A Short ANSWER TO A WHOLE LITTER OF LIBELS.  
By ROGER L'ESTRANGE.  
LONDON, Printed by J. B. for Hen. Brome at the Gun at the West-End of S. Paul's, 1680.   

A Short Answer, etc.  
FOr a matter of Two months' last passed, I have been pelted with Libels, at the rate of two or three Libels a Week, one with another: But Who, What, or Where the Libelers are, is only known to their Own Good Lord, the Father of Lies and Calumnies, that sets them a work. For they lie lurking in the Dark, like Poisonous Serpents, stinging what falls within their Reach, and blowing about their Venom, but there is no finding of their Holes. So that where there appears no Adversary, (unless a man will contend with a Phantom) there is no Place for a Competent Reply: Neither, in Truth, is there any great Need of it, where the Infamy of the Practice does suffieiently discredit the Lewdness of the Pretence. Beside that He has a very mean Opinion of himself, that consults the Vomit of a Libel, for the State of his own Value and Repose. For what is a Libeler; but only a base sort of Bravo, that does more mischief, with Less Hazard; and is consequently the more Unmanly Prostitute of the Two?  
No sooner is there a Pique taken up against the Government, or against Any man that according to his Duty, Endeavours to support it; but presently That Malevolence yields matter for a Libel, and is popped into the world by stealth, (as an Authority to the Rabble) by some Little Mercenary Scribbler that sponges for his very Bread, and commonly cousins the Printer too, into the Bargain. I knew a Quack, once that being resolved to Cure all Diseases went to Riverius' Index to supply and fill up his Bill. This Case holds a Good way with a Libeler; he charges as many Desamations into his Paper as he can well crowd in: (for there's nothing so Rank, but some Fools or other will believe it.) Only he has this advantage of the Quack, that he needs not go out of himself for Villainy, to fill up his Roll. How far the Government will find it Convenient to suffer these Scandals to Christianity, Public Order, Good Manners; (Nay to the Peace, and Common Duties of Human Society) to pass unpunished, I shall submit to my Superiors: And after this brief Reflection upon Libels in General, proceed to what concerns myself in Particular.  
THe very Catalogue of the Pamphlets that have been written against me would take up more Room then at This time I can well afford them: So that I shall only run over the Heads of them (so far as to my Purpose,) without Referring to This, or That Paper, where I do not know the Author; and fairly distinguish the Defamation from the Argument. For the Opposing of Reason to Reason, or of One Colour to Another, is a Course agreeable to the Rules, and Methods of all Candid disputes: But when I find Unnatural Violences put upon my Words, or Periods, fraudulent Additions, or Suppressions, to make me speak more, or less than I intended, and to pervert my Meaning: Together with Insolence of Language; Opprobrious and Virulent Aggravations; Malicious Reports; and no better than direct Fargery in the matter of Fact; and all This, Printed and Published, without either the Booksellers, or the Authors Name; Under these Circumstances, I shall be bold to pronounce any Pamphlet that Touches me, to be a Libel.  
The Common Clamour which This Infernal Band of Libelers (for they are not to be heard of aboveground) Advances against Me, is, the Vilifying of the King's Evidence; the turning of the Plot, into Ridicule; and being Popishly Affected: And This, for want of Proofs against me, out of my Conversation, and Actions, they take great pains to prove from my Writings: But with so barbarous a Torture of the very Syntax, and Sentences; and so Illogical a Train of Inconsequent Deductions; that they might as well have taken the Elevation of my Religion, and Opinions, from the Length of my Nose. Within This compass they contented themselves, till they found their Design would never work That way: And Then they had Recourse to History, and Invention; and brought matters at length to This Issue, that because Pool the Jesuit is a great Master of the Viol, and Harmony stands in Opposition to Discord; Therefore under the very Quality of a Fiddler, L'Estrange is made a Ridiculer of the Plot. Nay they will have an Old Fellows Marrying of a young Lass, to be a Vilifying of the King's Witnesses; for That's one point of my Charge too; and under the Rose that I ran away with her, which is yet worse; And That, without a Portion too, which is worst of all. This is very True; and I do not at all repent me of my Bargain, and I had very good reason for so doing; tho' not so proper to be told, out of a respect to some Other persons. There's one of these Whifflers that would insinuate to the World that I'm afraid of my Flesh; but as he belies the Circumstance, so he is not Positive upon the Main. The truth of it is, I was knocked down at my door, One Morning, Undressed; and not being at all aware of the Person that did it, as my Enemy: It is as true again that the Gentleman after this exploit, went his way; and that I presently dressed myself, and sent a Friend to him to Demand Satisfaction: And it is likewise as True, that I never received any Affront in my Life, without calling the Person that offered it to an Account. I do not speak as if it were a Great thing, not to be a Rascal, but to give This Individuum Vagum the Lie; and to tell him moreover, that even I myself, had the Courage to choose rather to be Hanged, then to take the Covenant: Which does not (I must confess) come up to the Courage of Those Heroes that will rather be Damned, then Renounce it.  
