A LETTER FROM A COUNTRY CURATE TO Mr. Henry Care, In Defence of the SEVEN BISHOPS.  
Licenced July 18. 1688.  
SIR,  
THO' I know not your Person, I am to my Cost acquainted with your Pen; and, to be plain with you, begin to discover you are a sort of I cannot tell what, nor knows a Man where to have you: So in fine, do you see, it will be hardly worth while to pay a Penny and Postage any longer for your Weekly Paper, especially for a Man in my Circumstances, who am but a Country Curate at Twenty Nobles a year Salary. 'Tis true, I serve in a large Parish, but to my sorrow situated in such a wholesome Air, that the People are in a manner Immortal; so that a Tale of a Funeral amongst them begins with, Once upon a time there was such a Man, who died, etc. Then for their Children, they seldom or never make them Christians, not so much for Conscience-sake, as to hinder me of my Deuce. And for Weddings, the Commissaries have all the Custom; wherefore my Perquisites consisting totally in telling News at several Tables for my Dinner, I am horribly defeated of late by your Proceedings: for, to be plain with you, I had thoughts your Verity and good Style had kept company: and tho' you were a little sharp upon Topping Tories, and laid about you mightily for Liberty of Conscience, I that have so little to lose or get by that Matter, did not much regard the Consequence. Besides, being a Bachelor, and can speak Latin, I know the worst on't at last; but to be abused with false News undoes me, and, as the Proverb has it, Puts Water in my Pottage. For, to be plain with you, deluded, as it seems, by yours and other Prints, I did verily believe that the Seven Bishops had given his Majesty a certain Petition or Paper about Reading the Declaration, which had made him angry, and that they were sent to the Tower for Publishing it, and refusing to give Recognizance to Appear at the Term for so doing. This Matter I told positively for Truth, and showed a Copy of it in Print, and was heartily welcome to many a good Meal for my News. And I must tell you, there is no Man, tho' I say it, in these Parts keeps such a constant Correspondence for Public Prints as I do, my Name being so famous, that when I was quoted in Matters of that nature, it silenced all Pretenders to Intelligence with an Ipse dixit: But now, Monstrum horrendum! what I say will go for nothing, since those Reverend, Pious, and Prudent Bishops, did on their Trials deny the whole Story, nor could it be proved upon them; for which cause the Loyal Jury acquitted them, and the ever Well-meaning, Honest, Godly, and Understanding Rabble, Congratulated their Escape with Huzza's, Bonfires, Curses, Oaths, Healths, Drunkenness, Tumults and Roaring, receiving in return from those Peacemaking Prelates, Thanks, Smiles, Prayers and Blessings, to the great improvement of good Manners and Duty in the Nation, no doubt of it: Besides, it is likely more strongly to unite the Mobile into a practicable Interpretation of those mysterious Doctrines of Nonresistance and Passive Obedience. Thus wonderful are the ways of the Wise and Great in our Church, being much above the reach of us little Ecclesiastics: For, to my vulgar Head, this way of Triumphing in the Face of his Majesty, might probably induce him to suspect the Integrity of our Principles, and cause him to doubt what use may in time be made of the unintelligible Method we take to express our unquestionable Loyalty.  
But indeed, Mr. Care, all the Reflections on the Consequence of the Bishop's Applause against the King's Authority, cannot make me forget or forgive the Abuse put on both me and the Public, by yours as well as other Prints: And I do positively aver, since such Apostolic Persons dare not own it, that so Malicious, Seditious, and Unmannerly a Writing, could never come into the thoughts of any good or honest Man, much less of a Christian, and least of all of Christian Bishops: No, no, Shaftsbury and his Gang of Petitioners never were Impudent enough to tell their King to his Face, he Acted Illegally, as this Paper pretends to do; and yet, Fool as I am, I was made to believe it. But what a dull Ass was I, not to reflect, that amongst the whole number of Bishops, there could be none found had received such Personal Obligations from his Majesty, as those Seven, not a Ma● of them but owing much more to his Favour for their Advancement, than to all other Means in the World. Therefore it being impossible that Ingratitude and Disobedience could ever join but in an Infernal Nature, I might have been confident no vulgar Report could have provoked such Blessed Men, to wipe off the Imputation of Popery by Diabolical Crimes. Besides, had I known then that Eleven other Bishops had obeyed the King, and complied with their Duty, in commanding their Clergy to Read his Declaration, how could I have suspected those Seven should have been guilty of a Schism so Gross, so Undutiful, and so Unmannerly as that would have been? Yet this improbable Error have you made me guilty of, sweet Mr. Care, and for the future I shall regard you accordingly, I'll assure you. Nay who can blame me, you having made me suspect Men of their Parts and Piety, some being, as is thought, so emulous of Martyrdom, that they wished the Bonfires for their Deliverance, had been the Faggots for their Suffering, tho' at the same time in seeming compliance with Nature's Frailty, one, the most perfect, boasted out a Farewell Sermon on the Text, Lord let this Cup pass from me, etc. Therefore, I say, had such Exemplary Sufferers Delivered or Published that pretended Paper, they would have Gloried in it as a good and laudable Action, and never have put the Matter of Fact upon Proof, and got clear of the Business that way. But having done so, I defy all them that led me into the Error, and amongst the rest, thou Harry Care, with all thy Wit; and from henceforth must declare, that the Libel was the Production of some Traitorous Head, and Enemy to the Nations Repose, and the Glory of that King, whose Word for our Security may be entirely depended on, being a Prince too Intrepid and Brave, to have recourse to Falsehood for his Support. And this too will be my Everlasting Comfort, that not an honest Man, which impartially observes the whole Proceeding, but will be of my Opinion. And so, Mr. Care, if you, or any of your Dissenting Companions, invented the Paper, to Divide and Disgrace our Church, you may take my good Opinion of you for your pains; for this is the last Letter you are ever like to have from, etc.   

LONDON, Printed, and are to be sold by Randal Taylor. MDCLXXXVIII.