Selections from the Observator (1681-1687) Part 5

_Wh._ For a _Choice Collection_, let me tell ye, as any is in _Christendom_.

_To._ You have all the _Greek_ and _Latin Fathers_, I suppose; the _Councells_, the _Schoolmen_, and those People.

_Wh._ I had'em all; but there's a great deal of _Trash_; and so I e'en rid my hands of'em; though some of'em did pretty well too; considering those _Dark Times_. Now here can I sit as _Snug_ as a _Hare_ in her _Form_, and Chat away a Winters Evening with a _Good Fire_, a _Pipe_, and a _Friend_, and never feel how the time spends.

_To._ Well! And why should not You and I keep our _Conferences_ here too?

_Wh._ Best of all: There's no body within hearing; and then we have our _Books_ and _Papers_ about us, and all in such Order, that I'le lay my Finger, Blindfold, upon any book you'le call for.

_To._ But what Subject are they mostly of?

_Wh._ Matters of _State, History, Travells_, The Rights and Power of the _People, Reformation, Religion, Discipline, Admonitions, Remonstrances, Pet.i.tions, Appeals_; as ye see'em mark'd upon the Shelves. But all this is nothing, you'l say, when y'ave seen my _Gallery_. Open that same Door before ye.

_To._ Bless me! What a Treasure's here?

_Wh._ Look ye now. That side is all _News-Books,_ and _Political Divinity_.

_To._ You mean _Polemical_ Divinity I suppose.

_Wh._ Ay Ay; 'Tis all one for that. Now all to'ther side is _Dissenting Protestants_; as _Cartwright, Brown, Barrow, Robinson_, _Hetherington, Trask, Naylor, Best, Biddle, Muggleton_. And here are your _Muncerians, Apostoliques, Separatists, Catharists, Enthusiasts, Adamits, Hutt.i.tes, Augustinians, Libertines, Georgites, Familists, Ranters Seekers, Sweet-Singers, Antinomians, Arrians, Socinians, Millenaryes, Quakers_: And in Two words; all the _G.o.dly Party_. They make Fourteen Folio's of Catalogue.

_To._ But ha'ye no _Ma.n.u.scripts_?

_Wh._ Yes I have Three cases there beyond the Chimny, that I wou'd not change for _Bodlies Library_ three times over.

_To._ What do they treat of?

_Wh._ Two of 'em are altogether upon the _Art of Government_, and the _Third_ is Cramm'd with _Lampoon_ and _Satyr_. You sha'not name me any one Copy that has scap'd me; nor any Exigent of State; but I'le furnish ye out of these Papers with an Expedient for't.

_To._ And wherein does this _Art of Government_ Consist?

_Wh._ In _Foresight, Experience, Presence of Thought, Prudence of Direction_, and _Vigour of Execution_. To be short; Every Motion of the _Head_, the _Eye_, the _Hand_, the _Foot_, the _Body_. Contributes a part to this Great Work.

_To._ Is it a Science that may be Convey'd by _Instruction_?

_Wh._ With as much Ease as _Fencing_, or _Dancing_. There are Three or Four _Dissenting Academies_ here about the Town, where People are taught to _Nod, Wink, Gape, Cough, Spit_; Nay the very _Tuning_ of their _Hum's_ and _Haw's_, by _Rule and Method_; when to _Smite the Breast_, and when to _Dust the Cus.h.i.+on_; when to _Leap_ in the _Pulpit_, and when to _Swim_; when to be _Serene_, and when to _Thunder_: Nay the _Faces_ they are to make at every _Period_; and the very _Measure_ of their _pauses_; that the _Parenthesis_ may be large enough for the _Groans_, & _e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns_ of the _Secret ones_ to _Play_ in; they are taught to Pray for the _King_ with _One Tone_ and _Countenance_, and for the _Parliament_ with _another_.

_To._ I have Observ'd them indeed to Cry with a Loud Voice, _Lord!

strengthen the Hands of the One_, & then to drop the Note into a kinde of a Piping whisper, with a _Lord! Turn the Heart of the Other_; which is as much as to say, _Alas! the Poor Gentleman is out of his way, and we must set all hands at work to bring him to comply with his_ Parliament, _though that_ Handy work, _at last, bring his_ Royall Head _to the_ Scaffold.

_Wh._ If you wou'd not be a _Rogue_ now and tell tales, I could let ye in to the whole _Popular Mystery_; and shew ye the _Folly_, and the _Vanity_ of any other Claim to _Sovereign Power_. And then _I_ have all the _Prints_ brought me as soon as ever they come out.

_To._ Pre'thee let's fall to work then.

