A JUST DEFENCE OF THE Royal Martyr K. Charles I.

From the many false and malicious Aspersions in Ludlow's Memoirs , and some other virulent Libels of that Kind .

Plal. 35. 11 , 12.

False witnesses did rise up : they laid to my charge things that I knew not .

They rewarded me evil for good , to the great discomfort of my Soul .

Cicero ad Herenn . Lib. 4.

Bené majores nostri hoc comparaverunt , ut neminem Regem , quem armis cepissent , vita privarent .

Virgil. Georg. Lib. 4.

— Rege incolumi , mens omnibus una est : Amisso , rupere fidem , &c.

LONDON , Printed for A. Roper at the Black-Boy , and R Basset , both in Fleet-Street , and for W. Turner at Lincoln's-Inn back Gate . 1699.

I Shall presume to address the Reader in the Words of the Apostle , Phil. 3. 1. To write the same things to you , to me indeed is not grievous : but for you it is safe ; and doubt not but all such as are truly Candid will discharge me from any thing of Levity or Profaneness in the Application , we being under the same Circumstances as to Temporals , those he wrote to were in Spirituals , and upon that Account stand in need of as frequent Admonitions , To beware of Dogs , and such evil Workers , as come in on purpose to spy out the Liberty wherein we are truly Free , that they might again intangle us with the Yoke of Bondage . For what I intimated at first by way of Suspicion only , became abundantly confirm'd in my further Progress , that 't is altogether a Design of the Commonwealth Party , which of late have Perted up very much , and in order to the reviving their former Mischiefs , fall on afresh to asperse the Memory of our Royal Martyr , with the very same Lyes and Defamations , their Predecessors did his Person and Government ; for this being , as it were a New Generation , not one in a thousand , perhaps ten , who saw or felt the sad effects of our then divided State , is withall so loose , easy , and unthinking , as to be carelessly driven upon those very Rocks , which still bear the Marks of their Fore-fathers Shipwrack .

And as the Design of these following Sheets is to awaken , indeed Allarm this stupid Humor into a Sense of Danger , that the Folly will be as unaccountable , as the Mischiefs insupportable , if that hot-headed Crew be once more suffer'd to get the Steerage ; So in the Prosecution thereof , they multiply'd upon my Hands to double the Number first intended , for the charge which these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , these false Accusers bring , being either of such things as never had being , no not Intentionally , in the very Thoughts of their abused Sovereign ; or otherwise really design'd by him , and highly advantageous to the Honor and Interest of the Nation ; yet withall so villanously perverted by their Maligning Spirits , as the infatuated People suspected Poyson in what their true , their best Physician prescrib'd , and on the other side took it willingly down from the several State Mountebanks , without any Sense of Danger , till absolutely past Redress or Cure : I say , as all their Calumnies are rais'd from one of these two Topicks ; either telling what was Wrong , or perverting what was Right , so are they deliver'd down with a Commonwealth Confidence , where Positiveness supplies the place of Truth , and is no otherwise to be refell'd , than by looking back , and representing the whole History of that particular Matter of Fact , or Surmise , ( for many times they can go no further ) which these Sons of Slander so basely misrepresent ; and this sets every thing in its true Light , equally represents those just Grounds upon which a wise and good Prince proceeded , and those false Glosses , which a most perverse sort of Men continually spread Abroad , to have every good he design'd evil spoken of ; and therefore Time is very properly said to be the Mother of Truth , which generally hath a very hard Birth , with much Difficulty breaks through those thick and dark Clouds of Obloquy , and Detraction , whereby the Prince of the Air and his many Agents endeavour to smother it ; but having in the End forc'd a Passage , like the Sun , it shines with a Meridian Lustre , so fully Dissipates that main Body of Darkness , as for the future it can only fly up and down in some scatter'd Vapours , but never more Unite , gain so much Strength or Reputation , as to Act the like Mischiefs , or be credited in their Untruths .

And some such Scatterings as these , I take to be the within mention'd Attacks of Roger Coke , Ludlow , &c. upon our Royal Martyr , with an impartial Account of whatever particular Charge they bring against him , blows quite off , as I hope the Reader will find to his Satisfaction .

