BX 4-705 Mr. Bower's Answer to a New Charge wrought \gainst Him in a Libel. , , By cbibald Bower USE ONLY California Bgional tcility UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES MR. B WE R's ANSWER T O A NEW CHARGE. p2^ [ Price Six-pence. ] MR. B WE R's \ A N S W E R T O A NEW CHARGE Brought againft him in a LIBEL, INTITULED, BOWER and TILLEMONr Compared. LONDON: Printed for W. SAND BY, at the Ship, oppofitc St. Dunftan's Church, Fleet-Street. M.DCC.LVII. P:< MR. B WE R's ANSWER T O A NEW CHARGE. E Woman fo often mentioned in the Six Letters has at laft been f un( i out J but without her child j an( ^ t ^ le true realon why Mr. Bower was fo very preffing to have his money in the hands of the Jefuits returned to him, has, fortunately for the caufe of truth, in the end been difcovered. O yes ! Atten- tion and filence ; the difcoverer fpeaks, and ne fpeaks thus in page 79 of his Libel juft publifhed : Mr. Bower, while he other Lady, and not made till the year 1750. Will the Libeller, in the new Letters he pro- miles to bring forth, mow that my correfpon- dence with the Jefuits and Father Sheldon reach- ed 6 Mr. Bower'j dnfwer to cd to that year, and that I put a new fum into their hands after the firft was returned ? I hope he will, or his intelligence about this affair will be of no manner of ufe to his caufe. Certainly the diftrefs he fuppofes I was in, on account of a demand of 500 /. made in the year 1750, could not make me write letters, that were written, as he himfelf has declared, before the publication of the Preface to my Hiflory in March 1747. But he goes on to make a further ufe of this bufinefs. Perhaps, alfo, we jhall now be able to account for his having begun to receive Jubjcriptions for a hiftory of the Popes, juft at the very time, when, after his fubmij/ive Letters to> the Jefuits, there appeared no hopes of his re- covering his money from them. He was, at that period, under fuch drcumjlances that there was a necefftty'of raifing the five hundred pounds in^ Jifted upon ; and having failed, as be thought, in his attempt to get any of his own money, to be ap- plied to this purpofe, he formed the dejign of creat- ing another fund, by the profits of a fubfcription -y hoping by the influence of his Patrons, the popu- larity of his fubjeffi, and the pompom titles he af- jumed, to colletf, from the Public, at leaft that fum for which hc^ had immediate occafion ; and which would have enabled him to fathfy the wo- a New Charge. 7 man and her relations, even tho the Jefuits had not, foon after, thought proper to enable him to do it, out of his own money which they reftored. Thus does this fagacious writer account for my having begun to receive fubfcript ions for a Hi- ftory of the Popes, juji at the very time when, after my fubmiffive letters to the Jefuits, there ap- peared no hopes of my recovering any money from them. He mould have faid, before the laft letter I wrote to the Jefuits could be received by the perfon, to whom it was writ (See my Anfwer, p. 90). A wonderful thing indeed ! and admirably accounted for by the immediate occafion I had to pay five hundred pounds not paid nor demanded till three years after that time. He concludes his obfervations on this im- portant difcovery, by which my correfpondence with Father Sheldon and the Jefuits is fo clearly made out; and when the proper time Jhall come, we may expftt, as hejinds us fo well informed, that he will not infer his innocence fo boldly, as he has hitherto done, from our not being able to produce a WOMAN. He has indeed produced a woman > but any other woman in TLngland, a woman not born at the time the letters were writ, would have 8 Mr. Bower 'j Anfwzr to have authenticated them quite as well as the woman he has produced. It is no reflection upon a man's general cha- racter, to have liked a woman enough to make her hope he would marry her, and yet difap-^ point her in thofe expectations, no promife of marriage having been given. That I ever attempted, directly or indirectly, to unfettle the Proteftant principles of the two young Ladies, the Gentlewoman's nieces, as is alTerted in p. 82, is a malicious, wicked, and groundlefs calumny, and what I am perfuaded none of the family will fay, as it has not the leaft foundation in truth. Since I came to England, I have been intimately acquainted with many young Ladies of the firft rank in this kingdom, have taught feveral of them the Italian language (tho' that never was my pro- femon, nor did I ever teach as a mafter for hire), and I appeal to them, whether I did not endeavour to fettle rather than to unfettle their Proteftant principles, by infpiring them with an averfion to Popery. I am the firft that was ever yet found out to be a zealous promoter of Popery, tho' neither a Papift, nor a Proteftant, nor even a Chriftian ; for this character he gives me in his firft Libel, p. 35. I chal- a New Charge. g I challenge him to produce a lingle inflance of my not religioufly fulfilling, when I had it in my power, any