<!DOCTYPE ETS PUBLIC "-//UMDLPS//DTD EEBOPROOF 2.0//EN">
<ETS>
<TEMPHEAD>
<REVDESCR>
<CHANGE>
<DATE>2010-01-04</DATE>
<RESPSTMT>
<NAME>Mona Logarbo</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
</RESPSTMT>
<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B000015.pdcc.</ITEM>
</CHANGE>
</REVDESCR>
</TEMPHEAD>
<EEBO>
<IDG S="marc" R="UM" ID="A88647">
<STC T="W">L3487</STC>
<STC T="T">E397_5</STC>
<BIBNO T="umi">99862166</BIBNO>
<VID>160359</VID>
</IDG>
<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y"><!-- PDF PAGE 32 -->
<P>AN ANSWER TO A LETTER</P>
<P>Written from <HI>Cambridge</HI> to Sir <HI>Tho|mas Lunsford,</HI> Knight and Baronet, Pri&s;o|ner in the Tower of LONDON.</P>
<P><ADD>July 7^t^h</ADD> Printed in the Yeare, 1647.</P>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="letter">
<PB REF="2"><!-- PDF PAGE 33 -->
<PB N="1" REF="2"><!-- PDF PAGE 33 -->
<HEAD>AN ANSWER TO A LETTER Written from CAMBRIDGE To Sir <HI>Thomas Lunsford,</HI> &amp;c.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>SIR,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>I Have received your Letter, and give you hearty thanks for it: The&s;e parts are full of expectation; the great actions in motion have fixed the eyes of the Kingdome, and fal&s;e rumours (the Harbingers of &s;uch de&s;ignes) have taken up tran&s;itory lodgings in the &s;eve|rall di&s;po&s;itions of men; but tho&s;e which have beene beaten into judgement of the times, &s;tand upon their guards, refu&s;ing admittance to what comes not with good authority. That an Army, and a powerfull one is on foot, is knowne; that (if the King bee pattie in it) it will bee irre&s;i&s;table, is likewi&s;e out
<PB N="2" REF="3"><!-- PDF PAGE 34 -->of doubt, that the Declarations of it is un|plea&s;ing, and challenges part of the Free|hold of our Parliament, wee &s;ee in print; and that the Parliament will part with nothing it can either get or hold, wee know by experi|ence; and (that I ab&s;olutely hope the di&s;&s;o|lution of it,) I a&s;&s;ure you upon my Repu|tation: Now the Army having thus farre di&s;|played, and the Parliament not having power to equall what is on foot, the one &s;tanding up|on power and the hearts of the people, the other upon Thornes, and the fe&s;tered wounds of the Common-wealth; I give the one a&s;&s;ured, the other capable of a very &s;peedy determinati|on: I likewi&s;e judge a Nece&s;&s;ity of re&s;toring the King, and returning the Lawes into their for|mer channell; for &s;hould the Army bee &s;a|tisfied with onely their Arreares, and expul|&s;ion of the Presbyterian partie, and yet con|tinue the two Hou&s;es, (when it &s;hall bee di&s;|banded) what a&s;&s;urance have the Independents in Parliament, that the City (which is Pres|byterian, and from wherce the Army at this in&s;tant affirmes would bee rai&s;ed another (to countenance Presbytery) were it not for the Interpo&s;ition of this on Foot) &s;hall not rai&s;e Forces, and de&s;troy the Acts of the&s;e here|after, who forcibly may &s;ettle them&s;elves now? That the City &s;hall not new-mould the Hou&s;es with Presbyterians, as perhaps the Army may now with Independents? and that
<PB N="3" REF="3"><!-- PDF PAGE 34 -->the Hou&s;es then (by vertue of the Citie) &s;hall not runne rigorous wayes of Revenge? For what can oppo&s;e the Citie, if the Armie be away?</P>
<P>The&s;e Con&s;iderations will not admit me to gleane other Expectations from the Cour&s;es in motion, then Honourable and Popular Conclu&s;ions. The King in Parliament, can a&s;&s;ure the ends of the Armie, can conferre Honours, can gratifie with E&s;tates, can make an Act of Oblivion; and then, by the di&s;&s;o|lution of the Parliament, the parties are &s;ure to enjoy all that is &s;o given them: but keepe it &s;till on foot, and disband the Armie, then there is danger of the prevalencie of the other Faction, and con&s;equently, of the revocation of all Grants to the former. Likewi&s;e, to keepe an Armie long up, requires a Charge in&s;upportable, as well as it gives an a&s;pect for|midable to all who have ob&s;erved the muta|bilitie of the&s;e Times. Be&s;ides, without the King nothing can be confirmed, nothing en|joyed longer then an Armie is on foot; nor can Peace be &s;o &s;etled, but that Seedes will be left for a new Warre to &s;pring forth, &s;o &s;oone as the Sea&s;on can produce it.</P>
<P>But mee thinkes now there is a Miracle working: An Armie (powerfull to enrich it &s;elfe by Offences) is &s;o &s;potle&s;&s;e, as the world admires it; and this Armie &s;ummons a Par|liament
<PB N="4" REF="4"><!-- PDF PAGE 35 -->(indeed red as Skarlet) vyes with it in Innocencie, and boldly demands Repara|tions of the Crimes committed again&s;t the Common-wealth: The nature of the one is (commonly) charged with Sinne and Bloud, and of the other with Pretie, Vertue, and Ble&s;&s;ings upon the Realme. But as the one hath degenerated into the others qualitie and nature, &s;o is it ju&s;t it &s;hould receive the o|thers propertie. As a good Parliament might demand Accompts of a wicked Armie, &s;o why may not a righteous Armie demand the like of a wicked Parliament? In mine opini|on, Ju&s;tice hath layd this Scaene, to be acted in this <HI>Antipodian</HI> Tragedie; and (&s;o that it may be the la&s;t) he little cares how &s;oone it be concluded, who is,</P>
<CLOSER><DATELINE><HI>The Tower,</HI> <DATE>16, <HI>Iune,</HI> 1647.</DATE></DATELINE>
<SALUTE>SIR,</SALUTE> <SIGNED>Your friend and &s;ervant, <HI>Thomas Lunsford.</HI></SIGNED>
<POSTSCRIPT>
<PB N="5" REF="4"><!-- PDF PAGE 35 -->
<P>THough I know this will not plea&s;e you, yet to let you under&s;tand, and to po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e all your Vniver&s;itie (contrarie, perhaps, to its pre&s;ent Opinion) that our <HI>Halcyon</HI> dayes are not farre off, I write this, and care not if both Hou&s;es &s;ee it, and de&s;ire you to publi&s;h it.</P>
</POSTSCRIPT></CLOSER>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
