THE ANSWER OF A Protestant Gentleman IN IRELAND, TO A Late LETTER from N. N. Upon a late DISCOURSE between Them concerning the present Posture of That Country, and the Part fit for Those concerned There, to Act in it.  Licenced and Entered according to Order. 
LONDON: Printed for Ric. Chiswell, at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church Yard. MDCLXXXIX.   

THE ANSWER OF A Protestant Gentleman in Ireland, etc.  
SIR,  
SINCE you cannot help it, but are pushed on by a fatal Necessity, I will not wonder that you add so scurrilous a Letter to so insipid a Discourse.  
If the Notions that have troubled your Head, had evaporated in that Noddle that first conceived them, I apprehend no Damage could have accrued to me by the Disappointment: and you might with safety have appeased the Twinges of your tender Conscience, without discovering so little regard to common Honesty. I am obliged to you, for the Liberty you give me, to make what use of them I please; the Choice is easily determined, I know what use to make of waste Paper. But I crave leave to disagree with your Judgement; since I cannot understand your Arguments so cogent, or your Design so ingenious, To put me in the right way te keep my Estate in Ireland however you cajole me with a complimental Acknowledgement of a former Welcome there. As you need not tell me the Danger it is in; so there is no necessity to delude me with improper Directions, how to escape it; wishing that the way were plainly seen, and yet plainly wishing that I may not take it. When you pretend to be plainer, you appear to me to be most intricate; for what can you mean by the two pretending Kings to Ireland? Certainly, it must be James and Lewis; and I am fully satisfied, that which soever of those two sides I take, I take the unjust side, and really deserve to lose my Estate. Your Conviction has no more Influence on me, than your Conversion; and though with a Jesuitical Equivocation, you flatter the Protestant Interest, yet secretly and sl●ly you promote the Popish Intrigue.  
I might turn the Point upon you and retort your own Words, [I do not engage in the Point of Right and Wrong between King James, and King William, which of those has the best Title to this Crown; or rather, which has a Title, and which has not;] but your Language is so foul, so malapert, so impudent, that it cannot be repeated without the danger of Infection. For who but a profligate Wretch, case-hardned with a Popish Zeal, and Superstition, durst belch out so uncharitable a Censure on those glorious Adventurers who contributed to the miraculous restitution and re-establishment of the Protestant Religion under a Protestant King and Queen? But now the Vizor is off, it is no longer Popery in masquerade, the Jesuit is bare-faced; no man, but one trained in that diabolical Discipline, would presume to asperse the happy Actors in the late Settlement, with those odious Terms of Falseness, Weakness, and Baseness; and so profanely scoff at a Reformation of the Lord's doing. Were there any other Advantage to be gained by the Wager, than your yielding that whole Proceeding to be lawful and just; I could as positively lay my Bet, That the first Contrivers and Promoters of it were principally guided by a Care and Concernment for the Established Religion, and not animated to it by those disingenuous Motives of Revenge, Advantage, or Ambition: But so bold and base an Assertion, so contrary to Truth, Sense, and Experience [that Religion is in a worse condition, than it could have been put by King James as long as he could have lived] deserves no Reply, but a Whip and a Scourge: so saucy and virulent an Expression [that the whole Proceeding is the blackest and foulest that ever shown its Face in the World, not excepting that against King Charles the First] is not to be answered with Patience. Nevertheless, I will for once play the Stoic, and calmly reason the Case with you. Either you grossly equivocate, or you speak nothing to the Purpose; if by Religion you mean your own, and the Popish Persuasion, it is very palpable that it is in a worse condition, than King James would have put it: if you mean the Protestant Religion, how can you with that Confidence aver it to be in a worse condition? Are the Bishops imprisoned, indicted, and tried for Actions merely moral, and conscientious? Are the Heads and Members of Colleges arbitrarily turned out, and the Fountains of Learning tainted by Romish Poison? Are any Sort or Party of Protestants discountenanced? Are Employments Civil and Military taken from men, because they will not truckle to the Determinations of a Popish Council, or stisle the Inspirations of a good Conscience, by the prospect of a good Place? Are there any Popish Chapels open, or Jesuitical Schools and Seminaries permitted in the Land? Does the King browbeat his Dependants for not following him to the Mass? or the Ministers of State make the Roman Catholic Profession the End and Pledge of your Advancement? Do the Court-Agitators put a Muzzle