engagement I have ever contracted. I was firft told by my friends, and not they by me, as the Libeller afTerts, p. 79. that Lord Aylmer was faid to have died a Papift, and that it was concluded from thence that I had perverted him to Popery. The Honourable and Reverend Mr. Aylmer, who gives me leave to make ufe of his name, is ready to declare, that this tale was told him by many perfons be- fore he had heard a word of it from me : and I could name, if it were neceffary, thofe who firfl gave me intelligence of it. This, therefore, was no invention of mine. And whofe invention was it, that Lord Aylmer had found out before he died that I was^a Papift, and had thereupon broken off all correfpondence with me ? For this was pofitively aflerted, and by many believed, till it was contradicted by his fon the Reverend Mr. Aylmer declaring, to his certain knowledge, that his father continued his regard and friendmip for me to the hour of his death. I waited on his Lordfhip, and dined with him, at his houfe on Blackbeath, the day before I fet out for Scotland in 1754, and re- ceived the melancholy news of his death foon B after jo Mr. Bower V Anfwer to after my arrival at Edinburgh. I have now more reafon than ever to lament the lofs of fo good a friend. As I had the honour of being known to his Lordfhip ever fince a few months after my arrival in England^ he could have at- tefted many things that are queftioned by my enemies, and diiproved many that they lay to my charge. I am confident they would not have ventured to make this attack had his Lordfhip ftill been alive. In a note, p. 74, the Libeller writes thus : In a note p. 22, of the Pamphlet jujl mentioned (a), be makes ufe of the following argument again/I the genuinenefs of the letters fat d to be his, " Is it " po(Jible he (Mr. B.) Jhould voluntarily offer t$ he has been a Protejlant only fince 1730, that is twenty-fix years. But what is his word when weighed again/I his oath ? for in his affidavit he fwears that for upwards of twenty-nine years laft pafl he has not been pre-r fent at any religious worfhip or ceremony of the Jlomifh churchj and during the fame period a New Charge. 13 bath believed the Popifo doctrines to be impious and heretical. I anfwer, that the year 30 is a flip of my pen, or an error of the prefs. Indeed no man can fuppofe that I intended to fay lefs in my Pamphlet than I had faid in my Affidavit ; and I now challenge anew the 'whole body ofPriefts and yefuits, and all the Profelytes that have been made to the Romijh church thefe twenty-nine years la/I paft, to fay and to prove that I have been prefent, during that time, at mafs or any religious worjhip or ceremony of the Romijh church, or been any ways direcJly or indirectly concerned in or accejfiry to the converjion of any Profelytes to Popery, In page 6 the Libeller writes thus : / can defpife the abufe of a libellous fcribbler in a News- paper , and in a note he tells his readers, that it was publifhed in the General Evening Poji of Auguft 19, adding, and y if my informatien be iuft, handed to the Prejs by Mr. Bower himfe/f. I call upon him to name the perfbn who gave him that piece of intelligence. If he can name no body, he muft not take it amifs if I pro- nounce his pretended information to be a mere conjecture of his own. For that it has not the leaft foundation in truth will appear from the following teftimony of the Bookfeller, by whom Mr. Bower V Anfwer to the Paper in queilion was conveyed to the Prefs. *Tbe Author of Bower and Tillemont com- ' pared is mlflaken in bis conjecture, note F, page ' 65, that Paper not being handed to the Pre/s c by Mr. Bower, but given to me by a cuflomer, * tQ be infer ted in the General Evening PofL Fleet-ftreet, ' V v "M. SANDBY.' Jan. 10. 1757. What credit is to be given to the informations this man pretends to have received, v/V , he names not the perfons who informed him, (which he feldom does, unlefs they are dead) I leave the reader to judge. As the private afrairs of my family no-ways concern the Public, I will anfwer none of the Libeller's queflions in page 80. The difpute between my late nephew and me was carried into no court, but in the end amicably adjufted by the interpofition of friends. My family has been for feveral hundred years, and is ftill, pof- feffed of an eflate in the county of Angus in Scotland. What the Libeller writes in p. 77 is worthy cf particular notice. ' For if, after all that hath f been a New Charge? 