the Statute made in the Parliament of King Richard the Second after the Conquest at Glocester in the Second Year of his Raign held amongst other things it is Enacted and strictly Charged under great pain That none should be so bold as to devise speak or relate of the Prelates Dukes Earls Barons and other Nobles and Great Men of the Realm of England nor of the Chancellor Treasurer or Clerk of the Privy Seal Steward of the King's House Justice of the one Bench or other nor of any Great Officers of the said Realm any false News Lyes or any such Falsities whereof any Scandal or Discord within the said Realm may arise And whosoever this should do should incur the Penalty otherwise thereof ordained by the Statute of Westminster the First as in the said Statute more fully it is contained Yet the said Edmond Hickeringill the Statute aforesaid not regarding nor the Penalty of the said Statute any ways fearing but craftily designing the Good Name State Credit Dignity and Honour of the said Bishop to hurt and blacken and him the said Bishop into great Displeasure Distrust and Discredit of our said Lord the King that now is and of the great Men and great Officers of this Realm of England and also of divers worthy Persons Subjects of our said Lord the King that now is to bring the fourth day of April in the three and thirtieth Year of the Raign of our said Lord the King at Chelmnesford in the County of Essex divers false News and horrible Lyes of the said Henry then and yet being Bishop of London and one of the Prelates of this Realm of England in the presence and hearing of divers of the Subjects of our said Lord the King falsly maliciously and scandalously devised spoke related published and proclaimed in these English Words following viz. The Lord Bishop of London meaning himthe said Lord Bishop of London is a bold daring impudent Man for sending some Heads in Divinity to all his Clergy in those parts meaning the Clergy within the Diocess of London in those parts which are contrary to Law meaning the Laws of the Realm And of his further Malice the said Edmond afterwards to wit the said fourth day of April in the three and thirtieth Year abovesaid at Chelmnesford in the said County of Essex scandalously and maliciously and further to defame and scandalize the said Bishop likewise devised spoke related published and proclamed of the said Henry then and yet Bishop of London upon a Discourse of the said Bishop then and there had these other false News and horrible Lies in these English Words following that is to say His Lordship meaning the said Henry Lord Bishop of London is very ignorant And the said Edmond further craftily designing not only the good Name State Credit Dignity and Honour of the said Bishop to hurt and blacken and him the said Bishop into further great Displeasure Distrust and Discredit â—our said Soveraign Lord the King that now is and of the great Men and â—â—eat Officers of this Kingdom of England and of divers other worthy Subjects of our said Lord the King to bring but also to cause him to endure the pain and peril of the Laws and Statutes of this Realm against Traitors and such Malefactors made afterwards to wit the said fourth day of April in the said three and thirtieth Year of the Raign of our said Soveraign Lord the King that now is at Chelmnesford aforesaid in the said County divers other false News and horrible Lyes of the said Henry then and yet Bishop of London and one of the Prelates of this Realm in the presence and hearing of divers of the King's Subjects scandalously falsly and maliciously devised spoke related published and declared in these English Words following viz. I meaning him the said Edmond Hickeringill can prove His Lordship meaning the said Henry Lord Bishop of London to be concerned in the Damnable Plot meaning the Popish Plot to destroy the King and subvert the Government of this Realm late discovered By Means of which said several false News and horrible Lyes the said Bishop is not only hurt and scandalized in his Reputation Honour and Dignity and the said Bishop hath lost the Favour good Opinion and Esteem which our said Soveraign Lord the King and other great Men and Prelates of this Realm afore towards him did bear and divers Rumors and Scandals between divers of the Nobles of this Realm and great Men and other the King's Subjects upon the Occasion aforesaid within this Realm are risen and spread abroad and great Scandals and Discords by reason of the Premises between the said Bishop and others of this Realm are risen and daily more and more are likely to arise to the great disturbance of the Peace and Tranquillity of the Realm to the Contempt of our said Lord the King and great Scandal of the said Bishop and against the Form of the said