the Defendant of nothing but some rash Words take them at the worst they lay no Crime to his Charge but such as is common to Men especially to Men of the Defendant's Complexion For he is a Man subject above many others to many Infirmities somewhat Cholorick by Nature and Constitution which tho he strives through Grace to quell yet 't is hard quite to extirpate Nature But if none but such as never spoke a rash Word nor ever spoke worse Words than is laid to the Defendant's Charge should cast the first Stone at him or put him in Jaile 't is hoped he might safely walk the Streets again and go to his Grave in Peace In the Interim he absconds neither for Debt Treason nor Felony that 's a great Mercy in these shamming-Times but enjoys the Happiness of walking incognito a Happiness that Princes seldom can arrive unto and because of their publick-Station are in vain ambitious of and sees and hears what 's done in the World sees and observes sees and takes Notes sees as in a Balcony the bustling Cavalcade in the Streets and yet not annoyed with the clamorous and sweaty Crowd sees and is not seen There 's the Pleasure as well as the Grandieur of Retirement a Grandieur that great Men may envy but uncapable to obtain the Felicity as well as the Safety the Quiet and the Security made the more conformable by Necessity and the gentle hand of God for some good end no doubt a Retirement happily freed from the Noise and Business of the World the bawlings brawlings and yawlings the bustle and ruffle of the Barr and Pulpit the throng and crowd of vexatious Turmoils and impertinent Visits a Happiness not 'till now enjoyed to be buried alive to be buried and yet live in hopes of a joyful arising to be buried safe from the poynant Malice of Enemies for Envy ceases in the Grave and they are malicious to purpose that envy him this poor-play of Hide and Seek and Bo-peep and yet alive and brisk still with some Friends and with his best Friend on Earth His Loyal Consort the happy Mother of ten lusty Children and seven alive still blessed be God Heirs enough for his Estate and Estate enough for his Heirs if the Bishop do not make them poor enough God knows at least It is to be fear'd Nobleness of Nature is not every Body's Portion But God help however For the Defendant if he be wise will never beggar himself and his Family to build Cathedrals for Singing-Boys be as cunning as they can And they are subtle very subtle Ay so they are and so might others too with one quarter of the Power they have in their Hands Fight on Macduff And let him fall that first says Hold enough Before it came to Extremity has not the Defendant studied Peace and pursued it once twice thrice if possible And as much as in him lies as you will hear anon by all the methods and ways of Meekness and Submission as far as is consistant with a Man of Honour And have they not been inexorable and like the Meridian-Shadows of Men running North-ward which flys the faster the faster they are pursued Are they not inexorable to any Terms but what is worse than Death and ill becomes a Gentleman or a Christian Has the Defendant lived fifty Years in the World and travell'd half the Globe of the Universe with all the advantages of an ingenuous Education in studying Men and Books and is he yet to seek to know such Men He knows what is in Man knows what is in Men flush'd with Power and Interest and flesh'd with Success and Revenge Let them be beaten with their own Rod which with such Industry Joy Interest Friends Power Glory and Combination they have so eagerly contriv'd The Scabbard's thrown away Come on Macduff And Coward he that first says Hold enough Honesty is the best Policy and so Machiavellians will find to their cost in time and Christianity is the greatest Wisdom and Persecution Tyranny Oppression and Extortion the greatest Folly in the World But Oh ye Fools when will ye be Wise saith Solomon when will ye be good Never never some Men will never be good but like a Spaniel 'till they be beaten to 't by the Mistress of Fools woful Experience and too late A little Honesty and Christianity is soon and easily attained unto and will do Wonders in Government and with ease whereas as a Lyar had need have a good Memory and yet is often put to his Trumps a Machiavellian with all his Quirks and Shams and Subornings and Tricks is as very a Fool as Pope Alexander the 6th and his Son Caesar Borgias to whom the Florentine Machiavel was both Secretary and Tutor in that Black-Art called Maachiavellian Policy both of them coming to an ill end and a violent Death falling into the very Pit they digg'd for others and poyson'd with the very Druggs they prepar'd for the Italian-Princes by the just Judgment of the righteous God that sits in Heaven and laughs the Atheist to Scorn yea the Lord shall have them in Derision And let some Men triumph crow and insult at the Victory they have got by a little-Tool and especially that same special-Jury and glory that they have silenc'd him the Sin and Shame lye at their Door stopping his Mouth because of cheap-Marriages without a License and he shall be in his Church of All-Saints the next Lord's Day God willing and so on let them do their worst No Man that falls by great Power can possibly fall more gently nor for less Offences There 's nothing sworn against him nor laid to his Charge for which any good Man or Man of Honour has cause to blush and be-ruby his Cheeks The Bishop first offends in sending an unwarrantable Sequestration there 's the Origine and for this occasion the Defendant suffers and pays 2000 l. there 's the Consequence of that Origine or Original Sin As soon as the Judg had filled his Belly he return'd to the Bench and some thought to catch the Defendant but the Bird was flown The Verdict was for the Plantiff Damage 2000l And so they said all being agreed upon the Business and their Fore-man Sir Andrew Jenner their Learned Speaker or Spokes-man Thus ended this Famous Trial of which when I have made some Observations for the Torys have not got all the Observator's on their side I will give you an account of that other Ecclesiastical-Engine to batter the Defendant by Affidavits sworn by six Ecclesiastical Lay-Persons called Proctors of Doctor's-Commons Ay there there the Mischiefs against the Naked-Truth are hatch'd They act for Life at least for a dirty Livelyhood which seems to stand on Tip-Toe tottering and just upon the goe And therefore they would Wire-draw and hook in Westminster-Hall base Indignity to prop up their rotten and tottering Frame by craving Forsooth from thence Aid in a Writ called Supplicavit But first Let us not over-pass this Signal
Action-Driver in Temporal in Spiritual Courts strike thus with your two-edged Sword that cuts both ways and meditate to enrich your self or to avoid that imputation design or pretend to build a Temple of Stones upon the Ruins of the living Temples of the Holy Ghost and Temples of Bones This Counsel though it is mischievous and fatal to you and the werst you can take for your self your Reputation and Honour and Profit too yet because pleasing to Malice Hatred and Revenge 't is possible you may follow it but first judg how suitable it is to your Office and Family or rather this honest sound honourable and fair Proposal Namely That since of this outragious Verdict you shall never have a Farthing though you perhaps may throw more good Mony against bad nor any mighty Credit because it was the Verdict of a Jury picked for the nonce and of Men that held Commissions only ad nutum and good pleasure of the Court where you have great Influence at present And since all you can get or shall get is my Bones if you can catch them And perhaps you will never catch them nor will I ever fly for it my Friends and Enemies shall not so be quit of me But if you do get my Corps it is but like the arresting of a dead Corps sometimes but rarely practis'd and that only by inhumane Creditors a barbarity that will ill become Bishops at this time of day how confident soever they be or may flatter themselves Besides since the Verdict and also your Prosecution was expresly against the Word of God 1 tim 5. 19. which commands you especially not to receive an Accusation against an Elder older than your self but under two or three Witnesses Here was but one and an infamous one and a Man keen with self-Interest and Pretensions to the Profits of my Benefice though most illegally and an Intruder and could not swear it perfectly neither For what Sir Tho. Exton your other precious Witness did say the Judg declared it was nothing to the proof of the Declaration and therefore ought not to be accounted any thing to sway the Jury as to finding for the Plantiff whatever or however his Testimony or my private Letters might aggravate the Dammages yet first the Declaration ought to have been well prov'd for 't is not Scandal till communicated before Men use to talk of Dammages but it was so far from being well prov'd that the worse than Parrot could not say it uniformly twice together nor alike Nor did your other Witness Sir Tho. Exton get more credit amongst all ingenuous and unprejudic'd Men by making my private Submissions and what I spoke in Confession to him as an old Friend and in mediation of Peace and an Accommodation a publick Accusation and Aggravation but judg you how inhumane unchristian un-Knight-like un-Man-like and ungentile is it for a Man to be treacherous and make his Table a Snare a Turk or Bravo amongst the Spaniards that live by killing Men will yet rather die than be treacherous or betray any Man under colour of Friendship Many that hug the Treason hate the Traytor and will be shy of him at least they ought to avoid him as an Enemy to all Society Commerce and Conversation as a Serpent in the Bosome or a Toad or any dangerous Villain Godâ— keep all good Men from trusting to the Honour and Ingenuity-Ecclesiastical