A defence of the people of England by John Milton ; in answer to Salmasius's Defence of the king.

THE AUTHOR'S Preface.

ALTHO I fear, lest, if in defending the People of England, I should be as copious in Words, and empty of Matter, as most Men think Salmasius has been in his Defence of the King; I might seem to deserve justly to be accounted a verbose and silly Defender; yet since no Man thinks himself obliged to make so much haste, tho in the handling but of any ordinary Subject, as not to pre∣mise some Introduction at least, according as the weight of his Subject requires; if I take the same course in handling well-nigh the greatest Subject that ever was, without being too tedious in it, I am in hopes of attaining two things, which indeed I earnestly desire: The one, not to be at all wanting, as far as in me lies, to this most Noble Cause, and most worthy to be recorded to all future Ages. The other, That I shall appear to have avoided my self, that fri∣volousness of Matter, and redundancy of Words, which I find fault with in my Antagonist. For I am about to discourse of Matters, neither inconsiderable nor common, but how a most Potent King, after he had trampled upon the Laws of the Nation, and given a shock to its Religion, and was ruling at his own Will and Pleasure, was at last subdu'd in the

Field by his own Subjects, who had undergone a long Slavery under him; how afterwards he was cast into Prison, and when he gave no ground, ei∣ther by Words or Actions, to hope better things of him, he was finally by the Supreme Council of the Kingdom condemned to dye, and beheaded before the very Gates of the Palace. I shall likewise re∣late, (which will much conduce to the easing mens minds of a great Superstition,) by what Right, espe∣cially according to our Law, this Judgment was gi∣ven, and all these Matters transacted; and shall easily defend my Valiant and Worthy Countrymen, and who have extremely well deserved of all Subjects and Na∣tions in the World, from the most wicked Calumities both of Domestick and Foreign Railers, and especial∣ly from the Reproaches of this most vain and empty Sophister, who sets up for a Captain and Ringleader to all the rest. For what King's Majesty sitting upon an Exalted Throne, ever shone so brightly, as that of the People of England then did, when shaking off that old Superstition, which had prevailed a long time, they gave Judgment upon the King himself, or ra∣ther upon an Enemy, who had been their King, caught as it were in a Net by his own Laws (who alone of all Mortals challenged to himself impunity by a Divine Right) and scrupled not to inflict the same punishment upon him himself, being guilty, which he would have inflicted upon any other. But why do I mention these things as performed by the People? which almost open their Voice themselves, and testify the Presence of God throughout. Who, as often as it seems good to his Infinite Wisdom, uses to throw down proud and unruly Kings, exalting themselves above the Condition of Humane Nature, and utterly to ex••irpate them and all their Family.

By his manifest Impulse being set on work to recover our almost lost Liberty, following him as our Guide, and adoring the impresses of his Divine Power mani∣fested upon all occasions, we went on in no obscure, but an illustrious Passage, pointed out, and made plain to us by God himself. Which things, if I should so much as hope by any diligence or ability of mine, such as it is, to discourse of as I ought to do, and commit them so to writing, as perhaps all Nations and all Ages may read them, it would be a very vain thing in me. For what stile can be august and mag∣nificent enough, what man has parts sufficient to undertake so great a Task? since we find by Experi∣ence, that in so many Ages as are gone over the World, there has been but here and there a man found, who has been able worthily to recount the Actions of Great Heroes, and Potent States; can any man have so good an opinion of himself, as to think himself capable to reach these glorious and won∣derful Works of Almighty God, by any Language, by any stile of his? Which Enterprize, though some of the most Eminent Persons in our Commonwealth have prevailed upon me by their Authority to under∣take, and would have it be my business to vindicate with my Pen against Envy and Calumny (which are proof against Arms) those Glorious Performances of theirs (whose opinion of me I take as a very great honour, that they should pitch upon me before others to be serviceable in this kind to those most Valiant Deliverers of my Native-Countrey; and true it is, that from my very youth I have been bent extremely upon such sort of Studies, as inclin'd me, if not to do great things my self, at least to celebrate those that did) yet as having no confidence in any such Advantages, I have recourse to the Divine Assistance; And invoke

