y's the Grand Enquiry is about a Contract upon Record at the first Erection of the English Monarchy If he knows where to find it let him place it in open view erit mihi Magnus Apollo But methinks I see him stand like a man enchanted and fumbling about the matter The man of Confidence becomes meal-mouth'd and bashful on a sudden the high-mettled Hero will not jog on this way No 't is too choice a Nostrum to be publickly expos'd 't is too pretious a commodity to be laid upon the Stall profane and unsanctified eyes must not behold it In Magna Charta which is the great Record of our Liberties the People's Rights and Priviledges are fetch'd purely from the Kings Grants and Donations viz. Of our free and meer Will we have given and granted to our Bishops and to all free men of our Realm these Liberties following And the higher we ascend in the Scale of Monarchy we find the King 's more unlimited and free There were no restrictions or reserves under the first and most Antient Governments no Laws but what lay in the Prince's Bosom as any Beardless Boy that has read Justin and Virgil can sufficiently inform him And 't will bring but little Glory to his Cause if I tell him that the first notorious Encroachment upon the Rights of Majesty in England were made by Popish Aggressors This was first attempted in the time of King William the First whom we commonly tho' perhaps not properly call the Conqueror But he was too wise and puissant to admit the least diminution of his Regality and tho' he was very generous and candid in his Concessions yet he dismiss't the Pope's Legate with an Alterum non Admisi In the Reign of Henry the Second Monarchical Power was at a low ebb indeed when the imperious and barbarous Monks of those times dealt with their Prince as some rude Heathens do by their Gods viz. chastise and whip 'em if they do not answer their insolent Expectations The Case of King John is too derogatory and sad for a true Loyal English-man to think on or to repeat And the Condition of Poor England in the time of Henry the Third is a fair indication of what pernicious importance it may prove to the Publick when Princes shall admit a Superior and controlling Power even in the softest acceptation of the Word Sir W. T. tells of an ingenious Spaniard he met at Brussels who would needs have it That the History of Don Quixot had ruined the Spanish Monarchy for when all the Love and Valour of the Spaniards was turn'd into Ridicule they began by degrees to grow asham'd of both and to laugh at Fighting and Loving What ill influence and impression this Fabulous and Romantick Account may leave behind it by representing persons and things sacred in a Ridiculous Garb and Colours I cannot yet determine However 't is good to make Provision against the worst and since an Apologue has had its good as well as evil effects I shall here confront one Fable with another It happen'd that a great sedition was in Rome and the common people were so incensed against the Senate Nobles and Rich Men that all things seem'd now to be a running into confusion Whereupon the Senate sent one Menenius Agrippa an eloquent and wise person to the multitude to persuade 'em Who being admitted amongst 'em and finding 'em all in a hurry is said to have Address'd himself to 'em after this manner Upon a time there arose a great Sedition among the Members of the Body against the Belly the eyes ears hands and feet said That they all of 'em perform'd their several Offices to the Body but the Belly doing nothing at all as a lazy King enjoy'd their Labours and idly consumed all those things which were purchased with the sweat of the rest The Belly replyed That indeed these things were true and therefore if it pleas'd them from henceforth they should allow it nothing The Members all agreed That nothing should be given to it for the time to come But when this had been observ'd for some little time the Hands and Feet lost their strength and all other Members began to fail so that at length they perceived That the Food which was given to the Belly was also advantagious to all the rest and upon this consideration they return'd to their Obedience Upon the hearing of this Fable the People understood That the Wealth which was in the hands of Great Men was also in some sort beneficial to themselves And upon some kind promises of the Senate they were reconciled to their Superiours It has not been my main business of late nor is it worth a thinking man's while to read o're the Licentious Histories that peep abroad or the Popular Accounts of things I knew nothing of the inside of the Account of Denmark till the Third Edition appeared upon the Stage about which time I was desir'd to make some Remarks upon it and give it a just Answer and Castigation Had I had more time and leisure for the performance I should perhaps have been more copious in my Animadversions but I hope I have said enough to tame a little the impertinence of that Man who had insulted over the Nobility Clergy and both Universities and made the Names of Princes his Sport I have bound him to some method and I hope to better Behaviour for the future and tho' I find little of Argument throughout the whole yet I have proceeded fairly and argumentatively against him I have plainly shewn That all the choice means and expedients used heretofore to destroy the Monarchy and Church are exactly transscrib'd by him and crowded into a Preface And