15 * been already communicated, relating to the cha* f ratter and conduct of Mr. Archibald Bower, < there can exift any one per/on, who will lay his * hand upon his hiart and fay that he Jiill believes ( that the Six Letters to Father Sheldon are moft * evident and palpable forgeries, and that there c has been any attack on the character of an in- nocent man foully made ; to aim at this per- * fons conviction, by producing farther evidence^ ' 'would be loft labour. Let him remain Jingle, ' as he muff be, in his unaccountable incredulity ; < for either his prejudices are fo ftrong, and his ' underftanding fo 'weak as to render him infen- ' fible of the force of evidence, or elfe there are reafons, not to be owned, why evidence of tlx ' great eft force muft be rejifted* I have not yet, to my knowledge, loft one (ingle friend j nay, my friends have fhewn me more kindnefs on the prefent occafion, than they had ever done before ; and among them I have the honour to reckon fome of the firft of this kingdom for their penetration and good fenfe, as well as for their rank and their pro- bity, who would have certainly given me up, as unworthy of their protection and friendfliip, the moment they had been convinced of the genuinenefs of the letters. And will this writer dare to pronounce fo many men of that cha- racter 1 6 Mr. Bower's Anfwer to rafter either infenfible of the force of evidence? for want of underftanding, or unwilling tcf yield to it for reafons not to be owned ; that is, either fools or knaves ? One main objection to the genuinenefs of the letters in queftion, and that muft be of great weight with all men of fenfe, is, why I mould exprefs fuch vaft folici- tude,, and run fuch great rifques by putting it in the power of the Papifts to ruin my credit at once, whenever they mould pleafe to pro- duce this correfpondence, merely for the fake of getting my money from Father Sheldon^ when it does not appear that I had any imme- diate occalion for it. How he has anfwered that objection we have feen. And are the pre- judices of all who refift fuch evidence fo ftrong, and their underftandings fo weak, as to render them infenfible of the force of any evidence, or do they refift it for reafons not to be owned 2 The malignity and the impudence of fuch an aflertion muft raife the greateft indignation in the minds of all men of candor, of all who have any regard to civility, juftice, or truth. But I mall fhow, in my next anfwer to his fcurrilous Pamphlet, that the irrefijlible evi- dence he fo vidtoriouily triumphs in is no evi- dence at all i that the arguments he has hitherto alledged to evince the genuinenefs of the let- ters arja al]L ujicpnclu/ivc, and moft of them abfurd a New Charge. 17 abfurd and ridiculous j and that the vaftfolitt- tude to get my money from Father Sheldon by fuch a dangerous method, without having any immediate occaiion for it, is not the only thing that he will find himfclf at a lofs how to ac- count for, and yet muft account for better than he has done for that, to perfuade men of fenfe that the letters are genuine. I will pay in the mean time no kind of regard to any new dii- covery he may communicate to the Public out of his intelligence-office of fcandal, Should he even, fortunately for the caufe of truth^ find out another woman, and with her a child. Should any continue to queftion my innocence, after I have offered all I can offer in defence of it, I mall not fuffer paffion or refentment to prevail over common fenfe, good manners, and all de- cency fo far as to call them cither fools or knaves, but content myfelf with faying, that their pre- judices are very Jlrong. As rny Hiftory of the Popes has not only been received very favourably at home, but tranflated abroad into feveral languages, and approved by men of the greateft learning among the foreign Proteftants, of which I can bring undeniable proofs ; I mail leave them, for the prefent, to defend their own judgment, C and 1 8 Mr. Bower's Anfwer to and only obferve, that as we know but very lithe of the firft Popes, if we fay any thing of them, we muft all fay the fame things with very little variance ; and that tho' I agree with Tillemont in the manner of relating them, yet my reflections, where there is room for any, are different and have a different tendency from thoie of that author, who, tho' a JanJeniJ} y was a bigotted Papift. I begin my work with proving that St. Peter never was at Rome, which is overfetting the very foundation of all the power and authority claimed by the Popes as his fucceffors in that See. What I write on that head is not borrowed from Tillemonty nor have I borrowed of him, or of any other Po- pim author, what I have writ of the Councils and the Fathers as well as of other controverfial points, efpecially of the important article of image- worlhip. And yet the hiflory or account I have given of the rife, progrefs, and eftablifh- ment of that fuperftitious practice has been thought, by good judges, the moil authentic, the baft, and the cleareft, that has ever yet appeared ; and it leaves no room to doubt of the novelty and unlawfulnefs of that kind of wcrfliip, Ide- 1 a New Charge. 