Nature or in Story so ridiculous, as the management of the Ministers, in
the Examination of the Popish Plot. Which being prov'd by_ Coleman's
_and others Letters, and by both Houses by declaring the King's Life to
be in danger_, &c. _Yet they have persuaded the King to believe nothing
of this danger; but to apprehend the Plot to be extreamly improv'd, if
not wholly contriv'd by the Presbyterians. And to think it more his
concernment to have an end of all; then to have it search'd to the
bottom: and that this was the true reason, why four Parliaments, during
the Examination of the Plot have been dissolv'd:_

Reasonable People will conclude, that his Majesty and his Ministers have
proceeded, not ridiculously, but with all that caution which became
them. For in the first heat and vehemence of the Plot, the Avenues of
_White-Hall_ were more strictly Guarded: His Majesty abstaining from
Places of publick Entertainment, and the Ministers taking all necessary
Care in Council, both to discover Conspiracies and to prevent them. So,
that simply considered, the Popish Plot has nothing to do with the
Dissolution of Four Parliaments. But the Use which has been made of it by
the House of Commons to Dis-inherit the Duke, to deny the King
Supplies, and to make some Votes, which the King declares to be
illegal, are the real and plain occasions of dissolving those
Parliaments. 'Tis only affirm'd, but never will be prov'd by this
Author, that the King or his Ministers have ever been desirous to stifle
the Plot, and not to have it search'd into the bottom. For to what end
has his Majesty so often offer'd the Popish Lords to be brought to their
Trial, but that their innocence or guilt, and consequently, that of the
whole party might be made manifest? Or why, after the execution of the
Lord _Stafford_, did the House of Commons stop at the other Lords, and
not proceed to try them in their turns? Did his Majesty stifle the Plot
when he offered them, or did they refuse to sound the depth of it, when