For the fatal Consequences as well as the Illegality of that Design are seen through already by the People So that instead of offering a justification of an Act of Exclusion I have expos'd a rebellious impious and fruitless contrivance tending to it If we look on the Parliament of Paris when they were in their right wits before they were intoxicated by the League at least wholly we shall find them addressing to King Henry the third in another Key concerning the King of Navarr's Succession though he was at that time as they call'd it a relaps'd Heretique And to this purpose I will quote a passage out of the Journals of Henry the Third so much magnify'd by my Adversaries Towards the end of September 1585. there was published at Paris a Bull of Excommunication against the King of Navarre and the Prince of Conde The Parliament of Paris made their Remonstrance to the King upon it which was both grave and worthy of the Place they held and of the Authority they have in this Kingdom Saying for conclusion that their Court had found the Style of this Bull so full of Innovation and so distant from the Modesty of antient Popes that they cou'd not understand in it the voice of an Apostles Successor forasmuch as they found not in their Records nor in the search of all Antiquity that the Princes of France had ever been subject to the Justice or Jurisdiction of the Pope and they cou'd not take it into consideration till first he made appear the Right which he pretended in the Translation of Kingdoms establish'd and ordain'd by Almighty God before the Name of Pope was heard of in the World 'T is plain by this that the Parliament of Paris acknowledg'd an inherent Right of Succession in the King of Navarre though of a contrary Religion to their own And though after the Duke of Guises Murther at Blois the City of Paris revolted from their Obedience to their King pretending that he was fallen from the Crown by reason of that and other Actions with which they charg'd him yet the sum of all their Power to renounce him and create the Duke of Mayenne Lieutenant General depended ultimately on the Popes authority which as you see but three years before they had peremptorily denied The Colledg of Sorbonne began the Dance by their Determination that the Kingly Right was forfeited and stripping him of all his Dignities they call'd him plain Henry de Valois after this says my Author sixteen Rascals by which he means the Council of that Number having administred the Oath of Government to the Duke of Mayenne to take in quality of Lievtenant General of the Estate and Crown of France the same ridiculous Dignity was confirm'd to him by an imaginary Parliament the true Parliament being detain'd Prisoners in divers of the City-Gaols and two new Seals were order'd to be immediately made with this Inscription The Seal of the Kingdom of France I need not inlarge on this Relation 't is evident from hence that the Sorbonists were the Original and our Schismatiques in England were the Copiers of Rebellion that Paris began and London follow'd The next Lines of my Author are that a Gentleman of Paris made the Duke of Mayenne 's Picture to be drawn with a Crown Imperial on his Head and I have heard of an English Nobleman who has at this day the Picture of Old Oliver with this Motto underneath it Vtinam vixeris All this while this cannot be reckon'd an Act of State for the Deposing King Henry the Third because it was an Act of Ouvert Rebellion in the Parisians neither could the holding of the three Estates at Paris afterwards by the same Duke of Mayenne devolve any Right on him in prejudice of King Henry the Fourth though those pretended States declar'd his Title void on the account of his Religion because those Estates could neither be call'd nor holden but by and under the Authority of the Lawful King It wou'd take more time than I have allow'd for this Vindication or I cou'd easily trace from the French History what Misfortunes attended France and how near it was to Ruine by the Endeavors to alter the Succession For first it was actually Dismembred the Duke of Merceur setting up a Principality in the Dutchy of Bretagne Independant of the Crown the Duke of Mayenne had an evident design to be elected King by the favour of the People and the Pope the young Dukes of Guise and of Nemours aspir'd with the interest of the Spaniards to be chosen by their Marriage with the Infanta Izabella The Duke of Lorrain was for cantling out some part of France which lay next his Territories and the Duke of Savoy had before the Death of Henry the Third actually possess'd himself of the Marquisate of Saluces But above all the Spaniards fomented these Civil Wars in hopes to reduce that flourishing Kingdom under their own Monarchy To as many and as great Mischiefs should we be evidently subject if we should madly ingage our selves in the like Practises of altering the Succession which our Gracious King in his Royal