Statute of Richard the Second to the Bishop's Damage 5000 l. and therefore he brings this Suit Issue Non Cul This Trial of so great expectation came on about nine a Clock in the Morning Wednesday the 8th of March 1681. To prove the Declaration only one single Witness was produced for the Plantiff namely one Samuel Harris Clerk Witnesses sworn on the behalf of the Defendant were The Right Honourable Edward Earl of Lincoln Mr. Benjamin Edgar Mr. Ambrose Flanner Robert Potter Henry Bull Christopher Hill and Daniel Howlet all except that Noble Earl Parishioners of the Parish of St. Buttolph's in Colchester and present when the Words were pretended to be spoken Actions for Words ought to be precisely and punctually prov'd and all the Words together without addition or diminution otherwise as the Defendant who pleaded his own Cause told the Court the Sense must differ except they be taken together with the antecedent and subsequent Discourse in sensu conjuncto not diviso jointly and not severally adding that he had a thousand times said that there is no God and yet that saying that looks so scandalously Atheistically and Blasphemously taken disjointed and severally from the foregoing Words are really innocent and harmless and have been spoken a thousand times by every Man that has a thousand times read or repeated Psal 14. 1. The Fool hath said in his Heart there is no God So also in infinite Instances as to say It is not lawful to love God nor to 〈◊〉 our Neighbour dissemblingly or hypocritically take away the last Words and 〈◊〉 looks scandalously and most prophanely but taken altogether no harm all but good and true and like that of the Apostle Let Love be without Dissimulation The said Harris Witness for the Plantiff had got the Words pretty well by Heart but yet did not swear them so roundly off as was expected For as to the first Words namely The Lord Bishop of London is a bold daring impudent Man for sending some Heads of Divinity to all his Clergy in these
depending in the King's-Bench Hah where Sir John Shaw had no Authority to give or take an Oath Hah in private Hah against the Laws of the Land Hah and made them ready against the Bishop came down to set the Bishop to Roil Mr. Hickeringill whom he knew would not tamely suffer himself and his Reputation to be illegally and publickly brought in question by any Bishop in Christendom Hah This was the Sum and Substance of those two Letters which the Defendant writ to the said Bishop that were never answered but only as Men are when they are prest to Death with more Weight more Weight The Defendant in vain opposed the reading of his private Letters saying it was not genteel civil nor manly to produce such Evidence and nothing to the present Declaration and that tho there was nothing in them but what was modest and true yet private Letters are and ought to be sacred in their Privacy and that Si liceat parvis componere magna King Charles 1. If it be lawful to compare great with small did justly upbraid the Parliament with the Incivility of publishing his private Letters taken at Naseby tho there was nothing in them nor in this Defendants Letters for which any Man need blush or be blam'd But this is the Ecclesiastical-Candor any Method to expose the Defendant no Vengeance is great enough no Fine or Verdict outragious enough to crush one that dares as the Defendant has discover the Mystery of Iniquity Ecclesiastical in Extortions illegal Fees Oppressions and Courts kept in dessance of the Statutes of this Realm Excommunications Absolutions Prophanations Procurations Visitations namely Vexations c. There 's a Villain indeed Plague him All Hands aloft all 's at Stake down goes if you do not help This Fellow is another Germana illa Bestia quae non curat Aurum a German Beast that regards not Preferment as the Cardinal told the Pope when he chid him because he could not by tampering with Luther and the proffer of Gold and a Cardinal's Cap prevail with him nor take him off from writing and preaching against the Abominations and Corruptions of the Church and Church-men Church and Church-men Ay set but the Clergy upon a Man and you need not set any Dogs upon him to worry him Church and Church-men Ha! do you know who you speak against what Find fault with Oppressions and Extortions of Ecclesiastical-Courts with Apparitors Registers Commissaries and all that Fry of Lay-Elders Church and Church-men Ha! Do you speak against Prelacy Say that Word again say it again before Witness Sirrah Villain Rogue How dare you at this time of day speak Scripture dangerous Scripture Scripture against Statute-Law 2 Rich. 2. 5. which Statute makes a Prelate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 8. 