certainly That man has a greater share of kind Nature than good Apprehension that can think he has singled out the same Antichristian Methods without the same black Intention and Design I know his Admirers have one Infallible way of answering all opposers and that is by Ill Names They have not Wit enough to discern the Reason of things nor know they when to laugh or be severe in the Right place If the Prefacer without Reason roul in hard words and Names such as Ideâ—t Ass Tyrant Nonsensical Blunders and the like it passes with 'em for the Mettle of a Pree-orn Subject But if we upon just provocation prove the same upon them O 't is sad scurrility and Railing They are meek lowly and poor in Spirit while they are sawcy to their Superiors and despise Dominion But 't is pride and crying presumption in us if we offer to correct a little snarling Republican If they trample upon Bishops and Blaspheme Kings They are only Zealous and concern'd for God and his Glory but if we expose the Scismatical Licentiousness of the disobedient Brother-hood O 't is rank Malice and a degree of persecution The World has ever been full of such pretious Judges and Arbitrators as these And we know the Pharisees were even this way
such Pious Raptures such Religious Impressions How sweet and perswasive are thâ—se Baits and Temptations that hurries the Sinner another way How frail is Nature How encroaching is Error How weak is resolution How strong is Passion and Lust How soon does the Man that had form'd such fine and curious Ideas of Religion and Virtue begin to falter and languish in his Duty when he is brought forth to action or engaged in a passive vindication of the Truth How is his Soul put into an uproar at the least touch or appearance of Evil while his Affections and Senses dispute the goodness of the Cause and his Rational Faculty stands by and unconcern'd The Man confesses that his obligation indeed is very great but yet it is cruel too 'T is good but yet not necessary 't is just but yet indiscreet and therefore tho' he can sometimes advance to a single Act of Piety yet to groâ—â— up to an â—niversal and Habitual goodness is a talk and torture not to be endur'd And now he begins to reflect a little upon the common Genius and Fashion of the World and accutely observes that the general Bent and Vote of Mankind is directed another way And why should he aspire to a Superiority of knowledge beyond his Brethren or pretend to be a wiser or a better Man than they Nay he has more nicely observ'd that a down-right simplicity regularity and decorum of words and Actions do's but recommend the good Man to the title of a Fool and expose him to Laughter beggery and contempt That dissimulation and baseness are the nearest steps and ascent to dignity and splendâ—d accommodations while honesty is contented with a few worthless Caresses and pines and starves under Airy and Complemental Applauses Thus wearied quite with this perplexing Subject this devout and melancholly Employment he thinks it high time to bid farewell to the World as it was fashion'd and design'd by God and to go into the same as 't is new modell'd and tranform'd by the pride and artifice of Man His Affections have hitherto been confin'd as it were to the Cell and Cloyster and yet he found it hard to keep 'em chaste and unspotted of the World but now like Dinah they must go abroad to see and visit the Daughters of the Land His Thoughts are now let loose to all the tempting varieties all the charms and attractives of the sensitive World He studies all the meritorious Arts of Flattery and Persuasion and rallies together all the force and vigour of his soul and body to greet the opportunities of secular Greatness He courts Religion no longer as a Mistress and out of Love but makes use of her as a Hand-maid to serve his turn and advantage sometimes we find him in the House of Rimmon and sometimes in the Temple one while he seems to worship God and yet when a good occasion doe's invite he can readily bow the knee to Baal And at another time he holds it convenient for the design in hand to hover in a dark Neutrality between both THE Common-Wealths-Man UNMASQU'D Or a Just REBUKE To the Author of the Account of Denmark IF this be not sufficient to illustrate the Vanity of Fallen and Darkened Mankind I shall give a more full and comprehensive Character of it as it lies contracted within the compass of one Man I mean the puissant and Heroical Author of the late Account of DENMARK who while he pretends to new Lights and Discoveries and more than ordinary Refinements is himself as great an instance as I know of the depravation of of Humane Nature He seems to carry at once an infallible Chair and a High Court of Justice within the narrow circumference of his Brain fancies himself to be wiser than the Clergy both Universities the King and Parliament to boot and there is nothing extraordinary honourable or sacred but what he has perverted by a knackish and politick Construction And all this he has done under the specious pretence of the All-attoning Freedom of the Subject and masque of popular Liberty such a Liberty I suppose and 't will appear by the sequel as happen'd heretofore when there was no King in Israel and every Man did that which was right in his own Eyes Now in order to carry on this Antimonarchical Project and that Affairs may go on in true Fanatical Decorum 'T is first necessary That the Clergy should be