A Countersnarle FOR Jshmael Rabshacheh, A Cecropidan Lycaonite. BY Sr. EDWARD HOBY, Knight, one of the Gentlemen of his majesties Privie-chamber. Comitantur praelia praelum. LONDON: Printed for Nath. Butter, by the Authority of Superiors. 1613. JOB 11. vers. 2.3. Should not the multitude of words be answered? or should a great talker be justified? Should men hold their peace at thy lies? and when thou mockest others, shall none make thee ashamed? TO THE HONOURABLE, WORSHIPFUL, AND WORTHY GENTLEMEN, The Students of the Law, in his majesties Inns of covert. Thrice— Worthy Gentlemen. YOu are not to learn what a Artibus impietas ingeniosa caret. Artificial shadows Heresy hath in all ages contrived, for the covering of her b Monstrum horrendum inform, ingens cui lumen ademptum. ugly shape; neither are you unable to discern the counterfeit colours wherewith she hath varnished her c Revelabo pudenda tua, in fancy tua. Nahum. 3.5 wrinkled deformities, for the alluring of the giddy world to her baneful lust. The truth is, she hath so long forged, and forced the countenance of venerable Antiquity, by her impious positions, and whorish practices, that her usurping impudence, and impudent usurpations, have now justly occasioned, not only Churchmen to dispute, but even Lay-men to doubt of the authority of that Charter, wherewith their forefathers were so grossly deluded. Hence it cometh to pass that finding herself displumed of her wont retinue, which she is well-nigh out of hope to d Jctus Piscator sapit. regain, and deprived of those natural supplies, wherewith her state was supported, & her pomp maintained, she now flieth abroad like a shrewish distracted malcontent, in her frantic mood, e Vel vi, vel fraud valebo. pulling, haling, spurning, scratching, and tearing all that stand in her f Aut inventam aut ficiam viam. way: yea be they never so noble by descent, eminent in place, profound in judgement, skilful in tongues, famous for learning, virtue, or experience in travails, if they g Laesit qui non haesit. refuse to dance a round in her Orgions antic, she will be sure they shall not pass, without a broken head, or a black eye: witness so many scurrilos & scandalous Pamphlets which have of late been scattered; wherein neither the highness of sacred Majesty, the matchless governors of a well settled state, nor the sincere professors of a spotless truth, have escaped without some vile blurr, and malevolous aspersion, from one or other her suborned Panders and whifling agents: Neither hath their enraged malice, as yet vented all those venomous crudities, wherewith their surfeited stomachs are surcharged, but as if they meant to make work for a world of Galenists, and Paracelsians, they daily corrupt our pure air, by casting out of that sulphureous pit, no small quantity of their infectious dregs, and hellish drugs, h Iras vivaces gerunt. wherewith their vain hope is, to cast the ignorant, into a senseless sleep, and the learned into causeless disgrace. §. 2. AMong this i Brethren in evil. Gen. 49. v 15 Vasa iniquitatis bellantia. fraternity, there is a fresh upstart, (unto whom I presume Pandora's box was entailed) desirous to be admitted. He is only known unto me by the mark of I. R. but if I be not mistaken in the k 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 16 v. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Esa. 30.1. hieroglyphics, his familiars may salute him by the name of Ishmael Rabshacheh, he is so wholly compact of l 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 2●. ● v. 9 mocking and railing, that he well seemeth to have the mixed quintessence of them both. This Polypragmist, forsooth, to show his invincible courage, and undaunted spirit, (which I must confess doth many miles outstrip his leaden art, and heavy-heeld learning) hath undertaken the Combat with one of your m Mr W. Crashaw. Lecturers, and professeth (as if his breast were the storehouse of Aesculapius his medicinal receipts) the present cure of all those festered wounds, which were by him discovered, in the diseased body of the Romish Church; little remembering, that n Roma iam ve●us est malum. old flesh, & inveterate sores, require more than ordinary skill; and that it must be a better tongue, than his mouth can yield, to lick them whole. Notwithstanding, in this his presumptuous heat, his swelling and pregnant wit, having by the windy incursion of superior hopes, conceived the Idea of an ill propotioned Brat, wherewith for want of a good midwife he hath been in travail these five years, is now at length delivered of a little pretty pygmy: whom, as if it had descended of the stock of Hercules, he hath christened, The o Nil nisi bella crepat, bella, horrida bella. overthrow of the Protestants pulpit Babbles: and hath entered it into the Church-book, to be the work of I. R. Rudent, (I should say Student) in divinity, Anno Domi. 1612. And, as if he had had the law on his side, he hath p Preface dedicatory. invited your worthy selves, the Gentlemen of the Inns of Court, to the upsitting. His hope, no doubt, is, that according to the law of Goshipping, you will dandle the fathers none boy, and swear it is a jolly pretty ape. And so I protest you may: your verdict herein will not be much amiss, for wots you what? he hath taught it, in less than three months, to know me better, than ever I knew myself. You would wonder to hear how in the lisping language it will name q Pag. 7. D. jewel, r Pag. 7. 149 D. Andrews. s Pag. 137. D. Morton, t Pag. 8. D. Feild. u Pag. 85. 91 303. Sir Edwin Sands, and among the rest Sir Edward Hoby, as if it had been acquainted with either of us, twice seven years at the least. Nay more than so, he hath breathed into it such a Criticque, and discretive spirit, that it is able to control, the valour, sincerity, and learning of the best of us all. But trust me truly, it hath one property, which all this praemature forwardness, is no ways able to countervail: you will find it the most foul-mouthed Imp, that ever Cerberus bred or x Tit. c. 1. v. 12 Crete saw. Yet must I not conceal the benefit, which I have in my own particular reaped thereby, which is not much unlike, that which obliged y Lib. 1. c. 13 Gelon (of whom Aelian maketh mention) to his yolping Cur, §. 3. THis poor man, taking, (as it may seem) an afternoon's nap, fell into a very fearful dream, that his bowels were pierced with a thunderbolte, the soddain and ghastly apprehension whereof, so affrighted him, that he sent forth most pitiful groans, in so much as his dog being not far off, and hearing the noise, fell on barking, till at length he quit his Master, of his sleep and fear. Right so fared it with me, who thinking to repose my superlative z 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Vulnera vulneribus non addas plura receptis. sorrow, (for the loss of one only Child, a virtuous and loving wife, a broken arm, a burning fever, & weakness of eyes, all in one year conglomerated) by the solace of a rural devoted a Deus nobis haec otia fecit. privacy, fell, I know not how, to climb the steep hills of certain craggy studies, and unwonted speculations, and had not the bellowing of this roaring b ovid. Met. lib. 1. Lycaonite, somewhat awakened me, it is twenty to one, I had been no less perplexed with c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Printed at Venice. 1593. Arca Noah, than Gelon with his dismal dream. Wherefore I should I much degenerate from myself, if in lieu hereof, I would not vouchsafe a little conference with him, whose call hath freed my brain from so great a burden, And seeing he refers himself to the censure of your learned society, of whose noble disposition, and renowned discretion, your nuptial revels, and grave plead have given sufficient testimony, to the admiring world, I cannot repute it, the lest part of my happiness, that I am summoned to answer, at so honourable abench, against those unjust Cavils and d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est morsus figura●us, qui sape, fraud, vel urbanitate regitur ut aliud sonnet, aliud intelligatur. Macrob. scommatizing imputations, which this falsefiing e ovid. Met. lib. 14. Cecropidan hath forged, against certain passages, in a short letter of mine, which some few years since, passed from my pen f To Ma. T. H. to the press. And here, before I enter the list, I must desire you, to be informed, that my purpose is not to forestall g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 M. Crashaws' market, nor to put my sickle into his harvest, I doubt not but he hath store of strong powders to make him feel the smart of those wounds, which by drawing over a fair skin, he seeks to hide, and his Quiver full of such forked shafts, for the entering of the weak sides, of the Romish cause, that the best chirurgeons, in the jesuits Hospital, shall hardly with all the art they have, be so hardy as to pluck them out. So far am I from usurping the least part of his praise, that it grieus me to think, he should waste his forces upon so inglorious a h Hic cum victus erittecum certasse feretur foe. The only strait that I am in, is, in respect of myself, how I should wade through with your good opinion, being to suit my Apology to the Ishmalites objections, whereof some are personal, and cannot be well answered by myself i Nec te collaudes nec te culpaveris ipse. without appearance of vainglorious ostentation, and some so frivolous, that I have little or no use of those my small readings, which in a more material cause, I mought with greater pleasure to myself, and perhaps content to you, have employed; But because I am singled out, only to defend myself, I must crave your forbearance in this, till my fit opportunity inhable me to repay your patience in a better kind. §. 