especially that of a Lay-Vicar bless us from the Hermophrodite or Church-Monster or Gray-Fryar as Sir Thomas Exton Doctor Exton is in one sence It was an Exton too that treacherously and cowardly came behind King Richard the Second and murdered him with a back-blow when his valliant Hands were busied with three or four Rogues more he killed one or two of them tho before that treacherous and cowardly Villain Exton strook him behind and did his Business But I send this to your Lordship that you may show it to your two doughty Confidents and Witnesses and Lawyers if you please as formerly but rather as an Expedient to acquit your self with Honour and Profit to you more than to my self from this outragious Verdict of a pick'd Jury singled out by special Order of the Court of King's Bench I shall live to thank them which Verdict notwithstanding with all your Interest Friends Power and Greatness united shall never be worth one Farthing to you I say it neither in Mony nor Reputation and Honour But on the contrary This fair and equal Proposal shall be both certain Profit in hand and as certain Honour Namely That considering the Premises and the outragious Dammages of 2000 l. if they had given you 40 s. all the unprejudic'd World would blame them on such an infamous single Evidence against so many other Witnesses as well as against God's Word and that 40 s. would have been better for you in Mony and Reputation than the 2000 l. For if the Jury on a stretch did it to vindicate your Honour and Reputation then they are guilty of the greater Scandalum Magnatum to prize your Honour but at two Thousand pounds Thus they have set the price on 't in full value in their Opinion for as for Dammages you sustain'd there was none prov'd The Proposal is this viz. I Will pay you upon dedamand single Costs or if you have the Conscience to take it double Costs as the Master of the Office shall tax them so you will be sure of something And I will also give you sufficient Security for the paiment of whatsoever another Jury shall give you upon a New Tryal if the cause go for you Nay to have an equal and indifferent Jury I will give you far more Advantage still I will consent that you shall chuse what County in England Essex Middlesex Tork-shire or where you please for the Venue and to try the Cause in over again upon this only condition that the last Pannels of Juries return'd the last Assizes in other Causes in Nisi Prius in any County you please or shall chuse to draw any of them by Lot not looking into them 'till you or some for you have drawn and are fix'd And let the Tryal be managed by what Learned Counsel soever all England over and before what Judg soever best pleases you and I will have no Assistance in the management but as the last time God and my self and my Witnesses and the justice of my Cause And if you will not accept this fair this honourable this profitable Proposal then consider how lost will the Justice of your Cause be in the Opinion of all Men nay even in your own Opinion if you be afraid to try another grapple before an indifferent and equal Jury not prepossest not pick'd not pack'd not depending upon to help you out with it And though you have now given me a Foyl you had twelve such kind of Men to help you but it will abate the good Opinion of your courage the good Opinion of the justness of
no man dare make any such suggestions for the future and may such Earwigs also be banish't to any part of Earth or into the Earth rather than thus to plague a King and Kingdom at this rate in all Ages and vex and grieve his Sacred Majesty and his Parliaments what a pother and a doe have Parliaments had with these Tantivies in all Ages And how ruinous and ruful were the Consequents I know not whither you my Lord can remember But I can by woful experiment you said you begun to know me now you know me better and I know you in part I hope I shall know you better the onely design of this Letter I wish Synods and Lambeth Convocations and Bishops would keep to their Bibles and mind their own business work enough in conscience for 1000 Bishops in England if they would stoop to be Conformists to the Act of Uniformity and more than a thousand Bishops can legally perform if there were so many in England for there was a greater number in a far less spot of ground in Africa Contemporaries with S. Austin the Bishop of little Hippo that was never so big as Islington which is not impossible nay if we had a thousand Bishops in England they could not at all do the confirming work alone let alone the Work in the House of Lords and at the Councel-Board and their promotions at Doctors Commons and ther Actions Suites and Declarations and Libels as Action-drivers and Promoters and Visitations and vexations of ruinous consequence to the Projectors as well as to the Kingdom such as the Tantivie Doctrine of Manwaring and little Laud that had better minded his Book his excellent Book against Fisher then to turn Politick-Engineer and Master-Gunner in planting of Canons against the Fundamental Laws that such Tantivies are not skill'd in but if they read but of a King in Scripture though it be Rehoboam that Fool or Caesar that Heathen then Heysday for the Pulpit or the Synod Hey for Lambeth and the Canons of 40. But you will say what have I to do a Priest also with these State-matters ' To which I answer 1. These State-matters improperly or foolishly handled by your Tantivee-Archbishop Laud and your Tantivees Bishops that would have been Sybthorp and Manwaring and by your Tantivee Canon 1 of the Constitutions of 40 was by you justified in your publick Visitation and before the Mayor hnd Aldermen of Colchester and the greatest part of the Gentlemen of the Town and Clergy of that Precinct and for you boldly to recommend or justifie this Tantivie-Canon 1 of the Constitutions of 40 I know not whether all the Clergy you have or any Friend in England would have thus adventur'd suo periculo to awake you out of this Tantivee-dream in which as in the old disease the Plague of English-men and of English-men only called Suder Anglicus or the English-sweating-sickness if you sleep in it 't is mortal if you had a hundred thousand lives and I think you are beholden to me above all mankind him that you have thus vext above all mankind for nothing but the cause the cause of the Kingdom the cause and Fundamaentl-Laws scoff't at and derided by none but drunken Tories and Sack-posset-Tantiviees that cry brother let me pledge thee Brother Sybthorp Brother Two Livings Brother Manwaring Brother Arch-Laud they will be loath to follow him though at the long run and latter end But it is that we must all come to If we be Tantivees therefore as you love your self my Lord and me Let me hear no more in my part of Essex any more Commendations Justifications Aggravations or Recommendations of this ignorant Synod and Tantivee-Convocation of Lambeth in their Constitutions of 40 nor of any such Synod-men that were never lick't into Form-Political let them tell Sacred Stories of God and Christ I but no more Politick Canons of 40. against the Fundamental Laws if you love me or my betters innuendo your Lordship for one 2. This Politick-Lecture of State-matters begun by you and your Lambeth-Synod has been a Plaguyvexation to our Kings and Parliaments in all Ages read the History of the Barons Wars in King John's Reign Hen. 2. Hen. 3. The Edwards The Richard's the Henry's I had almost said The Charle's By what I have said you read the said Bickerings in the Reigns of King Charles I. and our present Soveraign King Charles the II and His Loyal House of Commons then which never any King was more Happy than He in that yet though chosen in a time of Languishing Expectation after the Prosits and Benefits of a King which we had too long wanted they were English-men still And he 's an Ass that expects a fitter juncture or more auspicious Election for the choice of Parliament to carry on any Designs but what are Catholick and according to the Good Old Cause I mean the Fundamental Laws which not a few swearing and beggarly Pamphleting Tories and unthinking and very impudent Tantivees and withal very ignorant are able to defeat though they draw down their Canons of 40 which I thought had been nail'd and damn'd and ram'd 40. years ago by the Tories Themselves and Tantivees to whom they prov'd so fatal will men never take warning must Parliaments always be plagu'd with these Earwiggs and Tantivees Flaterers and Court Sycophants and Blesphemous Insinuators of Divinity into Humanity by a most Atheistical Invention of a New Hypostatical Vnion But the Holy Trinity admits no Partners though the Priests teach us or inculcate never so villanously traiterously falsely illegally unscripturely irrationally or blasphemously It is a high shame that 's the truth on'c that such Tantivee-Doctrines should thrive and such as stand up for the Ancient Laws and Liberties must suffer above all others 't is a shame power should be thus abused like a silk worm to ruin and consume its self to bedeck worse Vermin 't is a shame I will not venture to say any more but draw a Curtain over some mens shame because I will not show all their Nakedness I forbear my Lord I have done And leave you to think sadly to think and with sorrow I hope and repentance too for justifying this first Canon of the Constitutions of 40. those Chequer-works of different Hue black and white good and bad especially the First of them nigro carbene notamur let you and I remember that First fatal Canon of the 1. of the Constitutions of 40. that has been so mortal already and will still prove without very timely and immediate Repentance baneful to one of us or rueful to both of us or to this Kingdom State and Common-wealth But still you will object what have I to do to discuss these State-matters sit chiefly for a Parliament I answer That you have given the occasion the sad occasion It now becomes me and becomes necessary what before had been as impertinent as for a Bishop or Synod-man to meddle in the State-affairs But 2. Do you compare my