9. some great One and you Sirra would have him as your Saviour and the Gospel would have him as lowly as Christ or his Apostles you Sirra do you speak Scripture in a Court of Law Ha! what do you produce a Bible instead of a Breviate Do you plead Gospel against Law and Christ and his Apostles in defiance of Rich. 2 An Aggravation an Aggravation as Sir Francis Withins said the Defendant justifies in a Plea of Non-Culp this is rich indeed These Errors will be committed when you suffer Parsons to be Pleaders and plead their own Cause and understand not the Punctilio's and Methods of nice-pleading very fine What suffer Scripture to be quoted instead of Law and Christ and his Apostles instead of Cook and Littleton for Shame And yet the Defendant ignorant Man did not understand the mischief of urging a little Scripture in this Cause betwixt two Church-men and already there decided namely that of Christ St. Paul and St. Peter against all Prelacy Pride Lordliness and Dominion one Brother over another not Lording it over God's Heritage But Christ and St. Paul and St. Peter were poor Men Silver and Gold had they none they were meek humble and lowly and when they were reviled reviled not again nor brought an Action of Scandalum Magnat nor did Fee a pack of Lawyers to mouth it upon an old Statute made in the time of Popish Prelacy and when Antichrist was Rampant and when the Devil raigned a time as the Defendant told the Court when the Prelates did all and all ill a time when the Prelates were grand Rebels as ever were in England For then in the Raign of Rich. 2. was this Statute made when the Clergy were as very Rebels as Wall the Priest Wat. Tyler or any of that wicked Crew 'T is true Henry Spencer Bishop of Norwich was General for the King both in England and France did not Armour disgrace Bishop Henry's Lawn-Sleeves The Bishop of Ely was Lord Chancellor Countez Two Tho. Arundel Bishop of Hereford Countez Three Lord Treasurer Nicholas Abbot of Waltham Lord Privy-Seal Four William Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Five Alexander Arch-Bishop of York Countez Six William Bishop of Winchester Seven And Thomas Bishop of Exeter Eight Good Men and True that 's a Lye a Pack of damnable Villains and Rebells as ever were in England for taking upon them by Commission to rule the King and Kingdom and so the Judges concluded that Commission of thirteen Persons to rule the King and Kingdom of which eight were Prelates with five Lay-men for fashion-sake for the Prelates could out-vote them when they list a Devilish Rebellion abominable Prelates in Rich. 2d's time when the Statute of Scandalum Magnatum was made and struck at it has been by the last Parliament at Westminster and others as a Statute obsolete or in the Judgment of the Wisdom of the Nation the Honourable House of Commons to be repealed being made in the wicked time aforesaid when the Devil danc'd and Simon Magus vaunted himself to be one of the Magnat some Great One and yet also the Successor of Simon Peter who was a poor Fisher-man and a Fisher of Men not a Pick-Pocket nor a Promoter of Law-Suits nor did he mend his Market by turning Church-man as some have done too well known but to his dying day was poor and pennyless having his Faith and Hope in another World and being a Disciple of him whose Kingdom is not of this World All this and more the Defendant told the Court and the Men that were sworn for to give the Judge his due he gave the Defendant sufficient leave and leisure for three hours to defend himself against the crafty Suggestions and dirty Language thrown at him on purpose to vilify him with Dirt which the Counsel had rak'd up together and in two set-Speeches made on purpose fetch'd it far and not at all to the purpose or to the matter in hand villifying him with the Miseries and Vexations with which they had loaded him in the Barretry and Supplicavit as if his Sufferings were his only Crime But something they must say for their Guinies and for their Lord Prelate and in hopes of Preferment and his
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
make him roar and bellow like mad as if you had got his Hearts-Blood and all the Joy and Heaven some seem to aim at if we may judg the Trees by their Fruit no wonder they drew their spiritual Weapons and fling about Curses Anathema's Silencings Suspensions and grow blacker with haunting so many Jaylors Jayles Bum's Promoters Hang-men as did Pope Paul the Third And notwithstanding all this thundering Ecclesiastical Blast and foisty Grepitus the Emperor Charles the 5th and Francis the First the French King two of the greatest Christian Princes then in the World or that ever were in the World and many more Popish nay Italian Princes and Republicks whilst Hen. 8. stood excommunicated by the Pope did confirm their Leagues