the Great and Holy God, the Giver of all good Gifts, that I may as substantially, and as truly, dis∣cuss and refute the Sawciness and Lies of this Fo∣reign Declamator, as our Noble Generals piously and successfully by force of Arms broke the King's Pride, and his unruly Domineering, and afterwards put an end to both by inflicting a memorable Punish∣ment upon himself; and as throughly as a sin∣gle person did with case but of late confute and con∣found the King himself, rising as it were from the Grave, and recommending himself to the People in a Book publish'd after his death, with new Artisices and Allurements of Words and Expressions. Which Antagonist of mine, though he be a Foreigner, and, though he deny it a thousand times over, but a poor Grammarian; yet not contented with the Salary due to him in that Capacity, chose to turn a Prag∣matical Coxcomb; and not only to intrude in State-Affairs, but into the Affairs of a Foreign State: tho he brings along with him neither Modesty, nor Un∣derstanding, ••or any other qualification requisite in so great an Arbitrator, but Sawciness, and a little Grammar only. Indeed, if he had publish'd here, and in English, the same things that he has now wrote in Latin such as it is, I think no man would have thought it worth while to return an Answer to them, but would partly despise them as common, and exploded over and over already, and partly ab∣hor them as sordid and Tyrannical Maxims, not to be endured even by the most abject of Slaves; Nay, men that have even sided with the King, would have had these thoughts of his Book. But since he has swol'n it to a considerable bulk, and dispers'd it a∣mongst Foreigners, who are altogether ignorant of our Affairs and Constitution; it's sit that they who

mistake them, should be better informed; and that he, who is so very forward to speak ill of others, should be treated in his own kind. If it be asked, why we did not then attack him sooner, why we suffered him to triumph so long, and pride himself in our si∣lence? For others I am not to answer; for my self I can boldly say, That I had neither had words nor Arguments long to seek, for the defence of so good a Cause, if I had enjoyed such a measure of health, as would have endur'd the fatigue of writing. And being but yet weak in Body, I am forced to write by piece-meal, and break off almost every hour, though the Subject be such as requires an unintermitted study and intenseness of mind. But though this bodily In∣disposition may be a hindrance to me in setting forth the just Praises of my most worthy Countreymen, who have been the Saviours of their Native Country, and whose Exploits, worthy of Immortality, are al∣ready famous all the World over; yet I hope it will be no difficult matter for me to defend them from the Insolence of this silly little Scholar, and from that sawey Tongue of his at least. Nature and Laws would be in an ill case, if Slavery should find what to say for it self, and liberty be mute: and if Ty∣rants should find men to plead for them, and they that can master and vanquish Tyrants, should not be able to find Advocates: And it were a deplorable thing indeed, if the Reason Mankind is endu'd withal, and which is the gift of God, should not furnish more Arguments for mens Preservation, for their De∣liverance, and, as much as the nature of the thing will bear, for making them equal to one another, than for their oppression, and for their utter ruine under the Domineering Power of One single Person.

Let me therefore enter upon this Noble Cause with a chearfulness, grounded upon this Assurance, That my Adversary's Cause is maintain'd by nothing but Fraud, Fallacy, Ignorance and Barbarity; whereas mine has Light, Truth, Reason, the Practice and the Learning of the best Ages of the World, of its side.

But now, having said enough for an Introduction, since we have to do with Criticks; let us in the first place consider the Title of this Choice Piece: Defensio Regia pro Car. Primo, ad Car. Secundum. A Royal De∣fence (or the King's Defence) for Charles the First to Charles the Second. You undertake a wonderful piece of work, whoever you are; to plead the Father's Cause before his own Son: a hundred to one but you carry it. But I summon you, Salmasius, who here∣tofore sculk'd under a wrong name, and now go by no name at all, to appear before another Tribunal, and before other Judges, where perhaps you may not hear those little Applauses, which you use to be so fond of in your School. But why this Royal De∣fence dedicated to the King's own Son? We need not put him to the torture; he confesses why. At the King, charge, says he. O mercenary and chargeable Advocate! could you not afford to write a Defence for Charles the Father, whom you pretend to have been the best of Kings, to Charles the Son, the most indigent of all Kings, but it must be at the poor King's own Charge? But though you are a Knave, you would not make your self ridiculous, in calling it the King's Defence; for you having sold it, it is no longer yours, but the King's indeed: who bought it at the price of a hundred Jacobusses, a great Sum for a poor King to disburse. I know very well what I

