trouble themselves no more but leave the People expos'd to the practices of them, and of their Party; who if they carry one House of Commons for their turn, will make us Slaves and Papists by a Law.

Popish and Arbitrary, are words that sound high amongst the multitude; and all men are branded by those names, who are not for setting up Fanaticism and a Common-wealth. To call short and useless Parliaments, can be no intention of the Government; because from such means the great end of Settlement cannot be expected. But no Physician can command his Physick to perform the effects for which he has prescrib'd it: yet if it fail the first or second time, he will not in prudence lay aside his Art, and despair of his Patient: but reiterate his Medicines till he effect the cure. For, the King, as he declares himself, is not willing to have too hard an Opinion of the Representatives of the Commons, but hopes that time may open their eyes, and that their next meeting may perfect the Settlement of Church and State. With what impudence can our Author say, That an House of Commons can possibly be so pack'd, as to make us Slaves and Papists by a Law? for my part I should as soon suspect they would make themselves Arbitrary, which God forbid that any Englishman in his right sences should believe. But this supposition of our Author, is to lay a most scandalous imputation upon the Gentry of England; besides, what it tacitly insinuates, that the House of Peers and his Majesty, (without whom it could not pass into a Law,) would suffer it. Yet without such Artifices, as I said before, the Fanatique cause could not possibly subsist: fear of Popery and Arbitrary power must be kept up; or the St. Georges of their side, would have no Dragon to encounter; yet they will never persuade a reasonable man, that a King, who in his younger years, when he had all the Temptations of power to pursue such a Design, yet attempted it not, should now, in the maturity of his Judgment, and when he sees the manifest aversion of his Subjects to admit of such a change, undertake a work of so much difficulty, destructive to the Monarchy, and ruinous to Himself, if it succeeded not; and if it succeeded, not capable of making him so truly Great as he is by Law already. If we add to this, his Majesties natural love to Peace and Quiet, which increases in every man with his years, this ridiculous supposition will vanish of itself; which is sufficiently exploded by daily experiments to the contrary. For let the Reign of any of our Kings be impartially examin'd, and there will be found in none of them so many examples of Moderation, and keeping close to the Government by Law, as in his. And instead of swelling the Regal power to a greater height, we shall here find many gracious priviledges accorded to the Subjects, without any one advancement of Prerogative.

The next thing material in the Letter, is the questioning the legality of the Declaration; which the Author sayes by the new style of his Majesty in Council, is order'd to be read in all Churches and Chappels throughout England, And which no doubt the blind obedience of our Clergy, will see carefully perform'd; yet if it be true, that there is no Seal, nor Order of Council, but only the Clerks hand to it, they may be call'd in question as publishers of false news, and invectives against a third Estate of the Kingdom.

Since he writes this only upon a supposition, it will be time enough to answer it, when the supposition is made manifest in all its parts: In the meantime, let him give me leave to suppose too, that in case it be true that there be no Seal, yet since it is no Proclamation, but only a bare Declaration of his Majesty, to inform and satisfie his Subjects, of the reasons which induc'd him to dissolve the two last Parliaments, a Seal in this case, is not of absolute necessity: for the King speaks not here as commanding any thing, but the Printing, publishing and reading. And 'tis not denyed the meanest Englishman, to vindicate himself in Print, when he has any aspersion cast upon him. This is manifestly the case, that the Enemies of the Government, had endeavour'd to insinuate into the People such Principles, as this Answerer now publishes: and therefore his Majesty, who is always tender to preserve the affections of his Subjects, desir'd to lay before them the necessary reasons, which induc'd him to so unpleasant a thing, as the parting with two successive Parliaments. And if the Clergy obey him in so just a Design, is this to be nam'd a blind Obedience! But I wonder why our Author is so eager for the calling them to account as Accessaries to an Invective against a third Estate of the Kingdom, while he himself is guilty in almost every sentence of his discourse of aspersing the King, even in his own Person, with all the Virulency and Gall imaginable. It appears plainly that an House of Commons, is that Leviathan which he Adores: that is his Sovereign in effect, and a third Estate is not only greater than the other two, but than him who is presiding over the three.

But, though our Author cannot get his own Seditious Pamphlet to be read in Churches and in Chappels, I dare secure you, he introduces it into Conventicles, and Coffee-houses of his Faction: besides, his sending it in Post Letters, to infect the Populace of every County. 'Tis enough, that this Declaration is evidently the Kings, and the only true exception, which our Answerer has to it, is that he would deny his Majesty the power of clearing his intentions to the People: and finds himself aggriev'd, that his King should satisfie them in spight of himself and of his party.

The next Paragraph is wholly spent, in giving us to understand, that a King, of England is no other thing than a Duke of Venice; take the Parallell all along: and you will find it true by only changing of the names. A Duke of Venice can do no wrong; in Senate he can make no ill Laws; in Council no ill Orders, in the Treasury can dispose of no Money, but wisely, and for the interest of the Government, and according to such proportions as are every way requisite: if otherwise all Officers are answerable, &c. Which is in effect, to say he can neither do wrong nor right, nor indeed any thing, quatenus a King. This puts me in mind of Sancho Panca in his Government of the Island of Barataria, when he was dispos'd to eat or drink, his Physitian stood up for the People, and snatch'd the dish from him in their right, because he was a publick person, and therefore the Nation must be Judges to a dram and scruple what was necessary for the sustenance of the Head of the Body politique. Oh, but there is a wicked thing call'd the Militia in their way, and they shew'd they had a moneths mind to it, at the first breaking out of the Popish Plot. If they could once persuade his Majesty, to part graciously with that trifle, and with his power of making War and Peace; and farther, to resign all Offices of Trust, to be dispos'd by their nomination, their Argument would be an hundred times more clear: for then it would be evident to all the World, that he could do nothing. But if they can work him to part with none of these, then they must content themselves to carry on their new Design beyond Seas: either of ingaging the French King to fall upon Flanders, or encouraging the States General to lay aside, or privately to cut off the Prince of Orange, or getting a War declared against England and France conjoyntly: for by that means, either the King can be but a weak Enemy, and as they will manage matters, he shall be kept so bare of Money, that Twelve Holland Ships shall block up the River, or he shall be forced to cast himself upon a House of Commons, and to take Money upon their Terms, which will sure be as easie, as those of an Usurer to an Heir in want. These are part of the projects now afoot: and how Loyal and conscionable they are, let all indifferent persons