upon your Reason, or infringe your natural Privilege of ? Or have you been Closeted, and obliged to give your Vote against the Dictates of your Judgement? Is there a Mass openly celebrated in the Kingdom, a Jesuit to be found, or a Friar to be seen? If not, how ridiculous is the Comparison? How senseless the Presage? The Protestant Religion is now become the National and Universal Profession, cherished by the King, encouraged by the Parliament; in the late Reign it was clouded, despised, and rendered altogether unfashionable, and in all probability would have been quite extinguished, if James, your King, had long lived so. And now let us consider the Circumstances of King Charles the Martyr, and his Apostate Son; and look into the Parallel of their several Sufferings. The one of an Angelic Life, the Pattern of Goodness, and Mirror of Virtue; who lived a Saint, and died a Confessor; it will be undecent to reflect upon the Immoralities of a Prince; turn the end of the Perspective, and all considerate Men will agree in the Character of the other. The one indeed was accused openly, Things laid to his Charge that he knew not, persecuted and deserted by the predominant Party of his Subjects, and cut off by a Form of Law and Justice: the other had his Accusation legibly stamped on all his Actions, by the Breach of Promises, the eluding of Oaths, and the Infraction, or Suspension of the Municipal Laws of the Kingdom; he affronted and cast off his best and truest Subjects, he deserted the Throne, and by a spontaneous Act Abdicated the Government; he was neither imprisoned nor restrained, but by his Flight he justly incurs the Gild of those Crimes which an inward Witness confronted him with, and which the Modesty as well as Prudence of the Government has forborn to make public, since it is not the Custom of England to try and condemn the absent, or to execute men in Effigy: and if such men [whom he hath raised from nothing, and done such singular kindness to] preferred their Religion and the Salvation of their Souls, before the servile Compliance with an Idolatrous Worship, and supporting the Tyranny of a Bigoted Zealot, and Inflexible Votary to the Church of Rome; in my Opinion they deserve to be placed in the first Rank of good Patriots and Champions for the Liberty and Prosperity of their Country. And if the Government be so tender of the Honour of an Abdicated Prince, as not to publish what they know concerning the suspected Birth of the Prince of Wales; the Secret League with France, etc. let it not be imputed to shame or Defect of Evidence; do not dare or defy them to do such a thing, lest that may fall out, which has often happened to an insulting and unprovoked Challenger. Your Similes about setting Fire to a Part of the House, may pass for very Elegant; but let me retort the Allegory, and ask you, what say you to him, that sets Fire to the whole House, and runs away by the Light of it? For such Papers as are writ on this Subject, I willingly remit you to hug yourself in the Delight you take in them, and entreat you at the next Edition, to affix to them your Imprimatur.  
And now let us join Issue; let us (to use your Metaphor) open the Tables, and try the several Games that are to be Played; or to humour your Conceit, let us take out the Dice, and either play at In and In with one of the Kings; or at Hazard, if the contrary side should prevail. Most Judicious Sir! I do admire your Logical Head, which way you could find out such extraordinary Remarks, as have escaped the Curiosity of others! You begin Hypothetically, you conclude Dogmatically, and you proceed all the way Fallaciously. If the Protestants of Ireland side with King James, and King William prevail, how can you be certain that King William cannot make them suffer with any face of Law, Equity, Conscience or Policy? To me it appears quite otherwise; for though you beg the question in your Parenthesis, and positively pronounce that King James has not Abdicated the Government of Ireland; all Men that know the Constitution of that Kingdom, and its subordinate Dependence upon England, will spit Contradictions in your face, and inform the World, that when the Parliament of England have declared the Throne vacant, and placed the Regal Diadem on King William, it will neither be against Law, nor Equity, to punish such persons as voluntarily and wittingly adhere to King James, with loss of life, and Confiscation of their Estates. Neither is the case the same as was in England, so long as King James was actually King, no man was blamed for serving under his Command, nor obnoxious to Punishment for being faithful to him; but when he is actually deprived of his Regality, and had abandoned the Government, when King William is in Possession of the Throne, and publicly proclaimed both in England and Ireland, according to your Position, Law, Equity, and Conscience, are of the side of the lawful King (i. e. of him whom the Legislative Power of the Land has constituted King) at least as long as he is possessed.  