4. THe first Epithet with which it pleaseth this Hagueren to grace those my cursory lines is, the friendly censure, of k Preface dedicatory. pag. 22. an unlearned letter, as if himself were l Act. 8.9. Habet quenda acul●um contumelia, quem pati prudentes as viri boni difficillimé possunt. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, such a one as had by his laborious industry, climbed the top of Parnassus, and drunk the fountain of Helicon dry: the trial hereof I refer, to the unpartial reader. Indeed I cannot but ingenuously confess, that I have lost many m Hoescio, quod nihil Scio hours, which I would be glad with double pains, and greater price to redeem: yet have I not been such a stranger to those sacred Sisters, but that I have seen Aristotle's Well, and friendly conversed with them all. And were it not that n Vide. §. 3. my infirmities did suppress the virility of my spirit, I could perhaps readily show (absit invidia verbo) as many of their favours, as this boasting Ishmaelite, yea should he seek and search all the corners of his desk. Had any approved Artist, laid ignorance to my charge, I should the sooner have suspected myself; but when your wisdoms shall peruse the o Si ego dignus hac centumelia, tu indignus qui faceres tamen. Solaecismes, crabbed phrases, and incongruities of this nibbling Probationer, I doubt not but the comparison will purchase my Nullity, the title of p Mediocria firma. Mediocrity. In the entrance of his preface, which may serve as a Perspective to the rest, he casts a figure, and raiseth such a number of iffs, that Barbarism itself, would blush to read them. If (saith he) many seduced souls in our (in this respect,) unhappy nation. etc. If if, etc. Hear is a jobbing Parenthesis, and a crabbed strain indeed. In this my learned Magnificoe, shows what refined stuff we shall meet withal, in sifting the sequel of his discourse: Many a good man's dog, hath broken his leg over a less style. Now if I should spell all his iffs backwards, and turn them into so many q Phi. nota faetoris. fies, I might cry, fie upon those r Telas arane arum texuit. Cobweb allusions, so often iterated, that the margin would not contain, the particular Pages, wherein the s Pag. 4.20.22. four times. 31 36.50.57.58.59.133. Spider or Fly is predominant. Fie upon your accidental & generical christening of t Pag. 246. Bells and relative honour of u Pag. 201. Images. Fie upon the bird that defiles his own nest, terming his country an x Pag. 3. unhappy kingdom, the Climate y Pag. 36. Clownish, & infamous, the air gross, and this Island an usurper of the surname of z Pag. 18. Crete. Fie upon that blockish simplicity, that confounds a rhethorical acclamation, which the Prophet useth to the a Esay. 45. v. 8. Clouds, and a theological invocation, which the Papists direct to the wooden b Pag. 207. Cross: not distinguishing between a Hyperbolical exaggeration, and a Superstitious obsecration. The like art he useth under the privilege of a simple Metaphor, to divide the kingdom between God, and c The throne of mercy is hers by a Metaphor. pag. 168. the Virgin. Deserves he not to have your voices for the Rhetoric Lecture? Thus might I stuff much paper, with many like unsavoury d P. 40. Baberies, wherewith being e P. 52 absorbed, in his f P. 44. extaticall contemplations, he perfumeth his ill current and worse cadent lines. So that he doth well to enjoin the reading of his imaginary refutation as a g P. 50. penance to your judicious eyes; neither have you any reason to stop him with a Nil minus, when in plain terms he confesseth, h P. 50. Ex ore tuo te judico. Factus sum insipiens, I am become a fool; under this colour of affected simplicity, his desire is to pass, for Tom tell troth, that so with his fools bolts he might i P. 14. crack in pieces the credit of our English Church: But albeit he slaver my poor letter, with his drivelling terms, I will yet do him his right, since he will needs be a fool, I dare undertake you shall find him a crafty fool. When any of their own ancient Records are produced, he hath a trick to turn them oft in a trice, blearing his Reader, that these are but k P. 7 23. worm-eaten sayings of an old gloss: when they are charged with lying stories, painted in their Chapels, that fault he lays to the l P. 15. Painters pencil, and when they are urged with idolatrous appeal, from God to the Virgin, and the like absurdities, he shifts them off to the m P. 37. Picto●i●us atque Poetis. Poets pen. §. 5. THus doth he with the long sided skirts of his fools coat, think shiftingly to hide that, which he dares not doctrinally defend: between Poets and Painters he challengeth licence for his Church, to teach and write what she list, without check and control. Which idle conceit, hath so fully possessed them, that there are few, or none of their late Writers, who have not been free, of one, or both those (so largely privileged) companies. Their boundless, and groundless fictions, bewray the most to be either Poets, or Painters; when their Church Hymns are confessed to be but figurative Poems, and Poetical fancies, and their pictures but Painters devices, you may guess of the insolidity of the rest. I fear Rabshachehs' n Fie upon a 'slud of fools. fools coat, will be well clawed by his Superiors, for telling of tales out of schools, as also for discountenancing their highly esteemed o P. 208. Breviaries, and p P. 156. councils: And he well deserves it, as being the most brazen faced intrudor, that Fooliana ever harboured. You would wonder how he should lurk in the Parliament house, to publish our (supposed) q P. 59 commands. Is it not strange, that a principal r Earl of Salisbury. Secretary of so great a state, should let fall to such an open mouthed fellow, his dislike, and resolution to discard s P. 52 Master Crashawes Sermon, as our Cecropidan, peradventure, to raise some sinister suspicion, pretends. Were he now alive to hear those new invented fictions, I wonder what he would think of such poring spies, and hollow-harted Intelligencers t M. Tom. Dyrre. Did a Courtier of my acquaintance, who is not far behind him for learning, hear him as-certain so much, I smile to think how he would look. I presume the aforesaid Councillor would soon cast a net to catch this fleeting Gudgeon, that makes himself so privy to his inward thoughts: And yet (though by all likelihood he is not u Out of the current of his native streams extra quatuor Maria) this would not easily be compassed, For if ever any fellow were made of quicksilver, this is he, as I verily think. One while he is in x P. 322. Virginia, and can tell you what pease-pottage (tawny) the Minister did eat, whilst his fellows were fight. An other while he is at an execution at y P. 106. Oxford, and by and by he converseth with a z P. 321. Credit Pisones. Gentleman of Honour, who bringeth him news from my Lord De la Wars own mouth: Nay, there can no sooner be an argument propounded at my table, but he hath it strait by the end. If he be now amongst the roaring a Pag. 100 Rakehile, in the College pump, he will in a moment be invisible, among the Gossippes in b P. 185. 245 Pemblico: It is not unlike he hath met with Fortunatus his hat, his ears are as quick, as his thought, and his pen so well feathered, that it follows him close at the heels: whatsoever his Philautie presenteth, his heart crediteth, and his hand publisheth. Among many other his imaginary discoveries, he would feign make us believe, that he hath been with (glorious) c Pag. 104. Qui ubique nullibi Q. Elizabeth's ghost, taking upon him to determine with what consorts she is accompanied; and as if he had a privy key to the closet of your hearts, he is so shamelessly audacious, as under colour of rumour, to sound a false Alarm, informing his Readers, that d Pag. 5. your general dislike, of Mr. Crashawes' intemperancy in writing, and folly in marrying, (being held no convenient quality for your Preacher) did praesage his present discharge from his office. Is not this a dangerous mate, that hath such a number of Familiars, to send into every e But Pick. hatch, Bedlam Shoreditch. Pag. 276. coast? Can he be so careful of your Honours, as he pretends, that broacheth out of his fusty brain, such musty scandals, for the vilifying of your judgement, and traducing the constancy of your faith? No marvel if he tax my learning, who lays so hard a censure upon the blessed soul, of so worthy a Saint, chargeth a great Counsellor of estate, and your venerable Society, with these surmises; were that time bestowed in his theological studies, which he spends in hunting after fabulous reports, he might with more probability, have made a greater breach into our Fort, than he is now with his paper-shot like to perform. §. 