able, even to thofe that have been nearest the Facts And Matters of Fact are daily reprefented to us in different Lights, even by fuch as pretend to the most exact Knowledge of them: and they commonly vary according as Men's Tempers and Opinions vary. And if it is fo difficult a Matter to come to the Knowledge of Things done in our own Times, how much more fo muft it be to write of Things at a Distance with critical Exactnefs, where Men muft be liable to Mistakes, even after the utmoft Care and Precaution; tho' fuch Miftakes (where all proper Methods of Information are made ufe of, and there is no apparent Defign of Impofition) are certainly pardonable. But the want of Probity in an Hiftorian, is far from being fo; and tho' I don't directly charge Mr. Neal as faulty in this Refpect, yet many of his Vouchers are certainly fo; and he himfelf has taken but too much Pains to mangle and curtail his very best Authorities, to make them speak home to his Purpofe, which they could never have done without being put to the Torture.

The Hiftory of Times (fays a learned (c) Author) is ufually drawn up fo, as it may minifter not to Truth but Faction.' Of the Truth of this Obfervation, almoft every Day's Experience may convince us, (d) and however vicious our Hiftories may be already, there has been one way to make them more corrupt by Secret Hif tories: And fome who affect (with what Right or Justice I could never learn) to call themfelves Hiftorians, nay Critical Hiftorians, have not been afhamed to palm the most notorious Falfhoods upon the World for Truths, efpecially when they have had fome dirty Turn to ferve: And if they have ever had the Luck to fpeak Truth, 'twas without Defign. And notwithstanding I am far

(c) Dr. Spencer's Difcourfe concerning Prodigies, 1665, p. 131. (a) Reflections upon Learning, p. 142.

from

from ranking Mr. Neal under this Clafs of Wri ters, (tho' he has often had the Misfortune to build too much upon their Authority and Credit) yet that he has not been over accurate in his Researches after Truth, I am perfuaded most of his Readers will readily allow, upon a careful Comparison of his three former Volumes, with the Anfwers to them..

'Tis the Duty of every Hiftorian to diveft himfelf of (e) Party Prejudice, and to say nothing but what is entirely and inconteftibly true, or what in his Confcience he believes to be fo, without the leaft Difguife or Colouring, without Addition or Subftraction. And as Mr. Neal has declared, (Pref. p. 6.) That Facts are fairly to be reprefented, and that he aims at nothing but the Truth; that na Stress is to be laid upon Facts and Characters any farther than the Quality of bis Vouchers will support bim: I am in great Hopes, that he will impartially review his four Volumes of the Hiftory of the Puritans, and correct the many Mistakes contained in them, when pointed out to him by fuch as have some Regard to his Merit in other Refpects, tho' they cannot pafs over his Hiftorical Mistakes without a proper (yet friendly) Animadverfion: And as it is an Argument of an ingenuous Temper to correct fuch Miftakes as are made apparent to us (f), I perfuade myself, that Mr. Neal will not grudge

(e) Mr. Archdeacon Echard (as he told me himfelf) being once impertinently asked, Whether he was a Whig or a Tory? very juftly and honestly reply'd, That he was an Hiftorian. If ye obferve it, fays one of the most excellent Preachers of this or any other Age, (Dr. Moe's Sermons, vol. 7. P. 390) as the World now goes, he that is of my Opinion, of my Way or Party, tho' it be but in fecular Matters, he is boneft, he is franch, he is orthodox, he is the beft Chriftian; in fhort, he is every thing that deferves to be encouraged: But if he is not of my Caft, he has ipfo facto forfeited both his Judgment and Integrity, he is all the ill Things and ill Names that can be thought of, he has hardly any Title left even to common Cha❝rity. A very uncharitable and unjuft Way of proceeding fure, that thus goes about to enclose that which is or fhould be common."

(f) Now I am calling upon Mr. Neal to correct the Miftakes of his four Volumes I think myfelf bound to retract two Miftakes, into which I was led by his not quoting his Edition of Whitelock,

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grudge the World one Volume more to complete his Work, tho' that Volume fhould wholly confift of Retractations, (and, if I am not mistaken, his History of the Puritans will furnish him with a fufficient Number for that Purpose). Several Precedents of this Kind are extant. St. Auftin has given us his Retractations; and if his Authority (as being of too antient a Date) may not be fufficient to induce Mr. Neal, he may meet with Authors of a more modern Cut, who, in writing their own (g) Lives, have ingenuously confeffed Abundance of youthful Faults and Follies. And I cannot but think, that Faults in Hiftory, as they are likely to be more permanent and lafting, and may prove of much worfe Confequence, by misleading Pofterity, ought with the greatest Care and Exactnefs to be corrected.

