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
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
Look to 't 'T is readily granted that there is a disserence betwixt the Bishop and the Defendant as to Riches c. But what then As a Prelate a poor Prelate has as much right to his Priviledges as the Rich and more need of it a great deal It is hard to pull off Hairs from the bald Crown or to rob the Spittle but there is no charity nor reason to take the few Hairs from the bald Crown to make a Wigg on for him that has a good Head of Hair of his own and needs no Wigg nor such superfluous Additaments I grant indeed Bishops are Prelats and Barons too So is the Defendant a little one and more than so the Defendant's Barony cannot be seized into the King's Hands as the Bishop's may for Contempt therefore I called the Bishops a sort or kind of Barons Not such Barons as the Temporal Lords who cannot forfeit them to the King nor the King cannot seize them for Contempt as aforesaid therefore there is a vast difference betwixt a Baron who is a Peer of the Realm and a Spiritual Baron the one is Magnas natus born a Peer and sits in the House of Lords as his Birth-right and Inheritance the other is Greatus and sits ex Gratiâ Regis and may upon the King's Displeasure or Contempt lose his Seat near the Wool-Packs and his Baronies and Temporalities forfeited into the King's Hands But what non-sence is it for Heraclitus to prate Numb 59. Jest says They the Whiggs clamour and say the Dammages are excessive Honestly said for a Fool or Jester Why so says Earnest or Sober-sides I think and so must every Man that thinks at all in one Doctor 's Opinion he might have said 't is a very cheap penny-worth to that which the honest Man Honest Man quoth he and a Proctor's Boy good sence and Tory-like had that pull'd off Hick's what plain Hick still no dread of the 2. Rich. 2 Will Men never take warning till they be maul'd 2000 l. thick Sure the Fellow thinks the Defendant cannot get as good a Jury in London or Middlesex as was lately in Essex Hicks Hat except the Privileges of the Saintship be as great as those of the Peerage Peerage The wise Fellow thinks that Bishops are Peers and thinks there 's no difference betwixt Words that are but wind and Blows or Assault and Batteries and Challengings to fight The Bishop is great Who denies it But 't is not so long ago since the Defendant being then as now for he is no Changling Rector of All-Saints and Cornet Compton quartering in Colchester I doubt the Defendant being an old Captain by Commission from two Kings of Sweden and Portugal by Sea and by Land would not have thought himself obliged in good Manners to give him the Wall except he had as Sir George did first told of his Pedigree then indeed then I grant But not a word of this should have been said but that they come so with their Comparisons when the Defendant had told them in the first words of the Naked Truth Second Part that he honoured Bishops but did not Idolize them could say my Lord but not my God But these Hireling Pamphletiers do so deify them that they are netled when Men do not fall down and worship the The Distance is great None envies his Lordships greatness the Distance is great the King made it so great as it is and can as easily make the Distance less when he list But enough of this Folly for such I acknowledg it but only that the Wise Man bids us answer a Fool according to his folly that is beat the Fool at his own Weapon 45. Edw. 3. The two Houses join Counts Barons Communes and represent to the King how the Government of the Kingdom had been a long time in the Hands of the Clergy do you see an old Complaint they were Papists indeed but true born Englishmen and could not tell how to buckle to a Mitre or Lawn-sleeves or that Westminster-Hall should truckle to Doctor's-Commons a great Indignity and a shameful Purent grant Mischiefs Dammages sont avenoz c. for the great Mischiefs and Damages that came thereby c. says the Parliament-Rolls But notwithstanding all this the Prelates baffled both King Lords and Commons having their Spiritual Weapons eek't out with two Temporal Writs namely de Heretico comburendo the other de Excommunicato capiendo The former with much adoe is damn'd to Perdition for the flames it made in Smithfield and all the Kingdom over the other de Excommunicato capiendo is yet in force and fills the Jayls dayly with Men Excommunicated many about Mony-matters and Fees Illegal-Fees and Oppressions Extortions as not paying the Knave a Groat c. For when the Popish Prelates could not burn any that stood in their way for a Heretick yet as obstinate and contemptuous they sent him to the Divel and then he and the Chancellours and the King's-bench and the Sheriffs got the poor Soul buryed alive in a Jayl till he dyed or submitted and swore future Obedience to Holy-Church Seven Years after this of 25. Edw. 3. the Prelates having got the whipping hand claw'd it away and to stop Men's Mouths from muttering got this Statute 2. Ric. 2. 5. Nay they are as cunning to preserve their Prelacy as for the Holy Scripture Christ and his Apostles having declar'd an Abhorrence of Spiritual Pride and Ecclesiastical Tyranny and Oppression calling them greedy Dogs that can never have enough and Wolves in Sheep's cloathing not sparing the Flock but tearing rending and devouring it It concern'd them to fly to Force and Temporal Power for aid of their abominable Hierarchy and the Magistrate in those days what for Fear and what for Folly what for Preferment or to keep Preferment since there was no other way gave his Assistance to the Beast and the false Prophet caw me and I 'le caw thee Rev. 13. 15 16 17. And he had power to give Life unto the Image of the Beast that the Image of the Beast should both speak and cause that as many as would not worship the Image of the Beast should be killed And he causeth all both smal and great rich and poor free and bound to receive a Mark in their right hand or in their foreheads And that no Man might buy or sell save he that had the Mark or the Name of the Beast or the number of his Name Yet in 20. Ric. 2. Eighteen Years after this Statute the House of Commons forgot not that they were Englishmen still and remonstrated to the King complaining that he kept so many Bishops about him in his Court and advanced them and their Partakers The King did not or the Bishops would not suffer him to heed his Subject's herein as aforesaid And Poor King it prov'd his ruine for after he had lost the hearts of his People it was not a few Lawn Sleeves and flattering Sycophants and Parasitical
take care Sufficient for the day its Evils are But enough of this at present at least let us in the next place consider the Doughty Articles sworn by six Doctor's-Commons Reverend Fellows called Proctors on which was bottom'd and founded a Supplicavit namely ARTICLES OF THE Good Behaviour Exhibited in the Court of our Lord the King before the King at Westminster against Edmond Hickeringill Rector of All-Saints in Colchester in the County of Essex Clerk for several Misdemeanours by him committed Imprimis THat in Trinity Term last Articles were Exhibited against the said Edmund Hickeringill in the Arches Court of Canterbury for Clandestine Marriages at the promotion of Henry Lord Bishop of London of which high Crimes he still 〈…〉 and he said Edmund Hickeringill did several Court days make his 〈…〉 said Court and behaved himself irreverently and did affront 〈…〉 said Court and more particularly 20th of Jan. Anno vicessimo tertio of 〈◊〉 King did again make his Appearance in the said Court then held in the common â—â— all of Doctors-Commons London by Sir Richard Lloyd Knight Doctor of Laws then sitting judicially in the said Court with many persons along with him or following him to the number of thirty or twenty Persons as they do verily believe Tho. Tillot Tho Smith Jur. ad predict primum Articulum Tho. Tyllet Tho. Smith in cur die predict Hillar Anno xxxiii o coram codem Rege 2. Item That the said Edmund Hickeringill did on the said twentieth of January then and there behave himself in the Court of Arches then sitting as aforesaid very indecently and insolently to the Court keeping his Hat on tho by the Judg of the same Court several times monished to the contrary and then the Officer of the said Court by the Judg his Command taking off his Hat he put it on again in a contemptuous manner Tho. Tyllot Tho. Smith Cha. Tuckyr Jur. ad predict secundum Articulum Tho. Tyllet Tho. Smith Carolus Tuckyr in cur die Anno supradict 3. Item The said Edmund Hickeringill then very sawcily and impudently declaring to the Judg of the said Court of Arches That if the Arch-bishop himself was there he would not stand uncovered Jo. Miller Tho. Stoker Char. Turkry Jur. id predict tertium Articulum Johannes Miller Tho. Stokes Carolus Tucker in cur die Anno supradict 4. Item That the said Edmund Hickeringill in the open Court there among other opprobious and abusive Language then used by him to the Court said it was no Court by Law and that they had no power to call him before them and that perhaps the Court of Arches might do him a Mischief but that they never had done any good or he used words to that Effect Tho. Stoker John Coker Jurad predict quartum Articulum Tho. Stokes Johannes Coker in cur die Anno supradict 5. Item That the said Edmund Hickeringill did then in a moct opprobrious manner tell the Judg of the said Court that Toads had Poison in them but had an Antidote also that Vipers had Poison in them but their Flesh was an extraordinary Medicine or to that effect and that every the vilest or worst of God's Creatures had something of good in it saving that Court which he then said never did any good nor ever would or to that effect and that the Persons or many of them that came into the said Court of Arches with the said Edmund Hickeringill laughed aloud at what the said Hickeringill said and followed him out of the said Court with great Noise and laughed to the great Disturbance of the said Court Tho. Smith John Coker Jur. ad predict quintum Articulum Tho. Smith Johannes Coker in cur die Anno supradict In Banco Regis Westminster Dominus Rex versus Edmund Hickeringill Clericum JEremy Ives Cheesmonger and Citizen of London Joseph Ashhurst Draper and Citizen of London and Samuel Wells Mercer and Citizen of London do depose as followeth viz. That on the twentieth day of January in the three and thirtieth Year of this King these Deponents were personally present in the Court commonly called the Arches held in Doctors-Commons London when Mr. Edmund Hickeringill Rector of the Rectory of All Saints in Colchester made his Appearance there and heard the whole Discourse and saw the Actions and Demeanours that passed betwixt Sir Richard Lloyd Official there and the said Mr. Hickeringill during his stay there and that the said Sir Richard commanded the said Mr. Hickeringill to put off his Hat which he refused to do whereupon the said Sir Richard commanded an Officer to take off Mr. Hickeringill's Hat which he delayed to do saying he was afraid that Mr. Hickeringill would have an Action against him for so doing but the said Sir Richard again and again encouraging him at length he pull'd off Mr. Hickeringill's Hat two or three times the said Mr. Hickeringill putting it on so often as his Hat was return'd to him mildly telling the said Sir Richard at the same time that it was not Pride Insolence nor any design to affront them that made him then to be covered but a sence of his Duty except they would own their Court to be the King's Court and that they sate there by the King's Authority and Commission and consequently would make out their Citations Acts and Processes in the Name and Stile of the King according to the Statute and that then but not till then no Man should pay them more Reverence and Respect than He but the said Official not asserting their Court to be the King's Court and as aforesaid to be kept in the King's Name and Stile and by his Authority Mr. Hickeringill would not be uncovered saying That it was against the Oath of Canonical Obedience against the Oath of Supremacy against the Canons and the Statutes to own any Court Ecclesiastical but what sate by the King's Authority and Commission and acted in the Name and Stile of the King And if that Court of Arches was only the Arch-bishop's Court He the said Mr. Hickeringill durst not nor would he be uncovered before the Arch-bishop himself if he were present because it is contrary to their own Canon-Law and the Oath of Canonical Obedience for a Presbyter to stand bare-headed in presence of any Bishop or he used words to the like effect Saying that if they could argue his Hat off his Head by Statute-Law Canon Law Civil-Law or Common-Law it should be at their Service and he would stand bare-headed before them or he used words to the like effect And the said Mr. Hickeringill during his whole stay there used no other Actions nor Speeches that might give just Offence unless the said Sir Richard took Offence when he at the same time said That every Creature that God made was good and had some good in it that a Pearl was sometimes found in the Head of a Toad and the Toads Flesh is an Antidote against its own Venom And the best Cordial
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
to the Grave they are dangerous steps for you believe Me. The CONCLVSION THIS Letter is the Quintessence and Epitome of the whole Book and may for a shift serve those that will not or cannot find leisure to read the whole Book and though writ raptim and in haste yet though I say it that should not say it worthy for the matter to be writ in Letters of Gold and transmitted to all Posterity the Subject is so Good so seasonable and so needful to be handled For however it happen to work doubtfully upon Teagues and Irish-Tories and slavish prostituted and Hackney-Pamphleteers whose only Religion is their Gain yet I doubt not but it has sufficient Vertue in it to Convert all English Tories and Tantivees that are not sworn-slaves and make them perfect WHIGGS whose Numbers increase daily they are never the fewer for me and this Contest with the Bishop and multiply wonderfully and so will still when things are well-consider'd and impartially-weighed according to our ancient Honourable safe and most excellent English Frame and Constitution of Government Our Kings are Kings of France but God forbid they should be like the French King then indeed as the Tantivee-Preacher ratled it our very Souls would not be our own nor scarcely would God be suffered quietly to enjoy them as his share but All would be Caesars our Estates our Libertiet our Children our Lands our Lives and our Wives And then what shall we have nay what shall God have If All be Caesars such Tantivee-Fops and senceless Preaching-Sots deserve to be hang'd and till some of them be so served or made Exampels of we shall never be freed of these ENGLISH Incendiaries Tory-Pulpiteers and Tory Pamphleteers but be ruin'd twice in an Age with one and the same Plagues and Pests And work as Negroes do in Barbadoes by day for their Masters and at night lie with their Wives to get slaves for their Masters too And is it not better to have no Charters no Priviledges then to serve a weary Apprentyship and give Money to boot for our Freedom and yet hold them by no surer Tenure then till a Courtier be displeas'd or wants Money And as for Ecclesiastical Courts if 16 Car. 1. 