say; and 'tis well enough known who brought the Gold, and the Purse wrought with Beads: We know who saw you reach out greedy fists, under pretence of embracing the King's Chaplain, who brought the Pre∣sent, but indeed to embrace the Present it self, and by accepting it to exhaust almost all the King's Trea∣sury.

But now the man comes himself, the Door creaks; the Actor comes upon the Stage.

In silence now, and with attention wait, That yee may learn what th' Eunuch has to prate.Terent.

For whatever the matter's with him, he blusters more than ordinary. A horrible message had lately struck our Ears, but our minds more, with a heinous wound con∣cerning a Parricide committed in England in the Person of a King, by a wicked Conspiracy of Sacrilegious men. In∣deed that horrible Message must either have had a much longer Sword, than that which Peter drew, or those Ears must have been of a wonderful length, that it could wound at such a distance; for it could not so much as in the least offend any Ears but those of an Ass. For what harm is it to you, that are Fo∣reigners? are any of you hurt by it, if we amongst our selves put our own Enemies, our own Traytors to death, be they Commoners, Noble men, or Kings? Do you, Salmasius, let alone, what does not concern you; for I have a horrible Message to bring of you too; which I'm mistaken if it strike not a more heinous wound into the Ears of all Grammarians and Criticks, provided they have any Learning and Delicacy in them: To wit, your crowding so many Barbarous Ex∣pressions together in one period in the person of (Ari∣starchus) a Grammarian, and that so great a Critick as

you, hired at the King's charge to write a Defence of the King his Father, should not only set so fulsome a Preface before it, much like those Lamentable Ditties, that used to be sung at Funerals, and which can move compassion in none but a Cox-comb; but in the very first sentence should provoke your Readers to laugh∣ter with so many Barbarisms all at once. Persona Re∣gir, you cry. Where do you find any such Latin? Or are you telling us some tale or other of a Perkin Warchick, who taking upon him the Person of a King, has, forsooth! committed some horrible Parricide in England? Which expression, though dropping care∣lesly from your Pen, has more truth in it, than you are aware of. For a Tyrant is but like a King upon a tage a man in a Vizor, and acting the part of a K••ng in a Play; he is not really a King. But as for thes•• Gallicisms, that are so frequent in your Book, I w•…•…t lash you for them my self, for I am not at lei∣sure; but shall deliver you over to your fellow Gram∣marians, to be laught to scorn and whipt by them. What follows is much more heinous, that what was decreed by our Supreme Magistrates to be done to the King should be said by you to have been done by a wicked Conspiracy of Sacrilegious persons. Have you the impudence, you Rogue, to talk at this rate of the Acts and Decrees of the chief Magistrates of a Na∣tion that lately was a most Potent Kingdom, and is now a more Potent Commonwealth? Whose pro∣ceedings no Ring ever took upon him by word of mouth, or otherwise to vilifie and set at nought. The Illustrious States of Holland therefore, the Ge∣nuine Off spring of those Deliverers of their Coun∣try, have deservedly by their Edict condemn'd to utter darkness this Defence of Tyrants, so perni∣cious to the Liberty of all Nations; the Author of

