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<DATE>2008-11-04</DATE>
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<NAME>Mona Logarbo</NAME>
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<DIV1 TYPE="letter">
<PB REF="1" MS="y"><!-- PDF PAGE 19 -->
<HEAD>A Letter writ to Sir John Robin&s;on Lieutenant of the Tovver,</HEAD>
<BYLINE>By EDWARD BAGSHVVE, Clo&s;e-Pri&s;oner there.</BYLINE>
<OPENER><SALUTE>SIR,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>THough I believe you have no Remor&s;e, yet I &s;uppo&s;e you cannot but be con&s;cious, how unworthily you have u&s;ed me; and be|cau&s;e, whenever you do any thing which is injuri|ous &amp; oppre&s;&s;ive, you are apt to excu&s;e your &s;elf by your <HI>Orders,</HI> in the ob&s;ervance of which, e&s;pecially when they are har&s;h and &s;evere, you pretend to a great deal of care and &s;trictne&s;s; I de&s;ire therefore to know what <HI>Warrant</HI> you had to commit me un|to the <HI>Dungeon,</HI> and to detain me there four dayes, under &s;uch Rigorous and Unchri&s;tian Circum&s;tan|ces, that none could have been guilty of doing, but one, who, together with his Religion, had put off all &s;ence of common Humanity. You have told me indeed, and it is a Po&s;ition, not only fal&s;e and damnable in <HI>Divinity,</HI> but utterly de&s;tructive of our <HI>Engli&s;h Liberty,</HI> that <HI>The King hath a Prerogative above the Law, by which he may puni&s;h Whom and How he plea&s;eth:</HI> But were I willing &s;o far to unman my &s;elf, and to deny both my Religion and Rea&s;on, as to admit of that, yet I am &s;ure, His <HI>Jaylor</HI> hath no <HI>Prerogative,</HI> but <UNCLEAR>&s;tands</UNCLEAR> upon the <GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="damage" EXTENT="1 word"> Level with the re&s;t of his Brethren: And therefore it is my purpo&s;e to call you to an Account for that <HI>barbarous,</HI> and, in a Chri&s;tian State, never &s;ufficiently to be <HI>abhorred</HI> Action, unle&s;s you have the <HI>King's,</HI> or his <HI>Secretaries</HI> Hand to authoririze you for the doing of it.</P>
<P>But, <HI>Sir,</HI> that &s;aying, how unju&s;tifiable &s;oever, is but part of your Crime, for when I advi&s;ed You not to do any thing but what you could ju&s;tifie by Law: You replied, that <HI>You had nothing to do either with the Law or Parliaments;</HI> and You do daily ma|nife&s;t by your <HI>Lawle&s;s</HI> carriage, both to my &s;elf and the re&s;t of the Pri&s;oners here, that you &s;pake as you thought. But, Sir, &s;uch an A&s;&s;ertion, in per&s;ons who are entru&s;ted with the Lives of others, is &s;o Black and Horrid; and the condition of tho&s;e who are under your Power, is by it, made &s;o Un&s;afe, that I dare no longer conceal my knowledge, but intend forth with to &s;ignify unto &s;ome <HI>Members</HI> of the <HI>Hou&s;e of Commons,</HI> what a Mon&s;trous and Unnatural kind of Offender you are; of which I thought fit to give you this private Notice, that you might not be &s;ur|prized, but prepare your &s;elf, either to defend, or, which I rather wi&s;h, to expiate your Fault by Re|pentance.</P>
<P>Sir, It is po&s;&s;ible you may think, that a ju&s;t and due &s;en&s;e of my own Unmerited and Illegal Suffer|ings, hath excited me to &s;eek for Ju&s;tice upon <GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="damage" EXTENT="1 word"> Inflicter of them; but I can a&s;&s;ure you, that, in t<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="damage" EXTENT="3 letters"> Action, I am as free from Malice, as You, in yo<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="damage" EXTENT="2 letters"> late one, was from Piety and Honour: It is a &s;e<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="damage" EXTENT="1 letter">|vice which I owe, fir&s;t to God, and next to my O<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="damage" EXTENT="1 letter">|pre&s;&s;ed Country-men, who are in <HI>Bondage</HI> unde<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="damage" EXTENT="1 letter"> You, to di&s;cover unto the <HI>Parliament,</HI> what a wret|ched and unworthy <HI>Task-ma&s;ter</HI> is &s;et over them, who, though he is crept in to be one of their Num|ber, by whom Laws are made, and Grievances &s;hould be redre&s;&s;ed, yet is not afraid to profe&s;s, that <HI>he hath nothing to do either with the Law or Them.</HI></P>
<P>Sir, As a Friend, and one that is ready to forgive you all my Per&s;onal Injuries, let me entreat you to bethink your &s;elf in time, and by a &s;olemn Retract|ing of what you then &s;aid, prevent your being brought upon the Stage: Or if, in confidence of your pre&s;ent Power, you re&s;olve to per&s;i&s;t in the owning of &s;uch Tyrannical Principles, and in Pra|ctices corre&s;pondent to them, hereafter, you can ac|cu&s;e none but your &s;elf, if your &s;ins <GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="damage" EXTENT="1 span">ut and hunt you unto puni&s;h<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="damage" EXTENT="1 span"> <GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="damage" EXTENT="1 span"></P>
<CLOSER><SALUTE><UNCLEAR>Sir</UNCLEAR>,</SALUTE> <SIGNED>Ready to &s;erve you in all Chri&s;tian Offices,
EDW. BAGSHAVVE.</SIGNED>
<DATELINE><DATE><HI>March</HI> 16. 1663/4.</DATE></DATELINE></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="postscript">
<HEAD>POST-SCRIPT.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>SIR,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>THe fore-going Letter had been delivered into your own hand, in the &s;ame private and concealed manner which there is mentioned: But your Uncivil, as well as Il|legal, denying me the U&s;e of my Pen and Ink, hath forced me to &s;end it you from the Pre&s;&s;e, &s;o that now it is no longer in my power to keep your Coun&s;el: But hereafter, if this occa&s;ions your being que&s;tioned for &s;o In&s;olent an Expre&s;|&s;ion, I hope you will be &s;atisfied that Guilt is a very Ill Coun|&s;ellor, &s;ince the very means you de&s;igned unduly to &s;ilence my Complaint, hath made me find out another, which you will be le&s;s able to re&s;i&s;t the effects of. And now, Sir, that the World will take notice of your Ab&s;urd and Ungodly De|meanour, never imagine that any thing but speedy Repen|tance can &s;ecure you: And becau&s;e I fear, that you have <HI>&s;inned</HI> even in your own thoughts, &s;o much <HI>unto Death,</HI> that you despair of any Recovery, I leave you to the Angui&s;h of your Con&s;cience, till the Hand of Ju&s;tice brings your Fears upon You.</P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
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