England's Improvements justified; and the Author thereof, Captain Y. vindicated from the scandals in a Paper called a Coffeehouse Dialogue. With some Animadversions upon his Popish Designs therein contained.  
MAlice and Envy are the inseparable Companions of a Diabolical Nature; and that contagion is never more apparent, than by its dreadful symptoms, where it throws out its sulphureous fiery stink-pots of calumnies and slanders, blasting the reputations of the best of men, lessening and levelling at the most Heroic Actions, and endeavouring to make the greatest designs for the weal-public frustrate and abortive, Thus malice pregnant with revenge and envy in her insatiate repining● again Virture▪ join their consultations to suggest falsehoods; steals from Discourses the Antecedent occasion, making in some parts a divorce between the precedent matter, and coherent Discourse; and like an ill-seasoned Vessel, Qodcunque infandit acescit, perverts all, even the most pleasant Liquors to its corrupt nature: Thus hath this virulent Dialogist dipped his Pen in poison; and rather than his repining envy should not be answered in its importunities, will expose his weakness as well as wickedness to the World, forgetting what he declares to have read in the Lord Bacon's Essays, That silence in a Fool may pass for wisdom: Vir sapit qui pauca loquitur, few words become the wise; but I must invert the words for his sake, Vir 〈◊〉 qui pauca sapit, the Fool is known by his babbling. Sacred Writ records an Ass to speak for the preservation of its Master, to his conviction, in his evil undertaking; but the creature▪ by creation, superior to that heavy animal, brays out forged, frivolous defamations, and that so apparently false, that his own Popish Herd, blushing at his folly, will say, Etiam & Asin●● noster calcitrat, wondering that this dull insipid creature durst lift up his foot against a man of so true worth, industry and ingenuity, as that honest Captain, the glory of whose public spirit so manifest to the World, so far surmounts all those mists of envy, that no idle reflections can touch the belief of any man of common sense, that this worthy Patriot, (so I must justly style him for his great merit in his public undertake), can be guilty of any such Solecisms; take the folly to yourself, Sir, and then laugh as simply at your own ginglings, for which all men else contemns you; and were it not your happiness to be unknown, there's not a Barrister of the Temple but would kick you, for fathering such a changeling, simple Brat upon so honourable a calling as a Barresters; and whoever shall lose so much time to read your nonsense, will find you but an Imp of Rome, a Popish Pettyfogger, a Vermin that spits out only poison to divide the Protestant interest, thereby to support a languishing Cause, which the high hand of God has hitherto witnessed against; from whose Almighty Power, none of your black Dirges, nor all your Idols, Jesuits and Devils to help you, can deliver you.  
But before I come to examine your Paper in its several Paragraphs, I must show you how unfarely you deal with this honest Gentleman; either you were one of the Society, or not; if you were, and the matter were true, you are a Traitor, a judas, acting against the Laws and Rules of human Society, Odi ●●●morem compotorem, you are to be detested and abandoned by all civil Company, and if you were not of the Society, you can know nothing; and your whole Discourse is a feigned undertaking; and how easy a matter is it for a man to lay absurdities at any man's door, when the same man, out of a malicious design, first makes the Question, and also the Answer; has the contrivance of the whole conference by himself; and yet a person knowing nothing, wholly innocent, must be exposed; from this Arrow shot in the dark, no man can be safe; and whether the Captain ought to father so scandalous a Bastard, I leave it to all wise and just men's censure: This being the true state of the business, the Captain having never had this conference, he must be cleared from whatsoever is contained in this forged Dialogue 〈◊〉 innocence, when he heard of it, only procured a smile, with this answer, spreta vilescunt, falsehoods must perish, are soon destroyed by contempt: ●o that he needs no further vindication; and his works shall praise him in the Gates, and so fully be-speak his worth, that every English man is now obliged in his quarrel, and upon that account I take myself concerned without his knowledge, and must give this public scandal the lie, as publicly; without which, I could neither satisfy myself, or answer the duty I owe to the Rules of friendship, nor be just to the honour of the Captains worth and innocence, being a frequenter of that Society, where I had the enjoyment of pregnant and ingenious Gentlemen, and no such trumpery could take place there.  