In the next Paragraph you have conjured up a Spirit, which with all your skill you cannot exorcise; you have started an Objection, which with all your Sophistry you cannot answer. The Right and Power of England in and over the Kingdom of Ireland is unquestionable, no King of England, since the Conquest of it, ever went into Ireland to be Crowned; but by the assumption of the Crown here, he is ipso facto become King there. Certainly if you were conversant in the History and Laws of Ireland, you would never amuse the World with such frivolous questions. You would know that the Parliament of England can oblige Ireland by an Act inclusive, that by special words the Parliament of England may bind the Subjects of Ireland, vid. Cook. 4. Institut. 350. That Appeals are made from thence to the Parliament here; that the Privy Council can summon Offenders before them, that the Judges of the King's Bench can remand the Hearing of Causes by Writs of Error. Nay, the Parliament of Ireland are so subjected to the Power of England by poinding's Law, made in the Tenth of Henry the Seventh, that they have not the power of an ordinary Grand-Jury in making Presentments, a Bill cannot be brought into the House, before it is approved by the Council in England, and Enrolled in the Chancery there; so that if the Parliament in England cannot lay a Tax upon the Estates in Ireland (which for the Honour of my Country, I will neither determine nor dispute) yet it is apparent by all Histories and Records, they may do things of a higher nature, and settle the Throne of Ireland by an Authority paramount to theirs; (though it has been usual to make a Recognition of the Regal Title in that Kingdom in their proper Parliament, in imitation and concurrence with what is done in this) and the same indubitably will be practised, whensoever King William shall be established in the Possession of that forlorn Country.  
You cavil and banter, when you set the Convention against the Parliament, and the Prince of Orange against King William. The Lord Keeper has the same Authority as the Lord Chancellor, though not so great a Title; the Convention and the Parliament are different terms, one Latin, the other French; but their Power and Jurisdiction the same. When we say, the Three Estates convened in Parliament, is not the Convention in the Parliament, and the Parliament consisting of the Convention of the Three Estates? There must be no long Vacancy in the Throne, the King never dies, but upon the Natural, or Civil Death, or departure of the Regnant Prince, the Throne must be immediately filled, and when the Prince of Orange is solemnly proclaimed, and placed in the Throne, and Crowned King; he is a Rebel and a Traitor that questions his Right, or opposeth his Government.  
You rear the Fabric of your Discourse upon a false foundation, you gull the people by a subdolous Supposition, That King James is lawfully possessed of the Kingdom of Ireland. You may as well be an Advocate for the French King, and assert his Right to Alsatia, Lorraine, and many Towns in Flanders, because he is possessed of them by force; you may as well plead for his Brother the Great Turk, and justify his Usurpation of all the Christian Territories. About November last you might have said such things without control: He was then the Regnant King, and though by his Religion he was uncapable to hold the Reins of Government, yet before Conviction and Sentence, no man taxed his Disability; though by his Violation of Oaths, Subversion of the Laws, and Arbitrary Intrusion on the Subject's Properties, be justly forfeited his right to rule; yet no man resisted him. But now when out of a secret Gild he hath withdrawn himself, and without compulsion abdicated the Government, when the Legislative Power hath excluded and dethroned him, and have actually placed the Crown of England, and its dependant Ireland, upon the head of another; he that will own James to be still the King, deserves to be exploded at Newgate, and confuted at Tyburn. But if King James should prevail, and keep the possession of Ireland, (whereof by the treacherous dissimulation of his Deputy Tyrconnel, and the assistance of his French Myrmidons, he has already too great a share) it is easy to see how it is likely to far with those who pretend to set up King William, and if they must claim no better Title or Security for their Lives and Estates, than what they must be obliged to his mercy and kindness for, the consequence is obvious; it will prove the Transcript of the horrible Persecutions in France (far transcending all those of the Heathen Emperors put together) the Dragoons will tread the Stage, and react those Tragical Barbarities on the Scene of Ireland. Can we expect any other Answer or Usage than the Protestants of Suffolk received from Queen Mary, whom they placed on the Throne, when the Papists had set up the Lady Jane Grey? Or any other return than the French Tyrant hath made to his Subjects of the Reformed Religion, for establishing his Title against all other Pretenders? Consider the Proceed of the Emperor Ferdinand