They often cast it in my Teeth, that I was a Newgate-Bird, but I have this Comfort, however, to my Calamity, that I suffered for my Prince, and my Conscience, and that my Father did not pass the hand of the Common-Hangman at the Gallows, for Treason.  
There is one of them says, that the Print called the Committee, or Popery in Masquerade, is not so much a Dumb Narrative of What's past, as a Scheme of what I would intimate, is, at present, Designed: which he infers, because the Muggletonians, Quakers, and especially James Nayler were not so much as heard of, when John Presbyter was Chairman. Now in Common Justice he should rather Allow it to be the History of the Late Times, for Pennington's Sake, then Deny it, for Muggleton's; And though their Names possibly were not in Those days, yet their Principles were. And the intent of showing That Rabble of Sects in Consult, with John Presbyter, their Chairman, was, First, to Suggest the Schisms that flow from Presbytery; Secondly, to represent the Impossibility of Uniting these Schisms, and Thirdly, the Danger of Permitting them: Which is all expounded in the four last Verses of the Explanation, Viz.  
Presbytry breeds Worms: This Maggot-Fry  
Is but the Spawn of Lawless Liberty.  
Licence is like a Sea-breach to your Grounds:  
Suffer but One Flaw, the whole Country Drowns.  
Now to show it manifestly to be a Piece Historical, and only recommended by way of Caution, read the Five first Verses, and the two Last, of the First Stanza.  

Behold Here, in This Piece, the Plague, the Fate  
Of a Seditious Schism in Church, and State:  
Its Rise, and Progress; with the Dire Event  
Of a Blind Zeal, and a Packed Parliament.  
It WAS This Medley that confounded All, etc.   

Think on't, my Masters: and if ere you see  
This Game played o'er again, then Think of ME.   
There's Another Observation upon Swash, and the Elders Maid, the Colchester Quaker and the Mare, Petitioning against Bishops, Service-Book, Popish Lords, and Evil Councillors etc. Now these kind of Bestialityes were never charged, (says he) which the Well-natured Author would intimate, aught to be, upon the Decried Party. pray take notice Here, of the Faith and Honesty of This man; and in the eight Lines that refer to those four Figures under the Letter E, you will find the Author So far from Charging those Bestialityes upon the Decried Party, that he does expressly acquit them. Viz,  
Take a View, next, of the Petitioners.  
But why, (you'll Say) like Beasts to th' Ark, in Pairs?  
Not to expose the Quaker, and the Maid,  
(By Lust to those Brutalityes betrayed.)  
As if Those Two Sects more Addicted Stood  
To Mares and Whelps, than Other stesh and Blood:  
No; But they're Coupled, Here, only to tell  
The Harmony of their Reforming Zeal.  
The Scope (you see) of This passage was only to intimate that they understood the matters in hand all alike.  
He is Scandalised too at the Colchester Bridegrooms Petitioning against Popish Lords; when there is now an Act of State to take away all Legislative power from them, As if That Solemn Act which has been graciously granted at the Petition of the Three Estates, was to be run into Ridicule, by every Bussoon at Pleasure. But I Suppose (says he) he Stands Candidate to Sncceed his Friend B. H. in his late Eminency. This Magisterial Fop, because he sits Dictator perhaps at some Coffee-house, or Rhenish-wine Club, Sets up for a Privileged Fool, with as much Confidence, as if Old Archees Patent had been to Himself, and his Heirs forever. Now where's the Buffoonery of our Quakers I'etitioning? When the wildest of Schismatics, and the meanest of Mechaniques,, thronged the Lobbies of Both Houses of Parliament, with the Same Outcry in their Mouths of NO POPISH LORDS, NO POPISH LORDS; which came in Convenient time, to be NO BISHOPS too; No House of Lords at all; No House of Commons: And in the Conclusion, No King. This is not only a Wilful, and a Silly Mistake, passed upon the Author of That Design, but a most Audacious Indignity upon the Government: Asif, by exposing the Outrages of a Tumult to Contempt for casting out the Popish Lords, Without, and Against Authority, a man must be concluded to make sport with the same thing done according to the Regular steps and Motions of Law and Government. His conceit of the Authors standing Candidate to succeed his Friend B.H. in his late Eminency, is Grave, and also Incomprehensible, unless (by a singular Faculty of Allusion upon the Double meaning of the word Eminency) he would erect the Libeler into a Cardinal. He comes now to be almost as Squeamish as the Great-eared Knave (that he takes notice of) Spewing of Canons and Common-Prayer. He calls the Inscription of a Verse out of Jeremiah upon the Table of the Solemn League and Covenant, a Scurrilous way of Citing a Piece of Holy Writ; Whereas there is nothing said upon it, nor any other Use made of it, but only to notify the Text whereupon the Conspirators founded their Project, and authorised the Rebellion. The words are These. Come and let us join Ourselves unto the Lord, in a perpetual Covenant, that shall not be forgotten, Jer. 50. 5.  