6. YEt I cannot but commend him for his juggling, what he wants in real, he supplies with personal imputations: I have eaten more than a bushel of salt in France, the Lowe-Countries, Spain, Portugal, etc. in all which time I cannot justly accuse myself of any military service, by sea or land which I refused, or dishonourable disgrace which I pocquetted: Yet doth this Lycaonite, for want of better stuff, display me to be a Knight, f Pag. 21. more famous for my pen, than my sword. It seems he grieves that I should sleep in a sound skin; the truth is, as I was never forward in putting myself upon the pikes of needless dangers; so did I never turn my back, where my adversary durst show his face. g Sua vulnera narrat. Miles gloriosus, been long since a laughing stock, to the whole Theatre: I have ever held it more valour to let others feel, then for myself to make boast of the sharpness of my sword. If I have not been famous for quarrels, it hath either been my happiness, which he seemeth to envy, or my heediness, which he hath reason to commend. Whether Mars or Mercury had the predominance in my Nativity, I am not so cunning h Format enim natura prius no●intus ad omnem fortunarum habitum. a Stargazer to determine. It shall be my greatest content, to stand as a i Jsti adsimiles sunt abacorum calculis, qui & secucdum voluntatem Cal culatoris modo obolum aereum, modò, talentum valent J●a A●lici ad nutum Principis, modò beati, modò miserifis un●. cipher, in what rank of employment my Master's favour shall be pleased to place me: To whose honour, and service, I will never be daunted to sacrifice my dearest blood. How this Rodomantado may underualew my worth, unless he were a more competent judge, the matter is not great. §. 7. HIs next flurte is at my wit, which (saith he) k pag 22. Were it answerable to my name, or my learning, as high, as my own conceit thereof, I were a soaring bird. Thus do his squibbes fly about to singe my feathers. By all means I would not have him lose this conceit. Mark the allusion: were my wit answerable to my name, I were a soaring bird: Well flown Buzzard: I perceive he will fly far for a jest: would he not prove (think you) a good Anagrammist, that can descant so well upon a name? Well I am glad I had it for him, or else all this sport had been marred. To justify my wit, were witless folly; Yet if an ambitious spirit, had that little in keeping, I am persuaded he should have no great need, to borrow of this indigent Artist: who would make us believe he was borne in the full moon, when wit was a dealing. The fates, no doubt, were very partial, to empty all their vyals, into one cask; It cannot be but he must needs have a great sconce, that hath engrossed such a mass of wit. There is no question but this Bravo will well perform the gibing task, unto which by the Lady's liberal purse— promises (their former l Spreta exolescuat, si irascare, aguita videntur. c. Tacit. Libels being turned into smoke) he stands engaged. If he miss his pay let him sob for m I. R. understandeth me, she was of the arting kinds. her death, who having given first encouragement, did not long after, by God's great mercy, end her days in a far other manner, than he expected. §. 8. THe conceit of my learning, wherewith my innocent thoughts are unjustly upbraided, cannot be well removed by bare words; but had he a window into my breast, to survaie the imaginations of my heart, his pen is not now so busy in censuring, as his tongue would be diligent in revoking. I am, God wots, too privy to mine own defects, to give credit to any comparative attributes in that kind. My desire hath been to hold conformity herein, to my first breeding, and to keep pace, with men of my own rank. Wherein, if I have gained so much as may serve for my own meditations, and my Country's affairs, wherein I am interessed, I neither envy them that have more, nor disparrage those which have less. Whereupon this his surmise should grow, I cannot readily tell, unless he find himself wrung with his own n Obtrectator magis m●rbum suum quam mores alienos prodit. shoe. Had I as much learning as he wants, I could find good use for much more. The Apostle long since taught me, and lent me a bridle, which may serve as a curb, to subdue the like motions of his swelling pride: o 1. Cor. 3 v. 2. Si quis se existimat scire aliquid, nondum cognovit, quemadmodum oporteat eum scire. The greatest Tympany hath not always the best burden; where the hill is highest, commonly, the grass is lowest; the deepest river runs with the least noise, Sapere supra sobrietatem, p O di pracocia ingenia. hath been as dangerous in the Church, as pernicious in the state. A great Mast soon ouerturnes a little Bark, and he which bringeth a great Army into the field, without victual or munition, is like to go by the worst. Wherefore, howsoever I may be misconstrued, my course hath ever been, by comparing that which I do not know, with that little which I have attained, to subtract many ounces, from that ordinary opinion, which men of his profession do in like case entertain. It is for children to be proud of Peacock's feathers, and for base aspiring spirits, to set out their painted butterflies with eagle's wings. True generosity banisheth such base thoughts, if the q Vino vendibili non o●us haedera. wine be good, no matter for a green bush. Wherefore I am well content to bestow this Cavil upon the first r Plaerique in id nati, ut neque ipsi quiescant, nec alios sinant. Thucid. founder, for his pains If his means may be bettered, or his credit more currant, by the stamp which it shall recevie, from the partial hand of his overweening imagination, I shall not repine to see him make his best of such ordinary commodities. The world will perhaps wonder at my charity, and the rather for that he further taxeth me for, s Pag. 22. fluttering in a web of weak sanders, which is so vile a reproach, that patience itself would shrink, if not sink, under the burden. A man had need have the shield of Pallas to repel these poisoned darts: but as long as they fly from so weak a hand, without the vantage of firmer proofs, there is good hope they will neither fly flarre, nor pierce deep. §. 9 WHat he should mean by these weak slanders, my dull brain cannot conceive, unless he have reference to those three Falsifications, wherewith his seditious treatise, would gladly persuade Saint Augustine to find himself grieved. t Pag. 134. This (saith he) is not only, gross ignorance, but also great impudence, etc. Want of conscience, which I have bewrayed, in framing sentences for Sainst Augustin; which he neither wrote, nor so much as dreamt of. And therefore he warns Master Crashawe that, in proof of his assertion, he bring not such testimony as the three alleged by me, out of that Father, to prove he rejected the Maccabees. Thus doth this Spider-catcher travaise his ground, with a goodly flourish, as if he meant, with the weak Goddesses, to bind jupiter: but if he bring not some Briareus to assist him, it will not be long ere he be u Magn●is tamen excidit ausis. out of breath. Amongst all that I wrote in an 114, pages, he hath only a spite at one leaf, which lies in the heart of my letter; and that the world may know he is a man of his hands, he puts every syllable to the sword. One shall hardly find such an Examiner in a country. I beshrew his curiosity; He is so nice, that he hath made Me and my Printer almost fall out, about setting x Pag. 135. Grande piaculum. Razis for Razias. The best satisfaction I could get from him was, that if Master Ishmael be so strict for a letter, rather than he would stand in law with him, he would willingly grant that last syllable, to y Nunquam ego hominem magis asinam vidi him and his heirs for ever. This is he by way of amends content to set down under his hand. And that you may see he means no double dealing, he is well pleased, the whole world should be witness: adding this protestation, that he is sorry he hath withheld his due so long. But to return to that Marble pillar, that glorious Saint, that