which every free State ought to forbid their Country, or to banish out of it; and that State particularly, that feeds with a Stipend so un∣grateful and so savage an Enemy to their Com∣monwealth; whose very Fundamentals and the causes of their becoming a free State, this Fellow endeavours to undermine, as well as ours; and at one and the same time to subvert both; and loads with Calumnies the most worthy Asserters of Liberty there, under our Names. Consider with your selves, ye most Illustrious States of the United Netherlands, who it was that put this As∣serter of Kingly Power upon setting Pen to Pa∣per; who it was, that but lately began to play Rex in your Country; what Counsels were taken, what endeavours used, and what distur∣bances ensued thereupon in Holland; and to what pass things might have been brought by this time; how Slavery and a new Master were ready prepar'd for you, and how near expiring that Li∣berty of yours, asserted and vindicated by so ma∣ny years War and Toil, would have been, e're now, if it had not taken breath again by the timely death of a certain rash young Gentleman. But our Author begins to strut again, and to feign wonderful Tragedies; Whomsoever this dread∣ful news reacht (to wit, the news of Salmasius his Parricidial Barbarisms) all of a sudden, as if they had been struck with lightning, their hair stood an end, and their tongues clove to the roof of their mouth, Which let Natural Philosophers take notice of (for this secret in nature was never discovered be∣fore) that lightning makes mens hair stand an

end. But who knows not that little effeminate minds are apt to be amaz'd at the news of any extiaordinary great Action; and that then they show themselves to be what they really were before, no better than so many Stocks. Some could not refrain from tears; some little Women at Court, I suppose, or if there be any more effemi∣nate than they, of whose number Salmasius him∣self being one, is by a new Metamorphosis become a Fountain near akin to his Name (Salmacis) and with his counterfeit flood of tears prepared over night, endeavours to emasculate generous minds: I advise therefore, and wish them to have a care,

—Infamis ne quem malè fortibus undis Salmacis Enervet.— —Ne, si vir cum venerit, exeat indè Semivir, & tactis subitò mollescat in undis.

Abstain, as Manhood you esteem, From Salmacis pernicious Stream: If but one moment there you stay, Too dear you'l for your Bathing pay,— Depart nor Man nor Woman, but a Sight Disgracing both, a loath'd Hermaphrodite.

They that had more courage (which yet the expresses in miserable bald Latin, as if he could not so much as speak of men of courage and Magnanimity in pro∣per words) were set on fire with indignation to that degree, that they could hardly contain themselves. Those furious Hectors we value not of a rush. We have been accustomed to rout such Bullies in the Field with a true sober courage, a courage becoming men that can contain them∣selves, and are in their right Wits. There were none that did not curse the Authors of so Horrible a Villany. But yet, you say, their tongues clove to the roof of their mouths; and if you mean this of our Fugitives only, I wish they had clove there to this day; for we know very well, that there's nothing more com∣mon with them, than to have their mouths full of Curses and Imprecations, which indeed all good men abominate, but withal despise. As for others, it's hardly credible, that when they heard the news of our having inflicted a Capital Punishment upon the King, there should any be found, especially in a Free State, so naturally adapted to Slavory, as either to speak ill of us, or so much as to censure what we had done: Nay, 'tis highly probable, that all good men applauded us, and gave God thanks for so il∣lustrious, so exalted a piece of Justice; and for a cau∣tion so very useful to other Princes. In the mean time, as for those fierce, those steel hearted men, that, you say, take on for, and bewall so pitifully, the la∣mentable and wonderful death of I know not who; them, I say, together with their tinkling Advocate, the dullest that ever appeared, since the Name of a

King was born and known in the world, we shall e'en let whine on, till they cry their eyes out. But in the mean time, what School-boy, what little insig∣nificant Monk could not have made a more elegant Speech for the King, and in better Latin than this Royal Advocate has done? But it would be folly in me to make such particular Animadversions upon his Childishness and Frenzies throughout his Book, as I do here upon a few in the beginning of it; which yet I would be willing enough to do (for we hear, that he is swollen with Pride and Conceit to the ut∣most degree imaginable) if the ill-put-together and immethodical bulk of his book did not protect him: He was resolved to take a course like the Soldier in Terence, to save his Bacon; and it was very cunning in him to stuff his Book with so much Childishness, and so many silly whimsies, that it might nauseate the smartest man in the world to death, to take notice of 'em all. Only I thought it might not be amiss to give a specimen of him in the Preface; and to let the serious Reader have a taste of him at first, that he might guess by the first dish that's serv'd up, how noble an Entertainment the rest are like to make; and that he may imagine within himself what an infinite number of Fooleries and Impertinencies, must heeds be heaped up together in the body of the Book, when they stand so thick in the very Entrance into it, where of all other places they ought to have been shunned. His tittle-tattle that follows, and his Ser∣mons fit for nothing but to be worm eaten, I can ea∣sily pass by; as for any thing in them relating to us, we doubt not in the least, but that what has been written and published by Authority of Parliament,