Scandalum Magnatum Or the GREAT TRIAL AT Chelmnesford Assizes Held March 6 for the County of ESSEX BETWIXT HENRY Bishop of LONDON Plantiff AND EDM. HICKERINGILL Rector of the Rectory of All-Saints in COLCHESTER Defendant FAITHFULLY RELATED Together with the Nature of the Writ call'd SUPPLICAVIT seldom granted against any in these Days more seldom granted against any but common-Rogues and common-Barreters and common-Villains yet granted against Mr. Hickeringill Who was thereupon bound to the Good-Behaviour at the Court of King's-Bench Westminster Octab. Pur. xxxiv R. R. AS ALSO The Articles sworn against him by six Proctors of Doctors-Commons the Reverend Proctors Names are like-wise according to the Record in the Crown-Office particulariz'd With large Observations and Reflections upon the whole Published to prevent false Reports LONDON Printed for E. Smith at the Elephant and Castle in Cornhil 1682. THE INTRODUCTION WAS there ever more need than now to prevent false Reports when every Coffee-House Table instead of a better Carpet is cover'd and pester'd with false News False Rumours and News the Epidemical Plague that our Ancestors were so careful to prevent that as the Laws Oracle Cook cap. 39. Institut 3. tells us that the Law before the Conquest was That the Author and Spreader of false Rumours amongst the People had his Tongue cut out if he redeemed it not by the estimation of his Head Int. Leg. Alveredi cap. 28. If this Law had been reviv'd Thompson Heraclitus and the Observator had much better be Tongue-ty'd For tho Wise-Men and Good-Men in a just scruple of Conscience scorn to read such nauseous Ribaldry in Reverence to that of the Wise-man Prov. 17. 4. A wicked Doer giveth heed to false Lips and a Lyer giveth Ear to a naughty Tongue knowing that the Resettor is as bad as the Thief and that the Ear that loves to hear is as bad as the Tongue that loves to speak false News and equally Guilty and he that loveth as well as he that maketh a Lye is rank'd amongst Dogs and Sorcerers and Whoremongers and Murtherers and Idolaters Rev. 22. 15. Yet the depraved Nature of Man is novitatis avida greedy of hearing Tales from the very Cradle and many Englishmen now like the Athenians Acts 17. 21. spend their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new-thing The Lydians punish'd these false News-Mongers with Death as if a Man's Reputation was as dear to him as his Life and the Assassinate of a Man's good Name was accounted a Murderer The Grecians and the French have but one Name or Word to signify the Devil and his Son the Slanderer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diable or Devil who was a Murtherer from the beginning that is a Lyer and the Father of Lyes And to delight in hearing or reading false and scandalous News is an Accessory which in Murder and all Assassinations is equally punish'd and equally guilty with the Principal Prudent Men tho' and Men of Courage like a Lyon or a right English Mastiff stalk and walk on when little Currs bark at them answering their yelping only with Contempt Convicia si irascaris tua divulgas spreta exolescunt saith Tacitus If you seek to revenge Slanders you proclaim them as your own But if you despise them they vanish of themselves There are but few Bishops like Arch-Bishop Cranmer who was so much revil'd that he might have made work enough for the Lawyers if he would have ply'd their Courts with Actions upon the Statute of Scandal Magnat â—ut he chose rather to win Men with his Goodness not rendring Evil for Evil â—â—t so usually Good for Evil that it became a Proverb in those Days Do my Lord of Canterbury a Displeasure and you have him your Friend ever after that 's more Christian-like and Bishop-like than if Men had cause to say Do my Lord of _____ a Displeasure and you have him your Enemy ever after Sure the World is near its end and drawing its last Breath Charity is so cold now a Days old and cold God knows as for Example and woful Experience Ecce Signum The Pressures that this Defendant has undergone since he writ the Naked Truth above a Year ago are almost insupportable and enough to make his Back crack at least enough to fright Men from writing or speaking any more Naked-Truths It was always so the great Prophet of old made the same complaint to small purpose God wot amongst some Men Isa 59. 14 15. Judgment is turned away backward and Justice standeth afar off for Truth is fallen in the Street and Equity cannot enter Yea Truth faileth and he that departeth from Iniquity maketh himself a Prey and the Lord saw it and it displeased him that there was no Judgment How has this Defendant been pester'd within this Twelve Months Four and twenty great Heads of Barretry preferr'd against him in the Crown-Office about fifty Witnesses subpoena'd to prove them yet scarce ten of them sworn and some of them that were subpoena'd profest before they were subpoena'd that they knew nothing of the Matter and yet subpoena'd What run Men down with a Noise Is that such Policy or is it Piety And when the Defendant's Innocence appear'd and a Verdict to that purpose by the Worthy Jury yet afterwards How was he visited and vex'd in the Ecclesiastical-Court of Arches Henry Bishop of London Promoter there against him and for some of the same Barretry too of which he had been honourably acquitted And when the danger appear'd of prosecuting him in that Ecclesiastical-Court for Barretry against the Statutes of Praemunire and Provisors though Witnesses were sworn to them yet it was upon second Thoughts adjudg'd unsafe to insist upon them and five of the Articles were laid aside wherewith they had long made a loud noise and only five clandestine Marriages insisted upon or Marriages without Banes first published in time of Divine-Service and how can that be where there is no Divine-Service but the old Rule Necessitas vincit Legem would not pass Currant against a Law of Man though it prov'd a good Dispensation to Holy David against a Law of God But in all haste suspended and silenc'd he must be I do not know when whether the Ecclesiastical Court have Wit in their Anger and will not do all the harm they can or whether they think there is more in Matrimony than a matter of Money or whether they think it hard to silence a Minister from Preaching the Gospel though the Register's had not the nine or ten Shillings as formerly from the Defendant for a Blanck-Licence whilst scarce a Man in an Age is silenc'd for Drunkenness Ignorance Laziness Fornication or Debauchery or whether they resolve to be merciful in Conclusion or if that be not so probable whether they suspend the execution of the Suspension that the longer the blow is a heaving it may fall the heavier I cannot tell But they have found the Defendant work enough this twelve-Month last
little-Evidence-Man They did earn their Guinies to give them their due The Lacedominians a wise People banish'd all Hackney-Orators out of their Dominions as pernicious to their Common-Wealth because they could like old Ladies paint and bedawb their Wrinckles could black-patch their Pimples and Sores and make them Beauty-Spots Candida de nigris de candentibus atra Could disguize the Truth and cast Dirt and asperse when and where and whom they list an Effeminate-Trade yet for Calumny these Lawyers are usually out-done by every Fish-Wife and Butter-Quean But to go on with the famous Trial some Men are bound to the Good-Behaviour as the Defendant told Sir George Jeffries in the midst of his Harrangue wishing that his Tongue also was as fast ty'd and bound to the Good-Behaviour as is the Defendants And withal told the Gentlemen that were sworn that the less heed was to be given to Sir George's Words because he was not a Man of his Word for that Sir George had promis'd the last Assizes at Brentwood a Year and half ago that he would never be retain'd nor plead against the Defendant tho any Man should give him an hundred Guinies no not against Curse ye Meroz But comes me out before the next Assizes the poor Book called the Naked Truth the Second Part. And then stand clear from a common-Barretor the Knight had forgot his Promise to Curse ye Meroz So fickle a Passion is this same thing called Love as this Defendant now told him neither Man nor Woman knows well when they are sure on 't If I were his Lady I should be jealous of him nay I should if he were as inconstant in his Love to me as he has prov'd to this Defendant I say again at this rate his Lady will scarce know when she can be Cock-sure of his Love inconstant Man Well perhaps she may give him a Rowland for his Oliver The Punishment the usual and just Punishment of a Liquorish Tongue a luscious wanton extravagant Tongue is to be plagu'd with a liquorish T But enough of that at present I am in his Debt and I 'll certainly pay him off with celebrating in Heroick Verse the Merits of the noisy-Hero and his Lady to perpetuate them to all Posterity Let him shake his Head and stare with open-Eyes how he pleases 't is strange if he should not some time or other meet with his Match we are told A Poet should be fear'd When angry like a Comets flaming Beard He shall repent his Inconstance He shall let him do his worst A time may come yet and a Day of Reckoning God is Righteous and he usually shows his Justice in this World against the greatest Atheists that live Hectoring and Torying in defiance of him as if God had forsaken the Earth and where is the God of Judgment To support the Credit of their little Witness-Man which they craftily foresaw would be shrewdly shaken by all the Witnesses they had provided ready for the work five Clergy-men to adorn the little Black-Coat with five Circingles more Men of the same stamp