The Lord Marquesse of Dorchesters letter to the Lord Roos with the Lord Roos's answer thereunto : whereunto is added the reasons why the Lord Marquesse of Dorchester published his letter of the 25 of Febr. 1659 dated the 13 of the same moneth : with his answer to the Lord Roos in his letter.

A true and perfect Copy of a Letter Written by the Lord Marqueſſe of Dorcheſter, to the Lord Roos. Printed the 25. of Feb. 1659. but ſent to him on the 13. of the ſame Moneth.

SUre you were in one of your Drunken Fits, the Pot flew high when you writ your Sottiſh and Clowniſh Paper to me, that relliſhes of nothing but a Tippl'd Fool, and a Bragging Coward; and the latter in ſo poor and mean a manner, that I am aſhamed it ſhould come from one that bears the Name, though not the Nature of a Gentleman: Your own fearfull guilty Soul knows that my late Letter, as well as a former to your ſelf, (together with all Paſſages between us) were almoſt as ſoon communicated to your Father and Mother, as to your ſelf, and not long after to ſome of your neareſt Relations; Nay, many of the Servants of both your Families were privy thereunto, and knew as much as your ſelf, and ſo did divers others in ſeveral places: All this I can prove by perſons well reputed; and for the Letters, I dare ſwear, they were not kept very ſecret, for I have heard of divers paſſages in them, which I am ſure came to no body by Revelation, and yet you have the frontleſſe impudence to lay this aſperſion upon me: I have fought before now, and I hope never came off with the loſs of honour; and muſt I now be afraid of ſuch a Shadow, ſuch a half-man as you are? and 'tis well if you be ſo much: You remember I challenged you twice in one Week, and you poorely and baſely refuſed both, pretending you would give me full ſatisfaction; you came indeed (but full ſore againſt your will, and contrary to the Huffs you gave out in the Countrey in your Drink) and promiſed as much as I could expect, but afterwards performed nothing: And now be your own Judge, whether it is poſſible for any one to believe, that I that knew you had poorly refuſed twice, ſhould avoid the meeting you now: If you needs muſt lye, follow my advice, and hereafter lie Colourably, for theſe are ſuch groſs ones, that they are palpable, like the Aegytian Darkneſs. I muſt needs ſay, it much troubles, and afflicts me, to be compell'd by your barbarous and unmanly provocations, to uſe ſuch ſpeeches, contrary to my nature and diſpoſition; but you began, and I do no more than retaliate, and the law of Retaliation is juſt and equal: But I believe, you'l bear all quietly, was it more; for you abound in Paſſive fortitude, though you have in you not one jot of the Active. If this any whit galls, you know the way to London (no other place for the preſent being poſſible to be choſen without moſt apparent and evident ſuſpition) There will be the moſt privacy, and who plays the Pultroon, will be moſt eaſily diſcover'd But what do I talk of London to you, you will as ſoon-come on your Head as on Horſeback or in Coach, to meet me with a Sword in your hand: But, was it a Bottle, none would be more forward; and with ſuch a weapon you may venture upon a Dutch-man: But if there be a ſpark of Fire in ſo dull a Flint, I will ſtrike it. From the beginning to the end of your Letter you falſly lie, and if you dare appear, I will cram it down your Throat with my sword; if there need any more, I ſay and reſay, You are a baſe Coward. If you muſt have another Puſh, I will divulge it to the World in Print what a Coward You are, and make publick all the paſſages between us; Your fooliſh bragging Letter ſhall not be omitted, which will ſpeak you more than I have done, and this ſhall follow after it; then 'twill to all appear what a Captain Puff you are, fit for nothing but a Cudgel. For ſhame leave the Petticoat off, and put on Brecches; uſe my Argument againſt my ſelf; if I was ſo mean to diſcover this; you may infallibly conclude I will do ſo again; but you'l uſe none of this way of Argumentation, you too well know my innocence therein; if I may ſee a Miracle, that is, you with a Sword in your hand, I will before our Seconds and your ſelf, beſeech God that what I wiſh'd in my Letter to your Second, may fall upon me, [viz.] That if in the leaſt, directly or indirectly, I be guilty of this diſcovery, or any Circumſtance that can but tend thereunto: Nay, I will go farther, If I did not my utmost to avoid all ſuſpition, may I fall by your Sword, to my eternal ſhame and ruine. This, upon my Honour, I will declare upon our Meeting, in manner as I have ſaid, which I am ſure you dare not reſpectively do for your ſelf; Your guilty trembling Conſcience will hold you off when you are ſo neer danger.

Dorcheſter. Monday Febr. 13. 1659.