will have far greater weight with all wise and sober men, than the Calumnies and Lies of one single im∣pudent little Fellow; who being hired by our Fugi∣tives, their Countrey's Enemies, has scrap'd together, and not scrupled to publish in Print, whatever little Story any one of them that employed him, put into his head. And that all men may plainly see how little conscience he makes of setting down any thing right or wrong, good or bad, I desire no other Wit∣ness than Salmasius himself. In his book, entituled, Apparatus contra Primatum Papae, he says,

There are most weighty Reasons why the Church ought to lay aside Episcopacy, and return to the Apostolical Institution of Presbyters: That a far greater ••is∣chief has been introduced into the Church by E•…•…∣copacy, than the Schisms themselves were, which were before apprehended: That the Plague which Episcopacy introduced, depressed the whole body of the Church under a miserable Tyranny: Nay, had put a yoke even upon the necks of Kings and Princes: That it would be more beneficial to the Church, if the whole Hierarchy it self, were ex∣tirpated, than if the Pope only, who is the Head of it, were laid aside, page 160. That it would be very much for the good of the Church, if Episco∣cy were taken away, together with the Papacy: That if Episcopacy were once taken down, the Papacy would fall of it self, as being founded up∣on it, page 171. He says he can show very good reasons why Episcopacy ought to be put down in those Kingdoms that have renounced the Pope's Su∣premacy; but that he can see no reason for retain∣ing it there: That a Reformation is not entire,

that is defective in this point: That no reason can be alledged, no probable cause assigned, why the Supremacy of the Pope being once disowned, Episcopacy should notwithstanding be retained,

page 197. Tho he had wro••e all this, and a great deal more to this effect, but four years ago, he is now become so vain and so impudent with∣al, as to accuse the Parliament of England, for

not only turning the Bishops out of the House of Lords, but for abolishing Episcopacy it self.

Nay, he persuades us to receive Episcopacy, and defends it by the very same Reasons and Argu∣ments, which with a great deal of earnestness he had confuted himself in that former Book; to wit,

That Bishops were necessary, and ought to have been retained, to prevent the spring∣ing up of a Thousand pernicious Sects and He∣resies.

Crafty Turn-coat! Are you not asham'd to shift hands thus in things that are Sacred, and (I had almost said) to betray the Church; whose most solemn Institutions you seem to have asserted and vindicated with so much noise, that when it should seem for your interest to change sides, you might undo and subvert all again with the more disgrace and infamy to your self. It's notoriously known, That when both Houses of Parliament, being extremely desirous to Reform the Church of England by the pattern of other Reformed Churches, had resolved to abolish Epis∣copacy, the King first interposed, and afterwards waged War against them chiefly for that very cause; which proved fatal to him. Go now and ••oast of your having Defended the King; who,

that you might the better defend him, do now openly betray and impugn the Cause of the Church, whose Defence you your self had for∣merly undertaken; and whose severest Censures ought to be inflicted upon you. As for the present form of our Government, since such a Foreign in∣significant Professor as you, having laid aside your Boxes and Desks, stufft with nothing but Trifles, which you might have spent your time better in put∣ting into order, will needs turn busie-body, and be troublesome in other mens matters, I shall return you this answer, or rather not to you, but to them that are wiser than your self, viz. That the Form of it is such as our present distractions will admit of; not such as were to be wish'd, but such as the obstinate Divisions that are amongst us, will bear. What State soever is pestered with Factions, and de∣fends it self by Force of Arms, is very just in having regard to those only that are found and untainted, and in overlooking or se∣cluding the rest, be they of the Nobility or the common people; nay, though profit∣ing by experience, they should refuse to be go∣verned any longer either by a King or a 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of Lords. But in railing at that Supreme Coun∣cil, as you call it, and at the Chair man thére, you make your self very Ridiculous; for that Council is not the Supreme Council, as you dream it is, but appointed by Authority of Parliament, for a certain time only; and consisting of ••orty Persons, for the most part Members of Parlia∣ment, any one of whom may be President, if the rest Vote him into the Chair. And there