Wisdom well forsaw and has cut up that accursed Project by the Roots which will render the memory of his Justice and Prudence Immortal and Sacred to future Ages for having not only preserv'd our present quiet but secur'd the Peace of our Posterity 'T is clearly manifest that no Act of State pass'd to the Exclusion of either the King of Navarre or of Henry the Fourth consider him in either of the two circumstances but Oracle Hunt taking this for granted wou'd prove à fortiori that if a Protestant Prince were actually excluded from a Popish Kingdom then a Popish Successor is more reasonably to be excluded from a Protestant Kingdom because says he a Protestant Prince is under no Obligation to destroy his Popish Subjects but a Popish Prince is to destroy his Protestant Subjects upon which bare supposition without farther Proof he calls him insufferable Tyrant and the worst of Monsters Now I take the matter quite otherwise and bind my self to maintain that there is not nor can be any Obligation for a King to destroy his Subjects of a contrary Perswasion to the establish'd Religion of his Country for quatenus Subjects of what Religion soever he is infallibly bound to preserve and cherish and not to destroy them and this is the first duty of a Lawful Soveraign as such antecedent to any tye or consideration of his Religion Indeed in those Countries where the Inquisition is introduc'd it goes harder with Protestants and the reason is manifest because the Protestant Religion has not gotten footing there and severity is the means to keep it out But to make this instance reach England our Religion must not only be chang'd which in it self is almost impossible to imagine but the Council of Trent receiv'd and the Inquisition admitted which many Popish Countries have rejected I forget not the Cruelties which were exercis'd
been recorded by immortal Og or Doeg and the Rabble Scene should have been true Protestant though a Whig Devil were at the Head of it In the mean time pray where lies the Relation betwixt the Tragedy of the Duke of Guise and the Charter of London Mr. Hunt has found a rare connexion for he tacks them together by the kicking of the Sheriffs That Chain of thought was a little ominous for something like a kicking has succeeded the Printing of his Book and the Charter of London was the Quarrel For my part I have not Law enough to state that question much less decide it let the Charter shift for it self in Westminster Hall the Government is somewhat wiser than to imploy my ignorance on such a Subject my promise to honest Nat. Lee was the only Bribe I had to ingage me in this trouble for which he has the good fortune to escape Scot-free and I am left in pawn for the Reckoning who had the least share in the Entertainment But the Rising it seems should have been on the true Protestants side for he has tryed says ingenious Mr. Hunt what he could do towards making the Charter forfeitable by some Extravagancy and Disorder of the People A wise man I had been doubtless for my pains to raise the Rabble to a Tumult where I had been certainly one of the first men whom they had limn'd or drag'd to the next convenient Sign-Post But on second thought he says this ought not to move the Citizens he is much in the right for the Rabble Scene was written on purpose to keep his Party of them in the bounds of Duty 'T is the business of factious men to stir up the Populace Sir Edmond on Horseback attended by a Swindging Pope in Effigie and forty thousand true Protestants for his Guard to Execution are a Show more proper for that design than a thou sand Stage-Plays Well he has fortified his Opinion with a Reason however why the People should not be moved because I have so maliciously and mischievously represented the King and the Kings Son nay and his Favourite saith he the Duke too to whom I give the worst strokes of my unlucky Fancy This need not be answered for 't is already manifest that neither the King nor the Kings Son are represented neither that Son he means nor any of the rest God bless them all What strokes of my unlucky Fancy I have given to his Royal Highness will be seen and it will be seen also who strikes him worst and most unluckily The Duke of Guise he tells us ought to have represented a great Prince that had inserv'd to some most detestable Villany to please the Rage or Lust of a Tyrant such great Courtiers have been often sacrificed to appease the Furies of the Tyrants guilty Conscience to expiate for his Sin and to attone the People For a Tyrant naturally stands in fear of such wicked Ministers is obnoxious to them aw'd by them and they drag him to greater evils for their own impunity than they perpetrated for his Pleasure and their own Ambition Sure he said not all this for nothing I would know of him on what persons he would fix the Sting of this sharp Satyr What two they are whom to use his own Words he so maliciously and mischievously would represent