and entred upon new Treaties and Confederations with him But I hear that some-body I 'le name no-body is mightily concern'd saying that the Defendant's own Witnesses proved the greatest Scandalum Magnatum against him in Words that all of them unanimously swore namely That the Defendant said at the same Parish-Meeting only they are not nor could not well be laid in the Declaration namely That the Bishop of London is not infallible and the Pope is not infallible But for that or any thing else sworn by the Defendant's Witnesses concerning any such scandalous Words the Defendant told the Plantiff's Counsel that if they were aggriev'd they had their liberty to bring another Action of Scandalum Magnatum if they had not enough of this And perhaps they will think they have enough of such Promotions in time when they have leisure without being drunk with Passion and a little over-seen in Malice and will take time to cast up their Accounts and when they examine what they are out of Purse and what they have lost in the Opinion of the World and are come to themselves will repent too late repent And if they had repented of their Extortions Pride Avarice and Oppressions all Men know that it had been better for them but now the more they stir the more they stink And if any should be angry at these Words the Bishop of London is not infallible and the Pope is not infallible and bring a new Action of Scandalum Magnatum or Scandal against Prelates let them know The Defendant will not plead as now Non-cul but justify it by infallible Instances To omit many on this side the Water and all the great Abominations of Rome I 'le instance in one Particular wherein all the Papists shall take my part here 's a Wonder and a Miracle a true one against the Pope himself namely Pope Innocentius in his Epistles asserting as also did St. Austin that the Lord's Supper was equally necessary for Children's Salvation and to be received as much and as necessarily as Baptism it self Therefore Popes have erred in the opinion of the Pope and the Papists at this day and St. Austin hath erred herein or else the Papists and Church of England err in holding the contrary jointly against St. Austin in the Point And if it were not that this Trial gives me occasion to observe to the Reader these useful Hints and lucky Hits I should as the Reader well may be by this time quite weary of it And also it is resolv'd they shall have their Belly-full of Mr. Hickeringill till they be glutted and confess for all their gaping so greedily with open Mouth and Teeth and Fangs to devour him and swallow him up quick in time they 'le shut their Mouth and acknowledg that they have enough of him in all Conscience Nor will he leave them nor go as he hears they design beyond Sea a little Governor in Carolina c. No he has more Work first to do in his Native Soil they shall not be so rid of him nor yet get one Farthing of the 2000 l except they can catch it and they must be very cunning if they can perhaps they may as they have hitherto throw a great deal of Gare and Pains Trouble and Vexation and good Money after bad Malice is like its Father namely Tho it go up and down seeking whom it may devour yet like the Devil also it is never weary of Mischief as long as there is any Glimpse of Hopes to compass it and accomplish it though a worse Hell upon Earth nor greater Torment can befall them than to go on as they are willing and eager enough without bidding and to proceed Halloo Thus have I done at present with this mighty Scandalum Magnatum and the Defendant's Adversaries have done too and gone as far as they can that is to make him retire and give him leisure to observe their Motions and descant upon them that 's the worst and they have done their worst But out of the Eater shall come forth Meat and out of the Strong sweetness And really I do not think that Mr. Hickeringill has so much as a displeasing Thought or rising of Heart against this Providence of God for it is God's doings in the secret methods of his Divine Wisdom and he best knows by the seeming-cross-motions as in the Wheels of a Watch or Clock how to carry on the Maker's Design which puzzles none but the ignorant and short-sighted David speaks experimentally I have been young and now am old yet have I not seen the Righteous forsaken nor his Seed begging Bread Who would have thought that Joseph's Imprisonment should be the shortest and nearest way to advance himself and preserve the Life of the People of God Who would have thought when Job was on the Dunghil that his latter End should doubly transcend his Beginning therefore let us say and pray Thy Will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven Naked came I out of my Mothers Womb and naked shall I return thither The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away and yet the cruel Sabaeans and the ravenous Chaldeans were the Tools and Instruments of the Rapine blessed be the Name of the Lord. In all this Job sinned not nor charged God foolishly Job 1. 