The Addresses importing an abhorrence of an Association pretended to have been seized in the Earl of Shaftesbury's closet, laid open and detected. In a letter to a friend. 1682. This was the production of Mr. Robert Ferguson, and for writing, printing, and publishing the same he was prosecuted. The following is a copy of the indictment: Juratores pro domino Rege super sacramentum suum præsentant quod Robertus Ferguson nuper de Londonia generosus, Deum præ oculis suis non habens sed instigatione diabolica motus et seductus, machinansque et intendens serenissimum dominum nostrum Carolum Secundum Dei gratia Angliæ Scotiæ Franciæ et Hiberniæ Regem Fidei Defensorem, et regimen suum in odium et infamiam inter subditos suos inferre ac pacem et communem tranquillitatem hujus regni Angliæ perturbare et diversas differentias inter eosdem subditos procurare vicesimo die Junii anno regni dicti domini regis nunc tricesimo quarto apud Londoniam videlicet in parochia Sancti Martini Ludgate in warda de Farringdon extra Londoniam prædicta vi et armis &c. falso seditiose et malitiose scripsit, impressit, et publicavit et scribi, imprimi et publicari causavit quondam scandalosum libellum intitulatum, _The Addresses importing an abhorrence of an association pretended to have been seized in the Earl of Shaftesbury's closet, laid open and detected. In a letter to a friend_. In quoquidem libello continentur hæc falsa ficta et scandalosa verba sequentia, _And as all Addresses of this nature tend to render the King, who ought to reign in the hearts of all his people, the Head meerly of one party and that a very inconsiderable one if compared with the bulk of the Nation; so they only serve to publish to all the world the distractions of the Kingdom, and to proclaim in the face of the Sun the weakness of the Government. What do the foreigners say upon the perusal of our Gazets, but that either things are not managed in England according to the Laws of the Constitution, or that his Majesty of Great Britain reigns precariously, seeing his Ministers seek to support the Transactions of State, by courting the applause of a few little folk here and there through the Kingdom?_ In malum et perniciosissimum exemplum omnium aliorum in consimili casu delinquentium ac contra pacem dicti domini regis nunc coronam et dignitatem suas &c.[225] A copy of this publication is in the British Museum Library. It is in folio and occupies four pages. 271. An Historical and Political Discourse of the Laws and Government of England, from the first times to the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth. With a vindication of the ancient way of Parliaments in England. Collected from some manuscript notes of John Selden, Esq.; by Nathaniel Bacon, of Gray's Inn, Esquire. London. 1682.