and if possible swore as boldly and venturously for him and the Bishop as Harris himself and brought for the very nonce But Good Sir George Jeffries that never before had told a Lye at the Bar if you 'll believe him or any Hackney Breath-sellers they come not for the sake of the Guinies but purely in Devotion to Justice and love to their Clyent and his Cause tho Pro or Con who comes first to retain them right or wrong Tongue waggs in the Cause if it be retain'd and if the Angel appear then the A opens his Mouth a very pretty World nay many of them do not read their Breviats 'till the Cause be call'd and then with two Eyes in all haste they are busy to spy out Vantages poor Clients are well help'd up and what with an ignorant Jury or a Pick'd-Jury for that very purpose as this was by Order of the Court of King's-Bench the last day of the last Term upon the Motion of Sir Francis Withins just such another Man Poor Country-men have a fine time on 't to go to Law as Tinkers mend Kettles to remedy one hole in their Estate they make two is not this Remedy worse than the Disease What do you think a Lawyer will tell a Lye But the Good Knight Sir George Jeffries told a Whisker at this time when the said Black-Coats swore so heartily in Vindication of Harris his Reputation One Mr. Powell swore he had known Harris a Twelve-month and more and He never knew any ill by him so swore one Mr. Kiddier and Mr. Grove I think his Name was of London and so swore also one Thompson and one Shelton two Colchester Ministers Look you my Lord quoth Sir George here are Clergy-Men swear to the Reputation of the Witness for the Bishop Clergy-Men that here come by accident and spying them in Court we make use of them Whereupon the Defendant ask'd the said Colchester-Ministers Thompson and Shelton whether Sir George was a Man to be believ'd herein or a Man of his Word when he said these Clergy-Men came by accident c. Speak Sirs you are upon your Oaths Did you come by accident or for set purpose subpoena'd to give this Testimony They answered for they durst not do no other being publickly subpoena'd That they came on purpose being subpoena'd Then Good Sir George retorted the Defendant Where is your Veracity your Truth good Sir George But Sir George sat down very angerly his Mouth was stop'd for once Is it not a Wonder and the good Gentleman was silenc'd his Welsh-Blood flying into his Face and answering for him only with a Blush Nay 't is well he had the Grace to Blush he is not much given to it but this was put upon him from his own Witnesses the said Black-Coats who had all of them more cause to blush than Sir George but they blush'd no more than a Black-D Nay I 'll trust such Black-Coats with an Oath as soon as poorer Men if there be a Bishop in the case and hopes of Favour and Preferment what Can any Man think they will not stretch it for a Bishop when one says they will ride down Sun and Moon for a Benefice a Prebendary or a Dignity The Men were true Sons of the Church and knew the virtue of the Oath of Canonical Obedience but unhappily the Defendant snap'd them with one single Question and made them all swear in effect Tongue thou liest and contradict themselves and one another and all upon Oath too The Question put to every one of these Clergy-men who swore so thorow-stitch to Harris his Reputation was this namely Is it not an ill thing in a Clergy-Man and a Vicar who is sworn to perpetual Residence in his Parish to be Non-Resident for three quarters of a Year minding only the Fleece but not the Flock This gravell'd them for they knew the danger of Perjury and knew
Good Word and Recommendation But the Defendant gave them such smart such nimble and such home Repartees and so free from all Passion and unmov'd that even his Enemies and all the Hearers could not but acknowledg that as he never spoke more at one time so he never spoke better in his Life And yet to no more Fruit than if he had preach'd as St. Bede did to a heap of Stones for the Jury were resolv'd-Men never Men better tutor'd better cull'd and obsequious Paedagogue said to his Imps Ye 'ave con'd your Lessen well stroke them o'th'Head Call them good Boys and buy them Ginger-Bread There is cunning in Dawbing and a Cause slenderly witnessed had need be well-Jury'd or else the 2000 l. had not been worth a Gray-Groat no not worth a Brummingham A plain Countrey Yeoman has neither Hopes nor Fears at Court the wiser and happyer Man he He is neither fearful a Commission to lose nor in hopes of a Commission to get But values his Oath his Soul and his Conscience above all You talk of an Ignoramus-Jury in London we 'll match them in Essex with Billa-vera-Men you talk of a Whigg-Jury we can match them with a Tory-Jury Does not the London-Juries Idolize the Men of Doctor's-Commons Bring Doctor's-Commons-Men into Essex and tho most abominable contemners of Statutes Oppressors Extortioners Buyers and Sellers of Offices and they know all this is true except their Consciences be hardned yet let them come into Essex and as the common Strumpet said to the Fellow that call'd her Whore which she knew as well or better than he you Sirra Villain I would you would prove me a Whore Sirra Bear Witness Neighbours Scandal Magn. he calls me Whore Scarlet Whore bear Witness Sir Thomas Exton must be call'd too as a Witness for his Master the Bishop a very good Witness said the Judge and the Council a Man untainted they meant unattainted unconvicted as yet a Blot is no Blot 'till it be hit if I live it shall be as well as Betts and Morris But what had Sir Thomas to do at a Parish-meeting in the Parish of St. Buttolphs in Colchester No that 's true But he was not produc'd as a Witness to prove the Declaration No no a good reason why he could not swear when he was not there But he was call'd to prove some private Discourse that the Defendant had with him in his private Chamber whither the Defendant came in Doctors Commons they being old Acquaintance and the Defendant desired the said Doctor Exton to mediate an Accommodation betwixt him and the Bishop as a common Friend to both which Sir Thomas undertook to do when the Defendant had ingenuously made a private Confession to him of the truth of the Case to the very same effect that the Defendants Witnesses unanimously swore it namely that the Defendant did speak of a Printed Paper which the Plantiff sent down to every Clergy-man beginning with these Words Good Brother c. and ending with these Words Your Lo. Brother H. London In which Paper the Bishop recommended to the Clergy the Observation of the 65. 66. and 3. Canons or Constitutions of Forty which the Defendant said again in open Court were so far from being according to Law that it was Non-sence forasmuch as the Constitutions of Forty have not 65 nor 66 Canons nor above eleven and therefore it was Insolence or Impudence to lay upon the Clergy Burdens not to be born and Duties impossible to be observ'd forasmuch as it is Non-sence to bid them observe the 65 and 66 Canons and 3d of the Constitutions of Forty there is not so many and yet there is enow of those Lambeth-Canons which the Defendant said do seem to have a mark of Non-allowance by the 13 Car. 2. 12. For if the Words of that Statute leave those Canons of 1640 only just in statu quo then the mentioning the not confirming them c. in the said Statute signifies nothing at all for so those Canons would have been in statu quo altho that Statute had never been made which Law the Defendant said if the Bishop knew not it was his Ignorance if he did know it it was Insolence to oppose his Sence and Judgment to that of the King and Parliament and to impose impossibilities upon the Clergy And this Defendant confessed again that those Words he did say and if the Bishop be aggriev'd thereat he is at Liberty if he have not enough of this to bring another Action of Scandal Magnat if he pleased but not being the Words of the Declaration that and what Sir Thomas Exton witnessed was nothing as the Judg fairly told the Jury to this present Action But this must be said for Sir Thomas Exton he did his good Will and no doubt but he will reap the Thanks for the same and perhaps be the better for the Defendants Money when they can catch it but no Jusuite could equivocate more than Sir Thomas did when he first gave his Evidence against the Defendant upon Oath For he had the Words Ignorance and Impudence spoken of the Bishop which come pretty near to those Words in the Declaration Impudent Man and Ignorant Man but being not the same could not affect nor ought not to affect the Jury as the Judge honestly told them and less he could not say as to the proof of the Declaration for the all the stress and weight of that lay solely and singly upon little Harris his Evidence And for that cause The Defendant neglected Sir Thomas his Evidence as impertinent to the matter in hand but I thank you Latet Anguis in Herbâ When Sir George perceived that the Defendant had and willingly slighted it and neglected to examine Sir Thomas Exton about the Colloquium and foregoing Discourse preceding the Words Ignorance and Impudence which when afterwards confessed by Sir Thomas upon the Defendants reexamining him and quite altering the Sence to see how Sir George when he thought the Defendant had done and said all and the Plantiffs Counsel claim'd the Privilidg that a sort of Females claim of having the last Word to see and hear I say how Sir George and Sir Francis did mouth and open upon 't Here is Sir Thomas Exton Gentlemen a Man of untainted Reputation he speaks in effect the same thing and almost the same Words And yet the Judg had said before that what Sir Thomas witnessed was nothing to the proof of the Declaration but Sir George spent many Words upon it notwithstanding Whereupon the Defendant interrupted him at which he stared and storm'd and fretted at a great rate but to little purpose for the Judg very mildly bid the Defendant go on to examine Sir Thomas Exton more strictly since they endeavour'd to make work with his Testimony declared Impertinent to the present Cause now in Question as aforesaid Sir Thomas Exton said the Defendant was there no Colloquium no Discourse preceding nor subsequent to to the Words Ignorance