21 22. Nay in a greater Tryal of his patience than this namely the upbraiding and Curtain Lecture of his Scolding and discontented Wife he kept his Ground and retain'd his Integrity and the resignation of his own Will to the Will of his Creator for in all this did not Job sin with his Lips Job 2. 9 10. No Man can blame the Defendant notwithstanding that he did so lustily and copiously defend himself in shewing to the utmost the vanity of that futile Contrivance against him from such slender words and so slenderly all grounded upon an old Statute made upon Popish Prelacy were rampant and were willing to shelter themselves by force of Statute-Law which they could and did make when and as they list to fence against the just reproof of all good Men ready to open at them if their Mouths had not thus been stop'd yet the House of Commons notwithstanding were not afraid afterwards 20. R. 2. to
for an Alms and yet be angry when they thought themselves disappointed and fob'd off with the empty Benediction of Lawn-Sleeves I mean that Popish Lawn-Sleeves who smil'd in his Sleeves and said Si populus vult decipi decipiatur as if he should say The World is a great cheat The Knaves cheat the foolish Bigots But if that Parisian frenchified Bishop had been forc'd by Law to give a Souce or a Shilling to every one he so Bishop'd that as he pretended to both the two Swords the Temporal and the Spiritual to do mischief with so he might be forced to both the two Charities the Temporal and the Spiritual to do good with And be constrained by Law to be good in spight of his Teeth as well as cruel and mischievous and to be as honest as the Publican that said Half my Goods I give unto the Poor and if I have taken any thing from any Man by false Accusation mark that lo I restore him four-fold And if the Bishop had so given the Poor their old Moety and Primitive share in his Mannors Tithes and Glebes or at least let them go snips with him in getting a Shilling for every time and every Man Woman and Child to whom he so liberally higgle-tee-pickle-tee hand over head gave his Benediction I am of opinion the Popish Bishops whatever the Protestant Bishops may would not frisk so often about their Diocessess in frequent Visitations Procurations Mony more-mony Conferences c. but rather shut up their Doors and keep a big overgrown Porter to keep out the crouding Votaries from such Benediction However the Office of such a Bishop would be then good for something and they would be giving Twelve-pence a Blessing spiritually and temporally charitable as now some are with their two-edged Sword Spiritual and Temporal most troublesome and mischievous in France by Suspensions Silenceings Church-Censures Curses and Anathema's and Mony more Mony Excommunications Prisons Jayls Hey-day for an Apostolical Man alamode de France Come my Lord open the Pulpit Doors of All-Saints again to me or else I 'le open them my self which with so much ado you have endeavoured to shut and exclude me and bolt me out if you could tell how for a Bibble-babble marrying too cheap or not with a Blanck-License as hundreds others do uncheck'd therefore act not in Revenge nor partially in devotion to your Registers that used you unworthily in many Mens Opinions in making a Promoter of you for the accomplishment of their viler and baser Ends And let there be no more strife as Abraham said to Lot betwixt me and thee betwixt my People and thy People for we are Brethren why should we thus quarrel a days and thus fall out by the way about your Registers Blanck-Licenses or Fees illegal or Mony And a little Mony has to my knowledg often taken up this Dispute with them for you know Mony is all they aim at that buy their places or hire them you know it well enough or if you do not I can tell you how and where and whom and when And as for your little Harris his Evidence if it were true consider the first provocation you gave me through your ignorance of my Title to the Benefits of the small Tithes of St. Buttolphs to usurp which from me illegally you sent the Creature with your Sequestration would you be so done by or have your Superiors to take from you your Rights and you must not speak for your self and tell them they are ignorant and mistaken in your Title or if you do slap says the Usurpur with an Oath upon you and reports your words in the worst sence and another sence than you spoke them For Harris has not wit memory nor docility to repeat my words twice together alike off-book and must I pay 2000 l. because he wants