And this , I doubt not but that bold Writer of Milton's Life will likewise find , though he blusters mightily at present , and perhaps may think by that means to get off , yet the World is come to a very odd pass if he can so escape , who dares to recommend an Author , that once occasion'd several hours Debate in the House of Commons , whether he should not be Hang'd , and had some of his now admired Books order'd , and actually Burnt by the Hands of the Common Hangman . I say it must be a blessed Turn of Times we are now got into , that this Fellow's Works should be all Reprinted , and for fear of too little Mischief that way , have an Abridgment of the most poisonous Passages put all together in an Account of his Life , with many high Elogiums of his Personal Qualities , which so far as true , might as well have been said of the Devil , for so they equally abus'd , according to their several Capacities , Great Parts , Extraordinary Endowments , to the Dishonor of that God which gave them , and the Destruction of Mankind .

Herein however the Author of this Life acts like a Plain-dealer , confirms what we but suspected before , and expresly declares there must be a thorough Reform of the whole Government , which I presume this new Club is to undertake , according to some old Draughts of Milton , and his Fellow Projectors in 59. For though somewhat of the Dutch way is recommended , yet the main Composition of this new Eutopia is Harrington's Oceana . I have within observ'd , that when the Rump , and Committee of Safty , that is , the Army , were tearing one another , and the whole Nation in pieces ; amongst other Projects , that Maggot of the Rota was set up , and a great Pudder it made , till with many others it was silenc'd by the Restauration ; when the Author Harrington , as a dangerous Person , was for some time secur'd in the Tower , and elsewhere ; at length he obtain'd his Liberty to Travel , and being in Italy talk'd so much of Models , Commonwealths , and Governments , as that sober Nation reputed him no better than a Whimsical crack-braind Person ; and that he was so in the end , this is an abundant Confirmation , for returning home , and at Liberty to enjoy both his Friends and Notions at Pleasure ; At h Oxon. vol. 2. p. 439. more than a Twelvemonth before his Death , he was possest with a continu'd Fancy , that all his Perspiration turn'd into Flies , and sometimes Bees , or Flies as big ; and 't is very probable several of these Insects after many Rambles have fix'd in , and Fly-blown this young Author's Head , whence the whole Nation must be incessantly buss'd with his reviv'd Impertinences . Some likewise are prone to suspect there may be a little Discontent in the Case , ( and nothing sooner breeds Maggots in the Brain ) that having fail'd of his Advance in the Irish Chancery , he designs the Revenge of promoting an English Commonwealth , where Milton's Place must certainly be his Lot , and doubtless with as many uncertain Revolutions , and as much danger of an Halter in the End .

But whencesoever it proceeds , this is certain , that amongst the several kinds of Pestilent People , our Nation from time to time hath been plagu'd with all , there are none more Troublesome and Pernicious than our Government Menders , who will have it continually upon the Anvil , and be always Hammering without the least Prospect of finishing their Work , or giving it over to more Skillful Hands , whereby every Man of Temper and Prudence cannot but observe , that this Itch of Alteration proceeds more from a hot Head , than sober Judgment , and if such Pragmatical Intermedlers should be gratify'd in every Whim , their pregnant Brains abound with , the whole Body-politick will by degrees become so Monstrous as to have an Hanc populus affix'd . It would therefore argue much more Consideration to reflect , that as there are not two Governments in all Europe , nor any where else , exactly the same , but generally very different from each other ; so we may justly presume such long continu'd Customs as they have always liv'd under , were originally adapted to the Temper of the People , with other Circumstances of Situation , Converse , Traffick , &c. and whatever is superinduc'd de novo must have some affinity to those original Establishments , or will sit very uneasy , and give occasion both of continu'd Complaints , and frequent Alterations . All good Patriots amongst us , who truly Study the Interest of the Nation , and make an impartial Iudgment of things , do heartily wish the Choice of our Representatives might be regulated , as well in regard to the Many which make it , as the Management of that Many in order thereto ; they think likewise that the Disproportion of Beggerly Burroughs in the several Parts of the Kingdom , is not a little hard in the Disproportion of Taxes , with not a few other Inconveniences , which , as wise Men , they rather think of , than attempt to alter , lest it should prove Tinkers Work , as the Proverb speaks , Essaying to mend one , cause more and worse Defects ; for though the Dutch very cunningly got rid of all Tumultuary Elections , and perhaps thereto , more especially on their easy Administration ever since , yet I fancy our Grough English Tempers would not be so easily wheedled , and which is worse , scarce find enough that will be Faithful in so great a Trust : To be sure when the Rump took upon them somewhat like that way of Managment , what Rogues did they prove ? and how like Rogues did the People use them in the End ?