There are Two Verses that the Libeler does the Author the honour to remark upon; as now very well Timed and Tinctured with Jesuits Loyalty. He makes (says he) a Company of Fellows say Thus.  
Our design's This; to Change the Government,  
Set up our Selves, and do't by a Parliament.  
Thus far he delivers my very Thoughts; for it is the Close Cabal of Forty and Forty One that speaks the Words; in Confirmation of Dr. Oats' Testimony, that the Jesuits Insluence and Lead the Councils of the Schismatics: But see how he turns it now. A very excellent Argument (says he) for the sitting of that Court; but suitable enough, I suppose, for the Authors Design. Where was the Moon I wonder when the Gentleman wrote This? To draw an Argument, For, or Against the Parliaments sitting in 1680. from the Roguery of a Club of Conspirators, that were laying their Heads together for the packing of a Parliament in 1641.  
But his Good Nature, I perceive, is now coming upon him, and I take it for a singular favour, that He, being a Person (as you may perceive) of most notable Government and Circumspection, should vouchsafe now to give the world so fair a Testimony of my Good Breeding: And to say Truth (says he) the Gentleman had, in his youthful days, as many Remedies against hanging himself for Love, as Leukeners-Lane, the Old Cherry-garden, or Madam Bear her Damosels (a Lady as famous in her Generation for Those Intrigues, as either Mother Gifford or Betty Beuly, of Late and Happy Memory) could afford. I have not (really) read of a more Historical Whoremaster: And then the Prescription strikes so directly at the Distemper, that nothing but a Codpieee-Doctor could ever have hit upon't. But in good Faith, Mr. Libeler I never had any thing to do either with these Women or any of your Relations there, that I know of: And yet let me tell you (for you know I wedded Late) I could have given a shrewd Guests before I was married, at the difference betwixt a Woman, and a Weathercock. He falls now upon his Decorums; and talks so like a Poetaster, that there's no enduring of it. Only there's one thing I would beg of him. He Fancies that if any man should but so much as write against sitting up whole Nights, at Cards, I would call it a Libel; Now the Truth of it is; I have given over Cards above this Twelvemonth: And my Request should be This, that he would do me the favour not to put forth his Parts against Card-play; for his Reasonings lie so cursedly Kim Kam, that I'm afraid if he should set pen to paper against Playing, I should go near to take it up again.  
This same LIBELER is a boisterous, unruly word, and will not couch so well in a Period; and therefore hereafter for want of a better name we shall now and then call him Dogrill. He says that Citt and Bumpkin is a very Scoffing Scurrilous Pamphlet, without either Truth, or Good Manners; for it bespatters many of the Nobility, the most Eminent Gentry, and Citizens, with the basest, and meanest Practices of Forgery, imaginable; and that the Author of it is within the Equity of the Pillory, referring the Reader to Pag. 3. But in that whole Page I cannot find so much as One of those Dismal Syllables: Only a Couple of Officious Busy Knaves, discoursing the Roguy Contrivances that were made use of for the gaining of Subscriptions to a Petition. And it is certainly True, that Masters did set hands for their Children, and Servants; Women for their Husbands, at a great Distance, and without Commission, Pedagogues for their Schoolboys, Dissenting Ministers for their Congregations, and Generally, the Heads of the Non-Conformists stickled might and main for the carrying of it on. It is True also, that a World of Names were Subscribed, and the Persons not to be found; and that upon several Rolls there were Thirty Names sometimes together all of the same hand. And it is likewise True, that the Faction had their Clubs, and Committees both in Town and Country, to promote This Affair.  