Wit or Grace My Lord 't is hard you would say your self if it were your own case Why should we make our selves thus the Town-talk the Kingdoms talk the chat of every Ale-bench and Coffee-house This might have been in time foreseen but you did not know me when you said you began to know me if you had you would not have ventured to attempt to wrong me of my said Rights to please ten thousand such as Harris a little Minion that neither you nor the Church can have any credit of more than of a little Fucus good for nothing but to paint your Cheeks with a blush and to say too late I had not thought Better late thrive tho than never I assure your Lordship as I did formerly I have not done half my best that is my worst as you will call it perhaps and you will find it true and the Men of Doctors Commons too say I tell you so whereas I as I said before do lie on the ground and can fall no lower I am shot-free or if with so much advantage of Power and the outragious Verdict of your Pick'd-Jury you hit my Body yet you shall never finger my Estate and my old Corps will but make you sick of them and prove fatal to you and annoy you if you do catch them extend then your utmost cruelty that your great Power or Revenge can contribute yet stony-heartedness will bring no other renown to the Bishop and his Clerks except the external blame and fame of being mischievous to all Posterity by virtue of a single Oath of an infamous Wretch that swore for his own Ends against all the By-standers and believed by a Jury singled out for the Service against the Word of God so expresly to the contrary as aforesaid a Bishop should not countenance this nor is Scandalum Magnatum an Offence at Common Law but an Offence only against a Penal Statute and the Penalty Imprisonment only 'till the Author be found out but the very words of 2. Rich. 2. are scarce intelligible in the last words Yet no Punishment of the Author is mentioned in the Statutes and Penal Statutes ought to be taken strictly and not extended to Dammages as the Lawyers have finely spun it out especially when no harm have you received nor ever could if Harris had not broach'd his own Lies and father'd his spurious Brats on me and I must be charg'd with them 2000 l. thick by false accusation Remember Zacheus Luk. 19. 8. But not a Penny upon my word shall you get except you will consent as aforesaid to a fair new Trial by an indifferent Jury empannell'd in other Causes and not pick'd for this Exploit only This is not a Time my Lord for Bishops to rule with a Rod of Iron and break Men in pieces like a Potters Vessel Christ and his Apostles did not so This method might have done simply tho in Queen Mary's days and in the Inquisition of Spain and in England too when the High-Commission-Court was up but the wringing of the Nose brought forth Blood and the bloody and cruel Bishops paid dear for it in conclusion Mens Eyes are
past if he had had no other work but to fence and ward off the Blows made at him Then six Proctors they swear against him Articles in the King's-Bench and procure the Writ of Supplicavit against him a Writ seldom granted against any in these Days as we are told by the Compleat Sollicitor p. 73 74. He says he remembers that about eight Years ago in the days of Usurpation for his Book was printed Anno. Dom. 1666. a troublesome malicious Priest sued one namely a Supplicavit against some of his Neighbours but he had not heard of any since and the Parties craving it should take their Corporal Oath that it is not desired for any Malice Hatred or Envy to the Party surely if the said six Proctors swore it they swore it freely heartily and clearly Besides tho 't is a Writ rarely granted yet when it is granted it is more rarely granted against any but common Rogues and Villains common Barretors and Man-Catchers Is there greater Indignity than to be crucified amongst Thieves and Rogues It has been the Lot of his Betters tho the Defendant offered an Affidavit in his behalf made before Judg Dolben by three Worthy Citizens and desired with all Humility that as the Bench had heard of one side Affidavits against him that they would please to leave one Ear open to hear some Affidavits for him and some Pleas in his Defence intending to insist upon the Statute of 2 Edw. 6. 