But for your reflections upon Rivers making navigable; who will controvert the great advantage they are in all places to Trade and Commerce, and a common good? Is this a crime for a man to demonstrate? saving your ridicule which belongs to yourself, of making the Streets of London navigable, and for lodging of Ships upon an Hill, what will be your reward to impose impossibilities? But what the Captain proposed for harbouring a considerable number of Ships in safety, is no Chimaera, as your folly remarks; for it has been demonstrated to many persons of honour, and that with a fair and plausible reception; and for his Register, which your inventions kick about with so much slight, I must say, Ars nullum habet inimicum preter ignorantem, you speak evil of the things you know not, or your ill nature envies, and would blast what you cannot imitate; but for these things let England's Improvement speak for itself, there the profits and advantages of a Register will appear, with the advancement of Trade, by Lombard-Houses and Common Stores, which are all made practicable in foreign parts, and now by the hazard of his life in long travels, the sweat of his brows and vast expense, is brought by him home, and made public for general good; and is this the reward? But 'tis no marvel, Quid cum amaraco sui, what must Swine do with such Pearls? This Dialogue-maker, I perceive, is for no improvements, he has been trained up for French Government, to bring Popery into Church, and slavery upon the Nation, and to that purpose he introduces a forged discourse with the Captains, to frustrate the happiness of a free people; methinks I see, poor Scribbler! how his Hypocondrias are distended, and like to burst with envy, when he beheld the grandeur and gravity of the Lord Mayor's instalment, the great Character of England's freedom not to be paralleled in the Government of any Prince in the World; this adds to the glory of the Crown, that our King commands the hearts and hands of freeborn Subjects, flourishing under his gracious protection, with a stable government, that preserves the honour and majesty of the King, and the happy liberties of his people. Here I might end, having said enough for the Captain's vindication, if I said no more, but that he is by a forgery imposed upon: But meeting with some things in his Paper, I cannot but animadvert: first, where he Queries, What Game have the great ones now to play? He might have answered himself, they have enough to do. Your Romish Emissaries have cut out work with a witness, here's Plot upon Plot, and all to murder the King, to subvert Government in Church and State, and by the mighty Power of God all discovered; and because the Popish party had received so great a soil, the Protestant party must now be made Plotters, that under that colour you might murder the King, and give the blow in Masquerade; but no weapon form against God can prosper: and if his providence had not emboweled your cursed designs, as you say, the City ere this might have been on fire at one end, and cutting of Throats all over.  
The next Question he begs, is an enforced reflection upon the Clergy of the Church of England, a fine device to create jealousies amongst Protestants: you have played that trick too often to have it thrive; we better understand the common interest, than to divide, divide & impera, we know the danger of a division; and since the quarrel is plainly betwixt Protestant and Papist, and that all must endure the fiery trial, they will neither turn, nor burn, but jointly oppose all your insinuations; I hope Mr. Dangerfields' Plot has convinced the World so, that we shall not hear any more invectives against the dissenting party, for all are Protestants. The Church of England, as it is the best of Governments, so I hope it will never want charity for any that agree in the same fundamentals; the same Gospel is owned by all, and by that rule, all are to be governed, which says, Let your moderation be seen before all men▪ the Lord is at hand: and if any man be otherwise minded, viz. as to Discipline, or other matters not so essential, God shall reveal it; let there be therefore no animosities, no differences amongst them, for they are Brethren.  
As for what you would suggest, as the saying of the Captains, in the reflections of the Church of England men, you beg the question, that you may take the occasion to discover yourself of what foot-mark you are, and that the mark of the Beast is plainly in your forehead; Ex pede Herculem, I see by this foot the dimensions of your mind, It is not your kindness or reverence you bear to the Church of England or honoured Clergy, but to sweeten our apprehensions, and mollify our fears, and to assure us that Popery is not such a bugbear, but that all the Lands taken away from those Idolatrous, Lascivious Drones, will keep firm as they are; and reinforceth his argument and persuasions, that as they were first sold by Act of Parliament, it was again corrobarated in Queen Mary's Reign; a necessary policy to keep all quiet till they had played up their Game to a sure point: But the great assurance this Gentleman gives it, is from infallibility itself, in these words, To which, consent of his Holiness was given; and this he counts security strong enough: Then, Sir, you are a simple Papist, and your Pope a Juggler; for the Canons of your Church denies a power to be in any Pope himself, to divest the Church of any of its possessions. Where are your wheadles now, Sir? Carry your trifles to your Children nursed up in an implicit faith, we will trust in God, and use our lawful endeavours against Popes and Plotters, and enjoy our Lands too, no thanks to your Pope, whom you style his Holiness, which never any Protestant so seriously did: A fair evidence of your principles!  