The Meſſenger was ſent Poſt with this Letter to the Lord Roos, on the day of the date thereof, but was forc'd to follow him from place to place, it being given out be was gone three or foure ſeveral wayes; at length he found him at the Lord Mountague's in Northampton-ſhire; and there after many Examinations, with much difficulty, he deliver'd this Letter to the Lord Roos his own hands, on Thurſday morning the 16. of this inſtant Febr.

A true and perfect Copy of the Lord Roos his Anſwer to the Marqueſſe of Dorcheſter's Letter written the 25- of February 1659. Sir,

SUre you were among your Gallipots and Gliſterpipes, when you gave your Choller ſo violent a Purge, to the fouling of ſo much innocent paper, and your own reputation (if you had any, which the wiſe very much doubt) you had better bin drunk and ſet in the Stocks for it, when you ſent the Poſt with a whole pacquet of Chartells to me; in which you have diſcovered ſo much vapouring nonſence and rayling, that it is wholſomer for your credit, to have it thought the effect of drink, then your own naturall talent in perfect minde and memory: for if you underſtand any thing in your own Trade, you could not but know that the Hectick of your own brain is more deſperate than the Tertian fits of mine, which are eaſily cured with a little ſleep; but yours is paſt the remedy of a Morter and braying. But I wonder with what confidence you can accuſe me with the diſcovery of private paſſages between us, when you are ſo open your ſelf, that every man ſees through you; or how could I diſcloſe perfectly any thing in your Epiſtles to my Father and Mother, the which was not before very well knowne unto your Tutors or School maſters, whoſe inſtructions you uſed in compiling thoſe voluminous works. Let any man judge, whether I am ſo likely to divulge ſecrets as you, who cannot forbear printing and publiſhing: Your Labours are now cried in the ſtreets of London, with Ballads on the Rump and Hewſons Lamentations; and the Lord of Dorcheſter's name makes a greaer noiſe in a cloſe Alley than Kitchin-ſtuffe or work for a Tinker: & all this by your owne induſtry, who are not aſhamed at the ſame inſtant to pretend to ſecrecy, with no leſs abſurdity than you commit, when accuſing me for uſing foul Language, you do outdo Billingsgate your ſelf. But now you begin to vapour, and to tell us you have fought before; ſo I have heard you have, with your Wife, and Poet, but if you come off with no more honour, than when you were beaten by my Lord Grandiſon, you had better have kept that to your ſelf, if it were poſſible for you to conceal any thing: but I cannot but laugh at the untoward courſe you take to render your ſelf formidable, by bragging of your Fights, when you are terrible onely in your medicines: if you had told us how many you kill'd that way, and how many you have cut in pieces, beſides Calves and Dogs, a right valiant man that hath any wit, would tremble to come nere you: and if by your threatning to ramme your Sword down my Throat, you do not mean your Pills, which are a more dangerous weapon, the worſt is paſt, and I am ſafe enough: as for your Feats of Armes, there is no half quarter of a man that is ſo wretched, but would venture to give you battail, but you are moſt unſufferable in your unconſcionable ingroſſing of all Trades: Is it not enough that you are already as many things as any of your owne receipts, that you are a Doctor of the Civil Law, and a Bariſter at the Common, a Bencher of Gray's Inne, a Profeſſour of Phiſick and a Fellow of the Colledge; a Mathematician, a Chaldean, a Schoolman and a piece of a Grammarian, (as your laſt work can ſhew were it conſtrued) a Philoſopher, Poet, Tranſlator, Antiſocordiſt, Solliciter, Broker & Uſurer; beſides, a Marqueſs, Earl, Vicount and Baron; but you muſt, like Dr. Suttle, profeſſe quarrelling too, and publiſhing your ſelf an Hector; of which calling there are ſo many already, that they can hardly live one by another. Sir, truly there is no conſcience in it, conſidering you have not onely, a more ſure and ſafe way of killing men already then they have, but a plentiful Eſtate beſides: So many Trades, and yet have ſo little conſcience to eat the bread out of their mouths; they have great reaſon to lay it to heart, and I hope ſome of them will demand reparation of you, and make you give them compounding dinners too, as well as you have done to the reſt of your Fraternities; and now be your own Judge, whether any one man can be bound in honour to Fight with ſuch an Hydra as you are; a Monſter of many heads, like the multitude, or the Devil that call'd himſelf Legion; ſuch an encounter would be no Duell but War, which I never heard that any one man ever made alone; and I muſt levy Forces ere I can meet you, for if every one of your capacities had but a Second, you would amount to a Brigade, as your Letter does to a Declaration; in which I cannot omit, that in one reſpect you have dealt very ingeniouſly, and that is in publiſhing to the world, that all your Heroical reſolutions are built upon your own opinion of my want of courage: this argues you well ſtudied in the dimenſions of quarrelling; among which, one of the chiefeſt ſhews how to take meaſure of another mans valour, by comparing it with your own, to make your approaches accordingly: but as the leaſt miſtake betrayes you to an infallible beating, ſo you had far'd, and perhaps had had the Honour, which you ſeem to deſire, of falling by my Sword, if I had not thought you a thing fitter for any mans contempt then anger.