19 I declare in my Preface, p. 14, that I have always preferred the contemporary writers to thofe who wrote after, and fuch as flourifhed neareft the times when the tranfactions hap- pened which they relate to thofe who lived at at a greater diftance ; and that purfuant to this rule, in delivering the lives of the Bifhops, who governed the Church of Rome during the firft ages of Chriftianity, I have confined myfelf wholly to the ancients, trujling no modern any farther than as be 'wrote from the ancients. Now let the Libeller mow any one fact in my Hi- ftory which is not fupported by an ancient, and where-ever it could be, by a contemporary au- thority. But whether that authority be fur- nimed to me by a citation in Tillemont, or by having tranfcribed it from the original book, is of no confequence to the Public, nor to my reputation as an hiftorian. Had the Libeller read my work with the leaft degree of attention, he would have found, that tho' I have miftaken the principles of the Manichees> I have not miftaken thofe of the Papifts, and that I have TM&L pointed my batteries, as he pretends, p. 54,, againft the perfonal in- fallibility of the Pope only, but againft the in- ' C 2 fallibility 20 Mr. Bower'j dnfwer to fallibility of the Councils, or the Church, as well as againft that of the Pope, and fhown them both alike fallible. The perfonal infalli- bility of the Pope is not, as every Papift well knows, an article of the Popifh communion > but it is a prerogative claimed by the Popes as entailed upon their See, and is ftiffly maintain- ed, not by the Jefuits alone, as the Libeller ignorantly fuppofes, but by Baronius and writers without number of all the other religious or- ders. It is not indeed acknowledged by the Galilean church j but no other doctrine is fuf- feted to be taught in Italy t in Spain> and in Portugal. As Tillemont is famous for his exadtnefs and accuracy, and I had myfeif found him ex- tremely exact in a great many inftances where I had compared his citations and extracts with the original authors, inftead of undergoing the drudgery of reading a hundred folios, I availed myfeif of the drudgery he had undergone. That has indeed led me into fome miftakes. that are no-ways material j and I promife the Libeller, if he or any ingenious coadjutor of his will write a Hiftory of the fame extent and compafs as mine, with the fame approbation from men the moft eminent for their tafte and their a New Charge. 21 their learning, I will join in applauding it, notwithftanding a thoufand fuch errors. Non ego paucis offendor maculis, quas aut incuria fadit, aut humana parum cavit natura. But when the whole merit of a work con- fifts in a laborious and painful exactnefs, in collating and comparing original authors cited by other compilers with their citations, left a miftake in a line or page mould chance to be made, fuch a work may mow the writer to be a man of great diligence, it may be admired by taftelefs pedants, but it will have no readers among men of parts. As to the account of the Inquifition at Ma- cerata, which the Libeller has annexed to his new Libel, it was not immedtately taken down in writing from my mouth, nor was it ever read to or corrected by me j and every man muft be fenfible that the miftakes which occur in a relation taken down only upon memory, efpecially if it is long, and contains great variety of incidents, ought not to be imputed to the relator, unlefs itf has by him been revifed and approved, or cor- rected, it being morally impoffible that any perfon mould exactly remember every par- ticular of fuch a relation. However, none of 22 Mr. Bower V Anfwer to of the grofs blunders that I have pointed out in Barren's account, in page 48, 49, of my Anfiver, are to be met with in this, tho' the Libeller tells his Readers, in his firft- Libel, page 4, that the principal difference between the account publijhed by Earron^ and that now before us, conjifts in this^ that the latter is vaftly more copious and circumftantial, and paints the cruelties of the Inquifition in much Jlronger colours. One miflake I mail here correct in the account juft published, as it has fome foundation in truth. In the Inn at Calais I found two Jefuits with fmall cru- cifixes, which fome of that as well as of other orders carry in their breafts when they travel, or are going on a miffion. Thele crucifixes the Lady, I fuppofe, miftook for the red croffes which fome minifters of the Inquifition, of whom I had given her an account, wear on their garments. No body furely can think me fo ignorant, as not to know that there is no Inquifition in France : They might quite as well fuppofe me to be fo little acquainted with Italy y as not to know that the Adriatic is a fea, but, mistaking it for a country, to have refolved with myfelf, as I am faid to have done in this account, page 97, to take the bye-roads through the Adriatic a New Charge. 23 Adriatic into Switzerland. 