For my part I dare not understand the villany of his meaning but some body was to have been shown a Tyrant and some other a great Prince inserving to some detestable Villany and to that Tyrants Rage and Lust this great Prince or Courtier ought to be sacrificed to attone the People and the Tyrant is perswaded for his own interest to give him up to publick Justice I say no more but that he has studied the Law to good purpose He is dancing on the Rope without a Metaphor his knowledge of the Law is the Staff that poizes him and saves his Neck The Party indeed speaks out sometimes for wickedness is not always so wise as to be secret especially when it is driven to despair By some of their Discourses we may guess at whom he points but he has fenc'd himself in with so many Evasions that he is safe in his Sacriledge and he who dares to answer him may become obnoxious 'T is true he breaks a little out of the Clouds within two Paragraphs for there he tells you that Caius Caesar to give unto Caesar the things that are Caesars was in the Catiline Conspiracy a fine insinuation this to be sneer'd at by his Party and yet not to be taken hold of by publick Justice They would be glad now that I or any man should bolt out their Covert Treason for them for their loop hole is ready that the Caesar here spoken of was a private man But the application of the Text declares the Authors to be another Caesar which is so black and so infamous an aspersion that nothing less than the highest clemency can leave it unpunish'd I cou'd reflect on his ignorance in this place for attributing these words to Caesar he that is not with us is against us He seems to have mistaken them out of the New Testament and that 's the best defence I can make for him for if he did it knowingly 't was impiously done to put our Saviours words into Caesar's mouth But His Law and Our Gospel are two things this Gentleman's Knowledge is not of the Bible any more than his Practice is according to it He tells you he will give the world a tast of my Atheism and Impiety for which he quotes these following Verses in the second or third Act of the Duke of Guise For Conscience or Heavens fear religious Rules Are all State-bells to toll in pious Fools In the first place he is mistaken in his Man for the Verses are not mine but Mr. Lees I ask'd him concerning them and have this account that they were spoken by the Devil now what can either Whig or Devil say more proper to their Character than that Religion is only a Name a Stalking horse as errant a Property as Godliness and Property themselves are amongst their Party yet for these two lines which in the mouth that speaks them are of no offence he hallooes on the whole pack against me Judge Justice Surrogate and Official are to be employed at his Suit to direct Process and boring through the Tongue for Blasphemy is the least Punishment his Charity will allow me I find 't is happy for me that he was not made a Judge and yet I had as lieve have him my Judge as my Council if my Life were at stake My poor Lord Stafford was well helpt up with this Gentleman for his Solicitor no doubt he gave that unfortunate Nobleman most admirable advice toward the Saving of his life and would have rejoyc'd exceedingly to have seen him clear'd I think I have disprov'd his instance of my Atheism it remains for him to justifie his Religion in putting the words
of Christ into a Heathens mouth and much more in his prophane allusion to the Scripture in the other Text Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesars which if it be not a profanation of the Bible for the sake of a silly Witticism let all men but his own Party judge I am not malicious enough to return him the names which he has call'd me but of all sins I thank God I have always abhor'd Atheism and I had need be a better Christian than Mr. Hunt has shown himself if I forgive him so infamous a Slander But as he has mistaken our Saviour for Julius Caesar so he would Pompey too if he were let alone to him and to his Cause or to the like Cause it belong'd he says to use these words he that is not with us is against us I find he cares not whose the Expression is so it be not Christs But how comes Pompey the Great to be a Whig He was indeed a Defender of the ancient establish'd Roman Government but Caesar was the Whig who took up Arms unlawfully to subvert it Our Liberties and our Religion both are safe they are secur'd to us by the Laws and those Laws are executed under an establish'd Government by a Lawful King The Defender of our Faith is the Defender of our Common Freedom to Cabal to Write to Rail against this Administration are all Endeavours to destroy the Government and to oppose the Succession in any private man is a Treasonable Pactice against the Foundation of it Pompey very honourably maintain'd the Liberty of his Country which was govern'd by a Common-wealth So that there lies no Parallel betwixt his Cause