ever admired Augustine, I cannot but deplore my hard hap, that I should be indicted for the least wrong, done to him, to whose heavenly Meditations, sweet sayings, and learned discourses, I own more than the half of myself. Would any man believe, that I should father that book, de mirabilibus sacrae scripturae upon him? z Pag. 122. Varius ait, Scaurus negat. Rabshacbeh avers that. Indeed I cannot deny that finding it in their own Copies in equal rank, with those other books that go under the title of Saint Augustine his works, and having no other certain, or known author, under whose name I mought cite it, I was loath to trouble the margin, with any Circumlocution, contenting myself only to note where it might be found. And this I did to a double end. First, to draw and extort from the adversary, an open confession of the falsehood of their forefathers, in packing and placing their bastardly brood, amongst the natural children, and true branches of those Angelical Doctors. Which unjust dealing, hath not been the least bane of the Christian world. Secondly, to infer upon their own acknowledgement, and discarding this book, that the testimony even of the most partial, that vented their follies in those first declining years, will steed them but very little, for authorizing the Maccabees, from whence the foundation of their prayer, and oblation for the dead was first derived. As near as I can remember, I thus argued with myself: If they grant that Saint Augustine's pen do fever the Maccabees from the divine Canon, than the matter will be soon at an end: and if they deny that book to be his, then how will they excuse the infidelity of their Church, who hath in her time played many such lewd pranks as this? Or how will they answer Antiquity, which distinguished these books eight hundred and nine years; before either a The book de Mirabilibus, was written 627. ut. P. 133 Luther or Suinglius were borne. So that my reply is this: If it be a book of no account, not savouring of Saint Augustine's wit, learning, and style, then are they culpable either of forging, or maintenance, or both; If it be not his, why was it entertained? why is it continued in their own editions amongst his golden works? If they print it under his name, they may give me leave so to note it, where they might be sure to find it. Yea, but b P. 3. q. 45. art. 3. ad 2. teste Tho. Aquinate, it hath been long since pronounced discarded: By like it will not serve the Pope's turn; why then welfare their honest Index expurgatorius, that will tell many tricks of the like cleanly conveyance. In what an intricate age do we live? A man cannot, safely, read any their fathers, but he must turn over Thomas Aquinas, before he can tell what works are their own; and consequently, may catch a Snake, instead of an Eel, ere he be aware. §. 10. THus you well see (ingenuous Gentlemen) how I have quit my hands of the first falsehood, my scope being not then to prove that book de mirabilibus to be Saint Augustine's, but first to evince them of forgery, and then to show what their own Antiquity did many hundred years ago think, of those Apocryphal books. Had I been indeed persuaded, that it had been S. Augustine's own offspring, I should have held it needles to cumber the brevity of a letter with more than one other proof of the same Father▪ But because I foresaw, that by this bait I should bring the opposite party, to one of those inevitable disadvantages formerly mentioned; I therefore added two several testimonies, (which he cannot disavow) to confirm the same truth; in the alleging whereof, he cries out, c P. 134. that I am a notorious falsifier. For trial whereof my pen prostrates itself to your censure. The words by me cited are these; d Mr. T. H. P. 60. Machabaeorum Scriptura recepta est ab Ecclesia, non inutiliter, si sobriè legatur, vel auditatur, maxim propter istos Martyrs: whereupon my inference was this, Ergo ob hanc causam in Canone morum, non fidei censeri posset. Which last clause I wonder how it should so pass my sight in the review: For, perusing my first draft, I find go written short in another letter, to distinguish my inference from his proof; It seemeth either my Manuaties' haste, or the e Dominum De um●n●strum Papam, not his Phrase but oversight in print. P. 149. Printers misprision, hath turned go into (said) as if the same had been continued, whereas my English reddition was plain. And that (consequently) they are in the Canon of Manners, etc. which adverb, their former error caused them utterly to omit. f Verstij Parasceve. Such escapes oftentimes happen, when the Author himself cannot attend the press. Now that you may perceive there is no such Trophy in this casual addition, which no man of sense would willingly have suffered, when the Authors are obvious to every eye; you shall see, I had S. Hieroms authority for that inference, though I then did not quote him, whose words are these: g In praf. lib. Salomonis. judith, Tobiae, et Machabaeorum libros legit quidem Ecclesia, sed eos inter Canonicas Scripture as non recepit: and he explains himself how this should be understood, Legate Ecclesia, (saith he) ad aedificationem plebis, non ad authoritatem dogmatum Ecclesiasticorum confirmandam; reckon all these together you shall find them amount to no less sum, then that the books of Maccabees are in Canone morum, non fidei, censendi. Might it have pleased him to have sifted Lyra, Brito, Rabanus, and Caietan, whom I there cited, this matter would not have been such a beam in his eye. How will he look when Mr. Crashaw shall make him fly to his Printer for Sanctuary in greater extremities, than the mistaking of a word? Will you give me leave to praesage what he will say? Admit this clause annexed be true in itself; yet how can it be collected out of these former words, when as S. Augustine, showing that the jews do not admit the book of Maccabees, as they do the Law, Prophets, and Psalms, addeth Sed recepta est ab Ecclesia non inutiliter, si sobriè legatur, vel audiatur, maximè propter istos Martyres Machabaeos; How can you then conclude, ergo, it is not Canonical? Nay rather, the consequence will be this, ergo the Christian Church doth admit the book of Maccabees, as Canonical in that sense, that the jews did refuse them, to wit as the Law, Prophets, and Psalms, any of h P. 135. which may more hurt than profit, if the same be read in a drunken fit of a wanton wit. This inference I grant is in another letter indeed, his Printer hath done him right to set it in his own Character; for neither did Saint Augustine dream, neither would any sober settled brain stumble upon such a sense. Doth not he make Saint Augustine speak that which he never meant, when he racks his words, enforcing him to say that Canonical Scripture is received of the Church, with a Si, which is necessarily to be acknowledged, though it fall out by default to be Sapor mortis ad mortem? or did he dream of such a drunken Church, as theirs seems to be by their cloyning of the Scriptures from the common people, lest it should hurt them? Had his purpose been to set these books in the same throne imperial with the sacred Scriptures, to what end doth he instance in, those Maccabees Martyrs? This specification (maximè propter istos Martyres Machabaeos) declares where the danger lies: implying, if we sail well by these rocks, there is (though no necessity) some use of the rest. So that the words, rightly poised will bear that distinction, which Saint Hierome, who was better acquainted with Saint Augustine's meaning, and the Church's custom, doth resolutely maintain, that Canonical Scripture must necessarily be received: as for other uncertain writings, they may not unprofitably be read: And whereas he confesseth that the jews, who were the best Surveyors of the authority of their own Histories, did reject them; You may well think, he held it small reason for after ages to entertain them in the highest esteem, as judges of their faiths: though he saw many good things, for which the Church, with a little caution, did approve them. §. 