1. which if it be in force then the Ecclesiastical Courts sit not legally nor can they be called by Names bad enough and if that Statute be not in force then why did the Lord Chief Justice Pemberton insist upon it so lately at the King's-Bench Bar and also Mr. Rotherham for their Client Mr. Weald of Much-Waltham in Essex about the time that the last Parliament sate at Westminster telling the Lord Chief Justice Scroggs that he would not urge it warmly or Words to the like Effect because he perceiv'd his Lordship was not prepar'd at that time to give an answer to that Statute or Words to the like Effect A moot-Case belike then and a hard Case to bind a Man to the Good-Behaviour or threaten him with a Jaile when not wiser in the construction of the force of a Statute than the Lord Chief Justice But nothing would be admitted to be pleaded in the Defendants Defence but utrum horum that is not false Latin whatsoever quisquis is Sad choice alas Bail or a Jail There is no fence against a Flail They that will hear but of one Ear here shall be made to hear on both Ears one Day the Day of Judgment And tho Mr. Shepherd in his Office of a Justice of the Peace pag. 83. says that in taking a Recognizance upon a Supplicavit the ordinary Sum is ten or twenty Pounds and difficultly enough too to be procured by a poor Rogue tho a great Rogue yet since the time and Sum is Arbitrary and in the Breast of the Justices no less than a hundred Pounds must Mr. Hickeringill be bound in for affronting the Men of Doctors-Commons if the Proctors swore through-stitch nay one of the Bench stood stifly for 200 Pounds that the Principal should Recognize but in that he was over-ruled and four Sureties in 50 l. apiece whereas a poor common-Rogue could hardly have procur'd two Manucaptors Ay Ay he that will have Honour must sometimes pay for his Ambition But as if all these troubles were too little for the Defendant besides the Weekly Affronts By the Weekly News-mongers in their Tantivy-Pamphlets not to mention those familiar little friendly Courtships and Caresses of Villain Rogue Colchester-Hick the great Scribler of the Nation Daring Nat. Thompson reports him to be convict of Perjury tho Nat. hides his viler Head for the same and dare not give an appearance for himself and his Consort to Mr. Godfrey Woodward Attorney who has long been prepar'd for him if he could come at him for villifying and aspersing such a Man as Mr. Hickeringill with so pernicious and false a Slander all the Kingdom over But these are small Matters loss of Reputation and to be called and accounted a common Rogue common Barretor common Villain a small matter Oh! But in the Neck of all comes me decima unda the tenth Wave an Action of 5000 l. thick brought by a great Bishop too of great Interest great Power great Friends great Parts great Learning and great all over against a poor Priest or younger Brother a Minorite to Reform him if any Body could tell how and make him better Nay it will be dangerous this whole long Year for Mr. Hickeringill to say as did the Emperour at a General Council when at the first setting out and opening thereof the good Fathers were gravell'd and at a loss where first to begin to 'mend the Ecclesiastical Frame being so horribly out of Frame â Minoritis cries one of the great Ones very politickly no quoth the Emperour rather a Majoritis let us first begin to 'mend the great Ones The Naked Truth with ease we tear Not such as Vizor-Masques do wear For Vizors sconce and skreen Men here But will not always last I fear This fam'd Trial came on March 8 1681. at the Nisi prius Bar before the Lord Chief Justice Sir Francis Pemberton The Jury by the Sheriff of the County of Essex were thus return'd viz. Essex ss Nomina Jur. inter Henr. Epis Lond. qui tam c. Quer. Et Edmond Hickeringill Cler. Defend Andreas Jenner de Dunmow Magnâ Bar. Ricardus Everard de Waltham Magnâ Bar. Edwardus Smith de Thoydonmount Bar. Willielmus Appleton de Shenfield Bar. Johannes Bramston de Roxwell Miles Balnei Marcus Guyon de Coggeshall Magnâ Miles Johannes Marshal Miles Willielmus Maynard de Waltham Stow Ar. Willielmus Glascock de Farnham Ar. Jacobus Milbourn de Dunmow Magnâ Ar. Alexander Prescot de Mountnessing Ar. Willielmus Pert de eâd. Ar. Samuel Hare de Leigh Ar. Anthonius Abdey de Kelvedon Ar. Ricardus Ballet de Hatfield Broad-Oak Ar. Johannes Meade de Wenden Ar. Johannes Tendring de Baddow Magnâ Ar. Willielmus Petre de Stanford Rivers Ar. Henricus Paschal de Baddow Magnâ Ar. Henricus Humfreys de Westhamingfield Ar. Ricardus How de Ingate-stone Ar. Ricardus Stanes de Altâ Ongar Ar. Aurelius Piercey Wiseman de Wimbish Ar. Edwardus Taverner de Canfield Ar. None of the Jury were challenged by either side Most of the Gentlemen first named in the Pannel appear'd and serv'd being sworn a little Councel tremblingly made a shift to read the Heads of the Declaration viz. The Declaration in English faithfully translated out of the Lawyers Latin was to this Effect viz. Trinity Term xxxiii R. R. Carol. 2. HENRY Bishop of London one of the Prelates of this Realm of England as well for our Soveraign Lord the King as for himself complaineth of Edmond Hickeringill Clerk in the Custody of the Marshal of the Marshalsea for that whereas in