defam'd and blacken'd with invidious Reflections These are the main support and known Pillars of the Throne And therefore that the one may be more advantagiously pull'd down it is held convenient by the choice and secret ones to run a Tilt without distinction against the other This was the exact method of the Saints in the days of Civil Broils and Desolation when they were carrying on the luscious Work and blessed Trade of Sacriledge and Plunder Every Loyal and Conforming Minister was render'd as Antichristian and vile a piece of Formality as a Dancing-Master was at Geneva at the beginning of the Reformation and he that was blest with a comfortable and plump Benifice was in as Eminent Danger as the Fat-man in London-Derry These things are too universally known and infamous to be any longer insisted upon Let us see how near our Prefacer's Copy approaches the Original Pref. The Ecclesiasticks of most Religions who are allowed to understand and prosecute their own Interest best of any People tho' they be generally persons whose function obliges them to a sedentary and studious course of life c. As some of the well affected heretofore blended Popery and Prelacy together that they might the better destroy both under one Denomination so here the Popish and conforming Clergy are involv'd in the same condemnation and none seem excepted but the new Mechanical Priest-hood 'T would have been much more Civil and ingenious had he cry'd out in a Language of a Modern Poet That Priests of all Religion's are the same This is a very black and invidious charge and only lets us understand that Travellers may talk by Authority I do ingeniously own that I know not one Quality more unbecoming a Man that aspires to true Christian Wisdom and Philosophy than an immoderate thirst after Wealth and Dignity and may he be branded with the Name of Judas for me that sets too high a value upon this glittering insignificant Lumber of the World and dare's grasp at more than an Honourable Maintainance which the Scripture allows but our Prefacer seems to deny 'T was one main scope of the Evangelical Writings to extinguish in us an inordinate Love of all Earthly Things and so long as the Primitive Fervours did remain all such unchaste and idolatrous Desires were restrain'd and mortified But when the love of the World began to be advanc't to an undue pitch the love of God was proportionably abated and the mystery of Godliness was quickly chang'd into the Mammon of Iniquity When the Episcopal Office which was at first accounted a degree of
with Assassines of meaner Note he struggled with 'em like a Lyon in the Toyle and look't Great as when he Thunder'd in the Field But when Brutus at length his unkind Brutus joyn'd with the Conspirators when that Arm which ought to have been weilded in his Defence was stretch'd forth against his life The Great Man grew tame and feeble in a moment Ingratitude piere't deeper than all the Instruments of Death But no wonder that he should espouse this Villanous Cause who can sport himself with the names of Christian Kings and trample upon the Ashes of our own Deceased Monarchs For he tells us 'T is a true though but a Melancholly reflection that our late Kings half undid us and bred us up as narrow Spirited as they could c. Which piece of disingenious cant sounds like the Famous Raree Show in which one King is charg'd with Fleecing England's Flocks Long fed with bits and knocks c. Nor do I wonder that a man of his stern temper and complexion should make so bold with the dead since 't is his Talent and Principle to bid defiance to living Princes to despise their smiles and frowns nay reproach and death it self if they stand between him and what he shall call his Duty All which is precisely Almanzor the Second part for thus that extravagant and Tempestuous Bravo Vaunts it to a King's face No man has more contempt than I of breath But whence hast thou the pow'r to give me Death Obey'd as Soveraign by thy Subjects be But know that I alone am King of me There is certainly some Civil deference and submission due to Crown'd Heads though Kings should look angry and frown with a cause 'T is thought an excess even of Poetical Licence in Homer that he represents Achilles sawcy to his Superior and dispising the Smiles and Frowns of Agamemnon The world must needs be growing to a fine pass when a man that 's made up of Burlesque Romance Gallimaufry and Raree Show shall set up for a Critick and Tutor to a whole Nation As for my part I am so far from thinking him fit or capable to Read Lectures of Policy for the improvement of the Community that I cannot find he has made any tolierable Improvement of himself I will as soon believe that the whole Corporeal World in a wise Animal as some of the Antients conceiv'd as think him qualified to be Governour to a Prince I see nothing in him like clear Intellectual preception Imagination is the Noblest and Supream faculty about him his Wisdom is the meer effect of distemper and his Solidity lies no deeper than his Scull His Heroical flights are nothing but the Spleen and the Height of his Puissance like the courage of a Rat consists in a deprav'd and irregular ferment of his Blood and Spirits and I dare be bold to prophecy if his Maxims succeed that we must shortly make enquiry into New-gate and Bride-well for Free-Spirited Gentlemen and ransack Bedlam for Hero's Pref. 