Defendant had not been over-ruled by a sort of Lawyers he would have pleaded the Words specially as they were spoken absque hoc c. And not to come upon an Issue Non-Culp against a Fellow that every Body assur'd him would swear right-down Thump and yet his Memory fail'd him for he could not for his Life repeat the first Words right nor any one time repeat them one like another and uniform But let the World judge whether any sorry Witness be not good enough when a Bishop is Plantiff and before such a Jury and such a God help it will not always be thus Let not the Tory Pamphleteers ever henceforth prate of an Ignoramus-Jury Here 's a Billa-vera Jury an Essex-Jury to a Proverb that shall give them half way and yet over-run them But all this long Parenthesis by the way Sir Francis Pemberton goes on to this Effect tho not perhaps in the very Words That the Jury had heard the Defendant's ingenuous Acknowledgment and that he must direct them to find good Damages if they find for the Plantiff saying that the Bishop of London is a worthy and learned Bishop as any in England that 's a large Place and a large Word and a large Comparison I know not how the old Arch-Bishop of Canterhury would take it if he should hear on 't and therefore quoth the Judg you must vindicate his Lordship's Reputation and give good Damages if you find the Words And they are sworn unto by one that is a Clergy-man he is said the Judg a single Witness for what Sir Thomas Exton says he told them they must not take to be any proof of this Declaration but if they find that this single Witness swears true contrary to the other six for the Defendant for he said he must say the Evidence is quite contrary one to the other and cannot both be true then if they find for the Plantiff he told them they might have some respect to Sir Thomas Exton's Evidence in Aggravation of Damages but said again very honestly that Sir Thomas proved nothing as to the Declaration but told them that Sir Thomas Exton is a Man of unstained Reputation the Judg not reflecting in the least upon the known and constant Extortions and Corruptions of Doctor's-Commons nor taking the least notice of Dr. Exton's disingenuity in being a publick Evidence in Aggravation for Words spoken upon treaty of Submission and as to a Friend and without any exception or disgust well liked of by the Doctor at least unmanly to make his Table a Snare except a Man had spoke Treason but this is the Candor of an Ecclesiastical-Lay-Elder or Lay-Vicar General For that is his place he is the Bishop of London's Vicar-General the Bishop cannot help it he has a Patent for it for his Life granted by Humphrey late Bishop of London Good doings when our Souls must be Tutor'd by a Lay-Vicar that cannot preach but has got a Patent to send us to the Devil and at his good Pleasure back again rare doings This is the Man of Reputation who is the Judg goes on unblemish'd in his Repute telling the Jury that he must say as to the Reputation of this single Evidence for the Plantiff for indeed the Cause depends wholly upon his single Reputation and that tho Non-residence be an ill thing and that is prov'd upon him and cannot be denied yet a Man may be a good Witness tho he do transgress a Statute none of us said he but do transgress a Statute some time or other Note by the way this is not the same Direction given at Mr. Rouse's Trial when for the Breach of a Statute of Vniformity the Dissenters could not be admitted to be Jury-men the Black Non-Conformist is good for something yet for since the publishing of the Black Nonconformist those new Laws are not repeated and if they are by the Breach of a Statute uncapable of giving a Verdict surely they are much more incapacitated to give an Evidence But he goes on telling the Jury Non-residence is not good it is an ill thing indeed it is but God forbid but a Man may be believed upon his Oath tho he be Non-resident And no doubt on 't 't is very true and so may a Non-conformist also surely God forbid else and with much more reason For the one sins if Non-conformity be such a Sin out of Weakness but this Non-resident whom the Judg excus'd has sinn'd three Quarters of a Year wilfully and wickedly a vast difference How many Blemishes can Episcopal Favour draw a Curtain over and hide And indeed the Judg if a Body may say so mightily mistook through want of Memory or worse in summing up the Evidence thus to the Jury for the Defendant did not examine and force the Clergy-men to swear Harris's Non-residence as thereby uncapable of being a Witness as the Judg summ'd it the Defendant was never guilty of such Nonsence and Impertinence and therefore the Judg mistook himself but the Defendant made the Clergy-men that brought to support Harris his Credit to swear his Non-residence that with their own Tongues they might swear that they themselves were not Men of Credit nor sit to be believed and therefore more unfit to prop another Man's Credit that had ruin'd for ever their own by swearing contrary things and impossible to be true namely That they never knew any ill thing by him and yet they were forced after that to swear him a Non-resident that contrary to his Oath Canonical and his Duty to God and his Flock had left them to a Log-river that cannot read his Accidence much less supply his own Cure the said Mr. Sylls The Nonconformists have not got all the Mechanick Preachers the Church of England hath got some Log-rivers Broken Trades-men and I know who But listen to the Judg how he goes on but takes no notice of what the Earl of Lincoln swore against Harris no notice of his forswearing himself for the Company of a Wench no notice of his being a Maudlin-Drunkard no notice of Harris his Design to ensnare the said Earl out of the Fee-simple of the Manor of Throckingham 300 l. per annum by a Deed writ in Court-hand which he thought the Earl could not read when the Earl intended only to settle the Mannor of Throckingham and for this piece of Knavery the Earl swore that he was credibly informed that Harris was to have if it succeeded a hundred Guinnies Nemo repentè fit improbus No Man can be a great Rogue per saltum suddenly Villany like Youth must have time to grow gradatim But the Honest Judg took no notice of the Villany sworn against this Harris and thus particulariz'd by that Noble Earl that scarce a Jury in the World would hang a Dog upon such Evidence But listen to what the Judg said to this effect telling the Jury that he left it to them But on the other side said the Judg the Defendant has made indeed a very
the disguize of Truth and the defeat of many an honest Cause These Quirks the Rabble that use them are useless in the Vnited Provinces where every Man pleads his own Cause of which the same Sun that views the first Process sees the End and Determination before it sleeps in the Ocean Whereas we labour with our nice Pleadings Quirks and Tricks Writs of Errors Pleas Rejoynders and Demurrers eternally A Man was Indicted quia furatus est Equum because he stole a Horse in Holland he had dy'd for it but with us the Indictment was quash'd for lack of Form there wanted Forsooth the Word Felonicè and therefore ill 29. Ass 45. A Man was Indicted that he was communis Latro a common Thief and the Indictment was held vicious because too general never coming on to the particular Proof A Man Murder'd another but the Indictment by the Clerks oversight or worse was only Interfecit and was quash'd for want of the Word Murdravit Thousands of Instances might be given of pretty Quirks and Niceties that are now made such essential parts of the Law that he is accounted the Man of Law that is most nimble at them to take a Cause with a Why not Tick-Tack as if some design had been to make the Law like Sives and Cullenders full of Holes for the nonce But some may say then What shall become of the Vermine the Locusts and the Catterpillars that like those Plagues of Egypt eat up evary green thing in the Land How now Is this good Behaviour Is Sampson bound or bound with Wit hs of smal Cords made on purpose to be broken Explain your self who do you mean by the Vermine the Locusts and the Caterpillars that eat up every green thing in the Land and is the great plague-sore thereof Who do you mean Sir You that are so blunt and such a plain Dealer do you mean those Throngs about Temple-Bar and Chancery-Lane those Crouds of Pen and Inkhorns that a Man can scarce stir there without being justled or run down by them or their Coaches Speak out who do you mean by the Vermine of the Land the Locusts and the Caterpillars Why then really truly and plainly I call those Locusts and Caterpillars and Vermine that live on the Sweat of other Men's Brows and of the sweet Labour and Industry of the painful Husbandman and Country-man who if they were not Fools would agree their Quarrels over a good Fire and a Pot of Ale by the Men of their Neighbourhood for it must come to that at last and why not as well at first before the Estate be wasted time consum'd with Danceing Attendance to Vermine But what shall the Locusts and Caterpillars do Ask Mr. Wilson who tells you in his Description of the new Plantation called Carolina that there is good Air room enough for the Locusts and Caterpillars those unprofitable Insects and Devourers Room enough for the He 's and She 's let them go there and work and Engender why should not Spiders spin And yet with Heraclitus his good leave the Defendant did if it were worth the mentioning in his pleading this Cause this Tick-tack which might as well have been kept secret