Ludgate, what it is, not what it was, or, A full and clear discovery and description of ... that prison also, an exact catalogue of the legacies now belonging to the said prison, the names of the several donors, and the persons appointed to pay them ... / humbly presented to the Right Honorable Thomas Allen, Lord Mayor of this honorable city by M. Johnson ...

To the Right Honorable THOMAS ALLEN, Lord Major of this Honorable City of LONDON.

May it please your Lordship,

KIng David (that holy man, great Prophet, and good Magistrate) longed for, and accepted of a Bottle of Water from his three Worthies, drawn out of the Well at the Gate of Bethlehem, which was then the Quar∣ters of the Philistines his enemies, though he drank it not, but poured it forth before the Lord as an offering, to quench the thirst of his droughty Army; I hope, my Lord, his Exam I may (in some part) be an in∣centive to your Lordship to accept of this small Tract presented unto you by one Un∣worthy, though you read it not, which was by him collected during his sad Restraint and Captivity within the stone walls and

iron grates of a Prison, the pleasant Ter∣ritories of a Goaler, but the Charnel-house to hide men ruinated by their dislocated and broken fortunes.

It would (my Lord) be an act worthy your Honors owning, to inspect a little into the premises hereafter mentioned; And I be∣seech you, my Lord, disdain them not for the indigency of the style (for he that wrote them wants Learning) but mind them for the Truths therein contained.

If your Honor thinks that a living Dog is better then a dead Lyon, then let Com∣passion move your Lordship (as God hath now planted you in Authority) to look upon the dying condition of living men in a Prison.

Your Lordship (perhaps) may be infor∣med by the Goaler, that persons under the power of his Key want not for subsistence: I do affirm (my Lord) that such an asser∣tion is a notorious falshood; and, that if it lay in his power, the Prisoners of Ludgate would be of all prisoners the most miserable.

My Lord, it would adde Excellency to your Worth, and Eternity to your Memory, would you but according to your Honors

power and wisdom, endeavor the finding out where those noble and great Legacies are buried, and in whose hands they died, which formerly belonged to that Prison, Generations yet to come would finde reason to engrave your Action in Golden Cha∣racters.

When your Lordship views the Revenues of the Keeper to arise from nothing to six or seven hundred pounds per annum, it will amaze you; but if your Lordship con∣siders, that two Turnkeys and a Butler do likewise raise their aunuities to 2 or 300 l. a man, and that it is harassed out of the decaying Estates of poor men, I hope then it will be beyond your admiration.

My Lord, frequent Visitations of Pri∣sons, by just and worthy Persons authori∣zed to Examine Abuses therein, would (I humbly conceive) stop the torrent of their Avarice and Oppr••ssions: Their Extor∣tions being indeed the real cause why men are forced rather to Compound than pay their just Debts.

Two things I humbly crave of your Lordship, Pardon and Protection: Par∣don for my boldness in presenting so mean

and frivolous a thing to so noble a Magi∣strate: Protection, because I have nei∣ther Rhetorique nor Eloquence to de∣fend my self against the Adversaries ma∣lice. Truth and your Lordship must be herein both my Shield and Buckler.

Your Honors greater thoughts shall be no longer detain'd by reading of the meer Entities of

My Lord,

Your Lordships most humble and obedient Servant, Marmaduke Johnson.

Ludgate Chappel, Nov. 7. 1659.