11. THus for want of better sport, this trifling companion, is feign to play with a feather, which when he hath blown up as high as he can, falls down, and sticks upon his own coat: I cannot blame you if your i Angligena attollant equites, peditesque cachinnum. laughter somewhat pass modesty, when you consider how wittily he works, upon that clause, Si sobrié legatur, turning the weakness of the judgement (which Saint Augustine upon good probability feared) into that intemperance of disordered affection, which was not by him intended. By this common acceptation of the word Sobriè (in this place ridiculous) he glides to this needless conclusion, k Pag. 135. that there is no story, nor miracle in the holy Bible, which some will not deride, when they bibble, and take l Faeda Tobacciseriquid vult contagio sum, Prater inauditam perlus membre lu●m? Tobacco, or when they read the Scripture, as Sir Edward Hoby doth seem to do Lypsius his book, of our Lady's miracles by the fire side, when men roast crabs to drive a man out of a melancholy fit; m To M. T. H. Pag. 102. I presume you have read that discourse, so that I shall not need twice to present you with the same dish. Never did your eyes behold such lewd lies, and incredible falsehoods, as that n Aliquando fit in Eclesia maxima deceptio populi in miraculis sactis à Sacerdotibus propter lucrum L●●a. in. ca 14. Daniel. Miracle-monger setteth to sale for sound truths. It is not unlike, that this probationer hath taken up some store of them upon trust, and because he cannot now so cleanly put them to sale, but that they still he upon his hand, (the dullest scent finding that they have taken too much wind,) he therefore takes it in dudgeon that I should hinder his market by saying that o Reddere personae sci● cenuenientia cuique. Lypsius is worthy the reading by the fire side, when men roast crabs. This makes him as hot as a toast. This roasting of Crabs sets his teeth on edge. Do you see what a queasy stomach he hath? His p Et data Romanis venia est in digna poet●●. Poets and Painters may limb and feign, what ridiculous Chimeras they please, by virtue of his dispensation; But Sir Edward Hoby must be called in question, if he chance to clap a q Verbaque praevisam rem non invita sequuntur. wild phrase upon a vile fiction: As if I were now to learn of such an Hipodidascalian Pedagogue to r Quo scribi possunt numero, quove ordine dicam. measure my phrase by his s Sibi convenientia fingit. rule and line. Alas poor Novice, I have lived a little too long to go to school to such an Ignatius as he is, that cannot distinguish between a Helmet, and a Coventry cap. I have ever held it art enough, for me to please my t Quem penes arbitrium est, et ius, et forma loquendi. self; It is for such servile pens as his, to write in Mood and Figure: But doth he not (think you) deserve the wood of the Crabb, that is so angry with the Crab of the wood? Can you deny that he flutters in a web of foolish Baberies, when he babbles of bibling & taking u Nuga mea arguuntur, adeó factorum innocens sum. Tobacco. I am sure this is no mortal sin, though if it were, I have little reason to travel to the Pope's toe for a Pardon, no not if I were sure to have the paring of his nail with th' appurtenances for my pains. Shall I be so bold as to make you my confessors? Then I confess in my time I have not been an enemy to that Indian weed, and perhaps have spent somewhat that way, which had been better given to the poor. Yet my tenants cannot say, but that my attorneys did ever smoke more than my nose. As for these late years, I do not remember, that I had a pipe in my hand twice. So that the Informer may put up this jest in his box; If he be as free from all his old vices, and drunken conceits, as I am from this vanity, he shall not need any great penance. You may see how gladly he would find a hole in my coat, who catcheth so at a x Et fumus et fimus. vapour, which is long since flown out of his reach. § 12. THe next flaw which he finds is a Pag. 135. an imperfect Allegation of the same Father, without any direction where he might find it. In which he hath showed himself a very kind Adversary, by quoting the place, and adding the words which were wanting. I will not requite him with the Proverb, that proffered service merits small thanks: but in am of his labour, I will more fully advertise him of my scope, which he seems wholly to mistake. My purpose was from a ground out of Saint Augustine, to prove that the book of Maccabees is not Canonical. My Major is S. Augustine, as well known as the Beggar knoweth his dish, In libris Canonicis, nusquam nobis praeceptum, permissumué, etc. In holy Canonical Scripture there is no divine precept or permission to be found, that either to gain immortality or to escape any peril we may make away with ourselves: But Razias mentioned in the Maccabees, is commended for a fact of this kind: Ergo, These books are not Canonical. This Syllogism I had a desire to contract. b Artis est artem dissimulare. He is a simple Painter that is driven to write a Goose, or a Woodcock overhead, that people may know what feature he hath drawn underneath. Neither do Rhethoricians use to distinguish their propositions by name, leaveing work for the Logical Analysis, to set every part in the proper place: Wherhfore being then loath to be tedious to the Reader with long Quotations, I held it best to abridge two Authorities in one, and did forbear to note the places, because I was resolved to deliver the words by weight, and not by tale. The words by me delivered were these: In sanctis Canonicis libris nusquàm nobis divinitùs, praeceptum, permissumue reperiri potest, ut vel ipsius adipiscendae immortalitatis, vel ullius Carendi, Cavendique mali causa nobis ipsis necem inferamus. At Razias seipsum occidens laudatur. c Pag. 135. These four words (saith he) are added to the Text, S. Augustine hath them not. far was it from S. Augustine's gravity, to say, that Razias was therefore praised in the Maccabees; For he saith the contrary in express terms, in the very same place against Gaudentius. I will not be the man, that shall set S. Augustine at odds with S. Augustine. I could gladly have concealed it, if there be any such contradiction. But seeing he sues me to justify my Assumption, That Razias is therefore commended in the Maccabees, I must refer you to d Lyra in 2 Mach. 14. Lyra, 2 Mach. 14. Where having delivered two cases, wherein the jews held it not only lawful, but meritorious for a man to kill himself: as first, Ne subditus fieret peccatoribus: Secondly, Ne in contemptum Dei Coeli, eius vita in ludibrio haberetur: He concludes, Et ut dicunt aliqui, hoc modo intelligendum est dictum Augustini, quod habetur hic in Glossa: and, as some think, S. Augustine's saying, which followeth here in the Gloss, is thus to be understood. O that I could meet with that saying of S. Augustine, which I omitted to cite. Doth Lyra say, it followeth here in the Gloss? then will I presume so far upon your patience, as to write it out. e Lyra in Mach. l. 2. c. 14. unde & Scriptura huius Libri, quae recepta est ab Ecclesia ad legendum pro informatione morum, non videtur hic Raziam arguere, sed potiùs f Mark Mr. Rab●echeth. commendare, de sui ipsius interfectione. Si autem praedicta non sufficiunt ad eius excusationem, potest dici quod fecit hoc per spiritualem instinctum Spiritus Sancti: Whereupon the Scripture of this Book, which is received by the Church to be read, for the information of manners, doth not seem here to reprove Razias, but rather to commend him for killing of himself, etc. Now whether S. Augustine were of this mind or no, let it lie upon Lyraes' report, who here relateth, either the very words, or the received sense. Yet doth not this Sophister stick to say, It was far from his gravity, he read not that Book with so little sobriety. Howsoever, it is not much material, for having my Major out of S. Augustine, that in no Canonical Book there is either Precept or Permission for a man to kill himself, it is sufficient for me, to prove from the assent, even of the Rabbins, (albeit that Father had not jumped in this point, as he seems to do,) that Razias is here commended: and so may conclude, That they are not Canonical. How would this dizzy brained Ishmalite have insulted, had I noted S. Augustine, de Civitate Dei, in the Margin, for the whole, which error a man might easily have committed upon Lyraes' warrant, that my Clause and Minor Proposition, that Razias is therefore commended, was not only held by the opinion of the Rabbins, but even of Saint Augustine himself: Wherhfore as he hath found Saint Augustine for the first part, let him put Lyra to the last, and then I will pass my word, the Conclusion shall be free from his supposed collusion. Did I doubt of the agility of your apprehension, I could be more prolix in the explication thereof, but because I have another Crow to pull with him, I will no further enlarge my Apology in this point. § 13. THe last g Pag. 318. occasion which he pretends hath given him just cause to carp is, for that I said h To Mr. T.H. Pag. 92. our English nation was not converted unto Christ by that proud and insolent Augustine, their great Gregory's delegate: affirming that he taught us no more, than we knew before, setting some frivolous Ceremonies aside. Whereupon he enforceth, that I never read that Master-worke of the three Conversions of England, wherein the testimony of Guildas, by me cited, is largely handled and fully declared. Should I grant all, I cannot see what inconvenience will ensue. Is there no better employment of my time, than the perusal of