The next thing he disputes with himself, and would father it upon the Captain, is about the Subject of a Pamphlet, called, A Word without Doors: which I have heard the Captain aver he never saw it, nor I neither; therefore to approve or disapprove, belongs not to my present occasion; but if any thing be in it, Contra Bonos mores, or savours of irreligion or disloyalty, I commit him with this Popish disputant to the Sword of the Magistrate. As for your Sophistries, and what absurdities are in them, take the shame to yourself, for they are all of your own making. Interest, I perceive, can never Lie; Popery must come in, if your foul hand or crazy brain can help it. Are not you a brave fellow to come in Print; that can censure Parliaments, and charge them with injustice and folly too; you do not like them, we may all see; they are too hearty against Popery, and too zealous to maintain the Protestant Religion to posterity. Is this a crime? As for the Bill, that was, is not now in being; for that Parliament is Dissolved, and another since chosen, and Prorogued for a considerable time; therefore you dispute, de lana caprina, you set up an Image, and fall down before it; go on with your Idolatry, we will trust God for Religion, and next humbly submit all to the wisdom and care of our gracious King, and his great Council in Parliament.  
To how little purpose do you revive the Lord strafford's Case, in which you are a little too saucy; 'twas done, perenni Parliamento, The supreme Court of the Nation, and by them he was judged guilty of High-Treason, and you must not say he suffered without Law, though his crimes were not within one, or any of the Articles of the 25th of Edward the 3d; yet if you consult the same Statute, you will find the Parliament judge of Treasons not there named; The words of the Act are these:  And because many other like cases of Treason may happen in time to come, which a man cannot think nor declare at this present time; it is accorded, that if any other case, supposed Treason, which is not above specified, doth happen before any justices, the justices shall tarry without going to judgement of the Treason, till the Cause be showed and declared before the King and his Parliament, whether it ought to be judged Treason or other Felony. 
Sir, the Articles are yet alive, and the recited clause shows the Parliament not so mistaken, for they are Judges of what is Treason: I never heard that Act was repent of by any Parliament, though the same Parliament provided that it should not be brought into pres●ent; not that they would be understood thereby to judge themselves as unjust; but in reference to inferior Courts, and how far that clause reached him, or whether it did not imply that it was in the power of a Parliament so to adjudge, I submit to better judgements than yours or mine, for I dare not presume to determine. Qua supra nos nihil ad nos. In your last Paragraph you would give a fresh assault upon the late Parliament, charging them with the greatest injustice, and that from the Act Tricessimo Quinto of the Queen, as if it were denied to the D. liberty of other Subjects, to declare and make his submission; and implies, that he was never convicted; if all were well in that case, what mean the bleating of the Sheep, and the lowing of the Oxen? why were such proposals offered by his Majesty for securing the Protestant Religion against a Popish successor? and all those great labours in Parliament, and their Votes, declaring what you would now question? Pray let me ask you, When was there the least appearance of the D's. inclinations to declare his submission to the Church of England? If you make not that appear, What do you argue for? not to satisfy the World that there was or is any such intention, but to asperse the great Council of the Kingdom? and certainly if the design had lain there, the concern of succession to Three Kingdoms would have brought it into Act after so many fair opportunities, and especially when the Parliament arrived at so high a pitch, caused by the care for the Protestant Religion, and those dreadful apprehensions of those horrid Plots discovered against his Majesty's Sacred person. I assure you Sir, if ever such an offer had appeared; it would have been cherished with the greatest indulgence; but this is too much to argue upon a non Entity, for that Bill is gone, and you need not question but when the Parliament meets, and ever take that debate in hand, the D. will have nothing offered but what is just, with relation to establishing the Protestant Religion, and the preservation of his Most Sacred Majesty's person, and the Liberties of all true English men. Now, Sir, upon examination of your ill-bestowed pains, I think you aught to ask God forgiveness in the first place, for breaking his commandment, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy Neighbour; next, to answer to His Majesty for breach of his Law in Libelling; and upon your Knees to crave pardon of the D. for your pitiful management of his Cause; and for my part, I shall throw you in my forgiveness for the trouble you gave me; and as to the Captains concerns, he is to thank you for the opportunities you have given, to make his deserts more public, and England's Improvements more honoured.  
FINIS