704 The HIS T 0 RY of the PuRITANS. VoL. II. Ch~i=f II. publi~ any thing on the ~de of liberty and the protefiant .religion, 1675 . but With the hazard of a .pnfon, an? a confide:able fine; nor IS this to ~ be wondered at, confidenng that S1r Roger L Ejlrange was the fole li– cenfer of the prefs. Of Sir Roger L' Eflrange. 1lurnet, p. 461. Rapin. This gentleman was a penfioner of the court, and a champion for the prerogative; he was a younger fon of Sir Hammond L'Ejtrange of Norfolk, who having conceived hopes of furprifing the town of L)'1m for his maje!1y in the year 1644, obtained a commiilion from the king for that purpole, but being apprehended and tried by a court martial, for coming into the parliament's quarters as a fpy, he was condemned, and ordered to be executed in Smitbfield Jan. 2, 1644-5, but by the inter– ceffion of fame powerful friends he was reprieved, and kept in Newgate fevera l years. His fufferings made fuch an impreilion on his fpirit, 1hat upon the king's re!1oration, he was refolved to make reprifals on the whole party. He was rnafier of a fine englijh !1ile, and of a great deal of keen wit, whi eh he employed without any regard to truth or candour, in the Jervice of popery and arbitrary power, and in vilifying the befi and moft undoubted patriots. Never did man fight fo, to force the di!fenters into the church (fays Coke), and when he had got them there, branded them for trimmers, and would turn them out again. He was a moft mercena1y writer, and had a pen at the fervice of thofe who would pay him beft. Forty-one was his retreat againfi all who durft contend againft him and the prerogative. Sir Roger obferved no meafures with his adverfaries in his weekly obfervators, citt and bumkin, and other pamphlets; and when the falfenefs of his reafoning, and infolence of his farcafm, were ex– pofed, like aftcond don quixot, he called aloud to the civil magiftrate to come into his aid. He reprefented the religion of the diffenters, as a medly of folly and enthufiafm; their principles and tempers as turbulent, feditious, and utterly inconfiftent with the peace of the fiate; their pretences as frivolous, and often hypocritical. He excited the government to ufe the utmoft feverities to extirpate them out of the kingdom. He furni(hed the clergy with pulpit materials to rail at them, which they improved with equal eagernefs and indifcretion ; fo that popery was forgot, and no– thing fo common in their mouths asfort;•-one. L'Ejlrange publifhed fome of the incautious expreffions of fome of the diffenters in the late times, which he picked out of their writings, to excite the populace againft the whole party, as if it had not been eafy to make reprifa ls from the ranting ex– preilions of the tories of t~is reign: For thefe exploit~ he was ~mintained by the court, and kmghted ; and yet when the tide turned w the reign,of king James II. he forgot his raillery againfl the principles of the non-conformijls, and writ as zealoufly for liberty of confcience, on the foot of the difpenG.og power, as any man in the kingdom. But
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