TO The Right Honourable, EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDEN, Lord High CHANCELLOR OF ENGLAND: The Humble APOLOGY OF ROGER L'ESTRANGE Verbera, sed Audi. LONDON, Printed for Henry Brome, at the Gun in Ivy-lane. M.DC.LXI. MY LORD, I Am delivered from all other Care then of my Duty and my Honour; and This Tranquillity of Thought, I am to thank the Malice of my Fortune for; which has left me neither worse to Fear, nor much better to hope for. In This Estate of Freedom and Security, I must presume to Dedicate this Paper to your Lordship: which is no more than a fair offer of a supposed Criminal to a Public Trial. Be pleased to know (my Lord) that upon Friday Morning last, in Westminster-Hall, a Gentleman took me aside: L'Estrange (says he) I am glad to meet you: for I'm unquiet till I have told you something, which both in Honour, and in Conscience, I think myself obliged to acquaint you with. Continuing Thus, I am the Person that gave Intelligence to my Lord Chancellor, that You betrayed the King's Designs; but with such Caution, and Deliberation as you yourself in my place would have done no less. My Lord; he told me the whole matter, with so obliging and so Frank a Cleverness, that truly when I weigh one Office against the other; (that is, according to their true Intention) his justice and his Kindness here, compared with his former mistake, I reckon that I have an Obligation to him. This Gentleman was further pleased to give me a view of your Lordships Answer to him; which I confess, was Charitable, considering the Suggestion, but as related to my Innocence, 'twas sharp and Cruel. I do not wonder now (my Lord) at some Discourses I have heard of late; as if your Lordship were my Enemy; (having such Reason for it) nor at his Sacred Majesty's Displeasure, toward a Person under so Black a Character. To clear myself to You my Lord, and to the World, must be the Business of This Paper. Waving the Parties mediate to this Notice; the Ground of all is fixed upon Mr. james Whitlock: a Captain of Horse, and a Knight of Cromwell's. He (as this Gentleman my Friend undertakes to prove) declared, that L'Estrange WAS A TRAITOR; AND TO HIS KNOWLEDGE HAD RECEIVED six hundred Pounds In Gold, from CROMWELL.— Hinc Illae Lachrymae. I shall not pass good manners so far, as to call This Scandal by the right Name: but This I humbly Beg, and Offer that I may put my Life upon the Trial; which I profess I had rather lose, than in the case of Treason, Wear it as a Mercy. Further my Lord, I shall be bold to add, that These ensuing Particulars are Truths. 1. I never took Protestation, Covenant, Oath, or any Engagement of That Quality from them. 2. I never Complied with the Party in any thing whatsoever, related to the Public. 3. I never spoke to Cromwell, save four times in my Life. First, being his Prisoner at Chambridge. Twice more, while I was a Prisoner in Newgate, I went to him (under a Guard) to move for an Exchange. The Fourth and Last time was in 1653. when being tied by a Restreyning Order to attend an Examination, and my Father lying then upon his Death-sickness, I moved Cromwell that I might go down and receive my Father's Blessing. 4. I did never communicate Directly or Indirectly (as I have said elsewhere) with any man of the Party upon Public Business. 5. I never made a Particular Acquaintance with any man of that Side, that had not first disowned the Cause, and Actually served the King. 6. I did never decline either Hazzard, Labour, or (to my little Power) Expense, in order to his Majesty's Service: nor did I ever let slip any Opportunity of doing my Duty. Now (with your Leave my Lord) I challenge the whole World to contradict me: and by your Lordship's favour yet a little further. I was engaged in the First Scotch Expedition: after which, when the Broils began in England, I was Confederate with divers Gentlemen to endeavour the Securing of Lin Regis for his Majesty. That failing, I betook myself to Oxford, and Served in Prince Rupert's Troup. My next remove was to Newark (then Governed by the now-Lord Byron:) where, after a while, I received an Invitation out of Norfolk to attempt something upon Lin. The Motives to the Enterprise were These. Walton the Governor was before Crowland; (a place of Consequence and Strength.) And Lin left almost without a Guard; and a considerable number of Gallant Gentlemen, that had been taken at Lincoln, and Gainsborough, than Prisoners in the Town. This Occasion called me to Oxford, where I received his late-majesties' Commission, to endeavour the Surprisal of the Place. It was signed, and delivered to me, by the now-Earl of Bristol. I was Betrayed in the Attempt by one Leman, formerly of the King's Party, and tied up by an Oath of Faith, and Secrecy, as binding as Syllables could make it. Thence, I was carried to London, and there adjudged to Dye; under These Solaecismes. First; I conditioned for my Life when I was taken. Next; It was contrary to Articles betwixt the Earl of Manchester, and the Governor of Newark; to which Garrison I belonged. Thirdly; The Committee by their own Law were not empowr'd to try me. Fourthly; They juggled up a Court almost at Midnight, and Sentenced Me to Death without a Hearing. Last; I was adjuged to Die by a Court-Martial as a Traitor, yet they themselves confessed that I never received any Trust: D. MILLS the now Chancellor of Norwich was my judge-advocate. Betwixt my Doom, and my appointed Execution, Mr. Thorowgood, and Mr. Arrowsmith, (then of the Synod) gave me a Visit; and very friendly tendered me the utmost of their Interest to save me; if I would but Petition for Mercy, and offer to take the Covenant. These Gentlemen will acquit me (my Lord) that I refused it. At length by the Interest and Kindness, particularly of the Earls of Northumberland, Essex, Stamford with others, I was Reprieved; First, for a Fortnight, and till further Order; and then, under Colour of a further Hearing: which in almost four years I could not obtain, although I pressed it earnestly. With the same Faith and Openness have I proceeded to this Instant. Out of Newgate, I slipped into Kent in 1648, and of that Action I presented your Lordship with a Printed Account in Flanders: to which I dare refer the most unsatisfied of my Enemies. After that Defeat I crossed the Seas, and returned in 1653, fixing in London, as the most proper place, in Relation both to my Public Duty, and particular Safety. Since which time my Lord, let my Soul answer for it, if (according to the best of my own memory) I ever exchanged one Syllable with Cromwell. During the Cheshire Motion, I can appeal to a hundred several persons in London, and to a Declaration now Extant in my Apology, that at that time I was not Idle. And touching those succeeding Broils which more immediately led to his Sacred Majesty's Return. I dare remit myself to half the honest Part of the City; who Then were of opinion that Those Remonstrances, Protests, Resolves, Engagements, Declarations, etc. however drawn by my unlucky hand, were no Ill office toward his Majesty: They will at least acquit me, of Ill meaning. At last my Lord, having scaped all these Rocks and Storms, I meet new dangers in the Harbour: I find myself crushed under fresh mistakes. But I shall be too Bold.— Briefly; I have spent Twenty years now in his Majesty's Service according to my Duty; and after all, I only beg not to be thought a Villain. MY LORD, Decemb. 3. 1661. I am Your Lordship's most obedient Servant. Roger L'Estrange.