Doggrill will not allow that This was to amuse the Nation with Numbers, as if they meant to do something further: Notwithstanding that the Refusers were menaced in many places, and people forced in, by Importunity, Aw, and Terror. Insomuch that in Speeches, and Pamphlets, those men were exposed to have a Mark set upon them as Disaffected to the Public, that would not Subscribe the Petition.  
In the next Page, Doggrill Pronounces the Author to be either a Sot, or a Knave, in plain English: Never considering that the rude and Censorious Coxcomb himself shows himself every step he sets, to be Both; And a little after, whatever he is in his Religion, he's sure (he says) that he's a Papist, in Faction. And again a little lower; what Jesuit (says he) could lessen the Drs. Testimony, or Narrative of the Plot, more than He has done, by saying; I believe the Plot, and as much of it, as every good Subject aught to believe; Nay, I do so absolutely believe it, that in my Conscience, you yourself Dr. do not believe more of it then I do. How can he pretend to call That a Lessening of the Drs. Credit, to say that a man believes as much of it as the Dr. himself does, unless Doggril will have it that the Dr. does not believe it at all? And then he abuses L'Estrange most abominably, two lines after, in saying that he compares the whole thing to the raining of Buttered Turnips; whereas This is not said of the whole thing, but of some Cases, which are not as yet given in Evidence, and remain doubtful. This Comment might have been spared, after so much said upon it in a Former Reply.  
Doggrill goes on, P. 4. still like himself. L'Estrange (he says) was as mutinous in Print as any body, before he came to the Preferment of his Half Crown Books, and Ballads; because he could get nothing. The Government, Then, lay under a Maladministration; the rest is, (to meet him in his own way) Infandum renovare dolorem; and so we'll say nothing on't. But to the Books and Ballads; Is it not more Honourable to get a little Money by Stifling, and preventing Sedition, then by Composing, and vending it. And then for the Mutiny he speaks of, it was my Caveat to the Cavaliers in 1661. and whoever reads that Pamphlet, will find I was not so much a Libeler, as a Prophet.  
Doggerel was even now upon his Equity; and than one would have suspected him for a Chancery-man: But now he sets up Physician again; and very Courtcously advises the Author of Citt and Bumpkin, to make a step from Newgate, to Bedlam. The man's a Civil man; and I am confident, has a mind I should give him a visit there: For surely nothing but a man in Bedlam would behave himself at his Inperious rate. Do you not think it a very flagitious thing (says he) for a little unknown fellow to comprehend all the States, Orders, and Divisions of men; Both Lords, Citizens, and Commons of England, under the Opprobrious names of Citt and Bumpkin? Now do but observe what a Couple of Rascals, this Citt and Bumpkin are in the very Dialogue, represented to be. Pag. 26. You (says Trueman) are the Representative (forsooth) of the City; and You of the Country; Two of the Pillars of the Nation, with a Horsepox. A man would not let down his Breeches in a House of Office, that had but Two such Supporters. Do not I know You, Citt, to be a little Grubstreet Insect that but t'other day, scribbled Handy-dandy for some Eighteen pence a Job, Pro and Con, and glad on't too? And now (as it pleases the stars) you are advanced from the Obort, the Miscarriage, I mean, of a Cause-splitter, ta a Drawer up of Articles; and from your skill in Counterfeiting Hands, preferred to be a Solicitor for Fobbed Petitions.  
The Intent of This Reprehension is only to show what pitiful Knaves there are, that in the name of the Nation, impose upon the People; and to distinguish by these Opprobrious Names, Rascals, from men of Honesty, and Honour. Toward the Bottom of Page 7. Doggrill denies that the King was twitt d with his Coronation Oath; the calling for Delinquents to be brought to punishment; and that the Parliament might sit as long as they pleased; Tho' scarce a Porter but knows that it was the daily Clamour of the Press, and the Clubbs are known too that supplied Those Pamphlets. Possibly (says he) there might be something of Trying the Lords in the Tower, which might give the Protestantish Author occasion of that flourish, as if Their Case were Parallel to those worthy Lords and Gentlemen, Then called Delinquents; then which nothing can be more vilely insinuated, To this, it is answered, that the Question is not Here, of the Parliament, but of the Petitioners, who did more than insinuate the Particulars by Him denied, and it is no less True (in despite of the most Impudent Contradiction) that several of the Models of Petitions exposed in Print, insisted upon the Parliaments sitting as long as they pleased.  
