THE

CAS E

OF

KING CHARLES I.

TRULY STATED,

AGAINST

JOHN COOK, MASTER OF GRAY'S INN.

T

THE PREFACE.

HE Publisher of this following Difcourfe, has thought fit to oblige the World with a Piece of Curiofity; it was penned about forty Years fince, by the ingenious and

This, and the two following Compofitions are the only Profe Works of Butler already printed, which can, upon any fufficient Grounds, be afferted to be genuine. The former I find in Manufcript in his own Hand; and of the two latter I meet with several Fragments, befides Paffages in his common-Place Collection, which indubitably confirm their Originality and Genuinefs. There is another Piece entituled, A feafonable Speech Spoken by Alderman Atkins

celebrated Author of Hudibras. The Libel, which he answers, was the Labour of one John Cook, Master of Gray's-Inn, a great Painstaker in the Mysteries of Rebellion. To give you the Original of it, 'twas a studied Invective against the Person of King Charles I. before the high Court of Juftice (fo called) of infamous Memory; but upon the Non-pleading of the Royal Martyr, 'twas afterwards metamorphofed into a Pamphlet, with the fpecious Title of, King Charles's Cafe; or an Appeal to all Rational Men concerning his Tryal. How rational this Appeal was, may be easily discovered from thofe numerous Fallacies, and notorious Falfhoods, which our Author has detected in him, not only as to what concerns plain Matter of Fact, but also, in the Pamphleteer's pretended Way of Reasoning, the falfe Logick, and worse Law. I fhall not enter into the Merits of the Caufe; for, I fuppofe, the more rational Part of Mankind is abundantly satisfied in the In

in the Rump-Parliament, printed along with thefe in that Collection falfely called Butler's Remains, which, indeed, has much of the Humour and Manner of Butler; and, was one at liberty to judge by Tafte only and internal Evidence, might with no great Abfurdity or Injustice be imputed to him: But as I have made it a Rule to myself to publish nothing but what is, upon certain Authority, his, I chose to omit it.

nocence of that great Man, as to any Thing that was laid to his Charge; and upon that Account, indeed, there would have been little Occafion, at this Time of Day, to produce fo great an Advocate for his Memory, but that there is rifen amongst us a new Race of the old Republican Stamp, who have revived the Quarrel, and copied out the obsolete and almoft forgotten Scandal of our Libeller, and made it their own. The Author of Ludlow's Letter may be reckoned amongst the first of these, one that always fet up for a Patron of Faction, and a Promoter of the good old Caufe; but fhewed himself most in that famous Year, when he was one of the Tribunes of the People. I fhould not have made fuch a Digreffion upon this worthy Patriot, but that I find him to intrude amongst his Friends, Mr. Milton and our Libeller, and feems to be the very Copy of their Malice, at leaft, though not their Wit; and for that Reason, I must confess, he seems

It must be owned, that the Profe Part of that fpurious Volume is writ with more Taste and Spirit, than the Poetry, which is certainly the vileft and most taftelefs Ribaldry, that was ever afcribed to a Man of Genius; and I think one may, without much Danger of being mistaken, hazard a Conjecture, that Sir John Birkenhead had a principal Hand in it. The Character of an Assembly-Man, which makes one Part of that Work, has been already printed under his Name, and he was a Genius of a Caft very fimilar to that

to be the least pointed at by our Anfwerer. I fhall fay no more of him at prefent, but pass him by with the fame Contempt as the Government has wifely done; 'tis but unseasonable quarrelling with a Man that is armed with fo much Dirt, you'll be fure of that, if you have nothing elfe.

I need not trouble the Reader with any Harangue upon our Author, or his Book; I fuppose he is no Stranger to the honester and more learned Part of the Kingdom; and as for the reft, 'twas their beft Security they were not known by him. I fhall only add, that it was Mr. Butler's Defign to print the Discourse himself, had not Death prevented him; and fince it has fell into the Editor's Hands, 'tis but a Piece of Justice to his Memory, to let the World make their Advantage of it,

of our Author, tho' much inferior in Depth and Solidity.

As the Gentleman, who first obliged the World with this Anfwer to Cook has introduced it with a suitable Preface, I think it unneceffary to add any thing of my own.

The Reader will find Cook's Cafe, at the End of Ludlow's Memoirs, printed in 1751, in Folio.

THE

CAS E

OF

KING CHARLES I.

TRULY STATED.

Mr. Cook,

HA

AVING lately feen a Book of yours, which you are pleafed to call, King CHARLES's Cafe, or an Appeal to all Rational Men concerning his Tryal, I was much invited to read it, by the Ingenuity promised in your Title. For having heard you ftile your felf Sollicitor-General for the King's Dread Sovereignty, and your own Honourable Client, the People; I was much taken with your Impartiality, that not only exempts all rational Men from being your Clients in this Cafe, in making them, by your Appeal, your Judges: For no Man, you know, can be Judge in his own