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<DATE>2014-03-26</DATE>
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<NAME>John Pas</NAME>
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P> A Faithful and Impartial ACCOUNT OF THE BEHAVIOUR OF A PARTY OF THE E&s;&s;ex Free-Holders, AT THEIR LATE ELECTION OF PARLIAMENT-MEN (At <HI>Chelmsford)</HI> for that County.</P>
<P>Occa&s;ioned by a mo&s;t fal&s;e and &s;candalous Pamphlet, Intituled <HI>THE</HI> ESSEX <HI>EXCELLENCY.</HI></P>
<P>In a LETTER to a FRIEND.</P>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed for <HI>W. K.</HI> at the <HI>Bi&s;hops-Head</HI> in St. <HI>Paul</HI>'s Church-yard, 1679.</P>
<PB REF="2">
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="letter">
<PB N="3" REF="2" MS="y">
<HEAD>A LETTER TO A FRIEND, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>SIR,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>THE la&s;t Night I received the Narrative, of the late Election at <HI>Chelmsford,</HI> you &s;o kindly &s;ent me; and &s;ince your de&s;ires are &s;o pre&s;&s;ing, I cannot but comply with them; in fir&s;t giving my Opinion of that Paper, and next, in making you a true and faithful Relation of what I, and others of your Acquaintance, were Eye and Ear Witne&s;&s;es of upon the &s;pot. To &s;peak truth, I was more offended at reading the Paper, than at all the Pa&s;&s;ages I ob&s;erved at the Election; con&s;idering that a great difference &s;hould be allowed be|twixt what men &s;ay and do when their Pa&s;&s;ions are di&s;turbed, and their Spirits rai&s;ed by men skilled in moving the Multitude, and what they write in cool blood, with deliberation, and (as they pretend) for the Glory of God and the Publick Good. I am very confident, &s;hould <HI>other</HI> Counties be per&s;waded (as the Pen-man there exhorts) to follow the Example of the Free-holders of <HI>this,</HI> it would be of infinitely mi&s;chievous con&s;e|quence, both to his Maje&s;ty's Government, and the Prote&s;tant Reli|gion.</P>
<P>And what a Reproach and Scandal is it to &s;ee Chri&s;tians and Prote|&s;tants admired and applauded for &s;aying, upon this occa&s;ion, that, <HI>They had rather tru&s;t God with their Corn, than the Devil with chu&s;ing their Parliament men:</HI> Makeing the Duke, Knights, Gentlemen and Clergy of this County, (of all which there was a great and mo&s;t &s;olemn Appea|rance) &s;o many Agents for the Devil. Who&s;e only Crime was, That they appeared for two Gentlemen, that were never &s;u&s;pected to be other than hearty Prote&s;tants, and are known to be of &s;ober and moderate, as well as Loyal Principles; and one of them thought worthy, the la&s;t year, by the&s;e men them&s;elves, to be their Repre&s;entative in Parliament. Can any thing in the World be more uncivil, uncharitable, and inhumane than this?</P>
<P>I hope the Gentleman him&s;elf, for who&s;e &s;ake the&s;e vile words were uttered and applauded, is of another Spirit, and that when he comes to his place in Parliament, he'll make it his care to &s;top &s;uch wicked Mouths and Pens, which, in a &s;hort time, may otherwi&s;e bury <HI>his</HI> Honour, as they have endeavour'd to do his betters.</P>
<PB N="4" REF="3">
<P> I wi&s;h I were able to confute our Author in his accu&s;ing former Electi|ons of being managed too much by Drinking and Revelling; but what can tend to the reproach of our Country like this, that this <HI>la&s;t</HI> was begun and carryed on (as you &s;hall &s;ee anon) by mo&s;t barbarous and mo&s;t outragious Revilings? Whereas our Author is plea&s;ed to &s;ay, that, <HI>It is a thou&s;and times more honourable to be called</HI> Fanaticks, (by tho&s;e, he means, of the Duke of <HI>Albemarle</HI>'s Party) <HI>than good</HI> Chri&s;tians, he &s;peaks <HI>him|&s;elf</HI> in the mean time to be a very &s;pecial Chri&s;tian, and a man of mar|vellous Charity towards tho&s;e who are not of his <HI>own</HI> Party, unle&s;s he really thinks <HI>Fanatick</HI> to be a more Honourable Title than <HI>Good Chri&s;tian.</HI> But that <HI>good Chri&s;tians</HI> and <HI>Fanaticks</HI> are a two very different &s;ort of people, no man can doubt, that &s;hall take a mea&s;ure of the <HI>latter</HI> by the Spirit and temper of this man, and the behaviour of not a few of them at this Election.</P>
