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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	word_n	world_n	year_n	369	4	4.3593	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54939	A letter from Moses Pitt, to the authour of a book, intituled, some discourses upon Dr. Burnet, now Ld. Bp. of Salisbury and Dr. Tillotson, late Ld. A.B. of Canterbury occasioned by the late funeral sermon of the former upon the latter.	Pitt, Moses, fl. 1654-1696.; Hickes, George, 1642-1715.; Tillotson, John, 1630-1694.	1695 (1695)	Wing P2307; ESTC R7270	27,662	34

it any Envy Spleen or Malice I have to your Person for you treat me very civilly and have represented me an honest Man in transacting the Affair between the Bishop and my Self provided your Story had been True and further I say if Truth had been on your Side I would have declared it to the World as freely and as willingly as I now do And this I have now here said has been against the Intreaties of some of my nearest and dearest Relations they using their Arguments to me that I should disoblige a great Number of my Friends some of them of the first Rank of Great Men and that you had not treated me amiss but have spoken well of me and had not disobliged me and therefore what need had I to be so much concerned as to declare the Truth in this matter or Arguments to this effect To which I replied and that with some Zeal That if both their Lives and my own also lay at stake with Truth and that either our Lives or Truth must be parted with we must part with our Lives and keep to Truth Further I told them I was by you called on to speak the Truth in this matter your Words are This Mr. Pitt can testifie if he is living By this I have wrote you may see I am living for to tell you and the World the Truth of this Matter of Fact to the best of my Knowledge and Remembrance it being above 20 Years since that this Difference betwixt Duke Lauderdale and the present Lord Bishop of Salisbury happened Now to the Passage it self After Sir I had read your Book I considered who were alive at that Time when this Affair you call me to witness happened that could any way help my Memory and there accrued to my Memory one Mr. Adam Angus at this present Time Reader at St. Dunstans in the West London who was about the Year 1675. as he told me Amanuensis to Dr. Burnet the now Lord Bishop of Salisbury whom I found out and I discoursed him about this Matter at several Times at the second Meeting with him I shewed him Dr. Burnet's Vindication of the Authority c. of the Laws of Scotland in which was the Dedication to Duke Lauderdale and your said Book and desired him to read the 18th and 19th Pages which he did with some Consideration and at all the Meetings he gave me this sincere Account and was extremely surprized at such groundless Expressions this was on or about the second Day of Octob. 1695. and the other Meetings was about a Day or few Days before or after That as for the Book it self viz. Dr. Burnet's Vindication c. he did believe that it was sent me by the Bookseller that printed it or some other Bookseller out of Scotland there being more printed there than could vend in that Kingdom and that I was to give Books in way of Barter for them and that I had them not from the Doctour then I ask'd him if either the Doctour or he had any of the said Books from me he answered me that they had not to the best of his Remembrance but said that that Dedication to Duke Lauderdale had made a great noise in the World then I ask'd him if he did remember that any of the books were sold without the Dedication he told me he did not remember that any was neither do I remember there was or that ever Dr. Burnet had any of them of me either with or without the Dedication Then I ask'd him whether Dr. Burnet did desire me with earnestness to sell the Copies of it without the Dedication and whether he was angry with me and threatned me with the Loss of all the Favours he intended to do me in my Trade he answered me Fy Fy there was no such thing said or done I replied I remembred no such thing or expression for it might be supposed if there had it was so harsh a one that no Man in way of Trade as I was could forget it all Days of his Life I also ask'd him if he remembred what Books I printed of Dr. Burnet's he answered me I printed his Mystery of Iniquity Unvail'd this was a Book he printed in Scotland and by his Order I reprinted it here in London in 1673. which was the Year his Vindication of the Authority c. of the Laws of Scotland was printed at Glasgow by Robert Sanders and this was before Mr. Adam Angus was Dr. Burnet's Amanuensis then he told me I printed Dr. Burnet and Dr. Stilling fleet 's now Lord Bishop of Worcester Conference with Mr. Edward Coleman this was the Coleman whom Dr. Titus Oates caused afterward to be seized and also his Letters which so fully discovered the Popish Plot for which he was hanged December the 3d. 1678. although he was then Secretary or reputed Secretary to the then Dutchess of York an others of the Church of Rome which Conference Mr. Adam Angus told me he took in Writings from Dr. Gilbert Burnet's own Mouth after it was over which he shewed to Dr. Edward Stillingfleet and to Mr. Edward Coleman c. who all of them owned it under their Hands that it was faithfully taken this Book being brought me in M. S. by Mr. Adam Angus I printed it in the Year 1676. and it made 17 Sheets of Paper for which I gave Mr. Adam Angus 17 l. I further ask'd Mr. Adam