And what farther encourages me in my Hope, is Mr. Neal's frank Declaration in his Preface, (p. 6.) That he is not so vain as to imagine his Hiftory free from Errors; and if any Mistakes of Confequence are made to appear, he shall acknowledge them with Thankfulness to those who fhall point them out in a civil and friendly Manner.

The Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Saint Afaph, in his Anfwer to his first Volume, has treated him with great Candour: And I cannot, upon a Review of my Examination of his fecond and third Volumes, find that I have used him otherwife than with Civility: If I have, it was far from my Intention; and if it is made apparent to me, I will heartily beg his Pardon: tho' I muft

The first is, Impartial Examination of his third Volume, p. 131. concerning Prince Rupert's great Barbarity: Mr. Whitelock, in the Place referred to, mentions the great Barbarity of his Soldiers.

The fecond, p. 200. concerning the King's telling the Parliament-Commiffioners, That a Letter Carrier might have done as well. 'Tis in Whitelock as well as Rushworth.

I must likewife beg of the Reader, to read MS. inftead of MSS. in two or three Places of my Examination of Mr. Neal's fecond Volume. (g) Mr. Baxter's Life, Folio, p. 2.

:

declare

declare to him at the fame time, that I love to call every thing by its proper Name; for I profels I cannot talk a Language I do not mean, and have a hearty Abhorrence to the ferving any Turn that is inconfiftent with Truth. And if I have ufed any Expreffions that to Mr. Neal may feem too harsh, I prefume, I fhall have his Pardon, when he has once thoroughly confider'd what Occafion he has given, by the Reproaches he has caft upon King Charles the Martyr, the best of Kings, and the Freedom he has taken with fome of the moft deferving Prelates of our Church; and when I affure him that I do not write for Victory but Truth.

The first twelve Years of his laft Period take in the Ufurpations of the Rump, O. Cromwell, &c. and are the most remarkable Ones in all our English Hiftory: And I may venture to affirm, (and I hope without Offence to any one) that more Villanies were tranfacted in that fhort Period, than in the fame Compafs of Time downwards from the Creation: Then the most monftrous Crimes were committed under the Cloke of Religion, which was the Pretence for carrying on of every wicked Defign: And tho' I cannot charge Mr. Neal with the Defence of every Tranf action that was bad, in that most execrable Set of Men; yet he has palliated their Actions fo far, that his Readers, who are not verfed in the Hiftory of those Times, may be difficulted, from his Work, to discover in what they were to blame. Had he treated them in the manner that the brave Judge Jenkins (a Perfon thoroughly well fkilled in our Conftitution and Laws) did, his Work had been lefs liable to cenfure. That Judge was fo far from palliating the Crimes of thofe Monfters, that he charged them home to their very Teeth; and when he was brought before the Rump in 1648, he treated thofe wicked Rebels with

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with a juft and becoming Contempt. (b) In your Speech, (fays he) Mr. Speaker, you faid the • House was offended with my Behaviour, in not making any Obeifance to you upon my coming here; and this was the more wondred at, because I pretended to be knowing in the Laws of the Land, (having made it my Study for these five and forty Years) and because I am so, that was the Reafon of fuch my Behaviour: For as long as you had the King's Arms engrav'd on your Mace, and acted under his Authority, • had I come here, I would have bow'd my Body • in Obedience to his Authority, by which you • were firft called. But, Mr. Speaker, fince you ⚫ and this Houfe have renounced all your Duty and Allegiance to your Sovereign, and natural Liege Lord the King, and are become a Den of Thieves, Should I bow myself in this Houfe of Rimmon, the Lord would not pardon me in this Thing.' Which provoked the Houfe fo much, that without any Trial they voted him and Sir Francis Butler guilty of High Treafon, and fix'd the Day of Execution; but were diverted from it by a Droll Speech of that remarkable Buffoon Harry Martyn. (i) After this they fent a Committee from the Commons-Houfe to Newgate to Judge Jenkins, and made this Offer to him, That if he would own their Power to be lawful, they would not only take off the Sequeftrations from his Eftate, ⚫ which were about 500l. per Annum, but would alfo fettle a Penfion on him of 1000 l. a Year." To which he answer'd, Far be it from me to ⚫own Rebellion (altho' it was fuccessful) to be

lawful; fo he defired to fee their Backs.' Then the Chief of them made another Propofal to the

(b) A true Account of what was tranfacted in the Commons Houfe at Westminster, Anno Dom. 1648. when they voted David Jenkins, Efq; a Welch Judge, and Sir Francis Butler, to be guilty of High Treason against themselves, without any Trial. Printed 1719. p. 6. penes me.

(i) Idem, p. 17.

Judge,