the Second, and then tell me if any man in his senses ought to rely on the Word and Promise of a Popish Prince made to his Heretical Subjects. He was famous under the advantageous Characters of Piety, Probity, Virtue, a zealous Son of the Holy Church: His Protestant Subjects continued faithful to him, and did not adhere to King Frederick, though a Protestant Prince, and chosen King by the States of Bohemia; yet when he became Master of the Country by his Victory at Prague, he handled them with equal cruelty and severity, as those who had sided with Frederick, only he allowed them this hard choice, either to change their Religion within three Months, or to departed the Kingdom: Nay, when he had solemnly promised, and sworn to observe the Articles agreed between him and the Elector of Saxony, in favour of the Lutherans (many of whom had served in that Army which reduced Bohemia to his Obedience) yet so soon as he saw himself in a condition to need no more of their service, he was absolved from the obligation of his Promises by the Bishop of Aversa, and thereupon they were all banished, as well as the most obnoxious. And by the way observe, the Protestant profession was the established Religion of Bohemia, as firmly settled as Imperial Edicts could make it, no less publicly professed and generally settled in that Kingdom, than it was in Ireland; notwithstanding within a few years the Protestant Religion was wholly extinguished, by the Violations made on their Laws, Liberty, and Property, by this pious Emperor Ferdinand the Second, contrary to all solemn Engagements, Promises, and public Faith.  
The rest of your Argument will prove a trifle, if the matter be stated right, you insist upon the Dispute between King William and King James, but take no notice of him that sits behind the Curtain, that when the Gamesters have tried their luck, intends to sweep away the Stakes. If King James retain his Usurped Dominion, it is but to be Tributary to the French King, and what must the Protestants expect under his Protection, but Rapes, Robberies, Murders, and utter desolation, and destruction? If King William prevail and recover Ireland, (as well we may hope, since God is on his side) Reason and Justice will incline him to call them to account, who have abetted the Irish French Interest, and then perhaps your Terra firma will be shaken, and you may look for a Reprisal in Utopia, or New Atlantis.  
It is not to be wondered at that you who were wont to ridicule the Popish Plot, should pretend a disbelief of the intended Massacre in Ireland. Those whom you call timorous and unthinking people, had more wit than to believe themselves in safety under a Popish Government, they withdrew their persons and their effects in time, while many thousands of credulous men, cheated by the specious pretences, and horrible Imprecations of Tyrconnel (never true to his word, but in his appointed days to Assault and ruin the Prorestants) and amused by the mistaken policy of the through paced professors of Religion; continued there, till they were driven to the pinching Dilemma, of Complying or Starving. And now, in the Name of God, why should any considerate Man doubt the design of the Papists to enslave the British, to destroy the Religion, and utterly to exterminate the Protestants, either gradually, or by an universal Massacre? Why were Arms secretly bought up, and an unusual Furniture of Chain-Bridles provided by some of the Irish Clergy? Why was London-Derry to be possessed by a multitude of Highlanders and Papists on the 7th. of December last, but in order to that bloody Design to be perpetrated on the 9th. Did not Tyrconnel about that time give Commissions (only upon a bare Letter from his Master) to raise 40000 Men, and distributed above 50000 Arms? Were not the New Officers to maintain their Troops and Companies by such a proportion of Beef, Mutton, and Meal for Three Months; and did they not raise that supply by Robbing the British? Were not the Protestants in Munster plundered? The whole Province of Canaght pillaged? All Arms and Horses forcibly taken from the Inhabitants of Dublin and forty Miles round it? Is not Ulster (who upon the News of the Barbarous proceed in the other Provinces Armed and got together for their self Defence) almost totally overrun by the insulting Enemy, their Houses and Estates taken from them, their Tenants beggared, and themselves forced to seek a Refuge in England, and Scotland? Have not many Protestants been Murdered, some by Rage, and some by a Form of Law? Have not others been cheated by the Trick of Protections, while the Officers defend them from the Rapine of the Army, but expose them to the Fury of the Rabble? May not any Man of common sense, the most Ignorant in all Ireland, plainly see (to retort your own Words) the Massacring the English would make Room for the French, and unite all Papists under the Obedience of King Lewis? And if so, can any Man with Reason condemn those that have escaped from Ireland, or advise those that remain there to justify, and support the Brace of Usurpers.  