He proceeds now, to another detracting passage, (as he calls it) to wit; that it would be never the worse, if the men of Estates were out of favour at Court; for an honest Revenge (you know) goes a great way with a Tender Conscience, Pa. 7. This is spoken now by a Rascal, and as a Rascal, with a very good Decorum; and the Drift of it is to show that Revenge goes a great way even with those that are the highest Pretenders to Conscience.  
By his Tenth Page a man would swear him not only to be in Bedlam still, but in his Fit too; for he's at his Rascally Politics, Rascally Pickthanks; and runs so damnable upon the Pox, and the Rascal, and then Sycophantly Knave, in the next Page, that there's no coming near him. And yet upon the Top of the same Page, he takes a little Breath; and patiently Hears an Account of five Petitions more that were upon the Anvil. One against the Lords in the Tower, Another, for the Setting of the Parliament, till they had gone through with what they had to do; a Third for taking away Bishop's Votes; a Fourth, for the Remove of Evil Counsellors; a Fifth, for putting the Militia into Safe Hands. And then his fit of Raving takes him again. The Ranging (says he) of these Petitions, Together, looks as if to Petition for the Trial of the Lords, were equally Criminal with the rest. Bless me! what Juggling is this? First, here is no Charge, or Intimation of a Crime, upon any of these Petitions, Secondly, his Ranging of them Together, is a kind of a Doggrilism; for they are Ranged one after another. But suppose the matter as he intends it. Must the Ranging of them in Order, be understood as if it employed them to be all of a Quality? This is a Reach very extraordinary, that the sequence of one, two, three, four and five, should operate upon the Condition or Morality of Things or Actions that are Ranged under the Order of These Numbers. Here follows, now, one of the Bloodiest Consequences of all. Those Heads (says Cit P. 10.) will find hands, if there be occasion. And This (says he) is to tell us what dangerous Rogues the Citizens are; and to asperse, by Intimation, the City of London, with Contrivances against the Government. We must mind this man of Decorum, once again, of the Person that speaks it, and the Occasion whereupon it is spoken. Citt and Bumkin are laying their heads together to make a Party of Mutineers against the Magistrates and the Body of the City, and Dogril will needs engage the Citizens of London (contrary to all sense and Reason) to be reflected upon here as the Mutineers. I cannot but wonder how This good man comes now to be such a Zealot all on a sudden for the honour of the City: And yet when this very City of London (the Body, I mean, and the Governors of it) was affronted by that Seditious Libel called, An Appeal from the Country to the City, he had not so much as a word to cast at a Dog upon the Subject. But he is even with me for my passing by the Rebellion In Ireland, Pag. 14. which is just such another Case, as if he should Quarrel a man that is intent upon the Theme of Conventicles, for not writing the History of Japan.  
In his 15th Page he is Fumbling at the Kings being one of the Three Estates; but it is either too hot, or too heavy, and so he lets it fall again. And in the same Page, he is very Angry with Cit, for calling the Protestant Religion the Religion of the Dissenters from the Church. And why should not Citt that Personates a Fanatique, Talk like a Fanatique? and we know very well, that so soon as ever the Sehismatiques got the Power, they called the English Clergy, Popelins, and themselves the only I rotestants.  
And then he goes on, (says he) as if the Plot was only a Blind, to enrage People; and that there was a real Design to destroy the Hierarchy; and all the Sons of the Church, by the name of Papists in Masquerade, and get all the places of Profit to themselves. All This (I say) has in the Memory of man, been contrived, set a foot, and accomplished: And we are at this day told to our faces the precise number of our Protestant Bishops; (which runs very Low) and that there are not above four Protestant Clergy men, of the Church of England, in London. But I shall refer Him that has a mind to be better resolved in This point, to the Schismatics Behaviour toward the Clergy in Essex, upon the last Election of Knights of the Shire there.  
He follows his Kindness to That Party, pag. 18. in saying that they asserted the King's Cause in the Lowest Ebb, and that they were the Second Cause of his Majesty's Restitution. Now I'll go farther with him: They were the very Prime Cause it self; For if the King had not been Driven out, he could not have been Restored. Methinks he might have afforded the Poor Cavalieres a good word or two upon This Occasion. But he has forgotten the Indefatigable Endeavours of That Party; and their prodigious Constancy through all hazards, and Extremities; which still kept the Rebels waking, and in such Apprehensions; that they could never bring matters to a Steady and Secure Settlement, through the whole Course of their Usurpations, He has forgotten how they were hanged and cut to pieces like Dogs, Smothered in jails, Plundered, Transported &c. and for what; and who they were that did the Execution; And All This, forsooth, the Mealymouth Libeler covers under the Gentle Term of a DEVIATION. The Brute can open his Mouth, and outrail Billingsgate, at a man that does his Duty to This King; but the murder of the Last, and the Totall Dissolution of the Government comes off in a Soft way, only for a DEVIATION. He has forgotten the Two Votes that his worthy Friends passed, as previous to the calling of That Parliament which Actually finished the work of his Majesty's Restauration: The Former, that no man should have any Office in the Militia, without Declaring that the War Undertaken by Both Houses of Parliament in their DEFENCE against the Forces raised in the Name of the Late King, was Just, and Lawful. The Second, was for the Exclusion of all that had ever Served his Majesty; and their Sons, from Serving as Members of the next Parliament.  