that Arch-fugitives lines? Or hath none besides of their faction beaten this bush, and harped on the same string? Or am I in conscience bound to put the seal of my assent to whatsoever F. Parsons did write? I confess he acknowledgeth that Saint Peter was here, he mentioneth also (perhaps upon greater probability) the coming of Saint Paul, Simon Zelotes, Aristobulus, and Joseph of Arimathaea. Where do I say, that they weary the World, and bob their credulous Ladies, as if they never had heard of Gildas his Testimony? I never named their Author, nor questioned that matter. Howsoever it please him to join the pieces of two sentences together, which are almost a whole Page distant; and to fetch his Marginal Note 92. Pages off. Gildas his testimony (said I) hath been urged that the Britaines received the Christian Faith from the beginning, and after many such like Instances, I conclude that these particulars have been again and again renewed, without any verified contradiction; so far was I from denying that their Author mentioneth not these, whom I well know he hath particularly cited. That which I wondered at, was this, that notwithstanding the former instances by them not denied, they should stand so much upon the Conversion of England, by Saint Gregory's means; at which I only aimed, as if that original and primitive Conversion, had been a matter which they never heard of before. When they have made the best they can of it, it will prove at the most to be but a new supply, and a further propagation of the Gospel formerly preached among the Inhabitants of this Land. For, if Britain were many hundred years before that time converted (as themselves confess,) then did not Augustine lay the cornerstone himself, but built upon the Foundation of other men. So that the particulars were not by me specified, as if they denied them, but to prove from their own acknowledgement, that they had therefore little reason so to magnify the entrance of that Delegate, with the glorious style of the Conversion of this English Nation. § 14. NOw, whereas he further replieth, that the people of this Country (the Britain's being expelled) were then Heathen: I demand, whether he found not in Britain, at his Arrival, amongst the English Saxons, seven Bishops, and an Archbishop, who were not only Professors, but also Preachers of the Christian Faith? Were there not at that in the Monastery of Bangor two thousand Monks? Was not i Bed. lib. 1. c. 25 Q. Aldiberga a good Christian before he came into Kent? or had the Bishop her Chaplain no Faith at all? Will he not believe Bede, k L. 1. c. 17. who writeth that before Augustine's coming, the Britain's were infected with Arianisme and Pelagianisme? Perhaps this Cure deserved the name of a Conversion: yea, but Augustine was not the Physician. The Frenchmen (saith Bede) at the request of the Britain's, met in a Synod, and sent Germanus and Lupus, by whom the Heretics were confuted, and the ancient Faith revived, before that Monk set foot upon English ground. But because he is so confident in the three Conversions, as if that Mallet were able to strike all dead, let him learn from his own Author, that which I believe he will be scarce willing to hear, viz. l Part. 1. c. 9 n. 1. That from the time of K. Lucius, until the coming of Augustine, which was four hundred year and more, they did not alter their Faith, but it remained among them when he entered. What is now become of this goodly Conversion? Dares he let his witness be examined any further? That Faith (saith he) which Augustine brought, and that which the Britain's had before, must needs be one and the self-same in all material and substantial Points. We shall not need to urge him with further Interrogatories, the jewrie sees he fails in this Issue, and therefore their verdict will be, that It was only a superficial, and no substantial Conversion. Hath he not now brought his Hogs to a fair Market? Hath he read the Book of the three Conversions? The case is so clear now, that his m Mulier nihil scit, nisi quod ipsa cupit. Ladies shall be able to conceive it. But suppose it were a Conversion, I hope they presume so far upon Augustine's honesty, that he would not broach any other Faith, then that which his Master, by whom he was sent, had given him in charge. If so, what will become of the Pope's Supremacy, Images, Merits of works, and the like trash; which that n Catholic appeal for Protestants. Way to the Chur. Sect. 49. Gregory was so far from countenancing by his authority, that he disclaimed by his Pen? So that if he were a Founder, yet was it not of that Faith, which the B. of Rome's Proctors do now so stiffly maintain: and consequently this imaginary Supposition will bruise their own Pates. But how shall I then scape his hands for wronging Augustine? He cannot endure to hear him termed a proud and insolent Delegate: indeed, were my Malice the Mynter of this contumelious reproach, I confess he had no reason to stand with his finger in his mouth; but he might have done well before he had grown into such a choler, to have taken Counsel of the Britain BB. o L. 2. C. 2. Bede would have informed him how Lordly he sat in his Chair, like a little Pope, p Vultus animi index. neither arising nor bowing to the BB. when they came into the Synod, more like a Lord, having dominion of their Faith, than a Converter, beseeching them in the Name of the Lord jesus. Those BB. were not so simple, but they could q Ex ungue Leonem. discover his Pride, and therefore endeavoured to overthwart him in whatsoever he proposed. Well did his Master perceive his ambitious spirit, when he gave him this cooling Card touching the BB. of France; r Greg. resp. ad inter. Aug. Bed. l. 1. c. 27. In Galliarum Episcopos, nullam tibi authoritatem tribuimus: We give you no authority over them. All this notwithstanding, I must have my lips sealed, not daring to say, that He was a proud insolent Delegate. I see no reason why vitium and convitium should be parted: seeing he deserved it, he is best worthy to have it. Were I now in his case, I should be in a pitiful fear lest the Noble Ladies, whom he hath so grossly deluded, should like so many Hecuba's, seek some violent revenge: what starting hole can there be possibly found, to hide these his writing falsifications from their curious eyes? when they shall perceive how he conjures my sentences together, to raise his own sense, he may well think their Contributions will be soon shortened, and Exhibitions revoked: far is it from their generous dispositions to give encouragement to any such audacious Vassal, in the causeless traducing of a Knight, to whom their Honours is no less dear than his own. § 15. IF he have any Plea for himself, it will be this; that s Pag. 133. 135 22. 218. etc. he doth not charge the Knight with these ignorant and impudent corruptions: No, he thinks not so dishonourably of men of my calling; he aims only at the Minister that suggested unto me these corrupted pieces of Saint Augustine. His purpose was only to gall those Pedanties, Trencher-Schoole-Masters, and humorizing Discoursers, that cast such Flies and follies upon my Trenchers: If he have taxed me with ignorance, that is pardonable in a Knight: but as for notorious falsehoods, he is so charitably persuaded of me, that he knows some Trencher-Minister, or Mercenary Lecturer, (yea, Mr. Crashawe himself, who is great in my Book,) hath cast them on my Trencher, to put into my Book: and that these Ministers have made me print such stuff, either false, or impertinent, with the loss of my Honour, which had I seen their Books I would never have done against my Conscience and knowledge. Adding further, that what I have written, it hath been by their suggestions, as having myself not read, nor known so much as the subject and Argument of the three Conversions of England, which I seem to speak against: and that these are the men that made me fly hoodwinked to catch Flies. In fine, as for any thing that he hath written, it was to no other end, but that I might no longer trust my Trencher-Schoole-Masters, but set such a frown upon them, that they might vanish out of my sight for ever; not suffering myself to be thus troubled, and my Credit blown up, but rather to lay the matter of the Pamphlet upon the true Father, only challenging to myself the Style and Phrase which may well beseem a Knight, and is too rich and golden to cloth the foul Brat of a Ministers Brain. Thus doth he plead without his Fee, making the Salve worse than the (t) Cauda & capite mendacium graviter ferit. Sore: first, treading on my Toe, and then crying me mercy: but the best is, I am not troubled with Corns, or if I were, I would soon cut them out. What he strives to persuade the world with my disability, I am not so (u) Conuitia hominum turpium laudes puta. popular much to heed: neither can his (x) Cani latranti