1 took no pa- pers with me except the Dtrefltry of the Inquifition y nor have I ever told any of my friends that I did, and that I was commanded by the General to feal up and deliver to the Rector of the College at Douay, which I did accordingly. The Libeller's puzzling queftion in page 86, bow it could happen that he fiould land at Dover in the year 1726, as we find in his affidavit, and in 1732, as we /kail find in bis narrative, is eafily anfwered. I never faid that I landed at Dover in 1732; and I have now by me a copy of the Lady's narration tranfmitted to me out of Cumber- land by a relation of hers, who aflures me that it is a faithful copy of his own, and that his own was immediately taken from the original. But in this copy, which every Gentleman is welcome to perufe, as well as the letter of my correlpondent, no year is mentioned from the one end of it to the other ; fo that the words where he landed fafe on the i it h Day of July 1732, have been add- ed by the Libeller, or by fomebody elfe. In my copy the narration ends thus : the yacht (Lord Baltimore's yacht) brought this hone/I Gentle- 24 Mr. Bower V Anfwer to Gentleman fafe to a land of liberty ', 'where no Pope, no Inquijition, no Popijh tyranny, I ' truft, will ever have footing any more ; words that were not, perhaps, very pleafmg to the ears of the Libeller, or at leaft to thofe of his friends and affociates. They have been therefore fupprefled, and a lie has been fub- ftituted in their room. The reft of this libel is entirely made up of abufe and invectives, that men of fenfe can pay no more regard to, than to the noife of a petulant fcold calling, in the tranlport of her rage ; all the bad names, and faying all the worft things me can think of, with- out any reftraint from good manners or de- cency. And yet this jlrange jnan is not afhamed to tell his readers, page 72, 73, that he wiftxfs me no harm, that he bears me no ill-will, that it is his earnejl prayer I may be rouzed up to a fenfe of my unhappy jituation ; in fhort, that he is only concerned as a Chriftian for the welfare of my foul. The cant of a true Inquifitor racking the body for the good of the foul ! One would think that this extraordinary man had ferved an appren- ticefhip under the moft Reverend Father Montcatccoti, Inquifitor at Macerc.ta, whom the a New Charge. 25 the reader will find, in p. 8 of my Anfwer^ fanctifying with the fame cant the mod horrid barbarities. And are thefe Proteftant prin- ciples ? If they are, I have hitherto miftaken the true fpirit of Proteftantifm. But his fit of zeal is foon over, and in the following pages he continues to difplay his natural talent, that of abuiing and railing. As to all the Menaces thrown out in this Libel of further attacks to be made on my character, I am under no other apprehen- fions about them, than any man muft be, who is threatened with a continual fuccef- fion of lies, invented and published with a defign to abufe and defame him. From truth I know I have nothing to fear ; and I hope, let the malice and art of my ene7 mies be ever fo great, I mall be able to detect all their falihoods, and clear my own innocence in the judgment of the im- partial and candid part of mankind. Fol- lies and frailties I have not been free from in the courfe of my life; and hard is the fate of any man living, who is to be ar- raigned for all fuch at the bar of the Pub- lic, and to have the enquiry carried back for thirty or forty years, even upon points, D where 3069J Mr. y .j wei it* where a tendernefs to the parties concerned may flop his mouth from faying what he could in defence of himfelf. Never was fuch an Inquifition as this allowed to be fet up in this country before, attacking a man upon every hearfay relating to his actions or words during the whole courfe of his life, publifhing an invitation to all his worft enemies to furnifh reports of fcandal againft him, when many of thofe who might and would have been witneffes for him are dead, and as faft as one lie is anfwered producing another, and promifing more. Who is there fo confident in the innocence and the pru- dence of all his pail life, that he would not be difquieted at fuch an attack ? And who can be fecured from it if this be en- couraged, that, in a nation fo inflamed by parties as this, fhall draw upon himfejf the malice of any party, by any offence to their prejudices or paffions ? The very envy of the bafe and low part: of mankind againil any writer who has met with fuccefs and reputa- tion from his works, efpecially if encou- raged by the protection of the Great, will be motive fufficient to bring upon him the fury of fuch a perfecution ; and if his friends and protectors do not give him up a facrifice to a New Charge. 27 it, they will be told they are either FCG/S, or accomplices with him in fome part of his guilt. But I truft that the good fenfe, the juftice, and candour of the nation will in- terpofe on this occafion, and (top fuch a mi- chief in its beginning : it is the caufe of all innocence, as well as my own, that I am defending. FINIS. H n Verslty r REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 305 De Neve Drive - Parking Lot 17 . Box 951388 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90095 1388 borrowed. Form L-B 20m-l,'41<1122) cnsmsrn OF AT LOS LIBRARY BX 4705 Bower - Mr. Bow answer BX 4705 B73D7so University Of California - Los Angeles L006916012 5 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY A 001 435 220 BUILD Univen Sout Lib: