There was an evident personal object in this deliberate attempt to malign the character of John Rogers three years after his death; by statements which Peter Pratt of all men knew to be false; he having himself been a Rogerene, closely allied and attached to one of the leaders of that Society. Having since become a prominent member of the ruling church, and intimate with leading ecclesiastics of that church, in what better way could he prove to his influential friends his regret at having been associated with the hated nonconformist than by lending himself to the ruling order in their endeavors to stamp out whatever respect for and interest in the Rogerenes and their cause had found lodgement in the minds of the public? On the ecclesiastical side, who could address the public with better chance of being heard and credited than a popular lawyer, known to have had intimate acquaintance with the obnoxious sect? For despite the blunder in regard to computation of longitude (Part I, Chapter IV), Peter Pratt was a man of considerable note in Connecticut, both as a lawyer and speaker, at the time he wrote this singular book. Joshua Hempstead says in his Diary: “Nov. 25, 1730. Melancholy news of the death of Mr. Peter Pratt of ys Town,[186] Attorney at Law, is confirmed, who died at Hartford on Saturday last,—the finest Orator in the Colony of his Profession.” Footnote 186: Peter Pratt appears to have lived in East Lyme, then a part of New London. The literary ability of this man is shown to be far below that ascribed to his oratory, the style of this sole book of his authorship being very ordinary; while the reply of his half-brother John Rogers, 2d, as well as other works of that author, will bear comparison with some of the best works of his time, for clear, vigorous logic and expression, enlivened by sparkles of wit and acumen, which qualifies are not observable in the literary effort of this other son of his mother. The principal point to be secured being an impeachment of the character of John Rogers, free use is made by Peter Pratt of the accusation presented by the Griswolds in the petition for divorce, by way of declaring that the separation of John Rogers from his wife and children was on account of certain immoralities charged against him, which pretended immoralities Peter Pratt names, on no other authority than the entirely ambiguous statements of the records of the General Court regarding the Petition of Elizabeth in 1675, which Petition (according to said records) distinctly stated that the chief reason of her plea did not relate to breach of the marriage covenant, of which she admitted that she had small reason to complain.