<P>But what hath our poor Clergy done? What Wrongs and Oppre&s;&s;ions, or Wicked Practices, have they, above all other men, been guilty of? that &s;uch Reflections &s;hould be pa&s;t upon them in that Paper, as might &s;peak them the vile&s;t of all Mortals, and not fit to live. Sir, I will a&s;|&s;ert nothing but the truth, I know very many of tho&s;e Divines which were pre&s;ent at the Election, whom I really judge to be Men of as upright Conver&s;ations, and Con&s;ciences as void of Offence towards God and man, as any what&s;oever of the different Parties; Men truly diligent and painful in their places, that &s;tudy all Methods of gaining upon their Flocks, in &s;pight of all manner of Vexatious, Di&s;couragements, and that would teach this per&s;on better than to bely or rail on any (much le&s;s Di|vines) for God's and his Countries &s;ake.</P>
<P>This Te&s;timony, I dare undertake, all hone&s;t and &s;ober people, in their own Pari&s;hes, will give them; and that they &s;hall defie the wor&s;t of their Enemies to do any thing like proving the contrary. I know them to be true men, true to the King and Church, mo&s;t firm to the Prote&s;tant Profe&s;&s;ion and Intere&s;t, Men that will venture as deep in the defence of both as any men in the whole Kingdom be&s;ides, and who&s;e Knowledge and Abilities are an&s;werable to their Zeal: And if the&s;e things be their Guilt, I a&s;&s;ure you they promi&s;e them&s;elves more comfort in their Suffer|ings, than their fierce&s;t Adver&s;aries can have plea&s;ure in venting their &s;pight and rage again&s;t them.</P>
<P>But what if &s;ome one, or more, among two hundred (who are men compos'd of Fle&s;h and Blood as others, and &s;ubject to like Temptations with others) &s;hould have been too weak to with&s;tand Temptations, doth not our Chri&s;tianity oblige us to pity and hide, and not, like cur&s;ed <HI>Chams,</HI> to expo&s;e and &s;port our &s;elves with our Fathers or Brethrens Nakedne&s;s? A poor and pitiful boa&s;t! while men, perhaps of greater Guilt, &s;hall in&s;ult over their Fellows, if not their Betters, becau&s;e they have le&s;s cunning to di&s;gui&s;e it to the World.</P>
<P>If &s;ome of the Clergy were overtaken, (as our Narrator mo&s;t &s;pight|fully &s;ugge&s;ts) why doth he not name any of them, or give &s;ome hints whereby they may be gue&s;&s;ed at, which is manife&s;t he would mo&s;t gladly have done, had it lain in his power: In the name of God let the faulty bear their own &s;hame, and not a whole Order be reviled, threatned, and expo&s;ed to the Rabble of mad Zealots, for the &s;ake of a very few.</P>
<PB N="5" REF="3" MS="y">
<P> I &s;hould not take notice of the pa&s;&s;age relating to the publick Notary, but to do &s;ome right to <HI>E&s;quire Wroth,</HI> whom the Print mo&s;t rudely terms <HI>A wrathful Fellow.</HI> The Notary was &s;everely reproved, in my hearing, by this Ju&s;tice, for &s;aying, That none (he thought) but Prie&s;ts gave their Voices for Sir <HI>Thomas Middleton:</HI> Whereupon the Ju&s;tice called for the Bayliff to carry him away, but upon his refu&s;ing to leave his Papers behind him, there was no more done: As for <HI>Blows</HI> I &s;aw none, except his being pulled by the Cravat could be called &s;triking.</P>
<P>Sir, You know the Title of <HI>Prie&s;t</HI> was heretofore the Glory of Princes; nor is our Ble&s;&s;ed Saviour a&s;hamed of it now in his Glory; and therefore 'tis a mo&s;t impious and profane thing to give that Title to Clergy-men in Contempt, and to u&s;e it as a name of Reproach. It will be excu&s;ed, I know, by &s;aying, That tho&s;e who u&s;e it as &s;uch, mean <HI>Popi&s;h</HI> Prie&s;ts, but do they not know that &s;o to term Prote&s;tant Mini&s;ters, and &s;uch as with their Souls abhor <HI>Popery,</HI> is wickedly to revile and calumniate, and infi|nitely unbecoming Profe&s;&s;ors of Chri&s;tianity?</P>
<P>Now this &s;o publick dirty Reflection upon Mini&s;ters of the Church of <HI>England</HI> (who are well known to be <HI>the</HI> Champions for the Reformed Religion, whom, above all men, the <HI>Papi&s;ts</HI> mo&s;t hate and fear) might well provoke any one to be angry, who bears them a Reverence.</P>
<P>At the &s;ame time, and upon the &s;ame occa&s;ion, I heard the E&s;quire pro|te&s;t his &s;incere and hearty wi&s;hes for a Free Election, but he &s;aid, this was not the way to it, for per&s;ons intru&s;ted to expre&s;s &s;o much partiality and prejudice. And this Notary is belyed, if this were the only Expre&s;|&s;ion of his partiality, but I will chu&s;e to be &s;ilent, where I am not in Cir|cum&s;tances (as at pre&s;ent I am not) to make good proof.</P>
<P>As for Mr. <HI>Mildmay</HI>'s being taken by the No&s;e by one, who was by His Maje&s;ty and not by him&s;elf (as the Narrator &s;ugge&s;ts) made a Knight, I will not endeavour to ju&s;tifie it, (if it were &s;o) but withal 'tis fit the Story &s;hould be made publick, as to that part al&s;o which reflects on Mr. <HI>Mildmay,</HI> namely, That the Knight was provoked by being given the Lye in open Court.</P>
<P>But I wonder at nothing more, than how a Gentleman of that Spirit and Per&s;wa&s;ion, that our Narrator is manife&s;tly of, &s;hould &s;o forget the year <HI>Forty one,</HI> as &s;o to fall foul at the fir&s;t da&s;h upon Long Parliaments, as <HI>being the great mi&s;chief and ruine of the Free-born</HI> Engli&s;h <HI>mens Liber|ty, even to the utter overthrow of almo&s;t all Property and Priviledges, as well as Religion:</HI> As if he thought the fir&s;t Inva&s;ion of the peoples Liberties, and Properties and <HI>Religion</HI> too, did in truth begin at that &s;elf-perpetu|ating Parliament, and that the&s;e Mi&s;chiefs were continued to the&s;e di|&s;tre&s;&s;ed Kingdoms, by that other Long Parliament, after his Maje&s;ty's hap|py Re&s;tauration.</P>
<P>I come now, Sir, to give you a true and faithful Relation of what I, and others of your Acquaintance, &s;aw and heard at that Ele|ction.</P>
<P>Before the <HI>Duke of Albemarle</HI> rode a <HI>Trumpeter</HI> in very rich Attire, after whom followed four or &s;ix Pages on foot, in the &s;ame Livery, then came the Duke him&s;elf in very plain Habit, without any &s;uch thing as Sword by his &s;ide, or Pi&s;tols before him, having only a &s;lender Cane which hung by a Chain to his Wri&s;t. This I ob&s;erve, to &s;hew he came
<PB N="6" REF="4"> like one re&s;olved before-hand not to <HI>fight</HI> nor Quarrel. On his left hand rode Sir <HI>Thomas Middleton,</HI> and after him mo&s;t of the Knights and Gen|tlemen throughout the County; together with above two hundred (as is acknowledged by the Narrator) of the Clergy. And indeed it was the mo&s;t plea&s;ant Conjunction, and mo&s;t &s;olemn Appearance of Nobility, Gentry and Clergy, that ever I beheld.</P>
<P>When the Duke came near the Town he flouri&s;hed his Hat, and cryed, SILENCE, which accordingly was &s;ent through the whole Body, of above (as I was told by &s;uch as I thought could gue&s;s be&s;t) two thou&s;and Hor&s;e.</P>
<P>As we rode into the Town, we were &s;aluted with mo&s;t barbarous Out|cries and &s;houtings from every Quarter: They cryed <HI>a Mildmay, a Mild|may, no Dukes, no Cro&s;&s;es,</HI> (which related, I &s;uppo&s;e, to the Star the Duke wore on his Arm or Brea&s;t) <HI>no Sem&s;tre&s;s</HI>'s <HI>Son,</HI> to his very Face, <HI>no Courtier, no Pen&s;ioner, no Black-Coat,</HI> and all the while the Duke's Party rode by in &s;ilence.</P>
<P>Then I &s;aw the Clergy abu&s;ed by &s;uch Incivilities and Affronts as I hope are not to be parallel'd, and the tenth part of which I am not able to give you account of. Among others, <HI>the&s;e</HI> were &s;ome of the Civil Titles and Chri&s;tian Language they be&s;towed upon them, <HI>viz. Dumb Dogs, Je&s;uitical Dogs, Dark Lanthorns, Baal's Prie&s;ts, Damned Rogues, Jacks and Villains, the Black Guard, the black Regiment of Hell, the Devil &s;ent them, and to the De|vil they would go.</HI> And one of them uttered this piece of profane folly, <HI>I have heard of three per&s;ons and one God, but here are an hundred Par&s;ons and never a God.</HI></P>
<P>And for the &s;pace of many days after, they boa&s;ted how they had u&s;ed them of the <HI>Long Robe.</HI> One gloried in having thrown Dirt in a Par&s;ons Face; another, that he tore their Gowns; another, that he knocked a Par&s;on off his Hor&s;e; another, that he gave a Par&s;on a good punch, with his Knee, in his Belly; adding, that he thought with him&s;elf that he &s;hould not come there for nothing: This was done in the Croud at Polling. And one Divine told me that he had like to have lo&s;t his life among them. An Eminent Cler|gy-man that lives out of the County, being at <HI>Chelmsford</HI> at that time, and ob&s;erving how rudely his Brethren were treated, procured a Coat to di&s;gui&s;e him&s;elf in when he rode out of Town, but for all that (as he &s;aid) he could not e&s;cape their Flouts and Jeers.</P>
<P>Nor did they &s;tick to boa&s;t in open Markets, That they dre&s;&s;ed the Rogues (meaning the Clergy) &s;o at <HI>Chelmsford,</HI> as they were never dre&s;|&s;ed in their lives.</P>
<P>I cannot but believe that &s;ome, even of <HI>that</HI> Party blu&s;hed and were heartily grieved to &s;ee &s;uch doings: One of them told a very worthy per|&s;on, of your particular acquaintance, that he never heard or &s;aw more rude doings than that &s;ide he was on was guilty of, and in&s;tanced in &s;everal of the particulars.</P>
<P>But all this (thanks be to God) the Clergy bore with an incomparable patience, not in the lea&s;t reviling again, but encouraged one another to meekne&s;s, and not to &s;uffer them&s;elves to be overcome of evil. This occa&s;ioned &s;ome pa&s;&s;ages in a Letter from a very Religious and Excellent per|&s;on, that is no Clergy-man, which I think worth the tran&s;cribing. <HI>I find that the Spirit and Temper of the Church of</HI> England <HI>be&s;t corre&s;ponds with</HI>
<PB N="7" REF="4" MS="y"> <HI>the ancient and be&s;t Chri&s;tians, who not only bore patiently the malice of the Tongue, but Torture and death. It joys my heart to find a Party in this Kingdom, who repine not at their hard Fate, but compa&s;&s;ionate a bewildred Multitude, who know not what they do, but are led by &s;ome &s;ecret Machine to fight again&s;t their own Securities. Oh how ill-favoured a &s;ight is it, to &s;ee imperious ignorant Guides &s;mile and thank God for their Di&s;ciples Cou|rage? Are the&s;e &s;ure Pilots to the</HI> New Jeru&s;alem, <HI>where all is Love and Obedience? We may ea&s;ily perceive the effect that talking &s;o contemptuou&s;ly of Morality hath upon the Separati&s;ts.</HI></P>
<P>As for the <HI>Duke,</HI> I mu&s;t be &s;o ju&s;t to his Grace as to declare, that he be|haved him&s;elf with &s;uch perfect compo&s;ure in his Countenance, which argued a like compo&s;ure in his Mind, as I never &s;aw under &s;uch high indig|nities in my life, in a great per&s;on.</P>
<P>And in all that appearance, I profe&s;s I neither &s;aw Noble-man, Gentle|man, or Clergy-man in the lea&s;t di&s;ordered by drinking; nor did I hear the lea&s;t Oath from any of their Mouths, &s;o far were they at that time from being in the number of the <HI>Damme</HI>'s our Author &s;peaks of.</P>
