THE CHARACTER OF A Disbanded Courtier.  Ingenium Galbae male habitat. 
HE was born with an aspiring Mind, by much too high flown, for his Quality and his Estate. His dexterity in doing ill, made him thought capable of performing admirably well; if ever he came to be employed and entrusted. He was preferred for Ability to high degrees of Honour and Office; admitted into the Cabinet Councils, made acquanted with all the secret Wheels, (and could tell how many Clogs there was in each Wheel) upon which the great Engine of State was turned, and kept in motion: By the favour of his Prince, he acquired sufficient Riches to support the Splendour of a new raised Family.  
His Glory was eminently conspicuous, that there were but a few persons below the Crown seemed above him: And nothing was wanting to render his Felicity, as lasting as Nature intended his Life; but a heart that knew how to be grateful to a most Munificent Benefactor. He thought all the Favours and Honours he enjoyed, were less than the reward of his Merit: That Thought puffed him with Pride; such a sort of Pride, as is commonly attended with an irrecoverable Fall, (which was his Fortune;) And at his Fall (like that of his Predecessor) might very well have been proclaimed: Woe to you the Inhabitants of the Earth, for the Devil is come down among you.  
Open Revenge against his Sovereign, being too dangerous to attempt, he presently resolves upon secret: He exp●ses all the Weaknesses and Infirmities of the Court, (from which no Court is free) and where he can find no real Faults, he Feigns imaginary ones; and passes them off for Currant: By this new and false Optic, he represents every Molehill of mistake, in the public Administration; for a Mountain as tall as Teneriff, and as dangerous as the top of Aetna. Nay, he multiplies and magnifies the very Miscarriages, which were the effect of his own Evil Council. He Amuses the freest Nation in the Universe, with wild Rumours and extravagant Apprehensions of Slavery; under the Government of a Prince, who in Acts of Favour, and Mercy, and Clemency, has exceeded all His Predecessors. He fills the Heads of the People full with Whimsical Fears of Fantastic Devils; (Chimeras which only his Malice had raised) on purpose to Frighten them out of their Loyalty and their Wits; and prepare and ripen them for Bedlam, or for Rebellion. He makes the pretences of 
* Liberty, is not a Freedom, for every man to do what he pleases; an exemption from just Laws: These Laws were made for the punishment of Transgressor's; and are the true Libery of every honest man. The destroying of which Laws, is throwing down the Fence, whereby Virtuous and good men are secured and protected  Liberty, the Stirrup to get up; and 
† Religion, does not consist in the stubborn adhering to this or that Party, or in crying up one Faction as Infallible; and censuring all others as Damnable: But in Doing Justice, and Loving Mercy, and Walking Humbly with God, (says Micha the Prophet) And it is first pure and then Peaceable, says St. Paul the Apostle.  Religion the Steed he Rides, in pursuit of his Monstrous Designs: With these pretences he Cheats the Innocent, and promising to open their Eyes; serves them as the Apostate Angel did our Parents in Paradise: Only blows into them the Magical dust of Disobedience; and robs them of those Jewels he pretends to bestow, viz. Liberty and Religion; which are both so much talked of, and both so little understood.  
Being a Gentleman of little or no Religion himself, he seems for all that to espouse every Division and Sub-division of it, every Faction and Person who are bold enough to stand stiff in opposition against the well settled Government. What avails it that he is in his own nature a Frugal man? he keeps open House for entertainment of all State Malcontents; without consideration either of Qualities or Qualifications. And what is he the better for being Temperate himself? So long as he Accompanies, and Carouses, and contracts Intimacy, and Amity, with the Lewdest Debauchees, that he thinks will help to forward his private Intriuges. He becomes all things to all men in the very worst of Senses; perverting the design of St. Paul, that he may at least delude some to be as bad as himself.  
Having lost his Honour with his Prince, and Reputation with the best of men; he Cringes, and Creeps, and Sneaks, to the lowest and Basest of the People; to procure himself among them an empty, vain glorious, and undeserved name, the Patriot of his Country.  
And lastly, hoping to be made the Little Head of the Great Rabble; he persuades them to believe that they are all betrayed: Encourages them to strike home against the Enemies of King and Kingdom; (pointing at the Faithfullest and most Affectionate Servants to both) well knowing that the Mighty Fabric can never be shaken, till its Main Pillars and and Supporters be by Cunning and Sly Stratagem, either destroyed or undermined.  
By this may appear the weakness of that Modern piece of State Policy; Oblige your Enemies, your Friends you are sure of already: And the transcendent Wisdom of Solomon's advice: Let thy own Friend and thy Father's Friend never be forsaken.   

LONDON, Printed for N. Thompson, Anno Dom. 1681.