Roos. The Reaſons why the Lord Marqueſs of Dorcheſter printed his Letter the 25. of Febr. 1659. Dated the 13. of the ſame Moneth. Together with my Anſwer to a printed Paper, called, a true and perfect Copy of the Lord Roos his Anſwer to the Marqueſs of Dorcheſter's Letter, Written the 25. of Febr. 1659.

ON the 13. of Febr. laſt, about five in the afternoon, I received the Lord Roos his Paper, mentioned in my printed Letter, and immediately thereupon I writ that Anſwer, and ſent it away Poſt the next day: And though, both before and after, I was frequently informed, what report he gave out in the Countrey, yet I held them onely worth my ſcorn, and at that time had not the leaſt intention of making any thing publick; my letter being writ ad hominem, and not for the preſſe. But when I ſaw for three days together (before I thought of printing it) thoſe ſcandalous papers, that were ſcatter'd up and down, poſted, and cry'd by the common Cryer all London over: And this done (beſides the injuries moſt uncivilly offered unto my Daughter, when ſhe had not put him one penny in debt) to confirm by ſo notorious an act his idle boaſting, that I was afraid to meet him; I was compell'd ſo to vindicate my ſelf, being deprived of all other means; for then I well knew he durſt not Fight. The Posted Papers I need not recite, becauſe they are ſo common; For the Jewels and Plate therein mentioned, the firſt were all her own, except one Necklace of Pearl, and ſome trivial Diamonds: The Place was no more than ſhe uſed in her Bed-chamber, and under the value of threeſcore pound: Before ſhe ſecured theſe, ſhe was often threatned they ſhould be all taken from her, & not ſo much left her as a Ring or Spoon: And ſince, I intreated Perſons of Honor to acquaint his Mother (which they did accordingly) that I would make good both what her Son, and my ſelf gave her, and at their own Rates; But all would not ſerve, Spleen and Folly prevailed againſt Honour and Reaſon. And now upon the whole matter, whether, and how far I am juſtifiable in publiſhing that letter, I willingly ſubmit to the judgment of any indifferent perſon. And thus I come to the Lord Roos his Anſwer to the Lord Marqueſs of Dorchester's Letter, &c.