_Wh._ Come, I'le give you a sight of one of my _Boxes_ first; but I must be gone in a quarter of an hour upon absolute Necessity.

_To._ Well! And whether in such hast?

_Wh._ There's One at _Newington_ has promis'd me an _Answer_ to the _Dissenters Sayings_; and then I am told of a _G.o.dly Divine_ at _Clapham_, that has a _Reply_ ready to the _Notes upon College_.

_To._ Let's make the best of our time then. Stay a little; what have we here?

_Wh._ Every thing is _t.i.tled_, ye see, ready to your hand; so that you may Pick and Chuse.

_To._ Let me see then. _Pious Frauds; Mentall Reservations; Infallibility of the a.s.sembly; Baxters Saints; Cases of Conscience; Dispensations, Contributions, Maxims, Intelligence, Orders, Committees, Juryes, Cab.a.l.l.s, Religion, Property, Demands, Proposals, Grievances, Pretences, Salvo's, Distinctions, Explanations, Projects, Directions, Advices, Resolutions, Invectives, Fictions, Forms of Reproaches_, suited to _All Persons, Orders_, and _Qualities; True-Protestant Privileges_; The _Doctrine_ of _Probabilityes_, and _Implicit Obedience_.

_Wh._ Now upon all these Heads, ye have _Authoritys, Precedents_; and all the _Colours, Arguments_, and _Elucidations_ that the matter will bear.

_To._ But your _Pious Frauds, Mentall Reservations, Infallibility, Dispensations, Salvo's, Distinctions, Probabilityes, Implicit Faith_; These are all _Popish Points_.

_Wh._ They are so, when they are apply'd to the service of the Church of _Rome_: but the _True Protestant-Cause Sanctifies_ the _Principle_. As there's a great difference betwixt the _Popes Excommunicating_ of an _Hereticall Prince_; and the _Generall a.s.semblys Excommunicating_ of an _Antichristian, Episcopall Prince_; betwixt a _Popish Gunpowder-Treason_, in the _Cellers, under_ the _Parliament-House_; and a _Gunpowder Commission_ to _Kill_ and _Slay_ within the _walls_ of the _Same House, above ground_; though to Carnal Eyes they may both appear to _Center_ in the same _Point_: And so in like manner, betwixt a _Conspiracy_ of _Papists_ to _cut off the King_, and _Subvert the Government_; and a _True-Protestant-a.s.sociation_, to the very _same Effect_: Nay with this Advantage too; that the Latter Propounds the Accomplis.h.i.+ng of that, in a matter of a _month_ or _six weeks_, which the Zeal of their Fore-fathers was at least _Ten_, or a _dozen years a doing_.

_To._ 'Tis a Great Ease for a man to have all these Subjects _Common-Plac'd_ to his hand.

_Wh._ Right. And where you may turn to any thing you have a mind to see, with a _wet Finger_.

_To._ But Pray'e How do you approve (in many of our _Seisures_) of the _Application_ of _Popish Trinkets_ to _Prophane Uses_, which were by them Dedicated to the service of a _Superst.i.tious Religion_?

_Wh._ You cannot Imagine, though an _Embroder'd Cope_ may be an _Abomination_, what a _Cordial the Pearl_ of it is to a _True-Protestant Professor. Lambs-Wool_ drinks no way better then out of a _Chalice_. Or in other Cases; 'Tis but Destroying the _Popish Form_ of an _Idolatrous Vessell_, and the _Intrinsick Value_ is never the less _Current_ according to the _Standard_ of the _Reformation_. The _Picture_ of the _Blessed Virgin_, with our _Saviour_ in her Arms, is never a jot the worse for _sale_ to a _Painter_, for being an object of _Idolatry_ about the _Altar_.

_To._ And yet I have seen it Committed to the _Flames_, but it has been an Oversight, betwixt the _Zeal_ and the _Ignorance_ of the _Magistrate_. How many _Curious Crucifixes_, and _Reliques_, with _Delicate Inlayings_, and _Carvings_ have I seen Expos'd at _Gill_ the _Constables_ in _Westminster_; truly, at very _Reasonable Rates_?

_Wh._ Not unlikely; but then ye must know, they were _Seiz'd_ in _One Capacity_, and _sold_ in _Another_; for they were _vended_ in the Contemplation of the _Workmans.h.i.+p_, though they were _taken_ as the _Fooleries_ of a _False Religion_. We have in our days seen the _Representation_ of the _Trinity_, Demolish'd in a _Church-Window_, with Extraordinary _Zeal_ and _Approbation_.