but that Heraclitus will not be pleased without it For the Declaration is only un'Prelat not un'Magnat and though the Plantiff does declare as Episcop-Lond and un'Prelat yet said the Defendant it does not appear by the Declaration that the Plantiff is un'Magnat and therefore not within the Statute For the Defendant said further that he had consulted the Records of those times whereby the meaning of the Words Bishop and Prelate in those days is best cleared and does not find that ever by Prelates or Bishops is meant Magnates or le Grantz or le Seignieurs and therefore Scandalum Praelatorum nor Scandalum Episcoporum can possibly by that Statute be meant Scandalum Magnatum 25. Edw. 3. The Proceedings and Judgment of Death against Sir William de Thorp Chief Justice for Bribery and brought into Parliament which the King caused to be read Overtment devent les grantz de Parlement c. openly before the Great Men coram Magnatibus that could not be the Bishops Abbots Priors nor Prelates for they were always withdrawn in those days out of the House of Lords in Judgments or Inquest upon Life and Death as this was For the Chief Justice was hang'd for his Bribery right and good reason Cave cave 42. Edw. 3. Sir John de Lee Steward of the King's House was charged in Parliament for several Misdemeanors Et Apres manger vindrent les Prelats Duc's Counts c. After Dinner came the Prelates Dukes Counts c. Here being but a Misdemeanor the Prelates were present it not being in a Question of Life or Death 50. Edw. 3. Alice Perrers was accused for Breach of an Ordinance so is the Record but it was really a Statute which in those Days was called an Ordinance Fait venir devant ' les Prelats les Seignieurs du Parlement Which also was not in a Question of Blood and therefore the Prelates are nam'd as well as the Magnates or les Seigneurs Many Instances of this Nature may be given wherein Prelates were never signified by the words Magnates le Grants or le Seignieurs or Peers For they are tried as all Men ought to be by Magna Charta per Pares by their Peers or Equals and being tried by their Peers that is Commoners they therefore are Commoners not Peers of the Realm as the other Magnates le Seignieurs and le Grantz are And therefore tho the Bishop of London be Magnas as he is a Privy-Councellor and a Great Officer of the Realm yet the Declaration not mentioning any such thing the Defendant urg'd that it was deficient but the Judg over-rul'd him therein Yet 28. Edw. 3. Roger of Wigmore Cousin and Heir of Roger Mortimer Earl of March desires that the Attainder made 4. Edw. 3. against the said Mortimer might be examin'd Et dont le dit Seignieur le Roy vous charge Counts Barons les Piers de son Royalme c. The Lord the King charged the Counts Barons and Peers of his Realm to examine the said Attainder and give righteous Judgment But if the Prelates were meant by Counts Barons and Peers then they also were to examine the Attainder by that Command of the King But they had nothing to do with Attainders it being against their own Canon-Law and Oath of Canonical Obedience as they afterwards declared in another Case to be seen in the Rolls of Parliament 5. Edw. 3. In a Parliament called for Breach of the Peace of the Kingdom away went the Prelates out of the Parliament saying What had they to do with such Matters Et les dits Counts Borones autres Grants per eus mesmes And the Counts Barons and other great Men went by themselves c. to consult c. So in the same Parliament upon Judgment given against Sir John Grey for
Friggats e're crus't in the Sea But she could bring them to her Lee At the long-run both Great and Small She could with ease weather them all No Man of War did ever shame The Naked-Truth that was her Name But now she 's split and sunk to boot That th' Bishop and his Clerks should do 't First they torment us till we groan Then Jayle us next because we moan Have they not rockie Hearts of Stone To. Why do these Rocks so covert lie Drown'd in their Seas hid from the Eye Men lost e're they these Rocks espy Bo. Poor Widows-sighs does them surround And Orphans Tears 'till they are drown'd Oh! but say some Prelates and high-flown Churchmen are not so stony-hearted nor such Tantivies riding Post to the Devil and driving Men to Heaven or Hell with Switch and Spur as you think for But Order is a good thing and since the Naked-Truth and such Books taxes them so smartly as if they were good for little but to be ' mended and reformed The Ecclesiastical Fabrick may tumble down God bless us Robert Grosthead Bishop of Lincoln tax't the shameful Abominations of the Court of Rome in his Letters to the Pope that it hindered him from being Canoniz'd and Sainted though he deserv'd a Red Letter better than any Papist in the Kalendar he was if it be not contradictio in adjecto an honest Papist and if the Bishop and his Clerks of Rome had not been stony-hearted and impenetrable beyond all amendment and polishing neither Luther Calvin nor the Protestant Name had ever been heard of to this day By Grosthead's Counsel Rome had stood Had she not vow'd ne're to be good Rob. Grosthead the Author of a great deal of Naked-Truth flourish'd in spite of the Pope Anno 1250 and defines Heresy to be an Opinion taken and chosen of a Man 's own Brain contrary to Holy Scripture openly maintained and stifly defended This is a true good and honest Description of Heresy and if so for God's sake tell me true If Prelacy be contrary to Scripture contrary to the holy Commands of Christ and his Apostles in plain not doubtful Words and if Men stifly maintain it and openly defend it with Actions Statutes Suspensions Silencings Curses Anathema's Excommunications and Jails for God's sake who is the Heretick now Tell not me of Statutes they are void ipso facto as soon as made if they be contrary to the Statutes of God and Christ saith the Lord Coke the Oracle of the Law who tho a Lawyer was not asham'd to be a Christian Away with Hypocrisy and Cheat It shall it shall tumble down and fall on the Heads and crush all that shoulder it up and endeavour to support it It shall I say I cannot tell you when but it shall in due Time they on whom this Stone shall fall it shall grind them to Pouder Stay till the Iniquity of the Amorites be full and till they have drunk Brimmers full of the Tears of Widows and Orphans Huzzah till they have fill'd the Jails full of Howlings Wo and Lamentation then down Dagon down to Hell for ever down It is an infallible Truth That not only what is contrary to God and the Sence and Meaning of his holy Gospel shall come to naught but also what is contrary to the Sence and Meaning and Desires of the greatest Part of the Nation must tumble down especially when it has no Foundation of Truth or Honesty but stands upon frail and rotten Crotches the next Puff or great Wind stand clear for down it goes or the next Calm when the Master-Builders have Time and Leisure to view it and find its Danger and its Malignity down it goes The House of Lords represent themselves but the House of Commons are the Representatives of all the People in England What therefore the Generality of the People affect that I say in time shall become a Law The Honourable House of Commons have not only struck at this Statute 2 R. 2. which the Prelates make such Work with but the Repeal thereof past the House with general Approbation and was committed and sent up to the Lords for their Concurrence therein it stopp'd there So much for this time The Words called Scandal Magnat which must cost this Defendant 2000 l. are not actionable taken in sensu conjuncto as learned Lawyers say nor can the Innuendo in the third Count lie because he that drew the Declaration forgot to mention the Colloquium for if it had but been in no doubt but Harris would have swore it through and through what an Oversight was this Therefore say some to the Defendant Bring a Writ of Error next Term and quash it and there 's an End of an outragious Verdict of a desperatee Jury Or else motion for a new Trial because the Declaration is That the Words were spoken before divers of the King's Subjects and but one little Subject appeared A Writ of Error Where to be argued In the Exchequer-Chamber before all the Judges This is a cunning Way more Grist to the Mill as good be in the Clutches of an unmerciful Prelate as uninerciful Breath-sellers Mr. Chamberlin Mr. Hollis Sir John Elliot c. that were Jailed for refusing to pay Customs and Ship-Money in Charles the First 's Time because there was no Law for the same a clear Case they took this Course and the Judges ten of twelve gave the Cause against them they lost their Fees and their Cause and this Defendant gets nothing but Wit Exchequer Chamber He knows a Way worth two on 't he 'll keep himself and his Estate out of all their Clutches keep in Harbor till the Storm blow over let it bluster And to Jail the Defendant looks like an Inhumanity like that of some Creditors that in Cruelty arrest the dead Corps a Barbartty of no great Credit to a Bishop that if he do not propagate at least should not by Jails and Shams hinder the Propagation of the Gospel especially not how bigg soever any Man is at this time of Day Money a great deal of Money will Gadbury get and more than ever the Bishop will get by this Affair for Flectere qui nequeant Superos Acheronta movebunt The Horary Questions will be Where the Defendant's Estate is where his Lands where his Goods where his Moneys if any Body could tell for I believe the Defendant himself can scarcely tell that and lastly Where he himself is whether within a Mile of an Oak or just under the Bishop's Nose And when all comes to all the Inquisitors will but throw good Money after bad for the Devil will cheat them as he did Madam Cellier both of the Money and the Sham-plot And after all the Ass-trologer knows no more by all his Intelligence with Mercury and the Moon where the Defendant is than I do perhaps not so well nor ever shall till the Time come when Truth is valued more than Hypocrisy when Innocence is a sufficient Guard