Here therefore I would turn the Tables with this bold Assumer , and be gladly satisfied how such vigorous Asserters of the People's Liberty , as he and his Republican Fraternity are earnest to be thought , come so highly to recommend the Dutch Model ? For that is a perfect Oligarchy , where the People pay as many Taxes as either in France or Turky , and have as little to do in raising them , or Enacting any other Laws for their mutual Defence , and Welfare ; And really I could wish this Rota Club were adjourn'd for some Months into those Provinces , that we might see whether they would be so hardy as to Attack that Government with as much Boldness as they do this , abuse the Liberty of the Press , by telling the People they are Bubled in thinking themselves a Free Commonwealth , whereas there is no such thing amongst them , both their Lives and Fortunes are at the disposal of a few Men , who Cabal together , Elect one another , and do what they please ; I say should any of them dare to Prate or Print at this rate , as those in Power would soon hear thereof , so instead of sending them a pair of Shooes to trot out of their Territories , ( which Report saith is done in some Cases ) care would be forthwith taken to have them die in their own , a modest Expression some use for a Man's being Hang'd ; and this , would we take notice of what is Solid and Useful , is the most Remarkable thing amongst them , that they are exact Justiciaries , will not permit their Laws to be violated , and Magistracy arraign'd by every Pragmatical Pretender , without such due Resentments as are absolutely requisite to support the Sovereign Power , and preserve the Publick Peace .

But as amongst some other English Follies , that of admiring Foreign Fashions , in their Vanities , rather than Virtues , hath been too justly charg'd upon us ; so the Dutch Fashion for Government , hath had the Vogue more than 60 Years , with our many Republican Innovators , when not one in 60 thousand of them understand any thing more of it , than to take Patterns from thence , for most Exorbitant Taxes , which our Madness alone , their Necessities , when once engag'd , made absolutely Requisite . Yes , the Licentiousness of the Press is another Branch of Dutch Liberty , for Knaves and Fools to abuse all Honest Men , at Pleasure : I say in these two things alone we are become their sordid Imitators , without any thing of that Caution , and Terror , their vigorous Execution of Laws enforce ; whereas the same just Severity would secure our Old Constitutions , at a much cheaper Rate than any Foreign Freaks , which the more we attempt , the more we shall fail in , for to me it seems impossible ; yet if we could be suppos'd to make so Extravagant an Experiment , it would sit no better than a Boor's Suit , on a Courtiers Back , and be as disagreeing to the Temper , the genius of the Nation , as their Stockfish to our Stomachs .

But to prove by some other Authority than my own , that these assuming Republicans , are not the Men they would be thought , have neither Bottom , nor Ballast proportionable to the Sail they bear ; see no further into the Milstone than others , perhaps as Superficially as any ; I shall produce a Person who knew them thoroughly , had the most to do with them , and confirm'd to Matter of Fact the Account already given . Our Author Ludlow relates several Discourses between Cromwel and himself , with some brisk Repartees which pass'd , wherein as he tells his own Story the other seems constantly to have brought him by the Lee , that is , gain'd his Point : What I shall at present relate to , is in Pag. 241 , where Cromwel whilst he was cajoling , and betraying the King , gave great Enjealousments to his Fellow Rebels , that he would make his own Peace , and leave them to their just Fate ; but having accomplish'd that Hellish Treachery , got his Majesty into their Isle of Wight Toils ; then as Ludlow tells us , he began to Complement the Commonwealth-Party , inviting some of them to confer with him at his Chamber ; with which acquainting me the next time he came to the House , I took the Freedom to tell him , that he knew how to cajole and give them good Words when he had occasion to make use of them ; whereat breaking out into a Rage , he said , they were a proud sort of People , and only considerable in their own Conceits : Whether he spake this in a Rage is of little Concern , to be sure , as seldom as he spake Truth , this was a certain Truth he spake , and effectually confirm'd , in the many Contrasts he had with them , and Baffles he gave them ; and Ludlow's Reply is very faint , for that he only hop'd it was not yet their Case , whereas all others knew it actually to be so , since they lay under a total defection from Honesty , Generosity , and all true Virtue : However therefore they may wheedle others into better Thoughts ; I shall stick to Cromwel's Character , which is a strong Confirmation of my former Opinion , that they are a proud sort of People , only valuable in their own Conceits .

