whatever thou doft Now Talk, or Write, or Look is the Almes of Other Mens Active Prudence and Zeale. Dare not now to Say, or Do any thing better than thy former Sloath and Infancy; or if thou darft, thou doft Impudently to make a thrifty purchase of Boldness to thy Self out of the Painfull Merits of other Men: what Before was thy Sin, is Now thy Duty to be, Abject and Worthleffe. Thefe and Such like Leffons as Thefe, I know would have been my Matins duly, and my Even-Song. but Now by this little Diligence, mark what a Privilege I bave gain'd; with Good Men and Saints to claim my right of Lamenting the Tribulations of the Church, if She should Suffer, when Others that have Ventur'd Nothing for her Sake, have not the honour to be admitted Mourners. if She lift up her Drooping Head and Profper, among thofe that have Something More than Wight her Wellfare, I have my Charter and Freehold of Rejoycing to Me and my Heirs. Concerning therefore this wayward Subject against Prelaty, the touching whereof is fo diftaftfull and difquietous to a number of men, as by what hath been faid I may deferve of charitable Readers to be Credited, that neither Envy nor Gall bath enter'd me upon this Controversy, but the enforcement of Confcience only, and a preventive fear leaft the Omitting of this Duty fhould be against me when I would Store up to my felf the good provifion of Peacefull hours: So left it should be fill imputed to me, as I have found it hath

But

bin,

bin, that Some Self-pleafing humor of vain-glory bath incited me to contest with Men of high eftimation, now while Green years are upon my head, from this Needleffe Surmifal I shall hope to Diffwade the Intelligent and Equal Auditor, if I can but fay Succesfully that which in this Exigent behoovs me, although I would be heard only, if it might be, by the Elegant and Learned Reader, to whom Principally for a while I Jhall beg leave I may addrefs my Self. To him it will be no new thing though I tell him that if I hunted after praife by the oftentation of Wit and Learning, I Should not write thus out of mine own Seafon, when I have neither yet compleated to my minde the full Circle of my Private Studies, although I complain not of any Infufficiency to the Matter in hand, or were I ready to my wishes, it were a folly to commit any thing Elaborately compos'd to the Careleffe and Interrupted liftening of thefe Tumultuous times. Next if I were wife only to mine Own ends, I would certainly take Such a Subject as of it felf might catch Applaufe, whereas This bath all the Difadvantages on the Contrary, and Such a Subject as the Publishing whereof might be Delayd at pleasure, and time enough to Pencill it over with all the curious Touches of Art, even to the perfection of a Faultleffe Picture; when as in This Argument the Not deferring is of great Moment to the good Speeding, that if Solidity have leifure to do her office, Art cannot have much. Lastly, I should not chufe

this manner of Writing, wherein knowing my felf Inferior to my Self, led by the Genial Power of Nature to Another Task, I have the ufe, as I may account it, but of my Left hand.

I will fubjoyn two Other Paffages, Much Shorter than This. They are in his Defenfio 2 da pro Pop. Anglican. Written Many Years after, though the Paffages I am going to pro duce, refer to a Point of Time Somwhat Earlier; that is, before he was made Latin Secretary. the Firft of Thefe is in p. 91. Tol. Edit. in English Thus.

-nor do I Complain of the very Small Part that hath come to Me of Reward and Advantage for My Service to the Commonwealth, and the very Great One of Ignominy and Reproach; Contented that I have been a Zealous Afferter of what was Right, for it Self Alone, and Gratis; let Others look to That. and be it known to You that Thofe Conveniencies, and That Wealth You Reproach me with I have never touch'd; and that, on the Account of what You Chiefly Accufe me of, I am not made a Penny the Richer. the Other is in p. 98.

I have thus, from my private Study, given my Time and Labour, fomtimes to the Church, Jomtimes to the Commonwealth, though neither This nor That hath given Me any thing in return but Security; What I have done bath, of it Self, given Me a Good Confcience within, a Good Efteem among ft the Good, and, withall, This fuft and Honeft Liberty of Speaking; O

thers

thers were Bufy in the mean time in accommodating Themfelves with Honours and Profits; Me No Man hath feen Solliciting; None feen Making under-Interest by my Friends; None Pofted up in the Lobby with my Petitioning Countenance, or Affiduous at the Doors and in the Entrys of the Great. I was generally at Home, Living frugally upon my Own, though often confiderably Shorten'd by thefe Civil Broils, and Tax'd to the Rigour, fometimes almoft Unjustly.

Another Noble Paffage, wherein there is a Bright Character of a Mind Truly Pious and Honest, and what is in particular to the Prefent Purpose, I referve for a yet more Proper Place, and fhall proceed, Now that I am upon This Sort of Work, to Brush off more Dirt; not indeed So Black as What I have been upon, nor fo Inveterate, but which, if he knows I have Undertaken to endeavour to do him Right, he Expects I fhould Clear him of as well as I Can, and the rather, because he has no where done it Himself that I know of, perhaps as being a Domestick Affair, or perhaps he Never Sufpected his Garment Had, or would have any Such Spot upon it.

I don't remember to have Ever heard he was Sour, Ill-natur'd, or Morofe in General, and in Common Life, but the Contrary: the Warmth, the Vigour which is feen Somtimes in his Writings, Efpecially when Defending Himfelf from Cruel, and Bafe Calumny, Charity and Honesty will impute to Other

Caufes.

Causes. or Admitting he had been Commonly Peevish; at Some times, who is not So, in Some degree? his Many Provocations, Difappointments, Misfortunes, Pains, &c. would have Excus'd even a Philofopher. but in all Appearance he was too much So to have been Remarkably Blameable on This Article, or rather that Affability and Good Nature was his General Character. The Charge I am Now to Speak to is, that Whatever he was Elsewhere, How Patiently foever he bore the Provocations Two of his Wives gave him (One liv'd but a few Months after their Marriage, and we know Nothing of Her Behaviour) Yet, That he was too Rigid a Master of his Family; but more Efpecially, That he was a Severe and Cruel Father.

a Man that Practifes Severity on Himself in an Exact Obfervation of Vertue's Commands, finds himself Obliged by those very Laws to Exact a like Obedience from All under his Care. I have Heard, and do Believe, and Allow, Milton's Family was a Well Order'd Government; Licentiousness was not Permitted by Him: he could be a Rigid Monarch Here with a good Grace; he could require Vertue, Frugality, and Strict Discipline (which Women and Children fail not to call Severity) as he Bravely Led the Way, by being an Example, and Able moreover to Stand a Retrospect into his Own Behaviour when Young, and through all the Stages of Life.

and