In dissecting the Former Vote, we shall effectually Dissect the Libeler, and judge of his Affections by the Party he Stickles for. There is First a Sentence passed upon the King, as the Aggressor, when the world Knows how he was forced and Hunted from his Royal Palace by Affronts, and Tumults. Secondly, In justifying the War of the Two Houses (though a Notorious Rebellion:) for the First Compliment they put upon the Son, was to Declare his Royal Father a Traitor. Thirdly, If That War was Just, and Lawful (as They Suggested) the Late King, was Lawfully put to Death: Which was very fairly to tell his Majesty, what, in the like Case, he was to trust to Himself. This was one of the Last Visible Acts, that carried any Countenance of Authority, which Doggrills Friends appeared in, toward the restoring of the King, which plainly bespoke Their Implacable Malice to the Government; where they had but the least hope of a Power to exercise it. As for Those that Frankly, and generously Struggled to Restore his Majesty, without any By-regards to the setting up of Themselves; I shall agree, in Attributing to them all the Honour they deserve.  
Let any man judge now with what Front, (as Mr. Formality has it) this Libeler can Talk of an Act of Oblivion, when he himself puts a man upon the Necessity of either Recriminating upon his Fellow-Rascalls, (to pay him in his own Coin) or otherwise, tacitly to reproach so many Honourable Instances of Loyalty and Resolution; and to bury their Names and Services, in Common Dust and Rubbish.  
Doggerill has another fling at me, P. 19 for Licensing Humane Reason. I cannot deny but that the Copy coming to my hand at past Midnight; and being engaged out of Town at four a Clock that day, by the morning-Tide, and finding that it had been Overlookt by an Authority which I thought sufficient to support it, I put a Licence to it, Vnrend; which I should not have done upon a Perusal. But I do not remember that there fell any Fire and Brimstone upon the Printing of it; and at my Return, I found Whitehall just in the same place where I left it. But it is a Damned lie (Conversing with this Bear has made me Foul-mouthed) that ever I excused myself, by saying (as he pretends) that I would Licence an Answer to it. And it is Another, his saying that I had a hand in the Ballad of Now is the Time, p. 20. And it is yet a Third, that I had any sort of concern in the Loyal Intelligence; as he would have the World believe I had. Pa. 26. But what do I talk of This or That Falsehood; when the Entire Pamphlet is but one great Blot of Forgery, and Gall? In his 20. and 21. Pages, in proof of his Infinite Tenderness and Veneration for the Life, and Authority of his Sacred Majesty, he rakes up Instances of Several Princes that have been Stabbed, Assaulted, Strangled, Deposed, set aside and Imprisoned by their own Subjects. And tho', to palliate the discourse for the saving of his own skin, he tells you, that it is the Subjects Duty to suffer Patiently, yet Nature (he says) in some Cases, is very strong, and Princes had best have a Care what they do; with a hint to the people, that there may be such provoking Circumstances, that a body does not know what may come on't: As who should say 'tis one thing what people should do, and another thing what they are able to do, under such and such Provocations: For Men are but Men. And there he leaves it.  
Now if you would see what point it is he drives at, read his following Citation out of denham's Sophy, and the First Scene of the Fourth Act. It is a discourse betwixt Abdal, and Morat (Two Lords of the Prince's Party) in Confederacy against the King. It begins at — [Poor Princes! How are they misled? etc. Pag. 44. and ends with Morats' speech pa. 46. Now see the Result they come to, pa. 47.  Morat: 
Farewell unhappy Prince, while we thy Friends  
Are Strangers to Our Country and Ourselves;  
Seek out our safety, and expect with patience  
Heaven's Justice.  Abdal. 
Let's rather Act it then Expect it  
The Prince's Injuries at our hands require  
More than our Tears and Patience!  
His Army is not yet dishanded,  
And only wants a Head; Thither we'll fly  
And all who Love the Prince or Hate the Tyrant  
Will follow us.  Mor. 