your Cause even in your own opinion if you dare not upon so fair Terms let go the catching hold you have got and take fair hold when you may assure your Mony your Costs your Credit and your Dammages all now desperate only by playing the Prize over again once more before indifferent and equal Judges and you shall have Mony of me too for playing the Prize again with a naked single Priest friendless helpless but not hopeless though you are arm'd with all your Power Friends Riches and consequently Learned Counsel High Places and Interest and flush'd also with your late Victory and Success I 'le venture all I have in the World upon this Contest if you will stake an equal Gage What Shall such a Man as I am be run down with one little single ill thriven infamous Priest against God's Holy Word and so many substantial Witnesses nay a Priest that cannot tell his own Tale off-book with the exactness uniformity and docillity of a Parrot The World cries shame on 't and of such a Jury Nay further I here promise that I will surcease the prosecution of that same Harris in order to convict him of Perjury 'till first this new Tryal be over he shall have his beggarly Ears a little longer on this condition That 's some comfort for this Episcopal Witness These are the certain Benefits and Honour you may be assured of by consenting to a new Trial And if you do not consent I doubt not but the Judges will grant me a new Trial whether you will or no at the Term upon such Suggestions as I shall make to them and upon such Motives as has been prevalent with them in other Cases and why I should not have Justice nay their Countenance too more than vile Extortioners Oppressors or their Abettors and Partakers I do not understand I believe I shall live to see the day that Judges will value the Oath of a Judg and have no respect of Persons in Judgment though never so great Oh! for Judg Hales at this day and in this Affair or if they warp will warp on the right side and countenance the innocent Sufferer for telling Men of their Sins and not warp in confederacy with the Sinners and grand Contemners of the King's Laws who are very ignorant or else bold daring and impudent to act so contrary to Law in vile Extortions c. At a fair Hearing my Lord you can never justify the Wrongs you have done me in despight of his Majesty's Laws and God's Laws where is Mr. Withins with his dumb shows to give Item hereof His dumb shows could not keep him in the Parliament-House from his Knees How can you answer the invading of my Legal Rights by an Illegal Sequestration contrary to Magna Charta and the Petition of Right How can you answer it to turn Promoter in the Spiritual Court Is it for a Bishop to be a Striker that is an Action-Driver or Promoter and to strike with his two edged Sword and hack and hew both ways as you have hack'd me in Spiritual Court and Temporal Courts Ecce duo gladii The Popishgloss says Temporal and Spiritual Sword but what is that to you How can you answer it to vex me in despight of a Premunire with Law-Suits and Accusations of Barrety in the Spiritual Courts as you have done in defiance of the many Statutes of Provisors Are you above the Law are you indeed we will try that one day It is no Scandalum Magnatum to say that greater Men than you ever were or ever shall be have been glad to kneel and submit their sturdy Necks to the Laws of England How can you answer it to vex me in the Spiritual Court for Barretry in those very Instances whereof I have been honourably acquit upon a fair Hearing in the Courts of our Lord the King How can you answer it as Promoter to cite me and prosecute me in the Name of Robert Wiseman Doctor and Knight or I know not who from my Home my Employment my Cure that you ought to further not hinder and not in the Name and Style of the King as enjoyned 2. Edw. 6. 1. a Statute that I doubt not but to make good against you all and then what will become of you all How can you answer it when you were or might be convinc'd at the King's Head in Colchester that Martin and Groome c. your Apparitors who forswore themselves against me and against the Ecclesiastical Records and Registries still to countenance the Prosecution And when I was acquit honourably still to vex me again and turn Promoter to plague me for Crimes of which I was prov'd Innocent and to vex me in a Court that cannot take cognizance thereof and have incurr'd the danger of a Premunire for the vexation you have done me therein causelesly and for the illegal Prosecution for you as Promoter swore Witnesses to those Articles and cited I was at your Promotion to attend your Motions thereon at Lexden Manent altâ mente repostum when time shall serve you shall hear on 't And when you had plagu'd me almost a Year with these Barretry-Articles then they dwindled only to Marriages without Banes or not paying your Registers or your under-Officers Mony as I used to do for Blanck-Licenses or marrying too cheap this is the worst inconvenience thereof and I think that I can prove that I have as much or more Authority to give Blank-Licences then your Lay-Vicar Doctor Exton or your Lay-Registers a fine World when Matrimony must be the Benefit of those Gray-Fryars instead of the Benefit of the Clergy because the Hermophrodites buy their Places or hire them Besides There is not a Minister in our Town or almost in the whole Country but does the same and why do not you turn Promoter against them also if Justice be not only the Pretence but malice spleen and revenge at the bottom why do you make fish of one and flesh of another why a Picque at mee only or is it because none of them had the Wit or at least not the Grace nor honesty nor courage to discover the Ecclesiastical Corruptions which you are too privy unto and ought to amend and not boulster them up I am ashamed on t and so may others too in time and of such grand Partiality Besides those poor five couples which I am accused off for marrying without Banes first published in time of divine-service in the Parish-Church or Churches is a fault impossible to be avoided for else the couples could never have been Legally and in strictness of Law marryed having no Parish-Churches nor any divine-service at that time and yet your Procters in the Articles swore they were high crimes Oh! My Lord would you be willing to be so serv'd and to be so done by as you have done by me to be plagu'd vext and suspended of your Benefice and Office three years for transgressing the Rubrick in the Common-Prayer-Book which you so dayly
Skill or Learning or Vndeastanding in Laws and State-matters with meer Cassock men meer Synod-men that never yet were lick't into other Form or Fashion than their own Tantivee Will and Inclination undisciplin'd unrefin'd in Judgment by the study of the Law of the Land the study of men and the Laws and Tempers and Constitutions of Forreign Kingdoms more whereof I have seen than some Tantivee Circingles ever read off in Heylin's Geography if they have it And do you compare my Knowledg-Salt-water-Souldiers Knowledg in State-matters Do you compare us that have been Souldiers at least on this side the Water in times of Peace with meer Cassockmen I Hope there is no Compare at least the Comparison is as odious as groundless But I had almost forgot the Provost of Eaton where I left him Mr. Rous to the Speaker saying For a Conclusion to give you the true Character of this man Dr. Edward Manwaring whom I never saw I will shew it you by one whom I know to be contrary to him Samuel we know all to be a true Prophet now we read of Samuel that he writ the Law of the Kingdom in a Book and laid it up before the Lord. And this he did as Mr. Manwarings own Authors affirms That the King may know what to command and the People what to obey But Mr. Manwaring finding the Law of this Kingdom written in Books tears it in pieces and that in the presence of the Lord right Tantivee in a Pulpit that the King may not know what to command nor the People what to obey Thus Mr. Manwaring being contrary to a true Prophet must needs be a false One and the Judgment of a false Prophet mark that belongs to him I have shewed you an evil Tree that bringeth forth evil fruit and now it rests for you to determine whether the following sentence shall follow cut it down and cast it into the fire Thus have you seen my Lord what a Pother and a do these Clergymen have made in the Kingdom how Parliaments have been plagu'd with these Tantivee-Jehu's nay Kings most of all and themselves also the Rash Phaeton's setting the world in a flame by ambitiously mounting and driving switch and spur Gallop and Tantivee in a Chariot they have Pride to mount but no skill to drive sindging and burning themselves to boot in flames of their own kindling In your next Visitation I hope we shall hear no more of these Canons and Constitutions of 40 I wish it for my own sake that would avoid all occasions of Contests Differences Suits and Disputes with all men more especially with you but I wish it also more for your own sake you will most repent it in Conclusion if it take Air and be nois'd abroad so loud till it come to the Ears of the King and Parliament when we got one His Majesty has promis't his Subjects frequent Parliaments the Fundamental Laws which whosoever attempts to undermine and liker another Faux to blow up it will be his ruin and fall heavy on his head Better leave no Lands no Fields to our Heirs than Akeldama's only or Fields of Blood or else in base Tenure at the Will of the Lord much worse at the mercy of every Court Sycophant that may well beg us and our Estates for Fools if we be willing to part with our Fundamental Laws for Manwaring's Sycophantry or your so magnified Can. 1. of the Constitutions