'T is none of the smallest advantages which his Majesty has procured us by his accession to the Crown that we now make a greater figure in the World than formerly This look like a Wonderful change indeed a conversion in an Instant Yet all that I can gather from it is this That Judas can still Kiss dispisers of Magistracy can still Address the Jesuit can Fawn and Whores and Pick-Pockets Embrace 'T is plain from what we have already said that all this is Pageantry and Scorn and not spoken out of a Loyal intention to his Majesty but meer service to himself For can he be a Friend to his present Majesty that insists so studiously and scurvily at this time upon the peoples Prerogative of dispatching Kings and tells us Emphatically we ought to take notice of it Can he be a Friend to his present Majesty that by aspersing the Memories of wise and good natur'd Princes libells even Monarchy it self Can he be a good Subject or Friend to Monarchy that gilds o're the memory of A. Sydney that rare Arcadian Hero that Died a Martyr for the Good Old Cause by his own Dying confession and urg'd a Fanatical Argument in i'ts Defence No the Antimonarchical ears peep thro' the borrow'd Skin such a cloak as this is too trite and thin to hide the Republican Brother So long as such loose Diabolical Principles are asserted with a magisterial air and haughtiness and prest with stabbing hints and innuendo's the intermixtures of a softer and finer dialect and phrase will appear but Insignificant and Artificial nothings like Faith and Grace in the days of Sequestration and are no more to be valued than some treacherous Addresses to the late King which were as truly base and infamous if possible as the Antient vote of non Addresses to his Father And here I might justly enough take occasion to lament the Fate as well as admire the Glory of puissant and great Princes whom a Symnel or Jack-straw a Prefacer or dawbing Historian may expose to infinite Hazards and Disturbances Though they Govern their People with the mildness and clemency of Guardian Angels yet they must not partake of their Divine Tranquillity their Character is not always their Security nor their Bravery their Protection For suppose 'em adorn'd with all Royal Qualifications with the Laws of Generosity Punctilio's of true Honour and all the Niceties of Justice grant that they ascend the Royal Throne with the gladsome Shouts and Acclamations of the People and gain a Diadem by Inheritance or Desert Yet they can only hold Intelligence with the Faces of Men but cannot spell out Intrigues and converse with Inclinations Due Allegiance and Honour is all the Tribute that Subjects can defray or they themselves can exact and how shall they know but the most seemingly regular and plausible forms of Speech may be nothing but a neat well acted Hypocracy and a meer studied Disguise Unnecessary Offers and overâ—hasty Officiousness smell strong of Interest and dark Design how then can they tell Whether the most grave and submissive Application be the free result of a good Intention or meer solemn Flattery and Artificial Address Nay how can they be assur'd but their greatest enemies may be those of their own Houshold Whether they that are adopted into the Secrecy of their Bosoms that depend on their Smiles and sport themselves for a while in their warm Beams will help to guard the Throne or to shake it Fourthly Another way to advance the darling Antimonarchical Design is by bringing the Publick Schools and Universities into disgrace These are the dangerous strong holds of Antichrist where Principles of Loyalty and Passive Doctrines are suck't in with greediness and therefore 't is held convenient to throw some dust in these eyes of the Nation that the Freeborn Projectors may more commodiously come at the Head And this was the great Pride and Luxury of the Brotherhood in the former Days of Tyranny and Civil Combustion
enlarg'd I know no greater Assertors of Philosophical Liberty than the Gentlemen that have had their Education in our Universities And if some are particularly tho' not exclusively directed to study Aristotle and his Works 't is no more than what 's proper just nay necessary upon the account of extrinsical Motives and Inducements For the Peripatetick Terms and Modes of Expression are new interwoven throughout a great part of the Roman-Catholick Theology which is better defended by Arguments drawn from a Metaphysical System than by Reasons Texts and Deductions from Holy Writ and if we cannot confront our Enemies with their own Weapons and define divide distinguish artificially unravel cryptical Syllogisms and subtil Arguments with equal facility and readiness we may betray the Cause which we would willingly maintain and give them occasion to Triumph The Greek and Latin Fathers encountred the Pagans Jews and Hereticks with such Philosophical Weapons as the necessity of those Times requir'd and it may look at this time like a kind of defection a betraying the Protestant Cause to slight the Logical and Metaphysical Learning taught in the Universities But this is no part of the Prefacer's main care nor do's it I believe in the least concern his Conscience No a King or no King is now the Grand Question and important Controversie among us and a few generous Republican Notions about Liberty out-weigh with him all the Learning and Divinity of Europe Pref. 