Nobly Resolved; and either we'll restore  
The Prince, or perish in the brave attempt.  
There's a Mystery in his Meaning, and we shall leave him to expound it himself.  
I have here bestowed more pains upon him then I intended when I first took him in hand; for finding This piece of his, upon Second Thoughts, to be the Venom and Malice of Several other Libels drawn into One, with Lyes, Sawcynesse, and Ribaldry, in abundance, of his Own, I thought it better to make One work of All, and to lay open the Libeler, though I cannot find the Man. Upon the Reason, and Truth of the whole, I ask no favour, either from the Reader, or the Government. He makes me one of Olivers Minstrels: So that while He and I Live, the State shall never want a Fool and a Fiddler. And he will have me to be a Papist two and a Pensioner. I wish he had as much Reason for the Latter, as he has Little for the Former. I could have prevented the Publishing of his Pamphlet; but upon my Own account, I did not think it worth the while; for my Conscience, and (I hope) my Character in the World, with all Honest men, is proof against much more than This amounts to. So that I shall Jog on still, just at my old rate, without any more concern at the Barking of a Two-legged Puppy, then if the Cur went upon all Four, and Bawled for Porridge.  
I shall however try a point of Law, in time Convenient, with some of the Publishers and Dispersers of it; and I do not doubt but at the same time to make it appear, that they are as bold with the King himself, as they are with his Subjects▪ And yet notwithstanding the Contempt that I have for these sneaking and Insidiary Hirelings, the Practice is never the less of so Bloody and Dangerous a Consequence, that it is Impossible to preserve the Peace either of Communities, or Private Families, where This Licence is permitted: Nay, it takes away the Taste and Comfort of Humane Society, by Disseminating, Base Suspicions, Blowing up of Animosities, and Feuds, even to the Dividing of the Nearest Relations, & Friends. For all people are not fortified alike against the Force of Evil Impressions: But variously Transported, (according to the Diversity of their Tempers) either to Revenge themselves upon their Enemies, or to mistake their Friends. So that in effect, the best of Princes, of Governments, and of Men lie equally at the mercy of the most Profligate of Villains. They make Tyrants of what Princes they please; Model Governments after their Own Humour, and set forth Public Ministers, and affairs of State in what Colours they think fit. These are the Arbitrators of War and Peace, and their Domini●o reaches from the Top of Mankind to the Bottom. Pimps and Bawds; Cuckolds and Whores, Pensioners and Papists, are all of them, Honours of Their Creation.  
The Common Objections that these Incendiaries make use of against Me, are these; That my Writings Raise unnecessary Disputes, Create Misunderstandings, Inflame Animosi ies, and tend to the Embroiling of the Kingdom. Now This is all so False, and Groundless, that I Defy all the Legions of the Faction to produce any one Paper that I have published, since I entered upon this Hurry of Scribbling, to which I was not obliged, either by my Duty to the Public, or by Common Prudence in my Own Particular, upon some Occasion, or Provocation of Antecedent Libels against the Government, or against myself. And all this Virulence against me, arises only from the Malice of my Adversaries, to the Interest which I have Constantly Asserted. For after all these Rogues, and Rascals, they have not answered any one of my Arguments. Doggerel will needs have it, that I write out of an Itch of Scribbling, and not out of any Noble end to my Prince. p. 25. And the Vizard gathers it from my Translations. What was my End of Scribbling at the same rate, in the Late Rebellion? When I had no other Reward to expect but the Satisfaction of my Conscience, the One way, and a Halter, (over and above) the Other. ●f he gathers my Itch of Scribbling from my Translations, 'tis an Itch I perceive that he is in no Danger of: There's Tully and Seneca; a Couple of Pagans that will stand Fairer before the Great Tribunal then a Million of Calumniating, and truly Diabolical Christians. There's Bona's Guide to Eternity, (a Manual, of Pious, and Excellent Morality) why should That trouble him either? For his Conscience is laid fast enough, for flying in his Face; and Sleeps as comfortably in the High way to Hell, as if it were no more than Truckling into his Own Kennel. As for Erasmus' Colloquies, and Quevedo's Visions, They are not Tart enough perhaps for His Palate, for 'tis not the Strength, or Moral of a satire that pleases Him; but the Spite, and Venom of it. and in Truth I have heard (if I do not miss my Mark) that he is much Happier too in his Libels that Pass only in Manuscript; then in his Printed ones: For being infinitely Familiar with the Seven Deadly Sins, he'll put you a Set of the Honestest Lords and Ladies that you can lay your hand on, into so lewd a Dress, that they shall all look like Rogues, and Jades in a Trice; and without running the Risque too of a Reply. 'Tis a notable Lad (they say) at a Lampoon.  