_To._ Why truly I am as much against the making of any _Image_ or _Figure_ of _G.o.d the Father_ under the _Form_ of a _Man_, as any body; for _Twenty Mistakes_ and _Inconveniencies_ that may arise upon the Consideration of such an _Object_; but I know no hurt in the world in the Representing of our _Saviour_ under a _Human shape_; or of the _Holy Ghost_ under the shadow of a _Dove_: beside that the thing is presum'd to have been done by _Authority_; for otherwise, the same _Zeal_ that Destroys but the _Window_ of the _Church_, would not stick at the Destroying perhaps of every thing else that belongs to't. But prethee tell me One thing, suppose the _Blessed Trinity_, so Represented, should be the _Seal_ of an _Ancient_ Community, or _Society_ of men, what's the difference betwixt that _Figure_, in _Graving_, or in _Nealing_; in _Silver_, or in _Gla.s.s_? Would not you as much _scruple_ the putting of that _Seal_ to a _Lease_, as the _seeing_ of that _Figure_ in a _Church-Window_?

_Wh._ No; by no means; for the _One_ is Purely a _Civil Act_; and the _Other_ has a Regard to _Religious Wors.h.i.+p_.

_To._ And yet this _Image_, or _Pretended Resemblance_, is the _same thing_ in the _One_, as it is in the _Other_. Well! I am Extremly pleas'd with this Private Corner for Liberty of Discourse.

_Wh._ Here you may have all the _Papers_ as they come out, _Fresh and Fresh_: All the _Arguments_, and _Politiques_ of the _Dissenting Party_; Chuse _your own Theme_, Take _your own Time_, and Treat upon _your own Conditions_.

_To._ That's as fair as any Mortall can wish; So that when the day does not afford other matter to work upon, we may Look a little more narrowly into the _Merits_ of the _Cause_. And so much for that. But here let me ask ye a Question: Do you know a _Little Cause-Jobber_ yonder somewhere about _Kings-street, in Covent Garden_?

_Wh._ Does he not use the _Christian Coffee-House_?

_To._ The very same. He was saying t'other day that _L'Estrange_ was a _Pensioner of Cromwels_; a _Papist_; and that he durst not bring his _Action_ against any man for _Calling_ him so: That he was a _Rogue_; a _Fidler_; Liv'd in _Covent-Garden_ a good while, and got his _Living_ by his _Trade_; And that a _Magistrate_, not far from that place, would _Justify_ it. The Two first Points, I suppose, will be Disputed in another place: And for the _Fidler_: 'Tis well known that _L'Estrange_ liv'd Eight or Nine years in one of the _Piazza-Houses_ there; and kept _Servants_ that would have Scorn'd to have Sorted themselves with any thing so mean as this _Paltry Varlet_. But to the Business. How far will the _Privilege_ of a _True-Protestant-Whig_ Justify a _Villain_ in so many _Scandalous Lyes_?

_Wh._ So far as the _Common Good_ of the _Cause_ is more Valuable then the _single Credit_ of a _Private Person_. But what say ye now to _Curtis's Advertis.e.m.e.nt_ (in his Last _Mercury_) of _Tong's Narrative_, and _Case_; concerning _L'Estrange_, Printed for C W?

_To._ I say, 'tis _first_, a _Cheat_; for 'tis none of _Tong's Writing_; _2ly_, 'Tis _Another Cheat_; for 'twas Printed for _Langley Curtis_, with his Name to _Tongs Appointment_ for the Printing of it: Only he has Fobb'd a _New_, and a _False t.i.tle-Page_ to't. But what says Mr.

_Oates_, all this while, to _L'Estranges Enformation_ against _Tonge_, in the _Shammer Shamm'd_? where that young Fellow has the Impudence to declare under his hand, the very _Foundation_ of _Oates's_ Plot to be a _Cheat_: And _I appeal to all Good Protestants for Justice upon that Scandalous Wretch_.

_Wh._ Nay, 'tis a horrible Abuse, and really the man stands in's own light: What was't? 500 or a 1000 Pound that he recover'd of One that did not say the Hundredth part of what this comes to? The Lord Deliver me! I knew the Time when 'twas _half a Hanging-matter_ to have made the least doubt of any Branch of the h.e.l.lish Plot: But for this Audacious Fool to say in Expresse Terms, that [_the_ Four Jesuites Letters, _wherein_ Oates _pretended was the whole Discovery, were_ Counterfeits] is utterly Intolerable. I'le e'en go my ways immediately, and talk with the Doctor about it.

_London_, Printed for _Joanna Brome_, at the Gun in S. _Pauls_ Church-yard.