<P>I &s;ay, all the time I was there, I &s;aw no one per&s;on of either Party that was drunk, and much le&s;s any Clergy-man. I heard indeed &s;ince of <HI>two,</HI> on whom this Report was fa&s;tened with the mo&s;t probability of proving true, but, upon my &s;tricte&s;t enquiry; I am able to prove it was a Slander at that time upon both.</P>
<P>To be &s;hort, Sir, had you been there, to have heard the Language, to have &s;een the Carriage and the Looks of tho&s;e of that Party, (I &s;peak of the Multitude) you might expect as much Civility from <HI>Turks</HI> and <HI>Barba|rians,</HI> and hope to find (if times &s;erve them) as much Mercy from a <HI>Po|pi&s;h Inqui&s;ition,</HI> as from this &s;ort of Zealots, as much as they now cry out again&s;t Per&s;ecution, and cry up Toleration.</P>
<P>Upon this occa&s;ion I cannot forbear to &s;et down what King <HI>James</HI> &s;aith to his Son, in his <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>p.</HI> 41, 42. concerning this kind of Preten|ders to Purity in <HI>Scotland.</HI> Saith he, <HI>They are the very Pests in the Church and Common-weale, whom no de&s;erts can oblige, neither Oaths or Promi&s;es bind; breathing nothing but Sedition and Calumnies, a&s;piring without mea|&s;ure, railing without Rea&s;on, and making their own Imagination (without any warrant of the Word) the Square of their Con&s;cience. I prote&s;t, before the great God, (and &s;ince I am here upon my Te&s;tament, it is no place for me to lye) that you &s;hall never find with any High-land or Border Thieves, great|er Ingratitude, and more Lyes, and vile Perjuries, than with the&s;e</HI> Fanatick <HI>Spirits.</HI> (They are the King's own words.) <HI>And &s;uffer not</HI> (as he there goes on) <HI>the Principles of them to brook your Land, if you like to &s;it at re&s;t; except you would keep them for trying your patience, as</HI> Socrates did an evil Wife.</P>
<P>Sir, I have now, no doubt, tyred your patience with this long Scrib|ble, I draw therefore to a clo&s;e: Did I at all delight in Recriminations, I would &s;tyle a Pamphlet, by way of Reply, <HI>E&s;&s;ex</HI>'s <HI>In&s;olency,</HI> for <HI>E&s;|&s;ex</HI>'s <HI>Excellency;</HI> and the <HI>Ba&s;e Bruti&s;h,</HI> for the <HI>Brave Briti&s;h Behaviour,</HI> &amp;c. But I rather chu&s;e, after a better Example, to &s;ay, <HI>Good Lord forgive them, for they know not what they do.</HI></P>
<PB N="8" REF="5">
<P> Sir, It grieves me that I am con&s;trained thus to employ my Pen, now we are all of us in &s;uch danger of a Common Enemy; but the heady Sepa|rati&s;ts will not con&s;ider it, and will &s;till write and act, as if they had no &s;en&s;e of the lea&s;t danger. Witne&s;s one <HI>Gulielmus Jenkinus</HI> his late Clamorous <HI>Celeu&s;ma,</HI> which may be eminently &s;erviceable to the <HI>Romani&s;ts;</HI> but as for its <HI>Author,</HI> it hath and will more expo&s;e him for a &s;trangely weak and imprudent (not to &s;ay proud and ill-&s;pirited) man, than his <HI>Duo putidi Li|teratores,</HI> (as he mo&s;t &s;cornfully calls two Excellent Scholars) or tho&s;e &s;ad <HI>Hereticks</HI> his <HI>Novatores,</HI> will ever be able to expo&s;e him. Had the poor man no <HI>one</HI> wi&s;e Friend to advi&s;e him not to publi&s;h &s;uch Latin, and much le&s;s &s;uch Matter and Sen&s;e?</P>
<P>I &s;ay, I am grieved at thus employing my Pen at &s;uch a time as this, but there is a nece&s;&s;ity in the Ca&s;e, as we would not be run down by the o|ther Extreme, if God in his Infinite Mercy &s;hould put an end to our fears of <HI>Popery.</HI></P>
<CLOSER><DATELINE><DATE><HI>Aug. 28th.</HI> 1679.</DATE></DATELINE> I am,
<SALUTE>SIR,</SALUTE>
<SIGNED><HI>Your Affectionate Servant,</HI> &amp;c.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
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