is nothing more common, than for our Parlia∣ments to appoint Committees of their own Members; who, when so appointed, have Pow∣er to meet where they please, and hold a kind of a little Parliament amongst themselves. And the most weighty Affairs are often referred to them, for Expedition and Secresie; the care of the Navy, the Army, the Treasury; in short, all things whatsoever, relating either to War or Peace. Whether this be called a Council, or any thing else, the thing is ancient, though the name may be new; and it is such an Institution, as no Government can be duly administred with∣out it. As for our putting the King to death, and changing the Government, forbear your bawling, don't spit your Venom, till going along with you through every Chapter, I show, whether you will or no, by what Law. by what Right and Justice, all that was done. But if you insist to know by what Right, by what Law; by that Law, I tell you, which God and Nature have enacted, viz. that whatever things are for the Universal Good of the Whole State, are for that reason lawful and just. So wise Men of old used to answer such as you. You find fault with us for Repealing Laws, that had obtained for so many years; but you do not tell as, whether those Laws were good or bad, nor if you did, should we heed what you said; for, you buisy Puppy, what have you to do with our Laws? I wish our Magistrates had •…•…ed more than they have, both Laws and ••••wyers; if they had, they would have consult∣ed

the Interest of the Christian Religion, and that of the People better then they have done. It frets you, That Hob-goblins, Sons of the Earth, scarce Gentlemen at home, scarce known to their own Coun∣trymen, should presume to do such things. But you ought to have remembred, what not only the Scriptures, but Horace would have taught you, viz.—

—Valet ima summis Mutare & insignem attenuat Deus Obscura promens, &c.

The Power that did create, can change the Scene Of things, make mean of great, and great of mean; The brightest Glory can Eclipse with Night, And place the most obscure in dazling Light.

But take this into the Bargain: some of those, who you say are scarce Gentlemen, are not at all inferiour in birth to any of your party; others, whose Ancestors were not Noble, have taken a course to attain to true Nobility by their own Industry and Vertue, and are not inferior to men of the Noblest Descent; and had rather be

〈◊〉〈◊〉 ••••ns of the Earth, provided to be their own Earth. (their own Native Country) and ••ct like Men at home, then being destitute of House or Land, to relieve the necessities of Nature in a Foreign Country, by selling of Smoke as thou dost, an inconsiderable Fellow, and a J••ck-straw, and who dep••ndest upon the good will of thy Ma∣sters for a poor St••pend; for whom it were better to forgo thy travelling, and return to thy own Kin∣dred and Country-men, if thou hadst not this one piece of Cunning, to babble out some silly Prele∣ctions and Fooleries at so good a rate amongst Fo∣reigners. You find fault with our Magistrates for admitting such a Common-shore of all sorts of Sects; Why should they not? It belongs to the Church to cast them out of the Communion of the faithful; not to the Magistrate to Banish them the Country, provided they do not offend against the Civil Laws of the State. Men at first united into Civil Socie∣ties, that they might live safely and enjoy their Liberty, without being wrong'd or opprest; that they might live Religiously, and according to the Doctrine of Christianity, they united themselves into Churches. Civil Societies have Laws, and Churches have a Discipline, peculiar to themselves, and far differing from each other. And this has been the occasion of so many Wars in Christendom; to wit, because the Civil Magistrate and the Church confounded their Jurisdictions. And therefore we do not admit of the Popish Sect, so as to tolerate Papists at all; for we do not look upon that as a Religion but rather as an Hierarchical Tyranny, un∣der a ••loak of Religion, cloath'd with the Spoils of