praeda facilè, elabitur. snarling surmises abate one grain of my esteem. My eyes are not yet, I thank God, so dim, but that I am able to read; nor my apprehension so dull, but that I can understand, not only the Argument, but even the most artificial conveyance of the best of their Works. Upon my life he hath been an old notorious Truant: Had he made (y) Sic vos non vobis. his own Exercises when he went to School, he would never have been so suspicious of my Penne. Is it not strange such a Dotterel, should so presume of his own wit, as if he were able to woo me to divide mine own child? I assure me, that all that know me, will undertake I was not from home when it was begotten. How easily would I have believed him upon his word, that there was no hand in the building of his (z) Nec oleum, nec operam sapit. Pinnace, but his own; yet will not he take my (a) Ego credidi ancillae tuae, tu non credis mihi ipsi? hand for the naturalizing of my own Lines, which as I had strength to beget, so doubt I not to find stock to maintain. Were I so happy to see him at my (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Table, (which runs much in his mind) I presume I should so set his tongue a-work, that he should do me little harm with his teeth. He should perhaps then find, that I am yet able to cite more than a piece of Augustine, without a Prompter; and to cast such a Bone upon his Trencher, that with all the dogs teeth he hath, he should hardly pick. I have seen in my time, as tall a Logician as he, glad to scratch the best paul he had for an answer. As I was ever different from their humour who love to eat their morsels (c) Vbi solitudo ibi solicitudo. alone, so hath it ever been my desire to converse with men of the (d) Plenum Theatrum est vir bonus, viro bono. best parts, that so I might by their readings better myself. And if at any time I met with a hard knot, he was the best welcome to me, that could help me soonest to unloose it. Never did I trust so much to mine own Apprehension, but that I was well content to have it either confirmed, or rectified by better judgements. If this be a fault, I wish from my heart it were the greatest my adversaries knew by me, or I by myself. § 16. I Do not read in Gellius that there was any fault found in Gracchus, albeit he came not at any time to make an Oration to the people without his Minstrel, who by the sound of his (e) Fistula Concionatoris. Pipe, did set him a right and just Key for the elevating or depressing of his voice. When I was an Eaton-Scholar, I learned out of Lucian's Dialogues, that jupiter was feign to send for Vulcan and his hatchet, before Pallas could come into the world: So that I cannot well discern what reason he hath to debar me of that conference at my Board, which their own Doctors have in their Libraries. If happily I did move a Question, how S. Augustine was in such a place to be understood, it did argue my (f) Plus vident oculi quam oculus. care in sounding the depth of the River, before I launched my Bark into the Stream. I was ever of Demosthenes' mind in this, that my writings should not only smell of the (g) Lucernam olet. Lamp, but if it were possible, be engraven also in (h) Atilan ok dunmes. Marble. But that I ever suffered my Pen to be guided, or my course overruled by any other Pilot than my own Genius, were he not a mere stranger to my proceed, he would never be so shameless as to aver. Though it be my error, yet I must needs say, I could never endure to let my Clerk pass any Letter, but from my own mouth: And should the greatest Architect in the Land, give me a plot for a building, I am verily persuaded, I should in the end take a clean contrary course. When I can hardly please myself, it will be a matter of more difficulty for others to give me content. Every man (as I take it) hath his proper (i) Quot capita, tot 〈…〉. vein: for my particular I dare say, it is unpossible for the palate of my fancy, to be fitted by any other Cook than myself. Should I have either an Adjutor, or Supervisor, in any work I undertake, I think it would prove little better than the confusion of Babel: We should sooner fall together by the ears, then bring the Treatise to an end. The short is, I am Homo perpaucorum hominum, though seeming a Widower, yet contracted to Mris. Folly: I can gladly hear what others will say, yet when it comes to the point, I love to do what (k) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. likes myself best. Wherhfore he hath taken wrong course, to wound M. Crashawe (a man with whom I never had the least domestic converse,) through my sides. § 17. AND as for House- Pedants, Trencher-Schoole-Masters, and Mercenary-Lecturers, he that reads my bitter (yet just) l To Mr. T. H. Pag. 24. invective against them, will think they have as little reason to assist me, as I to trust them. Wherhfore I cannot guess, why he should cast this foggy mist of misprision before the eyes of the world: (ever and anon coming in with A Minister of his own making,) unless it were covertly to upbraid me, for meddling in Theological affairs, as better beseeming a Minister then a Knight. Herein though I could instance in persons of greater place, even in former ages, who by publishing their labours in the like subject, were so far from reproof, that they were much more honoured by men of the Church: yet had I rather repair for defence to my own Studies, which (setting some fantastical years aside) hath for the most part been spent in divine Authors. My (m) Ditescit cui Christus dulcescit. Patrimony (God be thanked) being competent, I endeavoured rather the search of my content, than my profit. And what greater contentation can there be, than the contemplation of (n) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. heavenly things? If he say, I might have kept my Candle under my own Bushel, I must answer that his opinion is no Oracle: for besides some other private motives, I held it not inexpedient, even in this regard, that the truth might be defended by persons whose pens could not be corrupted with ambitious hope of (o) Because (saith he) they have no other means to live. Pag. 31. spiritual promotions. Further, the report of the Writer might happily induce the Ladies to vouchsafe the reading thereof, whereas their Priests debars them the sight of our Ministers Books. I was loath such rare creatures should be over gudgeoned by so foul Popinians, by whom, when their treasure is once wasted, and their younger years spent, they shall be no more esteemed, then so many Motheeaten Glosses: which (albeit they have formerly stood them in stead) they are not now ashamed to disclaim. Other incitements I had then to write, which he hath neither authority to extort, nor I reason to declare. And because I then passed my word, to answer any (p) To Mr. T. H. Pag. 6. Romefied Renegado, though I have small reason to defile my fingers with such a Pezantique Fugitive, who is ashamed of his q Les escrits iniurieux doiuent estre mesprises quand les auteurs sont in cogneus. P. Mat. Father's name: yet lest my silence might prejudice so warrantable a cause, I have clapped my hand upon this Gnat, which keepeth such an humming about my ears. This I was not ignorant of before I took my pen in hand for this combat, that I should gain no more by coping with a nameless Foe, than the Lord Chief justice (r) Not long after the Statute made for burning of rogues in the ear. Catiline got, when his Study was rob, by the paper which was there left, with this Inscription: If any ask who hath been here, Say it was (s) I. R. Nomen & ●●en. jack Rogue late burnt in the ear. §. 