that so men may understand what they reade For your part I thank you you made bold to insert some 13. or 14. of my lines alogether to credit your book without giving any answer or putting distinction between them and your owne patcht poetry so that oftentimes men looking upon that place without reading any further liked it and bought it but after they had more througly perused it will you hear what their censurs were I warrant sayes one the authour of these hobling verses was some young Gregory Nonsence that might have been a scholar had be not run away from Cambridge when he should have been whipt for his knavery and came up to London to write scurrilous pamphlets for halfe a crowne a piece Another being taken with a sudden fit of the winde-collicke runs presently and enters this his penny worth into Sir Ajax his Office as a memoriall of a sweet strain deriv'd from Hellicon Another buyes them by the ream to stop vineger bottles and mustard pots brave ware for a pipkin Chandler so that although the Ballad-maker was mad to see my book so well accepted and so free of sale having nothing to twit me with but that men bought it to see my knavery It appears they had more wit than to part with their money and spend their time to reade over his hotch potch of simplicity But I must of necessity speak of 'em in their order and first of your preamble which thus begins How now what i st which I do vainly reade I le tell thee what 't is that thou hast as vainly answered whereby thou hast made it apparent thy reading and thy writing to be all as one both vain and ridiculous But le ts see what is it in your judgement An hypocritick scald Which did affront true Protestantine Heads No whit belonging unto Papall Heads Well I have read of many and know some hypocrites but never heard of a scalded one before truly sir we should be much beholding to you in your next reply to give us the definition of such a creature and how he came into such hot service to be scalded or else like Robin the ex tempore man tell us 't was onely to make up rime Which did affront true Protestantine Heads Why heads I wrote against none but the Bishop of Canterbury unlesse it be your meaning to parallell him with the seven headed Beast in the Revelation that carries the Whore of Babylon a pick-packe Re. 17.3 me thinks that word had an s too much but that 's a small fault among Ballad-makers yet neverthelesse I must needs tel you your following conclusion is false and very peremptory No whit belonging unto Papall heads it would better a became you first to have proved your Patron a good Protestant by his conversation and if he were no wayes addicted to Popery to have entred into a defence of all his superstitious ceremonies But instead hereof you like an ignorant caviller confute your selfe in one and the selfe same page here you write Which did affront true Protestantine Heads No whit belonging unto Papall Beads A little below Each railing fine I do not now intend To answer lest they cry me the Popes friend And on the other side of the leafe speaking of the same person plainly confesses him a practiser of Romish idolatrous ceremonies as bowing to the Altar hating Sermons and abusing pious Ministers I appeal to all the world whether or no this be not a ridiculous selfe confutation and full of simplicity But I hope upon a better recollection you l willingly confesse your saucy presumption otherwise I pray marke it I here challenge you to your face to answer me this question If the Archbishop of Canterbury never had any inclination to Popery for what doth he now lie imprisoned in the Tower And before your right goose quill go about it I advise you to look over his Articles by which the whole House of Commons have charged him with high Treason and make not your selfe wiser than a Parliament lest soon after we hear you thanking God that you scaped an halter to be whipt in Bridewell But what followes O the two first verses of my book and see if this bold excrement of Poetry thinking my lines to be like his has not made them both non-sence My Lord I call you not what long agoe you were For now those golden dayes are past I fear So in his but thus in mine I call you what not long agoe you were But now those golden dayes are past I fear The difference is so obvious to every mans capacity that I shall not need to use any words in its explanation onely this perhaps lying ever in an Ale-house he was halfe foxt when he writ it or wanted a Booke when he was penning an Answer for indeed that was never printed to be bawl'd by the Ballad-singers had not some stuttering knave workt another Impression But what 's next We have a few Which have Saint like beleefs of which they crack And such are those which we call Schismaticks Out of which I propound these Quaeres answer them if you can I expect you should 1. Whether every true Protestant ought not to be of a Saint-like beleefe 2. whether men of a saintlike beleefe deserve to be called Schismaticks It followes And such a one was he who lately writ A Libell to divulge