Angus if Dr. Burnet had the Moneys or any part of it he told me very frankly and readily no not one Farthing for he the said Mr. Angus owned he had it for his own use for his Care about it Then he farther said I printed Dr. Burnet's Answer to Naked Truth this was a Pamphlet what you accuse the now Lord Bishop of Salisbury about it in the 23 d. Page of your Book is his own Province to answer for I am altogether a Stranger to that Passage all I say I believe Mr. Angus brought it me and I printed it as the now Lord Bishop of Salisbury's Book Then Mr. Angus told me he thought I printed another Book of the Bishops but he could not well call it to mind neither can I. Then I ask'd how it came to pass that the Bishop forsook me and gave his Copies to another Bookseller in answer to which he gave me the following Account That I was to give him the said Mr. Angus 10 l. more if I printed another Impression and that the Printer who was Henry Critenden since dead had told him I had so done for which Reason he thought fit to employ another and transacted with him and that the Doctour was innocent and knew nothing of this Transaction till afterwards I replied I had not printed a second Edition of the said Book but I did believe that by the Persuasion of the Printer I did order him to print a greater Number of the latter Sheets than of the First out of hopes that it would have come to a second Impression

testifie if living I shall raise to my self Legions of Enemies however Truth I will own seeing you have called me so fairly to it and if you and your Party be disobliged I will say in my Dear Lord and Saviour's Words whom I will imitate and follow so far as He is to be imitated by poor Mortals Am I your Enemy because I tell you the Truth It 's Truth you have given me a very fair Character with which a great many Men in the World would have pleased themselves with and parted with Truth and not declar'd it and liv'd and hug'd themselves with the vain Conceit of the World 's believing them honest Men and that they had a good Name in the World but I for my own part must part with that Character of a good Name though it be better than precious Ointment when it stands in competition with Truth and therefore I must undeceive you and the World I do not remember neither do I believe that there ever was any such Passage as you have related or that I ever gave the Bishop any such good Reason you mention and so farewel a good Name when it stands in competition with Truth And then you go on and say Upon which He I suppose you still mean the Lord Bishop of Salisbury was angry and threatned Him I presume you mean my self Moses Pitt with the Loss of all the Favours he intended to do him in his Trade This Sir is so very harsh an Expression that it 's not to be supposed I could forget it if the now Lord Bishop of Salisbury had said it to my dying Day but I declare I do not remember neither do I believe he the Lord Bishop of Salisbury ever said it or any thing like it Then you say This Mr. Pitt can testifie if he is living I hope you are now fully satisfied I am living and who knows but the Great and Good God has preserved my Life and the Life of Mr. Angus also hitherto to glorifie his Name in declaring and testifying the Truth in this particular Matter Indeed Sir I own a Prison is a living Grave and he that by Charity takes a Man out of Prison does a Work next to raising the dead some Account of this shall be given of one of those great Men you mention in your Book towards the latter End of this my Letter As for my being in the Land of the Living it had been no hard Task for you to have satisfied your self either by your Bookseller or Printer or both for I presume that most I was going to say almost all but I consider before whom I speak of the Master-Booksellers and Printers in London personally know me or have heard of me and the Oppressions I am under so that they could soon have satisfied you I was living wh n you penn'd this Passage But say you if he is not it can be attested by an honourable Person who heard him solicite Mr. Pitt to this base and unworthy practice It 's True it had been a base unworthy Practice of the Lord Bishop of Salisbury I believe he himself would own it provided it had been Truth But Sir I wish you had nam'd whose Acquaintance this Honourable Person is that can attest this that he heard the Bishop solicite me whether of the Bishop's or of your own or of Mine or of all or either of us and when it was and where it was And if he can put it into my remembrance by naming Tokens and Circumstances or any way whatsoever whereby I may call it to my Memory and remember the thing so as to attest it I will assure you Sir I will observe what my Lord Bacon directs in this Case in his Moral Essays Alway turn to the Pole of Truth so that if this you write of the Lord Bishop of Salisbury's be a Truth and I be fully in my Conscience convinced of it as I am now convinc'd it is false I will then Recant Repent Confess and Publish to the World my great Sin and beg Pardon of God and You for it But Sir I have often been thinking who this Honourable Person should be that can attest this it cannot be the late Honourable Robert Boyle Esq who was that worthy I want proper words to express my self Gentleman that brought my Lord Bishop of Salisbury and me first acquainted and recommended me to print for him and we have been in Conversation together but he is dead so he cannot be the Person Sir I wish we had this great Man I mean Robert Boyle's Life wrote fully by a good Pen and though it were by the present Bishop of Salisbury whom you so much despise it would be very acceptable to the Great and Learned Men of the World Sir I cannot think but of one Honourable Person more that I had at that time the Honour of a familiar Acquaintance with but I think it not proper for me at this time to name him but if I should I should do it with as much Respect and make him in my opinion as great a Heroe as the present Lord Bishop of Salisbury has made the late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury as you have exprest it in your Preface for indeed he is the Gamaliel unto whom I do own I had the best of my Knowledge in Authours of Books and the Subjects they wrote on he being a Man of gentile and universal Learning but I forbear to speak his due Commendations lest you and the World should think I flatter him but I will assure you that I do not remember that ever the now Lord Bishop of Salisbury and him and my self were ever in Conversation together but I do own that the present Lord Bishop of Worcester Dr. Edw. Stillingfleet with this Person of Honour and my self have been in Conversation together and this Person of Honour was the Spoaksman and I have reason to believe that his Lordship had then a great Honour and Respect for him and did value him as one of his chiefest Acquaintance and did present him with one of his Books soon after they were printed and I have several times in King William's Reign met with this Honourable Person passant in the Street and we saluted each other after a friendly Manner and therefore he could not be ignorant of my being in the Land of the Living And then Sir you go on and tell the World But though Mr Pitt would not consent to sell the Books without the Dedication yet he was content to let him have them again and then they came abroad without it Sir as to this Paragraph I do not believe neither do I remember that ever I did consent to the Sale of one of the Books without the Dedication neither do I believe or remember that ever I was content to let him have them again or that he ever had them again from me or that ever they came abroad without it And then you tell the World again And so hard it was till

it was privately Reprinted to get one single Copy with it that I profess I could never get such a one till a Gentleman presented me with one out of his private Study As to the private Reprinting of the said Dedication I know nothing of it and as to your not being able to get one single Copy with it I know nothing of but I believe if you had come to me for it I should have been able and very willing then to have furnished you with one But as to your being presented with one by a Gentleman out of his private Study I know nothing of this Then you go on and say And when he delated his Patron to the House of Commons Sir A. Forrester his Grace's Secretary told me That after the utmost Diligence he could get but on single Copy with the Dedication though he would have purchased more at any Rate to shew the Geutlemen of the Honourable House what kind of Man his Evidencer was that would publish such things in the Commendation of the Duke after he knew a See his Vindication in his xviij Papers as he pretended he had a Design of bringing in an Army out of Scotland for the spoiling and subduing of England As for Sir Andrew Forrester I knew him and if he had applied himself to me I believe I could have sold him what he had a mind to buy As for the Cause or Ground of the Quarrel between the Duke and the present Lord Bishop of Salisbury I knew not till you had printed it in this your Book neither am I any way concern'd in it The present Lord Bishop of Salisbury has most reason to know this Matter of Fact best and therefore I leave it to him to declare the Truth of it to the World it being his proper Province Then you go on and tell the World This Discovery of the Dedication and his suppressing of it coming to be known made all the House curious to see it And he foreseeing what use would be made of it against him was willing to decline his Noble Undertaking But the House by the Interest of the Duke's Friends who increased much upon that Discovery made him testifie what he since saith created Horrour in him and how much Reputation he got by it I need not now tell the World I am sure many of the Duke's greatest Enemies looked upon it as an horrible Lye not thinking the Design or the Discovery of it if he had designed it consistent with so much Wisdom as he was Master of above most great Men of his time Really Sir as to the present Lord Bishop of Salisbury's suppressing of his Dedication to the Duke I do not know nor remember any thing at all of it nor of all the House I presume you mean the House of Commons curious to see it and then you go on and say And how much Reputation he got by it I need not now tell the World Neither Sir have I need now to tell the World what Reputation you have got by printing this Story on the present Lord Bishop of Salisbury and appealing to me to attest but leave the World to judge Then as for your saying I am sure did you at that time call to mind you were giving your Deposition in this Matter and that in Print which is the most publick Record Many of the Duke's greatest Enemies looked upon it as an horrible Lye These words horrible Lye is such a harsh Expression that its being said off-hand and rashly has cost many a Man's Life and if it has been of so mischievous Consequence when spoken in Heat and Passion and although sometimes it might be justly and truly said and that without Scandalum Magnatum How much more provoking is it when it 's not only spoken but printed and that against a now Peer of the Land which cannot be supposed to be done in Heat and Passion as you your self plainly declare in the Preface to your said Book but all the World must judge it must be done falsly injuriously and out of pure Malice contrary to your own Declaration in the said Preface I will assure you Sir I do not say this to provoke the Bishop any way to revenge himself on you far be it from me but on the contrary if I could have the Honour of advising his Lordship I would give him the same Advice I would take my self by revenging my self by a frank free and hearty Forgiveness of you for both he and you and I must know who hath said Vengeance is mine and I will repay it 's the Great and True God Himself that said it And further Our Dear Lord and Saviour saith Blessed are you when Men revile you and persecute you and speak all Manner of Evil against you falsly for my Name 's sake for so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you And shall the Bishop then be angry he is thus persecuted I will assure you Sir if this were my Case as it 's the Bishop's I would observe Our Dear Lord and Saviour's Direction to rejoyce and be glad for great is their Reward in Heaven that are so reviled and he has also told us that Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain Mercy these are words of Truth and by our words we shall be justified and by our words shall we be condemned But it 's not my Province to preach to the Bishop neither I presume Sir to you I only further tell you I my self have been scandalized even to the Danger of my Life vide The Cry of the Oppressed page 125. and I do confess I did sue my Adversary in an Action of Scandal and had Damages given me as is in that Book related but I will assure you Sir I did not do it out of any way of Revenge for the Injuries he has done me as related in that Book but only purely to vindicate my Reputation which is as dear if not dearer to me than my Life he having then at that time newly thrown me into Prison And having now this fair Opportunity I do as in the Presence of God Angels and Men declare That I am willing to forgive my Oppressors as to Injuries done my self by imprisoning my Body for almost seven Years and robbing me of my Estate by false Oaths and all other personal Injuries whatsoever As the Great True and Merciful God forgives all Sinners that is upon their true Repentance Confession and Restitution as far as they are able which are the same Terms I my self desire forgiveness from God or Men wherein I have offende But for their Blasphemies Perjuries and other Criminal Sins wherein the Honour of our True God is concern'd it 's not my Province to pardon and if they are at any Time hereafter prosecuted for it it shall not be in Revenge but purely that Justice may run down our Streets like Streams and Rihteousness like mighty Rivers and that the Honour of our True God may be vindicated to the

Heroick Piety and Vertue Do you not think Sir but the Lives of our Cooks Crooks and Rolles would not be very useful and acceptable to our Lawyers and also the Lives of our Harveys Willis and Lowers to our Physicians and our Bacons Hales and Boyles to our Philosophers I appeal how acceptable the Life of Sir Matthew Hales written by our present Bishop of Salisbury has been to this Nation I must beg the Bishop's Pardon for inserting one Expression here of that good Man Sir Matthew Hales which I believe he has not in his Life I have living Authority for it unto whom he said it That when he published the Life of Pomponius Atticus he did suspect that the World would believe that he therein wrote his own And now Sir I cannot forbear telling you what I lately Read as I remember in Diogenes Laertius who giving an Account of the Life of one of his Philosophers That as for natural Philosophy he had no Esteem of and altogether neglected it but he was so intent on and studious of moral Philosophy that he did not allow himself time to comb his Head nor pair his Nails Sir I am of opinion that either of our three great Philosophers were as eminent for moral Philosophy as Diogenes Laertius his Philosopher ever was as is evident by my Lord Bacons Essays Moral and Divine my Lord Chief Justice Hale's Contemplations Divine and Moral and Mr. Boyle's Occasional Meditations c. yet they were not such Slovens as to neglect combing their Heads or pairing their Nails neither were they such Cinicks as to neglect Natural no nor Experimental Philosophy as their Learned Works published to the World demonstrate Thus I end this Subject As for the late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. John Tillotjon you have not called me to give my Testimony of him therefore I leave it to his Learned and Pious VVorks which are already published to the VVorld and also to his intimate Friends to vindicate him which I believe they will readily do And Sir I hope you will pardon me for telling you now and then a Truth which is to the Purpose and the Matter we are speaking of when I first came to live at my House in Dukestreet Westminster I was several times robb'd at last I discovered the Felon whose Name was Benson he was one of my Laborers he had not only stolen Lead but had also gotten into my House which was the same House I afterwards let to the then Lord Chancellor Jefferies and when he was in he broke the Handle of a Pick-Ax by his endeavouring to break open one of the Inner-doors but could not which Handle of the Pick-Ax we found the next Morning but he opened a Trunk or Trunks c. and stole Cloaths Linnen and Plate c. as soon as I discovered him he fled for it but some days after he was taken by some of my Workmen and brought to me as soon as he saw me he fell on his Knees and confest the Fact and his Confederate and begging me pardon Multitudes of People being by as it 's usual upon such Occasions urged me to send for a Constable and carry him before a Justice of Pcace that so he might be sent to Goal I told the People I would not do that for if I did he might be hanged and I would not have my Hand in the Blood of any Man except for Murther for it was my Opinion that nothing but Blood did require Blood and therefore said I Benson I freely forgive thee but take care be never guilty more of the like Crimes lest thou shouldest not fall into the Hands of so merciful a Man as I am Not long after this for some other Crime he was hanged out of the Martial-Sea-Prison in Southwark This Story I do not tell any way to reflect on you but for Caution to some that read this my Letter and also my own Opinion that if a Law against Thest as also Perjury and Forgery were made correspondent to God's own judicial Law to his People of Israel of making sour-fold Restitution it would be a greater Terror to this sort of miserable People than hanging or standing in the Pillory I have many Arguments to prove this my Assertion but I forbear and leave it to our Parliament now assembling Sir I would have you weigh and consider that Place of Scripture you quote in the 45 Page of your own Book it 's 1 Tim. 1.9 10. And whereas you say But the House by the Interest of the Duke's Friends who increased much upon that Discovery In Answer to this I must tell you good Men are apt to be mistaken and wicked Men are given up to believe Lyes for the Truth of which I could besides the Instances mentioned in Scripture tell you of some Modern Examples to this purpose the Consequences of which have been very mischievous I could mention a Passage which I can prove by living Witnesses of a National Concern but I forbear till it 's proper Season And further you go on and say made him testifie what he since saith created Horrour in him What Horrour this Created in the Bishop he can best tell but I will assure you Sir if this Case had been mine I should father have rejoyced by reason the Story of suppressing the Dedication was falfe so far as I know believe or can remember Now Sir I have given you my Testimony as to this Passage in your Book which concerns the Bishop of Salisbury's suppressing his Dedication to his Book call'd his Vindication of the Authority c. of the Laws of Scotland And I have done it with Integrity and Simplicity and as near to Truth as in Words I could express it And this I have done as I believe I must answer it before our Great God who is a God of Truth and knows the Hearts not only of the Bishop and You and my Self but of all Men. As for all other Passages in your Book I have nothing to say to them I leave them to the Bishop who is of Age and very well able to answer for himself And now Sir give me leave before I conclude this my Letter to tell you something of the now Lord Archbishop of Canterbury I tell it you on my own Knowledge and I have also other living Witnesses to prove it And I farther declare I publish it without his or any of his Friends approbation or knowledge and when he did this great Work of Charity he then obliged me to secrecy as to the Persons that had the Benefit of it and therefore I shall not now name him by that Denomination you have given him in the 2 d. Pag. of your Preface I will give it you in your own words which are The Remarks on the late Funeral-Sermons c. The Letter to the Authour of the Funeral-Sermon at VVestminster Abby These Discourses not to mention others long since Printed will let Posterity see what kind of Man our Preacher and his Heroe

which were going for London and when they drew near the City one was saying to his Companions that as soon as they met with their City Acquaintance they would be asking them what News in Cornwall and they had none to tell them whereupon one of his Company which had a good Faculty at Invention told them he would supply that Defect upon which he invented that Story as it is related in Dr. Franklin's Annals Which as soon as they met with their Friends and Companions at the Tavern upon their asking what News in Cornwall he the Romancer told them the said Story with so much Confidence that it was believed by some of the Company who caused a Ballad to be made of it and some few Nights after these Sparks meeting at the same Tavern heard the Ballad sung in the Street just against their VVindow From which Ballad Dr. Franklin I suppose had his Authority but Sir as for Dr. Franklin he was a Physician and any one that reads his very first lines in his Book must imagin he is going to read a Pomance for he begins thus There was amongst other Persons of Honour and Quality in the Court a young Lady of great Birth and Beauty Frances Daughter of Tho. mas Howard Earl of Suffolk married in her Minority unto Robert Earl of Essex c. This is the Story of the poysoning of Sir Thomas Overbury which has proved as fatal to a great Family As Incest to the Family of the Carmino's in Cornwall the Story is this Carmino was reputed the ancientest Family we had in Cornwall it was supposed long before William the Conquerour's Days and most of our Cornish-Gentry were pleased when they could derive their Pedegrees from that Family One of the last of these Carmino's having committed Incest by lying with his own Daughter in the Morning when he rose came into his Hall and over the Chimney finds these words wrote O! Carmino This has bred thy Woe This thine Iniquity Has cancell'd thine Antiquity This Passage of the Carmino's I have often heard my own Father telate who was born and died in the 90 th Year of his Age in the same Parish with Carmino and I my self knew the last Male-heir of the Family who as I was informed was in Exeter Prison for Debt and there died and the Estate all spent By this Sir you see Monster Sins whereof I reckon Slandering and taking away the Good name of our Neighbour is one is the Cause of the Destruction of Persons Families and Kingdoms And Truth Sir is like the Sun it may be Fogg'd Clouded nay Eclipsed yet at last it will shine forth with the greater Splendour and Glory and will dissipate scatter and destroy the Fogs Clouds and Eclipses I will persume Sir you have read the 3d. and 4th Chapters of the first of Esdras I own the Book is Apocryphal but the last of the three young Men's Sentences is Canonical The first wrote Wine is strongest the second wrote the King is strongest and the third wrote Women are strongest but Truth overcometh all things But when Judgment was to be given and that by all the People they cried and said Truth is great and strongest And that it doth abide and is strong for ever and liveth and reigneth for ever and ever Sir no Age is so barren of Tragedies that we have need to invent Romantick Murthers as Dr. Franklin has done in the Story related and write them for Truths I will parallel his Tragedy with a more Modern one acted in our Memory The Passage is a Major-General who was well known in this Nation especially in the West in the Time of the late Duke of Monmouth's Rebellion This Person having the Command of the Army in Tangier before its Demolishment against the Mocres there was three Soldiers condemn'd by a Court-Martial one was an English-man the second a Scotch-man the third an Irishman The English-man and Scotch man one of them was condemned for murthering his Comrade the other for ●urglary and Felony but the poor Irish man was condemned for stealing some Hens which the Woman from whom they were stolen had them again All the Ladies of Quality of the Garison were petitioners to the General for the poor Irish-man's Life but could not prevail The General falling sick sent for the Chief Chirurgeon of the Garison whose Name is Mr. Andrew Herriot to let him Blood which when he had done he fell on his Knees and begg'd a Boon of the General the General ask'd him what it was he told him he would not beg the English-man's life nor the Scotch-man's Life although his Country-man for they both deserved to die but he begg'd the poor Irish man's Life he having stolen a few Hens and the Woman from which they were stolen had them again The General answered him he would not grant him his Life for he never had the Opportunity of hanging the three Nations at one Time nor never might have the like again and for that Reason and the Fancy of it he should be hanged and that very Day he hanged them all three This Relation I had from Mr. Herriot's own Mouth more than once This Mr. Herriot is a Man of Veracity and I have heard him speak many a bold Truth and I know he will justifie what I now write This Story puts me in mind of the Prophet who came to a Captain as related in Holy Writ and told him he should amongst other Villainies rip up Women with Child What replies the Captain is thy Servant a Dog Upon which the Prophet tells him he should be a King that is he should have Power and I must tell you Sir Power is such a mighty Liquour that it 's a hard matter to get Vessels strong enough to hold it .. Sir all I say on this Subject you have done your Endeavour to take away the Good name of a great Man which is next to taking away his Life and if I had not through mercy been in the Land of the Living to vindicate him it would have passed for a Truth I speak as to the Passage you call me to testifie if living and therefore I will tell you what I would do if I were guilty of such a foul Scandal especially it being against a Peer of the Realm I would repent and go to him and make my Confession and beg the Great God and him Pardon and make him what Restitution was in my Power But Sir I will not be so bold as to direct you I presume you are not ignorant of your Duty in this Case Now Sir what I have wrote you that is of my own Knowledge is Truth and what I have by the Information from others I believe to be Truth and if I have offended you in words that are any ways offensive I beg your pardon for I had no such design and if any of those Persons whom I have so freely nam'd take offence at me for so doing I must beg their Pardon but if I must lose your or their Friendships for telling the Truth then farewell Friendship and Favour and All I stick to the Truth and shall be yours and all Mens on that Account Moses Pitt Nov. 22. 1695. ADVERTISEMENT The Cry of the Oppressed Being a True and Tragical Account of the Unparallell'd Sufferings of Multitudes of poor imprisoned Debtors in most of the Goals in England together with the Case of the Publisher