and Mr. Hunts except in the bare notion of a Common-wealth as it is oppos'd to Monarchy and that 's the thing he would obliquely slur upon us Yet on these Premisses he is for ordering my Lord Chief Justice to grant out Warrants against all those who have applauded the Duke of Guise as if they committed a Riot when they Clapp'd I suppose they paid for their Places as well as he and his Party did who Hiss'd If he were not half Distracted for not being Lord Chief Baron methinks he should be Lawyer enough to advise my Lord Chief Justice better To Clap and Hiss are the Priviledges of a Free-born Subject in a Play-house they buy them with their Money and their Hands and Mouths are their own Property It belongs to the Master of the Revels to see that no Treason or Immorality be in the Play but when 't is acted let every man like or dislike freely not but that respect should be us'd too in the presence of the King for by his Permission the Actors are allow'd 'T is due to his Person as he is Sacred and to the Successors as being next related to him there are opportunities enow for men to hiss who are so dispos'd in their absence for when the King is in sight though but by accident a Malefactor is repriev'd from death Yet such is the Duty and good manners of these good Subjects that they forbore not some rudeness in his Majesties presence but when his Royal Highness and his Court were only there they push'd it as far as their malice had power and if their Party had been more numerous the Affront had been greater The next Paragraph of our Authors is a Panegyrique on the Duke of Monmouth which concerns not me who am very far from detracting from him the Obligations I have had to him were those of his Countenance his Favour his good Word and his Esteem all which I have likewise had in a greater measure from his excellent Dutchess the Patroness of my poor unworthy Poetry If I had not greater the fault was never in their want of goodness to me but in my own backwardness to ask which has allways and I believe will ever keep me from rising in the World Let this be enough with reasonable men to clear me from the imputation of an ungrateful man with which my enemies have most unjustly tax'd me If I am a mercenary Scribler the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury best know I am sure they have found me no importunate Solicitor for I know my self I deserv'd little and therefore have never desir'd much I return that slander with just disdain on my accusers 't is for men who have ill Consciences to suspect others I am resolv'd to stand or fall with the Cause of God my King and Country never to trouble my self for any railing aspersions which I have not deserv'd and to leave it as a Portion to my Children that they had a Father who durst do his duty and was neither Covetous nor Mercenary As little am I concern'd at that imputation of my back friends that I have confess'd my self to be put on to write as I do If they mean this Play in particular that is notoriously prov'd against them to be false For the rest of my Writings my hatred of their Practises and Principles was cause enough to expose them as I have done and will do more I do not think as they do for if I did I must think Treason But I must in conscence write as I do because I know which is more than thinking that I write for a lawful establish'd Government against Anarchy Innovation and Sedition But these Lyes as Prince Harry said to Falstaffe are as gross as he that made them More I need not say for I am accus'd without witness I fear not any of their Evidences not even him of Salamanca who though he has disown'd his Doctorship in Spain yet there are some allow him to have taken a certain degree in Italy a Climate they say more proper for his Masculine Constitution To conclude this ridiculous Accusation against me I know but four men in their whole Party to whom I have spoken for above this year last past and with them neither but casually and cursorily We have been acquaintance of a long standing many years before this accursed Plot divided men into several Parties I dare call them to witness whether the most I have at any time said will amount to more than this that I hop'd the time would come when these names of Whig and Tory would cease among us and that we might live together as we had done formerly I have since this Pamphet met accidentally with two of them and I am sure they are so far from being my Accusers that they have severally own'd to me that all men who espouse a Party must expect to blacken'd by the contrary Side that themselves knew nothing of it nor of the Authors of the Reflections It remains therefore to be consider'd whether if I were as much a Knave as they wou'd make me I am Fool enough to be guilty of this Charge and whether they who rais'd it wou'd have made it publique if they had thought I was theirs inwardly For 't is plain they are glad of worse Scriblers than I am