In Confirmation whereof , I shall add but this one Instance farther , in Relation to the sundry fanciful Hypotheses they every Day start , to support their Politick Novels ; wherein a strange Force is put upon all those Natural Obligations , and Regular Dependencies , which were formerly thought the main Support of all Humane Societies ; such uncooth States of War , and Nature , such Origins of Political Societies , and Subordination of Commonwealth-Powers , as make Parents their Childrens Servants , and Magistrates their Peoples Slaves ; and all this with very little regard to the Doctrine of the Creation , which being set aside , or brought in only to serve at a hard Push , a Man may as well write a Romance , and swear it a true History , as resolve how Mankind came upon the Earth , and what Measures they took upon their first meeting there .

Neither is their Deference to the Creation , less than to the Creator , not that they disown the Existence of an Infinite Being , or can imagin this admired Fabrick of the Universe should be any other way than from an Almighty Power , ( for most of the Atheists have lately thought of a retreat to Deism , as a more tenable Fort ) but then they allow this Almighty Power very little share in the Governing Part ; Man being some how or other plac'd here , is suppos'd solely to act upon a Principle of Interest and Self-preservation , without any regard to those Divine Impresses of Good and Evil , Right and Wrong , which many old Pedants , even amongst the Antient Philosophers , conceiv'd as natural to the Soul of Man as Thought , and of so strong an Obligation , that the Guilt of violating , ipso facto inflicted Punishment , in a just dread of the great Avenger : Thus as Preservation was truly stil'd a continu'd Creation ; was Providence by the same Reason presum'd to interpose in all humane Transactions ; to speak upon a Philosophical , not Scripture Account , disappoint the Devices of the Crafty , turn all their Wisdom into Madness and Folly ; and how can any Man imagin a more rational Supposition ? than that he who made should Govern the World , continue Absolute Monarch , Sovereign over all ; and whenever any of our Undertakings clash with , or otherwise thwart the Eternal Purposes of his Will , how troublesom do they prove in the Management ? and fatal in the End ? So that however plausible their Speculations may seem , and whatever Success attends their first Attempts ; I dare Conclude with this as an infallible Truth , There can be no lasting and happy Establishments , without some moral Assurance of the Almighty's Approbation and Blessing .