The Reader has hitherto had only my Own Word for the Grounds of So many Pamphlets as I have lately exposed to the Public; I shall now come nearer the matter, and deliver a just Report of the Inducements that led me to it.  
Finding not only the Entire Frame of the English Government torn to Pieces, by the Audacious Insolence of Licentious Libels, but the Dignity of Government itself exposed to Popular Contempt, and made Cheap in the Eyes of the Multitude: finding these Outrages, (I say) in a manner Authorized,, by passing Unpunished; and the Cause itself half yielded up for want of Advocates, and Arguments to Defend it; I thrust myself into the Controversy; not (as I hope to be Saved) out of Passion, and Bitterness against any sort of People whatsoever: but out of an Impulse of Conscience, and a Sense of Duty, This Officious Zeal of mine has made me as many Enemies as there are Ill-willers to the Government; and to deal Freely, I cannot but take it for an Honour to be Reviled by Those Lips that Speak Evil of my Master. But So it is however, that whether I made good my Post, or not, it was a thing of absolute necessity that Something should be done, toward the putting of a Check to So Impetuous a Course of Calumny, and Sedition. And This Necessity will better appear, upon a due Consideration of the Bold Discourses, and Positions that were daily vented from the Press, to the Weakening, and Wounding of the Government, in the Head, and in every Part of it.  
As to the KING himself, the Late Case of Sebastian King of Portugal is offered to the English as a Precedent.  
The Doctrine of Co-ordination, and the Kings being Singulis Major, Universis Minor, is Common  
It is positively affirmed, that in many Cases a King may be Deposed.  
Also, that in some Cases the Subject may take up Arms against both his Person and Authority.  
That he Derives his Power, and Authority from the Consent of the People.  
That God himself approves of the Removal of Evil Kings.  
That the Two Houses may Levy Men, Money and Arms; Without, or Against the King's consent.  
They have already Erected a Vote of the House of Commons into the Equivalence of a Law.  
His Majesty is Charged with Raising a Mercenary Popish Army to have joined with the French, Besides Oblique Reflections Innumerable.  
Now for the PARLIAMENT; the Late Long Parliament is called a Treacherous and a Lewd Parliament. And 197. of the Members of That Parliament Scandalously exposed, by Names, in a Libel.  
As to the CLERGY, beside the Daily Reflections upon the Bishops, and Episcopacy itself; they, are expressly called the Sons of Belial; Whom (says the Libeler) if the whole World were now to make their Wills, all but Fools and Knaves would leave them a Curse for a Legacy.  
The People are called upon to Destroy Episcopacy, Root and Branch.  
The Courts of JUSTICE, scape no better; for not only their Proceedings, but the Persons of Several of his Majesty's Judges are Libelled by Name.  
The Juryes are exposed in Several Libels also. And in one Libel, in These Words.  
— Wakeman's, or a Gascoyne-Jury,  
Picked, Bribed, Instructed how to murder Truth,  
From, etc.  
The Justices of the Peace are Served with the same Sauce too: For upon Sir W. waller's being put out, it was presently hinted to the World in a Libel, as if the rest of the Middlesex Bench were all Papists. And so much for Public; But the Personal Libels are not to be Numbered.  
I have Published These Instances in Hope, and Expectation of receiving a Command to make them out, and to Trace them: For I have the Libels in my Possession. If this Liberty holds, every man that honestly serves his Prince, and his Conntry becomes a Sacrifice to the Multitude, and the Rabble gives Laws to the Government, It is no wonder now after these bold attaques upon the Constitution of the Government, if they let fly their Malice at it, in Piece-meal too. And if some Pamphlet-Pedler, or Hedg-Printer happen to be taken in the Manner he has his Plea at his Fingers End. He has served out his Time, and is not to be put by the Exercise of his Trade. Has not a Cutler, or a Gunsmith the same Plea too, for the very Pistol, or Dagger which he knows beforehand is Designed for the Murder of the King?  
In fine; whether it be Impudence, or Openness of Nature, I know not; But (upon my soul) if my whole Life were ripped up, and all my Actions exposed (other Persons excepted out of the History) I would make no more scruple of owning the Truth, then of acknowledging myself to be Flesh and Blood: For I do not set up for a Saint, but for a Loyal Subject, a True Friend, and (as the world goes) a very Honest Fellow.  
The End.