11. be in force and was never repealed and that the 13 Car. 2. 12. repealing 17 Car. 1. can never be construed to Repeal 16 Car. 1. Then what force have they or Power toward impose or inflict any pain penalty c. nor did they or durst they inflict any pain or penalty as loath to venture 100 l. for every offence nor did they censure any till 13 Car. 2. 12. repealed 17 Car. 1. 11. but if it did not repeal 16 Car. 1. 11. as it is evident upon the Parliament Roll it is 16 Car. 1. 11. that repeals the branch of 1 Eliz. I think they have brought their Hogs to a Fine Market and stand liable for all the mischief they have done to Souls to Bodies and to Bones I believe some in the Parliament at least did intend to repeal 16 Car. 1. 11. but if it be as it is a great mistake it is fatal and not to be remedied but by a PARLIAMENT and if ever they should be so bold and daring as to inflict any penalty upon me have at them for the 100.l Besides I doubt not but 1 Edw. 6. 2. is in force for though it is repeal'd by 1 Mar. 2. yet that 1 Mar. 2. is repeal'd by 1 Jacob. 25. and Samson is unbound again Remoto Impedimento Revivescit and herewith agreeth the Book-Case in 15. Ed. 3. tit Petition Placit 2. Coke mag chart 686. 'T is true that 4 Jacob two questions were moved first whether any Bishops made especially since the first day of that first Sessions of Parliament 1 Jacob. were lawful or no. 2. Whether the Proceedings in the Ecclesiastical-Courts being made under the name Stile and Seal of the Bishop were warranted by Law The Chief Justices agreed that 1 Edw. 6. 2. was in force for though the Act 1. Eliz. 1. Revive the 25. Hen. 8. 20. Which Empowers Bishops to Act as formerly and consequently or obliquely the 1 Ed. 6. 2. is struck at yet can any man in his right wits imagine that it is either true or safe that a Statute should be repealed obliquely and by consequence without the least thought thereof in the Legislators this would be of most dangerous consequence But the Legislators could not think of repealing that which was actually and expresly at that time repealed already by 1. Mar. 2. nor of repealing the Ed. 6. 2. by 1. and 2. Phil. and Mar. 8. which was repealed already by 1 Mar. and 1. 2. Phil. Mar. that does not repeal 1 Ed. 6. 2. by name and consequents will not do nor inferences this is tricks and wiredrawing to defeat a Statute-Law by finess or nicety of Wit or Lawyers-Criticisms And therefore there is no need of flying to 1 Eliz. 1. for the repeal af 1. 2. Phil. Mar. 8. yet the Judges generally extrajudicially were of another opinion The case deserves the Resolution of the Judges in open-Court or in a Parliament or both an extrajudicial Judgment then has been in Jan 4 and 1 July 1637 and the Judges gave their opinions as the Bishops best liked Dr. Laud especially but the same Judges also to please him were for the Legallity of Ship-money and customes unsetled by Parliament see Appendix of Dr. Godolphins Abridgment of Laws and Coke Instit C. 2. p. 685. 686. the Lord Coke was overawed by the High-Commission Court now the Law is not in awe though the Gentleman that gives this Narrative of the said Tryall did not take it in short-hand he that has so vast a memory shall not need nor yet is willing to be known to be the Author of these observations not that there is a a word or line in this book that he is not prompt and at hand and to chuse willing to justifie if any dare be so bold daring and impudent or so very ignorant as to oppose these profitable and well known truths backt with the Gospel and the Law Ha Let me have no grumbling you may Whisper Point make Dumb-shows and Signs but I will have no grumbling aloud But he is not willing to put his Name to this Book as Author yet nevertheless according to the Common-Custome of Learned Authors that Preface their works with their own Pictures or Effigies they shall not need neither some of them are not so handsomâ— no more then the course face of this Blunt Author Nevertheless the Author to humour the Common vanity gave me leave to give you part of his Effigies or a halfe-face of him pourtray'd as followeth not in his first but last Page of his book if you be Oediposses you may soon unriddle the aenigma the Author has a soul so great I 'le say no more on 't but as for his fancy and invention the whole Creation is so immediately at