the Civil Power, which it has usurp'd to it self con∣trary to our Saviour's own Doctrine. As for the Independents, we never had any such amongst us, as you describe; they that we call Independents are only such as hold that no Classes or Synods have a Supe∣riority over any particular Church, and that there∣fore they ought all to be pluckt up by the roots, as Branches, or rather as the very Trunk of Hier∣archy it self; which is your own opinion too. And from hence it was that the name of Independents prevailed amongst the Vulgar. The rest of your Preface is taken up in endeavouring not only to stir up the hatred of all Kings and Monarchs a∣gainst us, but to perswade them to make a General War upon us. Mithridates of old, though in a different cause, endeavoured to stir up all Prin∣ces to make War upon the Romans, by laying to their charge almost just the same things, that you do to ours: viz. that the Romans aim'd at no∣thing but the Subversion of all Kingdoms, that they had no regard to any thing, whether Sacred or Ci∣vil, that from their very first rise they never enjoy'd any thing, but what they had acquir'd by force, that they were Robbers, and the greatest Enemies in the world to Monarchy: Thus Mithridates exprest himself in a Letter to Arsaces King of the Parthians. But how came you, whose business it it is to make silly Speeches from your Desk, to have the Con∣fidence to imagine, that by your persuasions to take up Arms, and sounding an Alarm as it were, you should be able so much as to influence a King amongst Boys at play; especially, with so shrill a Voice, and unsavoury Breath, that I believe, if

you were to have been the Trumpeter, not so much as Homer's Mice would have waged War against the Frogs. So little do we fear, you Slug, you, any War or Danger from Foreign Princes, through your silly Rhetorick, who ac∣cuse us to them, just as if you were at play, That we toss Kings heads like Balls; play at Bowls with Crowns; and regard Scepters no more then if they were Fool's Staves with heads on. But you in the mean time, you silly Logerhead, deserve to have your Bones well-thrash'd with a Fool's staff, for thinking to stir up Kings and Princes to War by such Childish Arguments. Then you cry a∣loud to all Nations, who, I know full well, will never heed what you say. You call upon that Wretched and Barbarous Crew of Irish Rebels too, to assert the King's Party. Which one thing is sufficient evidence how much you are both a Fool, and a Knave, and how you out-do almost all Mankind in Villany, Impudence, and Madness, who scruple not to implore the Loyalty and Aid of an execrable People, devoted to the Slaughter, whom the King himself always abhorr'd, or so pretended, to have any thing to do with, by rea∣son of the guilt of so much innocent Blood, which they had contracted. And that very perfi∣diousness and Cruelty, which he endeavoured as much as he could to conceal, and to clear him∣self from any suspition of, you the most villanous of Mortals, as fearing neither God nor Man, vo∣luntarily and openly take upon your self. Go on then, undertake the Kings Defence at the Encou∣ragement, and by the Assistance of the Irish:

You take care, and so you might well, lest any should imagine that you were about to bereave Cicero or Demosthenes of the praise due to their Eloquence, by telling us before hand, that you con∣ceive you ought not to speak like an Orator. 'Tis wise∣ly said of a Fool; you conceive you ought not to do what is not in your Power to do; and who that knows any thing of you, ever expects any thing like an Orator from you? Who neither uses, nor is able to publish any thing that's Ela∣borate, Distinct, or has so much as Sense in it; but like a second Crispin, or that little Grecian, Tzetzes, so you do but write a great deal, take no pains to write well, nor could write any thing well, though you took never so much pains. This Cause shall be argued (say you) in the hear∣ing, and as it were before the Tribunal of all Man∣kind. That's what we like so well, that we could now wish, we had a discreet and intelligent Ad∣versary, and not such a hair-brain'd Blunderbuss as you, to deal with. You conclude very Tragically, like Ajax in his Raving. I will proclaim to Hea∣ven and Earth the Injustice, the Villany, the Perfidi∣ousness and Cruelty of these Men, and will deliver them over convicted to all Posterity. O Flowers! that such a witless, senseless Bawler, one that was born but to spoil or transcribe good Authors, should think himself able to writ any thing of his own, that will reach Posterity; Whom together with his frivolous Scribles the very next Age will bury in Oblivion; unless this Defence of the King perhaps may be beholden to the Answer I give to it, for being looked into now and then. And

I would entreat the Illustrious States of Holland to take off their Prohibition, and suffer the Book to be publickly sold. For when I have detected the Vanity, Ignorance, and Falshood, that it is full of, the farther it spreads, the more effectually it will be supprest. Now, let us hear how he Con∣victs us.