'T was not to learn Foreign Languages that the Grecian and Roman Youths went for so long together to the Academies and Lectures of their Philosophers 'T was not then as now with us when the Character of a Schollar is to be skill'd in words when one who is well versed in the dark Terms and Subtilties of the Schools passes for a profound Philosopher c. What profound Notion of Learning our Prefacer has found out for the Instruction of Mankind I am not worthy to know for I am no Interpreter of Dreams He may value for ought I know the Language of Gypsies above Greek and Hebrew He may extol if he pleases the Inspection of Urine above all parts of Physical Knowledge He may fancy perhaps that the Dissection of a Flea or the Tail of a Fish or such like curious employment is a most admirable and useful part of Natural Philosophy That calculating the Nativity of a Common-Wealth and the fall of a Monarchy is an excellent and profitable part of Modern Astrology This he may call speaking pertinently and acting like a Man and the extinguishing all remorse compassion and good nature may pass for a subduing the Passions in his Philosophy I find the Author of Acad. Examen was a great Admirer of the Feats of Physiognomy which he calls a laudable and profitable Science And this says he so necessary a Knowledge both in the Genus and Species of it is altogether omitted by the Schools They teach nothing of the subcaelestial Physiognomy whether Elementary Metâ—orological or Mineralogical but are utterly ignorant in all these contenting themselves with a few frivolous false and formal Desinitions and Notions Exam. p. 76. But I know no reason why these Notions and Definitions or dark Terms and Subtilties as the Prefacer calls 'em should give place to such Fooleries and Fascinations of a decrepit Fancy or be eternally banish't because men of weak and creeping Intellectuals are not able to comprehend the use of ' em The Church and Civil Government may subsist well enough tho Mechanicks Travellers and Men of ordinary Talents should not understand the heights and depths and usefulness of School-Divinity nor is it material or requisite that men whose proper business should be to learn and practice Obedience should be qualified to set up for Moderators in the Schools If they complain that School-Terms are too dark and mysterious there are some that will answer That the fault lies not in the obscurity of the Terms but in the incapacity of the Noddle And no Man ought to be offended at the Sun's Meridian Lustre tho blind men cannot discern it 'T is true in some few cases the School-men appear too definitive and nice in determining the Modus where the Scripture is silent or only asserts the Thing But generally speaking they are of excellent use in the managery of Controversies They teach us to avoid Absurdities help at once both to detect and confute the Errors of our Adversaries and conduct our minds into an exact notion and true apprehension of things by a methodical Brevity and regular Disputations One great reason I suppose that induc't the Prefacer to undervalue the Old Philosophy and Aristotelian Doctrines is this Aristotle it seems both in his Ethicks and Politicks affirms in plain terms that of all Forms of Government the Monarchial is the best He Asserts That Wise Men are fitted by nature to command and that others of strong Bodies but weak Intellectuals are chiefly design'd for Subjection and Obedience than which nothing can be more grating and disobliging to Men of a Republican Temper and Inclination 'T is likewise to be remember'd That his constant Friend and Tutor Mr. Hobbs in several Chapters of his famous Leviathan complains of the barbarous Terms and obscure stile of the School-men their insignificant Language and frivolous Distinctions That Aristotle's Metaphysicks are absur'd his Politicks repugnant to Government his AEthicks ignorant his Natural Philosophy a Dream Yet after all I find that Men of the brightest Wit and comprehensive Genius speak reverently of his Name Scaliger and Casaubon count him the great Incomparable Hero of the Intellectual World and esteem those people to be no better than Batts Owls and Dunces that pedantickly talk against him Cardan admires him Zanchy applauds him and Melancthon adds That 't is necessary he should be Studied and Read in the Universities since without him no exact Learning or Method can be attain'd Indeed the Old Philosophy as we vulgarly call it as well as School-Divinity has its Imperfections and I know none among all my Philosophical Acquaintance that are zealous Sticklers for the Ingenerability and Incorruptibility of the Celestial Bodies the Existence of solid Orbs or the Element of Fire under the suppos'd sphere of the Moon And 't is ignorantly or malitiously done by the Prefacer when he endeavours to extol the Graecian and Roman Education of Youth above that of the present Age since we retain what is good of the Ancient Learning and have the advantage of Modern Improvements I consider that Philosophy properly speaking is neither Pythaegorean nor Socratical nor Peripatetical nor Epicurean but rather a comprehension of those Truths and Dictates which Humane Understanding freed from the mixtures of Partiality and Prepossessions and assisted by Reading application of Thought Experiments and long Observation can clearly discern or make out by necessary consequence and deductions 'T is not a little System of Doctrines or the Opinions of a Sect but whatsoever among all Parties is fit to be approv'd There