Hitherto you have vented your Spleen, and uttered many undecent Reflections on the King and Parliament; but now you Attack us with an ungentile Exprobration of our present Necessities. Tho' our Rents do not come out of Ireland after us, but are intercepted by such as have no Right to them; yet we may live, the generous people of England will not let us starve, we are not in the least doubt but King William will provide handsome subsistence for us, according to our several Capacities. We are proud that so Illustrious a person as my Lord Hallyfax will vouchsafe to solicit for us, and hope it will be to better purpose, than the Negotiation of Father Peter, or my Lord Powis Solicitation for you. If Lieutenant General Hamilton has neglected his Honour and Engagement, and contributed to the destruction of his Countrymen; I hope Monsieur d'Avaux will Reward him according to his merits. For my part I do intent to spend my time in London, till the Kings Commands oblige me to be elsewhere, and I do not fear that it shall ever be in the power of King James to punish me for it. And however you reproach and upbraid us with Hunger and Want, I can assure you, your Friends in Ireland, are in no great plenty of Meat and Drink: Hunger and Poverty are the concomitants of King James his Court, tho' it may be better endured by his French Controllers, and his Irish Followers, who never were accustomed to fuller Feeding.  
Your next is a mere Wheadle; but be not deceived, the Protestants here have no mind to return into Ireland, while either French, or Irish are Predominant; neither will they seek a Licence from King James to sta● here, or his Pardon for their Absence. But when King William shall employ them, they hope to return, and call them to account, who have occasioned their Exile.  
I come now to consider the Case, which you have stated with all possible Art, Malice, and false Insinuations. Your design is to instill a Jealousy into the minds of the Protestants, to foment a mistrust between the English and Dutch, and by a side-blow to wound the Honour of our Gracious King. It is not impossible, but King James may for some time keep the possession of Ireland for the use of King Lewis, and may Seize and Possess himself (but not fairly) of my Estate: It is no less possible that King William may after some time beat out King James, and his French Accomplices, and settle himself entirely in that Dominion. Well, what then: Must my Estate be liable to Forfeiture because it was Seized, and Usurped by proclaimed Rebels? Is there any Colour of Sense or Reason to start a comparison in the Case between British Protestant's forced to forsake the Country, and abandon their Estates for safety of their Lives in the Reign of King William, and Irish Papists, who unprovoked, in the time of Peace and Quiet; took up Arms, and Murdered so many Thousands of their Fellow-Subjects, who by King Charles the First and his Parliament, were declared Traitors attainted by the Law, their Estates Forfeited by Rebellion; and vested in King Charles the Second at his Restauration? Such an Argument is to be urged only by that sort of Men, who with a seared Conscience and a brazen Impudence, deny the Gunpowder Treason; make a mock of the Horrid Popish Plot, and justify the former damnable Rebellion in Ireland, as an undertaking for Self-defence. And what if the King have an Inclination to gratify Monsieur B— g, and those other Worthy Persons who have faithfully served him, and assisted in the Expulsion of Tyranny, Popery, and Arbitrary Government, and securing the Peace and Religion of the Kingdom? Is there any necessity to make the Protestant Estates the Reward of their Service? No there are Lands in Ireland to the value of 300000. l. per annum belonging to Irish Papists, (now in Actual Rebellion against the Crown of England) with which the King may amply Recompense his Servants, and distribute his Favours according to their respective Merits. In the mean time, King William being a Man of exemplary Piety, exalted Virtue, universal Probity, and the Champion of the Protestant Religion, I neither mistrust his Justice, nor doubt his Generosity; I rest secure and satisfied that he will in time restore me to my former Estate, and give me more, if by my Service I can deserve it.  
