The New Cheaters Forgeries Detected, Text
The New Cheaters forgeries, detected, diſclaimed;
By Will. Prynne Eſq; a Bencher of Lincolns Inne.
WHereas not only one Walker, Bates, and others heretofore, for their own privat lucre, have printed ſundry illiterate Pamphlets in my name, to cheat the People, but likewiſe one Chapman in Popes-head alley (as I am credibly informed by thoſe who will prove it) on the 30. of this inſtant May hath printed and diſperſed a paper, intituled, [A Sheet, Or if you will, a Winding Sheet for the good Old Cauſe: By W. P. Philopolites.] Prefixing the Letters of my name before it, as penned by me, and on this 31. of May, hath printed and publiſhed another Sheet, ſtiled
[Mola Aſinaria: Or, The Ʋnreaſonable and Ʋnſupportable Burthen now preſs'd upon the ſhoulders of this groaning Nation, &c.]
BY WILLIAM PRYNNE, Bencher of Lincolns Inne.
Printing my name thus at large not only in the Title, but in the Contexture it ſelf, inſinuating it to be penned by me, on purpoſe to cheat the people of their monies; and make me the Father of theſe BASTARDS, (through the Stationers Knavery) which the true Fathers need not be aſhamed to own publickly by name, being Ingenuous well-penned Pieces. To prevent all future Frauds of this nature (eſpecially in Pamphlets declaiming againſt Publike Cheats,) I held it my duty openly to detect and diſclaim theſe two, in print before all the world; having no hand at all in the conception, generation, or production of either of theſe Pamphlets directly or indirectly, whoſe Compilers are altogether unknown to me. And I ſhall deſire all Stationers, Printers henceforth to take notice; that their thruſting out Books in other mens names to pick peoples purſes, is a Counterfeiting of Letters in other mens names falſly and deceitfully to get mony from other perſons, within the Stat. of 33H 8. c. 1. puniſhable by Impriſonment, Pillory, and all other corporal pains, except death: Which Law I intend to proſecute againſt them, if they ſhall henceforth abuſe me, and the people in this kinde.
As for the ſcurrillous rayling, nameleſs, empty abuſive Printed Libels and Papers formerly and lately publiſhed againſt me; I look upon them onelyonly with contempt, as the braying of illiterate Aſſes, who can neither contradict nor refute my writings for the publike good and ſafety: and value them no more, than the barking of mangie Doggs againſt the Moonſhine: having treaſured up this Soveraign Antidote of my Saviours own compoſition, in my breaſt many years ſince, againſt the venom of all falſe viperous tongues or pens, Luke 6. 22, 23. Bleſſed are ye when men ſhall hate you, and ſeperate you from their company, and caſt out your name as evil, for the Sonne of mans ſake: Rejoyce and leap for joy, for great is your reward in heaven, for ſo did your Fathers unto the Prophets. A wiſe Heathen could ſay, Regium est male audire cum bene feceris; much more a magnanimous Chriſtian. The beſt refutation of Raylings, is Contempt; Spreta exoleſcunt.
In teſtimony of the premiſes, I thought neceſſary to ſubſcribe and publiſh them under my own hand and name.
From my Chamber at Lincolns Inne 31 May 1659. WILLIAM PRYNNE.
LONDON,Printed for Edward Thomas at the Adam and Eve in Little Brittain, 1659.
End of the text · William Prynne, The New Cheaters Forgeries Detected (1659)