18. A Person not long since of eminent place, esteemed not least Political, after he had been often (as himself saith) vexed with their (t) Quò tristis Erynnis, quò fremitus vocat. Virg. 2. Aeneid. erynnical Libels, (which are ordinarily addressed to persons of highest rank) at last vouchsafed a brief (u) An Answer to certain scandalous Papers, printed 1606. Apologetical answer; but with this protestation, that he never intended further Reply. Wherhfore, as while he lived, Nature cast this lot upon me, to be one of the nearest of his blood; so though he be dead, I will jump with his discretion in this, that if either this Cat-sputtrer, or any other Hagaren shall hereafter inter-lace my name in their Spider's Web, (x) Periti bellatoris est, non minus scire fugiendi artem quam pugnandi. aut Dormitabo, aut Ridebo. Were not the darkness of my (y) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Windows a sufficient Supersedeas, yet shall I by this means turn their Follies and frivolous Contumelies into the Trophies of my victorious Patience. Whereas, (z) Prou. 26.4. By answering a fool according to his foolishness, I should also be held like unto him. It is more then enough, that I have thus far yielded to (a) Pag. 52. bray him in this Mortar, with the Pestle of my Pen; if the juice be unpleasing, you must attribute it to the venom of his cankered Complexion: better things I could not extract from such an Asp. If you seriously observe his lame and gouty Arguments, his dangerous intention, and slender prosecution, you shall find just ground to say of his Treatise, as (b) Populi Romani legationem, nec pedes, habere, nec caput, nec cor. Cato merrily spoke of the three Ambassadors, who being named for Bithynia, excused themselves; one by a cut in his head, another with a pain in his feet, and the third with a griping in his heart: neither whole head, good feet, nor sound heart. § 19 IN his Preface Dedicatory, he brags, that he hath sent out his Book, as a Pinnace, to fetch you into the Ark of the Catholic Church: But I fear by that time Mr. Crashawe hath searched his bottom, it will prove no better than a leaking Friggot. His Sails are too great for a Vessel of so small burden, and consequently most like to endanger the Passengers safety. If all those Books, which he complains are not suffered to pass our (c) Pag. 89. Ports (except almost invisible) be like this (d) Pag. 8 Dunghill of his, let it ever be registered in the Book of fame, amongst the due Commendations of that famous, superlatively learned, and Noble (e) Lo. Warden of the Cincque Ports. Councillor, to whose care this important charge is committed; that he hath herein testified his love to Religion, fidelity to his Prince, and loyalty to the State: As his wisdom deserves to be admired, and his lenity applauded, so doth his sincerity herein merit high renown in the Gates of our Zion. For should the infectious Manuels' of these pestilent incrochers be passable in our Coast, the contagion would be such, that true Piety could not long hold up the head, nor due Allegiance be able to stand upon her right feet. The giddiness which (f) Superstitio initium prabuit, & ortum impietati. Superstition would breed, and the Disobedience which Papal Authority would raise in the minds of the unlearned, whose Capacities are not able to reach the future peril of Innovation, would be so dangerous to a Christian, and well governed State, that it would ask the whole employment of the most experienced Senators, to root out the weeds which those envious imps had sown. All which will be prevented if at their first Arrival they be cast (g) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. I shall not need any further to weary myself, or tire you, with the repelling of those invectives which this Tenebrio hath sharpened upon the Whetstone of his malice, to wound my reputation. This shall I hope suffice, that I have as near as I could, solidly answered things of weight, dealing in points of lesser import, as I thought their quality did require. § 20. THE due regard which I ever had of your judgements (having myself been sometimes an unworthy member of the same (h) Middle Temple. Society) hath made me desirous not only to send my Defence after his accusations, but also to second it with a further manifestation of my love. May it then please you to take notice, that howsoever he seek to insinuate himself by his charitable pretences into the bosom of your favours, yet hath he not left his (i) Loquitur mendacia versipellis. Pag. 12. Scorpions sting at home: For notwithstanding he fathers his Dedication upon the (k) Pag. 22. careful respect of your Salvation and Honour, yet doth he make no other reckoning of you, then of so many (l) Pag. 81. Parlamentarians, whose Religion is steered by the Helm of the State, as if the Books of Statutes were the sole foundations of your Faith. Neither doth he stick to say that you make your (m) Pag. 59 Temples and Courts the places where silly Flies and fools are caught, by your example as with a stolen drawing others into the Snare. If this be the honour he bestows upon his friends, I will never be importunate with him to grace me. Do you remember what Gracchus said to a fellow that spoke in disgrace of the virtuous Matron, his Mother Cornelia? (n) Eras. Apoth. Tune, inquit, Corneliam vituperare audes, que Tyberium peperit? Dare thou (saith he) traduce her, who brought so famous a Son as Tiberius? The like answer might I retort in the teeth of this Thersites. Is he not past all hope of future ingenuity, that fasteneth his taunt upon the venerable Mother of so many honourable Sons, saying, (o) Pag. 22. That she is more full of Cobwebs than any other place? Did Scipio Nascica ask one which had a tough and rough hand, (p) Rogavit hominem, num manibus ambularet. whether he used to go upon his hands? then, should he have seen the brazen forehead of this saucy Malapert, he might justly have demanded whether he hath not customarily crept upon his face. It is well known to the Christian world, that these your famous Courts have brought forth, even in these latter years, as many (q) Tanquam eu Eque Treiane. sage Councillors of State, religious judges, gallant Courtiers, learned Pleaders, and worthy Gentlemen, as the Sun ever saw. In which number I may both for his merit, and my respect, name that truly Noble Peer the Lo. Elmsmere, in whom it is hard to say, whether wisdom in the decision, or integrity in the impartial execution of justice have the priority. Well do I assure myself, he would neither spare his authority, nor forbear his best means to keep Spiders from breeding, and Cobwebs from growing in those Courts, wherein himself hath spent much time, and gained so great renown. So that the Fan of truth which he offereth to cleanse your Temples, may better be reserved by him, either to keep off the Moths from the old Glosses, or the Flies from the Priest's (r) Post sumptos Calices oscula musca dabit. lips: Herein you may do the Pope yeoman service indeed. § 21. A Greater Commendations there cannot be unto you that are Students, and Professors of the Laws of the Realm, then to manifest the sincere affection you bear to true Religion, by your liberal Contributions to such as may instruct you in the Laws of God. The quarrel he picks with you about this, will more deeply imprint the Characters of your praise. Should you pass the presentation to him, who can tell what Lecturer he would nominate? No doubt he would come in with, Ego Ishmael Rabsbacheh, (s) Pag. 149. Domino Deo nostro Papa à scandalis praesento vobis, dilectum commilitonem meum (t) I. R. Ischarioth de Rubigine, quemscio Homilistam esse egregium, Bibulum celeberrimum, Cantoremque non vulgarem, idque vobis meâ, fidê praesto, totique contubernio. Yea marry, here is a fine Demi-lance for the nonce: here is one that will be the foremost attendant upon my Lo. of the Revels; He will never hold you a quarter after the glass is run. But can you guess what Countryman he is? For his life he is not able to pronounce (u) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shibboleth. Why then, you will none of him! O beware of a quare impedit. But the best is, you have the Law in your hands. You have a purse privilege to be your own Carvers. If the worse come that can, you may dismiss him to serve the Cure at Pemblico: and so perhaps you may regain your old choice. Yea, but Mr. Crashawe hath committed such an error, as deserveth deprivation ipso facto: Wots you what? in his jesuits Gospel he makes (x) Pag. 76. Dux Cleri to be the Pope's chiefest title: which (if we may believe our Informer) was never given him by any Catholic, but rather belongs to the Lo. of Canterbury. I will not be so curious to stand upon the number of 666. thence collected; but, set that aside, I dare say; Crux Cleri had been the better word for the Pope: and yet to meet with him at the rebound, I hold Dux Cleri to be but a part of my Lo. Grace's Title, who by the goodness of his affable disposition, bounty in Hospitality, painfulness in preaching, and dexterity in the dispatch of all occurrences, hath well deserved the Style of Lux Cleri, as being such a light in Choro & Foro, that if a man should search (like Diogenes) amongst all the Cardinals, he should miss of his match. So that me thinks the matter need not be held so heinous, if he have taken that part which my Lord might best spare, to pay the Pope more than his due. I see there is then no great reason of complaint: what other Cavils they have against him, I am neither so acquainted with the proceed, nor interested in the cause, to debate. Touching myself, (all due reservation remembered) I conclude with him, whose questionable authority hath bred these broils: (y) Mach. l. 2. c. 15. v. 39 If I have done well, and as the matter required, it is the thing that I desired: but if I have written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, slenderly and barely, it is that (which on the sudden) I could. Howsoever, you must accept it, as dedicated to your service. From james Park, june 21. 1613. Edward Hoby.