This Whelp hath for this moneth been lick'd over and over, and is yet without form, a rude and indigeſted lump; if you had uſed the like quicknes in your Reply, as I did in my Anſwer to your Letter, and therein required an accompt of me with my Sword in my hand, and in ſtead of Eleven days I allow'd you, you had given me but Two, nor ſo much neither, but in reſpect of the diſtance of our dwellings; if in that ſhort time you had not heard from me, with full ſatisfaction to your demand, you might then upon ſome grounds have divulged this and more; but now after a moneths ſpace, when you durſt not do like a Man, to anſwer like a Childe, cleer from the purpoſe, and moſt apparent ſcope of my letter, which was to provoke you to Fight, and not to Rail; This I ſay would have ſtigmatiz'd you with an indeleble mark, if you were capable of more Infamy, than is now upon you; For you are ſtill a Coward, and dare not Fight. This Expreſſion I muſt uſe often, as Cato did his Puto Carthaginem eſſe delendam: you know the ſaying, Cloath an Ape in Tiſſue, and it but adds deformity to the Beast; and the more a Coward ſeeks to conceal, the more he diſcovers his Fears: Of the truth of this you are a ſhame. full Example. What a noiſe and bluſtering doe you make, to appear Some body, as if with Homer's Ʋlyſſes you had got the Winds into your empty bottles? but all in vain; for tis with you like a Jade in the Myre, your labouring to get out, but plunges you the deeper in; For you are ſtill a Coward, and dare not fight. You ſay, I was amongſt my Gally-pots and Clyſter-pipes, when I gave my Choler ſo violent a Purge: If ſo, I was preſcribing a Clyſter for you to take before our Meeting, elſe I ſhould ſooner have had you in my Noſe, than in my Sight. You go on; I had better have been drunk, and ſet in the Stocks for it, when I ſent the Post with a whole Pacquet of Chartels to you. I mention this piece of Eloquence for no other end, than to ſhew what Wit there lies in the Froth of Ale. You proceed, That if I underſtand any thing in my owne Trade, I could not but know, that the Hectique of my owne Brain is more deſperate than the Tertian Fits of yours, which are eaſily cured with a little ſleep. Is it poſſible for any man to be ſo ſtupid, as to publiſh himſelf in print a common Drunkard? This is the plain Engliſh of your Tertian Fits, which if you had called Quotidian, you would eaſily have been believed; though indeed they have out-laſted any Quartane. You talk of Tutors and School-maſters; I have been long ſince out of their hands; but it is high time you were under their correction; and had I known you, as well before I ſent to you in a way of Honour, as I do now, I would for once have play'd the Schoolmaſter my ſelf, and have brought, in ſtead of a Sword, a good Rod, the onely fit Weapon to encounter ſuch an Adverſary; For you are ſtill a Coward, and dare not fight. You add, That now I begin to vapour, and tell you I have fought before; and that you have heard I have, with my Wife, and Poet; but if I came off with no more honour then when I was beaten by my Lord Grandiſon, I had better have kept that to my ſelf. What you mean by my Poet, I cannot imagine; but you may conceive tis not impoſſible for me to beat a Woman, ſince I declared ſuch a proneneſs to Cudgel you. The buſineſſe between my Lord Grandiſon and my ſelf, is ſo fully known to the world, and his Second (an Ey-witneſſe of what paſſed) yet alive, that there is no need for me to ſpeak a word therein; onely this, as a Hector (a name amongſt others you are pleaſed to beſtow upon me) I tell you, He that will Fight, though he have never ſo much the worſe, loſes no reputation: And I proteſt, I had rather meet with a man of Honour and Courage, though he did beat me (as you word it) then now to Fight and Beat you: But there's no great danger of that, For you are ſtill a Coward, and dare not fight. Next, you ſcrible about my cutting up Calves, and Dogs, and if by threatning to cram my Sword down you Throat, I do not mean my Pills, you are ſafe. Indeed, Experiments in Anatomy have much conduced to the bettering mans knowledge; and I make no doubt, had I the diſſecting of you inſtead of a Calf, I ſhould finde the place, where Cowardiſe is ſeated. This would be an acceptable Diſcovery to our Colledge of Phyſitians. As concerning my Pills, thoſe you would moſt fear to take, muſt be prepared with Steel, for I know between Steele and you, there is a great Antipathy. And whereas you ſay, There is no half quarter of a man but would venture to give me battle; Alas poor wretch! you do not underſtand what Dirt you throw in your own face; for your not daring to meet me, proves ex ore tuo, that you are leſſe then half a quarter of a man; and ſurely here is both good Grammar and Logick to boot. And now you tell me, I am moſt unſufferable in my unconſcionable ingroſſing of all Trades; That I am a Doctor of Civil Law, a Parriſter of the Common, a Bencher of Greys-Inn, a Profeſsor of Phyſick, a Fellow of the Colledge, a Mathematician, Caldean, a School-man, and a piece of a Gramarian (as my laſt work ſhews, were it conſtrued) a Philoſopher, Poet, Tranſlator, Antiſocordiſt, Sollicitor, Broker and Ʋſurer; a Marquiſs, Earl, Viſcount, Baron, and a Hector: And there is no dealing with me without a Brigade, if I have a ſecond for every capacity. What ridiculous ſtuff is here? Riſum teneatis Amici? yet I think a leſs number would ſcarce ſecure your fears, and even then, you durſt not appear in the Head of them; For ſtill you are a Coward, and dare not fight. You ſay, for eating the bread out of the Hectors mouths, you hope ſome of them will make me give them Compounding dinners, as well as I did to the reſt of my Fraternities. I think you ſcape fairly, if for abuſing them, you can be admitted to Compound for Dinners and Supper too. You pithily write, That I meaſure another mans valor by comparing it with my own. I underſtand in what ſenſe you would be taken, and laugh at it: But yet tis true, I ever did and ſhall think, of all Gentlemen as I do of my ſelf, till I find them ſuch as you are: And now for the future, I ſhall meaſure all Cowards by your Scal. I will omit (for brevity) the reſt of your Billinſgate nonſenſe (indeed your whol Letter is ejuſdem farinae) and give you this friendly admonition, that you be more carefull and circumſpect hereafter, and not charge a fault upon another, when at the ſame inſtant you commit a greater in the ſame kind; I mean, your accuſing me of railing, when you your ſelf tranſcend therein. I have but a word or two more, and I have done with you: You ſay, that I might have had the honour I deſired to have faln by your ſword. I ſee the Proverb does not hold true in you, that Bad memories have good Wits: I did not deſire abſolutely [Printed the 20th. of March 1659. the day after the Printing the Lord Roos his Anſwer, &c. above mention'd the Date whereof by him purpoſely omitted.] to fall by your ſword, but under the condition mentioned in my printed letter: And as for the honour you vainly put upon falling by it; I think there is not any, but will believe me without ſwearing; if I could have thought upon a more ignominious thing, I had named it. And now ſir, If your back be not ſufficiently loaden, go on, and I will lay more and more weight upon you, till you fall under the burden; and ſtill you are a Coward and dare not fight.

Dorcheſter.