The Question which you Propose, and pretend to Answer, carries the Confutation in the very Terms of stating it: you say, in case we should return to that which perhaps is justly enough called our Duty, so as to restore King J. to his Right and Crown again, how shall we be assured we shall not fall under the same dangers we apprehended ourselves before both in our Religion and Properties. He can give no better nor other assurance, than public and solemn Promises added to such Acts of Parliament as we shall contrive and frame for our own Security.— Have we not had all these already, and has He not broke them all? Does not his pretended Dispensing Power at once set aside all Promises, Laws, and every thing but his Will and Pleasure? And though He should now disclaim That to get in again, will it not be very easy when He is in, to lay hold on that common, and indeed many times justifiable come off of Kings, that He was then under a force, and could not bind himself to His own wrong, or to the diminution of His Prerogative. I confess here is a hard question, and that which makes it harder yet, I am afraid the Charge against us is most of it true, therefore I shall shorten my Reply, and only Remonstrate in Brief: If a Prince placed in the Throne by the dint of Loyalty, Fidelity, and Love to his Family, rescued from the Bill of Exclusion, Established in his Government by the Generous and Unanimous adherence of his Parliament, and the Destruction of the Duke of Monmouth, Caressed with dutiful Addresses and joyful Acclamations, enriched with Considerable Additions to his Revenue, Complemented with a Connivance at the Private Exercise of his Religion, and adventuring the Security of ours on the bare Assurance of his Word: If such a Prince under such Circumstances of Glory and Felicity, beloved by his Subjects, and dreaded by Foreigners, would tamely suffer himself to be imposed on by Priests and Jesuits, dishonour himself by an Embassy to Rome, Provoke his People by setting up Mass-houses, and Popish Seminaries, Invade men's Properties, overthrew some Laws, and Dispense with others; deprive the Heads of Colleges, Imprison the Bishops, discard all Men from Civil and Military Employments, that refused to Worship the Image which he had set up; endeavour by Threats and Promises to Debauch his Servants, and by ungenerous Arts to Predispose his Subjects, to break down the Bars that secure the Protestant Profession; What must we expect if by the Indignation of God he be Re-establisht on the Throne; certainly he can never ascend those Steps, but supported by the Papists, and trampling on the Necks of Protestants; Rage's, Revenge, blind Zeal, Ignorant Devotion, Meritorious Service, the Purchase of Heaven, the escape of Purgatory, the Pope's Bulls, the Jesuits Tricks, the Priest's Prayers, and the pernicious Advice of Popish Councillors, will transport him beyond all Sense of Honour, and precipitate him into Actions Correspondent to the Days of Queen Mary, and imitating, if not exceeding the Inhuman Cannibals in France.  
I grow weary now of this Expostulation, and I am amazed to see any Man obtrude such Chimerical crude Notions, such fallacious Equivocating Argumentations, such threadbare Repetitions, upon Men that can Read, Observe, and Understand. If King James have not a mind to get upon his Throne again by the Power of his Irish Army, What made him go there? Why has he raised so many Men, carried over so many Arms, disarmed and destroyed the Protestants, and Summoned a Parliament; and though the United Strength of England and Scotland (by the mercy of God) shall ever be too hard for them, yet it is not impossible but the Popish Party (seconded by the Atheistical Crew, and such as, being always disgusted with the present Government, are gaping for an Alteration, they know not to what) may ruffle and discompose the Calm Serenity Great Britain is blest with, and become the Setters and Forerunners of a French Invasion. And that surely we have great Reason to expect, (notwithstanding the many Difficulties you seem to object, but do not believe) since the French King has been at so great Charge and Hazard to Comfort and Reinforce his inconsiderable Allies there; for whosoever knows the Monarch of France, will not suspect him to be so mean Spirited, as to be Compassionate, or so Impolitic to waste his Treasure, and expose his Forces, to Re-establish an exiled and forlorn Prince: I am more than confident he will not dissemble so gross a Self-denial, but intends to turn the Mortgage of Ireland into a Fee-simple, and by the Livery and Seisin already given him in part, to claim, and seize the whole. And than (as you say) King Lewis would get more by the Victory than King James, and it would do King James little Service to have the Kingdom so recovered.  
Your Prophetic Supposition (that the People of England may bring themselves to be Conquered by France) shall be no more regarded, than your sly Insinuations, to induce them to so servile a Subjection, or your  Commination, that such a Conquest is approaching, or your Pernicious Prospect of so unpracticable an Accommodation, that the People of England should consent to receive King James, without any fear of suffering by him, either in their Religion, Laws, or Properties.  
Your Conclusion is agreeable to the Premises, a disingenuous Reflection on the People of England, who in all Ages have manifested a Prudential care of themselves, and at this Juncture will do it, maugre your Crafty Insinuation to the contrary.  
Upon the Word of a Gentleman, I do assure you, I do not take it ill that you have offered your Thoughts, which how wild and Incongruous soever, can have no other Influence upon me, than to dispose me to Continue,  
SIR, Your humble Servant.