He who , to the best of my Observation , first brake the Ice upon this unworthy Subject , was one Roger Coke Esq in Two Volumes , which he calls Detections of the four last Reigns , a Title of great sound , and cannot but raise an Expectation in every inquisitive Reader , of some great Discoveries , some deep Mysteries of State , or Mischievous Intrigues , the World hath not hitherto been acquainted with : Whereas I defie any of his Abettors ( for he is gone to his proper Place ) to produce one single Passage , which hath not been alledg'd , and reply'd to , before , and as often reply'd to , as alledg'd : An Abridgment of all the Libels , and all the Lyes , since the coming in of King Iames the first , had been a more agreeable Title ; for though Rushworth's Collections , and the Life of Lord Keeper Williams are mostly cited by him ( Authors too too partial ) yet there is not one Roguy Pamphlet from Sr. A. W.'s Court of King Iames , to Milton's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , I speak in reference to the first Volume only ) which hath not afforded Materials for this ill-natur'd Malicious Work ; neither could any one expect otherwise who knew the Man , and his Conversation , being of an haughty , positive Humour , with all the other ill Qualities of his Grandfather , the great Lord Chief Iustice Coke , ( and perhaps too by Natural descent ) without any of the good : Indeed he seem'd to be the Caput Mortuum of that high Spirit , so dull and insipid , as Spight it self could not raise him ; for 't is thought he wrote those bitter Invectives against the Royal Family , to be reveng'd on King Iames the first , for deposing his Grandfather ; although 't is well known his Arbitrary , and Insolent deportment in that great Trust , made it absolutely necessary ; but engaging in the popular Cause afterward , that expiated for all . In short , the Whole of all what he calls a History is of as loose a Contexture as our Capitation Stuff , and of as Course a Composition , scare giving a good Word to any Person , or any Party : He declares a suspition of offending the Commonwealth's Men , and yet obliges them with one continued Libel against Monarchy , whereunto he was too well qualified by the predominancy of a Swelling Spleen , and Overflowing Gall , with other unhappy Circumstances both as to Temper and Condition , so that had they not been thus Vented , 't is to be feared he might with Iudas have burst asunder : Yet this Uncouth Piece , because False , and foul Mouth'd , took to Admiration among the several Factions , insomuch as in two Years time no less than three Impressions were wrought off ; indeed they had not been gratified with any thing of that kind for several Years before , and such perverse Dispositions ( like Men in Fevers ) will greedily swallow whatever allays the present Drought of their Minds , tho' it promotes the Distemper , and hastens their Ruin . And upon this account is there such Care taken of a fresh supply , so that an Undesigning Integrity cannot but be concern'd for the next Age ( which generally gives the best account of that which preceded ) how it will be able to Cull out the Truth from those Numberless Volumes of Lyes and Forgeries , which every Commonwealth Bigot , and Mercenary Pen is free to impose upon the World .

According to what I mention'd of a fresh Supply ; some Months since these Memoirs of Ludlow came forth , and are altogether as much in Vogue as the Detections were at first ; tho' as to the Libelling part upon our Royal Martyr , it discovers nothing but the same inveterate Spight , and repeated Untruths set forth in another Method , and different Appearance , wherein that Spirit of Calumny , and Delusion , which possesses every Individual throughout their several Tribes , knowing how much they delight in variety , does most readily gratify them , finding it the readiest means to secure their complyance in the grossest Impositions , and falsest Slanders .

Whilst I am Writing this , there are two Pamphlets more come to my Hand , in comparison whereof , the Two former may pass for Candid Modest Writers , Their Titles are , A Defence of the Parliament of 1640. and the People of England against King Charles I. And , King Charles I. no such Saint or Martyr as commonly Reputed ; both which without doubt were design'd for the last Effort of Fanatick Effrontie ; and thought to give as fatal a stroke to the Royal Martyr's Reputation , as the Ax did to his Life ; and if the rudest Language that ever was Pen'd , and the impudentest Lies , that ever were Told , could be any ways Effectual thereunto , their work is throughly done ; for there is not one Sentence in both these Libels but must come under both those Characters : Milton had Wit and Stile , to flourish off his malicious Reproaches ; but here is such Billinsgate stuff as never burthen'd the Press till our Salamanca Graduate led the Van ; and if he wrote , as is commonly reported , by a Club , these doubtless came from the same Fraternity ; Their Stile , their Sense , and Good Manners , exactly accord , and so do their Temper , and Complection , all of the same Metal , true Monumental Brass , and 't is great pity they are not every one severally Erected , without any Pedestals to support them . However I will not so positively place it here , as to exclude their Counterpart , that Club of Calves-Heads at the other end of Town .

'T is in the mean while an unhappy Consideration , and never thought consistent with any well ordered Government , that every impudent profligate Wretch , should assume a Liberty of Arraigning at Pleasure all Orders and Degrees of Men , both Living and Dead , even to the Sacred Ashes of the best Man , and most abused Prince that ever sat upon a Throne May not the Great God who Iudgeth right ( upon defect of all Earthly Powers in doing Iustice to injur'd Innocence , and oppressed Virtue ) be hereby provok'd to Arise and Defend his own Cause , Remember the Rebukes his Servants have , whereby their Enemies take occasion to blaspheme his Name , and slander the Footsteps of his Anointed .