THE MATCHLESS ROGUE; OR, A Brief Account of the LIFE of DON THOMAZO The Unfortunate SON.  
TOGETHER WITH The Just Commendations of the Gentleman's Ingenious ANSWER to MALICE Defeated; ENTITLED, SOME REFLECTIONS ON Madam Cellier's CASE.  
With Due Respect to the Honourable Title of CAPTAIN, Which Himself says He is Worthy of.  
Prov. 26. As Snow in Summer, and Rain in Harvest, so Honour is not seemly for a fool. A Whip for a Horse, a Bridle for an Ass, and a Rod for a Fools Back. Answer a Fool according to his folly, lest he become wise in his own conceit.  
LONDON, Printed for ELIZABETH CELLIER, and are to be sold at her House in ARUNDEL Street, near St. CLEMENT'S Church, 1680.   

The MATCHLESS ROGUE, etc.  
HAving perused that most Elaborate-Piece which marches abroad under tie Title of an Answer to Malice Defeated, or some Reflections on Madam Cellier's Case; I could not but wonder how so much wit and ingenuity, accompanied with so clear a Demonstration of the Fallacies of my Book, could be crowded into so narrow a compass as one side of half a sheet of small Paper, like Homer's Illiads in a Nutshell; And how one single Person could be so strangely inspired as to be the Author of it: For it seemed to me as if all the wits of the Town had clubbed their ingenuity towards the writing thereof; and several Reflections and Imaginations crept into my Head about it.  
Sometimes I was apt to think its Author's Name must needs be Legion; or at least that some Gentleman of at least 3 Names, must be the Penman; For Marcus Tullius Cicero was a great Orator.  
Then I remembered how the Famous Doctor wholly refuted the Cardinal, and rescinded all his Arguments in these three words, Bellarmine thou Liest; and began to think that the opinion of Pythagoras touching the Transmigration of Souls, was true; and that the Spirit of that Great Refuter had only shifted places, and was transmigrated into You.  
But considering the good Manners and Civility with which you treat the whole Female sex at once, by joining them with those you call the Pope's Damnable and Malicious Imps, and saying, they are as great a torment to England, as Hell itself is to them; and remembering withal, the Names and Titles which you have appropriated to yourself, and the Marks wherewith you are adorned or rather stigmatised, and the Civil Education which you have had in the several Universities wherein you have studied under severe Tutors; then I concluded none but yourself, or some Person of your Civil Education, could let fly this Answer into the World: And the rather, because you say Capt. Thomas Dangerfield is worthy of that title, wherein I fully concur with you; for it is a Maxim in the Ethnics, that Fortitude consists more in Suffering than Acting; And You having had so many, and so frequent occasions to exercise that kind of Valour, as appears by the many Records of Your Worth: And there being a Commission vacant by the Death of Capt. Spurn-cow your Brother, I freely bestow it upon You, as Him that has the best title to it: For though I found no Records of your Horse-stealing, Yet I have been fully informed how you rid away with Mr. Briknel the Lieveguard man's Horse, depositing conuterfeit Guineas for him, making him thereby such a Guiney-merchant, that he very narrowly escaped Hanging, to his great charge and trouble. Go on therefore (Noble Captain,) and inherit the Virtues as well as the Title of your Predecessor; and it is not impossible but You may be a Lord in due time, as it appears he was both in France and Spain, etc.  
And if the Critical or Envious should reproach your Pamphlet with Nonsense, and mere Railing; And say it is no Answer at all to any matter in the Book, Rejoin with them again, and tell them likewise boldly they Lie, which will be so great a Vindication of your ingenuity, that you shall not need to use any other Arguments to Confute them; and at the worst, [if the World will not allow your due praise, put your Answer into your Pocket, and tell them the Story of the unskilful Painter, who bringing home (to a Person that bespoke it,) a Picture very ill drawn; and the Gentleman refusing to give him his Price for it because it looked so ill favouredly, and was nothing like him: the Painter replied, he would carry it back again, and add something to it, and doubted not but to sell it at a good price for a Baboon.  
But if this will not satisfy those unreasonable Critics, but that they should tell you they have heard most things in the Book affirmed to be true, by Persons of great Integrity; and that much more than is there inserted, is already deposed upon Oath, and that I have the Depositions, and daily pray that my Witnesses may be heard, upon the hazard of my Life, if I do not prove more than I have inserted, by many Witnesses of unspotted Reputation. And if Capt. Richardson (our old Landlord) say the Articles you gave me, were Lies of your writing; tell him the Father of Lies once told Truth; And also, that I do not give so much credit to You, as to depend upon the Articles, having more then enough to do his business without them: Tell him I am well informed of his Affairs, and know who it was he last carried out at Midnight, and sold for a Slave to Virginia; Tell him also I know a Person of Generous Extraction, and unspotted Reputation, whom he loaded with a pair of Shears about a yard long, and 40 l. in weight, and kept him confined, and in Irons several Months, though the Warrant of his Commitment gave him no authority to do so Tell him withal, that in MALICE DEFEATED, and elsewhere, I have both Writ and Spoke more good of him than he hath proved true, but not the tenth part of the Evil that will certainly be proved at his Trial. And tell him I am not afraid of the Statute of Scandalum Magnatum; But if any Person be offended at what I have Written, or hereafter shall write, I am ready to go to Trial with them, and to justify the truth thereof. And now Noble Captain, as you inherit the Title and Virtues of your Famous Predecessor, may you also inherit his Fortune, and the Wealthy Dowager he has left behind, and make as quiet and Honourable an Exit, as He did, (with both your Hands on,) before you be Tried for striking in Court.  
FINIS.