of 40. And in your next Visitation not my Sufferings will so far daunt the English-Clergy but that they will remember they are Englishmen not Scots nor Irish Tories nor Lambeth Canon-men especially when their Eyes are a little more opened with more Naked-Truth for Magna est veritas praevalebit Men will not long be blinded under pretence of Loyalty to abuse the King the Constitutions of the Kingdom and themselves and their Posterities nor be willing to bold their Liberties their Estates their Lives their Wives and their Livings ad nutum Episcopi no nor ad libitum Regis but ad libitum Legis Oh vile Slaves willing by cowardly Pedantry or ambitious Sycophantry to be Hoodwink't and led by the Nose to a certain Precipice and ruine or to have a Ring put through their Nose and led about like Bears for Sport or Collars about their Necks because enamell'd perhaps or made of Silver and snapping and biteing and snarling at him above all others that would take the Collars off wnuld unringle them would unhoodwink the blind-men Buffs in spight of their Teeth I 'le do 't I am resolv'd let them snarle and bite poor hearts it is their nature they cannot help it nor can I in reason expect other requital of my Charity I know them the men and their Communication the men and their innate envy and peevish revenge In time they will grow better when prejudice and passion makes them not forget that they are Englishmen not Irish-men Christians not Bigots and willing to be governed by our ancient English Constitutions and Laws not the Manwaring and Laud's Canons and Constitutions of 40. Have we with so much adoe been puzzling all this while these 40 Years and are we not yet got over the Lambeth-Canons and Constitutions of 40 must the Church and Kingdom twice be split on the same Rock some men endeavour it might and main or else the Loyal Long-Parliament were not the Happy House of Commons as the King styles them at least not happy in their Intelligence if they struck so violently without sufficient Reason against Duke Lauderdail and the Earl of Danby for this very cause of the Kingdom The Good Old Cause without a Sarcasm Good for the King and Kingdom the best and surest if not the only way to make the King and Kingdom happy safe and pleasantly united against which the old and true foundation and principle none ever yet attempted but it prov'd his ruine bringing the Old House over his Head And when you hav impartially weighed the mischiefs that have attended these new Sybthorpian Doctrines Manwaring and Dr. Lauds false Canon of 40. you and I shall never more quarrel nay let us now shake hands enter the Ring again and try the other touch in a New Tryal or let us shake hands and be friends and on Condition you be so Good Natur'd as to remit this Vnconscionable and Outragious Verdict I to shew my Good Nature in requital will Remit the Injuries aforesaid the Original Sin that has tainted the Consequent Differences and Contests I hope I have in this Long Letter given your Lordship such sufficient satisfaction about the Canons of 40 the vanity the Mischief and Falshood especially of the 1. Canon thereof that like eager Disputants we shall end just where we began and yet both be wiser and better and the Kingdom too for this Contest and then this Outragious and Vnconscionable and Vnreasonable Verdict will have a Happy Issue in either Curing the St. Anthonies Fire Heat and Tantivee-Flame that has not
Bernard chid Pope Eugenius and call'd him all to naught The World is the better for these Letters though Pope Eugenius was hardned in wickedness and incorrigible till the Council of Constance took him in hand conven'd him before them imprison'd and unpop't the Old Gentleman a◠an Adulterer Sodomite Symoniacks c. I am sure of one good event of this Letter namely I have acquit my self in my own Conscience that I have thus studied the way of Peace as well as Truth and by my fair proposal for a new Tryal But if you reject it you get nothing but my Bones when you catch them but the Honour will be mine in that you will seem to be convicted in your own Conscience that if I have fair play I must worst you having six to one against you six honest Witnesses to one little infamous one that has not the docility or memory of a Parrot or Magotte-Pye For all men that have any briskishness of Spirit are herein like Tennis-Balls which you may safely handle and play with nay toss and bandy too sometimes but if nothing will serve your turn but with violence to throw them right down or down-right 't is odds if they do not rebound and hit you in the face with eagerness answerable to the impetuosity And if no other Councils but what are violent will reach your Ears and Heart go on In time you will find as to Tennis I will return your very best with Excellent design and perhaps into your hazzard or hit the hazard of your Partners and Partakers nay I will write your Epitath that in memory of your conquest and how obtained shall outlast your tomb and Celebrate your name and fame to Posterity though I cannot say but it might have been more honourable to you to sport with Flora as now do you at 〈◊〉 then to be a Promoter by my Pen Recorded for a Promoter For every thing has two handles if a Prudent man cannot hold it by one he can certainly hold it by the other nay even when he falls he falls but like a dye which slur'd or cog'd or thrown which way you will always rests on a true side and right bottom it is true I suffer but the Original sins was yours in that illegal sequestration and the justifying that first and worst Canon of the Constitutions of Forty Thus am I whipt upon others backs that deserves the lash more then my self sometimes you hold up to the men of Doctors Commons as Promoter and they slash me with suspensions Excommunication and sometimes they take turn and hold me up to you by swearing against me and then you swing'd me with Supplicavit Affidavits Outragious Verdicts between you both I have had a good time out I thank you with twelve men to help you pay'd me off to some tune at Chelmesford Now if you would be but as good to me as you were to the men of Doctors-Commons the Employment would be less Drudgery and more honourable as being a piece of Justice for which the Nation would call you blessed namely that you would turn Promoter or Informer against them for their many and impudent dayly exetortions and oppressions of the Kings Subjects 'till they groan again or if that will not please you do but hold them up to me see how I 'le make them frisk again yet a little nearer yet nearer let mee but have them within my reach And I will so chastise them that the whole Kingdom shall joy in me But I confess to your Lorship I do not like the sport I had rather be quiet if you and they would suffer me to rest My Lord Your Lordships humble as well as Humbled SERVANT Edm Hickeringill POST-SCRIPT SINCE I writ this I missing of Mr. Firman whom I never saw carryed this Letter My self intending to present it as well as write it with my own hand but your Porter and Maid all the family I could find at London-house told me that you kept not Hospitality there but was gone to your Country-house for this Summer I know not how well to get it to your hands nor how nor when I shall have your answer I going home to morrow and therefore have Order'd it to be Printed hoping that way it will not miscarry whatever the Manuscript may do which I have this day sent to you by the Porter And yet both may miscarry for I could never yet find that you did ever read my Letters except to Cavil at them and produce my very Apologies as evidence against me for my part I know not how to deal with you you are too cunning for me I am sure too powerful And when the quarrel first began about this Tantivee Heylins Manwarings Sybthorp Lauds principle and Canon you did so espouse the cause against me and the good old cause and was so angry that before the Mayor and Aldermen of Colchester if you could have disgrac't me thereby you passionately said that you never desired more to talk with me For I confess I was pretty warm upon you for your Lambeth-Canons and you 〈…〉 not have netled me worse than to fright me with what the late Loyal-long-Parliament in their said Address to his Majesty confessed to be a terror to them and grief of heart to His Majesties Subjects to hear of a Manwaring a Heylin a Laud a Syhthorp rediviv'd or their Canons or Principles so destructive to the Fundamental Laws or The Good Old Cause But you are so seldom Resident at London the great Episcopal Workhouse for a Bishop of London's Presence and Residence and at Fulham the greatest part of the year That if you would admit a conference with me which would be good for both of us yet I know not how to obtain it except I go to Fulham which is out of my way and so will be till you come to London where the perpetual Residence of a Bishop of London is absolutely necessary especially since the New-Buildings have almost doubled your Diocess That if you had nothing to do there but only to Bishop or Confirm All Saints and All Souls therein if you were as High and Great and I believe you are now past the Age of growing but if you were now as great as the Giant Bryareus that had 100 hands they would all be too little for the performance of one single Episcopal Badge the Confirmation in the Common-Prayer-Book Nor does the Rubrick say that Men are bound to take a pair of Oars and go by Water to Fulham to be confirmed as if men were dipt with the Error Anabaptistical and thought it necessary to go to Heaven by Water more then needs Surely you came lately from reading the Eucomiums given to Laud by that blind in a double-Sence that old Tantivee-Bard Peter Heylin upon that Archbishop and I would not have you whom I love so well to be so ambitious as to desire to be his Successor though to follow his steps I hope you will be wiser before you come